However, what lay in the wake of this tyrant was a murderous reign of terror, wanton corruption & nepotism, political repression and violence against his own people killing over half a million Ugandans.

This series chronicles the rise and fall of Amin, a man so bent on eradicating European imperialism and foreign dominance in Africa, was as audacious, fearless and obstinate in his final quest of humiliating & expelling foreign ‘blood suckers’ out of Africa.

Finally, will Amin’s legacy carved his path as an African Nationalist and hero against European imperialism or as an infamous blood hungry African tyrant and despot, you be the judge!

Part I  | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | part VI | Part VIII | Part IV | Part X

MEGA MINIONS
Like or hate the guy, a lot has been written about one of the most controversial figure in history if not the most controversial U.S president ever. BUT, you have to  respect someone like GW, a crazy, charismatic ‘gun-slinging’ from the hip cowboy who took no prisoners and was as stubborn and defiant as hell.  Oh yeah, he also made sure he was the quarterback of one of the meanest assembled cast of minions and ganstas. If the name ‘DICK’ as in DICK CHANEY or ASHCROFT do not ring a bell in your ear then I don’t know what else ever will. ‘Hey Dick, how the bloody hell can somebody SHOOT another person and demand that the wounded VICTIM publicly apologize to shooter for his own misery?’

In essence, I have taken the time  and liberty to highlight some of the ominous or outstanding merits of GW’s legacy. WHAT GEORGE BUSH’s LEGACY?  A lot has been written about George W Bush’s unpopularity around the globe.  During his administration, did he rightfully generate unnecessary hatred for America around the world? The man left office, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll with a record high domestic disapproval rating of 74%. Maybe he was so inept and he tried valiantly to wag the dog and do something else  where his legacy would be forever enshrined.!!!

Accordingly, consider the terrible consequences of the ‘anything goes’ Bush Administration, whose irresponsible non-regulation of financial institutions  led to the global financial crisis and biggest meltdown since the Great Depression.  As a direct consequence, the U.S  has never been the same and on a downward trajectory  and free-fall. The once mightiest & most wealthy superpower is now scrambling for competitive global supremacy as its daily economic  survivor  and future have been mortgaged away. Sadly, the IRONY of it all as predicted by father of totalitarianism Karl Marx, has never been this ubiquitous . The SOCIALIST and QUASI-FREE MARKET CHINA has been the surprising & biggest source of LIFE-SUPPORT and resuscitated  CAPITALISM from its ULTIMATE DEMISE. In short summary of the aforementioned, America today is literally and dangerously surviving on CREDIT, over 800 billion (and growing) bonds owed to the Communist People Republic of China, not even including what’s owed to Japan.  Is it fair or warrant anybody to place this colossal blame on one person, Mr. George Herbert-Walker Bush, Jr? Some of the critism are indeed justified; in the eight years of his presidency he actively pursued policies of deregulation which as previously mentioned caused the biggest financial  meltdown since the Great Depression.

In particular, he certainly presided over a widespread failure of regulation. On his watch, the US authorities did little to prevent the sale of millions of mortgages to people who could never afford them.  Remember those ‘NINJA’ loans? $15,000 annual income JOE BLOW approved for $2 million dollar mortgage in Beverly Hills! Bush even boasted that the success of America was indicative of the amount of homeowners and encouraged that trend.  If you can just imagine the increased pressure and scrutiny that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack must have been under from the federal government in this pursuit. They failed to police the market in mortgage-backed securities which has now collapsed with such devastating consequences. And credit default swaps, those multi-billion dollar bets on other people going bust, went almost unregulated.
POWER BALLS
However in Africa, including predominantly Muslim countries, Bush’s rating is roughly around 80% or higher. UNBELIEVABLE! The fact remains and clear today that it is not uncommon to see many children in Darfur with the name George Bush or born with the name GW (G-DUB).  Again, hate or like the guy, you have to give credit where credit is due. He had the BA%#S of STEEL to have engaged Africa not with diplomatic and verbal junk-load of psychobabble, but through tangible efforts and programs that are in fruition and saving millions of lives throughout the continent today. In accordance, I am talking about G W OUTSTANDING LEGACY in Africa. Maybe it is the only vested place that he has a legacy. These are some of the things that GW did for AFRICA that no other world leader or U.S president  including democrats have done for the continent in its history. FACT! He might go down on record as some pundits have said ‘AFRICA’s GREATEST PRESIDENT.’

Disclaimer: no disrespect to such African legends as the Kwame Khrumas, W.V.S Tubmans, A. Sekou Toures, Jomo Kenyattas,  Ben Bellas,  A. Nassers, Julius  Nyerers, etc.

HALLMARK OF GW’s African Legacy:

• Pumped $18bn into fighting HIV/Aids, much of it in Africa
• Backed cancelling $34bn worth of debt for 27 African states
• Launched initiative that has halved Malaria in 15 African countries
• Led condemnation of Sudan’s record in Darfur as genocide
• Pressed for north-south peace deal in Sudan
• “Saved millions of lives”, according to aid activist Bob Geldof
• Backed Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia to battle Islamists

Moreover, critics have given him little credit for his African initiatives, they will be among his most enduring legacies in a region of the world neglected by policymakers from both parties for too long

Lastly, to buttress an argument or present facts contrary to some of the harsh criticism. Let us take a closer look at the following. Going back into retrospect on Bush’s economic policies, the image of Mr Bush as the arch deregulator and the Democrats as the champions of stricter rules for business does not quite tally with the evidence. Let us juxtapose this argument by preponderance: Deregulation started long before President Bush came to power, and it was enthusiastically pursued by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Here is just one example:

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 separated the activities of commercial banks, which take deposits, from investment banks, which invest money. It was repealed in 1999.

‘That relaxation of the rules enabled commercial lenders, like Citigroup, to trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralised debt obligations.’

Many see the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as a major, direct cause of the current financial crisis.

But it was signed by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, and supported by many other Democratic politicians, among them the scourge of Bush deregulation Nancy Pelosi.

What is more, President Bush actually increased the burden of regulation on US companies, enacting in 2002 what he called “the most far-reaching reform of American business practices since the time of Franklin D Roosevelt”, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

A response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, including the collapse of the energy group Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley significantly increased the reporting requirements and accountability of company boards and management. So the image of Mr Bush as the arch deregulator and the Democratic Party as the champion of stricter rules for business does not quite tally with the evidence.

Finally, as President, he bore the ultimate political responsibility and his party paid the ultimate political price.  To add on, I personally DID NOT like Bush’s economic policies but I RESPECT what he did for AFRICA and yes, he does have an ESTEEM-ABLE LEGACY in Africa. I RESPECT what he did for Liberia that no carpet-bagging Democrat had the gut or courage to do. Not even the first black president before Obama, Bubba Bill Clinton (Remember Rwanda/Burundi Genocide) Hope, you all enjoyed the read. What was your pick? What do you think? Have a bless day!

BUT, have you ever felt that you had so much to do and accomplish but was a scattered ‘hot mess’, overwhelmed and didn’t know where to even start? Are you a manager, team leader/supervisor and just can’t get the ultimate best performance and productivity out of your staff/colleagues? Have you been a part or subjected to current layoffs and felt the urge to create a start-up while your creative juices are overflowing? Hold up, wait a minute! I am a firm believer that we are born with different and unique talents but regardless of our God-given talents and abilities some of us just fail miserably in reaching our fullest potential or we just don’t have the spark, energy, and TIME to blaze our own trails and enjoy our birthrights due to varying reasons and circumstances. Moreover, our environments also serve as catalyst or could be very detrimental regardless of valiant and concerted efforts in reaching our apogee (peak) and zenith.

To add on,when we are faced with the vicissitudes of life’s daily hustle and bustle and extenuating circumstances/change beyond our control we are often left with an overwhelming and exasperating feeling at the end of the day, thus not feeling accomplished, ‘PUNCTURED’ and ‘DONE’.

I am making no claim to be Superman, Tony Robins, Bill Gates, or Billy Graham and never will be;  I will always be SAM MASSAQUOI (JR),  myself and nothing more BUT I personally want to share one of the secrets to taking on so much in a  24 hr/day or how to manage & yield optimum productivity with any amount of activities (life, business, etc) in record time. I don’t see why this won’t work for anyone when fully applied.  It has and continues to work for me even with current obligation as a father, a demanding 9-5 or 9-9 and sometimes  7 days straight, managing personal & private ventures of interest, personal time for broadening my horizon with exploratory research, time for God, etc, etc. Just too DAMN much going on in such a little time but I have modestly attain great SUCCESS (not always and shouldn’t be measured only in monetary gains) with GREAT EFFICIENCY, ORGANIZATION, and RESULTS. GIVE yourself the peace of mind that you wholesomely deserve.  So what is the secret recipe or elixir? The ANSWER has been AGILE and I will show you how as in ‘how to fish’. TRUST ME! But, firstly I will like to put out a disclaimer: AGILE is not going to SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE, AGILE WON’T TAKE YOU OFF UNEMPLOYMENT (maybe, who knows?) AGILE is NOT a free hand-off. You will cut through the SPAM and Bull%@*t in your life and stay focus on a course to SUCCESS. You cannot get the desired results via AGILE if you are not DISCIPLINE and through your very own ‘DAILY SCRUM‘ that you set up, AGILE will hold you fully accountable as well.

Moreover, I have been extremely impressed with this burgeoning new methodology. Again AGILE is a methodology, so one can either practice everything it offers either from a purist point of view (oh so you think you are perfect) or as a philosophical pragmatist (Joe Practical). Let’s make no mistake, my background is in Software Development and AGILE first sprung and became popular with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) so this is not a cookie-cutter solution or ambiguous technical jargon and nonsense I am forcing down your throats. As a living testament and I tell you no lie, I have helped a handful of friends adapt agile principles to their unique lifestyles, problems & occupations (all non-technical) and WOOSAH, they have NEVER been the same and on a roller-coaster high! But wait, there’s more! This sounds too good to be true and NO I am NOT selling or marketing any products, snake oils, tapes, books, juices, etc and I do not and have not done any seminar on this either. I am only engaging in the projection and displacement of FREE KNOWLEDGE (powerful at absolutely no cost). Again you can make it anything you want it to be : AGILE FOR LIFE, AGILE FOR BUSINESS, AGILE FOR MARRIAGE, AGILE FOR FAMILY, AGILE FOR GOD, etc, etc.

Simply said and cutting through the chase, AGILE methodology is a no-bullshit approach to getting off your ass and getting things done in record time in a cleverly intelligent and well-organized manner. How is this done? I will elaborate on this later.

AGILE is like the pepto bismo to your stomach ache, Agile will be the powerful draino for your clogged pipes. The most beautiful thing with Agile is that it has been abstracted and now in this age of the ‘interweb’ and social media, you can MANAGE AGILE just like your online banking/ bills paying interface or smart phone ‘APP’. As a matter of fact, AGILE has been adapted now as the defacto management and efficiency tool for some of the world’s biggest and most successful organizations including Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. To be ‘AGILE’ is chic, hip and cool. Go and tell your boss or organization that you are doing agile and can utilize it to yield astronomical productivity with your organization in record time and see the look on their faces with astonishment. SHOW them how you have abstracted this methodology with your personal, business or private life and even go the mile of showing them your ‘burn-down charts’, ‘velocity metrics’, etc. I WILL SHOW you tools that you can download free and APPLY whatever quandary and impediments to AGILE. AGILE IS NO JOKE!

In summary, take the AGILE approach to everything productive, meaningful and worthwhile in your life and SUDDENLY become a ROCK-STAR overnight or EXPERIENCE the transformation of AWESOMENESS. Gone will be the days of procrastination or feeling overwhelmed and usurped.

AGILE is change and ADAPTABILITY. Make AGILE work for you with whatever you thing in your life’s continuum that is in need of a push. You will learn to create ‘SPRINTS’ in your life’s continuum, you will transform your stumbling blocks into stepping-stones as you amass your ‘BACKLOGS’. You will learn to focus better not by some crazy candle or incense burning meditation but through the lowest common denominator of breaking everything down in a ‘TASK-CENTRIC’ approach. No stones will be left unturned! For further reading stay tune on the follow-up to this post coming soon on ‘The BLOG’. ]]> http://sammassaquoi.com/2011/11/30/stop-agile-for-life-the-no-bsht-approach-to-success-getting-things-done/feed/ 1 http://sammassaquoi.com/2011/11/28/is-it-all-about-the-benjamins-the-greatest-lie-deception-to-modern-indentured-servitude/ http://sammassaquoi.com/2011/11/28/is-it-all-about-the-benjamins-the-greatest-lie-deception-to-modern-indentured-servitude/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:45:43 +0000 quoisinc http://sammassaquoi.com/?p=317 Essentially, We are experiencing an unheralded and unprecedented era of global economic meltdown & upheaval. A collapse on a scale unimaginable echoing loudly throughout the world, especially the once impregnable  western Europe and never seen before since the Great Depression. Alarmingly, we are on a collision course and consumed with increasingly astronomical and voluminous personal debt including our gross National debt (quadrupled since 1980). This (debt bubble) can’t go on forever and will ultimately crash! The future of our kids and grand kids has been mortgaged away unfairly right before our very eyes leaving them with nothing in its wake to work and fight for. Moreover, their birthrights have already been placed on layaway to China and foreign bidders. Is this the unfortunately unraveling and ultimate failure of capitalism and free market systems or a ruse and deception deliberately orchestrated by legacy of institutionalized fraud & chicanery?

At the heart of this argument, who is or have been at the center of all of this or what check and balances were put in place that should have prevented this free fall? This brings us to no one else but the U.S FEDERAL RESERVE or FEDERAL RESERVE BANK, the most powerful ‘central bank’ in the world. Surprisingly, over 95% of people don’t know that there is nothing FEDERAL about the FEDERAL RESERVE! From its inception chartered through act of congress in 1913, the Federal Reserve Act, the FEDERAL RESERVES still REMAINS a PRIVATE BANK with private stock holders and sole purpose solely for private profiting and not in the interest of the public. No, I am not making this up! In fact, the damn Federal Reserves has NO RESERVES to back up federal notes. Do you know why you never see or will never see the Federal Reserve Bank listed in the annually published Government Blue Pages (listings of government agencies, etc) but in your local business white pages somewhere close to a listing of other private companies such as ‘Federal Express’? Have you pondered why? This was a carefully crafted guise and deception contrary to its intended purpose which was to prevent what happened in 1907 (‘The Panic of 1907′), when the U.S was on the brink of economic disaster until J.P Morgan and other financiers took extraordinary steps and intervened. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907)

Bankers felt the real problem was that the United States was the last major country without a central bank, which might give stability and emergency credit in times of financial crisis. While segments of the financial community were worried about the power that had accrued to JP Morgan and other ‘financiers’, most were more concerned about the general frailty of a vast, decentralized banking system that could not regulate itself without the extraordinary intervention of one man. They stressed the need for an elastic money supply that could expand or contract as needed. After the scare of 1907 the bankers demanded reform; the next year, Congress established a commission of experts to come up with a nonpartisan solution.

The Aldrich Plan
With this recommendation in mind, a senator from Rhode Island, Nelson Aldrich, the Republican leader in the Senate, ran the Commission personally, with the aid of a team of economists. They went to Europe and were impressed at how well they believed the central banks in Britain and Germany handled the stabilization of the overall economy and the promotion of international trade. Aldrich’s investigation led to his plan in 1912 to bring central banking to the United States, with promises of financial stability, expanded international roles, control by impartial experts and no political meddling in finance. Aldrich asserted that a central bank had to be (contradictorily) decentralized somehow, or it would be attacked by local politicians and bankers as had the First and Second Banks of the United States. The Aldrich plan was introduced in 62nd and 63rd Congresses (1912 and 1913) but never gained much traction as the Democrats in 1912 won control of both the House and the Senate as well as the White House.

The Ruse & Fiasco
The formation of the supposedly centralized ‘FEDERAL RESERVE BANK’ was a front and fraudulent betrayal of the trust of the American people.

What should had been the formation of a centralized federal reserve bank was actually a secretive , well thought out & premeditated attempt by one-fourth of the world richest financiers at that time to exert complete control and monopoly over our lives and independence for their perpetual greed and self-aggrandizement. They secretly met in session for a week at Jekyll Island. In simple terms, a borrower is a servant to the lender. The ‘Money Changers’ at Jekyll Island endeavored to maintain control over money and issuance to facilitate this assertion. Again throughout history, wars were fought over it and depression are CAUSED over it. They realized that whoever got power to issue money would have a MONOPOLY and hegemonic geo & political influence.

As a result, these super wealthy cronies have had and exert more power than the President of the United States of America, Congress, and the Courts. It is the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK that determines whether you have a job, what your car payment and house payment will be, etc.THEY HAVE FULL CONTROL over our lives and have deliberately caused wars, including the great depression (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Federal_Reserve).

Note that in economic upheavals, the transfer of wealth is NEVER destroyed but merely transferred; this also happened for hundreds of years with the ‘Money Changers’ in Europe, UNBELIEVABLE! It comes as no surprise that in the recent 2008 recession, while millions of innocent Americans lost their homes, entire life savings, 401k and retirement, a select few ‘Money Changers’ at such gluttonous firm as Goldman Sachs shamefully ‘SHORTED’ and reaped billions of dollars at the expense of people’s misery & misfortunes. Alarmingly, take a look at the list of individuals who have served on the board of Goldman Sachs and other rogue financial institute. Almost all or every one of them served on the Federal Reserved board in a capacity of some sort. WTF??

The Historic Jekyll Island Meeting
Aldrich’s bill met much opposition from politicians. Critics were suspicious of a central bank, and charged Aldrich of being biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Aldrich’s son-in-law. Our financial system was eventually turned over to federal Reserved board to obtain profit from the use of other people’s money. How did they accomplished this? This evil institution has bankrupted our government.

Forbes magazine founder Bertie Charles Forbes wrote several years later:
‘Picture a party of the nation’s greatest bankers stealing out of New York on a private railroad car under cover of darkness, stealthily riding hundred of miles South, embarking on a mysterious launch, sneaking onto an island deserted by all but a few servants, living there a full week under such rigid secrecy that the names of not one of them was once mentioned, lest the servants learn the identity and disclose to the world this strangest, most secret expedition in the history of American finance. I am not romancing; I am giving to the world, for the first time, the real story of how the famous Aldrich currency report, the foundation of our new currency system, was written… The utmost secrecy was enjoined upon all. The public must not glean a hint of what was to be done. Senator Aldrich notified each one to go quietly into a private car of which the railroad had received orders to draw up on an unfrequented platform. Off the party set. New York’s ubiquitous reporters had been foiled… Nelson (Aldrich) had confided to Henry, Frank, Paul and Piatt that he was to keep them locked up at Jekyll Island, out of the rest of the world, until they had evolved and compiled a scientific currency system for the United States, the real birth of the present Federal Reserve System, the plan done on Jekyll Island in the conference with Paul, Frank and Henry… Warburg is the link that binds the Aldrich system and the present system together. He more than any one man has made the system possible as a working reality.’(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jekyll_Island)

Where does this leave us?
In summary, the largest single creditor to united states government is the Federal Reserve Bank, more powerful than congress, the president and courts because THEY CONTROL us. Why is inflation reportedly low but the buying power of your pay check continues to decline at an alarming rate? The Federal Reserve is in full control of money or flow of money so you WILL NEVER get out of debt. As a daily reminder and insult to this modern day servitude, our paper money reads at the very top ‘FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE’ and ‘THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBT BLA BLA BLAH…’ Yes indeed, the Federal Reserve will put more promissory note in circulation and let you burrow at an insurmountable interest, at interest to pay interest already accumulated. They (privately stock holders) will continue to use deception and make Americans think the central bank operates in our interest while the debt created by this quasi organization is killing us today. Finally, Our debt (personal & government) will never get extinguished without extinguishing the money supply through reforming the banking systems but The Federal Reserve was and is NEVER AUDITED and TOTALLY CONTROLLED OUTSIDE OF CONGRESS. Go people, ‘OCCUPY’ your MIND, get educated and see what you can and should do to protect your families. Stay tune for part II – The History of The Money Changers, from the times of Jesus in the holy temple to A.D 2011.

“A nuanced, startling memoir… Massaquoi’s unique, pathos-filled childhood in extremis is rendered superlatively, as is his portrait of a prewar Germany giddily embarked on its own destruction; he keenly perceives both the nefarious ambiguity and the human tragedy inherent in this civic embrace of evil…Substantiative and memorable.”
— Kirkus Reviews

The classic series are archived posts from the original BLOG which were highly requested by many readers as far as Japan. ‘Africa’s FIRST DIPLOMAT was a brief snippet into the splenid life of a trail blazer and champion, the most ‘Fascinating LEGENDARY KING’ Momulu Massaquoi.

Accordlingly, as a child growing up, my father often educated me about the rich tradition and royal heritage of the Massaquoi family. The Massaquois are a group of direct Mande descendants of Mansa Musa, the greatest King of the enduring Mali Empire who on record took more than 8 tons of gold on his pilgrimage to Mecca and also transformed the great learning centers and universities of Timbuktu, where such notable Greek scholars and intelligentia of the day studied. It is of no surprise the name ‘MASSAQUOI’ means ‘from the house of kings or rulership.’

Furthermore, I vividly remember Vai Queen and Paramount Chief Madam Wokie Massaquoi, whose omnipotence and esteemable rulership lead to the official CORONATION by the mighty British Empire and Queen of England herself (well documented historical facts). This was the first and maybe only official coronation of an African Monarch (Queen) by the Queen of England. Madam ruled, and wore the crown, from 1925 until her death on 1 August 1971, over 100 years old. I also learned about another great Massaquoi , ‘MOMO IV’ as my dad would say. He spoke so highly of  ‘UNCLE MOMULU’ who was an African Prince and crowned Vai King, scholar, linguist, human rights activist, diplomat, visionary and staunch advocate of the underprivileged and indeginous. It is remarkable how this man, lionized, accomplished and contributed so much in more than three continents especially at a time when you were completely ostracized, banned, or lynched simply because of the mere skin of your color. He faced insurmountable odds and succeeded at an oppressive time including the racist and fascist ideologies of Hitler and the Nazis. Again, it is with pride and honor I present KING MOMOLU MASSAQUOI.

CLICK ON IMAGES BELOW TO READ EXCLUSIVE POSTS WHICH CHRONICLE THE LIFE OF KING MOMOLU
      

In essence, I was fortunate as a Ronald McNair Research Scholar (’97,’98) at the University at Buffalo and conducted a Phd level research study in conjunction with the Dept. of Physical Therapy (Dr. Gilchrist) & Dept. of African American Studies (Dr. Y. Lulat) . In particular and of great interest, I had initially stumbled upon several scientific journals in my literary review of disorders of gait and balance, which depicted the gluteus maximus (very large buttocks) of several women as a disorder and predisposition (SEE part II of post). These results were actually quantified and to an extent in the scientific community held weight and validity for several decades and in instances serving as authoritative warrants to discrimination (SEE part II of post).

How was that possible? Culturally, I came from an African society where big buttocks (females) were viewed as an attractive feature and beauty marker. Secondly, many thoughts ran through my head including the question ‘are women of African descent with bigger gluteus maximus predisposed to disorders because of their genetics?’ What will I tell my mother, sisters, aunts, strangers, and scores of shapely and beautiful women of all colors with bigger gluteus that they kind of have a possible disorder? In the scientific community, I couldn’t really find the answers because of lack of further modern research on the topic or funding. Many considered it taboo and avoided spectacle of racism or proponent of any theory/findings labeling another race as inferior based on biological predisposition. I endeavored in my research hypothesis to find signicant or insignificant differences in sway excursions of people with extreme and large buttocks with predisposition of severe disorders of gait, balance, and spinal cord including scoliosis, lordhosis and khaposis.

Accordingly, every human being has a Center of Pressure (COP) measurement or force that negates the force of gravity acting on the human body. Moreover, our neurological, circulatory and skeletal systems all work seamlessly together in unison in making sure we stand with bipedal locomotion, think, have balance and agility. This is a pretty amazing feat! For instance we neglect that just standing straight up requires so much behind the scenes and indication of our optimal health and complex bodily systems behind the scenes. To add on, a person standing upright constantly sways medial-laterally and also anterior-posteriorly at the same time with various sway excursions. SIMPLY AMAZING! Many physiological processes and systems including circulatory, the medulla oblungata, cerebellum, occipital and frontal lobes are at at work in an orchestrated and mechanized process. As a result, our vital organs are fed oxygenated blood and relieved of de-oxygenated toxins and our balance to offset the FORCE OF GRAVITY acting on our body is maintained.

The Center Of Pressure offset is VERY IMPORTANT!! For example, if the body’s Center of Pressure measurement is off and unable to negate force of gravity, the results potentially prove fatal. Moreover, the elderly tend to fall a lot and suffer from many disorder of gait and balance as a result of proven COP measurements deviating off the norm. The sway excursion measurements of the elderly are very high and consistent with degradation of kinesthetic senses and systems responsible for maintaining the Center Of Pressure.

Similarly, young and middle-aged adults who have suffered occupational handicaps and accidents affecting the aforementioned bodily systems have Center Of Pressure measurements metrics closer to elderly.Lastly, I was blessed with extensive quantitative research data at a state of the art research facility, including FORCE PLATES measurement devices, specialized computers which ran complex data metrics and SASTURATURE ANOVA.

Lastly, one might ask ‘so how did your research pan out?’ ‘Did you find any correlation between sway of research subjects (size variations of gluteus maximus) and abnormal Center Of Pressure measurements/ sway excursions?’ I will present the interesting results from my scientific research and study in a later post so stay tuned.

GO TO PART II

The wikipedia defines Steatopygia (pronounced /stiːˌætɵˈpɪdʒiə/,Greek: στεατοπυγία) “as a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks. The deposit of fat is not confined to the gluteal regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs, forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee.”

Many women of African descent (including diaspora) especially the southern region have a higher prevalence of STEATOPYGIA, which also is concomitant with enlarged female labia majora and minora (up to 4 inches in some cases). This post in particular is about the ‘HOTTENTOT VENUS’, which I will extol upon furthermore. Conversely, this post is not about the origin, history or evolutionary hypothesis of steatopygia. For more information on the latter, I have provided this link from wikipedia.

The Hottetot Venus

Displayed on European stages from 1810 to 1815 as the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman was one of the most famous women of her day, and also one of the least known. “As the Hottentot Venus, she was seen by Westerners as alluring and primitive, a reflection of their fears and suppressed desires. But who was Sara Baartman? Who was the woman who became the Hottentot Venus?” -http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8749.html

“Saarjite Baartman, a young Khosian woman from Southern Africa whose body was the main attraction at public spectacles in both England and France for over five years, is perhaps the most infamous case of a Khosian body on display. Baartman, who became known as the Hottentot Venus, was brought to Europe from Cape Town in 1810 by an English ship’s surgeon who wished to publicly exhibit the woman’s steatopygia, her enlarged buttocks. Her physique, particularly her steatopygic appendage, became the object of popular fascination when Baartman was exhibited naked in a cage at Piccadilly, England. When abolitionists mobilized to put an end Baartman’s public display, she informed them that she participated in the spectacles of her own volition. She even shared in profits with her exhibitor. The spectacle of Baartman’s body, however, continued even after her death at the age of twenty-six. Pseudo-scientists interested in investigating “primitive sexuality” dissected and cast her genitals in wax. Baartman, as far as we know, was the first person of Khosian-descent to be dismembered and displayed in this manner. Anatomist Georges Curvier presented Baartman’s dissected labia before the Academie Royale de Medecine, in order to allow them “to see the nature of the labia” (Gilman 235). Curvier and his contemporaries concluded that Baartman’s oversized primitive genitalia was physical proof of the African women’s “primitive sexual appetite.” Baartman’s genitalia continued to be exhibited at La Musée de l’Homme, the institution to which Curvier belonged, long after her death.” – human exhibition/emory.edu

The ‘Hottentot Venus’ was never intended to be a paleolithic symbol of beauty, but rather an anomaly for her ‘strangeness.’ The value of this woman, the reason why she was exhibited, was her large behind and large vaginal lips. As I reiterate, never ever was she meant to be looked upon as a great beauty. Sadly, after her death her butt was carved out as well as her genitals (previously mentioned), waxed and exhibited in Europe for years.

I have found a book written about Baartman in 2009 entitled “Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus.”
Click for preview

In reconstructing Baartman’s life, “the book traverses the South African frontier and its genocidal violence, cosmopolitan Cape Town, the ending of the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, London and Parisian high society, and the rise of racial science. The authors discuss the ramifications of discovering that when Baartman went to London, she was older than originally assumed, and they explore the enduring impact of the Hottentot Venus on ideas about women, race, and sexuality. The book concludes with the politics involved in returning Baartman’s remains to her home country, and connects Baartman’s story to her descendants in nineteenth- and twentieth-century South Africa.”-http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8749.html.

Finally, what a sad story of exploitation and to a degree racism and imperialism; natives from around the world were often used as freaks and put on exhibitions. The tradition of exhibiting people of color in Western societies has existed since the earliest encounters between Europeans and indigenous populations in the New World and in Africa. Indeed, on his return to Spain after his first voyage to the New World in 1492, Columbus brought several Arawaks to Queen Isabella’s court, where one of them remained on display for two years. Exhibiting non-white bodies as a popular practice reached its apogee in the nineteenth century in both Europe and in USA when freak shows–the exhibition of native peoples for public entertainment in circuses, zoos, and museums–became fairly common. In USA, in particular, the spectacle of “freaks,” “natives,” and “savages” became a profitable industry at this time, as epitomized in popular traveling shows like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. World Expositions were also popular for the display of native bodies. During the expositions “natives” performed various ceremonies, rites, dances, and otherwise went about their (supposed) daily routines (even though they were on the exposition grounds). In other words, cultural “others” were employed to perform their “cultural otherness” for an Anglo-American and European audience. Up to the mid-twentieth century displays of this sort continued.

Live exhibitions were not the only forms of human spectacle; often the dissected and embalmed remains of the “native” body, particularly the skulls, and sexual organs, were also publicly exhibited. Trophy heads, body parts, and other skeletal remains still reside in the collections of many Western museums, like The British Museum and La Musée de l’Homme, France. As recently as 1997, a small natural history museum just outside of Barcelona finally removed a stuffed Bushman from its permanent display cases, after sustained international pressure to do so -http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Exhibition.html

I hope the Hottentot Venus was informative and thought provocative. Don’t forget to drop a comment or two. Thanks for your time and God bless!

BACK TO PART I

In this episode of the blog’s ‘Genius Series’ or ‘Who be Who’ (Who’s Who)’ category, let us go back into history and give credit to where the rightful credit is due. In essence and in my mind, the most underrated and single most important genius of the 20^th century and father of modern electricity was Nikola Tesla.  One of the greatest minds of the 19th and 20th centuries, responsible for today’s modern world, Nikola Tesla is still virtually unknown to today’s textbooks, teachers, and general public.

Thinking back to your high school years and looking through an encyclopedia, who do you remember as the inventor of radio? The name that probably comes to mind is Marconi. And if I asked the same about X-rays, you’d probably say Roentgen. And a vacuum tube amp? probably deForest. While you’re at it, who invented the florescent bulb, neon lights, speedometer, auto ignition system, and the basics behind radar, the electron microscope, and the microwave oven? Chances are you see little, if any, mentions of Tesla. Again, very few people today have ever even heard of him. The all-around nice guy Thomas Edison made sure of that.  I am certain that most readers of this post have never ever heard this name even in elementary, primary and secondary curriculum.

Who was Tesla? Why was he grossly discredited, cheated, and placed in the annals of history when his brilliant theories, patents and inventions paved way to the computer age of today and the next biggest game changer and paradigm shift in fuel cell technology and wireless clean energy?

Before expounding on Tesla, a name that is house-hold around the world, Thomas A. Edison is often called an `electrical genius’ or `the wizard of Menlo Park’ (Edison’s labs were in Menlo Park, New Jersey, and later in Menlo Park, California).  It is certainly true thatEdison’s company either invented or promoted quite a few things electrical. Edison held an enormous number of patents, over 900.  But as one pundit said, “he was not really a genius at all, at least not with regards to electricity and energy.  He was not terribly well-educated, and his approach — which he himself described as `1% inspiration and 99% perspiration’ – was something of the `shotgun method’: fire lots of small pellets and hope that one of them hits the target.  For instance, when working on the electric light bulb, he had an assistant test over 1000 separate filament materials.  Someone else did all the hard work;Edison just put up the cash, collected the credit, and held the patents.”

Nikola Tesla, on the other hand, was definitely a genius and a nut.  He came up with the concept for three-phase AC as a teenager in Eastern Europe.  He studied actual electrical theory at the Polytechnic Institute at Gratz studying math, physics, and mechanics. The amazing thing about him was that he had a great understanding of electricity (remember that this was at a time when electricity was still at infancy, the electric light bulb hadn’t even been invented yet). He would decide to build something, work out the details, usually in his head and then build it and it would just work.  He had no business sense at all, though; after coming up with a simple, reliable, reasonably-efficient and sensible method of generating, transmitting, and using electricity, he sold the patents to George Westinghouse.  Today `Westinghouse’ is a famous brand name, while `Tesla’ is known only for his coils.

Tesla moved to the United Statesin 1884. When he arrived, he worked as an assistant to Thomas Edison, then in his late 30′s. Edisonhad just invented the electric light bulb, but he needed a system to distribute electricity to houses. He designed a DC (direct current) system, but it had many bugs in it. Edisonpromised Tesla lots of money in bonuses if he could get the bugs out. Tesla took the challenge and ended up saving Edisonover $100,000, which was millions of dollars by today’s standards. Edisonlater refused to keep his promise. Tesla quit not long after that, and Edisonspent the rest of his life trying to discredit Tesla (which is the main reason why he is so unknown today).

In 1888, Tesla devised a better system of transmission, the AC (alternating current) system used in houses around the world today. By using Tesla’s newly developed transformers, AC could be stepped up and transmitted over long distances through thin wires. Edison’s DC couldn’t be stepped up, required a large power plant every square mile and thick cables for transmission.

Electricity is useless if it can’t do anything, so in 1890, Tesla invented a motor to run on AC, the same type of motor used in every household appliance today. Scientists of the late 1880′s were convinced that no motor could work with AC. After all, AC electricity reverses itself 60 times a second, so all previous motors would just rock back and forth 60 times a second. Tesla solved this problem and proved them all wrong.

Word of AC eventually got to George Westinghouse. In 1893, Tesla signed a contract with Westinghouse to get $2.50 per Kilowatt of AC sold. Nikola finally had the money to conduct all of the experiments that he had dreamt of.

Tesla developed and used florescent bulbs in his lab some 40 years before industry “invented” them. At the World’s Fair, Tesla took glass tubes and bent them into famous scientists’ names- the first neon signs. Tesla also designed the world’s first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls in 1895. Tesla also patented the first speedometer for cars in 1916. In fact, Tesla invented all of the things that are listed at the beginning of the paper.

ButEdison soon had too much money invested into his DC system, and he tried his best to discredit Tesla by showing that AC was more dangerous than DC.Edison paid local children 25 cents for each stray dog they could bring him. Then he would hold press conferences and electrocute the dogs at public gatherings to frighten people. He claimed that DC could not kill, but in fact, it could.

Edison felt that it was necessary to experiment by killing animals before he could guarantee his electric chair would kill efficiently. Yes, it was actually Edison who invented the electric chair to frighten people away from Tesla’s AC system.

The first electric chair execution, held in upstate New York, used AC.  Exactly why, I am not sure.  It is true that AC, especially around 50 to 60 Hz, can paralyse muscles; it causes them to lock up, so that someone who accidentally gets hold of two bare high-voltage wires can find himself unable to let go.  DC tends to cause a more `one-way’ contraction.  Either can kill, but without the `locked muscle’ effect, it is easier to free oneself of a DC current.  (An old electrician’s trick, by the way, is to test a supposedly-dead circuit using the back of the hand, rather than a finger-tip.  If the circuit is still energized, the hand will clench shut, because the finger-closing muscles are stronger than the finger-opening ones.  The clenched-shut hand will tend to jerk away from the wire, rather than grabbing hold of it.  It is an old electrician’s trick because the young ones who use it and get shocked live to become old electricians….)

But Tesla counteracted by staging his own marketing campaign. In any case, back in the early days of electrification, Edison and Tesla (and of course Westinghouse) became involved in propaganda wars. Edison held patents on Direct Current systems, while Westinghouse held patents on Alternating Current.  DC was easier for any ordinary uneducated slob to understand, of course — it required no calculus, nor the sort of `mental vision’ of voltage and current flows creating rotating magnetic fields that would spin a motor — but AC clearly held the technical edge for centralized power generation and long-distance transmission.  Either worked fine for simple applications like lighting (although something called the `Edison effect’ made light bulbs burn out at one end and thus not last as long as with AC), but AC’s easy transformation made it far more practical.  To use DC, one would have to put a coal-burning generator on every street corner. Edison no doubt saw his patents becoming worthless, and set out to demonize AC. In any case, in what amounted to a publicity stunt, Edison arranged for news reports on the `killer AC’ that his competitors planned to string up all over the city of New York.  Despite this, AC was so obviously superior that it won out anyway.

At the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago, attended by 21 million, Tesla demonstrated the safety of AC by passing high frequency AC through his body to power light bulbs. He was then able to shoot large lightning bolts into the crowd without harm.

When royalties owed to him by Westinghouse exceeded $1 million, Westinghouse ran into financial trouble. Tesla realized that if he kept his contract, Westinghouse would go out of business, so Tesla took his contract and ripped it up! Instead of becoming the first billionaire, he got $216,600 outright for his patents.

In 1898, Tesla demonstrated the first remote controlled model boat at Madison Square Garden. After all of these technological breakthroughs, Tesla still had not achieved his lifelong dream. All Tesla’s life, he had dreamt of free wireless energy and other signals to the world.

In 1900, Tesla was backed with $150,000 from J. P. Morgan. Tesla began construction of “Wireless Broadcasting System” tower onLong Island,New York. Tesla intended to use it to link the world’s telephone and telegraph and to transmit pictures, stock reports, and weather information.

When Morgan found out that it meant FREE energy, he cut Tesla’s funding. There is still a lot of controversy to what happened to Tesla’s original tower. One story says that the government tore it down during World War I for fear that the German U-boat spies would use the tower as landmark to navigate by. Another story says that Tesla ran into financial trouble and sold the tower for scrap to pay off creditors.

The world thought that Tesla was crazy. Transmission of voice and pictures was unheard of in that time. What they didn’t know is that he had already demonstrated the principals behind radio nearly ten years before Marconi’s supposed invention. In 1943, the year that Tesla died, the Supreme Court ruled that Marconi’s patents invalid due to Tesla’s previous descriptions, but yet most textbooks and encyclopedias credit Marconi.

The Press started to exaggerate Tesla’s claims. Tesla reported that he received radio signals from Mars and Venus. Today we know that these were really signals from distant pulsing stars.

In his Manhattan lab, Tesla made Earth into and electric tuning fork. He made a steam driven oscillator vibrate at the frequency of the ground beneath him. The result was a small earthquake in the surrounding city blocks. It was here that he contended that in theory, he could do the same to even split the earth in two. He accurately determined the resonant frequency of Earth almost 60 years before science could confirm it.

In his Colorado Springs, Colorado lab, in 1899, Tesla made what he thought was his biggest discovery ever– terrestrial stationary waves. He sent waves of energy through Earth that bounced back to the source. When they came back, he added more electricity to it. He lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles and created the biggest man-made lightning bolt ever, 130ft. long! That’s a world record still unbroken. Strange electrical things happened near that lab. People would walk near the lab, and sparks would jump up from the ground to their feet One boy took a screwdriver, held it near a fire hydrant, and drew a four inch electrical spark from the hydrant. Sometimes the grass around his lab would glow with an eerie blue corona, St. Elmo’s Fire. What they didn’t know was this was small stuff. The man in the lab was merely tuning up his apparatus. Unfortunately, he blew out some of the power plant’s equipment and was never able to repeat his experiment.

At the beginning of World War I, the government desperately searched for a way to detect German submarines. The government put Thomas Edison in charge of the search for a good method. Tesla proposed the use of energy waves – what we know today as radar – to detect these ships. Edison rejected Tesla’s idea as ludicrous and the world had to wait another 25 years until it was invented.

What was his reward for a lifetime of creativity? The prized (to everyone but Tesla) Edison Medal! A real slap in the face after all the verbal abuse Tesla took from Edison. Lacking capital, he was forced to place his untested theories into countless notebooks. The man who invented the modern world died nearly penniless at age 86 on January 7, 1943. More than two thousand people attended his funeral.

In his lifetime, Tesla received over 800 different patents. He probably would have exceeded Edison’s record number if he wasn’t always broke – he could afford very few patent applications during the last thirty years of his life.

Unlike Edison, Tesla was an original thinker whose ideas typically had no precedent in science. Unfortunately, the world does not financially reward people of Tesla’s originality. We only award those that take these concepts and turn them into a new, useful product.

Scientists today continue to scour through his notes. Many of his far-flung theories are just now being proven by our top scientists. For example, the Tesla bladeless disk turbine engine that he designed, when coupled with modern materials, is proving to be among the most efficient motors ever designed. His 1901 patented experiments with cryogenic liquids and electricity provide the foundation for modern superconductors. He talked about experiments that suggested particles with fractional charges of an electron – something that scientists in 1977 finally discovered – quarks!

Tesla was one of the world’s most original and greatest inventors and thinkers, but because he was so original and out of his time, his genius was mistaken for insanity and science fiction. Maybe next time, the world will recognize a true genius when it comes around.