After a disaster the role of the incident commanders and other decision makers, must eventually must shift from assisting coordination of emergency search, rescue, and relief operations to positioning resources and preparing personnel for integrated recovery operations. more

Nairobi, Kenya — Both the Kiberia and Mathare slums of Nairobi, exist in the shadows of areas of relative affluence. An upward move from the shantytowns in both slums is procurement of a state built and subsidized apartment at the edge of the slum. 

Inside the slums, in some cases literally in the shadow of those tall apartment buildings a shadow economy exits. Based on both currency and barter, the economy helps residents to survive, but on thin margins and without hope to participate in the larger economy or contribute to sustained economic development. (more)

Nairobi, Kenya — In both the Kibera and Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya, life is hard and perilous. The slums are among Africa's largest. Depending on the number people displaced from rural areas by civil strife, disease, and grinding poverty, Kibera can rank among the world’s largest slums. Up to two million people live in challenging conditions.

Mothers walk children to school through streets littered with garbage and filled with violence. Regardless, children are also expected to venture out on their own to help gather the water and fuel needed for daily existence. (more)

Nairobi, Kenya — In both the Kiberia and Mathare slums of Nairobi, life is hard and perilous. The procurement and storage of clean water are consuming facets of daily life; and the sanitation infrastructure inadequate to prevent disease. Containers for storing clean water are coveted. (more)

TAHRIR SQUARE, Cairo — While Egypt's Revolution has, at least for now, moved into a battle for ballots, the legacy of Arab Spring remains bloodied by bullets and bombs in Syria.

The destruction, danger, and death in Syria is not new. groups in Egypt tried to raise awareness during the 2012 Egyptian Presidential campaign, both as a direct call to action and as warning of what might happen should civil war break out in Egypt. (more)

Cairo -- Tight security protected a continuing presidential election ballot counting process in Cairo. While failing to secure the votes needed to avoid a runoff, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi's apparent first place finish in Egypt's first ever truly contested presidential election assured him a spot in the June runoff. Behind tight security, vote counting continued in Cairo on Friday to determine whether Pan-Arab Karama (dignity) Party's Hamdeen Sabbahi (also spelled Sabahi) or former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq will face Mursi.

Sabbahi , described as a Nasserite for his support of Gamal Nasser's mix of pan-Arab nationalism and socialism, remains popular across a spectrum of religious interests. Shafiq, a former air force officer, Minister of Aviation, and stop-gap Prime Minister in the final days before Hosni Mubarak's ouster is more polarizing. A Mursi-Shafiq showdown will put many of Egypt's Tahir Square revolutionaries "in the teeth of a tiger," i.e., faced with voting for an Islamist candidate anathematic to the liberalized democratic ideals of the revolution or an openly pro-Mubarack "feloul" (remnant) of the old regime.

Notably absent is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (simply known as Sisi), without question as Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, the most powerful man in Egypt. Sisi holds the real power. He has operated a quiet campaign, primarily defending the interests of the Egyptian military, especially their perceived relationship as friend to the people and guardians of the revolution.  (more)

CAIRO — As the 2011 revolt spread from nearby Tahrir Square, revolutionary flames from a government building set ablaze licked perilously close to the Cairo (Egyptian) Museum that houses many of humanity's most cherished archaeological treasures and antiquities.

As the 2011 revolt spread from nearby Tahir Square, revolutionary flames from a government building set ablaze licked perilously close to the Cairo (Egyptian) Museum that houses many of humanity's most cherished archaeological treasures and antiquities.— K. Lee Lerner Egyptian Instability Imperils Antiquities and Infrastructure Egyptian Museum, Cairo.  ©LMG. Photo by K. Lee Lerner. All rights reserved. 



With its tourist industry subsequently decimated -- vividly evidenced by empty museum courtyards and cafes normally teaming with tourists -- a major challenge to whatever political faction ultimately controls still undefined presidential powers will be to restore stability to an increasingly troubled Egyptian economy.

Regardless the political countenance that will gaze upon Egypt, protection of antiquities is vital. (more)

CAIRO, EGYPT--With voting set to start Wednesday, supporters of candidates and a spectrum of advocacy groups converge on Tahrir Square, the cradle of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, for last-minute campaigning and debates. Polls point to uncertainty over the outcome of Egypt's upcoming presidential election. Security forces stationed near the site are cautious and on alert as crowds grow nearing the first round of balloting. 

Although differing in aspirations for the revolution, Egyptians interviewed argued that the revolution's future was equally uncertain, hinging in part on which parties and leaders will first exercise post-military control of the country. (more)

Maasai Mara, Kenya — I have crossed the Sand River into bush country.

Among the great natural wonders of the world, the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya  (also spelled Masai Mara) and the Serengeti National  Park in Tanzania form a  contiguous savanna of open range grasses with clumps of umbrella-like acacia trees and scrub. 

Two flights by small prop planes from Nairobi were required to reach a short dirt airstrip located deep in the Mara.  (more)

CAIRO — On the eve of a historic presidential election set to shape the future of Egypt's ongoing revolution, results from absentia ballots cast by Egyptians living abroad gave Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi, an early lead. During the 48 hour pre-voting "silent period" in which official campaigning is forbidden, pro-Islamist supporters received a boost when the Egyptian Foreign Ministries released absentia counts from 33 countries.  (more)

CAIRO, EGYPT--With voting set to start Wednesday, supporters of candidates and a spectrum of advocacy groups converge on Tahrir Square, the cradle of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, for last-minute campaigning and debates. Polls point to uncertainty over the outcome of Egypt's upcoming presidential election. Security forces stationed near the site are cautious and on alert as crowds grow nearing the first round of balloting. 

Although differing in aspirations for the revolution, Egyptians interviewed argued that the revolution's future was equally uncertain, hinging in part on which parties and leaders will first exercise post-military control of the country. (more)

Cambridge, Mass--The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) – Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Meeting, held July 2011 in Cambridge, was the first global gathering of experts focusing on a group of diseases that globally afflict more than one billion people, yet receive only a fraction of the money and media attention directed towards AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis programs. 

Scott Halstead lectured on vaccine development and the global spread of Dengue at the conference. 
Discussions concerning the best use of funding and ways to spur awareness of NTD impacts, found 
passionate 
supporters
 who differed
 about 
whether 
basic 
science 
research, 
vaccine
 development, NGO treatment programs, or community- based public health programs should receive priority.  (more)

Paris -- Our apartment on Rue Vavin is right in heart of Hemingway’s Paris described in the middle portions of A Movable Feast (which covered the time Hemingway lived at 113 Rue Notre Dame des Champs). Gertrude Stein’s 27 Rue de Fleurus studio is one block over, and I walk by it almost daily to buy mandarins. The Jardin du Luxembourg and my pétanque courts are a mere 40 meters away.

Hemingway’s lean prose is offset by his expansion of time and distance.

In that expansion lies literary detail and significance, but in purely physical terms Hemingway’s walks are far shorter and the hills slighter in grade than they read in A Movable Feast and The Sun Also Rises.

I often take morning coffee at Le Select, and frequent the other “principal cafés,” le Dome, Le Rotund, and Le Coupole. All are still operating near the tortuous intersections of the Boulevard Montparnasse, with the Boulevard Raspail and Rue Vavin. All are an easy two minute walk.

For all the cafés and the tourists they attract, this side of the 6th is far quieter and more livable than the Senate/St. Germain side. Le Select can be crowded at times,  but a bit father up Rue Delambre lies a favorite of Henry Miller, the Café de la Liberté. It’s almost always quiet, and thus a good place have a conversation.

The walk to la Liberté on the Rue Delambre takes me past the spot where Hemingway first met Fitzgerald.  The Dingo Bar is gone, and but the old wooden bar remains inside a  trendy café. 

 (more)

On the heels of a National Academy of Sciences  report critical of the FBI's investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks that claimed five lives, prominent anthrax researchers are preparing to publicly slam, the evidence the bureau replied upon in posthumously blaming the attacks entirely on a civilian researcher in the Department of the Army. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI can also expect continued calls in Congress to establish a 9/11-like commission to investigate  the case.  more

Note: A full text copy of the NAS report mentioned in this article, "Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters" is available as a full text download.  more

Chaos and order, as used in chaos theory, are terms used to describe conditions of complex systems in which, out of seemingly random, disordered (aperiodic) processes, there arise processes that are deterministic and predictable. Accordingly, despite its name, chaos theory attempts to identify and quantify order in apparently unpredictable systems.

Continental drift, in the context of the modern theory of plate tectonics, is explained by the movement of lithospheric plates over the asthenosphere (the molten, ductile, upper portion of the Earth's mantle). Precisely used, the term "continental drift" is actually rooted in antiquated concepts regarding the structure of the Earth. Today, geophysicists and geologists explain the movement or drift of the continents within the context of plate tectonic theory. The visible continents, a part of the lithospheric plates upon which they ride, shift slowly over time as a result of the forces driving plate tectonics. Moreover, plate tectonic theory is so robust in its ability to explain and predict geological processes that it is equivalent in many regards to the fundamental and unifying principles of evolution in biology, and nucleosynthesis in physics and chemistry. (more)