QUES: ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- On a plot of soil, nestled against the backdrop of skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, a group of residents are turning a lack of access to fresh produce into a revival of old traditions and self-empowerment. Urban farming is a way for African-Americans to connect with the earth, says Cashawn Myers of HABESHA. HABESHA Gardens is one of many urban gardens sprouting up around the country. Fruits and vegetables are thriving in this community garden located in an economically depressed area of the city known as Mechanicsville. But the garden serves an even greater purpose. The harvest helps feed some of the neediest members of the neighborhood. "It's a reawakening going on. It's almost like it's a renaissance," says Cashawn Myers, director of HABESHA Inc. "There's a Ghanaian proverb that says Sankofa. Sankofa means return to your past so you can move forward. Even if you look at coming over here during our enslavement, we were brought here to cultivate the land because that's something we did on the continent. So really, that's what many of the people are doing now," he said. Myers believes urban farming is a way for many African-Americans to reconnect with their past. iReport.com: Show us your urban farm "They are going through a process of Sankofa and going to what they traditionally did, which is connect to the Earth so they can move forward and grow," he says. But HABESHA Gardens isn't unique. Former pro basketball player Will Allen, who is considered to be one of the nation's leading urban farmers and founder of Growing Power Inc., estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of urban gardens in inner cities across America. Urban farms help feed people, sustain neighorhoods " "It's beyond a movement at this point. Its more like a revolution," says Allen.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What is the origin of the proverb that means; return to your past so you can move forward?

QUES: (Financial Times) -- The increasing amount of personal information that can been gleaned by computer programs that track how people use Facebook has been revealed by an extensive academic study. Such programmes can discern undisclosed private information such as Facebook users' sexuality, drug-use habits and even whether their parents separated when they were young, according to the study by Cambridge university academics. In one of the biggest studies of its kind, scientists from the university's psychometrics team and a Microsoft-funded research centre analysed data from 58,000 Facebook users to predict traits and other information that were not provided in their profiles. The algorithms were 88 per cent accurate in predicting male sexual orientation, 95 per cent for race and 80 per cent for religion and political leanings. Personality types and emotional stability were also predicted with accuracy ranging from 62-75 per cent. Facebook declined to comment. The study highlights growing concerns about social networks and how data trails can be mined for sensitive information, even when people attempt to keep information about themselves private. Less than 5 per cent of users predicted to be gay, for example, were connected with explicitly gay groups. Michal Kosinksi, one of the report's authors, told the Financial Times that the university's techniques could easily be replicated by companies to infer personal attributes a person did not wish to share, such as sexual orientation or political views: "We used very simple and generic methods. Marketing companies and internet companies could spend much more time and resources, and hence get much higher accuracy than we did." Last week , the EU agreed to water down proposals for a radical overhaul of data privacy regulation. The move reflects governments' reluctance to impede internet businesses that might spur economic growth, and follows fierce lobbying from technology companies including Facebook and Google. Personal data has become big business. Wonga, the UK online lender, makes credit judgments within seconds based on thousands of pieces of information, including an applicant's Facebook profile. Tesco, the supermarket chain, this month started to use its customers' shopping histories to sell targeted online advertising. The report also revealed some unexpected correlations -- such as people who liked 'curly fries' having higher IQs, while those who like Facebook's "Sliding on Floors With Your Socks On" page were unlikely to use drugs.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Has Facebook commented on the ability of computer programs that track how people use Facebook to discern undisclosed private information?

QUES: Tocqueville thought the conquest of Algeria was important for two reasons: first, his understanding of the international situation and France's position in the world, and, second, changes in French society. Tocqueville believed that war and colonization would "restore national pride, threatened", he believed, by "The gradual softening of social mores" in the middle classes. Their taste for "material pleasures" was spreading to the whole of society, giving it "an example of weakness and egotism". Applauding the methods of General Bugeaud, Tocqueville went so far to claim that "war in Africa is a science. Everyone is familiar with its rules and everyone can apply those rules with almost complete certainty of success. One of the greatest services that Field Marshal Bugeaud has rendered his country is to have spread, perfected and made everyone aware of this new science." Tocqueville advocated racial segregation in Algeria with two distinct legislations, one for European colonists and one for the Arab population. Such a two-tier arrangement would be fully realised with the 1870 Cremieux decree and the Indigenousness Code, which extended French citizenship to European settlers and Algerian Jews, whereas Muslim Algerians would be governed by Muslim law and restricted to a second-class citizenship.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Why did Tocqueville applaud General Bugeaud's methods?

QUES: (CNN) -- Cuba will pardon more than 2,900 prisoners, the government said Friday, though U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross is not among those who will be freed. The decision to release the prisoners follows "numerous requests" from their family members and religious institutions, and is a humanitarian gesture, said Cuban President Raul Castro. Among those who might be freed are prisoners over the age of 60, along with those who are sick, female or young with no previous criminal record. With some exceptions, prisoners convicted of spying, terrorism, murder and drug trafficking will not be released. Those who will be freed have already served a "important" part of their sentences and exhibited good behavior, according to an official statement published on the state-run website Cubadebate. The jailed American, Gross, will not be among those pardoned, the Cuban Interests Section in Washington said. Gross was jailed in December 2009, when he was working as a subcontractor on a U.S. Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy. Castro has accused him of importing satellite equipment to connect dissidents to the Internet, and this year Cuba's highest court upheld the 15-year sentence imposed on Gross for committing crimes against the security of the state. He has maintained his innocence and said he was trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Castro, speaking to the National Assembly, said that 86 prisoners from 25 countries would be among those released in coming days. He cited the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI as one of the motivations behind the move, which he said showed the "generosity and strength of the revolution." The pope has said he plans to visit Mexico and Cuba before Easter.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
How many years of his sentence does Alan have left?