Podcasts about malians

Ada Tembeli is amongst a number of entrepreneurs who didn't get a formal education, but found a new and easier way to do business with the help of an app.Ada Tembeli是许多没有受过正规教育的企业家之一，但她借助一款应用程序找到了一种全新且更便捷的经商方式。Here are your lovely fruits. We have nice ripe oranges, apples, bananas. Without forgetting to mention the pineapples.为你们准备了美味的水果。我们有熟透的橙子、苹果、香蕉，当然还有菠萝。Today we have almost everything to keep you satisfied. To find us, go to the third bridge, and you will see me.今天，我们几乎拥有一切让你满意的东西。要找到我们，走到第三座桥那里，你就会看到我了。Armed with a smart phone, she attracts clients by sending an ideal message in Bambara with her stall's location, as well as photographs of the goods she has available.她手握一部智能手机，通过用班巴拉语发送包含摊位位置和待售商品照片的信息来吸引顾客。She says the Lenali app is user-friendly for someone like her.她说，Lenali应用程序对她这样的用户来说很友好。I installed it myself because Lenali has Bambara, Soninke and almost all the languages.我自己安装的，因为Lenali有班巴拉语、索宁克语等各种语言。The developer Mamadou Gouro Sidibe, an IT engineer from Mali, says he wanted to serve people who couldn't read or write,开发者Mamadou Gouro Sidibe是来自马里的IT工程师，表示自己希望为不识字的人群提供服务，as well as help those who need to share information in French but haven't gone to school to learn it.同时帮助那些需要用法语分享信息但未接受过正规教育的人。A lot of people get applications installed for them because they cannot do it themselves.很多人因为自己不会安装应用程序，所以需要别人帮忙安装。So it was with that in mind that we created vocal guides, vocal instructions in the local language, so people can understand what they are doing.正是出于这样的考虑，我们制作了本地语言版本的语音引导和语音提示，这样人们就清楚如何操作了。Sidibe says simple things such as setting up a profile can be challenging for some.Sidibe说，对一些人来说，创建个人信息等简单的事情可能具有挑战性。If you know how to write you can put it in writing, and if not you speak into the application and record it.如果你会写字就写下来，不会的话就用应用录音。And after that you can publish vocally, you can comment vocally, and really you can do everything in this application without ever having to write a single word.你可以语音发布内容，也可以语音评论，实际上在这个应用程序里你不用写一个字就能完成所有操作。Most small business owners in Mali relied on friends, family and word of mouth to keep them going.马里的大多数小企业主依靠朋友、家人和口碑维持经营。For Boubacar Sidiki Koita who owns a motorbike shop in Bamako, the app has been a game changer.对于在巴马科拥有一家摩托车店的Boubacar Sidiki Goita来说，这款应用程序带来了巨大的改变。Since I have been using Lenali, my turnover has gone up, and now I can sell 20 motorbikes a day, whereas before it was hard work selling just 5 a day.自从使用Lenali以来，我的营业额大幅提升，现在每天能卖出20辆摩托车，而以前每天卖5辆都很吃力。According to the United Nations, only one third of Malians are literate.根据联合国的数据，马里只有三分之一的人识字。Sidibe says the free app, available since January 2017, has a little over 73,000 users, and is expected to become profitable when it reaches 200,000 users. [解析]Sidibe表示，这款免费应用自2017年1月上线以来已拥有7.3万余名用户，预计用户数达到20万时即可实现盈利

Mali's military rulers promised dignity and stability five years ago, but democracy has been sidelined, the economy is stagnant, and violence continues across the country. But how has the junta convinced enough Malians that they are on the right path? DW's George Okachi speaks to analyst Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South and DW correspondent Bram Posthumus.

The Afropolitan will be taking a brief hiatus to re-envision its next steps. Stay tuned for an exciting new chapter! In the meantime, we're sharing our very first episode from October, which focused on how older people in Mali are consuming news on TikTok, and why this symbolizes the larger trends sweeping through the Sahel. In this episode, Catherine Nzuki is joined by Doussouba Konaté, the Country Director of Accountability Lab Mali. We unpack two of these shifts in the Sahel. First, growing anti-French sentiments in the region has led to language decolonization in Mali, in which a growing number of people would rather receive their news in Bambara, one of Mali's national languages, over French. Secondly, growing internet access has connected people across Mali and has brought more visibility to the plight of Malians living in conflict-affected areas. However, as social media usage grows, so too does online misinformation and disinformation.

Find out more about the battlefield in mediaeval Mali in our bonus episode. Subscribe for weekly episodes and ad-free listening. Musa is tantalisingly close to completing his pilgrimage but conflict looms large in Timbuktu as the nomadic Tuareg pose a formidable challenge for the Malians. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Written and presented by Luke Pepera Producer - Dominic Tyerman Story editing – Georgia Mills Executive Producer - Louisa Field Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator: Eric Ryan Marketing - Kieran Lancini Sound Design and Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content – Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of older people in Mali who consume news on TikTok symbolizes the larger trends sweeping through the Sahel. In this episode, Catherine Nzuki is joined by Doussouba Konaté, the Country Director of Accountability Lab Mali. We unpack two of these shifts in the Sahel. First, growing anti-French sentiments in the region has led to language decolonization in Mali, in which a growing number of people would rather receive their news in Bambara, one of Mali's national languages, over French. Secondly, growing internet access has connected people across Mali and has brought more visibility to the plight of Malians living in conflict-affected areas. However, as social media usage grows, so too does online misinformation and disinformation.

Amidst political, economic, and security issues Malians continue to seek justice and reconciliation to restore peace in their country. Since 2012, the Malian government has been engaged in a war against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MLNA) who intend to secede the Northern region of Mali. Additionally, Mali has experienced 8 attempted coups with 5 of them being successful since its independence in 1960. The turmoil experienced raises questions on how to attain national cohesion and how the Malian government can navigate meeting the plethora of needs that its citizens require. Good governance which is accountable to the people is what Malians are asking for. Moussa Kondo, Executive Director Sahel Institute, joins Mvemba to share perspectives and insights into the political and economic landscape of Mali. Kondo expertly shares the historical context of the insecurity in Mali and some reflections on how Mali can overcome the challenges it is facing today.

In this Coffee Break episode, Africa Legal's Tom Pearson chats to Mamadou Coulibaly, co-founder and managing partner of Satis Partners, about the shift in Mali's mining regulations. Recent bold changes to Mali's mining regulations aim to boost the West African country's economy while empowering local communities. Mamadou Coulibaly, a seasoned lawyer at Satis Partners sheds light on these changes that have unfolded since the 2020 political shift. Following the regime change and national dialogue, one key resolution was to enhance revenue generation for Malians from the lucrative gold and ore mining sector. To achieve this goal, Mali's mining code underwent significant adjustments, levelling the playing field for all stakeholders. Previously, the mining code offered varied incentives for different operations. Now, as Coulibaly notes, the revised code standardises regulations. Notable changes include increased government participation in mining activities, a revised tax regime, and mandates for 90% of the workforce to comprise local employees. Importantly, Coulibaly emphasises that these shifts reflect an international trend, with other West African nations embracing similar principles for promoting local content. Coulibaly encourages investors to explore opportunities in smelting, processing and refining enterprises, as extractives need to be refined before being exported. Additionally, he highlights the potential in training programs. As local workforce participation becomes mandatory, there's a growing demand for specific skills. These two areas, Coulibaly suggests, could provide interesting opportunities in the years ahead.

Jive into July, for the summer is upon us. No better time to stay in the comfort of your home and play some Age of Empires 2. But if you must stroll outside, we have some new podcast content to comfort you. This seventh episode of the podcast (darn they add up quickly) is dedicated to the campaings in Age of Empires. Of course the newest balance patch is also the highlight of the news section. We hope you enjoy! As usual a detailed overview of this episode can be found below. Welcome to the Podcast (0:00:26) Notable News  (0:04:41) (0:05:34) new patch (hosts instantly get sidetracked) (0:09:06) bug fixes (0:11:59) general balance changes (0:20:42) Britons (0:22:31) Bulgarians (0:25:45) Burmese (0:28:00) Chinese (0:29:35) Hindustanis (0:32:15) Italians (0:33:25) Koreans (0:35:26) Magyars (0:37:15) Malay (0:39:16) Malians (0:39:55) Persians (0:41:55) Portuguese (0:43:08) Romans (0:44:25) Slavs (0:45:35) Turks (0:47:29) Vietnamese (0:52:30) New AoE2 Podcasts: Town Center & AM Podcast (0:57:30) Reddit Drama (1:01:40) MoA (1:05:09) not so notable news Talk of the Show (1:06:27) (1:08:03) William Wallace (1:14:24) Joan of Arc (1:19:17) Barbarossa (1:23:02) Saladin (1:25:00) Ghenghis Khan (1:28:56) El Cid (1:30:08) The Campaign Experience (as a kid) (1:40:40) The Campaign Experience (as an adult) (1:43:00) The New Campaigns (2:01:27) Return to Rome Campaigns (2:07:11) Closing Thoughts Civ of the Month (2:12:16)  Goodbye (2:37:34) We hope you enjoy! Until next month or in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠! Sincerely, Cursed Mumm and Pennenbuisje You are very welcome to join the discussion on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠ or give us your feedback about the podcast! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kings-and-conquerors/message

Listen to the Sat. June 24, 2023 edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The episode features our regular PANW report with dispatches on the reversal of a purported armed mutiny by the Wagner Group in the Russian Federation; Tunisian prosecutors have blocked the release of an opposition figure; people in Sierra Leone have participated in a national presidential elections; and Malians have voted on a draft constitution aimed at ending military rule. In the second hour we look back on the 60th anniversary of the Detroit Walk to Freedom where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his first I Have a Dream speech. Finally, we review various aspects of the history of African world music as part of our recognition of Black Music Month.

Facts & Spins for June 20, 2023 Top Stories: Antony Blinken meets with Chinese Pres. Xi Xinping in Beijing, Australia approves a landmark Indigenous rights referendum, Putin reveals a peace agreement allegedly signed with Ukraine last spring, Malians vote on a new constitution, More than 1.5M are reportedly dropped from Medicaid, Israeli helicopters fire missiles in a West Bank raid, Extreme heat kills over 170 in Northern India, Biden plans $600M in climate investments, A new study finds a small group of “supershedders” spread the most COVID, and a Titanic tourist vessel disappears. Sources: https://www.improvethenews.org/   Brief Listener Survey: https://www.improvethenews.org/pod

Sweet April showers do bring May flowers. And the devs of AoE2 shower us with a new gamechanging update patch! And the biggest one ever for AoE2:DE at that! Therefore we dedicate this month's episode to the changes being made this month. We talk about it in detail as our minds wander, contemplating new strategies that are sure to arise here on this altered battlefield. We are really grateful for all the support and following of the show. Keep letting us know what you think and share our show with your fellow AoE enthusiasts if you think they might like it. A detailed overview of this episode can be found below.  Welcome to the Podcast  (0:00:26) Notable News  (0:02:52) (0:03:17) Xbox update (0:06:47) Return to Rome (0:09:55) NAC4 (0:28:51) Nations Cup 2023 (0:33:51) KOTD5 (0:36:17) Rage Forest (0:40:14) 'Rigged' Map Pool Voting (0:43:47) Not so notable news Talk of the Show  (0:47:05) (0:48:54) small trees & idle vils (0:51:14) Eagles (0:52:42) Militia upgrades (0:54:46) Pikeman upgrade (0:57:42) Gambesons (new tech) (1:00:17) Elite steppe lancer (1:02:02) heavy scorpion (1:05:20) murder holes (1:06:55) sappers (1:09:22) Elephant archers (official patch changed this to (Elite) Elephant Archer train time decreased from 34 seconds ▶ 32 seconds and Elite Elephant Archer upgrade cost reduced from 1000 food and 800 gold ▶ 900 food and 500 gold... probably for the best 11) (1:12:14) Siege elephant upgrade (1:13:55) Genitours (1:15:20) Cannon Galleon (1:19:42) Aztecs (official patch added buff for Jaguar Warrior (Elite) pierce armor increased from 1 ▶ 2) (1:24:06) Bengalis (1:27:48) Berbers (1:28:52) Bohemians (1:30:20) Britons (1:32:16) Bulgarians (1:34:24) Burgundians (1:40:29) Burmese (1:41:30) Byzantines (1:44:46) Celts (official patch added buff to Woad Raider (Elite) HP increased from 65 (80) ▶ 70 (85) and Woad Raider (Elite) Attack increased from 10 (13) ▶ 11 (14) ) (1:46:00) Chinese (official patch reverted these changes, Penn is pleased) (1:53:38) Dravidians (official patch added a buff to Medical Corps cost reduced from 350 food and 250 gold ▶ 300 food and 200 gold and effect increased from 20 HP/minute ▶ 30 HP/minute) (1:55:03) Ethiopians (1:58:48) Franks (1:59:19) Goths (2:00:14) Gurjaras (2:03:03) Huns (2:04:06) Incas (2:08:47) Japanese (official patch added buff to (Elite) Samurai cost reduced from 60 food and 30 gold ▶ 50 food and 30 gold ) (2:10:35) Khmer (2:11:40) Koreans (2:12:21) Lithuanians (2:17:49) Malay (2:19:38) Malians & Persians (2:24:23) Poles (2:24:39) Portuguese (2:26:11) Saracens (2:27:13) Sicilians (official patch added buff to farm upgrade bonus increased from +100% ▶ +125% food per upgrade ) (2:30:42) Slavs (2:32:37) Spanish (2:37:04) Tatars (2:37:15) Turks (2:37:50) Teutons (2:38:36) Vietnamese (2:40:00) Vikings (here Penn has a brainfart: 'cheaper' infantry should be 'stronger' infantry) (2:45:42) Our thoughts on these changes Civ of the Month  (2:57:28)  Goodbye  (3:20:19) We hope you enjoy! Until next month or in the ⁠Discord⁠! Sincerely, Cursed Mumm and Pennenbuisje You are very welcome to join the discussion on our ⁠Discord⁠ or give us your feedback about the podcast! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kings-and-conquerors/message

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned that every day in Mali, civilians are being attacked by extremists who are forcing them from their homes and in some cases following them to displacement camps, to target them once again.This is what has happened recently to more than 3,700 Burkinabé refugees and Malians who fled N'Tillit village for Gao, the nearest city, located 120 kilometres away. With more on this alarming situation, here's UNHCR Representative in Mali, Mohamed Touré, who's been speaking to UN News' Daniel Johnson.

Host Bill Roggio is joined by two Long War Journal regulars, Caleb Weiss and Andrew Tobin, to give listeners an update on what's happening on the ground in Africa from the Sahel — including that more than 400 Malians have been slaughtered in under one month — to "elections" and Shabaab attacks in Somalia.

Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss Africa. France is withdrawing from Mali as the people of the African nation take to the streets in massive demonstrations and civil disobedience against French colonial rule. Also, the Burkina Faso coup leader was inaugurated as president.

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Ted Rall, award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, and author of the graphic novel, "The Stringer," to discuss corporations working around their commitments to stop donating to politicians who were complicit in the attempt to overturn the election through lobbyists, the extreme corruption in the so-called democratic process that is often passed off as lobbying, and the willingness of corporations to advance the dangerous interests of these politicians in order to turn a profit.In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire to discuss French troops withdrawing from Mali and how the uprisings of Malians against overt French operations played into this decision, how despite the occupation of Mali beginning under the pretext of regional security and the threat of Islamist terrorists it has failed to deliver on any semblance of security, whether France will make good on this commitment to withdraw and what its aftermath will mean for Mali and West Africa.In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Leo Flores, Latin America Campaign Coordinator at CODEPINK to discuss the political prosecution of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who sits in a Miami prison cell over charges related to conducting business on behalf of Venezuela, the attempts to scandalize Saab over allegations that he served as a DEA agent, the successful CLAP food assistance program that Saab was working on when he was arrested, and wh programs like CLAP are necessary for Venezuela under the economic warfare waged by the US.Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Devyn Springer, cultural worker, host of the Groundings Podcast, and digital outreach coordinator at the Walter Rodney Foundation to discuss the challenges faced by Black Cubans because of the US blockade on the country and the reality of the Black Cuban experience, how the Cuban government fosters popular education, history, and culture of Black Cubans instead of suppressing it like institutions in the US, and the history of Black Americans receiving medical education in Cuba and serving their underserved communities at home.

In this segment of By Any Means Necessary, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire to discuss French troops withdrawing from Mali and how the uprisings of Malians against overt French operations played into this decision, how despite the occupation of Mali beginning under the pretext of regional security and the threat of Islamist terrorists it has failed to deliver on any semblance of security, whether France will make good on this commitment to withdraw and what its aftermath will mean for Mali and West Africa.

Listen to the Sat. Feb. 5, 2022 edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The program features our regular PANW report with dispatches on the opening of the African Union 35th Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Sudanese democratic organizations have rejected the framework put forward by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) related to efforts to mediate the current impasse with the military regime; Malians demonstrated in their thousands celebrating the departure of the French ambassador from Bamako; and Rwandan students are watching the Beijing Winter Olympics through a satellite service provided by the People's Republic of China. In the second hour we begin our annual commemoration of African American History Month founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926. We will take a closer look at the African Union summit being held in Addis Ababa and the issues on the agenda for the gathering. Finally, we hear a briefing from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Director General Dr. John Nkengasong on the public health situation on the continent.

World leaders have converged on the Scottish city of Glasgow for COP26—the United Nations climate change conference. The stakes could not be higher. Sea levels are rising. Heatwaves, droughts, floods, and wildfires are more frequent, more intense, and threatening the survival of humanity. In a brand-new episode of Intercross, we hear from our communications colleague in London, Sam Smith, who's been closely following this story for the past year, writing about the very real human impacts of climate change in a conflict zone. He starts in Somalia with ICRC's Abdikarim Abdullahi. Three decades of conflict have weakened the country's institutions and left some 2.9 million people internally displaced. Somalia is ranked as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change when it comes to its ability to improve resilience. The recurrent nature of climatic shocks, such as droughts and floods, and the instability created by conflict, meaning herders and pastoralists—several of which share their stories—have little chance to recover and build resilience. Sam then turns to Mali. Since 2012, armed conflict has profoundly disrupted the lives of Malians, spreading from the north to central regions, causing death, displacement and economic failure. At the same time, Mali is becoming hotter and drier, while the Sahara Desert, which already makes up two thirds of the country, is expanding. He speaks with Dr. Catherine-Lune Grayson, ICRC's Policy Advisor and author of the recent report, When Rain turns to Dust, to learn why the countries affected by conflict are among those deemed to be the most vulnerable to climate change. They discuss what exactly about insecurity that undermines states ability to help their communities adapt to climate and the main commitments ICRC is hoping to come out of COP26.

Nestlé USA Inc v Doe (2021) is a United States Supreme Court decision regarding the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which provides federal courts jurisdiction over claims brought by foreign nationals for violations of international law. Consolidated with Cargill Inc v Doe, the case concerned a class-action lawsuit against Nestlé USA and Cargill for aiding and abetting child slavery in Côte d'Ivoire by purchasing from cocoa producers that utilize child slave labor from Mali. The plaintiffs, who were former slave laborers in the cocoa farms, brought their claim in U.S. district court under the ATS, The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed the suit on the basis that corporations cannot be sued under the ATS, and that the plaintiffs failed to allege the elements of an aiding and abetting claim. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that corporations are liable for aiding and abetting slavery, in part because norms against slavery are "universal and absolute" and thus provide a basis for an ATS claim against a corporation; however, it did not address the argument by the defendant corporations that the complaint sought an extraterritorial application of the ATS, which the U.S. Supreme Court had recently rejected in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. On remand, the district court again dismissed the claims, finding that the plaintiffs sought an impermissible extraterritorial application of the ATS. In the interim, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Jesner v Arab Bank, PLC, which held that foreign corporations cannot be sued under the ATS. The Ninth Circuit reversed, finding that the holding in Jesner does not disturb its prior holding as to the domestic defendants, Nestle USA, Inc., and Cargill, Inc., and that the specific domestic conduct alleged by the plaintiffs falls within the focus of the ATS and does not require extraterritorial application of that statute. Background. Six Malians, identified as John Doe I through VI, were trafficked into Côte d'Ivoire as children and enslaved on cocoa plantations. The children, aged 12-14, were kept in harsh living conditions at the plantations, and they were forced under threat of violence to cultivate cocoa for up to fourteen hours per day without pay. The children witnessed slaves who were caught trying to escape from the plantation being tortured by guards. Most of the cocoa that the slaves cultivated on Côte d'Ivoire plantations was sold to U.S. companies such as the Nestlé and Cargill corporations and imported to U.S. markets. Nestlé and Cargill encouraged the use of child slave labor on Côte d'Ivoire plantations by supporting farmers through capital investments in equipment, training, and cash advances. They also facilitated child slavery by lobbying "against legislation intended to make the use of child slavery transparent to the public" and mislead consumers on their actions in the region. The corporations also sent representatives to inspect plantations. In return, Nestlé and Cargill get cheaper cocoa imports, increasing their profit margins. History. The case was initially filed in 2005 but dismissed by the District Court for the Central District of California in 2010. The Ninth Circuit remanded this decision, stating that the plaintiffs had standing to sue under the Alien Tort Statute—but the case was again dismissed by the district court. In oral arguments, the Malians were represented by Paul L. Hoffman, while Nestlé and Cargill were represented by Neal Katyal. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Guest: Khalil Dewan, head of investigations at Stoke White Lawyers (London) After the bombing of a wedding celebration in the town of Bounti, Mali that left 19 civilians dead, a damning UN report contradicted claims by the French government that armed extremists were on site. To this, France has consistently refuted the accusation and has stuck to its narrative of targeting terrorists in the central Malian town and has so far ignored calls by Malians to hold its military personnel to account.  Six months later, on July 3rd, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he will be ending "Operation Barkhane" and withdraw troops from the region. But what he failed to announce, was the increase in the number of French drones that will be taking off from the Niamy, Niger airbase and continue drone operations with the sole purpose of continuing what troops on the ground had been doing since 2013.  “France has a systematic problem in admitting and identifying civilian casualties. The mounting evidence on the Bounti wedding airstrikes still has not triggered any investigations on part of France or the Mali government – none have approached the victims to date”Khalil Dewan Armed drones are becoming an integral part of France's military operations abroad but nothing has transpired in terms of strategy, chain of command, usage policies and when/how a strike is ordered. The Bounti, Mali massacre and the impunity that has followed has prompted the CJL to cover the topic through Le Breakdown and Yasser Louati who received Khalil Dewan head of investigations at the London based Stoke White lawfirm, and author of the report: France's Shadow War in Mali: Airstrikes at the Bounti Wedding. In this episode, we covered the horrific bombing of civilians in Mali but also how the 20 year long US drone war and its thousands of civilian casualties has not deterred France from launching its own, and, to make things worse, without any transparency.  Le Breakdown is brought to you the CJL, the Committee for Justice & Liberties. We are an independent human rights and civil liberties organization.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lebreakdown/message

During lockdown, the Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill created a poetic pandemic time capsule on social media. She shares how she rebuilt hope for herself and her followers, through a daily ritual of writing and sharing. For Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, music has a revitalising, redemptive power. She has overcome challenging personal circumstances and gone on to collaborate with international superstar musicians such as Damon Albarn, Paul McCartney and fellow Malians, Amadou and Mariam. Fatoumata tells Nawal how music has helped her survive - and how she hopes it can do the same for others. And, how will we refresh our wardrobes after a year of dressing down in lockdown? For The Cultural Frontline, US fashion editor Lindsay Peoples Wagner opens her post-pandemic fashion look book. Plus, has a song, a book or a film ever re-energised you and the way you see the world? The acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak reveals the work that recharged her creativity. Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi (Photo: Nikita Gill. Credit: Peace Ofure)

Aoe2 Episode 3 Notes: * I’ll be streaming aoe2 for 1 day on December 29th at 8am - 1pm EST: https://www.twitch.tv/lezer0_asap * Discord Link: https://discord.gg/8xeR5jStrP * Tatar Changes, balance updates: * Winter Festival Until January 1st: https://www.ageofempires.com/news/winter-festival-2020/ * Lords of the West Expansions January 26th: https://www.ageofempires.com/news/pre-order-lords-of-the-west/ * 2 New Civs (Sicilians, Burgundians) * 3 New Fully Voiced Campaigns * Our Aoe experience since the last time we spoke * RedBull Wololo Cup 3 Signups Open (January 16th - 24th): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ontjcGwUTvs&feature=youtu.be ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ontjcGwUTvs ) * Hidden Cup 4 Qualifiers February 2021 T90Official Twitch * Main Event March 2021 * 2v2 World Cup Finals In-depth Recap: (Bo7 Grand Final) ($30,000+ tournament) Norway A(TheViper and MbL) vs China A (Mr_Yo and Lyx) - Game 1 Arabia: (Huns and Mayans vs Franks and Ehtiopians) - Game 2 Scandinavia: (Italians and Persians vs Mongols and Celts) - Game 3 Team Acropolis (Burmese and Indians vs Cumans and Berbers) - Game 4 Nomad (Spanish and Malians vs Lithuanians and Koreans) - Game 5 Valley (Saracens and Malay vs Magyars and Tatars) - Game 6 Chaos Pit (Teutons and Aztecs vs Slavs and Incas)

Over a million children in West Africa work on cocoa plantations-- and the problem has gotten worse in the past twenty years. Today on the podcast, Alexa talks about child labor and slavery in the chocolate supply chain, how it ended up in the Supreme Court, and what you can do to be a more conscious chocolate consumer. | Read more at https://novelhand.com/supreme-court-child-slavery-on-cocoa-plantations/ and https://novelhand.com/the-chocolate-case-review/

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump’s flunkies are getting more and more desperate in their attempts to overturn the election. It doesn’t help their case that Attorney General Bill Barr now says there’s no evidence of massive fraud, as Trump claims. Meanwhile, progressives are seething over some of Joe Biden’s staff picks. The latest name to draw fire from the left: Rahm Emanuel. And lastly, the Supreme Court hears arguments for holding American corporations responsible for child slavery in Africa. Your holiday sweets may taste more bitter after you hear this report, folks. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The world’s stupidest coup attempt continues. Donald Trump filed a lawsuit yesterday in Wisconsin seeking to disqualify more than two hundred and twenty one thousand ballots in two Democratic counties, the Associated Press reports. It’s a longshot attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s win there. Trump filed the day after Democratic Governor Tony Evers certified Biden as the winner. Trump asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly. He also wants it to order Evers to withdraw the certification, the AP reports. Could it work? Wisconsin’s high court is controlled four to three by conservatives, but conservative judges didn’t favor his lawsuits elsewhere. The Biden campaign called the lawsuit QUOTE completely baseless ENDQUOTE. So, typical. Trump is running out of time to undo the election. The Electoral College meets on December 14. Congress will count the votes on January 6. With that timetable in mind, Politico reports that Trump will soon be down to one final, desperate maneuver: pressing his allies on Capitol Hill to step in and derail Biden’s presidency. Federal law gives individual members of the House and Senate the power to challenge the results from the floor. Several House Republican lawmakers, including Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, told Politico they’re considering this rarely used mechanism to aid Trump. An obscure 1887 law called the Electoral Count Act spells out the process. It also gives a tiny number of lawmakers enormous power to challenge the results, per Politico. If a single House member and a single senator join forces, they can object to entire slates of presidential electors. Still, for this to work, Politico says Trump would need a legal victory akin to a miracle. A court, perhaps the Supreme Court, would have to embrace the Trumpistas’ effort and scrap federal statutes giving governors the power to certify results. And that hypothetical court would need to ignore findings by Trump’s own Justice Department. Attorney General Bill Barr yesterday told the AP that to date QUOTE we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election ENDQUOTE. Sounds like Barr isn’t on board! Biden Picks Infuriate Progressives Joe Biden’s selection of Neera Tanden, a Hillary Clinton loyalist, to lead the Office of Management and Budget isn’t the only staffing decision he’s made that’s annoying progressives. The New York Times reports that lefties are looking askance at Biden’s likely pick for a Covid-19 czar: Jeffrey Zients [ZYE-ENTS]. Zients was the head of the Obama administration’s National Economic Council and is currently co-chairman of Biden’s transition team. A progressive advocacy grop called the Revolving Door Project has been urging Biden to keep corporate influence out of his administration, the Times reports, and has compiled a thirteen-page document about Zients. The file highlights his wealth, his appetite for deficit reduction and his recent work as chief executive of an investment fund called Cranemere. The group points to the majority stake that Cranemere took in NorthStar Anesthesia in 2018. It cites negative reviews that NorthStar Anesthesia received through the Better Business Bureau, including allegations of surprise billing and a threat to send a dental patient’s bill to a collection agency. Seems a little dodgy! Meanwhile, the Intercept reports that workers who helped elect Biden are outraged that he is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lead the Department of Transportation. John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL- CIO, told the Intercept that an Emanuel appointment would be a nightmare – and a betrayal. He went on QUOTE We didn’t work our asses off [for Biden] to have Rahm Emanuel as the secretary of transportation... The truth of the matter is that Rahm Emanuel is the type of Democrat that got Trump elected to begin with ENDQUOTE. That about says it. Corporations Defend Child Slavery Chocolate lovers may want to sit down for this one. The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday about whether United States chocolate companies should be held responsible for child slavery on the African farms from which they buy most of their cocoa, the Washington Post reports. Six Africans are seeking damages from Nestlé USA and Cargill. They allege that as children they were trafficked out of Mali, forced to work long hours on Ivory Coast cocoa farms and kept at night in locked shacks. Their attorneys argue that the companies should have better monitored their cocoa suppliers in West Africa, where about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa is grown and child labor is widespread. According to a recent report sponsored by the US Department of Labor, the world’s chocolate companies depend on cocoa produced with the aid of one point six million West African child laborers. Most of those laborers were involved in tasks considered hazardous such as wielding machetes, carrying heavy loads or working with pesticides, per the Post. Court filings for the six Africans argue that these companies could end the system, but instead they chose profits over ending their exploitation of children. Nestlé USA and Cargill have asked the Supreme Court to toss the lawsuit, arguing that courts in the US are the wrong forum for the Malians’ complaint. They also claim that the applicable law permits such cases against individuals but not corporations. Is that what they call good corporate citizenship? Both sides faced skepticism from the justices yesterday, the Post reports. Here’s hoping the plaintiffs succeed and the corporations learn that society won’t tolerate child slavery. Because we’d really like to believe that’s the case. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Food banks across the country are bracing for a dwindling supply of food as federal aid nears its end, NBC News reports. The head of one South Florida food bank said shipments have plummeted from one hundred and sixty trailer loads of food per week at the start of the coronavirus pandemic down to fourteen – though demand has not let up. Consider making a donation, folks. An influential government advisory panel convened yesterday to decide who should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, the AP reports. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is reportedly prioritizing health care workers and nursing home patients, two groups comprising nearly twenty four million people. It will meet again later to decide who should be next in line, though state authorities and ultimately doctors get the final say. Former federal cybersecurity chief Christopher Krebs, who was fired last month for contradicting Donald Trump’s election-related conspiracy theories, suggested yesterday that he may pursue legal action against a Trump campaign attorney who said he should be shot, Politico reports. Trump lawyer Joe DiGenova said in a Monday interview on right-wing talk radio that Krebs should QUOTE be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot ENDQUOTE. Sounds like someone needs a nap! CNN reports that the Justice Department is investigating a potential crime related to funneling money to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to a court record unsealed on Tuesday by the chief judge of the DC District Court. The news broke after it was reported that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had requested a pardon, and after Attorney General Bill Barr visited the White House. It all sounds too obvious to be real. That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon LIVE at noon on the Majority Report. DEC 2, 2020 - AM QUICKIE HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

God's Bits of Wood is a 1960 novel by the Senegalese author Ousmane Sembène that concerns a railroad strike in colonial Senegal of the 1940s. It was written in French under the title Les bouts de bois de Dieu. The book deals with several ways that the Senegalese and Malians responded to colonialism. There are elements that tend toward accommodation, collaboration, or even idealization of the French colonials. At the same time the story details the strikers who work against the mistreatment of the Senegalese people. The novel was translated into English in 1962 and published by William Heinemann as God's Bits of Wood as part of their influential African Writers Series. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/support

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari approves community policing at a cost of 30 million dollars+++Malians scoff at ECOWAS sanctions after the coup+++UK turns to West Africa for food

A senior journalist from Dakar, Amandla Thomas Johnson has told Radio Islam that while the unprecedented political developments in Mali is a military coup, it can also be referred to as a populous coup with many Malians glad to see the back of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita

The US is to controversially initiate a process at the UN Security Council to reinstate international sanctions on Iran lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal. The US itself stopped complying with the accord two years ago, when President Donald Trump abandoned it. We hear from then White House National Security Adviser, John Bolton. Also on the programme: An ally of opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks of his own suspected poisoning; and two Malians give us their account of the state of their country following the removal of the president by the military. (Image: President Donald J. Trump holds up a presidential memorandum he just signed to pull out of Iran nuclear deal at the White House in Washington DC on 8 May 2018. Credit: EPA / Reynolds)

At least 11 people have been killed and more than 150 injured during protests in Mali’s capital Bamako, the government acknowledged on Facebook on Monday. The latest round of anti-government protests began on Friday, led by M5-RFP (July 5 Movement-Rally of Patriotic Forces), a coalition of opposition politicians, religious leaders and activists calling for civil disobedience. Related: Amid global protests, Jamaicans confront their own problems with police brutality But demonstrations have taken place on and off in the capital since June, with many calling for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. Related: Libyans are caught between coronavirus and conflict“[Protesters are] against the background of general dissatisfaction related to the deterioration of the security situation in the country, and also the rough management of the health crisis." Nadia Adam, researcher, Institute for Security Studies, Bamako, Mali“They’re against the background of general dissatisfaction related to the deterioration of the security situation in the country, and also the rough management of the health crisis,” said Nadia Adam, a Bamako-based researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.Renowned Malian Afropop singer Salif Keïta also decried the suffering of Malians in a video posted on social media.Le Mali va mal. Notre peuple soufffre. Écoutez mon message, le Mali avant tout. @SalifKeita pic.twitter.com/FpmiTuFEKj— Salif Keita (@SalifKeita) July 9, 2020In recent years, Mali has experienced a combination of security challenges — namely, growing violence by armed militias and terrorist groups that has displaced more than a million people in the Sahel region and killed thousands, including Malian and foreign troops.While the Malian government, along with international and regional partners, has intensified counterterrorism campaigns in the Sahel, the problem has only become more complex, now threatening to spill over to other West African states.The continued violence has frustrated Malians, who have also been subject to human rights abuses by government forces. On June 10, Amnesty International said Mali’s military had unlawfully arrested and executed civilians during counterterrorism operations earlier this year.President Keïta called for an end to the days of civil unrest, which has seen protesters briefly occupy Mali’s state media building and damage other government buildings.The African Union, United Nations, and other bodies have also criticized police’s use of lethal force in the latest protests, which have also seen social media and messaging apps partially blocked according to Netblocks. Opposition leaders were reportedly arrested as well.In a televised statement over the weekend, President Keïta offered some new political concessions in a bid to quell the civil discontent.“I have decided to repeal the licenses of the remaining members of the constitutional courts,” he promised. The constitutional courts have been controversial since it tossed out provisional results of legislative elections that took place in March.“This decision will enable the organization of partial legislative elections in the districts where the results were invalidated by the constitutional courts,” explained Adam.The elections, which had low turnout, were strained by the coronavirus pandemic, continued militia attacks, and the abduction of Mali’s main opposition leader Soumaïla Cisse by a suspected al-Qaeda linked militia.The government also made other promises.Related: In Senegal, COVID-19 safety measures conflict with cultural traditions“The president has proposed a political agreement and the formation of a government of national unity,” Adam said.That might not be enough for demonstrators calling for President Keïta’s resignation. Adam said demonstrations continued on Monday, and she could hear gunshots from her home.Correction: The radio version of this story misstated the date when Amnesty accused Mali’s military of killing civilians. They released the report on June 10, not July 10. 

Social History Part 2. In which we discuss the religious and commercial lives of Malians in the medieval era. From desert mystics to forest traders with packs of donkeys, the lives of the Malinke and other ethnicities under the Mansa were rich and fascinating.

What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? This is the it and the D show episode 351. We are still in quarantine, even though we’re slowly getting back into business, cheers to all the bars and restaurants that got to open up today. A guest this week of the illustrious one, mr. Fred Brown. He was on about a month ago, actually. What about a month and a half ago? Right? When everything started breaking kind of educating us on COVID and what a better time to bring them back then, uh, cause all the madness going on right now with the doubts and misinformation and all this other stuff.     Oh. And let’s not forget all the bars and restaurants reopening and everybody believing it’s bar crawl day. Yeah. Let’s not forget. Yeah. Hockey glass will save us all here to clear up all the madness and Dave, you know what you may fire when ready. All right. Yeah. And Fred, since the last time, uh, we’ve decided we’re not playing the intro, uh, during these video sessions. So we’re not going to make you suffer through that again. Okay. It was very inspiring. Welcome. And thank you for hanging out with us. This is the it, and the D show we are hanging out, uh, in our respective houses for the time being, this is episode three 51. This is Bob, the sales guy that is Dave, the geek, Randy. I do the Twitters is doing the Twitter, find it online it and the d.com and do us a favor, give us a like on the socials and subscribe to us everywhere. Fine podcasts are sold. And uh, yeah. So this is usually where we talk about the events and we have not put any back on the calendar just yet. Uh, but now that things are starting to open up, we will be looking at doing so. Um, I know our buddy Neil was at, uh, where we were supposed to be having our first event that got canceled Del Ray cozy lounge. Uh, so we’ll be reaching out to them and seeing how things are going and maybe go back there. Uh, and then we’ll work on the Anarbor events as well. But yeah, so it’s a, they’re they’re, they’re coming soon and, uh, and, and, and look, and look and listen to, I listened to Bob with his, uh, with his new microphone. Sounded all good and stuff. Yeah. I’m not all that. It doesn’t sound like I’m in the toilet. If you’re not watching the show. I think I got an idea for our next event that we should all wear, like those kitty life preservers and like all handout, like, uh, so, so we have this, see the distance like around our waists. Oh, you mean like the hip waders? Yes. Yeah, exactly. Like this, just like you slide them over your head, like life preservers. And I was like, what’s that going to hit? Not like a hospital, a we’ll we’ll do the whole thing. We’ll where the, uh, the face shields with the windshield wiper, the big Brown thing around our waist life preservers. I think we, uh, we need the giant burger King hats, the giant burger King crowns from Germany. We need to find our way to get our hands on those, but Hey, a Fred’s already getting a patient where we are. If you didn’t hear the pre-roll, we’re very, very lucky to have mr. Fred Brown back with us. Uh, I would consider how do we introduce you politely without a, uh, I guess you are all things, um, I guess why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself before I stick my foot in my mouth any further? Oh, well, I, I work a little bit in epidemiology and infectious disease. I’ve done. Gosh, I, I started doing the work back in 1985. We, uh, I was on the team that discovered the first and then developed the first AIDS test, uh, for HIV, uh, detecting HIV. And unfortunately at the time we, uh, had a test, but we didn’t have any cure as a little bit similar to what we have with Qubit right now. But, uh, you know, HIV is at that point was really a deadly, you know, much more deadly than, than, than it is. And so most people after we developed the test didn’t want one. And so what we did is we actually developed it for the blood serum and we can’t, we tested all the blood. So people wouldn’t be getting diseased from the blood. And then I went, uh, and started, uh, a little company called Alkermes. And we did quite a bit of work in delivering, uh, new drugs across the blood brain barrier, which was a challenge. And then I basically helped develop a 27 major drugs and 13 diagnostic products and seven or eight vaccines in my career. So you have kids in a, you know, in, uh, who, uh, who, uh, were born in the 1990s ’em up, they probably were, were vaccinated and they have had vaccines. Then they would probably vaccinated with some of the work that I did. And most people who have been to an emergency room, public took, had drugs that I take. And most people who have cancer have taken some of the drugs that I developed as well. So that’s some of the back on it. I speak on behalf of all of us. We’re very lucky to have you with us and thank you for your time. Yeah, it’s a pleasure. I mean, he’s, he’s got a lot more credit than most of our, you know, our, our common guest in eighties, D-list celebrities. I mean, that’s so I don’t know, Dave, I got a hundred questions. Dave, you have a hundred questions, Randy, you have a hundred questions, I guess we all flip a coin, Dave, I guess start off you a fired a few off an email. Why don’t you, uh, I guess fire off one we’ll we’ll play round Robin. Well, yeah, so, I mean, I guess let’s, let’s start with obviously the, the big one. So, you know, Michigan’s bars and restaurants are reopening today, um, or reopened today, uh, you know, a lot of them, uh, I know quite a few places that, uh, that, that were opened at midnight, uh, to get that two hour Russian. Uh, so I mean, from your perspective, you know, what should people be paying attention to? And, and, and by people, I mean, both patrons and staff, you know, owners, you know, that kind of thing, like what, what should we be keeping in mind as these rules are relaxing? Because I mean, I, no joke, my Facebook feed was just littered with people, checking in at bars today and, and everything else. And, and so I, yeah, I’m, I’m curious as to what your thoughts are there. So they’re basically four, four things you want to think about. We can go into the tail if you like as well. The first thing is your own personal health. So you, are you feeling good? And as you know, we started off with about four major, uh, diagnostics for the disease. The first one was, if you had a fever 88 of the time, you had a fever that was indicative of, of COVID. Unfortunately that’s a very, uh, you know, it’s a sensitive test, but it’s not very specific. You can have pretty broad yeah. Were for a lot of different reasons. I mean, we had a, you know, shortness of breath was a big one and a dry cough. Wasn’t another big one. And there’s also some cognitive issues that we felt were issue issues. Now we’ve actually got about 12 different ways of diagnosing and I’ve got a list of them. I can, I can show you if you’re interested. I’ll just show it to you quickly. Uh, I have it here. Mmm. This isn’t the right deck, but we can get there one second and right here. Yeah. You got a dialog box up. You’re not doing anything until you kill that off. Oh, sorry. [inaudible], we’ll save this. Thank you. That’s the benefit of being in the room with three it guys. Beautiful. Let’s see. Here, there, we are open that up and see where we are. So the major, major, uh, diagnostic factors, uh, now we’ve got loss of smell and taste. That was a new one. We weren’t expecting that at all. That’s a very rare for a coronavirus, uh, of any kind to kind of create a loss of smell. The dry cough continued at 68%. We were just thought it was 66%, but it was 68%. Fatigue is a big one. If you’re really feeling very tired out. Uh, and, uh, despite getting a lot of sleep, that was a big one. It turns out there was some student production, the shortness of breath continued at about 20%. And then there was a whole mass of smaller things that we found out that it was a little bit broader indication levels than we thought. So the first question you want to ask yourself before, before you go is what sputum protection production slam. Bob. You want to go by an expectorant, let’s just say that you want, you want to be feeling good when you go out. And if you have any of those things, dumps that, then see it, you know, cause again, we’ll get a test and check it out and make sure you’re doing good. Uh, so that’s the first big question. That’s the next big question you have to ask is what your own personal level of, of risk is. And, um, you know, for guys like me, I I’m older. And so I actually have a higher level of risk and I like to admit, I can show you that quickly as well. Here are the different factors and you can see it really, it really hype so quick. Um, uh, with, uh, with these, I have a feeling we’re not going to like this chart, Bob [inaudible]. So let me see, there was a slideshow slide. So if you’re, if you’re basically under 40, um, you’re, you know, you’re, you’re in pretty good shape. Um, unless you’re saying smoking have had, and I’ve had a major disease like cancer or haven’t, haven’t had bad ass, um, then, then I think it’s, it’s relatively safe, uh, to be out and about much more. So say than when, when you get into, you know, my, my area, which I’m, you know, on the 4% side, uh, of a mortality rate. And by the time you get to my mom’s age, I gotta really be careful. Cause she’s, you know, she’s talking about, uh, uh, know one, one in five chance of dying. If she, if she comes up with it, if you’ve got a slide up, go ahead and share it. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m I’m making all sorts of mistakes tonight. I apologize. No problem. Here we are. I will hear that up. How does that look? There you go. Yeah. So, you know, basically you can see if you’re, if you’re under 40, um, the chances of, of being killed by, by, by COBIT, aren’t, aren’t zero, but they’re a lot better than if you’re say in your sixties, seventies or eighties, by the time you’re 60, you gotta really think pretty closely about whether you want to get into a high, high risk situation. Especially if you’ve got these underlying conditions like cardiovascular disease, which a lot of us have and diabetes, you can get a sense of, you know, with no underlying condition. And you know, when you’re younger, you know, you’re talking about a 0.7 0.5% mortality rate kind of thing. Uh, once you get, you know, over, over, over 50, you’re talking about two to 3%. Um, uh, and by the time we get to my mom’s age, as I said, you know, you’re talking about a one in five chance of dying. It turns out once you get over over 60, the males die a lot faster than females. And unfortunately, as we, as we, as we know, if the city does play a role, there is no genetic role that we’ve found so far, but it’s the socioeconomic conditions that are causing, especially black people to be dying at about three times the rate of the rest of us and getting the disease about two times the rate as the rest of us. So, so do these factors stack. So if you’re 80 plus and have CLPD, are you yeah, 28%. That’s right. And they don’t stack exactly. You’ve got to multiply two by the 0.7 underlying condition number, uh, through, but you know, say that you’re a 60 year old man with diabetes. You gotta, you got a 4.1, 3% chance. So you start with a 0.7 and start to add on the factors for the, of the additional factors. So yeah, it’s, uh, it gets so, you know, so that’s the second big thing. First week thing is already feeling good before you go out. Second big thing is what is my personal risk factor? Um, cause if you get it, no, I think driving a car, you gotta want a one and 700 chance of, of, of, of crashing and dying here. You’re talking about something that’s worse if you catch it. So you got, so that’s, uh, uh, that’s the next big factor personally, and you want to kind of assess your, your, your, your, your level and the, and there’s there, there are a little, you can use the mobile phone. Uh, I created a little app that says, you know, here’s my situation. I’ve got diabetes and I’ve got, you know, heart disease. I’ve got hypertension and I’m 70, you know, what are my chances? And it’ll, it’ll give you a number, stay home. That’s what it’ll say. Just be really, really, I make sure it’s worth it. Do you have, do you have one of those giant hamster bubbles? That would be great. Hey, Fred, I really walk it into this. When, when Dave told me you’re going to be on, I got all excited because literally my, my head’s been spinning from information slash slash misinformation, and I’m going to run some scenarios of everything that I’ve been hearing. And I want you to tell me what’s real. Cause it’s driving me nuts. So, you know, hold on, hold on. Just say you’ve got two more, right? I have two more. Sorry. We’ll just quickly. I’ll go through. I’m sorry. The third thing is what is the general level of COVID in your environment? And now we’ve got all sorts of little weather forecasts and COBIT announcements that says here’s what it looks like. It looks like. So in Michigan, our worst environments are Kent County, McComb County, Oakland County, and Wayne County. Those have the highest incidences of Kobe generally in the environment. If you’re up in the UPP, not bad, if you’re down below, say Gaylord, you’ve got to start getting a little bit more nervous. And as you get more toward, uh, grand Rapids or Detroit, you gotta be more careful than you would in the more rural environments. And then the last factor is the activity itself. And, uh, I’ve got a funny survey. I’ll I’ll, I’ll share with you guys. The epidemiologists all got together, the research epidemiologists, the United States, and we did a survey among ourselves saying, you know, what, what, what, what, what are, what, what were we willing to do? And you’ll find it sort of amusing. I think that the I’ll show it, share it with you later with just so it’s the, it’s how you feeling yourself. What’s your personal risk factor? What’s the general level of COVID in your environment and how dangerous is the activity that I’m planning to do? How is it relative to the other stuff? So if you go out for a walk in the park, uh, with low, low levels population, probably not too bad, if you’re planning to see in a closed up bar, we know for a lengthy period of time and you have a high risk, you want to think that through pretty carefully, right? All right. Now, Bob go, yay. No, so everything, I mean, I try to read as much as I can from as many different sources I can. And you know, basically my, my, the week over the last couple of weeks has gone like this, like who says this this week. And then who says that this week CDC says this this week, then they say something else. Then there’s health experts on this news channel that says, you can do this, but you can’t do that. And then on the other channel, they say, you can do that, but you can’t do this. And then, you know, everyone on social media is I call it the Corena virus, the Karen of virus, shaming of activities. They don’t apply. They don’t deem appropriate. Right. Um, and so basically I’m caught in this, like, and then Fowchee says this, and then the president says that, and then the press, the president secretary says this, like, literally I’m caught in the middle of what the hell? Like, what do I do? I just sit. I just I’ll just keep sitting in my chair. Like, I don’t know what to do anymore. Like who do I guess, who do you listen to her? What’s what’s right. And what’s wrong these days. So I usually go back to the scientific literature myself, you know? So I’ll take a look and see what’s been quoted and what the evidence is. So we ha we, and, and the, and the challenge has been lately that some of the scientific literature that normally you can’t really trust, uh, has, you know, 60 different coauthors. Everyone is partnering with each other. They don’t really know each other that well anymore. And the pure review tends to happen after the publication. Now, before you guys all get together and say, wait a minute, but now you sort of have to make that assessment for yourself every time. And these stuff get this good stuff gets published fast. And then of course, it’s, it’s a prominent group and you want to get it out there. And wow. You know, so it’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s sort of a wild West, right? I believe in the it world, that’s what we call testing and production. See, I was going to say, every engineer puts in their own change control. That’s how I was going to, you know, [inaudible] whichever way. But like, so, I mean, that was the whole point of science. I always thought was science always evolve. Science always changes. There’s always people with different theories, but like, you know, like you all were trying to look for the Bible, the gospel what’s the truth. And it seems to change depending on the wind. Um, and that’s why, you know, like we, we all want to be safe. We want to all keep our families safe. But like at the same token, we’re like, wait a minute. Like, you know what I mean? Like, Oh, I know, I know. So there, there’s a couple of things that are, are also influencing it. For example, there’s, there are a couple of big programs that we have recently that everyone was talking about, uh, the Madrona vaccine, you know, and it’s hurt you. The way you create these clinical trials is you can do it in a couple different ways. One is to have a large enough sample size where you can actually do, uh, an open up the dataset, look at it, and that affect the power of the ultimate answer. And so what Madrona did in order to help, I think their, you know, their, their stock price, obviously they’re a publicly held company. They decided to, you know, open up parts of their datasets early, be able to announce that, and then, you know, force us to wait for the rest of the data later. So, uh, what happened was everyone looked at it and said, wait a minute, we’re only, you know, you guys tested 45 patients. You only opened up the data set on eight. And so it’s very hard nor normally we’d see the whole dataset. Everything would have been peer reviewed. We would have, you know, and instead it was sort of controlled by a business group, you know, business communications person out of scientist. And it was controlled their business publication, not, you know, science or Lancet or, uh, you know, uh, necessarily a journal that you did that you’d expect. Right? So that’s another additional complicating piece because people are competing for, um, trying to say their drug is good enough that we’re going to do something special with it. And especially in the vaccine space, they’re trying to bet that the vaccine will work before they’ve proven it. There’s gonna be enough data that says that’s suggestive, that we’re going to put in two, three, $4 billion into a manufacturing plant, uh, before we even know for sure that the thing is safe and efficacious. So gonna be some big bets laid down, and we have to know that early enough to make those bets work. So we don’t have to wait for the vaccine if it’s successful. I mean, is there some big factors out there? So, I mean, is, is science suffering from the same issue that like media and journalism in general are where it’s more about first than, right. Well, in, in, in this case, there’s enough, there’s enough shots on goal that if you’re first and wrong, uh, it’ll be pretty clear, pretty fast. And, and the guy coming in behind that, on the net with the next shot, I go, we’ll still have a good chance in some instances where there’s too big of a gap, uh, then, uh, sometimes, you know, first, first makes right. It gets you, it gives us the most market here, typically in pharmaceuticals. You know, there’s a big race. Usually the first person to market gets 40 to 60% market share and, and retains that market share even when the next sets of, of, of, of, of solutions come on stream. So it, you know, 46%, it’s a big, and then the next, you know, number two gets 30% market share and number three gets maybe 10 or 15% and then number four or five. So you, you know, you’re done, you’re fighting over scraps. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that’s, that’s a usual market situation in pharmaceuticals. And so there is a lot of pressure to be fast, but in this case, there’s 10 vaccines that are supposed to be ready to at least be looked at in phase three clinical testing by, you know, November, December, January of this year. So Bob, just to like, I guess a good specific example of what you were just talking about. So, you know, early on it was, uh, okay, even if you’re asymptomatic, you can absolutely pass this on to people. Um, it’s, you know, that’s a big deal. So even if you’re asymptomatic still be careful today, the who comes out and says, well, as it turns out, asymptomatic carriers, you know, isn’t, you, you’re probably, that’s probably not a distribution mechanism. That’s interesting that who did that, who come out today? I, I wasn’t aware of that. Um, because I literally just came out a bit ago. I’ll have to take a look at that. I look at the data, uh, because we know one of the challenges of the drug is that a lot of the scientists think that there is a lot of asymptomatic transmission, uh, not because, um, well, and then the two reasons for that. Uh, so I, I just, I I’m surprised by that conclusion, uh, act Josh, I’ll show you another slide if you want to take a look. Okay. Um, and that slide is about diagnostics themselves, and it’s sort of interesting how imprecise we are right now, still, unfortunately. So if you look at the different tests that are available, yeah. It’s an important for people to realize this. Um, so did I share it? Can you see it? Yep. Got it. All right. So, well, that’s the fatality rates again, here’s diagnosing COVID. So it turns out that if you think you got exposed from COVID. So my daughter was, uh, she was protesting in Chicago this week, uh, much to my unhappiness for a whole number of reasons out there. Um, and, uh, and she wants now to get tested to make sure she didn’t get a COBIT. And I said, well, that’s great, but you’re going to have to wait about five and a half days. Um, in order to really know what she get to give your best chance of knowing whether you’ve got COVID or not. So it turns out that if you think you might’ve gotten exposed, like you got on a plane and you want to go visit your elderly grandmother, and you’re concerned that on the plane, you might’ve been exposed, even though you’ve been good at home, uh, you know, uh, for, for two weeks, uh, then believe it or not, you probably shouldn’t see your grandmother for 14 days, uh, uh, because of the asymptomatic issues that we’ve dealt with it. Well, it’s, I mean, that’s what, uh, that’s the law or the rule that Hawaii passed. Um, they got, they got tired of everyone flying there because the flights were so cheap. And so they mandated a 14 day quarantine, um, and actually had a, they started and ran a fund where, you know, if, if you weren’t, if you really planning on being there for a week, they would basically pay to, you know, change your ticket and send you back home. Same thing with UK. If you go to the United Kingdom out of it, unless you get an air corridor, this isn’t an air corridor exemption. You’re going to have to wait for 14 days to enter the country. Um, and if you’re from coming in, so here on this, on this chart shows two different kinds of basic tests. The first test is in the solid line, the solid lines are the molecular and editing testing that actually tests whether you’ve got an active virus. And basically if you test three days after you’ve been exposed and you have a fuller nasal pharyngeal swab, and you go to Harvard and you get tested, they’re only saying it 40% of the time, they can detect it after that’s, after three days, if you wait for four days, there’s a 70% chance that you can detect it. And if you wait for five and a half days, that’s sort of the [inaudible] detection period of time at that point, uh, you, um, uh, we have about an 80, 84% chance of detecting it. And that’s about as good as it gets. You are in the hospital, you know, on an operating table and something inserted into your lungs to get what they call a Brocky, uh, bronchitis, uh, uh, alveolar Luvata or sputum directly from your lungs. And then you get a 92% chance, but there’s a big difference between what they publish, which is the, the, the analytical capability of a test, or just like 99.9, 5%. And the actual clinical experience that you have, because that once you take that swab, the first question is, did you get, get the right part of the nose, a little part of the, uh, to be at the right part of the lung? Did you tickle the STEM of the brain properly? Yeah. Make sure he got all, you got it all mixed up with the right in the right reagents and you gotta send it off and then you got to do the test, but that’s just to be done just right. And by the time we go through all that, it’s about 80 or 85%, you know, true positive breaks. Dave, didn’t you say your favorite was the stool sample one. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Hey, you know, that, that stool sample is turning out to be somewhat helpful. If you want to look at community spread, it’s about 55% accurate, uh, you know, uh, sensitive, um, uh, and specific overall. Um, and, and what’s interesting is if you have every day you’re taking, so the effluent charges of a building or of a particular area, you can tell whether or not there there’s, there’s antibody building up in a particular population, and then you can go back and you can test that particular population with the more specific tests, more sensitive tests, uh, and actually, you know, find the people and the reasons it’s so important is that this, um, that is, is that we do think at least, uh, I have to look at that who article that’s an interesting new, uh, new, well, so here’s, let me, let me read you the quote. So it’s a, from dr. Maria van Krakow, um, who said, uh, head of who’s emerging disease and zoonosis unit, uh, from the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmit onward to a second individual and then follows up with it’s very rare. Now she had, does immediately follow that. And of course they don’t really highlight this quote as much, um, where she says absolutely more research and data are needed to truly answer the question of whether or not asymptomatic carriers can spread it. Um, yeah, so that that’s important. She didn’t say presymptomatic, if she had, has she said presymptomatic and asymptomatic, then I would have questioned it because it turns out with your, your, your, the biggest amount of virus you’ve got that it’s shedding happens about two and a half days after being, after being, um, uh, after being exposed. So if he had said, and we think of asymptomatic rate about 25%, it ranges between 20 and 50%, depending on who you’re talking about. So eventually, you know, 80% of the time you’ll come down with symptoms, uh, 80 say 75, 80% of the time will come down with some symptoms that you are at least we’re right here. Well, I was gonna say, even if they’re, you know, that that first chart you threw up there, I mean, a lot of those symptoms are, Hey, I’ve got a, or, Hey, I’ve got the flu or it’s allergy season in Michigan. So as, as we get as become more, as we’ve become more aware, more educated, he, he could be right that, you know, the asymptomatic rate of transmission is going to be lower because we’re going to recognize that Quebec, I could have colon COVID and isolate appropriately. So can you, she may be right about that. I’d like to look at the dataset that she was looking at, because most of my colleagues are saying, we still think there’s some asymptomatic spread to, uh, to this. And so if you can imagine a stool sample, the, the, the issue we’ve got, I just, I just want to, God bless you. And it just bless you for having an actual scientific answer for Bob’s dumb ass comment. I just, I, I respect you so much for this are critical. Well, it turns out they’re more important than we thought they would be, uh, because this particular virus has a very, what they call low key value. And K value is about a lot of clustering that occurs that in order to transmit the disease, cause it’s an R value. Everyone talks about it says one person gets it two and a half people Morgan. And so on. It turns out that isn’t exactly the way that virus, this particular virus works. This particular virus really works a lot more with super spreading, so super spreading by location, who we’re spending by activity super spreading by individual. So it turns out that, um, you know, one guy in Italy actually gave the disease in two days to 761 people. And he was, he was a super spreader. It turns out there’s some, I think I had an X like that. Yeah. We don’t know enough about literacy to figure this out. So what’s nice about the stool sample is if you get starting to get community spread, you can try to isolate, um, more with, uh, and try to find that that super spreading location activity or person, uh, faster than we can normally. Cause unfortunately we don’t have very good contact rates and a lot of countries have really invested a lot contact tracing. We don’t have have that as well established yet. We’re going to get there, but it’ll take some time, but no, we’re not quite as good as say Taiwan where they’re really good. So, I mean, I guess that leads to it. So our waste treatment plants, like kind of on the front lines of this, and I know, and is, is this maybe one of the issues with, I’m just thinking like, you know, you’ve seen like lower, like the lower earlier numbers or lower numbers in rural areas where you may have a lot of homes on septic systems. Um, so you’re not getting, you know, community data you’re, you know, it’s still one offs. Like, so I mean, yeah, I mean our, our waste and water treatment plants kind of on the frontline to this now it’s a waste of, uh, yes, but even more so maintenance, uh, operations. So you can imagine, you know, collection areas of, uh, around buildings and that actually are isolated back all the way to a building. You can get to that point and in some situations, but yes, your answer is, yeah, they’re, they’re becoming more important than, than I originally thought they were going to be sort of interesting. Uh, we have a couple of comments from our, uh, Facebook who are watching the video live. Um, if you have tested positive for antibodies, what is, what does that mean? How are you immune or not? How long are you moving if you are? Yes, that is a great, that is a very valuable answer question. Um, so this that’s the second test it’s up here. I’ll just show you, you should absolutely continue to stay at home for as long as possible. So here’s, here’s that here’s the same, here’s that same slide again. And the dotted line, the dotted line tests, um, are the antibody tests and this one shows two of them. Uh, it shows the, uh, the IgG, which is the important one that, that actually is a longterm antibody that converse some immunity we think. And then the IgM that signals the body, Hey, there’s something going on here. So antibodies are, as you know, they, they, they, they arise because you’ve got a foreign object that attacking your body. And what’s interesting is if you’re one year old and if something attacks you and then, you know, 90 years later, you’re, you’re sort of, you know, wheeling and yourself around the retirement home and they test, they can find that antibody back when you’re one year old. So that, that has a permanent sort of tattoo in your system that, that, that, that go away now that the effectiveness of that antibody won’t be as strong when your ideas is when it just a couple of weeks after you’ve been infected. But, uh, but it’ll still be there. So you can still detect whether you’ve ever been infected by the disease. As you can see this, this line goes up to about 70%. So right now our best antibody detection systems detect about 70% of the time, a false, uh, we’ll we’ll, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll be accurate 70% time, but it also means that 30% of the time you may think that you’ve got antibodies and you really don’t. So you want to make sure, uh, my recommendation is, is take this test a few times before you go out and try to be Superman. Uh, I would say three times right now, uh, and there are different tests for the antibody Roche’s is the most accurate, or if those is also highly accurate, Abbott’s a little bit less accurate, but faster. So depending on how, you know, how fast you want to go and so on, uh, and, and the accuracy level and the kind of test is being done. But basically there are a couple of things you can do once you’ve had a positive, uh, antibody response. The first is you just want to find out whether you have any immune response. Now we’re looking at that pretty carefully, uh, because we’re ruling for plastic proteins that will actually, or they call neutralize, uh, these, uh, the, the virus. And those are rare to find. We think we found a couple that complex was a virus and make it, make it an ex sort of, uh, inhibit its path to the cells and then reduces infection rate. We haven’t found that many that actually, no, come on and just kill a thing. Uh, we’re looking at something called DARPA, which is sort of interesting. It comes from a malaria, but we haven’t found that much. I I’m working with some of the guys who were at Rockefeller and some of the guys who are at Stanford, and we’re, we’re a little bit disappointed in the number of we take. And so if you, if you’ve been infected and you want to contribute, um, let me know when I can sit, certainly set you up, uh, to, to donate your blood and they’ll take a big bag of it and then decide, tell you what kind of antibodies it’s again, it’s Mike, you can absolutely drain him. We’re, we’re totally good with that. He will, uh, on his behalf, we will, we will donate him to science. That’s absolutely fine. [inaudible] are, these are, these are done at very at, are they called P three labs? So they’re, you know, super infection disease. And then as far as infectious disease goes, you know, P three before that’s, you know, you’re, you’re talking about outer space type of, of sterility, uh, environments, you know, uh, I, you know, it looks like, it looks like the neck, uh, you know, the, the, the alien Malians are attacking. When you go to those labs, they, what they do is they take, they take the blood and they actually take live virus and they check and they check out whether or not the virus was being affected by any of the antibodies they found in the book. And then what they do is if they find some good, if you find that your blood is good, they’ll give these what they call plasma therapy options. Convalescent therapy is another word for it. And they’ll inject injected. The healthcare workers will inject with people who are very ill and these antibodies will help them give them a boost, temporary boost. Do you want to do it more often? You have to what they call monoclonal antibodies. They actually take the antibody that it’s working instead of giving you a, was all the antibodies. They’ll, they’ll highlight one or two. And that’s what we’re looking for. One or two that really are strong and actually synthesize it in, in, in cell culture and create monoclone. And then they’ll, you know, they’ll actually inoculate it with an oxygen. And so it produces these antibodies all the time. And, um, and, and, uh, that’s, that’s a, uh, they call it, it’s a cell line. That’s an Nicola, an immortal cell line. And this immortal cell lines produce just nothing but produce to anybody or at least take them out. And we’re able to very precisely target the people with the antibody. So that’s the next level of therapy we’re not there yet. We right now, we’re still working with cocktails and spun down plasma, but we’ll get there and it’ll, it should be helpful. So there’s our, yeah, there was a story that came out today also, or yesterday there was a scientist in Norway basically came out and said there were convinced, wrote a report that, uh, that it was lab made in China. Um, I know we had, uh, origin story. We didn’t really, you know, we were all over the board again. Um, what is, uh, I guess what’s your take on that? See, now it’s funny. It was on Forbes and I went to go click on it and it said, the pages look no longer active. I wonder if I know, right. That’s why I can’t figure anything out. What’s what’s right. What’s wrong. I swear to God, that’s what it said. That’s what happened. I drastic Laura flora couldn’t that there were a couple of big announcements that Hydrox made plugin wasn’t working. And then they found out the scientist had used a lab that really wasn’t didn’t do the work with the chiropractor I should have. And now that now it’s back being tested again, so that that’s going to happen a bunch of all, but basically most scientists, so nothing is impossible, right? It could have been done in the, uh, in, in, in a lab. Uh, and there are some Nobel laureates that are absolutely convinced that they’ve found, you know, pieces of HIV basis of this space, of that, uh, virus that they think is highly suspicious. Um, that would indicate that maybe they were looking for an HIV vaccine. Cause a lot of us are working on HIV vaccines, right? Wouldn’t it be great to have a vaccine for that stupid thing finally. Um, and, but then we still roll out 10 years out. So they’re, you know, people are working with, with different kinds of vectors and then putting in HIV, uh, HIV, uh, proteins into the vector to see if that’ll work, they create a vaccine. So that’s most plausible explanation of how it could possibly be that they were working with a virus like this that could be released. It’s highly, highly unlikely. What’s much more probable is that, um, that we had a, a shift in a drift. So what happens with these, uh, what’s happened to these DNA sequences that are in the viruses. They is, they, uh, as they, as they shifted drift, that means basically that they can, they can, uh, go into a bat. And we think what happened was it went into a bat. It started in a bat. It was then got to go ahead and do a pinion community. Hanging community shifted the DNA slightly. Uh, it was a normal grown virus into that. And the thing we community chipped with DNA slightly. And then we had some drift occurring in the, in the, in the DNA sequences would cause this funny virus to occur. That’s a far more, it turns out biologically it’s a far, far more likely scenario than, than, than a P for lab, which, which, which, which this wasn’t a mistake in the releasing something. Now it’s a brand new before lab. They were still training their people. There were some, you know, there were some safety reports that said, these guys aren’t doing exactly the right thing, but even then we tend to use, uh, you know, deactivated viruses and just as highly, highly unlikely. And then the people who run that lab, you know, I I’ve met with them a few times. They’re very, they’re, they’re some of the best, best immunologists and invest just at best people in the world and in the space. Right. So I’ll just, I’m just scanning that article, Fred. And I was like, uh, it was dismissed by experts. So it’s like, well, I’m not the person that wrote it was the expert. Cause it was proven. And now it’s, they’re proving. It’s not proven. So again, that’s where I get. I’m sitting here at home, just shaking my head because I’m reading this then it’s then it’s, it’s like watching the, a, the Pluto’s a planet episode of Rick and Morty that’s yet to come guys, one Nobel prize in the HIV field who believe we’re absolutely convinced that it was, uh, it was, uh, one of the guys in France. You don’t want that States who are convinced. And they’re very, they’re very, very prominent people in the field, you know, Nobel prize winners who are convinced that this was a something that happened by the chains, but it’s just, if you talk to most epidemiologists, most to be analogous, most neurologists who are, you know, serious about the field, it’s like, no one really believes it. And if it is, it’s such a small chance that it’s it’s to be at a disbelief. So I give it a small percent chance. There’s always a chance, but probably highly, highly, highly unlikely. All right. So I promised Frank, I would get this one in. And I, I told him I would even quote him. He said, Hey, are the memes that are floating around that say the mask you’re wearing does virtually nothing to protect you, but it protects the other guy accurate. So if I’m wearing a mask, but others aren’t, I’m protecting these dipshits and they’re infecting me. We know that that’s an excellent summary of the three different kinds of masks that you should be aware of. The first mask is the mask that we all have access to. And that’s a mask that is, is, is basically, uh, it’s basically layers of, uh, ripped up t-shirt that’s been folded. Yeah. Yeah. And it turns out this is material’s important. So, so the material that you use is important. If you use like one ply of sill, it’s only about 20% effective, but if you use like five Plaza, so it gets about 80% effect. If you use it one or two plies of cotton, a flannel, it’ll be, you know, 60, 70%. If you use three or four plots, it’ll get about knitting, knitted, crochet with holes in it like Alyssa Milano. That’s not going to work. No, you do the hand, the hand to God do to hand to God. I went to Lowe’s the other day. And literally everybody in the store was wearing a mask, which I was really happy to see. Um, however, the guy that was running back and forth with carts, uh, that was one of the story. Employees just basically had like a big like cable knit with big, giant holes in it. Wool scarf wrapped around his head. And I was like, Oh, Oh, that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works, but Hey, good for trying good. So this, this is a typical man. I just, I just happened to have one here. And, and what you want to do is you want to put it over your ears and you want to, you want to talk it in. You want to pull it down this way underneath and make sure see how it, how it’s going to be in and out like that. And the reason it’s doing it is because you want to make a nice don’t, don’t do it like that. It could break the metal, but it’s like this. And that’s, that’s a pretty tight seal. You have a little bit coming out this way, but the idea is that you’re stopping your breath and the person who is wearing the mask on the other side is stopping their breath. And collectively you can reduce the amount of transition by up to six fold. Well, and then for, for people like me, that wear glasses, then you put your glasses on over that. And that’s what keeps it from fogging up. That’s right. No, that’s a, that’s a big issue. There, there, there are a couple of things you don’t want to do with the math, right? The first thing you don’t want to do with a mask is touch it particularly cause it’s blocking stuff. So you’d want it when you take it on long, you want to use your, you want to use it up here. I will just show you this, this, and I see a lot of people doing it. Cause it’s is not, is useless. I’ll just tell you all this stuff comes right through your nose and through your mucus membrane. So this is not very effective. I think the a, the best analogy I’ve seen is that’s the equivalent of wearing your pants, buckled around your thighs like that. Yeah. And when you take it off, you just come behind and I take it off and then you fold it down and you throw it out right away. I don’t, don’t put it down. And you were like, I’ve just done, but it doesn’t, you know, just throw it out. And you’re all set the same thing with gloves. I don’t know if I got any gloves, but you know how to put on an off gloves, right? I mean, what you do is you put them on very carefully when you take them off, um, you, you, you, you grab it from down. Uh, ah, I do have a glove hold everything. I’ll show you. So the walls can be useful if you don’t want to wash your hands all the time. So don’t, don’t lick your fingers and you’re pulling apart the fruit bags, right? If the grocery store do not be that guy in the produce aisle, Bob, no, you avoid it, but do not touch your face, right. Or cut the mask in the middle, like that lady at the gas station. Yeah. I see. I see people with like their, their mouth exposed and they’re no, no, they’re not from Victoria’s secret. They are not crotchless panties. It’s a mask you’re supposed to be taking this seriously. Yeah. And you know what? You’re having trouble with. The mask. Women are having trouble with the vests. They’re getting like, they’re getting, so I got my gloves on, right? The way, the way. So the way you pull them on, you put them on, hold on, all of your fingers, take them off. You just grab the bottom. Right. And you try to avoid touching anything else. And you just pull them up over your fingers. Right. Then you put that one in this hand, right over your fingers, right? Everything is, everything is one bundle and you throw it out. You’re done. But taking out and off this protective gear is really important. The doctors, you know, practice it. Sometimes we watch each other, make sure they haven’t touched and exposed themselves inadvertently. So that’s one type of mask. That’s the, that’s the first type of mask. The second type of mask is a surgical mask. The surgical mask is much more comfortable and it’s better. It’s about 75% effective and reducing, you know, uh, your, uh, your breath. Um, and it’s, uh, it’s more breathable. It works not by the density of this, of the, of the material. It works actually by electrostatic, uh, uh, uh, attraction. So it actually takes the molecules and, and, and pulls them into the fabric. Uh, and it also is in fact, more effective because it blocks liquid cause it’s made for blood. You know, if you’re a surgeon, if a surgeon gets splattered, uh, it blocks the liquid, uh, contamination, which is, which is also can be very helpful if you’re around a real sick person, the last kind of mass actually PR uh, and this is answering your question. This actually protects both you and the person across from you. It’s the [inaudible] baths. And the reason that it’s, that it’s, um, protects both of you is because it actually completely filters out. It’s got a filtration system and most, as long as there’s no available on it, but the ones with valves on it are much more comfortable for the user to wear, but that just push it, all the stuff that you’re exhaling right out into the environment. And that’s extremely dangerous, right. So, I mean, at the end of the day, like the cloth mask and that kind of stuff, that you’re, that you typically see everybody walking around in. Cause that’s what we have access to. And that’s what we can get our hands on it. That’s, I mean, his question is accurate. You’re you’re, you’re not wearing it for yourself. You’re wearing it for other people. That’s right. And so everyone’s wearing it, then everyone’s being fair and you know, you’re, you’re cool. If you’re, if you’re the only guy not wearing the mask, then you’re the guy being protected everywhere else. It’s not protected. Well, I mean, and it’s, and it’s turned into, I mean, there were, there were stories coming out of a, there, I know there was one that came out of Brooklyn. There were, then there were a couple others where somebody walked into a store with a mask and they were with, or without a mask and they were just drummed out of the store. Like, you know, people, you know, just basically just yelled at and ashamed of them until they left the store. Yeah. You know, in the, in the hospital, um, you know what, you don’t want to be that guy. Right? You don’t want to be the guy who was known as a super spreader because you forgot your mask or you’re not, you didn’t wear a wet mass is properly sealed. Uh, so initially, you know, the big, you know, we would, a lot of times you think, well, you know, I’ll be the tough guy and I’ll let the mask go. And I won’t have to, you know, I won’t, I won’t be the guy who uses too much. Right. He, cause I want to save it from the teams who are older or weak or not, but it doesn’t work that way. You gotta, you know, if everyone does it, you’re, you’re pretty safe. And if, if you’re exposed, unfortunately with someone who out, without a mask, you’re going to get exposed. It’s amazing how, uh, it’s amazing how society changes. Um, I forwarded David a video of a comedian, uh, Sebastian Maniscalco. And he’s talking about going to a neighbor’s house. Yeah. Back in 2014. Yeah. Yeah. And they answered those like four years ago and how they answered the door in a surgical mask. And he goes, usually if you got one of those meds done, you pull it down and say, I’m painting downstairs. And he goes, this guy nothing. And he goes complete freak of nature. And he goes, now you look at four years later and it’s like, you’re the freak of you don’t have one on, you know, it’s just amazing how fast society changes. Yeah. And you know, it’s all about your own personal risk, you know, the, the younger people, um, uh, you know, they’re not, they’re not as high risk as we are. And so a lot of them are, are not wearing masks and it doesn’t really, it’s not, they’re not really a big risk, but hopefully they’ll, if they’re kind to us, they care about us a little bit. They’ll, they’ll ask God for our basket. Well, and I guess that’s a, that’s a good followup to that. I mean, you know, let’s, I don’t, we’ve already, we went into everything last week, but I mean, so let’s, let’s about just the simple nature of all the protests that have been going on over the past couple of weeks. And, you know, we’ve, we’ve seen, uh, you know, there’s been an awful lot of video and an awful lot of footage. Um, somewhere you’ve seen a lot of people wearing mass. A lot of people are not wearing masks. You had, um, you know, a lot of people were, you know, blasting governor Whitmer, uh, because she was at a, you know, she went to a March, um, wasn’t standing six feet apart from each other, you know, did have a mask on, but wasn’t social distancing, all that kind of stuff. Um, so I mean, I guess what’s your, like, so like what should we be expecting from what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks? And like, what, what should we be looking out for in the next couple of weeks and, and that sort of thing. Yeah. So it usually takes about two weeks of incubation and then you’ll find out whether there’s been a seat seeding effect with, with more infection, but usually it takes about two to three months to start the seed. And then the way the exponential growth works that we talked about last time you get enough of a base and all of a sudden it just starts to take off. Um, and, uh, and so, you know, it’ll take two or three weeks and we have a slight hump then watch out because we could be getting, uh, you know, into a spiral that is going to cause a rapid growth rate. And hopefully we’ll have enough testing out there that it’ll, you know, alert us to the fact that, Hey, we got a lot of communities spread and, uh, it turned out that we, uh, got into some super spreading situations with, uh, with, with the protest on the protest side. You know, I, sir, I certainly understand that if people want to go out and have their say, my recommendation would be, if you’re in category like me, uh, and you wrote anyone like go out, um, a couple of things, sort of drive yourself there, don’t tell you to take public transportation. Right. That right there now it’s, uh, actually, uh, is, is part of the issue. If you’re in an enclosed car for a long time, finally get to the event that’s sitting in, you know, uh, sitting in with lots of other people who are breathing, uh, in a bus. That’s not, that’s not a good thing. So I wouldn’t take a bus, you know, who would do the event, even though there are a lot of people doing that, uh, at my age, I also, uh, would definitely wear a mask, definitely wear gloves. I would probably carry a sign. Wouldn’t take part in the chanting, uh, because, uh, there’s a lot when, when you’re chanting talking, you know, in order to get exposed, you have to know about, about a thousand to 3000 particles of, of, of, of the virus getting inside of you. Um, normal breathing is about 58, 50, 50, uh, particles, uh, for expert ex exploration. So after about five or six minutes, you know, you can be exposed talking to somebody. And if you’re shouting, uh, then you’re talking about, you know, maybe five to 10,000, especially if you’re using a lot of ages and stages and bees and you know, all the, all the things that everybody had, a microphone hates, all the plosives. Yeah. Whatever, whatever you’re saying, Oh boy, those kinds of words. Uh, and then certainly the, the, the big issue is if they start using, you know, tear gas that about to be my followup. Yep. Yeah. Then you really gotta be careful cause it can aggravate your lungs to begin with. You gotta take off your mask. You got a lot of people coughing and you got a lot. And when you cough, you’re talking about expirations of 50 miles an hour, that’ll go with, you know, 20, 30 feet. So, you know, uh, it’s a, it’s a, you know, it’s a big difference between shouting which goes 10 feet, uh, versus versus coughing, which goes a lot further. Uh, and, and the other thing I’d say is, uh, you sure don’t want to be arrested and put into Patty wagon with 30 other guys and then put, put into jail, avoid that at all. I feel like that’s good life advice, Fred. I feel like I forgot his name. My wife loves that show. The guy who runs the tigers. Oh, a Joe Maldonado, Joe exotic. Yeah. Yeah. Well exotic. Yeah. I mean, it’s it, you know, if you’re in prison, it’s, it’s a dangerous situation in there cause it’s just, you’re sitting there in a germ box. So those are most of my thoughts about, about protesting, you know, take a sign, don’t get into shouting, take, take, take your six feet. If you can, if you get started being crowded down, you can’t, and you can’t avoid getting crowded down. I’d probably avoid that situation. I probably wouldn’t, you know, I’d probably say, okay, you know, I’ve had my say, I’m on, I’m off where I, I I’d move around into a different area where I had more space. I could still, you know, do you might say, say my thing and do my, do my thing. Uh, bring hand sanitizers. Cause you’re going to want to shake hands. You’re going to want to touch your face. You’re going to be hot. Uh, bring, bring, uh, if you’re going to wear a mask to make sure you, uh, use, uh, use, uh, a good SPF, uh, on your, on your skin, because you don’t want to get skin cancer, but also you don’t also don’t want to get what they call a mask. You don’t look like you’ve gone 10 line. Yeah. The mask rings. You don’t want that. And if you’re having, if you’re having trouble with your math, you know, you’re getting a lot of people are getting what they call Mac Mackney, you know, we got a little bit acne coming up from there. Uh, uh, if you’re a woman don’t use, uh, oily, oily cosmetics, if you can avoid it. And if you’re man or women, uh, try to use, uh, try to avoid synthetic fabrics, a lot of these fancy synthetic fabrics, aren’t, aren’t nearly as breathable. And then they cause a lot of, uh, irritation to your skin. More, more so than you’d think. And unfortunately, I think we’re going to be with a mass situation for over a year really well. So, and I guess so there’s, I guess there’s a good question. We touched on this a little bit last time, but it was still pretty early in the game and the weather hadn’t changed as much has anything further come out. I mean, cause you know, so it was nice and cool yesterday and today we’re going to be climbing up into the nineties for the next three days. Has there been any more data that you’re aware of? That’s come out about how, you know, Hey, the flu goes away when it gets warm. So I mean, you know, has there been anything more discovered about that in relation to the weather or with this in relation to the weather? So they are doing really fancy studies now to look at all sorts of modeling, uh, around the weather. And um, so, uh, originally we thought over 77 degrees Fahrenheit was going to be a better period of time than under 77. We thought 77 was a special number. That was the, who was the original number with the temperature humidity makes a big difference. Cause the virus doesn’t travel as far and human weather as it does. You know, if you cough cause the is have, yeah, it makes sense trapped in the moisture of the air. So it actually reduces the amount of distance almost to a foot instead of 16. Yeah. But I’m, I’m not a fan of humidity, but I guess it serves a purpose when you actually do the, the numbers. Um, it turns out that the biggest factor is how many susceptible people you’ve got out there. You’ve got a lot of people who are susceptible and this is a novel layer. So most of us are still susceptible. Then that’s going to overwhelm almost any other factor in the models that we’re creating. Gotcha. Once you start to get, you know, close to her immunity and you start to get a weather impact, then you’re starting to get there. Then you’d have some opportunity. But right now we think it’s about 0.05 are. So it was just a little bit, the amount of transmission that’s our best guess. Right. So like, you know, the, I guess, you know, the, the parties you saw, like in the Ozarks, you know, in that kind of stuff where you had hundreds, I mean, yeah, granted it was nice and hot outside, but you had hundreds of people gathering around the pools and that kind of stuff and just going crazy. Yeah. Granted, most of them were young, but still, probably not the best idea. No, no, that, that, that’s a real superstar of it. He goes, the problem is then you go and visit grandma. Right, right. Or the neighborhood let’s go. And then, then you, then you go to the nursing home and then you, then you have a big belt. Yeah. Those are super spreader events. Uh, and we’ll, we’ll probably, usually you can see what’s interesting is our, our testing technology is pretty sensitive now and you can see that the effect of our, of those little events. So I, uh, we, we had our, uh, you know, when people were getting Nancy and they, they, they went and they demonstrated it at the, uh, uh, at the blood chasers. Let’s, we’re going to open up now, but believe it or not, a day later, we actually could see, uh, you know, it took about two or three days for that, that, that, that to sort of push back down again. Uh, so those, those events do, do make a slight difference. Uh, now there were lots of other people out there. So that was, it was, it was the first nice day of the spring. So there were a lot of people that do out and about, I just remember it cause of that day that, uh, there are some events that can really make a difference. For example, they shut down Korea. Now Korea has a different philosophy about, about the three different philosophies that government can have basically about what they want to do with coronavirus. Right? The first is they want to, um, they, they want to contain the virus. And so Korea, Taiwan, China, those guys are actually trying to contain virus, which means if you get, if you get exposed, you know, you’re supposed to quarantine immediately supposed to announce all the contacts you’ve had. They’ve got electronic medical, they got electronic records in Israel looking actually you go find where you’ve been, who you’ve been with and announced to everybody, you know, this person is ill. So be careful. Well, um, and then there’s suppression, which we’re doing in most of the States. And there’s some who just like Sweden, who were saying, you know, we’re just going to let it go, let it rip, see what happens. Uh, so those are the three different processes when Korea who was trying to actually contain the virus, had that one guy. Remember that one guy who found out two days later after they opened up, you went to three big nightclubs. They shut down the whole country for a few days. So, so the cause they’re trying to avoid those super spreader events. Uh, so that, that’s a, that’s a sort of a different philosophy, but that’s what happens in those safe hunters yet. I was going to say, so kind of, so like, you know, the like New Zealand, you know, kind of did the same thing and they just made the big announcement today. Hey, life is back to normal as of today. No more social distancing rules, no more, any of that stuff, I guess like what, what did they do that was so different from us other than they’re way, way smaller, but we can’t get there so easily. They’re way down there. I mean, that didn’t really help Manhattan. We got bridges, New Zealand. So yes. So what New Zealand did is they made a couple mistakes early on, but they very quickly decided we’re going to go with containment. We’re going to not allow anyone on the Island or off the Island period. And they’re still not letting anyone off or off the Island. You have to come in from Australia being in Australia and even come on in New Zealand. So,

In which we discuss the nature of kingship, the rituals of court and political life, and spend some time getting to know average Malians during the Medieval period. Slaves, blacksmiths and farmers - these are the everyday, normal people who lived in this vast empire. Reconstructing their lives is challenging, but important work. The lives of the elite are fascinating - and well documented - but they are by their nature the lives of the privileged few.

Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes.World news in easy, clear language, for English learners and people with English as a second language.Saturday 2nd May 2020. Transcript- Note: The transcript may not be complete, because of a lack of space. Also, it may contain errors, and does not include external audio. - US President Trump has claimed he has seen evidence that the coronavirus started in a Chinese laboratory. President Trump said that he believed that the virus began at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This is despite US intelligence agencies saying that COVID 19 was not manmade or genetically modified. The World Health Organization have dismissed President Trump’s claim. Dr Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization, said that scientists were sure that the virus has a natural origin…The American food and drug administration has approved the use of drug remdesivir to treat coronavirus. The FDA say that it is not a cure but may help in some cases.Canada has banned 1500 types of gun. This decision comes two weeks after Canada’s worst mass shooting, when 22 people were killed in Nova Scotia. Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Treadeau said that there is no use for these weapons in Canada…The government will buy back the illegal guns from people who already own them.The parliament of Bolivia say that presidential elections must take place within 90 days. There should have been elections on May 3rd, however they were delayed by the interim government because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Bolivian parliament is controlled by the socialist movement, of ex-president Evo Morales. After disputed elections last year, Morales has been in Argentina. AfricaMali has released the results of parliamentary elections. Ruling party Rally for Mali gained the most seats but did not win a majority. Only 23% of Malians voted, after threats of attacks from Al-Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahara.In Nigeria, the president of the Humanist Association has been arrested. Mubarak Bala often criticizes religion. His friends are worried that he has been transported to Kano state, which practices Sharia Law. Sudan has criminalized Female Genital Mutilation. According to the UN, FGM has been performed on almost 9 out of 10 Sudanese women and girls. Removal of any part of female genitalia, will now be punishable by 3 years in prison. AsiaIn Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to extended the state of emergency by a month. The Japanese island of Hokkaido reinstated lockdown after a quick rise in new infections. Japan’s confirmed COVID 19 cases are 14’000, however, testing rates in Japan are low. Japan’s economy is struggling, and unemployment is rising.In India all districts in the country will be classified as Red, Orange or Green to start a new phase of lockdown. In all areas, including the green zones, schools, cinemas, malls, gyms and restaurants remain closed. In orange zones there are further restrictions on public transport and and private vehicle use is limited. In red zones all public transport will not function and extra restrictions apply.Malaysia will allow most businesses to open on 4th May. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin spoke to Malaysians yesterday, telling them that the 6 week lockdown was successful in slowing the rate of infection.EuropeIn Ireland a meat factory is the centre of a coronavirus outbreak. The Rosderra meat plant in Tipperary closed after 120 workers tested positive for COVID 19.A Pakistani journalist has been found dead in Sweden. Sajid Hussain was granted political asylum in Sweden last year, after receiving death threats in Pakistan for reporting on human rights. Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. French President Emmanuel Mac

Japan and South Korea meet to smooth old hard feelings, Malians sign another peace accord to calm a violent north and China and the US talk about hacking and trade See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our Scripture verse for today is Genesis 15:13-14 which reads: "And [God] said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." Our History of Black Americans and the Black Church quote for today is from Lee June, a professor at Michigan State University and the author of the book, "Yet With A Steady Beat: The Black Church through a Psychological and Biblical Lens." He said, "Faith in the God of the Bible and an association with the institutional church have had overall positive influences on the African-American community and were key in the survival of the slave experience in America." In this podcast, we are using as our texts: From Slavery to Freedom, by John Hope Franklin, The Negro Church in America/The Black Church Since Frazier by E. Franklin Frazier and C. Eric Lincoln, and The Black Church In The U.S. by William A. Banks. However, our first topic today is some good work done for the "God In America" series titled "The Origins of the Black Church" which was aired by the Public Broadcasting Service. This is just a brief historical overview; we will delve into these topics in great detail in upcoming episodes The term "the black church" evolved from the phrase "the Negro church," the title of a pioneering sociological study of African American Protestant churches at the turn of the century by W.E.B. Du Bois. In its origins, the phrase was largely an academic category. Many African Americans did not think of themselves as belonging to "the Negro church," but rather described themselves according to denominational affiliations such as Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and even "Saint" of the Sanctified tradition. African American Christians were never monolithic; they have always been diverse and their churches highly decentralized. Today "the black church" is widely understood to include the following seven major black Protestant denominations: the National Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention of America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the Church of God in Christ. New historical evidence documents the arrival of slaves in the English settlement in Jamestown, Va., in 1619. They came from kingdoms in present-day Angola and the coastal Congo. In the 1500s, the Portuguese conquered both kingdoms and carried Catholicism to West Africa. It is likely that the slaves who arrived in Jamestown had been baptized Catholic and had Christian names. For the next 200 years, the slave trade exported slaves from Angola, Ghana, Senegal and other parts of West Africa to America's South. Here they provided the hard manual labor that supported the South's biggest crops: cotton and tobacco. In the South, Anglican ministers sponsored by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, founded in England, made earnest attempts to teach Christianity by rote memorization; the approach had little appeal. Some white owners allowed the enslaved to worship in white churches, where they were segregated in the back of the building or in the balconies. Occasionally persons of African descent might hear a special sermon from white preachers, but these sermons tended to stress obedience and duty, and the message of the apostle Paul: "Slaves, obey your masters." Both Methodists and Baptists made active efforts to convert enslaved Africans to Christianity; the Methodists also licensed black men to preach. During the 1770s and 1780s, black ministers began to preach to their own people, drawing on the stories, people and events depicted in the Old and New Testaments. No story spoke more powerfully to slaves than the story of the Exodus, with its themes of bondage and liberation brought by a righteous and powerful God who would one day set them free. Remarkably, a few black preachers in the South succeeded in establishing independent black churches. In the 1780s, a slave named Andrew Bryan preached to a small group of slaves in Savannah, Ga. White citizens had Bryan arrested and whipped. Despite persecution and harassment, the church grew, and by 1790 it became the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. In time, a Second and a Third African Church were formed, also led by black pastors. In the North, blacks had more authority over their religious affairs. Many worshipped in established, predominantly white congregations, but by the late 18th century, blacks had begun to congregate in self-help and benevolent associations called African Societies. Functioning as quasi-religious organizations, these societies often gave rise to independent black churches. In 1787, for example, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organized the Free African Society of Philadelphia, which later evolved into two congregations: the Bethel Church, the mother church of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination, and St. Thomas Episcopal Church, which remained affiliated with a white Episcopal denomination. These churches continued to grow. Historian Mary Sawyer notes that by 1810, there were 15 African churches representing four denominations in 10 cities from South Carolina to Massachusetts. In black churches, women generally were not permitted to preach. One notable exception was Jarena Lee, who became an itinerant preacher, traveling thousands of miles and writing her own spiritual autobiography. We will continue this brief historical overview of the black church in our next podcast. _______ Our second topic for today is "The First West African States: Mali (Part 1)" from John Hope Franklin's book, From Slavery to Freedom. He writes: As Ghana began to decline, another kingdom in the west arose to supplant it and to exceed the heights that Ghana had reached. Mali, also called Melle, began as an organized kingdom about 1235, but the nucleus of its political organization dates back to the beginning of the seventh century. Until the eleventh century it was relatively insignificant and its mansas, or kings, had no prestige or influence.  The credit for consolidating and strengthening the kingdom of Mali goes to the legendary figure Sundiata Keita. In 1240 he overran the Soso people and leveled the former capital of Ghana. It was a later successor, however, who carried the Malians to new heights. Variously called Gonga-Musa and Mansa-Musa, this remarkable member of the Keita dynasty ruled from 1312 to 1337. With an empire comprising much of what is now French-speaking Africa, he could devote his attention to encouraging the industry of his people and displaying the wealth of his kingdom. The people of Mali were predominantly agricultural, but a substantial number were engaged in various crafts and mining. The fabulously rich mines of Bure were now at their disposal and served to increase the royal coffers.  We will continue looking at this topic in our next episode.

I am from the United States.Ne bora États Unis.Now, I live in Kadiolo Koko.Sisan, ne be Kadiolo Koko.I want to learn your language and your culture.Ne b'a fe ka aw ka kan ani aw ka ladalako kalan.I left here in the year 2000.Ne bora ya san ba fila.I really like Malians, so I decided to spend some time here.Mali mogow djiara ne ye, o koson ne ya mirri ka na watti ke ya.Break down:Ne bora États Unis.I came from USA (derived from french)('bo' to go out)('ra' puts the action in the past)Sisan, ne be Kadiolo Koko.Now, I am (city) (neighborhood)Ne b'a        fe ka aw ka kan ani aw ka ladalako kalan.I would like to you-r language and your          culture learn.                  (plural)('ka' shows posession)Ne bora yan san ba fila. ('yan' = here;  'yen' = there)I left here year 1000 2Mali mogow djiara ne ye, o koson ne Mali people please me to, that because I ya         mirri ka na         watti ke ya.(past) decided to come time         do here.

81% of Malians under the age of five are anemic and approximately 50% of deaths can be attributed to malnutrition. In 2009, almost 73 million pounds of potential milled rice— enough to feed 580,000 people for a year—was lost due to the lack of proper storage and processing facilities. Malo Traders LLC’s social mission is to combat extreme poverty and malnutrition by increasing the income of smallholder farmers and providing fortified rice to consumers at an affordable price. We purchase rice paddy from smallholder farmers in Mali at a fair price. We then store the paddy using an environmentally friendly hermetic storage system before processing and fortifying the rice with micronutrients. The finished product is and sold to urban consumers and humanitarian relief agencies. We are initially targeting a market of $173 million with a penetration rate of 6.5% in Year 1. We forecast that we will reach a market share of 15% by Year 5. We are targeting two groups of customers. The first is the urban consumer looking for affordable, nutritious rice and the second is the humanitarian relief agency that administers school feeding programs, food-for-work programs, and intervenes in areas of distress. By establishing a socially responsible brand and adhering to the highest quality standards, Malo Traders has a unique advantage. Another clear distinction is our ability to produce fortified rice in a manner that is affordable and culturally adapted. Finally, the combination of our management team, superior technology, and commitment to making the well being of farmers and consumers an integral part of our business model sets the bar high for potential competitors to surpass. We expect to breakeven from an operational standpoint in Year 1 with a gross margin of 16.53% and from a dollar invested standpoint in the first quarter of Year 4. We forecast a cumulative net income of $5.86 million in Year 5 driven by a solid increase in sales and a net profit margin of 11%. This represents a return on equity on 46% for our shareholders. Based on our Social Impact Analysis, at the end of Year 3, the net purpose value of our intervention is $27 million and $144 million at the end of Year 10. In Year 1, we expect to generate approximately $1.5 million in extra revenue for farmers who sell us their paddy and $11.5 million in savings for customers who purchase our fortified rice. We expect to work with at least 1,467 farmers in Year 1 and produce enough milled rice to meet the daily needs of 250,000 people. By Year 5, we expect to work with at least 3,500 farmers and impact at least 600,000 consumers. The total initial investment required is just over $4 million. Our financing strategy is the following: a) $1 million in equity from patient capital investors with a seven year exit plan and a valuation of $3.3 million b) $1 million in grants from foundations, governments, and international organizations involved in poverty alleviation, rural development, food security, and malnutrition, and c) a matching loan of $2.5 million at current interest rates secured by the initial investment and guaranteed by assets, land, and buildings. Finally, we will need a working capital loan of $10 million at a 15% interest rate that will be guaranteed by fixed purchased agreements and inventory. However, our immediate objective is to raise $50,000 in order to conduct a holistic proof of concept study in the fall of 2011 prior to building our facility.