by Rupe | Aug 4, 2011 | what the...?
Click graphic to read
I do understand that traditions play an important part in the lives of all cultures sharing this planet we call Earth; very few things , however, boils my blood…nay pisses me off than the abuse of another individual in the name of tradition. Invariably those abused are the weakest and most defenseless among us - our children, our poor, illiterate and less fortunate.  Â
I came across this site about “Child Brides“, after reading another story that was a consequence of a young woman, from Somalia, that had developed a serious condition called Fistula, and as a result divorced by her husband and shone. The story was very hard for me to read (I don’t do well with graphic stuff), but paints the struggle and suffering inherent in practices such as child marriages.
It is friggin’ unbelievable to me that in this age of knowlege, how or why we still condone crap like this. I know, and do understand the ironclad defenses that are put up around these societies to keep knowledge at bay. The men and some of the brainwashed women of these societies feed an ample supply of constant ignorance and superstition to perpetuate these outrageous practices only to feed these nasty and devious desires. Â
While not the end all, I sincerely believe that education can play a key role in these practices; because only in naked ignorance can these transgressions prevail. Â
Read more about these stories by click the source links below.
Sources: Child Brides   | Story of a Teenage Bride
- Pissed Off!
by Rupe | Aug 3, 2011 | Mad Musings, what the...?
Click image to make readable
Today’s New York Times devotes two-thirds of its front page above the fold to a horrific picture in color of a malnourished Somali child in a Mogadishu hospital. It caps a detailed and thoughtful report by Jeffrey Gettleman titled “Somalis Waste Away as Insurgents Block Escape from Famine.†The New York Times‘ lead story continued to be the U.S. debt-ceiling crisis and the House vote yesterday to raise the debt ceiling. But the Somalia story visually dominates the paper today. Now that the debt ceiling drama is winding down, I suspect U.S. public attention, rightfully prodded by humanitarian agencies, will focus on the famine.
And, in effect, Al Shabab bears the most responsibility for the famine. The terrorist group continues to block Western aid workers during a drought that has displaced close to two million people, or a quarter of Somalia’s entire population. A few years ago, Shabab dismantled a child vaccination campaign, claiming it was a Western plot; that program could have saved many children who have since succumbed to measles. Gettleman also reports that Shabab is preventing starving people from fleeing the areas that it controls.
(more…)
by Rupe | Aug 3, 2011 | Mad Musings
The study showed that the HIV infection rate among homosexual men exceeded 5% in Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia
Epidemics of HIV are emerging among gay and bisexual men in the Middle East and North Africa and high levels of risky sexual behavior threaten to spread the AIDS virus further in the region, researchers said Tuesday.
In the first study of its kind in a region where homosexuality and bisexuality are taboo, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar found evidence for concentrated HIV epidemics — where infection rates are above 5 percent in a certain population group — in several countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan and Tunisia.
In one setting in Pakistan, HIV rates reached up to 28 percent, they said in a study in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal.
Click the source link below to read the full article…
My Comments:
I did not think that gays and bisexuals lived in the lands of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH); how naive of me. Â You can also check out this fellow blogger from the Middle East who gives his perspective about homosexuality
by Rupe | Aug 3, 2011 | Fitness
Sort of a soft abs day. Â Did add quite a few reps, but the intensity was not typical. Â I kinda sense a bit of sluggishness creeping into my game. Â A part of it has to do with being out for a week, but I need to kick it up a notch, bearing in mind that I am coming off of an injury; the last thing I want to do now is go right into another injury.
Workout: Day 54 (W3/Cardio-Abs) – 60mins/1min rest
Obliques -Â 100 (w/35/45lbs)
Leg Lifts – 100
Lying Crunches – 50
Lying Left Crunch – 50
Lying Right Crunch – 50
Cardio: 30 mins
Distance: 3.20
Pushups: 0 (at least 50 per day)
Calories: 800
Tracker
Total Distance: 147.38 miles (Goal 250/102.62 remain) *
Total Calories: 36,580 (Goal 50,000/13,420 remain) *
Total Pushups: 1,880 (Goal 10,000 / 8,120)
Good livin’…keep movin’!
-R-
by Rupe | Aug 2, 2011 | Health-Wellness-Sex
A new study finds that people who chew their food more take in fewer calories, which may help them control their weight.
Chewing food 40 times instead of a typical 15 times caused study participants to eat nearly 12 percent fewer calories, according to results published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Jie Li and colleagues from Harbin Medical University in China gave a typical breakfast to 14 obese young men and 16 young men of normal weight to see if there were differences in how they chewed their food. The researchers also looked to see whether chewing more would lead subjects to eat less and would affect levels of blood sugar or certain hormones that regulate appetite.
Source: Reuters
