#kenyan in Canada
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Dr abdi Nasir herbalist doctor help with love portion marriage problem court cases win tender contract business boost family affair job promotion manpower Land issues lucky ring etc call or watsup on+254112283206
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News Wrap: Eastern Canada residents reeling after Fiona
News Wrap: Eastern Canada residents reeling after Fiona
In our news wrap Sunday, Tropical Storm Ian is forecast to reach hurricane strength as it approaches Cuba and Florida, Canada mobilized its military to help in the recovery after Fiona, Italy held an election that could pivot the country’s leadership to the far-right, violent anti-government protests continue in Iran, and Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge broke his own world record in the Berlin…
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#2022 hurricane season#anti-hijab protests#Berlin#Canada#enrico letta#florida#Florida storm#Giorgia Meloni#hurricane fiona#international marathon#iran protests#italy election#Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge#Mahsa Amini#marathon#Tropical Storm Ian
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Haiti’s deepening crisis — armed groups launching an assault on the government, and the de facto prime minister on indefinite layover in the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport — is a predictable consequence of 14 years of U.S. support for undemocratic regimes connected to Haiti’s PHTK party as it has dismantled Haiti’s democracy.
Haiti has a chance at reversing this descent and returning to a more stable, democratic path, but only if the Biden administration will let it.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry was stranded in San Juan Tuesday on his way back from Kenya, where he had signed an agreement for Kenyan police to come bolster his repressive, corrupt and unpopular regime. The armed groups, including many that had collaborated with Henry’s regime, took advantage of his absence to attack government infrastructure, and free 5,000 prisoners, many of them members of armed groups. Henry had planned to fly to the neighboring Dominican Republic and take a helicopter ride back to Haiti’s National Palace under the cover of darkness. But Dominican authorities refused entry to the prime minister’s chartered plane, which re-routed to San Juan.
Prime Minister Henry has not yet resigned, and the State Department denied reports that it demanded his resignation. But Henry has clearly lost the support of the United States, which for two years had allowed him to resist Haitians demands for fair elections. Absent Washington’s support, Henry has little chance of regaining power.
This dire situation is not only predictable, it was predicted. Haitian-American officials, Haitian civil society, members of the U.S. Congress, and other experts had been warning for years that the U.S. propping up Henry would lead to increasing tragedy for Haitians. The United States, which installed Henry in power in the first place, ignored these pleas and stood resolutely by its friend. With U.S. support, Henry’s unconstitutional term as prime minister exceeded any other prime minister’s term under Haiti’s 1987 Constitution. Levels of gang violence, kidnapping, hunger, and misery also reached unprecedented levels.
The United States is still insisting on getting Kenyan troops to Haiti. The State Department has persistently — if so far unsuccessfully — tried to deploy non-American boots onto Haitian ground since Henry requested them in October 2022. The mission’s deployment initially stalled because it was widely rejected as a bad idea that will primarily serve to prop up the repressive regime that generated the crisis. Haitian civil society [groups] repeatedly insisted that the first step towards security must be a transitional government with the legitimacy to organize elections and determine how the international community can best help Haiti.
Concerns that the intervention would serve only to reinforce an unpopular regime led the countries that the Biden administration first tapped to lead the mission, including Canada, Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors, and Brazil, to pass. The U.N. itself concluded that the mission would require too much “robust use of force” to be appropriate for a peacekeeping mission. So, the Security Council took the unusual step of authorizing the mission, but on the condition that it not actually be a U.N. mission that the organization would have to take responsibility for. The Biden administration, likely concerned about election-year cell phone videos of troops shooting indiscriminately in crowded neighborhoods — as the last foreign intervention did — declined to send U.S. troops for the mission (but is considering deploying a small Marine contingent to Haiti in early March).
Last August Kenya — which did not even have diplomatic relations with Haiti but did need the hundreds of millions of dollars that the United States offered — agreed to lead the mission. The exploratory delegation Kenya sent to evaluate conditions in Haiti quickly realized how deadly the planned mission would be for Haitians and Kenyans alike, and proposed to limit its scope to protecting public infrastructure.
The United States was not open to renegotiating the deal, and Kenya withdrew its proposed limits. But Kenya’s High Court temporarily blocked the deployment as unconstitutional. Ariel Henry’s visit to Kenya was for the signature of an accord that Kenya’s President William Ruto hoped would overcome the court’s objections. Kenyan lawyers insist that the agreement itself is illegal, and are continuing their challenge. In the meantime, Kenyan officers who had volunteered for the mission are changing their minds. Another obstacle appeared on March 7, when the White House conceded that the mission cannot be deployed without congressional approval of funding.
The State Department’s insistence that the Kenyan deployment must nevertheless happen raises fears that the United States will also continue its policy of installing and propping up undemocratic regimes in Haiti. Finance Minister Patrick Boisvert, who Henry tapped as interim prime minister when he left for Kenya, increased concerns of authoritarian governance on March 6 when he declared a three-day curfew and state of emergency throughout the Port-au-Prince region in an edict that did not even mention the legal basis for his authority. The next day Boisvert raised more fears by extending the emergency measures for a month and adding in a ban on all protests.
The State Department’s rescinding its support for Henry might have been promising had the gangs not already made his ouster inevitable. State’s claim that it now supports “an empowered and inclusive governance structure” that will “pave the way for free and fair elections” might have been promising if it had not added the condition that the new government must “move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission.”
A legitimate, broadly supported, sovereign transitional Haitian government might request foreign police assistance. But a government allowed to form only if it accepts a U.S.-imposed occupation force originally designed to prop up a hated, repressive government is not sovereign. It may not be legitimate or broadly-supported either.
The United States tasked CARICOM, the federation of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors, to forge a civil society consensus. CARICOM has enjoyed credibility in Haiti in the past, but over the past few months it has faced criticism for trying to strong-arm civil society into an agreement that maintained Henry’s power. Not surprisingly, CARICOM-led talks on March 6 and 7 failed.
When allowed, Haitians have a history of coming together to make their way out of a crisis. Haiti became a country in 1804 by defeating Napoleon, with almost no outside help. In 1986, when the U.S. finally withdrew its support from Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Haitians eventually wrested power from the military and held fair elections. In 2006, they voted their way out of the crisis created by the U.S. kidnapping of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide two years before. In August 2021, shortly after the killing of Haiti’s last president, Jovenel Moïse, a broad-based group presented the Montana Accord that would have created a transitional government leading to elections in two years. The U.S. vetoed the accord, citing, among other reasons, that the two-year time frame was too long. That was 30 months ago, and there are no elections in sight.No amount of submission to U.S. demands by Prime Minister Henry and his predecessors can justify the absolute horror that our support has allowed them to inflict on the Haitian people. It is time for the United States to let Haitians come together and make their way out of the current crisis. Civil society [groups] [see] an opportunity for democracy in the crisis, and people all over Haiti have been meeting, discussing and negotiating to develop platforms for a broad-based, legitimate transitional government that can hold fair elections. It is expected that soon — maybe within weeks — one of these platforms will rise to the top, and civil society will coalesce around it. The United States needs to let that process happen without interference or conditions.
8 Mar 24
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On Alledgely Intelligent Machines
All of this reminds me of like, two to three years ago when AI Dungeon 2 was this hot young thing and 'respectable' gaming news sites were posting opinion pieces about the wild unrestricted adventures they were having on it and how it would change the way they roleplayed forever, even though it was this bumbling, lawless thing that could barely find the plot to lose most of the time.
And then fast forward a year or so and we find out that the algorithm isn't magic, and that prompting it with 'the end' specifically outputs a 'thanks for reading, please donate to my patreon' message lifted from all of the thousands upon thousands of poor schumcks who had the misfortune of deciding to share their work online for other people to freely read.
All of this 'AI is progressing too rapidly and will one day very soon develop into real AGI that will change the world' malarkey is just jingling keys. I think it's called Longtermism, they want us to fret and fuss about how this will affect the lives of our great great great grandchildren commutting to Mars 200 years from now, and not about how this is affecting real people today.
"Think about how neat it would be to have an AI that can answer all of the questions left in the universe for us" Sam says, as his company hurriedly cuts ties with the underpaid Kenyan workers manually sorting and tagging the database his LLMs are based on.
"Look at how well it rhymes now, this will definitely distrupt the Poetry Industry which definitely is a thing that exists in real life I am a real scientist I know these things," his employees say, in a research paper hyping up their own product while they improve its ability to deepfake images that gradually erodes any trust we still have in our society.
All the while touting the most mediocre, average examples of just about any creative field as proof of its rapid, inevitable and perpetually explosive growth as if it was the figurative Antichrist heralding the coming of the Son of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.
I miss when we just let these things run rampant without a single care for consistent style and realism because we enjoyed witnessing what utter insanity it came up with, I miss when it was just a 'neat tool' that could maybe provide a freaky background or add trippy dogfaces to your clouds, I miss when we were wondering about what all of this weirdness said about what understanding language and having pattern recognition means when it's divorced entirely from reality instead of wondering how quickly we can refine and normalize its output well enough to mechanize all forms of artistry.
And above all else I miss not hearing about it, because honestly it still isn't that good. The slightly uncanny photos, mass art style plagiarism module and extremely resource intensive shorts are neat and all but, when it comes to prose, and DMing?
Well let's just say that AI Dungeon 2 crawled so that ChatGPT can sorta aimlessly waddle around in those babywalker things that seem neat and helpful, but are actually deathtraps that can cause long term health and developmental issues by actively preventing your child from spending the time they need to crawl around and develop the motoric skills and musculature needed to stand and fail repeatedly at walking. (Which is why they have been banned in Canada since 2004.)
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Maria D.R./Lamarck is an Indonesian writer whose boomer mother has talked about how great AI is to me and everyone in her social circle every damned day since ChatGPT was released.
#chatgpt#technology#tech#machine learning#writing#on writing#journalling#writer things#journaling#thiswasoriginallyayoutubecommentlol
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Haiti's top gang leader threatens politicians as fires break out in capital
PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 14 (Reuters) - A powerful gang leader in Haiti has issued a threatening message aimed at political leaders who would participate in a planned transition council, as fires broke out amid a fresh surge of violence in the Caribbean nation's capital.
Nearby countries bolstered their border security and withdrew staff from embassies while plans to send a long-awaited international security force remain uncertain.
After unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced on Monday he would step down once the council was in place, the capital, Port-au-Prince, was initially quieter, but violence appeared to be flaring up again as of late Wednesday, with a shootout in one neighborhood and an attack on the police academy early on Thursday.
A fire broke out at the main penitentiary, emptied of prisoners by armed men earlier this month. Thick black smoke earlier billowed out from the facility, but the fire appeared to be out by Thursday afternoon, when local media showed heavily armed police entering the partially blackened site filled with mounds of trash.
Reuters could not immediately establish if any people had remained in the jail or what sparked the blaze.
A police union said the national police chief Frantz Elbe's house had also been set on fire on Thursday. It did not say whether anyone had been hurt or give details on Elbe's whereabouts.
Haiti is struggling to resolve a long-running political and humanitarian crisis. Heavily armed gangs have taken over much of the capital, and rights groups have reported widespread killings, kidnappings and sexual violence. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.
Henry, who was never elected, had been appointed prime minister by President Jovenel Moise in 2021, shortly before Moise was assassinated. Henry repeatedly postponed elections.
The comments from gang alliance head Jimmy "Barbeque" Cherizier were recorded on Wednesday and distributed via a rambling seven-minute audio message widely shared on Thursday morning on messaging platform WhatsApp.
"Don't you have any shame?" said Cherizier, directing his remarks at politicians who he said were looking to join the council. "You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen," he added.
"I'll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti ... if your husbands are in Haiti," he said in an apparent threat to their families. "If you're gonna run the country all your family ought to be there."
In his remarks, Cherizier said the resignation of Henry was only "a first step in the battle" for the island nation of around 11 million.
Haiti's government again extended a nightly curfew through Sunday, in an order signed by acting Prime Minister Michel Boisvert. Henry has been stranded abroad since trying to return from a trip to Kenya to secure support for a security mission.
Regional bloc CARICOM has detailed the political parties and other social sectors set to make up the nine-member transition council that will take over from Henry. Negotiations over the council were brokered by Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but formal appointments are yet to be made.
On Wednesday, the leader of a party declined an offer of a voting member of the council, backing instead an alternate three-member transition council that would empower former coup leader Guy Philippe, who was recently imprisoned in the United States and is seeking an amnesty for gang leaders.
EMBASSY REDUCTIONS
With Haiti's political future in limbo and the timing of the long-delayed Kenyan-led security mission unclear, the already sparse international presence in Haiti has been further receding.
Canada announced a reduction to its embassy staff that will leave only essential employees in the country, and said the embassy was temporarily closed to the public. That follows similar drawdowns by the United Nations and at the U.S. embassy.
The country's main cargo port said that despite military reinforcements, it would not receive vessels until further notice, as it assesses damages to containers and infrastructure.
Major passenger cruise line Royal Caribbean Group also suspended for a week its regular visits to Labadee, its private resort in northern Haiti.
Fearing a spread of instability in the region, Britain said it was bolstering security in the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas territory, as did the governor of the U.S. state of Florida. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispanolia with Haiti, closed its shared border with Haiti last year and has regularly deported Haitians.
The U.S. southeast coast guard said, "At this time, irregular migration flows through the Caribbean remain low."
Dominican media reported that aviation authorities in a press conference rejected a U.N. statement claiming that an airbridge would be set up from the country to bring humanitarian aid to Haiti, maintaining the airspace would remain closed.
Aid group Mercy Corps said Port-au-Prince residents were being reduced to "forced nomads," seeking refuge from shootings in temporary shelters with family or strangers and battling constant uncertainty, food shortages, trauma, illness and overcrowding.
Marie Love Elucien, 25, who lost her home and shop due to gangs, told Mercy Corps that she was most afraid for her young daughter: "I'm worried she's going to have a fit and become paralyzed because every time she hears the shots she jumps and screams.
"She cries incessantly and no one can touch her; she becomes hysterical and uncontrollable," she said.
More than 360,000 people are internally displaced in Haiti, according to U.N. estimates.
Gina Antoine, a 43-year-old pregnant mother of three, told Mercy Corps that she was exhausted from moving between neighborhoods and could not run anymore.
"We face inhumane situations daily, walking among corpses. Gangs can attack at any moment," she said. "I have nowhere else to go. I wish everything could return to normal."
#Haiti#Haiti Revolution 2024#Haiti's top gang leader threatens politicians as fires break out in capital
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Just a few weeks before my mom passed away my 23+ year old female leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularis) Diego died too. Ever since I have been trying to figure out what to do with the enclosure that she left behind, and here are some of the ideas that I have come up with:
- Turn it back into the aquarium that it originally was; it could make for a rad freshwater species aquarium of zebra danios and beautiful blue freshwater shrimp, or it could be a second saltwater tank. Right now the thought of entering into another expensive-to-equip aquarium adventure makes me mentally hyperventilate though, especially when I still have yet to finish stocking my Fluval Evo reef tank which I've dubbed Purrling Reef. Sure the thought of a seahorse tank or an angler fish is fun but do I really want to enter into another aquatic pet like that at this time? Probably not!
- Get a small (male) snake! This is the original thing that I wanted to do but my mom wasn't on board with snakes. My dad? He's fine with it. So far the most likely species for me is the Plains Hognose (Heterodon nasicus,) Rosy Boa (Lichinura trivergata,) or the Anthill/Pygmy Python (Antaresia perthensis.) I am really not interested in Kenyan Sand Boas (Gongylophis colubrinus,) and I like that hognoses and rosy boas are both from North America - in fact the plains hognose is native to a few Canadian provinces! (Thankfully not mine though which means that hognoses are completely legal where I live, yay!) Rosy boas are unfortunately hard to find here, and so are pygmy pythons (which are from Australia, and not from the Perth region as their name seems to suggest.) Hognoses are easy to find - but only if you want a fancy colour morph, which I don't. I love the regular wild type morph of hognose but so far I haven't seen any available in Canada. (The fancy morphs are considerably more expensive, like $200+ more at least.)
Considering my hiking hobby a snake who as an adult only needs feeding once every 1-2 weeks and a clean, topped up water dish is pretty ideal. Top entry enclosures like mine aren't ideal for snakes (reaching down to grab them is too much like a bird of prey swooping down on top of them,) but I just need to check myself over how I reach for the snake friend. All three species of consideration are relatively docile, with the hognose being likely the best. Considering Clint's Reptiles and Wickens Wicked Reptiles' enclosure size recommendations I feel confident that Diego's 20 gallon long enclosure would be just fine especially for a male hognose (which is twice the size of the 10 gallon that some recommend.)
A garter snake would fit too however a larger enclosure would be better, especially so that I could keep more than one as unlike most other snakes, garter snakes are social beings who appreciate having garter snake friends.
Why specifically a male snake? Male snakes are significantly smaller than females.
I'm not interested in a tricolour hognose (Xenodon pulcher) as they do not live long enough. (5-8 years at best is ow, especially for an animal that would cost $400+ here. Nope, hard pass.)
- Get another lizard, but not a leopard gecko (nothing against my beautiful late Diego but I simply don't want another leopard gecko.) So far my favourite option for this is the completely gorgeous Schneider's Skink (Eumaces schneider.) At first I really wasn't considering another lizard but watching Reptiliatus' videos of feeding his tokay geckos made me realize that I actually really miss feeding Diego and watching her hunt her crickets. Skinks tend to be personable and friendly; I'm still researching what other options might exist.
Bonus points for ease of care for my dad whenever I'm away. He's probably more comfortable dumping a bunch of crickets into a lizard's home than feeding dead rodents to a snake if I am gone for a long time as I would be should I succeed someday in returning to Scotland to finish the Scottish National Trail (and potentially hike the Hebridean Way.)
- Stow away the 20 gallon and get a bigger enclosure for a larger reptillian friend. I'm not going to lie, a Ball Pythons (Python regius,) would be awesome and their particularly slow metabolism would be ideal for my thruhiking hobby (some adults only eat once every three weeks.) I also really like Pueblan Milksnakes (Lambropeltis triangulum campbelli,) and Arizona Mountain Kingsnakes (Lambropeltis pyromelana)! In fact, a Pueblan Milksnake is probably my dream snake - I'd feel happy every single time that I looked at that thing.
Alternatively I could adopt a tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) because they are not only beautiful but hilarious but since they are vocal geckos I'd probably have to keep it in my room.
Downside to an animal requiring a whole bigger enclosure: I'm not... financially well at the moment. This will change eventually, but right now? Right now things are hard.
But building an enclosure from scratch woukd also be really fun!
Wait, aren't fish really high maintenance? No, not really, not when you have automated systems in place like I do already and plan to add. An automatic feeder will eventually give my fish a daily breakfast meal of mixed pellets (currently a blend of Vitalis, Piscene Energetics, Fauna Marin and Northfin carnivore/clownfish diets,) an Automatic Top Off system guards my salinity against evaporation, my lighting is programmed with a full day/night cycle and an Inkbird temperature controller regulates the temperature of my water. My USB air pump will keep running and oxygenating my water for up to 36 hours in the event of a power outtage. All the coral species which I plan to keep are photosynthetic so they don't need to be fed actual food for their survival while I am away. My fish won't get any tasty frozen food when I am gone but they will have the pellets to munch on as well as the tiny live copepods which also call my reef home. For maintaining water chemistry I have extensive rockwork and porous media for biological filtration and I will soon be introducing macroalgae to one of my filter compartments. (Plants are the original filters and will - along with my future corals - lap up my nitrates and phosphates like greedy puppies.) Additionally, I have other plans for autominously maintaining other properties of my water and I will be purchasing a chiller before next summer (because fans suck at cooling aquarium water.)
If I do adopt another reptile I will be giving it UVB as well as a bioactive setup just like Diego had. Due to Keplar's very strong prey drive and my tendancy to deeply bond with my pets rodents are not on option for me as pets. I will be fortifying the terrarium similar to how I have fortified my reef tank against Keplar being a pest to my other animals.
I also have vague plans to build or buy some taller, better stands so that he can't go nose-to-nose with my non-feline pets anymore.
(Keplar is so cute but he is such a pest to non-feline organisms.)
#musings#reptile#what to adopt#snake or lizard#plains hognose#rosy boa#ball python#pueblan milk snake#arizona mountain king snake#pygmy python#anthill python
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I’m in the US and like collecting foreign coins I get randomly as change (been doing it since I was very little), or is gifted to me in some cases, but man going through it and seeing how many have queen elizabeth on them bc colonialism is like :/
I was going through them again and I was like, I didn’t remember having this many british coins, but nah they’re just colonized countries
I do have some really cool ones though. the bahamas have sea stars and pineapples on their coins! and my 5c euro coin has the roman colosseum! I have a spainish coin that’s so tiny it feels like play money, a kenyan shilling, coins from korea, china, haiti, germany, mexico, canada (so many from canada. canadians stop giving us your change challenge) and probably more
idk why but I’ve just always thought they were so neat c:
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[CNN is Private US Media]
The US has called for “urgent” movement toward a political transition in Haiti, as gangs run amok in the nation’s capital and opposition groups demand Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation.
Henry landed in the US territory of Puerto Rico on Tuesday after days of speculation about his whereabouts. He had been in Kenya last week to sign an agreement securing a Kenyan-led multinational mission to restore security in the Caribbean nation.
According to the Herald, Henry had planned to return to Haiti via the US and the Dominican Republic, but was diverted to Puerto Rico after the Dominican government changed its mind. US officials called Henry mid-flight in an effort to persuade him to step aside in favor of a transitional administration, the report also said.
Asked on Wednesday if the US had asked Henry to resign, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “What we’ve asked (Henry) to do is move forward on a political process that will lead to establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections.”
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US “is not calling on (Henry) or pushing for him to resign” but added that “we are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and inclusive governance structure” to prepare for the multinational security mission and eventually for elections.
Since Henry’s trip to Kenya, the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince has been gripped by a wave of highly coordinated gang attacks on law enforcement and state institutions. Armed groups have burned down police stations and released thousands of inmates from two prisons, in what one gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, described as an attempt to overthrow Henry’s government.
Cherizier has taken credit for the attacks and warned of even more dire consequences if the international community “continues to support Henry.”
“If Ariel Henry doesn’t step down, if the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, they will lead us directly into a civil war that will end in genocide,” Cherizier told Reuters in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.
“The international community, especially the United States, Canada, France, and the Core Group will be responsible for all the people who die in Haiti.”[...]
[Former Haitian Prime Minister] Joseph said Henry’s resignation has been “overdue” since February 7 of this year, referring to the prime minister’s promise to hold elections in 2023. They were never held, with Henry’s administration citing the country’s insecurity as a major obstacle.
6 Mar 24
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Don’t Crack Your Head
“Don’t crack your head.”
“Put it in the parking lot.”
These phrases, which I picked up during my November trip to Kenya, have become part of my lexicon.
“Don’t crack your head”....means, “Don’t get stressed out about it”. I discovered this after Caren, one of the palliative care nurses, announced to our class that she was passing out pretests and panic ensued. “Don’t crack your heads!” she cried, trying to restore calm. I chuckled and promptly scribbled the phrase in my notebook. Later, Caren would say to me when I was perplexed about something, “Pamela, don’t crack your head” and we’d laugh and laugh. Another phrase, “Put it in the parking lot”....means “Let’s move along, because we’ve already spent waaaay too much time on this topic”. This came from one of the students in our training, who, after listening to his fellow community health volunteers, grew tired of their ongoing circular debates.
Kenyan Nurse Caren
Don’t crack your head....Those words were not yet part of my vocabulary when, in the dawning hours of November 4, I landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris for a layover before flying to Nairobi. The overnight flight from Seattle and the multiple time zones left me fatigued and slightly disoriented. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled through the duty free shops to be greeted by a lovely display of lights, a trio of Christmas trees, a red velvet chair and a glittery gold Eiffel Tower. Initially, my cynicism flared, and truth be told, I get a wee-bit self-righteous about NOT celebrating Christmas before Advent. In fact, normally, I “crack my head” around Labor Day when stores begin to market Christmas stuff. (Although I’m wondering if Halloween decorations have deflated some early Christmas sales, even relegating Thanksgiving to a blip on the holiday calendar and a day of overeating and already decorating for Christmas). But there I was, in early November, oddly comforted by the sight–lights, shiny bulbs, greenery and ribbons. They all softened the harshness of a sterile airport, even one as posh as Paris with her high end shops: Chanel, Burberry, Dior, Prada. Even at that early hour, they were filled with Parisian black-clad salespersons with not a hair out of place.
Paris!
In Nairobi itself, I didn’t notice if there were Christmas decorations in that airport, but perhaps it was because I was too worried about getting through customs once again. However, in the city of Kisumu, my landing place near Lake Victoria in western Kenya, the shopping centers and parking lots were lit up with the Christmas Spirit.
On my return home,19 days later, I flew through Amsterdam. Again, I was greeted by Christmas trees-Chanel trees no less!-glittering towers of lights and glass, all tastefully decorated. Sipping a cappuccino, chatting with a pre-med student from Canada and checking my emails, I succumbed to it all, putting my normal “It’s too early to decorate” response in the parking lot.
The Glitz in Amsterdam airport
Landing in the United States, this time at the Salt Lake Airport, has its own challenges and usually I have to gear up for “reentry” into the frenzy and culture shock–typically loud Americans and noise. Instead, this time, I was entranced by the escalators trimmed with thousands of shiny, glittery Christmas bulbs. Commercial and too early for me to celebrate Christmas?? It didn’t matter. I was grateful for the beauty of it all. I wondered how many wearied and harried travelers were uplifted by the decorations. Did it help ease their long flights, layovers, and missed connections? Did it soften the missing of loved ones? And most importantly, did it create wonder about Christmas and the true meaning of the Holy Day?
This year, I received another gift. It was an ordinary clear plastic box with a dusty red lid. Nestled inside, were ornaments carefully wrapped in tissue–the Kleenex kind–by my mama. There were ornaments I remembered from my childhood, and newer ones which she had handcrafted years ago. As I hung each ornament, I was grateful for the gift of my mama. Grateful for the gift of family, both near and far. Grateful for the season of joy and for putting my somewhat rigid stance on NOT decorating too early in the parking lot.
My most favorite ornament, THE Reindeer, missing an antler a back leg taped and all made of plastic. This was the gem I was searching for. Note the beautiful beaded ornament, made my my mama
Another childhood favorite
And then there’s my own childhood creations. A true sign of my mother’s love was saving these. Obviously the beaded ornament was not my creation
My creativity has expanded since my early days of styrofoam snowmen and bells
A Christmas tree of joy and memories
No matter when you choose to decorate, may the season of Advent prepare your hearts for the celebration of the coming of the Christ-child on Christmas Day.
Always Mercy and Joy,
Pamela
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Disposable Syringes Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)
Disposable Syringes Market Overview:
Disposable Syringes Market size is estimated to reach $24 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period 2023-2030. The rising demand for injectable medications and increasing adoption of telemedicine are propelling the Disposable Syringes Market growth.
Additionally, the education and training programs for healthcare providers and end-users on the proper use, handling and disposal are creating substantial growth opportunities for the Disposable Syringes Market. As per U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health education specialists and community health workers are expected to grow at a significant rate of 12% by 2031, exceeding the average growth rate for all occupations. This reflects the increasing demand for these professionals and underscores their crucial role in advancing public health and wellness. These factors positively influence the Disposable Syringes industry outlook during the forecast period.
Market Snapshot:
Disposable Syringes Market - Report Coverage:
The “Disposable Syringes Market Report - Forecast (2023-2030)” by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments in the Disposable Syringes Market.
Attribute
Segment
By Type
Safety Syringes
Conventional Syringes
Prefilled Syringes
Insulin Syringes
Others
By Syringe Size
Below 5ml
5-10ml
Above 10ml
By Application
Therapeutic Injections
Immunization Injections
Blood Sample Collection
Others
By End-User
Diagnostics Laboratories
Hospital
Pharmaceutical Industry
Blood Banks
Veterinary
Others
By Geography
North America (U.S., Canada and Mexico)
Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia and Rest of Europe)
Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia & New Zealand and Rest of Asia-Pacific)
South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Rest of South America)
Rest of the World (Middle East and Africa).
COVID-19 / Ukraine Crisis - Impact Analysis:
● The COVID-19 pandemic has created a heightened demand for disposable syringes due to the urgent need for vaccination campaigns worldwide. Vaccination programs require massive quantities of syringes for administering vaccines, which has resulted in increased production and sales of disposable syringes.
● The Ukraine crisis has disrupted the supply chain of disposable syringes, including procurement of raw materials, manufacturing and distribution. This can result in challenges in the availability and accessibility of disposable syringes, potentially leading to supply shortages and production delays.
Key Takeaways:
● Fastest Growth of Rest of the World : Geographically, in the global Disposable Syringes Market share, Rest of the World is analyzed to grow with the highest CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period 2023-2030. The growth is attributed to the rising healthcare expenditure and infrastructure development in emerging economies. Moreover, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the growing demand for injectable medications are also fueling the market. In November 2021, Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Limited, a Kenyan medical supply manufacturer, announced that it had received nearly $4 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand the production of auto-disable vaccine syringes. This funding allowed Revital to increase syringe production volume from approximately 72 million.
● Therapeutic Injections is Leading the Market : According to the Therapeutic Injections Market forecast, the Therapeutic Injections held the largest market valuation of $5.9 billion in 2022 owing to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, rising demand for injectable medications and advancements in therapeutic treatments. Therapeutic injections are commonly used for administering medications for conditions such as diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases and others.
● Prefilled Syringes to Register the Fastest Growth : In the Disposable Syringes Market analysis, the Prefilled Syringes segment is estimated to grow with the highest CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period. The increasing demand for efficient and convenient drug delivery systems drives the adoption of prefilled syringes. These syringes come pre-loaded with a precise dosage of medication, eliminating the need for manual filling and reducing the risk of dosing errors. In May 2022, Terumo Corporation introduced a pre-fillable polymer syringe designed for low-dose applications. This innovative product provides a safe, user-friendly, and efficient treatment solution, catering to the needs of healthcare professionals and patients alike.
● Adoption of Injectable Medication : The demand for injectable medications is on the rise due to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and the growing aging population as well as advancements in therapeutic treatments. Injectable medications are preferred for their fast and effective delivery, precise dosing and ease of administration. In 2022, as per Drug Development & Delivery article, the growth of the injectable drug delivery is projected reach of $83.38 billion by 2030 which demonstrates the rising demand for efficient and convenient administration of medication through injectable routes.
● Increasing Adoption of Telemedicine : Telemedicine enables patients to consult with healthcare professionals remotely, facilitating remote diagnosis, monitoring and prescription of medications. Disposable syringes play a crucial role in facilitating safe and convenient self-administration of injectable medications for chronic diseases like diabetes and autoimmune disorders. Syringes with their convenience, ease of use and disposable nature have become an essential tool in the telemedicine ecosystem which is driving the demand and growth of the market. In 2022, according to the NCBI report, over 57% of individuals aged 0-17 showed a high inclination towards using telehealth services and indicating a strong willingness among younger individuals to adopt telemedicine.
● High Cost and Affordability Hamper the Market Growth : Expensive production processes, raw material costs and pricing limit accessibility, especially in resource-constrained settings and pose challenges for patients, healthcare providers and healthcare systems in procuring and using disposable syringes.This factor impedes the Disposable Syringes market growth.
Disposable Syringes Market Share (%) By Region, 2022
Product/Service launches, approvals, patents and events, acquisitions, partnerships and collaborations are key strategies adopted by players in the Disposable Syringes Market. The top 10 companies in this industry are listed below:
Baxter International Inc. (BD® 60 mL Luer syringes)
Medtronic plc (i-Port AdvanceTM)
Fresenius Kabi AG (Amicus® Extracorporeal)
Terumo Corporation (PLAJEX™ COP, Safe'n'Sound®)
B. Braun SE (Original Perfusor® Syringes, Omnifix® Lock)
Becton, Dickinson and Company. (Ultra-Fine™, Safety-Glide™)
Novo Nordisk A/S (FlexPen®, NovoPen® 5)
Retractable Technologies, Inc. (VanishPoint®, Patient Safe®)
Henke-Sass, Wolf GmbH (HSW HENKE-JECT®– two-part, HSW HENKE-JECT® Insulin)
Nipro Corporation (Dual chamber bags PLW®, Pre-filled syringes [PFS®])
Scope of the Report:
Report Metric
Details
Base Year Considered
2022
Forecast Period
2023–2030
CAGR
6.7%
Market Size in 2030
$24 billion
Segments Covered
Type, Syringes Size, Application, End-User and Region
Geographies Covered
North America (U.S., Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and Rest of Asia-Pacific), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Rest of South America), Rest of the World (Middle East and Africa).
Key Market Players
Baxter International Inc.
Medtronic plc
Fresenius Kabi AG
Terumo Corporation
B. Braun SE
Becton, Dickinson and Company.
Novo Nordisk A/S
Retractable Technologies, Inc.
Henke-Sass, Wolf GmbH
Nipro Corporation
For more Lifesciences and Healthcare Market reports, please click here
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Feb 21st, 2024
12:08 technically Feb 22nd. Listening to Nicki Minaj’s Save Me. Sitting up in my room.
Sigh. I dunno if I wanna write, I have tears welling up already. I am so sensitive dawg. So like, in north Amerikkka, racism and capitalist consumerism/exploitation is what harmed me the most. Here it is sexism, classism and exploitation that is hurting me. The things hurting me in the west and the things hurting me in Kenya are rooted in the same thing, colonization. I think the most frustrating thing is the conversation or knowledge of colonization and neo colonization is not common. The sexism directly hurts me, the classism and exploitation indirectly. It was so loud when I was downtown today. Honestly, it kinda reminded me of why I stopped going to downtown Toronto. The racism, consumerism and exploitation was too loud in the Siggz. Seeing a Black addict od’ing beside a lambo and no one caring had me SHOOK. Here the classism and exploitation is fucking with my head. Seeing 5yr olds living on the street and panhandling screams system failure. As a kid downtown was a bougie, rich town. Now downtown is for the laborers as the middle/upper class have exited the city. It’s too much, it's overwhelming. You have to come face to face with the violent poverty the average Kenyan is dealing with the minute you get to Tom Mboya street. I am not sure what to do. I just got here and I am in observation, learning, and growth mode. I don’t know if I will do like I did in Canada and protect my peace of mind while still challenging colonization and whiteness while separating myself from whiteness. What does that look like here, challenging classism, exploitation while separating myself from it? It doesn’t even feel Gøod to write that. But the same way I was not safe in white spaces, here I am not safe in male or poor spaces due to system failure/colonization. All this is dawning on me after spending one afternoon in the heart of the city. I am trying to be Gøod. I am trying to be a Saint. I am trying to find enlightenment. But like, can I do it while sheltering myself from the things that ail my fellow humans? I left Islanders with a tool kit, something I believe can help Islanders move towards Gøod and away from the continued direction of hatred and oppression. I don’t know what my he(art), my politics, or my personhood will evolve into in Kenya. And maybe that is what is making me cry. Because I know myself. If just seeing this today is making me cry, then I know me. I will find something that I can do about it because that is who I am. I know that art, he(art), will be at the center of it. So yeah, I took an uber downtown, spent the afternoon with my Grandma there, walked to the shop to buy some stuff for the house, back to my grandma's cafeteria then home. I showered and ate as soon as I got home because I was so tired and wanted an early night. Instead, I spent an hour + on the phone with My Munene. Honestly, he is ___________. I Love him. I was telling him about my day, my feels, how the country is still asleep and drowning in neo-colonization. He hears me. He sees me. He validates me. He also LOVES this country and so he wants better as well. And with him, I can. With him, I will. Kenya is our baby, we are Kenya’s baby. God’s plan is the only plan. Trust the Universe, it's an orgasm. Life is still Gøod. Ase.
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Kenyans Support Actions to Address Climate Change, Reduce Methane Emissions
Globally, the poll reached people in 17 countries across six continents – Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, South Korea, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The online survey gathered data from a total of 12,976 adults, at least 750 in each country, and asked respondents questions on key issues ranging from…
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SINOSWAN SS90 Mobile Stage: A Leadership Designed Mobile Performance Solution
SINOSWAN's SS90 Stage Vehicle is a leading designed and manufactured road show vehicle designed to provide safe and efficient hydraulic robotic stages and road show vehicles for outdoor events, equipped with professional sound and lighting systems that can be set up in as little as 20 minutes using a wireless remote control. The vehicle has a strong carrying capacity and flexible space design. The stage floor is made of professional Plywood material, combined with a steel skeleton floor extension platform, which provides a stable and sturdy foundation for performances.
The ingenious design of the SS90 provides it with extreme wind resistance, which ensures the smooth running of the event even under strong wind conditions. Meanwhile, the vehicle is equipped with windproof wall and steel skeleton advertising frame, which enhances the promotional effect of the event and the visual experience of the audience.The SS90 stage vehicle has been successfully exported to many countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc., and has made a great splash in the Kenyan presidential election as well as in MTN's roadshow activities.
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