Native Americans
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NASA's Nicole Aunapu Mann will be the first Native American woman to visit space
NASA has revealed that Nicole Aunapu Mann will be the first Native American woman to visit space when she travels to the ISS in September.
Native Americans still battling Facebook over 'real name' policy
Despite policy changes following its dispute with drag queens, Facebook is still banning individuals who run afoul of its "real name" policy. It recently suspended Native American Dana Lone Hill and wouldn't reinstate her even after she provided the requested ID. It was only after the media got wind of it that she was restored, prompting her to write "Katy Perry's Left Shark... has a Facebook page and we have to prove who we are." The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote in response that "no one should have to rely on media attention to get Facebook to deal with its broken name policy."
iOS 4.1 quietly added Cherokee language support
The Associated Press reports that Apple has quietly incorporated Cherokee language support into iOS. Cherokee tribal officials were worried about the demise of the Cherokee language as the tribe aged and its younger members increasingly adopted the English language -- and iPhones. However, instead of seeing technology as a threat, Cherokee tribal leaders opened talks with Apple three years ago about including native support for the Cherokee language in iOS. This fall, Apple replied to the Cherokees' request and announced that it was adding the Cherokee language to the roughly 50 languages supported by iOS. Apple's announcement was a surprise to Joseph Erb, who works in the Cherokee Nation's language technology division. He told the AP, "There are countries vying to get on these devices for languages, so we are pretty excited we were included." The written Cherokee language was created over 200 years ago when a blacksmith named Sequoyah converted the spoken Cherokee language into text. Use of the language has diminished in recent decades. Only 8,000 of the 290,000 members of the Cherokee tribe still speak the language -- a number the tribe hopes to increase with a little help from Apple.
