Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, October 09, 2012.
OND is a regular
community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Hawaii by The Beach Boys
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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Outcry over Pakistan attack on activist Malala Yousafza, 14
By (BBC)
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An attack by Taliban gunmen in north-west Pakistan that wounded a 14-year-old who campaigned for girls' rights has caused an outcry in the country.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on her way home from school in Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley.
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The chilling attack on the young peace campaigner has been leading TV news bulletins here. Malala Yousafzai is one of the best-known schoolgirls in the country. Young as she is, she has dared to do what many others do not - publicly criticise the Taliban.
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The attack has also been condemned by most of Pakistan's major political parties, TV celebrities and human rights groups including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Amnesty International.
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Wells Fargo faces US government lawsuit over alleged 'reckless' mortgage loans
By Allison Jackson
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The complaint filed by US Attorney Preet Bharara in New York Federal Court is seeking unspecified damages and civil penalties from Wells Fargo for more than 10 years of alleged misconduct, Reuters reported.
Bharara claims the San Francisco banking giant “falsely certified loans insured by the government’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA),” the Los Angeles Times reported.
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In a statement, Bharara said Wells Fargo was an example of another US bank that had allegedly "engaged in a longstanding and reckless trifecta of deficient training, deficient underwriting and deficient disclosure, all while relying on the convenient backstop of government insurance.”
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US Protestants no longer a majority - study
By (BBC)
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For the first time ever, the US no longer has a majority of Protestants as the number of people with no religious affiliation rises, a study has found.
The Pew report found only 48% of adults identified themselves as Protestants, down from 53% five years ago.
The long-expected decline was pinned to a rise in those claiming no religion - about 20% of Americans, the study said.
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The study concluded most of the respondents were not seeking new ties within another religious institution.
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IMF says global economy could get worse
By (Al Jazeera)
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The International Monetary Fund has cut its global economic growth forecast and warned things could get much worse if the eurozone crisis continues.
The IMF's quarterly report released on Monday says world financial conditions are likely to remain "very fragile" because of continued problems in the eurozone.
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Global efforts to ease credit and increase the amount of money available for lending are helping, but appear to be yielding diminishing returns, as are fiscal stimulus policies, the IMF said in its report released in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
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"In the United States, it is imperative to avoid excessive fiscal consolidation (the fiscal cliff) in 2013, to raise the debt ceiling promptly, and to agree on a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan," the Fund said in its World Economic Outlook.
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International |
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Mexican navy says it’s killed top Zetas chief; gangsters snatch his body from funeral home
By Tim Johnson
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The brutal boss of the Los Zetas crime gang that has terrorized northern and central Mexico for years has met a fitting end, the Mexican navy said Tuesday: Slain in a gunfight with authorities on Sunday, then his body snatched by gunmen from the funeral home where it had been taken.
The vanished body made it impossible to offer foolproof identification that the slain man was Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, a 37-year-old former army special forces commando who turned Los Zetas into Mexico’s most feared cartel. But Mexico’s navy said the fingerprints of one of two men killed in a firefight over the weekend matched those of the Los Zetas founder.
The death struck a formidable blow to organized crime in the waning months of President Felipe Calderon’s term in office, which had been characterized by spiraling drug violence that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Calderon hailed the announcement, saying that evidence “clearly indicates” that the Zetas kingpin “was cut down resisting the authorities.”
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China hints at reforming labour camp system
By (BBC)
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China is working to revise its system of labour camps, where people can be jailed for up to four years without trial, a senior judicial official says.
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China has 350 such camps with more than 150,000 inmates, the latest government figures released in 2008 say.
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The system started in the 1950s based on the Soviet Gulag - millions were jailed in labour camps for political crimes during Chairman Mao's time.
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There was a public outcry this year after a mother in Hunan province was sent to a labour camp. She had been campaigning for tougher penalties for men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter.
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Can Uganda cope with three times as many people?
By (BBC)
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As Uganda marks the 50th anniversary of its independence from the UK, the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga looks forward to the country's next 50 years - when the population is set to triple.
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On average women here have about six children.
It is estimated that by 2060, Uganda's population will soar from 35 million today to more than 112 million.
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Government critics argue that the healthcare system is struggling, the education system is not producing quality students and the infrastructure like power and roads are over stretched.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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Court: Shooting victim can sue gunmaker
By (UPI)
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A man who was shot and seriously wounded as a teenager nearly a decade ago can sue the maker of the gun, a New York State appeals court says.
The Brady Center in Washington said the ruling is the first time a court has allowed gun manufacturers and distributors to be sued under the 2005 federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, The Buffalo News reported.
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Danny "Bud" Williams, now 25, was shot in the stomach with a handgun in 2003 while he played basketball in his Buffalo neighborhood. At the time, he was a star player at McKinley High School, but the wound ended his hopes of becoming a college player.
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The Discrediting of US Military Power
By Tom Engelhardt
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Americans lived in a " victory culture" for much of the twentieth century. You could say that we experienced an almost 75-year stretch of triumphalism—think of it as the real "American Century"—from World War I to the end of the Cold War, with time off for a destructive stalemate in Korea and a defeat in Vietnam too shocking to absorb or shake off.
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And here's the odd thing: in a sense, little has changed since then and yet everything seems different. Think of it as the American imperial paradox: everywhere there are now "threats" against our well-being which seem to demand action and yet nowhere are there commensurate enemies to go with them. Everywhere the US military still reigns supreme by almost any measure you might care to apply; and yet—in case the paradox has escaped you—nowhere can it achieve its goals, however modest.
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And yet the more dominant the US military becomes in its ability to destroy and the more its forces are spread across the globe, the more the defeats and semi-defeats pile up, the more the missteps and mistakes grow, the more the strains show, the more the suicides rise, the more the nation's treasure disappears down a black hole—and in response to all of this, the more moves the Pentagon makes.
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By all the usual measuring sticks, the US should be supreme in a historically unprecedented way. And yet it couldn't be more obvious that it's not, that despite all the bases, elite forces, private armies, drones, aircraft carriers, wars, conflicts, strikes, interventions, and clandestine operations, despite a labyrinthine intelligence bureaucracy that never seems to stop growing and into which we pour a minimum of $80 billion a year, nothing seems to work out in an imperially satisfying way. It couldn't be more obvious that this is not a glorious dream, but some kind of ever-expanding imperial nightmare.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
Surfer Girl is the third studio album by The Beach Boys and their second longplayer in 1963. This was the first album by The Beach Boys for which Brian Wilson was given full production credit, a position Wilson would maintain until the end of the The Smile Sessions in 1967. . .
There is documentary proof (a tape box label) that "Surfers Rule", "South Bay Surfer" and "Boogie Woodie" were indeed recorded on that date at Western, and it's noticeable that whilst Mike Love's lead vocals for "Hawaii" and "Catch a Wave" are hampered by a heavy cold, his other leads on the album are fine.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Back from the dead: MacArthur genius wants to keep runoff out of the Gulf
By Twilight Greenaway
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Nancy Rabalais doesn’t quit. This marine ecologist has been doggedly studying, speaking about, and agitating to improve the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone for over three decades. Currently the executive director and a professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Rabalais is quick to point out that the dead zone is not only one of the biggest human-made disasters we face today, but it’s one we can still reverse if we choose to. (You see, rain washes a steady stream of nitrogen from excess fertilizer and animal waste that heads down the Mississippi River and out to the Gulf. These nutrients create algae that sinks, decomposes, and eats oxygen. The result is an oxygen-free area or underwater desert — a dead zone.)
Last week, Rabalais was awarded a highly sought-after MacArthur Genius Award. Whereas some MacArthur recipients may take the award as a sign that their work has peaked, this scientist appears to see it as a means to an end, a way to advance her message and to help protect a crucial body of water.
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Q. You’ve done some collaboration to work on reducing the runoff from farms and livestock facilities. Do you want to talk about how well that has and hasn’t worked?
A. We got the government to pay attention in 1994. There was a Washington Post article on the front page, which caught people’s attention. Then began a longer-term study that looked at everything from causes to the economics, and a state/federal task force was formed. There was legislation that Sens. Olympia Snowe and John Breaux developed called the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act [PDF], because phytoplankton is the source of both algae blooms and hypoxia. Since then there have been reviews, re-reviews, more task forces, action plans, etc. And we’re still at the very beginning of taking any real action, as I see it.
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Clean energy investment set to fall for first time in eight years
By BusinessGreen
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Global clean energy investment looks to be heading for a dip this year following a weak performance over the third quarter of 2012.
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Echoing the Pipeline report, BNEF blames falling equipment prices, policy uncertainty in key markets such as the US, the UK and Italy, and the dampening effect of low share prices on venture capital investment.
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He added that a geographic shift is taking place in clean energy, with established markets such as the US, Europe and China "losing momentum" and emerging South American, Asian and African markets "picking up steam".
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Venture capital and private equity investment dropped 20 per cent on the previous quarter to $1.3bn, some 34 per cent lower than last year, although public markets investment saw a 47 per cent rise on Q2 to $1.8bn.
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Science and Health |
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Fat acceptance makes for happier sex lives
By (UPI)
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Lady Gaga made headlines recently by posting photographs of herself in a bra and underwear and confessing to suffering from eating disorders since she was 15. The move followed news reports scrutinizing the pop star's recent weight gain.
Fans have heeded Gaga's call for a "body revolution" by posting photographs of themselves that reveal bodies that are disabled, sick, healing, tattooed, fat and skinny.
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Jeannine Gailey says fat women reported better sexual experiences after embodying the ideals of fat acceptance, a social movement dedicated to ending size discrimination and embracing all bodies.
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Gailey's findings are outlined in "Fat Shame to Fat Pride: Fat Women's Sexual and Dating Experiences," a study published earlier this year in the semiannual journal Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society.
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For a Survivor, it’s Not Easy Being Pink
By Avis Begoun
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I am a breast cancer survivor and I am not a fan of the huge “pink” industry that has developed around breast cancer. We have ribbons, pins, and bands. We have races and walks. We even have our own month, October: National Breast Cancer Month. It’s, funded in part by AstraZeneca, the drug company that developed Tamoxifen and agrochemicals, including the carcinogenic herbicide acetochlor.
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In the early 1990’s, Charlotte Haley became an activist. All the significant women in her life had breast cancer. She began making peach-colored ribbons in her home and handing them out local grocery stores with cards that read: “The National Cancer Institute’s annual budget is $1.8 billion, only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up our legislators and America by wearing these ribbons.”
Eventually, her campaign got the attention of Estée Lauder and Self magazine. They asked Haley for permission to use her ribbon. Not wanting to commercialize her activism, she refused. But Self and Lauder really wanted that ribbon. So, lawyers told the cosmetics giants to pick a different color. Hence, the genesis of pink.
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As a survivor, I’ll tell you that none of this feels particularly supportive. It feels opportunistic and exploitive. These corporations target women’s ties to beauty and clothing, both of which take a major hit from cancer, to sell products. What does it mean that mega-millions aim at the core of women’s femininity, sexuality, beauty, all of which are attacked by breast cancer?
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Online dementia test can be taken at home
By (UPI)
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Georgia Tech's ClockMe system -- a paper-and-pencil Clock Drawing Test commonly used to screen for cognitive impairment -- eliminates the paper test and computerizes the test into two components: the ClockReader Application and the ClockAnalyzer Application.
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People with cognitive impairment frequently draw clocks with missing or extra numbers and digits are sometimes drawn outside of the clock, the researchers said.
In addition to scoring automatically and consistently, ClockAnalyzer records the duration of the test and the time between each stroke. The software can also replay the drawing in real-time, allowing a clinician to watch the drawing being created to observe any behavior abnormality, Do said.
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Technology |
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Pinterest: What Sierra Leone teenagers 'really' want
By Tom Murphy
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Pinterest represents a bit of a brave new world for NGOs to reach newer audiences. There is an opportunity for fundraising because the majority of the audience is quite homogenous. Over 2/3 of Pinterest users are women, roughly half are between 25 and 44 years of age and a quarter have an annual household income above $100k (not really sure how this is calculated). All that adds up to potential donors.
Most NGOs are using Pinterest to share their photos from the field mixed with organizational messaging. For example, the Oxfam ER account has a folder on the Sahel crisis that includes pictures of how Oxfam is responding, videos, celebrities visiting, people with their farms and message specific pins.
The offering from UNICEF UK is meant to show the things that a young girl needs in order to thrive. Each of the pins highlight a specific need, but phrase them as wants. An opportunity is missed to fill out the picture and show that 13-year-old girl from Sierra Leone has wants that go beyond her basic needs. She may be interested in some new music or a specific book. Maybe she wants a radio to listen to her favorite radio station or hopes to get a new Sunday dress to wear to church.
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The Way Kids Used Machines 100 Years Ago Is Shocking Compared to Today
By Leslie Horn
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Kids these days, swiping and tapping away at iPads, have absolutely no idea how to fix a mechanical spindle. But until around the Great Depression, children were free to work in factories alongside adults.
It's nothing to get nostalgic about. In the early 20th century, with a lack of child labor laws and limited safety requirements, businesses were free to use children for cheap work in dangerous conditions.
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By 1911, Stanislaus Beauvais had already worked in this Massachusetts factory for two years.
At CES in Las Vegas, in 2012, Christopher Jacobs demonstrates an inflatable toy car for the Wii.
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Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Allows for Automated Traffic Fines
By Tiffany Kaiser
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Researchers from the Universidad Carlos III Madrid's (UC3M) Information and Communication Technology Security Group have been working on the E-SAVE project, which aims to use IT to improve traffic regulation.
The new automated traffic fine system incorporates sensors built into vehicles and Communication and Information Technologies (CITs). The new system has three main components: a mechanism that allows drivers to report others while maintaining anonymity and authenticity; a way for sending the notification of a fine directly to the vehicle in question, and a mechanism that allows the offending driver to create electronic evidence in order to defend him/herself in the case that they receive a notification. The offending driver can do this by "asking" surrounding drivers with sensors to be witnesses to the scene.
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A huge aspect of the new system is to keep driver information confidential so that credentials are not stolen or abused. It's also important that driver information is updated and accurate for the purpose of sending fines correctly. The team is doing this through a project called PRECIOUS, where cryptographic methods of anonymous authentication and zero knowledge tests are used. This rids the duplication of information.
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New Interactive System Detects Touch and Gestures On Any Surface
By (ScienceDaily)
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People can let their fingers -- and hands -- do the talking with a new touch-activated system that projects onto walls and other surfaces and allows users to interact with their environment and each other.
The system identifies the fingers of a person's hand while touching any plain surface. It also recognizes hand posture and gestures, revealing individual users by their unique traits.
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"We project a computer screen on any surface, just a normal table covered with white paper," Ramani said. "The camera sees where your hands are, which fingers you are pressing on the surface, tracks hand gestures and recognizes whether there is more than one person working at the same time."
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That camera coupled with the hand model allows the system to locate the center of each hand, which is necessary for determining gestures and distinguishing between left and right hands.
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Cultural |
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Men's Views of Abortion Depend More On Social Class and Circumstances Than On Fixed Beliefs, Interviews Reveal
By (ScienceDaily)
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A study of unmarried men living with female partners found that most would prefer to have input on decisions about terminating an unexpected pregnancy, and most men said their own views would depend more on personal circumstances than any religious or political stand.
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Although some said they were always pro-life or always believed that pregnancy decisions should be made by women, most said their opinions on whether to terminate a pregnancy would depend on situational factors, including financial circumstances, evaluations of their own maturity and the quality of their relationships with their partners. A significant number noted that their preferences had changed over time, while others suggested their views might shift depending on their circumstances.
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In terms of public policy, the responses suggest that men should be encouraged to take a more active role in contraceptive behavior, Miller said.
"Although legally men cannot control the outcome of a pregnancy," she said, "one thing they can have greater control over is helping to ensure that their partners do not become pregnant until the timing is right, through the use of male forms of contraception."
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Trend for slim fashion models only skin deep in Ghana
By Afua Hirsch
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"Ah the models have arrived," an equally bemused woman sitting near me pointed out. "They look like aliens, don't they, 6ft tall, all arms and legs, with waists the size of one of my thighs?"
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It's not just that booty is considered beautiful. There are also taboos surrounding skinniness in west Africa, where a lack of body fat is associated with poverty and Aids. A friend who moved to Ghana from Europe told me that when she was breastfeeding her child, people regularly expressed surprise that her "tiny breasts" were capable of producing milk. Girls are still told that if they want to find a husband and bear children – which most do – they will need to fill out a bit.
The spread of the western fashion industry, and its increasing convergence with Africa's own long-standing and vibrant fashion culture means all this is changing. I remember the furore in 2001 when Nigeria finally became the first African country to win Miss World because it entered Agbani Darego – a tall, skinny, 18-year-old with non-typical features who was not considered particularly attractive at home. Her victory had a huge impact on the model industry in west Africa, where skinny girls suddenly realised that what had seemed like a hindrance was now an asset.
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There is probably an argument – which I don't accept – that African designers have to present their clothes on the same skinny bodies as designers everywhere. And, yes, you can change the models, but you can't change the customers. I've never been to a fashion week before, but at New York and London I'm always reading about lettuce leaf lunches and people who don't eat. All I can say is that the jollof rice and fried chicken was disappearing at the usual rate at lunch at the Mövenpick; and at the cupcake and champagne reception, I saw hardly anyone drinking champagne, but the cupcakes were gone in a flash.
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(Word Cloud for this OND edition)
Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already. |