15 Apr
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Besides becoming a political stomping ground for the Pan-Green and Pan-Blue coalitions, there are other changes from past years of Taipei Audio Video Fair (TAVF). With those changes in mind, Wikinews reporter Rico Shen interviewed You-peng Wang, chairman of the Taipei Electrical Commercial Association (TECA), the main organizer of TAVF, about the 60th year anniversary of TECA and the changes to the show.
14 Apr
bytimothyharvard
Have you always dreamed of an African vacation? If you have visions of lions sunning themselves while herds of wildebeests pass in the distance, Nairobi is the place for you – but there’s more to it than its iconic safaris. The city and its surrounding areas offer varied experiences that will delight, entertain, and educate by day. In the evening, a boutique hotel in Nairobi offers hospitality and comfort, whether you’re looking to decompress with a workout or relax with a cold Tusker beer.
Nairobi National Park
Though it is teeming with wildlife, this park is more than just a convenient place to get up close and personal with the animals East Africa is known for. It’s also a sanctuary, a place where the kongoni antelope thrives, even though, the species is in decline elsewhere. Located so close to the city that in places, the buildings appear to be directly behind the herds of buffalo and the preening kori bustards, the park is a must-see on any trip to Nairobi.
Kenyan Cuisine
The food in Nairobi heavily favors charred meats, but there is much more to Kenyan gastronomy than barbecued beef or grilled lamb. Epicureans can enjoy spicy gizzards, a Kenyan delicacy, as well as a variety of seafood, salads, vegetable-based dishes, and desserts featuring local, seasonal fruits. A delicious meal at a boutique hotel in Nairobi is the perfect way to wind down from a busy day of sightseeing.
Kibera
The world’s biggest slum is as much a part of Nairobi as the sweeping savannah vistas or the majestic giraffes. Although a visit to this massive neighborhood of tin-roofed shacks might not be the first experience you think of when planning your itinerary, you might be surprised to learn that several companies offer guided tours of the neighborhood, allowing visitors to witness firsthand the resilience of the residents and the efforts being made to improve their circumstances. While staying at a boutique hotel in Nairobi, you can rely upon the staff to help you arrange this and other off-beat experiences for a one-of-a-kind trip you’ll remember for a lifetime.
Karen Blixen Museum
If you’re a fan of Out of Africa, this stop will be near the top of your priority list. The museum offers the opportunity to step into the famed Danish memoirist’s home and view it as it was during the time the book was written. Fans of the movie can walk the very grounds where much of it was filmed, directly experiencing the visually stunning setting that graced the screen in 1985.
With a boutique hotel in Nairobi as your home base, you will have access to these and other unique, exciting experiences. Book your suite in a Wasini All Suite Hotel in Nairobi and start planning your dream vacation today!
14 Apr
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Australian researchers say they have scientifically proven that stress causes sickness. The Garvan Institute in Sydney has discovered that a hormone, known as neuropeptide Y, (NPY) is released into the body during times of stress. Their findings show the hormone can stop the immune system from functioning properly.
“Neuropeptide Y is one of those hormones that gets unregulated or released from neurones when stressful situations occur…it’s known for example that it regulates blood pressure and heart rates so your heart rate goes up but it hasn’t been known that it actually can affect immune cells as well,” said Professor Herbert Herzog, one of the researchers.
Herzog feels it is good to finally have proof of something people have suspected for so long.
“Now we have proven without doubt that there is a direct link and that stress can weaken the immune system and that makes you more vulnerable when you for example have a cold or flu and even in the more serious situations such as cancer can be enhanced in these situations,” said Herzog.
The Garvan Institute study centres on two key events that enable the human body to recognise foreign substances and control invaders. When our body encounters a pathogen (bacteria and viruses), the immune cells retain and interrogate suspects. Their activation is made possible by NPY. These cells then return to the lymph nodes, which are found all over the body, with information about the foreign invaders. The lymph nodes are where decisions about defence are made.
“Most of us expect to come down with a cold or other illness when we are under pressure, but until now we have mostly had circumstantial evidence for a link between the brain and the immune system,” said lead Garvan researcher, associate Professor Fabienne Mackay. “During periods of stress, nerves release a lot of NPY and it gets into the bloodstream, where it directly impacts on the cells in the immune system that look out for and destroy pathogens (bacteria and viruses) in the body.”
In the case of bacteria and viruses, TH1 cells are part of the attack team that is sent out on the ‘search and destroy’ mission. But when their job is done they need to be turned ‘off’ and the immune system reset. The same hormone, NPY, that activates the sentry cells now prompts the TH1 cells to slow down and die.
“Under normal conditions, circulating immune cells produce small amounts of NPY, which enables the immune cells on sentry duty and the TH1 immune cells to operate – it’s a yin and yang kind of situation. But too much NPY means that the TH1 attack is prevented despite the foreign invaders being identified – and this is what happens during stress,” added McKay.
The impact of stress on the body has been observed in athletes. Ph. D researcher at the University of Queensland, Luke Spence, together with the Australian Institute of Sport, studied elite and recreational athletes over five months.
They found elite athletes were more susceptible to respiratory diseases under stress.
“A lot of elite athletes put themselves through vast amounts of physical stress in their training, but also their emotional, psychological stress of feeling the pressure of Australia on their shoulders, wanting to compete and wanting to do their best,” said Spence.
It’s not just athletes who are prone to stress. Pressures at work and at home may cause emotional and mental stress that can be equally damaging. Almost a third of all work absenteeism in Australia is due to illness, costing employers over $10 billion a year.
“I think it has a huge impact for the work force and also for employers – if their employees are constantly stressed, constantly under pressure, they are more likely to get sick,” Spence said.
Further research could lead to the development of new drugs which may inhibit the action of the neuropeptide Y hormone.
Herzog warns people to minimise stress before it becomes a problem.
“Relaxation methods like yoga will help you to prevent that but there will still be people out there that are not responding to that and treatment by interfering with the system will be important,” he said. “There’s obviously some time until such a treatment will be available but this is something we will definitely work towards.”
The Garvan research will be published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 202, No. 11.
14 Apr
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, A leader of the vicious Mara Salvatruchas(MS-13) gang, has issued orders from his prison cell for his followers to teach the American “Minutemen” volunteers a lesson when they begin patrolling the Mexican border tomorrow.
MS-13 gang members are considered to be America’s most violent gang with such acts of barbarism as to “cut off the testicles of their enemies and feed them to their vicious dogs” and “cut the heads off their opponents to play soccer with them”. However, such allegations of brutality doesn’t seem to frighten the “Minutemen” who are a group of Americans who are organizing more than 1,000 volunteers to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border beginning April 1st. They have been called vigilantes by Presidents Bush and Fox and sometimes sarcastically refer to themselves as “undocumented border patrol agents”. James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran and spokesman for the minutemen in response to the MS-13 threat; “We’re not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers..they(MS-13) are just a bunch of punks.”
MS-13 gang now has about 20,000 members nationwide and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has begun to focus on the gang with an initiative they call “Operation Community Shield”. The very existence of MS-13 is considered by the Conservative Voice to be a direct consequence of the USA government’s 1980’s policies in Central America; “the chickens are coming home to roost.Its(MS-13) members are the sons of immigrants from El Salvador and other Central American countries that were forced to flee because of the CIA instigated war during the Reagan Administration that completely destroyed the physical, economic, social, religious and cultural infrastructure of the region. MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles by the offspring of the immigrants for protection.”
14 Apr
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byalex
Getting an early start at keeping your child’s eyes healthy is very important. In fact, some optometrists recommend the first eye exam as early as age three. This is also a requirement for a child to have an exam before they start school. However, the earlier the exam is done, the sooner you can be assured your child has healthy eyes. This is also a great way to get a child familiar with going for an eye exam in Cape Fort Myers FL.
A young child’s eyes can be more sensitive than an adult’s. They are prone to getting childhood eye infections, such as pink eye. This is especially true if they are around other children for extended amounts of time. Places like day cares, preschools and home babysitting businesses that have several children together at one time are known for having such conditions to be passed between the children.
As your child grows older, they will still need yearly eye exams. This is extremely important after the child gets in school and is doing frequent reading or writing. Needing to focus for long periods of time to do schoolwork can cause strain on the eyes. This is often the time when it is discovered that a child needs glasses. If your child does get glasses, regular visits for an eye exam will need to be done to make sure the prescription does not need to be changed.
Once the child becomes a teenager, they may prefer to try wearing contact lenses instead of glasses. This too will require yearly checkups to make sure the contacts are still working to improve your child’s vision. Many teenagers also want to get colored contacts at this time as well.
Throughout a child’s life there are different times when it is important for him to visit an optometrist. This is just a part of making sure your child is healthy, just like regular dental or medical checkups. Taking every precaution to keep your child healthy from head to toe is the best step you can take to being an excellent parent.
13 Apr
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Visual art, fabric art, photography, performance, dance, virtual reality, and music were all the subject of sessions at Furnal Equinox 2018, a conference held from March 16 to 18 at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle. Canada’s largest furry convention by attendance, the annual event offers dozens of subculture-specific programs.
The convention’s communications and public relations coordinator for the event, Ronnie, describes furries as “people that enjoy arts and culture centred around animals and animal-themed topics, essentially. Furnal Equinox in particular, we like to celebrate in a very visual and very […] artistic nature, where we have lots of arts and performances and crafts that go on, and people celebrate with lots of socialisation involved.”
Of the attendees, Ronnie told Wikinews “they come from all walks of life. They are people of all ages, sizes, all sorts of backgrounds, and they come together under one mutual interest, which is their love for animal culture.”
“Programming at Furnal Equinox involves[…] a lot of informational panels, so you can find out about topics from art and how to draw, or how to visually incorporate different elements into your artworks. You can also find panels that teach you how to write better, be a better fiction author for example,” explained the event representative.
At one panel Wikinews attended, members of its all-volunteer organising committee spoke of the year-long process of planning the event, and their reasons for committing such a significant amount of their time. Said one panelist, “if you’re happy, we’re happy.”
The largest hub of activity at the convention was a dealer’s room; nicknamed the “Dealer’s Den”, giving it an anthropomorphic twist. Vendors were selling original visual art, wearables like faux fur tails or ears, or things like jewellery or soap with motifs that would interest attendees.
The back area of the room was dedicated to a charity auction, with proceeds benefiting Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary. According to the convention website, the charity is “dedicated to rescuing abused, neglected, and abandoned farmed animals. Their goal is to provide a safe, life-long home for all of their residents, and to educate the public about the true nature of farmed animals through tours, volunteer programs, and community outreach.”
Split into groups, some attendees played “Fursuit Games” in front of an audience, like trying to toss a ball into a garbage can. The activity made harder, of course, by the limited dexterity and vision the most of the costumes entail.
13 Apr
Friday, September 28, 2012
Melbourne, Australia — Monday, following her return from London, Wikinews talked with Amanda Carter, the longest-serving member of Australia’s national wheelchair basketball team (the Gliders).
((Wikinews)) You’re Amanda Carter!
((WN)) And, where were you born?
((WN)) It says here that you spent your childhood living in Banyule?
((WN)) Okay. And you used to play netball when you were young?
((WN)) And you’re an occupational therapist, and you have a son called Alex?
((WN)) Any more children?
((WN)) You began playing basketball in 1991.
((WN)) And that you’re a guard.
((WN)) And that you are a one point player.
((WN)) And you used to be a two point player?
((WN)) When were you first selected for the national team?
((WN)) And that was for Barcelona?
((WN)) How did we go?
((WN)) And what was Barcelona like?
((WN)) Did you play with a club as well?
((WN)) The 1994 World Championships. Where was that at?
((WN)) Which brings us to 1996.
((WN)) Your team finished fourth.
((WN)) Lost to the Unites States in the bronze medal game in front of a crowd of 5,000.
((WN)) That must have been awesome.
((WN)) They also have a fondness for the sport.
((WN)) They kept on saying in London that the Gliders have never won.
((WN)) So that was Atlanta. Then there was another tournament, the 1998 Gold Cup.
((WN)) How did we go in that?
((WN)) But that qualified… no, wait, we didn’t need to qualify…
((WN)) You were the second leading scorer in the event, with thirty points scored for the competition.
((WN)) In basketball, some of the low pointers do pretty well.
((WN)) I notice the scores seem lower than the ones in London.
((WN)) How often do the Gliders get together? It seems that you are all scattered all over the country normally.
((WN)) That’s reasonably often.
((WN)) I didn’t see you training in Sydney this time… then you went over to…
((WN)) 2000. Sydney. Two Australia wins for the first time against Canada. In the team’s 52–50 win against Canada you scored a lay up with sixteen seconds left in the match.
((WN)) That brings us to the 2000 Paralympics. It says you missed the practice game beforehand because of illness, and half the team had some respiratory infection prior to the game.
((WN)) You scored twelve points against the Netherlands, the most that you’ve ever scored in an international match.
((WN)) At one point you made four baskets in a row.
((WN)) The team beat Japan, and went into the gold medal game. You missed the previous days’ training session due to an elbow injury?
((WN)) During the match, you were knocked onto your right side, and…
((WN)) Someone just bumped you?
((WN)) You were knocked down and you tore the tendons in your elbow, which required an elbow reconstruction…
((WN)) You spent eleven weeks on a CPM machine – what’s a CPM machine?
((WN)) You’re right handed?
((WN)) So, how’s the movement in the right arm today?
((WN)) You still can’t fully flex the right hand.
((WN)) How old is he now?
((WN)) So that recurs, does it?
((WN)) So you gave up wheelchair basketball after the 2000 games?
((WN)) Did they cover you from the 2000 injury?
((WN)) Who was that?
((WN)) Back in the Gliders again.
((WN)) And of course you got selected for 2012…
((WN)) My recollection is that you weren’t on the court a great deal, but there was a game when you scored five points?
((WN)) That was against Mexico.
((WN)) The strange thing was that afterwards the Mexicans were celebrating like they’d won…
((WN)) The speed at which things move is quite astonishing.
((WN)) Because you are the more experienced player.
((WN)) And now you have another silver medal.
((WN)) We double-checked, and there was nobody else on the team who had been in Sydney, much less Barcelona or Atlanta.
((WN)) Most of the Gliders seem to have come together in 2004, the current roster.
((WN)) Are you still playing?
((WN)) You would have been isolated from him anyway.
((WN)) Fair enough.
((WN)) You will continue playing with the club?
((WN)) Is there anything else you’d like to say about your record? Which is really impressive. I can count the number of Paralympians who were on Team Australia in London who were at the Sydney games on my fingers.
((WN)) Greg Smith obviously, who was carrying the flag…
((WN)) What I basically wanted to ask was what sort of changes you’ve seen with the Paralympics over that time — 1992 to 2012.
((WN)) To me… London… the coverage on TV in Britain, but also here, some countries are ahead of others, but basically it’s being treated like the Olympics.
((WN)) Huge crowds…
((WN)) I was looking around the North Greenwich Arena…And that arena! The seats went up and up and up! And as it was filling on the night, you could see that even that top deck had people sitting in it. I guess in 2000 even, to fill stadiums, which we did, we gave APC and school programs, a lot of school kids came to fill seats and things. We didn’t necessarily see that in London. They were paid seats! People had gone out and spent money on tickets to come and see that sport.
((WN)) I saw school groups at the football and the goalball, but not at the basketball.
((WN)) I was very impressed with the standard of play.
((WN)) What’s in Osaka?
((WN)) After the Paralympics.
((WN)) And then after that?
((WN)) How many tournaments do they normally play each year?
((WN)) You played a tournament in the Netherlands?
((WN)) Thank you very much for that.
13 Apr
Monday, October 30, 2006
The upcoming 2006 Brampton municipal election, to be held November 13, features an array of candidates looking to represent their wards in city council or the council of the Peel Region.
Wikinews contributor Nick Moreau contacted many of the candidates, including Bill Bousfield, asking them to answer common questions sent in an email. This ward’s incumbent is Elaine Moore; also challenging Moore is Janet Hamilton and Tejinder Lamba.
13 Apr
Friday, September 30, 2011
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has been found in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act, following a pair of newspaper articles in 2009 where Bolt criticised fair-skinned people identifying as Aborigines.
Australia’s Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg said “I am satisfied that fair-skinned Aboriginal people (or some of them) were reasonably likely … to have been offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated by the imputations conveyed by the newspaper articles,” Justice Bromberg said. “People should be free to fully identify with their race without fear of public disdain or loss of esteem for so identifying.”
The articles, titled “It’s so hip to be black” and “White fellas in the black”, were published by the Herald Sun and Weekly Times in 2009, in addition to two blog posts published on the Herald Sun‘s website.
The nine plaintiffs were jubilant following delivery of the verdict. Taking legal action against Mr Bolt were former ATSIC member Geoff Clark, academic Larissa Behrendt, native title expert Graham Atkinson, academic Wayne Atkinson, lawyer Mark McMillan, activist Pat Eatock and artist Bindi Cole. They argued Bolt’s articles offended, upset and demeaned them while implying they identified as Aboriginal Australians for personal gain.
Bolt’s lawyer, Neil Young, argued in court that the articles were a genuine reflection of his client’s beliefs and were published in the public interest. “Everything that’s said, even if it’s expressed colourfully, is rationally related to a thesis that’s a matter of public interest,” Mr Young had said.
Bolt said his writings were fair and within the provisions of free speech laws. Ron Merkel, QC, for the complainants, said his clients did not target free speech, stating that while Bolt is free to express his views, he should not have attacked the nine individuals named in the articles.
Justice Bromberg told the court Bolt’s articles would have offended a reasonable member of the Aboriginal community, adding that the articles were factually incorrect and not written with good faith. “I am satisfied that each of Mr Bolt and the Herald & Weekly Times engaged in conduct which contravened section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act.”
Bolt described the verdict as “a terrible day for free speech in this country,” adding “It is particularly a restriction on the freedom of all Australians to discuss multiculturalism and how people identify themselves,”
Ms Eatock, a prominent activist and the chief plaintiff, said she was not confident of receiving an apology from Mr Bolt. “I will never get an apology from Mr Bolt. He made that clear giving his evidence earlier in the year,” she said. “But we will, I hope, get some sort of acknowledgment through the press that what he wrote was just unacceptable, totally unacceptable. He set out to offend from the word go and in fact he acknowledged that in his evidence.”
13 Apr
Friday, November 25, 2005
ESPN recently named the basketball rivalry between Calvin College and Hope College fourth greatest across all divisions of the NCAA, although fans had a different perspective. Now when the rivalry makes its way to Holland, the teams will have a new facility in which to square off.
Hope College has put the finishing touches on the new 102,000 sq ft Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse, whose foundation contributed the $7.5 million anchor gift. Designed by sports architectural firm Ellerbe Becket, the fieldhouse will hold about 3,400 fans for basketball, volleyball and will also be used as a venue for college and community events.
The state of the art facility will also house Hope’s department of kinesiology which includes athletic training, exercise science and physical education. In addition to the construction of the fieldhouse, Hope added a new science center in 2003 and renovated the Peale Science Center for ’04-05.
Ellerbe Becket has designed nearly 20 arenas for NBA and NHL teams, including the new facility for the Charlotte Bobcats.
Calvin visits Hope Saturday, 14 January 2006, and hosts the Flying Dutchman 8 February 2006.