Image via WikipediaCute African-American girl:
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Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Guinea Worm: Countdown to Zero
Image via WikipediaCute African-American girl:
Friday, June 4, 2010
Advanced Risk Board Game Strategy Part 3: South America
Australia is ostensibly the strongest continent that receives a two army bonus. However, South America has some subtle dynamics that also make it a viable option for a player for whom control of Australia is not an option. This article will explain how to best utilize the specific dynamics of South America in any Risk game, including conquering the continent, expanding to North America and/or Africa, and winning the end game.
Conquering South America: As with conquering continents in all Risk games, the most direct option for any player seeking to control South America is to place armies in one of the South American territories and try to knock out the defending armies in the first couple of turns. This strategy typically has a much better chance to succeed than a direct takeover of Australia because many players place a much lower emphasis on taking South America, meaning that the player is much less likely to face a large number of defenders, if the other players bother to defend the continent at all. A second option is to disguise this takeover by placing most of the initial armies in Africa or North America and conquering South America through the backdoor. This is especially good for games with 6-8 players, where the South American continent is unlikely to be conquered unchallenged.
Expansion to North America: Expanding to North America is probably the key to playing South America. If the player controlling South America can leverage this into control of North America, he or she can control an area with 7 bonus armies with only 3 borders! However, this strategy comes with a lot of risks (no pun intended). For one thing, a player controlling Africa can force the player controlling South America to eat up a significant number of armies defending the North Africa – Brazil bridge. Also, North America usually has at least one or more players also fighting for control, and the South American player will need to contend with their strong positions on that continent.
The key here is that the South American player needs to move quickly to control the continent. The worst situation possible is where the player becomes stuck and slowly squeezed to extinction between the massive armies of a player controlling Africa and one controlling North America.
Expansion to Africa: If the situation in North America is too simply too turbulent to handle, a player can also opt for an expansion into Africa. Here the North African territory is the key. If the South American player can control this territory, he or she can slowly expand to control East Africa, the territories interior to Africa, and finally Egypt. If no one has a firm control of either North America or Europe when this strategy is attempted, the South American player has a good chance of succeeding. Furthermore, if the player can hold both South America and Africa, she or he can use the base as a very strong launching pad to either invade Europe or North America, probably with a winning game.
Probably the biggest threat to this strategy is either another player fighting for control of Africa or a player who has managed to take control of Europe. Especially in the case of the European player (assuming that he or she can readily control the necessary border countries), the 5 army per turn bonus will stack up pretty quickly and thwart any moves by South America into Africa. In these situations, the South American player has the choice whether to continue her or his push into Africa or whether to change path and drive towards North America instead.
Bottom Line: South America offers a reasonable home continent base in a Risk game, provided that the controlling player is able to expand early enough to avoid being squeezed by players with control of North America and Africa. A player holding South America should seek to keep one avenue of expansion open at all costs.
Part 1: Overview:
Part 2: Australia:
Conquering South America: As with conquering continents in all Risk games, the most direct option for any player seeking to control South America is to place armies in one of the South American territories and try to knock out the defending armies in the first couple of turns. This strategy typically has a much better chance to succeed than a direct takeover of Australia because many players place a much lower emphasis on taking South America, meaning that the player is much less likely to face a large number of defenders, if the other players bother to defend the continent at all. A second option is to disguise this takeover by placing most of the initial armies in Africa or North America and conquering South America through the backdoor. This is especially good for games with 6-8 players, where the South American continent is unlikely to be conquered unchallenged.
Expansion to North America: Expanding to North America is probably the key to playing South America. If the player controlling South America can leverage this into control of North America, he or she can control an area with 7 bonus armies with only 3 borders! However, this strategy comes with a lot of risks (no pun intended). For one thing, a player controlling Africa can force the player controlling South America to eat up a significant number of armies defending the North Africa – Brazil bridge. Also, North America usually has at least one or more players also fighting for control, and the South American player will need to contend with their strong positions on that continent.
The key here is that the South American player needs to move quickly to control the continent. The worst situation possible is where the player becomes stuck and slowly squeezed to extinction between the massive armies of a player controlling Africa and one controlling North America.
Expansion to Africa: If the situation in North America is too simply too turbulent to handle, a player can also opt for an expansion into Africa. Here the North African territory is the key. If the South American player can control this territory, he or she can slowly expand to control East Africa, the territories interior to Africa, and finally Egypt. If no one has a firm control of either North America or Europe when this strategy is attempted, the South American player has a good chance of succeeding. Furthermore, if the player can hold both South America and Africa, she or he can use the base as a very strong launching pad to either invade Europe or North America, probably with a winning game.
Probably the biggest threat to this strategy is either another player fighting for control of Africa or a player who has managed to take control of Europe. Especially in the case of the European player (assuming that he or she can readily control the necessary border countries), the 5 army per turn bonus will stack up pretty quickly and thwart any moves by South America into Africa. In these situations, the South American player has the choice whether to continue her or his push into Africa or whether to change path and drive towards North America instead.
Bottom Line: South America offers a reasonable home continent base in a Risk game, provided that the controlling player is able to expand early enough to avoid being squeezed by players with control of North America and Africa. A player holding South America should seek to keep one avenue of expansion open at all costs.
Part 1: Overview:
Part 2: Australia:
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Cancer Killer Found in the Ocean.
November 1, 2007 — Biomedicine scientists identified and sequenced the genes of a bacteria calledI Salinispora tropica. (James: If you go to the link you'll find a video about this story). It produces anti-cancer compounds and can be found in ocean sediments off the Bahamas. A product called salinosporamide A has shown promise treating a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma, as well as solid tumors. It's estimated that over 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and for more than 500,000 it will be fatal. But now, scientists have found a new weapon against it. The ocean! You run in it ... play in it ... splash in it ... but what’s found at the bottom of it can kill cancer! The bacterium was discovered in 1991, but just recently researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography unlocked the genomic sequence, revealing this bacteria's cancer fighting potential. "That’s how new drugs are discovered. We really have to go out there and grow bacteria, look at the genomes," Dr. Moore said. First discovered in 1991 in shallow ocean sediment off the Bahamas, it took several years to successfully sequence Salinispora’s genome, revealing that this mud-dwelling bacteria produces natural antibiotics and anti-cancer products.
James: We already know that trees and plants are the world's lungs and the oceans produce the rain that grows our foods and acts as a global thermostat but that is just the beginning of nature's bounty (By the way, An estimated 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. Less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans). There are so many medicines that stem from nature and yet we keep destroying the environment. Who knows how many cures for diseases or very effective drugs might have been found in the vast tracts of rain forest chopped down all over the world. There might be a cure for AIDS right now lying deep in the Amazon but we still have the outdated, neanderthal thinking that we must conquer nature and exploit it rather than live in harmony with it.
We need to listen to the shamans and explore their pharmacies (nature) with them and learn from them instead of ignoring them and deriding their time tested expertise. Some of the healthiest people I have met were villagers living in Africa using mostly natural medicines. I'm not advocating, however, that people abandon pharmaceuticals altogether, especially when dealing with a severe mental illness or other crippling diseases. I do think though that we should take natural remedies more seriously and explore our forests instead of clear cut them.
~Peace to all beings~
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