On the 15th of April, Frank Ching, a regular columnist for South China Morning Post (SCMP), wrote an article called “The New ‘Sick Man’”.
The content of the article, in a nutshell, is the comparison between USA’s attitudes of late with China’s behaviour in the past. The author’s approach to make that comparison was rather unusual. In fact, Ching’s list of facts about China’s fortunes from rags to riches was so long that one gets lost halfway confused if the author’s intention was to pay unduly homage to China’s efforts or a wake-up call to America.
The author starts off by describing that for centuries China believed in its superiority over their neighbouring nations who in the Chinese eyes were nothing more than “Barbarians”. This smugness led Chinese emperors to decline trading and diplomatic relations with foreign nations. And it was precisely these cocoon policies that led China to fall behind in global stature as it stopped the flow of great minds interacting with their Chinese counterparts.
The author believes that America has fallen victim to the same sense of superiority and smugness that was once observed in China which brought this Asian country to its knees in the 19th century. Although such a statement was made, the author delivered some very weak arguments as to why USA carried smugness.
He points out that USA calls their annual baseball championship the World Series when no other nations participate in the competition. The author also points out that 150yrs ago, Chinese workers were being taken to America in conditions slightly better than slaves to build the railroads, where as now, China is offering technology and engineers to US to help build a modern rail system, which in the author’s eyes means that China can now command respect from the rest of the world, with its high-quality but low-priced products.
I have to admit that I share the same sense of admiration for China’s economic miracle. However, the text itself offered a certain favouritism towards China and as such, the arguments presented at the end showed signs of being rather biased in my view.
Has China really gained respect from the world for its high-quality, low-priced products? I beg to differ. Let’s not forget that not so long ago, the whole world heard the scandals that certain merchants in China were exporting chemically made fake eggs and baby formulas that contain melamine. Both are daily consumed products that can cause devastating health risks to humans.
Chinese economic miracle is not a unique phenomenon. We have witnessed similar cases in two neighbouring countries in Japan (60s and 70s) and then in S. Korea (70s and 80s), where both countries were able to squeeze their products in the global market by producing high-quality, low-priced products. In fact, this phenomenon was coined the Flying Geese Paradigm by Japanese economists, which points out that the rest of Asia will follow in Japan’s footsteps into economic miracle.
Ching pointed out that China had a capable government because it rebounded from the global financial crisis at a much faster rate than America. This is certainly true, but what he neglected to explain was that when the global financial crisis hit, America and China were in very different positions. America was already in deficit, engaged in two overseas wars, and had a widespread problem with subprime. China on the other hand had a trade surplus and had accumulated a massive foreign exchange reserve of 2.4trillion, i.e., 30% of world’s total. China was always in a far better position to rebound from any economic crisis than US.
The author also points out that China currently is offering to supply US with technology and engineers to build a high-speed rail lines system in California. It gives the readers a false sense that America has fallen behind China in technology.
But in reality the reason why America has fallen behind other nations in the development of Public transportation is one of logistics and lack of demand.
Cross-state travels are usually done by plane because almost every state in America has good airport facilities, besides planes are simply less time consuming and inexpensive. Public transportation was never that popular in US, with Americans preferring private cars. But as more and more Californians face congestion in their highways, some are demanding greener, and inexpensive alternative means of transportation.
China on the other hand doesn’t have a culture of using cars to commute. This is a nation where, even in today’s standards, 54million bicycles are sold per year. Also, travelling in China by plane is still an expensive means of transportation for the majority of the Chinese. The trains being state owned cost a fraction of the price.
China saw a need to develop their railway system and so went straight to the source (Germany, France and Japan). For 2 decades China has imported German, French and Japanese bullet train technology and at the same time developed their own. The Chinese have added changes and innovations, but complains have been forthcoming that their systems are just too similar to the Japanese. This could spark a patent infringement trial.
The fact that Chinese contractors are being considered is simply because they already have the technology in place, the know-how and they can do it for a much cheaper price compared to other contractors from Germany, Japan, France, etc…who are also competing for the same deal.
Ching says that America is smug and believes that they are the best and the world revolves around them, but then how does he justify that California is considering railway proposals from all these foreign businesses instead of its national ones? Surely, following his train of thought, one must deduce that America, smug as it is, would dismiss foreign proposals and go for the national proposals, just like Emperor Qianglong dismissed the foreign envoys with trade proposals by declaring that China has no reason to engage in trades since it has everything that it needs…
The article’s major flaw is that it dealt with the issue as if USA were ruled by one party alone, or that parties change but the exact same ideologies apply. In reality, the republicans and the democrats have noticeable opposing policies.
In reality Obama’s mandate, short as it may be, is very different from Bush’s. Bush’s administration is described by most as a government that was willing to go to war without an international consent, even if it meant breaking foreign relations. Obama, who has lived outside of US, is much more willing to engage in dialogues than his predecessor, and in several occasions has pledged to once again unite the world by bridging those gaps left by the previous administration.
Perhaps one major difference between the Chinese and American societies is the question of freedom of speech. With the recent health bill, fierce debates followed for months and voices were heard from both sides, those who supported the republican’s views and those who believed in the democrat’s proposal.
One might think that opposing opinions can hinder advancement, dragging proposals unnecessarily. However, it is generally accepted that open debates keep people in check making sure that administrations do not abuse their power. When they do and the people are unhappy, they simply vote for the opposing party.
Ching’s “The New ‘Sick Man’” offered a very interesting read but two fundamental flaws weakened his case. China’s economic development are facts, which are to China’s credit, few will dispute that, but Ching’s over emphasis on China’s economic miracle disregarding completely the social and political issues, gives his arguments less merit. Also, he dedicated no more than two short paragraphs to the support of his case that America is a country in decline due to their smugness. More solid evidence is needed to support this claim. In truth, despite America’s plight in the financial sector, the USDollar remains strong and the American economy is still sound. Nothing suggests that people are writing off US just yet.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
HIV Spreads Among the Gay Population in Africa
In a recent report on BBC it was reported that AIDS was transmitting in an alarming rate among gay men in most of the sub-Saharan African countries.
The report says that of the estimated 33mil people in the world who contracted the HIV disease, two-thirds live in sub-Saharan Africa.
On the same report it said that one of the reasons that caused the circulation of the disease is prejudice towards gay people. The prejudice of the general public leads to harassment and subsequently isolation of the gay community, and this in turn leads to risky sexual practices.
Several prominent activists on gay rights in African nations proclaimed that due to “cultural, religious, and political unwillingness to accept gays as equal members of the society”, gay men will often “hide their sexual orientation” and get married and have children, but continue to have sex with men. Often transmitting HIV to the women and children in the family.
In one article by Minh T. Nguyen on history of gay civil rights, he claims that in a statistic report it was noted that gay men were more likely to not use condom when having sex, because of not running the risk of pregnancy and certainly in the BBC report, it seems to support such view, when it is claimed that men tend to use condoms when having intercourse with women but not with men.
The story of a society that is not open to gay rights, brings memories of a movie called “Philadelphia”.
In the movie, one gay character by the name of Andrew Beckett played by Tom Hanks goes into a cinema in 1983/84, where gay pornographic movies were played, and engages in risqué sex with a stranger. Fast forward 10 years later, Beckett became a successful lawyer but is dying of AIDS and is fighting a litigation battle in court for wrongful dismissal. He confesses that 10ys ago he did not know how AIDS can be contracted.
The story although based on a true story is in every sense fictional but it does portray how societies which are not receptive of homosexuals can lead them to seek what would some call “alternative lifestyles”.
In the West, in the last 30 years we have seen that gay rights movement have gained pace, especially among European countries such as Norway and Denmark where gay marriage was legalized in 1989 and 1993. In the UK, civil partnership between gay couples became legal in 2004/2005.
People became inspired by the civil rights movement initiated by people such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, of the 60s in US. Their success gave gay people a new wave of confidence to pursue their own set of rights.
The Stonewall riot of 1969 was a defining moment in the history of gay rights movement not just in US but also around the world. It led to serious altercations between police and rioters. The New York police tried to close down some local gay bars, and in return they were forced to barricade themselves inside the bars after some 500 rioters showed up.
In the UK, up until 1967, homosexuality was considered a crime, and although later it was decriminalized, in 1988, laws such as section 28 was still being passed.
Section 28, prohibited local councils to distribute leaflets, plays, books, or any other material that promoted gay relationships, this law was viewed by many gays and lesbians as discriminating and subsequently led to the establishment of a non-profit organization called Stonewall, which fought for gay rights within the UK.
Section 28 sparked controversy and in 1988, some of the most prominent individuals in UK, including actor Sir Ian McKellen marched on the streets of Manchester opposing the law.
The recognition of gay rights among governments in Western societies came because gay movements have actively fought against prejudice, and it was these movements that have shifted the perception of the general public, leading to a greater support.
When prejudice towards any group of people, whether is it is homosexuality, race, gender inequality, etc… persists in any nation, it usually is because not enough progress has been made among those who are fighting for those rights.
To conclude, a quote from the Philadelphia film, an exchange of words between the judge and the lawyer who is fighting for Andrew Beckett, seems to be befit this situation.
Judge Garret: In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Joe Miller: With all due respect, your honour, we don’t live in this courtroom, do we?
The report says that of the estimated 33mil people in the world who contracted the HIV disease, two-thirds live in sub-Saharan Africa.
On the same report it said that one of the reasons that caused the circulation of the disease is prejudice towards gay people. The prejudice of the general public leads to harassment and subsequently isolation of the gay community, and this in turn leads to risky sexual practices.
Several prominent activists on gay rights in African nations proclaimed that due to “cultural, religious, and political unwillingness to accept gays as equal members of the society”, gay men will often “hide their sexual orientation” and get married and have children, but continue to have sex with men. Often transmitting HIV to the women and children in the family.
In one article by Minh T. Nguyen on history of gay civil rights, he claims that in a statistic report it was noted that gay men were more likely to not use condom when having sex, because of not running the risk of pregnancy and certainly in the BBC report, it seems to support such view, when it is claimed that men tend to use condoms when having intercourse with women but not with men.
The story of a society that is not open to gay rights, brings memories of a movie called “Philadelphia”.
In the movie, one gay character by the name of Andrew Beckett played by Tom Hanks goes into a cinema in 1983/84, where gay pornographic movies were played, and engages in risqué sex with a stranger. Fast forward 10 years later, Beckett became a successful lawyer but is dying of AIDS and is fighting a litigation battle in court for wrongful dismissal. He confesses that 10ys ago he did not know how AIDS can be contracted.
The story although based on a true story is in every sense fictional but it does portray how societies which are not receptive of homosexuals can lead them to seek what would some call “alternative lifestyles”.
In the West, in the last 30 years we have seen that gay rights movement have gained pace, especially among European countries such as Norway and Denmark where gay marriage was legalized in 1989 and 1993. In the UK, civil partnership between gay couples became legal in 2004/2005.
People became inspired by the civil rights movement initiated by people such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, of the 60s in US. Their success gave gay people a new wave of confidence to pursue their own set of rights.
The Stonewall riot of 1969 was a defining moment in the history of gay rights movement not just in US but also around the world. It led to serious altercations between police and rioters. The New York police tried to close down some local gay bars, and in return they were forced to barricade themselves inside the bars after some 500 rioters showed up.
In the UK, up until 1967, homosexuality was considered a crime, and although later it was decriminalized, in 1988, laws such as section 28 was still being passed.
Section 28, prohibited local councils to distribute leaflets, plays, books, or any other material that promoted gay relationships, this law was viewed by many gays and lesbians as discriminating and subsequently led to the establishment of a non-profit organization called Stonewall, which fought for gay rights within the UK.
Section 28 sparked controversy and in 1988, some of the most prominent individuals in UK, including actor Sir Ian McKellen marched on the streets of Manchester opposing the law.
The recognition of gay rights among governments in Western societies came because gay movements have actively fought against prejudice, and it was these movements that have shifted the perception of the general public, leading to a greater support.
When prejudice towards any group of people, whether is it is homosexuality, race, gender inequality, etc… persists in any nation, it usually is because not enough progress has been made among those who are fighting for those rights.
To conclude, a quote from the Philadelphia film, an exchange of words between the judge and the lawyer who is fighting for Andrew Beckett, seems to be befit this situation.
Judge Garret: In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Joe Miller: With all due respect, your honour, we don’t live in this courtroom, do we?
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
EBay Cancelled Annual EBay Live!
After hosting eBay Live since 2002, EBay has finally called it quits on 2009 and have organized a different format for sellers to meet up in a smaller scale localized events.
A quote from the Wall Street Journal, the EBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman says that “at some point eBay Live got too overwhelming and it became too large to really have the sort of interactions our customers need”.
As it was stated by Ina Steiner the blogger from AuctionBytes, at its peak, eBay Live attracted over 15,000 attendees and eBay executives were often greeted with standing ovations, but soon the atmosphere changed and became “difficult”.
Skip McGrath, a long time eBay seller and author who attended all the previous events, when interviewed by Wall Street Journal, said that after eBay made several changes on pricing and listing in 2008, that the mood during eBay Live became sombre and eBay executives were greeted with boos from the audience.
The changes that eBay made that led to jeers from former supporters stem from the company’s change of policy of benefiting the large power sellers rather than small merchants. The concept of eBay as an online flea market is over.
First, eBay changed their previous non-involvement role on transactions to a more centric role in solving disputes. EBay also made it compulsory for all sellers to establish a return policy. Power sellers, are more equipped to deal with returned products than smaller sellers.
Second, eBay adopted a more sophisticated software system which will formulate FAQ sessions for the buyer to the seller in regard to an item on auction, eliminating the cumbersome process that sellers have on answering thousands of individual questions.
Third, the listing structure have changed, sellers now can make 1 listing for multiple items of different colours, paying only once for listing the same product of different colours. In the past, the same situation would have resulted in two separate listings.
Fourth, the fee for listing items became cheaper, but in comparison the commission for a sold item became more expensive. This again, made it cheaper for power sellers who list hundreds and thousands of items, but it affects the small seller who only lists a few items.
These changes were designed to shift eBay’s emphasis away from auctions style sales and more towards a fixed-price listing, which clearly benefits the power seller but alienates the smaller sellers who made eBay grow in the 90s.
The end of eBay Live is not viewed as a bad move from eBay by everyone. McGrath, welcomes the new format and adds that after “attending a localized small scale Amazon event that featured no more than 200 sellers, with a 2 hour Q&A session and a lunch box, almost all sellers left happy and clarified with the answers provided by the Amazon executives”.
It has been noted by Reuters that the move of scaling down its operations was exacerbated by the recession who forced eBay to change its marketing tactics and cut back the costs. Low key meetings would yield lower costs.
To borrow a term used by Eturbonews, “the AIG effect” has had an impact on US corporations. It seems that back in 2008 in September, just days after accepting an $85billion federal bailout, AIG executives spent $443,000 on an annual holiday package in Las Vegas.
This news created a backlash effect with severe negative publicity among the media who simply crucified several of the US corporations receiving bailout.
After this incident, several corporations such as Google, who in recent years has set the standard for extravagance in holiday blowout bashes with 10,000 people attending their party, opted for a much more modest team-focused party within departments. Other companies such as Viacom and ABC News have cancelled their annual holiday party and instead gave employees extra days off (MSN Money News).
The ending of eBay Live in favour of smaller scale meetings accommodates the sellers by cutting their travelling costs. Also, a smaller scale meeting with 500 people is much more manageable than a 15,000 strong participants.
The smaller meetings can allow eBay executives to bond with the sellers. This closer personalized interaction will allow eBay to answer any questions the sellers might have and, therefore diminishing the chances of a joyless environment.
According to some analysts, such as Geoffrey A. Fowler, writer of the WSJ, these series of moves by eBay are strategies laid out to specifically close the gap with Amazon.
In recent years, Amazon has become eBay’s main competitor with an ever-growing selection of fixed-price items accompanied with free shipping promotions, which became a popular option for consumers as they shifted their internet shopping habits.
A quote from the Wall Street Journal, the EBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman says that “at some point eBay Live got too overwhelming and it became too large to really have the sort of interactions our customers need”.
As it was stated by Ina Steiner the blogger from AuctionBytes, at its peak, eBay Live attracted over 15,000 attendees and eBay executives were often greeted with standing ovations, but soon the atmosphere changed and became “difficult”.
Skip McGrath, a long time eBay seller and author who attended all the previous events, when interviewed by Wall Street Journal, said that after eBay made several changes on pricing and listing in 2008, that the mood during eBay Live became sombre and eBay executives were greeted with boos from the audience.
The changes that eBay made that led to jeers from former supporters stem from the company’s change of policy of benefiting the large power sellers rather than small merchants. The concept of eBay as an online flea market is over.
First, eBay changed their previous non-involvement role on transactions to a more centric role in solving disputes. EBay also made it compulsory for all sellers to establish a return policy. Power sellers, are more equipped to deal with returned products than smaller sellers.
Second, eBay adopted a more sophisticated software system which will formulate FAQ sessions for the buyer to the seller in regard to an item on auction, eliminating the cumbersome process that sellers have on answering thousands of individual questions.
Third, the listing structure have changed, sellers now can make 1 listing for multiple items of different colours, paying only once for listing the same product of different colours. In the past, the same situation would have resulted in two separate listings.
Fourth, the fee for listing items became cheaper, but in comparison the commission for a sold item became more expensive. This again, made it cheaper for power sellers who list hundreds and thousands of items, but it affects the small seller who only lists a few items.
These changes were designed to shift eBay’s emphasis away from auctions style sales and more towards a fixed-price listing, which clearly benefits the power seller but alienates the smaller sellers who made eBay grow in the 90s.
The end of eBay Live is not viewed as a bad move from eBay by everyone. McGrath, welcomes the new format and adds that after “attending a localized small scale Amazon event that featured no more than 200 sellers, with a 2 hour Q&A session and a lunch box, almost all sellers left happy and clarified with the answers provided by the Amazon executives”.
It has been noted by Reuters that the move of scaling down its operations was exacerbated by the recession who forced eBay to change its marketing tactics and cut back the costs. Low key meetings would yield lower costs.
To borrow a term used by Eturbonews, “the AIG effect” has had an impact on US corporations. It seems that back in 2008 in September, just days after accepting an $85billion federal bailout, AIG executives spent $443,000 on an annual holiday package in Las Vegas.
This news created a backlash effect with severe negative publicity among the media who simply crucified several of the US corporations receiving bailout.
After this incident, several corporations such as Google, who in recent years has set the standard for extravagance in holiday blowout bashes with 10,000 people attending their party, opted for a much more modest team-focused party within departments. Other companies such as Viacom and ABC News have cancelled their annual holiday party and instead gave employees extra days off (MSN Money News).
The ending of eBay Live in favour of smaller scale meetings accommodates the sellers by cutting their travelling costs. Also, a smaller scale meeting with 500 people is much more manageable than a 15,000 strong participants.
The smaller meetings can allow eBay executives to bond with the sellers. This closer personalized interaction will allow eBay to answer any questions the sellers might have and, therefore diminishing the chances of a joyless environment.
According to some analysts, such as Geoffrey A. Fowler, writer of the WSJ, these series of moves by eBay are strategies laid out to specifically close the gap with Amazon.
In recent years, Amazon has become eBay’s main competitor with an ever-growing selection of fixed-price items accompanied with free shipping promotions, which became a popular option for consumers as they shifted their internet shopping habits.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Cats Get What They Want with Crying Purrs
A new study has found the reason why cat owners across the world find it difficult to reject waking up in the morning when their cat pets annoy them with high pitch purrs.
A team of researchers from University of Sussex lead by Karen McComb published a paper in the journal Current Biology, have found that cats who live on a one-on-one situation with their owners have learned to purr on a higher frequency which resembled a baby cry (From ABC.NET.AU).
According to the study, these baby cry purrs trigger a natural instinct to nurture in humans and in return the cats will get more attention from their owners.
McComb call these high frequency purrs a Solicitation Purring. She makes the distinction between solicitation purring with plain meowing which she says that the latter will more likely result in cats being thrown out of the room (The Telegraph).
The team’s study involved in playing back the recorded soliciting purrs and non-soliciting purrs among a group of human volunteers and those who have had no prior experience with cats also “found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant.” She notes (BBC).
This study is reminiscent of a similar study done by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, who won a Nobel Prize for his research in the digestive system but is rather widely famous for his Classical Conditioning study on dogs.
From the Nobel Prize website, it is understood that Pavlov found that by pairing the ringing of a bell with the offering of food, his laboratory dogs learned the association between bell and food, and hence every time the bell rang the dogs will start to salivate involuntarily even when no food was offered.
This learning process by association, Pavlov called it Classical Conditioning.
McComb’s study points out that cats learn to purr in higher frequency resembling baby cry to grab the owners attention and therefore get what they want which is food.
Cats have learned through a trial process that when they meow they are thrown out of the room, but when they purr resembling a baby cry, they get the food. It is this association between purring and food that causes cats to continue to use the purring sound.
One of the most important findings of this study is that humans respond differently to different stimulus and in this case with cats, humans’ annoyance threshold seems to be less tolerant with meows and more responsive when it’s a purr combined with a cry.
A team of researchers from University of Sussex lead by Karen McComb published a paper in the journal Current Biology, have found that cats who live on a one-on-one situation with their owners have learned to purr on a higher frequency which resembled a baby cry (From ABC.NET.AU).
According to the study, these baby cry purrs trigger a natural instinct to nurture in humans and in return the cats will get more attention from their owners.
McComb call these high frequency purrs a Solicitation Purring. She makes the distinction between solicitation purring with plain meowing which she says that the latter will more likely result in cats being thrown out of the room (The Telegraph).
The team’s study involved in playing back the recorded soliciting purrs and non-soliciting purrs among a group of human volunteers and those who have had no prior experience with cats also “found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant.” She notes (BBC).
This study is reminiscent of a similar study done by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, who won a Nobel Prize for his research in the digestive system but is rather widely famous for his Classical Conditioning study on dogs.
From the Nobel Prize website, it is understood that Pavlov found that by pairing the ringing of a bell with the offering of food, his laboratory dogs learned the association between bell and food, and hence every time the bell rang the dogs will start to salivate involuntarily even when no food was offered.
This learning process by association, Pavlov called it Classical Conditioning.
McComb’s study points out that cats learn to purr in higher frequency resembling baby cry to grab the owners attention and therefore get what they want which is food.
Cats have learned through a trial process that when they meow they are thrown out of the room, but when they purr resembling a baby cry, they get the food. It is this association between purring and food that causes cats to continue to use the purring sound.
One of the most important findings of this study is that humans respond differently to different stimulus and in this case with cats, humans’ annoyance threshold seems to be less tolerant with meows and more responsive when it’s a purr combined with a cry.
Monday, 13 July 2009
Let’s Study Derrières
I remember when I was young, my grandma and her old ladies friends telling me that when I grow up, I should pick a woman with a large pelvic bone because it will bring me good fortune. In fact, the exact words they used were: “She will bear you many boys!”
At the time I didn’t understand the concept of how children are born let alone the correlation between bottoms and bearing children. I do remember, however, after that incident while taking a walk with my parents, I instinctively pointed at a nearby woman’s bottom and said: “She has a big bum. She is good to bear children!”
To my parents horror, they apologised to the lady profusely and immediately scolded me, but after knowing the grandma’s story, they just laughed it off.
What can I say? Kids say the darndest things...This is just one of the anecdotes I inherited, courtesy of my Chinese heritage.
All jokes aside, in Swansea, Wales, an artist called Sue Williams of Swansea Metropolitan University’s Dynevor Centre for Art, Design and Media got £20,000 grant from Arts Council of Wales to study women’s bottoms.
When interviewed by Thisiswales.co.uk, she says that part of her study requires making casts of women’s bottoms but that was only a small part of her research. She did not, however, offer more explanation on what her study involves.
One thing she did mention was that while working in Africa, her work (casts of women’s bottoms) was, “censored by the African government” and that bottoms were “treated with respect while in the West was seen as trivial, sensational and sexual.”
Notice that Africa is a continent and not a country. Not sure what is the meaning of “African government” (singular, not plural). Africa is a vast piece of land with many nations, cultures and religions. Some are Christians and others are Muslims and even Jewish (Ethiopia), not to mention the different pagan religions.
With such a vast array of cultures and religions there are bound to have differences in how local people view certain parts of human anatomy, specially when these parts can have a certain sexual connotation. To apply a generalization view of African nations as a sole entity seems politically incorrect.
One of the questions raised by Thisiswales.co.uk, and rightly so, is why in such times of economic crisis, one artist was awarded £20,000 to study a part of a human anatomy, to which in her own words, it is seen as “sexual and trivial” in this Western society. Surely...if it's so trivial it shouldn't merit a look-over.
Another argument raised by Thisiswales.co.uk is that while the private sector is fighting for every penny and offloading employees to cut costs, the public sector seems to be spending extravagantly during crisis.
However, some economists would argue that it is precisely during times of economic crisis, when the private sector seems reluctant to spend that public sector is obliged to keep spending and even embark on national projects to create more jobs and keep the economy going, until it picks up again.
Both are valid points and offer good arguments, sadly for this particular case, one will find hard to argue that Sue Williams’ study qualifies for the latter argument.
At the time I didn’t understand the concept of how children are born let alone the correlation between bottoms and bearing children. I do remember, however, after that incident while taking a walk with my parents, I instinctively pointed at a nearby woman’s bottom and said: “She has a big bum. She is good to bear children!”
To my parents horror, they apologised to the lady profusely and immediately scolded me, but after knowing the grandma’s story, they just laughed it off.
What can I say? Kids say the darndest things...This is just one of the anecdotes I inherited, courtesy of my Chinese heritage.
All jokes aside, in Swansea, Wales, an artist called Sue Williams of Swansea Metropolitan University’s Dynevor Centre for Art, Design and Media got £20,000 grant from Arts Council of Wales to study women’s bottoms.
When interviewed by Thisiswales.co.uk, she says that part of her study requires making casts of women’s bottoms but that was only a small part of her research. She did not, however, offer more explanation on what her study involves.
One thing she did mention was that while working in Africa, her work (casts of women’s bottoms) was, “censored by the African government” and that bottoms were “treated with respect while in the West was seen as trivial, sensational and sexual.”
Notice that Africa is a continent and not a country. Not sure what is the meaning of “African government” (singular, not plural). Africa is a vast piece of land with many nations, cultures and religions. Some are Christians and others are Muslims and even Jewish (Ethiopia), not to mention the different pagan religions.
With such a vast array of cultures and religions there are bound to have differences in how local people view certain parts of human anatomy, specially when these parts can have a certain sexual connotation. To apply a generalization view of African nations as a sole entity seems politically incorrect.
One of the questions raised by Thisiswales.co.uk, and rightly so, is why in such times of economic crisis, one artist was awarded £20,000 to study a part of a human anatomy, to which in her own words, it is seen as “sexual and trivial” in this Western society. Surely...if it's so trivial it shouldn't merit a look-over.
Another argument raised by Thisiswales.co.uk is that while the private sector is fighting for every penny and offloading employees to cut costs, the public sector seems to be spending extravagantly during crisis.
However, some economists would argue that it is precisely during times of economic crisis, when the private sector seems reluctant to spend that public sector is obliged to keep spending and even embark on national projects to create more jobs and keep the economy going, until it picks up again.
Both are valid points and offer good arguments, sadly for this particular case, one will find hard to argue that Sue Williams’ study qualifies for the latter argument.
Lesson Learned?
You are 18 and you feel anxious. You loathe the thought of getting bad grades on your A-levels and affecting your chances to go to University. Your main worry is English taught by Mrs. Devilheart. Talk about a tailor made name...
The only thought that cheers you up is that you won’t have to deal with Mrs. Devilheart for much longer as you are about to finish and soon you will be off to Uni.
But then you realize that at University you will be graded for another 3 years and all of a sudden you don’t feel so good anymore. And on top of that you haven’t picked a career yet, to which you will have to make that decision fairly soon.
Then suddenly this thought sprung up, that you will become an educator, endure 3 more years at University and then it is sweet revenge!
The thought of you exercising your ingrained right to grade pupils and make them feel miserable for their grades just like Mrs. Devilheart made you feel for the past 2 years, brought an ever so slightly evil grin to your face.
You think to yourself: “A lifetime of grading others and never be graded again, what a thrill!”
Are you sure? Think again!
Teachers now are also being graded. That’s what happened in Germany. According to Reuters, a German court overthrew a teacher’s case when she argued that her rights had been violated after being rated by pupils on an online website (Spickmich.de).
The court believed that as long as the opinions are expressed in neither abusive nor insulting manner, the pupils have any right to express their opinions on a teacher’s “performance” on a scale from 1 to 6 (1 being the best grade).
Some of the categories used to assess a teacher are: cool; funny; popular; motivated; human; good teaching.
The rating of a teacher is hardly a new concept. In US a website called Ratemyprofessors.com, which was established in 1999, has now 6.8million students registered and over 1million professors being rated. Another website Ratemyteachers.com, online since 2000, has 10mil registered students and about 1mil high school teachers.
In 2008, the Ratemyprofessors.com website integrated UK universities too, with UK lecturers being rated the same way as the US counterparts.
The difference between Ratemyprofessors.com and Spickmich.de is that the US website allows students to literally post any comments they want regardless of category.
When ratemyprofessors.com opened up to UK institutions, The Independent reported that UK lecturers found the criticism pointing at them to not be very constructive. Some of the comments left by students were: Not very bright; incredibly patronizing; false personality, the book is a better teacher and has a better personality.
These are malicious criticism which does not tackle the problem nor does it offer any constructive suggestions to improve the overall deliverance of the teachers. In fact, some of the criticisms were of personal nature, criticizing the looks of a person rather than the teaching qualities.
Should a teacher’s “hotness” be considered as a category to judge an educator?
This is reminiscent of the sort of treatment Susan Boyle received when she first walked on stage. She was clearly dismissed by the audience due to her looks even before she sang her “I Dream a Dream”.
Rating someone based on things other than their professional competence seems like a form of prejudice. It would be almost synonymous with saying that lecturers would downgrade students based on their nationality, culture or skin colour.
With the proliferation of plastic surgeries around the world, with fashion magazines telling us how we should wear and look, with societies becoming more synonymous with words like consumerism, materialism, have we really lost the plot and became depthless societies? It seems that the word shallow took the form of a shadow and followed us around.
On the other hand, rating a teacher or professor seems like a fair assessment. After all, don’t we all leave reviews for products? In today’s world, if a person wants to buy a laptop or a mobile phone, it simply needs to google the models and within seconds is reading a review page or viewing a review video online about the product.
In today’s standards, getting a better education for oneself or for the children seems like a lifetime contract/investment. If academic institutions are being graded and ranked by success and popularity why shouldn’t their most prized staff be considered for rating? After all in any business transaction, the consumers would want to know what products will they end up having.
Besides, why should professors feel threatened by students’ comments on a website? They should view it as an opportunity to better themselves professionally. If students give good reviews on a fellow instructor, who uses new methods supported by computers, then why not explore and update ones methods?
A little competition doesn’t hurt anybody.
The only thought that cheers you up is that you won’t have to deal with Mrs. Devilheart for much longer as you are about to finish and soon you will be off to Uni.
But then you realize that at University you will be graded for another 3 years and all of a sudden you don’t feel so good anymore. And on top of that you haven’t picked a career yet, to which you will have to make that decision fairly soon.
Then suddenly this thought sprung up, that you will become an educator, endure 3 more years at University and then it is sweet revenge!
The thought of you exercising your ingrained right to grade pupils and make them feel miserable for their grades just like Mrs. Devilheart made you feel for the past 2 years, brought an ever so slightly evil grin to your face.
You think to yourself: “A lifetime of grading others and never be graded again, what a thrill!”
Are you sure? Think again!
Teachers now are also being graded. That’s what happened in Germany. According to Reuters, a German court overthrew a teacher’s case when she argued that her rights had been violated after being rated by pupils on an online website (Spickmich.de).
The court believed that as long as the opinions are expressed in neither abusive nor insulting manner, the pupils have any right to express their opinions on a teacher’s “performance” on a scale from 1 to 6 (1 being the best grade).
Some of the categories used to assess a teacher are: cool; funny; popular; motivated; human; good teaching.
The rating of a teacher is hardly a new concept. In US a website called Ratemyprofessors.com, which was established in 1999, has now 6.8million students registered and over 1million professors being rated. Another website Ratemyteachers.com, online since 2000, has 10mil registered students and about 1mil high school teachers.
In 2008, the Ratemyprofessors.com website integrated UK universities too, with UK lecturers being rated the same way as the US counterparts.
The difference between Ratemyprofessors.com and Spickmich.de is that the US website allows students to literally post any comments they want regardless of category.
When ratemyprofessors.com opened up to UK institutions, The Independent reported that UK lecturers found the criticism pointing at them to not be very constructive. Some of the comments left by students were: Not very bright; incredibly patronizing; false personality, the book is a better teacher and has a better personality.
These are malicious criticism which does not tackle the problem nor does it offer any constructive suggestions to improve the overall deliverance of the teachers. In fact, some of the criticisms were of personal nature, criticizing the looks of a person rather than the teaching qualities.
Should a teacher’s “hotness” be considered as a category to judge an educator?
This is reminiscent of the sort of treatment Susan Boyle received when she first walked on stage. She was clearly dismissed by the audience due to her looks even before she sang her “I Dream a Dream”.
Rating someone based on things other than their professional competence seems like a form of prejudice. It would be almost synonymous with saying that lecturers would downgrade students based on their nationality, culture or skin colour.
With the proliferation of plastic surgeries around the world, with fashion magazines telling us how we should wear and look, with societies becoming more synonymous with words like consumerism, materialism, have we really lost the plot and became depthless societies? It seems that the word shallow took the form of a shadow and followed us around.
On the other hand, rating a teacher or professor seems like a fair assessment. After all, don’t we all leave reviews for products? In today’s world, if a person wants to buy a laptop or a mobile phone, it simply needs to google the models and within seconds is reading a review page or viewing a review video online about the product.
In today’s standards, getting a better education for oneself or for the children seems like a lifetime contract/investment. If academic institutions are being graded and ranked by success and popularity why shouldn’t their most prized staff be considered for rating? After all in any business transaction, the consumers would want to know what products will they end up having.
Besides, why should professors feel threatened by students’ comments on a website? They should view it as an opportunity to better themselves professionally. If students give good reviews on a fellow instructor, who uses new methods supported by computers, then why not explore and update ones methods?
A little competition doesn’t hurt anybody.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Reroute or Not?
On the 30th of June of 2009, a tragic accident caused the death of 22 people (latest report according to Ansa.it) and near 50 injured, in a small town in the North of Italy called Viareggio.
According to a BBC report, a train with 14 wagons travelling from La Spezia to Pisa, was carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in each wagon. When one of the carriages derailed and jumped off the tracks near the Viareggio train station, the tank of the carriage that derailed didn’t survive the impact and created a fireball blast that spread 300 metres radius, incinerating everything in its path.
Houses were burned down and close to 1,000 people were evacuated by the local authorities with fear that more houses could collapse. Most of the victims were either burned or buried by the rubble.
Ansa reports that 80 people were left homeless by the explosion that occurred just before midnight.
The local residents are furious about the accident and are asking the authorities why the train has derailed and why didn’t the tank survive the derailment? But the most important question asked was, why the train carrying such a dangerous cargo was allowed to travel along a highly residential area?
According to AOL news, the Italy’s state-run railways company said that the first carriage (the one that exploded) was registered with the Polish company PKP, while the other 13 were registered to Deutsche Bahn, German railways.
The local authorities after interviewing the drivers of the train, believe that the train might have derailed due to a damage to the tracks or a problem with the train’s braking system.
They also believe that the reason why the first tank exploded while the rest remained intact is because of poor maintenance of the tank.
The local authorities didn’t have an immediate answer as to why the train with dangerous cargo was passing by Viareggio, but the rail officials did say that Viareggio Station was an important hub for trains running up and down along the West coast.
Perhaps one of the reasons as to why freight train was being used rather than freight truck is because of the advantages that trains offer over trucking.
According to Treehugger website, a freight train has an efficiency of 400 ton-miles per gallon compared to only 130 ton-miles per gallon that trucks do.
Also according to a study conducted by David Forkenbrock, freight trains have, on average, less external costs (around 0.24 cents US) than freight trucks (about 1.11 cents).
With this information at hand, one can assume that trains are used instead of other forms of transportation simply because of the efficiency trains offer in comparison.
Many governments are in fact encouraging businesses to use freight trains more often rather than trucks, because they offer a greener solution. Businesses will also appreciate the train solution because it’s a cheaper alternative for them.
If the LPG was to be carried in other forms of transportation or had to be rerouted via other train tracks far from residential areas but covered longer distances, then it would have driven the prices of LPG higher. Hard to believe that the general public would appreciate that.
Accidents of this nature are extremely rare. Last time Italy had a major train accident occurred in 2005 when a commercial train collided head on with a freight train on a very foggy day.
Accidents are unpredicted occurrences and in this case it seems that the accident was a man made error. Perhaps it could have been avoided if the proper maintenance work was done regularly.
Is rerouting a solution?
That is a question that only Italian authorities can answer.
According to a BBC report, a train with 14 wagons travelling from La Spezia to Pisa, was carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in each wagon. When one of the carriages derailed and jumped off the tracks near the Viareggio train station, the tank of the carriage that derailed didn’t survive the impact and created a fireball blast that spread 300 metres radius, incinerating everything in its path.
Houses were burned down and close to 1,000 people were evacuated by the local authorities with fear that more houses could collapse. Most of the victims were either burned or buried by the rubble.
Ansa reports that 80 people were left homeless by the explosion that occurred just before midnight.
The local residents are furious about the accident and are asking the authorities why the train has derailed and why didn’t the tank survive the derailment? But the most important question asked was, why the train carrying such a dangerous cargo was allowed to travel along a highly residential area?
According to AOL news, the Italy’s state-run railways company said that the first carriage (the one that exploded) was registered with the Polish company PKP, while the other 13 were registered to Deutsche Bahn, German railways.
The local authorities after interviewing the drivers of the train, believe that the train might have derailed due to a damage to the tracks or a problem with the train’s braking system.
They also believe that the reason why the first tank exploded while the rest remained intact is because of poor maintenance of the tank.
The local authorities didn’t have an immediate answer as to why the train with dangerous cargo was passing by Viareggio, but the rail officials did say that Viareggio Station was an important hub for trains running up and down along the West coast.
Perhaps one of the reasons as to why freight train was being used rather than freight truck is because of the advantages that trains offer over trucking.
According to Treehugger website, a freight train has an efficiency of 400 ton-miles per gallon compared to only 130 ton-miles per gallon that trucks do.
Also according to a study conducted by David Forkenbrock, freight trains have, on average, less external costs (around 0.24 cents US) than freight trucks (about 1.11 cents).
With this information at hand, one can assume that trains are used instead of other forms of transportation simply because of the efficiency trains offer in comparison.
Many governments are in fact encouraging businesses to use freight trains more often rather than trucks, because they offer a greener solution. Businesses will also appreciate the train solution because it’s a cheaper alternative for them.
If the LPG was to be carried in other forms of transportation or had to be rerouted via other train tracks far from residential areas but covered longer distances, then it would have driven the prices of LPG higher. Hard to believe that the general public would appreciate that.
Accidents of this nature are extremely rare. Last time Italy had a major train accident occurred in 2005 when a commercial train collided head on with a freight train on a very foggy day.
Accidents are unpredicted occurrences and in this case it seems that the accident was a man made error. Perhaps it could have been avoided if the proper maintenance work was done regularly.
Is rerouting a solution?
That is a question that only Italian authorities can answer.
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