Women in Kenya, Ndeiya ward say their drunkard husbands are unable to sire children and they may look elsewhere for sober bedmates.
The women who are from Ndeiya ward, said instead of minding the home-front to allow babies come, their husbands prefer to leave the house to drink alcohol all day.
Speaking during a peaceful protest at Thigio shopping centre on, the demonstrators said younger women are the worst affected as they are “unproductive”.
“If you walk in this village, you will find so many young married women, but only a few are pregnant. Those who are not are suffering in silence because their men cannot perform,” resident Nancy Wangari said.
She said men have been drinking anything alcoholic to keep them high, but society bears the consequences of sexual dysfunction.
“It would not be a wonder if we start looking for men to sire our children. Our husbands will not know anything. We will trick them that the pregnancies are theirs and they will support us,” Wangari said.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump delivers his acceptance speech during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 in New York City.
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
With the presidential election over, the focus in Washington, D.C., can finally turn back to policy and legislation.
Most of the conversations between President-elect Trump and Congress will probably involve immigration, health care, the economy and other similarly high-profile issues. But the nation'sfuture path in spacewill also be under consideration — and it will probably generate some spirited debate.
In his first term,President Barack Obamacanceled George W. Bush's moon-oriented Constellation program and instructed NASA to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.
To meet the first part of that directive, NASA devised theAsteroid Redirect Mission(ARM), which will pluck a boulder off a near-Earth asteroid using a robotic probe. This spacecraft will then haul the boulder to lunar orbit, where it will be visited by astronauts.
But ARM has its share of detractors, and some of them occupy positions of power on Capitol Hill. For example, earlier this year, the House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee proposed denying funding to the mission.
"The Committee believes that neither a robotic nor a crewed mission to an asteroid appreciably contribute[s] to the overarching mission to Mars," committee memberswrote in a report. "Instead, NASA is encouraged to develop plans to return to the moon to test capabilities that will be needed for Mars, including habitation modules, lunar prospecting and landing and ascent vehicles."
This asteroid-versus-moon argument isn't likely to end anytime soon, especially since most of the international human-spaceflight community prefers the lunar option, Weeden said.
And that brings up another issue, he added: Just how much international cooperation will there be on NASA's envisionedjourney to Marsand other big projects? Who will the partners be? Could China be involved, even though U.S. law currently prohibits NASA from working with China to any significant degree?
"That's a very big civil-space public policy question that the next administration will most definitely be tackling," Weeden said last week during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations working group. [5 Manned Mission to Mars Ideas]
Artist's illustration of astronauts on the surface of Mars.
Credit: NASA/JSC
Also potentially on the docket, he said, will be the further mapping out of NASA's relationship with the private sector.
The George W. Bush and Obama administrations set NASA on a path that hands over many activities in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to private companies, theoretically freeing up the space agency to focus on more ambitious efforts, like getting people to Mars. For example, SpaceX and Orbital ATK currently fly robotic cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA, andSpaceX and Boeing should start flying American astronautsto and from the orbiting lab in a year or two.
"That raises a bigger question about, Are there activities NASA has historically done that are perhaps better suited for the private sector to do?" Weeden said. "If so, how do you make that transition, and what does that mean for the future of NASA and NASA's workforce, and how NASA is organized?"
As the cancellation of Constellation and the push to scrap ARM show, NASA is often pulled this way and that by the president and Congress — not an ideal situation for an agency that's trying to plan out a crewed Mars mission and other activities 20 or 30 years in the future. So the next administration may investigate ways to ensure more policy stability for NASA, Weeden said.
The NASA administrator is currently nominated by, and serves at the pleasure of, the president. Some people have suggested that the NASA chief should instead be appointed by a panel, and/or serve a fixed term. Such changes would help shield the agency from partisan politics, the idea goes.
There are other important space-policy questions that must be dealt with at some point, Weeden said. For example, which federal agency (or agencies) should regulate the nascentasteroid-mining industryand other near-future space activities, such as private space stations and commercial moon outposts? Should the United States be in charge of cleaning up space junk, or should an international coalition lead this effort?
Then there's the national-security realm. Much of the United States' military might is based on the nation's dominance in space; for example, sharp-eyed spy satellites often give American warfighters a clearer view of the battlefield than their adversaries can get.
But other countries are increasingly contesting this dominance by developing their own advanced spacecraft and, in some cases,anti-satellite capabilities, experts have said.
"There's much more of a case that in future conflicts, there's probably going to be a space element of the conflict," Weeden said.
So the U.S. military is assessing how best to deal with this developing situation, he added.
"There's a discussion about, should the U.S. develop new offensive counterspace capabilities of its own, in part to deter adversaries, or perhaps to counter their own capabilities?" Weeden said. "And related to that: How might the U.S. deter potential adversaries such as Russia and China from kinetic attacks on space [assets] in a future conflict? And then, how best to leverage commercial industries and allies in that mix of resilience and assurance?"
President-elect Trump and Congress will therefore have a lot to talk about when it comes to space. And they may have fewer arguments than we're used to seeing, now that the presidency, House and Senate are all in Republican hands.
Neither bear nor dog, these extinct animals evolved to be massive predators.
Credit: Public domain
The bear dog, also calledAmphicyon, shared features of bears (heavy-bodied, with feet planted flat on the ground) and dogs (relatively long legs and long snout), but they are neither bears (family Ursidae) nor dogs (family Canidae).
They were not specifically in the bear's or dog's scientific families, but they are classified in the Caniformia, or "dog-like" suborder. Modern animals in the Caniformia suborder include wolves, foxes, dogs, bears, sea lions and weasels. This makes bear dogs something like cousins to their namesakes. Also, these bear dogs should not be confused with the modern dog breed, theKarelian bear dog.
There were two main types of bear dogs. Some, likeBorocyon robustum, had long limbs that were ideal for running and looked much like modern wolves. Others, such asAmphicyon longiramus, were stocky and looked more like modern bears, according to theFlorida Museum of Natural History.
Size
Much like dogs and bears of today, bear dogs had a range of sizes. They could weigh just few pounds or grow to over 1,000 lbs. (450 kilograms). It is thought that the early evolutions of the bear dog were very small, around Chihuahua size. As they continued to evolve, they seemed to have become progressively larger, according toThe Field Museum.
Evolving into bigger animals has several advantages and disadvantages. While becoming bigger would have enabled them to take down bigger prey and be higher on the food chain, they also would have required more food and reproduced more slowly.
"Their massiveness suggest that they could prey upon many kinds of mammals and other animals. Fortunately, they were extinct before humans appeared on the scene," said Wilkins.
Habitat
Bear dogs first appeared in Eurasia during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs (55.8 million to 23 million years ago), time periods full of warm weather and thick vegetation. The temperature around the world stayed around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) during the Eocene period, according to theUniversity of California Museum of Paleontology.
Though the temperatures cooled in theOligocene, it was still quite warm and vegetation flourished in most locations around the world, including North America and Africa. Bear dogs became extinct 5 million to 10 million years ago.
Diet
The bear dog's teeth were shaped to allow for an omnivorous diet, much like modern bears and modern dogs. Prey for smaller bear dogs may have included rodents while bigger beardogs would have eaten larger animals such as wild hogs. Bear dogs may have also enjoyed leaves and berries.
It was Ngugi Wa Thiong’o that cautioned us in his famous
novel ‘ Weep Not child’ that we should refrain from weeping despite the
level of injustice and all forms of oppressions. But I guess Alan Paton
understood the vulnerability in human and gave a little permission for
human to cry when he wrote ‘ Cry For the Beloved Country’. In the
setting of these great two books were high level of injustice,
inequality amongst others.
Let me begin by saying I am
not a wailing wailer. This will be my first article with such a
headline. I have refrained from such headline because I do not like to
weep emotions of others. Just telling what is: enumerating the problems
without offering solution. The essence of this piece is an indication of
my value for the Nigeria project.
As we know, what you value you
stay committed to. I constantly think about this project called Nigeria.
I see we have lost the sense of worth for human life in all
ramifications. Two days ago, the uncle of a colleague died in Lagos
University Teaching Hospital and his conclusion was that his uncle died a
cheap death. It means under different condition, environment his uncle
will still be alive and kicking.
I can relate with him and that is
the fear I have about Nigeria hospitals till date. I have lost my
facial nerves to a seemingly knowledgeable doctor negligience and he
neither told me why he needed to do that, nor asked for my permission
before he went ahead. He did not even see reason to inform me of what he
had done until I sought treated elsewhere where patients’ rights is a
big issue. They carried patients along in every issues that concern
their health. Patient health and well being is a joint process, efforts
between doctors and patients. But here, doctors are Lords of the rings.
We
keep saying we have the best of the doctors. I really do not doubt
this, but there is always a need to proof that. Lives are lost everyday
in droves in our hospitals due to negligence, lack of equipment and
relevant manpower. The deaths in hospitals are the ones we see or know
of.
Many died in varied needless road accidents and in their homes
for seemingly insignificant diseases. Over the world, it is now an
aberration for a woman to die while giving birth but what do we see
here? Hundreds of women died and life continues. If in doubt, check your
popular ‘elewe omo clinic’. I have seen where some women who were
pregnant went to normal hospital for just minor ailment and nurses had
given them injections that had led to their death just because necessary
checks were not done.
I read in the paper in the course of the
week that an ex -Custom boss returned One Billion Naira cash to the
Federal Government. For hours, my body developed goose pimples. My
thinking was if one person can return One Billion Naira cash, does that
mean he still has more that is kept somewhere? Are there indication that
you may have some more in various bank accounts? In a country where
people live under one dollar a day? Interestingly we have lost the power
to appreciate value in money. It was Reno Omokri that said “Abati is
imprisoned for fifty Million while Rotimi Ameachi spent about
N223Million’ on a state function”. What a word. To Reno, fifty Million
is just.
I have nothing personal against Dr Abati. My reference to
him was just what Reno said. In the environment where Mr. Reno Omokri
lives, has anyone ‘eaten’ fifty Million Dollars and he is allowed to go
Scot free? Is Reno also making Fifty Million Dollars in a year as
personal income in the US where he lives?
Let us not talk about
Naira value here but match the amount with the currency of the Country
he lives? No one will blame him and others who see fifty Million as
just. But I must let him know we have about five public secondary
schools in my home town and with that amount, the schools will become
international schools overnight if I have that kind of money to
repatriate to my home town.
Our schools have become dilapidated
and their ailing overstretched facilities are put into ‘abusive’ use by
packing hundreds of pupils in make shift classes. Many factories are
packing up and no one is talking or taking notice as it were.
While
I do not support stealing in any form, but peradventure those who had
stolen Nigerian money thought of reinvesting these into the economy
thereby reducing the level of unemployment, may be some will be praying
for them today. After all we have seen cases where huge crowds had been
rented to protest ‘illegal humiliation of their “daughters and sons” in
courts where government had taken them to to return unlawful wealth
found in their possession. Our sense of thinking right had been dealt
with badly by poverty so anything goes with a stipend of five thousand
Naira.
Has someone also noticed young people being used as product
canvassers in Lagos? While it is good to engage in profitable and legal
business for sustenance, my heart bleeds each day I see this happens?
Those young girls and boys stay in the sun and rain throughout the day
because of five thousand and in most cases I understand they are even
owed after all the gymnastic they are subjected to.
Theirs is even
better, have we noticed the level of sexual harassment under age girls
selling stuff on Lagos roads suffered in the hands of bus conductors?
These are voiceless people who may not have anyone to fight for them.
Yes, in my part, I do have a non profit crusading for child education
and girl child rights but how many of these girls can we rescue?
Anyway,
enough of the problems, what do I think we can do to correct the
anomalies above? I think behind the camouflage of Public servants who
steal so much while in office is fear of tomorrow. We stand to be
corrected though. They have seen few of their colleagues who were
upright and had served faithfully while in office turned to become
beggars for what they hope to be their life sustenance (pension). Many
of them had denied their payments long after retirement. So can we
appeal to Government to recognize those who serve faithfully by building
them a house? Is it also possible to make house ownership become common
place through varied options available in advanced world?
For
instance, can we build affordable houses with rent-to-own? Can anyone
with little but stable income buy a house as well as own a car with a
long term payment plan? Oh, someone says they are already here, but how
affordable are they for people living under one Dollar a day? These
things not luxury in most advanced countries? They are necessities? Is
it also possible to make food so cheap everyone can access them? Our
people say ‘if hunger is removed from poverty, what remains is
bearable’.
Can we put in place affordable health care with
capable, competent and customer-centred staff who will not abuse anyone
or patient as it were? Can we place value on every human life whether
s/he has money or not? Can we teach values and right orientation of
success in our schools again? That no one should be intimidated by
others because of their success or wealth?
Can our justice system
be reprogrammed to punish any one in error irrespective of status or
class? That we no longer delay justice when it is due? For if I know I
can manipulate the system and delay judgement till eternity, why should I
not do things and get away with it?
Can we encourage our youth to
say no to injustice and our traditional leaders to stop awarding
traditional titles to those who they knew their sources of wealth are
questionable?
Can everyone of us learn not to take nothing less
than what is ideal in service to us? In South Africa, there has been
protest aimed at forcing President Zuma to resign because of high level
of alleged corruption. In South Korea, there had been protest to
force the President to resign for alleged abuse of office. Will
Nigerians ever gotten to this level? Our government knows how to create
the fear by sending hungry Soldiers and Policemen into the street to
deal with the crowd ‘appropriately’. When the pupils are ready, the
teacher will surface.
