Through DNA testing, I learned that my Y-DNA haplogroup is E1b1a/M2 (formerly known as E3a).

Y-DNA, or Y-chromosome DNA, is patrilineal (male-lineage).

After I took my mtDNA test, I followed up with a Y-DNA test.  Once again, the process was as follows: I used the same DNA company as with my mtDNA test. There are numerous ones to choose from (Family Tree DNA, National Genographic, etc.). I paid for the test and received a package that contained testing materials. I swabbed the inside of my mouth and returned the testing materials to the DNA company.

Weeks later, I had my results.

My haplogroup E1b1a/M2 is approximately 30,000 years old, and descends from the paternal father clade PN2/P2. PN2/E is an African clade and approx 35k years old. PN2 is also the father of M35 (approx. 22,000 years old) and M78 (approx. 17,000 years old) (Source: Cruciani et al., p. 1018, 2004). E1b1b (formerly E3b) falls from the branch of M35, which The Jewish Virtual Library attributes as a major founding lineage among Ashkenazi Jews.

In a study that presented frequencies of haplogroups J and E among various groups, including both Ashkenazi and Sephardic populations, researchers found 14 out of 77 Ashkenazim (18.2%) were E3b, while 12 out of 40 Sephardim were E3b (30%) (Semino et al. 2004).

“The Y-chromosome clade defined by the PN2 transtion (PN2/M35, PN2/M2) shatters the boundaries of the phenotypically defined races” (Source: Keita, 2004, p. S18-19).

 M78 gave birth to V12 and V13, both found in populations in Greece and Italy.

M2 is found at high frequencies in West Africa. M2 is found in approximately 58-60% of African Americans as well.

M2 can be found among 8.4% of Sephardic Jews.  (Source: “Hisory in the Interpretation of the Patten of p49a, f RFLP Y-Chromosome Variation in Egypt: A Consideration of Multiple Lines of Evidence TaqI” Keita, 2005)

M2 is found at 80% among the Tutsis of Eastern Central Africa who are thought to be originally eastern Ethiopians or Egyptian/Nile Valley people. Tutsis are said to be related to Jews. Tutsis are 100% of African origin. (Source)

M2 is one of the three prevalent groups among the Nubians: M2, M35, and M78.

In a study of the three common variants in Egypt, M2 was found at 67% (Source: “Hisory in the Interpretation of the Patten of p49a, f RFLP Y-Chromosome Variation in Egypt: A Consideration of Multiple Lines of Evidence TaqI” Keita, 2005).

Bantu Migration Map

 (Source)

“The Bantu expansion was a millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the original proto-Bantu language group. This group is hypothesized to have originated from modern day Cameroon. A diffusion of language and knowledge spread among neighbouring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage spread to new areas and communities. The expansion is taken to have begun after the introduction of agriculture, which would indicate a date of ca. 3000-2500 BC for the early expansion within West Africa, followed by first eastwards and southwards migrations beyond West Africa from about 1500 to 1000 BC.” (Source)

“Haplotype IV has substantial frequencies in upper Egypt and Nubia, greater than VI and VII. Sometimes haplotype IV is seen as being associated with “Bantu expansion” but this does not mean that it is not much older. Bantu languages were never spoken in these regions or Senegal, where M2 is greater than 90% in some studies. (Keita, 2004, p. 229).

*M2 is represented by Haplogroup IV* 

Senegal is represented by the Western Atlantic family group of the Niger-Congo (A) language family.

The Igbo language of Nigeria falls into the West Benue-Congo family group of the Niger-Congo (A) language family.

“Haplotypes XI and IV, called ‘‘southern,’’ with IV labeled ‘‘sub-Saharan,’’ have their lowest frequencies in lower (northern) Egypt, but increase in upper (southern) Egypt and lower Nubia.” (Source: Keita, 2005).

“Early Afro-Asiatic Speakers, along with those of Nilo-Saharan, were likely drawn into the Sahara which was less arid in the late pleistocene in the early holocene after the last glacial maximum.” (Source: Keita, 2004)

“Haplotype IV, designating the M2 subclade as noted is found in high frequency in West, Central and sub-equatorial Africa in speakers of Niger-Congo — which may have a special relationship with Nilo-Saharan — spoken by Nubians.” (Source: Keita, 2004).

The Afro-Asiatic Language groups consists of Chadic, Egpytian, Berber, Omotic, Cushitic, and Semitic languages.

“The Nilo-Saharan languages are African languages spoken mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers (hence the term “Nilo-”), including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet. The languages extend through 17 nations in the northern half of Africa: from Algeria and Mali in the northwest; to Benin, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the south; and Sudan to Tanzania in the east (excluding the Horn of Africa). The largest part of its major subfamilies are found in the modern nation of Sudan, through which the Nile River flows in all its incarnations: the White and Blue Nile, which join to form the main Nile at Khartoum. As seen in the hyphenated name (compare map at right), Nilo-Saharan is primarily a family of the African interior, including the greater Nile basin and its tributaries as well as the central Sahara desert.” (Source)

“Recently Roger Blench has proposed that Niger-Congo is simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan, most closely related to the Central Sudanic family of Nilo-Saharan in the centre of the African continent. If this view is correct, Niger-Congo would have originated farther east than is us ually assumed, perhaps to the northwest of the present-day central Sudan. The Congo family, in Sudan, is assumed to have moved eastwards. The other families of Niger-Congo presumably were gradually compressed into West Africa as a result of the desiccation of the Sahara. As Western Africa became more crowded, Adamawa-Ubangi and Bantu expanded southwards into central Africa and later, in the case of Bantu, into eastern and southern Africa….Two relatively small families, Dogon and Ijoid, are thought to have split off next. Dogon with little internal differentiation, remained on land, south of the bend in the Niger, while Ijoid, with somewhat more internal differentiation into Defaka and the Ijo group, moved down the Niger to its confluence with the Benue and then either directly along the Niger or via the Benue and Cross River to the Niger Delta and associated waterways where it is found today….” (Source)

“So-called Saharo-Sudanese or Aqualithic speakers are found from Nile to Niger rivers in the Sahara and Sahel, and south into Kenya.” (Source: Keita, 2004).

*Hausas who reside mainly in northern Nigeria  speak Hausa, which is a Chadic language from the Afro-Asiatic language family.

My family

Hausa-Fulani Girl

Wolof (Senegal) Griot

Genevieve Nnaji (Igbo)

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Igbo)

Somali Woman

Lemar Obika (Igbo)

I’m purchasing a legendary Stellarvue  80mm , f-6, 480 mm apochromatic triplet with Lomo objective – used, of course – and I took advantage of clear skies and no visitors tonight to establish a sort of baseline of what to expect from a good 80mm scope under good conditions, since I hope the Stellarvue will be a keeper. I plan to use it in my instruction as the primary refractor – a great starting point with its wide fields – and I plan to use it any time I want to observe any where other than the observatory.  Stellarvue makes a nice case for it that can hold all sorts of eyepieces and other goodies and combined with the Voyager, this should be real easy to transport. The question is, will it deliver enough to satisfy me.

Well, given that I can be quite happy using the 60mm televue APO – which has now been traded in partial payment for a Televue  Genesis – I think the answer is yes.  But I plan to be more dependendent upon this than I was on the TV60. I used it on a whim from time to time. The 80mm should get more use. So, I took the Celestron Onyx , which at 80mm and F6.25 is very close to the same thing, though there should be a significant gap in quality. (I’ll believe this last when I see it. ) The Onyx was really quite impressive. It’s biggest accomplishment came at the end of a two-and-a-half hour observing session when I checked out Iota Cassiopeia. Seeing two stars there is fairly easy, though the companion is quite close (7.2″) and about four magnitudes fainter than the primary. What really pleased me, though, was I could see the second companion – with dark skies between it and the primary – and it is just 2.3″ away and at magnitude 7 is better than two magnitudes fainter than the primary.

I used a 7mm Nagler and a Televue 2X barlow which gave me about 142X. I could have cranked the power up a bit more, but I was really captivated by what I could see with this combo.

I also tested the scope on M15 and M2 which were fairly low at about 45 degrees and 35 degrees. In any event, I could not resolve stars in either globular, even at 200X – though in both cases there was some hint at the clusters starting to resolve.

I looked at M110 and found it visible, but a challenge. However, M33 just popped. I simply used the 24mm Panoptic and swept down from M31 and there it was.  So that was very satisfying in terms of a low surface brightness object.

Bottom line – I think the new plan is going to work fine. I think I can have a lot of fun with this 80mm and while I can be happy with using nothing but it, I think it will make a great scout for the 10-inch Dob when I take them both on expeditions.

Now I wonder just how much better the Stellarvue is than the Onyx? Can’t wait to do a side-by-side.

Bag of Gadgets is a new segment that gives all the readers here a peek into my gadget life. We all have gadgets, some more than others, and many of them we carry with us everyday, in our bags or in our pockets. A lot of people say to me, “Ray, you’ve got so many shiny toys and gadgets and gizmos.” I say, not really. I don’t have a super secret bat-cave full of LCDs and stuff. What I want to highlight are the gadgets that I carry with me in my messenger and come in handy in my life.

Not only do I hope to showcase my gadgets, but I also want to explain why I picked those gadgets and why they are useful to me. At the end of the day, gadgets are expensive, and there’s really no need to run out and buy every gadget just because you want to. I think gadget decisions come down to: will they be useful, and are they worth it. Who has $500 to splurge on a new camera every year or two, especially in times like this? I don’t. Utility is a must.

Let’s kick off the first in this series with something I started to carry everyday in my bag since the summer.

WHAT: That is a  reader – an extremely tiny one. I picked this little guy up in Hong Kong. It was less than $5 USD. It supports microSD, microSDHC, M2, MS, MSD, MSPD, SD, SDHC, XD. Did I mention it is super tiny? It’s only 1.25″ x 1.25.” x 0.5″. The USB is collapsable and the best thing is it doesn’t take up real space in my bag.

WHY? The answer is easy. There are times when you need to grab photos or videos from a friend’s camera or you will never see them ever again. And if you do, they are usually on Facebook and low-resolution because of FB’s compression. My HP Mini netbook has an SD slot, but most of my friend’s camera’s don’t store on SD.  Many of my friend’s cell phones have microSD or M2 memory sticks for storage, and this card reader can read them unlike a lot of others that require little adapters and whatever. This little card reader has really come in handy primarily for this reason.

PRICE: At less than $5 USD, and supporting every major memory card type except compact flash, it’s a no brainer.

Two years ago, I bought my first card reader, a brushed metal one made by Sony. Today it’s considered clunky and lacks reading/writing for high speed memory cards. It was $30 two years ago. I still see card readers for more than $10. It’s inexcusable really to charge exorbitant prices for something like this.

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Für alle, die in diesem Sommer Modul 2 geschrieben haben: die Musterlösungen und der Notenspiegel sind endlich da!! Ihr findet sie auf meiner Seite Modul 2 unter Klausuren oder direkt hier

Herzlichen Glückwunsch für alle, die bestanden haben !!!

Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon arrive at M2 club in Chelsea dressed as angels for a Halloween party. The diva was dressed in a revealing satin corset and satin gloves with some angels wings on her back.

more pictures

Monday night, celebrities came out  to support DJ Webstar  for his birthday. Young B(Chicken Noodle soup), Diddy, DJ Cassidy, Trey Songz, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Thomas Jones of the New York Jets, Brian McKnight and more all came out to M2 Ultralounge to celebrate the Harlemnite hit maker. At first the invite said Black Tie and I immediately thought to dress up.  It turns out you were supposed to wear all black.  Confusing!  It was a good turnout and have plenty of pictures! Video coming soon!

T

DJ Webstar with the night eyecandy gals. Notice Webstar black tux, red hat and red tie collaborates with the girls in black and red, hmm, Did they plan this? It looks good. Picture provided by Jake

Trey Songs and Tahiry all cuddled up.

Tahiry (model) strikes a diva pose

Webstar and Diddy pose in all black.

Rapper Dorough and 106 Park host Rocsi. Rocsi wearing Marc Jacobs red plaid boots!

Webstar, Diddy and Young B(Chicken Noodle soup) pose.  Young grown and sexy with flyest shades that she designed.  Watch out for Young B upcoming shades and collection.

Trey Songs again. A closer look at Young B shades.

DJ Cassidy ,love the jacket and how he assembled everything together so perfectly, fedora white hat, red shirt and leather jacket. So cool!

Brian McKnight and rapper Thomas Jones. Brian McKnight redefined men’s fashion with his keen aesthetic sense of styling wearing grey suit and persian pink shirt.

Busta Rhymes New York’s most energetic MC comfortably wears denim jacket and jeans

Pictures provided by WireImage

Special Thanks to Soulgee McQueen and Sparkle Callahan from Trio Entertainment

Fashion editor: Anissa Rochester

Dernier record d’audience M2 Group / M2 Radio Stations :
3076 auditeurs le 22/10/2009 à 18h31, merci de votre fidélité !

In his latest blog post, Macro Man made an interesting point: there any no reason to assume that the velocity of money is uniform across a whole economy. Depending on economic agents temporary preference, “local” velocity can differ significantly from the average (represented below by nominal GDP divided by M2). When a bubble occur for example, the local velocity explodes. Remember the Internet bubble and all the small investors day-trading like maniacs, in the end buying and selling the same stocks multiple times the same day. The velocity around the Nasdaq was incredibly high.

It is “logic” in the sens that the local velocity is the highest in the fastest growing area of an economy, representing the interest of investors. Right now the economy is barely growing, and prospects for investments in new production capacity are grim. As a consequence, cash “looking for a home” is not really going into the “real economy” but in financial assets.

Interestingly Macro Man calculated a financial asset velocity, applying the same methodology to the S&P 500, 10 year Treasury futures, EUR/USD, gold, and oil (all equally weighted) to M2, and compared it to the aggregate or global velocity.

Aggregate velocity:

Financial velocity:

As you can see, the financial velocity is much more volatile than the aggregate one. Recently it has also increased much more, which is consistent with the strong recovery we have seen in asset prices. But, as Macro Man said, “herein lies the problem; the vast bulk of the veritable Everest of Fed liquidity provisions seems to have found its way onto Wall Street, not Main Street.”