2014 Olympics
11 February 2009 – Major athletic events around the globe – from the 2014 Sochi Olympics to an annual powerboat race in Norwegian words-are striving to neutralize their carbon footprint as part of a world- wide climate network, the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) said today. The sporting events are the fates participants to join the network, and are particularly important for inspiring further global action on the environment, said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director. Organizers of the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games – to be held in a unique natural setting between the shores of the Black Sea and the soaring snow-capped Caucasus Mountains-say they will put an estimated $1.75 billion into energy conservation and renewable energy.
That investment will be dedicated to improving transport infrastructure, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from the use of electricity, air travel and ground transportation, the reforestation of Sochi National Park and the development of green belts in the city.
2. Ageing world
We live in an ageing world. While this has been recognized for some time in developed countries, it is only recently that this phenomenon has been fully acknowledged. Global communication is “shrinking” the world, and global ageing is “maturing” it. The increasing presence of older persons in the world is making people of all ages more aware that we live in a diverse and multigenerational society. It is no longer possible to ignore ageing, regardless of whether one views it positively or negatively.
Demographers note that if current trends in ageing continue as predicted, a demographic revolution, wherein the proportions of the young and the old will undergo a historic crossover, will be felt in just three generations. This portrait of change in the world’s population parallels the magnitude of the industrial revolution traditionally considered the most significant social and economic breakthrough in the history of humankind since the Neolithic period. It marked beginning of a sustained movement towards modern economic growth in much the same way that globalization is today marking an unprecedented and sustained movement toward a “global culture”. The demographic revolution, it is envisaged, will be at powerful.
While the future effects are not known, a likely scenario is one where both the challenges as well as the opportunities will emerge from a vessel into which exploration and research, dialogue and debate are poured. Challenges arise as social and economic structures try to adjust to the simultaneous phenomenon of diminishing young cohorts with rising older ones, and opportunities present themselves in the sheer number of older individuals and the vast resources societies stand to agin from their contribution.
This ageing of the population permeates all social, economic and cultural spheres. Revolutionary change calls for new, revolutionary thinking, which can position policy formulation and implementation on sounder footing. In our ageing world, new thinking requires that we view ageing as a lifelong and older person.
3. American Employees
American employees are paid $300 a year to sleep fmae than seven hours per night and they can record their sleep manually or through an automatic wrist monitor, as sleeping affects daytime performance by influencing employees’ alertness, which diminish productivity and leads to financial loss accumulated to $63 Z billion a year, and similar policies adopted to encourage people taking exercise.
4. Armed Police in NSW schools
Armed police have been brought into NSW schools to reduce crime rates and educate students.
The 40 School Liaison Police(SLP) officers have been allocated to public and private high schools across the state.
Organizers say the officers, who began work last week, will build positive relationships between police and students. But parent groups waned of potential dangers of armed police working at schools in communities where police relations were already under strain.
Among their duties, the SLPs will conduct crime prevention workshops, talking to students about issues including shoplifting, offensive behavior, graffiti and drugs and alcohol. They can also advise school principals. One SLP, Constable Ben Purvis, began work in the inner Sydney region last week, including at Alexandria Park Community School’s senior campus. Previously stationed as a crime prevention officer at The Rocks, he now has 27 schools under his jurisdiction in areas including The Rocks, Redfern and Kings Cross.
Constable Purvis said the full–time position would see him working on the broader issues of crime prevention. “I am not a security guard,” he said. “I am not there to patrol the school. We want to improve relationships between police and schoolchildren, to have positive interaction. We are coming to the school and giving them knowledge to improve their own safety.” The use of fake ID among older students is among the issues he was already discussed with principals. Parents ‘ groups responded to the program positively, but said it may spark a range of community reactions. “It is a good thing and an innovative idea and there could be some positive benefits, ” Council of Catholic School Parents executive officer Danielle Cronin said. “Different communities will respond to this kind of presence in different ways.”
5. Australia education
When Australians engage in debate about educational quality or equity, they often seem to accept that a country cannot achieve both at the same time.
Curriculum reforms intended to improve equity often fail to do so because they Increase breadth or differentiation in offerings in a way that increases differences in quality. Further, these differences in quality often reflect differences in students’ social backgrounds because the ‘new’ offerings are typically taken up by relatively disadvantaged students who are not served well them. Evidence from New South Wales will be used to illustrate this point.
The need to improve the quality of education is well accepted across OECD and other countries as they seek to strengthen their human capital to underpin their modern, knowledge economies. Improved equity is also important for this purpose, since the demand for high level skills is widespread and the opportunities for the low skilled are diminishing.
Improved equity in education is also important for social cohesion. There are countries in which the education system seems primarily to reproduce existing social arrangements, conferring privilege where it already extreme, the capacity of schooling to build social cohesion is often diminished by the way in which schools separate individuals and groups.
6. Australian educational equity
Australians seem to accept that a country country cannot achieve both educational quality and equity at the same time, curriculum reforms fail to improve equity, however, the need to improve the quality of education is well accepted across OECD and other countries, improved equity is important for social cohesion which is often diminished by separating individuals and groups.
It seems that quality and equity in education cannot have both as equity impedes quality, which it actually mistaken because some curriculum merely improve differentiation required in quality, such as treating students with various backgrounds accordingly, but quality and equity improvement both stress on knowledge economies and social cohesion but some countries are diminishing these advantages by separating students into groups.
7. Australian indigenous food
In its periodic quest for culinary identity, Australia automatically looks to its indigenous ingredients, the foods that are native to this country. ‘There can be little doubt that using an indigenous product must qualify a dish as Australian notes Stephanie Alexander. Similarly, and without qualification, states that’ A
uniquely Australian food culture can only be based upon foods indigenous to this country, although, as Craw remarks, proposing Australian native foods as national symbols relies more upon their association with ‘nature’ and geographic origin than on common usage. Not withstanding the lack of justification for the premise that national dishes are, of necessity, founded on ingredients native to the country-after all, ltaly’s gastronomic identity is tied to the non-indigenous tomato, Thailand^ to then on-indigenous chili-the reality is that Austrians do not eat indigenous foods insignificant quantities. The exceptions are fish, crustaceans and shellfish from oceans, rivers and lakes most of which are unarguably unique to this country. Despite valiant and well-intentioned efforts today at promoting and encouraging the consumption of native resource, bush foods are not harvested or produced in sufficient quantities for them to be a standard component of Australian diets, nor are they generally accessible. Indigenous foods are less relevant to Australian identity today than lamb and passionfruit, both initially imported and now naturalized.
8. Autism
Autism is a disorder characterized by impairments in communication, social interaction, and repetitive behaviours. Over the past 40 years, the measured prevalence of autism has multiplied roughly 10-fold.While progress has been made in understanding some of the factors associated with increased risk and rising prevalence, no one knows with certainty what causes autism or what caused autism prevalence to rise so precipitously. There is, however, a growing awareness among scholars that focusing solely on individual risk factors such as exposure toxicants, prenatal complications ,or parental education is insufficient to explain why autism prevalence rates have increased so stunningly. Social and institutional processes likely play an important role. For example, changes in diagnostic criteria and an influx of resources dedicated to autism diagnosis may be critical to understanding why prevalence rates have risen. Increased awareness and social influence have been implicated in the rise of autism and a variety of comparable disorders, where social processes mimic the effects of contagion. Studies have examined the contribution of changes in diagnostic criteria and diagnostic substitution to rising autism prevalence rates, but the importance of institutional factors, resources for diagnosis, and greater awareness have not been systematically assessed. The sociological literature on health and inequality, however, provides substantial motivation for exploring how individual- and community-level effects operate to shape the likelihood of an autism diagnosis.
9. Battle against illiteracy
American employees are paid $300 a year to sleep fmae than seven hours per night and they can record their sleep manually or through an automatic wrist monitor, as sleeping affects daytime performance by influencing employees’ alertness, which diminish productivity and leads to financial loss accumulated to $63 Z billion a year, and similar policies adopted to encourage people taking exercise.
10. Beauty contest
Since Australians Jennifer Hawkins and Lauryn Eagle were crowned Miss Universe and Miss Universe and Miss Teen International respectively, there has been a dramatic increase in interest in beauty pageants in this country. These wins have also sparked a debate as to whether beauty pageants are just harmless reminders of old fashioned values or a throwback to the days when women were respected for how good they looked.
Opponents argue that beauty pageants, whether it’s Miss Universe of Miss Teen International, are demeaning to women and out of sync with the times. They say they are nothing more than symbols of decline.
In the past few decades Australia has taken more than a few faltering steps toward treating women with dignity and respect. Young women are being brought up knowing that they can do anything, as shown by inspiring role models in medicine such as 2003 Australia of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley.
In the 1960s and 70s, one of the first acts of the feminist movement was to picket beauty pageants on the premise that the industry promoted the view that it was acceptable to judge women on their appearance. Today many young Australia women are still profoundly uncomfortable with their body image, feeling under all kinds of pressures because they are judged by how they look.
Almost all of the pageant victors are wafer thin, reinforcing the message that thin equals beautiful. This ignores the fact that men and women come in all sizes and shapes. In a country where up to 60% of young women are on a diet at any one time and 70% of school girls say they want to lose weight, despite the fact that most have a normal BMI, such messages are profoundly hazardous to the mental health of young Australians.
11. Benefits of honey
According to Dr. Ron Fessenden, M D ,M.P.H. the average American consumes more than 150 pounds of refined sugar, plus an additional 62 pounds of high fructose com syrup every year. In comparison, we consume only around1.3 pounds of honey per year on average in the U.S. According to new research, if you can switch out your intake of refined sugar and use pure raw honey instead, the health benefits can be enormous.
What is raw honey? Its a pure, unfiltered and unpasteurized sweetener made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Most of the honey consumed today is processed honey that’s been heated and filtered since it was gathered from the hive. Unlike processed honey, raw honey does not get robbed of its incredible nutritional value and health powers. It can help with everything from low energy to sleep problems to seasonal allergies. Switching to raw honey may even help weight-loss efforts when compared to diets containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I’m excited to tell you more about one of my all-time favourite natural sweeteners today.
12. Children watching TV
Why and to what extent should parents control their Children’s TV watching? There is certainly nothing inherently wrong with TV. The problem is how much television a child watches and what effect it has on his life. Research has shown that as the amount of time spent watching TV goes up, the amount of time devoted not only to homework and study but other important aspects of li such as social development and physical activities decreases. Television is bound to have it tremendous impact on a child, both in terms of how many hours a week he watches TV and of what he sees. When a parent is concerned about the effects of television, he should consider a number of things: what TV offers the child in terms of information and knowledge, how many hours a week a youngster his age should watch television, the impact of violence and sex, and the influence of commercials. What about the family as a whole? Is the TV set a central piece of furniture in your home! Is it flicked on the moment someone enters the empty house? Is it on during the daytime? Is it part of the background noise of your family life? Do you demonstrate by your own viewing that television should be watched selectively?
13. Cities
How can we design great cities from scratch if we cannot agree on what makes them great ?None of the cities where people most want to live such as London, New York ,Paris and Hong Kong comes near to being at the top of surveys asking which are best to live in.
The top three in the most recent Economist Intelligence Units liveability ranking, for example, were Melbourne, Vancouver and Vienna. They are all perfectly pleasant, but great? The first question to tackle is the difference between liveability and greatness.
Perhaps we cannot aspire to make a great city, but if we attempt to make a liveable one, can it in time become great ?
There are some fundamental elements that you need. The first is public space. Whether it is Viennas Ringstrasse and Prater Park, or the beaches of Melbourne and Vancouver, these are places that allow the city to pause and the citizens to mingle and to breathe, regardless of class or wealth. Good cities also seem to be close to nature, and all three have easy access to varied, wonderful landscapes and topographies.
A second crucial factor, says Ricky Burdett, a professor of urban studies at the London School of Economics, is a good transport system. Affordable public transport is the one thing which cuts across all successful cities, he says.
14. Columbus
On October 12,1492 (the first day he encountered the native people of the Americas), Columbus wrote in his journal: They should be good servants. I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses. These captives were later paraded through the streets of Barcelona and Seville when Columbus returned to Spain.
From his very first contact with native people, Columbus had their domination in mind. For example, on October 14,1492, Columbus wrote in his journal, with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to dc what is required of them. These were not mere words: after his second voyage, Columbus sent back a consignment of natives to be sold as slaves.
Yet in an April,1493, letter to Luis de Santangel (a patron who helped fund the first voyage),Columbus made clear that the people he encountered had done nothing to deserve ill treatment.
15. Compulsory Voting in Australia
On October 12,1492 (the first day he encountered the native people of the Americas), Columbus wrote in his journal: They should be good servants. I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses. These captives were later paraded through the streets of Barcelona and Seville when Columbus returned to Spain.
From his very first contact with native people, Columbus had their domination in mind. For example, on October 14,1492, Columbus wrote in his journal, with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to dc what is required of them. These were not mere words: after his second voyage, Columbus sent back a consignment of natives to be sold as slaves.
Yet in an April,1493, letter to Luis de Santangel (a patron who helped fund the first voyage),Columbus made clear that the people he encountered had done nothing to deserve ill treatment.
16. Cow and grass
The co-evolutionary relationship between cows and grass is one of nature’s underappreciated wonders; it also happens to be the key to understanding just about everything about modern meat.
For the grasses, which have evolved to withstand the grazing of ruminants, the cow maintains and expands their habitat by preventing trees and shrubs from gaining a foothold and hogging the sunlight; the animal also spreads grass seed, plants it with his hooves, and then fertilizes it with his manure.
In exchange for these services the grasses offer ruminants a plentiful and exclusive supply of lunch. For cows (like sheep, bison, and other ruminants) have evolved the special ability to convert grass-which single-stomached creatures like us can’t digest-into high-quality protein. They can do this because they possess what is surely the most highly evolved digestive organ in nature: the rumen. About the size of a medicine ball, the organ is essentially a forty-five-gallon fermentation tank in which a resident population of bacteria dines on grass.
17. Crime rate
The co-evolutionary relationship between cows and grass is one of nature’s underappreciated wonders; it also happens to be the key to understanding just about everything about modern meat.
For the grasses, which have evolved to withstand the grazing of ruminants, the cow maintains and expands their habitat by preventing trees and shrubs from gaining a foothold and hogging the sunlight; the animal also spreads grass seed, plants it with his hooves, and then fertilizes it with his manure.
In exchange for these services the grasses offer ruminants a plentiful and exclusive supply of lunch. For cows (like sheep, bison, and other ruminants) have evolved the special ability to convert grass-which single-stomached creatures like us can’t digest-into high-quality protein. They can do this because they possess what is surely the most highly evolved digestive organ in nature: the rumen. About the size of a medicine ball, the organ is essentially a forty-five-gallon fermentation tank in which a resident population of bacteria dines on grass.
18. Diasporas
Diasporas -communities which live outside, but maintain links with, their homelands-aee getting larger, thicker and stronger. They are the human face of globalization. Diaspora consciousness is on the rise: diasporas are becoming more interested in their origin, and organizing themselves more effectively; homelands are revising their opinions of their diasporas as the stigma attached to emigration declines, and stepping up their engagement efforts; meanwhile, host countries are witnessing more assertive diasporic groups within their own national communities, worrying about fifth columns and foreign lobbies, and suffering outbreaks of ‘diasporaphobia.’i
This trend is the result of five factors, all of them connected with globalization: the growth in international migration; the revolution in transport and communications technology, which is quickening the pace of diasporas’ interactions with their homelands; a reaction against global homogenized culture, which is leading people to rethink their identities; the end of the Cold War, which increased the salience of ethnicity and nationalism and created new space in which diasporas can operate; and policy changes by national governments on issues such as dual citizenship and multiculturalism, which are enabling people to lead transnational lives. Diasporas such as those attaching to China, India, Russia and Mexico are already big, but they will continue to grow, the migration flows which feed them are likely to widen and quicken in the future.
19. Electric cars
Electric cars have been considered long time ago But due to the concern of global warming, they are now reconsidered But it required frequent refueling
20. English dominance and its influence
Firstly, from the macroscopic view, the dominance of English is not precipitated by the language itself, so the arising of English dominance in international communication is not solely the dominance of language itself. Just as the professor Jean Aitchison in Oxford pointed out, the success of a language has much to do with the power of the people who use it but has little to do with internal features of the language. It is very obvious in consideration to English. During the 18th century and 19th century, the influence of the British Empire began to spread around the world for the sake of industrial revolution, so English began to become popular. English was used not only in the British colonies but also in the diplomatic negotiations of non-English-speaking countries.
However, no matter how powerful the adaptively is and how large the area that the power of English covers, currently, the international status of English mainly springs from the status of America as a superpower after World War 2.
Besides, with the development of the economic globalization and new political structure, there is a great need of an international language. As result, English became the first choice.
21. Geothermal energy
What is the solution for nations with increasing energy demands, hindered by frequent power cuts and an inability to compete in the international oil market? For East Africa at least, experts think geothermal energy is the answer. More promising still, the Kenyan government and international investors seem to be listening. This is just in time according to many, as claims of an acute energy crisis are afoot due to high oil prices, population spikes and droughts.
Geothermal energy works by pumping water into bedrock, where it is heated and returns to the surface as steam which is used directly as a heat source or to drive electricity production. Source: Energy Information Administration, Energy in the Western United States and Hawaii.
Currently over 60% of Kenya’s power comes from hydroelectric sources but these are proving increasingly unreliable as the issue of seasonal variation is intensified by erratic rain patterns. Alternative energy sources are needed; and the leading energy supplier in Kenya, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), hopes to expand its geothermal energy supply from 13% to 25% of its total usage by 2020. The potential of geothermal energy in the region was first realised Internationally by the United Nations Development Program, when geologists observed thermal anomalies below the East African Rift system. Locals have been utilising this resource for centuries; using steam vents to create the perfect humidity for greenhouses, or simply to enjoy a swim in the many natural hot lakes.
Along the 6000 km of the rift from the Red Sea to Mozambique, geochemical, geophysical and heat flow measurements were made to identify areas suitable for geothermal wells. One area lies next to the extinct Olkaria volcano, within the Hell’s Gate National Park, and sits over some of the thinnest continental crust on Earth. This is a result of the thinning of the crust by tectonic stretching, causing hotter material below the Earth’s surface to rise, resulting in higher temperatures. This thin crust was ideal for the drilling of geothermal wells, reaching depths of around 3000 m, where temperatures get up 342℃, far higher than the usual temperature of 90℃ at this depth. Water in the surrounding rocks is converted to steam by the heat. The steam can be used to drive turbines and produce electricity.
22. Great managers
What do great managers actually do? there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest: They discover what is the unique about each person and then capitalize on it Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.
First, identifying and capitalizing on each person’s uniqueness saves time Second, capitalizing on uniqueness makes each person more accountable. Third, capitalizing on what is unique about each person builds a stronger sense of team.
23. Greenhouse gas
When an individual drives a car, heats a house, or uses an aerosol hair spray, greenhouse gases are produced. In economic term, this creates a classic negative externality. Most of the cost (in the case, those arising from global warming) are borne by individuals other than the one making the decision about how many miles to drive or how much hair spray to use. Because the driver (or sprayer) enjoys all the benefits of the activities but suffers only part of the cost, that individual engages in more than the economically efficient amount of the activity. In this sense, the problem of greenhouse gases parallels the problem that occurs when someone smokes a cigarette in an enclosed space or litters the countryside with fast-food wrappers, If we are to get individuals to reduce production of greenhouse gases to the efficient rate we must somehow induce them to act as though they bear all the costs of their actions. The two most widely accepted means of doing this are government regulation and taxation, both of which have been proposed to deal with greenhouse gases.
24. House mice
According to new research, house mice (Musmusculus) are ideal biomarkers of human settlement as they tend to stow away in crates or on ships that end up going where people go. Using mice as a proxy for human movement can add to what is already known through archaeological data and answer important questions in areas where there is a lack of artifacts, Searle said.
Where people go, so do mice, often stowing away in carts of hay or on ships. Despite a natural range of just 100 meters (109 yards) and an evolutionary base near Pakistan, the house mouse has managed to colonize every continent, which makes it a useful tool for researchers like Searle.
Previous research conducted by Searle at the University of York supported the theory that Australian mice originated in the British Isles and probably came over with convicts shipped there to colonize the continent in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
In the Viking study, he and his fellow researchers in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden took it a step further, using ancient mouse DNA collected from archaeological sites dating from the 10th to 12th centuries, as well as modern mice.
He is hoping to.do just that in his next project, which involves tracking the migration of mice and other species, including plants, across the Indian Ocean, from South Asia to East Africa.
25. Human and animals
All non-human animals are constrained by the tools that nature has bequeathed them through natural selection. They are not capable of striving towards truth; they simply absorb information, and behave in ways useful for their survival. The kinds of knowledge they require of the world have been largely pre-selected by evolution. No animal is capable of asking question or generating problems that are irrelevant to its immediate circumstances or its evolutionarily designed needs. When a beaver builds a dam, it doesn’t ask itself why it does so, or whether there is a better way of doing it. When a swallow flies south, it doesn’t wonder why it is hotter in Africa or what would happen if it flew still further south.
Humans do ask themselves these and many other kinds of questions, questions that have no relevance, indeed make little sense, in the context of evolved needs and goals. What marks out humans is our capacity to go beyond our naturally defined goals such as the need to find food, shelter or a mate and to establish human created goals.
Some contemporary thinkers believe that there are indeed certain questions that humans are incapable of answering because of our evolved nature. Steven Pinker, for instance, argues that “Our minds evolved by natural selection to solve problems that were life and death matters to our ancestors, not to commune with conectness or to answer any question we are capable of asking. We cannot hold ten thousand words in our short term memory. We cannot see ultra violet light. We cannot mentally rotate an object in the fourth dimension. And perhaps we cannot solve conundrums like free will and sentience.”
26. Labor comparative advantage
With an abundance of low-priced labor relative to the United States, it is no surprise that China, India and other developing countries specialize in the production of labor-intensive products. For similar reasons, the United States will specialize in the production of goods that are human-and physical-capital intensive because of the relative abundance of a highly-educated labor force and technically sophisticated equipment in the United States.
The division of global production should yield higher global output of both types of goods than would be the case if each country attempted to produce both of these goods itself. For example, the United States would produce more expensive labor-intensive goods because of its more expensive labor and the developing countries would produce more expensive human and physical capital-intensive goods because of their relative scarcity of these inputs. This logic implies that the United States is unlikely to be a significant global competitor in the production green technologies that are not relatively intensive in human and physical capital.
Nevertheless, during the early stages of the development of a new technology, the United States has a comparative advantage in the production of the products enable by this innovation. However, once these technologies become well-understood and production processes are designed that can make use of less-skilled labor, production will migrate to countries with less expensive labor.
27. Living in countryside
I knew it was a good idea because I had been there before. Born and reared on a farm I had been seduced for a few years by the idea of being a big shot who lived and worked in a city rather than only going for the day to wave at the buses. True, I was familiar with some of the minor disadvantages of country living such as an iffy private water supply sometimes infiltrated by a range of Flora and fauna including, on one memorable occasion, a dead lamb, the absence of central heating in farm houses and cottages and a single-track farm road easily blocked by snow, broken-down machinery or escaped livestock.
But there were many advantages as I told Liz back in the mid-Seventies. Town born and bred, eight months pregnant and exchanging a warm, substantial Corstorphine terrace for a windswept farm cottage on a much lower income, persuading her that country had it over town might have been difficult.
28. London
Who would have thought back in 1698, as they downed their espressos, that the little band of stockbrokers from Jonathan’s Coffee House in Change Alley EC3 would be the founder members of what would become the world’s mighty money capital?
Progress was not entirely smooth. The South Sea Bubble burst in 1720 and the coffee house exchanges burned down in 1748. As late as Big bang in 1986, when bowler hats were finally hung up, you wouldn’t have bet the farm on London surpassing New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo as Mammon’s international nexus. Yet the 325,000 souls who operate in the UK capital’s hub have now overtaken their New York rivals in size of the funds managed (including offshore business); they hold 70% of the global secondary bond market and the City dominates foreign exchange trading. And its institutions paid out ￡9 billion in bonuses in December. The Square Mile has now spread both eastwards from EC3 to Canary Wharf and westwards into Mayfair, where many of the private equity ‘locusts’ and their hedge fund pals now hang out.
For foreigners in finance, London is the place to be. It has no Sarbanes Oxley and no euro to hold it back, yet the fact that it still flies so high is against the odds. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, transport systems groan and there’s an ever present threat of terrorist attack. But, for the time being, the deals just keep on getting bigger.
29. Malaysia
Malaysia is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to visit in Southeast Asia. Aside from its gleaming 21st century glass towers, it boasts some of the most superb beaches, mountains and national parks in the region.
Malaysia is also launching its biggest-ever tourism campaign in effort to lure 20 million visitors here this year. Any tourist itinerary would have to begin in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where you will find the Petronas Twin Towers, which once comprised the world’s tallest buildings and now hold the title of second-tallest. Both the 88-story towers soar 1,480 feet high and are connected by a sky-bridge on the 41st floor. The limestone temple Batu Caves, located 9 miles north of the city ,have a 328-foot-high ceiling and feature ornate Hindu shrines, including a 141-foot-tall gold-painted statue of a Hindu deity. To reach the caves, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps. In Sabah state on Borneo island not to be confused with Indonesians Borneo you’ll find the small mushroom-shaped Sipadan island, off the coast of Sabah, rated as one of the top five diving sites in the world.
You can also climb Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Southeast Asia, visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, go white-water rafting and catch a glimpse of the bizarre Proboscis monkey, a primate found only in Borneo with a huge pendulous nose, a characteristic pot belly and strange honking sounds. While you’re in Malaysia, consider a trip to Malacca. In its heyday, this southern state was a powerful Malay sultanate and a booming trading port in the region. Facing the Straits of Malacca, this historical state is now a place of intriguing Chinese streets, antique shops, old temples and reminders of European colonial powers. Another interesting destination is Penang, known as the Pearl of the Orient. This island off the northwest coast of Malaysia boasts of a rich Chinese cultural heritage, good food and beautiful beaches.
30. Museology
Malaysia is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to visit in Southeast Asia. Aside from its gleaming 21st century glass towers, it boasts some of the most superb beaches, mountains and national parks in the region.
Malaysia is also launching its biggest-ever tourism campaign in effort to lure 20 million visitors here this year. Any tourist itinerary would have to begin in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where you will find the Petronas Twin Towers, which once comprised the world’s tallest buildings and now hold the title of second-tallest. Both the 88-story towers soar 1,480 feet high and are connected by a sky-bridge on the 41st floor. The limestone temple Batu Caves, located 9 miles north of the city ,have a 328-foot-high ceiling and feature ornate Hindu shrines, including a 141-foot-tall gold-painted statue of a Hindu deity. To reach the caves, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps. In Sabah state on Borneo island not to be confused with Indonesians Borneo you’ll find the small mushroom-shaped Sipadan island, off the coast of Sabah, rated as one of the top five diving sites in the world.
You can also climb Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Southeast Asia, visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, go white-water rafting and catch a glimpse of the bizarre Proboscis monkey, a primate found only in Borneo with a huge pendulous nose, a characteristic pot belly and strange honking sounds. While you’re in Malaysia, consider a trip to Malacca. In its heyday, this southern state was a powerful Malay sultanate and a booming trading port in the region. Facing the Straits of Malacca, this historical state is now a place of intriguing Chinese streets, antique shops, old temples and reminders of European colonial powers. Another interesting destination is Penang, known as the Pearl of the Orient. This island off the northwest coast of Malaysia boasts of a rich Chinese cultural heritage, good food and beautiful beaches.
31. Napping
A large new study has found that people who regularly took a siesta were significantly less likely to die of heart disease. “Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality,” said Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study of more than 23,000 Greek adults-the biggest and best examination of the subject to date-found that those who regularly took a midday siesta were more than 30 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Other experts said the results are intriguing. Heart disease kills more than 650,000 Americans each year, making it the nation’s NO.1 cause of death. “It’s interesting. A little siesta, a little snooze may be beneficial,” said Gerald Fletcher, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla, speaking on behalf of the American Heart Association. “It’s simple, but it has a lot of promise.”
While more research is needed to confim and explore the fingings, there.are several.ways napping could reduce the risk of heart attacks, experts said. “Napping may help deal with the stress of daily living, “said Michael Twery, who directs the National Hert Lung and Blood Institute’s National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.” “Another possibility is that it is part of the normal biological rhyhm of daily living. The biological clock that drives sleep and wakefulness has two cycles each day, and one of them dips usually in the early afternoon. It’s possible that not engaging in napping for some people might disrupt these processes.”
Researchers have long known that countries such as Greece, ltaly and Spain where people commonly take siestas, have lower rates of heart disease than would be expected. But previous studies that attempted to study the relationship between naps and heart disease have produced mixed results. The new study is first to try to fully account for factors that might confuse the findings, such as physical activity, diet and other illnesses. “This study has a number of advantages, ” Trichopoulos said. He and colleagues at the University of Athens examined 23,681 Greek men and women ages 20 to 86 who had no history of heart disease or any other serious health problem when they enrolled in the study between 1994 and 1999. The researchers asked the participants whether they took midday naps and, if so , how often and for how long. They also asked detailed questions about their health and lifestyles, such as whether they had any illnesses that might make them sleep more how much exercise they got and what they ate. After an average of more than six year of follow-up, 792 of the study subjects died, including 133 who died of heart disease. Of that group, 94 were nappers. After the researchers accounted for factors that could confuse the issue, they found that those who took naps frequently were 34 percent less likely to die of heart disease than those who did not. The biggest nappers–79 people who took a siesta for 30 minutes or more at least three times a week–had a 37 percent lower risk. Naps appeared to offer the most protection to working men: Those who took midday siestas either occasionally or systematically had a 64 percent lower risk of death from heart disease. Non- working men had a 36 percent reduction in risk. A similar analysis could not be done in women because too few died of heart disease. (可能不会在考试中出现)
32. Negotiation
A large new study has found that people who regularly took a siesta were significantly less likely to die of heart disease. “Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality (冠心病的死亡率),” said Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study published yesterday in the Archives (档案) of Internal Medicine. The study of more than 23,000 Greek adults-the biggest and best examination of the subject to date-found that those who regularly took a midday siesta were more than 30 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Other experts said the results are intriguing(迷人的). Heart disease kills more than 650,000 Americans each year, making it the nation’s NO.1 cause of death. “It’s interesting. A little siesta, a little snooze may be beneficial,” said Gerald Fletcher, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla, speaking on behalf of the American Heart Association. “It’s simple, but it has a lot of promise.”
While more research is needed to confim and explore the fingings, there.are several.ways napping could reduce the risk of heart attacks, experts said. “Napping may help deal with the stress of daily living, “said Michael Twery, who directs the National Hert Lung and Blood Institute’s National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.” “Another possibility is that it is part of the normal biological rhyhm (节奏) of daily living. The biological clock that drives sleep and wakefulness has two cycles each day, and one of them dips usually in the early afternoon. It’s possible that not engaging in napping for some people might disrupt these processes.”
Researchers have long known that countries such as Greece, ltaly and Spain where people commonly take siestas, have lower rates of heart disease than would be expected. But previous studies that attempted to study the relationship between naps and heart disease have produced mixed results. The new study is first to try to fully account for factors that might confuse the findings, such as physical activity, diet and other illnesses. “This study has a number of advantages, ” Trichopoulos said. He and colleagues at the University of Athens examined 23,681 Greek men and women ages 20 to 86 who had no history of heart disease or any other serious health problem when they enrolled in the study between 1994 and 1999. The researchers asked the participants whether they took midday naps and, if so , how often and for how long. They also asked detailed questions about their health and lifestyles, such as whether they had any illnesses that might make them sleep more how much exercise they got and what they ate. After an average of more than six year of follow-up, 792 of the study subjects died, including 133 who died of heart disease. Of that group, 94 were nappers. After the researchers accounted for factors that could confuse the issue, they found that those who took naps frequently were 34 percent less likely to die of heart disease than those who did not. The biggest nappers–79 people who took a siesta for 30 minutes or more at least three times a week–had a 37 percent lower risk. Naps appeared to offer the most protection to working men: Those who took midday siestas either occasionally or systematically had a 64 percent lower risk of death from heart disease. Non- working men had a 36 percent reduction in risk. A similar analysis could not be done in women because too few died of heart disease. (可能不会在考试中出现)
33. Nobel peace prize
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize justly rewards the thousands of scientists of the United Nations Climate Change Panel (the IPCC). These scientists are engaged in excellent, painstaking work that establishes exactly what the world should expect from climate change.
The other award winner, former US Vice President AL Gore, has spent much more time telling us what to fear. While the IPCC’s estimates and conclusions are grounded in careful study, Gore doesn’t seem to be similarly restrained.
Gore told the world in his Academy Award winning movie (recently labeled “one sided” and containing “scientific errors” by a British judge) to expect 20 foot sea level rises over this century. He ignores the findings of his Nobel co winner, the IPCC, who conclude that sea levels will rise between only a half foot and two feet over this century, with their best expectation being about one foot. That’s similar to what the world experienced over the past 150 years.
Likewise, Gore agonizes over the accelerated melting of ice in Greenland and what it means for the planet, but overlooks the IPCC’s conclusion that, if sustained, the current rate of melting would add just three inches to the sea level rise by the end of the century. Gore also takes no notice of research showing that Greenland’s temperatures were higher in 1941 than they are today.
Gore also frets about the future of polar bears. He claims they are drowning as their icy habitat disappears. However, the only scientific study showing.any such thing indicates that four polar bears drowned because of a storm.
The politician turned movie maker loses sleep over a predicted rise in heat related deaths. There’s another side of the story that’s inconvenient to mention: rising temperatures will reduce the number of cold spells, which are a much bigger killer than heat. The best study shows that by 2050, heat will claim 400,000 more lives, but 1.8 million fewer will die because of cold. Indeed, according to the first complete survey of the economic effects of climate change for the world, global warming will actually save lives.
34. Office environment
The benefit of improving office environment, there is a link between the office and employee satisfaction, staff find satisfied because they feel they are cared for, a pot of plants and greenery, private office, lighter room light etc. can help; pioneers in the business find better office would motivate staff in terms of creativity and innovation.
参考答案：
The benefit of improving office environment is that a better office environment, such as a pot of plants in the office, private office and lighter light, can improve employee satisfaction and would motivate staff in terms of creativity and innovation, found by peers in business.
35. Office space
There has long been a saying,which is also backed up by research,that improvement of the workplace will have positive impact on worker’s performance, which means that adding space, greenery and better lights can all benefit the employees both mentally and physically-efficacy promotion and loyalty towards the company, and some companies even go further to create a space that can stimulate their collaboration and creativity, because they think creativity is also important.
36. Paleolithic 石器时代 people
The ways of lite Upper Paleolithic people are known through the remains of meals scattered around their hearths, together with many tools and weapons and the debris left over from their making. The people were hunter-gathers who lived exclusively form what they could find in nature without practicing either agriculture or herding. They hunted the bigger herbivores, while berries leaves, roots, wild fruit and mushrooms probably played a major role in their diet. Their hunting was indiscriminate; perhaps because so many animals were about they did not need to spare pregnant females or the young. In the cave of Enlene, for example, many bones of reindeer and bison fetuses were found. Apparently, upper Paleolithic people hunted like other predators and killed the weakest prey first. They did, however, sometimes concentrate on salmon suns and migrating herds of reindeer. Contrary to popular beliefs about cave man, upper Paleclithic people did not live deep inside caves. They rather close the foot of clifts, especially when an overhang provided good shelter. On the plains and in the valleys, they used tents made from hides of the animals they killed. At time, on the great Russian plains, they built huts with huge boned and tusks collected from skeletons of mammals
Men hunted mostly with spears, the bow and arrow was probably not invented until the Magdalenian period that came at the end of the Upper Paleolithic. Tools and weapons, made out of wood or reindeer antlers, often had flint cutting edges. Flint snappers were skillful and traditions in flint snapping were our chased tor thousands of years.This continuity means that they must have been carefully thought how to find good flint modules and how to snap them in order to make knives, buries (chiael like tools) or scrapers, which could be used for various purposes.
37. Parent’s born order affects their parenting
Parents’ own birth order can become an issue when dynamics in the family they are raising replicate the family in which they were raised. Agati notes common examples, such as a firstborn parent getting into “raging battles” with a firstborn child. “Both are used to getting the last word. Each has to be right. But the parent has to be the grow up and step out of that battle,” he advises. When youngest children become parents, Agati cautions that because they “may not have had high expectations placed on them, they in turn may not see their kids for their abilities.” But he also notes that since youngest children tend to be more social, “youngest parents can be helpful to their firstborn, who may have a harder time with social situations. These parents can be help their eldest kids loosen up and not be so hard on themselves. Mom Susan Ritz says her own birth order didn’t seem to affect her parenting until the youngest of her three children, Julie, was born. Julie was nine years younger than Ritz’s oldest, Joshua mirroring the age difference between Susan and her own older brother.” I would see Joshua do to Julie what my brother did to me,” she says of the taunting and teasing by a much older sibling.
“I had to try not to always take Julie’s side.” Biases can surface no matter what your own birth position was, as Lori Silverstone points out. “As a middle myself, I can be harder on my older daughter. I recall my older sister hitting me, ” she says of her reactions to her daughters’ tussles.
“My husband is a firstborn. He’s always sticking up for the oldest. He feels bad for her that the others came so fast. He helps me to see what that feels like, to have that attention and then lose it.” Silverstone sees birth order triggers as “an opportunity to heal parts of ourselves. I’ve learned to teach my middle daughter to stand up for herself. My mother didn’t teach me that. I’m conscious of giving my middle daughter tools so she has a nice way to protect herself.”
Whether or not you subscribe to theories that birth order can affect your child’s personality, ultimately, “we all have free will,” Agati notes. It’s important for both parents and kids to realize that, despite the characteristics often associated with birth order, “you’re not locked into any role.”
38. Pascolena
When Namibia gained independence in 1990, teenager Pascolena Flory was herding goats in the country’s dry, desolate northern savannah. Her job, unpaid and dangerous, was to protect her parents’ livestock from preying jackals and leopards. She saw wildlife as the enemy, and many of the other. indigenous inhabitants of Namibia’s rural communal lands shared her view. Wildlife poaching was commonplace. Fifteen years later, 31-year-old Pascolena’s life and outlook are very different. She has built a previously undreamed-of career in tourism and is the first black Namibian to be appointed manager of a guest lodge. Her village and hundreds of others, have directly benefited from government efforts to devolve.
39. Paying for child
Scientists believe they may have found a way to prevent complications that can arise following cataract surgery, the world’s leading cause of blindness.
Detailing why complications can occur after surgery, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) explained that while cataract surgery works well to restore vision ,a few natural lens cells always remain after the procedure. Over time, the eye’s wound-healing response leads these cells to spread across the underside of the artificial lens, which interferes with vision, causing what’s known as ‘posterior capsule opacification ‘ or secondary cataract.
UEA’s School of Biological Sciences academic, DI Michael Wormstone, who led the study, said: “Secondary visual loss responds well to treatment with laser surgery. But as life expectancy increases, the problems of cataract and posterior capsule opacification will become even greater in terms of both patient well being and economic burden. It’s essential that we find better ways to manage the condition in future.”
As a result, researchers are designing new artificial lenses that can be placed into a capsular bag that stays open, instead of shrink-wrapping closed, which currently occurs. It is believed that, through the new approach, fluid in the eye can flow around the artificial lens, therefore diluting and washing away the cell signalling molecules that encourage cell re-growth.
40. Plant growth
Though exerting experiment on humble pee by placing them in distinguished conditions, researchers found that with the ability of avoiding hazards, plants are smarter than people expect, as it chases nutrients when growing, and plants may surpass human and animal in the efficiency of decision-making on taking natural advantages, so it is interesting when people adopt similar approach.
41. Plants Research
Plants serve as the conduit of energy into the biosphere, provide food and materials used by humans, and they shape our environment. According to Ehrhardt and Frommer, the three major challenges facing humanity in our time are food, energy, and environmental degradation.All three are plant related.
All of our food is produced by plants, either directly or indirectly via animals that eat them Plants are a source of energy production. And they are intimately involved in climate change and a major factor in a variety of environmental concerns, including agricultural expansion and its impact on habitat destruction and waterway pollution.
What’s more, none of these issues are independent of each other. Climate change places additional stresses on the food supply and on various habitats. So,plant research is instrumental in addressing all of these problems and moving into the future. For plant research to move significantly forward, Ehrhardt and Former say technological development is critical, both to test existing hypotheses and to gain new information and generate fresh hypotheses. If we are to make headway in understanding how these essential organisms function and build the foundation for a sustainable future, then we need to apply the most advanced technologies available to the study of plant life, they say.
42. Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered its surface were quickly copied. Printers ink was applied to the Stone and white paper was laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text but in reverse. Since then, many copies or facsimiles have been made using a variety of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone added to the problem.
An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta Stone arose when this famous object was made the centre piece of the Cracking Codes exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but the original, ancient material, the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment progressed, the different substances uncovered were analyzed. Grease from human handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printers ink from 1799 were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill.
43. School resource officer (SRO)
Spurred by the sense that disorderly behavior among students in South Euclid was increasing, the school resource officer (SRO) reviewed data regarding referrals to the principal’s office. He found that the high school reported thousands of referrals a year for bullying and that the junior high school had recently experienced a 30 percent iocfease in bullying referrals. Police data showed that juvenile complaints about disturbances, bullying, and assaults after school hours had increased 90 percent in the past 10 years.
A researcher from Kent State University (Ohio) conducted a survey of all students attending the junior high and high school Interviews and focus groups were conducted with students – identified as victims or offenders -teachers, and guidance counselors. Finally,the South Euclid Police Department purchased a Geographic Information System to conduct crime incident mapping of hotspots within the schools. The main findings pointed to four primary areas of concern: the environmental design of the school; teacher knowledge of and response to the problem; parental attitudes and responses；and student perspectives and behaviors.
The SRO worked in close collaboration with a social worker and the university researcher. They coordinated a Response Planning Team comprising many stakeholders that was intended to
respond to each of the areas identified in the initial analysis.Environmental changes included modifying the school schedule and increasing teacher supervision of hotspots. Counselors and social workers conducted teacher training courses in conflict resolution and bullying prevention. Parent education included mailings with information about bullying, an explanation of the new school policy, and a discussion about what could be done at home to address the problems. Finally, student education included classroom discussions between homeroom teachers and students, as well as assemblies conducted by the SRO. The SRO also opened a substation next to a primary hotspot. The Ohio
Department of Education contributed by opening a new training center provide a nontraditional setting for specialized help. The results from the various responses were dramatic. School suspensions decreased 40 percent. Bullying incidents dropped 60 percent in the hallways and 80 percent in the gym area. Follow-up surveys indicated that there were positive attitudinal changes among students about bullying and that more students felt confident that teachers would take action when a problem arose. Teachers indicated that training sessions were helpful and that they were more likely to talk about bullying as a serious issue. Parents responded positively, asking for more information about the problem in future mailings. The overall results suggest that the school environments were not only safer, but that early intervention was
helping at-risk students succeed in school (South Euclid(Ohio) Police Department,2001)
44. Skip Breakfast
Spurred by the sense that disorderly behavior among students in South Euclid was increasing, the school resource officer (SRO) reviewed data regarding referrals to the principal’s office. He found that the high school reported thousands of referrals a year for bullying and that the junior high school had recently experienced a 30 percent iocfease in bullying referrals. Police data showed that juvenile complaints about disturbances, bullying, and assaults after school hours had increased 90 percent in the past 10 years.
A researcher from Kent State University (Ohio) conducted a survey of all students attending the junior high and high school Interviews and focus groups were conducted with students – identified as victims or offenders -teachers, and guidance counselors. Finally,the South Euclid Police Department purchased a Geographic Information System to conduct crime incident mapping of hotspots within the schools. The main findings pointed to four primary areas of concern: the environmental design of the school; teacher knowledge of and response to the problem; parental attitudes and responses；and student perspectives and behaviors.
The SRO worked in close collaboration with a social worker and the university researcher. They coordinated a Response Planning Team comprising many stakeholders that was intended to
respond to each of the areas identified in the initial analysis.Environmental changes included modifying the school schedule and increasing teacher supervision of hotspots. Counselors and social workers conducted teacher training courses in conflict resolution and bullying prevention. Parent education included mailings with information about bullying, an explanation of the new school policy, and a discussion about what could be done at home to address the problems. Finally, student education included classroom discussions between homeroom teachers and students, as well as assemblies conducted by the SRO. The SRO also opened a substation next to a primary hotspot. The Ohio
Department of Education contributed by opening a new training center provide a nontraditional setting for specialized help. The results from the various responses were dramatic. School suspensions decreased 40 percent. Bullying incidents dropped 60 percent in the hallways and 80 percent in the gym area. Follow-up surveys indicated that there were positive attitudinal changes among students about bullying and that more students felt confident that teachers would take action when a problem arose. Teachers indicated that training sessions were helpful and that they were more likely to talk about bullying as a serious issue. Parents responded positively, asking for more information about the problem in future mailings. The overall results suggest that the school environments were not only safer, but that early intervention was
helping at-risk students succeed in school (South Euclid(Ohio) Police Department,2001)
45. Songbirds
Males do the singing and females do the listening. This has been the established, even cherished view of courtship in birds, but now some ornithologists are changing tune.
László Garamszegi of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and colleagues studied the literature on 233 European songbird species. Of the 109 for which information on females was available, they found evidence for singing in 101 species, In only eight species could the team conclude that females did not sing?
Females that sing have been overlooked, the team say, because their songs are quiet, they are mistaken for males from their similar plumage or they live in less well studied areas such as the tropics. Garamszegi blames Charles Darwin for the oversight. “He emphasized the importance of male sexual display, and this is what everyone has been looking at.”
The findings go beyond modern species. After carefully tracing back an evolutionary family tree for their songbirds, Garamszegi’s team discovered that, in at least two bird families, singing evolved in females first. They suggest these ancient females may have been using their songs to deter other females from their territories, to coordinate breeding activities with males, or possibly to attract mates.
“It leaves us with a perplexing question, ” says Garamszegi. “What evolutionary forces drove some females to give up singing?”
46. South African
In around 2300 BP (Before Present), hummer-gatherers called the San acquired domestic stock in what is now modern day Botswana. Their population grew, and spread throughout the Western half of South Africa, They were the first pastoralists (牧民) in southern Africa, and called themselves Khoikhoi (or Khoe), which means ‘men of men’ or ‘the real people’. This name was chosen to show pride in their past and culture. The Khoikhoi brought a new way of lifeto South Africa and to the San, who were hunter-gatherers as opposed to herders. This led to misunderstandings and subsequent conflict between the two groups.
The Khoikhoi were the first native people to come into contact with the Dutch settlers in the mid-17th century. As the Dutch took over land for farms, the Khoikhoi were dispossessed (被驱逐), exterminated (灭绝)， or enslaved (奴役) and therefore their numbers dwindled (减少).
The Khoikhoi used a word while dancing that sounded like ‘Hottentots’ and therefore settlers referred to the Khoikhoi by this name-however today this term is considered derogatory. The settlers used the term ‘Bushmen’ for the San, a term also considered derogatory today. Many of those whom the colonists called ‘Bushmen were in fact Khoikhoi or former Khoikhoi. For this reason, scholars sometimes find it convenient to refer to hunters and herders together as ‘Khoisan’.
When European settlement began, Khoikhoi groups called the Namaqua were settled in modern day Namibia and the northeastern Cape; others, including the Koran, along the Orange River; and the Gonaqua, interspersed among the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape. But the largest concentration of Khoikhoi, numbering in the tens of thousands inhabited the well-watered pasture lands of the south-western Cape. These ‘Cape’ Khoikhoi would be the first African population to bear the brunt of White settlement.
The Khoikhoi kept herds of animals such as goat, cattle and sheep and had to move around to find enough grazing land for their animals. They moved according to the seasons and only stayed in one place for a few weeks. This meant that they had to be able to carry all their belongings themselves, or load them onto the backs of their animals.
Houses had to be very light and easy to erect and take apart. For this reason they were made of thin poles covered with reed mats. Even pots and buckets were made of wood with small handles to make them easier to tie to animals’ backs. They also wore clothes made of leather, like the San.
47. Technology prediction IBM
As far as prediction is concerned, remember that the chairman of IBM predicted in the fifties that the world would need a maximum of around half a dozen computers, that the British Department for Education seemed to think in the eighties that we would all need to be able to code in BASIC and that in the nineties Microsoft failed to foresee the rapid growth of the Internet. Who could have predicted that one major effect of the automobile would be to bankrupt small shops across the nation? Could the early developers of the telephone have foreseen its development as a medium for person-to-person communication, rather than as a form of broadcasting medium? We all, including the ‘experts’, seem to be peculiarly inept at predicting the likely development of our technologies, even as far as the next year. We can, of course, try to extrapolate from experience of previous technologies, as I do below by comparing the technology of the Internet with the development of other information and communication technologies and by examining the earlier development of radio and print. But how justified I might be in doing so remains an open question. You might conceivably find the history of the British and French videotext systems, Prestel and Minitel, instructive. However, I am not entirely convinced that they are very relevant, nor do I know where you can find information about them on-line, so, rather than take up space here, I’ve briefly described them in a separate article.
48. The importance of Water
Water is at the core of sustainable development. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. From food and energy security to human and environmental health, water contributes to improvements in social well- being and inclusive growth, affecting the livelihoods of billions
In a sustainable world that is achievable in the near future, water and related resources are managed in support of human well-being and ecosystem integrity in a robust economy. Sufficient and safe water is made available to meet every person’s basic needs, with healthy lifestyles and behaviours easily upheld through reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services, in turn supported by equitably extended and efficiently managed infrastructure, Water resources management, infrastructure and service delivery are sustainably financed. Water is duly valued in all its forms, with wastewater treated as a resource that avails energy, nutrients and freshwater for reuse. Human settlements develop in harmony with the natural water cycle and the ecosystems that support it, with measures in place that reduce vulnerability and improve resilience to water-related disasters. Integrated approaches to water resources development, management and use and to human rights are the norm. Water is governed in a participatory way that draws on the full potential of women and men as professionals and citizens, guided by a number of able and knowledgeable organizations, within a just and transparent institutional framework.
49. The study of human remains
Human remains are a fundamental part of the archaeological record, offering unique insights into the lives of individuals and populations in the past. Like many archaeological materials human remains require distinctive and specialised methods of recovery, analysis and interpretation, while technological innovations and the accumulation of expertise have enabled archaeologists to extract ever greater amounts of information from assemblages of skeletal material. Alongside analyses of new finds, these advances have consistently thrown new light on existing collections of human remains in museums, universities and other institutions. Given the powerful emotional, social and religious meanings attached to the dead body, it is perhaps unsurprising that human remains pose a distinctive set of ethical questions for archaeologists.
With the rise of indigenous rights movements and the emergence of post-colonial nations the acquisition and ownership of human remains became a divisive and politically loaded issue. It became increasingly clear that many human remains in museum collections around the world represented the traces of colonial exploitation and discredited pseudo-scientific theories of race. In tbe light of these debates and changing attitudes, some human remains were returned or repatriated to their communities of origin, a process which continues to this day. Recently a new set of challenges to the study of human remains has emerged from a rather unexpected direction: the British government revised its interpretation of nineteenth-century burial legislation in a way that would drastically curtail the ability of archaeologists to study human remains of any age excavated in England and Wales. This paper examines these extraordinary events and the legal, political and ethical questions that they raise.
The Emergence of Compulsory Reburial In April 2008 the British government announced that, henceforth, all human remains archaeologically excavated in England and Wales should be reburied after a two-year period of scientific analysis. Not only would internationally important prehistoric remains have to be returned to the ground, removing their from public view, but also there would no longer be any possibility of long-term scientific investigation as new techniques and methods emerged and developed in the future. Thus, while faunal remains, potsherds, artefacts and environmental samples could be analysed and reanalysed in future years, human remains were to be effectively removed from the curation process. Archaeologists and other scientists were also concerned that this might be the first step towards a policy of reburying all human remains held in museum collections in England and Wales including prehistoric, Roman, Saxon, Viking and Medieval as well as more recent remains.
50. Tourism industry
Jobs. generated by Travel & Tourism are spread across the economy, in retail, construction, manufacturing and telecommunications, as well as directly in Travel & Tourism companies. These Jobs employ a large proportion of women, minorities and young people; are predominantly (主要的) in small and medium sized companies; and offer good training and transferability. Tourism can also be one of the most effective drivers for the development of regional economies. These patterns apply to both developed and emerging economies.
There are numerous good examples of where Travel & Tourism is acting as a catalyst for conservation and improvement of the environment and maintenance of local diversity and culture. Travel & Tourism creates Jobs and wealth and has tremendous potential to contribute to economically, environmentally and socially sustainable development in both developed countries and emerging nations. It has a comparative advantage in that its start up and running costs can be low compare to many other forms of industry development. It is strong likelihood that the Travel & Tourism industry will continue to grow globally over the short to medium term.
51. Tree ring
Here’s how tree ring dating, known to scientists as dendrochronology works. If you cut a tree down today, it’s straightforward to count the rings inwards, starting from the tree’s outside (corresponding to this year’s growth ring), and thereby to state that the 177th ring from the outermost one towards the center was laid down in the year 2005 minus 177, or 1828. But it’s less straightforward to attach a date to a particular ring in an ancient Anasazi wooden beam because at first you don’t know in what year the beam was cut. However, the widths of tree growth rings vary from year to year, depending on the rain or drought conditions in each year.
Hence the sequence of the rings in a tree cross-section is like a message in Morse code formerly used for sending telegraph messages; dot-dot-dash-dot-dash in the Morse code, wide-wide-narrow-wide-narrow in the tree ring sequence. Actually the tree ring sequence is even more diagnostic and richer in information than the Morse code, because trees actually contain rings spanning many different width, rather than the Morse code choice between dot and dash.
Tree ring specialists (known as dendrochronologists) proceed by nothing the sequence of wider and narrower rings in a tree cut down in a known recent year, and also nothing the sequences in beams from trees cut down at various times in the past. They then match up and align the tree ring sequences with the same diagnostic wide/narrow patterns from different beams.
In that way, dendrochronologists have constructed tree ring records extending back for thousands of years in some parts of the world. Each record is valid for a geographic area whose extent depends on local weather patterns, because weather and hence tree growth patterns vary with location. For instance, the basic tree ring chronology of the American Southwest applies (with some variation) to the area from Northern Mexico to Wyoming.
52. Tribe
Though exerting experiment on humble pee by placing them in distinguished conditions, researchers found that with the ability of avoiding hazards, plants are smarter than people expect, as it chases nutrients when growing, and plants may surpass human and animal in the efficiency of decision-making on taking natural advantages, so it is interesting when people adopt similar approach.
53. US and Indian engineers
Consider the current situation: like their counterparts in the United States, engineers and technicians in Indian have the capacity to provide both computer programming and innovative new technologies. Indian programmers and high-tech engineers earn one quarter of what their counterparts earn in the United States, Consequently, Indian is able to do both jobs at a lower dollar cost than the United States: India has absolute advantage in both. In other words, it can produce a unit of programming for fewer dollars than the United States, and it can also produce a unit of technology innovation for fewer dollars. Does that mean that the United States will lose not only programming Jobs but innovative technology job, too? Does that mean that our standard of living will fall if the United States and India engage in the international trade?
David Ricardo would have answered no to both questions-as we do today. While India mat have an absolute advantage in both activities, that fact is irrelevant in determining what India or the United States will produce. India has a comparative advantage in doing programming in part because of such activity requires little physical capital. The flip side is that the United States has a comparative advantage in technology innovation partly because it is relatively easy to obtain capital in this country to undertake such long-run projects. The result is that Indian programmers will do more and more of what U.S. programmers have been doing in the past. In contrast, American firms will shift to more and more innovation. The United States will specialize in technology innovation India will specialize in programming. The business managers in each country will opt to specialize in activities in which they have a comparative advantage. As in the past, The U.S. economy will continue to concentrate on what are called the “best” activities.
54. Voting rights in UK
Voting is important to make your voice heard on issues that concerns you, however, voting drop in last UK general election voting because young people do not trust politicians and inconvenience, and accordingly, to encourage people to vote, government, media and politicians should make considerate effort.
55. Why business is like pebbles in a pond
The history of marketers seeking the advice of physicists is a short one, but an understanding of the Theory of Resonance may, give communications experts the edge. Resonance Theory explains the curious phenomenon of how very small pebbles dropped into a pond can create bigger waves than a large brick. The brick makes a decent splash but its ripples peter out quickly. A tiny pebble dropped into the same pond, followed by another, then another, then another, all timed carefully, will create ripples that build into small waves.
As Dr Carlo Contaldi, a physicist at Imperial College London, explains, a small amount of energy committed at just the right intervals – the ‘natural frequency’ – creates a cumulatively large effect. Media consultant Paul Bay believes that just as with the pebbles in a pond, a carefully choreographed and meticulously timed stream of communication (a monthly ad in MT,for example) will have a more lasting effect than a sporadic big splash during primetime ad breaks.
Innocent s testament the power of pebbles.Until last year,the maker of smoothies had never advertised on TV, instead drip-feeding the market with endless ingenious marketing plays from annotating its drinks labels with quirky messages rather than communicating through the occasional big and expensive noise.
56. Wine industry in US
In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution created yet another setback for the American wine industry. The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale transportation, importation, delivery, or possession of intoxicating liquors for beverage purpose. Prohibition, which continued for thirteen years, nearly destroyed what had become a thriving and national industry. One of the loopholes in the Volstead Act allowed for the manufacture and sale of sacramental wine , medicinal wines for sale by pharmacists with a doctors’ prescription, and medicinal wine tonics(fortified wines) sold without prescription. Perhaps more important, Prohibition allowed anyone to produce up to two hundred gallons yearly of fruit. juice or cider. The fruit juice, which was sometimes made into concentrate, was ideal for making wine. People would buy grape concentrate from California and have it shipped to the East Coast. The top of the container was stamped in big, bold letters’ caution: do not add sugar or yeast or else fermentation will take place! Some of this yield found its way to bootleggers throughout America who did just that. But not for long, because the government stepped in and banned the sale of grape juice, preventing illegal wine production. Vineyards stopped being planted, and the American wine industry came to a halt.
57. Written Language
The world engages in improving literacy of reading and writing, but it is not that important now. What is text/Written language anyway? It is an accident IT for storing and retrieving information. We store information by writing it, and we retrieve it by reading it. 6000 to 10,000 years ago, many of our ancestor’s hunter-gatherer societies settled on the land and began what’s known as the agricultural revolution. That new land settlement led to private property and increased production and trade of goods, generating a huge new influx of information. Unable to keep all this in their memories, our ancestors created systems of written records that evolved over millennial into today’s written language.
But this ancient IT is already becoming obsolete. Text has run its historic course and is now rapidly getting replaced in every area of our lives by the ever-increasing of emerging IT driven by voice, video, and body movement rather than the written word. In my view, this is a positive step forward in the evolution of human technology, and it carries great potential for a total positive redesign of education. Written language is an ancient IT for storing and retrieving information, however, written word is becoming obsolete and is now rapidly getting replaced by voice, video and body movement, which is believed a positive step forward in the evolution of human technology and redesign of education.
58. 怀特兄弟
The world engages in improving literacy of reading and writing, but it is not that important now. What is text/Written language anyway? It is an accident IT for storing and retrieving information. We store information by writing it, and we retrieve it by reading it. 6000 to 10,000 years ago, many of our ancestor’s hunter-gatherer societies settled on the land and began what’s known as the agricultural revolution. That new land settlement led to private property and increased production and trade of goods, generating a huge new influx of information. Unable to keep all this in their memories, our ancestors created systems of written records that evolved over millennial into today’s written language.
But this ancient IT is already becoming obsolete. Text has run its historic course and is now rapidly getting replaced in every area of our lives by the ever-increasing of emerging IT driven by voice, video, and body movement rather than the written word. In my view, this is a positive step forward in the evolution of human technology, and it carries great potential for a total positive redesign of education. Written language is an ancient IT for storing and retrieving information, however, written word is becoming obsolete and is now rapidly getting replaced by voice, video and body movement, which is believed a positive step forward in the evolution of human technology and redesign of education.
59. Indonesian Volcano
In 1815 on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, a handsome and long-quiescent mountain named Tambora exploded spectacularly, killing a hundred thousand people with its blast and associated tsunamis. It was the biggest volcanic explosion in ten thousand years—150 times the size of Mount St. Helens, equivalent to sixty thousand Hiroshima-sized atom bombs.
News didn’t travel terribly fast in those days. In London, The Times ran a small story— actually a letter from a merchant—seven months after the event. But by this time Tambora’s effects were already being felt. Thirty-six cubic miles of smoky ash, dust, and grit had diffused through the atmosphere, obscuring the Sun’s rays and causing the Earth to cool. Sunsets were unusually but blearily colourful, an effect memorably captured by the artist.J. M. W. Turner, who could not have been happier, but mostly the world existed under an oppressive, dusky pall. It was this deathly dimness that inspired the Byron lines above.
Spring never came and summer never warmed: 1816 became known as the year without summer. Crops everywhere failed to grow. In Ireland a famine and associated typhoid epidemic killed sixty-five thousand people. In New England, the year became popularly known as Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death. Morning frosts continued until June and almost no planted seed would grow. Short of fodder, livestock died or had to be prematurely slaughtered. In every way it was a dreadful year—almost certainly the worst for farmers in modern times. Yet globally the temperature fell by only about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Earth’s natural thermostat, as scientists would learn, is an exceedingly delicate instrument.
60. Autism
Autism is a disorder characterized by impairments in communication, social interaction, and repetitive behaviours. Over the past 40 years, the measured prevalence of autism has multiplied roughly 10-fold.While progress has been made in understanding some of the factors associated with increased risk and rising prevalence, no one knows with certainty what causes autism or what caused autism prevalence to rise so precipitously. There is, however, a growing awareness among scholars that focusing solely on individual risk factors such as exposure toxicants, prenatal complications ,or parental education is insufficient to explain why autism prevalence rates have increased so stunningly. Social and institutional processes likely play an important role. For example, changes in diagnostic criteria and an influx of resources dedicated to autism diagnosis may be critical to understanding why prevalence rates have risen. Increased awareness and social influence have been implicated in the rise of autism and a variety of comparable disorders, where social processes mimic the effects of contagion. Studies have examined the contribution of changes in diagnostic criteria and diagnostic substitution to rising autism prevalence rates, but the importance of institutional factors, resources for diagnosis, and greater awareness have not been systematically assessed. The sociological literature on health and inequality, however, provides substantial motivation for exploring how individual- and community-level effects operate to shape the likelihood of an autism diagnosis.
61. Benefits of honey
According to Dr. Ron Fessenden, M D ,M.P.H. the average American consumes more than 150 pounds of refined sugar, plus an additional 62 pounds of high fructose com syrup every year. In comparison, we consume only around1.3 pounds of honey per year on average in the U.S. According to new research, if you can switch out your intake of refined sugar and use pure raw honey instead, the health benefits can be enormous.
What is raw honey? Its a pure, unfiltered and unpasteurized sweetener made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Most of the honey consumed today is processed honey that’s been heated and filtered since it was gathered from the hive. Unlike processed honey, raw honey does not get robbed of its incredible nutritional value and health powers. It can help with everything from low energy to sleep problems to seasonal allergies. Switching to raw honey may even help weight-loss efforts when compared to diets containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I’m excited to tell you more about one of my all-time favourite natural sweeteners today.
62. Cities
How can we design great cities from scratch if we cannot agree on what makes them great ?None of the cities where people most want to live such as London, New York ,Paris and Hong Kong comes near to being at the top of surveys asking which are best to live in.
The top three in the most recent Economist Intelligence Units liveability ranking, for example, were Melbourne, Vancouver and Vienna. They are all perfectly pleasant, but great? The first question to tackle is the difference between liveability and greatness.
Perhaps we cannot aspire to make a great city, but if we attempt to make a liveable one, can it in time become great ?
There are some fundamental elements that you need. The first is public space. Whether it is Viennas Ringstrasse and Prater Park, or the beaches of Melbourne and Vancouver, these are places that allow the city to pause and the citizens to mingle and to breathe, regardless of class or wealth. Good cities also seem to be close to nature, and all three have easy access to varied, wonderful landscapes and topographies.
A second crucial factor, says Ricky Burdett, a professor of urban studies at the London School of Economics, is a good transport system. Affordable public transport is the one thing which cuts across all successful cities, he says.
63. Columbus
On October 12,1492 (the first day he encountered the native people of the Americas), Columbus wrote in his journal: They should be good servants. I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses. These captives were later paraded through the streets of Barcelona and Seville when Columbus returned to Spain.
From his very first contact with native people, Columbus had their domination in mind. For example, on October 14,1492, Columbus wrote in his journal, with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to dc what is required of them. These were not mere words: after his second voyage, Columbus sent back a consignment of natives to be sold as slaves.
Yet in an April,1493, letter to Luis de Santangel (a patron who helped fund the first voyage),Columbus made clear that the people he encountered had done nothing to deserve ill treatment.
64. English dominance and its influence
Firstly, from the macroscopic view, the dominance of English is not precipitated by the language itself, so the arising of English dominance in international communication is not solely the dominance of language itself. Just as the professor Jean Aitchison in Oxford pointed out, the success of a language has much to do with the power of the people who use it but has little to do with internal features of the language. It is very obvious in consideration to English. During the 18th century and 19th century, the influence of the British Empire began to spread around the world for the sake of industrial revolution, so English began to become popular. English was used not only in the British colonies but also in the diplomatic negotiations of non-English-speaking countries.
However, no matter how powerful the adaptively is and how large the area that the power of English covers, currently, the international status of English mainly springs from the status of America as a superpower after World War 2.
Besides, with the development of the economic globalization and new political structure, there is a great need of an international language. As result, English became the first choice.
65. Great managers
What do great managers actually do? there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest: They discover what is the unique about each person and then capitalize on it Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.
First, identifying and capitalizing on each person’s uniqueness saves time Second, capitalizing on uniqueness makes each person more accountable. Third, capitalizing on what is unique about each person builds a stronger sense of team.
66. Malaysia
Malaysia is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to visit in Southeast Asia. Aside from its gleaming 21st century glass towers, it boasts some of the most superb beaches, mountains and national parks in the region.
Malaysia is also launching its biggest-ever tourism campaign in effort to lure 20 million visitors here this year. Any tourist itinerary would have to begin in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where you will find the Petronas Twin Towers, which once comprised the world’s tallest buildings and now hold the title of second-tallest. Both the 88-story towers soar 1,480 feet high and are connected by a sky-bridge on the 41st floor. The limestone temple Batu Caves, located 9 miles north of the city ,have a 328-foot-high ceiling and feature ornate Hindu shrines, including a 141-foot-tall gold-painted statue of a Hindu deity. To reach the caves, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps. In Sabah state on Borneo island not to be confused with Indonesians Borneo you’ll find the small mushroom-shaped Sipadan island, off the coast of Sabah, rated as one of the top five diving sites in the world.
You can also climb Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Southeast Asia, visit the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, go white-water rafting and catch a glimpse of the bizarre Proboscis monkey, a primate found only in Borneo with a huge pendulous nose, a characteristic pot belly and strange honking sounds. While you’re in Malaysia, consider a trip to Malacca. In its heyday, this southern state was a powerful Malay sultanate and a booming trading port in the region. Facing the Straits of Malacca, this historical state is now a place of intriguing Chinese streets, antique shops, old temples and reminders of European colonial powers. Another interesting destination is Penang, known as the Pearl of the Orient. This island off the northwest coast of Malaysia boasts of a rich Chinese cultural heritage, good food and beautiful beaches.
67. Paying for child
Scientists believe they may have found a way to prevent complications that can arise following cataract surgery, the world’s leading cause of blindness.
Detailing why complications can occur after surgery, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) explained that while cataract surgery works well to restore vision ,a few natural lens cells always remain after the procedure. Over time, the eye’s wound-healing response leads these cells to spread across the underside of the artificial lens, which interferes with vision, causing what’s known as ‘posterior capsule opacification ‘ or secondary cataract.
UEA’s School of Biological Sciences academic, DI Michael Wormstone, who led the study, said: “Secondary visual loss responds well to treatment with laser surgery. But as life expectancy increases, the problems of cataract and posterior capsule opacification will become even greater in terms of both patient well being and economic burden. It’s essential that we find better ways to manage the condition in future.”
As a result, researchers are designing new artificial lenses that can be placed into a capsular bag that stays open, instead of shrink-wrapping closed, which currently occurs. It is believed that, through the new approach, fluid in the eye can flow around the artificial lens, therefore diluting and washing away the cell signalling molecules that encourage cell re-growth.
68. Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered its surface were quickly copied. Printers ink was applied to the Stone and white paper was laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text but in reverse. Since then, many copies or facsimiles have been made using a variety of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone added to the problem.
An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta Stone arose when this famous object was made the centre piece of the Cracking Codes exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but the original, ancient material, the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment progressed, the different substances uncovered were analyzed. Grease from human handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printers ink from 1799 were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill.
69. The importance of Water
Water is at the core of sustainable development. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. From food and energy security to human and environmental health, water contributes to improvements in social well- being and inclusive growth, affecting the livelihoods of billions
In a sustainable world that is achievable in the near future, water and related resources are managed in support of human well-being and ecosystem integrity in a robust economy. Sufficient and safe water is made available to meet every person’s basic needs, with healthy lifestyles and behaviours easily upheld through reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services, in turn supported by equitably extended and efficiently managed infrastructure, Water resources management, infrastructure and service delivery are sustainably financed. Water is duly valued in all its forms, with wastewater treated as a resource that avails energy, nutrients and freshwater for reuse. Human settlements develop in harmony with the natural water cycle and the ecosystems that support it, with measures in place that reduce vulnerability and improve resilience to water-related disasters. Integrated approaches to water resources development, management and use and to human rights are the norm. Water is governed in a participatory way that draws on the full potential of women and men as professionals and citizens, guided by a number of able and knowledgeable organizations, within a just and transparent institutional framework.
70. American English
American English is, without doubt, the most influential and powerful variety of English in the world today. There are many reasons for this. First, the United States is, at present, the most powerful nation on earth and such power always brings with it influence. Indeed, the distinction between a dialect and a language has frequently been made by reference to power. As has been said, a language is a dialect with an army. Second, America’s political influence is extended through American popular culture, in particular through the international reach of American films (movies, of course) and music. As Kahane has pointed out, The internationally dominant position of a culture results in a forceful expansion of its language…. the expansion of language contributes… to the prestige of the culture behind it. Third, the international prominence of American English is closely associated with the extraordinarily quick development of communications technology. Microsoft is owned by an American, Bill Gates. This means a computer s default setting for language is American English, although of course this can be changed to suit one’s own circumstances. In short, the increased influence of American English is caused by political power and the resultant diffusion of American culture and media, technological advance and the rapid development of communications technology.
71. American English
American English is, without doubt, the most influential and powerful variety of English in the world today. There are many reasons for this. First, the United States is, at present, the most powerful nation on earth and such power always brings with it influence. Indeed, the distinction between a dialect and a language has frequently been made by reference to power. As has been said, a language is a dialect with an army. Second, America’s political influence is extended through American popular culture, in particular through the international reach of American films (movies, of course) and music. As Kahane has pointed out, The internationally dominant position of a culture results in a forceful expansion of its language…. the expansion of language contributes… to the prestige of the culture behind it. Third, the international prominence of American English is closely associated with the extraordinarily quick development of communications technology. Microsoft is owned by an American, Bill Gates. This means a computer s default setting for language is American English, although of course this can be changed to suit one’s own circumstances. In short, the increased influence of American English is caused by political power and the resultant diffusion of American culture and media, technological advance and the rapid development of communications technology.
72. Research on Birds- Climate Change
As warmer winter temperatures become more common, one way for some animals to adjust is to shift their ranges northward. But a new study of 59 North American bird species indicates that doing so is not easy or quick — it took about 35 years for many birds to move far enough north for winter temperatures to match where they historically lived.
For example, black vultures have spread northward in the last 35 years and now winter as far north as Massachusetts, where the minimum winter temperature is similar to what it was in Maryland in 1975. On the other hand, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker did not alter its range at all despite the warming trend, possibly because its very specific habitat requirements precluded a range shift.
Both of these scenarios could represent problems for birds, La Sorte said. Species that do not track changes in climate may wind up at the limits of their physiological tolerance, or they may lose important habitat qualities, such as favored food types, as those species pass them by. But they also can’t move their ranges too fast if the habitat conditions they depend on also tend to lag behind climate.
73. Books and Television
To understand the final reason why the news marketplace of ideas dominated by television is so different form the one that emerged in the world dominated by the printing press, it is important to distinguish the quality of vividness experienced by television viewers from the “vividness” experienced by readers. I believe that the vividness experienced in the reading of words is automatically modulated by the constant activation of the reasoning centres of the brain that are used in the process of cocreating the representation of reality the author has intended. By contrast, the visceral vividness portrayed on television has the capacity to trigger instinctual responses similar to those triggered by reality itself – and without being modulated by logic, reason, and reflective thought.
The simulation of reality accomplished in the television medium is so astonishingly vivid and compelling compared with the representations of reality conveyed by printed words that it signifies much more than an incremental change in the way people consume information. Books also convey compelling and vivid representation of reality, of course. But the reader actively participates in the conjuring of the reality the book’s author is attempting to depict. Moreover, the parts of the human brain that are central to the reasoning process are continually activated by the very act of reading printed words: Words are composed of abstract symbols – letters – that have no intrinsic meaning themselves until they are strung together into recognisable sequences.
Television, by contrast, present to its viewers a much more fully formed representation of reality – without requiring the creative collaboration that words have always demanded.
74. Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered its surface were quickly copied. Printer’s ink was applied to the Stone and white paper laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text—but in reverse. Since then, many copies or “facsimiles” have been made using a variety of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone added to the problem.
An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta Stone arose when this famous object was made the centerpiece of the Cracking Codes exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but the original, ancient material the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment progressed, the different substances uncovered were analyzed. Grease from human handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printer’s ink from 1799 were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill.
75. The importance of Water
Water is at the core of sustainable development. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. From food and energy security to human and environmental health, water contributes to improvements in social well-being and inclusive growth, affecting the livelihoods of billions.
In a sustainable world that is achievable in the near future, water and related resources are managed in support of human well-being and ecosystem integrity in a robust economy. Sufficient and safe water is made available to meet every person’s basic needs, with healthy lifestyles and behaviours easily upheld through reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services, in turn supported by equitably extended and efficiently managed infrastructure. Water resources management, infrastructure and service delivery are sustainably financed. Water is duly valued in all its forms, with wastewater treated as a resource that avails energy, nutrients and freshwater for reuse. Human settlements develop in harmony with the natural water cycle and the ecosystems that support it, with measures in place that reduce vulnerability and improve resilience to water-related disasters. Integrated approaches to water resources development, management and use − and to human rights − are the norm. Water is governed in a participatory way that draws on the full potential of women and men as professionals and citizens, guided by a number of able and knowledgeable organizations, within a just and transparent institutional framework.
76. Eye surgery – Blindness
Scientists believe they may have found a way to prevent complications that can arise following cataract surgery, the world’s leading cause of blindness.
Detailing why complications can occur after surgery, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) explained that while cataract surgery works well to restore vision, a few natural lens cells always remain after the procedure. Over time, the eye’s wound-healing response leads these cells to spread across the underside of the artificial lens, which interferes with vision, causing what’s known as ‘posterior capsule opacification’ or secondary cataract.
UEA’s School of Biological Sciences academic, Dr Michael Wormstone, who led the study, said: “Secondary visual loss responds well to treatment with laser surgery. But as life expectancy increases, the problems of cataract and posterior capsule opacification will become even greater in terms of both patient well being and economic burden. It’s essential that we find better ways to manage the condition in future.”
As a result, researchers are designing new artificial lenses that can be placed into a capsular bag that stays open, instead of shrink-wrapping closed, which currently occurs. It is believed that, through the new approach, fluid in the eye can flow around the artificial lens, therefore diluting and washing away the cell-signalling molecules that encourage cell re-growth.
77. Autism
Autism is a disorder characterized by impairments in communication, social interaction, and repetitive behaviors. Over the past 40 years, the measured prevalence of autism has multiplied roughly 10-fold. While progress has been made in understanding some of the factors associated with increased risk and rising prevalence, no one knows with certainty what causes autism or what caused autism prevalence to rise so precipitously. There is, however, a growing awareness among scholars that focusing solely on individual risk factors such as exposure toxicants, prenatal complications, or parental education is insufficient to explain why autism prevalence rates have increased so stunningly. Social and institutional processes likely play an important role. For example, changes in diagnostic criteria and an influx of resources dedicated to autism diagnosis may be critical to understanding why prevalence rates have risen. Increased awareness and social influence have been implicated in the rise of autism and a variety of comparable disorders, where social processes mimic the effects of contagion. Studies have examined the contribution of changes in diagnostic criteria and diagnostic substitution to rising autism prevalence rates, but the importance of institutional factors, resources for diagnosis, and greater awareness have not been systematically assessed. The sociological literature on health and inequality, however, provides substantial motivation for exploring how individual- and community-level effects operate to shape the likelihood of an autism diagnosis.
78. Frog in Amber
A tiny tree frog preserved in amber is believed to have lived about 25 million years ago, a Mexican researcher says. The chunk of amber containing the centimetre-long frog was uncovered by a miner in southern Chiapas state in 2005 and bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study.
Only a few preserved frogs have been found in chunks of amber — a stone formed by ancient tree sap — mostly in the Dominican Republic. Like those, the frog found in Chiapas was of the genus Craugastor, whose relatives still inhabit the region. Gerardo Carbot, the biologist with the Chiapas Natural History and Ecology Institute who announced the discovery on Wednesday, said it was the first such frog found in amber in Mexico.
Carbot said he would like to extract a sample from the frog’s remains to see whether they contain well-preserved DNA, in order to identify the frog’s species. However, he expressed doubt that the stone’s owner would allow researchers to drill a small hole into the chunk of amber.
79. Twins
UCLA neurology professor Paul Thompson and his colleagues scanned the brains of 23 sets of identical twins and 23 sets of fraternal twins. Since identical twins share the same genes while fraternal twins share about half their genes, the researchers were able to compare each group to show that myelin integrity was determined genetically in many parts of the brain that are key for intelligence. These include the parietal lobes, which are responsible for spatial reasoning, visual processing and logic, and the corpus callosum, which pulls together information from both sides of the body.
The researchers used a faster version of a type of scanner called a HARDI (high-angular resolution diffusion imaging) — think of an MRI machine on steroids — that takes scans of the brain at a much higher resolution than a standard MRI. While an MRI scan shows the volume of different tissues in the brain by measuring the amount of water present, HARDI tracks how water diffuses through the brain’s white matter — a way to measure the quality of its myelin.
“HARDI measures water diffusion,” said Thompson, who is also a member of the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro-Imaging. “If the water diffuses rapidly in a specific direction, it tells us that the brain has very fast connections. If it diffuses more broadly, that’s an indication of slower signaling, and lower intelligence.”
80. The Story of Columbus
When Christopher Columbus arrived at Hispaniola during his first transatlantic voyage in the year A.D. 1492, the island had already been settled by Native Americans for about 5,000 years. The occupants in Columbus’s time were a group of Arawak Indians called Tainos who lived by farming, were organized into five chiefdoms, and numbered around half a million (the estimates range from 100,000 to 2,000,000). Columbus initially found them peaceful and friendly, until he and his Spaniards began mistreating them.
Unfortunately for the Tainos, they had gold, which the Spanish coveted but didn’t want to go to the work of mining themselves. Hence the conquerors divided up the island and its Indian population among individual Spaniards, who put the Indians to work as virtual slaves, accidentally infected them with Eurasian diseases, and murdered them. By the year 1519, 27 years after Columbus’s arrival, that original population of half a million had been reduced to about 11,000, most of whom died that year of smallpox to bring the population down to 3,000.
81. Electric Vehicle – PEV
Here’s a term you’re going to hear much more often: plug-in vehicle, and the acronym PEV. It’s what you and many other people will drive to work in, ten years and more from now. At that time, before you drive off in the morning you will first unplug your car – your plug-in vehicle. Its big on board batteries will have been fully charged overnight, with enough power for you to drive 50-100 kilometres through city traffic.
When you arrive at work you’ll plug in your car once again, this time into a socket that allows power to flow form your car’s batteries to the electricity grid. One of the things you did when you bought your car was to sign a contract with your favourite electricity supplier, allowing them to draw a limited amount of power from your car’s batteries should they need to, perhaps because of a blackout, or very high wholesale spot power prices. The price you get for the power the distributor buys form your car would not only be most attractive to you, it would be a good deal for them too, their alternative being very expensive power form peaking stations. If, driving home or for some other reason your batteries looked like running flat, a relatively small, but quiet and efficient engine running on petrol, diesel or compressed natural gas, even biofuel, would automatically cut in, driving a generator that supplied the batteries so you could complete your journey.
Concerns over ‘peak oil’, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the likelihood that by the middle of this century there could be five times as many motor vehicles registered world-wide as there are now, mean that the world’s almost total dependence on petroleum-based fuels for transport is, in every sense of the word, unsustainable.
82. Multi-life
Life expectancies have been rising by up to three months a year since 1840, and there is no sign of that flattening. Gratton and Scott draw on a 2009 study to show that if the trend continues, more than half the babies born in wealthier countries since 2000 may reach their 100th birthdays.
With a few simple, devastating strokes, Gratton and Scott show that under the current system it is almost certain you won’t be able to save enough to fund several decades of decent retirement. For example, if your life expectancy is 100, you want a pension that is 50 per cent of your final salary, and you save 10 per cent of your earnings each year, they calculate that you won’t be able to retire till your 80s. People with 100-year life expectancies must recognise they are in for the long haul, and make an early start arranging their lives accordingly.
But how to go about this? Gratton and Scott advance the idea of a multistage life, with repeated changes of direction and attention. Material and intangible assets will need upkeep, renewal or replacement. Skills will need updating, augmenting or discarding, as will networks of friends and acquaintances. Earning will be interspersed with learning or self-reflection. As the authors warn, recreation will have to become “re-creation”.
