Americans Give Up $34 Billion of Vacation

U.S. workers are among the worst in the world for not taking all their vacation days. Their bosses might say they are among the best in the world for working their holidays. Either way, Americans will give up $34.3 billion in paid vacation leave in 2012, which is the equivalent of 226 million days off. These figures come from an annual survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Expedia. They questioned 7,083 employees in 20 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia. The top reason for Americans not using up their holidays was not being able to afford a holiday (34%). This was followed by lack of planning (15%), the statement "work is my life" (15%) and feeling bad about asking the boss for time off.

Workers in other countries don’t appear to have a problem taking vacations. French workers get an average 30 vacation days a year and generally use them all. In the UK, employees get 25 days and pretty much take all of them. Asia is the only region where workers receive and take fewer holidays than Americans. The average Japanese worker only gets 11 days a year and takes just five of them. Indians are also reluctant to take all of their vacation. Expedia found that 20 per cent of workers in India did not take all their holidays because they "may be perceived negatively at work". In America, bosses believe it is important that workers use all their vacation so they can come back to work feeling refreshed.


source: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Alcohol, Sex, Skateboarding: Barcelona Raises “Excess” Behavior Fines

The Spanish city’s authorities raise the cost of over-doing it for locals and tourists alike. But will it change people’s behavior?

Worldcrunch *NEWSBITES

DIE WELT/Worldcrunch

 

BARCELONA - Why go to a bar when the vibe outdoors is so great? This is part of the appeal of this Mediterranean coastal city for party-seeking young (and not so young) people, who frequently turn public spaces into an open-air club: drinking, shouting, relieving themselves against walls, and plenty more. When they’re done, streets and squares can end up looking like deserted battlefields.

In the past two decades the number of visitors to Barcelona has risen from 1.73 million in 1990 to 7.13 million in 2010. Overnight stays have gone from 3.79 million in 1990 to 14 million in 2010.

Visitor rates, however, aren’t the only changes afoot in the seaside Spanish city. In recent months, the city government has also started to change course, encouraging visitors and residents alike to make better use of public space. Municipal authorities are trying to get their message across via ubiquitous red flyers published in various languages.

Part and parcel of the flyer is a kind of catalogue of fines for all undesirable behavior. The penalty for public drinking? A hefty 1,500 euros. Unauthorized selling of goods on the open streets? A fine of 500 euros. Public urination will cost you 1,500 euros. The same goes for skateboarding or rollerblading in spaces not designated for those activities.

“Sexual services” in public can also cost this much. And anyone caught spraying words or images on walls, or in other acts of vandalism, will be fined double. The same goes for anyone organizing gambling, particularly prevalent in Barcelona, with so-called “thimble riggers” luring tourists.

People who spend the night on the beach come way relatively lightly with a 500-euro fine. But it might cost them that much again if they used soap at the beach showers.

More and more complaints for undesirable public behavior are being filed with authorities. That number in 2009 had risen to 111,824 – and in 2010, it was up to 120,678. Still, whether the fines deter the merrymakers remains to be seen.

North Korea mourns 'dear leader' as South Korea goes on alert

By Matt Smith, CNN


The leadership of North Korea appeared to pass to a third generation of the Kim family Monday after the weekend death of Kim Jong Il, who ruled the reclusive Stalinist state since 1994.
The man known as the "dear leader" died of a heart attack Saturday at age 69, state news outlets announced Monday. The ruling Worker's Party declared the youngest of his three sons, Kim Jong Un, the "great successor" to his father's mantle.
Kim Jong Il had led North Korea since his father -- the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung -- died at age 82. During his 17 years in power, the country suffered a devastating famine even as it built up its million-strong army, expanded its arsenal of ballistic missiles and became the world's eighth declared nuclear power.

News of his death spurred South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North more than five decades after their 1950-53 conflict, to put its military on high alert. But across one of the world's most heavily fortified borders, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told his citizens "to go about their lives" in the meantime...

'This could be a turning point for North Korea': World reaction to Kim Jong Il's death

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack Saturday while on a train trip.

Here is how the world has reacted to his death:

British Foreign Secretary William Hague: "This could be a turning point for North Korea. We hope that their new leadership will recognize that engagement with the international community offers the best prospect of improving the lives of ordinary North Korean people."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu: "We were distressed to learn of the unfortunate passing of the senior-most North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and we express our grief about this and extend our condolences to the people of North Korea. We are confident that the North Korean people will be able to turn their anguish into strength and unify as one."


Kim Ok-tae, a 58-year old pastor from Seoul, South Korea: "The whole earth should celebrate it as much as Christmas. I am not at all afraid. I don't see any likelihood of North Korea lashing out unexpectedly."

Dr John Swenson-Wright, associate fellow of the Asia Programme at London-based think thank Chatham House: "It comes at a particularly bad time. In North Korea, it will overshadow preparations for the spring celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung. In South Korea there are elections and for the United States, President Obama is also in an election year with a difficult economy and quite pressing international concerns elsewhere."


Dane Chamorro, a regional director at the Global Risks consultancy: "Often in times like this, the regime will do something to demonstrate that it is still viable, powerful, still a threat. It might be a missile test, some type of aggression or conflict."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt:
"The death of a dictator is always a period of uncertainty for a dictatorship. And North Korea is the hardest dictatorship in our time."

Brian Shin, a 30-year-old native South Korean who lives in Los Angeles: "Kim Jong Il died? You're sure about that? No way! I thought he was going to live forever!"

Chocolate prices will rise over cocoa shortage

source: http://insideireland.ie/2011/12/13/chocolate-prices-will-rise-over-coca-shortage-46532/

Experts have predicted that a cocoa shortage will lead to the price of chocolate rising significantly.

It is believed there will be a million-ton cocoa shortage within the next eight years, as cocoa farmers struggle to meet the demand for the product. Chocolate is now in demand in areas where it previously wasn’t popular.

Leading British chocolatier, Angus Kennedy said: “Part of the problem is the growing demand for chocolate in Asia where countries such as China are turning more towards Western tastes.”

Mr Kennedy warned that if farmers did not receive more help to boost crops chocolate would become a delicacy and prices would be significantly higher.

The imminent cocoa shortage was a key debate at a recent confectionery conference, Confection Expo.

Experts predict the £1 chocolate bar will become a thing of the past.

Iconic brands, such as Cadbury, Mars and Nestle are predicted to suffer the most.

John Mason, founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council predicts that eventually the situation will become even worse.

Mr Mason added: “In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won’t be able to afford it.”

'Sleep-Texting' Is Here And On The Increase

Twenty-first century technology is bringing with it twenty-first century disorders. The latest is ‘sleep-texting’ – sending SMS messages in your sleep. This is a new phenomenon identified by Australia’s Melbourne Sleep Disorder Centre. Sleep specialist Dr David Cunnington, from the centre, said the condition is currently quite rare but has the potential to grow. He said he has seen many instances of sufferers sending incoherent text messages to their friends while asleep. Texters are reported to be completely unaware of their late-night messaging. One expert says the stresses of daily life cause people to text in their sleep. Another says young people are so attached to their mobile phones that sleep-texting is almost like sleepwalking.

Dr Cunnington’s advice is to leave the mobile phone out of the bedroom to resist the urge to text. He said: “If your phone is on the nightstand, then it will be more difficult to have a good night's sleep without feeling compelled to reply to a message or check your Facebook account.” He added: “The key point is that people need to respect their sleep, and make an effort to switch off at night.” Cunnington explained that sleep-emailing was a more serious problem, saying: “Emails can be sent to work colleagues and have much more serious consequences, whereas text messages are more likely to be accidentally sent to a friend or family member, so people aren't as likely to complain of a problem.”

-http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1111/111124-sleeptexting.html

World's Lightest Material Invented

Scientists have invented the world’s lightest material. It is so light that it can rest on top of a dandelion. Researchers from the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and HRL Laboratories created the material they call ''ultralight metallic microlattice'' (UMM). It is 100 times lighter than styrofoam – the material commonly used in packaging goods – and 10,000 times lighter than ultralight aerogels and carbon foams (also used for packing). Lead researcher Tobias Shandler of HRL explained why the material is so light. He said: “The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.'' It is so hollow that it is 99 per cent air.

The new material has been made largely of the metal nickel, but Bill Carter, a manager at HRL, said it could be made out of other materials. He said UMM is so light that: “It takes more than 10 seconds…for the lightest material we've made to fall if you drop it from shoulder height.'' The developers believe there are dozens of uses for UMM and that it will be in many everyday objects within the next decade. Computer experts say UMM will help create lighter and faster computers. Another use is impact protection - researchers say that when it is squashed to half its height, the material almost rebounds back to its original form. Other uses include sound dampening and thermal insulation.

-http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Robots to Guard Korea Prison

A prison in South Korea will soon have robots as guards. The robo-guards will be on night duty at a prison in the city of Pohang from March. Officials say this is part of a test to see if the robots can do the same job as humans. The guards have sensors on them to spot any strange behaviour among the prisoners. Prison leaders hope the robots will help human guards focus more on helping inmates instead of watching them. The robot warders have so far cost one billion won ($850,000) to develop. Prisons around the world are waiting to see if the robo-guards are a success.

The prison guard robots will be 150 centimeters high, and weigh 70 kilograms. They have four wheels and several cameras to monitor movement around them. They also have special equipment to communicate with human guards in the control centre. Scientists are now working on making them look friendlier. They are yellow and white and have smiling faces. South Korea hopes to be a world leader in robotics. It has already designed robots to teach English in schools and companies are working on robots for the home.

breakingnewsenglish.com

Adidas Launches $1 Sneakers in India

The German sportswear company Adidas will soon start selling its sneakers for a dollar a pair in India. The idea is the brainchild of Nobel Prize-winning micro-finance guru Mohammad Yunus. Despite a similar plan failing in Bangladesh last year, the project in India is to go ahead. Adidas boss Herbert Hainer said India was unlike Bangladesh because it’s possible to mass produce the shoes in India, where the population is booming. Mr Hainer explained what happened in Bangladesh, saying: “We sold 5,000 pairs during a test phase but we made only losses. The shoes cost us three dollars to make and we had to pay $3.50 in import duty.” He believes India will be a whole different ball game. “The shoe will be sold in villages through a distribution network. We want the product to be self-funding,” he said.

No details have been released as to when Adidas will start selling the $1 trainers. Adidas have revealed that its subsidiary Reebok will be responsible for the manufacture and marketing side of the campaign. The rationale for the project is for the company to get a strong foothold in what will be the world’s most populated country. Adidas bosses believe they can get India’s poor to replace their plastic and rubber sandals with shoes made by an iconic global brand, and that this will create a loyal customer base that will reap rewards for decades. It is not the first time India has been used as a testing ground for cheap products. India’s own Tata car maker already produces and sells the world’s cheapest car. The big question in the rest of the world is why Adidas charges $100 or more for its shoes.

 -breakingnewsenglish.com

A Smelly New World on the Web

Every time you blink, someone is forming an Internet company somewhere in the world. That is the pace at which the Internet fever has caught on with people. They could be young college students with dreams of making a fortune or middle-aged individuals trying to lure the goddess of wealth. Each one is searching for the one great idea that could make his web company click in a big way. And they are trying all sorts of gimmicks to attract people towards their websites. 

A company based in California, US, has decided to offer online smells to people who visit its website. That is, if a pizza image comes on screen your nostrils will catch the smell of baked bread and gooey cheese! All you need to do is attach a device called 'iSmell' to your computer. This smart little device, created by the company, contains some chemicals, which when combined in different proportions, can create a huge variety of smells. 

The company has invented software that converts the complex chemical composition of different smells into digital signals. An onscreen image, which is programmed with the appropriate digital signal, will activate the 'iSmell' device. The device will use the software to reconvert the digital signal and release the correct smell. This gadget reads the digital scent code from the website and creates the corresponding smell from its store of chemicals. This smell is then made to waft in the direction of the user with the aid of a small fan. 

To ensure that the correct smell is released, the company has created a 'Scent Registry,' which contains a digital index of thousands of scents. The company plans to permit website developers to integrate the appropriate smells (in digital code) to their games and images. The company is also hoping that Hollywood filmmakers will incorporate the smell technology in their movies. Imagine audiences getting the smell of rocket fuel as a spacecraft takes off on the cinema screen! Of course, filmmakers will have to be careful not to shoot in dirty neighbourhoods, which has a lot of rubbish lying around.

-pitara.com

THE CHILD'S SIGHT

by HY SOBILOFF

The child's sight is in saying
They say what they see when they see it
I am beginning to remember how
When I don't say it when I see it
I remember it differently

I am walking with the children
They have included me
None of us eavesdrops any more
We speak the same celestial gibberish
Our spirit ticks the same time
I feel again and am part of the inside world

The child is a little inspector when it crawls
It touches and tastes the earth
Rolls and stumbles toward the object
Zigzags like a sail
And outmaneuvers the room

I am learning the child's way
I pick up wood pieces from the ground
And see shapes into them
I notice a purple velvet bee resting on a flower
And stop to listen to its buzz

They have included me
And though I will not be put away to rock alone
And I don't roll down the plush hills
Nor spit for luck
I am learning their way
They have given me back the bliss of my senses

Ozymandias

 by Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

*******

Fire and Ice

-robert frost

 Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Operation That Turns Brown Eyes Blue

The boss of an American medical company claims he has developed a technique to turn brown eyes blue. He says a special laser treatment can remove the brown pigment from brown eyes and that will leave a blue colour. Doctor Gregg Homer says this is possible because all brown-eyed people have the pigments to have blue eyes. “Anyone who has brown eyes has blue eyes underneath…. It’s covered by a thin layer of pigment. We’ve developed a laser that can be fired straight through the clear part of the eye, the cornea, and it disrupts the pigment…and it removes it from the eye.” The cost of this new cosmetic surgery will be around $5,000. The procedure is painless and takes just 20 seconds in the doctor’s chair and then two to four weeks for the colour change to take place.

Doctor Homer said demand for the treatment is already very high. He recently appeared on a Los Angeles TV show and got 3,000 requests. People will have to wait as the technique has to be approved by the U.S. medical authorities, although it could be available within 18 months in Europe. Homer said: “I think brown eyes are just as beautiful as blue eyes, but I started doing this because I thought it was a cool technology and I thought it would be nice for people to have a choice. I’m glad other people think it’s cool, too.” Homer does have his critics. One, Dr. Elmer Tu, spokesman for the American College of Ophthalmology, told America’s CBS News that the released brown pigment could potentially blind a person. He recommended blue contact lenses instead.

-breakingnewsenglish.com

Say What? Study Reveals Best Language At Getting Straight To The Point

Linguists from the University of Lyon in France looked at seven widely spoken languages to see how they rank in terms of efficiency. Which mother tongue works best at imparting information? A clue: it’s not French.

Imparting information is language’s most important function – and a recent study published in Language rates just how efficient English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin-Chinese and German are at doing just that.

Three French linguists at the University of Lyon recorded 59 people, divided equally among men and half, reading five-sentence texts identical in meaning at a normal speed in their mother tongue. Then they computer-edited out the pauses and counted syllables and information per time unit and language. The goal was to draw conclusions about how fast a specific density of information could be communicated in the seven languages.

The result? Some languages are spoken faster than others. For example, Japanese speakers say eight syllables per second, whereas Mandarin Chinese get in only five. But regardless, a faster tempo in no way implied faster transmission of information.

Linguistics professor Gertraud Fenk-Oczlon of the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) said she was not surprised by the result. In 2010, using a different methodology, she conducted a similar study using 51 languages.

All researchers found that no matter how slow a language is, the complexity of syllables means that information is imparted as quickly as it is in faster languages. Thus, for example, a slow and very complex language like German manages to rate as slightly more efficient than fast-paced Japanese. And it comes in third after English, which garnered first place, and Chinese, which came in second.

To the surprise of the researchers, however, differences in efficiency were only minimal.

-worldcrunch.com

================

Poor Public School Education Not Wall St. to Blame
(cnn)

Best selling author and Harvard professor Niall Ferguson recently had at it on CNN with Columbia professor and director of the Earth Institute Dr. Jeffrey Sachs over the Occupy Wall Street movement. Sachs - as he recently told the Daily Ticker - thinks Wall Street has acted like robber barons and deserves harsher regulations and increased taxes. Ferguson sees it differently.

"Many things about Wall street were wrong," he tells Henry Blodget. "But, you can't say all of our problems are because of the criminality of one percent of the population."

What IS to blame for America's growing wealth gap?

In a word: globalization.

"It's globalization that mainly causes inequality by exposing the unskilled in the United States to competition from much cheaper labor in Asia," he says. "That's a much bigger cause of inequality than malpractice on Wall Street."

Ferguson blames the lack of skilled workers in this country on a "very poor public education at the high school level. We are failing kids in the poorer parts of this country."

The remedy, Ferguson contends, is not to tax the rich and expand federal programs as Sachs recommends. Instead, Ferguson says public high schools need more competition to raise the bar. The best way to do that, in his opinion, is to create more charter schools. "The charter school movement is one very straightforward way in which the ordinary citizen can actually help improve the quality of high school education."

Singapore to launch new budget airline ‘Scoot’

CNN, Liz Neisloss

Singapore (CNN) – Singapore Airlines has launched a new long-haul budget airline called “Scoot” which will offer airfares at 40% less than full-services airlines.

Flights are expected to begin in mid 2012 with destinations in Australia and China. Specific cities will be announced in the months ahead, airline officials said.

The no-frills airline will have an initial fleet of four Being 777 aircraft, purchased from its parent company Singapore Airlines (SIA) which made an initial investment of $223 million. The new airline is banking on creating a strong brand identity with its unusual name.

“Scoot” CEO Campbell Wilson says the name is “short and snappy” and “stands out.” “An airline with a different attitude.  People with a different attitude – Scootitude,” says Wilson.

Wilson told reporters the budget travel segment had grown “from nothing” to nearly a quarter of passenger traffic though Singapore’s Changi Airport in less than a decade. “They’re going after the low end of the market – which is much faster growing than the premium sector.  In order for SIA to grow, they’ve come to realize they have to go after this segment,” says Brendan Sobie, senior analyst with CAPA, Centre for Aviation – an Australia-based global aviation company.

In this segment “Scoot” will be competing with AirAsia X, a long haul budget carrier based in Malaysia, and with Singapore-based low cost airline JetStar, a subsidiary of Qantas. Singapore Airlines is also a majority shareholder in Tiger Airways, a Singapore-based budget carrier for Asia routes.

Scoot is hoping to offer a wireless in flight entertainment system – which allows passengers to use their own devices to log into the entertainment system.  Getting this relatively new technology in place by a mid-2012 launch may be a challenge for Scoot but it is “safe to say this is a future standard for the industry,” Sobie says.

Branding is always important for an airline, but “for this sector of the market branding is even more important,” says Sobie.

One Art

-Elizabeth Bishop 
 

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster. 

Gaddafi Death a "Lesson to Tyrants"

The death of Muammar Gaddafi on a street of his hometown Sirte is a lesson to tyrants around the world that any dictator can be overthrown. The humiliating nature of Gaddafi’s death, being found hiding in a hole next to a roadside and then set upon by a mob, serves as a stark contrast to the lavish lifestyle he led in his 42-year rule. U.S. President Barack Obama led those warning other autocrats that their days might be numbered. He warned that “iron-fisted rule inevitably comes to an end.” He said Gaddafi’s death “marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya".

Gaddafi is the third and longest-serving Arab leader to fall from power this year, following Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak a month later. Ongoing unrest in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen threaten to topple leaders in those countries. Many Arabs believe Gaddafi’s end will scare other leaders clinging to power. Ziad Khalil, a Beirut shopkeeper, said of Gaddafi: "The world now has one less dictator. This is the end he deserves". In the Omani capital Muscat, banker Haji Ismail said Gaddafi's death was a lesson to other Arab rulers. "They will face such a fate if they keep oppressing their people," he said. Meanwhile, reports are emerging that Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi’s second son, has been captured in the Libyan city of Zeltin.

-breakingnewsenglish.com

In Germany, Calls For A 'Blue-Collar' Bachelor's Degree

Concerned that skilled tradespeople don’t get the respect they deserve, some in Germany are promoting the idea of a “Professional Bachelor’s” degree. For now, universities and their government allies dismiss the idea as “confusing.”

Registrations at German universities are skyrocketing as more and more families choose higher education over trade school training for their offspring. The problem, say trade lobbyists, isn’t just that the country will end up with fewer trained craftspeople. There are also questions of status at stake. Increasingly, Germans see non-academic avenues as having less “value” than the university route.

That’s why some trades representatives are promoting the idea of a Bachelor degree for people pursuing non-academic training. The proposed “Professional Bachelor’s” degree would be a way, at least as far as status is concerned, to even the proverbial playing field.

Roofer Willy Hesse, president of an association of skilled craftsmen, believes that many young people who are pointed down the academic route would be better off doing apprenticeships. He also insists that well-trained craftspersons have no reason to feel inferior to people with university bachelor degrees. But given that so many in Germany feel otherwise, Hesse and other heads of sectors in the trades and crafts support the “Professional Bachelor’s” degree plan.

The academic community is against the proposal, as are government-level education officials. Bavaria’s minister for education, Ludwig Spaenle, likes to joke that surely things won’t get to the point where there is a "Bachelor of Hairdressing."

Like many in the academic community, the federal Ministry of Education believes the "Professional Bachelor" could too easily be confused with an academic degree. Matthias Lung, director of the Bavarian Advertising and Marketing Academy, agrees.  A student in Munich took a poll, he said, to find out what a “Professional Bachelor” degree suggested to the public at large, and no one had a clue what it might represent.

Presently, it looks as if the tradespeople are going to have a tough time obtaining a “Professional Bachelor’s” degree. Still, all is not lost in their effort to protect the prestige of skilled trades. Politicians, social partners and representatives of the universities are presently working on a “German qualifications framework” that ranks all different types of certificates and degrees into eight levels.

The point of the project is to establish equivalent standards at the European level. In this framework, those with doctorates would be ranked No. 8 – the highest. Master craftspersons and technicians are presently slotted in at level six, the same level as college graduates who have earned a Bachelor degree.

-worldcrunch.com

silence

My father used to say,
"Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow's grave
nor the glass flowers at Harvard.
Self reliant like the cat --
that takes its prey to privacy,
the mouse's limp tail hanging like a shoelace from its mouth --
they sometimes enjoy solitude,
and can be robbed of speech
by speech which has delighted them.
The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;
not in silence, but restraint."
Nor was he insincere in saying, "`Make my house your inn'."
Inns are not residences.


-marianne moore

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/10/111003_witn_fat_tax.shtml

Brits Leave Internet Passwords in Wills

-breakingnewsenglish.com

 More and more British people are leaving their usernames and Internet passwords in their wills. For hundreds of years, wills have included money, houses, cars and paintings. Now wills have gone digital. Over ten per cent of Britons say they have put their passwords in their will. They want their loved ones to use them after they die. People often have thousands of dollars of movies, music and software on password-protected sites. They feel it is important to pass on these things to the people they love. 

It is not only things like films and songs that Britons want to include in their will. They are also putting in their Facebook and Flickr accounts. This means their loved ones will be able to protect these accounts. Many Facebook pages are used by hackers after a person dies. Facebook and similar sites will not give the log-on details to the family of the person who died. The sites are lost forever because no one knows how to access them. Lawyers say everyone should think about what happens to their online data after they die.

I'm Yours

-Jason Mraz

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
And now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
Nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn, to win some or learn some

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love love

So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours


Scooch on closer dear
And I will nibble your ear


I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'm saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm yours
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours
So please don't, please don't, please don't, there's
No need to complicate cause our time is short this
Oh this oh this oh this is our fate, I'm yours

Anger at $86,000 Train Driver Salaries

-breakingnewsenglish.com

The British public have expressed their anger over an announcement that drivers of London’s underground trains will soon be on £50,000 ($86,000) a year. Union bosses, however, were delighted their members have such a good offer from the railway bosses. A new four-year deal was struck between London Underground and the unions that will see all 18,500 Tube workers get a five per cent pay rise this year, which is double the national average. Rail bosses were accused of giving in to blackmail ahead of the London Olympics in 2012. Critics claim London Underground is willing to pay almost anything to avoid the threat of strikes and disruption. Rail unions said there was no need for strikes in the coming years.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, told his members: “I doubt you will find a better offer than this anywhere else in the public sector.” In addition to the increased salary, Tube workers will receive a minimum of 29 days holiday, free travel within London for themselves and one family member and discounts on travel within Britain and the Eurostar trains to Europe. Emma Boon of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, said of the deal: “It’s unacceptable that the threat of strike action during the Olympics is being so handsomely rewarded. This is insulting to commuters.” Other Britons compared the salaries to those of other public sector workers. Police officers, nurses, soldiers and teachers are paid far less than subway train drivers. 

Work longer for elusive benefits: Ministry eyes 70 as pension eligibility age

-japantimes.co.jp

While the need to address the ballooning costs of social security is universally recognized, experts were divided Wednesday over whether the welfare ministry is on the right track with its proposal to raise the age at which employees start receiving their pensions.

On Tuesday, the welfare ministry proposed that workers enrolled in the employee pension program begin receiving benefits as late as ages 68 to 70 instead of the current 60.

The scheme is aimed at stabilizing the pension system and incentivizing workers to postpone their retirement.

"Society is aging at an extremely fast pace," said Keiichi Fukuyama, executive director at the government-affiliated Research Institute for Policies on Pension and Aging. "In order not to crash the pension framework, delaying the age for receiving pension benefits is inevitable."

Fukuyama added that older workers should be ready to support the social security system instead of becoming its beneficiaries.

"In my opinion, the so-called elders are not that old — they are still very energetic," Fukuyama said.

The public pension system is divided in two, with the "kokumin-nenkin" national pension program, which provides benefits to all citizens, and one for employees known as "kousei-nenkin." Once touted by the government as an "arrangement that will last 100 years," the system is set for an overhaul in less than a decade.

Other countries have also moved to delay the pension age of eligibility, including Germany, which will raise the age in stages from 65 to 67 beginning in 2012, due to demographic changes.

In Japan, the economy is another factor to consider, RIPPA's Fukuyama noted.

The original budget plan did not envision a decline in the consumer price index brought about by Japan's current deflationary economy, meaning that despite an overall fall in prices, the pension benefits have remained relatively high.

"Revising the scheme under such a scenario is inevitable," Fukuyama said.

The ministry also discussed hiking in pension payments for recipients with a steady income.

To encourage workers to postpone retirement and contribute as part of the workforce, the ministry is proposing allowing employees making up to ¥330,000 or even ¥460,000 per month to receive the full pension payment, rather than reducing payouts for those making over ¥280,000 per month as now.

Kuniji Higashitaki, representative of the Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Life Venture Club, said changes in the pension system were expected and a hike in benefits for working seniors is a welcome move. While many retirees might have to wait longer for their benefits to kick in under the new proposals, seniors "shouldn't be depending on pension payments and figure out ways to survive in the environment on their own," Higashitaki, 76, said.

Life Venture Club, which was founded in 1985 and has about 500 members ranging in age from their 30s to 80s, promotes working and remaining active throughout one's life. Lectures given at the group's meetings cover such topics as how to manage one's finances to avoid being dependent solely on pension income. 

While some say delaying retirement will make it harder for younger people to land jobs, RIPPA's Fukuyama said that is not necessarily the case.

"Providing jobs for the young is important, but having veterans keep their professions won't exactly push them out of the market," he said. "The elderly have skills and experience, while younger workers are definitely more vigorous."

William Shakespeare - All the world's a stage (from As You Like It 2/7)

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

http://www.floristone.com/hippopotamus-tortoise.html

Internet addicts guilty of starving baby to death

South Korean couple ignored newborn in favor of virtual one 

By Sangwon Yoon

updated 5/28/2010 6:48:41 PM ET

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean couple were convicted Friday of abandoning their newborn daughter, who starved to death while they addictively played an online game raising a virtual child. 

The husband, a 41-year-old taxi driver, and his 25-year-old wife were sentenced to two years in prison, but the woman's term was suspended because she is pregnant.

The couple played at Internet cafes on average 10 hours every day and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, prosecutors said in an affidavit.

The girl, who was born prematurely and weighed 5 pounds, was often fed rotten formula and was beaten when she cried out of hunger, the affidavit said.

They found her dead when they returned to their home in Suwon, just south of Seoul, after an all-night gaming session last September, the ruling said. They hid at a relative's home after a autopsy found the baby died of malnutrition.

"This constitutes an inhumane crime where the defendants abandoned even the most basic responsibilities as parents, and is unforgivable beyond any excuse or reason," the Suwon District Court said in the ruling.

The mother will avoid jail time if she stays out of trouble for three years. The couple, who have only been identified by their surnames, Kim, have seven days to appeal.

The case shocked South Korea and raised concern over the severity of online gaming and Internet addiction in the nation of 49 million. The government says there are 2 million "Internet addicts" in the nation considered one of the world's most technologically wired.

'Occupy Yeouido' movement brewing

Civic groups plan rally against financial companies Saturday

By Yun Suh-young

As the drumbeat of “Occupy Wall Street” is getting louder in the United States, a number of civic groups plan to organize similar rallies in Yeoido, Seoul, the home of financial giants and regulators.

The consumer rights groups, led by the Korea Finance Consumer Association (KOFICA) and Spec Watch Korea, are discussing the details about holding a protest in the “Wall Street of Korea” this Saturday, a KOFICA official said Tuesday.

 Baek Sung-jin, secretary general at KOFICA, said their protests will not call for the same things that protesters in Wall Street are asking for but their demands will be locally customized to meet the domestic situation.

“We will mainly call for financial firms to perform as entities for public good, compensation for imperfect sales of financial products and reform in the financial sector,” he said.

Not only civic group members but university students are expected to join the rally as they demand financial authorities to take steps to make financial firms cut interest rates on tuition loans.   

They will hold the first protest Saturday as the date is also designated as a global action day by protesters on Wall Street.

The demonstration will likely take place in front of the Korea Exchange or the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeoido, where the major financial companies are clustered.

They have yet to decide as to whether they will use the chant “occupy” for the Korean version of the protest.
 
The Occupy Wall Street movement which has spurred global participation in 22 cities worldwide is now calling for a global action to be held on the same day internationally on Oct. 15, designated as “Occupy Together” day. Currently 8,438 groups in 1,384 cities have decided to participate.

US Congress passes FTA with Korea

(koreatimes.co.kr)

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- In an unusually speedy legislative process, both chambers of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved a free trade pact with Korea which will apparently help broaden the scope of the alliance.

The move is expected to give a jolt to an effort by Korea's ruling party to ratify the accord within this month over resistance from liberal opposition parties.

The Senate's 83-15 vote came on the eve of Korean President Lee Myung-bak's summit with his American counterpart Barack Obama in Washington and a speech in a joint session of the Senate and the House. Lee arrived here Tuesday for a state visit.

Hours earlier, the Republican-controlled House also passed the implementing bills on free trade agreements (FTAs) with Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Congress will soon send the bills to Obama for his signature.

Obama, who has placed a priority on job creation, called the passage "a major win for American workers and businesses."

"Tonight's vote, with bipartisan support, will significantly boost exports that bear the proud label 'Made in America,' support tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs and protect labor rights, the environment and intellectual property," he said in a statement. "American automakers, farmers, ranchers and manufacturers, including many small businesses, will be able to compete and win in new markets."

The South Korean leader also stressed the economic gains that will come from the FTA.

"If businesses in the two countries make active efforts, trade between the two countries is expected to increase by more than 50 percent by 2015 and sharply expand investment," Lee said in a speech at a meeting with American business leaders hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Last year's bilateral trade totaled US$90.2 billion.

The two sides launched free trade talks in 2006 and struck a deal a year later.

The administrations of Lee and Obama had additional negotiations on the accord, signed by their predecessors, in 2010 and reached a supplementary deal on new terms of auto trade.

Obama has openly expressed hope that South Koreans will drive more American vehicles.

The U.S. FTA with South Korea is the largest trade deal since the U.S. agreed to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the early 1990s.

Lawmakers said the passage of the bills is a late yet desirable move for the U.S. economy and the alliance.

"There's no reason we should have had to wait nearly three years for this president to send them up to Congress for a vote, but they're a good start nonetheless," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the FTA with South Korea is more significant in terms of competition with the regional powerhouse China.

“China’s aggressive policies in the Pacific make our alliance with South Korea as important as ever," she said, adding the FTA demonstrates Washington's long-term commitment to defending its shared values, priorities and interests in the Pacific.

South Korean officials expect the country's parliament to follow suit in the near future so that the trade pact can go into effect as early as in January.

Experts hailed the U.S. passage of the FTAs as a rare bipartisan achievement and one of the major accomplishments of Lee's visit.
"In terms of the economic agenda per se, I think the free trade agreement was the main accomplishment, as it was clearly accelerated to try to get it through both houses of Congress before the president's visit," Edward Alden, a researcher at Council on Foreign Relations said. "This was one potential deadline."

Richard Bush, senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, said it may be also Obama's biggest achievement in the remainder of his current term.

"Given how few political agreements are possible in Washington these days, this may be the biggest achievement in the last two years of President Obama's current term, particularly if there is stalemate in the budget negotiations," he said. (Yonhap)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/09/110926_witn_greece.shtml

A German Take On Why The Wall Street Protesters Make Sense, Despite Themselves

By Moritz Koch
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG/Worldcrunch

(excerpts)

They don’t have any leaders or specific goals – only the feeling of belonging to the same majority. "We are the 99%," read the placards (and Internet blog) of predominantly young Americans who for two weeks, under the slogan "Occupy Wall Street," have been out on the streets of New York City. Their protest may not be well organized. Nor is it exactly clear what they hope to acheive. But it would be wrong to write them off. They are calling our attention to the split between rich and poor in the United States, and for that alone they deserve respect.

Here are some of the things "We are the 99%" protesters denounce: no longer being able to pay their mortgages; the fear of losing their jobs; student debts. These are problems the other 1% doesn’t have to deal with. The super-rich control 90% of the country’s wealth. The disparity between them and the rest of the population is comparable to the days of the railroad tycoons in the 19th century.

Such imbalance is gradually becoming a very heavy load for the American democracy to bear. Wall Street is the feeding ground for the upper class. It’s the place where even mediocre bankers get million-dollar bonuses, where failed CEOs get golden handshakes, where some hedge fund managers can earn more than a corporation – and where the tax payer pays the bill when speculative transactions go down the tubes.

Well before the financial crisis, Citigroup analysts Ajay Kapur, Niall Macleod and Narendra Singh described the U.S. economy as a “plutonomy”: the profits of economic growth were consumed by society’s top dogs, so much so that there wasn’t much left over for the rest of the population.

These opposite poles have only become more sharply antagonized during the crisis. Despite recent turbulence, capital markets have recovered – but the situation of most Americans is a lot worse. Real estate prices are all over the place, and jobless quotas are stuck at recession level. The middle classes are losing ground, ever faster and ever more severely.

This process of erosion began back in the 1980s, when factories in the Midwest started closing their doors. But never has the American Dream, that of sweating one’s way to success, rung so hollow as right now. The only people who stand a chance of advancement are graduates of the top universities, where only the super-bright are admitted in the first place -- or people who are already rich. Thus is the cement that held the United States together disintegrating...

Household Chores

(adapted)

Yesterday I spent two hours cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. After supper I said to my husband, “Harry, let’s wash the dishes before we go to bed so we can wake up to a beautiful clean kitchen.” He said “Fine.”

Well, after supper we watched TV for a while and I went to make a phone call. Next thing I knew, Harry had gone to bed. I opened the bedroom door and said, “Harry, what about the dishes?” He hollered, “Get off my back. The world won’t come to an end if you leave the dishes till tomorrow.”

I was really steamed but decided not to make a big thing out of it. I taped a note in the bedroom mirror saying, “Wake me when you get up and we’ll do the supper dishes together before you go to work”

When I got up the next morning the note was gone and so was Harry. The kitchen was still a mess. I don’t know whether to clean it up and pretend like nothing happened or drive like a mad woman to his office and dump the pots and pans on his desk.

We both work full-time and he promised when we got married that if I kept my job we would divvy up the housework 50-50. Well, it hasn’t worked out that way.