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.

Globe Telecom ties up with Japan’s Softbank

By: Paolo G. Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. has forged a partnership with one of Japan’s financial institutions to set up a remittance service for Filipinos working in Japan.

In a statement, the company said the partnership with Softbank Payment Service Corp. (SBPS), a subsidiary of Softbank Corp., would give Filipinos in Japan another way to conveniently and safely send money to their loved ones in the Philippines.

SBPS said it had started accepting membership registration applications from users of GCash Remit, Globe’s mobile transactions brand in Japan.

“By using Gcash Remit, a customer can deposit money in yen in advance and remit the required amount in pesos from the deposit to the Philippines any time 24/7 from the service website,” SBPS said in a statement.

While membership applications are already being accepted, SBPS said commercial operations would start on November 1.

A beneficiary can receive the amount remitted in 10 minutes at the earliest through the more than 18,000 cash pick-up outlets in the Philippines, mobile money platform GCash and bank transfer.

The minimum remittance charge is 500 yen per transaction, which is among the lowest in the industry.

SBPS said its partnership with G X-Change Inc., Globe’s mobile payments subsidiary, would provide Gcash Remit services mainly to Filipinos living in Japan. This will enable them to send money securely to their family and friends who were experiencing difficulties in accessing banking services in the Philippines.

Remittances sent by relatives working overseas are a major source of income for many Filipino families. Remittances are also a main source of foreign exchange for the country, which help prop up the economy.

The country’s more than eight million migrant workers are expected to send about $20 billion in remittances to the Philippines this year, higher than the $18 billion sent last year.

The World Bank estimates that the Philippines is currently the fourth-largest remittances recipient in the world, next to China, India and Mexico.

the cookie snatcher

While waiting at the airport terminal for her plane to begin boarding, a woman sat reading a newspaper. Earlier, she had purchased a package of cookies in the airport snack shop to eat after she got on the plane. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the man sitting next to her was eating a cookie. She looked down and noticed that her package of cookies had been opened and the man was eating them.

The woman couldn't believe that the man would have such nerve as to eat her cookies. So that she wouldn't lose all of her cookies to the man, she slowly reached over, took a cookie, and ate one herself. To her amazement, the man continued to eat more cookies. Getting more and more irritated, the woman removed all but one cookie from the package and ate them.

At that point, the man reached down and took the last cookie. Before eating it, though, he broke it in half and left half of the cookie for the woman. This made the woman so angry, she grabbed the empty package with the half cookie and crammed it in her purse. Then, to her shock, she noticed that there in her purse was her unopened package of cookies.