News Stories of Possible Interest, or.. Is There Really A World Outside of Kiva?

[Guest]

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[Jill]

        As some of you already know,
I think there are all kinds of
fascinating, important, enriching, and/or curiosity-arousing,
reflection-and-discussion-inviting events
going on in the world, even outside Kiva.
       
       At the same time,
it's in me as I think it's also in a lot of you
to think of possible connections with Kiva and the hearts that have gone into Kiva and Kiva Friends,
in effect,  to see Kiva
or the existence of/ need for Kiva-like caring and compassion
everywhere.

       So, I thought I'd start a thread where people might post or read about
some of the other things happening out there in the world,
just in case anybody else might be interested......

From Child on Street to Nobel Laureate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100800252.html?hpid=sec-health

Noose discovery stuns Columbia University
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/10/columbia.noose/

   
Kiva-hearted Dog Nurses Starving Kitten   (I made up this title in case that isn't obvious).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071009/ap_on_fe_st/dog_nurses_kitten;_ylt=AjNrZu9xsO0ohVUbpe1C.yYDW7oF
   Precious, right, a 6-week-old kitten, gets a meal from Honey, a 7-year-old dog Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007 in Stephens City, Va. The golden retriever — had not given birth in 18 months, but after her owner, Jimmy Martin, brought home the kitten, she suddenly found herself playing the role of mother. Honey began producing milk for the little feline after hearing its cries. (AP Photo/The Winchester Star, Scott Mason)

[Jill]

       It's a small world....
or....
it looks like we all have skeletons in our closets.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101602362.html?nav=rss_print/a
         Note the last line of the article, especially.....

My "Editorial Comment":
     I keep looking and hoping for the day when people will realize
that we, in fact, are all related,
when war will be unthinkable
as people will realize that in order to wage war,
it would have to be inflicted on members of their/on members of our own family.
     
       As an aside, I came very close to lending this morning to a Ugandan woman,
I believe she was,
merely because her name was "Peace,"
and I was thinking it would be fun to be able to say that
I was helping to support Peace.
Well, I still am, if this time,
in spirit, only.

EDIT:
    Well, I just went to look for her,
to look, as I'm always looking
for Peace.
I'm sorry and glad to say she was already funded,
as I'd decided I was going to join her circle, after all.

    It's a nice picture and a great smile,
so, for those of you who haven't seen and have craved seeing Peace,
here she is:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=21185

Peace Kangave - Uganda

[Peter S]

Same as you Jill, I nearly gave Peace a chance earlier today, but by the time I got round to it she had passed me by...

I love the African way of naming their daughters...

Mercy      - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=19319
Patience   - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=18591
Comfort    - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=3542
Blessing    - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=17967
Endurance - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=2256
Joy -          http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=18439

and it's not just the women, there's..

Justice - http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=9873
                 (Kwame would be his familiar "day name", born on a Saturday)

-P

[Steff]

Here's another perfect African name, from Uganda.


http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=16622

[Jill]

Creative approaches to incarceration in our world penal systems.....

           The MTV-like video of the inmates dancing Michael Jackson-style in the Filipino prison, http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1185.60.html, Reply # 65
posted earlier and now this....

           Members of the Maricopa County DUI chain on a work detail as deputies guard them Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona.   Men convicted of drunken driving will don bright pink shirts and perform burials of people who died of alcohol abuse as part of a new chain gang in Phoenix. A sheriff's department spokesman said the DUI chain gang is the first ever that's dedicated to one type of crime.

 
Question:  What does this have to do with Kiva?
Answer:     Absolutely nothing, or....
                This is interesting, and Kiva is interesting,                        and.....
                I like innovation, people trying to come up with new and better solutions for old, intransigent problems.

       Somewhat related, I immediately felt compelled (the devil made me do it?) to put in my two cents about how this one KF won't be all that sorry to see the death penalty banned in this supposedly civilized country, when and if that ever happens.  That thought then took me to a fascinating DVD I have (somewhere), I think it's called Deadline, about the Illinois Governor who ended up commuting sentences for all the prisoners on Illinois' Death Row, right before he left office, as there'd been too much in the news about how, a little troublesomely too late after the fact, it had been determined that a number of people who'd been convicted, sentenced to death (and some of whom, actually ended up getting executed) were later discovered, via the new technology of DNA assessment, to have been innocent.

       Then, when I went to look for that DVD to make sure of the name of it, I came across a number of others, these particular ones all being documentaries, that represent a lot of different and mind-expanding aspects of That Fascinating World Out There, and I decided I'd list some,
especially for those of you who subscribe to NetFlix or some other outfit, that might have a big selection. 
WARNING:  A few of these are pretty pink.....

Born into Brothels
Deadline
Emmanuel's Gift
Jesus Camp
Mad Hot Ballroom
Our America
Paradise Now
Promises (about Palestinian and Israeli kids hooking up, sort of ala the Seeds of Peace camp approach)
Ryan's Well (of course)  http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1209.0.html
Something the Lord Made
Speaking in Strings
Unconstitutional

EDIT *****:  Okay.  These are all hyperlinked now (is that what you call it?).  So, clicking on a title will take you to a website with descriptions
          and reviews, mostly but not all Amazon.

[Jill]

        This, for all you CAT (and mouse and science) LOVERS:
AP-- Thu Dec 13, 12:54 AM ET

          In this undated photo released by Tokyo University's Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry Graduate School of Science, a genetically modified mouse stays near a cat in Tokyo. Using genetic engineering, scientists at Tokyo University say they have successfully switched off the rodents' instinct to cower at the smell or presence of cats, showing that fear is genetically hardwired and not leaned through experience, as commonly believed. (AP Photo/Ko and Reiko Kobayakawa, Tokyo University Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry Graduate School of Science, HO)

        Yeah, but what I want to know is did they do anything, genetically-tampering-wise, with the hardwiring of the cat, you know,
the part of the cat where it's genetically hardwired to chase and scarf down all little mickeys and minnies anywhere in sight.

        A fun thought: 
     If they can take the fear response out of mice, maybe someday, they'll be able to take the fear and hate and war response out of us humans.

There was something wrong
with the animals:
their tails were too long, and they had
unfortunate heads.
Then they started coming together,
little by little
fitting together to make a landscape,
developing birthmarks, grace, pep.
But the cat,
only the cat
turned out finished,
and proud:
born in a state of total completion,
it sticks to itself and knows exactly what it wants.
      
                      Pablo  Neruda

EDIT:  I was just about ready to try to go back to sleep, when I came across the second photo, below.
         It has absolutely nothing to do with anything related to cats or genetic engineering or Kiva or anything.
         I just loved it!
                                             Signing off for the day,
                                             Your KF with the unfortunate (at least, the very very strange) head!

[Kay]

               A fun thought: 
     If they can take the fear response out of mice, maybe someday, they'll be able to take the fear and hate and war response out of us humans.

Excellent point!

[Dottie b]

Through genetic modification?   

Dottie B

[Kay]

Okay, maybe not such a good point!

[Henry]

I think Mice Ears would be neat!