Beyond the Last Computer -
By Philip Emeagwali - emeagwali.com
I felt the hard, cold steel of a gun against the back of my head. I spun around and saw my assailant’s finger shaking on the trigger: “Don't run or I'll shoot you,” he said. I was just 14 years old, and death was a stranger to me.
It was 1969, and Nigeria was embroiled in civil war. As a teenage refugee conscripted into the Biafran Army, I was forced at gunpoint to carry weapons to the Oguta front. It was a 24-hour, march through mosquito-infested mangroves flooded by the River Niger.
When the 30-month war ended on January 15, 1970, I was discharged and reunited with my parents. Together with one million returning refugees we walked for three days, avoiding landmines along fetid rainforest footpaths. Eventually, we reached our hometown of Onitsha. It was badly battered by the war.
There my thoughts returned to a love abandoned three years earlier—mathematical physics. This love affair blossomed when I was a refugee in Biafra, —shortly before July 20, 1969—the day man first walked on the moon. While running an errand, I stopped to gaze through a classroom window and saw a physics lecturer writing on a blackboard. It was Newton's Second Law of Motion: “Force equals mass times acceleration, or F=ma.”
Unaware that I had just been introduced to the most important law in physics, I was, nevertheless, awestruck. Newton’s Second Law of Motion is far more important than Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. “E equals MC squared” may be sexier on a T-shirt than “F=ma,” but Encarta lists the three laws of motion as the third most important scientific discovery of all time.
Three hundred and thirty years later, we still do not completely understand F=ma But it is the only formula that is integral to computing’s 20 grand challenges and mathematics’ seven millennium problems. I devoted many years devising a solution to one grand challenge. While conventional wisdom suggested it would be almost impossible to harness the power of 65,536 processors my grand challenge was to prove otherwise.
Initially, the challenge seemed deceptively simple; but in reality, there were so many different tiers of complexity that I sometimes forgot why I was programming those 65,536 processors. In hindsight, I did just about everything wrong before I finally got it right. Research is a high-risk game, but, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The complexity of the grand challenge renders it as incomprehensible to laypeople as pages of hieroglyphics or Greek symbols. Concisely, the challenge used the Second Law of Motion propagated along a virtual 16-dimensional hypercubic network to be executed by 65,536 processors. These processors are the beginning of the end. I started at the end because the end is devoid of the complex proofs and dense mathematical language that are unfathomable to non-mathematicians.
This grand challenge earned its name: it was a super problem that required one to think in ways that merge the laws of physics, logic, and numbers in 16-dimensional mathematical space, and to solve the problem by attacking it from three perspectives.
Walk with me as I tell a story that will take you from the Second Law of Motion to the blackboard, to the motherboard, to the mother of all motherboards: a one-of-a-kind computer powered by 65,536 processors. Every scientific discovery begins as a thought. The strategy for harnessing these laws of physics, logic, and numbers has to be conceived and thought out before becoming reality.
I visualized the grand challenge problem as a complex game with complex parameters, which I solved using three simple rules. First, I harnessed the power of processors to perform myriad computations. Second, I followed a minimum number of communication pathways to perform a minimum number of communications. Third, I enforced the Second Law of Motion in models of all that flows underneath the Earth.
In all, I had 65,536 processors and over one million pathways. The processors-plus-pathways make a computer a supercomputer, and a planet-sized supercomputer an Internet. I have been asked: “What gave you the confidence to tackle one of computing’s grand challenges?” My answer — fifteen years of putting into practice the athlete’s five Ps mantra: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
In the 1980s, I was a mathematical physicist logged on 24/7 to a 65,536-brain supercomputer on think.com —the third registered dot com ever. It was an unpaid labor of love. I was tormented by self-doubt, a maniac who pushed his supercomputer to its breaking point.
Each one of us must learn to move outside our comfort zones. We learn with each step we take into the unknown. When I was five, my father discovered that I was slow in mathematics. He decided to teach me to solve 100 math problems in one hour. Thereafter, my ability to do rapid calculations earned me the nickname “Calculus” and set me on the path to become a supercomputer scientist who solved one of the most difficult problems in mathematics.
Crossing the frontiers of knowledge to conquer tomorrow’s grand challenges will demand revolutionary techniques. In my new technique, my 65,536 processors perform computations side by side, linked by 16 wires, each corresponding to the 16 sides of a 16-dimensional hypercube. This is the essence of “higher” mathematics: go beyond calculus and mine infinite dimensional spaces.
My multicolored drawings of the hypercube are a feast for the eye; programming them is a feast for the mind. The hypercubic circuitry of the supercomputer left me breathless. I was awestruck by its 16 unique information pathways coming from each processing node. Has there ever been any technology as gorgeously complicated as the hypercube supercomputer? For me, it was love at first sight. It was hypercubic elegance that engaged me emotionally, imaginatively and computationally.
One day, the Internet will become our shared planet-sized supercomputer and individuals will become nodes on the Internet and the Internet, as we know it, will become obsolete and “disappear” into our collective memory.
By definition, both the supercomputer and the Internet consist of connected nodes working in harmony. In fact, the supercomputer is more about communication than computation. The supercomputer and the Internet link computation and communication into a congruent whole - two complementary sides of a coin.
As the computer evolves into the supercomputer, and the supercomputer evolves into the Internet, and the Internet evolves into humanity, all that will remain will be a HyperBall superbrain - an electronic, organic Web 10,000 miles in diameter encompassing the Earth. The nodes will be people, embedded in an interconnected network of humanity working as one.
If history repeats itself, the supercomputer of today will become the ordinary computer of tomorrow. This core technology could evolve to become iconic, a masterpiece, a legacy, a legend, and a contribution to civilization. Each new “grand challenge” met becomes another beacon guiding humanity forward into the age of information.
Excerpted from a lecture delivered by Philip Emeagwali at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago on June 8, 2008. The entire transcript and video are posted at emeagwali.com.
Philip Emeagwali has been called “a father of the Internet” by CNN and TIME , and extolled as “one of the great minds of the Information Age” by former U.S. President Bill Clinton . He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel prize of supercomputing.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
How to Battle Your Procrastination
A Making Life Commentary:
How to Conquer Procrastination Effectively and Efficiently
By Robert N. Taylor
Procrastination can ruin your life. Constantly delaying the completion of tasks which should be done can lead to stress, missed opportunities, disappointments and a reputation as a failure. Indeed, you could actually become a failure.
With the above as real possibilities, the question rings out loudly: What is the most effective way of conquering procrastination in the shortest period of time possible? My research into issues of personal and social betterment led to the following conclusion.
It is critically important that you know why you are procrastinating in starting or completing a particular task or project. It is only once you know the specific cause of your particular procrastination that you can honestly begin the process of solving the problem. And you solve the problem not by attacking the problem but by attacking the cause of the problem with the opposite of the cause.
Keep that thought in mind. You solve a problem by identifying its cause and then attacking the cause with its opposite.
In the case of procrastination, there are only four causes for a person unnecessarily delaying the completion of a task or project;
#1 - Overburdened - You feel overburdened with other responsibilities and cannot find the time to start the task. Solution: Drop or delay the responsibilities which bring you the least benefit and create the time you need. Again, find the cause and attack with the opposite.
#2 - Fear - You fear starting the project because you think it will bring some type of physical or emotional pain or discomfort. Solution: Break the project into comfortable (or least painful) parts and tackle it one segment at a time. Do a little on a consistent basis and the task will be completed.
#3 - Resentment - You resent doing the task because you feel it has been forced upon you or should be done by someone else. Solution: Be man or woman enough to let your resentment be known and actually see if you can get the more appropriate person do the task. If this approach does not work, you have no choice but to adopt the strategy specified in #2 above.
#4 - Overwhelmed - You feel overwhelmed by the project because you are not sure how to go about doing it. Solution: Gain knowledge. There is virtually nothing you can confront which has not been confronted by someone else. They have either written about it or they are willing to talk about how they overcame.
Finally, remember that we only procrastinate when confronted with something we do not want to do (for whatever reason). If we truly want to do something, it will get done. Thus, identify the benefit that will derive from completing the project and not the negatives associated with doing the task or project. This mental trick works even if the only benefit is simply not having to worry about the uncompleted project any more.
Just remember, you cannot defeat a bad habit such as procrastination by attacking the problem itself. Instead, you must identify the mental or emotional cause of the problem and attack the cause with its opposite. This does not mean you can simply think your way out of procrastination. Thinking must be followed by some action.
This works even if the action is small. It can be small as long as it is also immediate and consistent.
Robert Taylor does extensive research into motivational and better life issues. More of his writings can be found at www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
How to Conquer Procrastination Effectively and Efficiently
By Robert N. Taylor
Procrastination can ruin your life. Constantly delaying the completion of tasks which should be done can lead to stress, missed opportunities, disappointments and a reputation as a failure. Indeed, you could actually become a failure.
With the above as real possibilities, the question rings out loudly: What is the most effective way of conquering procrastination in the shortest period of time possible? My research into issues of personal and social betterment led to the following conclusion.
It is critically important that you know why you are procrastinating in starting or completing a particular task or project. It is only once you know the specific cause of your particular procrastination that you can honestly begin the process of solving the problem. And you solve the problem not by attacking the problem but by attacking the cause of the problem with the opposite of the cause.
Keep that thought in mind. You solve a problem by identifying its cause and then attacking the cause with its opposite.
In the case of procrastination, there are only four causes for a person unnecessarily delaying the completion of a task or project;
#1 - Overburdened - You feel overburdened with other responsibilities and cannot find the time to start the task. Solution: Drop or delay the responsibilities which bring you the least benefit and create the time you need. Again, find the cause and attack with the opposite.
#2 - Fear - You fear starting the project because you think it will bring some type of physical or emotional pain or discomfort. Solution: Break the project into comfortable (or least painful) parts and tackle it one segment at a time. Do a little on a consistent basis and the task will be completed.
#3 - Resentment - You resent doing the task because you feel it has been forced upon you or should be done by someone else. Solution: Be man or woman enough to let your resentment be known and actually see if you can get the more appropriate person do the task. If this approach does not work, you have no choice but to adopt the strategy specified in #2 above.
#4 - Overwhelmed - You feel overwhelmed by the project because you are not sure how to go about doing it. Solution: Gain knowledge. There is virtually nothing you can confront which has not been confronted by someone else. They have either written about it or they are willing to talk about how they overcame.
Finally, remember that we only procrastinate when confronted with something we do not want to do (for whatever reason). If we truly want to do something, it will get done. Thus, identify the benefit that will derive from completing the project and not the negatives associated with doing the task or project. This mental trick works even if the only benefit is simply not having to worry about the uncompleted project any more.
Just remember, you cannot defeat a bad habit such as procrastination by attacking the problem itself. Instead, you must identify the mental or emotional cause of the problem and attack the cause with its opposite. This does not mean you can simply think your way out of procrastination. Thinking must be followed by some action.
This works even if the action is small. It can be small as long as it is also immediate and consistent.
Robert Taylor does extensive research into motivational and better life issues. More of his writings can be found at www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Current Financial Crisis Results from Unregulated Greed
The Nation’s Financial Crisis Resulted from the Follies of Capitalist Greed
By Robert N. Taylor
A folly is not just a mistake. It is a mistake whose outcome could have been clearly foreseen if the person committing the folly had merely applied logic and paid attention to historical lessons.
The above applies to the financial crisis currently rocking Wall Street and threatening to plunge the nation into a terrifying job losing, income reducing recession. Some of the decisions made by Wall Street financial experts, government regulators and capitalism-is-better-than-God politicians defy all rational thought.
The above culprits behaved as if the Great Depression of 1929 had never occurred. The essential lesson from that period came from the great British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes taught that capitalism - the so-called free enterprise system - had no self-regulating mechanism which guaranteed continual economic growth or full employment.
However, starting with President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and culminating in 1998 when President Bill Clinton signed legislation doing away with the Cass-Steagal Act, politicians eliminated most of the major regulations which had been put in place to prevent another Great Depression.
Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan explained this before a Congressional hearing recently saying, “Our regulators became enablers instead of enforcers. Their trust in the wisdom of the markets was infinite.
This basically means that government regulators came to believe the myth that all regulation was bad and the best thing for the economy was to allow businesses to pursue their own greedy self-interest.
Thus, government stopped enforcing anti-recession rules and freed businesses, especially banks, to follow no regulation but that of pure greed. This is even though the Great Depression showed us that unregulated capitalism could produce tremendous profits in the short run but would lead to self-destruction in the long term as a result of excesses and mindless greed.
The chief example of this irrationality was not so much selling sub-prime loans to too many people with questionable abilities to repay; but allowing mortgage companies to sell these weak loans to investment banks which then magically converted them into securities and then sell the securities to other banks - both in America and abroad.
At each step in this process of greed, money handlers made a profit. But the financial geniuses lost track of the fact that housing prices were falling and the original suspect loans were not being repaid. When these loans were not repaid, the entire house of cards began to fall and we (taxpayers) ended up being forced to bailout the super rich to the tune of $700 billion because they made mistakes based on greed which blinded them to the underlying stupidity of what they were doing.
The bottom line is that capitalist greed must be regulated or that same greed will lead to folly and folly will lead to self-destruction.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
By Robert N. Taylor
A folly is not just a mistake. It is a mistake whose outcome could have been clearly foreseen if the person committing the folly had merely applied logic and paid attention to historical lessons.
The above applies to the financial crisis currently rocking Wall Street and threatening to plunge the nation into a terrifying job losing, income reducing recession. Some of the decisions made by Wall Street financial experts, government regulators and capitalism-is-better-than-God politicians defy all rational thought.
The above culprits behaved as if the Great Depression of 1929 had never occurred. The essential lesson from that period came from the great British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes taught that capitalism - the so-called free enterprise system - had no self-regulating mechanism which guaranteed continual economic growth or full employment.
However, starting with President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and culminating in 1998 when President Bill Clinton signed legislation doing away with the Cass-Steagal Act, politicians eliminated most of the major regulations which had been put in place to prevent another Great Depression.
Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan explained this before a Congressional hearing recently saying, “Our regulators became enablers instead of enforcers. Their trust in the wisdom of the markets was infinite.
This basically means that government regulators came to believe the myth that all regulation was bad and the best thing for the economy was to allow businesses to pursue their own greedy self-interest.
Thus, government stopped enforcing anti-recession rules and freed businesses, especially banks, to follow no regulation but that of pure greed. This is even though the Great Depression showed us that unregulated capitalism could produce tremendous profits in the short run but would lead to self-destruction in the long term as a result of excesses and mindless greed.
The chief example of this irrationality was not so much selling sub-prime loans to too many people with questionable abilities to repay; but allowing mortgage companies to sell these weak loans to investment banks which then magically converted them into securities and then sell the securities to other banks - both in America and abroad.
At each step in this process of greed, money handlers made a profit. But the financial geniuses lost track of the fact that housing prices were falling and the original suspect loans were not being repaid. When these loans were not repaid, the entire house of cards began to fall and we (taxpayers) ended up being forced to bailout the super rich to the tune of $700 billion because they made mistakes based on greed which blinded them to the underlying stupidity of what they were doing.
The bottom line is that capitalist greed must be regulated or that same greed will lead to folly and folly will lead to self-destruction.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
Thursday, October 23, 2008
How to Make Money with a Free Website
How to Generate Traffic and Income with Your Free Website
By Robert N. Taylor
The wealth producing potential of the Internet is tremendous and a significant portion of that potential remains untapped. The core principle is that it is possible to start producing a truly handsome weekly income with little or even no upfront expenditure.
One secret starts with obtaining a website. This can be done for free. There are several services on the Web offering free websites and easy-to-follow instructions or templates which enable you to build an impressive looking site in 15 minutes of less. Among those offering such sites are Freewebs.com, Synthasite, Weebly and omoEgocia. They include a host of widgets like counters, clocks, weather, national news and more which you can also get for free.
The only requirement is that you allow the website host to run an ad on your site once it is up and functioning.
Further, there are services which will provide content for your website including health, financial, motivational and jobs/business information. Most of these services charge a small fee. But $50 to $75 a year for weekly content which can draw thousands of people to your website is a very good deal. One of the best in this arena is Wealth Gazette Services at www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
There are others including various Article Directories which provide free content as long as you allow the authors of the various articles to include a brief plug for themselves or their website at the end of the article.
Your free website can be monetized (turn it into a money-maker) in a number of ways. Among the three most powerful are affiliation with AdSense – a service which will actually place advertisements on your website for free. You get paid based on the number of people from your website who log onto the ads AdSense places. Second, many of the services from which you acquire your free website will offer to place ads with you. Again, you make money every time someone visiting your website clicks onto the ads which have been placed on your site.
The third best way of generating income is to sell ads on your website yourself. This approach will be the only one of the top three which requires any significant activity on your part. Other than selling ads yourself, you can pretty much put your website on automatic pilot and watch as it produces money while you play and sleep.
The key problem area which can prevent the above money-making dream from coming true is the failure to attract a sufficient number of visitors to your free website. If there is not traffic on your site, no money will be made. However, there is a no-cost way to tackle this problem.
There are at least fifty prominent Article Directories and Press Release Services to which you can post articles and press releases promoting your website and thus encourage thousands of people to visit it. It will cost you nothing to post promotional articles or press releases to these directories. The most dominant ones include EzineArticles, IdeaMarketers, Amazines and ArticleMarketer. Again, there are services which will write and post the article or press release for a small fee.
The bottom line is that you can start with a free website and in a few weeks have impressive cash flowing into your pockets with little or no upfront expenditure.
Robert N. Taylor conducts extensive research on the Internet and its power to generate money for average people. Additional information on acquiring a free website and producing handsome income is available at his website: www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
By Robert N. Taylor
The wealth producing potential of the Internet is tremendous and a significant portion of that potential remains untapped. The core principle is that it is possible to start producing a truly handsome weekly income with little or even no upfront expenditure.
One secret starts with obtaining a website. This can be done for free. There are several services on the Web offering free websites and easy-to-follow instructions or templates which enable you to build an impressive looking site in 15 minutes of less. Among those offering such sites are Freewebs.com, Synthasite, Weebly and omoEgocia. They include a host of widgets like counters, clocks, weather, national news and more which you can also get for free.
The only requirement is that you allow the website host to run an ad on your site once it is up and functioning.
Further, there are services which will provide content for your website including health, financial, motivational and jobs/business information. Most of these services charge a small fee. But $50 to $75 a year for weekly content which can draw thousands of people to your website is a very good deal. One of the best in this arena is Wealth Gazette Services at www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
There are others including various Article Directories which provide free content as long as you allow the authors of the various articles to include a brief plug for themselves or their website at the end of the article.
Your free website can be monetized (turn it into a money-maker) in a number of ways. Among the three most powerful are affiliation with AdSense – a service which will actually place advertisements on your website for free. You get paid based on the number of people from your website who log onto the ads AdSense places. Second, many of the services from which you acquire your free website will offer to place ads with you. Again, you make money every time someone visiting your website clicks onto the ads which have been placed on your site.
The third best way of generating income is to sell ads on your website yourself. This approach will be the only one of the top three which requires any significant activity on your part. Other than selling ads yourself, you can pretty much put your website on automatic pilot and watch as it produces money while you play and sleep.
The key problem area which can prevent the above money-making dream from coming true is the failure to attract a sufficient number of visitors to your free website. If there is not traffic on your site, no money will be made. However, there is a no-cost way to tackle this problem.
There are at least fifty prominent Article Directories and Press Release Services to which you can post articles and press releases promoting your website and thus encourage thousands of people to visit it. It will cost you nothing to post promotional articles or press releases to these directories. The most dominant ones include EzineArticles, IdeaMarketers, Amazines and ArticleMarketer. Again, there are services which will write and post the article or press release for a small fee.
The bottom line is that you can start with a free website and in a few weeks have impressive cash flowing into your pockets with little or no upfront expenditure.
Robert N. Taylor conducts extensive research on the Internet and its power to generate money for average people. Additional information on acquiring a free website and producing handsome income is available at his website: www.freewebs.com/wealthgazette/ .
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Black College Funding Plan
Black College Funding (BCF)
Proposal
Written and Copyright©
By
Charles Earl Campbell, BSW, MSW
September 20, 2008
This proposal is in response to the great need to fund Black African American Colleges and Universities. There are 104 Black Colleges with more than one Million Students, Alumni and their Families and Friends. Black African Americans have an estimated collective income of between $700 and $900 Billion Dollars. This proposal seeks to leverage the collective spending power of Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends.
What I propose:
Historic Black Colleges and Universities and United Negro Funded Colleges collaborate to develop a strategy to implement this proposal. Each College or University should raise $10,000 each year to a fund the implementation of this strategy. I propose that the National Urban League be contracted by participating Black Colleges and Universities to implement this proposal on behalf of participating Black Colleges and Universities. The National Urban League would create a division called the Black College Fund (BCF). The National Urban League already has existing leadership, expertise, connections and relationships with corporations and businesses. They are in a better position to negotiate a percentage or a flat fee from each partnering corporation or business. Those funds would be transferred to the National Urban League and then redistributed to participating Black Colleges and Universities. The $10,000 fee would pay for the National Urban League BCF Division Administration, Staff and operating expenses required to implement this proposal. This proposal seeks to collect a small percentage or flat fee from each sale of goods and services to Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends. The National Urban League will negotiate agreements with national, regional and local companies, such as retail stores, electric companies, grocery stores, cable companies, gas companies, water companies, car manufacturers, banks, real-estate companies, companies, movie theaters chains, department stores, airlines, train companies, rental car companies, online companies, electronic companies, newspapers, book stores, tax preparation companies, drugs stores, hotels, fast food restaurants, insurance providers, gas stations companies, oil companies, toy store chains, fitness companies, hospitals, medical clinics, dental clinics and other corporations and businesses.
How this should work:
The National Urban League Black College Fund will meet with corporations and businesses and market this proposal. Those participating corporations or businesses would allow a percentage from each purchase to be sent to BCF for redistribution to the participating Black College or University chosen by the BCF Cardholder. Each Black College or University would encourage their Students, Alumni, and their Friends and Family Members to call a National Urban League toll free number or visit their website. They would be able to register their name, address and the participating Black College or University they want to support. They would receive a Black College Fund (BCF) Card with their college logo and their name and address and account number on it. This BCF Card would be provided free for those participating Black Colleges and Universities. BCF Cards will have a magnetic strip on the back, similar to a credit or debit cards. At the point of sale, BCF Cardholders would swipe their BCF Card through the credit card processing machine. They would then pay for their goods and services. A percentage or a flat fee would be automatically calculated and sent to the National Urban League Black College Fund at the end of each month by the corporation or business.
The BCF Card would contain information regarding what Black College or University will receive their contribution. For transparency and fiscal accountability, the National Urban League will pay for an independent financial auditing company, who will establish and maintain a website for participating Black Colleges and Universities and registered members to view financial reports that report monthly amounts contributed from each company to each Black College or University and by each BCF Cardholder and the expenditure of each participating Black College or University of specific Black College Funds. Any Black College or University failure to cooperate will this contract provision of the proposal to supply this information, would have their funds withheld until they cooperate. Repeated failure to cooperate would result in their removable from participating by the National Urban League.
Business Partnership Agreements between the National Urban League Black Colleges and corporations and businesses would allow BCF Cardholders to have a flat fee amount or a percentage of each purchase to be contributed to their College or University. For Example: If an individual chose to support Jackson State University was buying $100 worth of food at Black-Mart, he or she would swipe their BCF Card or give it to the cashier prior to the payment of $100. The computer system would automatically ID the individual and send 5% or $5.00 of that $100 amount to the National Urban League Black College Fund and then the National Urban League would wired all the funds collected from all the corporations and businesses for that specific month to Jackson State University or the participating Black Colleges and Universities.
As an example if Jackson State University (JSU) has 100,000 Students, Alumni, Families and Friends who spend $300 per week or $1,200 per month on goods and services from corporations and businesses participating in the proposal. This would be $120,000,000 million dollars and 5% of that amount per month, would be provided to JSU. That amount will increase with the amount of money spent by Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends with participating businesses.
We have the talent, expertise and skills to implement this proposal. The question is; Do we have the will? The purpose of this proposal is to fund Black Colleges and Universities and to reduce tuition costs for current and future students. In order to do so, I recommend this spending plan. Fifty percent of the funds collected should pay for Administration, Teachers, Staff, Equipment, New Buildings and fifty percent should pay to reduce tuition of current and future students, with the goal to reduce tuition to Zero. Out of State Tuition and In-State Tuition should be adjusted to be the same amount. For example: If Rust College’s In State Tuition is $3,000 per year and Out of State Tuition is $5,000 per year and there are 2,000 In-State Students and 500 Out-of-State Students, by making the tuition the same, Rust College would recruit more Out-of-State Black Students. Each Black College or University should develop a strategy to increase their enrollment to between 20,000 to 40,000 Black African American Students by 2015.
As a requirement for participating in the lower tuition or zero tuition program, each student would be required to participate in a Weekly Community Work Study Program in the Black Community designed by his or her academic department chair or dean. This proposal will provide an investment in Black Students and they must provide a Return on Our Investment by engaging in Community Work that impacts our Black Communities.
My First Concern is Black College Leadership:
It must get over the division between HBCU’s and UNCF Colleges . We are Black African American People and so are our children and they deserve a College Education. Black Leadership must love our children enough, get over their egos and pride, and put aside any petty differences. Our only competition should be during athletic games. This proposal is an opportunity for our leaders to demonstrate their leadership ability. It will only work with the collective unity, numbers and spending power of Black African American People. Only one collective group of Black Colleges and Universities will have my permission to implement this proposal. This proposal should not interfere with any other fundraising efforts by Black Colleges, nor should it affect federal and state funding.
My Second Concern is Greed.
With any new opportunity to generate large amounts of money, there will be some who feel that they deserve more, because their college or university is larger, has more programs, a longer existence, or has more political power. Based upon this belief, they will seek more money from this proposal and therefore attempt to divide and conquer or destroy this proposal, because of their self-hatred, ignorance or because of a racist agenda to keep Black Colleges and Universities in the place. Greed has no place in this process.
Each Black College and University must be contacted by the National Urban League and given an opportunity to participate with this proposal. I recommend that after a certain time, the opportunity to participate be closed and re-opened twenty year later. Those who wish to participate twenty years later must pay $50,000 to the National Urban League BCF and the yearly membership rate at that time.
How much will this cost?
The National Urban League Black College Fund Division will be supported by membership dues of $10,000 per year from each participating Black College . Black Colleges Alumnus should be given the opportunity to generate the initial startup capital for their colleges or university. The National Urban League Black College Fund should hire a vice president, chief finance officer, attorney, technology officer, receptionist, secretary, marketing vice president and any necessary staff required to implement this proposal. If 50 of the Black Colleges and Universities chose to participate and paid $10,000 per year, which would generate $500,000, which would be donated to the National Urban League for the implementation of this proposal.
The Next Step:
Black Colleges and Universities should contact the National Urban League to request that they establish a Black College Fund (BCF). Every person should read this proposal and forward it to every person in their email list, print a copy and share it with their family and friends. They should also contact a Black College or University they want to participate with this proposal and express their wishes. They should also ensure that every Black College and University President, Administration, Alumni and Student read this proposal and begin sending $10 per pay to help their Black College or University generate the $10,000 participation fee. Black Colleges and Universities must get approval from their College Boards to participate, if required as soon as possible. If Black Colleges and Universities wanting to participate in this fundraising proposal are denied the opportunity by their State or Regional College Boards, then their National Alumni Association should participate on their behalf. The National Urban League should begin contacting Black Colleges and Universities implement this proposal as soon as possible. This proposal should be implemented by July 1, 2009 .
Proposal
Written and Copyright©
By
Charles Earl Campbell, BSW, MSW
September 20, 2008
This proposal is in response to the great need to fund Black African American Colleges and Universities. There are 104 Black Colleges with more than one Million Students, Alumni and their Families and Friends. Black African Americans have an estimated collective income of between $700 and $900 Billion Dollars. This proposal seeks to leverage the collective spending power of Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends.
What I propose:
Historic Black Colleges and Universities and United Negro Funded Colleges collaborate to develop a strategy to implement this proposal. Each College or University should raise $10,000 each year to a fund the implementation of this strategy. I propose that the National Urban League be contracted by participating Black Colleges and Universities to implement this proposal on behalf of participating Black Colleges and Universities. The National Urban League would create a division called the Black College Fund (BCF). The National Urban League already has existing leadership, expertise, connections and relationships with corporations and businesses. They are in a better position to negotiate a percentage or a flat fee from each partnering corporation or business. Those funds would be transferred to the National Urban League and then redistributed to participating Black Colleges and Universities. The $10,000 fee would pay for the National Urban League BCF Division Administration, Staff and operating expenses required to implement this proposal. This proposal seeks to collect a small percentage or flat fee from each sale of goods and services to Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends. The National Urban League will negotiate agreements with national, regional and local companies, such as retail stores, electric companies, grocery stores, cable companies, gas companies, water companies, car manufacturers, banks, real-estate companies, companies, movie theaters chains, department stores, airlines, train companies, rental car companies, online companies, electronic companies, newspapers, book stores, tax preparation companies, drugs stores, hotels, fast food restaurants, insurance providers, gas stations companies, oil companies, toy store chains, fitness companies, hospitals, medical clinics, dental clinics and other corporations and businesses.
How this should work:
The National Urban League Black College Fund will meet with corporations and businesses and market this proposal. Those participating corporations or businesses would allow a percentage from each purchase to be sent to BCF for redistribution to the participating Black College or University chosen by the BCF Cardholder. Each Black College or University would encourage their Students, Alumni, and their Friends and Family Members to call a National Urban League toll free number or visit their website. They would be able to register their name, address and the participating Black College or University they want to support. They would receive a Black College Fund (BCF) Card with their college logo and their name and address and account number on it. This BCF Card would be provided free for those participating Black Colleges and Universities. BCF Cards will have a magnetic strip on the back, similar to a credit or debit cards. At the point of sale, BCF Cardholders would swipe their BCF Card through the credit card processing machine. They would then pay for their goods and services. A percentage or a flat fee would be automatically calculated and sent to the National Urban League Black College Fund at the end of each month by the corporation or business.
The BCF Card would contain information regarding what Black College or University will receive their contribution. For transparency and fiscal accountability, the National Urban League will pay for an independent financial auditing company, who will establish and maintain a website for participating Black Colleges and Universities and registered members to view financial reports that report monthly amounts contributed from each company to each Black College or University and by each BCF Cardholder and the expenditure of each participating Black College or University of specific Black College Funds. Any Black College or University failure to cooperate will this contract provision of the proposal to supply this information, would have their funds withheld until they cooperate. Repeated failure to cooperate would result in their removable from participating by the National Urban League.
Business Partnership Agreements between the National Urban League Black Colleges and corporations and businesses would allow BCF Cardholders to have a flat fee amount or a percentage of each purchase to be contributed to their College or University. For Example: If an individual chose to support Jackson State University was buying $100 worth of food at Black-Mart, he or she would swipe their BCF Card or give it to the cashier prior to the payment of $100. The computer system would automatically ID the individual and send 5% or $5.00 of that $100 amount to the National Urban League Black College Fund and then the National Urban League would wired all the funds collected from all the corporations and businesses for that specific month to Jackson State University or the participating Black Colleges and Universities.
As an example if Jackson State University (JSU) has 100,000 Students, Alumni, Families and Friends who spend $300 per week or $1,200 per month on goods and services from corporations and businesses participating in the proposal. This would be $120,000,000 million dollars and 5% of that amount per month, would be provided to JSU. That amount will increase with the amount of money spent by Black College Students, Alumni, their Families and Friends with participating businesses.
We have the talent, expertise and skills to implement this proposal. The question is; Do we have the will? The purpose of this proposal is to fund Black Colleges and Universities and to reduce tuition costs for current and future students. In order to do so, I recommend this spending plan. Fifty percent of the funds collected should pay for Administration, Teachers, Staff, Equipment, New Buildings and fifty percent should pay to reduce tuition of current and future students, with the goal to reduce tuition to Zero. Out of State Tuition and In-State Tuition should be adjusted to be the same amount. For example: If Rust College’s In State Tuition is $3,000 per year and Out of State Tuition is $5,000 per year and there are 2,000 In-State Students and 500 Out-of-State Students, by making the tuition the same, Rust College would recruit more Out-of-State Black Students. Each Black College or University should develop a strategy to increase their enrollment to between 20,000 to 40,000 Black African American Students by 2015.
As a requirement for participating in the lower tuition or zero tuition program, each student would be required to participate in a Weekly Community Work Study Program in the Black Community designed by his or her academic department chair or dean. This proposal will provide an investment in Black Students and they must provide a Return on Our Investment by engaging in Community Work that impacts our Black Communities.
My First Concern is Black College Leadership:
It must get over the division between HBCU’s and UNCF Colleges . We are Black African American People and so are our children and they deserve a College Education. Black Leadership must love our children enough, get over their egos and pride, and put aside any petty differences. Our only competition should be during athletic games. This proposal is an opportunity for our leaders to demonstrate their leadership ability. It will only work with the collective unity, numbers and spending power of Black African American People. Only one collective group of Black Colleges and Universities will have my permission to implement this proposal. This proposal should not interfere with any other fundraising efforts by Black Colleges, nor should it affect federal and state funding.
My Second Concern is Greed.
With any new opportunity to generate large amounts of money, there will be some who feel that they deserve more, because their college or university is larger, has more programs, a longer existence, or has more political power. Based upon this belief, they will seek more money from this proposal and therefore attempt to divide and conquer or destroy this proposal, because of their self-hatred, ignorance or because of a racist agenda to keep Black Colleges and Universities in the place. Greed has no place in this process.
Each Black College and University must be contacted by the National Urban League and given an opportunity to participate with this proposal. I recommend that after a certain time, the opportunity to participate be closed and re-opened twenty year later. Those who wish to participate twenty years later must pay $50,000 to the National Urban League BCF and the yearly membership rate at that time.
How much will this cost?
The National Urban League Black College Fund Division will be supported by membership dues of $10,000 per year from each participating Black College . Black Colleges Alumnus should be given the opportunity to generate the initial startup capital for their colleges or university. The National Urban League Black College Fund should hire a vice president, chief finance officer, attorney, technology officer, receptionist, secretary, marketing vice president and any necessary staff required to implement this proposal. If 50 of the Black Colleges and Universities chose to participate and paid $10,000 per year, which would generate $500,000, which would be donated to the National Urban League for the implementation of this proposal.
The Next Step:
Black Colleges and Universities should contact the National Urban League to request that they establish a Black College Fund (BCF). Every person should read this proposal and forward it to every person in their email list, print a copy and share it with their family and friends. They should also contact a Black College or University they want to participate with this proposal and express their wishes. They should also ensure that every Black College and University President, Administration, Alumni and Student read this proposal and begin sending $10 per pay to help their Black College or University generate the $10,000 participation fee. Black Colleges and Universities must get approval from their College Boards to participate, if required as soon as possible. If Black Colleges and Universities wanting to participate in this fundraising proposal are denied the opportunity by their State or Regional College Boards, then their National Alumni Association should participate on their behalf. The National Urban League should begin contacting Black Colleges and Universities implement this proposal as soon as possible. This proposal should be implemented by July 1, 2009 .
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Stop Slandering Black Women with the AIDS Epidemic
Stop Slandering Black Women with the AIDS Epidemic
By Robert N. Taylor
Over the past three or so years, there has been a deliberate attempt to manipulate figures in such a manner as to increasingly portray the AIDS epidemic as a “Black” disease. This attempt has centered primarily on African American women and involves on one hand taking HIV/AIDS statistics out of context and on the other hand remaining silent about other numbers.
The purpose of this slander has been to remove any stigma attached to the disease from the male homosexual community and place it on Blacks in general and Black women in particular. I first became suspicious when I increasingly saw reports of a dramatic rise in the HIV infections among Black heterosexual women but there was no corresponding dramatic rise among Black heterosexual men.
How could this be? If Black women were being increasingly infected with HIV/AIDS who was infecting them, especially since the rate of infection among intravenous drug users was actually declining.
Here are the facts. HIV/AIDS infections in America still overwhelmingly occur in the male homosexual and bisexual community. That was the conclusion of the international experts who met in Mexico in August for the 17th International AIDS Conference.
In addition, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in mid-September released its most detailed Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on AIDS in America. That report showed that the most AIDS infected group in America was young Black gay and bisexual males (aged 13 to 29). They were followed by white gay males in their 30s and 40s and then Hispanic gay males. The CDC refers to these groups as “men who have sex with men.”
Black females were actually the fourth most AIDS infected group. This does not mean that Black women are out of the woods. They are still 14 times more likely to be AIDS infected than white women. But the AIDS infection rate among white women is so low that being 14 times as infected as they are does not mean that Black females in America are about to be wiped out by AIDS as some of the news reports have suggested.
The most recent CDC report is clear that roughly 73 percent of new AIDS infections took place among males – overwhelmingly “men who have sex with men.” Now, within that 73 percent, a disproportionate number are young Black gay males. Indeed, that is the group we most need to be concerned about because they are 1.6 times more likely to be AIDS infected than white gay males. In fact, the CDC referred to the AIDS infection rate among Black males aged 13 to 29 as “alarming.”
Why is this? Does it relate to the “alarming” number of young Black males being incarcerated? Does it relate to the “alarming” number of young Black males growing up without fathers? Regardless of the reasons, the problem cannot be properly addressed by attempting to slander Black women. In so doing, you fail to focus on where the problem really lies and end up hurting everyone.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
It is Time for You to Learn More Black History!
“We study our history in order to learn its inspiring lessons and avoid its tragic mistakes!”
Receive a free weekly emailed copy of the Black History Journal, get help researching your family tree, have your Black history questions answered … and more!
Our Black History Journal is emailed to your inbox each week, 52 weeks a year. It contains significant historical events for each day of the week as well as analysis of significant, trend-setting events.Send $27.00 via postal money order to Robert N. Taylor,” 1517 T Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20020 or pay online via www.PayPal.com to RobertTaylor@BlackNewsJournal.net
By Robert N. Taylor
Over the past three or so years, there has been a deliberate attempt to manipulate figures in such a manner as to increasingly portray the AIDS epidemic as a “Black” disease. This attempt has centered primarily on African American women and involves on one hand taking HIV/AIDS statistics out of context and on the other hand remaining silent about other numbers.
The purpose of this slander has been to remove any stigma attached to the disease from the male homosexual community and place it on Blacks in general and Black women in particular. I first became suspicious when I increasingly saw reports of a dramatic rise in the HIV infections among Black heterosexual women but there was no corresponding dramatic rise among Black heterosexual men.
How could this be? If Black women were being increasingly infected with HIV/AIDS who was infecting them, especially since the rate of infection among intravenous drug users was actually declining.
Here are the facts. HIV/AIDS infections in America still overwhelmingly occur in the male homosexual and bisexual community. That was the conclusion of the international experts who met in Mexico in August for the 17th International AIDS Conference.
In addition, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in mid-September released its most detailed Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on AIDS in America. That report showed that the most AIDS infected group in America was young Black gay and bisexual males (aged 13 to 29). They were followed by white gay males in their 30s and 40s and then Hispanic gay males. The CDC refers to these groups as “men who have sex with men.”
Black females were actually the fourth most AIDS infected group. This does not mean that Black women are out of the woods. They are still 14 times more likely to be AIDS infected than white women. But the AIDS infection rate among white women is so low that being 14 times as infected as they are does not mean that Black females in America are about to be wiped out by AIDS as some of the news reports have suggested.
The most recent CDC report is clear that roughly 73 percent of new AIDS infections took place among males – overwhelmingly “men who have sex with men.” Now, within that 73 percent, a disproportionate number are young Black gay males. Indeed, that is the group we most need to be concerned about because they are 1.6 times more likely to be AIDS infected than white gay males. In fact, the CDC referred to the AIDS infection rate among Black males aged 13 to 29 as “alarming.”
Why is this? Does it relate to the “alarming” number of young Black males being incarcerated? Does it relate to the “alarming” number of young Black males growing up without fathers? Regardless of the reasons, the problem cannot be properly addressed by attempting to slander Black women. In so doing, you fail to focus on where the problem really lies and end up hurting everyone.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
It is Time for You to Learn More Black History!
“We study our history in order to learn its inspiring lessons and avoid its tragic mistakes!”
Receive a free weekly emailed copy of the Black History Journal, get help researching your family tree, have your Black history questions answered … and more!
Our Black History Journal is emailed to your inbox each week, 52 weeks a year. It contains significant historical events for each day of the week as well as analysis of significant, trend-setting events.Send $27.00 via postal money order to Robert N. Taylor,” 1517 T Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20020 or pay online via www.PayPal.com to RobertTaylor@BlackNewsJournal.net
Conservatives Blame Financial Crisis on Blacks
Conservative Hate Mongering Blaming Blacks for Nation’s Financial Crisis
By Robert N. Taylor
Somehow and in some way there are those in America, usually right-wing conservatives, who can manage to blame Blacks and poor people for just about everything that goes wrong in this country. The latest example is the sometimes subtle and the sometimes overt faulting of African Americans and other low-income minorities for the nation’s current financial crisis.
The argument on “crazy white men” radio talk shows, on neo-conservative media outlets such as FOX Cable News and even among some right wing politicians is that the credit crisis was caused when banks and mortgage companies extended too many housing loans (so-called sub-prime mortgages) to minority group members with poor credit ratings and weak abilities to repay.
When these people began to default on these loans, the conservatives argue, the nation’s entire financial system began to crumble and eventually led to the government’s $700 billion bailout (with our current and future tax money) of financial giants on Wall Street.
These arguments are superficial, disingenuous, racist and show contempt for struggling working class people.
Here is the truth. The financial crisis was caused by capitalism gone wild. Beginning in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan and culminating in 1998 when President Bill Clinton signed legislation freeing banks from the restrictions of the Glass-Steagall Act, our politicians (led by people like John McCain) engaged in an orgy of deregulating financial institutions from rules and regulations which had been placed on them following the Great Depression of the 1930s.
These rules and regulations were placed on financial institutions when some then wise economists and politicians grasped (at least in a limited manner) what had caused the Great Depression. But with memory of the Great Depression having faded, banks and other financial giants began to pressure Congress to free them from the very restrictions which had been implemented to prevent another Great Depression.
Once freed, the investment banks went wild. Driven by the profit-at-any-cost-God, they started speculating, creating loan packages which prior to deregulation they would have never touched and even securitizing these bad loans and selling them to both other U.S. and foreign financial institutions.
They were even freed of requirements that they hold a certain amount of money in reserve as a guard against people defaulting on loans. Further, they safeguarded themselves by convincing insurance companies to insure these bad loans so that they could get paid even if borrowers failed to pay. This is why insurance giant AIG fell.
Finally, the very nature of capitalist economics is that it tends to concentrate ever increasing amount of money at the top of society while making life increasing difficult for the middle and lower classes. In other words, the super rich had more money than they knew what to do with. So they engaged in speculation – another word for economic gambling.
This entire house of cards was based on the assumption that housing prices would continue to rise forever. But when they did not and millions of people found themselves struck with burdensome mortgages which were becoming larger than the actual value of the house, they began to default.
The true lesson is that unregulated, profit-hungry capitalism destroys itself because left entirely to itself, it will concentrate money at the top of society and deprive everyone else. Blacks did not cause the financial crisis. Super rich financial corporations did.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
By Robert N. Taylor
Somehow and in some way there are those in America, usually right-wing conservatives, who can manage to blame Blacks and poor people for just about everything that goes wrong in this country. The latest example is the sometimes subtle and the sometimes overt faulting of African Americans and other low-income minorities for the nation’s current financial crisis.
The argument on “crazy white men” radio talk shows, on neo-conservative media outlets such as FOX Cable News and even among some right wing politicians is that the credit crisis was caused when banks and mortgage companies extended too many housing loans (so-called sub-prime mortgages) to minority group members with poor credit ratings and weak abilities to repay.
When these people began to default on these loans, the conservatives argue, the nation’s entire financial system began to crumble and eventually led to the government’s $700 billion bailout (with our current and future tax money) of financial giants on Wall Street.
These arguments are superficial, disingenuous, racist and show contempt for struggling working class people.
Here is the truth. The financial crisis was caused by capitalism gone wild. Beginning in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan and culminating in 1998 when President Bill Clinton signed legislation freeing banks from the restrictions of the Glass-Steagall Act, our politicians (led by people like John McCain) engaged in an orgy of deregulating financial institutions from rules and regulations which had been placed on them following the Great Depression of the 1930s.
These rules and regulations were placed on financial institutions when some then wise economists and politicians grasped (at least in a limited manner) what had caused the Great Depression. But with memory of the Great Depression having faded, banks and other financial giants began to pressure Congress to free them from the very restrictions which had been implemented to prevent another Great Depression.
Once freed, the investment banks went wild. Driven by the profit-at-any-cost-God, they started speculating, creating loan packages which prior to deregulation they would have never touched and even securitizing these bad loans and selling them to both other U.S. and foreign financial institutions.
They were even freed of requirements that they hold a certain amount of money in reserve as a guard against people defaulting on loans. Further, they safeguarded themselves by convincing insurance companies to insure these bad loans so that they could get paid even if borrowers failed to pay. This is why insurance giant AIG fell.
Finally, the very nature of capitalist economics is that it tends to concentrate ever increasing amount of money at the top of society while making life increasing difficult for the middle and lower classes. In other words, the super rich had more money than they knew what to do with. So they engaged in speculation – another word for economic gambling.
This entire house of cards was based on the assumption that housing prices would continue to rise forever. But when they did not and millions of people found themselves struck with burdensome mortgages which were becoming larger than the actual value of the house, they began to default.
The true lesson is that unregulated, profit-hungry capitalism destroys itself because left entirely to itself, it will concentrate money at the top of society and deprive everyone else. Blacks did not cause the financial crisis. Super rich financial corporations did.
[Share your views on the above commentary or any other issue by emailing us at TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com . Please include your name and city.]
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