R.I.P. Norman Borlaug

I just saw the news that Norman Borlaug has died, 95 years old. Borlaug won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on making better crops, allowing countries such as Mexico, Pakistan and India to become self-supplying in corn.

LA Times has an obit which describes his work, and the effect it had.

In the early 1960s, India and Pakistan were confronting famine and CIMMYT sent Borlaug to intervene. He planted demonstration plots of the new dwarf variety, but was unable to convince the state-owned seed companies to adopt them.

By 1965, however, famine in the region was so bad that the governments acquiesced. Borlaug organized a shipment of 35 truckloads of dwarf wheat seeds. Because of customs problems, the seeds couldn't be shipped from Mexico in time for planting, so he sent them to a port in Los Angeles.

U.S. customs officials held them up at the border before finally permitting them to cross. Then National Guard troops detoured them from Los Angeles because of the Watts riots. Finally, the $100,000 check drawn on the Pakistani ministry bounced because of three misspelled words on its face.

Ultimately, the cargo ship set sail for Karachi and Bombay and Borlaug went to bed relieved, only to wake the next morning to word that India and Pakistan had gone to war.

Because of the delays, the team had no time for germination studies and planting was started immediately, often in sight of artillery flashes. "We did a lot of praying," he later recalled.

Despite the problems, the new crop was 98% bigger than the previous year's and the Asian subcontinent was placed on a new path. India ordered 18,000 tons of seed from Mexico and the harvest was so big that there was a shortage of labor to harvest it, too few bullock carts to haul it to the threshing floor, and an insufficiency of jute bags, trucks, rail cars and storage facilities.

By 1968, Pakistan was self-sufficient in food production. India joined it in 1974.

It is probably impossible to overstate his importance to the world - it's estimated that his work has saved over a billion people from starvation. He was a great man, whose work still has an impact on the lives of most of us today.

NY Times also has an obit of him which is well worth reading.

Nobel Prize winner Aage Bohr has died

The Danish press report that the Danish Nobel Prize winner Aage Bohr died two days ago, 87 years old. He was born in 1922 as the son of Niels Bohr, one of the greatest physicists ever to exist, and even though this obviously to some degree put him in the shadow of his father, he did significant contributions to the field as well.

Associated Press story: Denmark's Nobel prize winner Aage Bohr dies at 87

The Nobel Prize presentation of Aage Bohr's work

Jack Kemp, supply-side economics champion, dies

Former Republican congressman and Housing Secretary in the George H. Bush administration Jack Kemp has died, 73 years old.

A major player in the Republican party, and a pillar of it's broad tent strategy, his greatest, and most damaging, legacy was the fact that he convinced Ronald Reagan to base his economic policies on the Chicago School of economics, and the now-disproved supply-side economics (Reagan's brand of this became known as Reaganomics, and resulted in huge national debt).

Blame for the economics morass caused by Reaganomics, and the later George W. Bush variant, cannot of course be laid entirely, or even mostly, at the feet of Jack Kemp. I cannot, however, help wondering what would have happened if someone with more economical sense had been able to convince Ronald Reagan and the neo-Conservatives about a more sound economical philosophy.

Another russian murder

It's dangerous to fight against those in power in Russia, as we've seen demonstrated again and again. Unfortunately, we've seen another example of this last Monday.

Russian human rights lawyer assassinated near Kremlin

Stanislav Markelov had fought the release of a colonel who killed a Chechnya woman. His shooting by a masked gunman means 'anybody can be killed . . . in broad daylight,' his supporters say.

Murder is just one of the tools they use; others include forced exiles, or trials of questionable fairness.

It's hard to see how this can changes in the current Russian climate.

Steve LeVine has more: Murder in Russia

Edit: Natalia Antonova at GlobalComment writes more: In Memory of Anastasia Baburova and Stanislav Markelov

The two later links via Matttbastard on Twitter

Jörg Haider killed in car crash

Right-wing politician Jörg Haider, who shocked the world when he became te leader of the Austrian government in 2000, has been killed in a car crash.

While his family has my condolences, I cannot find it in myself to feel sorry for the death of another bigoted politician.

BBC story
LA Times story

Voices becoming quiet

Within the last week or so, three real-world heroes have passed away. One of them was successful while the other two were still fighting their battles. Two of them died of natural causes, while the last one was killed by her opponents.

I think it's important to honor these people, by remembering their fights, and keep fighting when necessary.

The first of the three to die, was Lieutenant Colonel Malalai Kakar, the highest ranking woman in the Afghan police force. The existence of such a strong female was of course intolerable to the Taliban, who considered her a direct threat to their world view, and in the end, that ended up costing Malalai Kakar her life. On September 28th, some men caught her in an ambush, and killed her. This was not the first attempt on her life - in an earlier episode she managed to kill three attackers - but unfortunately it was the last. Again, the ugly side of religion rears its head.

BBC coverage

The second of the three, and the only successful one, was J.L. Chestnut Jr., a person I hadn't heard about, until I read his NY Times obit, but who certainly qualified to be considered a real-life hero.

J. L. Chestnut Jr., who after attending law school in Washington returned to his hometown, Selma, Ala., and set up shop in 1958 as the city’s first black lawyer, and who went on to fight for voting rights for blacks, laying the groundwork for the march led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965, died Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala. He was 77 and lived in Selma.

Sad that it took his death for me to hear about him.

NY Times obit

Finally, the third person to die, was someone I had heard about in the past, but who I know little about, except for his role as a voice for civil rights in Singapore.
I'm speaking of J. B. Jeyaretnam, who was the key opposition figure in Singapore - a country which appears fairly civilized, but which has decidedly totalitarian tendencies. Jeyaretnam's fight for civil rights cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered successful, but the symbolic value of it cannot be overestimated. The simple fact that someone is actually ready to speak out for it, is an important thing in itself.

NY Times obit

Speaking about the dead

Generally, people seem to adhere to the old principle that one shouldn't speak bad about the dead. Especially not when they are recently dead.

To some degree I concur with this - when someone is dead, it's not possible for them to defend themselves, and it brings anguish to those people left behind. However, that doesn't mean that one shouldn't speak truthfully about the dead, and make clear what kind of person they were - especially not if it was a public person.

Why do I bring this up? Well, because of Jesse Helms.

Like when Jerry Falwell died, a lot of people seem to be busy with saying good things about Jesse Helms, and his contributions to US politics. Others, being more realistic, tries to tell the truth about his politics, but to say nice things about his personality.

A good example of the first group, is President Bush, who has praised Helms saying that he was a "unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty". Here, I presume Bush means "as long as they were not Gay or People of Color", whose liberty Helms' had a long record of opposing.

To the second groups belongs the New York Times, who in their obit of Helms goes to great pains to portrait him as a likable man, even while describing his politics fairly accurately.

Well, I am sorry, but Helms' record speaks for itself. He opposed the liberty of homosexuals and minorities, and his attempt to stop funding for AIDS research did real harm to a lot of people. There is nothing good to be said about the man, and while I'm sorry for his family, I think the US is a better place for him not being there any longer.

For a better obit of Helms, I recommend the one in the Guardian, which contains passages like this one.

What is beyond question is the malign impact of Helms's innovation on all subsequent American politics. He inaugurated the age of massive back-door political donations, now euphemistically known as "soft money". In his own 1984 re-election battle, he spent $16.5m, then the most expensive Senate campaign in American history (and the federal election commission twice penalised him for using illegal contributions). Sixteen years later, a New Jersey candidate would lavish $60m on gaining a Senate seat, making it evident how effectively Helms's initiative had opened political office to the highest bidder.

Given the age of these people, I guess that we will have a lot of this sort of obits in the next few years.

George Carlin (1937-2008)

The world has lost a great comedy talent. George Carlin has died, 71 years old. He is of course most known for his seven words sketch that caused a SCOTUS ruling on whether it was obscene.

News at CNN
News at Washington Post

I would recommend going to YouTube and look at the Carlin videos there.

Tim Russert, 1950-2008

Tim Russert died yesterday of a heart attack in the newsroom at NBC.

Salon has the story

NY Times has an obit

Russert might have gone a little to soft on the Republicans, but there is no doubt that his expertise will be missed during the coming election. I'm sorry for his family and friends.

Been a bad week on the death front

Madeleine L’Engle has died, 88 years old. She is most famerous for her book A Wrinkle in Time, but had written numerous other books.

The world's greatest tenor (and I say this without intending any slight to Placido Domingo) has died. Luciano Pavarotti at his best had a voice which like we'll likely never hear again. I'm not a huge opera fan, though I can appreciate it, but even before the first concert with the 3 tenors, I was impressed by Pavarotti. Unfortunately his voice went downhill in later years, but I can still remember Pavarotti singing together with Domingo and Carreras and simply outshining those two great talents.

There was also a right-winged Christian fundamentalist who died in the US, but who cares.

A follow-up post on Natasja's death

The death of Natasja was frontpage news in Denmark, and some more information about her death has come out.

It seems like the driver of the car that Natasja was in was drunk, and probably high as well. On top of that it's speculated that he was speeding and that Natasja wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
If this is true, then this was not only a sad and meaningless death, it was a very avoidable death. If any one of these factors had been different, Natasja's death could have been prevented. There are three cardinal rules for driving:

a) Don't drive while under influence or while tired. This affects your reaction time and ability to make correct judgements.
b) Don't speed. In most places, the speed limits are set according to local conditions, and breaking them not only risk the health of you and your passengers, but it also risks everyone in the area.
c) Wear your seatbelt. It's a known lifesaver. It's speculated that Karen Mukupa was relatively unharmed in the accident because she was wearing her seatbelt.

Please, everyone, follow these rules if you are driving. You don't only risk yourself, but also everyone in the car, and everyone in your area.

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At the moment, Natasja's body is still in Jamaica, and her mother and friends are working on getting it to Denmark for a burial. It was feared that the cost of the transportation (100-200,000 kr., approx € 15-30,000) would have to be covered by the family, but it turns out that the insurance for musicians in Denmark will cover it. Instead her friends are collecting money for a proper burial for Natasja, and financial support for her mother.

A memorial concert is in the works, but no details have been released yet. Apparently a large number of Danish artists have contacted Natasja's manager, and said that they want to play at her memorial concert, so it will undoubtfully happen. For futher development in this matter, I refer to Natasja's Myspace page, which is updated with news.

Shortly before her death, Natasja had finished an album in Danish. It was set to be released on August 27th, but as of this moment, the album's future is uncertain, and no decisions will be made until after her burial.
My guess will be that the release will be postponed, but it will be released. I also predict that it will have good sales by Danish standards.

Update: Todays webpapers say that Natasja's mother has said that she think that the album should be released, since it would not be in the spirit of Natasja to waste all her hard work.

For a blogpost about Natasja, focusing on her music, I recommend this post by an old friend of mine, Matthias Wivel. Matthias didn't know Natasja personally, but he has known her music since the start.

Natasja Saad, 1974-2007

Edit: I had written the wrong year in the headline - obviously it was 2007.

I just found out that one of my old classmates from primary school has been killed in a car accident in Jamica.

Natasja Saad, aka Little T, was a dance-hall musician, who had her big international breakthrough last year.

She died while she was on the top of her musical career, which has spanned since I went to school with her. I haven't had anything to do with her since we were in the same class, but I have been following her career, and been happy that she finally got her well deserved breakthrough.

Damn it.

Update: I can see that many people have found this post through google. If people are looking for information of what will happen now, I suggest keeping an eye on Natasja's Myspace page, where there will be updates.

If you can read Danish, and bear it, I would also suggest reading all the comments at her profile. Those show how big an influence Natasja had on people. There is one post there that nearly made me break down, by one of our former classmates, who contained such anguish that it was nearly unbearable. Rasmus, if you ever read this, my thought goes out to you.

My thoughts also go out to Karen Mukupa, who was in the car with Natasja, and had the sad duty of telling Natasja's mother about the death. I've never met Karen Mukupa, but I remember talking with her when I was having a birthday party in 9th grade. She and Natasja then formed the dou No Name Requested, and had suddently gotten a job that evening, so she had to get Natasja there. She was very nice on the phone, and appologized many times to me for calling one of my guests away.

While Denmark has lost a great talent and I a piece of my past, Karen Mukupa has lost a childhood friend under the worst circumstances imaginable. Let's all hold her and Natasja's family in our thoughts in these hard times.

Update II: I have written a follow-up post



Picture by Jeanet Trebbien. Used with her permission.