Yar'Adua 419
(from Nairaland's PrinceK12)

Dear Sir/Madam
I am sure that you have heard about the death of Nigeria's president Yar'adua, for it is the headline on every major news network in the world. Unfortunately, Mr. Yar'adua died without writing a will, and he is survived by his wife. His wife will inherit some of his property and wealth according to the laws of Nigeria. However, the manager of First Bank of Nigeria, PLC has just notified me that President Yar'adua has the equivalent of $50,000,000 (fifty million US Dollars) in his bank account, and that he did not list any next of kin. According to the laws of Nigeria, therefore, since he did not list any next of kin, the money will pass to his successor in interest.

I have talked to the Bank Manager and he told me that I am the successor in interest to any of President Yar'adua's assets, including financial assets, but that I have to sign several paperwork to expeditiously effectuate the transfer to me, the successor in interest. Please keep this matter confidential, for disclosing to any third party this information may affect the transfer of the funds to my bank account.

The manager has also informed that we need to some funds to effectuate this transfer, and therefore I need to remit to him as soon as possible the sum of $100,000 (one hundred thousand US dollars). Once you send me the $100,000, I will sign the necessary paperwork and transfer the money to your foreign account, whereupon you can deduct your $100,000 plus your $10,000,000 (ten million US dollars) which is your commission for being a partner.

Thank you very much. I hope that you will act swiftly within the next 24 hours, for every time wasted can severely jeopardize this transaction. The manger of First Bank of Nigeria, PLC will contact you insofar as needed to collect any relevant information that is pertinent to this transfer. Your full cooperation is required.

Sincerely,

Alhaji Al Rabin Tal Wa lal
Successor in interest to his excellency, President Musa Yar'adua

2010 Harding Prize Awards



Hosted by the Kennedy Political Union at American University in Washington, D.C.

ClimateGate debunked by UK Parliament

Climate scientist Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom has been completely exonerated of any misconduct in the "ClimateGate" scandal based upon emails stolen from the university's email server. According to results of an inquiry released today by the Science and Technology Committee of the UK Parliament, Dr. Jones' research methods were “in line with common practice in the climate science community." Statistical and mathematical analyses performed by his Climate Research Unit have been repeated and the conclusions have been verified by independent scientific experts.

The DeSmog Blog has a thoughtful summary of this final chapter in the long and messy "ClimateGate" scandal. Comments are just starting to show up at the brief entry on RealClimate.

My entries in this blog about ClimateGate began on November 23rd, 2009. Follow up posts were written on November 24th, November 28th, November 30th, December 4th, and December 5th. ClimateGate was clearly well timed to undermine plans for the Copenhagen Climate Summit as well as Climate Change legislation here in the United States.

Lagos-Benin Highway Bus Massacre

I am not going to post the picture here for show. If you have not found it yet, you can view it on the NIGERIA MASTERWEB page. I have also posted it to my Flickr account here.

The story is being covered ably by the BBC, but I am sure that there are good Nigerian journalists working on it as well. The incident actually during July of 2009, although it has garnered fresh media attention beginning a little over a week ago. The original story from the Nigerian Tribune, written at the time of the incident, has been reposted to Online Nigeria. The Nigerian Senate itself was quite confused as to the date and details when it took up the issue on Wednesday, March 3rd. The otherwise trustworthy online publications Next and All Africa both reported an incorrect date of February 23rd in stories widely circulated through the blogosphere.

UPDATES: (3/5) Imnakoya has a very thoughtful post about the incident with a tasteful link to the photograph at his Grandiose Parlor. His post already has four comments and promises to stimulate lively discussion.

(3/6) The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, provided a full accounting of the incident to the Nigerian Senate on Thursday, March 4th. As quoted by Yemi Akinsuyi in This Day, Inspector Onovo related that -

On the 31st of July, 2009, a luxury bus belonging to Young Shall Grow Transport Company left Enugu for Lagos. On the way, the bus developed a fault, which was temporarily corrected. As it started moving again,
this time around, on a slow pace, some suspected armed robbers attacked the vehicle and ordered all the 41 passengers in the bus to alight. They were ordered to sit down right on the road. While the operation was going on, a heavy duty vehicle, on a high speed, which had lost control, ran over the people. Six females and 13 males lost their lives in the process, while the two drivers of the vehicles were arrested and taken to Shagamu Police Station, where the incident occurred.

Who are the Climate Skeptics?

Back on December 16 of 2009, Jim Lippard posted a lengthy investigation of the denialist infrastructure in terms of citations, credentials, and organizational affiliation. I came across his blog by accident while reading Juan Cole today.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Scientists Hide Global Warming Data
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I Am Martin Eisenstadt - The Book

A new tell-all book by Martin Eisenstadt about Martin Eisenstadt, the Washington insider who made Sarah Palin famous for not knowing Africa was a continent .

Hillary Clinton's Nigeria Trip, filtered - my latest and greatest on the events and a commentary on the comments of others in the Nigerian blogosphere just went up at Nigerians Talk.

THE PWEOR OF THE HMUAN MNID

Aoccdrnig to rseearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit any porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh?

Electronic Reserve, Copyright, and Fair Use

Back in January of 2007, I wrote an entry here about "Fair Use" of digital images in my teaching. At that point in my career, I did not have occasion to distribute written materials to students other than my syllabi and an occasional handout. I have subsequently taught a few classes in which I assigned readings on reserve or provided photocopies to my students. Although I definitely believe in crediting an author or photographer for original material, my primary duty is to my students. Most of them are working hard at jobs off campus to afford the materials for which they must already pay in order to pass my classes.

The "electronic reserve" was a new concept to me until I read about it yesterday morning as the subject of a lawsuit against Georgia State University by three leading academic publishers. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and SAGE Publications charged GSU with "enabling professors to provide students with digital copies of copyrighted course readings."

¹Hafner, Katie, 2008, "Publishers Sue Georgia State on Digital Reading Matter," New York Times, April 16.

²Nielsen, Brian, 2009, "Publishers Sue Georgia State U. on e-coursepack," NUL Copyright, April 16.

³Stewart, Claire, 2009, "What does the lawsuit against Georgia State mean?," NUL Copyright, April 20.

⁴AAP, 2009, Publishers Take Action Against Georgia State University Copyright Infringement, Association of American Publishers, Washington, D.C.

⁵Hirtle, Peter, 2009, "Georgia State: Don't Forget the User," Library Law Blog, May 4.

⁶Liebler, Raizel, 2009, "The Georgia State E-reserves lawsuit: Is Fair Use Dead? Or is it the traditional publishing model?" Library Law Blog, May 7.

⁷Heyward, Kerry, 2009, "(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Copyright Law," Center for Teaching and Learning Newsletter, p. 2, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

⁸Board of Regents Copyright Committee, Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright & Educational Fair Use. Atlanta, Ga.: University System of Georgia.

Excellent Blog Awards

I received my E over a year ago from George, the Decrepit Old Fool, but I apparently neglected to pass the award on as requested. I am certain that I would have chosen a completely different set had I attended to this right away. The list below suggests that I have become a bit more focused on geology, which is only partially true. There really are quite a lot of excellent geologists who are also excellent bloggers.

Ron Schott
Volcanista
Clastic Detritus (Brian Romans)
Lounge of the Lab Lemming

Evolution... not just a theory anymore (Greg Laden)
De Rerum Natura (Reed Cartwright)
Grrlscientist (Devorah Bennu)
Imnakoya's Grandiose Parlor
Loomnie
Cup O'Joe

The "Excellent Blog" Award appears to have originated with Project Mommy, a blog written by Shannymar about her daughter Kayla. Brandy Betz, creator of Moue Magazine, described the spirit of the award when she passed hers on back in February of 2008.

I will have more to say about each of my excellent bloggers later. If you have read this far, please do yourself a favor and support Grrlscientist Devorah Bennu in her campaign to blog an expedition to Antarctica. She has 715 votes and is only a few hundred away from winning.

Blowback from Obama in Ghana

Judging by posts from African bloggers, many African intellectuals were disappointed with Barack Obama's speech to Parliament in Ghana. My own perception of the speech was that it was not that well crafted and showed a lack of deep scholarship and preparation uncharacteristic of Mr. Obama.

I thought that our president looked a bit nervous at points in the delivery, particularly when he defended AFRICOM. I was also surprised to hear outdated views on agricultural development in the section where he promised a "green revolution" for sub-Saharan Africa. Clearly, the Obama administration needs to bring on board some scientists and historians with a deeper knowledge of the developing world and of Africa in particular.

While many may have wanted to hear an apology from our president for mistakes which the United States has made in the post-colonial era, I believe that Obama is rather to be commended for his clear discussion of the role which African elites have played in the continued subjugation and impoverishment of Africa's people. As Barack Obama has himself observed to progressive forces here in the United States, it is our responsibility to push back and challenge him when he compromises with the forces of oppression.

Below are links to some of many posts on this topic by African bloggers:

"Obama Talks Shallow Simplistic Rubbish, Scolds & Lectured Africans As Expected!" by Paul I. Adujie

"Ghana - No antibodies for this virus" by Akin

"The glaring omission" by Solomonsydelle

"Obama shallow and condescending in Ghana?" by Imnakoya

"Obama in Ghana" by Beauty

"It wasn't me" by pyoo wata

The "change we need"? Obama in Ghana by Charles Abugre

Iran and the Blogosphere

Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post interviews Juan Cole about the recent events in Iran and Cole's new book, Engaging the Muslim World.

Cole believes that the election was stolen by Ahmadenijad but doubts that Mousavi has the backbone to take power. A similar and even better developed discussion by Asbed Kotichikian was just posted today at Whirled View.

I cannot pretend to have nearly the expertise on Iran and the Middle East exhibited by these scholars. Based purely on many years of following elections at home and overseas, I do not view the Iranian electoral process as particularly aberrant in its corruption. We have situations much closer to home which produce voter dissatisfaction and maintain corrupt governments.

I do strongly support the right of all people to assemble and petition their government to hold free and fair elections among other grievances.

Apple's Newest Gadget - The Wheel!

Africa-gate, Plumber-gate, and Martin Eisenstadt

Many bloggers, myself included, have fallen for a hoax! Martin Eisenstadt, pictured above, was believable as a Republican foreign policy expert, pundit, and lobbyist given the doings of the party in power during the past eight years. Whoever has been perpetrating the hoax finally went overboard, however, when claiming to be the source of the leaks to the press about Sarah Palin's knowledge of Africa.

I posted a You Tube video in which "Eisenstadt" described a purported effort to start a casino in the Iraq Green Zone. The same video had been posted previously by Raed Jarrar. It is still being hosted by "asukajunk," a Japanese blogger, as well as by "youkaysam."

So here is a tip of my hat to "Martin Eisenstadt" and "youkaysam" for keeping political discourse lively and entertaining.

Addendum, 11/13: Independent filmmaker Eitan Gorlin has been "outed" as the real man behind "Martin Eisenstadt" the wizard. The story ran in the New York Times as well as online at Huffington Post and Guanabee.

Thinking Bloggers?

I was tagged as a "thinking blogger" a few weeks ago by Moondanzer. In mulling over who among my fellow bloggers is deserving of similar recognition, I found that many of those whose thoughts I find enlightening have already been tagged with this award. Some standout examples: Virus Head, grrlscientist, Greg Laden, Cheryl Rofer, and Moondanzer herself.

I am tagging the following as "thinking bloggers":

1. Imnakoya - a Nigerian living in Minnesota who posts on sociopolitical and economic issues.
2. Akin - a Nigerian computer consultant working on a Masters degree at a university in the Netherlands.
3. Carol - an advocate for peace who express her "View of It" without reservation on varied interests - Politics, Activism, Current Events, News and more.
4. Holly GL - Stephanie loves to write and has a devoted following of readers who comment and always receive prompt and insightful replies.
5. Joe Vecchio - my former housemate in Atlanta, recently relocated to Chicago. Joe is the internet's voice of the working man.

To my knowledge, none of the above has been recognized as a "thinking blogger" yet. My choices emphasize Nigerians, women, and leftists; categories which all appear to be underrepresented among those tagged to date. On the other hand, most of those whose blogs I read to keep up on science had already been tagged.

Fair Use of Journals by Blogs

Blogger and fellow geologist Chris Rowan does a nice job of summarizing a recent debate over the "fair use" of digital images, data, and text from scientific journals published online. The debate arose after a light comment by blogger and neuroscience graduate student Shelly Batts summarizing an article about positive health effects from natural alcohol and other volatile compounds found in berries and other fruit. Ms. Batts mentioned the original study by Chanjirakul et al. in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture as well as a summary of the same article on the BBC News website, "Alcohol makes fruit healthier." Her use of two figures from the published article, however, prompted a strident demand that she take down her post from a member of the journal's editorial staff.

As Ms. Batts herself announces in her own blog, Retrospectacle, she eventually prevailed in this debate. The journal's publisher, John Wiley & Sons, has made clear that they recognize and encourage the "fair use" of the materials they publish for teaching as well for even the most light-hearted posts we academics make in our personal blogs. Posts at both The Volokh Conspiracy and Scientific American emphasize the role of fellow bloggers in pressuring Wiley and the journal's editors. Regardless of the forces at play, I am encouraged by the outcome, I expressed some of my own concerns over this very issue in this blog entry posted several months ago.

CONFUsion

I must confess that I often download images from the internet and make use of them in my lectures as well as in posts to my blogs without acknowledging the original source. I realize that I could not get away with this in academic publication, but I have nonetheless rejoiced in the "freedom" that personal computing and the internet have provided me. Reflecting upon this behavior at the start of a new calendar year, let me apologize here and now for taking advantage of many photographers and some artists to further my own professional and intellectual objectives. Going forward, I resolve to become a bit better at documenting from whence I download or scan.

While my own "moral sense" as well as my frustrated inner artist tells me that I have been doing something wrong, the legal situation regarding this matter is complex and confusing. Opinions regarding what consitutes a "fair use," even of copyrighted material, range all over the board. Supposedly, the "Conference On Fair Use (CONFU)¹," provided a recipe for making fair use of digital images back in 1996. Actually, however, CONFU muddied the waters in many respects. Activist groups such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation basically maintain that the burden of proof rests upon the original creator of an image to prove that the thief knowingly appropriated it and claimed it as their own. I never claim to have created all of the images that I use, and I would most certainly consider it "unfair" to use a doctored or marked-up version of an image which I did not create. My intuitions in this regard appear to be generally supported by the "Teacher's Guide"² authored by Cathy Newsome, whose credentials include being a school board member and a parent as well as a classroom teacher.

Here in Georgia, the Board of Regents³ has prepared a guide to understanding copyright and educational fair use which is written by lawyers. The Board of Regents guide basically summarizes a series of lawsuits which do not involve either teachers or bloggers. Conversations with other teachers left me with the impression that I was only safe using scanned images if I posted them in our password-protected "distance learning" server, WebCT. The only basis I can find for that claim might be that CONFU did form separate committees for digital images and for distance learning, which may have made different recommendations regarding fair use. According to the Society of American Archivists⁴, the CONFU guidelines for digital images far exceed what is legally required according to copyright law. The SAA statement was written in 1996, however, prior to the passage of Sonny Bono's Digital Millennium Copyright Act⁵ in 1998.

All in all, the situation with CONFU is confusing and we are probably all going to have to steer by our moral sense until some key lawsuits arise to bring the matter before a judge. It strikes me that better documentation of sources for both images and text might improve the blogosphere all around. Perhaps it will even bring more readers to some of us who are budding bloggers?


¹ Lehman, Bruce, 1996, The Conference on Fair Use, An Interim Report to the Commissioner. Wasthington, D.C.: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.
² Newsome, Cathy, 1997, A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright. Privately published.
³ Board of Regents Copyright Committee, Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright & Educational Fair Use. Atlanta, Ga.: University System of Georgia.
⁴ Society of American Archivists, 1995, Educational Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Images: Response of The Society of American Archivists to the Draft Guidelines Developed by the Conference on Fair Use. Chicago, Ill.: Society of American Archivists.
⁵ H.R. 2281 [Report No. 105-551], Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Juan Cole has written a lengthy piece about the execution for Salon.

Is this really democracy? I think part of this award is to the blogosphere for its "influence" on politicians and, perhaps particularly, on the "mainstream media" which it continually decries. Part of it is also to those who market and consume products through the internet. I should really read the article, though.