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The Possibility Of Having National Referendums In The United States
Did you know that according to Gallup Poll, 68 percent of Americans are in favor of having national referendums on key issues? Yet the United States currently only has local and state referendums. This essay details some statistics that show how Americans feel about some of the recent foreign policy decisions made by the federal government. It then goes on to explain what national referendums are, why they might be an effective solution to this problem, and how you can help support this initiative.
Elected officials can easily get so caught up in their own personal interests to the point where they end up making decisions that may benefit themselves, but not necessarily be in the best interests of the American people. Remember that elected officials serve us and not the other way around. Although we are the ones who elect these lawmakers, too often the policy decisions they make are not supported by a majority of Americans.
If we look at some of the recent national and foreign policy decisions that the federal government has either made or is considering, they are quite unpopular among Americans. Overall, Americans are in favor of most of the multilateral deals that the executive branch deems unfair to the United States. Under the current administration, the United States has become more isolationist on the world stage. This runs counter to the widespread belief that globalization is beneficial to the United States. According to Business Insider, 65 percent of Americans believe globalization is good for the United States. The executive branch has already withdrawn our country from the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement. According to Morning Consult, 57 percent of Americans support remaining in the Iran Nuclear Deal and according to The Atlantic, 70 percent of Americans support remaining in the Paris Climate Agreement. They have made us become more protectionist on trade by withdrawing from multilateral trade deals and imposing tariffs on many of our closest allies. According to Business Insider, 70 percent of Americans believe international trade is good for US consumers. They have ended DACA and remain intent on building a wall on our southern border. According to CBS News, 87 percent of Americans support DACA and oppose building a border wall. They continue to disparage and question the relevance of the NATO Alliance. According to Gallup Poll, 80 percent of Americans support remaining in the NATO Alliance.
National referendums are nationwide votes on key national and foreign policy issues. This means that all registered voters in the country would be allowed to vote on them. The Brexit vote that took place in Britain and more recently the vote legalizing abortion in Ireland are both examples of national referendums. In our country, the federal government, and in particular the executive branch, make most of the decisions on national and foreign policies.
Having national referendums would allow citizens to have more of a direct say when it comes to key policy issues. Of course, there would be conditions for when they would be appropriate, but if used properly, national referendums have the potential to be a very effective tool for having our voices heard and participating more actively in national and international politics.
The goal of this essay is to educate the public, start a healthy dialogue, and ultimately create a national referendum advocacy group that will take part in activities that include, but are not limited to: contacting elected representatives, generating petitions, giving community presentations, writing editorials to newspapers, holding meetings, and participating in protest rallies. If you are interested, please feel free to contact me through the email below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. There’s strength in numbers so I hope that you’ll join me. I appreciate your interest in learning more about this possibility and getting involved! I look forward to hearing your questions, concerns, and suggestions. | https://crfcap.org/mod/oublog/view.php?id=61&user=0&page=0&tag&tagorder=use&taglimit=500 |
The members of a grassroots movement that launched a month ago to raise awareness about the risks of opioid use and discourage drug dealers from settling in their neighbourhoods could never have predicted this.
The group, which started with six members, has quickly grown to 1,600 followers on its Facebook page — all within a month.
On Sunday afternoon, another in what has become a series of No More demonstrations was held in Timmins — this one at Hollinger Park. Every few seconds, there was the sound of honking from passing vehicles in support of this group’s effort.
“Most people here (participating in the demonstration) have a story to tell,” Louise Lefebvre, one of the organizers of the Timmins group, told The Daily Press. “They know somebody who passed away or they’re scared for their grandkids because it’s not safe with all the needles everywhere.
“You’ve got to do something. I’m not sure if what we’re doing is the right way to approach it, but it’s giving everyone a voice and so far the support for it has been unbelievable.”
This expression of public outrage, fuelled by the opioid crisis, calling for no more needless deaths due to overdoses, has been noticed by residents in other communities. Similar groups, operating under the same name, No More, have also recently started up in Hearst, Kapuskasing, Kirkland Lake, Sudbury, Temiskaming Shores, Belleville, Oshawa and Burlington.
Asked what is propelling this growth in membership and support, Lefebvre replied, “I believe it’s sadness that’s starting to turn into anger, and because we’re all tired of going to funerals.
“When it comes to the dealers, we seem to all agree, they have to go.”
On Sunday, there were simultaneous demonstrations held in Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Sudbury.
The group’s original plan in Timmins was to hold demonstrations in front of residences where dealers were purportedly known to be selling fentanyl, purple heroin and other opioids.
However, Lefebvre said they have since shifted away from this tactic because their membership grew so quickly and there became concerns about public safety and a desire to avoid physical confrontations with those involved in the illegal drug trade.
Several participants in the first demonstration held in South Porcupine last month told The Daily Press at the time, they had been approached and threatened amid their protest.
“I wouldn’t want the older citizens in our group to put their lives at risk,” said Lefebvre. “And we now have teenagers who are joining us, so I can’t in good conscience tell 1,600 people to grab your pitchforks and axes to go out and get these guys because if anybody was to get hurt, I would have that on my conscience for the rest of my life.”
As they did on Sunday, they now hold demonstrations in public areas with high-visibility instead of targeting neighbourhood locations where drug dealers purportedly reside. | https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/opioid-crisis-fueling-no-mores-rapid-growth/wcm/691b33bf-408c-42e6-ada0-fc6ebfc58834/amp |
The Vernal Area Community Calendar is provided as a public service and presents local events that are open to the public.
Use this form to suggest an event for the community calendar.
Please note that the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce and other participating agencies may in their sole discretion accept or deny any requests for event listings or links. Events must follow local laws and regulations. Events need to have a firm date.
The event listings are free of charge. Submitting an event does not guarantee inclusion and events may be edited or withdrawn at our discretion. These guidelines are not meant to be an exhaustive list of what we do and do not include.
Accepted events will be added to the calendar based on the following guidelines:
Events that are eligible for the community calendar:
- Events that are open to the public (events can be fee based or ticketed)
- Events that occur within Uintah County
- Major fundraisers for non-profit causes and public benefit or gain
- Multicultural events and celebrations
- Non-profit organization events that appeal to the general public
- Neighborhood block parties
- Farmer’s market
- Craft Fairs
- Multi-business sidewalk sales or event
- Significant entertainment events
Examples of appropriate events:
- Lincoln Day Dinner
- Caucus Events
- Public hearings
- Fundraising dinners (not recurring)
Events that are NOT eligible for the community calendar:
- Recurring meetings or classes, such as a club meeting, weekly yoga or fitness class
- Events of a religious worship in nature such as Bible studies or worship services
- Political campaigns, political fundraisers or events of a political nature
- Garage/yard sales
- House/backyard parties
- Home business parties or demonstrations
- Business promotions such as sales or specials
- Support groups or meetings
- Business open houses, grand openings or workshops
- Events that promote or encourage racism, bigotry, or are derogatory or hate-based in nature
The event organizer’s information is required to submit, but it will not be listed publicly. | http://www.thisisvernal.com/ |
Analysis of the Global LNG Compressor Market
The report on the global LNG Compressor market reveals that the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~XX% during the considered forecast period (2019-2029) and estimated to reach a value of ~US$XX by the end of 2029. The latest report is a valuable tool for stakeholders, established market players, emerging players, and other individuals seeking to establish a presence in the LNG Compressor market.
Further, by leveraging the insights enclosed in the report, market players can devise concise, impactful, and highly effective growth strategies to solidify their position in the LNG Compressor market.
Request Sample Report @ https://www.researchmoz.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2551332&source=atm
Research on the LNG Compressor Market Addresses the Following Queries
- Which end-user is likely to remain the most pivotal for the growth of the LNG Compressor market?
- Which regional market has the highest market attractiveness in 2019?
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- Why are market players aiming to expand their presence in region 1?
- What are the growth prospects of the LNG Compressor market in region 3?
Competitive Landscape
The competitive landscape section offers valuable insights related to the business prospects of leading market players operating in the LNG Compressor market. The market share, product portfolio, pricing strategy, and growth strategies adopted by each market player is included in the report.
Regional Landscape
The regional landscape section provides a deep understanding of the regulatory framework, current market trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by market players in each regional market.
End-User Assessment
The report bifurcates the LNG Compressor market based on different end users. The supply-demand ratio and consumption volume of each end-user is accurately depicted in the report.
Make An Enquiry About This Report @ https://www.researchmoz.com/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=2551332&source=atm
Medtronic
Teleflex Medical
Smiths Medical
TRACOE Medical
Sewoon Medical
Boston Medical
Cook Inc
Fuji Systems
Pulmodyne
Well Lead
TuoRen
Sujia
Segment by Regions
North America
Europe
China
Japan
Southeast Asia
India
Segment by Type
PVC Tracheostomy Tube
Silicone Rubber Tracheostomy Tube
Segment by Application
Emergency Treatment Tracheostomy Tube
Therapy Tracheostomy Tube
Essential Findings of the LNG Compressor Market Report: | https://www.ccguardian.com/lng-compressor-market-overview-on-key-innovations-2026 |
Mining opponents in Minnesota often argue that instead of developing some of the largest undeveloped deposits of copper and nickel in the world, Northeastern Minnesotans should instead focus on creating jobs in the tourism industry.
Unfortunately, this is an argument for widespread unemployment in the era of COVID-19, because according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (MNDEED), the Northeast economic planning region has seen 10,500 job losses in sectors of the economy that are the most related to the tourism industry, including food and beverage service workers, retail sales workers, cooks and food preparation workers, and other service industry positions, as you can see in the graph below from MNDEED.
This is bad news for the families that depend upon these jobs. Making the situation worse for these families is the fact that tourism in Northeastern Minnesota is highly seasonal. John Phelan, American Experiment’s senior economist, discussed the seasonality of tourism jobs last year. He found that most of the jobs created by the leisure and hospitality sector in St. Louis County occur in June, July, and August, with employment dropping off after the peak three months in summer.
Considering we are well into July, it appears 2020 will likely be a lost year for the tourism industry in Minnesota.
Mining has not escaped the virus unscathed. According to the MNDEED website, approximately 1,900 jobs associated with the mining industry, like extraction workers, mechanics, and plant and systems operators have been laid off during this same time period. This is very close to estimates published in the Star Tribune, which stated 1,750 people in the mining industry were unemployed due to the economic slowdown.
Thankfully, reports indicate mining companies will come back online when the demand for metal increases, and operations are estimated to resume in late summer.
The loss of tourism employment due to COVID highlights the importance of the mining industry. While both industries are affected by larger economic trends, mining was deemed essential, while tourism was not. Mining jobs also pay 5.8 times as much as the average tourism job in St. Louis County, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As a result, mining helps support more jobs in the rest of the economy, compared to tourism jobs.
The high wages and essential nature of the mining industry are why Northeastern Minnesotans overwhelmingly support environmentally responsible mining in their area. The industry versus tourism debate is a false choice, Northern Minnesota can, and should, have both industries, but it is important to understand that mining is the real driver of the regional economy, and tourism is just along for the ride. | https://alphanews.org/northeast-minnesota-has-lost-10500-tourism-related-jobs-since-march-16th/ |
South African Airways announced in a letter to all its foreign based offices that travel partners that it would heed South African travel laws in terms of travelling with minors which comes into effect on 1 June, 2015.
The letter stated that, "All children under the age of 18, regardless of nationality when traveling to or from South Africa will be required to have additional documentation. South African Airways advises travel partners to review all documentation requirements when booking minors to or from South Africa.
"Travellers who arrive in South Africa without the required documentation can be detained and/or deported immediately.
The airline advised travellers to familiarise themselves with the list of documents required for travelling with minors and although the travel rules have sparked heated debate both in parliament and among key tourism stakeholders who fear a negative impact on their industries, the rules are set to stay.
Last week Thursday Tourism minister Derek Hanekom expressed concern about the effect of new visa regulations on the tourism industry but said he felt it was too early to determine its exact impact on the industry that grew by 6.6% in 2014, reportedly higher than most countries' averages.
Hanekom did however confirm South Africa had experienced negative growth over the past six months from countries affected by the regulations.
Contrary to the department of tourism's cautious approach to evaluate the future impact the new rules could have on South Africa’s tourism industry, DA Member of Parliament James Vos says the new immigration rules will cost the tourism sector over R6.8bn in losses and result in severe job cuts. Vos said this was according to information released by the Board of Airline Representatives South Africa. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, South Africa has a lot going for it in terms of tourism investment, but new visa rules could spoil all of that as the rules could harm South Africa’s competitiveness as a destination.
When the new rules come into play, airlines will be forced to refuse travel to families not in possession of these documents. “A child denied boarding by an airline ultimately means a family can’t travel and, by industry estimates, until traveller awareness is 100%, tourist arrivals to South Africa could be negatively impacted by up to 20%,”said Vos.
Based on 2013 numbers, 536 000 foreign visitors could be denied travel, said Vos.“The lost income to South Africa from these high value visitors could be over R6.8bn annually inevitably leading to job losses in the South African tourism sector." Vos said. | https://www.nwivisas.com/nwi-blog/south-africa/travellers-without-new-visa-docs-face-immediate-deportation/ |
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) research has revealed that upto 75 million jobs are at immediate risk in the travel and tourism industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. The latest projection shows a 50 Percent increase in jobs at risk, in less than two weeks. The new numbers signify a worrying trend-nearly one million jobs are being lost on a daily effect due to the resounding effects of the coronavirus.
49 million jobs at risk in Asia Pacific region
The WTTC analysis has also highlighted how individual regions have been battling the crisis. The Asia-Pacific region will be the most heavily impacted with nearly 49 million jobs at risk throughout the region, representing a loss of nearly US$800 billion to Travel & Tourism GDP.in Europe, up to 10 million jobs in Travel & Tourism are at risk, totaling a loss of nearly US$552 billion.
The Americas including the United States, Canada and Mexico are expected to lose up to US$570 billion combined, with nearly seven million jobs in the travel and tourism industry at risk. Other countries expected to be hit hard by this crisis include Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Indonesia and India.
Government delay in offering aid to the sector
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “The number of jobs now at risk in the global Travel & Tourism sector is a staggering 75 million, bringing real and profound worry to millions of families around the world.
“This chilling new figure also represents the collective delay by many governments around the world to react quickly enough to come to the aid of a sector which is the backbone of the global economy.
“If urgent action is not taken within the next few days, the Travel & Tourism sector faces an economic meltdown from which it will struggle to recover and plunge millions of people dependent upon it for their livelihoods into debt. Not only will this have an enormous negative impact on major businesses in the Travel & Tourism sector around the world, but the ‘domino effect’ will also result in massive job losses across the entire supply chain, hitting employees and those in self-employment. | https://thedope.news/wttc-reveals-50-percent-increase-in-job-losses-due-to-covid-19-as-compared-to-previous-estimates/ |
Tourism is the lifeblood of many islands in the Caribbean and Jamaica is no exception. In a little over a month since the people’s favorite island reopened its borders to tourist with all the necessary safety measures in place, Jamaica has earned almost $80 million in revenue from around 40,000 tourists.
Jamaica, which began welcoming international travelers on June 15, said it had to open its borders in order to save its economy which could lose $10.3 billion, including $762.8 million in the tourism sector if it remains closed.
“Tourism is our lifeblood, and with the help of international experts and a dedicated task force, we’ve developed protocols that allow us to safely reopen our borders,” said director of tourism, Donovan White.
The island’s tourism sector employs about 350,000 workers, contributing more than one-third of the country’s economy. Jamaica is the largest of the Caribbean’s tourism economies to reopen since it reported its first case of COVID-19 in March.
According to the Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, this achievement has been credited to the safety measures implemented by the government to ensure the safety of its people and tourists alike.
One such prominent measure is the establishment of a resilient corridor along the northern coast of the island, which is being hailed as one of the first among tourist destinations in the world. This enabled thousands of Jamaicans employed by the tourism industry to return to their jobs.
Now, the opening of the southern coast resilient corridor last week has also allowed about 10,000 more workers to resume their duties.
“The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world and here in Jamaica, we know that tourism is integral to our survival. As the nation’s largest economic engine, Jamaica’s travel and tourist industry employs 170,000 workers and impacts an additional 120,000 jobs from other industries, fuelling more than one third of the country’s economy,” said Bartlett.
The world has been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and it has affected every aspect of the world’s economy. Jamaica reported the worst decline in their Real GDP in the last four decades amid the pandemic.
Although there is no vaccine, people’s livelihoods depend on the tourism industry in Jamaica and until there is a mass vaccine, the island is doing all it can to mitigate risks so as to be able to “restart our economy smartly and safely, ensuring a safe, secure and seamless experience for our citizens, tourism workers and their families and visitors,” Bartlett added.
According to Bartlett, there has been consultations with health experts around the world to establish “a comprehensive set of protocols to guide those in the tourism sector.”
These comprehensive safety protocols were compared with 20 other viable markets around the world and deliberated on by global health agencies who liaised with the national security, ministries of health and wellness, and foreign affairs and foreign trade.
“We are all seeing and feeling the societal shift in mindset, including how we travel. There is a sense of anticipation, of wanting to reconnect with nature and with people.
“For this to happen there must be an imperative that we work together across sectors to develop a framework that prioritizes the health of our citizens, along with traveler confidence and safety,” said Bartlett. | https://face2faceafrica.com/article/jamaica-bags-80m-after-opening-its-borders-amid-coronavirus-pandemic |
Tourism employment increased in July, albeit at a slower pace than in June. Employment increased in four of five tourism industry groups but declined in the transportation industry.
- Tourism employment increased by 190,000 jobs between June and July, an increase of 12.8%, lower than the 19.7% growth in employment that occurred between May and June.
- The tourism unemployment rate has fallen to 18.7%.
- Increases in tourism employment accounted for 65.1% of all employment increases in July.
- There were 557,200 fewer individuals employed in tourism in July 2020 than in July 2019
- Employment in occupations with lower average annual earnings was more strongly affected than in occupations where average earnings are higher.
Please note: To allow comparisons with tourism sector data, which sees significant employment fluctuations over the year, we use seasonally unadjusted data for both tourism employment and overall employment.
In the tourism sector, the seasonally unadjusted labour force survey data shows that the number of employed individuals grew by 190,000—an increase of 12.8%, following a 19.7% increase in June. Combined with the increases in May and in June, tourism employment has risen by 517,800 jobs since April. However, employment in tourism remained 17.9% below February levels and 25.0% lower than in July 2019.
Last July, there were over 2.2 million Canadians working in the tourism sector. This July, that number dropped to just over 1.67 million Canadians.
In July, employment (unadjusted for seasonality) across the entire Canadian economy increased by 291,800 jobs. The increase in tourism employment accounted for 65.1% of that overall increase.
From June to July, employment changes by industry group ranged from a loss of 10,100 jobs in transportation to the addition of 110,200 jobs in food and beverage services. As a percentage, the recreation and entertainment industry had the strongest growth, increasing 19.5% relative to June.
Of the added employment, 43.9% were full-time jobs. In the recreation and entertainment and the travel services industries, the growth in full-time jobs was greater than the growth in part-time jobs. In transportation, both full-time and part-time employment decreased.
Because the industry groups that make up tourism are different sizes, looking at the monthly change in employment as a percentage change relative to the previous month provides a more equitable picture of how each industry is doing. It also helps illustrate the size of the employment increases, relative to the employment decreases that occurred in past months.
Employment in all industry groups remains below pre-COVID levels. The recreation and entertainment industry has made up most of March and April’s jobs losses, as employment in that industry is only 3.5% below February levels. The travel services industry has the largest overall employment loss as a percentage of the number of individuals employed in February, down by 38.7%, followed by the transportation industry, which following an employment loss in July has employment levels 30.6% lower than February.
July and August are a peak time in demand and employment for Canada’s tourism sector. Therefore, it is important to compare year-over-year employment, as March is usually a low point for tourism employment, after which jobs are steadily added until an August peak. Under normal circumstances, tourism employment drops again as the summer tourism season ends.
On a year-over-year basis, seasonally unadjusted employment across all Canadian industries was down 6.3% from July 2019. In comparison, tourism employment was down 25.0%. By industry group, year-over-year employment losses in July ranged from 37.9% in transportation to 20.9% in food and beverage services.
In July, tourism employment increased in all provinces. Employment increases ranged from an additional 1,200 jobs added in Prince Edward Island (an increase of 21.1% from June) to an additional 57,800 jobs in Ontario (an increase of 16.9% from a month prior).
Tourism employment in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador has essentially recovered to pre-COVID levels, while Prince Edward Island had slightly higher employment in July than in February. However, on a year-over-year basis, employment in all provinces remains well below last summer’s levels. New Brunswick’s tourism sector is the closest to normal employment levels, being “only” 12.4% below the level of employment for July 2019. Prince Edward Island, Ontario, and Saskatchewan are the farthest from last year’s July employment levels, at -38.4%, -35.2% and -34.8%, respectively.
The overall and tourism unemployment rates decreased in July. Tourism unemployment fell to 18.7%. By tourism industry group, the unemployment rate was highest in travel services, at 27.2%.
In July 2020, the unemployment rate was 14.0 percentage points higher than the rate reported in July 2019, and lower than the previous month (June 2020) when the unemployment rate stood at 25.0%. At 18.7%, tourism’s unemployment rate was above Canada’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 11.2%.
The unemployment rate dropped in four of the five industry groups that make up the tourism sector, while it rose in the transportation industry.
|Unemployment Rate|
|Tourism Industry Group||
|
July 2019
|June 2020||
|
July 2020
|Tourism||4.7%||25.0%||18.7%|
|Accommodations||3.4%||30.3%||25.7%|
|Food & Beverage Services||5.9%||25.8%||17.0%|
|Recreation & Entertainment||5.0%||27.8%||20.6%|
|Transportation||2.9%||14.3%||14.6%|
|Travel Services||N/A||28.1%||27.2%|
On a provincial basis, tourism unemployment rates ranged from 10.8% in Saskatchewan to 21.6% in Ontario.
The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for tourism in each province were above the rates reported for the provincial economy.
Total Actual Hours Worked by Sector
In July, the number of actual hours worked decreased in many sectors, likely due to summer vacations. The number of actual hours worked in tourism-related sectors continued to increase, although not as rapidly as in May and June. In July, the number of actual hours worked increased by 16.8% in the accommodation and food services sector, and by 11.9% in the information, culture and recreation sector.
Back in February, accommodation and food services employees worked over 31 million hours, but this July actual hours worked only totalled 23.6 million hours. Workers in the information, culture and recreation sector worked 22.3 million hours in February. By April, actual hours of work had dropped to 13.6 million hours, but this rebounded to 20.9 million hours in July.
The reduction in hours worked in these two sectors continues to be greater than the reduction in employment. This suggests that there are still individuals employed but not working to full capacity.
Employment by Occupation and Average Annual Earnings
The following chart groups occupations by the average annual earnings of those working in the occupational group. Occupations are grouped into those earning less than $30,000; $30,000 to $50,000; $50,000 to $80,000; and over $80,000.
Initial employment losses (March and April) were heavily concentrated in occupations where workers earn less than $50,000 a year on average. By April, employment dropped by 992,000 jobs in occupations that earn less than $30,000 per year, and by over 1.2 million in occupations earning between $30,000 and $50,000. The two highest earning categories lost a total of 707,600 between them.
While initial employment losses were mostly in lower-earning occupations, those occupations have seen a greater recovery as well. In July, the number of individuals employed in occupations earning less than $30K were 376,700 fewer than in February, followed by occupations in the $50K to $80K range (-283,300), and $30K to $50K (-249,900). The number of employed individuals working in occupations with average annual earnings above $80K was 62,300 higher than in February.
Still, as of July, the two lowest earning categories made up almost three quarters of employment losses since February, and jobs within these earnings categories are most at risk should employment decline in the fall due to slowing demand or a resurgence of COVID-19.
The Fall 2020 Outlook
Employment has increased significantly as restrictions on businesses have lifted. A further employment increase in August is expected, but growth is then likely to slow. The normal yearly trend is for tourism employment to decline between the 3rd and 4th quarters of the year. While the overall tourism employment decline is not large in percentage terms—averaging -5.9% over the last decade—the trend is much more noticeable in certain industries, such as accommodation, and in provinces such as Prince Edward Island, where the seasonal drop in tourism employment from Q3 to Q4 averaged -29.3% over the past decade.
As of the release of this report, the Canadian border will remain closed until at least September 21, but it is unlikely to open until much later in the year or even not before 2021. Any employment growth this autumn will need to be driven by demand from locals and Canadians travelling within the country. With the border closed, domestic tourism demand could increase because Canadians who would normally travel to another country may choose to travel within this country between September and December.
The tourism sector is facing very significant headwinds, yet the sector remains innovative and resilient. One current example: although patio dining usually becomes less appealing in cold weather, restaurants are making investments in heat lamps to extend the outdoor dining season. The tourism sector as a whole will need to muster all of its innovation and resiliency—and will require the support of Canadians—if it is to continue to recover this fall.
As defined by the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account. The NAICS industries included in the tourism sector are those that would cease to exist or operate at a significantly reduced level of activity as a direct result of an absence of tourism. | http://tourismhr.ca/tourism-employment-rebound-slows-in-july/ |
Cayman’s unemployment remains on track to hit a projected 6.9% by the end of this year, Premier Alden McLaughlin has said.
In August, Finance Minister Roy McTaggart pointed to this projected figure when outlining Cayman’s economic picture due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains unchanged at this point.
McLaughlin, in a statement Thursday responding to a question from George Town Central MLA Kenneth Bryan in the Legislative Assembly, said, “The Economics and Statistics Office has projected that by the end of the year unemployment is projected to increase to 6.9% from 3.5% at the end of last year, principally because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Bryan had asked whether there has been a decrease or increase in Caymanian job losses and whether Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman can determine if it is COVID-19 related.
McLaughlin said the closure of local borders and the loss of tourism due to COVID has caused job losses.
The premier said data collected during the period of the shelter-in-place provisions indicated that 50% of WORC’s job-seeking customers who made contact with the Department of Labour and Pensions for employment services reported COVID-19 as a factor in job loss.
“Highest numbers were seen among persons displaced from the tourism and construction industries, although construction has now recovered, as well as administration, retail and public transportation,” McLaughlin reported to the House.
He said 1,461 jobseekers registered to date since November 2019, including 1,183 Caymanians.
“As of now, 806 Caymanians are registered as unemployed, 619 of that number registered as unemployed between March and present, versus only 157 Caymanians registered as unemployed during the period November 2019 to March 2020 – that is prior to the shelter-in-place provisions being implemented,” he said.
Bryan questioned whether the department was considering mechanisms to verify the causes of job losses as he suggested that there could be individuals using COVID-19 as an excuse to get rid of employees.
The premier pointed out there were no changes to the Labour Law and its provisions relating to dismissal.
However, he added, “I think we can say confidently that, given where the economy was and the very, very low employment levels prior to COVID, the vast majority of unemployment situations now are the result of the fact we have almost no tourism industry, certainly no real international tourism industry.”
He said there is some local tourism, but the government is continuing to work on ways to ensure that unemployed workers can look after themselves and find jobs in other fields.
“There is still no shortage of jobs in Cayman,” the premier said. “If you look at the sheer number of work permits, there are lots of jobs over here; it is a question of matching individuals and their skill sets to jobs that are actually available.”
Drop in dismissal complaints
McLaughlin said the Department of Labour and Pensions has reported a decline in the number of unfair-dismissal complaints.
The premier, responding to a question from Newlands MLA Alva Suckoo said an average of 49 complaints were made per month this year compared to 108 monthly complaints in 2019.
Opposition Leader Arden McLean questioned if the complaints had been dealt with.
The premier said 40 investigations were currently active, and seven had been completed and referred to the Labour Tribunal.
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Support local journalism. Subscribe to the all-access pass for the Cayman Compass. | https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/10/23/unemployment-on-track-to-hit-6-9-by-year-end/ |
Surrey to investigate how tourism affects communities 8,000 miles apart
The University of Surrey is investigating how communities in Cornwall, UK and Paternoster, South Africa are delving into the tourism industry to manage the decline of agriculture, fishing and mining in their area.
The new comparative study – led by Surrey’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Human Science Research Council in South Africa – has been given £9,000 by the British Academy as part of its Newton Mobility Grants scheme.
The study will determine how people living 8,130 miles apart in the UK and South Africa cope with changes to their key industries, the role tourism plays in diversifying local livelihoods, what obstacles individuals face to enter the tourism industry and how these changes impact gender and community relations. | https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/surrey-investigate-how-tourism-affects-communities-8000-miles-apart |
Another 3,150 Tropical North Queensland tourism jobs will be lost by Christmas shrinking the tourism workforce to half its pre-pandemic size, according to new research from the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF).
Commenting on the findings and advising that tourism had employed 15,750 full and part-time staff and, with indirect tourism spend, supported a total of 25,500 jobs before the pandemic in the Cairns region, Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) Chief Executive, Mark Olsen explained “by July 2021, we had lost 3,600 permanent staff, even with the support of JobKeeper and a returning domestic market.
“The region grew its workforce across the entire supply chain ready for a busy winter, but now these new recruits, including more than 200 from the tourism industry, who have been in training for months are being told to find other work.
"Government needs to understand how significant this impact will be on our community where one in five jobs have depended on tourism.”
TTNQ Chair Ken Chapman said income support was needed for the tourism staff who were losing their livelihoods right now, advising “employees who are stood down and lost hours of work due to lockdowns in their area are able to get up to $750 per week of COVID disaster income support payments from Centrelink.
“But tourism employees stood down because lockdowns elsewhere in the country are causing their employer’s business to be locked out from its customer base cannot receive income support.
“This is a human tragedy due entirely to Government policy.”
Cairns Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, Patricia O’Neill said job losses were being felt across all industries, particularly retail which had suffered a 61% decline in jobs since the previous financial year.
Advance Cairns Chief Executive, Paul Sparshott said the ability for the regional economy to recover would be greatly reduced if skilled staff were lost to the tourism and hospitality sector, noting “there will be far reaching ramifications. When tourism markets are severely impacted it flows through to other industries affecting the whole regional economy.”
Stating that Tropical North Queensland is, and will remain, one of the most impacted regions in Australia and the outlook for the tourism industry was grim, Olsen went on to say “without customers, businesses do not have the turnover to keep their highly skilled staff, some of whom have received years of training in specialised areas to become the skippers, dive masters and jump masters that provide the region’s signature tourism experiences.
"Our region has had just 27 days straight without the impacts of a lockdown in key domestic markets in the past 18 months.
“That period in May was the busiest the Cairns and Great Barrier Reef region had been since before the pandemic as we are the most Googled regional destination for Australian holidaymakers.
“However, the stop/start impact of southern lockdowns shutting the destination out of key markets is difficult for businesses to manage, particularly with staffing levels.
“We are in our sixth week of free-falling visitors with more than 15 million Australians in lockdown.
“Most businesses are running at less than 5% of their normal revenues, and the forward bookings are slowing with hotels down to 15-25% occupancy and more than $20 million in postponed events for July and August.
“We have boats going out with just six passengers and four crew and most venues are on limited trading hours, while others have gone into hibernation.
"Consumers have lost confidence in booking travel interstate and far from home, with nearly 60% of Australian travellers unlikely to cross their state border according to new data from the Queensland Tourism Industry Council."
"With half of our domestic travel coming from interstate before lockdown, the closing of borders will continue to have a dramatic impact on our region.
“With school holidays looming, TTNQ’s marketing campaign activity in September and October will be heavily reliant on travel agent partners to try and give consumers confidence to book knowing that change will continue to happen.
“Data from the retail travel agencies show that Cairns remains the fifth most searched and sixth most booked travel destination over the past four weeks, but we are running at less than 25% of the searches and 55% of bookings from where we were pre-Covid.”
Images: Cairns from the air (top) and TTNQ Chief Executive, Mark Olsen (below). Credit: TTNQ.
20th August 2021 - Plans move forward for rectangular stadia in Cairns and Rockhampton
19th August 2021 - CrocArena’s crocodiles arrive at Wildlife Habitat Port Douglas
18th August 2021 - QTIC announces partnership with Local Tickets
20th July 2021 - Experience Co commences building of Great Barrier Reef pontoon
5th July 2021 - Cairns-based Tropic Wings names new senior management team
3rd June 2021 - Tourism Tropical North Queensland welcomes John O’Sullivan to its Board
22nd June 2021 - UNESCO recommends Great Barrier Reef be listed as ‘in danger’
20th May 2021 - Queensland campaign aims to fill vacant regional tourism jobs
6th May 2021 - Refurbished Cairns Convention Centre to reopen with impressive events calendar
17th March 2021 - Queensland Government extends fee relief for Cairns reef operators
23rd February 2021 - Cairns ZOOM and Wildlife Dome names new koala joey
22nd February 2021 - 17 marine tourism operators funded to monitor health of Great Barrier Reef
21st February 2021 - Far North Queensland loses $2.2 billion of visitor spending
20th January 2021 - WTTC predicts over 100 million global tourism jobs could be recovered during 2021
14th January 2021 - QTIC to survey operators on insurance crisis
7th January 2021 - Cairns’ Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park to close as COVID-19 hits tourism business
23rd October 2020 - New Tourism Tropical North Queensland leader to guide region’s recovery
9th October 2020 - QTIC shares tourism industry’s election priorities for next Queensland Government
31st August 2020 - $11.3 million funding boost announced for Far North Queensland tourism
6th August 2020 - Cairns Regional Council purchases beach wheelchairs and mobi mats for inclusive access
10th June 2020 - Ferris wheel to return to Cairns for seven months
23rd September 2019 - Sale of Far North Queensland’s Dunk Island a prelude to resort refurbishment
4th October 2018 - QTIC recognises industry innovation on World Tourism Day
3rd November 2016 - Tourism jobs key in Western Australia marginal seats
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Like many industries around the world, the tourism and hospitality sector in PNG are struggling to survive and recover, Lae Chamber of Commerce president John Byrne said, who hails from Lae.
According to Mr Byne, businesses in the Lae area have developed procedures to keep themselves afloat - with at the most 40 to 60 per cent capacity. While some have reduced their staff, others have chosen to do rotational shifts to give everyone a chance to continue working.
In a statement, he said, “Hospitality in Lae serves both international and domestic with local customers and a lessening of movement of people, less disposable income means less hospitality and job losses. Many businesses are choosing to split-shift or rotate staff rather than create job losses and that is commendable.”
Mr Byrne added that prior to COVID-19, businesses in the Lae area have not been quite successful, and they are doing measures to revive the industry. One such process is for several tourism operators to work closely with domestic and local clients, and look for more ways to grow and adapt.
“On a larger scale there are some exciting projects coming up for tourism which will cement Lae and Morobe as a place to visit,” Mr Byrne said in a statement. “Disappointingly but not unexpectedly the world-class Morobe Show which attracts more international visitors annually had to be cancelled including many of our provincial cultural shows and this also has an impact on tourism and local revenue.”
Mr Byrne also added that small cafes in the area are leading the way towards safety measures: handwashing, wearing of face masks and disinfecting.
Meanwhile aside from the hotel and tourism industry, bars, clubs, and gambling houses have also been damaged by COVID-19 and some organizations such as the LCCI through the Morobe Provincial Emergency Operations Committee are finding ways to help them. | https://www.pngbusinessnews.com/post/lae-tourism-and-hospitality-trying-to-recover |
The global travel and tourism sector suffered a loss of almost $4.5 trillion last year due to the “devastating” impact of Covid-19.
More than 62 million jobs were lost, representing a year-on-year drop of 18.5%, leaving just 272 million employed across the industry globally.
International travel spending was down 69.4% on 2019 levels.
Domestic spend fell by 45%, a lower decline due to some internal travel in a number of countries.
The full financial impact of the global pandemic emerged in a economic impact report by the World Travel & Tourism Council.
It paints first full picture of a sector struggling to survive in the face of crippling travel restrictions and unnecessary quarantines, which continue to threaten the urgent recovery of the world economy, according to the WTTC.
The sector’s contribution to GDP plunged by 49.1%, compared to the overall global economy which dropped by just 3.7% in 2020.
Altogether, the sector’s contribution to global GDP almost halved to $4.7 trillion in 2020 – 5.5% of the global economy – from nearly $9.2 trillion the previous year (10.4%).
Travel and tourism was generating one in four of all new jobs around the world in 2019, contributing 10.6% or 334 million jobs globally.
But job losses hit the entire travel and tourism ecosystem as the pandemic spread.
SMEs, which make up 80% of all businesses in the sector, were particularly affected.
The impact on women, youth and minorities was significant in one of the world’s most diverse sectors, according to the report
And the threat persists as many of these jobs are currently supported by government retention schemes and reduced hours and could be lost without a full recovery, the WTTC warned.
The global tourism body fears governments cannot continue to prop up threatened jobs indefinitely.
However, a resumption in international travel by June will “significantly” boost global and national GDPs and jobs after a “ruinous” 2020 and past winter.
The sector’s contribution to global GDP could rise sharply this year, up 48.5% year-on-year. The research also shows that its contribution could almost reach the same levels of 2019 in 2022, with a further year-on-year rise of 25.3%.
WTTC also predicts that if the global vaccine rollout continues at pace, and travel restrictions are relaxed just before the summer season, the 62 million jobs lost in 2020 could return by 2022.
The organisation’s president and chief executive Gloria Guevara said: “We must praise the prompt action of governments around the world for saving so many jobs and livelihoods at risk, thanks to various retention schemes, without which today’s figures would be far worse.
“However, WTTC’s annual economic impact report shows the full extent of the pain our sector has had to endure over the past 12 months, which has needlessly devastated so many lives and businesses, large and small.
“Clearly no one wants to go through what so many have had to suffer during the past difficult 12 months.
“WTTC research shows the global travel and tourism sector alone has been devastated, burdened by an unprecedented loss of almost $4.5 trillion.
“With the sector’s contribution to GDP plunging by almost half, it’s more important than ever that travel and tourism is given the support needed so it can help power the economic recovery, which will be instrumental in enabling the world to revive from the effects of the pandemic.”
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Protecting vulnerable families during the economic downturn
It was an Easter weekend like no other with the state of emergency (S.O.E.) ensuring everyone solemnly marked the occasion in the privacy of their own homes.
Some churches reached out to their congregation through their television stations and social media, the change in the Gospel’s mode of delivery breaking new ground in Christianity’s 190-year history in Samoa.
And the announcement by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi on Saturday, confirming the negative test results of the last 12 outstanding suspected cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19), would have been the icing on the cake for the patients and their families as well as the public.
“The Director General of Health and his staff had not slept well while waiting for the results, in case it came back positive and we would have to trace those that were in contact with suspects,” said the Prime Minister.
“Because all of the cases [being reported] were contracted by those that traveled and it is good news that none of our cases are positive.”
Sadly, the same Sunday Samoan edition that reported on the negative COVID-19 test samples, also reported on the grim realities facing our tourism industry today.
Over 500 workers in the sector have been laid off, following the closure of over 50 hotels and resorts on the islands of Upolu and Savai’i, with the Samoa Hotel Association projecting more job losses this week.
“We are still trying to update our database but we have about 55 hotels and resorts altogether that are temporarily closed from Upolu and Savaii,” said the Association’s President, Tupa’i Saleimoa Vaai. “A lot of the hotels will be making drastic decisions by next week (this week) and saying that tourism is in trouble is an understatement.”
A lot of families will, no doubt, are starting to feel the pinch of increasing job losses from the tourism sector. Their form of income through the employment of either a mother or a father or a son or a daughter gone.
But the sector also has indirect beneficiaries, such as farmers who sell their produce directly to the hotels and resorts as well as to the fishermen, who were their long-term clients for fresh fish prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
That is to say the closure of all hotels and resorts nationally will have a significant effect on thousands of workers and their families, leaving them insecure and vulnerable, due to their loss of income and the absence of alternate income generation options.
Unfortunately, the interventions announced by the Government last week, through its $12.5 million tala stimulus package targeting the private sector falls short of offering tangible assistance to the tourism sector.
Consequently, the Prime Minister’s declaration last Saturday that Samoa remains one of few COVID-19 free states in the world, is timely as his Government’s review of the S.O.E. orders might want to consider calls for selected local businesses to operate at half-capacity to avoid a complete economic shutdown.
Local businessman, Papali’i Grant Percival, has called for restaurants, bars, public transport and churches to be reopened but in compliance with strict operating conditions.
“You say: if you want to be open you will put in hygiene measures to keep everything sterile, you make sure anyone who comes in is appropriately distanced so they don’t infringe on personal space and people wear masks unless they are eating or drinking,” he said.
“Then you keep the economy afloat. We have lost our tourism sector and it was only accommodation but now it’s also the food and beverage sector, it’s a lot more, and we didn’t need to.”
Hence with the reopening of selected businesses, extension of trading hours, and the continued closure of our international borders (except for vessels laden with essential supplies), there is a chance the Government and the private sector can work to keep our economy ticking long enough to ride out the COVID-19 storm while keeping Samoa safe.
But should a Government-review of the S.O.E. orders opt to maintain the status quo, then the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development should consider a food rationing assistance programme in consultation with the village councils, to ensure families that are vulnerable due to the immediate loss of employment continue to provide for their children.
Keep safe Samoa and continue to maintain adequate social distancing and hygiene. | https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/article/61286 |
Introduction On September 11, 2001, a well planned and a devastating attack was directed to the United States of America. An Islamic extremist group called al Qaeda was responsible for these attacks. These attacks were a blow to the economic and the business fabric of the U.S., and as a result, of the world.
Despite the fact that the U.S. economy was slowing in the months prior to this incident, the consequences of the terrorist act tipped the economy further into depression. The tourism and the travel industry were among the severely affected by September 11, but the industries are recovering.
Background information about the disaster The terrorist attacks which took place on September 11, 2001, usually referred to as the 9/11 attacks, were a sequence of attacks in which suicide bombers driven by religious fundamentalism and the hatred for the U.S., targeted the country’s citizens. That day, nineteen terrorists linked to the al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four commercial planes and every team was composed of an experienced pilot.
The pilots of two of these airlines headed them for the Twin Towers in New York. The third airline was directed towards to the Pentagon while the fourth one was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Because of this disaster, 2973 individuals lost their lives and no one knows the whereabouts of twenty-four individuals until today.
Economic effects arising from 9/11 Major economic effects were felt after the 9/11 suicide attacks. The initial shock made the worldwide stock markets to drop significantly. The opening of the New York Stock did was hindered after the first attack, and activities for the day were postponed after the second attack.
The stock exchanged remained closed for a week. The London Stock Exchange and others were also closed. Gold prices, oil prices, and oil prices all spiked upwards. The Federal Reserve increased its lending to financial institutions in the U.S. to undertake uncleared credit payments.
Other sectors of the economy such as the insurance, agriculture, small businesses, and airlines were also affected. The insurance industry was severely affected following September 11 attacks. This is because of the huge costs involved and the unexpected change of events. The high number of deaths and extensive damage to infrastructure resulted in a massive infrastructure/casualty claim in history. The loss was approximated to be $40 billion.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More Consequently, shares of most insurance companies reduced by over ten percent. Prior to 9/11, the agricultural sector was starting to pick up from years of low returns. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, the sector experienced major losses due to delayed deliveries into both the domestic and the international market.
The revenues of the agricultural sector are largely dependent on the quantity of exports made and the cost of inputs such as fuel and fertilizer. The changing geopolitical situations in the aftermath of the suicide attacks significantly affected the U.S. agricultural sector.
The September 11 catastrophe devastated up to 18,000 businesses, a significant number being small businesses, which were situated in and around World Trade Center. In the aftermath of the incident, government actions, for example, closure of airports, and consumer reactions, for example, reduced travelling worsened the condition of the vulnerable small businesses. Small businesses have insufficient cash reserves and are especially vulnerable to shocks and losses as opposed to large companies.
Effects of 9/11 on tourism and travel industry The use of civilian airplanes as assault vehicles to cause destruction on the U.S. has no precedent in the history of the airline industry. That is why their use shook the confidence of many individuals regarding air travel (Harris, para.1; Reuters). An increasing number of visitors started to avoid popular tourist destinations as most of them became too frightened to travel.
Many tourists became cautious of busy places like theme parks and big cities. Following the attacks, a large number of travelers took swift action to cancel their flights while others made up their minds to postpone big trips. The September 11 affected the tourism and the airline industry in the U.S. and around the world as people became too frightened to board an airplane and travel (Cole, 54; Shackley, 120).
The tourism industry in Britain, for example, was affected since travelers did not want to go to the country for fears that it was the next terrorists’ target. Hotel bookings in Britain recorded a sharp drop in attendance and the visits to the country’s local attractions reduced significantly. This is because individuals usually do not want to travel to places where can be targeted by terrorist.
The demand by travelers for hotel rooms and a number of other travel-related services plummeted considerably. Many travel agencies had to deal with situations when the supply far exceeded the demand. For instance, the aviation industry had to tackle the issue of many empty seats on its flights by lowering both the price and the supply of their product. Therefore, the industry strategized to lower the price that passengers pay per ticket and reduce the number of air travels.
We will write a custom Research Paper on Tourism, Travel and 9/11 specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Cutting back on supply and price meant that the aviation industry required less labor. The Air Transport Association (ATA) estimates that the airline industry lost $1.4 billion in returns when commercial flights were cancelled for four days after the attacks due to security reasons.
As a result, the industry had to lay off a good number of its employees (Eaton, para 12; Bonham et al.). During the first one hundred days after 9/11, 273,000 jobs were lost and one year later, over 359,000 employees were dismissed from their positions throughout the United States.
A number of airline and tourism companies made their workers redundant offered them vacations without proper payments. This is the outcome of the airline and tourism industries not making any profits after the terrorist attacks (Loose, para.1; Homan).
There was thirty percent reduction in holiday bookings and flight consolidators had to deal with sixty percent reduction in bookings. For example, the British Airways laid off 7,000 staff members and reduced the provision of its services by ten percent. Out of these number, 5,300 employees who were serving as cabin crew or support staff members were dismissed from their positions.
With a reduced amount of disposable income, the laid-off employees were obliged to cut down on their spending. The demand for other products and services were also reduced. This trend set off similar spirals in other industries. Alternatively, the workers who were not dismissed were frightened of being dismissed, so they too cut down on their expenses.
The aviation industry lowered the demand for the different products they required. For instance, the demand for in-flight meals and airline equipment drastically reduced. Thus, the poor performance of the aviation industry affected other related industries in the sector.
For example, the company Rolls Royce that produces engines for airplanes axed a number of its employees after 9/11 because many airlines were not introducing new airplanes into their fleet.After 9/11, the various travel markets were affected in varying degrees (Sharpley, 20). To begin with, the number of tourists coming to the United States reduced by more than five million in 2001, and expenditure reduced by up to $ 10 billion.
Generally, in the short term international trips were impaired more than domestic trips as most people restricted movements to and from the U.S. Many people started to prefer short-haul travel destinations to long-haul travel destinations because of security reasons. People kept off from travelling to and from terrorism prone areas such as the Middle East and some parts of Asia.
Not sure if you can write a paper on Tourism, Travel and 9/11 by yourself? We can help you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The tragedy also had consequences on the different travel segments. The business travel and meeting markets experienced instant distractions. This is because the months of September and October are usually the high seasons for such trips.
Tourist hotels that mainly depend on fly-in customers were mostly affected in direct comparison to hotels that depend on drive-in customers. International leisure travel drastically reduced especially among senior citizens who are more susceptible to terrorist threats. “Ridiculously high” cancellations of bookings were made during the months of September and October following the attacks.
Domestic leisure travel during the end-year vacation was affected to a smaller extent as more people opted for shorter destinations. Leisure trips to local and nearby “winter sun” destinations and ski destinations were not severely affected since they are regarded as less prone to terrorist attacks.
On the other hand, the nature of tourism since the terrorist attacks has transformed in a number of subtle but considerable ways. As an example, people transformed their liking for food. Many Americans went back to the “comfort foods” and desired home-style feel-good dishes. This can be attributed to the unwillingness of most Americans to fly outside the country. Many people started to drive to neighboring cities instead of flying overseas.
The road to recovery After being severely affected by 9/11, the travel and the tourism industries are on the road to recovery. Based on past experiences, the industries adopted belt-tightening measures to drive them through the extremely adverse situation they were facing. In as much as the laying-off of employees was meant to cut airline operating costs, a number of them adopted winning strategies, for example, differentiating their products from the competition and embracing eDistribution techniques.
Many airline and tourism industries strived to stand out from the competition by having both unique products and prices in the market. They achieved this by re-assessing their distribution links, focusing on non-GDS distribution, offering unique products and innovative products, focusing on drive-in traffic, and working with travel agents.
In embracing eDistribution, tourism and travel industries were able to save costs, penetrate new markets, and attract a wide variety of customers. This strategy uses the Web applications and the internet as the major channels for distribution.
The industries have practiced eDistribution by having online booking services for their customers, offering hotel packages, supporting affiliate programs, and allowing hotel consolidators to distribute their inventories. On a positive note, the U.S. flourishes on adversities. The country is composed of positive thinkers and forward-looking people who are ready to find solution to problems (Starkov, para.11).
The unfortunate events of 9/11 aroused a national psyche among the tourism and airline industries all over the country to work hard to overcome the devastating effects of the attacks. The industries demonstrated extraordinary resilience and determination in trouncing over the negative effects of the disaster. As a result of smart promotion strategies and appropriate price polices, the industries are now on the road to recovery.
Since September 11, sufficient resources have been allocated towards enhancing the security of the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security was created to achieve this goal. This re-arrangement of the structure of the U.S. government helped to alleviate some of the security concerns that passengers had before.
After the attacks, the airline and the tourism industries have come to grips with reality. The industries have implemented a number of recovery strategies over the years to ensure that they get back to their feet. The requirements and the expectations of individuals changed following the attacks. The industries have adopted major initiatives to meet the new standards of their customers. The security in and around airports, especially in the airplanes, have been enhanced.
The confidence of the passengers is slowing coming back due to the increased security at the airports advocated by the travel agencies. As an example, most airlines are now having police officers or some sort of security on board to prevent the re-occurrence of such a catastrophe witnessed on September 11. The cockpits of most aircrafts are nowadays made of strong materials and the entrances to the cockpits are not easily accessible to unauthorized persons.
In the August prior to September 11 attacks, the aviation industry was in its peak season. The industry recorded a very high number of passengers when close to sixty-five million passengers took to the air. After the suicide attacks, that number dropped significantly.
It took three years, until July 2004, to have the same number and eventually exceed the August 2001 levels. However, the number of available seats, which indicates the capacity of an industry, reached ninety-eight percent in July 2004 of its pre 9/11 levels. By July 2005, the number of people who had travelled by air was seventy-one million, surpassing the pre 9/11 levels
Conclusion The long-term effects of these attacks are still difficult to know and may probably remain unknown until this act of violence is over. The buildings that were destroyed in New York can be rebuilt, even though it will take a long time, but the rebuilding of the confidence of the people regarding travelling by air can take even more time and this may not be achieved in some individuals.
In an important sense, September 11 indicates the culmination of an era, since it exposes that the U.S. is susceptible to terrorist attacks within its borders. One of the most relied upon means of transportation was used to wreak havoc in the U.S.
The net effects of these attacks have been overwhelming to both the tourism and the travel industry even with the support that the government has been giving them. However, the industries responded with unbelievable courage to recover from the impacts of catastrophe.
Works Cited Bonham, Carl, et al.”The impact of 9/11 and other terrible global events on tourism in the United States and Hawaii. The Journal of Travel Research 45.1 (2006): 99110. Print.
Cole, Stroma. Tourism, culture and development: hopes, dreams and realities in East Indonesia. Clevedon: Channel View Publishing, 2007. Print.
Eaton, Leslie. “Attack gave a devastating shove to the city’s teetering economy.” The New York Times. 8 Sept. 2002. Web.
Harris, Tom. “How recessions work.” Getstuffworks. 15 January 2002. Web.
Homan, Anthony. “The impact of 9/11 on the persistence of financial return volatility of marine firms.” Eastern Economic Journal 35.1 (2009): 71-83. Print.
Loose, Cindy. Insta-CoGo: “Where have all the tourists gone?” The Washington post. 11 March 2008. Web.
Reuters, Thomson. “Terrorism and Political violence.” Journal citations report 22.4 (2008): 23-34. Print.
Shackley, Myra. Atlas of travel and tourism development. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006. Print.
Sharpley, Richard. Travel and tourism. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2006. Print.
Starkov, Max. “Terrorism: Impact on travel and hospitality.” M–travel.com. Hospitality eBusiness Strategies. 19 Sept. 2001. Web.
Speech Before Her Troops Analysis and Summary Essay
Nursing Assignment Help Throughout history, speeches have been used as effective means for expressing yourself to the masses. Leaders on all levels have come to appreciate the fact that a well crafted speech can be a powerful agent when trying to evoke particular sentiments in people.
Queen Elizabeth I of England proved to be a powerful and compelling orator in her speech to her troops as they prepared to take up arms against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
In this paper, I shall review her speech with the aim of deducing the main arguments that the queen advanced. Her feelings towards her audience shall be inferred based on her words. The queen’s ideas and beliefs will also be highlighted from the contents of the speech.
This speech is addressed to the English troops at the battle field. The queen understands the sacrifice that the troops are about to make for their country and for this she proclaims them noble and worthy subjects. The apparent reason for the queen’s speech is to motivate her troops in the face of the imminent conflict with the Spaniards.
The queen aims to convince the troops that their fight is for a worthy cause and that their noble action of defending their country will not go unnoticed by the queen and the people of England. The queen empathizes with the soldiers and concedes that despite there being lives lost in the heat of the battle, England will be safe.
The battle that England faces is against Spain, an equally matched opponent at that point in time. The queen asserts that while some may view surrendering to Spain as the safe means, this would be equivalent to treachery to the motherland. By making such a strong declaration, the queen aims to appeal to the patriotism of the soldiers. She further states that she is also ready and willing to die in battle for the kingdom of England together with her soldiers should she be called upon to do so.
From Elizabeth’s words, we can tell with certainty that she is a patriot at heart and the honor of her country is of great importance to her. It is this same values that she intends to impart onto the soldiers for it is on them that the fate of England will lie.
Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More It is also apparent that Elizabeth believes that her country’s troops are not only a match for the Spaniards but that they have the capability of conquering the Spanish forces in battle. With this conviction, she predicts a short lived confrontation in which England emerges victorious.
The speech suggests that there exists some religious animosity between the two warring nations. One can deduce from the reference to the Spanish forces by the queen as “enemies of my God” that there were religious undertones that surrounded the conflict. Bearing in mind that the Spanish people were the leading Catholic power while England had embraced the Protestant sect, it is evident that the two facets of the Christian religion were at loggerheads.
The light in which women were viewed during this period in history can also be learnt from this speech. The queen contends that she has but the “body of a weak and feeble woman.” This indicates that the women in England were viewed as weak people who needed protecting. Her declaration that she is willing to take up a sword and fight for the country is as a last resort; that is if her nation should be invaded. The queen is certain that her troops would not let the situation degenerate to such an extent.
This paper set out to analyze the speech by Queen Elizabeth so as to discover the various ideas advanced through the speech. It has been identified that this speech was mainly aimed at motivating England’s troops before they faced the Spanish forces in battle. However, the analysis provided in this paper demonstrates that religious differences also played a part in the conflict between Spain and England. | https://anyfreeessay.com/tourism-travel-and-9-11-research-paper/ |
“The first two quarters of 2014 also saw growth (5.6%) but this changed abruptly in the third quarter of 2014 (the in-person visa application requirement came into effect in June 2014). Since then, there has been a systematic decline in tourist arrivals, particularly out of the BRIC source markets,” noted SATSA.
Mavuso Msimang, chairman of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) said: “Overwhelming evidence from multiple reliable sources points to the disastrous impact these ill thought-out and draconian requirements are having on the tourism industry (see overleaf for details). We cannot afford to waste another moment. The economy has already suffered devastating losses as a result and thousands of jobs are on the line. We urge the Deputy President to scrap these requirements before any more damage is done and to set up inclusive structures to look at workable alternatives that balance security with economic growth.”
The statistics
Between September and December 2014, tourist arrivals from Brazil dropped by 37%, tourists from China decreased 46.9%, while Indian tourism to South African dropped by 14.4%. This decline continued into 2015. According to data for June 2015 released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the figures were as follows:
- Overseas arrivals dropped by 13% from 130 410 to 113 689.
- The number of US tourists decreased by 9% to 29 269 from 26 503.
- UK tourist to South Africa declined by 8% from 19 371 to 17 897.
- Tourism from Australia decreased by 11% to 7 682 from 8 654.
- Indian tourism to South Africa declined by 25% from 8 785 to 6 577.
- Tourism from the Netherlands saw a decline of 3.5% to 4 256 from 4 411.
- Chinese tourists to South Africa dropped by 27% to 4 167 from 5 823.
- France was the only country to see an increase, with tourists to South Africa increasing by one percent to 5 112 from 5 064.
“The data released by Statistics SA confirm the projected drop in international tourist arrivals anticipated since the introduction of the new visa requirements in South Africa on 1 June 2015. These findings are an indication of the current and imminent pressure the local tourism industry is under to avoid job losses and the large-scale loss of revenue related to this economic shortfall,” said Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism.
“Based on Stats SA data for January to April 2015, this means that South Africa will lose 138 000 foreign air passengers per annum due to the regulations. However, as only 24% of foreign travellers enter/exit South Africa by air, when one includes all ports of entry (air, land and sea), it is likely to lose 578 000 foreign tourists per annum due to the regulations.
“According to SA Tourism, the average spend per passenger is R13 000, which amounts to R7.51bn revenue lost to the country,” noted SATSA.
Furthermore, data from the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has revealed that June, July and August saw a 44% decline in the number of child tourists under the age of 18 travelling in and out of South Africa compared to 2014.
“These statistics reveal that an urgent response is required from government, as well as the tourism industry to stall any further decline and prevent job losses,” said Duminy.
The new Visa regulations
The new Visa regulations regarding child travellers were introduced in June 2015 and require a child to travel with an unabridged birth certificate. Both parents have to be travelling with the child, if not, you are required to have an affidavit from the parent that is not with the child, saying that the other parent has permission to leave the country alone with the child. (Click here for more on the new child Visa regulations.)
However, the visa regulations not only have the effect of making it difficult for people to illegally leave the country with a child, without the parents’ or legal guardians’ permission, but also make it difficult for large groups of children, leaving on a legitimate trip, to leave the country.
“School sports tours are affected by the unabridged birth certificate regulations, as are business people and academics who may have previously been frequent visitors to SA. The impact itself would take some time to rectify, even with adjustments to the regulations,” explained Duminy.
“While the new visa regulations were intended to prevent child trafficking, the unintentional spin-off effect has been dramatic. According to a report on the Impact of Home Affairs Changes News Digest, July 2015, countries that collect in-person biometrics either have a significant number of visa centres in China and India or have moved to rendering biometric data on arrival. The UK and the US have 12 and five visa application centres in India respectively,” noted Duminy.
According to Duminy, the new Visa regulations should be scrapped. “Any regulations which have such a measurably negative effect should be scrapped.”
Duminy added: “The benefits of tourism are fundamental to transformation in the community. According to the Economic Value of Tourism report, an estimated 37 551 people were permanently and 15 130 temporarily employed in the tourism industry in Cape Town in 2013. These jobs are [now] placed directly at risk.
“Estimations relating to new birth certificate requirements suggest that R9.7bn in gross domestic product (GDP) could be lost to the South African economy and 21 100 jobs countrywide and, as an outcome of the biometric visa requirements, a further R36.7bn in GDP and 80 100 jobs could potentially be lost,” highlighted Duminy.
According to Duminy, “improvements could be made to the visa applications process, including online visa and visa on arrival applications processing while finding a balance between better border control and prevention of child trafficking.”
“It should be mentioned that South Africa remains a destination of choice, Cape Town Tourism is confident that the city will continue to attract global travellers despite the regulations, with its world-class attractions and many forthcoming events. The devaluation of the rand is also worth noting as favourable to international visitors,” said Duminy. | https://www.justmoney.co.za/news/2015/10/06/new-visa-regulations-hitting-sa-hard/ |
this right run deep into British and European history, going back at least to the Inquisition,
when many were forced to change their religion or face torture and death. There are, however, other more modern theoretical
reasons that ground the right against self-incrimination. One is simple procedural fairness: for there
to be a fair and competitive trial against an individual, there has to be this basic
notion of non self-incrimination. Another is rooted in the nature of adversarial criminal
justice itself. Here the idea is that it is the state or government’s job to investigate,
arrest, gather evidence, and prosecute you without your help. The burden of proof, therefore,
is on the prosecution, and it needs to do the heavy lifting when it seeks to take your
life or property. A more practical concern, though, which explains
much of the origins and development of the cases we’re reading in this section, stems
from racially charged trials in the south during the 1920’s and 1930’s. In these cases
individual confessions were often brutally beaten out of innocent black suspects. In
overturning these cases, the Court in the 1930’s and 40’s, held to a bare minimum understanding
of the self-incrimination right: beating a confession out of you violated that right,
but the court didn’t go much past that. It was not until the Warren Court began its
foray into the criminal procedure provisions of the Bill of Rights in the 1960’s that the
5th Amendment self-incrimination clause took on a new and controversial life that we’re
still dealing with today. The Warren Court moved from ensuring statements to police were
adequate and reliable (free of coercion) to creating a set of deterrent or prophylactic
rules to protect the right. Moved by revelations about the common use of coercive interrogation
(beatings and torture) that were widespread throughout many police departments, the Court
decided that there needed to be a set of first-line procedures for supervising police interrogation
and preventing bad confessions. The interrogation room was necessarily secret, and judges could
only guess what went on — during the Miranda cases, for example, the Court referred to
police manuals which detailed how police could use the “third degree” to elicit confessions.
Moreover, the Court was bothered that so many convictions were the result solely of confessions,
lacking even a rudimentary investigation and gathering of evidence. To fix this, in 1966 the Court in Miranda
v. Arizona laid out the now-famous Miranda warnings that police would now have to use
in most situations. The Miranda rules are famous: You have the right to remain silent;
anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law; you have the right
to an attorney; if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you. Do you understand
these rights? Ideally, then, this recitation will ensure that even the simplest man or
woman would know that he or she had a right to remain silent. The Miranda decision was controversial from
the get go. Police felt handcuffed by the new rules: because so many convictions did
indeed rely on the confession, arguments abounded that the guilty will go free. Controversy
would continue. When do the Miranda rights kick in? When someone is in custody, yes,
for the most part, but not always. Some of the cases we’re reading in this section bring
out these fine distinctions of the actual application of Miranda in real world — and
the dangerous and serious situations that police face everyday.
The Court is still largely supportive of Miranda, but many conservative justices have argued
that its procedural nature means that it shouldn’t be seen as a right in and of itself. As a
result, at times the Court has ruled that the actual Miranda statement need not be read
verbatim. More recently, the Court has even ruled that to avail yourself of the right
to remain silent, you have to affirmatively invoke that right, creating a potentially
uncomfortable situation where to remain silent, you need to speak. As you read these cases think about the following
issues: How necessary is the Miranda warning to protecting
self-incrimination? Do you think Miranda is a right like other
enumerated rights, or simply a procedural device?
Should Miranda be read at any point in your dealings with law enforcement, or only when
you’re arrested? Should a violation of Miranda result in throwing
out your confession? These are hard questions and hard cases to
read and think about — but they form the current basis for one of your most fundamental
rights. | https://federalismamendment.com/civil-rights-and-civil-liberties-fifth-amendment-shh-the-right-to-remain-silent/ |
In a narrowly split decision, the Supreme Court's conservative majority expanded its limits on the famous Miranda rights for criminal suspects on Tuesday - over the dissent of new Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said the ruling turned Americans' rights of protection from police abuse "upside down."
I always the proper response was "I want to speak to my attorney", regardless of any question you were asked.
I am delighted to see that you apparently haven't spent too much time around serious criminals. They tend to be, to put it gently, "other than clever." They often ramble on about this and that, and felonious acts in their past.
I served as my own attorney in two felony cases and won both of them! Not only did I refuse to speak to anyone,I also refused to give them my prints and at the time,that warranted an extra 90 days in jail.
When charged with a crime,especially a felony...say nothing!
Well now, I wonder what folks are feeling nosy curious about today?
Suffice it to say that the jury "wondered" - deliberated- for only 20 minutes before rendering a not guilty verdict in the first case. In the 2nd case,I stooped em cold in their tracks,the prosecutor never made it past preliminary exam. I pointed out...they had the wrong date,location and the wrong license plate numbers!!! The judge through the case right out of court and scolded the prosecution..
I agree with Justice Kennedy -"Thompkins did not say that he wanted to remain silent or that he did not want to talk to police," Kennedy said. "Had he made either of these simple, unambiguous statements, he would have invoked his 'right to cut off questioning.' Here he did neither, so he did not invoke his right to remain silent."
Miranda rights are the rights of a suspect to speak to an attorney and to remain silent. Police tell suspects about those rights in a statement called a Miranda warning that gets its name from a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1966.
When police questioned Thompkins, he remained mostly silent for more than two hours, Jacobs said.
But he later answered "yes" when one of the officers asked him if he prayed for forgiveness for "shooting that boy down."
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said Thompkins could have ended the questioning by telling the police he wanted to invoke his right to remain silent.
In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision "turns Miranda upside down." It's counterintuitive, she said, to require a suspect to speak in order to exercise the right to remain silent. | http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/law-order/13102-right-remain-silent-suspect-better-speak-up.html |
CNN reports:
The Supreme Court limited the ability to enforce Miranda rights in a ruling Thursday that said that suspects who are not warned about their right to remain silent cannot sue a police officer for damages under federal civil rights law even if the evidence was ultimately used against them in their criminal trial.
The court’s ruling will cut back on an individual’s protections against self-incrimination by barring the potential to obtain damages.
It also means that the failure to administer the warning will not expose a law enforcement officer to potential damages in a civil lawsuit. It will not impact, however, the exclusion of such evidence at a criminal trial.
Read the full article.
Folks, this basically overturns “the right to remain silent.” It means that you can’t sue the state if a cop fails to tell you your rights.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 23, 2022
The activist Supreme Court strikes again.
“It holds that Miranda is not a constitutional right enforceable through a §1983 suit. And so it prevents individuals from obtaining any redress when police violate their rights under Miranda.” – Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting https://t.co/jCDlXNiKU2
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) June 23, 2022
Breaking: The Supreme Court on Thursday shielded police from being sued by suspects for failing to provide well-known Miranda warnings.
This case is a Los Angeles case called Vega v. Tekoh.
Get the details athttps://t.co/MU1JquA7ME
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 23, 2022
As you watch the Supreme Court today undermine some rights (Miranda!) while expanding others (guns!), don’t forget that it doesn’t have to be this way. Dems control the White House & both branches of Congress for a few months more & could un-pack/re-balance this GOP-packed court. | https://www.joemygod.com/2022/06/scotus-rules-to-protect-cops-from-miranda-violations/ |
5th amendments and Miranda warnings are used to protect the constitutional rights of an individual. Miranda warnings came to place after the Miranda v. Arizona case. After the US Supreme Court in 1966 decided a case of Miranda v. Arizona, they declared that the person in police custody and before questioning must be informed of the 5th amendment. The 5th amendment helps a suspect in making the self-incriminating statements. It is very important that everybody in police custody is informed of the Miranda warnings before being questioned. To begin with, suspects must be told that they have right to remain silent, have right to have an attorney, anything said can be used against the court of law and if one cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided by the government at its own cost. If a police officer questions suspects without first informing of the Miranda rights, the confession made is termed as involuntary and cannot be used against in the court of law. In case a suspect feels that the Miranda right has been violated, and can have an impact in the case. Suspects are advised to have strong criminal lawyers in every criminal case. In simpler terms, the Miranda warnings have an extension of the 5th amendment rights. The best-known provision of the 5th amendment is right against the self- incrimination. Self-incrimination means that you do not have to talk to police or when testifying in a trial where there is evidence that you committed a crime. Some of the text of 5th amendments is that no one shall be held to answer for an infamous crime unless where on the presentment of the grand jury. The main difference between the 5th amendments and Miranda warnings is that the 5th amendment is the law that protects the suspects from being forced to incriminate themselves while the Miranda warnings are normally given by the police. | https://www.lawcinder.com/2017/12/19/5th-amendments-and-miranda-warnings/ |
Why do the police “read citizens their rights” when arresting them? The practice of informing citizens of their right to remain silent stems from a U.S. Supreme court decision in the case Miranda vs. Arizona, in 1966. For its Annual Law Day event, The Franklin County Bar Association and the Northwestern District Attorney will be exploring this case in detail at Greenfield Community College on May 4.
This year’s Law Day theme is “Miranda: More than Words.” In 2016, the nation marks the 50th anniversary of perhaps the nation’s best-known U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona. The Miranda Warning, which was developed in response to this landmark ruling, apprises suspects being interrogated by police of their right to remain silent and their right to legal representation. This year’s theme provides an opportunity to explore our criminal justice system and the importance of procedural fairness and equal justice under the law. | https://hilltownfamilies.org/tag/legal-system/?v=ae551853b692 |
Lawyer Judith Kim explained Miranda rights to students at William J. Ostiguy High School in Boston. The Boston Bar Association aims to teach more than 1,500 students about the subject.
The deaths of several black men and women around the country at the hands of police have not only revived old tensions between the authorities and community members. The tragedies have also raised concerns that young people need more awareness of their legal rights.
With this in mind, the Boston Bar Association recently set out to teach more than 1,500 students at 13 public schools across the city about their rights and police procedures.
It is particularly relevant right now that young people know they can refuse to be interrogated and can demand a lawyer, said Carol Starkey, the bar’s president-elect.
Starkey, who worked for 13 years as a prosecutor, said she did not fully understand how little trust some communities have for police until she became a defense attorney 14 years ago.
The association’s education efforts — from Boston’s kindergarten classes through the high schools — are intended to improve relationships between police and the community, she said, and to overcome the distrust that can exist on both sides.
The recent lesson is part of the association’s Law Day in the Schools Program, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary.
It is a banner year, too, for the legal protections against self-incrimination commonly called Miranda rights. The US Supreme Court ruled that Americans are guaranteed those protections 50 years ago in the landmark Miranda v. Arizona case.
On a recent morning at William J. Ostiguy High School in downtown Boston, students listened intently and asked pointed questions of visiting attorneys at the front of the crowded classroom.
Students at Ostiguy High reviewed a summary of Miranda rights, the first of which is the right to remain silent.
Though many young people might envision such a scenario, it may have hit closer to home for teenagers at Ostiguy High, where students are working to overcome addiction. Some have been arrested on drug-related crimes or had other interactions with police.
Children of all ages have seen film and television depictions of the Miranda warnings that police recite in an arrest — some of them accurate and others distorted, Starkey said.
Ostiguy student Sage, 18, whom the Globe is identifying only by first name because she is in recovery, said she learned a person being questioned by police should ask if they are free to go, and that police are not required to read the Miranda warning if the person is not in custody. “It’s all about what you’re legally allowed to do, and what they’re legally allowed — and not allowed — to do, which was interesting,” she said.
Megan, also 18, said she already knew some of her rights, but she learned that, when invoking the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, it is safer to say out loud that you do not want to speak rather than just refusing to respond to questions.
She said the lesson gave her more confidence in asserting her rights, if the need arises.
Megan said she has not had any encounters with police, but she lives in a youth recovery home where some girls have been arrested and assigned to live there by the courts.
“I’ve been really lucky, actually, because I’ve obviously been driving around with drugs in the car,” she said.
The frame of reference can be very different for younger students, but the rights are just as relevant, Starkey said.
This spring, she presented a Miranda lesson to a second-grade class at Mozart Elementary School in Roslindale. Starkey said the students gave her a fresh perspective on the importance of the rights and left her feeling energized and optimistic.
Attorney Nate Koslof spoke to the students. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/05/bar-association-teaching-kids-about-their-rights-during-police-encounters/IDr6Casxt8s0gXznmCzAGP/story.html |
When does your Terry stop run into Miranda?
Knowing how and where courts draw the line can be the difference between a successful prosecution and having your evidence suppressed
In Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment requires police to advise suspects of their right to remain silent and to obtain an attorney before interrogating them in police custody. “Custody” for Miranda purposes occurs when under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would consider himself to be deprived of his freedom to the degree associated with a formal arrest.
Miranda’s central concern was to protect the individual right against self-incrimination from the inherently coercive nature of custodial interrogation. Statements and evidence obtained in violation of Miranda cannot be used against the defendant in court. | https://www.police1.com/legal/articles/when-does-your-terry-stop-run-into-miranda-CTeMgzUq1lOcvWlj/ |
If you have worked in fitness long enough, you know that issues between or among members arise from time to time — including having a member with a strong odor, that other members complain about.
First, let me tell you a funny story on how NOT to address this particular issue, that hails from my early years in the fitness industry.
2001: I got a complaint that a member would workout, get all sweaty and then for some inexplicable reason, undress and stand over a floor fan to air dry. So, 24-year-old me went in there to address this behavior and I froze up. How do you even start, right? My solution? I broke the fan that evening. Problem solved.
Except the problem wasn’t actually solved, and there are much more constructive ways to approach this scenario that will not cost your fitness center more money in the long run.
Conduct the conversation in private. The most important thing to remember when approaching a member is to treat him or her with dignity. This could be very embarrassing, and we need to be empathetic. How would we want to find out?
Second, think about how you’d like to be approached if you were in the customer’s shoes.
This will generally get the message across. Just by making them aware, they will typically go home and toss their shoes if that’s the issue. I have done this dozens of times and never had anyone cuss me out as of yet. It almost always does the trick.
How do you address uncomfortable situations between or among members at your gym? Share in the comments.
I always handle delicate issues with a great deal of tact. I find when you empathize with people they are much more receptive and happy to cooperate with finding and adhering to a solution. It’s surprising to realize that for the most part people are unaware that there was a problem to begin with! | https://clubsolutionsmagazine.com/2019/01/how-to-address-uncomfortable-situations-with-members/ |
In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
Our Standards¶
Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:
Using welcoming and inclusive language
Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
Focusing on what is best for the community
Showing empathy towards other community members
Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
Public or private harassment
Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting
Our Responsibilities¶
Project maintainers are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.
Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.
Scope¶
This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or its community. Examples of representing a project or community include using an official project e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event. Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by project maintainers.
Enforcement¶
Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the project team at [email protected]. Because the project team currently consists of only one member, that member shall investigate within one week whether a violation of the code of conduct occurred and what the appropriate response is. That member shall then contact the original reporter and any other affected parties to explain the response and note feedback for the record. The project team is obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Should you wish to file a report anonymously you should fill out a report at https://goo.gl/forms/aQtlDdrhZf4Y8flk2. If your report involves any members of the project team, if you feel uncomfortable making a report to the project team for any reason, or you feel that the issue has not been adequately handled, you are encouraged to send your report to [email protected] where it will be independently reviewed by the NumFOCUS team.
Project maintainers who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other members of the project’s leadership.
Attribution¶
This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant homepage, version 1.4.
For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq. | https://pomegranate.readthedocs.io/en/latest/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.html |
Considered to be one of the essential skills of effective leadership, giving constructive feedback is also one of the most dreaded tasks of many managers and supervisors. Many avoid these conversations altogether because of the perceived risk of confronting problematic behavior. Managers worry that the employee will react emotionally, deny the allegations, or, if their skills are valued, that they will decide to leave the company because of the conversation.
When the issue is one of technical skills, managers are more willing to suggest additional training or find ways to help build the skills of their staff member. However, when the issues are ones of how they treat their co-workers and the atmosphere created by their disrespectful behavior, managers often hesitate to address this behavior. Yet, when there is a pattern of behavior that is disruptive to a healthy work environment, leadership has a responsibility to the entire team to respectfully work on these issues with the individual involved to re-establish a safe work environment.
The National Conflict Resolution Center’s Constructive Feedback Challenge gives them the tools, frame of mind, and strategy to help make these difficult conversations meaningful and successful for the employee, the work group, and the organization.
In her article on giving constructive feedback, Lisa Patrilli (Visionary Leadership), lists the eight essential skills of leaders in giving feedback. These include: timeliness, specifics, relevance of the behavior, perspective, tone, behaviors desired, offering to be of help, and reaffirming the person’s value. Although this workshop was developed long before this article was written, each of these key skills and how to strategically use each of them is covered in a powerful three hour workshop. Through dialogue, interactive exercises, and practice, participants will learn these essential skills and more.
Contact us for a customized “The Constructive Feedback Solution” workshop brought to your group or organization on-site. | https://ncrconline.com/mediation-conflict-resolution/training-services/available-workshops/constructive-feedback-solution/ |
Offering Constructive Feedback for Performance Reviews
Performance reviews highlight the areas where your staff excels. But they also reveal the areas in which they fall behind. Instead of tearing down bad behavior or shunning poor performance, however, try to offer constructive feedback that will empower and encourage your staff to make the necessary changes and get back on track.
Recognize the Positives
Perhaps the best way to gently approach a negative situation is to build on a positive foundation. For example, if an employee is having issues with communication, you could address it by saying,
“You were so good at keeping me updated on X project, but I haven’t been seeing that kind of communication on your last few assignments. Would you mind sending me daily updates like you’ve done in the past? I found those incredibly helpful.”
By highlighting a specific moment when your employee displayed the behavior you want to see, you can remind them just how capable they are of doing so again.
Clearly State the Issue
To avoid confusion and get to the root of your concern, clearly define the problem area and list specific instances, if necessary. In addition to informing your employee on what the issue is, express the significance by detailing how it can affect them and their team by using phrases like:
- “This issue can lead to poor productivity amongst the rest of the team.”
- “I’m worried that this issue might be affecting your ability to best manage your tasks.”
- “When this issue happens, it can make it hard for other members of the department to focus.”
By clearly stating the issue and its consequences, you can encourage your employee to assume responsibility, recognize the issue, and revise their behavior.
Try to Personally Help
Phrasing things in an inclusive way will make your employees feel that you’re personally invested in seeing their improvements. Try rewording your verbiage to include yourself whenever possible by saying things like:
- “Is there anything I can do to help prevent this from happening again?”
- “What can we do to improve your performance in this area?”
- “Let’s create a plan together so we can meet and reevaluate it in the future.”
Inputting yourself in the situation allows you to not only show personal support as a manager, but also reassure your employee that you’re serious about solving the issue.
Address Any Questions
Before ending any evaluation, make it a priority to address questions and concerns. When addressing specific problem areas, show that you’re dedicated to understanding your employee’s perspective by asking questions like:
- “Did you also notice this particular issue?”
- “What do you think could be the cause of this issue?”
- “What do you think we should do to solve it moving forward?”
To feel confident that you’ve comprehensively covered the problem, let your employee know exactly how they can reach you if they have questions about the subject in the future.
Offer Your Own Tips
If you’ve ever experienced problem similar to your employee, explain that they aren’t alone. When an employee struggles with time management, for example, you could say,
“I’ve also had issues with time management. Here’s what has helped me to get my schedule in order.”
And even if you don’t have personal experience with an issue your employee is dealing with, you can still offer your honest insight and detail strategies you’ve seen success with in the past.
Guidance for Your Management Team
When you’re ready to rethink the way you give employee performance reviews, partner with Professional Employer Resources (PER). Because we’re a human resources provider, we offer guidance to management teams in a variety of professional practices. If you’re struggling with performance evaluations in particular, our team can help you with troubleshooting employee issues, creating employee surveys, and customizing training seminars. To learn more, contact us today. | https://www.perhumanresources.com/offering-constructive-feedback-for-performance-reviews/ |
How do you criticize employees?
How to give constructive criticism to an employee
- Don’t make it personal. This is probably the most important tenet when it comes to delivering constructive criticism.
- Be specific. It’s always best to be as specific as possible in your feedback.
- Ensure you’re on the same page.
- Keep it positive.
- Make it a dialogue.
What are examples of criticizing?
To criticize something is to find and point out fault or problems. An example of criticize is when your mother-in-law comments “your meatloaf is dry.” To evaluate (something), and judge its merits and faults.
What do you do when your boss constantly criticizes you?
Ways to cope with your critical boss.
- Address the problem.
- Observe their interactions with your coworkers.
- Control how you react.
- Appreciate your time out of the office.
- Consider speaking to human resources.
How do you criticize a coworker?
Criticism of Colleagues
- Direct your comments at the behavior and not the person.
- Keep the tone of your message neutral and objective—think about how you would feel reading the same comments about yourself.
- Try to include positive behaviors as well as behavior to be improved.
How do you politely criticize someone?
- Be Straightforward. You aren’t doing anybody any favors by skirting around the subject.
- Be Specific. General criticism almost always sounds like a put down.
- Focus on the Work, Not the Person.
- Don’t Tell Someone They’re Wrong.
- Find Something to Compliment.
- Make Suggestions, Not Orders.
- Have a Conversation.
What is good constructive criticism?
Constructive criticism focuses on providing constructive feedback, supported by specific examples, to help you improve in some area. Constructive criticism should be offered in a friendly manner with good intentions.
What are the examples of social criticism?
Animal Farm, written in 1944, is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters. It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Why do people criticize?
We criticize because we somehow feel devalued by the behavior or attitude. Critical people tend to be easily insulted and especially in need of ego defense. Critical people were often criticized in early childhood by caretakers, siblings, or peers, at an age when criticism can be especially painful.
What does it mean when your boss belittles you?
Having your boss belittle you once is a bad experience. A boss who disrespects you on a daily basis can be soul sucking. To be clear, an occasional outburst, cursing about problems and even demanding standards are not belittling. Belittling is when someone makes it personal, and they do it in public.
What do you do when your boss humiliates you?
4 things to do if your boss bashes you in front of other…
- Confront your boss about the problem.
- Focus on the details of the issue.
- Check in regularly with your boss to avoid further issues.
- Look for a new job.
Why do we need to criticize or evaluate someone’s work?
First of all, criticism helps to give us a new perspective and opens our eyes to things we may have overlooked or never considered. Whether it’s a peer review of your work or a performance review, constructive criticism and feedback can help you grow by shedding light and giving you the opportunity for improvement.
Is being critical negative?
exist in), being critical is so closely tied to being negative and thus to being a risk for one’s career.
How to give constructive criticism to employees?
7 Tips for Giving Constructive Criticism. 1 Avoid Surprises. A meeting without notice can cause employees to feel intimidated and catch them off-guard when you provide feedback. Schedule a 2 Keep It Private. 3 Be Specific. 4 Don’t Make It Personal. 5 Don’t Forget the Positive.
Should you criticize your employees in public?
Or, to put it another way, if you criticize your employees in public, they might think you’re being tougher and, frankly, meaner, than you need to be. And that won’t do anyone any good.
What happens when you critique an employee in front of his peers?
Here’s what’ll likely happen if you critique an employee in front of his peers. 1. You’ll alienate the employee you call out — and possibly the rest of your team Nobody wants an overly critical manager, and if you call out your employees in public, that’s how you’ll come off.
What are the two types of criticism in the workplace?
As a manager, you’re probably aware that there are two types of criticism you might encounter in the workplace: the constructive type, and the spirit-bashing, nit-picky, just-for-the-heck-of it type. Hopefully, you’re more apt to provide the former to your team members than the latter. | https://www.shakuhachi.net/how-do-you-criticize-employees/ |
Performance leadership is one of the least developed, but most important “muscles” in business. The task is simple enough – just align the appropriate management feedback to employee performance. Feedback in this context means praise, recognition, constructive feedback, or money (merit, incentive). Differentiated efforts that yield differentiated results should be praised. Failure should either be met with encouragement (where employee worked hard but fell short) or criticism. And those who were just “lucky” should have the ‘bar’ raised. Sounds simple enough. But how many companies struggle with this? And how damaging is it to employee engagement and performance when it is not done well?
So why is this so hard? There are three reasons:
HR will claim ownership for how to conduct a one on one or how to exit someone who is being let go. IT may know where the data is, but rarely do they have either the influence or business acumen to design it on their own. Rarely are business leads able to translate what they want and need in a language that works for IT.
No one "owns" performance leadership from cradle to grave
Problem #
Few have the skills to design or optimize it
There are “hard-skills” and “soft skills” required:
Example of Hard Skills Questions:
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Which metrics are the ones that really matter?
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Which benchmarks are appropriate?
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How do we avoid analysis paralysis and report proliferation?
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How do we design metrics of ‘root cause’ that enable leaders to ask the ‘right questions’?
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How do we break the issue down into its manageable parts and understand root cause?
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How do we build an action plan to address the gap?
Example of Soft Skills Questions:
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How do we deliver the right feedback to the employee that is timely, constructive, and helpful/actionable?
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What training and development opportunities best fit the person/team and situation?
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How should we best put ourselves in a ‘position to notice’ individual and team development?
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How can we best ‘inspect what I expect?’”
Problem #
Most leaders do not know what their role is in the process
How to ask questions with genuine curiosity. How to hold team members accountable for results – or even what a result really is.
To do this well, you will need to have high business acumen, be able to speak the language of “tech” and “data”, understanding human behavior, and be able to influence leaders throughout the organization.
Putting in a system like this isn’t easy. That’s why our clients need support in implementing a performance management system that works…and tackling the inevitable change management issues that arise with a holistic change such as this system will provoke…
ROIG’s proprietary L.E.A.D. program is a holistic approach to overhauling performance leadership. It assesses the efficacy of a company’s performance leadership program, it is a plug-and-play solution, or fully-customizable, industry agnostic solution with training materials, tools, and change management to create value acceleration.
Problem #
Ask us about: | https://www.theroiggroup.com/copy-of-public-sectior-practice |
MINUSMA's Chief encouraged by talks in Algiers
Algiers, 13 September 2014 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of MINUSMA, Mr. Albert Koenders, is encouraged by the constructive discussions and recommendationsmade by the civil society and community representatives, in Algiers, during the second phase of the negotiations between the government of Mali and the armed movements.
"The participants not only agreed to a large extent upon the root causes and the multifaceted challenges of the Malian crisis but also proposed tangible solutions for addressing them. The discussions took place in an atmosphere of mutual respect driven by the desire to collectively and effectively address the crisis that has lasted for too long. It is important to reassure all representatives that their recommendations will continue to be given due consideration throughout the negotiations," said Mr. Koenders.
In his capacity as co-mediator, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General continues to work closely with the mediation team to prepare the ground for the start of direct negotiations between the government of Mali and armed movements.
"It is rare to witness the level of consensus and coherence among the international community that we encounter in Algiers today. All Malian stakeholders have a unique opportunity to overcome their differences and solidify a durable peace agreement. I therefore reiterate my call to all parties to remain committed to dialogue,to propose concrete and tangible solutions and at the same time ensure security on the groundwith a view to reaching a satisfactory conclusion to the negotiations in a timely and constructive manner," he concluded. | https://minusma.unmissions.org/en/minusmas-chief-encouraged-talks-algiers |
By: Vijay Kumar Verma, Group Editor-ICN World
SHIMLA : SJVN commemorated its 34th Raising Day today at its Corporate Headquarters at Shimla and at all its Project Offices in the states of Himachal, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar and in neighboring countries viz Nepal and Bhutan. At the Corporate office, the Company Flag was unfurled by the Chairman and Managing Director Nand Lal Sharma in august presence of Director (Personnel) Smt. Geeta Kapur, Director (Finance) A.K. Singh and Director (Electrical) Sushil Kumar Sharma. Keeping in view the MHA guidelines of social distancing employees were connected through electronic means.
Nand Lal Sharma, while addressing through virtual platform, stated that presently the whole world is facing the COVID-19 challenge and in view of the strict government guidelines, this year SJVN is not organizing any ceremonial activity.
Nand Lal Sharma asserted that at present SJVN is working on ten projects simultaneously and this has resulted in added responsibilities for each employee. He exhorted all the employees to be accountable & responsible for these added responsibilities and to ensure that these projects are completed within scheduled timelines without any cost overruns.
Nand Lal Sharma informed that a series of steps have been taken to support the governments of States and Centre, in battle against COVID-19. These steps include procurement of ventilators & Cold Chain Equipments, Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs), food, masks, sanitizers and gloves etc.
Sharma congratulated all the employees of SJVN and advised them to take specific actions with speed and a sense of urgency to translate into action the shared vision of SJVN. He emphasized to all employees that they & their family members must Stay Safe & Healthy while strictly following Covid appropriate behaviors and directions of Governments. | https://www.icnnational.com/sjvn-marked-its-34th-raising-day/ |
Whilst the deadline for submission of data relating to the Directory falls in 2020, the update from the FCA is a timely reminder that there is a lot to be done by firms both in advance of the 9 December 2019 when the SMCR regime comes into effect (the Implementation Date) and beyond. Regulated firms need to ensure they are prepared and take the necessary steps now.
What Needs to be Done?
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What type of firm are you?
For firms who aren’t already on the implementation journey, the first step is to work out what type of SMCR firm you are. Firms who currently hold "limited permissions" will be Limited Scope firms, firms who hold full CCA permissions will be a "Core Firm" unless one of six criteria applies in which case they will be an "Enhanced Firm". The category of firm will dictate the extent to which the SMCR rules apply to a relevant business and how much is involved in getting compliant.
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Who will hold the Senior Management Functions in the business?
Every Senior Manager will have a duty of responsibility under FSMA so that if there is a breach, the Senior Manager for that area could be held accountable (in addition to the firm) if they didn’t take reasonable steps to stop the breach. It is therefore crucial that each relevant Senior Manager is aware of their legal duty of responsibility - avoid any surprises and make sure they are on board now and understand the significance of the role and the potential consequences of falling short of their duties.
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Do you need to change existing approvals now?
Are there any existing approved persons who will not hold Senior Manger functions going forward? Firms must consider whether they need to change any existing approvals or add any new ones ahead of the Implementation Date.
The FCA have confirmed that firms won’t have to apply for re-approval for currently "Approved Persons" where there is no substantive change in the individual's role before and after the Implementation Date. Firms already have a responsibility to make sure such individuals are fit and proper and therefore they will automatically be converted to the SMCR regime. Firms should take action now if they don't want any existing approved persons to map across under the new regime.
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Put in place relevant Statements of Responsibility
Once the Senior Managers are selected you need to document their responsibilities. The FCA have defined certain Prescribed Responsibilities which must be allocated to Senior Managers. The relevant responsibilities need to be detailed in a "Statement of Responsibility" (SOR) setting out what that manager is accountable and responsible for. The SOR will be submitted for approval by the FCA and the firm is responsible for keeping these up to date.
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Who are the Certification Staff?
Certification covers specific functions which aren't Senior Manager functions but can have an influence on customers, the firm or market integrity. Firms have to ensure such staff are fit and proper to perform their role and certify the position to the FCA at least annually. It can be difficult to determine who falls into this category of staff in any organisation - staff who interact with clients in a purely administrative capacity are unlikely to be caught provided they have no scope to choose, decide or reach a judgement as to what should be done in any given situation and have a mainly automated role.
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Schedule staff training
All Senior Managers and Certification Staff have to be trained prior to the Implementation Date. All other staff in the business (save for ancillary staff who don't perform a role specific to financial services and who the FCA consider to be ancillary) will need training on the Conduct Rules before December 2020, but most firms are aiming to get training under way in September/October.
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Renew contractual documentation, policies and procedures
Criminal Record checks and Regulatory References (for previous employers in the past 6 years) are required for people applying for Senior Management, Certification and NED roles so firms need to ascertain what procedures need to be in place to accommodate that process.
This will involve updating documented policies and procedures and relevant contracts of employment which also have to be reviewed more generally to accommodate breaches of the Conduct Rules and the relevant implications. Firms also need to document how they will deal with annual fitness and proprietary checks, training, conducting audits etc.
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What does the future look like?
All firms should keep an audit trail of what they have done as part of their SMCR implementation projects. They should assess the effectiveness of the procedures put in place at regular intervals following the Implementation Date.
Firms should also consider putting an SMCR User Manual in place so everyone in the firm understands their obligations and who is responsible for what. That is in addition to ensuring wider staff training on the Conduct Rules is rolled out and ensuring relevant information for The Directory is given to the FCA on time
With less than 5 months to go, there is a lot to do before the Implementation Date and potentially a lot to consider after it too! | https://www.morton-fraser.com/knowledge-hub/senior-managers-certification-regimeless-months-prepared |
In recent years, employers have become more successful in defending against claims of discrimination or harassment, but are now often also being hit with claims of retaliation. Claims of retaliation are now part of 26 percent of employee charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These claims are much harder for the employer to win. All an employee needs to do is show that: 1) the employee either complained of, or helped a fellow employee with a complaint related to discrimination or harassment; and 2) the employer later took an adverse action against the complaining employee.
What constitutes an "adverse action?" These claims often involve disciplinary action such as firing, changing shift or transferring, but have included simple things like a supervisor treating an employee "coldly" following a complaint. The U.S. Supreme Court recently made it easier for employees to bring these claims by giving a broad interpretation to what could be considered an "adverse action." The adverse action can be anything, employment related or not, that a reasonable employee would consider materially adverse. The court went on to describe an adverse activity as any action or behavior that would discourage a reasonable worker from making or supporting a claim of discrimination.
While on the surface antiretaliation laws appear fair, in practice they put a chokehold on an employer’s ability to deal with legitimate workplace issues. An employee who is having performance problems at work, and suspects that termination is imminent, may complain of discrimination or harassment. If the employer proceeds with disciplinary action, they may be sued for retaliation. Unfortunately, an employee’s original complaint does not need to be valid for the employee to win a retaliation case.
Many employees bring valid complaints that their employers handle correctly. In reality, even the most conscientious supervisor is apt to find it hard not to treat an employee who has complained about them differently. If nothing else, the supervisor often becomes cautious in future interactions with the complaining employee. This change in demeanor may be perceived by the complaining employee as retaliatory and may lead to legal action.
While it may be impossible to completely avoid the possibility of these claims, there are some protective steps an employer should consider:
1. Review company policies related to discrimination and harassment to ensure that they contain a strong statement prohibiting retaliation following a complaint and make sure that the policy is actually enforced.
2. Regularly remind all employees of the discrimination and harassment policy, including the policy against retaliation.
3. Provide training to supervisors and their staff on discrimination, harassment and retaliation policies at least once a year.
4. If an employee makes any complaint, take immediate steps to investigate the allegations. Remind all those involved of the policy against retaliation and monitor the situation to ensure that no retaliation occurs.
5. Following the resolution of the complaint, meet regularly with the complaining employee to check for any form of retaliation. These meetings should be documented in the employee’s file. If the complaint involved a supervisor’s conduct, regularly remind the supervisor of the policy against retaliation and, if possible, provide the supervisor with some outside counseling to help avoid retaliatory behavior.
6. Consistently document performance issues for all employees. Employers often get into trouble by documenting performance only for employees that have raised complaints or whom they consider to be "litigious."
While there is still no black-and-white test to determine what conduct may be considered retaliatory, a well-trained workforce will help an employer avoid exposure to claims of retaliation.
Carol McCaulley is a shareholder with Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. She can be reached at 360-905-1101 or [email protected]. | https://www.vbjusa.com/focus-sections/workforce-development/interpreting-adverse-action/ |
We know, it definitely sounds a bit odd, but a process needs to be followed in order to keep your processes intact. Instead of accepting chaos in the workplace, it’s vital for a business to stay organized and implement processes throughout the business. In this case, a process is a defined course of action for each aspect of the business.
To get the best results out of your processes, we suggest the following steps:
Gather Processes
Daunting? Maybe. Impossible? No. Start by gathering your existing process documents to one centralized location. Once all are accounted for, group them into these three categories.
Group 1 – Processes that no longer apply
Group 2 – Processes that need to be updated
Group 3 – Processes that are current and accurate
TIP: Go ahead and discard everything that falls into the first group. It’s a waste of resources to optimize a process that no longer applies to the business.
Organize Processes
This part of the process may take some time, but it’s an important one. Organize Group 2 by departments or roles and assign them to the appropriate person for reviews and updates. Be sure to apply due dates for updating processes and set a meeting to discuss shortly after that due date. This will ensure your processes are ready to be implemented in a timely matter. This should not be something that you keep on the backburner. However, when determining due dates, keep in mind priorities for implementations.
TIP: A simple way to prioritize is to determine the order in one of the following ways:
- Groups that will have the greatest impact when finished.
- By order in which they happen from the beginning of the day or project, to the end of the day or project.
- By easiest ones first to give you a smaller list to concentrate on.
Optimize Processes
Once organized, it’s time to optimize. When reviewing a process, question every step. Consider what exactly is done each day and if there are any steps that are missing or skipped over. Ask “Why?” and “How?” until you are completely satisfied.
After consideration and updates, review each process with these questions in mind:
- If I hired a new person for this department or role, gave them nothing but this process document, would they be able to follow the steps and be successful?
- Within our means, is this the most efficient way to go about this process?
TIP: Once you get started, don’t skip or gloss over any portion. Do this for the entire business, not just one department. Organized processes give employees a better understanding of expectations, resulting in happier employees and less frustrations.
Maintain Processes
Document, implement, enforce. After each process is optimized, be sure the latest updates are saved in a central location. This not only gives your employees access to them but helps with the first step when it’s time for the next round of updates. Check in with each employee to ensure everyone understands the updates and begins implementing them into their daily routines.
TIP: One issue that happens too often is that these processes are updated only to be forgotten or disregarded within a few months. Be sure to utilize software to implement and maintain processes.
We’re passionate about processes and love seeing businesses grow and succeed. We’d love to discuss your goals. Give us a call or contact us if you’re ready to commit to your processes and need a business solution to help get you there. | https://spudsoftware.com/the-process-for-processes/ |
An NCR or non-conformance report is a construction-related document that details the non-conformance information in a quality report inspection. The NCR is designed to keep track of deviations and work that fails to meet standards and specs. It facilitates decision making on how to address issues of non-conformity.
Why Is Issuing a Quality Report Important?
It does not matter how you prepare and plan the project, problems and risk are still inevitable. The quality issue report can find a way to solve that problem and reduce the risk and pain of correcting such problems. The quality issue report should, if successful, aim to increase the efficiency of the team and the quality of the project’s outcome.
The quality improvement report is a kind of formal report used by an organization to document how they have identified and determined a problem and opportunity to manage quality. They also use this to measure and evaluate the problem and to implement a solution.
Here the steps in writing a quality improvement report.
Select the appropriate title. The title should clearly express the identified need for substantial improvement.
Create a project statement. It should be clearly understood what the issue is and what needs to be done to rectify it.
Verify project results. The substantiated results and methods to get there must be error-free in its report writing.
Provide the analysis methodology and findings. Make sure that the data is accurate and precise.
Summarize the improvement action plan. Provide specific timelines and other metrics employed toward the goal.
Provide charts, graphs, and other visual representation. This conveniently presents quantified results in the project report.
Enumerate the steps that have been taken to ensure quality. A executive summary of how you did it.
Summarize the implications the quality report will have on other working areas. What is the impact? Did you achieve what you set out to do?
Provide some reference. Include references or other sources that informed or affected your solution.
Write the abstract. Summarize the quality improvements report that will be easily absorbed by the readers.
The non-conformance report is very common in any construction industry and it issued by any of the supervising project team members. They regularly use it to track and keep a record of the work being performed that does not meet the established standards and specifications.
Here are some situations where the issuance of non-conformance report is required.
When the construction project is implemented and developed using non-approved systems, methods, and standards.
When it was not built according to the approved “Issued for Construction” drawings.
The construction project fails to meet the specified limits as established in the project specifications.
When the inspection report and testing of the construction project are not following the agreed-upon method.
When the design or the construction project is not accurate and does not represent actual field conditions or construction drawing specifications.
When the approved methods and procedures are not followed and quality errors have been identified by the project team.
When the result of the construction project testing shows that it does not meet the established and approved standards.
When a specific material used in the construction project has not been approved as an alternative. | https://www.examples.com/business/report-a-quality-issue.html |
GEAR UP Kentucky (GUK): Postsecondary Transition Coordinator
Application Due Date: Preference given to applications received by July 8, 2022; open until filled.
Location: Field position in Northern KY.
Travel: Frequent and significant in-state travel required; occasional out-of-state travel required.
Compensation: Upper 60s to low 70s.
Overview
GEAR UP Kentucky is a federal grant program coordinated by the Council, which works with students and schools in low-income communities to support college preparation and success. GEAR UP Kentucky is a competitive federal grant program designed to increase the college-going rate. In 2018, the Council was awarded a seven-year, $24.5 million grant to serve at least 10,000 middle and high school students in at least 10 school districts. This is the fourth GEAR UP state grant for Kentucky that has been administered through the Council. GEAR UP positions are for the term of the grant.
Duties and Responsibilities
Direct Services for Students and Families
Provide direct services to GEAR UP Scholar students and families at assigned campuses in the northern KY area.
Student services - Postsecondary level
- Develop and implement annual postsecondary services plans for each assigned partner campus.
- Establish relationships with university/college staff and faculty in key campus offices/departments that provide student support services.
- Directly implement student services for GU Scholars with a focus on connecting students with campus resources and support systems and with other GU Scholars on campus (current and alums).
- Provide individual and small group coaching and support services to GEAR UP Scholars via text, email, phone, in-person events, and/or office hours.
- Coordinate an early campus orientation for GU Scholars attending assigned institutions prior to the beginning of their first year of postsecondary education.
- Coordinate peer mentoring/leadership program for GUK first year students.
- Host on-campus or virtual workshops focused on building first-year success skills, supporting retention, awareness of campus resources, or other relevant topics related to first-year success.
- Serve as a member of the GUK Scholars team.
Family services - postsecondary level
Provide services and support to GEAR UP Scholar families at assigned institutions via text outreach and other identified activities/strategies.
Student services - District level
Work with District Program Managers in all GUK high schools to connect early with students with priority focus on schools within region of assigned postsecondary institutions through collaborative delivery of services such as:
- Coordination of workshops/sessions highlighting their assigned institution (in cooperation with admissions, financial aid, etc.).
- Participation in campus visits.
- Participation in senior events.
- Co-delivery of final senior year curricula lesson.
- Delivery of an advising session.
- Introduce GUK Scholars program to high school juniors.
- Serve as a member of the Postsecondary Pipeline team.
Summer Academy Coordination
Serve as Site Director of annual 3-week Summer Academy on 4-year university campus (2023 – 2025), including but not limited to:
- Serve as a member of the Summer Academy team.
- Work with Associate Director of Postsecondary Transition and Success, campus partners and other staff to plan Academy curricula, schedule and logistics.
- Serve as the lead GUK staff on-site for the duration of the Academy; will include overnight and weekend stays on campus for the duration of the Academy to ensure adequate student supervision.
- Oversee the daily operations of assigned Summer Academy.
- Develop staffing plan and provide supervision of summer academy staff and students at assigned campus.
- Ensure that all academy schedules and activities are implemented as planned.
- Monitor and support staff and students to ensure all are in compliance with rules, policies and guidelines of the academy and university.
- Address, document and monitor student issues (academic, behavioral) and personnel issues.
- Implement student disciplinary action as needed.
- Coordinate daily communications with GUK academy staff, Associate Director, and/or GUK Senior Leadership to address updates and any issues.
- Coordinate implementation of GUK-provided curricula and activities (e.g. GUK 101).
- Assist with evening and weekend activities.
- Develop a summative report outlining successes and challenges of assigned Academy, including recommendations for continuous improvement.
Development and Coordination of Postsecondary Services
Develop and define programmatic content and implementation plans for assigned GEAR UP Scholars service area including:
- Develop and define programmatic content and implementation plans for assigned service area in accordance with established deadlines including goals and objectives, target audiences, delivery format and methods, partnership parameters, key deliverables, timelines, data collection guidelines, budget guidelines, staff implementation tools and training, and feedback strategies for improvement.
- Communicate progress regularly with Associate Director of Postsecondary Transition and Success and Associate Director of Operations and Development to ensure alignment to project goals and requirements.
- Participation in GUK project teams aligned to GEAR UP Scholar service area.
- Collaborate with the Associate Director of Operations and Development to deliver staff training plans/products; continually discuss and provide timely responses to feedback regarding implementation challenges to ensure continuous improvement.
- Work with GEAR UP Scholars team to analyze data regarding implementation and impact; make recommendations for improvement to Associate Director for Postsecondary Transition and Success as requested/needed.
Communication and Information Management
- Communicate GUK vision and mission effectively to all stakeholders.
- Collect and maintain accurate and complete data on delivery of all services in accordance to GUK timelines and FERPA guidelines including weekly submission of service delivery data and submission of quarterly GUK reports.
- Adhere to FERPA/confidentiality expectations regarding any student/institutional data as outlined in GUK Data Collection and Use policies and procedures.
- Maintain calendar in Microsoft Outlook and communicate work plan and schedule to Associate Director of Postsecondary Transition and Success, according to agreed-upon practice and agency policies.
Education and Experience
- Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in education, sociology, public administration, project management, or other related discipline.
- Ten years professional experience in related field.
Preferred
- Master’s degree or above.
- Work experience in a college/university.
- Work experience in a grant-funded environment and/or grant administration.
Contact Information
Interested applicants should send a letter of application specifically addressing the responsibilities and qualifications of the position, a resume, and the names, titles, and contact information for at least three professional references to: | https://cpe.ky.gov/news/jobs/guk-ptcoordinator.html |
As large organizations implement newer and more effective project management methodologies, they often struggle to ensure that projects and processes are managed in a consistent manner across the entire company. Due to varying business needs or individual preferences, teams in one department might wish to manage their projects differently from teams in other departments. While some degree of flexibility in this regard can be beneficial, organizations still need to maintain a high level of integration in their project management practices in order to direct their activities toward successfully achieving their long-term strategic goals.
Integrated project management—in which all of an organization’s business units use a consistent approach to project management and share information about project needs and objectives—is essential for maintaining or improving team efficiency and project effectiveness within a growing company.
Project vs. Process
One highly important, but often overlooked, factor that organizations should consider when evaluating their project management integration is the distinction between projects and processes. While both projects and processes are activities that typically involve multiple steps or tasks being performed in order to meet a business need, there are meaningful differences between the two that companies need to recognize in order to properly align their efforts. The key distinction between the projects and processes is that a project has a clearly-defined end, while a process is an ongoing activity that continues as long as the organization believes necessary.
When everyone within an organization understands the difference between a project and a process, it becomes much easier to understand whether a specific task is part of an ongoing process, or should be viewed as project-related. For example, software companies often use very specific guidelines to determine when a customer implementation (a project) is complete and when ongoing product support (a process) should begin. These guidelines help ensure that everyone on the implementation and support teams know when they should respond to the customer, so that no requests or inquiries accidentally go unanswered.
Portfolio Management
Rather than allowing individual projects to exist in silos, large companies need to take a strategic approach to project portfolio management, grouping related projects together and guiding them as a whole toward larger, long-term goals. While portfolio management once posed a serious challenge at the enterprise level, a new generation of project and portfolio management solutions now provide portfolio managers with the tools they need to maintain a clear view of timelines and resource demands across dozens, or sometimes hundreds, of projects at the same time.
Reporting
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Have aliens visited our planet? I have a simple answer, but only if I reframe the question as a simple question.
If by aliens you mean any life forms that originated off earth, it has been suggested that microscopic life forms seeded the earth from somewhere else, perhaps space itself. We may be our own Martians. But I don’t think that is what most people mean by the question. I think they mean something like “Have people from other worlds come to earth?” People? Some would argue that aliens are people too. Certainly Star Trek represents other intelligent life forms as people 99% of the time, in the sense that human actors can play the parts, but I don’t rule out the possibility that intelligent life forms may be very different from us. The English Astronomer, Sir Arthur Eddington said “Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.” I believe the same is true of life, including intelligent life, on other worlds.
So I ask instead, “Has any extraterrestrial intelligence reached Earth?” I do not refer to intelligent “life,” because I don’t want to rule out artificial intelligence. Are intelligent robots, even self-replicating robots, living or not? Does it matter? It may well be that artificial intelligence is the norm in the universe as a whole and intelligent life forms are only the preliminary.
When I was a nineteen-year-old college student in 1959, I sent the same letter to both Nashville papers. I said that Sputnik was a science fiction challenge too. I questioned how writers could continue speculating about intelligent life in nearby star systems, much less planets in our own solar systems, when we, on the verge of space travel ourselves, had never had any confirmed visits from outer space. It was deemed the best letter of the day in one paper and the best letter of the week in the other.
I did not know at the time that I was raising Fermi’s question:
In 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi, questioning generous estimates of the number of civilizations in our galaxy famously asked his fellow scientists “Where are they?” Several writers have jumped right from “We are not alone in the universe,” to “Aliens have visited earth.” Actually, there are several steps in between. It is quite possible that intelligent species or their intelligent inventions are common in absolute numbers, since the universe is so vast, yet rare enough that two such groups never, or almost never, meet.
One answer to the question “where are they?” is they have been here, but they have kept themselves well hidden. Yet they seem to have left abundant evidence behind for believers, such as Eric von Daniken in Chariots of the Gods. Another answer is that they are here, but we don’t recognize them because they are so different from us. I doubt that. I believe it is difficult to overlook an intelligence capable of space flight unless it is deliberately hiding.
The simplest explanation for why we can’t find them is that we are alone in our little corner of the universe, but the simplest explanation never completely rules out bizarre alternatives. I will say, though, that for reasons I will mention later, if such a hidden intelligence does exist, or ever existed on earth, it owns the whole galaxy. It originated from one source and we exist only at its sufferance, possibly as its creations. I think it just doesn’t exist. That may be a statement of faith, but it’s the same statement of faith as the belief that if I flip a coin into the air, it will land flat instead of on edge.
Traditional science fiction speaks in awe of men from outer space thousands of years ahead of us. Everything they do is totally mysterious to us. In the words of Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In the words of the soulless Borg of Star Trek, “resistance is futile” (rhymes with tile). The Borg are typical of belligerent advanced aliens. Often aliens thousands of years ahead of us are depicted as benevolent and condescending.
Thousands of years? Try millions. If the universe is 20 billion years old, could intelligent life have evolved one percent sooner somewhere else than it did here? That would be 200 million years ago. What about one percent later? The earth has been through a lot of changes in 200 million years but if we could go back to the earth of that time, we would find everything we needed to colonize it. The earth of 200 million years from now, without human influence, would no doubt also be eminently habitable. But since we’re here, changing that earth, we may find our continued existence depends on expanding out into space.
If we ever realize Carl Sagan’s dream of contact with intelligences beyond earth, its origin is statistically more likely to be millions of years ahead of ours than thousands. (It could also be millions of years behind ours, but then it would not have developed yet.) I do not assume that every civilization will develop interstellar travel. Still I see no reason that any civilization that does need have a life span less than the life span of the Universe.
Astronomer Sebastian von Hoerner disagrees. Why? Because it is “entirely inconceivable.” This is the argument from personal incredulity, the same argument creationists use when they argue that complex structures like the eye could not have emerged via evolution. The Soviet Astronomer I. S. Shklovskii and the American Carl Sagan collaborated on the book Intelligent Life in The Universe in 1966. Sagan and Shklovskii use von Hoerner’s mathematical model, among others, to calculate the number of civilizations in our galaxy, somewhere between 50,000 and a million.
In the words of Enrico Fermi, “Where are they?” If the lifetime of a civilization from the time it becomes able to communicate across space is measured in thousands of years and the distance between such civilizations is measured in hundreds of light years, perhaps they have simply not had time to reach us. But why haven’t we at least heard their radio signals?
Sagan and Shklovskii both believed it was possible in principle for a civilization to persist indefinitely. Shklovskii believed this was possible only if the civilization were organized on Communist principles. Sagan was able to visualize other alternatives. Yet neither scientist followed this assumption to its logical conclusion.
If there are, by the more “conservative” estimate, 50,000 civilizations in our galaxy, and if only one civilization in 10,000 achieves immortality through interstellar travel, whichever civilization got here first would own the galaxy by now, considering that they would be not thousands but hundreds of millions of years ahead of us.
I am aware that there is a lot of space to occupy, but if a population expands in a sphere around the home star, doubling every thousand years, it could expand a trillion fold in just forty thousand years. Migrating at one per cent of the speed of light, in that time it would occupy a sphere with a radius of 400 light years. It would not even be necessary to find (to them) habitable planets as they go; with a sufficiently advanced technology, they could remake planets to their liking. It has even been suggested that, within the next fifty thousand years, we could remake Jupiter into three hundred earth-like planets. The (to us) aliens might instead choose to live in migrating space habitats, as proposed by Gerald K O’Neil in The High Frontier.
I remember reading that a Soviet astronomer had proposed that the moons of Mars were hollow artificial satellites. A nut case, I thought. Surely if the Martians were putting satellites in orbit millions of years ago they would have been all over our planet by now. (The higher gravity would be a minor inconvenience to such an advanced civilization.) If there were two intelligent life forms in the same solar system then surely, under the assumption of mediocrity, the galaxy must be swarming with civilizations capable of interstellar flight. We would find ourselves in an occupied galaxy.
Then I found out that that nut case was Shklovskii himself. His and Sagan’s book contains a chapter on the assumption of mediocrity. He should have known that artificial satellites around Mars were incompatible with that principle. His speculation has since been disproved.
Rereading von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods I was struck by his disdain for establishment science. The world is full of unexplained mysteries: the pyramids (How did they build them? Why did they build them?) maps based on continental outlines presumably unknown at the time they were drawn, legends of Gods coming from the sky; he has traveled the earth to find many others. Von Daniken accounts for a wide variety of unanswered questions with a single hypothesis: We have been visited (invaded?) by space aliens. He believes that archaeologists, historians, geologists, etc. have tried to force the facts to fit pre-existing theories when, he impatiently points out, it is obvious that only the bold assertion of alien intervention can account for them. I can see why his book became a best seller in a society obsessed with flying saucers at a time when the youth culture was questioning the establishment in every way.
Yes, bold new ideas have broken us through many a scientific maze, but only if they led down the right path. Far more ideas, bold or not, have lead to dead ends. Carl Sagan rightly pointed out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Sagan, like most scientists (stodgy old men?) rebukes von Daniken’s claims, but he does not rule out the possibility that aliens have visited us in the past. I do.
My quarrel with von Daniken is not with his imagination but with his lack of imagination. He imagines aliens separated from us by a paper-thin margin of thousands of years when millions are more plausible. He imagines occasional voyages when I believe the norm for space exploration is settlement, consolidating territory, and moving on-the same pattern by which humans occupied the earth. He imagines evidence of such visits in the form of a few bizarre artifacts when I imagine a cacophony of radio signals across the galaxy. He imagines that parallel evolution in alien environments has led to humanoids enough like us, or our recent ancestors, to cross-breed whether in a planned eugenic program or the haphazard manner of white explorers rediscovering lands already occupied by other branches of the human species. Well, he’s got me there. I can’t imagine that. But he also lacks the imagination to understand the endless human ability to create new artifacts, fashion esoteric religions, and depict odd-looking space creatures without alien intervention.
I don’t believe von Daniken’s hypothesis, and similar speculations by UFO enthusiasts and others, can be salvaged. I admit, with Carl Sagan, that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” but I believe that if the enthusiasts were right, the space travelers would be abundant enough and close enough that evidence of their presence would be overwhelming. In that case, the cosmos would be largely closed to us. I believe the human species itself is intelligent enough and strange enough to account for all manner of weird phenomena. It is we who will be the aliens establishing our presence on nearby worlds around neighboring stars. | http://www.actforlibraries.org/have-aliens-visited-our-planet/ |
In over 43 years of interviewing atheists regarding their knowledge of science to support the idea that God must exist, I have consistently found that they are lacking in accurate knowledge of the true facts.
The basic nature of the universe, earth, and human life, cannot be explained by any naturalistic process. Once a person understands the complexities necessary to begin and order our universe, it becomes clear that only an infinitely intelligent Being would be capable of engineering and orchestrating this magnificent universe and human life on earth.
- Since time, space, and matter did not exist before the universe began, where did these things come from to make the universe?
- Since there were no physical laws before the universe, what force controlled the universe to exact a specific outcome to allow for life? Gravity, electromagnetism, entropy, and the distribution of matter, all require precise control at the beginning or the universe would have collapsed back upon itself. If not God, and seeing that the laws of physics did not exist, what force acted upon these imperative forces to cause then to be set precisely where they needed to be to sustain life, 13.7 billion years later?
- The universe began with an extreme low state of entropy. Mathematical Physicists, Sir Roger Penrose said that the only possibility that this could have taken place is if an intelligence acted upon the expansion to cause a low state of entropy. Given the conditions that were present at the commencement of the universe, scientists would have expected a very high state of entropy. How is this possible if the universe evolved on its own?
- The ratio between gravity and electromagnetism during the first picosecond of the universe was precisely set. If this balance was increased by only 1 part in 1040, there would never have been life on earth 13.7 billion years later. Cosmologist Paul Davies determined by calculation that a 1-in-1040 chance is equal to shooting and hitting a coin from Earth, at the far side of the universe. No natural or evolutionary force could cause this to take place, what caused this extreme low state of entropy, if not an infinite intelligence?
- The mass difference between a proton and an electron is 1:1836. This means that the proton is precisely 1,836 times larger than an electron. Despite this difference in size, both have the exact same electric charge. If we were to alter this electric charge by one part in 100 billion, every atom in the universe would self destruct. Since this mass/electric charge could not evolve, it must be precisely set first before life can begin. How could an evolutionary process achieve this precise ratio the first time?
- Our universe contains the precise physical constants that have the exact values that are required to allow for complex structures, such as galaxies, stars, planets, and people to exist. There are over 122 of these anthropic constants. How did evolution dial these constants in to the precise settings necessary for life and sustain them for 9 billion years, until the earth was formed? Evolution cannot produce precise settings all at once, yet all 122 of these constants had to be in place at the same time, before life could begin. Explain how this happened if not by an infinite intelligence?
- Despite several failed attempts, no scientist has ever been able to prove that life comes from anything except other life. Animals, plants, all organisms, all life comes from their own kind. In the only case of a claimed spontaneous generation of life, Louis Pasteur proved that this experiment was a hoax. By scientific evidence, Pasteur proved that life only comes from life which existed previously.There have never been any provable exceptions to this basic law of life. Not long after Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859, Louis Pasteur challenged the idea of spontaneous generation. This hypothesis is the very foundation of evolution as the origin of life. Dr. Pasteur’s simple but elegant “swan-necked flask” experiments impeached the idea of organic life as originating from a non-life assertion. Since it is not possible for evolution to produce the first life, what process cause life to begin, if not God?
- The only evolutionary process that has been proven by scientists is that certain species—when placed in harsh environments—have the ability to adapt themselves by certain changes that permit their continued survival. This type of limited evolutionary processes is assumed as evidence that greater evolutionary processes are also possible. What is falsely insinuated is that man could have evolved from the ape species. To the present day (2018), no scientific proof has ever been presented which would validate that man could have evolved from the ape species. No intermediate species have been discovered in the fossil record, though several fraudulent examples have been presented.The idea that all life forms originated from a common ancestor has no scientific evidence to prove that this has actually taken place, other than the limited evolution of certain species for the purpose of adaptation. The creatures, plants, and organisms that exist on earth, all follow a predetermined course for their existence that is fixed and unchangeable.Every animal appeared on earth fully formed as they now exist, and only under certain rare circumstances has any animal or plant changed slightly for the purpose of adaptation. There is no evidence that any species has evolved itself into a completely new species outside their original species. Since evolution of species has been scientifically disproven, how did life originate if not from God?
- When we think of evolution of the species in the sense of apes becoming man, this type of evolution has never presented evidence that would lead us to scientifically validate this kind of massive changes in evolution. Biology is based on taxonomy (classifications of species). This is the reason we see plants and animals with different scientific names. A species that occurs within an existing species because of adaptability is quite common. This new species within a species is not the same as evolution in the sense of creating a different animal or distinct kinds of organisms. See A List Of 1,000 Scientists Who Say That Evolution Is Wrong
When different species attempt to produce fertile offspring by breeding, the resulting offspring are always sterile. When donkeys and horses breed, the result is a mule which cannot reproduce itself. This is due to the massive differences between donkeys and horses in their DNA as distinct species.
The difficulty in accomplishing the same outcome between apes and humans is not only difficult, it is impossible. Although attempts have been made several times to impregnate a female ape with a human sperm in order to produce a hybrid ape-man, this procedure has limits that are impossible to overcome. This is due to the impossible conflict that exists between the incompatibility of human and ape chromosomes and the genetic instructions necessary to create a hybrid.
Chimpanzees and human beings sharing 95% of their DNA sequence and about 99% of their coding DNA sequences. Because of this close proximity in these two, many have assumed that the boundaries are not impossible to cross.
One of the biggest obstacles in creating an ape-human hybrid is that humans have 46 chromosomes and apes have 48. Even in the event that a zygote should form, this difference in chromosomes will not permit the chromosomes to pair together correctly in order to cause pregnancy.
Finally, there is at least a 40 million base pair difference between the code of apes and humans that further make the chance of creating a living missing link impossible.
Chromosomes alone are not the key in this regard. The genetic code that is necessary to instruct cells on how to form living tissue, organs, and body parts is the key to making it possible for an ape and human to produce offspring. The genetic code for an ape is lacking 40 million characters.
Making human and ape genetic code compatible is a bit like trying to use the operating system of an iPhone to run a nuclear submarine. The genetic code of an ape is lacking the key instructions necessary to make a viable being between ape and human. This has never happened before, and it never will happen. Understanding these things, how could an advanced life form such as man, exist at all if not by the creation of an infinite Being?
- The Bible presents us with scientific facts of the universe—precisely as they have existed since the beginning of the Cosmos. These facts of science were not placed into the Bible in order to prove that the text was scientific, but simply as comments about God and what He has created. By the inclusion of these statements, we see that the author of these texts must have known attributes of the universe, before these facts were known to science.
- In the beginning there was nothing, when suddenly, the universe came into existence (Genesis 1:1).
- Time, Space, and Matter came into existence at the same precise moment (Genesis 1:1).
- The universe is expanding since its inception and is being “stretched out” (Jeremiah 10:12) also: 2 Sam 22:10; Job 9:8; 26:7; 37:18; Ps 18:9; 104:2; 144:5; Isa 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Eze 1:22; Zech 12:1.
- The number of stars in the universe are so great in number, they cannot be counted (Jeremiah 33:22).
- The Sun follows a circular course through the universe (Psalms 19:4-6).
- The Earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22).
- The Earth hangs in empty space, suspended by gravity (Job 26:7).
- All matter in the universe is made up of invisible material, consisting of Atoms (Hebrews 11:3).
- The invisible physiology and function of the human body, understood by God before medicine understood these facts (Genesis 17:12).
- The universe will end by a massive heat death (2 Peter 3:10).
How God Created The Universe: Science And The Bible In Symmetry
No other religion or god of this world has ever conveyed through the writings of their scriptures such detailed knowledge of the universe, prior to the scientific discovery of these facts. How is it that the God of the Bible knew all of this scientific information about the universe, earth, and the physical nature of man, hundreds of years before science discovered these things?
No atheist can answer these 10 questions apart from a universe that was created by an intelligent Being. These are questions of science, not faith, yet the premise that science eliminates the need for God, cannot explain how the universe began and why it exists as perfectly engineered for life.
These attributes of the universe which have made life possible on earth, cannot be explained by any naturalistic processes. There are only two possible causes for the universe; it came into being on its own, or it was caused. Because science cannot define how our universe came into existence from nothing by any scientific process that can be proven apart from mathematical calculations, this leaves us with the only remaining solution for our universe, it was caused to begin by a source of incredible intelligence.
This intelligent source is the only scientific answer for the origin of the universe.
Categories: 10 Lists, Atheists, Common objections by Atheists, Empirical Evidence for God, Evolution of Species, Jesus is God, Origin of the Universe, Physical Constants, Robert Clifton Robinson, Salvation is a free gift, Science and the Bible, Scientists Who Believe in God, Special Evolution, The Creation of the Universe, The earth is the Lord's, We must repent, What happens after death? | https://robertcliftonrobinson.com/2018/03/10/10-questions-every-atheist-must-answer/ |
To put this in perspective, let’s first consider some of the numbers. As of the penning of this article, scientists have discovered a total of 2049 planets in 1297 planetary systems, including 507 multiple planetary systems. In addition, a report issued in 2013 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA indicated that, based on Kepler mission data, there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs within the Milky Way, and that 11 billion of these may be orbiting Sun-like stars.
So really, there should be no shortage of alien civilizations out there. And given that some scientists estimate that our galaxy is over 13 billion years old, there’s been no shortage of time for some of that life to evolve and crate all the necessary technology to reach out and find us. But according to Dr Aditya Chopra, the lead author on the ANU paper, one needs take into account that the evolutionary process is filled with its share of hurdles.
Consider our Solar System. We all know that planet Earth has all the right elements to give rise to life as we know it. It sits within the Sun’s so-called “Goldilocks Zone” (aka. habitable zone), it has liquid water on its surface, an atmosphere, and a magnetosphere to protect this atmosphere and ensure that life on the surface isn’t exposed to too much radiation. As such, Earth is the only place in our Solar System where life is known to thrive.
But what about Venus and Mars? Both of these planets sit within the Sun’s Goldilocks Zone and are believed to have had microbial life on them at one time. But roughly 3 billion years ago, when life on Earth was beginning to convert the Earth’s primordial atmosphere by producing oxygen, Venus and Mars both underwent cataclysmic change.
Whereas Venus experienced a runaway Greenhouse Effect and became the hot, hostile world it is today, Mars lost its atmosphere and surface water and became the cold, desiccated place it is today. So whereas Earth’s microbial life played a key role in stabilizing our environment, any lifeforms on Venus and Mars would have been wiped out by the sudden temperature extremes.
In other words, when considering the likelihood of life in the cosmos, we need to look beyond the mere statistics and consider whether or not it may come down to an “emergence bottleneck”. Essentially, those planets where lifeforms fail to emerge quickly enough, thus stabilizing the planet and paving the way for more life, will be doomed to remain uninhabited.
If life emerges on a planet, it only rarely evolves quickly enough to regulate greenhouse gases and albedo, thereby maintaining surface temperatures compatible with liquid water and habitability. Such a Gaian bottleneck suggests that (i) extinction is the cosmic default for most life that has ever emerged on the surfaces of wet rocky planets in the Universe and (ii) rocky planets need to be inhabited to remain habitable.
While potentially depressing, this theory does offer a resolution to the Fermi Paradox. Given the sheer number of warm, wet terrestrial planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, there ought to be at least a few thousand civilizations kicking around. And of those, surely there are a few who have climbed their way up the Kardashev Scale and built something like a Dyson Sphere, or at least some flying saucers!
And yet, not only have we not detected any signs of life in other solar systems, but the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) hasn’t detecting any radio waves from other star systems since its inception. The only possible explanations for this are that either life is far more rare than we think, or that we aren’t looking in the right places. In the former case, an emergence bottleneck may be the reason why life has been so hard to find.
But if the latter possibility should be the case, it means our methodology needs to change. So far, all of our searches have been for the “low-hanging fruit” of alien life – looking for signs of it on warm, watery planets like our own. Perhaps life does exist out there, but in more complex and exotic forms that we have yet to consider. Or, as is often suggested, it is possible that extra-terrestrial life is taking great pains to avoid us.
How can our galaxy be “16 billion years old” when the universe is only about 14.3 billion yrs. old?
That is a typo. It should have said 12.6, but I’ve since found out that the estimates go beyond 13 billion.
I’ve brought this up before, but no one seems to get it. The Fermi’s Paradox is based on wrong data. It is not adding in the fact that evolution of life beyond pond scum may require mixing of the reagents. This means active diurnal tides caused by a large rocky moon, similar to Luna.
I don’t know if our current planet search can even “see” a moon spinning around a planet, but I would think that the criteria should be added to the parameters to narrow down the # of possible intelligent life planets. I expect that this would result in a very low number of candidate planets.
Thank you. Did you see the recent UT blog on the need for a moon? I posted the same fact that a moon is essential to support life (not initiate it) and there was heck to pay for even suggesting what you have posted. Except – my concern is you seem to imply (the fact that evolution of life…”) Chemical evolution is one of many Darwinian myths: There is no naturalistic mechanism or physical process that can generate metaphysical realities. Also, the lack of a viable, comprehensive theory of abiogenesis is because there will never be one, period. Fermi’s paradox is real but based on much more than what was known when he first posited it.
“The most recent estimates place the age of the Universe at about 13.7 billion years. Our Milky Way has been around for about 13.6 billion of those years, give or take another 800 million. The oldest stars in our the Milky Way are found in globular clusters, and the age of our galaxy is determined by measuring the age of these stars, and then extrapolating the age of what preceded them.
— Please clarify this point, Matt, by referring to the latest insights on the age of the universe and our home galaxy.
Geez, you’d think none of these scientists ever heard of the Prime Directive.
It seems to me that Dr Chopra and other planetary scientists are trying to extrapolate from one data point: our knowledge of processes on Earth. Every aspect of his standpoint is based on our well nigh infinitessimal understanding of the cosmos. It’s like staring at your own belly button for a lifetime and then asserting that you know the shape of your entire body. What has been and is still valid on Earth says nothing or very little about what goes on elsewhere in the universe. I refuse to believe that “all the aliens are dead”. It’s too depressing. Yesterday I read an article about a ‘dead galaxy’, and now this. Why are astronomers such depressing people? Are alien astronomers equally depressing? How shall we rid ourselves of such dreary people?
AHA! THAT’S what happened to them. They advanced to such a state that some of them began to consider others of their kind depressing and dreary, so they undertook a program of ridding themselves of all that dead weight….
The Universe is Full of Life look up to the Heavens for we are there.. It wont be long now before positive contact will be made. We are getting close but life on Earth is still primitive and we can not see what is realy going on in the Milky Way or the rest of the Cosmos, But we are nearly there now and any person that believes we are alone is demented the numbers are infinite on the side of Life if you dont believe it look in the mirror.. We are All Stardust.
The Galaxy is a very big place. 100k light years across. Evidence of human life has not even reached the other side of our own galaxy. In fact, it has barely reached the limits of unaided observable stars. We have as much of a chance being the first intelligent life in our galaxy as being the last intelligent life in the galaxy. And if Stephen Hawking is to be believed, we could annihilate ourselves before evidence of human life even gets 1/3 the way across our own galaxy. Think about that. By the time we find evidence of intelligent life, that life could already be extinct. With such a small time frame on a galactic scale to find intelligent life, we may have already “seen” intelligent life and that life annihilated itself and now it would take a probe to see the reminisce of that life which won’t even get to the target planet before we ourselves go extinct. The size of our own galaxy is working against us. So, there is no doubt that life abounds in our galaxy. There is no doubt intelligent life occurs in our galaxy. Just it could very well only be occurring in our little corner of the galaxy in one location, and that’s right here. And the equation for life would still be valid.
It’s probably way too early for this analysis. Mars and Venus are bad examples of life “failing”. The former was too small to hang onto its atmosphere and the latter rotates too slowly to generate a protective magnetic shield with the consequent loss of hydrogen. Life could have prevented neither. Life did succeed on the one planet in our solar system which was “just right”, and in my opinion that includes the need for a stabilising large moon, but a sample size of one is obviously useless when it comes to drawing conclusions.
I don’t believe the current absence of evidence for aliens can be used to pray in aid of the posited Gaian Bottleneck. Lack of SETI results may simply mean that alien civilisations are so widely spaced on average that undirected broadcasts are too expensive and that we are too far away from any civilisation minded to talk to us, assuming they’d even want to from what they’ve seen so far, for them to have realised we might have the technological capability to reply. As for aliens visiting us, space is an incredibly hostile environment to organic life: even a round trip to Mars has considerable health implications. Any lack of little green beings waving their antennae at us and demanding to be taken to our leaders is much more likely to be evidence that warp drives can’t exist than that aliens don’t exist. Generation ships or, if a biology supports it, suspended animation might be ways of crossing interstellar distances but both have severe ethical issues. Quite apart from enforcing the impoverished environment of a generation ship on countless unborn beings what is the point? Arriving somewhere where there is a vibrant biosphere means a risk either of contaminating it or being unable to survive in it without a protective suit. And then, assuming they don’t intend to destroy it and create a new home for themselves, they turn around and go home?
Maybe the universal principle in place to explain the lack of alien presence is not a Gaian Bottleneck but boring old economics? For less than the cost (probably a lot less) of an interstellar voyage which results in no payback within the lifetime of the contributing members of a society think what one could build in terms of spaceborne remote sensing which could be directed at multiple star systems. If the economics are good for us then why not for any aliens?
Not only are they not dead but they’re all over the Universe, going back and forth, and back and forth, like a ping-pong ball. We don’t know how and they haven’t told anyone how they do it. There are several sighting cases involving reliable witnesses, the most well-known being the Lubbock Lights Case. Those who saw them were four professors from the Texas Technological College. The space aliens will never approach us openly –“land right on the White House lawn” and tell the hefty security apes “take us to your Leader”, like in the comic books — because at their stage of evolution everyone is telepathic, a mindreader, and most of us would find their presence intolerable and embarrassing. Their elusiveness is their way of respecting our intimacy. They make themselves available to anyone who has already reached an advanced stage of moral evolution. If your life is “an open book” then just go out on a clear night somewhere in the boondocks and call on them. Meanwhile you can count the shooting stars or watch the heavens through your telescope. Would Enrico Fermi have been brave enough to do such a thing? Anyway, he would’ve laughed all the way over to the encounter.
Reading this and looking at planetary magnetic fields.
What would have happened to the Earth / or would happen to the Earth if – Mercury – Venus – Mars had a magnetic field equal or just slightly greater or lesser to Earth’s?
Would it through Earth’s ‘equilibrium’ so totally out of balance; heat, radiation and such, that we would not have had life here?
Fermi’s paradox is resolved, and not just by “The Prime Directive”.
Stephan Hawking’s warning is the second reason any ET would approach Earth “cloaked” (Stealth Technology in military jargon), and not make contact.
would think and do when it saw news reels of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao Zedong or more recently the Islamic State, or North Korea, or Eritrea, or Somalia, or Libya, or The list goes on.
It would not be positive, and they might have to consider a quarantine of Earth until the situation improved.
and radio signals are limited to the speed of light.
Fermi’s paradox is resolved for at least three reasons.
Only the sun can generate magnetic storms of such intensity that the magnetic field of the earth is affected.
…based on flimsy circumstantial evidence combined with a great deal of hope.
I think another reason is that the Universe as a whole is more habitable now than in the past. The amount of heavy elements like C,N,O,P, is are increasing (which life forms are made of), and the rate of planet-killing disasters like nearby supernovae and gamma ray bursts is decreasing. It may be that we are among the first civilisations in the Universe.
Also, the analysis in this paper does not take into account subterranean habitats on, say, Enceladus or Europa. Almost nothing the Sun can do will have any effect on a well-shielded, tidally heated water cavern. The only real danger is that life there will end up poisoning itself; remember the cyanobacteria on Earth, which killed almost everything with all that horribly toxic corrosive oxygen?
It’s important to remember that this paper’s premise is based on Life as we know it. To truly answer the Fermi Paradox we would need to take into account Life as we don’t know it.
Sorry for the duplicate posts.. Also worth pointing out that if there is intelligent life, perhaps, like us, they haven’t worked out a way to reliably communicate or broadcast across vast distances (many tens/hundreds/thousands of light years).. It is questionable that radio waves sent from hundreds/thousands of light years would even be detectable with SETI after having to pass through gas clouds in interstellar space….
We, as a civilization, haven’t even convinced ourselves that we are capable of being responsible with the power that we’ve obtained. We may be too flawed a species to obtain the power that a more advanced alien species has without their interference without destroying ourselves….and this planet. Even if they didn’t directly give us knowledge, if we were simply contacted by aliens, would it not serve as motivation for us? Instead of us competing with each other for power, we would, silently, be a more united world to obtain the knowledge that they have. Would we deserve that motivation?
If I made the choice for that alien civilization, I would wait until at least humans detected us before contacting them. I would want to see that human CIVILization egg hatch, so to speak. Imagine the amount of damage we could do if we became a multi-star system species? Or how about intergalactic? by obtaining that power before we’ve matured. Lord of the Flies anyone? Even if they could put us in our place, why even put themselves in that position? And Lord knows what ramifications we could have that they didn’t realize. It’s not worth contacting us.
There is always the possibility that INTELLIGENT aliens exist. They may have taken a sharp look at us and placed warning beacons around the Solar system to keep everyone away. Reading the history of Homo Sapiens(??) explains it.
If all life in this universe is assumed, to have started in the same universe that we now live in; Then we should all have had the same starting point. Given that our radio waves have only existed for around one hundred years. We are and will be blind to other intelligent life for millennia. Early stars may have been to big and explosive to support life. And it would be only the very early life that we could detect. Someone has to be first. Why not us!
Our Solar System formed 4.5 billion years ago. Our Universe is 13.8 billion years old, and the Milky Way Galaxy is over 13 billion years old. We didn’t all start at the same point in time. In fact, there is no reason to assume that intelligent life elsewhere would not have had a multi-million or even billion year head start on us. Which is one of the main challenges posed by Fermi.
Given 12 billion years, I would venture that there’s a also a very small window in which intelligent life overlaps. We’ve had the ability to signal and search for barely half a century and – given the rate at which we’re exhausting earth’s resources – it’s all too likely that our ability to communicate with other worlds will cease within the next couple of centuries. If life on other planets is equally improvident with their resources, the odds on our communication windows overlapping is remote. | https://www.universetoday.com/127032/127032/ |
Recently we looked at the Teleological Argument in biology in DNA. As we continue the discussion on the Teleological Argument, I wanted to look at design in the universe. No matter if you are looking at the solar system or the entire universe you can see design and intelligence.
When you are looking for signs of intelligent design there are 3 key factors that you will need: Contingency, Complexity, and Specification. If something were designed we would expect to see evidence of contingency. (Meaning it did not result from a meaningless unintelligent process.) If something were designed , we would expect to see evidence of complexity. (With many working parts) And if something were designed, we would expect to see evidence of specificity. (A detailed, precise pattern commonly associated with intelligent causes.) Just as we can see those 3 factors in DNA, we can also see them within the universe.
There are two levels at which you can look at intelligent design in the universe. First it seems that earth is fine-tuned for life within the realm of our solar system. There are many razor-thin factors that make life on earth possible. Here are a few examples of what I am referring to.
1. Temperature – The earth is the perfect distance from sun. If the earth was any closer or further away to the sun, life on earth would be out of the temperature range and not contingent for life.
2. Size – The earth size, rotational speed, atmosphere, and tilt are just right for life to exist on the earth. If it were slightly different we would not be able to sustain life on earth.
3. The moon – Without a moon that causes tides aerating oceans and oxygen for fish & plankton sea life would not be able to exist. The tides also clean the oceans of trash and contaminates. During the months following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico scientists watched carefully the raw crude oil that was in the water. After about a year had gone by the ocean had self cleaned itself and life was returning back to normal. The moon also acts as a shield protecting the earth from various space debris that come close to the earth in the solar system.
4. Water – Without water life would not exist. When NASA sends spacecraft to other places within our solar system they look for the presence of water or ice. Water covers about 70% of the surface of the earth. In connection with the temperature and atmosphere the water cycle would not be possible and would not make plant and animal life possible on the land.
5. Oxygen – Oxygen is the most plentiful element on the earth. It makes up about 90% of the earths total weight. (In water and the atmosphere) Oxygen is not only needed for animal life to breathe but in the upper atmosphere paired with a 3rd Oxygen molecule we have Ozone. The Ozone layer helps protect the earth from harmful radiation from the sun. You are probably familiar with oxygen and carbon-dioxide cycle, where plant life breathes in CO2 and give off O2. Animal life breathes in O2 and breathes out CO2. The earth had to be perfectly balanced between plant and animal life in order for both to survive. This principle is called the Anthropic Principal.
6. Gravity – Gravity is the unexplained force in nature. It is present all over the universe. It controls the rotation of the planets around the sun and the rotation of the moons around the planets. On a larger scale, it controls the movement of all the galaxies in the universe. If Gravity was slightly different the sun would burn to fast and we not have a sun to heat the earth.
7. Lighting – Lightning happens on average about 100,000 times a day around the planet. All plants need nitrogen as food to grow and when lightning strikes the earth it takes nitrogen from the air and deposits it in the soil.
8. Jupiter – Jupiter is the earth’s shield. Because it is the largest planet in our solar system it acts similar to the moon as a shield protecting us from comets, space debris, asteroids that may come in a path with the earth. The large gravity of Jupiter acts like a magnet and pulls these things towards Jupiter.
9. Galaxies – In order for life to be possible we must be in the right type of galaxy with the appropriate types of stars and heavenly bodies. No only the right type of galaxy, but also the right place within the galaxy.
What happens when you try to assign a probability to all these factors. Roger Penrose, professor at Oxford, says it is an impossibility because the number of digits would be greater than the total number of elementary particles in the know universe. The level of precision dwarfs our human comprehension.
One objection to the idea that the solar system is fine-tuned and intelligently designed is that it only appears to be at the surface, but that evolution can explain for the illusion of design. In other words, it only looks intelligently design, but in reality it is only how things have come to be. Darwinian evolutionist say that just because we exist in the universe doesn’t mean that we are special and valued.They contend that if the tape of evolution were rewound through time that it is possible that something else may have evolved differently and they two would question there existence. Too bad we don’t have access to that evolutionary tape.
Think about this example from apologist, Sean McDowell. Imagine you purchase tickets to a football game. Upon arrival at the stadium you find your seat and sit down to watch the game. After talking for a while with your neighbors you slowly discover that everyone in your seat section is sitting in alphabetic order, and greater still after more investigation you learn that everyone in the whole stadium is seated alphabetically. The uniqueness of this grand scheme demands an explanation. Who did this? Someone was playing with the computer perhaps? Philosopher John Leslie uses a firing squad illustration. Imagine you were standing before a firing squad of 50 gunmen. The order is given to fire, but for some reason you are still alive and not shot. Your survival demands an explanation and so does fine-tuning.
Another objection by atheist, Richard Dawkins who admits that there is no present natural explanation for the fine-tuning of the universe, but claims that hardly accounts for God. Dawkins argues that accepting the design argument leads to “Who designed the designer?” The problem with this argument is this, can science only accept things if they can explain them? Or if they have explanations? Science must come to a point that they accept what evidence they do have and deny the request for further proof. For example; an archaeologist who finds a ancient object that looks like a arrow head or a tool for digging. Even if she/he cannot explain the origin or the identity of the designer. If the evidence for design is compelling she could not dismiss the design hypothesis.
Critics also argue that if the laws of physics were different then some other non-carbon based life form could have existed. Besides being entirely speculative, many of the fine-tuning instances and arguments are not based or rely on being carbon-based.
This brings us to the second level at which you can look at intelligent design in the universe. Why are the laws of physics defined as what they are? Why is the expansion rate of the universe (the cosmological constant) what it is? What about the 4 fundamental forces of nature? (Gravity, Electromagnetic force, The strong and weak nuclear force) Just as we see in DNA in life that there had to be a programmer to put in the code for life, where did the code for the laws of physics come from?
Darwinian evolutionists are trying to answer the intelligent design argument with the idea of the Multiverse or the Grand Design, which has been popularized by Stephen Hawking in his latest book entitled The Grand Design. Using the standard model in physics and other theories, like string theory, they are attempting to take our universes laws of physics and show that it is basically nothing special in a realm where multiple universes exist. Is your head hurting yet? I will spend more time explaining this in a upcoming post.
As always, questions, comments, and discussions are welcome. | https://johndweldon.com/tag/the-grand-design/ |
From the perspective of Terje Nilsen, 43, co-owner of Ray White The Paradise Property Group real estate who comes from Norway.
Do you believe people arrived in their present form on Earth?
No, I believe in evolution, evolution being part of God’s development of Earth and humans. The big question here is our human soul and if that arrived in its present form or not. And if souls in same or different forms exist in other lifeforms on Earth.
Do you think a supernatural force has been guiding our evolution?
Yes, I do. The best source for “proof” of this is old spiritual and religious scriptures, the largest being the Vedas. Much too large and complex in its messages to just be “fairytales.”
Does it trouble you that we descended from apes?
No, not in the physical sense. We all, all living creatures, descend from the same “mother and father” anyway.
What does it mean to you to be human?
I believe in one cause, the cause of humanity. Meaning we all pass this test together or we do not pass it at all. This is God’s test for us, if we can make it together. I do not believe in individual liberation, at least not final liberation, all or none. This cause is what humans have to “find” in their day-to-day life. This is where the meaning of life is, in endless shapes and forms, big and small.
Philosophers say that human suffering proves the existence of God, that some people must endure enormous tragedy and sadness in order to find their path to God. What do you think?
I don’t think suffering is the right way to “prove” God. Keywords here for me would be karma, or learning by doing. Some say to know God you have to know evil, or bad. One of the best explanations I have heard is when we are compared to kids: they sometimes suffer when learning to become better humans.
What about the Asian tsunami of 2004 that killed around 250,000 people? In your opinion, where is a god in such a biblical natural disaster?
Difficult to answer. We learn by making mistakes. These mistakes might be lessons for us to survive, and to help us to come together as one for humanity.
Do you think the chaos and trouble caused by people, including wars, is the product of a Devil-derived evil or purely free will?
A combination of both, I believe. But with our will, we can all pull this chaos in the right direction, supported by clear actions to do so.
Why do you think the Universe is such a gigantic place, yet the only apparent intelligent life as far as we’ve been able to detect is on Earth?
I don’t think we are alone. There are other lifeforms in the Universe and around us on Earth.
Scientists say the Universe began life as an incomprehensibly dense dot of matter, then exploded and is expanding. In your imagination, what has the cosmos become and what do you think is our meaning within it?
Into a giant experiment where God and us as part of God evolve further and further towards ultimate good. In this case humanity would include all there is; this is the same as the Balinese concept of Tat Twam Asi.
Although impossible now, if a probe could reach the furthest parts of space, at the point where matter was still expanding, and if that probe could jump ahead of the matter, where would it be?
It would jump ahead to where we are going, but would need to come back right away to still be part of the learning process we are all part of.
Does it worry you that your presence on Earth might be nothing more than a chance alignment of primordial amino acids and that we are totally alone and when you die, that’s the end of your consciousness?
If that was the case, it would not bother me. Still, the best scientific “proof” of god I have seen is math. Basically, what mathematicians do is work out the chances of each evolution aspect happening, each of them being less than one in a million. However, if all leaps and happenings in evolution on Earth and in the Universe are put together, you get an astronomical figure. It would then be mathematically impossible for evolution to happen. But it has been happening; hence the proof of a higher guidance, presence and thought.
Atheists maintain that religion is nothing more than a fairytale and that adherents are deluding themselves. They say there’s no proof of the existence of any controlling entity or creator and that it’s foolish to believe in one. Are they deluding themselves?
Yes, I believe they are deluding themselves, but then again that might be the role for them to play in this life.
What’s the wonder of being alive?
Realising the cause, not being alone. In Bali they have a saying: Achintya. This means a part of God, or a nature of God that we cannot understand with our normal human capacities – this is step one. Gayatri is the ultimate prayer, a prayer where we ask for the creator to guide us, enlighten us and give us the life we deserve and need to learn – this is step two. Ananda means spiritual happiness and this would follow as a result of the two previous steps. Humans tend to complicate God and spiritual aspects, not realising that there is a spiritual truth and togetherness in any religion or faith.
If you could say something directly to a God and get a direct answer, what would it be?
I would say: Thank you for the life I have now, with all the people around me teaching me valuable lessons. I would ask him: Why is it hard for me to learn and adjust. And probably, I would ask him what plans he has for me in my next life. | https://www.thebalitimes.com/the-big-question/13636/ |
Hello,
I like your book/ Human Devolution /and the intelligent design argument, but I have the following comments.
Michael Cremo responds:
Thanks for your comments and questions. I will reply according to my particular understanding, as
derived from the teachings of the school to which I belong, i.e. the Gaudiya Vaishnava school, as
received from my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The argument that the manifested universe came about by intelligent design and is therefore "intended" conflicts
with the idea about a "fall" from a "good" spiritual existence to a "bad" manifested existence. If God intentionally
created the manifested universe, then you would think that He intended it to be used.
Michael: Yes, that is correct.
Was the creation of the manifested universe merely an artistic creation to be hung on His wall or was it intended
to be used by intelligent conscious life?
Michael: It was intended to be used.
If He intended it to be used, then there can be no "fall", as it was part of the plan.
Michael: God, the Supreme Soul, eternally coexists in a spiritual realm beyond material time
and space, along with numberless individual spirit souls who serve Him in various loving relationships.
One of the characteristics of a loving relationship is that it must be free. If a soul is forced to love
God, then that soul has no freedom, and therefore the relationship cannot be one of true free love.
Freedom implies choice, and the choice to love or not love God must therefore be a real one. This
ability to choose to love or not love God is therefore an integral part of the spiritual nature of the
soul. It is not a defect. It must be a part of the spiritual nature of the soul, otherwise the soul would
not be truly free, and would not be able to truly love God. It is not necessary that any soul has to
choose to not love God. It could theoretically be possible that every single soul would love God,
and in that case there would be no need for a material universe. However, some souls have in fact
exercised their natural free will to chose not to love and serve God. Their motive is to assume the
position of God, i.e. to be the supreme enjoyer, with no limitation. This desire cannot be realized in
the spiritual world, or in the original spiritual form of the soul. So as soon as this desire is manifest,
such souls are placed in material bodies in material universes so that they can act out their desires
to be supreme enjoyers. But the creation of the material universes has a dual function. They are
playgrounds for fallen souls so that they can act out their desires to be Gods, and at the same time
they are schools for reeducation, for returning back to the spiritual world. But this depends on the
free will of each soul.
If it was NOT part of the plan, then what went wrong, how was His creation defective?
Michael: Nothing is defective. Free will is part of the eternal spiritual nature of the soul. If it
were not so, there would be no possibility of real spiritual love. Souls would simply be robots,
forced to love and serve God. Free will is not a defect. But misuse of free will is a mistake for
the soul.
To say that a few "spirits" were tempted by "desires" to cling to the manifested universe leads to many
questions, as follows:
1. The intelligent design of humans and all of life strongly suggests that God intended this to happen, so
which is it, are we "intelligently designed" and intended to be here or is it an accident of "desire" (unintended)?
If it was an unplanned result of desire, how do you explain intelligent design?
Michael: When souls leave the spiritual world, they require a place to act out their desires,
and they also require vehicles, bodies, in which to act out their desires. The place and the vehicles
are designed. As I said earlier, if no souls misused their spiritual free will, there would be no need
for the material world at all.
2. When did this "fall" from desire occur, while already in human form or in spiritual form?
Michael: In the spiritual form.
There would have had to have been a manifested material world to produce the desire for it, so it would
seem logical that the intelligently designed world did exist prior to the "fall" from desire, yet ...
Michael: The desire first manifested as a desire to take the position of God in the spiritual
world. There is no influence of the material world in the spiritual world. The misuse of free will
takes place with no knowledge of the material world. But as soon as there is this misuse of
spiritual free will in the spiritual world, that soul finds itself somewhere else, in the material
world. Now once they find themselves there, then they can desire to remain there.
2. The "fall" appears to affect all of life on Terra, not just humans. If this happens by reincarnation into
lower realms then there are questions about justice, fairness, and "goodness" that need to be addressed.
What happened to the original animal souls that existed prior to the "fall" - they would appear to have no
where to go and were dragged down with us. "Humans" caused the problem, but all of life on the plant
pays the price of our failure. The "fall" is systemic to life on this planet. Did all life "devolve?" How do
you explain devolved humans reincarnating into non-devolved animals and these animal being subject to
the consequences of fallen devolved spirits; pain, suffering, and death?
Michael:
A soul's first body in the material world is that of a demigod or human. If the soul makes
proper use of that form, it can return to the spiritual world. If it misuses that form to cultivate
grosser material desires, it will be placed into one of the lower forms of life. Any soul in the material
world belongs there because of misuse of spiritual free will in the spiritual world. And the
particular body it takes is the result of its further use of free will within the material world. A soul
placed in the body of an animal or plant, because of its karma (i.e. reactions to its use of free will),
will automatically make progress through the species until it again comes to the human form,
where again it has the ability to go back to the spiritual world or remain in the material world.
The system is just, fair, and good because every soul gets results that come from its own decisions.
3. How do you explain the failure of some spirits leading to the entrapment of all spirits,...
Michael: There is nothing like that. All spirits are not entrapped. Only those that misused
their spiritual free will.
...how do you explain six billion devolved spiritual failures.
Michael:
There are more than six billion. All the plants and animals also have souls. But
whether there are six billion or six trillion, the answer is the same. The find themselves in
the material world because of some misuse of spiritual free will that took place in the
spiritual world.
Were there six billion spirits involved in the original fall?
Michael:
Each one has its own original fall. Keep in mind that there are many universes,
and each universe goes through vast cycles of creation and destruction.
How is it that this failure is passed down to their children - to "new" spirits?
Michael: There is no such thing as failure being passed down to children. The soul that
enters the body of a child could be a soul that comes up from the plant and animals species.
Or it could be a soul of a reincarnated human. Or it could be a new soul that has recently
entered the material universe. Or it could be a soul transferred from another material
universe. But whatever the case may be, that soul has its own unique history. And part of
that history is its own misuse of spiritual free will in the spiritual world.
If it is true that this original failure pulls additional spirits down into a fallen state,...
Michael: This premise is not true. Some religions have some concept of original sin that is
passed on to descendants. Such a thing is not found in this model. Each soul is responsible
for its own fate.
...then theoretically at some point in the future all spirits will be fallen (more are going down
than up).
Michael:
As I said, the premise is not correct.
This argument is messy with questions concerning justice, fairness, and right from wrong. If non-fallen
manifested life (free of attachment to desires) is both possible AND intended, as in the Garden
of Eden, why are the children held accountable for their parents failures?
Michael:
They are not.
This inherited accountability is explainable only if it is intended, if suffering is intended by the designer.
Michael:
Not under the system I am describing.
4. Human devolution from higher spirits fails to grasp the systemic enormity of the problems of life on
Terra; life based on feeding on other life (life based on death), pain, suffering, death, injustice,
etc. The entire system of life on Terra is horrid.
Michael:
Yes, and recognizing that, we should use our free will to return to the spiritual world,
which is free from all these things.
How did humans and animals live prior to the fall?
Michael:
As spiritual beings, in the spiritual world, in loving relationships with the Supreme
Spritual Being, in a realm characterized by sat-cid-ananda, eternity, knowledge, and bliss.
From what we know, it was the same as now (life feeding on life - plant and/or animal). This system is
inherently corrupt, to the extent that it is not explainable by a "fall"; this is the way it was intelligently
created from the start. What does this say about God? What does this say about us and our meaning?
Michael:
God wants us to remain in the spiritual world, full of eternity, knowledge, and
pleasure, but this means recognizing that we are servants of God. If we try to take the
position of God, then we come to this world. In this world, we are free to act out our desires
to be God. We are free to compete with each other in that attempt. But we are also free to
take advantage of the opportunities that God gives for us to return to our original spiritual
home. If we do not do that, and choose to remain here, that is our choice.
The typical spiritual and mystical answers that we are here for a
"godding" apprenticeship, that we are here to love God and others, that
we are here to know God and to experience the return to our source, and
that we are here to experience life itself DOES NOT satisfy the
questions of the systemic suffering nature of ALL life on our world.
Michael:
Yes, that is true. The only proviso is that we do not have to come here for this.
We could have remained in the spiritual world. But given that we did not, it is best to take
the positive lessons and go back to the source.
Yes I know that a few humans do achieve a spiritual state that transcends the questions of good
and evil, but is this achievement by a few souls justification for the pain, suffering, and death of
countless multitudes of other beings?
Michael:
All of the souls are here by their own choice.
We pay a terrible price for these few successes. Yes, these few successes are wonderful and
beautiful, but their achievement is built on a literal world full of suffering beings.
Michael:
Every soul has a right to the same success.
These "answers" as to our meaning are too simple to be correct and complete. The world
simply does not make any sense from a spiritual point of view, as based on the spiritual values
of love, unity, compassion, justice, etc.
Michael:
Love cannot be forced. The choice not to love God has to be there. And it
has to be a real choice. So there has to be a place for those who do not love God.
This world is that place. As for unity, unity cannot be enforced. That is slavery. There
has to be free will, and if free will is there, one should be able to exercise it. We must,
however, accept the results of our use of free will. Even if we have misused our free will,
and continue to misuse it, and therefore find ourselves in this material world, a compassionate
God gives us at every moment chances to return to the spiritual world. Even providing us
the material world so that we can act out our desires to be Gods is an act of compassion. As
for justice, this system is perfectly just, because each soul has free will, and gets what it
deserves as a result of its own proper and improper use of free will.
The painful and suffering nature of life was intelligently designed into our world system at the
beginning of the manifested world, as if it was intended to be so. Life is typically hard, harsh,
ruthless, unjust and characterized by ignorance and greed with some occasional magic moments
where we transcend this "life sentence" in a complex "living hell." What does this say about the
designer?
Michael:
It says that the designer is giving us every possible chance to understand
that our choices have led us to the wrong place. It also tells us that deep within,
we understand that we are meant for something else. Otherwise, why would we feel
uncomfortable?
If the designer of the suffering world meant it to be that way why were we given paths to
salvation that "shortcut" the system?
Michael:
We need two things to motivate us to return to our original state. We must
always keep in mind that our original position was good, and that is where God
wanted us to stay, but He would not force us, because then we would be His slaves,
not His loving servants. So God made this place uncomfortable, so that we would
desire to return to our original position, and he also comes or sends His
representatives to give us the real chance to make that return.
Why does Jesus save us? Why can Ramakrishna forgive sins? Why can we be
buddhas? Why make this intelligently designed and horrendously complex suffering
world system and then oppose its own apparent purpose by providing outs (with some
easy, as in Jesus, and others difficult as in Vedanta and Buddhism)?
Michael:
Because of compassion and mercy.
Few of these "outs" actually result in a reduction in suffering here on this world - they only
"pay out" when we die. If you can make sense of this self-contradictory mess of a world
you are a better man than I Gunga Din!
Michael: Actually, it is possible for people practicing spiritual values to make this
world a somewhat better place. But the fundamental miseries of birth, death, old
age, and disease will always be there.
FURTHER DISCOURSE:
As for "free will" this, unfortunately, is a romantic illusion. At least 99% of what we experience
and do is karmicly determined, and the remaining 1% is debatable, if not doubtful, as to how
"free" it is.
Michael: Karma means free will. You get reactions to what you choose to do. Without
free will, there is no meaning to karma. Also, if there is no free will, then why are you
writing to me? What possible good could it do, if everything is predetermined? The
most appropriate thing for you to do, under your theory, is to suffer in silence.
As you say in your book the "supersoul" is ultimately in charge, ....
Michael: Yes, but in the Bhagavad gita the role of the supersoul is defined as upadrasta
anumantas ca. Upradrasta means witness, and anumanta means permitter. The supersoul
witnesses our decisions, and permits us to act on them. And then the supersoul gives us
the results of those actions. But our free will remains intact.
...our "will" is not local.
Michael: It remains local. I always have the freedom to desire different courses of action.
The supersoul witnesses those desires, and permits me to carry them out, according to
what my past actions allow, and gives the appropriate results.
If we are "seeded" to eventually seek our return to source, then this is determinism, not free will.
Michael: We do not have to seek to return. We can seek to remain here. It is free will.
As for our "fall" - my point is that the ENTIRE known universe (not just our local world) is
samsaric (cycles of life/creation and death/destruction).
Michael: Yes, this universe, and many other universes are places of birth and death.
That is the nature of the whole of material reality. But there is a reality that is beyond
that. And that is where we belong.
If you say that the universe is the result of intelligent design, and therefore designed and intended
to be as it is, then this suffering nature is the will of the designer.
Michael: It is because of our misuse of free will that we find ourselves here, and once
we find ourselves here, we become responsible for the continuing misuse of free will.
If we use our free will to cause pain and suffering to others, then that pain and suffering
will come back to us. Although our embodiments in this world are designed to be temporary,
beyond that the exact degree of suffering found in this world is determined by our misuse
of free will. We see that although everyone is subject to death and rebirth, some suffer
more than others, and that the totality of suffering in the world sometimes increases or
decreases. That is due to the karma generated by the misuse of free will.
It is as if our entire universe is the first stage of "hell," with beauty and hope mixed with the death
and despair. If there is no free will, then we are but players on stage acting out a tragic drama.
If there is no free will then we are but the puppets of the designer - God wills all. If God
wills all then He wills our failures and our suffering.
Michael: It is difficult for many people to accept that we ourselves are responsible for
our presence in this material world, and for the degree of suffering that we experience in
this material world. But that is the liberating truth. God's only will is that we use our free
will in harmony with His. It is only when we deliberately choose not to do so that we find
ourselves placed in a difficult situation.
Yet, we have the saints, yogis, and siddhas that show us hope, love, and beauty - a way out of
the designed, willed, and intended "hell."
Michael: That is because God's will is different from our will.
Why does the system appear to contradict it's own apparent systemic purpose (of the ENTIRE
universe)?
Michael: Because the material world is just part of the system. The whole system includes
the spiritual world, our original home, where there is no suffering. By misusing our spiritual
free will, we have found ourselves in this material world. But the saints are there to advise
us to use our free will properly, so as to get out of this unnatural position. Why do we
object to finding ourselves in a temporary world full of sufering? Because by nature we are
eternal and by nature we are meant to experience ananda, spiritual pleasure, in connection
with God.
It wants us to suffer, it wants old age, death, and illness.
Michael: Only as long as we choose to remain here.
Yet it also "allows" (not sure if the designer wants it) love and enlightenment.
Michael: Yes, the designer does want it. Even though we have freely chosen to leave
Him, He does not desert us. He gives us a world for us to make a mess of, but if we
want to go back to our original position, that chance is always there, if we want to take
it. The problem is we do not want to take it.
The designer has produced a world system that is so corrupt, so inauthentic, and so ignorant
that it makes the escape all but impossible without help.
Michael: Help is needed. That is our problem, we do not want to accept help, out of false pride.
But if we are sick, we accept the help of a doctor. If we are trapped in a burning building, we
accept the help of firemen. If we are captured by terrorists, we accept the help of rescuers.
It almost appears as if there are two forces at work; one the designer of the intelligent, and I would
say diabolically clever, universe, and one that is trying to help us get out of this "punishment" system.
This is the self-contradiction that I spoke of below.
Michael: You are correct. In the Vedic cosmology, there is Maya, the controller of this material
universe, whose business is to put the souls who have misused their spiritual world into an illusory
material reality, where no one can find real happiness. But Maya is a servant of the original
Personality of Godhead.
The Gnostic Christians may have been right, that the Creator God of our universe is a false god,
that the true God is even more remote and beyond this.
Michael: That is to some extent correct. In each universe, according to the Vedic cosmology, there
is a creator god, Brahma, who engineers the structure of the planets and the forms of the material
bodies that serve as vehicles for conditioned souls. This creator god Brahma is not the original God.
The original God is the source of the millions of material unvierses and creator gods.
It may be that we are so far down the spiritual ladder, that it is hard for us to distinguish between the
spiritual levels above us - they blur into one. We may be many levels below the Absolute Truth of
the Unconditioned.
Michael: True.
This remoteness leads to the apparent combative dualism (be
tween the designer/materialism and the
spiritual) that we have on this world. The complexity and "strangeness" of
the spiritual realms above
us may well be astonishing - thus our confusion and bewilderment.
Michael: True.
Your answer of "love" (and most/all others as well) simply does not satisfy the remarkable
complexity of this problem, even if it is "true" (does save us).
Michael: Depends on the purity of our expression of that love. | http://humandevolution.com/ID.html |
I have noticed a “falling of spirit” within the movement for positive global change. Many of my friends and colleagues have shown a significant level of despair, as of late. More than just a few of my recent detailed conversations regarding the state of our planet with people I care for very deeply, have come toward the conclusion that humanity is nothing more than a horrific virus inflicted upon our living Earth. To a degree, their estimation is more than justified, however, please take the following as it is meant to be understood. I pray that you all read it.
Every species on this planet is dependent upon the other. We are woven into a vast web which encompasses all of existence in the universe and countless forms of life have evolved from other forms since the very beginning, no matter how you label that beginning. Many related species and those within the same classification are obvious examples of evolution. We do not require any form of college degree in order to understand why polar bears have developed a thicker, lighter colored coat than the brown bear. The answer is obvious and it is simply a matter of survival. On that same note, many parasitic forms of life have evolved into what we classify as symbiotic life forms in order coexist and survive. Case in point, if it were not for certain types of bacteria that live within humans, we ourselves, could not survive.
If you are not well acquainted with this correlation, we can look toward plants. An excellent example would be legume plants which have round structures called nodules on their roots where within, certain bacteria can live and reproduce while remaining protected from the elements. The roots of the plant secrete a chemical which stimulates bacterial growth and the bacteria utilize the nitrogen in the air to generate nitrates. The nitrates are in turn, needed by the plant for its growth and survival.
In the animal kingdom, we could site countless examples of symbiosis. One such example is the Egyptian plover, which preens insects from the backs of large African animals such as rhinos and buffaloes. They have also been known to feed on leeches straight from the mouths of crocodiles, which of course, benefits the crocodiles. One of the most well known such relationships is between ants and aphids. A certain breed of ant will protect aphids from predators and in return, the aphids provide the ants with honeydew. The obvious point is that there is a myriad of examples in which humanity can turn to within the structure of our planet’s vast biodiversity for lessons regarding how we can better live “with” our planet, rather than “on” it.
In my personal estimation, any species has the ability to evolve itself into a symbiont toward another form of life, so long as both life forms have something to offer the other. Humanity possesses the ability to evolve itself into something quite beneficial to our world, given that we can overcome our lack of awareness and our petty differences. Unlike any other species, we actually have a choice in this matter. It comes down to a simple, rational and moral decision that we will either make, or we will become as distant a memory as the Tyrannosaur. There is indeed, no other known species which exists on the Earth that can readily find an answer to the perplexing question, “How do we fix this mess”?
I will agree, as to the data provided by respected scientists around the globe, that we as a species, have and are accelerating a process which leads to the mass extinction of anywhere from seventy to ninety percent of all life on the planet. This process of extinction has happened 5 times prior in Earth’s four billion year history, the last from an outside source(a large chunk of space-rock which wiped out the dinosaurs), the other four, all due to climate change. This will be the first extinction to which its cause can be directly attributed to a life form residing on the planet, humanity, of course.
It is more than obvious that either no vastly intelligent species existed on this planet prior to these past extinctions or whichever such species may have existed, were wiped out due to said species’s lack of a solution for the oncoming and impending global issue. We are facing that issue much sooner than was intended due to our global folly. A very severe cosmic test is upon us and we have only seen a small taste of the tribulation to come. As Native American leader, Chief Oren Lyons has said many times,”There is no mercy in nature. You abide that law, or you suffer the consequence.”
This is the challenge that humanity must face. The living Earth is falling into a state of illness due to our mishandling of technology and spirit and it is likely that life on the planet will eventually renew, even if that renewal must begin again with bacteria at the bottom of an acidified and toxic ocean. Basically speaking, if the human race does not awaken from its apathetic slumber, find a better way of living and effectively halt the devastating affects it has been continuously inflicting upon the Earth, it will renew without us. The Earth will cleanse itself of us, just as any living being’s bodily defenses will fight a virus. That is the way of all living things and make no mistake, we are merely dwelling upon a living Earth. This kind planet has only asked that we live symbiotically with the rest of the diverse life upon it in order to keep all things in a healthy balance in exchange for its protection.
There have been countless excuses thrown in the face of change and many claims in regard to humanity’s “dominion” as an exalted and intelligent life form. So, the “burden of proof” is on us. The challenge placed in front of our entire species is very clear. Let us prove how intelligent and brilliant we are. Repair this mess that we have made, no matter what that endeavor entails. We need action that is based on truth, compassion and accountability. As Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has pointed out on many occasions, by estimation of humanity’s ability to live in harmony with other species, we are the most unintelligent. The way that we live has proven him right, over and again. So what will it take for us to shed our hopeless outlook and evolve into something better?
I see a species capable of so much beauty, yet, on a daily basis we knowingly generate the true epitome of all things detestable from a standpoint of blind choice. We carry on “business as usual”, even at the expense of human life, our own global brothers and sisters. We allow ourselves to remain oblivious to the truths that exist all around us with apathetic “numbness” or a sense of despair. Mark these words and never forget them. There is no given right to any being in this universe that would dare permit a feeling of helplessness or hopelessness in regard to the welfare of existence. In doing so, we give in or give up on life and our world, as well as humanity’s posterity. For those who see the truth and have fallen into despair, please get on your feet and stand with us. We can not do what we are desperately trying to do, without you. We need your help more than ever and by creation, we need you on your feet. We can not fight against an entire world submerged in ignorance and apathy without a force armed with truth and compassion.
You are not alone. If we did not love each and every one of you, we would not bother doing what we do each day. There would be no point, as love and compassion are the only things worth living for. Partner these very real sentiments with understanding and we, as a species, can become the catalyst for the cure.
I believe in you, | https://aella.org/2011/01/humanity-a-disease-or-the-cure/ |
In the code that I did for the class practice I seemed to be able to use them interchangeably, could someone give me an explanation of the three and in what scenarios it will be important to have them used appropriately?
"if" is always the first in a sequence. after the code gets to the "if" statement, either the condition of the statement is true, and it runs the if code, or its false, and then the code checks for attached elif/else. for example,
if num > 0:
print('positive')
elif num < 0:
print('negative')
else:
print('0')
first, the code checks 'if num > 0". if num is positive, the code prints 'positive' and then ignores the elif and else lines. since the if condition was true, it is done with this if grouping. if the number is negative, the code moves past the top 'if' line and checks then next part: "elif num < 0". if the number is negative, then this code runs, prints 'negative', and ignores the else statement. If the number is neither positive nor negative(which of course means it is zero) then the code skips 'if' and 'elif', and runs the code under "else" The else statement only runs if all if and elifs above it do not.
so the difference is that the code always checks to see if an 'if' statement is true, checks 'elif' statements only if each 'if' and 'elif' statement above it is false, and 'else' runs only when the conditions for all attached 'if' and 'elif' statements are false.
If checks are always executed, elif only if the preceding statement is false, | https://lovelace.augustana.edu/q2a/index.php/4345/whats-the-difference-between-if-elif-and-else |
After rating 14 statements from city officials or others lobbying voters on Proposition D, the city’s sales tax and financial reform ballot measure, we’ve created a scorecard.
Overall, bold statements from Prop. D supporters have more often grabbed the attention of our truth-squad than opponents’ claims. We examined 11 statements from supporters since July and three from opponents.
The statements from Prop. D supporters received a wider margin of ratings, tilting slightly toward the long-nosed side of the spectrum. None of the three statements from opponents received a false rating.
Supporters argue that solving the city’s annual budget problems requires a sales tax increase. Without more revenue, the city faces steep cuts to services next year. Opponents argue that there’s more to cut from the budget without affecting core services.
In the statements we rated, supporters fell closer to True when describing how previous budget cuts have affected city services and closer to False when explaining what Prop. D guarantees voters or when portraying the city’s financial outlook.
Mayor Jerry Sanders, for example, has fallen on both sides of the spectrum. He cited an accurate list of budget cuts to the Union-Tribune’s Editorial Board in August and started calling himself Prop. D’s triggerman in October, which we dubbed misleading. | http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/fact-check-scorecard-prop-d/ |
A plant is a(an) unicellular prokaryote. multicellular prokaryote.
unicellular eukaryote. multicellular eukaryote.
3
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of all plants?
are eukaryotic have cell walls produce seeds are multicellular
4
To produce spores, all plants must undergo
mitosis. meiosis. fertilization. asexual reproduction.
5
Plants use the energy of sunlight to
exchange gases with the atmosphere. take in water from the soil. carry out cellular respiration. carry out photosynthesis.
6
Without gas exchange, a plant would be unable to
make food. absorb sunlight. make minerals. absorb water from the soil.
7
Which of the following is NOT true?
Plants have adaptations that maximize light absorption. Plants require more water on a sunny day. Plants get the water they need from the atmosphere. Plants can lose water while exchanging gases with the atmosphere.
8
The first plants evolved from
mosses. an organism similar to multicellular green algae. a protist that lived on land. photosynthetic prokaryotes.
9
Living on land required that plants
evolve photosynthetic pigments. conserve water. exchange gases. have cell walls.
10
Without plants, animals could not live on land.
there would be no green algae in the oceans. animals could not undergo cellular respiration. there would be no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
11
Which of the following statements is true about bryophytes?
They have specialized tissues that conduct water. They draw up water by osmosis. They are not highly dependent on water. They are a group of plants made up of algae and mosses.
12
Bryophytes need standing water to
reproduce. draw up water by osmosis. undergo photosynthesis. grow tall.
13
Because bryophytes do not have vascular tissue, they
do not conduct water. grow close to the ground. can draw up water only a few centimeters above the ground. all of the above
14
In liverworts, the structures that produce eggs and sperm look like
fronds. horns. liver. tiny green umbrellas.
15
Which one of the following structures has functions similar to that of roots?
gemma rhizoid capsule stalk
16
Which of the following is NOT true about mosses?
They are the most common bryophytes. Long, thin cells called gemmae anchor them in the ground. They are the most abundant plants in polar regions. Some mosses form clumps of gametophytes growing together.
17
What is the sperm-producing structure of a bryophyte?
gemma archegonium rhizoid antheridium
18
Which of the following is LEAST related to the others?
protonema sporophyte gametophyte rhizoid
19
In bryophytes, haploid reproductive cells are produced by the
haploid stage. diploid stage. gametophyte and sporophyte. all of the above
20
Which of the following includes all the others?
xylem vascular tissue phloem tracheids
21
Xylem and phloem are NOT
conducting tissues. vascular tissues. present in bryophytes. present in ferns.
22
Xylem tissue is important to ferns because it
can conduct water over long distances. allows water to diffuse into the roots. carries carbohydrates to all parts of the plant. allows ferns to reproduce in dry environments.
23
Club mosses are nonvascular plants. seed plants. seedless vascular plants. none of the above
24
Horsetails do NOT have xylem tissue. produce seeds. have roots. have phloem tissue.
25
Which of the following statements is true?
Ferns can thrive in areas with little light. Unlike club mosses, ferns grow in moist environments. Fern fronds grow from the plant’s roots. The leaves of Equisetum lack bundles of vascular tissue.
26
Fern spores are produced by the gametophyte. produced in the rhizomes. called sori. produced in sporangia.
27
Which of the following structures in ferns is diploid?
gametophyte sporangium egg spore
28
How is the fern life cycle different from the moss life cycle?
A fern gametophyte always has both archegonia and antheridia. The young gametophyte is haploid. The mature sporophyte is diploid. The mature sporophyte grows from the gametophyte.
29
Which of the following includes a plant embryo, a food supply, and a protective covering?
pollen grain spore seed gametophyte
30
Seed-bearing plants differ from all other plants in that
they have vascular tissue. they do not have a gametophyte generation. their gametes do not require water for fertilization to occur. all of the above
31
The gametophytes of gymnosperms are found inside reproductive structures called
flowers. cones. embryos. angiosperms.
32
When land environments became drier millions of years ago,
many moss and fern species became extinct. mosses evolved vascular tissue. mosses and ferns no longer required water for reproduction. many angiosperm species became extinct.
33
The most ancient surviving seed plants are the
mosses. liverworts. ferns. gymnosperms.
34
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
Seed plants can coexist with seedless plants. The evolution of seed plants caused many species of mosses and ferns to become extinct. Early seed plants were successful because they were adapted to dry environments. Fossils of seed-bearing plants exist from almost 360 million years ago.
35
The four groups of gymnosperms are conifers, cycads, ginkgoes, and
bryophytes. horsetails. liverworts. gnetophytes.
36
Which gymnosperms produce exposed seeds?
conifers only conifers and cycads only conifers and ginkgoes only conifers, cycads, gnetophytes, and ginkgoes
37
There is evidence that Ginkgo biloba
was the first gymnosperm to have evolved. evolved before most other living species of seed plants. evolved from an angiosperm. has characteristics that differ greatly from its ancestors.
38
Angiosperms produce seeds inside protective structures called
pollen grains. cones. ovaries. petals.
39
Which term below is least closely related to the others?
fruit seed ovary cone
40
The specialized reproductive structure that evolved most recently is the
seed. pollen grain. ovary. gametophyte.
41
An example of a monocot is a
tomato. lily. rose. daisy.
42
The number of seed leaves distinguishes
club mosses from mosses. angiosperms from gymnosperms. two classes of angiosperms. seed plants from seedless plants.
43
Unlike a dicot, a monocot has
four or five petals per flower. two cotyledons. taproots. parallel leaf veins.
44
Flowering plants that complete a life cycle within a single growing season are called
annuals. dicots. perennials. monocots.
45
Which type of plant lives the longest?
annual biennial perennial none of the above
46
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
The roots of a perennial do not die at the end of the growing season. A biennial is smaller during its second growing season. The stems of some perennials die at the end of the growing season. A biennial flowers only once.
47
If an organism is multicellular, it cannot be a plant.
True False
48
Losing excessive amounts of water through evaporation may affect a plant’s ability to carry out photosynthesis. True False
49
The figure shows the evolutionary relationship of the major plant groups living on Earth today.
True False
50
Bryophytes are low-growing because they lack vascular tissue.
True False
51
Bryophytes include ferns, liverworts, and hornworts.
True False
52
Having archegonia and antheridia located on the same moss plant would help ensure fertilization.
True False
53
Xylem tissue transports solutions of nutrients and carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis.
True False
54
The thick cell walls of tracheids prevent the cells from bulging when water moves through them.
True False
55
Tracheids extend from the roots to the leaves of a club moss.
True False
56
A frond is part of a fern’s haploid stage.
True False
57
The most important adaptation that enabled the ancestors of gymnosperms and angiosperms to live in dry environments was the spore. True False
58
Welwitschia is a gnetophyte that lives in the desert.
True False
59
Unique reproductive features commonly known as flowers are characteristic of gymnosperms.
True False
60
If a seed has two cotyledons, it will have fibrous roots.
True False
61
Biennials are pollinated during their first year of growth.
True False
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Quickly assess the groups understanding and progress using true and false statements arranged around the room.Launch Resource
This is a plenary exercise where pupils will be given a series of true or false statements to reflect upon.
Around the classroom place large cards with true or false statements on them.
Pupils are to visit each card and tick if they think it is true or false. You could time this activity if required either by a set time to visit all cards or a set time at each card.
Once pupils have visited all cards they are to revisit them and see what the most popular answer is. They are to think about why this is so. Pupils are to then feedback to the class their reasons. | http://www.standoutteaching.co.uk/portfolio/correct-statements/ |
Some early experiments on anchoring and adjustment tested whether distracting the subjects—rendering subjects cognitively “busy” by asking them to keep a lookout for “5” in strings of numbers, or some such—would decrease adjustment, and hence increase the influence of anchors. Most of the experiments seemed to bear out the idea that cognitive busyness increased anchoring, and more generally contamination.
Looking over the accumulating experimental results—more and more findings of contamination, exacerbated by cognitive busyness—Daniel Gilbert saw a truly crazy pattern emerging: Do we believe everything we’re told?
One might naturally think that on being told a proposition, we would first comprehend what the proposition meant, then consider the proposition, and finally accept or reject it. This obvious-seeming model of cognitive process flow dates back to Descartes. But Descartes’s rival, Spinoza, disagreed; Spinoza suggested that we first passively accept a proposition in the course of comprehending it, and only afterward actively disbelieve propositions which are rejected by consideration.
Over the last few centuries, philosophers pretty much went along with Descartes, since his view seemed more, y’know, logical and intuitive. But Gilbert saw a way of testing Descartes’s and Spinoza’s hypotheses experimentally.
If Descartes is right, then distracting subjects should interfere with both accepting true statements and rejecting false statements. If Spinoza is right, then distracting subjects should cause them to remember false statements as being true, but should not cause them to remember true statements as being false.
A much more dramatic illustration was produced in followup experiments by Gilbert, Tafarodi, and Malone.2 Subjects read aloud crime reports crawling across a video monitor, in which the color of the text indicated whether a particular statement was true or false. Some reports contained false statements that exacerbated the severity of the crime, other reports contained false statements that extenuated (excused) the crime. Some subjects also had to pay attention to strings of digits, looking for a “5,” while reading the crime reports—this being the distraction task to create cognitive busyness. Finally, subjects had to recommend the length of prison terms for each criminal, from 0 to 20 years.
Subjects in the cognitively busy condition recommended an average of 11.15 years in prison for criminals in the “exacerbating” condition, that is, criminals whose reports contained labeled false statements exacerbating the severity of the crime. Busy subjects recommended an average of 5.83 years in prison for criminals whose reports contained labeled false statements excusing the crime. This nearly twofold difference was, as you might suspect, statistically significant.
Non-busy participants read exactly the same reports, with the same labels, and the same strings of numbers occasionally crawling past, except that they did not have to search for the number “5.” Thus, they could devote more attention to “unbelieving” statements labeled false. These non-busy participants recommended 7.03 years versus 6.03 years for criminals whose reports falsely exacerbated or falsely excused.
This suggests—to say the very least—that we should be more careful when we expose ourselves to unreliable information, especially if we’re doing something else at the time. Be careful when you glance at that newspaper in the supermarket.
PS: According to an unverified rumor I just made up, people will be less skeptical of this essay because of the distracting color changes. | https://www.readthesequences.com/Do-We-Believe-Everything-Were-Told |
High levels of digital media use have become a feature of university lectures. While certainly capable of supporting learning outcomes, studies indicate that, when media use is off-task, it presents as a disruption, distracting both users and those around them from academic tasks. In this study an exploratory, mixed-methods assessment of a media use policy for a semester-long course is presented. This policy divided the lecture theatre into two sections, one for those who wished to use digital devices and one for those who did not. Such a policy empowered students to leverage the value of media, if desired, while affording those who wished not to use media, or be disrupted by their peers’ use of media, a degree of protection from distracting cues. Findings indicate that those who consistently selected the same side performed better than those who moved from side to side. Two post-course focus groups revealed that, while having some limitations, the policy was well received by the participants and heightened their awareness of the possible distractions of off-task media use, enabling them to identify and maintain a strategy for their in-lecture attentional allocation and behaviour.
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Notes
- 1.
The university is ranked inside the top 400 on the 2017/2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (Times Higher Education 2017) and has a student population of 31,639.
- 2.
Two participants were international exchange students and were not assigned to a faculty or program.
- 3.
In the relevant grading system, a grade of 50 is required to achieve a pass and a grade of 75 represents a distinction.
- 4.
In addition to the five media use categories (device only, device high, non-device high, non-device only, movers), the table presents three more general categories (Device, No Device and Movers).
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Appendix: In-lecture media use policy
Appendix: In-lecture media use policy
We acknowledge that students have different approaches to their learning experience in class. Part of that learning experience is the use of digital devices such as tablets, phones and laptops. For this reason, we will adopt a policy where we split the class into two sections: device and no-device. To implement this we will be following a basic set of rules for the duration of the course. These are as follows:
- 1.
For every lecture the venue will be split in two sections—one for device users, and one for those who wish not to use devices. The border between these sections will be the aisle which divides the venue. When facing the front of the venue, the seating on the right of the aisle will form the “device section”, while the seating on the left of the aisle will form the “no-device section”.
- 2.
When seated in the no-device section you are not allowed to use any form of digital device during the lecture. It should be left in your bag, or placed out of sight.
- 3.
When seated in the device section you may use any digital device you choose as you see fit, but you are encouraged to use it for purposes that relate to the lecture.
- 4.
At the outset of each lecture you may choose to sit in either section. You do not have to sit in the same section throughout the course, but you may not move between sections during a lecture.
- 5.
Where you decide to sit during lectures will not influence any aspect of your assessment in this course.
- 6.
To learn more about the effects and value of this policy, the lecturer will keep track of students’ seating decisions by circulating different class attendance registers for the different sections.
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Parry, D.A., le Roux, D.B. & Cornelissen, L.A. Managing in-lecture media use: the feasibility and value of a split-class policy. J Comput High Educ 32, 261–281 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09232-z
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Issue Date: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12528-019-09232-z?error=cookies_not_supported&code=695d837f-9f04-41fe-bd99-d57d5c6ec233 |
The personal statement should be a comprehensive essay outlining significant aspects of your academic and personal history, particularly for those that provide context for your academic achievements and education choices.
Address the following:
Tell us about your academic career to date, describing your performance, educational path, and choices. Describe any situation that may have had a significant positive or negative impact on your academic progress and/or curricular choices. Be sure to take into account actions you may have taken and resources you have utilized when dealing with academic struggles:
1.Tell us about your intended major and career aspirations. Describe your plans for preparing for your intended major. What led you to choose this major? How will the UW help you attain your academic, career, and/or personal goals?
2.Thoughtfully describe the ways in which culture has had an impact on your life and what you have learned about yourself and society as a result. How has your own cultural history enriched and/or challenged you?
3.Describe and personal hardships you have experienced and the steps you are taking to overcome these challenges while pursuing your education. Responsibilities balancing work, family, and school.
4.Describe your community or volunteer service, including leadership, awards, or increased levels of responsibility.
5. Describe your involvement in work as they have contributed to your academic, career, or personal goals.
6.UW benefits from a student body whose energy and interests extend beyond the classroom. What interests or significant activities enrich your life? | https://topratedpapers.com/applicationadmission-essay-2/ |
Statistics on study disruptions and delays and their negative impact on academic performance call for action-regulation strategies that students can use to manage their performance and well-being. In the present research, we rely on the action-regulation model of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC), which was developed in the life span developmental literature. The aim of the present study was to establish indirect links between two specific SOC components (i.e., elective selection and optimiza- tion) and study outcomes (i.e., end-of-first-year average grade and study satisfaction) through higher self-efficacy beliefs. In 2 prospective studies conducted during 2 subsequent academic years, we tested our research model with first-year undergraduate students (n ﰀ 366 in Study 1 and n ﰀ 242 in Study 2). Results of both studies indicate that there are positive indirect relations between optimization, but not elective selection, and favorable study outcomes through self-efficacy beliefs. The present study con- tributes to SOC theory and the educational sciences by showing that the SOC model of action-regulation can be helpful in explaining college students’ grades and study satisfaction. | https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/using-the-selection-optimization-and-compensation-model-of-action |
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The USAID Displaced Children & Orphans Fund and the Office of HIV/AIDS invite participants to an evidence seminar on the findings from Burundi from the impact evaluation of IRC's VSLA and family-based program and from Uganda on an economic empowerment model of care and support for orphaned adolescents.
Burundi: Findings from an impact evaluation of IRC's VSLA and family-based program
Recovering from decades of conflict that claimed 300,000 lives and forced over a million people to flee their homes, Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. To address the risks facing children, while also building evidence around effective approaches for children affected by both poverty and armed conflict, the IRC is implementing and evaluating Urwaruka Rushasha (New Generation), a three-year project funded by USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF). The randomized impact evaluation asks the questions:
- Do Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) improve economic outcomes of poor households?
- And do the family-based discussion modules offer additional benefits for child well-being beyond that which can be explained by increased economic outcomes?
Results from the midterm survey showed that participation in VSLAs increased consumption expenditures, increased household assets and reduced poverty. In addition, participation in the family-based intervention decreased the use of harsh discipline, increased children’s wellbeing and decreased the incidence of family problems. A final survey will be conducted later this year to further investigate the impact on children’s emotional and behavioral health and child labor.
Uganda: Integrating Child Savings Accounts in the Care and Support of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children
In most parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the burden of raising youth who have lost one or both parents falls primarily on extended family members, including grandparents, uncles, and aunts. However, the steady increase in the number of orphans, coupled with the increase in poverty that comes with the loss of wage-earning parents, is contributing to a breakdown in the African extended family system. Because there are few public welfare programs to serve them, many orphans are left to fend for themselves. Using data from two randomized experimental studies funded by U.S. National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH): Suubi-Uganda and Suubi-Maka, this presentation will examine the impact of an economic empowerment model of care and support for orphaned adolescents (ages 11-17) in rural Uganda. Specifically, the intervention to be examined involves provision of matched children/youth savings accounts (CSA)--for education and microenterprise development--over and above counseling and educational related supplies (including text-books and school uniforms) to school-going orphaned children. The analyses indicate that poor families in rural Uganda can and do save for their youth if provided with support and incentives. Analyses also locate statistically significant differences between youth who were offered the opportunity to save in the CSAs and a control groups (which only received school supplies with no savings accounts). Specifically, although the two study groups did not differ on their baseline scores on several educational and health-related outcomes, data collected following the intervention indicate that children with savings accounts performed better on all measurable observable outcomes, including attitudes towards saving, academic performance, educational plans and aspirations, and health-related behaviors. The results suggest that:
- Savings-related interventions may have a place in the care and support of orphaned youth in poor SSA, where the numbers of such youth are steadily increasing.
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- Youth serving institutions might consider integrating similar economic empowerment approaches in their program designs.
Featuring
Jeannie Annan, Ph.D, is the Director of Research and Evaluation for the International Rescue Committee and a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. | http://www.marketlinks.org/events/money-enough-improve-childrens-well-being-new-evidence-burundi-and-uganda |
(Phys.org) —A joint study by the University of Sydney's Faculty of Education and Social Work and the Australian Council for the Arts has found that engagement in the arts benefits students not just in the classroom, but also in life.
The results, published in the latest issue of the prestigious Journal of Educational Psychology, found students who participate in dance, drama, music, and visual arts showed more positive academic and personal wellbeing outcomes than students who were not as involved in the arts.
The comprehensive study, titled "The Role of Arts Participation in Students' Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study of School, Home and Community Factors," examined 643 primary and high school students from 15 Australian schools, tracking their academic and personal wellbeing outcomes over two years.
Some of the strongest effects were found for students who spent high amounts of quality time in creative and performing arts subjects at school. Positive effects also resulted from home influences, such as how often parents and their children talked about and participated in the arts.
According to lead author, Professor Andrew Martin: "The study shows that school participation in the arts can have positive effects on diverse aspects of students' lives.
"Whereas most previous research has been small-scale or focused on students' enjoyment in specific arts subjects, such as music, dance, drama, and visual arts, our research was large-scale and assessed outcomes beyond the arts domain," he said.
"It shows that the arts can impact broader academic and personal wellbeing outcomes for young people."
At a time when different subject areas must compete for space in the school curriculum, the study's findings also emphasise the importance of the arts in the school curriculum, according to Associate Professor Michael Anderson, one of the study's co-authors.
"This study provides new and compelling evidence that the arts should be central to schooling and not left on the fringes," he said.
The results raise significant policy implications for how arts-based learning is integrated into the school curriculum, says Australia Council Acting Director Community Partnerships, Dr David Sudmalis.
"Not only does this study demonstrate that the arts help deliver positive outcomes in engagement and motivation for students outside of the arts domain, it also shows that high quality, participatory arts education has the greatest impact," Dr Sudmalis said. "These important findings show the significance of partnerships between the arts and education sectors, where artists and teachers work together to develop students' expertise in and through the arts."
The analysis was funded by the Australian Research Council, in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts.
The study team, led by Professor Andrew Martin, included Associate Professor Michael Anderson, Dr Robyn Gibson, and Ms Maryanne Mansour, all from the University of Sydney, as well as Dr David Sudmalis from the Australia Council of the Arts.
A copy of the research is available at the Journal of Educational Psychology website.
Are liberal arts colleges disappearing? | https://phys.org/news/2013-09-involvement-arts-wide-ranging-benefits-young.html |
Like people, languages come in families.
No, there aren’t such things as mommy, daddy, and baby languages, but rather languages that share common origins and characteristics, based upon their evolution throughout human history.
In this article, I'm going to talk about something called language families, and how learning languages from the same family can benefit (and occasionally harm) your language learning progress.
So, first:
“What are language families?”
I’ll give you an example:
You might know that there is a group of languages called the “Romance languages”.
There are many, many Romance languages, but the most well-known examples include Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, and my native Italian.
Despite the fact that many people consider French, Spanish, and Italian languages of “love”, the word “Romance” in this case has nothing to do with love at all—instead, “Romance” means “of the Romans”, or, more specifically, “related to the language spoken by the Romans”, which was the Latin language.
You see, once upon a time, languages like Italian, French, and Romanian didn’t exist at all. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, the main language spoken in what are now called Italy, France, and Romania was simply Latin.
Then one day, the Roman Empire fell, and the Latin spoken in each of these areas began to evolve independently of other locations. The variety of Latin spoken in Italy gradually became Italian, the variety spoken in France became French, the variety of Romania became Romanian, and so on.
So much time has passed now, in fact, that speakers of these once-Latin languages occasionally have a hard time understanding one another, if they can at all. Italians, for example, have great difficulty understanding Romanian speech, especially without the aid of writing. And vice versa.
So, in a nutshell, that’s what language families are: groups of languages that evolved from the same ancestor languages.
And language families can have multiple levels, as well.
Modern Greek is not a Romance language, but bears many similarities to Romance languages because its ancestor, Ancient Greek, was a sister language to Latin. Latin and Greek (and many, many other languages) actually evolved from a common ancestor language known as Indo-European. English is a descendant of Indo-European, as well.
Other well-known language families include:
There’s a lot more than that, but I think you get the idea.
So why are language families important?
Why should you, as a language learner, spend any time thinking about how languages are related to one another?
Language families are important because in most cases, it is faster to learn multiple languages from the same family than it is to learn the same number of languages from completely different families.
In other words, knowing about language families can make it easier for you to become a polyglot.
There are downsides as well, but let’s first dive into the benefits:
The Benefits of Learning Languages from the Same Family
1. Shared Linguistic Features Are Easier to Master
In general, learning languages from the same family is easier because languages within the same family share many similar characteristics with one another. Exactly which characteristics are shared will vary from language pair to language pair, but it’s fair to say that any similarity is possible.
By this, I mean that languages within the same family can share:
Once you’ve expended the necessary effort to learn one language within a family, you can then choose to learn a related language with one or more of the above shared characteristics. When you learn this related language, it will be much easier for you to master the shared element, since you already did all the hard work with your previous language.
Let me give you an example:
Polish is a Slavic language. When I started learning Polish in late 2011, I could already speak Russian, which is also a Slavic language. Since I knew Russian well, I was already familiar with the common features that all members of the Slavic language family share, such as the aspect of verbs, the form of words, native Slavic vocabulary, syntax, and needless to say, the case system.
For that reason, it was easier and faster to learn Polish in 2011 than it was for me to learn Russian in 2004. Knowing Russian already meant that I could learn a lot of Polish “for free” (that is, without expending a lot of effort).
2. You can understand other languages of the same group without speaking them.
Within the same language group, there are some languages that are closer to others, and in different ways. For example, Portuguese is surprisingly similar to Spanish when written, but surprisingly different when spoken. In particular, the pronunciation of Iberian (Portugal) Portuguese sounds very different from any variety of Spanish—in fact, when I heard Iberian Portuguese for the first time, I thought it sounded like Russian!
On the other hand, Italian and Spanish are structurally less similar than Spanish and Portuguese, but share a very close pronunciation. So, if you put an Italian and a Spaniard together in the same room and forced them to speak to one another without using a common language, they would probably understand each other more easily than if you repeated the same experiment with a Portuguese person and a Spaniard.
I was able to take advantage of this phenomenon after I had reached a comfortable level in Polish.
Once, when I was traveling through Hungary, I encountered a Slovak truck driver who could only speak Slovak. Slovak is a Slavic language, but despite that, speakers of Slovak cannot easily understand Russian. So, to communicate with this person, I had to resort to using Polish, which is a much closer sister language to Slovak than Russian is.
Despite the fact that we were speaking two different languages to one another, this man and I succeeded quite well at communicating—in fact, we didn’t even have to slow down our talking speed!
An interesting side note to this phenomenon is the fact that sometimes the ease or difficulty of understanding a sister language depends on which language you speak. As I mentioned earlier, Portuguese and Spanish are related, but it is often easier for Portuguese people to understand Spanish people than the other way around.
3. Actively learning one member of a language family can help you maintain your existing level in other languages within that family.
Language skill is not a static thing. If you learn and use a language actively and frequently, your level in that language will improve; if you don’t do that, then your level will gradually decrease, sometimes dramatically.
This is one of the main challenges that polyglots face. To maintain their skill level in all the languages they know, they need to find time to practice those languages. And there’s only so much time in a day to do that.
When you know multiple languages within the same family, however, this challenge gets a bit easier.
Since languages within the family share many similar characteristics, actively practicing one language within that family can help reinforce your existing understanding of other languages in the family, even if you don’t actively practice the others at all.
For example, I currently speak five Germanic languages: German, Dutch, English, Swedish, and Danish. Aside from English, German is the language of this group I speak most often (I use it with my coaching clients). German and Dutch are very similar, but I hardly ever speak Dutch at all, nowadays. Despite this, my frequent use of German has allowed me to maintain a respectable level in Dutch, and allowed me to use it well on certain rare occasions.
The Downside of Learning Languages from the Same Family
So far, it may seem like learning languages in families is something that only offers advantages. However, as they say, “all that glitters is not gold”.
There is one main disadvantage to learning languages from the same group, and it can be summed up in a single word:
Interference.
What does “interference” mean?
It means mixing up and confusing the languages, both as you learn them, and when you go to use them.
Since languages within a family are similar, but not the same, it is very easy to confuse them as you go about your learning. Since you’ll generally always have one language that is “stronger” and another that is “weaker” in your mind, the stronger language will often exert more influence, and make it harder to “relearn” similar structures in the new language.
This happened to me with Dutch and German.
When I started learning Dutch, I already spoke German quite well. So, whenever I went to use a Dutch structure that was similar to a German one, my brain automatically chose the German version.
This led to me speaking an awkward hybrid of Dutch and German, rather than just Dutch, as I intended.
For example, I used to say:
“Als ik in Amsterdam was” (when I was in Amsterdam) instead of “Toen ik in Amsterdam was” because in German, “als” is the word you use to introduce a temporal clause: “Als ich in Amsterdam war” would be the German version.
This kind of interference is inevitable at first, but can gradually be minimized, or eliminated altogether.
The best way to do this is to learn one language in the family extremely well (to around a B2 level) before you learn another language in the family. At that point, you will have built a strong enough “core” in the first language that the second, weaker language will be unable to interfere much with it.
Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the stronger language will interfere with the weaker language, but as you improve your skill in the weaker language, this interference will decrease, and the two languages will grow strong and independent of one another.
What happens if you don’t learn one language well before learning another from the same family? Massive interference!
Since both languages are not at a B2 level, they are not strong enough to withstand interference from the other. It’s as if they were two young trees planted next to one another. Small and weak, the two trees will have to compete for the same water and air to survive. If these resources are limited enough, it is very likely that one or both of the saplings will die, rather than growing up into big, strong trees that can survive well, even with competition.
This is why I always highly recommend that people NOT learn two closely related languages at the same time.
Spanish and Italian at the same time? Nope.
Polish and Czech. Not a good idea. Dutch and German? Not recommended. You’ll experience massive interference and confusion throughout the learning process.
Before we go, I want to talk about another type of interference between languages, which can get in your way even if you know both languages well.
I’ll call this interference “blocking”.
I’ll illustrate with a brief story:
I once knew an American girl who had moved to Italy after living in Spain for three years.
Upon arriving in Italy, she was totally fluent in Spanish, and had no problems using it whatsoever.
When I met her, she had been living in Italy for one year. Italian was her main language learning priority, and she focused on learning it every single day. At the time we met, I would say she spoke fluent Italian.
One time, she told me the story of how she recently met some Spanish tourists in Rome. Even though she hadn’t spoken Spanish in a long time, she was confident in her skills, and decided to strike up a conversation with them.
Much to her surprise, when she opened her mouth, no Spanish came out! Instead, all she could speak was Italian!
In that moment, she said it was if she was trying to dig through her brain for the Spanish she was certain she knew, but all she could find was Italian. Somehow, her more recent and ready Italian skills were blocking her Spanish skills!
This has happened to me too, from time to time. As a language learner, it can be quite a shocking and uncomfortable experience, and is definitely one of the stranger forms of interference one can encounter.
Luckily, I can confidently say that this kind of interference can definitely be overcome.
In the above story, my friend was unable to speak Spanish because her Italian knowledge was so much fresher in her mind. In fact, it had been more than a year since she had spoken any Spanish at all.
So the problem clearly is lack of practice. Even if you know two languages in a family well, if you speak one and ignore the other for a long time, this “blocking” is sometimes likely to happen.
The solution? Make an effort to practice both languages, as regularly as you can.
If, say, your dominant language - given your life choices and circumstances - is Spanish but you don’t want to lose your fluent Portuguese, make sure you spend at least 10 to 20 minutes every day with Portuguese.
You can do this in a variety of ways, be it listening, reading, or even having a pretend conversation in Portuguese with yourself! Best would be to hop on a Skype call or maybe text chat Whatsapp to keep your Portuguese capacities alive.
Now, before I finish, I wanted to share a couple of other tips and make you aware of certain “traps” you may want to avoid.
First, though learning one language in a family is highly likely to make learning another language in that family easier, it is not always the case. At the very least, certain structural features of the language can be different enough to make learning harder.
For example, though French and Spanish are both Romance languages, French pronunciation is extremely different from Spanish pronunciation. So if you know Spanish and expect to learn French pronunciation quickly and easily, you may be sorely mistaken.
And another thing you may encounter when learning multiple languages within a family is a decline in interest as you learn more languages. Since you’ve already mastered one or more languages within the group, gaining knowledge of other similar languages may seem less challenging or exciting to you. In certain cases, this could demotivate you and cause you to stop learning the new language.
That’s what happened to me when I started learning Romanian after learning French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Since Romanian would have been my fourth Romance language, it didn’t seem as exciting or exotic as many of the other languages I had my eye on. To make matters worse, I had no connections with Romanian people at the time, so I wasn’t particularly motivated to find a way to learn it.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, languages are grouped in families. Languages of the same family share similar traits.
Learning one language within a family means that in most cases, it will be easier to learn other languages in that family, as well.
For this reason, if you want to become a polyglot, it can often be a good idea to learn multiple languages in the same family before moving on to other ones.
There are downsides to this however, so if you want to learn multiple languages in this way, you should follow certain strategies. For example, I highly recommend you learn a language to fluency (B2, or even better, C1) before moving on to other languages within that group.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to learn two close languages at the same time, or you will likely confuse them. Even with the right strategy and right timing, a certain amount of interference - be it syntax, pronunciation, or vocabulary - is inevitable.
This problem, however, can be easily solved. The more you learn and speak two similar languages, the better you will be able to keep them separate. If you’re in this situation, make sure you use both languages on a daily or weekly basis, and make sure you invest some time in clearly distinguishing and practicing the two different sound systems.
What about YOU? Have you ever learned languages of the same language family?
Did that help or get in the way? Share your story in the comment section below! | https://www.lucalampariello.com/language-families-pros-and-cons/ |
Which is better Brazilian Portuguese or European Portuguese?
There are many pros to learning both variations of Portuguese as the language continues to grow in both the business and pop culture worlds. However, we recommend you start with Brazilian Portuguese first since many language-learners say its easier to learn than European Portuguese.
Is Brazilian or European Portuguese easier?
For most people, it will be easier to go for the Brazilian variety, since its pronunciation and spelling make it friendly for beginners (just beware of these common mistakes!). Still, many speakers of other Romance languages may find it easier to learn vocabulary if they study European Portuguese.
Can Angolans understand Brazilian Portuguese?
3 Answers. The answer is yes, but you will have to speak a bit slower to most Brazilians, since they are not so used to listening to Portuguese with “Portuguese accent”. The other way around is easier because Portuguese people are used to listen to Brazilian accent in soap operas. In Angola, Mozambique, etc.
Is European Portuguese difficult to learn?
“Basic Portuguese is like advanced English, it’s really hard at the beginning, whereas a Portuguese can pick up a lot of English easily to begin with but has problems later on, especially with prepositions and phrasal verbs,” she concludes.
Can a Portuguese speaker understand Spanish?
Despite the proximity of the two countries and how the two languages are related, it would be wrong to assume that Portuguese people speak Spanish. The two countries and languages have developed separately for centuries, after all, and most Portuguese don’t understand Spanish at all.
Is duolingo Portuguese Brazilian or European?
Learnable courses
Duolingo teaches Brazilian Portuguese, but European Portuguese speakers will also be able to understand you. The Portuguese for English course contains 69 skills, and 411 total lessons.
Is Brazilian Portuguese easier than Portugal Portuguese?
Brazilian Portuguese is considered by many to be the easier strand to learn, with its open vowels and strong cadence (it’s also considered to be easier on the ears, for this reason).
Is Brazilian Portuguese very different?
Portuguese and Brazilians still speak the same language, but it has evolved in slightly different ways over the years due to cultural and historical differences.
Does Google Translate have European Portuguese?
Google Translate
It’s very easy to use and you can translate Portuguese to English, plus a huge variety of other languages. … This may be a useful option for translating European Portuguese to English and most other languages, but it’s not as reliable for translating to European Portuguese.
Does duolingo do European Portuguese?
Portuguese in Duolingo
Well, while you can certainly learn Portuguese, you will only find the Brazilian variation. Therefore, if you want to learn European Portuguese in Duolingo, you won’t be so lucky. … But again, if you want to find out good resources in European Portuguese, keep reading.
Is Brazilian Portuguese harder than Spanish?
For most native English speakers, Spanish is slightly easier to learn than Portuguese. This is primarily a matter of access. … Another reason Spanish is easier to learn is that pronunciation in Spanish is simpler than in Portuguese. Spanish uses five vowel sounds and has very consistent spelling.
Is Brazilian Portuguese difficult to learn?
It is definitely a challenge. We often hear people saying Portuguese is the hardest language to learn. … For example, the languages that said person already speaks. Someone who speaks Spanish, Italian, or French ends up learning Portuguese much quicker, without major difficulties.
How long does it take to learn Brazilian Portuguese?
How long does it take to learn Portuguese? According to the FSI list, mastering Portuguese to a fluent level takes the same amount of time as Spanish, with 600 hours of study during six months. | https://bikenwander.com/cities-and-countries/is-there-a-big-difference-between-european-portuguese-and-brazilian-portuguese.html |
One of the ways polyglots become polyglots is by using the tools they've already learned in one language to help with the next. Sometimes those tools are more than just learning techniques. Sometimes, when studying a second language in a language family that is already known, the entire previous experience can be mapped onto the new language, making it easier to learn.
Vulgar Latin
Today, I'd like to explore how that works in the so-called Romance languages... though I prefer to think of them as Vulgar Latin languages, because that term avoids the connotations of romanticism. It also points out that most of the features of modern Romance languages were present in Vulgar Latin. This comes to me as no great surprise, since Latin itself was a very difficult language. I can imagine how the less-educated would have felt much more comfortable without some of its peculiarities.
I'll be focusing on the four most popular Vulgar Latin European languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, however most of this will be applicable to to the lesser-known, more regional languages as well, such as Bolognese, Catalan, Galician, Sicilian, Romanian, and so on.
Language features
All of these languages have certain grammatical features which are similar to each other, and different from other languages from different language families. Some of those features include:
- There are two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, with separate masculine and feminine forms for plural as well. There is no neuter.
- Nouns have definite and indefinite articles.
- There is no noun declension, except for personal pronouns.
- Adjectives typically follow the noun.
- Sentence structure is subject-verb-object (SVO), and is not very flexible.
- Word stress tends to fall on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable.
Similar vocabulary
Anyone who has studied languages from two different families knows how very different they can be, and can appreciate how just the grammatical similarities listed above would be a huge advantage. But that's just the start! Languages from a language family tend to all have vocabulary that comes from the same roots, so the words are easy to remember too!
Let's take for example the words door, wind, and the verb to come.
door
wind
to come
French
porte
vent
venir
Italian
porta
vento
venire
Portuguese
porta
vento
vir
Spanish
puerta
viento
venir
Now, as if that's not already enough similarity to make my point, let's translate the sentence The wind is coming through the door.
French
Le vent vient à travers la porte.
Italian
Il vento viene attraverso la porta.
Portuguese
O vento vem através da porta.
Spanish
El viento viene a través de la puerta.
Let's try another one. How about Where is the new restaurant?
French
Où se trouve le nouveau restaurant?
Italian
Dove si trova il nuovo ristorante?
Portuguese
Onde fica o novo restaurante?
Spanish
¿Dónde está el nuevo restaurante?
This isn't even scratching the surface of the similarities between these descendents of Vulgar Latin. In many cases, just learning the basic rules of pronunciation in a given language — something that can usually be done un an afternoon — is often enough to allow speakers of one language to understand what someone is saying in another.
I have heard stories of Italians and Spaniards having conversations with each other, each speaking his own native language. And from my own experience, I know that my Italian studies this year have been made somewhat easier by the fact that I already know Spanish, and have a little experience with French.
So are the polyglots cheating?
If someone were to learn Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese and then go brag to the world that he/she was a polyglot, I might tend to be unimpressed. But on the other hand, a person who focused their attention on one family of languages could perceivably learn them all to a better degree.
All the same, I don't know any polyglots in the online language community who are doing that. Yes, several people know more than one Romance language, but they also tend to know a Germanic language, and a Slavic language, and often one or more of the Asian languages.
Nevertheless, if you do find yourself wanting to know another language in the same family, it's nice to know that you're starting with an advantage. | https://autolingual.com/these-romance-languages-are-all-just-vulgar-latin/ |
Learning Romance Languages in Parallel
Today was a busy day for me on Duolingo. I got to level 4 in both Italian and Portuguese, and then I got to level 5 in French. Now it's back to Spanish for a while, my main target.
I'm really enjoying the ability to switch between languages whenever I feel like it. In the past, I've generally focused on learning one language for months or years and then switched to another. I have my own opinions on the matter, but I'd like to ask all of you whether you think this frequent switching is a good idea or not.
It's especially interesting when learning closely related languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. One the one hand, they are similar to each other, so knowing "leche" in Spanish certainly makes "leite" easier to pick up in Portuguese. But then again, the word is feminine in Spanish but masculine in Portuguese, so that could be confusing.
Really, it seems to me people make too big a deal of differences like this. So far, it hasn't been hard to keep the words I learn in one language separate from those of another. Does anyone have any opinions, tips, or stories to share on the matter? How do you keep "leche", "leite", "latte", and "lait" from getting all mixed up into one big lactic stew?
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Before Duolingo was around, there was one time where I was studying Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic and Japanese in different classes simultaneously - that did my head in, like properly I was losing my mind, I began forgetting words and spelling in English. I remember going to a Japanese class where I started writing in hiragana characters but the words I was trying to use were Spanish. I'd go to Italian and start writing on the wrong side of the page. I'd always have 5 languages screaming in my head every time I was unsure of a word or a phrase, and that made speaking fluently really hard. So I cut back, because I felt like I was at my limit and going to lose my mind - I just didn't have the time to dedicate to each one that I needed to in order to nut out all the crisscrossing that was taking place (I was also a full time uni student at the time).
So I dropped everything except Italian and Spanish... and I was still having similar issues with mix ups, but I tackled it by sitting down and doing a lot of memorising of the similar words to make sure I had the differences down between each language, and became really purposeful and careful when I used either Italian or Spanish. If I wrote in Italian, afterward I'd go through and check for ANYTHING that I might've picked up from Spanish and vice versa. I don't think I have as much of an issue with it anymore compared to what I did, but it really just came down to how careful I was being.
So I think no matter how many languages you're doing or how similar/different they are, it all comes down to how much time you can dedicate to identifying and resolving these kinds of issues.
Haha, wow. I've never been in a situation like that. If I were trying to study all these languages in parallel for a grade, then yeah, that sounds terrible. A little here and there for fun is different though, I think.
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For sure, I never said it was bad, I was having a great time, but I'd just bitten off more than I could chew! Haha.
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I'm a native speaker of Portuguese, so I already know a lot of Spanish, and learning French and Italian was much easier. Another thing to keep in mind is that I know basic Latin, so that helps me with all Romance languages. It is true that genders change among languages (this is especially true for Italian and Portuguese), and knowing the neuter in Latin kind of complicates things a bit for me.
The good side to knowing all of these languages (for me, at least) is that I can pick up spelling and gender similarities much more easily. Portuguese and Latin have many genders in common. Grammatical structure becomes much easier--French has very complicated grammar, in my opinion, but luckily, it became simple after a while.
Since you're specifically talking about vocabulary and word memorization, this brings up topics already discussed called lexical similarity and mutual intelligibility. Some Romance languages are considered more conservative than others, meaning they retained most of the spellings, genders, syntax, and grammar from Latin over the centuries. French is considered the least conservative of all the Romance languages, due to the very different pronunciation and the addition of simple and historic tenses, some removed tenses, etc...Italian, as you would expect, is the most conservative, having remained in the same region and not moving from the Roman domain.
The word for milk in all four of those languages comes from Latin lac, lactis, n. All of its derived forms, "leche", "leite", "latte", "lait", are called cognates. Cognates are defined not by their similarities between languages, but by the parent languages from which they come from. If two words in different languages come from the same proto-language or sub-family, they are referred to as cognates.
As for how to distinguish cognates between languages, I would recommend trying to fit in certain words into the context of those languages and see if the words sound "right" in those languages. Think about the following: Does the pronunciation fit in the language? Is there a substitution that sounds better for the word? Most of the time, if it doesn't seem correct, it probably isn't.
I know this was a very long explanation, going all the way into the "genealogy", so to speak, of languages, but I hope I could help you out in understanding how these similarities come to be and how we should think of them to avoid confusion.
Good luck with your studies!
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I've already completed Spanish, but I am learning French and Portuguese at the same time. Sometimes I find that I can only remember the Spanish word for a Portuguese question, or a French word when I'm typing in Spanish. That can be fun. ;) But, I do enjoy the similarities, and it makes learning the languages easier. I'm finding that Portuguese is a mix of Spanish and French, so time will tell how the previous two will help me complete the tree.
But overall, I don't really have trouble with word mixing. For some, it's harder, and for some, it's easier.
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Through experimentation, I've found that I must devote no less than one hour / per language / per day to maintain forward momentum in learning, and three languages is the limit of what I can realistically juggle at once.
I've developed various routines and tricks to keep languages separate in my mind. For example, when I was taking university classes in all three simultaneously, I would study Latin, first, Japanese, second, and Italian, third. Putting a meal or other activity between sessions helped, but, on days when that was not possible, simply sandwiching the least related (Japanese) between the most related (Latin and Italian) did a lot to minimize "contamination".
Another technique I've developed is the use of language specific stimuli (like music) to shift between sessions and serve as a background reminder (so I don't accidentally switch languages). A good source for finding music in Duolingo's current target languages is here: http://lyricstraining.com/
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I tried to learn Italian, Portuguese, and German at the same as trying to keep my Spanish and French trees golden. Time was the factor for me. I did not have enough time to do the necessary amount of lessons here. However, now I do have the time since I got laid off at the beginning of June. :-(
One of the things that I found very helpful in keeping the similar words separate was doing the course from another language. For instance, currently I am learning Portuguese from English and Spanish, and I am also doing the Spanish from Portuguese.
So, besides trying to learn Portuguese, I am also trying to make my Spanish and French trees golden. I am also doing the French for Spanish tree and the Spanish for French tree, but this is helping me keep my knowledge in both.
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Hi, I am currently learning French (mostly) and a little Italian. My mother tongue is Spanish, but I am using an English interface (second language, I am completely fluent). From your experience, would it be helpful for me to change the interface to Spanish, since I am learning two Romance languages, and possibly make my learning faster? I thought your answer above was interesting, so I wanted to ask your advice. Btw, I am not worried about my English as I use it all the time, I just want to learn French as quickly as possible :)
This is a very interesting idea, switching the source language to attack two languages at once from a different angle. I've thought about it, but I don't think my Spanish is quite far along enough yet to try it. Sounds fun anyway. I might try it before I actually feel "ready", because when does that happen anyway?
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I personally love learning more than one at a time. It gets me in the language learning zone, and really keeps me on my toes. Before Duo, I used to do half an hour of Portuguese and then half an hour of French, both on Rosetta Stone. It would take a few minutes to switch my thinking from one language to the other, but once I did, it felt awesome.
It's good to hear a different angle on this subject. When it comes to language study, people usually talk about how quickly you can become fluent, the relative difficulty, time constraints, etc. You've basically just pointed out how fun it is to do this kind of juggling. I agree!
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Hey there.
I majored in linguistics back in the day, so I think I'm coming from a similar angle. I too started with Spanish, French, and Italian. But I would do the courses back to back, and I too got really confused because they are very similar but just different enough to knock me sideways.
So, what I've been doing nowadays is I add a non-romance language in between the romance ones. So I do (in this order) French, dutch, Italian, Irish, Spanish. It feels like just enough of a mental break that my brain can settle between the close romance languages.
I'm not doing it to become fluent, more just curious I guess. In terms of the close but different spelling of words, I think you start to figure out what letters and sounds go with the particular languages...
No idea if that helped or not. But I'm glad I'm not the only one doing that many languages. Lol. I get a kick out of noticing which words relate back to the other romance language words in English. Dutch and English have similarities since they're both German related which can be a hoot. Even some Irish words are similar (sounding) in English, which was awesome to discover.
Yeah, it sounds like we have similar goals with Duolingo. I actually want to become fluent in Spanish, but the other languages are just an academic exercise for now. I don't think I have any real reason for studying Dutch other than the fun of comparing it to English and German.
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It's so much fun to learn multiple languages at the same time, even if they are from the same family. The similiraties is a good thing, you can compare them so you memorize the words more easily.
I would not recommend learning three languages of the same language family. Also, unless you have 8 hours or free time, I would not recommend that you study more than 2 languages. Learning more than two languages with little free time and little prior experience will not work. I don't know if your aim is to be fluent though. If you want to be able to communicate well in each language, then you could. Maybe you should find some other non-Romance ones? You could learn something different and interesting like Japanese, Turkish, Hungarian, or German.
Thanks for your concern, but I'm really just bringing up this topic because I'm interested in people's differing attitudes on the subject. I'm a linguist, so I'm not a typical language learner. Spanish is the only language I'm actually trying for fluency in right now. The others are to give me a broader view of language in general (and for fun).
By the way, you mentioned Japanese... I taught English in Japan for a while, so I know a little. I would LOVE to use Duolingo to learn more, but unfortunately that's not possible yet. I know there is a demand, but I'm guessing the writing system makes things a bit difficult. I can't wait to see how they deal with that in Russian.
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I am currently learning both French and Spanish on Duolingo. I basically give them both equal time and am at the same level at both; although I feel I am slightly more advanced in Spanish. It can be a challenge. I know I will not finish either tree as quickly as I would if I just focussed on one or the other. I find it is the simple things that trip me up: using "ella" instead of "elle" or trying to remember whether "tomate" is masculine or feminine in French.
Earlier on, I would do one language, take a break, and then attack the other. Nowadays, I try to switch quickly from one to the other and back again. My theory is that doing this will force me to think more quickly on my feet. I've had no way to confirm it or not, but time will tell, I suppose.
I am still enjoying doing both at the same time and until such time as it becomes a hassle, I will do continue to do so.
Now I've got everything but Spanish at the same level (6). I'm getting far enough along that I get some cross-linguistic contamination now and then, mostly when trying to recall a particular word, a couple times when conjugating a verb. Really though, it hasn't presented a problem yet.
I'm enjoying how the Duolingo system helps you along quite a bit with hover text and everything, so you don't have to feel worried about not remembering everything. I've used a few Michel Thomas courses, and they always stress the importance of that relaxed state of mind. Given what I know about language acquisition from my own studies, I believe it.
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It's better for you to go with one of them first until you start to "feel the language" and have very clear the VERB CONJUGATION part (that's the hard one) or you'll be mixing them.
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Personally, I find it to be a great way to compliment the learning process; however, I say this because I am a visual learner who can easily categorize different-looking words. Nouns, adjectives and verbs are easy for me to categorize, but I will occasionally slip up and mix my articles (this may be a natural habit/mistake, as I do this within languages as well). I had been learning Spanish from December 2014 to August 2016, and when I added Portuguese so I could learn the basics for a Brazil trip, I found it effortless to learn the first few skills; pronunciation was the only tricky part. Once I had hit level 5 or 6, I was confident enough to use the basics around Rio and had endeared myself to the locals who ran the shops around my hostel!
I hope to be fluent in Spanish/French/Italian/Portuguese (I'm near fluent in writing/reading with Spanish, but my listening skills are poor) for personal and professional reasons, so Duolingo is a godsend in this regard. | https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3611036 |
How Hard Is It To Learn Spanish For A Fluent English Speaker?
I am a fluent English speak and want to know how hard is it to learn Spanish for someone like me. I am learning Spanish but i want to know know how long this might take??
Regards: Rinee
5 Comments
Hi Rinee,
I am also an English speaker (that is hablante nativo), and I am nearly fluent after on and off study for 5 years. This doesn't at all signify that it would for you take as long. You may note, that I had 0 immersion experience within that time frame (and if you are in the same situation, 3 years is not bad to become fluent at all!). Spanish is in fact one of the easier languages for English native speakers to learn, as it is tied with similar roots and there are many, many cognates. The pronunciation, with commitment, is also not a problem. Just make sure to master your "r" ;). If you are committed and have a lot of gusto for what you are learning, I don't see why you can't be a proficient/fluent speaker in anywhere between the time of 6ish months to 2 years. And, on your Spanish journey, do not hesitate in the least to ask someone on the forum for help. We are all honored to give a helping hand!!
Best of luck to you!
I'm a fluent Spanish speaker and I Learned English, I enjoy all the possibilities that an English-world offers to me. If I can, you can.
A good idea would be to ask in your target language. Try it out and figure out interesting outcomes and responses
You need to define how well you want to learn Spanish. Do you want to be able to order a beer in Barcelona or do you want to be mistaken for a Columbiana in Cordoba? You will enjoy the process more if you find you fun in learning the language; not in trying to achieve a goal.
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https://voxy.com/blog/2011/03/hardest-languages-infographic/
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Spanish - like Portuguese, French, Italian - is one of the "easier" languages which you can learn: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/ if you compare them to Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Asia languages (Chinese, Japanese, Philippin, Thai, etc.)
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Honestly: Verb conjugation / tense stuff is difficult enough for me learning my 1st Romance language (Portuguese)
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I do not have the impression that those listed above languages are that much "easy" (for me)
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Learning 1000 Spanish words on www.lingvist.com in 11 days and 20 hours with my "end of 2017 year challenge" was not any easier (for me) even I learned Portuguese for 1+ year ago.
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Probably at least ~1 year to complete your SP DuoLingo tree (was the case for my PT tree with Memrise in parallel) and be able to read and understand the language basics....maybe you are faster (don't try binch learning!), if you do not binge through it.
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With Spanish newest tree updates and many more skills maybe about 1-1,5 years.
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1-1,5 years does NOT mean that you will have finished the reverse Spanish-English tree, which will probably take you another 6-12 months.
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You might not have the chance to level-up all finished (L1) skills to crown level L4-L5 for EN-SP within that one year period....or you have to put into many many XPs/week!
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Maybe ~2-3 or 5 years (my guess) to learn to write, speak and listen if you have not learned any Romance language before. Just guessing....could be faster.
But this is really up to YOU how much time - and different ressources for speaking/listening - you will put into to appropriately learn Spanish!
Two years pass VERY (too) quickly!!
I will not be upper-intermediate/advanced in Portuguese after only two years and 2-3 completed PT trees (including Mondly, 50languages, Memrise, AnkiSRS, Pod101).
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How many years have I been putting in to learn English as my 2nd language? More than 23+ years (leaving out primary/middle schools)!
Am I truly "fluent" on a C1-C2 native speaking level? Of course not when I do not have to speak (practice) in a English country daily! Still lot's of vocabulary to learn! (which I usually don't).
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I would be very happy, if I ever reach - in the next 3-5 years - the same / intermediate language level in Portuguese or Spanish which I have gained in English :-)
I am interested to hear other experiences, especially from those who started recently from scratch with their 1st Romance language. | https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/26889332/How-Hard-Is-It-To-Learn-Spanish-For-A-Fluent-English-Speaker |
If you've ever confused and Spanish speaker with a Portuguese speaker then you wouldn't be the first to do it, and you probably won't be the last. Both cultures are of a Spanish origin, and as a result, they sound incredibly similar.
For the most part, a Spanish speaker could have a conversation with a native Portuguese speaker, and vice versa. They may have a little bit of trouble understanding certain words and phrases, but they would be able to get the main points that were trying to be conveyed.
Both Portuguese and Spanish are known as romance languages, and they originate from the original Latin language that was spoken by the Roman Empire. As Rome spread across the world, Latin developed into separate languages such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese. When Latin mixed with the native language of the conquered land, the romance languages developed.
Spain's origins begin with the ancient country of Hispania which was divided into two separate sections, Ulterior and Cliterior. This country was going through constant turmoil and war, and as a result, there were often kings and rulers from certain Arabic countries that mixed their language in with the original Latin Spanish.
This is where the main differences in terminology and words come from, even though the original Latin stems and grammar remain.
In the 14th and 15th Centuries when Portuguese and Spanish were exploring and settling in the New World, they each conquered their prospective regions and then mixed their existing languages further with the native dialects. This is how modern-day Spanish in South America and Portuguese developed!
From the outside, the two languages can seem very similar. The accent is often the same, many of the words are same, and the speed and pace at which the languages are spoken are also similar. The Spanish and Portuguese also share a lot of the same culture. It is often hard to distinguish between a Spanish-speaking event and a Portuguese event.
In Portuguese, this is a lot more simple. The same meaning is encompassed by the use of one word- "muito." Whether you're trying to say that you like something a lot or you're trying to say that you love somebody very much, this one word will be used in the same sentence.
If You Know One Is It Easy To Learn The Other?
Knowing Spanish or Portuguese can definitely help you to learn the other language. There are many spanish speakers that are fluent in Portuguese, and many Portuguese speakers who come over to America or Mexico, say that they find it relatively easy to learn how to speak Spanish.
One of the most commonly reported problems that they experience between speaking and writing the two languages is accidental confusion. A Portuguese speaker will often break into Spanish by accident, and a Spanish speaker will often cut into Portuguese while speaking or writing.
Is One Easier To Learn Than The Other?
This is a difficult question to answer. Naturally, if you grow up speaking, writing, and reading the language, it will be easier. Children have a massive propensity to be able to learn even the hardest of languages. Both Spanish and Portuguese children learn their language at a relatively young age, and on average become fluent speakers by the age of five.
Now, this is going to be a completely different case if you're an adult and trying to learn Spanish or Portuguese as a second language. The languages are very similar, and the grammatical structure is almost identical, so it really depends upon your exposure.
One language is not easier to learn than the other. The best way to get familiar with the words is to read a vocabulary book, study and surround yourself with it every day. If you follow these two things, you can pick up just about any language.
The easiest way to learn a second language is to expose yourself to it every single day. This means that the easiest of the two languages to learn is the one which you’re around the most. If you want to learn how to speak a new language, then the best thing that you can do is to study it and expose yourself to it every single day.
Try to avoid using your native tongue. If you can surround yourself by speakers of that language, ask them to only talk to you in the language that you're trying to learn. This will force your brain to pay close attention to every word it hears and helps to form connections to the other material that you will be studying every day.
Another great way to learn the language is to consume the media. This means listening to Spanish or Portuguese music, reading magazines, and watching movies or television. This is a fun way to get used to the way the speakers talk and gives your brain a fun visual connection to associate with the language.
If you're trying to learn a second language, both make excellent choices. Spanish is more widely-used than Portuguese, and you will probably find it easier to learn because of this. You will be able to speak and hear it more like an outsider. However, if you do live in an area that has a Portuguese population, or you're planning to visit a country where the language is spoken, then it won't be any harder to learn how to speak it.
The important thing to remember when you’re learning any language is that you will get out what you put into it. The more you practice, read, and familiarize yourself with Spanish or Portuguese, the easier it will get and the more you will understand. | https://spanishbananza.com/portuguese-vs-spanish/ |
Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. ?
When I first started studying Latin, friends and family were skeptical. “What are you going to do with Latin?” they asked, “It’s a dead language,” they said. “Why don’t you study a language you can actually speak with people, like Spanish?”
Even later when I was studying Latin in Rome, Italians were amused and bewildered that I was learning Latin, especially when my Italian still needed so much work.
But to my mind, it was obvious why I should learn Latin. As someone interested in literature, history and art, everywhere I turned I would run into the influence of Latin literature and Roman culture. Let’s face it: until the 20th century, pretty much every major cultural figure in the West had an education centered around the study of the Latin classics. I wasn’t going to let myself be less cultured than them.
My Latin professors in high school and college didn’t do much to dispel the impression that Latin was a dead language. Although they exuded passion for the subject and knew the language backwards and forwards, they taught it as a puzzle to be deciphered or a specimen to be dissected. The usual approach was to take a text and “parse” it. This meant we would read a sentence, analyzing it grammatically down to the smallest detail to tease out all the nuances of Latin’s intricate grammar and word order. After this intense (and very dry) analysis, we would then attempt an awkward translation of the sentence into English.
After a few years of this, I could make sense of any Latin text put in front of me, but only in the most laborious of ways. I couldn’t read a text in Latin for pleasure the way you would read a novel in English.
I assumed this was just the way it had to be. Latin was too complicated, too alien, too ancient, too “dead”. There was no way I could gain the same intuitive feel for it that I had for English or the other modern languages I had studied.
It was then I discovered a community of Latinists that flipped all these assumptions on their head. Known as “Living Latin” (or Latinitas Viva in Latin), this worldwide network of Latin teachers, scholars, enthusiasts and eccentrics made the astonishing claim that it’s possible to become “fluent” in Latin. After my frustration with the traditional approach to Latin, I was ready to give “Living Latin” a try.
What is Living Latin?
The “Living Latin” movement is an approach to Latin that recognizes that Latin is a natural human language like any other. The fact that it is ancient, “dead” or “classical” does not prevent us from using it as a living language, or even internalizing it to a level of fluency much like we might aspire to with any other foreign language.
In the words of Reginald Foster, one of the leading figures of the movement: “If even the dogs, prostitutes and bums in ancient Rome understood Latin, then maybe there’s some hope for us.”
He has a point. Although we may think of Latin as the language of Virgil and Cicero, the fact is Latin was spoken as a native language by people from every social class and level of education. Its intricacies are no more impossible to master than those of other languages that people somehow manage to speak, such as Russian or Turkish.
If we recognize that Latin is a natural language, then this has important consequences for how we teach and learn it.
First and foremost, this means that even if your goal is just to read texts in the language, an approach focused solely on reading is not the most efficient method for getting there. This goes back to the way that your brain processes language. To put it simply: as far as your brain is concerned, the real language is the spoken language. Your brain is designed to absorb and internalize language by hearing and speaking it – this is how you learned your native language, after all.
By contrast, reading and writing are an abstract, secondary representation of the spoken language. If your entire experience of a language is just as marks on a page, you will never develop the same immediate, intuitive “feel” for it that you have for your native language or other languages you’ve learned to fluency.
From this basic premise, the “Living Latin” movement involves many different attempts to lift Latin off of the page and bring it to life. If you want to practice your listening, there are podcasts, newscasts, songs, and recordings of classical texts. If you want to practice speaking, there are online classes and conversation groups that help you connect with other Latin speakers at your level. There is also an ever-multiplying number of Latin conventions and weekend getaways where participants speak Latin to one another.
What does Living Latin Sound Like?
Ok, so now you’re convinced that it’s possible to speak Latin. But this raises another crucial question. If Latin is a dead language with no native speakers to consult, how do we know what it’s supposed to sound like? How do we pronounce it when we speak it?
Currently, there are actually two common approaches:
The first is Restored Classical Pronunciation. This is basically an attempt to speak Latin with the same pronunciation used during the heyday of ancient Rome, the age of Cicero, Caesar, Virgil and Ovid. Thanks to the efforts of scholars dating back to the time of the Renaissance, we have a pretty good idea of what Latin sounded like in classical times, and this pronunciation is what has normally been taught in schools even outside of a Living Latin context. If you had some Latin in high school or college, this is probably the pronunciation you learned.
If your main goal with Latin is to read texts written by Roman authors, then this is probably the pronunciation you would want to use, since it lets you hear Cicero’s orations and Virgil’s hexameters the way they were meant to sound, the way they were heard by their original audience.
The second approach is known as Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, because it reflects the pronunciation used in the Catholic Church over the past millennium. Some of the consonants and diphthongs have shifted away from their pronunciation in Roman times, and now they bear a striking resemblance to the pronunciation of modern Italian. One of the most prominent examples is the pronunciation of “c” and “g,” which in Classical Latin were always hard consonants, but which in Ecclesiastical Latin are pronounced like English “ch” before “e” and “i” as in Italian. For example, “Cicero” would be pronounced as [Kikero] in Classical Latin, but as [Chichero] in Ecclesiastical Pronunciation.
As its name suggests, this pronunciation is primarily used in religious circles and institutions, but it also has some popularity among Medievalists as well, since this was the pronunciation followed by medieval authors writing in Latin.
Restored Classical pronunciation is by far the most popular choice, but whichever pronunciation you choose, you can rest assured that you will be able to understand and be understood by users of the other pronunciation. Most Living Latin gatherings include a mix of both approaches, and with a little practice, your ear can follow both without difficulty.
How Can You Talk About Trains, Planes and Automobiles in an Ancient Language?
This is another obstacle people get hung up on when first starting out with “Living Latin”. If we’re going to use Latin to talk about daily life, then we run into the fact that our daily lives involve any number of objects and concepts the ancient Romans had no knowledge of and didn’t coin words for.
But Latin is not the only language to face this challenge. This was the same problem faced by other ancient languages when they first had to cope with the modern world. Arabic, Persian and Hebrew, for example, all have a written tradition spanning millennia. n their formal grammar and morphology, they have remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. When it came time to talk about modern phenomena such as electricity, cars and tweets (yes, even tweets), speakers of these languages were not content to just bring these words into their speech wholesale with just a local accent. They wanted to preserve the authentic sound and structure of the language in the new vocabulary they introduced.
So what they coined new words for these phenomena based off of native roots. For example, in Arabic, to translate “automobile,” they borrowed the word sayyara, originally meaning “caravan.” For “electricity,” Persian took the word barq meaning lightning and expanded its semantic range to include the electricity that powers your house as well. For “computer,” Hebrew coined the term machshav from the verb chashav, meaning “to think” – or if you stretch a bit, “to compute.”
“Living Latin” follows the same approach, adapting and extending Latin’s stock of classical vocabulary. For “automobile,” it adapts the word raeda, meaning “a four-wheeled carriage” and applies it to our modern, motorized carriages. It cheats a bit with “electricity” and translates is as vis electrica, literally “electric force” (the immense number of Latinate words in modern English are a useful crutch here). Then “tweets” is the easiest of all: “Living Latin” just uses the Latin word for the “tweets” of a bird – pipationes.
Now you might say this is all well and good, but doesn’t such ingenuity in coining new terms risk turning into a clever parlor trick? If the ultimate goal is still to read Latin authors, only with more understanding and immediacy than before, then how does it help to learn expressions that you’re never going to find in a book?
There are two points to keep in mind here.
First off, the fluency you develop from actively using a language exists on two levels: not just vocabulary, but grammar as well. Vocabulary will vary greatly across authors, and in the end, you will have to hone your vocabulary with the authors you most want to read. However, the fluency you develop in processing the structures of Latin grammar – that is, developing an immediate sense of them as units of meaning and not just forms to be parsed – will carry over into any text you pick up. You reap the benefits of this grammatical fluency no matter what vocabulary you used in developing it.
Then as a second point, it is far from useless to learn this neo-Latin vocabulary. You bring a language to life by anchoring it to your daily reality, and so applying even slightly modified or unclassical Latin words to your everyday experience makes them (and by extension, the more classical words they derive from) more vivid for you than if they had just remained on the page.
For example, the kind of raeda the Romans rode around in was clearly different than a modern automobile, but I have to confess that the word never stuck in my mind when I just came across it in classical texts as another type of vehicle used by toga-clad ancients. But as soon as I linked the word to an object that I saw and used every day, it became seared unforgettably in my brain. Now when I read a passage where Caesar or Cicero mention a raeda, a clear image leaps into my mind that has an organic link to my own experience (and no, I don’t picture them riding around in a Prius).
How To Get Started with Living Latin in 4 Steps
You’re convinced that it’s possible to speak Latin and that it might even be beneficial. But where do you start when it all seems so intimidating? Fortunately, there are some ways to warm up your spoken Latin before you try out your first “Salve!” (Latin for “hello”) in front of another living soul.
Step 1: Start by Listening
Listen to a vast range of spoken Latin. Especially spontaneous Latin by contemporary speakers and recordings of intermediate level texts. It’s best to save the Aeneid and Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations for later. The idea is to immerse yourself in a large amount of material that you can understand readily (Google Krashen’s “comprehensible input”). This will help anchor vocabulary and grammatical structures in your head, and pretty soon you will be able to instinctively deploy them yourself. Not because you memorized a rule, but just because they “sound right.”
Step 2: Read, then Paraphrase
After reading a passage from Virgil, Caesar, or your own favorite author, try to retell the action out loud in simpler language using your own words. This helps you retain vocabulary and convert the passive experience of reading into the active skill of speaking.
Step 3: Find Living Latin Speaking Partners
The network of Latin speakers is connected more than ever before, both virtually and in real life. Find a regular speaking circle that you can attend, even if you’re not sure if you can utter a coherent phrase yet in Latin. The “Living Latin” community is very supportive and will be more than happy to help you get started.
Step 4: Immerse Yourself in Living Latin
“Immersion” is, of course, the gold standard for learning any foreign language, and although the technology does not yet exist to send you back in time on a study abroad program to ancient Rome, there are a number of programs and conventions that will give you the experience of 24-hour-a-day immersion in Latin.
Living Latin Resources
Here are some of the resources I’ve found most helpful for learning “Living Latin”.
Living Latin Books
- Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata by Hans H. Ørberg: This is the most popular elementary text in the “Living Latin” community. Ørberg’s Lingua Latina gets you thinking in Latin from day 1 by teaching Latin entirely in Latin.
- *Ossa Latinatis Sola by Reginald Foster: This is another introductory course by one of the world’s premier Latinists. As opposed to older textbooks centered around memorizing conjugations and puzzling out artificial example sentences, *Ossa Latiniatis Sola adopts a more intuitive approach centered around “experiences.” These experiences have you dealing with authentic Latin from the first day of the course, building up your understanding by gradual immersion in Latin authors covering the whole range of Latin’s history, from the ancient Romans down to the present day.
- Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency by John Traupmann: If you already have the basics of Latin grammar, this is the book that will teach you how to start speaking it actively. Presenting a series of dialogues revolving around daily life and typical conversations, it gives you the vocabulary and structures you need to convert your book Latin into spoken Latin. It also contains a helpful glossary covering all the expressions you need to talk about daily life, as well as Latin renderings of phenomena the Romans never encountered, such as American sports and modern technology.
Living Latin Dictionaries
Sad to say, Google Translate has not yet reached the level where it can translate English into anything close to comprehensible Latin (a deficiency that has led to many unfortunate tattoos). So if you want to know how to say something in Latin, your best bet is these two dictionaries.
- Smith & Hall’s English-Latin Dictionary: This is the best general purpose English to Latin dictionary. A product of the 19th century, it won’t help with “automobile” or “airplane,” but for almost any another concept you want to express, it will give you the pure Ciceronian way to say it. It has recently been digitized by the website Latinitium, so you no longer have to lug around the 900-page tome to your Latin meetups.
- Morgan-Owens Lexicon: This online glossary is the one to go to for any newfangled modern concept you want to express, from cell phone to photocopier.
Living Latin Listening Resources
Of course, if your goal is to speak Latin, you’re going to have to get used to hearing people speak Latin in real time. Fortunately, there are a plethora of YouTube channels, podcasts and other audio resources to help you get started.
- Magister Craft: This YouTube channel presents a variety of content all in Latin, including retellings of stories from Roman history and mythology and descriptions of life in ancient Rome. What makes this channel especially suitable for beginners is that the Latin used is fairly simple, all the videos are subtitled in English, and the stories are illustrated with computer graphics that help immerse you in ancient Rome.
- Scorpio Martianus: This YouTube channel contains a variety of helpful and fun videos, including a recording of the text of Ørberg’s Lingua Latina, tips on pronouncing Latin, and versions of popular songs redone in Latin. Especially recommended is his Latin version of “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.
- Quomodo Dicitur: This podcast is hosted by three experienced Latin speakers and ranges over a variety of topics. While a bit more challenging, it gives you a good idea of how proficient Latin speakers express themselves in ordinary conversation.
- Latinitium is a wonderful all-around website for “Living Latin”, as it hosts several podcasts, compilations of spoken Latin from around the web, and articles with helpful tips for Latin learners.
Living Latin Immersion Experiences and Meetups
- Paideia: The Paideia Institute offers a variety of programs for Latin enthusiasts, including immersion experiences in Rome and Paris, and online classes in spoken Latin for all levels.
- Accademia Vivarium Novum: Possibly the only university in the world that allows you to pursue an entire undergraduate education in Latin.
- Conventiculum Lexingtoniense and Conventiculum Dickinsoniense: These two weeklong Latin conventions run by Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova are among the most highly regarded Latin conventions held in the US. They require a language pledge to speak nothing but Latin for the entire week and are open to all levels of Latin speakers.
- SALVI, the North American Institute of Living Latin Studies, hosts a number of weekend retreats and weeklong immersion experiences throughout the US.
Brian Powell
Translation Manager
Turning his passion for languages into a career, Brian is translator and editor for the pioneering Arabic translation companyIndustry Arabic.
Speaks: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Latin, Greek
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FAQs
Is it possible to be fluent in Latin? ›
Is it possible to speak Latin fluently? Yes! Many people are not aware that Latin can be spoken fluently, similar to a modern language like English, French or German. Latin offers us all the words that we need to communicate in our everyday lives.Who actually spoke Latin? ›
Originally spoken by small groups of people living along the lower Tiber River, Latin spread with the increase of Roman political power, first throughout Italy and then throughout most of western and southern Europe and the central and western Mediterranean coastal regions of Africa.How long does it take to learn Latin? ›
If you have greater knowledge of Romance languages, either through it being your native language or one you've learned before, it can take around 600-750 hours to learn Latin. This is the equivalent of about 24-30 weeks in a class, so at least half a year of intensive Latin.How can I learn Latin for free? ›
- Learn Latin Faster with Ancient Language Institute. ...
- Wheelock's Latin: Chapter 1-15 Lectures (udemy) ...
- GREEKNSTUFF. ...
- Duolingo. ...
- The Ancient Language Institute. ...
- Mondly Blog is the Easiest Way to Learn Latin Online. ...
- Learn a Language – Learn Latin. ...
- Mango Language-Online Latin Language Software.
Italian happens to have fewer verbs than some of the other Romance languages, making the learning journey a bit easier. It also shares Latin roots with English, allowing for a smooth transition (and great guessing odds).Is Latin a language worth learning? ›
Latin provides a key to the Romance languages, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese etc. Latin is the universal language of western civilization. Actually, Latin provides the blueprint for any language we may be learning later in life: German, Russian, Chinese, or any other one.What language did Jesus speak? ›
Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C., and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.Could Jesus speak Latin? ›
But Latin and Greek were common at the time of Jesus. It's unlikely Jesus would have known Latin beyond a few words, says Jonathan Katz, stipendiary lecturer in Classics at Oxford University. It was the language of law and the Roman military and Jesus was unlikely to be familiar with the vocabulary of these worlds.Do Catholic churches still speak Latin? ›
Modern Catholic usage
Ecclesiastical Latin continues to be the official language of the Catholic Church.
Latin Grammar Is Incredibly Hard
If there's one thing that everyone who's studied Latin could agree on, it's that the grammar rules are incredibly hard. The word “declension” is enough to send shivers down one's spine. The word order is arbitrary, each of the verbs has several cases and all the nouns have gender.
Does Latin look good on a college application? ›
Make Your College Application Stand Out
Have Latin on your transcripts. “Because so few students these days master Latin, it can help an applicant,” said William Fitzsimmons, Harvard's dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, in this Bloomberg article.
Romanian is widely considered to be the trickiest of the Romance languages to learn, due to the challenge that mastering its grammar poses. French and Spanish are sometimes cited as being difficult, too.Why is Latin not taught anymore? ›
However, from the 1960s, universities gradually began to abandon Latin as an entry requirement for Medicine and Law degrees. After the introduction of the Modern Language General Certificate of Secondary Education in the 1980s, Latin began to be replaced by other languages in many schools.What age should you start learning Latin? ›
You might not delay it until high school—perhaps just until age 10 or 12. Your child won't miss out on the benefits of language learning for not having started earlier.Is Latin easier to learn than Spanish? ›
Is Latin or Spanish easier? Ease is relative. But Spanish is generally easier than Latin for an English speaker.What is the easiest language for Americans to learn? ›
- Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
- Dutch. ...
- Norwegian. ...
- Spanish. ...
- Portuguese. ...
- Italian. ...
- French. ...
- Swedish.
Latin Is Easier
Evolution is not a problem with a so-called dead language. With modern languages, you need to learn to read, speak, and understand other people speaking it. With Latin, all you need to be able to do is read it. Latin has a pretty limited vocabulary.
Answer: Thankfully, your brain can definitely handle learning two (or more!) languages at once! (Two down, 6,998 to go.) But there are also some ways you can make this linguistic task easier on yourself.What jobs require Latin? ›
Professions: Latin prepares students for many important professions that are steeped in Latin terms and phrases or in English words derived from Latin. These career fields include law, medicine, science, music, theology, philosophy, art, and literature.What's the hardest language to learn? ›
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
How many words do you need to know in Latin to be fluent? ›
Knowing 4,000 to 10,000 words makes people advanced language users while knowing more than 10,000 words puts them at the fluent or native-speaker levels.What language did the God speak? ›
Some Christians see the languages written on the INRI cross (Syriac, Greek and Latin) as God's languages.What did Jesus call God in Aramaic? ›
The Aramaic word for God is אלהא Elāhā ( Biblical Aramaic) and ܐܠܗܐ Alāhā ( Syriac), which comes from the same Proto- Semitic word (* ʾil-) as the Arabic and Hebrew terms; Jesus is described in Mark 15:34 as having used the word on the cross, with the ending meaning "my", when saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou ...What is God called in Aramaic? ›
Elahi (אֱלָהִי; إلهي) is an Aramaic and Arabic meaning "My God". Elah means "god", with the suffix -i meaning "my." Being Aramaic and not Hebrew (there is no singular possessive for "god" in Biblical Hebrew), in the Old Testament, Elahi is found only in the books of Ezra and Daniel.Which language did Adam and Eve speak? ›
The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden.What religion was Jesus? ›
Of course, Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues.What Bible did Jesus use? ›
He would have been familiar with a popular Greek translation of Hebrew Scripture commonly known as the Septuagint, which had already been around for a long time, as well as other Greek and even some Aramaic translations.Why the Catholic Church is losing Latin? ›
The reasons for this shift are complex, including political changes that reduced the Catholic Church's advantages over other religions, as well as growing secularization in much of the world.Can Catholic priests say mass in Latin? ›
In 2007, Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, expanded access to the traditional Latin Mass by allowing priests to use the older form “without any further permission from the Vatican” or their bishop, according to Catholic News Service.Is Latin Catholic and Roman Catholic the same? ›
"Roman Catholic" and "Western" or "Latin Catholic"
This is the only meaning given to the term "Roman Catholic" at that official level. However, some do use the term "Roman Catholic" to refer to Western (i.e. Latin) Catholics, excluding Eastern Catholics.
What language is closest to Latin? ›
Is Latin closer to Italian or Spanish? - Italian is the closest national language to Latin, followed by Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, and the most divergent being French.Can Latin be self taught? ›
Although Latin isn't commonly offered in a lot of schools, you can learn Latin on your own with a little self-discipline. Start by mastering the Latin alphabet and pronunciation so you'll know how to sound out words, even if you don't know what they mean.What is the best way to teach yourself Latin? ›
One of the strongest and most effective ways to improve your knowledge of Latin is through reading books to learn Latin. This can be reading ancient Romans, such as Cicero, Caesar, and others, but it can also be from short stories and novellas written for contemporary audiences and Latin learners.What are the top 3 things colleges look for? ›
Good grades, a challenging high school curriculum, standardized test scores, extracurriculars, and a strong essay are a few key factors admissions officers assess. Each university may emphasize different elements of the application process.Will learning Latin help medical school? ›
“This study provides novel scientific evidence that a basic understanding of Latin and Greek etymologies enhances performance and comfort when learning and using medical terminology.”Do colleges care if your bilingual? ›
In general, colleges want to see foreign language proficiency, and they don't really care which language you study. Most students, in fact, have few choices. Many schools offer just a couple of languages such as French and Spanish.What is the top 5 hardest language to learn? ›
- Mandarin. Mandarin is spoken by 70% of the Chinese population, and is the most spoken language in the world. ...
- Arabic. ...
- 3. Japanese. ...
- Hungarian. ...
- Korean. ...
- Finnish. ...
- Basque. ...
- Navajo.
Generally, if you're an English speaker with no exposure to other languages, here are some of the most challenging and difficult languages to learn: Mandarin Chinese. Arabic. Vietnamese.How long does it take to become fluent in a language? ›
According to FSI research, it takes around 480 hours of practice to reach basic fluency in all Group 1 languages.Is Latin the hardest language to learn? ›
In one word learn Latin is tough. If you want to come in the comparison, then Latin is more challenging than the other languages. Why is it hard? Many factors like the complex sentence structure, complicated grammar rules, and absence of native speakers made Latin a complex language.
Who can still speaks Latin? ›
It's true that there are no native Latin speakers today – although it's worth noting that Latin is still the official language of Vatican City. Still, no children are born and raised speaking Latin there.Is it possible to self study Latin? ›
Although Latin isn't commonly offered in a lot of schools, you can learn Latin on your own with a little self-discipline. Start by mastering the Latin alphabet and pronunciation so you'll know how to sound out words, even if you don't know what they mean.What is the #1 hardest language to learn? ›
Mandarin Chinese
Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the writing system is extremely difficult for English speakers (and anyone else) accustomed to the Latin alphabet.
One reason Mandarin is seen as the most challenging language to learn is because its writing system uses characters that might be difficult to grasp for those accustomed to writing with the Latin alphabet, Babbel says.Does anyone still speak Latin as a first language? ›
First, there are no native speakers of Latin. Latin, the language spoken in Ancient Rome, developed and changed over time until it turned into different languages, e.g., French, Italian, and Spanish.Is Latin a dying language? ›
Latin is now considered a dead language, meaning it's still used in specific contexts, but does not have any native speakers. (Sanskrit is another dead language.) In historical terms, Latin didn't die so much as it changed -- into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian.What is the closest language to Latin? ›
Is Latin closer to Italian or Spanish? - Italian is the closest national language to Latin, followed by Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, and the most divergent being French.Why people stop using Latin? ›
Latin essentially “died out” with the fall of the Roman Empire, but in reality, it transformed — first into a simplified version of itself called Vulgar Latin, and then gradually into the Romance languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. Thus, Classical Latin fell out of use.Do all doctors have to learn Latin? ›
Background: Medical students and practitioners learn and use a vocabulary originating almost entirely from classical Latin and Greek languages. Previous generations required Latin or Greek prior to medical school, but the current generation does not have such requirements. | https://workatakzonobelgbs.com/article/https-www-fluentin3months-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-09-speak-latin-fb-jpg |
Is Portuguese spoken as fast as Spanish? – Quora. Approximately yes. And IMHO, perhaps biased, since Portuguese has a more complex phonology and the separation between syllables is less stressed, equally fast speech in both languages is easier to understand in Spanish.
Is Portuguese harder than Spanish?
For most native English speakers, Spanish is slightly easier to learn than Portuguese. This is primarily a matter of access. … Another reason Spanish is easier to learn is that pronunciation in Spanish is simpler than in Portuguese. Spanish uses five vowel sounds and has very consistent spelling.
Is Portuguese or Spanish more useful?
While more people overall speak Spanish and Spanish is a little easier to learn, Portuguese is a slightly more specialized skill to have and is more useful for different countries, including Brazil. There is also a general preference: while some love the sound of Spanish, others prefer Portuguese.
Is Portuguese worth learning?
Because Portuguese is similar to other Romance languages, learning it can also help set you up for success should you choose to study another Romance language down the road. Since this is one of the most popular language families among students, any advantage you can gain is a huge bonus!
Can Portuguese people understand French?
Portuguese speakers can learn French much more easily than say Spanish speakers. It has to do with the range of frequencies they’re able to recognise due to the phonemes in Portuguese being very similar to those in French.
Why do Spanish speakers not understand Portuguese?
They understand Portuguese because they have more prior knowledge of similar words and sounds to draw from. As for the rest I guess it would depend on the ability of the person to decode a language similar to theirs. Yes and no. Spanish and Portuguese are similar enough to be mutually intelligible at certain level.
Which is older Spanish or Portuguese?
Starting with Marcelo Serrado’s answer, Portugal is certainly older than Spain. In terms of its borders is certainly older than Spain and one of the oldest in Europe.
Why is Portuguese so hard?
For Margarida, there are three aspects that make the language particularly difficult: the pronunciation, the grammar and the elision – the tendency to leave out the sound of a letter or the part of a word. But first, a brief note on where the language originated from.
Can Brazilians understand Spanish?
Spanish. … In fact, around 460,000 Brazilians speak Spanish, according to Ethnologue. The two languages are similar in many ways, though more in their written form than their pronunciation. As such, many Brazilians are able to understand Spanish, though they may not speak it fluently.
What is the hardest language to learn?
The Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers
- Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. …
- Arabic. …
- Polish. …
- Russian. …
- Turkish. …
- Danish. | https://sintraportugal.net/portugal-landmarks/is-portuguese-slower-than-spanish.html |
No. Portuguese is an old language and the written form can be dated back to the 12th century. Vulgar Latin, which was spoken on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula, (now Portugal and the Spanish province of Galicia) basically replaced all previous local languages.
Is Portuguese derived from French?
The Portuguese language developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from Latin spoken by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. … However, the debate of whether Galician and Portuguese are nowadays varieties of the same language, much like American English or British English, is still present.
Can a Portuguese speaker understand French?
Portuguese speakers can learn French much more easily than say Spanish speakers. It has to do with the range of frequencies they’re able to recognise due to the phonemes in Portuguese being very similar to those in French.
Can you understand French if you know Portuguese?
On top of that, Portuguese not being French, a lot of vocabulary and verbs are hard to understand if you only speak French (knowing other Romance languages such as Spanish might help a little bit though). So, French speakers cannot understand Portuguese, and Portuguese speakers probably cannot understand French.
Is Portuguese closer to French or Spanish?
Spanish. Portuguese and Spanish share 89% lexicon similarity. The equivalent of this would be French and Italian, which also share 89%. So French is closer to Italian than to Portuguese.
What two languages make up Portuguese?
Portuguese comes from Galicia in Northwest Spain
Their language, Galician, was a mix of local dialects and common Latin, and around the 14th century, Portuguese emerged as a descendant language.
Why does Portuguese sound so weird?
As Portugal is isolated geographically from the Mediterranean it makes sense that linguistic memetic flow continued more readily among the other proto-Romance speaking countries during the Renaissance, leaving Portuguese to evolve more-or-less on its own. Thus, it sounds different from the other Romance languages.
Which is harder French or Portuguese?
Long answer: depends on the other languages you know. If you don’t know english, then French is definitely more useful. It is still spoken all over the world in hotel lobbies and finding a french guide or translator is generally easier than finding a portuguese one.
Can a Portuguese person understand Spanish?
Originally Answered: Can Portuguese speakers naturally understand Spanish? Yes, they can. The Portuguese understand Spanish quite well, even if they have not studied it. When I had not yet learned Portuguese, when I visited this country I spoke Spanish and I had no problem.
Is Portuguese hard for French speakers?
When it comes to pronunciation, Portuguese is a lot harder than its sister language, Spanish. Unlike Spanish, where there is a very clear link between how words are written and how they’re pronounced, Portuguese shares the difficulties of French or Catalan.
What language is closest to Portuguese?
However, of all the Romance languages, Spanish is the closest to Portuguese. The most commonly used terms are almost the same, “agua”, “sol”, “comer”, “bonito”, “desculpa”, … The conjugation system follows the same logic and declinations.
Can I learn French and Portuguese at the same time?
Yes! You will notice that they follow similar patterns in morphology and grammar (especially verbal conjugations) and, if you dig a little deeper later on, you will find a few thousand Portuguese words of Celtic origin similar to many others found in French, Provençal, Breton and so on!
Are there similarities between French and Portuguese?
Lexical proximity between Spanish and French is 78%, lexical proximity between Portuguese and French is 75%. That means some 78% of Spanish and French are cognates of each other, French and Portuguese is 75% cognates. | https://sintraportugal.net/portugal-landmarks/is-portuguese-mixed-with-french.html |
by Nicholas H. Parker
Becoming fluent in a language is the goal of many language learners. There are also numerous projects out there where people want to become fluent quickly, in many languages or both. They won't achieve it when they just buy essay. The problem with this kind of quest is that it's not very well defined, which has to lead to a lot of confusion.
Some people say it takes a decade to become fluent in a language, others claim that it can be done in months! This is partly down to different methods: if you take evening classes once a week, it might very well take a decade and you might still not be even near any kind of fluency. If you study seventy hours a week in China, it probably won't take that long before you can converse freely with native speakers.
In this article, though, I don't want to talk about fluency in the sense of having learned a language to a certain high level, I want to talk about the ability to be able to produce flowing speech without stopping too much. This is not the same as having mastered a language! In fact, you can do this relatively easily, I know people who have reached this kind of fluency in just a few months, even though it is true that they have done little else apart from studying and practicing. You will not achieve this by simply doing the homework your teacher gives you.
The most important skill you have to master if you want to sound fluent (be fluent) in a language is navigation. You need to know which waters to stay clear of and which you should seek out. Dangerous waters are of course areas you don't know a lot of vocabulary in or don't have lots of experience talking about. Safe waters are those you've sailed many times before and that you are confident you can navigate again without too much stress.
Your navigation skill can be applicable on two levels. First, you should try to talk about topics you are familiar with. Most learners become very good at speaking about their familiar, why they started learning Chinese, and so on because they get asked these questions a lot and therefore practice answering them all the time. If you want to give an illusion of fluency, simply try to talk about things that you have spoken about a lot before. If you take the long-term approach (which is of course better), you should instead try to talk about as many different things as possible, since this makes a larger part of the metaphorical sea navigable.
Second, you need to be able to navigate your way through a sentence, choosing a course that will lead you to your destination (expressing the ideas you want to express). You need to avoid constructions you simply can't handle and stay with those you have learned. You can say an amazing amount of things with just a few hundred words and some basic grammar, but the problem is that you need to figure how to do it. Don't translate, don't try to stay true to the English in your head, try to find out a way, any way, which allows you to get to your destination in Chinese. Your imagination probably limits you more than your (lack of) language skill.
Naturally, this is hard in the beginning, but it can be practiced. There are numerous games built around the concept of talking about words without mentioning them, for example trying to explain the word "skyscraper" without actually saying the word "skyscraper". This is an excellent way of practicing because it means you get very good at explaining what you mean and don't get stuck on individual words you don't know. You can sound very fluent by saying "tall building" instead of "skyscraper", but you need to realize that you don't know the word for "skyscraper" before you actually need it. When you do, you quickly fill in "tall building" instead and no-one will notice.
Of course, avoiding tricky words isn't a substitute for learning expanding your vocabulary (the word for “skyscraper” is 摩天大楼 (摩天大樓) "mótiāndàlòu"), but it's a great way of increasing your fluency, or your ability to speak Mandarin without stopping. Naturally flowing speech definitely sounds much better than a string of stuttered words with long pauses, regardless of how difficult those words are. Thus, try practicing fluency directly by playing such games! You can do this with any words, including those in your textbook. You can even practice on your own without someone who listens, even if getting feedback is of course more fun!
Nicholas H. Parker is a business coach and marketing manager with huge experience. He used to manage freelancers at the company he worked for. Currently, Nicholas writes articles at Buy Essay Club to share his knowledge with others and obtain new skills. Besides, he is highly interested in the web design sphere.
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- Resulting fluency?
Resulting fluency?
Can any native portuguese speakers who have done duolingo (possibly a long shot) tell me what type of fluency results from doing the lessons?
I currently live in portugal and am decently conversational, but I'd like to increase my vocabulary of less often used words.
In general, how much of the Portuguese taught will be useful in Portugal? I know in general the concepts and words are the same but there are often words that aren't understood here (banheiro for example. a few people didn't understand till I said casa de banho)
Also I've only gone over the first few lessons, but how does duolingo cover some of the more complicated grammers issues later on? For example reflexive verbs like lembro-me or sentar-se etc.
4 Comments
Not a direct answer to your question, but reading the 3 wikipedia articles on Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese, will give you a good idea of the differences between the two (although it's pretty heavy reading). I think the differences between the two written languages is probably about 2%. Then there is pronunciation differences but either will still be understood by the other.
Here is a list of vocab differences (although it doesn't look updated to the 1990 Orthographic Agreement - another wikipedia article to read!) [http://www.sonia-portuguese.com/text/brazport.htm]
I'm aware of the differences. I was really just more concerned with what duolingo itself teaches
ah. Well it teaches Brazilian Portuguese and does not make any effort to inform the users about differences from European Portuguese (so you won't encounter lembro-me, but instead me lembro). In fact Duolingo itself doesn't really "teach" anything. By that I mean when you come to the Subjunctive Present lesson, for example, you probably need to go search the internet for how subjunctive present verbs work because Duolingo is more or less just a test, but of course you can learn from your mistakes (to a degree). In some languages, such as German, Duolingo does offer info to accompany the lessons, but I guess Portuguese is a bit behind in this respect. A lot of the "teaching" is actually done through a couple of Brazilians who generally come to the rescue whenever a question is asked (EDIT: Like Paulenrique :D).
When Duolingo releases tools for the community to build language courses themselves I imagine European Portuguese will be one of the first up and running, simply because it will be nearly identical to the existing course.
It doesnt teach us grammar itself, you learn by making up sentences. So, having a book to study along with is a goog idea. Plus, through discussion you'l be able to find expressions, curiosities, difficuties people have, different pronunciations, explanations and much more. So it's always a big help to count on these excellent insights. It'll teach you a lot!! You'll find the pronunciation a bit different to what you're used to, but thats not the point. You'll repeat words over and over again which will make you learn them by heart. Repeating is a good method.... you also may get stressed when you know your sentence was right and even though they rejected it! | https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/529474/Resulting-fluency |
A career in Information Security, within Internal Firm Services, will provide you with the opportunity to develop and support our internal security technologies and services across the entire global and local PwC network. You'll focus on being the forefront of designing, developing, and implementing information technology including hardware, software, and networks that enhances security of internal information and protect our firms intellectual assets.
To really stand out and make us fit for the future in a constantly changing world, each and every one of us at PwC needs to be a purpose-led and values-driven leader at every level. To help us achieve this we have the PwC Professional; our global leadership development framework. It gives us a single set of expectations across our lines, geographies and career paths, and provides transparency on the skills we need as individuals to be successful and progress in our careers, now and in the future.
As a Manager, you'll work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve complex business issues from strategy to execution. PwC Professional skills and responsibilities for this management level include but are not limited to:
Develop new skills outside of comfort zone.
Act to resolve issues which prevent the team working effectively.
Coach others, recognise their strengths, and encourage them to take ownership of their personal development.
Analyse complex ideas or proposals and build a range of meaningful recommendations.
Use multiple sources of information including broader stakeholder views to develop solutions and recommendations.
Address sub-standard work or work that does not meet firm's/client's expectations.
Use data and insights to inform conclusions and support decision-making.
Develop a point of view on key global trends, and how they impact clients.
Manage a variety of viewpoints to build consensus and create positive outcomes for all parties.
Simplify complex messages, highlighting and summarising key points.
Uphold the firm's code of ethics and business conduct.
Job Requirements and Preferences:
Basic Qualifications:
Minimum Degree Required:
High School Diploma
Minimum Years of Experience:
4 year(s)
Preferred Qualifications:
Degree Preferred:
Bachelor Degree
Preferred Knowledge/Skills:
Demonstrates extensive abilities and/or a proven record of success in the following areas:
Planning, scoping, coordinating and managing Red Team, Purple Team and penetration tests on a global level from initiation to project closure;
Leading Red Team and penetration testing assessments;
Presenting findings within a context of overall risk to the enterprise to senior leadership;
Building and maintaining relationships with internal teams;
Collaborating with multiple stakeholders across functional and technical skill sets;
Providing day to day oversight of teams performing multiple assessments concurrently;
Training and developing junior team members;
Executing tasks aligned to the Red Team with autonomy;
Establishing thought leadership at the Network Information Security (NIS) and firm-wide level in a particular knowledge area;
Demonstrating cultural dexterity and modifying behavior to the environment/culture;
Demonstrating appropriate judgement prior to escalating to management and/or a member(s) of the senior leadership team (SLT);
Fostering healthy work relationships by demonstrating appropriate conflict-resolution skills;
Influencing others through leadership interactions with external clients, within NIS, across functions, and with Internal Firm Services leadership;
Collaborating with Information Technology (IT) and NIS to align information security policies and standards, evaluations, and technological tools;
Demonstrating experience performing Red Team and penetration testing assessments;
Demonstrating experience with common pentesting and Red Team tools such as Cobalt Strike, Mimikatz, Impacket, and Burp Pro;
Demonstrating leadership experience;
Developing custom tools (C/C++, C#, Python, Go, PowerShell);
Demonstrating thorough knowledge of Active Directory;
Demonstrating knowledge of the MITRE ATT&CK Framework;
Demonstrating knowledge of threat actors and the ability to replicate the tactics, techniques and procedures leveraged by adversaries; and,
Demonstrating prior system administration, incident response, Security Operations Center (SOC) or network engineering experience preferred. | https://jobs.livecareer.com/l/nis-identity-and-access-management-architect-pwc-80a0b9e07f3d2b50df5ff82d4faeae4c?sid=281a6e0b-12e2-407a-9d10-2373c5affbbb&q=Design+Architect&l=Warrior%2C+Alabama&fid=&score=&resumenm=&isresumesearch=false&resumeguid=&bgclr=3 |
Strategy& Financial Services Manager: Technology Strategy
A career within Technology Strategy services, will provide you with the opportunity to help organisations develop strategies that transform their technology capabilities and solve their most critical challenges. We focus on building technology enabled and agile operating models, planning their new enterprise architecture into a differentiating capability system that helps them win in the market, leveraging digital analytics to enhance the customer experience and optimising business operations, and using modern management techniques such as robotic process automation and next generation sourcing strategies to help our clients get fit for growth.
To really stand out and make us fit for the future in a constantly changing world, each and every one of us at PwC needs to be an authentic and inclusive leader, at all grades/levels and in all lines of service. To help us achieve this we have the PwC Professional; our global leadership development framework. It gives us a single set of expectations across our lines, geographies and career paths, and provides transparency on the skills we need as individuals to be successful and progress in our careers, now and in the future.
As a Manager, you'll work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve complex business issues from strategy to execution. PwC Professional skills and responsibilities for this management level include but are not limited to:
- Pursue opportunities to develop existing and new skills outside of comfort zone.
- Act to resolve issues which prevent effective team working, even during times of change and uncertainty.
- Coach others and encourage them to take ownership of their development.
- Analyse complex ideas or proposals and build a range of meaningful recommendations.
- Use multiple sources of information including broader stakeholder views to develop solutions and recommendations.
- Address sub-standard work or work that does not meet firm's/client's expectations.
- Develop a perspective on key global trends, including globalisation, and how they impact the firm and our clients.
- Manage a variety of viewpoints to build consensus and create positive outcomes for all parties.
- Focus on building trusted relationships.
- Uphold the firm's code of ethics and business conduct.
Preferred Qualifications :
Degree Preferred :
Master of Business Administration
Preferred Knowledge/Skills :
Minimum of 7 years strategy consulting or industry consulting experience preferred.
Demonstrates extensive abilities and/or a proven record of success in professional services roles helping companies address multi-layer, complex client issues in support of enterprise architecture and technology strategies. Demonstrates extensive abilities and/or a proven record of success around the end-to-end value chain of IT applications and infrastructure and emerging technology trends and commercial offerings in support of those trends.
Demonstrates extensive abilities and/or a proven record of success in leadership, strategic and creative thinking, problem solving, and individual initiative, to accomplish and/or manage the following results on Enterprise Architecture and IT strategy engagements:
- Building productive and collaborative relationships with team members and proactively seeking and providing guidance, clarification and feedback;
- Identifying and addressing client needs: building, maintaining, and utilizing networks of client relationships;
- Communicating effectively in an organized and knowledgeable manner in written and verbal formats;
- Demonstrating thorough aptitude for leading and conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses, including the timely synthesis of complex data into meaningful insights and the ability to grasp readily analytical frameworks and employ them effectively to either qualitative or quantitative evidence; and,
- Providing thought leadership and creative insights to clients on complex change management initiative.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment at PwC without regard to race; creed; color; religion; national origin; sex; age; disability; sexual orientation; gender identity or expression; genetic predisposition or carrier status; veteran, marital, or citizenship status; or any other status protected by law. PwC is proud to be an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer.
For positions based in San Francisco, consideration of qualified candidates with arrest and conviction records will be in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. | https://www.themuse.com/jobs/pwc/strategy-financial-services-manager-technology-strategy |
A career in our Internal Firm Services Acceleration Centre is the natural extension of PwC’s leading class global delivery capabilities. We provide premium, cost effective, high quality services that support process quality and delivery capability in support for client engagements.
To really stand out and make us fit for the future in a constantly changing world, each and every one of us at PwC needs to be an authentic and inclusive leader, at all grades/levels and in all lines of service. To help us achieve this we have the PwC Professional; our global leadership development framework. It gives us a single set of expectations across our lines, geographies and career paths, and provides transparency on the skills we need as individuals to be successful and progress in our careers, now and in the future.
As a Senior Associate, you’ll work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve complex business issues from strategy to execution. PwC Professional skills and responsibilities for this management level include but are not limited to:
Use feedback and reflection to develop self awareness, personal strengths and address development areas.
Delegate to others to provide stretch opportunities and coach to help deliver results.
Develop new ideas and propose innovative solutions to problems.
Use a broad range of tools and techniques to extract insights from current trends in business area.
Review your work and that of others for quality, accuracy and relevance.
Share relevant thought leadership.
Use straightforward communication, in a structured way, when influencing others.
Able to read situations and modify behavior to build quality, diverse relationships.
Uphold the firm’s code of ethics and business conduct.
Job Requirements and Preferences :
Basic Qualifications :
Minimum Degree Required :
High School Diploma
Minimum Years of Experience :
2 year(s)
Preferred Qualifications :
Degree Preferred :
Bachelor Degree
Preferred Knowledge/Skills :
Demonstrates a thorough level of abilities with, and/or a proven record of success as both an individual contributor and team member, identifying and addressing of needs, performing in a global delivery model and / or data analytics business environments for a global network of professional services consulting firms, emphasizing the following areas:
Developing Microsoft Power BI dashboards for analyzing large and complex data sets, including conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses of various data sets, integrating and merging data sets, and performing manipulations of data;
Working knowledge of utilizing data analysis expressions and power query editor to transform data within Microsoft Power BI;
Demonstrating proven record of success designing complex dashboards using one of the following data visualization softwares - Microsoft Power BI, QlikView, or Tableau;
Displaying experience utilizing Python for data wrangling, data conversion, data migration and data cleansing;
Completing extract, transform, and loading functions using Alteryx, UIpath and SQL Server;
Utilizing Microsoft Excel ( advanced usage and skill), including use of macros, pivot tables, formulas and formatting;
Applying in depth understanding of data quality and control to establish data integrity when performing data analysis, including but not limited to quality control checks and reconciliations applying in depth understanding of data quality and control to establish data integrity when performing data analysis, including but not limited to quality control checks and reconciliations;
Demonstrating ability to understand business application of data being analyzed as well as the end users need for data to be presented in the most appropriate data visuals e.g., dashboards, graphs, charts, etc.;
Prioritizing and handling multiple tasks;
Researching and analyzing pertinent client, industry, and technical matters;
Utilizing problem-solving skills;
Communicating effectively in written and verbal formats to various audiences;
Collaborating with internal or external stakeholders to resolve data discrepancies and issues, and reviewing process efficiencies and making recommendations for process improvement; and,
Innovating solutions for improving existing processes and tools relative to Global Delivery Management Operations.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment at PwC without regard to race; creed; color; religion; national origin; sex; age; disability; sexual orientation; gender identity or expression; genetic predisposition or carrier status; veteran, marital, or citizenship status; or any other status protected by law. PwC is proud to be an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. | https://usjobsdirectemployers.pwc.com/columbia-sc/advisory-national-reporting-senior-associate/FC363DF84CC243858612A09434EBC1D7/job/?vs=28 |
IMPORTANT: IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION, YOU MUST COMPLETE ALL INSTRUCTIONS LOCATED WITHIN THE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS SECTION.
Job Description: At PwC, we consult with our clients to build effective organizations, innovate and grow, reduce costs, manage risk and regulation, and develop talent. Our aim is to support our clients in designing, managing, and executing lasting beneficial change and to be the world's #1 professional services firm.
PwC's Management and Risk Consultants are a dedicated team of problem solvers with extensive consulting and industry experience who help our clients solve their complex business issues from strategy through execution.
A PwC Management consulting career may provide the opportunity to grow and contribute in one or more of our key competencies that we apply to our clients' business issues every single day, including: business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, operations, customer and marketing, human capital and change management, finance, and more.
A PwC Risk consulting career may provide the opportunity to grow and contribute in one or more of Risk's capabilities, including business performance and management, compliance management, IT strategy and infrastructure (continuity and operations), risk and governance, strategy, and treasury management.
Position/Program Requirements Job Duties:
Consulting Interns in the Advisory Practice will play a role by supporting some consulting solutions to PwC clients. The selected individual(s) for the role must be able to demonstrate some proven knowledge and skills within the following areas:
-An interest in all aspects of Management or Risk Consulting, as well as a desire to pursue a career in consulting.
-Abilities as team member; building solid relationships; communicating in an organized and knowledgeable manner; delivering clear requests for information; demonstrating flexibility in prioritizing and completing tasks; understanding personal and team roles; contributing to a positive working environment by building solid relationships with team members; proactively seeking guidance, clarification and feedback; and communicating potential conflicts to a supervisor.
-Research and analysis of technical matters, while utilizing problem-solving skills. This includes the analysis of large and complex data sets, demonstrating an aptitude for conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses, using the standard suite of Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) to execute related deliverables.
-Utilization of effective written and verbal business communication skills when interacting with team members in a professional setting.
Job Requirements:
Currently Enrolled in Bachelor or Master's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Financial Engineering, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Liberal Arts Degrees.
Demonstrates flexibility and desire to travel, as client assignments require.
In addition, candidates applying to PwC's Public Sector Practice will be subject to a government security investigation and may need to meet related eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
To apply, see BTT Gateway Job ID 7273. Application deadline is 9/18/2013. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. | https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lacs/events/pricewaterhousecoopers-dallas-houston-advisory-mc-intern-summer-2014-application-deadline-btt-gateway-job-id-7273 |
To maximize performance and foster a healthy environment, senior managers must also motivate others, nurturing and utilizing the distinctive skills of each team member.
Students will learn how to develop and apply facilitation techniques to support their team at every stage of the team life cycle. Students will enhance their interpersonal competencies and observational abilities to deal with disruptions and more.
Leading others requires building credibility, communicating effectively, developing trust, making decisions, and demonstrating confidence. This course will help students to cultivate the leadership skills that influence others and guide them.
Students will learn to understand the mechanics of the organization – reading and interpreting financials, making sound business decisions, and setting a course – while also developing the skills to guide and direct your workforce.
This course will help students develop authentic leadership qualities that motivate and drive others to reach their full potential, and become the transformational leaders of the future. | https://www.bulletproofsi.com/course-category/leadership-and-management/ |
Lionheart: Dark Moon - strategy RPG with classic gameplay, where the player is invited to take responsibility for a team of four heroes and lead them in the battle against evil. In the process of passing the user to conduct battles with different opponents, and each of them requires special methods and tactics of warfare. All team members possess unique abilities to use in battles. Using a variety of punches and combos, the characters will defeat opponents and ensure victory for the forces of good. | https://5play.ru/en/2931-lionheart-dark-moon.html |
Typically, in a work setting, every working individual belongs to a team where a group of members work together with similar functions and work description, though not necessarily similar in interests.
Also, individuals in a team generate a collaborative effort to achieve common goals, and may need to give up individual autonomy in order to attain those goals. The organization as a whole can make up a team and this component is by far the largest to be called as such.
If you are paired up with another work colleague on a project, you are already called a team. Regardless of the population of the members and diversities in a team, building a relationship is a crucially important factor grounded on teamwork.
Team members who develop a common strategy in working such as using a discussion in the interaction process or assigning tasks are manifesting teamwork. Individuals work together by sharing individual objectives and eventually come up with a unified goal.
Being a part of a team also entails commitment in the job and the responsibility. In order for a team to be harmonious, a good working relationship has to be established.
Each individual in a team has talents and abilities that can contribute to a solid work relationship which is needed to be productive in the job. As a team, members have to identify who excel in technical expertise, who are keen in problem-solving and decision-making, and who are adept in active listening, giving good feedback, and conflict resolution. Identifying these skills helps a team perform effectively. This is otherwise known as team synergy through a coordinated effort of performing these abilities. Diversities even in skills and talents are common. But sharing these skills for the benefit of the team can build a solid work relationship among the individuals.
For a relationship to become healthy, learn to appreciate each other’s talents. Being recognized by fellow colleagues for the effort contributed for the team is heartwarming and rewarding.
Being a mutually evolving process, a relationship requires team members to be dependent on each other. Every individual should develop a level of trust for each other in order to be reliable for each other. Some of us just cannot find it easy to entrust a work with another team member or cannot seem to trust what a member can contribute.
In order to build trust, the team can hold trust-building talks during meetings every now and then. Self-disclosure is a good strategy for establishing trust with each other. Learning how to open and share a little about you to your teammates will give them a chance to know you as a person. Inject humor and some fun to be comfortable with each other.
Once you start to trust each other as an important member of the team, you will also become easily dependent on each other. With this, a budding relationship is established.
Relationships in a team are best maintained when the connection is not just limited to work and work assignments or projects. While collaborating and teamwork in the work setting strengthens relationships, bonds become even better when team members get along well with each other outside of work.
Team members can also become good friends. This is no big deal as long as you know how to keep your personal life from your professional aspect.
Most teams find time to socialize after office hours especially when the members feel drained out and stressed out from work pressure. Other teams schedule team socialization or team building activities to bond with each other.
Dining out together, setting an out-of-town activity, or simply chatting over coffee will do. This is a perfect time to get to know your fellow team member even better and how they are outside of work.
Establishing friendships outside of work helps create more solid and long-lasting relationships. These good quality relationships make each team member more effective in accomplishing tasks as compared to those who do not spend time to socialize outside of work.
Furthermore, the level of trust and dependency with each other is deepened because each member already knows who they are working with in their respective teams. | http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/relationship-management/relationship-building-among-team-members.html |
A career in our Customer Marketing practice, within Customer Consulting services, will provide you with the opportunity to help our clients design customer strategies that address the customers underlying needs and desired outcomes. We help build bridges between digital and analogy mediums, delivering personal and contextual experiences powered by technology and analytics, and driving the total experience by engaging the customer, product, partner, and employee experiences.Our team helps clients take advantage of the most important digital trends and tools to integrate sales, service, and operations in a way that leads to measurable business results. As part of our team, youll help clients develop marketing strategies and operating models, portfolio and brand management, and improve their channel strategies.
Responsibilities
As a Manager, youll work as part of a team of problem solvers with extensive consulting and industry experience, helping our clients solve their complex business issues from strategy to execution. Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Proactively assist in the management of a portfolio of clients, while reporting to Senior Managers and above
- Be involved in the financial management of clients
- Be actively involved in business development activities to help identify and research opportunities on new/existing clients
- Contribute to the development of your own and teams technical acumen
- Develop strategies to solve complex technical challenges
- Assist in the management and delivering of large projects
- Train, coach, and supervise staff
- Keep up to date with local and national business and economic issues
- Continue to develop internal relationships and your PwC brand
Basic Qualifications:
Minimum Degree Required:
Bachelor Degree
Minimum Years of Experience:
5 year(s)
Preferred Qualifications:
Degree Preferred:
Master Degree
Preferred Knowledge/Skills:
Demonstrates extensive knowledge of the latest trends in marketing and/or brand effectiveness, sales and marketing measurement, loyalty and retention, marketing operations transformation, media/trade spend effectiveness, and marketing technologies.
- Demonstrates proven extensive knowledge of success managing marketing operations to identify and address client needs: communicating value propositions; managing resource requirements; preparing and coordinating complex written and verbal materials; managing project workflows and budgets.
- Demonstrates proven extensive record of success building and sustaining client relationships using networking, negotiation and persuasion skills to identify potential new opportunities.
- Demonstrates successful interactions with senior management in client organizations, especially within marketing in the customer space. Prior experience in a consulting role within a managerial capacity.
- Demonstrates proven extensive abilities and success managing a team around efforts identifying and addressing client needs: building, maintaining, and utilizing networks of client relationships and community involvement; communicating value propositions; managing resource requirements, project workflow, budgets, billing, collection; and, preparing or coordinating complex written and verbal materials.
Demonstrates thorough management abilities as a leader of a project team that include the following:
- Writing, communicating, facilitating, and presenting cogently to and/or for all levels of industry audiences, clients and internal staff and management; and reviewing the work of team members;
- Leveraging marketing knowledge and analytical skills, especially as it relates to project management, project facilitation, and the development of client proposals;
- Researching and analyzing pertinent client, industry, and technical matters, including leveraging the ability to problem-solve, prioritize, and manage multiple tasks simultaneously for self and others;
- Demonstrating self-motivation and responsibility for personal growth and development while mentoring junior members of the team;
- Utilizing analytical skills with the ability to translate complex problems into simple and actionable tasks;
- Drafting and presenting PowerPoint presentation decks.
Categories
Before you go...
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Leduc Regional Housing Foundation is seeking an enthusiastic individual who enjoys working in a team environment. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Finance Manager is responsible for overseeing the accounting, finance, budget, payroll, IT and risk management functions of the organization. Embracing LRHF’s Values of Professionalism, Team Work, Compassion, Innovation and Accountability, the Finance Manager will provide financial and IT strategy and ensure the organization is compliant with the accountings standards for private enterprises (ASPE) and other legislative requirements for a non-profit organization. The Finance Manager is a member of the Senior Management Team coordinating operational and long term planning.
Qualifications, Skills & Knowledge
Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, Finance or Business Administration or similar discipline
CPA designation (or CA, CGA or CMA)
3 – 5 years related experience, including at least one year managing or supervising
Experience with not-for-profit accounting and government regulatory reporting would be an asset Excellent problem solving and critical thinking abilities with demonstrated ability to offer strong financial analysis
Strong knowledge of ASPE, IFRS Advanced knowledge of IT with the ability to implement systems, guidelines, and technologies
Solid knowledge of ERP systems; experience with YARDI and AVANTI would be considered an asset
Advanced level proficiency with Excel, and well versed in the use of other MS Office applications
Strong customer focus and excellent communication skills
Detail oriented with a demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize and manage multiple tasks utilizing strong time management skills with a demonstrated ability to work in a changing environment.
To apply contact: | https://www.yourchamber.ca/jobs/info/finance-manger-1389 |
As a member of our change management team, you will play a key role in IT projects at our clients. You will look after the human considerations of the change brought about by the introduction of new technologies or technological systems, including changes to business processes, organization, culture, roles and responsibilities, and employee tools. Ensure faster adoption by preparing a comprehensive change management strategy that includes mechanisms to reduce the impacts of change. You will be at the heart of communication strategies, training, mobilization and organizational structuring.
Your objectives
- Develop a detailed change management strategy adapted to the situation of the client and target groups;
- Prepare impact analyses: prepare a detailed analysis of the stakeholders involved and the groups affected by the change;
- Develop a change management plan that includes communication, training, employee engagement, governance and coaching.
- Manage the implementation of the change management strategy in collaboration with other members of the project team, senior management and other collaborators (training, communications, human resources and organizational development team);
- Conduct an assessment with target groups on the ability to adapt to change;
- Act as a coach to structure change management initiatives;
- Use your judgment to identify deliverables that will add value to your project;
- Manage and monitor change management activities.
- Stay abreast of the latest trends and know how to apply them to surpass customer expectations;
- Contribute to the growth and advancement of Talsom’s change management practice.
Requirements
Training
- Undergraduate or graduate university degree in a field relevant to change management;
- A change management certification (example: PROSCI) an asset.
Experience
- A significant experience in change management, including experience in consulting or project implementation is required.
- Experience with at least two (2) large-scale technology implementation projects or technology systems.
- Consulting experience is an asset.
Knowledge, skills and abilities
- Understand approaches, tools, phases and methodologies in change management and IT project management;
- Ability to work in an environment and technology-oriented projects;
- Have excellent written and oral communication skills in French and English;
- Have analytical skills and decision-making abilities;
- Demonstrate creativity and innovation in executing the change management strategy;
- Be a team player and be able to work effectively with all levels of an organization;
- To be able to influence others and move them towards a common vision and purpose;
- Have a great sense of initiative, leadership, great versatility.
Note: this position requires frequent travel within the greater Montreal area. Frequent trips outside the city may also be required.
HOW TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN ARE YOU?
We are continually seeking new talents who are inspired to join our team. If you have prior consulting and management related experience, don’t hesitate to reach out! | https://www.talsom.com/en/careers/consultant-senior-consultant-change-management/ |
The Challenge: Our client, a Fortune 500 Company is seeking an Salesforce CPQ Director who will work as part of a team of problem solvers with extensive consulting and industry experience, helping clients solve their complex business issues from strategy to execution. Duties and Responsibilities:
- Proactively assist in the management of a portfolio of clients, while reporting to Directors and above
- Be involved in the financial management of clients
- Be actively involved in business development activities to help identify and research opportunities on new/existing clients
- Develop project strategies to solve complex technical challenges for our clients
- Manage and deliver large projects by developing the project team, assessing engagement risks throughout, driving conclusions, and reviewing / challenging the output produced by the team
- Shape and deliver projects to meet and exceed the expectations of our clients and our own quality criteria
- Train, coach, and supervise team members
- Continue to develop internal relationships and developing your brand. Essential Skills and Requirements:
- Minimum Degree Required: Bachelor Degree
- Minimum Years of Experience: 8 year(s)
- Certification(s) Required: o One or more of the following Salesforce.com certifications: Certified Administrator, Certified Developer, or Certified Sales/Service/CPQ Consultant
- Demonstrates thought leader-level abilities with, and/or a proven record of success directing efforts in working with business stakeholders in understanding their business needs, developing a strong value proposition, architecting end-to-end solutions, and leading teams to meet customer’s service business objectives including:
- Demonstrating in-depth knowledge and experience of the quote-to-cash business process and associated front office and back office technology considerations;
- Demonstrating ability to develop winning value propositions, solution approaches, and business proposals to meet client needs;
- Demonstrating and directing multi-competency teams to deliver complex, quote-to-cash transformation programs;
- Demonstrating strong communication skills to lead client executive discussions focused on scope, approach, design and implementation considerations;
- Developing and engaging team members to grow the collective quote-to-cash skills and experience
- Demonstrating command of process areas and leading practices embedded in functional solutions for CPQ, Billing, entitlements for recurring revenue business models;
- Demonstrating and defining and delivering scalable solution architecture and integrated solutions involving different Salesforce clouds (including built not limited to Sales, Service, CPQ, Billing), ERP integration and a variety of middleware products (Mulesoft, Informatica, etc) establishing quality and schedule;
- Demonstrating proven ability to work with the Business Architect and/or Business Analyst to translate the customer requirements into a working solution;
- Working knowledge and ability to configure packaged solutions (including but not limited to CPQ, CLM, Order Orchestration and Billing) on Salesforce and non Salesforce platforms;
- Demonstrating an understanding of integrations with third party systems through a variety integration patterns and Salesforce capabilities;
- Managing and communicating with the development team to design and implement solutions with a focus on adhering to industry leading practices and code quality techniques;
- Producing deliverables within a diverse, fast paced environment, collaborate effectively across teams and juggle multiple projects and initiatives simultaneously;
- Demonstrating a broad understanding of enterprise applications to which Salesforce.com is commonly integrated to enable an end-to-end ecosystem for enterprise customers (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Marketo and related cloud and/or on premise ERP business applications);
- Demonstrating intimate abilities and/or a proven record of success in industry Salesforce and technology consulting abilities in the front office with companies with $500M in annual revenue and more; and,
- Demonstrating proven abilities to manage a team around efforts with identifying and addressing client needs: building, maintaining, and utilizing networks of client relationships and community involvement; communicating value propositions; managing resource requirements, project workflow, budgets, billing, collection; and preparing or coordinating complex written and verbal materials. | https://jobs.vignetic.com/job/salesforce-cpq-director-atlanta-ga/ |
Energy from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, etc) is an important part of the future of energy in the U.S. and the world. The issues involved are complex, involving technical challenges, economic issues, as well as environmental, political and social factors. Join Active Minds as we survey the current state of renewable energy and look at the various forces that will influence how these resources will evolve in the future. | http://www.stapletoncommunity.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=164974 |
Renewable energies (solar, wind, biomass, hydro & geothermal) are a real and ready solution to combat dangerous climate change facing the world today. They also provide jobs, improve health and support local economic development. This event will showcase strength of renewables working together.
Speakers: Speakers will be representatives of the leading international renewable energy associations and experts working at different geographical levels in renewable energy deployment. Following the presentations, the panelists will discuss how to replicate and scale up these best practice cases.
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Exhibit Stand
Date: 10 December - 14 December 2018
Venue: Exhibit 135, Exhibit Area
World Bioenergy Association will showcase the sustainable utilization of biomass (forestry, agriculture, waste) to produce bioenergy (biopower, bioheat and biofuels) on a global level and its role in the implementation of the Paris Agreement with updated data, technology and policy developments.
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Press Conference
BIOENERGY and its role in meeting 1.5 C target
Date: 11 December 2018
Time: 09.00 - 09.30
Venue: Press Conference Room Katowice, Area F - Theatre
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If you are willing to particiate in the COP climate conference as a WBA delegate, Contact us at [email protected]. | https://worldbioenergy.org/news/422/47/COP24-Climate-Conference |
The Russian government had previously prolonged its programme to support renewable energy sources to 2035 – an 11-year extension.
“The aim of securing about a 5 % share for renewable energy sources in the country’s energy balance by 2035 is wholly reasonable and achievable on the basis of a series of considerations,” Byun told Global Energy.
Russia, he said, had everything it needed to reach that goal.
“The opportunity base exists in that there is more than sufficient renewables potential across the various platforms: wind, solar, geothermal, run/river hydro – not reservoir hydro, waste-to-energy, kinetic conversion etc.,” he said.
According to Industry experts, he said, “barely 10 % of the economically feasible renewable energy potential in Russia is currently being utilised, leaving much more potential that is practically achievable”. | https://globalenergyprize.org/en/2020/10/30/renewables-can-make-up-5-of-russia-s-2035-energy-balance-expert-william-byun/ |
A total of $1 trillion has been invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart energy technologies since 2004, according to figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
According to BNEF, 2004 was an important year in the clean energy sector, as it was the year oil prices began to rise from $20 to $30 per barrel to the current range around $100. It was also the year in which Germany introduced its feed-in-tariff rules, which have been widely copied around the world.
Annual clean energy investment has risen nearly five-fold, from $52 billion in 2004 to $243 billion last year, representing a compound annual growth rate of 29%, BNEF notes, adding that it expects the figures for 2011 to once again be in record territory, driven by funding for U.S. solar thermal projects, some large European offshore wind financings, continued high levels of activity in China and Germany, and the flowering of national renewable energy programs in India.
As capital costs for wind, solar, geothermal, marine, hydro and bioenergy continue to fall, and as smart energy technologies remake the world's grids, clean energy investment flows are expected to maintain their long-term rise, supported by a network of policies and initiatives around the world, BNEF adds. | https://solarindustrymag.com/renewable-energy-investments-reach-0361-trillion-milestone/ |
Click to download the RRA Service-Resource Pairs Template and an example of a filled RRA service-resource pair template.
Service-resource pairs are priority pairings of energy demanding services with relevant renewable energy resources. Services fulfil demand through electricity (on-grid and off grid), motive power, thermal (heating and cooling) and transport. Renewable energy resources are classified into bioenergy, geothermal, hydro, marine, solar, wind - either on their own or in a hybrid installation. Examples of probable service-resource pairs combination are:
The main objective of the RRA in each country is to identify key actions and obtain consensus from a wide range of stakeholders to carry out these actions and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. This objective is supported through a country-wide consultation that identify service-resource pairs of desired energy services and renewable technologies that can provide these services, and assess the market status of each of these pairs.
Bhutan RRA Validation Workshop
02 July 2019 | Thimphu, Bhutan
The RRA Validation workshop, jointly organised by Bhutan's Department of Renewable Energy and IRENA,...
06 May 2019 | Beirut, Lebanon
IRENA and the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC) are producing a joint study – the... | https://www.irena.org/rra/Service-Resource-Pairs |
China is expected to lead a jump in worldwide renewable energy production over the next five years, with total global power from green sources expected to grow 40 percent, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.
The world is expected to produce 6,400 terawatt-hours of renewable energy by 2017, equivalent to one-and-a-half times total electricity production in the United States today, the agency said.
China will account for almost 40 percent of the renewable energy growth, according to the IEA.
Significant development will also come from the United States, India, Germany and Brazil, among other countries.
The projection accounts for growth in hydropower, bioenergy from biomass, onshore wind farm, offshore wind turbines, solar energy photovoltaic cells, concentrating solar power, geothermal energy and ocean power. | https://www.evwind.es/2012/07/07/china-to-lead-big-bump-in-wind-energy-and-solar-power-by-2017/19559 |
Moods – They’re in a state of constant change. Some days you might find yourself riding the emotional peaks of happiness, joy, excitement, and passion, and on other days, you might find yourself riding the emotional valleys of sadness, pain, fatigue, jealousy, and disappointment. All of these emotions, high or low, are a natural part of the human condition. Our moods change in response to different situations, different people and different environments. Our moods are neither good nor bad but instead information about how we are experiencing life. So in order to maintain emotional balance, we have to learn how to tune into our moods without judgement, identify why we are feeling this way, and then decide how to change our thinking or actions if needed.
There are many different elements that can impact our mood, such as relationships, jobs, family and world events. However, the focus of this article is how are our moods are impacted by what we consume – specifically, the food that we eat.
To get a better sense of how food impacts your mood, first take a moment to reflect on these questions:
The last time you ate, can you recall how you felt after?
How in tune are you with your food cravings and what they mean?
What are some of the foods that feel nutritious and intuitive to you?
What are some of the foods that feel unhealthy or negative to you?
When you think about your relationship to food? Do you find that it’s balanced and healthy? Or does it look different?
These are all great questions to ask yourself when first exploring how your mood is impacted by the food you consume.
Our worlds can be impacted by unhealthy messages about body image and dieting via social media, the news and social comparisons on a daily basis. These messages alone are enough to have an impact on our mood and beliefs about ourselves. Dieting trends, some healthier than others, have been popular for decades. But the problem with many of these programs is that they attempt to fit everyone into one plan, and this just doesn’t work. The truth is that there simply isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to creating a healthy, intuitive relationship to body and food. The journey to balancing food with mood is truly a unique and individual one that requires us to be aware, open-minded and intentional. It is a beautiful process that helps us create a nurturing, loving relationship with food, rather than one of judgement and frustration. This in turn helps us create more emotional balance and less frequent mood fluctuations.
So, how do we get better about balancing food and mood?
Here are 5 helpful tips to start your exploration:
1) Eat the rainbow – It might seem silly at first glance but eating foods of various colors ensures that you’re getting the necessary nutrients throughout the day to balance out your mood and create lasting energy.
2) Practice intuitive eating – Intuitive eating is entirely about listening to your body. It’s not about dieting trends, restriction, or judgement, but rather learning how to tune in and eat what your body is telling you it needs. For example, if you have a headache (with no underlying medical concerns) you might find that increasing your hydration or introducing foods that have higher contents of magnesium, vitamin D and B helps alleviate your discomfort. Remember – think of your moods as signals or messages for you to simply receive and then respond.
3) Eat anatomically – Another one that might seem silly at first glance but can be highly effective! Certain foods mimic, in shape and appearance, the very body part that they provide benefits to. For instance, walnuts take on the shape of our brains and research suggests that walnuts actually benefit the brain by providing omega-3 acids, which keep the brain functioning in healthy ways. Learn more about this here.
4) Identify your relationship to food. What unhealthy patterns need to change? What do you do well? This is a challenging step that requires some serious insight and maybe even some professional support. Ask yourself what your mood is before and after you eat or drink. Do you tend to gravitate towards foods that are higher in carbs or sugars as “comfort foods” when feeling particularly low? Do you see food as a cultural or social experience that can cause both healthy and unhealthy patterns?
5) Practice self-love – The truth is, we’re all human. Both perfectly flawed and full of strengths. The goal is to be the healthiest version of yourself whenever possible, and this includes our relationship to food. Ask yourself how you’re showing up in your own life and treat yourself with compassion.
Our moods exist not to judge but rather to provide us an opportunity for inquiry. The more comfortable you become with stepping into your emotions with interest, as opposed to criticism, you become empowered to be the leader of your own life. There are many things that exist outside of our realm of control but what we choose to eat each day doesn’t have to be one of those things. Lean into the journey and you might be surprised what you can learn about yourself!
With gratitude,
Kate
If you would like to learn more about how you can improve your your relationship to food, we can help! Book your free 15-minute consultation call with Kate here to learn more about how she can help you develop more effective strategies in managing your mood through food. | https://www.bybsandthrive.com/post/how-to-boost-your-mood-with-good-food |
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The view from Federal Twist – James Golden – Lecture
Thursday 17 February at 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
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James Golden is a garden-maker of international repute whose garden,Federal Twist, has featured in The New York Times, Gardens Illustrated,Horticulture, Better Homes and Gardens, Elle Décor and several books.Monty Don visited Federal Twist in 2019 for the BBC series ‘Monty Don’s American Gardens’,describing it as ‘one of the great modern gardens’ and commented after his visit, “It made me rethink what a garden can be and do”. James has published in the Journal of the Society of Garden Designers and is known for his thoughtful commentary and design. He has been a garden blogger for 14 years (federaltwist.com) and lectures widely including the New York Botanical Garden and Garden Masterclass. His book, The View from Federal Twist, is published on 28 October 2021.
Federal Twist is set on a ridge above the Delaware River in western New Jersey, USA. It is a naturalistic garden that has loose boundaries and integrates closely with the natural world that surrounds it. It has no utilitarian or leisure uses (no play areas, swimming pools or outdoor dining) and the site is not an obvious choice for a garden (heavy clay soil,poorly drained: quick death for any plants not ecologically suited to it). The physical garden, its plants and its features, is of course an appealing and pleasant place to be but Federal Twist’s real charm and significance lie in its intangible aspects: its changing qualities and views, the moods and emotions it evokes, and its distinctive character and sense of place.
When creating the garden James made a conscious decision not to ‘improve the land’ and planted large, competitive plants into rough grass, experimenting with seeding to develop sustainable plant communities. He worked with light to provoke certain moods and allowed the energy of the place, chance and randomness to have its say.
Due to the continuing uncertainty regarding Covid-19 restrictions, the Friends’ lectures will continue to be through Zoom for the autumn. This situation will be reviewed in the light of developments including the University of Bristol confirming that their lecture theatres are once again available.
All lectures will start at 7pm. The link to the Zoom lecture will be available for each lecture nearer the time, also from Friends enews. Please note that there is a limit of 100 people which will be on a first come first served basis with no pre-booking. | https://botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk/event/the-view-from-federal-twist-james-golden-lecture/ |
Qualities and Traits: Quiet, passive, diplomatic, co-operation, Comforting and soothing. Intuitive, compromising, patient.
Interpretation: Patient and frugal. Easy-going, soft, indulgent and not physically strong.
As a number two represents bad (in the modern context), 2 is naturally the opposite of 1, which was seen as God and goodness - however NO number by itself is bad and this should be taken in context. The symbolic interpretation can be seen with the use of two (pairs) or pillars used to signify an entry way to a temple (or holy veil). Note that the Pentagram (with 1 point upward) turned upside down (and two points upward) can be used to signify this difference between one (goodness) and two (bad). This symbol for two can then be seen in it's symbolic interpretation as the two horns (on a devil's head).
Character traits: Good at comforting others, inclined to take up fads. Co-operative and good-natured, symphathetic and understanding, helpful and good at keeping a secret. Gets along well with others but may be shy and timid. Likes detail and settled routine somewhat as long as others are around and may be worried by newness and sudden changes.
Negative tendencies: Unambitious, lacks self-confidence, insecure and restless.
Qualities and Traits: The feminine principle, the soul, mother, fecundity, adaptation, wife, the family, nation. Emotions, moods, feelings, fertility, fluctuations, receptivity.
The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and is the closest planetary (it's not really a planet, but it's influences are strongly felt) object to us. The moon is without water and the only light it receives is reflected from the Sun. The light which repeats itself in phases every 28 days is caused by the Moons orbit around Earth. Because it is always near us, it represents are 'shadow self', our changeable moods and feelings. The relationship between the Moon and the Sun are especially important in Natal charts. Together these two objects represent the anima:conscious (sun) and animus:subconscious (moon) parts of our self according to Carl Jung.
Positive tendencies: Nurturing, receptive, instinctual, domestic, sensitive.
Negative tendencies: Changeable, insecure, moody, sensitive.
Inspired, sensitive, evasive.
Qualities and Traits: Sensitive and emotional, a home and family builder.
Very sensitive, emotional, they tend to shut themselves away from reality. Basically kind and caring, they may become self-centered without noticing it. They desire total security and a home life that is like a castle (excluding the outside world). They hold grudges for a long time and may take offence easily.
Positive tendencies: Emotional, caring, sensitive, imaginative, intuitive.
Negative tendencies: Isolated and alone, worried frequently, dwelling in the past, vacillating. | https://newbabynames.org/names/name/adrian/ |
Picture Style & Picture Control work similarly , changing the contrast, saturation , sharpness and tone of the image to create a different moods to an image. The same picture shot with different styles looks very different and produce a different effect.
White Balance is the setting in your camera that makes sure that the colours look normal in your pictures.
The principles of using the aperture is probably the most confusing topic for a beginner in photography. Every time I come to this topic in my classes , I see a bunch of worried faces and by the time i finish the class most of them (i am sure) would have decided that photography is too complicated for them.
The shutter has two functions - by opening and closing when triggered, it lets in light for a specific duration. It also affects the appearance of the image in terms of its freezing power.
ISO is a measure of sensitivity of the digital camera sensor to light. | http://www.sarawildlife.in/basic-photography-lessons-tutorials/ |
PARINAMA TAPA SAMSKARA DUHKHAIR GUNA VRTTI VIRODHAC CA DUHKHAM EVA SARVAM VIVEKINAH.
To one of discrimination, everything is painful indeed, due to its consequences: the anxiety and fear over losing what is gained; the resulting impressions left in the mind to create renewed cravings; and the constant conflict among the three gunas, which control the mind.
The wise man knows that owing to fluctuations, the qualities of nature, and subliminal impressions, even pleasant experiences are tinged with sorrow, and he keeps aloof from them.
But the man of spiritual discrimination regards all these experiences as painful. For even the enjoyment of present pleasure is painful, since we already fear its loss. Past pleasure is painful because renewed cravings arise from the impressions it has left upon the mind. And how can any happiness be lasting if it depends only upon our moods? For these moods are constantly changing, as one or another of the ever-warring gunas seizes control of the mind.
A wise, discriminating person sees all worldly experiences as painful, because of reasoning that all these experiences lead to more consequences, anxiety, and deep habits (samskaras), as well as acting in opposition to the natural qualities. | http://www.athayoganusasanam.com/?zone=browse_sutras&pada=2&sutra=15&action=display |
A major event in the annual school calendar, Top Arts: VCE 2007 presents outstanding work completed by young student artists as part of their assessment for VCE Art and Studio Arts.
VCE Art requires students to complete a body of works that involves a broad and innovative investigation and the progressive realisation and resolution of ideas, directions and individual concepts, either in an exploratory folio or through one or more visual solutions. VCE Studio Arts requires students to complete a design process that defines an area of exploration in a work brief and the production of a cohesive folio of finished works of art.
This exhibition highlights the NGV’s strong commitment and support of contemporary art, arts education and showcases the ideas and attitudes of young people.
Ground Level
The engineering magnificence of the cutlery set has revolutionised eating habits the world over. This series was developed from a focus on everyday objects around the house. I wanted to take the ordinary and put it into a new concept, adapting varying lighting, focus, composition, camera angles and depth of field into this transition. I used Photoshop applications to refine some of the images. The result is my perspective of these everyday objects other than their bland necessity as part of the dinner table.
Drawing inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, I produced portraits that tell a story, inviting the viewer to delve into a world of the everyday juxtaposed with fantasy and the imagination. Characters developed by completing detailed drawings from life, old family photographs and images of friends. Inspired by Paula Rego’s work, I created a heavily stylised series based on my cousin, Clarisse, using bold colour, gesture, props and symbolism. I combined contemporary processes with conventional painting techniques, using a graphics tablet and Photoshop, printing the images onto canvas to reflect my use of traditional portraiture.
The book contains thirty designs, each using collaged materials provided by nature. The underlying inspiration is the female form and fashion, a celebration of the beauty of nature through couture. I worked to understand and experiment with the materials, for example the curve of a feather or shell, or the lines of a leaf. Garments were produced on paper, individually photographed and then printed to create two-dimensional images of a three-dimensional design, revealing the detail and texture of each material. Shadowing was removed digitally, and the designs were divided seasonally to emphasise the different materials.
My intention was to display the natural qualities and aesthetic possibilities of glass. I placed glass objects in different situations, experimenting with materials such as blue-toned water. I used digital photography and Photoshop to enhance colours and re-size images. My main objective was to display how something so simple, such as glass, can be turned into something so interesting. The use of differently shaped glasses creates an effect that is aesthetically pleasing and generates individual beauty. While each of the individual glasses has its own unique character, all together the glasses create something more.
I wanted to create a folio of portraits based on the theme of people, friendship and beauty. I refined this to include portraits of important people in my life such as my friends. I used photography, then Photoshop to re-size and crop the images. I used oil paint on canvas board after various trials with other paints and found it easy to mix the colours and apply. The difficulties were the time it took to dry and the challenge of creating realistic and accurate portraits. This is my friend Sammy.
My theme was the inner turmoil associated with the seven deadly sins. I was influenced by work on the Deviant art website and a group of Venetian masks, and decided to combine each of the emotions in a single subject. By using oil paint, I created depth and a layered, textured effect. I aimed to achieve the element of chiaroscuro as in Caravaggio’s work, although getting the balance between light and dark, so the figure emerges from the darkness, was challenging. The gestural brushstrokes indicated movement, contributing to the sense of barely restrained emotion.
Stevie was created to explore my artistic view on relationships and how important they are in life. I decided to explore the bond between a musician and his double bass. My influences came from my own involvement in music as I learn and love the piano. I had attended a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert at the beginning of the year, after which I asked a member of the orchestra to be my model. I thoroughly enjoyed my journey of the development of Stevie and how my painting skills improved.
In this series I tried to show the direct correlation between the people and the environment of St Kilda, and an artistic representation of this. The layered blue and white circles represent the constantly changing levels of conversational interaction during the day, free of the disturbances of the same interaction at night.
Inspired by the Renaissance works of Pieter Brueghel, in particular The little tower of Babel, 1564, this image is a modern interpretation intended to represent contemporary construction as a world of hubris and arrogance, and to create a link between skyscrapers and the biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel. Developed from an original photograph that I took, I manipulated the photo onto a zinc plate using high temperatures.
Shape has always interested me because it can be used to create pattern in varied ways including repetition, sequence and contrast. Using shape as my starting point, I experimented with collage and trialled different painting techniques. I looked at works by Willem de Kooning and Jasper Johns and their use of random shapes. I created non-representational, layered works that were densely textured with layers of heavy paper and adhesive letters scattered across the picture surface. I used a light yellow to unify the work and black to outline the shapes, emphasising the textured quality.
I wanted to amplify humanity’s abuse and overuse of technology. I have drawn a human figure consumed by machinery in an industrial, decaying environment, illustrating the brutal process on a large scale to create an impact. While machinery and robots inspired me as a child, I feel that technology is now playing too much of a role in our lives. It was challenging to make my message visible. Charcoal is my favourite medium. The variations of tone and the intense contrast that can be created were perfect for the dark nature of this piece.
All human beings have the inherent ability to perceive things in alternative ways. In today’s society, especially amongst the younger generation, the idea of conforming to a set standard is at its highest, with young people believing that conforming leads to acceptance. My ambiguous expressions represent the differences in each individual perception. They allow viewers to use their conscious thought, imagination and even their subconscious lack of awareness to interpret the simple images in any way they choose, giving meaning to the notion that we as human beings are all unique and inimitable in many ways.
Using a traditional industrial machine, a laser cutter, I combined natural and un-natural art forms to develop works using lines and patterns found in our everyday surroundings. I focused on patterns that are often overlooked, such as the structure within trees. I wanted to see the effect of taking one form of pattern and replacing it with another, unexpected one. Using the laser machine to cut and engrave, I was able to imprint the patterns onto the surface of the acrylic sheet in a fine and detailed way. I then carefully cut out each tree.
I wanted to capture the magnificent beauty of winter in the Yosemite Valley in a more contemporary way than that of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. I undertook a lot of research before arriving, and used a panorama format, digitally combining four images. I wanted to transport the audience to the Valley, to enable them to appreciate the awe-inspiring landscape, and to communicate how precious and fragile the planet is. The photograph’s sense of depth, perspective and sharpness was achieved by using a large aperture number and slow shutter speed.
Obsolescence: the loss of value or usefulness usually over a period of time, because of wear, change or user preference; the state of becoming unwanted, being replaced by something new. I explored the notions of expiration and abandonment, and the effect this has on a visual world; the idea of a use-by date, the fixation on new technology, and the disposable aspects of modern life – people, technology, appliances. As my concept developed I became more interested in the human connection, in the emotional aspects of decay, the passing of time, and the way we dispose of things, including people.
I explored a fascination with human anatomy and was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. I wanted to better understand the mechanics of the body and human nature, investigating philosophical and surrealist aspects, not only the scientific perspective. The images also express ideas of growth and human interaction with the world. I used a variety of media – pencil, paint, pastel, charcoal and pen – and a range of techniques to make the book look old, including using tea to stain pages, integrating yellowed paper and raffia into the paper pulp, and water-washing pages with brown inks.
My wheel-formed works explored the relationship between surface quality and the human form – the elegant, stable female and the strong, masculine male forms. The ox-blood glazing rings emphasise the form, and the rounded shape increases the surface area for the glaze to interact with the work. A challenge I confronted while working was the environment’s effect on my art, as high humidity can cause clay to soften and collapse and low temperatures can prevent clay from drying. Hours of work at the wheel, research and workshops enriched my understanding of the medium.
I studied the Australian landscape, particularly the endless variety of textures in coastal regions. While these landscapes may seem sturdy, my aim was to capture the fragility and delicacy within them and to reveal the minute details often overlooked in our hectic everyday lives. Seascapes inspired the design and construction of this piece of wearable art – natural environmental processes, the movement of the waves, and the debris washed up on the foreshore. I used tactile textures like silk and mulberry fibres, thermal manipulation, and hundreds of French knots and beads to create the sculptural forms.
Influenced by my mother, who is a big tea drinker, I developed my theme around tea drinking and the associated customs of many cultures throughout history, particularly in the late nineteenth century. I created a life-size cyanotype of a nineteenth-century English tea gown to highlight the importance of ritual and beauty associated with the experience of drinking tea. The piece illustrates the delicacy, design and ethereal beauty of the gowns associated with the English tea-drinking culture. The ghostly nature of the image further adds to the historical placement of the gown.
I explored the relationship between traditional art practices and digital art, specifically how digital rendering arose from traditional art forms. I examined six digital art programs or tools, and the corresponding traditional materials including spray paint, collage, oil paint, coloured pencils, synthetic polymer paint and fine-liner. The imitation of pixels, using media such as cross-stitch, plastic beads and wooden blocks in my developmental work, symbolised the relationship between the techniques. Placing the works in monitors further connected and framed the imagery within the digital environment.
My work is about the mascot of my folio, Pat the Cat. I made my first animations in primary school, mainly clay and clipbook animations. I was inspired by kid’s cartoons on television. I love to draw but, rather than drawing every frame by hand, I decided to work digitally to save time, using Anime Studio. I drew scenery, characters and body parts from various angles and digitised them using Corel. Adding music and final edit were in Adobe Premier. I learnt to use the programs as I went – it took months to complete.
This series focuses on what the French call entre chien et loup (literally: between dog and wolf). This is twilight, a time where light itself transforms. The sky turns a vivid blue as light fades. Street lights illuminate the landscape in an eerie glow. Menacing shadows expand into every crevice. It is the time between night and day. It is neither one nor the other. This period fascinated me immensely. I experimented by placing somnambulistic figures in suburban scenes and by erasing identity with various masks – trapping them between one day and the next.
I created theatrical works based on Alice in Wonderland, showing a more macabre and theatrical view of the story than we realise as children. The story is quite sinister, with underlying themes of drug taking, child abuse, and possible mental illness in the Queen of Hearts’ behaviour depicted as temper tantrums. In this image of the Queen, I focused on formal elements and qualities, such as line, colour, contrast, tone, texture and pattern.
Fat man came out of developmental work for my major project, which was to create a children’s picture book. I created numerous sketches in pencil, fine-liner, gouache and coloured pencil to explore character development, facial expression, costume and backgrounds. I called upon my knowledge of Illustrator, scanning the hand-drawn images onto the computer as a reference, then refining them using applications from the program to vary colour and create energy.
My theme was discarded objects and buildings left to disintegrate. This metal shed door was located in an abandoned water-tower yard, and so rust and decay were clearly visible from years of weathering. I originally took photos and then emphasised areas of colour and shape to create the works. By exaggerating colours, making them extremely bright, it becomes appealing and attractive, creating a focus. My aim is for people to notice disused objects and sites.
Direction and movement became the key focus in this work. Chance and pure creative play were my starting points. Colour was deliberately kept minimal to create a sense of the landscape, of dirt and of the earth. Mixed media exploration allowed a contrast between textural qualities, such as hessian to create line or pattern, and the rich flow of bitumen, oil, ink and shellac which gives a raw golden tone and haze to the painting. The richness of staining, rubbing back and dripping gives life to pure abstraction and above all it allowed me to control the uncontrollable.
I have always loved nature and the complexities of creation. I wanted to use my creativity and the artistic process to record natural objects, combining scientific aspects with precise observation and aesthetic awareness. Birds are my favourite creatures, and I think it is the minute details and intricacies that give them their character. I was inspired by botanical art and historical documents by naturalists, wanting my piece to possess a similar old-world or antique quality. I wanted to describe the humbling beauty and delicacy of God’s creations all around us.
This painting was inspired by the dynamic patterns, colour and texture found in the bark of a silver birch just metres from our art room. I wanted to show the variety and detail in nature, the basis, I believe, of conventional beauty and original design. Taking this beauty out of context, I created abstracted surfaces founded on perfectly formed details. I achieved a richly textured surface through experimenting and layering with many media including wax, glue and shellac, imitating the bark. Layering and contrast added depth, allowing light to play across the surface of the works.
I have always been interested in the fine detail of drawing and for this work I was inspired by the art of Noli Novak and Joe Richards, who created stippled portraits of geometric and organic subjects. The technique of stippling and cross-hatching allowed me to create a finely detailed, life-size portrait with emphasis on the three-dimensional form. The imagery I have created brings together aspects of my family and passion for creating subtle imagery that has influenced my life.
What was initially an objective depiction of my appearance, an unforgiving scrutiny of features, proportions and general formality, progressively became a delicate, increasingly brooding work. As a consequence of my almost obsessive attention to detail, tone and, above all, accuracy, the portrait began to assume a personal, insightful quality, reminiscent of my own resolve. The ratio of shade greatly outweighs that of the light on the right side of the face, resonating accentuated depth and darkness. The abrupt yet seamless transition of tones, embellished by the solid, impenetrable darkness, is neither corporeal nor intangible.
My aim was to produce a self-portrait through capturing movement and mood, and to create a cohesive emotional state. Animation was the most appropriate form to express this artistically as it gives different takes on the subject, providing a more complex insight than a still, momentary portrait. I used Macromedia Flash and a Wacom graphics tablet, drawing each individual frame directly into the computer, which saved time in not having to scan pre-drawn cells. I utilised Rotoscoping combined with my own expressive line. I created my own music, playing acoustic guitar and recording on Digidesign.
My work centres around my discovery and recording of the patterns I see in my mind, and organic and artificial forms in the surrounding environment. I manipulated white gesso with my hands, applying it to a board and tracing over the dried surface with ink and pens. Hurricane expresses subtle, intricate details through texture and movement – the patterns seem to be flung around by some invisible force, churning and spiralling out of control. The triptych symbolises my secret obsessions and the comfort they bring, while appearing chaotic, ambiguous and elusive to the viewer.
Chad is approachable, passive and engaging. I have used a rough, pronounced application of paint, with little attempt to disguise my brushwork, to reflect the connection between the artist and the paint surface and between the viewer and subject. His face looms large and close to the audience due to his proximity to the picture plane, even though it is a small painting. Separated from the viewer, Chad exists comfortably behind the lenses of his glasses. The portrait was inspired by the music of Chad and Jeremy, a duo from the 1960s.
I wanted to challenge the perception of the city being a busy place by depicting locations with minimal activity. I wanted to reflect a sense of absence while capturing the beauty of areas that could be seen as undesirable, using the contrast of light and dark, and the patterns created by streetlights all over the city against the night sky. I selected locations during the day and returned at night, set up a tripod and took multiple photos with long exposures capturing wide angles. Using Photoshop, I composed the final photographs by joining multiple images together.
My work evokes feelings of loneliness, sadness, depression and psychological torment. Images of human body parts are distorted and appear motionless like statues. The work intends to trigger a response from the viewers, for them to recognise the possibility of such extreme feelings often repressed within themselves. I was influenced by William Blake’s paintings and writings, particularly the way he creates human form with his visual work and expresses anxiety and sadness in his poetry. To create the image I have used distortion tools in Photoshop.
This work was inspired by the concepts revolving around the conscious exploration of identity or self. The figure is synthesising itself from pieces of bark. These pieces represent the different beliefs and characteristics which make up an individual. The different aesthetic qualities of bark reflect the various traits and their natures, whether they are unpleasant or more picturesque. The figure’s head is detached, reflecting the need to detach ourselves and become objective to properly articulate and understand ourselves. Lastly, the figure is deteriorating, reflecting the futility of the search for a concrete answer.
I was influenced by Japanese ceramics, particularly traditional tea ceremony wares. The raku firing process, developed in Japan over hundreds of years, is perfectly suited to this series of bottles. In the smoke-stained crazing pattern and raw finish of the pieces I aimed to achieve the Japanese paradox of imperfect beauty, a reflection of the uncontrolled aesthetics of nature. I utilised off-centre throwing and Shino glazing in a number of works and enjoyed the tension of each firing where the element of chance played a major role.
My VCE year exploration focused on creating textural and rhythmic qualities through the expressive use of line. Experimenting with glue to create a collograph, I found the technique worked well, creating expressive line work and giving a beautiful tactile texture. At the Australian Print Workshop I was able to print on a larger scale to create more visual impact. In my piece Intertwined I emphasised the intense line work and the tactile texture of the collographs I had created, by paper folding/weaving, using coloured photocopies of an original print.
This work was the first in a series revolving around a model’s life in the fashion industry. I explored the way models sacrifice themselves to the industry and the pressures that come with the superficial life-style, the suffering, distortion (mental/physical), rejection and pain (self-inflicted and inflicted upon them) that models go through. I looked at the media’s focus on issues surrounding weight, physical illness and unrealistic expectations. I wanted to reflect ideas of distortion and manipulation by using a range of material and techniques.
I’ve worked with clay for a number of years and sought to capture the differences and complexities of the human face. I aimed to portray facial expression through movement and in turn used the expressions and movements of those around me as inspiration to help create this. I used photography to record areas of the face and body to further influence the creation of Ôfury’ and to gain a detailed perspective of such facial details as wrinkles, veins and skin pores. Fury represents the ferocity of human expression.
I am inspired by my love of skiing, and constantly being close to the sky in the mountains. This work shows the everchanging atmosphere and infinitely changing canvas of the sky, and the Zen-like serenity of Mt Buller. I wanted viewers to appreciate the intricate details so I have compressed the sheer enormity of our heavens into a scale with which we can associate. Nature has the ability to alter our state of consciousness. I want viewers to engage so that each gradually changing frame reaches out to their emotional and spiritual side.
This image depicts modernised fishing boats lined up on the wharf at Queenscliff. Back in the 1920s a large fleet of couta boats would have been in their place. I wished to display the movement of time between eras, emphasising the beauty in objects that are often overlooked. The waterlogged effect was achieved by printing the original image onto photographic paper using a plain-paper setting, so that too much ink was pushed onto the surface of the paper. I then dispersed the ink using water and a paintbrush.
I captured closely the simple aesthetics of nature so the photo was free of any unwanted details. By doing this, I could turn something bland into something sublime.
In order to progress, mankind has destroyed and corrupted anything that stands in its way. I sought to portray this toxic invasion in an abstract form, representing humanity as a dark, relentless force progressively dominating and overtaking the pristine blue of the world. After taking many photos of Melbourne on a beautiful day, I experimented by using spray-paint over acetate sheet, the chemicals mixing together to create different effects. I then scanned and printed the results. My images relate to my passion for the environment, reflecting the world today and the need for change.
Within my work I have aimed to challenge the conventional perceptions of decay and the ageing process through the study of portraiture. An elderly person with their lifetime tucked within the deep crevices of their face is my representation of the beauty in decay, a means to display and honour the result of passed time. Rather than using digital manipulation to erase the marks of time, a craft of modern society, I used it to emphasise them, and to reveal a message that stands against widely accepted perceptions and effectively honours life coming full circle.
After a visit to a bush setting near Kyneton, I was inspired to create a piece based on an Australiana theme. I set out to produce a painting that highlighted the vulnerability of Australia’s wildlife – even feral species. I also wanted to capture and reflect the raw qualities of the Australian bush in my work. I used a photo-realistic style, applying the paint in different ways to achieve varying textures, such as skin and bone.
I created an alternative world, a fantasy universe in the form of a park, reflecting the chaos of society. Each figure represents a facet of a warped or exaggerated culture. I sought to combine personal dream interpretation and unseen qualities of society. I sculpt miniatures as a hobby and used epoxy, polymer clay, modelling clay and dentist’s tools to make the larger works, developing my ideas in drawings. Figures and vignettes represent all the varied sources of inspiration throughout the year. The park provided an escape from the hectic pace of Year 12.
As I travel around our environment, I am constantly aware of the proliferation of huge buildings and the dilemma this poses for the lifestyle of both animals and humans. In my photograph I have created an artificial tableau which acknowledges this predicament, but also illustrates that some manmade constructions can be as beautiful as forms of nature. The juxtaposition of the horse and the buildings magnifies the distance between the two – can animals really exist in a built-up environment?
In my series of works I focused on capturing the different moods and feelings suggested by the natural landscape, particularly the ocean. I used colour to create a sense of emotion and emphasised the blurring of light with camera movement. The effect is entirely created by the slow shutter speed and precise camera techniques, with no cropping or digital manipulation. I constantly waited for the right weather conditions and responded to subtle changes in the light by adapting the camera settings and continually refining my camera techniques.
I focused on the devastation of the drought and its effects on every aspect of life. It inflicts deprivation upon the mental, physical, social, economical, environmental, psychological and financial aspects of daily life. On our rural property we rely on rainwater for our water supply. I looked at historical accounts of hardship during earlier droughts and also witnessed Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree completely dry up. I adopted a variety of techniques, for example, tearing the clay, layering slip and washing black oxides to create the vessel. I then fired it in a wood kiln
My work this year focused on realistic portraiture. I wanted to create a personal and tangible memory of the way my grandfather looks and which reflects his personality, mood and life experience. I intended to use the paint in a way that emulates drawing. I have always admired artists such as Chuck Close who have the ability to create realistic images, and this is why I did not change the natural proportions of my subject matter. My grandfather’s (Pappou’s) face is so full of character and because I am so close to him I wanted to paint him.
My theme was the beauty of nature and how it is being both destroyed and conserved by human beings. As a conservationist I wanted to show a world worth protecting, prompting viewers into defending the environment against destruction and deforestation, and encouraging them to live in an environmentally friendly manner. I aimed to create images containing strong symbolic and artistic references. Conservation – The world is in our hands holds a message pertaining to balance and contrast, to illustrate the importance of stewardship of our planet, and appreciation of the richness of the life within.
My inspiration came from the experience of living on a farm for seventeen years followed by a move to an urban environment. This relocation and the exposure to a new world of high-density expansion were the catalysts for my interest in environmental issues such as the impact of power emissions associated with new developments. The work of Gordon Bennett was influential in revealing new ways of making social commentary and telling stories. I used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate the image.
This work explores the validation of a moment and the different reactions a viewer may have to a moment, due to experience. I looked at the creation of different feelings, opinions, moods and memories that an image may trigger due to personal experiences. The Metcards communicate the validation part of my ideas, as the time and date are printed of the surface of each photo. This work is part of a series using public transport as a starting point. Travelling with friends or complete strangers got me thinking about what connects us in the modern world.
My animation focuses on the way the media restricts individuality. Using symbolism, it follows the journey of an individual’s efforts to escape conformity. I created a distorted world, using the black and white of newspapers, with images of the cityscape and media control stripped down to the barest elements. I wanted audiences to relate to the character and I believe animation can tell the story more effectively than painting or a photo. I began with hand-drawn and Flash animation but decided to use 3D Studio Max with original music made in Fruity Loops Studio 5.
My work was inspired by John Brack’s Collins Street, 5pm . I wanted to capture both the hum-drum of the 9–5 workday and the bustle of commuters contrasted with the grand and timeless architecture in one of Melbourne’s oldest streets, and give it a modern twist. To highlight positive aspects of contemporary Melbourne I included people that reflect our cultural diversity, and represented old and young people, men and women. I mixed traditional oil painting with inkjet print, reinforcing the combination of old methods and new technologies.
In this series I have been influenced by the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. I wanted to develop a reconstruction of the human form by creating collages that represent an alternate form of the human body. I chose to use paper toile for its three-dimensional character, and the traditional black and white used in anatomical drawings to establish a connection to the human form. My fascination with the art of the Surrealists is reflected in the irregular juxtaposition of magnified sections of internal organs with external body protrusions to accentuate the human form. | https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/top-arts-vce-2007/ |
You have thought of yourself as having certain qualities with feelings and emotions that define your character. You have become identified with your body, mind, belief patterns and material objects.
You mask your passions and desires with these false impressions because you have utterly forgotten your real nature. Every day you are impersonating different characteristics according to your changing feelings that dance with your current thought patterns.
Realize that these characteristics are not part of your true nature. When you realize this, you will be able to cast off these delusive states and step into your divine Self.
Explore the beliefs you carry about who you are. Take a good look within and see where these programs originated.
What do you believe about yourself? Are you really who you think you are? Are you wearing masks created by what others perceived you to be? Are you entangled in feelings while imagining you have no choice? Do you even know who are you? Do you really, truly know who you are?
Deeply analyze your thoughts, emotions and feelings, realizing they arise from past conditioning. Your conscious mind has identified itself with emotions and you have imprisoned yourself in various moods that cause all of your suffering.
You have put on masks created by false beliefs that have been fed by the stimuli of emotions. This illusion is so powerful; distortions have become truths you believe about yourself.
Your feelings and beliefs have masked your soul. The way to escape is to dissolve the feelings and emotions connected with body consciousness. Meditation is the way to achieve this.
You are not any of these masks; you are pure, calm Divine energy. Your beautiful soul is the blessed reflection of the Divine. It is time for you to take off the masks of delusion and face your real Self. You will absolutely love what you find!
Affirmation: My identity is the essence of The Divine. | https://ladydyanna.org/2021/07/25/weekly-spiritual-energy-july-26-2021-august-1-2021-by-lady-dyanna/ |
Take an honest look at yourself. Where are you in your life? What have your priorities been up till now and what do you intend to do with the time you have left? We are a mixture of light and shadow, of good qualities and defects. Are we really the best we can be? Must we remain as we are now? If not, what can we do to improve ourselves? These are questions worth asking, particularly if we have come to the conclusion that change is both desirable and possible.
In our modern world, we are consumed from morning till night with endless activity. We do not have much time or energy left over to consider the basic causes of our happiness or suffering. We imagine, more or less consciously, that if we undertake more activities we will have more intense experiences and therefore our sense of dissatisfaction will fade away. But the truth is that many of us continue to feel let down and frustrated by our contemporary lifestyle.
The aim of meditation is to transform the mind. It does not have to be associated with any particular religion. Every one of us has a mind and every one of us can work on it.
Is change possible?
The real question is not whether change is desirable; it is whether it is possible to change. Some people might think they can’t change because their afflictive emotions are so intimately associated with their minds that it is impossible to get rid of them without destroying a part of themselves.
It is true that in general a person’s character doesn’t change very much over the course of their life. If we could study the same group of people every few years, we would rarely find that the angry people had become patient, that the disturbed people had found inner peace, or that the pretentious people had learned humility. But as rare as such changes might be, some people do change, which shows that change is possible. The point is that our negative character traits tend to persist if we do nothing at all to change the status quo. No change occurs if we just let our habitual tendencies and automatic patterns of thought perpetuate and even reinforce themselves, thought after thought, day after day, year after year. But those tendencies and patterns can be challenged.
Aggression, greed, jealousy, and the other mental poisons are unquestionably part of us, but are they an intrinsic, inalienable part? Not necessarily. For example, a glass of water might contain cyanide that could kill us on the spot. But the same water could instead be mixed with healing medicine. In either case, H2O, the chemical formula of the water itself, remains unchanged; in itself, it was never either poisonous or medicinal. The different states of the water are temporary and dependent on changing circumstances. In a similar way, our emotions, moods, and bad character traits are just temporary and circumstantial elements of our nature.
A fundamental aspect of consciousness
This temporary and circumstantial quality becomes clear to us when we realize that the primary quality of consciousness is simply knowing. Like the water in the above example, knowing or awareness is neither good nor bad in itself. If we look behind the turbulent stream of transient thoughts and emotions that pass through our minds day and night, this fundamental aspect of consciousness is always there. Awareness makes it possible for us to perceive phenomena of every kind. Buddhism describes this basic cognitive quality of the mind as luminous because it illuminates both the external world through perceptions and the inner world of sensation, emotion, reasoning, memory, hope, and fear.
Although this cognitive faculty underlies every mental event, it is not itself affected by any of these events. A ray of light may shine on a face disfigured by hatred or on a smiling face; it may shine on a jewel or on a garbage heap; but the light itself is neither mean nor loving, neither dirty nor clean. Understanding that the essential nature of consciousness is neutral shows us that it is possible to change our mental universe. We can transform the content of our thoughts and experiences. The neutral and luminous background of our consciousness provides us with the space we need to observe mental events rather than being at their mercy. We then also have the space we need to create the conditions necessary to transform these mental events.
Wishing is not enough
We have no choice about what we already are, but we can wish to change ourselves. Such an aspiration gives the mind a sense of direction. But just wishing is not enough. We have to find a way of putting that wish into action.
We don’t find anything strange about spending years learning to walk, read and write, or acquire professional skills. We spend hours doing physical exercises to get our bodies into shape. Sometimes we expend tremendous physical energy pedaling a stationary bike. To sustain such tasks requires a minimum of interest or enthusiasm. This interest comes from believing that these efforts are going to benefit us in the long run.
Working with the mind follows the same logic. How could it be subject to change without the least effort, just from wishing alone? That makes no more sense than expecting to learn to play a Mozart sonata by just occasionally doodling around on the piano.
We expend a lot of effort to improve the external conditions of our lives, but in the end it is always the mind that creates our experience of the world and translates this experience into either well-being or suffering.
If we transform our way of perceiving things, we transform the quality of our lives. It is this kind of transformation that is brought about by the form of mind training known as meditation. | https://www.matthieuricard.org/en/blog/posts/why-should-i-meditate-part-1 |
Tips upon moving to a new home
When you first make a move to a brand new home, you are faced with what is almost literally a blank canvas to which you are able to add your own personality and ultimately create a place that is special to you.
The first thing to do when you want to create your own style in a new home following relocation is to pick a color palette that you are certain you will not have a problem living with on a long-term basis. There are numerous different colors from which you will be able to choose, and it is certainly a much better idea to paint a number of big boards with different colors rather than daub small paint patches on your actual wall. This means that you can examine each color in isolation and get a better idea of what the whole room would look like if it was painted in this color.
One good tip is to examine the colors at different times of the day, as the light changes, so that you can tell which shade works the best in different lights. One of the most vital things to keep in mind when you are designing a new room after a move is that light is extremely important.
Natural light in particular can be very soothing, and it is a must to try to make the absolute most that you can from windows. Light is also a method of generating different moods in a room. | https://www.mybekins.com/tips-upon-moving-to-a-new-home/ |
Di Kirk’s watercolors capture the natural beauty of the sea, sky, and islands in the Caribbean. Painted in a relaxed style, they make you want to live in them—not just visit. An accomplished sailor, Di has been cruising with her husband Mike in the northern Caribbean for the better part of a decade.
Born in Leicester, England, the eldest of four, she started crewing on dinghies at Tynemouth Sailing Club on England’s NE blustery coast in the early 1970s. The couple moved to the United States in 1978 where Mike worked in the corporate world with General Electric. Settling in New York State, they purchased their first keel boat and began sailing on Long Island Sound with their two boys.
Di began watercolor painting, taking classes with nationally-known artist and juror Barbara Nechis, known for her loose style in watercolors. The family joined Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, Connecticut where they spent weekends and holidays cruising to Nantucket, Block Island, Fisher Island, and the north shore of Long Island. In 1996, they started chartering in the British Virgin Islands and, in 1998, bought Ou La La, a Beneteau 38. Now retired, they divide their time between the BVI and Florida.
Di has painted weekly with a BVI watercolor group since 2002. Having watched her paint I am fascinated by the way she begins her paintings. “The colors of the Caribbean are so clear and the light is wonderful – because of this I prefer to paint outdoors. I tend to use a limited palette and have a preference for transparent watercolors rather than opaque, as these allow the white of the paper to show through,” she says.
“I begin each painting ‘wet on wet’ with a lot of blues, and paint mostly sky, water, and boats—mood paintings that express a feeling. Paint is applied quickly so the picture will not be overworked. As the color is applied, the paint runs and does its own thing; the colors move and blend as they dry causing the painting to change. Because both my brush and paper are wet, the drying time is longer. As the paper dries, a suggestion of detail and some of the more definitive lines are added. I try to create an impression, or suggestion, so that the viewer can look into the painting and see what they want to see rather than a photographic image where they see what actually is there.
“Mike is an avid racer and for the last five years has competed in many of the major regattas in the northern Caribbean. I will assist by crewing for the race boat delivery and then provide support services during the regattas. The action of confrontational racing fascinates me and I try to get this feeling of movement when painting the fleet. I love the shapes and the contrasting colors of spinnakers when they are grouped together. When boats are racing there is often a lot of wind and the sky is constantly changing. My paintings of racing are done quickly to catch the essence of the moment – after the painting is dry I look at it again and may add the definition of individual boats.
“In contrast, when painting seascapes, I try to reflect the essence of what I see in a totally different way from the racing scene. The light, sea, and sky in the Caribbean seem to be constantly shifting and I try to capture the ever changing moods of the sea, the sun, and the sky within the natural beauty of the Virgin Islands—because of this each picture is unique and my portfolio, as a unit, is extremely varied.”
Di’s watercolors do indeed give one a longing to be a part of the scene. A popular artist, her paintings hang in homes throughout North America, the Caribbean and the UK.
Nancy Terrell is a freelance writer who has lived in the Caribbean for 21 years. She holds an MA Degree in Literature and is currently cruising on her trawler, Swan Song, throughout the Caribbean. | https://www.allatsea.net/di-kirk-caribbean-essence-in-watercolor/ |
This study measures the impact that electrical outages have on manufacturing production in 135 less developed countries using stochastic frontier analysis and data from World Bank’s Investment Climate surveys. Outages of electricity, for firms with and without backup power sources, are the most frequently cited constraint on manufacturing growth in these surveys.
Abstract: In this introductory article we argue for renewed attention to life and labor on and of the land—or what we call the field of Critical Agrarian Studies. Empirically rich and theoretically rigorous studies of humanity’s relationship to “soil” remain essential not just for historical analysis but for understanding urgent contemporary crises, including widespread food insecurity, climate change, the proliferation of environmental refugees, growing corporate power and threats to biodiversity. The article introduces an innovative and varied collection of works in Critical Agrarian Studies and also examines the intellectual and political history of this broader field.
This dissertation addresses the geography of healthcare access and disparity issues in the United States using geospatial methods. Disparities in access to quality healthcare services are of great concern in the field of both public health and geography. Access is a key element within the healthcare delivery system, influenced by both spatial factors and non-spatial factors. Focusing on the spatial dimensions of access, an innovative contribution of this dissertation is the integration of spatial modeling, geo-statistics and location problems in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to investigate healthcare access.
272 full-text articles. Page 1 of 13.
Finding Ft. Smith And Ft. Star In Smithland, Ky, Austin Valentine, Austin Valentine Jr.
Through the utilization of Light Detection and Ranging data, one can compile 3-dimensional models that can be used to spot anomalies of historical interest. These anomalies, if recognizable by the trained eye, can then be used to geo-reference historic maps to gain a better understanding of historic sites as well as to reveal possible areas of interests or unknown features.
A Comparative Analysis Of Non-Invasive Exploration Techniques Lidar Vs. Aerial Photography – Kincaid Mounds Archaeological Site, Austin Valentine, Austin Valentine Jr.
KINCAID MOUNDS - A Comparative Analysis of Non-invasive Exploration Techniques is a journal of my efforts to conduct non-invasive site investigations at the Kincaid Mounds Archaeological site in Southern Illinois. Through the utilization of tools such as; drones, photography, satellite imaging, light distance and ranging, and powerful analysis software, I will demonstrate a number of useful techniques which one can utilize to conduct independent site investigations without disturbing a sites landscape or structural integrity. Thus, illustrating differences between those techniques and pointing out their strengths and weaknesses in their various applications. | http://0-network.bepress.com.library.simmons.edu/social-and-behavioral-sciences/geography/spatial-science/ |
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Arctic landfast sea ice (LFSI) represents an important quasi-stationary coastal zone. Its evolution is determined by the regional climate and bathymetry. This study investigated the seasonal cycle and interannual variations of LFSI along the northwest coast of Kotelny Island. Initial freezing, rapid ice formation, stable and decay stages were identified in the seasonal cycle based on application of the visual inspection approach (VIA) to MODIS/Envisat imagery and results from a thermodynamic snow/ice model. The modeled annual maximum ice thickness in 1995–2014 was 2.02 ± 0.12 m showing a trend of −0.13 m decade−1. Shortened ice season length (−22 d decade−1) from model results associated with substantial spring (2.3°C decade−1) and fall (1.9°C decade−1) warming. LFSI break-up resulted from combined fracturing and melting, and the local spatiotemporal patterns of break-up were associated with the irregular bathymetry. Melting dominated the LFSI break-up in the nearshore sheltered area, and the ice thickness decreased to an average of 0.50 m before the LFSI disappeared. For the LFSI adjacent to drift ice, fracturing was the dominant process and the average ice thickness was 1.56 m at the occurrence of the fracturing. The LFSI stages detected by VIA were supported by the model results.
Antarctic krill are the dominant metazoan in the Southern Ocean in terms of biomass; however, their wide and patchy distribution means that estimates of their biomass are still uncertain. Most currently employed methods do not sample the upper surface layers, yet historical records indicate that large surface swarms can change the water colour. Ocean colour satellites are able to measure the surface ocean synoptically and should theoretically provide a means for detecting and measuring surface krill swarms. Before we can assess the feasibility of remote detection, more must be known about the reflectance spectra of krill. Here, we measure the reflectance spectral signature of Antarctic krill collected in situ from the Scotia Sea and compare it to that of in situ water. Using a spectroradiometer, we measure a strong absorption feature between 500 and 550 nm, which corresponds to the pigment astaxanthin, and high reflectance in the 600–700 nm range due to the krill's red colouration. We find that the spectra of seawater containing krill is significantly different from seawater only. We conclude that it is tractable to detect high-density swarms of krill remotely using platforms such as optical satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, and further steps to carry out ground-truthing campaigns are now warranted.
This article explores the use of specially trained canines to detect the location of human burials in nonmodern archaeological contexts. It discusses the history of the discipline, training and field methods, the importance of developing a working relationship with descendant communities, project examples, an assessment of canine detection effectiveness, and ways to select a canine detection team. The article highlights how the application of canine detection training and protocols to the archaeological record makes it possible to locate potential precontact Native American burial areas without ground disturbance. In some cases, probable burial areas located by canines can be confidentially mapped to ensure avoidance during upcoming construction projects. For a variety of reasons, many Native American communities have been wary of embracing this new method to locate ancestral burials. Today, however, canine detection is widely accepted by many tribal groups in California to locate ancestral burials that might be impacted by construction. Although additional controlled studies and rigorous field laboratory experiments are needed to understand the range of variation in efficacy fully, available results in both North America and Europe demonstrate that specially trained canines can often accurately locate human burials that are more than a thousand years old to within a few meters.
Supraglacial ponds and ice cliffs can dramatically enhance ablation rates on debris-covered glaciers. Supraglacial ponds can also coalesce, forming moraine-dammed lakes at risk of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). Given Bhutanese glaciers have some of the highest ice loss rates in the Himalaya and GLOF vulnerability is high, we seek to advance our understanding of the spatial distribution and evolution of supraglacial ponds and ice cliffs. Here, we use high-resolution (3 m) Planet Labs satellite imagery to provide the first short-term, high-resolution dataset of supraglacial pond and ice cliff evolution for three glaciers along the Bhutan–Tibet border from 2016 to 2018. A total of 5754 ponds and 2088 ice cliffs were identified. Large intra-annual changes were observed, with ponded area changes and drainage events coinciding with the seasonality of the Indian Summer Monsoon. On average, ~19% of the total number of ponds had a coincident ice cliff. Pond spatial distribution was driven by ice-surface velocities, with higher numbers of ponds found in areas of low velocity (<8 m a−1). Our study provides the first detailed, quantitative investigation of supraglacial ponds and ice cliffs in Bhutan, providing a framework for further monitoring in this understudied, yet important, region of the Himalaya.
Archaeologists have long been called on to use geophysical techniques to locate unmarked graves in both archaeological and forensic contexts. Although these techniques—primarily ground-penetrating radar (GPR)—have demonstrated efficacy in this application, there are fewer examples of studies driven by Indigenous community needs. In North America, the location of ancestors and burial grounds is a priority for most Indigenous communities. We argue that when these Indigenous voices are equitably included in research design, the practice of remote sensing changes and more meaningful collaborations ensue. Drawing on Indigenous archaeology and heart-centered practices, we argue that remote-sensing survey methodologies, and the subsequent narratives produced, need to change. These approaches change both researchers’ and Indigenous communities’ relationships to the work and allow for the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in interpretation. In this article, we discuss this underexplored research trajectory, explain how it relates to modern GPR surveys for unmarked graves, and present the results from a survey conducted at the request of the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation. Although local in nature, we discuss potential benefits and challenges of Indigenous remote sensing collaborations, and we engage larger conversations happening in Indigenous communities around the ways these methods can contribute to reconciliation and decolonization.
Surface melting on Amery Ice Shelf (AIS), East Antarctica, produces an extensive supraglacial drainage system consisting of hundreds of lakes connected by surface channels. This drainage system forms most summers on the southern portion of AIS, transporting meltwater large distances northward, toward the ice front and terminating in lakes. Here we use satellite imagery, Landsat (1, 4 and 8), MODIS multispectral and Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar to examine the seasonal and interannual evolution of the drainage system over nearly five decades (1972–2019). We estimate seasonal meltwater input to one lake by integrating output from the regional climate model [Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO 2.3p2)] over its catchment defined using the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica. We find only weak positive relationships between modeled seasonal meltwater input and lake area and between meltwater input and lake volume. Consecutive years of extensive melting lead to year-on-year expansion of the drainage system, potentially through a link between melt production, refreezing in firn and the maximum extent of the lakes at the downstream termini of drainage. These mechanisms are important when evaluating the potential of drainage systems to grow in response to increased melting, delivering meltwater to areas of ice shelves vulnerable to hydrofracture.
The Huron-Wendat have had their ancestors’ villages and burial sites investigated archaeologically for over 170 years. Past and ongoing land disturbance and invasive archaeological excavation have erased dozens of Huron-Wendat village sites in Ontario, hindering Huron-Wendat duty to care for their ancestors. Consequently, over the last 20 years, in addition to large-scale repatriation of ancestral remains, the Huron-Wendat have requested that archaeologists make every effort to avoid any further excavation of ancestral sites. This poses a new challenge for archaeologists about how to learn about the Huron-Wendat past with minimal disturbance to ancestral sites. Honoring the cultural responsibilities of the Huron-Wendat, the authors have employed minimally invasive remote sensing methods of investigation on Ahatsistari, a forested early seventeenth-century Huron-Wendat village site in Simcoe County, Ontario. Remote sensing methods (e.g., magnetic susceptibility survey, high-resolution soil chemistry sampling, and metal detector survey) have revealed village limits and the possible location and orientation of longhouses, providing essential information in support of the Huron-Wendat imperative to find, assess, and preserve as many of their archaeological sites as possible. This is to protect the ancestors, learn from the ancestors, and preserve ancestral sites and related landscapes for future generations.
In recent years, researchers have focused on the applications of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in environmental remote sensing tasks. However, studies on glacier monitoring using UAV technology are relatively scarce, especially for high mountain glacier monitoring. To explore the feasibility of UAV technology for high mountain glaciers, four UAV surveys were deployed on two glaciers of the central Tibetan Plateau. Based on the images retrieved by UAV in 2017 and 2019, orthomosaics and digital elevation models were produced to quantify the length, area and elevation changes in the ablation zone of these two glaciers at different times. Additionally, we utilized several Landsat scenes to derive glacier changes over the last 30 years and combined these with the UAV data to assess the advantages and disadvantages of UAV technology in mountain glacier monitoring.
Glacier surges are periodic episodes of mass redistribution characterized by dramatic increases in ice flow velocity and, sometimes, terminus advance. We use optical satellite imagery to document five previously unexamined surge events of Sít’ Kusá (Turner Glacier) in the St. Elias Mountains of Alaska from 1983 to 2013. Surge events had an average recurrence interval of ~5 years, making it the shortest known regular recurrence interval in the world. Surge events appear to initiate in the winter, with speeds reaching up to ~25 m d−1. The surges propagate down-glacier over ~2 years, resulting in maximum thinning of ~100 m in the reservoir zone and comparable thickening at the terminus. Collectively, the rapid recurrence interval, winter initiation and down-glacier propagation suggest Sít’ Kusá's surges are driven by periodic changes in subglacial hydrology and glacier sliding. Elevation change observations from the northern tributary show a kinematic disconnect above and below an icefall located 23 km from the terminus. We suggest the kinematic disconnect inhibits drawdown from the accumulation zone above the icefall, which leads to a steady flux of ice into the reservoir zone, and contributes to the glacier's exceptionally short recurrence interval.
Knowledge of glacier volume is crucial for ice flow modelling and predicting the impacts of climate change on glaciers. Rugged terrain, harsh weather conditions and logistic costs limit field-based ice thickness observations in the Himalaya. Remote-sensing applications, together with mathematical models, provide alternative techniques for glacier ice thickness and volume estimation. The objective of the present research is to assess the application of artificial neural network (ANN) modelling coupled with remote-sensing techniques to estimate ice thickness on individual glaciers with direct field measurements. We have developed two ANN models and estimated the ice thickness of Chhota Shigri Glacier (western Himalaya) on ten transverse cross sections and two longitudinal sections. The ANN model estimates agree well with ice thickness measurements from a ground-penetrating radar, available for five transverse cross sections on Chhota Shigri Glacier. The overall root mean square errors of the two ANN models are 24 and 13 m and the mean bias errors are ±13 and ±6 m, respectively, which are significantly lower than for other available models. The estimated mean ice thickness and volume for Chhota Shigri Glacier are 109 ± 17 m and 1.69 ± 0.26 km3, respectively.
This last chapter recreates the changes in the landscape inside the two parks and their surrounding area. To do so, it uses a trove of more than 800 aerial images from 1953 to 1980 (as well as government reports, newspaper articles, and legal cases) to reconstruct the landscape before, during, and after the settlement of tens of thousands of settlers at the borderland. The chapter documents the role of logging, as carried out by Brazilian colonization companies with indigenous labor, in permanently transforming the native subtropical Atlantic forest into cropland. It also cast light on road building as one of the factors allowing migration to the region. Inside the park, the chapter argues that what is now seen as pristine nature – the forested landscape of the parks – is the fruit of decades of often contradictory policies and practices.
Supraglacial lakes and rivers dominate the storage and transport of meltwater on the southwest Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface. Despite functioning as interconnected hydrologic networks, supraglacial lakes and rivers are commonly studied as independent features, resulting in an incomplete understanding of their collective impact on meltwater storage and routing. We use Landsat 8 satellite imagery to assess the seasonal evolution of supraglacial lakes and rivers on the southwest GrIS during the 2015 melt season. Remotely sensed meltwater areas and volumes are compared with surface runoff simulations from three climate models (MERRA-2, MAR 3.6 and RACMO 2.3), and with in situ observations of proglacial discharge in the Watson River. We find: (1) at elevations >1600 m, 21% of supraglacial lakes and 28% of supraglacial rivers drain into moulins, signifying the presence of high-elevation surface-to-bed meltwater connections even during a colder-than-average melt season; (2) while supraglacial lakes dominate instantaneous surface meltwater storage, supraglacial rivers dominate total surface meltwater area and discharge; (3) the combined surface area of supraglacial lakes and rivers is strongly correlated with modeled surface runoff; and (4) of the three models examined here, MERRA-2 runoff yields the highest overall correlation with observed proglacial discharge in the Watson River.
In this study, we use aerial photographs, satellite imagery and field observations to quantify changes in the area, terminus length, snowline elevation and surface elevation of eight glaciers in the Alexandra Fiord region, eastern Ellesmere Island, between 1959 and 2019. Comparisons to written and pictorial descriptions from the British Arctic Expedition extend the record of change in terminus position and surface elevation to 1875 for Twin Glacier. Glacier area at Alexandra Fiord decreased by a total of 15.77 ± 0.65 km2 (11.77 ± 0.49%) between 1959 and 2019, the mean end of summer snowline increased in elevation by 360 ± 84 m (8 ± 2 m a−1) between 1974 and 2019, and the glaciers thinned at an average rate of 0.60 ± 0.06 m a−1 between 2001 and 2018. Annual rates of terminus retreat were ~3–5 times higher over the period 1974–2019 compared to 1875–1974, and rates of thinning were ~2–3 times higher over 2001–18 compared to 1875–2001. Our results are consistent with rates of change determined for other glaciers of similar size on Ellesmere Island, and with accelerated rates of ice loss coincident with regional increases in air temperature of ~1.5°C since the early 1980s.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, over 450 precolumbian and historic Indigenous agricultural fields were documented across the state of Wisconsin. Today, the vast majority of these features are generally assumed to have been destroyed. Focusing on the Wisconsin River basin, which has the highest concentration of known archaeological field systems in the Midwest, this study explores the potential of using historical aerial photographs to identify and interpret archaeological agricultural features. Relying on state site records, an archive of high-resolution 1930s aerial images, and modern lidar data, we carefully examine the region surrounding 59 sites where fields had previously been documented. At a quarter of the sites we investigated, we successfully identified both known and unrecorded archaeological features—including agricultural fields, effigy mounds, earthworks, and house basins—most of which have been destroyed by recent land use practices. Our analysis sheds light on the complexity and richness of the archaeological landscape, with vast agricultural spaces situated beyond traditional site boundaries, and suggests that precolumbian and historic Indigenous agricultural fields may have been much larger and more widespread than conventionally understood.
Multi-decadal mass loss estimates are available for few glaciers of Central Asia. On Abramov Glacier (Pamir-Alay, Kyrgyzstan), comprehensive long-term glaciological measurements have been carried out from 1968 to 1999 and re-initiated in 2011. A climatological interpretation of this benchmark glacier in Central Asia requires bridging the gap between historical and renewed measurements. This is achieved here by computing the geodetic mass balance from 1975 to 2015 using previously unreleased Soviet aerial imagery and Pléaides stereo-imagery. During 1975–2015, Abramov Glacier lost 2.2 km2 (8.2%) of its area. The mean annual thickness change was − 0.43 ± 0.14 m a−1 for the period 1975–2015, corresponding to a volume change of − 0.45 ± 0.15 km3. The average specific geodetic mass balance amounts to − 0.38 ± 0.12 m w.e. a−1. The 1975–2015 glacier mass loss lies within the range of glaciological and geodetic mass-balance estimates that were previously published for disparate and shorter time intervals since 1968. This study covers a much longer time period than earlier geodetic estimates and demonstrates the capacity to geodetically constrain glacier change at high spatial resolution in Central Asia using historic aerial imagery and Structure from Motion techniques. Therefore, it could serve as a benchmark for future studies of regional mass change.
A programmable borehole measurement system was deployed in hot water drilled ice holes during the ‘Bed Access and Monitoring of Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project to drill to the bed of the Rutford Ice Stream in West Antarctica. This system operates autonomously (no live data) after deployment, and records borehole diameter (non-contact measurement), water column pressure, heading and inclination. Three cameras, two sideways looking and one vertical, are also included for visual inspection of hole integrity and sediments. The system is small, lightweight (~35.5 kg) and low power using only 6 ‘D’ cell sized lithium batteries, making it ideal for transport and use in remote field sites. The system is 2.81 m long and 165 mm in diameter, and can be deployed attached to the drill hose for measurements during drilling or on its own deployment line afterwards. The full system is discussed in detail, highlighting design strengths and weaknesses. Data from the BEAMISH project are also presented in the form of camera images showing hole integrity, and sensor data used to calculate borehole diameter through the full length of the hole. These data are used to show confidence in hole verticality and subsurface cavity development and connection.
Surface albedo typically dominates the mass balance of mountain glaciers, though long-term trends and patterns of glacier albedo are seldom explored. We calculated broadband shortwave albedo for glaciers in the central Chilean Andes (33–34°S) using end-of-summer Landsat scenes between 1986 and 2020. We found a high inter-annual variability of glacier-wide albedo that is largely a function of the glacier fractional snow-covered area and the total precipitation of the preceding hydrological year (up to 69% of the inter-annual variance explained). Under the 2010–2020 ‘Mega Drought’ period, the mean albedo, regionally averaged ranging from ~0.25–0.5, decreased by −0.05 on average relative to 1986–2009, with the greatest reduction occurring 3500–5000 m a.s.l. In 2020, differences relative to 1986–2009 were −0.14 on average as a result of near-complete absence of late summer snow cover and the driest hydrological year since the Landsat observation period began (~90% reduction of annual precipitation relative to the 1986–2009 period). We found statistically significant, negative trends in glacier ice albedo of up to −0.03 per decade, a trend that would have serious implications for the future water security of the region, because glacier ice melt acts to buffer streamflow shortages under severe drought conditions.
The Drygalski Ice Tongue in East Antarctica stretches 90 km into the Ross Sea and influences the local ocean circulation, and persistence of the Terra Nova Bay Polynya. We examine the controls on the size of this floating ice body by comparing the propagation of six large fractures on the ice tongue's northern side using 21 years of Landsat imagery with hydrostatic ice thickness maps and strain rate calculations. We also apply a subglacial hydrology model to estimate the location and discharge from subglacial channels over the grounding line and compare these with basal channels identified along the ice tongue using remote sensing and airborne radar data. Our results suggest that large fractures are inhibited from full-width propagation by thicker ice between basal channels. We hypothesize that only once the ice tongue thins towards the terminus, can fractures propagate and cause large calving events. This suggests an important relationship between the melting of floating ice from subglacial and ocean sources and the expansion of fractures that lead to ice tongue calving.
In this study, our goal is to track internal ice layers on the Snow Radar data collected by NASA Operation IceBridge. We examine the application of deep learning methods on radar data gathered from polar regions. Artificial intelligence techniques have displayed impressive success in many practical fields. Deep neural networks owe their success to the availability of massive labeled data. However, in many real-world problems, even when a large dataset is available, deep learning methods have shown less success, due to causes such as lack of a large labeled dataset, presence of noise in the data or missing data. In our radar data, the presence of noise is one of the main obstacles in utilizing popular deep learning methods such as transfer learning. Our experiments show that if the neural network is trained to detect contours of objects in electro-optical imagery, it can only track a low percentage of contours in radar data. Fine-tuning and further training do not provide any better results. However, we show that selecting the right model and training it on the radar imagery from the start yields far better results.
The only complete inventory of New Zealand glaciers was based on aerial photography starting in 1978. While there have been partial updates using 2002 and 2009 satellite data, most glaciers are still represented by the 1978 outlines in contemporary global glacier databases. The objective of this project is to establish an updated glacier inventory for New Zealand. We have used Landsat 8 OLI satellite imagery from February and March 2016 for delineating clean glaciers using a semi-automatic band ratio method and debris-covered glaciers using a maximum likelihood classification. The outlines have been checked against Sentinel-2 MSI data, which have a higher resolution. Manual post processing was necessary due to misclassifications (e.g. lakes, clouds), mapping in shadowed areas, and combining the clean and debris-covered parts into single glaciers. New Zealand glaciers cover an area of 794 ± 34 km2 in 2016 with a debris-covered area of 10%. Of the 2918 glaciers, seven glaciers are >10 km2 while 71% is <0.1 km2. The debris cover on those largest glaciers is >40%. Only 15 glaciers are located on the North Island. For a selection of glaciers, we were able to calculate the area reduction between the 1978 and 2016 inventories.
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection. | https://core-cms.prod.aop.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5Bkeywords%5D=remote%20sensing |
Updated : 4 days, 2 hours ago IST
Washington D.C. [USA], Apr 19 (ANI): As part of a recent study, a team of archaeologists tried to recreate ancient brewing techniques to learn how beer kept an ancient empire afloat.
Updated : 6 days, 21 hours ago IST
New Delhi [India], Apr 16 (ANI): Two people have been arrested for carrying out several burglaries in secluded farmhouses in South Delhi.
Updated : 2 weeks ago IST
Kalahandi (Odisha) [India], April 9 (ANI): Setting an exemplary example of selfless-service, a labourer from the district has set-up an ashram to nurture and feed homeless children.
Updated : 3 weeks, 4 days ago IST
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Mar 29 (ANI): Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan has promised drinking water to all houses, a corruption-free government and generation of jobs, if his party is voted to power in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and assembly bypolls in Tamil Nadu.<
Updated : 1 month ago IST
Christchurch [New Zealand], Mar 18 (ANI): Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian-born suspect accused of gunning down 50 people during Friday's terror attacks here dismissed his lawyer and is planning to represent himself in future court hearings, raising fears that he could att
Harare [Zimbabwe], Mar 18 (ANI): The death toll from Cyclone Idai which ravaged Zimbabwe earlier this week rose to 65, officials confirmed on Sunday.
Updated : 1 month, 1 week ago IST
Harare [Zimbabwe], Mar 17 (ANI): A tropical cyclone left a trail of destruction in eastern Zimbabwe, with flash floods sweeping away houses and destroying trees and crops, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds of others. At least 40 people are also missing in the calamity, authorities said
Updated : 1 month, 2 weeks ago IST
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], March 6 (ANI): A fire broke out in the wee hours of Wednesday in a Shimla village, gutting at least seven houses and affecting 16 families, police said.
Updated : 1 month, 3 weeks ago IST
Kullu (Himachal Pradesh) [India], Feb 25 (ANI): Ten houses in Jind village of Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district were gutted in a fire on Monday. No loss of human life has been reported.
Colombo [Sri Lanka], Feb 24 (ANI): A total of 155 houses built by India under the Indian Housing Project in Sri Lanka, were on Sunday handed over to the residents of the country's plantation area.
Updated : 1 month, 4 weeks ago IST
Bandipora (Jammu and Kashmir), [India], Feb 23: An avalanche hit Khandiyal village close to the Army Camp in Dawar, Gurez at 9 pm on Friday. A total of 18 houses were completely damaged and 28 other houses suffered partial damage.
Bandipora (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], Feb 23 (ANI): Khandiyal village in Gurez sector of the district was hit by an avalanche on Thursday late evening. | https://www.aninews.in/search/?query=houses |
In early July, Statistics South Africa released the Community Survey 2016. This survey is intended to be a supplement to the 2011 census and is based on interviews with roughly 1.37 million households in South African (+/- 9% of South Africa’s population).
On the one hand, the statistical picture presented is encouraging. In 2016, 74.4% of households in South Africa had access to water either inside their dwelling, or inside the yard, and 80% of households had access to adequate sanitation.
Between 2001 and 2016, the number of households who had their refuse removed at least once a week increased from 55.4% to 61%, and the number of households with electricity (and who use it for lighting) increased from 69.7% in 2001 to 90.3% in 2016. Notably, 79.2% of households are now living in formal dwellings, up from 68.5% in 2001.
However, one of the newer approaches in this survey was to ask households what they considered the main problem or difficulty facing the municipality in which they live. The results of this are relatively perplexing, and seemingly contradictory to that found by the ‘objective’ questions in the survey. Specifically, in South Africa the five main challenges identified are as follows (and shown in the diagram below):
- lack of a safe and reliable water supply
- lack of or inadequate employment opportunities
- the cost of electricity
- inadequate housing
- violence and crime.
The findings regarding safe and reliable water supply, and the issue of inadequate housing, are particularly contradictory given the high and increasing number of households living in ‘formal houses’ and the number of houses with access to adequate water. However, this might not indicate a contradiction, but rather that we are asking the wrong questions regarding housing and service delivery.
For example, with regards to housing, there have been several studies of subsidy houses that have challenged the quality of housing product delivered. A study done by Narasi et al in 2013 found that RDP houses in Durban were only marginally less crowded than informal dwellings (+/- 4.2 occupants per a room), and levels of dissatisfaction were roughly the same for informal dwellings and RDP houses with regards to dwelling, kitchen and bedroom size, and also on issues of overcrowding, noise and crime. This was similar to the findings of Kang’ethe and Manomano 2015, who found that residents of RDP houses in their study area perceived their dwellings to have poor quality roofs (72% of respondents), windows (74%), walls (76%), toilets (58%), floors (72%) and doors (82%); as well as finding a general dissatisfaction with dwelling size (80% of respondents). (See also the studies by Manomano and Tanga 2015, Molla et al 2015 and Public Service Commission 2003, all of which arrive at similar conclusions to the aforementioned studies.)
With regard to water, the issue seems to be less clearly understood and more nuanced. One dimension of the reliability crisis seems to relate to the time it takes for the municipality to fix breakdowns in water supply. In one study in Limpopo, it was found that the municipality took around three to five weeks to restore the water supply, and on average the system broke down twice a year. The other issue is the effect that water storage and transfer devices (buckets, tanks, etc.) have on water quality. Specifically, the containers used to store and transport water can result in the contamination of drinking water.
In short, while many more households in South Africa in 2016 may now have access to water, and have a ‘formal’ house, in most respects it appears that these interventions have had less than the intended effect on improving respondents’ lot in life.
Seemingly, the emphasis has been wrong with regards to both water and shelter provision, and a major rethink of government policy for both these sectors is now required. There is also an urgent need to rethink the standard survey approach in South Africa, specifically to change the focus from access to water and formality of houses and rather to investigate the quality and reliability of water provision and the adequacy of shelter provided. Only then will we have a true picture of household quality of life in South Africa, and be able to measure ‘true’ progress in this regard.
Stuart Denoon-Stevens is a professional planner, a junior lecturer at the University of the Free State, and a researcher focusing on municipal land management, with a particular emphasis on pro-poor approaches. | https://www.urbanafrica.net/urban-voices/the-two-faces-of-service-delivery-in-south-africa/ |
I have itchy feet and want to wander the country soaking in all the beauty around me. But that is not my life right now, so I'm settling for painting places I haven't yet been, but want to see. Thank goodness someone else is out there wandering and supplying me with reference photos.
5 x 7 inches.
Number 198: Rushing Water
7/8/2013
Nunber 197: Abstract Flag-SOLD
7/5/2013
I thought for the last picture of the week, I would dabble with an abstract rendition using the flag as a starting point.
5 x 7
I used to live in Virginia where it's legal to sell fireworks. It seems like every corner has a fireworks stand and it's a booming business for a couple of weeks leading up to the fourth. Happy Independence Day!
5 x 7 inches
Number 195: In All It's Glory
7/3/2013
This house is right in my neighborhood and the flag is right at the doorway. You can't miss it, it dominates the house and adds a lovely pop of color to a low hued townhouse development.
7 x 5 inches
I came across this mailbox adorned with a red, white & blue bow. It must have been tied on the post for many years because it was very faded, but I gave it new life.
5 x 7 inches
For this first week of July, I'm searching out flags and other patriotic emblems on houses in my area as a nod to Independence Day. I want to keep working at the impressionistic style I'm trying to develop, and it will be interesting to see how it goes since many subjects will include houses and other man made objects and I'm not sure how well they lend themselves to this genre.
Some neighborhoods have a flag at almost every house, but others have none. For the first painting of the week, I chose this lovely brick home with a flag flying from the portico out front.
7 x 5 inches
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Author
I'm an fine art artist in Raleigh, North Carolina. I need a paintbrush in my hand to feel complete and I invite you to follow me on my art journey. Everyday brings new ideas and projects... there simply is not enough time... On December 1, 2012, I joined the community of artists who paint a painting each and every day. I haven't been able to keep up with the daily painting, but I'm trying hard to keep my paintbrushes busy. | http://www.sharonlillart.org/blog/archives/07-2013/2 |
KAIRI NEWS – The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica will be soon handing over keys to a number of families to their brand new homes within the Bellevue Chopin Resettlement Project.
Project Director of Montreal Management Consultants Est. (MMCE), Chris Timmims confirmed that in addition to the 38 units provided just before Christmas 2018, another 52 units will be available for residency later this week and another 100 units, by the third week in April.
Timmims confirmed that there are a range of houses being built, including 4 bedroom semi-detached houses,3 bedroom semi detached, 3 bedroom apartments and 2 bedroom apartments. He further went on to say the houses handed over in the first batch were 4 bedroom semi detached houses, 3 bedroom semi detached houses and 3 bedroom apartments. In the subsequent release of houses will be all 3 bedroom houses and 3 bedroom apartments and for the last handing over in April, a mixture of types of houses will be available.
He explained the 3 bedroom houses are 1500 square feet and all buildings are completed with reinforced concrete, solar heating and hurricane proof windows with good finishing and quality. | https://kairifm.com/the-government-of-dominica-to-soon-hand-over-keys-to-families-within-the-bellevue-chopin-resettlement-project/ |
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