Questions about Swine Flu

via NYTimes

On Wednesday the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the spread of swine flu into a pandemic is very likely. As a result, the WHO elevated its alert level to Phase 5, the second-highest warning level. The global warning system was established in 2005 in response to the avian influenza crisis. Since its inception, Phase 5 has never been declared; Phase 6 means a pandemic is in effect (NY Times.com).

Here is info on the current scope of the disease (as of Wednesday):

In the U.S. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 91 confirmed cases of swine flu in 10 states - up from 64 cases in 5 states on Tuesday [Damn, that's no joke!]

Globally, there have been 159 deaths in Mexico directly related to swine flu. In addition, there have been reported cases of swine flu in the United States, Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealend, Spain and most recently Germany and Austria.

Here are some answers to questions regarding swine flu (from CNN.com)

Q. What is swine flu?

A. Swine influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs. It is caused by a type-A influenza virus. Outbreaks in pigs occur year-round.

The most common version is H1N1. The current strain is a new variation of an H1N1 virus, which is a mix of human and animal versions.

Q. Does swine flu affect humans?

A. While the virus causes regular outbreaks in pigs, people usually are not struck by swine flu. However, there have been instances of the virus spreading to people -- and then from one person to another. The only difference is, says the CDC, transmission in the past did not spread beyond three people -- as it has done this time.

Q. What are the symptoms of swine flu?

A. The symptoms are similar to the common flu. They include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Q. How does the virus spread?

A. The virus spreads the same way the seasonal flu does. When an infected person coughs or sneezes around another person, the latter is put at risk. People can become infected by touching something with the flu virus on it and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes. An infected person can pass the virus to another before any symptoms even develop.

Q. Why is this spread troubling?

A. Scientists are concerned whenever a new virus is able to jump from an animal to a person -- and then spread from person to person. When the flu spreads person to person, it can continue to mutate, making it harder to treat or fight off.

The World Health Organization has said the current outbreak has "pandemic potential," and has urged governments to take precautions to prevent its spread. If the virus continues to mutate, drug makers won't be able to come up with vaccines fast enough.

Q. Can swine flu be fatal?

A. Just like the regular flu, swine flu worsens pre-existing medical conditions in people. So people with already compromised immune systems can die after contracting it.

Q. What does the World Health Organization mean when it says swine flu has "pandemic potential"?

A. If the virus spreads over a wide geographic area and affects a large segment of the population, it is upgraded from an "epidemic" to a "pandemic."

Q. How can one keep from getting swine flu?

A. There are no vaccines available. But several everyday steps can help prevent the spread of germs: Washing hands frequently; avoiding close contact with people who are sick; and avoiding touching surfaces that might be contaminated.

Q. Are there medicines to treat swine flu?

A. Yes, the CDC recommends using anti-viral drugs. They keep the virus from reproducing inside the body. And in an infected person, the drugs make the illness milder.

Q. Can one contract swine flu from eating or preparing pork?

A. No. Pork and other pig-derived products, if properly handled and cooked, do not transmit swine flu. The flu virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F (70°C)

[For a comprehensive video breakdown of the swine flu check out NY Times.com]

Lil' Wayne on "The View"

On April 24, Lil' Wayne appeared on the popular daytime talk show "The View". Wayne, along with the show's panel - Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck - touches on a wide variety of topics including his upbringing, tattoos, education, his "dependence" on cough syrup and marijuana, along with others. The conversation is very open and Lil' Wayne answers the ladies' questions freely and articulately.



[My favorite part of the show is their brief discussion on Wayne's upbringing and the path his education has taken. I found it interesting hearing how Wayne was a straight-A student in middle school and how he was enrolled in a variety of artistic classes. I also was impressed to hear that he is currently taking psych classes at The University of Phoenix (after efforts to physically take classes at The University of Houston proved impossible). It was also a trip to contrast Wayne's poised, mild-mannered, articulate persona on "The View" with the super energetic, vulgar, hardcore persona Wayne portrays on stage and in his music.

I can't help but think back to Wayne's song, "Misunderstood". Wayne opens the song with the line, "misunderstood ain't gotta be explained/but you don't understand me so let me explain." Wayne often talks about being misunderstood and this interview illustrates that beautifully. Wayne is definitely much deeper and complex than people understand or give him credit for. I love seeing him on a show like "The View" because it gives viewers (and surely people who wouldn't normally listen to his music) an opportunity to see a different side of him and see that Wayne is more than the average rapper. His appearance on "The View" challenges stereotypes that people project on him, rappers, athletes and young black men in general.]

Emil DeAndreis and Danai Leininger - A-Rod Steroid Interview (Unreleased Footage)

My two childhood friends Emil and Danai recently discovered some previously unreleased footage from Alex Rodriguez's steroid interview with ESPN's Peter Gammon's.

Snoop Dogg's Top 10 plays of 2008-2009 NBA season

These are the Top 10 plays of the 2008-2009 NBA season, presented by the incomparable Snoop D-O-Double G. A great video clip of Snoop commenting on some crazy plays from this past NBA season. I'm glad ESPN gave him free reign and let him do his thing because Snoop is incredibly funny and charismatic. His animated reactions to all the plays, his use of alliteration ("Wiggle Wade") and rhyming ("the pass off the glass"), along with his signature vocabulary ("Trey Trevor Ariza..fa shiza") all make for an incredibly fun clip.



My top 4:

1. D Wade's steal which he tips to himself as he's going out of bounds then saves, followed by him running down the court and completing an incredibly alley-oop as he's falling into the crowd. An unreal sequence. [D Wade for MVP.]

2. LeBron blocking shots into the upper deck of the arena. Ferocious defense!!

3. Brandon Roy's game-winning nearly halfcourt 3-pointer (should have been an "And-1") at the buzzer against Houston.

4. D Wade's steal followed by a running 3-pointer that won the game with seconds left in Double OT against Chicago.

"Facing Race in Oakland After Tragedy" by Nick James and Charles McDonald

[This article is by my homie Nick James and co-writer Charles Mcdonald. It appeared on March 24th, as an Op-Ed piece for Racewire.org, the blog for Color Lines, a "national newspaper on race and politics". Nick has been featured fairly regularly lately as a contributing writer for Racewire, and he is pretty much guaranteed to drop some insightful material. More from Nick to come, but for now, excellent job.]

Wake up, America! Conflict between Oakland’s Black community and law enforcement officials were NOT born yesterday. Hot headed tensions between our community and law enforcement officials predate the 1968 murder of Little Bobby Hutton, have continued to rise throughout the space and time leading up to the Jan 1st, 2009 video recorded shooting death of Oscar Grant by BART police, and have reached new heights in the aftermath of the most recent tragedy: the murderous rampage of Lovell Mixon, who cold bloodedly took the lives of four Oakland Police officers in East Oakland before his life was taken last Saturday.

Indeed, tensions are high, but the stakes are even higher for young Black men in the city of Oakland. Let us be firm when saying Lovelle Mixon is not a martyr. At best, Mixon’s actions defy hope in human life. However, this unconscionable tragedy is NOT an opportunity to further the isolation, negation, and dehumanization of young Black men in Oakland and in cities across the United States.

Throughout the next few weeks there will be much public volleying back and forth condemning the police state in Oakland and the prevalence of crime in the Black community. However, discourse laced with hate and bigotry lends itself useless while the day-to-day operation of the Town continues to be riddled with structural flaws. Finger pointing aside, we must ALL deal with the facts, 17.2% of Blacks in the city of Oakland are unemployed and 24.5% live in poverty. Excuses aside, these alarming statistics perpetuate crime and inequality, and have a profound impact on EVERY resident of Oakland, not simply those within the Black community.

Between the untimely deaths of Oscar Grant, Lovelle Mixon and the four Oakland Police officers recently slain, the city must find a middle ground, better yet a higher calling to stand in solidarity with every citizen. Oakland has the opportunity to view these senseless murders as the apex of terror and fear and dissuade future occurrences through a stringent effort to revitalize and redevelop every community ravaged by poverty and economic inopportunity.

Our socio-political community is full of powerful multi-racial organizers, artists, families, educators, and elders eager to replace Oakland’s national image of violence and political catharsis with our shared values of unity, justice, equity, and inclusion for ALL Oakland residents. This is no small task. It requires the commitment of every one of our community stakeholders to stand together and converge on these values motivated by our potential, sustained by belief, and nurtured through love.

[Nick James is Director of Special Projects for the East Bay nonprofit Youth Together. He was born, raised, and is currently living in Oakland California.

Charles McDonald is the Statewide Alliance Organizer for the Education and Racial Justice nonprofit, Californians for Justice. He lives in Oakland, California.]

The Isley Brothers - "Footsteps in the Dark" & "Between the Sheets"

via Google

The Isley Brothers - "Footsteps In the Dark"

This track is off the Isley Brothers' 1977 double-platinum album, Go For Your Guns. Go For Your Guns was released in the "3+3" period, as the Isley's reformed their group, settling on 6 members: 5 Isley brothers (Ron, O'Kelly, Rudolph, Ernie, Marvin) and brother-in-law Chris Jasper. Like the other Isley albums released in this period, Go For Your Guns was a departure from their early gospel roots and brief experiments with rock-n-roll and doo-wop, and is characterized by its soul and funk sound.

The song is most recognizable as a sample for Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day". It has also been sampled on lesser known tracks including "Won't Do" (produced by J-Dilla, off The Shining) and "One Day You'll Be Mine" (off Usher's debut album, My Way). A beautiful track.

The Isley Brothers - "Between the Sheets"

This album is off the Isley Brothers' 1983 album Between the Sheets. It was their last recording made in the "3+3" period, as Eric and Marvin Isley, along with Chris Jasper left to form their own group, Isley-Jasper-Isley. The remaining 3 Isley brothers continued on as trio.

"Between the Sheets" has been sampled over 27 times!! What is dope about this song is how it can be broken down into two different tracks. The majority of the song is a laid-back groove that you will recognize as a sample on "Big Poppa" by Notorious B.I.G. and "Breaker 1/9" by Common. However, as the song enters the final third, it climaxes with a syntheziser break down that is essentially a different track. You will hear that portion of the song being sampled by Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, and Drake for "Ignorant Shit", and 2pac for his joint "Comin' On Strong".

[On a personal note, I love how the second part of that song is becoming a hip hop standard which has been used frequently as of late. I think the hip hop game can take a lot of lessons from jazz (article to come), and so I always like to see a fresh song being reinvented by different artists, who each put their own individual touch on it. "Between the Sheets" has a melody that lends itself well to being a fresh hip hop beat. Indeed, some of the illest verses have been spit on it by a collection of hip hop's finest - Jay-Z, Weezy, Drake, Lupe (in that order) all KILL it.

"It's Your World" - Pops verse

I was listening to Common's album, Be, and this track came on. It's one of my favorites, with beautiful production from J-Dilla and a deep spoken-word poem by Lonnie "Pops" Lynn (Common's father) at the end, reproduced below:

Be.
Be here.
Be there.
Be that.
Be this.
Be grateful for life, be grateful to life.
Be gleeful everyday, for bein' the best swimmer among 500,000.
Be-nign.
Be you.
Be mom's mean pie.
Be Little Black Sambo with bad hair.
Be aware of Willie Lynches.
Be.
Be boundless energy!
Be a four-star ghetto general.
Be no one, except I.
Be a strong academic student, be a A student in sociology.
Be food for thought to the growin mind.
Be the author of your own horoscope.
Be invited, be long-living, be forgiving, be not forgetful.
Be a proud run, only to return to fight another day.
Be the author of your own horoscope.
Be invited, be long-living, be forgiving, be not forgetful.
Be a proud run, only to return to fight another day.
Be peaceful if possible, but justice in ways.
Be high when you low, be on time but know when to go.
Be cautious of the road to college, takin a detour through Vietnam or the Middle East
Be absent of wars at any past or present fought amongst themselves
Be visual of foreclosure over your shoulder while beggin
a nation built on free labor for reparation.
Be a cartopographer.
Be a map maker, be able to find Afro-American man.
Search thoroughly, it may be close to black man.
Be amended 5/5ths, be amended 5/5ths human.
Be the owner of more land than is set aside for wildlife.
Be cupid, to world government.
Be found among the true, lost tribe.
Be at full strength when walking through the valley.
Be not foolish as tender 18 of the mountain tops.
Be a brilliant soul, sparklin' in the galaxy while walkin on Earth.
Be loved by God as much as God loved Ghandi and Martin Luther King.
Be that last one of 144,000.
Be the resident of the Twelfth House.
Be... eternal!