Thurgood-Marshall, first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice

How much do you know about the events and people who have shaped African-American history?

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Today’s Question

Who is the first man in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to score 30,000 points?  

Yesterday’s Question

Who is the first African-American Supreme Court Justice?   ANSWER:  Thurgood Marshall

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Listen to Daybreak Africa on the radio or check here on the website.  Every day, Monday through Friday, we will ask our TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY.

call us at +1 202-205-9942.  The winners will be selected from the correct answers received.  Listen to Daybreak Africa each morning to see if you’ve won.

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In a research laboratory at the Departments of Physics and Computer Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, Prof. Samuel Cho et al. using graphics processing units (GPUs) to study some of the problems that can lead to disease cells. GPUs are technologies that create images on a video games seem so real. Through GPUs, how living cells, divide, and the dead will be projected with very realistic.

Have relied on computer simulations, the researchers can observe the pattern of cell division (in this case RNA molecules) that may not previously observed in practice. A further advantage is that it allows experts to see more accurately how the RNA functions.

In relation to cancer, the enzyme telomerase (an important role in the process of cell division / RNA) is known, if not controlled, will spur the growth of cancer. Physiologically, these enzymes to keep the cells are not damaged before their time. Cells will continue to divide, and this is essential to cancer growth.

Through a basic knowledge of telomerase, with tools GPUs, then the group of researchers from Wake Forest University has opened new horizons to encourage the search “treatment” is right in the prevention and treatment of cancer. A new drug should be added to stop the activity of the enzyme telomerase that cancer cells die.

Computer simulations in a very realistic, with GPUs technology, has provided tools or aids to get into the cells, saw the process going on, and intervene in the cell. Without this technology it takes a very long time to observe metabolic processes are very complicated especially at the cellular level.

Complete, the underlying scientific article writing is titled Folding of Human Telomerase RNA Pseudoknot Using Ion-Temperature-Jump and Quench simulations have been published by Shi Biyun, Samuel S. Cho, D. Thirumalai on the Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011; 133 (50): 20 634 DOI: 10.1021/ja2092823. For a more popular writings, this article has also been published recently in ScienceDaily, February 16, 2012.

The federal government has its own “buried treasure” that you can find too. And I’ve discovered that some private entities also have helpful tools for you to try. All but one are FREE. If you are asked to pay a large flat fee, or a percentage of the unclaimed funds you find, you are probably dealing with a “Professional Finder”. It is never necessary to pay a fee, or finder for information you can quickly look up on your own.

I’m going to show you 12 or so different sources you can search to find your own unclaimed money. Just follow my instructions, and you’ll be fine.

The first place you should search is your home state. Unclaimed money is usually, though not always, held by the state where the account was originally located. Things like abandoned safety deposit boxes, uncashed overtime checks, and forgotten apartment security deposits. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, a non-profit association that represents unclaimed money departments from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, runs a free website that will link you to any state you want to search. Just do a Google search on the above Association.

The best part is that you can search for yourself or others without even entering Social Security Numbers, or account numbers. Rather, you search the system by name and they verify that it’s really you by checking to see if you have ever lived at the corresponding address listed. Go to http://unclaimed.org.

Unclaimed money is usually held in the state where the account was originally located, so if you have lived in multiple states, you will want to search all of them. Additionally, in some instances, unclaimed money is held by the state where the business is headquartered. If you are fairly certain that you lost track of money, you could look up where the company is based and search the state. But in the last decade, so many banks and brokerage firms have bought each other or merged that it’s often hard to trace.

So, after doing my home work on this issue, here’s the solution. There’s another free website where you can search 37 states and the District of Columbia all at once. (Not all states participate). The site is http://missingmoney.com. When you first search, you are prompted to enter your home state. After that, you have the opportunity to search again. This time choose “ass states and provinces” on the drop down menu. Be sure to look at the map of which states participate. If you have lived in one that does not, go back to http://unclaimed.org and search it individually there. To cover your bases for company headquarters, you might choose to search all 13 states that don’t participate individually.

Some states require local governments to turn unclaimed money over to them, but others do not. So another lucrative source of unclaimed funds is your city, county, town, or village. I know of no centralized repository of information about these locally held funds, so you’ll want to do some sleuthing on the Internet. Try different combinations of keywords, like, “Town of (your town name)” and “unclaimed property.” Keep in mind that governments usually refer to unclaimed money as unclaimed property, but they don’t typically mean real estate. They mean money. For more details about find money held by local jurisdictions, so start with your town, or local government office.

The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt is holding billions of dollars worth of what it calls “matured, unredeemed savings bonds.” In other words, unclaimed savings bonds! You can see how they’d get lost, since they typically take 30 years to mature. Fortunately, the Treasury Department has embraced the Internet with a website http://treasuryhunt.gov, where you can search for forgotten bonds that belong to you and are no longer earning interest. You should search using your Social Security Number or, if the savings bond was a gift, you should also check the Social of the person who gave it to you. Often, those who give savings bonds as presents don’t know the Social Security Number of the person they are giving it to, so they use their own. If you find a bond in your name, you can then begin the claims process right on-line. A federal worker will then contact you and complete the process over the phone, and by mail.

While many Americans are familiar with black slavery in the South during the 19th Century and its role in igniting the nation’s great Civil War, less attention has been paid to the black experience in northern cities such as New York, where so-called “freedmen” lived.

Now, a new book, “Black Gotham,” by University of Maryland Professor Carla Peterson, shines a light on their remarkable stories.

Much of the history of black 19th-Century New York has been lost, in part because it was eclipsed in the popular imagination by the saga of southern slavery. Additionally, mostly-white academic historians minimized the contributions of African-Americans. And no comprehensive archive of black life existed until the 20th Century, when the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture was established.

Peterson’s ancestors were distinguished members of the city’s black elite and she felt theirs was a powerful story that needed to be told. She spent 11 years researching and writing her book.

John T. Consoli’Black Gotham’ author Carla Peterson

“Writing this book was very important to me,” says Peterson. “It was a journey of hard work, but also of love and passion.”

Led by free blacks such as clergyman Alexander Crummell, newspaper editor Charles Ray and businessman George Downing, members of New York’s black elite tried to establish themselves as full Americans, not merely as “Africans” or “coloreds” as black slaves had once been called and called themselves.

Like members of outsider groups before and since, this African-American elite considered education to be the key to full citizenship. They also embraced values of character and responsibility.

“A good, upright moral citizen, valuing temperance, a Protestant ethic of hard work, sobriety and all those kinds of inner values. Respectability then is the outward manifestation of character,” says Peterson. “It’s in your appearance, how you dress, how you comport yourself, especially when you’re out on the streets of New York, and especially with whites. No loud, boisterous behavior but being utterly respectable and respectful.”

‘Black Gotham’ explores the history and contributions of New York’s black elite during the 19th Century.

That didn’t mean the status quo went unchallenged. Peterson’s book describes salon-style meetings in the back of James McCune Smith’s pharmacy. Smith, who was one of antebellum New York’s most important black leaders, hosted lively debates about voting rights for blacks and the abolition of slavery.

Alliances with whites were often forged. And like white New Yorkers, many in “Black Gotham” also wanted to be rich – but success could be fleeting.

“You see black New Yorkers make tremendous gains and then lose. Gains in terms of entrepreneurship, finding a trade, finding a profession, setting down roots, buying property, and feeling they were at last becoming a genuine part of city life. They would refer to ‘color-phobia’ as ‘fast disappearing in our city.’ But then there would be a loss.”

Racial violence was also an issue. Peterson cites a riot in 1834, which began in a chapel where both black and white choirs were scheduled to rehearse at the same time.

“And the white choir went nuts. It was only a pretext, but a race riot broke out, and a lot of black property was damaged. Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church, which was the church of my family, was desecrated.”  

The Draft Riots of July 1863, during the height of the Civil War, were an especially low point in the history of black New York.  When President Abraham Lincoln instituted a military draft, many immigrants, especially the Irish, thought they were being asked to fight and perhaps to die in a war being waged for the benefit of blacks. Angry mobs set out to destroy the dwellings and businesses of the city’s prosperous African-Americans.

But there was also some goodwill between the races. Peterson’s great grandfather owned a pharmacy in a largely Irish neighborhood. He was known as a kind man who gave free medicine and clothes to the poor.

“So they came to see him as a pillar of the community. So at the time of the Draft Riots he was warned to leave. A group of white merchants in the area came to him and said ‘You’d better get out. Your pharmacy is going to be attacked.’ And he said, ‘As many men who are going to come and attack me, there will be as many who come to defend me.’ And that is exactly what happened. His Irish neighbors protected his pharmacy.”

Then as now, New York was an ethnic melting pot, and Peterson says many black New Yorkers saw themselves as citizens of the world. Her own ancestors had roots in England, Haiti, Jamaica, Venezuela, American Indian territory as well as Africa.

She points out that more than a century later, many American blacks still lack the educational and economic opportunities that the mainstream enjoys. But Peterson adds that she has been gratified to learn that many black groups are inspired by the struggles and incremental successes of 19th-Century “Black Gotham.”

Many processed food products today are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.  But concerns that corn syrup might be contributing to obesity has led many food manufacturers to turn to organic brown rice syrup, believing it to be a healthier alternative to the high fructose corn syrup.  

Now, researchers say that brown rice syrup may be an unintended source of arsenic, a highly toxic metallic element that’s been shown to increase the risk of cancer when present in drinking water.

A researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, Brian Jackson, says scientists were curious about the amount of arsenic in foods consumed by babies.

“Because of their low body weight, if they are exposed to arsenic, then they are exposed to a disproportionately high exposure rate on a high kilogram body weight basis,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who led the study, and colleagues randomly purchased more than a dozen baby formulas to test them for the presence of arsenic. He says almost all the formulas contained very low or trace amounts of arsenic, including those that had rice starch.

“And then I selected two other formulas that I found in a local supermarket, brought those back to the lab, tested them and they turned out to be 20 to 30 times higher than any of the other formulas that we tested. So when we get an anomalous result like that, we retested this and got the same results again.  And at that point I turned a jar around and looked at the label and the first ingredients in that label were organic brown rice syrup,” Jackson said.

Researchers found high levels of inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, in soy based formula.

Jackson explains that growing rice needs a mineral in soil called silica.  But Jackson says arsenic is chemically a lot like silica, and the growing rice plant takes up both silica as well as arsenic, which is also in the ground. When the rice is fermented to make organic rice syrup, Jackson says the arsenic dissolves easily in the watery brew and becomes part of the syrup.

For this reason, Jackson urges parents to read the label on baby food products and to think twice before purchasing infant foods that contain organic rice syrup.

“I would recommend that.  Obviously the amount of arsenic –  it varies in rice depending upon the cultivar of rice, where the rice is grown — so you are going to get that same variation in brown rice syrups.  It’s true that rice as a grain takes up more arsenic than other grains,” Jackson said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement saying it is not aware of any baby formulas that contain organic brown rice syrup.  An agency spokeswoman said FDA regulators are studying aresenic in all rice and rice products and could issue recalls after the report is completed later this year.

An article on arsenic concentrations in baby food and other products is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

While a protest by religious leaders against last year’s botched presidential and legislative elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been quickly suppressed, U.S-based analysts and activists fear for the country’s future.

The Carter Center issued a statement deploring the suppression of a Thursday march in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa.

Priests and nuns were arrested by tear-gas wielding police, while several radio stations were reported shut down.

The march had been planned to reject results from last year’s vote, which protest organizers said in no way reflected reality or justice.

Mvemba Dizolele from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says unfortunately international powers brushed off major problems in the run-up to the still controversial 2011 vote. These included a rule change making it a one-round contest and faulty voter rolls.

“A lot of these issues were issues that we all had flagged before that come to now bite us. So at this moment, we have a crisis where the election results were proclaimed but you have (Mr.) Kabila claiming to be the winner, you also have (Mr.) Tshisekedi claiming to be the winner,” Dizolele said.

Congo’s electoral commission declared the incumbent President Kabila the winner with nearly 49 percent of the vote to Mr. Tshisekedi’s 32 percent.

But election observers reported gross violations from ballot stuffing and suspiciously high registration in pro-Kabila areas to polling stations being burned down and security forces tying people up and voting in their place in pro-Tshisekedi areas.

In the legislative elections, more than 300 results from a new 500-seat assembly are being contested in court.  

Pro-Kabila parties have been credited with winning 341 seats to 42 for Mr. Tshisekedi’s party.

Congo expert Jason Stearns from Yale University says a best case scenario of having a revote is being dismissed.

“If you talk to diplomats, if you talk to people in Kinshasa, they look at you as if you are in la-la land if you start talking like that,” Stearns said.

But Tony Gambino from the U.S.-based advocacy group Eastern Congo Initiative says if the fraudulent election results stand, he sees many possible doomsday scenarios.

“Congo could descend into a deeper humanitarian disaster, become unstable once again affecting all of Central Africa and beyond. Surely, we do not want to see this. That is what is at stake,” Gambino said.

Gambino also points out that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank contribute about half of Congo’s budget.

“Anyone who suggests that the West has no influence, that we cannot do anything, they are just blowing smoke. It is wrong,” Gambino said.

Gambino is calling for what he calls financial consequences from international banks and donors.

He also says upcoming provincial elections should be delayed so these can be better prepared.

The United States is Congo’s largest donor country, having contributed over $900 million over the past year.  

This week, a U.S. government statement said it was still closely monitoring the electoral process and that it was deeply concerned about multiple allegations of human rights abuses by Congolese security forces.

Not so long ago, gold was the conventional – and the price of world currencies  were measured from the gold that they had to back their currency. While using the exchange in the defector standard 000-560 for that US  dollar as being the standard – nations now had the freedom to print money when they needed, impacting the buying power of the money.

Everyday, people exchange their funds for goods and services. Very often, these items are consumed  with no longer exist beyond as soon as; the ones that do – very often loss of value as time passes. Much like this  chart, $100 US dollar buys now what approximately $2 bought in 1972.As the second example, good importance of  silver in 1966, should you have had $2500 in cash or silver – you could have obtained a new Mustang car. If instead,  you add the amount of money as well as the silver in the bank – skip forward towards year 2011, current $2500 cash, you would  possess a modest down payment with a Mustang; but the current value of silver, you could potentially purchase three brand-new  Mustangs, yet still have money remaining for a sail.

The act of exchanging your hard earned money for something  that lasts beyond the second, and whose value increases after a while in most cases be looked at valuable, get the job done  item is really a artwork, a collectible or heirloom. Otherwise, it is a minimum of an investment that may be enjoyed over and over again offering value, even though that value cannot be quantified in dollars and cents.

Real estate property one thinks of for instance. Traditionally, an actual estate purchase has lasting value, can be enjoyed repeatedly,  and provides value in the quality of lifetime memories and sometimes in re-sale value. Actually, real estate ought to be categorized as an expense instead of a good thing. It exists as an expense with all your bank in places you hold your  mortgage; and in some cases if it is fully paid, maintenance is pricey and ongoing.

To ensure brings me to an  exciting suggestion. Imagine you exchanged your hard earned money for quasi-cash? 000-561 Whenever you buy silver and gold in all forms, in many instances you’ve got traded as globally, currencies buy less and less on a yearly basis. Silver and gold however, have  held their non bluffer, and often seen a large surge in value. The truth is, historically if your world  operated within the GOLD STANDARD, the US dollar built its reputation on being as well as gold, allowing for America  currency to replace gold as the standard for trade, local and global commerce.

Because the economy declined, and  various Presidents took their turn in the helm, suddenly, gold were illegal to carry should you have had raw gold or bars,  and what emerged was really 000-568 the only government approved money system.

Vijay Nambiar, special adviser to the U.N. chief on Burma, made the appeal at the end of a five-day visit during which he met key figures including President Thein Sein and main opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A U.N. press release Friday praised the changes underway, saying they have “attained an unprecedented level of initiative.”

The statement added that health, education and job creation remain key responsibilities for both central and local authorities in order to empower people to participate fully in the country’s development and growth.

The announcement comes a day after prosecutors requested Mr. Wulff’s immunity be lifted so they could investigate whether he abused his position as governor of the state of Lower Saxony.

Wulff faces multiple allegations including allowing a film producer friend to pay for his bills from two hotel stays and accepting a large loan from a wealthy friend’s wife.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who handpicked Mr. Wulff for the primarily ceremonial job in 2010, issued a short statement expressing what she said was ” deep regret” at the president’s resignation.

Chancellor Merkel says she wants to seek a consensus from main political parties on a new president.

She postponed a trip to Italy Friday, in anticipation of President Wulff’s resignation.