The Federal Government, on Thursday, said smoking would soon be banned
in the country as soon as the Anti-Tobacco Bill before the National
Assembly was passed into law.
It also disclosed its readiness to
convene a Universal Health Coverage to help boost strategies towards
improving healthcare delivery.
Minister of Health, Professor
Onyebuchi Chukwu, who spoke in Abuja, at a ministerial platform,
insisted that the Federal Government could no longer condone smoking.
He asked rhetorically: “Why are you smoking? Why are you taking what will kill you? What benefit do you derive from smoking?”
Professor
Chukwu listed his achievements in office in the last two years to
include establishment of National Trauma Centres in the University of
Abuja Teaching Hospital and the National Hospital, Abuja; completion of
Federal Staff Hospital, Jabi, Abuja; completion of Laboratory and
Administrative building of the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical
Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, and rehabilitation and
equipping of several teaching hospitals in the country.
The minster
disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan increased funding for polio
eradication to N4.7billion and made further commitment of N2.5billion
this year with a Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication
constituted to help in the fight against the disease.
He said, “today
in Nigeria, seven of our teaching hospitals can do kidney transplant.
This month, we are expecting International Certification Team on the
Elimination of Guinea Worm in Nigeria.”
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Woman Loses Triplets Over N4,000 Medication Fee
What A Loss! FOR Temitope Sanni, the birth of a set
of triplets has become more of a curse than blessing: Shortly after they
were born, the babies, all boys, died one after the other. Reason being
that the parents could not raise the N4,000 required of them to buy
drugs.
Apparently because of the family’s indigent condition, the woman was delivered of the babies in the
parlour of the Face-Me-I-Face-You bungalow she and her husband share with others, at Ilogbo, near Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
The home delivery was carried out by her niece. Seeing that the kids were too fragile, the mother and father were advised to take them to a clinic. At a nearby clinic, Damisile Medical Centre, the family was advised to rush the babies to a general hospital.
With N2,500 as all they could gather, the family rushed the babies to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), but were told that there were no beds to admit the babies and their mother.
The mother and father dashed out of LASUTH and went to the Federal Government-owned Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). By the time they arrived at LUTH, one of the babies had died. At LUTH, they were told to go buy some drugs for the remaining two boys. The total cost of the drugs was put at N4,000.
Having paid transport fare from their home, first to LASUTH and then to LUTH, the total money left on the mother, a petty trader, and her husband was N1,850.
In frustration, they left for home hoping to raise money. By the time they got home some 30 minutes after, another of the boys had died. Few hours after, the third also died.
The Minister of Health, Prof. C.O. Onyebuchi Chukwu had recently lamented lamented that at present, there is no mechanism for emergency care in the country.
He noted that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is voluntary, covers people in the public service only. Plans to expand it to accommodate more people, especially in the informal sector are still being worked out.
The minister, at an interactive session with health writers in Lagos, also disclosed that there were plans to make the present voluntary NHIS mandatory for every Nigerian citizen so that through it, many poor Nigerians can get health care.
``I am proud that the NHIS is working and we hope to make it mandatory, either by tax system or contribution,’’ he said.
Responding to a question on how to address demands by hospitals that patients pay before attending to emergencies, he said, “No hospital under my charge insists on payment before attending to emergencies”, but for the private hospitals, we encourage them."
He disclosed that a policy that will address that is currently being formulated, but it will go through a lot of process including the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage.
His words, “What I am proposing is that there has to be some kind of mechanisms for emergencies, which government can guarantee. That way, you and I can fall back on that because emergency could affect anyone.
"You may be enjoying a meal and accidentally, you have a bone stuck somewhere in your throat and your life is in danger when you never thought it could happen. You can have emergency at anytime and under emergency, no one prepares for it.”
Chukwu said under these circumstances, the only way is to rely on insurance, if the affected person is an insurance policy holder and secondly, we are trying to develop a special fund that can be guaranteed by government.
He however appealed to Nigerians to take up some form of insurance.
If people fail to take insurance, Chukwu said there will be a problem, because someone must provide the funds for emergency care, otherwise hospitals handling emergencies without payment will ultimately close down.
Culled from Nigerian Compass
http://www.tundeola.com/2013/04/tragedy-woman-loses-triplets-over-n4000.html#more
Apparently because of the family’s indigent condition, the woman was delivered of the babies in the
parlour of the Face-Me-I-Face-You bungalow she and her husband share with others, at Ilogbo, near Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
The home delivery was carried out by her niece. Seeing that the kids were too fragile, the mother and father were advised to take them to a clinic. At a nearby clinic, Damisile Medical Centre, the family was advised to rush the babies to a general hospital.
With N2,500 as all they could gather, the family rushed the babies to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), but were told that there were no beds to admit the babies and their mother.
The mother and father dashed out of LASUTH and went to the Federal Government-owned Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). By the time they arrived at LUTH, one of the babies had died. At LUTH, they were told to go buy some drugs for the remaining two boys. The total cost of the drugs was put at N4,000.
Having paid transport fare from their home, first to LASUTH and then to LUTH, the total money left on the mother, a petty trader, and her husband was N1,850.
In frustration, they left for home hoping to raise money. By the time they got home some 30 minutes after, another of the boys had died. Few hours after, the third also died.
The Minister of Health, Prof. C.O. Onyebuchi Chukwu had recently lamented lamented that at present, there is no mechanism for emergency care in the country.
He noted that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is voluntary, covers people in the public service only. Plans to expand it to accommodate more people, especially in the informal sector are still being worked out.
The minister, at an interactive session with health writers in Lagos, also disclosed that there were plans to make the present voluntary NHIS mandatory for every Nigerian citizen so that through it, many poor Nigerians can get health care.
``I am proud that the NHIS is working and we hope to make it mandatory, either by tax system or contribution,’’ he said.
Responding to a question on how to address demands by hospitals that patients pay before attending to emergencies, he said, “No hospital under my charge insists on payment before attending to emergencies”, but for the private hospitals, we encourage them."
He disclosed that a policy that will address that is currently being formulated, but it will go through a lot of process including the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage.
His words, “What I am proposing is that there has to be some kind of mechanisms for emergencies, which government can guarantee. That way, you and I can fall back on that because emergency could affect anyone.
"You may be enjoying a meal and accidentally, you have a bone stuck somewhere in your throat and your life is in danger when you never thought it could happen. You can have emergency at anytime and under emergency, no one prepares for it.”
Chukwu said under these circumstances, the only way is to rely on insurance, if the affected person is an insurance policy holder and secondly, we are trying to develop a special fund that can be guaranteed by government.
He however appealed to Nigerians to take up some form of insurance.
If people fail to take insurance, Chukwu said there will be a problem, because someone must provide the funds for emergency care, otherwise hospitals handling emergencies without payment will ultimately close down.
Culled from Nigerian Compass
http://www.tundeola.com/2013/04/tragedy-woman-loses-triplets-over-n4000.html#more
Only Six Civilians Were Killed In Baga”, Nigerian Military Says
The Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno has claimed that
only six civilians were killed over the weekend during a gun battle it
had with insurgents in Baga community of Borno State.
The JTF said residents’ claims that 185 people were killed during the attack were false.
The Commander of the Task Force, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, said in a three- paragraph statement he sent to journalists in Maiduguri, that Baga residents lied when they told the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, that over 2000 houses were burnt down after the attack. He insisted that only some few 30 thatch houses got burnt. Mr. Edokpaye said his troops killed 30 Boko Haram gunmen, while five (5) others were arrested.
He said a soldier died and five others sustained injuries. He said “contrary to media speculation that hundreds of houses were burnt, instead, it was the explosion from Boko Haram Terrorists’ Rocket Propelled Grenade Bombs, Anti Aircraft Guns and sophisticated IED materials that triggered fire to about 30 thatch houses in the predominantly fishing community.”
He said a cache of arms, including three Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers; two Rocket Propelled Grenades Bombs; four AK 47 Rifles; 435 assorted ammunitions; seven quantities of IED material; and three land cruiser vehicles.
Mr. Edokpaye’s statement not only contradicts that by the residents of Baga, the Red Cross and the Borno State Government, it also contradicts that by military authorities in Abuja. While residents of the town aid they buried 185 corpses, members of the community after the clash, the Red Cross later said the victims increased to 187.
The Borno State Government on Tuesday said ‘over 100 people’ were killed but said it could not ascertain the actual figure until its investigations are completed.
On Monday evening, the Defence Headquarters in Abuja declined to comment on the civilian casualty.
The spokesperson for the Headquarters, Brigadier General Chris Kolade, however, said 25 Boko Haram suspects were killed in clash contrary to Mr. Edokpaye’s claim of 30.
http://news.naij.com/31983.html
The JTF said residents’ claims that 185 people were killed during the attack were false.
The Commander of the Task Force, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, said in a three- paragraph statement he sent to journalists in Maiduguri, that Baga residents lied when they told the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, that over 2000 houses were burnt down after the attack. He insisted that only some few 30 thatch houses got burnt. Mr. Edokpaye said his troops killed 30 Boko Haram gunmen, while five (5) others were arrested.
He said a soldier died and five others sustained injuries. He said “contrary to media speculation that hundreds of houses were burnt, instead, it was the explosion from Boko Haram Terrorists’ Rocket Propelled Grenade Bombs, Anti Aircraft Guns and sophisticated IED materials that triggered fire to about 30 thatch houses in the predominantly fishing community.”
He said a cache of arms, including three Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers; two Rocket Propelled Grenades Bombs; four AK 47 Rifles; 435 assorted ammunitions; seven quantities of IED material; and three land cruiser vehicles.
Mr. Edokpaye’s statement not only contradicts that by the residents of Baga, the Red Cross and the Borno State Government, it also contradicts that by military authorities in Abuja. While residents of the town aid they buried 185 corpses, members of the community after the clash, the Red Cross later said the victims increased to 187.
The Borno State Government on Tuesday said ‘over 100 people’ were killed but said it could not ascertain the actual figure until its investigations are completed.
On Monday evening, the Defence Headquarters in Abuja declined to comment on the civilian casualty.
The spokesperson for the Headquarters, Brigadier General Chris Kolade, however, said 25 Boko Haram suspects were killed in clash contrary to Mr. Edokpaye’s claim of 30.
http://news.naij.com/31983.html
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
All Suicide-Bombers Are Going To Hell - Gumi
By SaharaReporters, New York
Hell is the destination of all suicide bombers, fearless cleric Sheik Ahmad Mahmud Gumi warned today in a sermon SaharaReporters monitored in New York.
He pointed out that while young men commit suicide, they ought to reflect that those leaders who send them to their deaths do not commit suicide or send their children to die in the same way.
Gumi who has been critical of the Boko Haram sect, said in the sermon: “The prophet – Salawatullahi alaihi- is a mercy for mankind. He said the way to Paradise is easy for those that follow his path. He said: “everybody in my Ummah is going to enter the paradise except he who refuses. They said (the companions): oh messenger of Allah, who will refuse? He said: whoever obeys me enter the paradise and whoever disobeys me he has indeed re...fused” Al-Bukhari.”
In an important sermon that has implications for violent Islamic sects that use suicide bombing as a key tool, Gumi offered the message that those that agree to use themselves as bombs do more than die in vain.
“Despite this ease of entering Paradise, those that commit suicide for whatever reason have guaranteed for themselves the Hell Fire forever,” he said.
He called on the faithful to be aware that nobody should deceive them to take their own lives, saying that real Jihad is fought to either win or get martyrdom.
“The shahada is gotten when killed by enemy action,” he said. “Allah said: ‘Let those Fight In the cause of Allah who sell the life of This world for the Hereafter to Him who fighteth In the cause of Allah,- whether He is slain or gets victory - soon shall we give Him a reward of great (value). ” Q4/74.May Allah continue to guide us all to the straight path.”
Continuing, Sheik Gumi quoted Anas: “If not for my hearing the prophet – alaihis Salam- saying: Do not wish for death I would wish for it” Al-Bukhari. People are forbidden to wish for death talks less of committing suicide. Islam is a practicable religion. We are required to do what we can do and leave the rest to the Al-Mighty. “So fear Allah As much As ye can; listen and obey and spend In charity for the benefit of your own soul and those saved from the covetousness of their own souls,- They are the ones that achieve prosperity.” Q64/16.
“Whoever therefore will be taken by fanaticism or sickness or depression to kill himself, he has condemned himself to eternity in the Hell fire, May Allah Save us from it. Muslim narrated from Abu Huraira who said: the messenger of Allah said: “whoever will kill himself with an iron, then he would be tormented with his iron in his hand injuring his belly continuously in Hell Fire forever. And whoever will drink poison and then kill himself, he will continue sipping the poison in the Hell fire forever. And whoever fall from a rock then kills himself, He will continue falling in the Hell fire forever”.
He stressed that whoever will explode himself with explosives for whatever reason or disguise will also continue to be in his explosion in hellfire forever, stressing that this is what the hadith teaches. Suicides, he warned, are tormented by the same means they employ to kill themselves.
“Today we see young men killing themselves with explosives in the name of Jihad yet they never reflect that those ‘leaders‘ that send them to such adventure never commit suicide nor send their children to commit it.”
Source:
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/destination-all-suicide-bombers-hell-sheik-gumi-says
10 Compelling Laws of Science and Sociology
Scientific laws—as well as laws from the realm of the social
sciences—study, describe, and explain certain phenomena. The term “law”
in this case is often used analogously with “principle,” as the two are
effectively identical. Laws differ from hypotheses and postulates, as
they are better verified through experimentation and study. Certain laws
are well-known—Newton’s laws of motion and Murphy’s law, to name
two—but laws are being researched, created, and named all the time. Did
you know about the law that suggests that the longer an online
discussion goes, the greater the likelihood that someone will mention
Hitler? What about the law that suggests a need for feminism BECAUSE of
articles about feminism? Or the law that states the the lower the stakes
of an argument, the more vicious the debate will get? For these and
more, read on!
Law: Betteridge’s law of headlines
Betteridge’s law—sometimes referred to as Davis’s law, or the “journalistic principle” from Murphy’s law—states that “any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The adage, named after British tech journalist Ian Betteridge (though he wasn’t the first to make note of it), displays a cynicism over headlines that attempt to lure readers into an often outlandish and unproven story. Headlines like “will the world end tomorrow?” and “have scientists cured cancer?” are pretty obviously answered in the negative.
The next time you run across a newspaper headline that asks a question (more specifically, a yes-or-no question), try to answer “no.” Most often, you’ll find that you’re right—Betteridge’s law makes note of the fact that this type of headline is a lazy, sometimes fear-mongering way of drawing a reader in.
Law: Dollo’s law of evolutionary irreversibility
Dollo’s law, simply put, states that evolution moves only in one direction. In other words, traits that have been lost do not later reappear; animals do not regrow a limb, for instance, that was discarded by their ancestors, nor do they revert back to any previous form. The hypothesis was proposed in 1893 by Louis Dollo, a French paleontologist, who studied the seemingly irreversibly forward nature of evolution. Richard Dawkins, skeptical of the nature of law, sees it differently: the law is “really just a statement about the statistical improbability of following exactly the same evolutionary trajectory twice (or, indeed, any particular trajectory), in either direction.”
Scientists, unsurprisingly, have found a hole or two in the Dollo’s theory. Biologists from the University of Michigan have been studying the dust mite, which are tiny arachnids that live all over the place in our homes. The research has suggested something that appears to contradict Dollo’s law: it seems that dust mites were once parasites (only capable of living when attached to a host), and that prior to that they evolved from another free-living immediate ancestor. In short, the dust mite was free-living, then a parasite, then free-living again, which does appear on the surface to be “evolution in reverse.” A few other possible exceptions to the law include the wings of stick insects and some of the musculature in primates.
Law: Duverger’s law of 2-party domination
Duverger’s law is a principle from the field of political science that claims that two-party systems are the result of “plurality rule” elections. The law, proposed by French sociologist Maurice Duverger, states that in any electoral system where each voter gets one vote for one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins (sometimes called the first-past-the-post system), a two-party system will likely develop and maintain itself. Third parties, as a result, are marginalized. The law is not, of course, absolute, as there are plurality voting systems where it hasn’t occurred, but for the most part it holds true to some degree.
Duverger proposed a few reasons for this effect. He argues that alliances between weaker third parties are unlikely to happen, and that those third parties will be driven out. Voters are also worried their votes will, in effect, “not count,” so the vote totals for third parties end up artificially low; voters try to pick the major candidate from the two dominant parties who most closely matches their candidate. A 2-party system is self-reinforcing, and as many have argued, can be harmful to the political health of a country.
Law: Godwin’s law of Nazi analogies
If you’ve ever used the internet—and given that you appear to be reading Listverse, there’s a decent chance you have—chances are you’ll have experienced at least one instance of Godwin’s Law in your lifetime. Back in 1990, American attorney and author Mike Godwin developed what he called “Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies,” which stated: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” In other words, the longer a comment thread, the more likely someone will invoke Hitler as a means of winning an argument.
While there may be a certain truth to the law, Godwin has claimed that he never intended his adage to be considered absolute law. Rather, he conducted an experiment in “memetics”—the study of memes—to see if he could produce what he termed a “counter-meme.” Godwin saw the ridiculous overuse of glib Nazi comparisons as an undesirable meme in usenet forums, so he created and pushed forward the adage to create an awareness of it, and potentially, to try to curtail it.
Law: Hotelling’s law of identical products
Have you ever wondered why restaurants and food manufacturers often produce foods that are virtually identical? Why you can get a burger a McDonald’s, or go across the street for an almost-indistinguishable one from Burger King? Why you can choose between Coke or Pepsi? Why the bakery on the corner made a new raspberry scone, and the one a block away decided to make their own version shortly thereafter? This is an economic phenomenon known as Hotelling’s Law—or, alternately, as the principle of minimum differentiation—and it suggests that in certain markets, it is sound business practice to make products are that are as similar as possible.
The law was identified and studied by economist Harold Hotelling in a 1929 article called “Stability in Competition.” Essentially, he suggests that in certain situations, competitors experience a natural tendency to gravitate towards a common middle ground. One vendor makes a small change, the other vendor matches it, and so on until two products are nearly indistinguishable. Hotelling’s law shows up in politics, where candidates (especially in two-party systems) tend to gravitate towards the middle and away from the extremes.
Law: Lewis’s law of online feminism
Lewis’s law is not so much a scientific or social law so much as an observation about the continuing need for gender equity, especially in the online and tech worlds. In 2012, British journalist Helen Lewis noted in a tweet that “the comments on any article about feminism justify feminism,” a sentiment she called “Lewis’s Law.” Essentially, Lewis argues that any online article that discusses feminism tends to see a proliferation of comments that, in effect, justify the very existence of—and need for—feminism. So automatically replete with hostile, sexist comments are these discussions that they suggest we are still far from a society that treats women as equal to men.
Law: Sayre’s law of low-stakes arguments & Parkinson’s law of triviality
Have you ever noticed that the lower the stakes of an argument, the more vociferous the fighting becomes? Academic Charles Philip Issawi explains it thusly: “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” The law is named after Colombia University political scientist Wallace Stanley Sayre, who noted that political debate in the academic world is so vicious and cruel because none of it actually matters all that much.
This law is related to another political science adage, Parkinson’s law of triviality, which argues that organizations spend most of their time arguing about insignificant details, giving short shrift to more pertinent issues. Named after humorist C. Northcote Parkinson, the law is also called the “color of the bike shed” effect; this stems from an example he gave of a committee meeting spending little time on the issue of an atomic reactor, and a huge amount of time on the color of a bike shed. As Parkinson stated, “The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”
Law: Fitts’s law of pointing
Fitts’s law seems obvious, unexciting, and perhaps trite at first glance. In short, it states that the time required to move a pointer to a target depends on how far the pointer is from that target, and how big that target is. The law applies to a physical finger—or other pointing mechanism—or the virtual act of touching a cursor on a computer to a target image.
Proposed by psychologist Paul Fitts in 1954, Fitts’s law has become one of the most famous laws of human motion. During his life, it had applications in the world of airplane safety (placement of buttons and controls in a cockpit), as well as investigating allegations of UFO sightings. Where Fitts’s law has had the greatest impact, however, is designing user interfaces (UI) on websites and computer programs. In short, the bigger a clickable object is, and the closer it is to the computer cursor, the easier it will be to click on. This has all sorts of implications for designing UI; programmers and web designers who have studied the law can use it to make all kinds of decisions about the information on a page, where it is, how big it is, and how to make it most optimally accessible. This seemingly obvious and simple law has vast, complex interpretations and applications and in many ways serves as the foundation for UI work.
Law: Sutton’s law of obviousness
Sutton’s law, closely related to Occam’s Razor, states that when one is attempting to diagnose a problem (especially in the medical field), one should consider the most obvious solution first. Procedurally, what this means is that doctors should always attempt to rule out the most obvious diagnosis before moving onto something more complicated. While the law may strike you as obvious, it is explicitly taught to medical students as a way of cautioning them to avoid overzealousness in their diagnoses.
Amusingly, the law is named not after a preeminent medical figure, but rather after a bank robber. The story goes that Willie Sutton, a career criminal who successfully robbed banks for years (to the tune of $2 million, by some estimates), was asked: “Willie, why do you keep robbing banks?” Sutton replied, “because that’s where the money is.” Though Sutton denies the quote, his name remains attached to a fundamental medical principle.
Law: Smeed’s law of traffic fatalities
R.J. Smeed, a British statistician who studied traffic patterns, proposed Smeed’s Law in 1949. The law attempts to connect traffic fatalities to congestion, suggesting that when the number of cars increases, so do the fatalities per capita; conversely, though, the fatalities per VEHICLE actually drop. While apparently true for the time period Smeed was studying, researchers have argued that as car designs get safer and safer, his law has become less and less applicable and relevant.
Smeed held a number of controversial ideas about transportation, including the notion that the average speed of traffic in central London would always be 9 miles per hour because people do not tolerate anything faster. His law is, at heart, a psychological one; Smeed postulated that, as friend Freeman Dyson put it, “people will drive recklessly until the number of deaths reaches the maximum they can tolerate.”
10
Headlines
Law: Betteridge’s law of headlines
Betteridge’s law—sometimes referred to as Davis’s law, or the “journalistic principle” from Murphy’s law—states that “any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The adage, named after British tech journalist Ian Betteridge (though he wasn’t the first to make note of it), displays a cynicism over headlines that attempt to lure readers into an often outlandish and unproven story. Headlines like “will the world end tomorrow?” and “have scientists cured cancer?” are pretty obviously answered in the negative.
The next time you run across a newspaper headline that asks a question (more specifically, a yes-or-no question), try to answer “no.” Most often, you’ll find that you’re right—Betteridge’s law makes note of the fact that this type of headline is a lazy, sometimes fear-mongering way of drawing a reader in.
9
Evolution
Law: Dollo’s law of evolutionary irreversibility
Dollo’s law, simply put, states that evolution moves only in one direction. In other words, traits that have been lost do not later reappear; animals do not regrow a limb, for instance, that was discarded by their ancestors, nor do they revert back to any previous form. The hypothesis was proposed in 1893 by Louis Dollo, a French paleontologist, who studied the seemingly irreversibly forward nature of evolution. Richard Dawkins, skeptical of the nature of law, sees it differently: the law is “really just a statement about the statistical improbability of following exactly the same evolutionary trajectory twice (or, indeed, any particular trajectory), in either direction.”
Scientists, unsurprisingly, have found a hole or two in the Dollo’s theory. Biologists from the University of Michigan have been studying the dust mite, which are tiny arachnids that live all over the place in our homes. The research has suggested something that appears to contradict Dollo’s law: it seems that dust mites were once parasites (only capable of living when attached to a host), and that prior to that they evolved from another free-living immediate ancestor. In short, the dust mite was free-living, then a parasite, then free-living again, which does appear on the surface to be “evolution in reverse.” A few other possible exceptions to the law include the wings of stick insects and some of the musculature in primates.
8
Domination
Law: Duverger’s law of 2-party domination
Duverger’s law is a principle from the field of political science that claims that two-party systems are the result of “plurality rule” elections. The law, proposed by French sociologist Maurice Duverger, states that in any electoral system where each voter gets one vote for one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins (sometimes called the first-past-the-post system), a two-party system will likely develop and maintain itself. Third parties, as a result, are marginalized. The law is not, of course, absolute, as there are plurality voting systems where it hasn’t occurred, but for the most part it holds true to some degree.
Duverger proposed a few reasons for this effect. He argues that alliances between weaker third parties are unlikely to happen, and that those third parties will be driven out. Voters are also worried their votes will, in effect, “not count,” so the vote totals for third parties end up artificially low; voters try to pick the major candidate from the two dominant parties who most closely matches their candidate. A 2-party system is self-reinforcing, and as many have argued, can be harmful to the political health of a country.
7
Godwin’s Law
Law: Godwin’s law of Nazi analogies
If you’ve ever used the internet—and given that you appear to be reading Listverse, there’s a decent chance you have—chances are you’ll have experienced at least one instance of Godwin’s Law in your lifetime. Back in 1990, American attorney and author Mike Godwin developed what he called “Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies,” which stated: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” In other words, the longer a comment thread, the more likely someone will invoke Hitler as a means of winning an argument.
While there may be a certain truth to the law, Godwin has claimed that he never intended his adage to be considered absolute law. Rather, he conducted an experiment in “memetics”—the study of memes—to see if he could produce what he termed a “counter-meme.” Godwin saw the ridiculous overuse of glib Nazi comparisons as an undesirable meme in usenet forums, so he created and pushed forward the adage to create an awareness of it, and potentially, to try to curtail it.
6
Identical Products
Law: Hotelling’s law of identical products
Have you ever wondered why restaurants and food manufacturers often produce foods that are virtually identical? Why you can get a burger a McDonald’s, or go across the street for an almost-indistinguishable one from Burger King? Why you can choose between Coke or Pepsi? Why the bakery on the corner made a new raspberry scone, and the one a block away decided to make their own version shortly thereafter? This is an economic phenomenon known as Hotelling’s Law—or, alternately, as the principle of minimum differentiation—and it suggests that in certain markets, it is sound business practice to make products are that are as similar as possible.
The law was identified and studied by economist Harold Hotelling in a 1929 article called “Stability in Competition.” Essentially, he suggests that in certain situations, competitors experience a natural tendency to gravitate towards a common middle ground. One vendor makes a small change, the other vendor matches it, and so on until two products are nearly indistinguishable. Hotelling’s law shows up in politics, where candidates (especially in two-party systems) tend to gravitate towards the middle and away from the extremes.
5
Feminism
Law: Lewis’s law of online feminism
Lewis’s law is not so much a scientific or social law so much as an observation about the continuing need for gender equity, especially in the online and tech worlds. In 2012, British journalist Helen Lewis noted in a tweet that “the comments on any article about feminism justify feminism,” a sentiment she called “Lewis’s Law.” Essentially, Lewis argues that any online article that discusses feminism tends to see a proliferation of comments that, in effect, justify the very existence of—and need for—feminism. So automatically replete with hostile, sexist comments are these discussions that they suggest we are still far from a society that treats women as equal to men.
4
Triviality
Law: Sayre’s law of low-stakes arguments & Parkinson’s law of triviality
Have you ever noticed that the lower the stakes of an argument, the more vociferous the fighting becomes? Academic Charles Philip Issawi explains it thusly: “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” The law is named after Colombia University political scientist Wallace Stanley Sayre, who noted that political debate in the academic world is so vicious and cruel because none of it actually matters all that much.
This law is related to another political science adage, Parkinson’s law of triviality, which argues that organizations spend most of their time arguing about insignificant details, giving short shrift to more pertinent issues. Named after humorist C. Northcote Parkinson, the law is also called the “color of the bike shed” effect; this stems from an example he gave of a committee meeting spending little time on the issue of an atomic reactor, and a huge amount of time on the color of a bike shed. As Parkinson stated, “The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”
3
Pointing
Law: Fitts’s law of pointing
Fitts’s law seems obvious, unexciting, and perhaps trite at first glance. In short, it states that the time required to move a pointer to a target depends on how far the pointer is from that target, and how big that target is. The law applies to a physical finger—or other pointing mechanism—or the virtual act of touching a cursor on a computer to a target image.
Proposed by psychologist Paul Fitts in 1954, Fitts’s law has become one of the most famous laws of human motion. During his life, it had applications in the world of airplane safety (placement of buttons and controls in a cockpit), as well as investigating allegations of UFO sightings. Where Fitts’s law has had the greatest impact, however, is designing user interfaces (UI) on websites and computer programs. In short, the bigger a clickable object is, and the closer it is to the computer cursor, the easier it will be to click on. This has all sorts of implications for designing UI; programmers and web designers who have studied the law can use it to make all kinds of decisions about the information on a page, where it is, how big it is, and how to make it most optimally accessible. This seemingly obvious and simple law has vast, complex interpretations and applications and in many ways serves as the foundation for UI work.
2
Obviousness
Law: Sutton’s law of obviousness
Sutton’s law, closely related to Occam’s Razor, states that when one is attempting to diagnose a problem (especially in the medical field), one should consider the most obvious solution first. Procedurally, what this means is that doctors should always attempt to rule out the most obvious diagnosis before moving onto something more complicated. While the law may strike you as obvious, it is explicitly taught to medical students as a way of cautioning them to avoid overzealousness in their diagnoses.
Amusingly, the law is named not after a preeminent medical figure, but rather after a bank robber. The story goes that Willie Sutton, a career criminal who successfully robbed banks for years (to the tune of $2 million, by some estimates), was asked: “Willie, why do you keep robbing banks?” Sutton replied, “because that’s where the money is.” Though Sutton denies the quote, his name remains attached to a fundamental medical principle.
1
Traffic Fatalities
Law: Smeed’s law of traffic fatalities
R.J. Smeed, a British statistician who studied traffic patterns, proposed Smeed’s Law in 1949. The law attempts to connect traffic fatalities to congestion, suggesting that when the number of cars increases, so do the fatalities per capita; conversely, though, the fatalities per VEHICLE actually drop. While apparently true for the time period Smeed was studying, researchers have argued that as car designs get safer and safer, his law has become less and less applicable and relevant.
Smeed held a number of controversial ideas about transportation, including the notion that the average speed of traffic in central London would always be 9 miles per hour because people do not tolerate anything faster. His law is, at heart, a psychological one; Smeed postulated that, as friend Freeman Dyson put it, “people will drive recklessly until the number of deaths reaches the maximum they can tolerate.”
Buying A Tokunbo Car: Things To Watch Out For
The following are the very important things that must be rigourously
observed when you presumably an average person without any form of
technical automotive knowledge wants to buy an automobile.
1.Don't let the aesthetic,that's the shimmering or sexy look of the car fool you. Usually, vehicles prepared for sale are deliberately burnished to glimmer.
2.Be very observant, immediately you turn the key on(just simply by turning the key one stroke, no cranking sound yet and the engine isn't working yet), make sure that all the images on the dashboard are lighted up. Why? Some Smart Alec car sellers sometimes remove or tape over the bulbs, inside the dashboard, of the warning signs.
3. As soon as the engine is cranked within a few seconds, it must not be up to a minute, the entire dashboard signs' lights must go off.
4. If you notice the CHECK ENGINE light going off simultaneously with the ALTERNATOR light and/or the OIL PRESSURE,then something is wrong.
5.Once the engine has been cranked and is running at idle, the person/s in the vehicle must not feel any discernible vibration. If you feel any form of vibration, it's either bad engine mounts/s, or bad transmission mount or the engine is misfiring.
6. If the vehicle has an automatic transmission system,simply engage the gear with your foot firmly on the brake pedal, you must not feel any sudden shudder or jerking. It should be a smooth engagement with the vehicle simply trying to move in the direction("
" forward and "R" backward) of the gear engaged.
7. If all the above observations have been satisfactorily met, while the vehicle's still running smoothly in idle, put on the AC(air conditioner). The needle on (or counter of) the RPM guage must still remain at the same position, allowing for maximum of fifty, over or below(not up to a movement between two stroke marks of the RPM guage). This is a good load test on the engine.
8.Before you make any payment for, or on, the vehicle: look through the lower region of the automobile's windscreen, literally in front of the steering wheel, or on the door frame of the driver's side, for the 17-digit VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)log on to http://www.carfax.com/, to get the vehicle history( service,ownership;incident-like accident/s etc).
If you are happy with the report and all observational and physical test explained above, satisfied, you can then pay for the car.
1.Don't let the aesthetic,that's the shimmering or sexy look of the car fool you. Usually, vehicles prepared for sale are deliberately burnished to glimmer.
2.Be very observant, immediately you turn the key on(just simply by turning the key one stroke, no cranking sound yet and the engine isn't working yet), make sure that all the images on the dashboard are lighted up. Why? Some Smart Alec car sellers sometimes remove or tape over the bulbs, inside the dashboard, of the warning signs.
3. As soon as the engine is cranked within a few seconds, it must not be up to a minute, the entire dashboard signs' lights must go off.
4. If you notice the CHECK ENGINE light going off simultaneously with the ALTERNATOR light and/or the OIL PRESSURE,then something is wrong.
5.Once the engine has been cranked and is running at idle, the person/s in the vehicle must not feel any discernible vibration. If you feel any form of vibration, it's either bad engine mounts/s, or bad transmission mount or the engine is misfiring.
6. If the vehicle has an automatic transmission system,simply engage the gear with your foot firmly on the brake pedal, you must not feel any sudden shudder or jerking. It should be a smooth engagement with the vehicle simply trying to move in the direction("
" forward and "R" backward) of the gear engaged.7. If all the above observations have been satisfactorily met, while the vehicle's still running smoothly in idle, put on the AC(air conditioner). The needle on (or counter of) the RPM guage must still remain at the same position, allowing for maximum of fifty, over or below(not up to a movement between two stroke marks of the RPM guage). This is a good load test on the engine.
8.Before you make any payment for, or on, the vehicle: look through the lower region of the automobile's windscreen, literally in front of the steering wheel, or on the door frame of the driver's side, for the 17-digit VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)log on to http://www.carfax.com/, to get the vehicle history( service,ownership;incident-like accident/s etc).
If you are happy with the report and all observational and physical test explained above, satisfied, you can then pay for the car.
ssassination Attempt On Dino Melaye
Just got this tweet from Nasir El rufai twitter handle.
Just spoke to @dino_melaye who was shot at several times in his car by motorists driving a Golf. Luckily his car was bullet-proof. Thank God
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