Spinach Causes Hallucinations

Delirium. Fever. Hallucinations. Not what you expect when adding baby spinach to a salad, but these are among the alarming symptoms dozens of Australians have experienced after consuming what are thought to be contaminated batches of the leafy greens.

More than 100 people reported symptoms, including at least 54 who have sought medical help, after eating baby spinach that the authorities believe to be tainted. Four major supermarket chains have recalled products containing the suspect spinach.

The authorities said that the spinach had caused “possible food-related toxic reactions” with those affected experiencing symptoms including delirium, hallucinations, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat and fever.

Some Australians took to social media to jokingly ask how they could obtain hallucinogenic spinach. “Never have I been so interested in salad,” one Twitter user said.  READ MORE...

Successful People Have a Plan

Do you have a plan?

What kind of a plan, you might be asking?

A plan for your life...

I'm not a wizard, you might say.

And, I would respond that you don't have to be a wizard or a magician to develop a plan.  And, the plan you develop, should be flexible enough so that it can change as you change.

For example, you might be in high school and decide that you want to go into the military after you graduate.  Then, you change your mind and think you want to go to college.  Then, you change your mind again and decide that you don't want college, but you want to attend a trade school.

In that trade school, you start out as an electrician, then a plumber, then a carpenter, then decide on heating and air, and finally you want to be a computer programmer and design video games.

BUT...  you have a plan and you are working your plan, even though you realize your plan is going to change often.  Changing your plan is just as important as making a plan in the first place.

Nothing is lost in a plan because you are retaining knowledge and abilities as your plan changes that you will one day be able to use.

Once you have put together your intitial plan, then think about extending it to that point in time where you are planning to retire...  how much money will you need if you decide to retire at 45?  or at 55? or at 65?  or at 75?

This is going to guess work, but it is also going to give you a goal to go after...  more often than not, if you have a goal, one always seems to exceed that goal.

• When you retire will you need $500,000 or $1,000,000 or $5,000,000?
• When you retire, where will you live?
• When you retire, will you be debt free?
• When you retire, will you be healthy?
• What can you do in order to be healthy when you retire?

You are never too old to plan.  All you have to do, is simply decide you want to create a plan...

It is just that simple.

January 6 Committee Probe

Former President Donald Trump, whose third White House bid has already become mired in controversy, is facing a myriad of legal issues, alongside his business and allies.

Aside from the Jan. 6 committee's probe, here are some other notable investigations involving Trump:

Tax returns.The House Ways and Means Committee finally got access to the former president’s tax returns after the Supreme Court dealt a massive defeat to Trump, paving the way for the Internal Revenue Service to hand over the documents to the Democratic-led House. The committee's chairman, Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, first sought the tax returns from the IRS in 2019, and the agency, under the Trump administration, initially resisted turning them over.

Mar-a-Lago documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the Justice Department criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Trump’s resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

The Justice Department investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were brought to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office. A federal grand jury in Washington has been empaneled and has interviewed potential witnesses to how Trump handled the documents.

2020 Election. The Justice Department has an investigation of its own into the post-2020 election period. While DOJ has not acted publicly during the so-called quiet period leading up to the midterms, a grand jury in Washington has been hearing from witnesses.

Meanwhile, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis is overseeing a special grand jury investigating what Trump or his allies may have done in their efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. The probe was launched following Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed the Republican to “find” votes to overturn the election results.

Trump Organization. New York Attorney General Letitia James, after a lengthy investigation, sued Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization in September, alleging they were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the former president used to enrich himself.

James alleged the fraud touched all aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals.

Read more about other investigations here.

Flowing Water

 

Striictly Political

 

South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Foundation

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is a non-profit organisation focused on memory, dialogue and legacy work, founded by Nelson Mandela in 1999. We are the custodian of his life and times; we are a committed facilitator of his living legacy; and we are mandated to promote his lifelong vision of freedom and equality for all.

Part of the preservation and advancement of Madiba’s legacy and making this legacy available to the world is the provision and ongoing preservation of its extensive archive collection materials.


The archival record relating to Nelson Mandela is infinite, fragmentary and scattered, both geographically and institutionally throughout the world, making it almost impossible to physically locate. The imperative, therefore, is to document this vast resource, facilitate access to it, and promote its preservation and use.


The following webpages and archival databases are efforts to capture both local and international repositories as well as to describe the collections we hold here at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.


These resources are works in progress and will be added to as additional information is received. Please contact us if you are aware of other resources we have not yet identified.

Biography & Timeline

Genealogy

Exhibitions

Collections

Researcher resources

Education Hub

South Africa -- Recent News

Dec. 13, 2022, 11:37 AM ET - A National Assembly vote today saw the majority of members voting against the initiation of impeachment proceedings for Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa over the “Farmgate” controversy. The result was as expected, as Ramaphosa’s party, the ANC, holds a majority in the legislative body and had instructed its members to reject the call for an impeachment inquiry.



Dec. 6, 2022, 12:53 PM ET -
"Farmgate" debate postponed: Last night, the planning committee of South Africa’s National Assembly rescheduled the meeting on the Section 89 Panel Report concerning the robbery at South African Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm. Originally set for today, it was moved to December 13, 2022.

Dec. 1, 2022, 3:20 PM ET - South African Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa, who came to office on an anti-corruption platform, is now accused of corruption. A report submitted to the National Assembly on November 30 found that he might be guilty of violating the country's constitution with regards to his actions surrounding the "Farmgate" scandal; he has denied the allegations. The National Assembly is scheduled to meet on December 6 to discuss the report’s findings and decide if impeachment proceedings should be initiated against Ramaphosa.

South Africa -- Interesting Facts

1. South Africa is now the only country in the world to have hosted the Soccer, Cricket and Rugby World Cup!
2. Table Mountain in Cape Town is believed to be one of the oldest mountains in the world and one of the planet’s 12 main energy centres, radiating magnetic, electric or spiritual energy.
3. The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of the world’s six floral kingdoms – and the only one which is wholly contained within a single country.
4. Some countries have deserts; some have subtropical forests, right? South Africa has: deserts, wetlands, grasslands, bush, subtropical forests, mountains and escarpments.
5. South Africa’s drinking water is rated 3rd best in the world for being “safe and ready to drink”.
6. Water is not all there is to drink in this thirsty country! South Africa’s Cape Winelands have around 560 wineries and 4 400 primary producers. Included in the Cape Winelands region is Route 62, considered the longest wine route in the world. That alone is good reason to visit South Africa if you haven’t yet been!
7. What about beer? South African brewery SABMiller ranks – by volume – as the largest brewing company in the world. Saffers love their beer…but the real reason the brewery is so big? SABMiller also supplies up to 50% of China’s beer.
8. South Africa is the only country in the entire world that has voluntarily abandoned its nuclear weapons programme.
9. The world’s largest themed resort hotel in the world – The Palace of the Lost City – is found in South Africa. Surrounding the Palace is a 25 hectare manmade botanical jungle with almost 2 million plants, trees and shrubs.
10. South Africa is extremely rich in mining and minerals and considered the world’s leader with nearly 90% of all the platinum metals on earth and around 41% of all the world’s Gold!
11. South Africa is home to the oldest meteor scar in the world – the Vredefort Dome in a town called Parys. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
12. The South African Rovos Rail is considered the most luxurious train in the world.
13. South Africa is home to the highest commercial bungi jump in the world at 710 feet.
14. General Motors South Africa is the only place outside of the USA to build the Hummer H3!
15. Despite the country’s status as a democratic republic, the Province of KwaZulu-Natal has a monarchy, specially provided for by the Constitution. Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu is the King of the Zulu Nation, has 27 kids and 6 wives and lives, literally, like a King!
16. There are more than 2000 shipwrecks off the South African coast, most dating back at least 500 years.
17. The oldest remains of modern humans were found in South Africa and are well over 160,000 years old.
18. The Karoo region in the Western Cape is home to some of the best fossils of early dinosaurs. In fact, it is estimated that some 80% of the mammalian fossils found to date were found in the Karoo.
19. SA has three capital cities: Pretoria is the Executive Capital, Cape Town the Legislative Capital and Bloemfontein the judicial Capital.
20. Can you think of any other place in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived on the same street? Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had houses on Vilakazi Street in Soweto

South Africa -- What To See

The ideal destination for any adventurous traveler, South Africa has so many amazing experiences on offer, from off-roading on a safari to diving with great white sharks. With its wonderful array of wildlife, beautiful beaches, divine vineyards, and magnificent mountains, there’s no doubt that this is a land of diversity.

The southern tip of Africa may have left the years of apartheid behind, but much of the nation still struggles with poverty and there remains a vast disparity between wealth and race. The country offers numerous chances to learn about its tumultuous history, land and peoples, with museums and trips to Robben Island or a visit to a Township.

Leave the cities behind, grab yourself some wheels, and head off on a road trip through the varied landscapes of the Garden Route. Make sure to stop off at Hermanus, known for its opportunities to spot southern right whales from the shoreline. Take a walk on the wild side in the Kruger National Park, where lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, and buffalos roam free, and leap into the unknown as you take in the views from the top of Table Mountain. It’s hard to name another holiday destination that offers as much variety. Here’s a look at the best places to visit in South Africa.

10. Blyde River Canyon

9. Cape Winelands

8. Addo Elephant National Park

7. Hermanus

6. Durban

5. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

4. Garden Route

3. Drakensberg

2. Kruger National Park

1. Cape Town

All About South Africa

South Africa, the southernmost country on the African continent, renowned for its varied topography, great natural beauty, and cultural diversity, all of which have made the country a favoured destination for travelers since the legal ending of apartheid (Afrikaans: “apartness,” or racial separation) in 1994.

South Africa’s remoteness—it lies thousands of miles distant from major African cities such as Lagos and Cairo and more than 6,000 miles (10,000 km) away from most of Europe, North America, and eastern Asia, where its major trading partners are located—helped reinforce the official system of apartheid for a large part of the 20th century. 

With that system, the government, controlled by the minority white population, enforced segregation between government-defined races in housing, education, and virtually all spheres of life, creating in effect three nations: one of whites (consisting of peoples primarily of British and Dutch [Boer] ancestry, who struggled for generations to gain political supremacy, a struggle that reached its violent apex with the South African War of 1899–1902); one of Blacks (consisting of such peoples as the San hunter-gatherers of the northwestern desert, the Zulu herders of the eastern plateaus, and the Khoekhoe farmers of the southern Cape regions); and one of “Coloureds” (mixed-race people) and ethnic Asians (Indians, Malays, Filipinos, and Chinese). 

The apartheid regime was disdained and even vehemently opposed by much of the world community, and by the mid-1980s South Africa found itself among the world’s pariah states, the subject of economic and cultural boycotts that affected almost every aspect of life. During this era the South African poet Mongane Wally Serote remarked,

There is an intense need for self-expression among the oppressed in our country. When I say self-expression I don’t mean people saying something about themselves. I mean people making history consciously….We neglect the creativity that has made the people able to survive extreme exploitation and oppression. People have survived extreme racism. It means our people have been creative about their lives.

Eventually forced to confront the untenable nature of ethnic separatism in a multicultural land, the South African government of F.W. de Klerk (1989–94) began to repeal apartheid laws. That process in turn set in motion a transition toward universal suffrage and a true electoral democracy, which culminated in the 1994 election of a government led by the Black majority under the leadership of the long-imprisoned dissident Nelson Mandela. As this transition attests, the country has made remarkable progress in establishing social equity in a short period of time.  READ MORE...

Crisis in American Education

This newsletter is not supposed to be focused on education, but so many of our recent editions – about teacher strikes, a teacher shortage, politics in the classroom, student loan debt – have fallen into that space.

Today it is national test score data suggesting that American 9-year-olds took a major step backward during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many of them were not physically in the classroom.

Average scores between 2020 and 2022 in math and reading fell “by a level not seen in decades,” according to CNN’s report:

7 points down in math – the first decline ever.
5 points down in reading – the largest decline since 1990.

The scores decreased more among lower-performing students and Black and Hispanic students, suggesting the pandemic was harder on groups of people already struggling.

The results are being interpreted as proof of what many parents, teachers and other sentient beings already suspected: that remote learning was a failure.

“It’s not surprising,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, appearing on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday. “Keeping in mind a year and a half ago, over half of our schools were not open for full-time learning.”

What is this test? The National Assessment of Educational Progress, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, is known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” It’s a congressionally mandated program within the US Department of Education, and it selects a representative sample of students to project a national picture.

In-person learning. Cardona argued the Biden administration helped get districts back to in-person learning, which may be technically true, but is counter to the perception that Republican-led states were quicker to push their schools to return.

Schools and politics. Republicans have looked to grassroots school board politics – and making sure kids are physically in school – as a campaign issue, although the efforts have veered into disputes over race and gender.  READ MORE...

US Ranking in Global Education

The United States is not investing as much in human capital as other developed countries are. As a result, its comparative advantage is falling behind. For example, U.S. students' math skills have remained stagnant for decades.1 This means the country is falling behind many others, such as Japan, Poland, and Ireland, which have greatly improved. In fact, U.S. test scores are now below the global average.

Comparing Test Scores
The Program for International Student Assessment tests 15-year-old students around the world and is administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 2018, when the test was last administered, the U.S. placed 11th out of 79 countries in science. It did much worse in math, ranking 30th.2


The U.S. scored 478 in math, below the OECD average of 489. That's well below the scores of the top five, all of which were in Asia: Singapore at 569, Macao at 555, Hong Kong at 551, Taiwan at 531, and Japan at 527. China was not included in this ranking, since only four provinces participated.3


In science, the United States scored at 502, above the OECD average of 489. The top five highest-scorers were Singapore at 551, Macao at 544, Estonia at 530, Japan at 529, and Finland at 522.  READ MORE...

My Teaching Experience

My working career lasted 45 years and then another 5 years was spent teaching part-time for a university in Knoxville, TN.  Of my 45 years, over twenty years was also spent teaching both employees of business and industry as well as degree seeking students.

I found that students that were sent to classes by their employers were more serious and dedicated students than were degree seeking students.  However, there were exceptions and those came from the older student who had suddently decided to finish or start their college education.  These older students were dream students for a teacher as they were bound and determined to learn and retain as much as they could.

Degree seeking students or those students right out of high school were almost as stupid as a door stop.  They could not write.  They could not spell.  They could not problem solve.  They could not read out of a book.  They did not want to do their homework.  They were not creative.  They wanted to be told exactly how to do something.  They did not ask questions in class.  They assumed as long as they did the work they deserved a "A" regardless of the quality of that work.

If I was working in HR, I would not hire any of these college graduate as they did not know how to pour piss out of a boot with directions written on the heel.  They were pittiful...  And, even more pittiful than them were the professors who passed them through all their previous classes.

I remember asking several students what they remembered from the class before mine that they had just completed and they said nothing because all they did was memorize.  They retained nothing.  Not retaining is not learning.

GOOD LUCK EMPLOYERS...

Students Demand "A" Grades

Students at an elite, private university in New York City are occupying a campus building with the demand that all be given A grades.

The original reason for The New School occupation, which began on December 8, was to support striking faculty members who were lobbying for higher wages and better health care.

Though the faculty strike has since been resolved, a letter of demands now calls for A grades for all students. It says in part: "We demand that every student receives a final course grade of A as well as the removal of I/Z grades for the Fall 2022 semester." The letter insisted, "Attendance shall have no bearing on course grade." (According to the New School’s website, an "I" grade is a "temporary incomplete" and a "z" grade is an "unofficial withdrawal.")

The letter also states that occupying students demand a refund "for the loss of instructional time due to the strike" and that "this tuition refund will be proportional to the duration of the semester during which the strike is in effect."

Students are also calling for the resignations of the school’s president, provost, vice president and the disbandment of the Board of Trustees. Other demands include a tuition freeze from 2023 to 2028. As reported by The Daily Caller, students are also demanding for the university president’s house "be treated as a communal property."

Assistant Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Amy Malsin commented to Fox News Digital on the unfolding situation: "The university supports peaceful free expression by our students, and we are listening closely to all of our students' concerns."  READ MORE...

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Surfing

 

Strictly Political

 

Alone for the Holidays

I was watching a television commercial the other day and while I cannot remember what the commercial was about, I remember one of the people being interviewed said that it was horrible being alone for the holidays.

The holidays she was talking about were the Christmas Holidays.

The more I thought about that commercial and what the person said, the more it bothered me but I could not figure out why...

Then it dawned on me.

During my first year in college, my parents and my brother were living in Holland and my sister was also in college and not really close by.  Some of my cousins were about 2 hours away but I did not know them very well.

I did not have a car, so I was not mobile and did not have the money to rent a car.

The college that I attended was a suitcase college, as everyone went home for the weekend...  at least 70-80% of the students, I would suspect.

So, every weekend, I was alone from Friday at noon until Sunday evening.

Instead of being alone on the holidays, I was alone every weekend which was the same to me as being a holiday...  from the standpoing that ALONE IS ALONE...   and, it does not take a special holiday to feel the sensation of being alone.

I was with family over the Christmas holiday, but all the rest of them I was alone:  Thanksgiving, Easter, Spring Break, Valentines Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day.

Being alone is not horrible just because it is Christmas...  Being alone is no fun anytime of the year.

 

US China Chip War

The US is rapidly ramping up efforts to try to hobble China's progress in the semiconductor industry - vital for everything from smartphones to weapons of war.

In October, Washington announced some of the broadest export controls yet - requiring licences for companies exporting chips to China using US tools or software, no matter where they're made in the world.

Washington's measures also prevent US citizens and green card holders from working for certain Chinese chip companies. Green card holders are US permanent residents who have the right to work in the country.

It is cutting off a key pipeline of American talent to China which will affect the development of high-end semiconductors.

Why is the US doing this?

Advanced chips are used to power supercomputers, artificial intelligence and military hardware.

The US says China's use of the technology poses a threat to its own national security.

Alan Estevez, undersecretary at the US Commerce Department announced the rules, saying his intention was to ensure the US was doing everything it could to prevent "sensitive technologies with military applications" from being acquired by China.

"The threat environment is always changing and we are updating our policies today to make sure we're addressing the challenges," he said.

Meanwhile, China has called the controls "technology terrorism".

Countries in Asia that produce chips - such as Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea - have raised concerns about how this bitter battle is affecting the global supply chain.

And there were three significant developments in the chip conflict over the past week.  READ MORE...

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