Description

Stitching together girlhood memories with the finest threads of innocence, feminist intellectual bell hooks presents a powerfully intimate account of growing up in the South.

Notes

A memoir of ideas and perceptions, Bone Back shows the unfolding of female creativity and one strong-spirited child’s journey toward becoming a writer. She learns early on the roles women and men play in society, as well as the impotence of children, especially black female children. She sheds new light on a society that beholds the joys of marriage for men and condemns anything more than silence for women. In this world, too, black is a woman’s color – worn when earned – daughters and daddy are strangers under the same roof, and crying children are often given something to cry about. In school, hooks sees that integration most resembles corralling, with black children herded, prodded, and pushed like cattle. And the learning agenda is to teach these children to forget their history and the injustices done to them and to embrace the ways of white folk. hooks finds comfort in solitude, good company in books. She also discovers, in the motionless body of misunderstanding, that writing is the most vital breath. She is taught by an elder that quilting is the way a woman learns patience. And Hooks’s patience, coupled with the insight and bravery that readers have come to expect from her, is rewarded with the strength to keep in touch with the wounded parts of herself and to grow beyond the scars by stretching the confines of history, tradition, and family to encompass her expansive spirit.

External link:

Bell Hooks

Prader-Willi Syndrome, also known as PWS,  is an uncommon genetic disorder. It was first described in 1956 by Andrea Prader, Heinrich Willi, Alexis Labhart, Andrew Ziegler, and Guido Fanconi.

People with this disorder have dysfunctional hypothalamus; part of the brain that controls feelings of fullness or hunger. Thus, these people never feel full and have a constant urge to eat, leading to  severe stoutness.

PWS, in most cases, result from a spontaneous genetic mutation in genes on chromosome 15 that occurs at conception.  In rare cases, the mutation is inherited.

What are the symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome?

People with this disorder experience symptoms in two stages.

Stage 1 – Infants with PWS can have low muscle tone . Because of this, they need special feeding assistance  or may have problems gaining weight.  However, tThe situation gets better as they grow older.

Stage 2 – Insatiable appetite. Between the ages of 1 to  6 years, the children with PWS  may feel constant hunger which, if not kept under strict control, may lead to life-threatening obesity.

Cure?

Prader–Willi Syndrome has no cure, however, several treatments are in place to lessen the condition’s symptoms. During infancy, subjects should undergo therapies to improve muscle tone. Speech and occupational therapy are also indicated. During the school years, children benefit from a highly structured learning environment as well as extra help. The largest problem associated with the syndrome is severe obesity.

Prescription of daily recombinant growth hormone injections are indicated for children with PWS. GH supports linear growth and increased muscle mass, and may lessen food preoccupation and weight gain.

External link:

To know more about this dysfunction, click the link below.

PWS

Generation Zero , dubbed as “The Inconceivable Truth“, is a controversial new documentary film that tackles the recent economic downturn and financial disaster facing the United States of America. This film was written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon and produced by David Bossie for Citizens United.

The film examines the causes of the economic collapse of September 18, 2008. The documentary is at least partially based on Generational Dynamics theory and the ideas developed in the book The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe. According to this theory, America is currently in an Unraveling period which will lead to a major Crisis period.

The film made its debut at the Tea Party Convention and was shown shortly after at the 2010 CPAC event. The film premiered in March 2010 in Washington, DC with additional screenings in New York and Los Angeles.

External link
Generation Zero [Official Website]

It is quite fascinating how an obsolete word could create a stir over the Internet?

“Superbious”, as of writing, ranks as the most searched in Google’s Hot Searches. Its trend is like volcanic.

Century dictionary has an entry with the word and it means “proud, and/or haughty”. However, according to the Urban dictionary the word means “great, amazing, and super”.

Oxford English Dictionary, backed up the version of Century Dictionary. It states that the word means “proud, overbearing, insolent” – having its root in superb. The word was used in Elizabethan period in literary masterpieces. The last recorded was in 18th Century, and one of which is none other than William Shakespeare in his “Tragedy of Locrine, the eldest son of King Brutus”.

“…..Superbious Britain, thou shalt know too soon
The force of Humber and his Scythians”

Google is making headlines for all sorts of different reasons. From being a household name, to Wi-Fi data fiasco.  Things are far from slowing down in Google.  Tomorrow May 19, 2010, Google I/O, a conference held annually, will start and crowd of developers will be turned loose on different technical sessions, and various Google product  innovations.  Imagine how much territory Google has covered since Larry and Sergey Brin started their little Backrub search engine.  

Since, many Google products and technologies have spanned over this kind of event.  Android, Chrome, Google Web Toolkit, OpenSocial, Google AJAX APIs, and the newly announced Google Wave. In the upcoming web developer-focused conference, Google announced its plan to acquire global IP Solutions, launch new API for contextual gadgets in Gmail and release updates to Google Apps Script.

Google “I/O”, which may stand for “Innovation in the Open”, or input/output, would mean a big event for us but for Google, it’s just another week, another entry in its ongoing timeline.