UK bans teaching of creationism in any school that receives public funding

 

By Scott Kaufman
Friday, June 20, 2014 14:58 EDT

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On Thursday, the United Kingdom expanded its ban on the teaching of creationism from all state schools, to all state schools as well as semi-private Free Schools and Academies.

The decision effectively means that no school in the United Kingdom can teach creationism or any other “anti-scientific” dogma without losing the entirety of its funding, as they would be violating “the requirement on every academy and free school to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.”

According to a press release from the British Humanist Association (BHA), the new rules “explicitly require that pupils are taught about the theory of evolution, and prevent academy trusts from teaching ‘creationism’ as scientific fact.”

Not even Intelligent Design — the favored faux-scientific theory of American creationists who wish to import biblical beliefs into public school classrooms — can be taught, as “creationism” is defined by the new rule as “any doctrine or theory which holds that natural biological processes cannot account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on earth and therefore rejects the scientific theory of evolution.”

As BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson noted, the reason behind this change was that “every young person is entitled to a high quality, broad and balanced education. This includes in biology, where evolution is a central topic and is vital to understanding how human life came to be. On the other hand, ideas such as young earth creationism should not be taught as scientifically valid for the very simple reason that they are not.”

source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/20/uk-bans-teaching-of-creationism-in-any-school-that-receives-public-funding/

Brazil’s stunted generation

The result of a starvation diet – Brazil 30 years ago

By Jan Rocha

The fossil record suggests that one response to a warmer world is for many species to become smaller as nutritious food becomes scarcer. Within living memory this became a tragic reality in Brazil.

SAO PAULO, 4 February – The prediction by scientists that humans would respond to climate change by becoming hobbit-sized in order to survive has already happened in Brazil. A near-starving population in the north-east of the country produced a generation of children who became pigmy-sized adults after being brought up on a diet of rats, snakes and cacti. Adults grew to only 1.35 metres (4ft 6ins).

This is exactly what scientists had predicted. They were looking at the fossil record of the last time the world had warmed by 6°C, 55 million years ago. In a warmer world, the 30 scientists concluded, plants became less nutritious and mammals, insects and even earthworms had to eat more to survive. In response they became smaller and reproduced earlier.

The Climate News Network reported exclusively on the work of the Bighorn Basin Coring Project, involving scientists from the US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, on 7 January. Dr Phillip Jardine, from the Department of Geography at Birmingham University, said that dwarfism was expected to be a successful survival strategy.

Unknown to the scientists on the project, this apocalyptic vision of the future had, in fact, already occurred. In the 1980s Brazil’s Northeast, the poorest, most backward region of the country, much of it semi-arid, was hit by a prolonged drought that left millions of families starving. Without food, they resorted to eating rodents and cactus plants.

They were encouraged by a local Red Cross doctor, José Pontes Neto, who said: “Go on eating rats, snakes and chameleons, they are a source of protein.” But the doctor warned that the infant population in the drought areas was so riddled with intestinal worms and chronic hunger that the result would be a generation of “nanicos” – dwarfs.

His comments were published in a UNICEF study carried out at the time. It concluded that three and a half million children aged one to five years old were permanently affected by dwarfism. Specialists called it “nutritional dwarfism”.

Man-made hunger to blame

One of Brazil’s leading researchers into nutrition at the time, Dr Nelson Chaves, blamed the region’s chronic sub-nutrition not only on the long-lasting drought, but on the existing unequal social structures.

In a report published in April 1984, entitled Northeast: Drought, Hunger and Misery, carried out by IBASE, the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analyses, a well-respected NGO, he wrote:

“Due to protein deficiency, the stature of the population in Zona da Mata (the main sugarcane growing region) is progressively diminishing, becoming similar to that of African pigmies.

“But the dwarfism of the African pigmy is genetic, while the march towards dwarfism we see here is from sub-nutrition. It is a consequence of progressive endemic hunger, caused and maintained by man. It is hunger resulting from economic and social inequality, from poverty… The final result is a deteriorated population, sick, hungry”.

Dr Chaves said that while the sugarcane plantations, owned by the local elite, received financial support from the then military government, impoverished rural workers were ignored.

At the time, the workers were not even allowed to keep vegetable plots for their own subsistence, because every inch of land had to be used for sugarcane. Underpaid and exploited, people could afford to buy little food. Their basic diet, consisting of beans and manioc flour, lacked protein. Meat was almost never eaten.

Seven years later, on 19 November 1991, the Brazilian newspaper A Folha de São Paulocaused a sensation with a front-page story entitled Gabiru man is a new species in the Northeast.

Reporter Xico Sa wrote: “A new sub-race is appearing in Brazil, made up of tiny people. They are the same size as African pigmies and they have been baptised gabiru men. This ‘sub-race’ is the result of hunger, subnutrition and poverty’.”

Life-long consequences

Gabiru is the name of a species of large rat found in the region, and was originally given to the undersized inhabitants by Brazilian sociologist Josue de Castro, in his classic study The Geography of Hunger.

The newspaper story was illustrated with photographs of a so-called gabiru-man, Amauro Silva, just 1.35 cm high.

As a result of the Folha’s story, a parliamentary committee of inquiry was set up to enquire into the causes of hunger in Brazil. It concluded that six million children were undernourished and that 10% of them would suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.

Since the 1980s nutritional standards in the Northeast region have improved along with the economic situation. Between 1989 and 1997, children’s average height increased by 7 cm, according to research by the government statistics agency, IBGE.

An IBGE researcher said: “Height is one of the best indicators of the quality of life of a population. In the Northeast, logically there are still undernourished and undersized people, but the gabiru is more and more of an exception”.

Since 2002 the introduction of government welfare programmes and increases in the minimum wage have raised millions above the poverty line. IBGE research now shows there are more obese than undernourished people in the region.

These programmes mean that although once again the Northeast is in the grip of a devastating drought, people do not starve. Television coverage shows dried-up riverbeds, withered crops and the carcases of animals that have died of starvation. Water tankers crisscross the dry countryside supplying villages, but people are no longer forced to eat rats and snakes to survive.

The drought cycle in Brazil’s Northeast has existed as long as records go back, but in recent years the droughts have become more frequent. An increase in global warming could make the semi-arid region uninhabitable. – Climate News Network

This entry was posted in Development Issues and tagged Brazil, Fossil record, Malnutrition on February 4, 2013 by Jan Rocha.

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/11/travel/tripadvisor-expensive-cities/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Osaka joins rush to attract foreign tourists

If you asked many Kansai-area foreigners, and not a few Tokyoites, to come up with a slogan to promote Osaka internationally, you might get a response along the lines of: “Osaka: When You Can’t Get a Hotel in Kyoto.”

Proximity to the ancient capital (station to station it is only 30 minutes on an express train) is one of many issues Osaka faces in its renewed quest to lure foreign tourists. But that’s not to say they are avoiding the city. Indeed, the opposite is true, especially for those traveling here from other countries in the region.

Recent statistics released by the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau show that in 2012, about 8.36 million people visited Japan, with 5.42 million, or 65 percent, coming from four Asian countries and cities: South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong.

Of these, around 52 percent from Taiwan, 50 percent from Hong Kong, 30 percent from South Korea and 20 percent from China passed through Kansai airport, as opposed to only 11 percent of those from North America.

Past attempts to sell Osaka abroad have focused on bringing people to aquariums or landmarks that city planners mistakenly thought would be of interest. Now, however, the focus is on marketing Osaka as an entertainment destination and providing a more personal, interactive experience.

Among the promotional activities planned for 2014 are the Osaka Pop International Cool Japan Awards, scheduled to take place in March, and the UNESCO-sponsored International Jazz Day, which is actually five days of concerts and workshops that kick off on April 25.
 The pop festival in late March includes events on manga, anime, food, music and other cultural curiosities.

On the other hand, promoting jazz in Osaka sounds strange to Kansai-area residents, who have long associated that particular genre of music with its western neighbor Kobe, the venue for one of the nation’s largest jazz festivals for over 30 years.

But Osaka tourism bureau Executive Director Kunio Kano says efforts are bearing fruit.
“In November, we hosted the first Osaka Asian Dream Jazz Competition. Thelonious Monk Jr. attended, and we had support from the Monk Institute of Jazz. With the International Jazz Day planned for April, we think Osaka will become a major Asian hub for jazz,” he said.

Osaka officials have also, finally, begun to offer themed walking tours. Six tours are offered on the bureau’s website, covering the city’s northern and southern areas and focusing on Osaka Castle, Sumiyoshi Shrine, the city’s various waterways, the throbbing Dotonbori district and the more down-to-earth (traditionally, at least) Tennoji district.

Residents have long been proud of their food and boast about the “takoyaki” (octopus dumplings) and okonomiyaki (as-you-like pancakes) as reasons to visit. However, Kyoto, Sapporo, Yokohama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Okinawa and, of course, Tokyo, have restaurants of all kinds offering food that is similar in quality or better than what one can find in Osaka.

The response to such regional competition has been to boost emphasis on the creation and enjoyment of simple foods via tours to local markets, highlight the part of town that sells kitchen and restaurant supplies, and offer home cooking experiences where tourists can learn to make dishes like sushi, okonomiyaki, and tempura.

This overall strategy might be working, given the rise in visitors. But Osaka’s goal is to attract 4.5 million of them by 2016, and 6.5 million by 2020 — ambitious figures, to be sure.

 source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/22/national/osaka-joins-rush-to-attract-foreign-tourists/#.UtPOVLTEe8d

THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted.  But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out?  Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored.  there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame!  You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!



=======

vocabulary:

 hang-up= something that causes you to feel worried, afraid, embarrassed, etc.   

lag behind= to not be at the level that someone or something else has already achieved  

be left in a Lurch=  to leave someone waiting for or anticipating your actions/ to leave someone at a time when they need you to stay and help them

slump= An extended period of poor performance, especially in a sport or competitive activity

wiggle= to move up and down or from side to side with short quick motions

somehow= in a way that is not known or certain

dexterous=  having or showing great skill or cleverness

deft= skillful and clever

Some wisdom from Bill Watterson

vocabulary:

reflect- to show or be a sign of a particular situation or feeling:

ex. The drop in consumer spending reflects concern about the economy.

values- a strongly held belief about what is valuable, important, or acceptable

ex. Her husband's values differ from hers.

relentless-  continuing without becoming weaker, less severe, etc.

ex. Her relentless optimism held the team together. ▪ relentless winds

avarice- ([noncount] formal + disapproving) a strong desire to have or get money : greed

eccentric- a person who acts in strange or unusual ways : an eccentric person

subversive- subversive ideas, activities etc are secret and intended to damage or destroy a government or an established system


afford (+someone or something) - to supply or provide (something needed or wanted) to someone

 ex. All of the rooms afford views of the lake. ▪ He was afforded the opportunity to work for a judge.

flake- someone who seems strange or who does not pay attention or  tends to forget things

live up to (something) - if something or someone lives up to a particular standard or promise, they do as well as they were expected to, do what they promised, etc.

ex. The film has certainly lived up to  my  expectations.

potential- an ability that someone has that can be developed to help that person become successful

ex. The team's newest player shows great potential. ▪ He has the potential to be one of the team's best players. ▪ She has leadership potential. [=she could become a successful leader] ▪

Some New York City Restaurants Ban Food Photography By Customer

 

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — If you’re one of the thousands of people who snap pictures of your food and instantly share them on social media, you might be surprised to learn that some restaurants are now banning photos of their food.

As CBS 2’s Emily Smith reported Monday, you see it all the time – not art or fancy photography, just cell phone pictures of our meals.

“I think, inherently, New Yorkers want to brag about the fantastic restaurants that are here in New York,” a woman said.

And it is something that has gone from awkward to mainstream, via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. What is sometimes known as “food porn” has taken on a life of its own, and some restaurants have decided to ban it.

“It can shatter the experience when you’re asking your fiancé to marry you, and a flash is going off at a table next door,” said David Bouley, owner of Bouley Restaurant.

At Bouley, located on Duane Street in TriBeCa, a new protocol is in place. Guests may only take photos in the kitchen, and by next week, Bouley will be providing a photo to customers with the check.

“This whole system here will be set up very soon, so we can shoot their food and have it delivered to them before they leave; before they pay their check,” Bouley said.

At Brooklyn Fare on Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn, the owner confirmed no cell phone pictures are allowed whatsoever, citing distraction as the reason.

Pop culture expert Adam Hanft said the problem could be a lot of things.

“Somebody doesn’t like a restaurant, somebody has a grudge against the restaurant, they can manipulate the food,” he said.

So what’s behind the “food photography” craze?

“It’s another example of us wanting to document every little piece of our lives,” Hanft said. “We’re strapping on things to measure how many steps we take, and now we take pictures of our food.”

Steven Hall, a spokesman for dozens of other restaurants in New York City, said food photography is a phenomenon that more and more chefs cannot accept because of presentation.

“There’s no way you’re going to take a beautiful shot of food in a dimly-lit restaurant,” Hall said.

But restaurants that ban taking pictures of food also know they’re banning free advertising.

Food photo policies vary from restaurant to restaurant. They can include anything from an outright ban on cameras to just a ban on a flash.

Tuk-tuks offer new take on Paris

The humble tuk-tuk, a fixture in Asian cities from Bangkok to Bangalore, is rapidly becoming a common sight in the touristy parts of Paris -- and the bane of traffic police.

 

The three-wheeled auto rickshaws, as well as human-powered pedicabs, first appeared in the French capital in 2011, and their numbers have since risen to around 50, lining up at key landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, or the Place de la Concorde.

The growth in numbers has been fueled in part by the recent downturn in the French economy and the need to find work.

The price for a tuk-tuk -- imported from Thailand -- can be as much as 9,000 euros ($12,000), but buyers hope to make good their investment.

While tuk-tuks may be a cheap alternative to taxis in Asia, in central Paris,  tourists are happy to pay an average of 20 euros ($25) per ride, easily more than regular cabs can charge.

"Unemployment is everywhere," one driver says. "We have found something that the tourists like."

The downside, he said, is that "the police hassle you" -- checking a laundry list of items including registration, medical clearance, insurance, brake lights and turn signals, as well as maintenance.

Sofiene, who says he always dreamed of being his own boss, earns between 90 and 110 euros a day -- from which he might have to subtract between 35 and 135 euros if he is unlucky enough to be fined.

"Why shouldn't I take advantage of the Golden Triangle like others do?" asked the former hotel maitre d', referring to an especially upscale section of the Champs Elysees.

For the police, the latest addition to the city's already congested traffic is just another headache.

"These tuk-tuks are breaking the law because they haven't been booked" by telephone or online, one policeman tells AFP.

Under French law, only registered taxis are allowed to pick up passengers on the street.

But the head of Paris' traffic police, Major Bernard Baulard, admits the law is "not easy to enforce" because two- and three-wheelers are not specifically covered.

Anyone with a regular driver's licence can buy and drive a tuk-tuk, he notes.

Pedicabs have also flourished, numbering up to 200. They charge between five and 15 euros a ride.

"The monuments go by nice and slowly," says Ibrahim, from India. "It's great to visit Paris without getting tired," his girlfriend Nazneen chimes in before the pair get off at the Louvre.

source: http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/Tuktuks-offer-new-take-on-Paris_272754.html