A young Jamaican Kevaughn Ellis has put together this interesting video about Friendships. It is interesting and gives you reason to think about your current friendship status. Are your friends truly your friends?
I am one that usually vilify my country when things go wrong but when things are right, I am the first to go on the mountain top and announce the good news. Here is one such news. Jamaican Scientist Dr. Henry Lowe , whose work on prostate cancer is well known, yes well known despite the shut out from the powers that be, was awarded a Patent on his cure and medicine for prostate cancer.
This is special, very special and once again proves we are as small as we want to be. Size matters only if you think small. The fight for cancer is a worldwide battle that some want to use to rake in billions at the expense of people dying. Dr Lowe’s work is from the heart, from a place where he was affected by friends and loved ones dying of cancer so finding a cure was for him a labor of love..
Let us raise little David high enough to challenge Golliath, challenge the System and challenge the status quo. The cure for cancer is not a luxury, it is a human need . No man should use this need to profit for their personal gains. Something is wrong when we let people die for money. I applaud Dr. Lowe and hope through his work many will live to enjoy the gift of life.
From Jamaica’s Gleaner publication
Renowned Jamaican scientist and entrepreneur Dr Henry Lowe has been awarded a second patent from the world’s leading United States Patent Office on the anti-cancer activities of the ball moss. The patent was issued on May 6 and titled,” Methods for inhibiting prostate cancer by kinases and angiogenesis inhibitory mechanisms.” Dr Joseph L. Bryant of the University of Maryland shares the patent with Dr Lowe.
The patent states that the ball moss isolates have been demonstrated to inhibit the growth and viability of prostate cancer cells by selectively inhibiting certain types of proteins called kinases, which signals the directive for cancer cells to grow and spread. The mechanism also prevents angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels to feed the cancer tumours.
According to Dr Lowe, his passion for prostate cancer research, “is not only because it has impacted negatively on the health of family members and friends, but also because it is one of the major cancers which cause death and harm to the majority of black males, throughout the world, particularly here in Jamaica.”
Not only has he been doing laboratory and clinical work on prostate cancer with ball moss isolates and alpha prostate formula, Lowe is the lead author in the development of a book, The Prostate Cancer Guide – a resource for Jamaican men and their families, which was sold out and is being updated for a second publication.
Three years ago, at the launch of the Bio-Tech R&D Institute (which he founded) Dr Lowe promised to develop a nutraceutical called alpha prostate formula, with ball moss as the major ingredient in the formulation. This product was developed as promised and is now being sold internationally as a nutraceutical for the management of prostate health. Alpha prostate formula also boasts the distinction of being the only such product in the world.
Dr Lowe has published 12 peer-reviewed research papers on ball moss in leading academic journals and his discoveries and publications make him the world’s authority on this subject. He is the first person to have discovered that the ball moss has major bio-medicinal properties.
Jamaican economist Dr. Andre Haughton ask a question if Jamaica should dollarise its currency in light of its prevailing economic conundrum. He explains the process as clearly as he can in this essay and leaves you the reader to make your own decision .I will withhold my comments however I will add that it will take a hurricane to clear up the mess created.
IN LIGHT of the depreciating Jamaican currency relative to the US,Briefing revisits dollarisation.
Dollarisation is the situation where a country replaces its domestic currency with the currency of another country. This foreign currency for example, the US dollar or the British pound, becomes the legal tender which is used to conduct day-to-day transactions and as a store of value. If Jamaica decides to use the US dollar instead of, or along with the Jamaican dollar as legal tender; Jamaica is dollarised. Any situation where the domestic currency is replaced by a foreign currency is considered dollarisation. So if Jamaica decides to use China’s currency as legal tender and a store of value, then Jamaica is dollarised under this circumstance as well. However, for simplicity and ease of explanation, the US dollar is used as example to explain how the process works in this article.
What are the types of dollarisation?
Dollarisation can either be official, semi-official or unofficial. Official dollarisation is a direct currency substitution. Here, the foreign currency completely replaces the domestic currency as legal tender. Such is the case in British Virgin Islands and El Salvador, where the Government has stopped issuing the domestic currency, which has been replaced by the US dollar. There are instances as well where the domestic currency is used alongside the US dollar as legal tender; such is the case in The Bahamas and Uruguay. This is referred to as semi-official dollarisation.
Unofficial dollarisation, or asset substitution as it is called, occurs where residents of a country hold a significant portion of their financial instruments (bank deposits, stocks and bonds) in foreign currency instead of local currency. Unofficial or financial dollarisation is normally a characteristic of developing countries like Jamaica.
In these economies assets denominated in US dollars will maintain value even if the exchange rate increases and domestic currency loses value. More than 40 per cent of Jamaica’s financial assets were denominated in foreign currency in 2004.
What are the advantages of dollarisation?
Official dollarisation can improve Jamaica’s trade and investment. If Jamaica decides to use the US dollar as legal tender, this would remove all the foreign currency transaction cost between Jamaica and the US as well as between Jamaican and any other country that uses the US dollar. All goods, services and financial instruments purchased by Jamaicans from the US would be done in a common currency, thereby eliminating exchange-rate fluctuations which tend to have a negative impact on trade and investment between countries. By dollarising, Jamaica might increase investors’ confidence in the economy, in so doing attract more investment to the country as investors face less exchange-rate risk. This increase in investment could boost production and stimulate economic growth. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests that by adopting the same currency, trade can increase between countries (Rose 2000). Dollarisation can also improve availability of foreign currency (liquidity) and reduces the possibility of a currency crisis arising from the financial market channel. Evidence suggests that dollarisation has improved liquidity and asset quality in Ecuador and El Salvador; see Quispe-Agnoli and Whisler (2006).
What are the disadvantages?
By officially dollarising the economy, Jamaica would lose control of its monetary policy and the ability to use exchange rate as a tool to impact the economy. For example, Jamaica could not depreciate the value of its currency in an attempt to increase international trade under any circumstance. Jamaica is basically surrendering its monetary policy to the United States; all decisions by the Bank of Jamaica become dependent on United States Federal Government.
By officially dollarising the economy, the Government would lose the ability to print money to pay domestic debt or to finance domestic public expenditure. Neither could they print money to lend to commercial banks in cases of emergency. If the economy is financially dollarised, commercial banks might encounter mismatch currency risk and default risk. If commercial banks convert deposits denominated in US dollars to loans in Jamaican dollars, they face the risk of losing on these investments if the exchange rate depreciates before the assets are reconverted to US. Also commercial banks face the risk of default when they lend foreign currency to local investors.
What is the outcome?
Whether Jamaica decides to dollarise or not depends on the trade-off between exchange-rate stability and the need to have control over its monetary policy. By dollarising, the macro economy might become more stable given that there is less exchange rate risk, which comes at the expense of losing autonomy over monetary policy. The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.
Life in any large metropolis can be exciting for all its modern facilities it offers and on the other hand challenging for those that fall below the poverty line, with very little to look forward to or hope. Kingston Jamaica is no different. Life is tough in the inner cities and there comes a time the desire to survive is as detrimental as the air you breathe. Tough people know how to survive in tough times.
This short documentary, from director, writer and producer Gabrielle Blackwood from Trinidad & Tobago and was featured in the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival , depicts the immoral decision two youths from the inner city of Kingston have to make in order to survive. it is gripping, chilling and riveting. It holds nothing back. It tells you what most people don’t want to hear. It shows the extent humanity goes to survive. It is tough. It is hard. It is real.
PT
Synopsis:
TWO KINGSTON street boys, Brinks and Moses, make a living selling stolen items from freshly laid graves. One night in the graveyard they discover a stash of buried firearms. Brinks decides to sell the guns to an unscrupulous customer despite Moses’s objections – with serious repercussions.
Martin Luther King is honored today to remember his life and work. Here is a man that simply talked with action, something that is foreign from similar people in similar positions today. They just don’t come into our lives like they used to anymore. Most of our political leaders have become soft at the edges, cold as ice, their words and promises flow like water down a drain. They represent barrels, barrels filled with dried bush that is lit by critics and observers at every opportunity as they pontificate on a platform.
King was different, so different he died for what he preached. MLK was a prophet. His message caustic to the ears of the unbeliever and fire to the oppressor. One of his famous quotes on America is depicted in this piece and when I read it I could not help but think the same thing applies for my country.
It has been only 52 years since our so called Independence from Britain, which really makes us a novice in nation building, but what seems apparent over the years is that our leaders lacked one thing – vision. Not one, over the 52 years and counting, has ever expressed a vision for the country that is real and achievable for the people of Jamaica, one that is sold, bought and every man and woman marching to achieve. And so in my estimation Jamaica is still a country of varied people of intellect; economically each man for himself ; emotionally defending the name Jamaica as would a man his own mother; furiously expressive in the international arena and openly disloyal as he seeks personal advantages that are still not sowed in the soil of where he was born.
Immigration and travel is useful and necessary but no man leaves his home and forgets it unless that home had no integrity and gave them no aching sense of a place where they can be who they are in a productive and loving way.
in Jamaica every generation that springs from the previous generation is aquatic in characteristics – they take the shape of any idea that surrounds them and has the flavor of what influences them. Why is this ? Simple- Jamaica has no vision. People without a national vision of citizenry will take the shape of any vision that offers progress, even if it is completely foreign to their culture.There are approximately over 2 million Jamaicans living overseas doing exactly this. There is no country in the world, including Iceland, that you will not find a Jamaican living and contributing to a foreign vision. Those that are left behind will wait for their chance but like Martin Luther will say..”Jamaica is a great nation but….
1. …for the cleanliness & our Environment. Just recently in Westmoreland hundreds of fish dead from pollution in the river. We are still a dirty and unhealthy nation. How do we solve this problem? We divide and rule -the upper class and tourist areas are pristine and the areas for local Jamaicans are left in filth. Every now and then tempers flair, local leaders duck responsibility and the problem ignored. Our protected areas are as slippery as the ground they preserve with successive government seem un-interested in preservation and more for diversification.
2.…for the lack of respect for National Heritage & History: Whatever exists is poorly maintained and the others left to rot and decay. We have no sense of history, its value or its documentation on who we are as Jamaicans. Every Parish has a share of Jamaican history and in every parish, save for capital Kingston, there is not one respectable monument that our visitors and people can visit with PRIDE.
3. ….we are still Religiously attached : Our political leaders are still connected by the umbilical cord of religion so we wear a secular coat but technically a devoted theocracy. It is as if through the incongruous prayer breakfast held recently, we collectively place our problems in prayer to the most high hoping for a miracle will happen. To date we are still waiting on this miracle. Prayer without action is like a man starting a car without gas- it wont move!
4. ….our Laws are weak: Our law keepers are just as weak as the law breakers: There are a good few but those that are weak are insipidly corrupting the entire forces and unless the ones so brave like Martin Luther King stand up and change the conversation it will remain nothing but a bar brawl, each man shouting their own vision of what he considers law and order and his version of human rights. We are never proactive- always reactive and the laws we have are barely enforced.
5. …for no accountability: I will only use one example: The recent audit where millions of dollars are used to order the drug viagra for prisoners when in fact it is a fraudulent activity for officers only shows the depth of government corruption that exists. Corruption is enemy of progress and the whore of lawlessness.
6. …we treat everyone with suspicion: The elderly, the young, sometimes the rich and most times the poor when attempting to receive benefits are given and granted suspiciously and with contempt. Our society has so much mistrust for each other that even those that are dead are held with suspicion and need a plethora of paper work, wrapped with bundles of bureaucracy to be moved, autopsied and buried. The hospitals, as crowded as they are takes hours, days and sometimes weeks to receive care. We are not kind to each other.
7.….for thousands of Jamaicans are disenfranchised : Simply put there are thousands of illegal workers in Jamaica working without permits, illegally and being paid much higher than Jamaicans. In Jamaica , Jamaicans are the inferior worker. How we solve this: We know it and we remain quiet as the Ministry of Labor will hardly do anything anyway!
8. ….the Quality of living is determined by the money you possess: The quality of life you live in Jamaica is directly affected by your income or lack there of and as sparse as incomes are , so too is the quality of life – the only thing that remains for all Jamaicans collectively to enjoy, freely and without judgement of place in society is our beaches and even that is threatened.
And so we have to pause and take a look at where we are. Jamaica is a great nation but… we cannot seem to solve the little problems. Is it the lack of money , is it lack of care, the lack of a common commitment or is it the usual divide and rule version of living that is evident in the so called first world economies where the rich is propped by governmental benefits and the poor on their own, constantly fighting for RIGHTS of all kind and themes?
One thing is definite- Jamaica, like all the other countries whose government are formed by black ethnic nationalities, Africa included, continue to prove one thing- that the countries run by White ethnic nationalities seem to be the preferred place of domain and are pound for pound better run, have better quality of life and accountability and has a vision for their people and country. Name me one black run country that is socially, economically and culturally progressive and I will immediately retract my statement. And let us not use the imperialist argument either. We are no different than they are.
Jamaica is a blessed and great country but..…until we have a collective vision, a vision that shows our Jamaican Wealth is far greater than those countries we seek, we will forever be a country lead by the clueless, in habited by the frustrated and remain an island of exuberant people running fast whilst they sneeringly steal our wealth while we are cheering.
If you have not heard about this consider yourself lucky. The age old rule of one man for one woman is slowly being thrown out the door by some people, with everyone singing Kumbaya! Polyamore is catching on in North America faster than one can imagine. It is the simple arrangement that you have more than one partner, everyone knows about it and there are no wars, period. Melissa Pandika wrote this juicy pice for OZY and I thought I would share it with my family. Enjoy and please remember to leave your comments below.
Jen Day and her boyfriend of 11 years, Pepper Mint (yes, that’s his real name), live together with their cat in a whitewashed house on a narrow, leafy street in Berkeley, Calif. They kiss and nuzzle and have date nights, like any other couple.
Just not always with each other.
Day has another boyfriend. Mint has another girlfriend — and just began seeing two other women, too. The couple practice polyamory: They have multiple committed relationships at once, with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.
There’s a shaken belief [leading to] more openness to seeing what works rather than believing in some tradition.
Large-scale studies tracking the number of polyamorous (aka “poly”) individuals don’t exist, but evidence from polyamory groups, relationship therapists and dating websites suggests that figure is rising fast. University of Michigan psychologist Terri Conley estimates that 5 percent of Americans are involved in consensual non-monogamous relationships. As of last year, there’s even a poly social network, Kotango — it has 4,000 users so far.
Why are we embracing more than one partner? Skepticism of monogamy plays a part. Roughly 20 percent of U.S. marriages end in divorce.
“There’s a shaken belief” leading to “more openness to seeing what works rather than believing in some tradition,” says San Francisco clinical psychologist Deborah Anapol. And, in general, people have grown more open to alternative lifestyles.
Of course, it’s also possible that interest in polyamory has remained stable — but people just have more opportunity to take part. Thanks, Internet!
Still, the poly-curious should think hard before making the leap. Polyamory might sound like free love, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Maintaining multiple healthy relationships takes McKinseyian time-management skills and grace dealing with jealousy. Skeptics worry about the welfare of children in polyamorous families. The stigma hasn’t quite worn off, either.
They don’t really think of you as a partner, but as a human.
“A lot of people get into this relationship style and don’t really have the tools to do it ethically, so people get hurt,” says Michael (last name not given), who organizes polyamory events in the San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay Area, Calif. “People are like, ‘I dated this guy who was poly and was a sleazebag.’ It gives the lifestyle a bad name.”
Polyamory has existed in most cultures, but the term “polyamory” didn’t emerge until the 1990s in San Francisco, where group marriages and open relationships from the free love and queer movements coalesced into the modern polyamory movement. Since then, polyamory has taken on a variety of forms.
“If you ask one person what their definition of polyamory is, it will be totally different from somebody else’s,” says Maryland-based sex and kink educator Cassie Fuller.
To wit: Fuller and her husband practice polyfidelity, in which all members are considered equal partners who remain faithful to one another. Mint and Day form intimate networks, labeling their lovers as “primary,” “secondary” and “tertiary” depending on the level of commitment. Michael and Yi-Ling (last name not given) practice relationship anarchy, participating in open relationships without ranking partners.
In relationship anarchy, “you don’t refer to your partners as partners or lovers or cuddle buddies or dating,” Yi-Ling says. “All this terminology is thrown out the window…. There are no expectations…. They don’t really think of you as a partner, but as a human.”
SOURCEAlamy
Sexual jealousy and possessiveness can be a problem, poly people admit. Brutally honest conversation — including about how far a partner can go sexually with someone else — can help, as can limiting talk about other partners. Sometimes jealousy can be channeled into something pretty hot.
Time-management is trickier.
“That’s the real hard part — finding time to give everyone what they need,” Day says. Mint stays organized with a calendar on his cellphone, filled with rows of color-coded time slots. He and Day have a date about twice a week, and cleaning and cooking count. Day also has a weekly standing date with her other boyfriend.
It’s hard to know exactly how many people identify as polyamorous, because few universities fund research on sexual minorities. There’s not a standard definition of polyamory, either. Most poly people agree on it in principle, but fill in the details themselves.
“What about a couple who thinks of themselves as swingers, but swings with the same friends for years and years, falling in love with each other?” says relationship consultant Elisabeth Sheff.
And yet, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests an upswing. Local poly organizations have experienced a surge in membership, while sex and relationship therapists have noticed a rise in poly clients.
“All signs point to an upward trend,” says Niko Antallfy, a sociology lecturer at Macquarie University.
The real trend is toward more tolerance and acceptance of diversity.
Oh but the critics! There are many. Some, predictably, consider polyamory amoral. Others blame a shift toward a “me-me” culture.
“We have been taught in this generation that we can have it all”— including more than one relationship, says Karen Ruskin, a Boston therapist. And polyamory remains stigmatized. “Coming out” could mean risking friendships, or more. Mint recalls one community member who lost his teaching job.
SOURCEAlamy
Advocates and skeptics alike agree that although polyamory will likely continue to spread, it won’t replace monogamy, because cultural and religious beliefs that condemn polyamory will continue to exist. In other words, the U.S. isn’t legalizing polyamorous marriage anytime soon. Assuming it does, sorting out the legal aspects will be a headache, from taxes to inheritance to, yes, divorce.
Yet Anapol predicts “it’s only a matter of time” before the law embraces many-member marriages. Meanwhile, she predicts, more people will experiment with polyamory at some point. “The real trend is toward more tolerance and acceptance of diversity,” Anapol says.
Three needn’t always be a crowd.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to correctly state the divorce rate in the U.S.
Video by Tom Gorman. Tom is an OZY video producer.
I had to share my views on the #CharlieHebdo story currently trending on social and all the networks. The massacre of the journalist is an incorrigible act bordering on barbarism. The videos of the murderer shooting the policeman is cold and frankly a reciprocal act for them is warranted. But this is my personal view. I can rant, fume and shout but it does not make my anger right. Anger is an expression best suited for cowards.
I believe every journalist has a responsibility. By responsibility I do not mean self censorship, I mean a responsibility to change. I often wonder at human spirit and nature, the two not exclusive of the other.There is always someone that will always think, act and do things differently. Human beings are the most complex of the species. It takes nothing and everything to trigger a negative or positive reaction. It is a constant wonder why we possess so many conflicting emotions. Whilst we wonder at man’s inconsistencies, we who are given a responsibility must seek to always educate, seek to calm and seek to promote his better judgement and not feed his fuel to anger.
Freedom of speech is not absolute. The #CharlieHebdo journalistic approach of expressing ‘freedom of speech’ by way of its cartoons is to me like a child playing with fire. The world is complex and whilst as a freedom of speech practitioner you are adamant on expression, I also believe you are not exercising journalism but practising martyrdom.
Human nature will not change in a day, neither will journalism. But what we can control is how we do journalism and from my perspective do it with honor, rigor, truth but sincere humility. Journalist do not use their pens as swords, they use their knowledge as weapons- weapons of change, weapons of education, weapons of respect , weapons of entertainment and weapons of civility.
What happened at #CharlieHebdo is a stain on journalism, it is also a message to #FreedomOfSpeech and that message is Speech, whilst a God Given Right , must be used to Uplift not Suppress, give voice to the dumb and eyes to the blind.
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