My grandfather believed in aspirational rather than age- appropriate gifts. Of all the holiday and birthday presents I received while growing up, the one I most vividly remember was the fountain pen and mechanical pencil set my grandfather gave me, when I was five. My initials even were embossed on both the pen and pencil in gold.
What are some aspirational gifts that would inspire young people to learn more about the world? A globe is my favorite. It shows the world is round and countries are their correct relative sizes to each other, unlike on some two-dimensional maps, where Greenland is as big as Africa. Globes show the world has more than 200 countries, three oceans, and seven continents, one of which is frozen. A child can put a sticker on where he or she was born and lives.
If a child already owns a globe, there is the Atlas of Animal Adventures that shows where animals live. Children can go from the book to the globe to find the country habitats of their favorite animals.
Even in this digital age of email, children feel very grown up, when they receive mail. With a subscription to National Geographic Kids (shop.nationalgeographic.com/ category/magazines/national-geographic-kids), they receive a magazine nearly every month. Adults also will look forward to the world's fun facts, activities, photos, and games in each issue.
Little Passports (littlepassports.com) is another way to give children mail every month. Each mailing provides activities, souvenirs, letters from fictional pen pals, and other fun ways to learn about a particular country.
Presenting a child with a $25 kiva (kiva.org) gift card enables a child to loan someone in one of 80 countries the funds to improve a life. With the help of an older person, a child can scroll through the faces of people who need just a little help to plant a crop, open a store, or build something. And it is up to the child to decide where to offer his or her loan. They then receive email messages telling the amounts of every loan repayment.
And finally, to advance a student's budding interest foreign languages or foreign travel, I'd suggest Other Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely From Around the World by Yee-Lum Mak and illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley and the series: The 500 Hidden Secrets of London, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, and The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona.
None of these aspirational gifts will choke children under three (I hope), but they will give them a head start in feeling comfortable in the world where they will spend their lives.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Friday, October 28, 2016
Gone Fishin'
Whether fishing with a worm or a fly in a lake or a stream, finding the perfect fishing 'hole''' and coming home with a catch is a day well spent by any child anywhere in the world.
Efforts are being made to insure fish continue to thrive in the world's waters. To prevent fish and other marine life from becoming hopelessly trapped in the plastic six-pack rings that hold beer and soda cans, some rings are being made from biodegradable materials. Florida's Saltwater Brewery has used wheat and barley waste from its beer-making process to construct packaging that begins to disintegrate two hours after hitting the ocean or the beach.
Bycatch is another problem fish face. To catch sushi-grade tuna, fishing boats bait thousands of hooks on a single line that can be 25 miles long. Along with tuna, longlining unintentionally catches other fish, including sharks, stingrays, and turtles. Although some of the unwanted fish are safely released, others perish from the stress of being caught and the dead fish upset the marine ecosystem balance already threatened by climate change from warming water and pollution. Experiments using circular, rather than J-shaped fishing hooks, and fish instead of squid bait have shown there are ways to reduce bycatch.
The ocean's plastic garbage could outweigh fish by 2050, according to a study cited by the UN's Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. Tons of plastic and other floating debris already are turning beaches, marina areas, lakes, rivers, and oceans into garbage dumps. Trash causes fish. surfers, and the wealthy to suffer. In the July, 2018 issue of VOGUE, Helena Dunn, the designer of Tuulikki eco-conscious surfwear, reports, "As surfers, we have a front-row seat on environmenta lissues." Especially during storms, plastic bags, bottles, wrappers, and other debris run off from land. Large growths of seagrass add to the problems caused by debris that can clog cooling-water intakes and cause engine damage on the most expensive yachts and ships.
Modest and major efforts are being made to keep plastics out of the world's waters. The Dell computer company has begun to use plastic collected on beaches in Haiti as its packaging material. Hewlett Packard urges computer printer users to go to hp.com/recycle to find where they can take their used ink cartridges for recycling. When Dutch student, Boyan Slat, was 17, he founded the Ocean Cleanup Foundation for the purpose of removing the estimated 8 million tons of discarded fishing nets, water bottles, and assorted plastic debris that end up swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Hawaii. Since the north Pacific Gyre, or current, funnels the plastic into the center, the foundation designed a long floating plastic boom that can be anchored across the flow of the Pacific Gyre. At this collection point, the waste can be lifted onto ships and taken to recycling centers on land.
Australian surfers, Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton, are developing a Seabin to collect and remove trash around marinas. Their Seabin is a submerged cylinder open on top just below the water surface. An electric pump pulls water and floating trash into a bag filter that collects the trash and allows water and small marine life, like fish eggs, to pass through. Seabins can hang from docks, where electricity is available, and maintenance employees can empty the filter bags on a regular schedule. A solar powered model could be attached to channel marker buoys in shipping lanes. The French company, Poralu Marine, is manufacturing a prototype that is being tested at Le Grande Motte, a large Mediterranean harbor near Montpelier, France.
Of course the best pollution solution is to refrain from throwing things in the water in the first place.
Efforts are being made to insure fish continue to thrive in the world's waters. To prevent fish and other marine life from becoming hopelessly trapped in the plastic six-pack rings that hold beer and soda cans, some rings are being made from biodegradable materials. Florida's Saltwater Brewery has used wheat and barley waste from its beer-making process to construct packaging that begins to disintegrate two hours after hitting the ocean or the beach.
Bycatch is another problem fish face. To catch sushi-grade tuna, fishing boats bait thousands of hooks on a single line that can be 25 miles long. Along with tuna, longlining unintentionally catches other fish, including sharks, stingrays, and turtles. Although some of the unwanted fish are safely released, others perish from the stress of being caught and the dead fish upset the marine ecosystem balance already threatened by climate change from warming water and pollution. Experiments using circular, rather than J-shaped fishing hooks, and fish instead of squid bait have shown there are ways to reduce bycatch.
The ocean's plastic garbage could outweigh fish by 2050, according to a study cited by the UN's Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. Tons of plastic and other floating debris already are turning beaches, marina areas, lakes, rivers, and oceans into garbage dumps. Trash causes fish. surfers, and the wealthy to suffer. In the July, 2018 issue of VOGUE, Helena Dunn, the designer of Tuulikki eco-conscious surfwear, reports, "As surfers, we have a front-row seat on environmenta lissues." Especially during storms, plastic bags, bottles, wrappers, and other debris run off from land. Large growths of seagrass add to the problems caused by debris that can clog cooling-water intakes and cause engine damage on the most expensive yachts and ships.
Modest and major efforts are being made to keep plastics out of the world's waters. The Dell computer company has begun to use plastic collected on beaches in Haiti as its packaging material. Hewlett Packard urges computer printer users to go to hp.com/recycle to find where they can take their used ink cartridges for recycling. When Dutch student, Boyan Slat, was 17, he founded the Ocean Cleanup Foundation for the purpose of removing the estimated 8 million tons of discarded fishing nets, water bottles, and assorted plastic debris that end up swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Hawaii. Since the north Pacific Gyre, or current, funnels the plastic into the center, the foundation designed a long floating plastic boom that can be anchored across the flow of the Pacific Gyre. At this collection point, the waste can be lifted onto ships and taken to recycling centers on land.
Australian surfers, Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton, are developing a Seabin to collect and remove trash around marinas. Their Seabin is a submerged cylinder open on top just below the water surface. An electric pump pulls water and floating trash into a bag filter that collects the trash and allows water and small marine life, like fish eggs, to pass through. Seabins can hang from docks, where electricity is available, and maintenance employees can empty the filter bags on a regular schedule. A solar powered model could be attached to channel marker buoys in shipping lanes. The French company, Poralu Marine, is manufacturing a prototype that is being tested at Le Grande Motte, a large Mediterranean harbor near Montpelier, France.
Of course the best pollution solution is to refrain from throwing things in the water in the first place.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Are You Someone Who Says, "I don't cook?"
When I was helping out at a church luncheon yesterday, I was surprised to hear a woman say she had relatives coming for the weekend and she didn't cook. Unlike her, I look forward to having a house full of visitors who will gather around the table for meals and talk, which, I understand, is described in Spanish by the word, "sobremesa."
With the joy of cooking fresh in my mind, I saw an internet item about the Common Threads program in Chicago and New York City that teaches low-income kids, in grades three to eight, to shop and prepare healthy, nutritious meals, when parents are busy and money is tight. In one aspect of the program, students learn about the history of a particular country's food, nutrition, and ingredients. It's a hands-on program that teaches cooking techniques and how to follow a recipe.
Common Threads introduces students to new foods, like granola, whole wheat bread, cage-free chicken eggs, pesto, and various cheeses. Kids learn to make and love whole wheat pancakes, as well as salads and smoothies. There also is a gardening program, where kids might grow carrots and kale.
Instead of expecting families to make radical new food choices all at once, Common Threads invites families to make gradual changes by adding just one or two new items to each shopping list. Families who grow their own food could try planting just one or two new crops.
For more information about Common Threads and to sign up for a monthly newsletter, go to commonthreads.org/programs.
With the joy of cooking fresh in my mind, I saw an internet item about the Common Threads program in Chicago and New York City that teaches low-income kids, in grades three to eight, to shop and prepare healthy, nutritious meals, when parents are busy and money is tight. In one aspect of the program, students learn about the history of a particular country's food, nutrition, and ingredients. It's a hands-on program that teaches cooking techniques and how to follow a recipe.
Common Threads introduces students to new foods, like granola, whole wheat bread, cage-free chicken eggs, pesto, and various cheeses. Kids learn to make and love whole wheat pancakes, as well as salads and smoothies. There also is a gardening program, where kids might grow carrots and kale.
Instead of expecting families to make radical new food choices all at once, Common Threads invites families to make gradual changes by adding just one or two new items to each shopping list. Families who grow their own food could try planting just one or two new crops.
For more information about Common Threads and to sign up for a monthly newsletter, go to commonthreads.org/programs.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Teens Find Drought and Zika Remedies
Entering contests and writing to potential mentors not only can help individual students jump start their own careers but these proactive efforts also can help humanity. Dr. Hongjun Song, the mentor who received a letter from the student involved in Zika virus research, observed: "Unencumbered by previous experience, high school students aren't afraid of failure and are freer to try things than graduate students or postdocs."
Help for drought-starved crops
Kiara Nirghin, the 16-year-old South African girl who won the grand prize in Google's Science Fair (googlesciencefair.com), reasoned that a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) used in diapers could help soil retain more water when drought threatens crops. To avoid the pricey, less eco-friendly acrylic acid chemicals used in current SAPs, Ms. Nirghin tried creating a SAP by applying UV light and heat to avocado and orange peels. When sprinkled on fields, her polymer, which holds 300 times its weight in liquid, provides water for crops that would otherwise die from drought.
(Kiara Nirghin is among the world's 30 most influential teens TIME magazine lists at time.com/teens2016.)
Help for studying the Zika virus
At the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science, engineers developed a $2 genetic test to detect the Zika virus immediately by using color-changing dye in a device about the size of a soda can. The process requires no electricity or extensive technical training.
Chris Hadiono, whose parents are U.S. immigrants from Indonesia, was a high school intern at Dr. Hongjun Song's neurology lab at John Hopkins University, when he developed a bioreactor device used to determine how the Zika virus causes the abnormal brain development which results in the small heads of newborn babies, i.e. microcephly, and many more problems.
Using 3D printing instructions from a YouTube tutorial, Hadiono created a machine with gears that keep 12 "mini-brains" floating and growing in wells, each filled with about one teaspoon of nutrient rich liquid, by constantly stirring the liquid in all the wells at the same time.
Before Hadiono's contribution, the neural tissue of human brains, "mini-brains," already could be produced by turning human skin cells (3D printers also can create human tissue and bone) into stem cells which could be turned into the neural stem cells that became human neural brain tissue resembling the human cerebral cortex affected by the Zika virus. And a magnetic bar could continuously stir a rich nutrient broth-like medium, or liquid, that enabled "mini-brains" to float and grow in all directions. The problem was the big device required too much costly medium and could only be used once to accommodate a few experiments at a time. With Hadiono's bioreactor device, at a much lower cost, researchers can see how the Zika virus infects and kills neural stem cells in 12 different parts of a human's cerebral cortex at the same time.. With the work of another teen, maybe prevention and a cure for microcephly will not be far behind.
Help for drought-starved crops
Kiara Nirghin, the 16-year-old South African girl who won the grand prize in Google's Science Fair (googlesciencefair.com), reasoned that a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) used in diapers could help soil retain more water when drought threatens crops. To avoid the pricey, less eco-friendly acrylic acid chemicals used in current SAPs, Ms. Nirghin tried creating a SAP by applying UV light and heat to avocado and orange peels. When sprinkled on fields, her polymer, which holds 300 times its weight in liquid, provides water for crops that would otherwise die from drought.
(Kiara Nirghin is among the world's 30 most influential teens TIME magazine lists at time.com/teens2016.)
Help for studying the Zika virus
At the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science, engineers developed a $2 genetic test to detect the Zika virus immediately by using color-changing dye in a device about the size of a soda can. The process requires no electricity or extensive technical training.
Chris Hadiono, whose parents are U.S. immigrants from Indonesia, was a high school intern at Dr. Hongjun Song's neurology lab at John Hopkins University, when he developed a bioreactor device used to determine how the Zika virus causes the abnormal brain development which results in the small heads of newborn babies, i.e. microcephly, and many more problems.
Using 3D printing instructions from a YouTube tutorial, Hadiono created a machine with gears that keep 12 "mini-brains" floating and growing in wells, each filled with about one teaspoon of nutrient rich liquid, by constantly stirring the liquid in all the wells at the same time.
Before Hadiono's contribution, the neural tissue of human brains, "mini-brains," already could be produced by turning human skin cells (3D printers also can create human tissue and bone) into stem cells which could be turned into the neural stem cells that became human neural brain tissue resembling the human cerebral cortex affected by the Zika virus. And a magnetic bar could continuously stir a rich nutrient broth-like medium, or liquid, that enabled "mini-brains" to float and grow in all directions. The problem was the big device required too much costly medium and could only be used once to accommodate a few experiments at a time. With Hadiono's bioreactor device, at a much lower cost, researchers can see how the Zika virus infects and kills neural stem cells in 12 different parts of a human's cerebral cortex at the same time.. With the work of another teen, maybe prevention and a cure for microcephly will not be far behind.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Hot Topics Presidential Candidates Should Debate
Since tonight is the last presidential debate between the U.S. candidates for President, I turned to the Foreign Policy Association to see what Clinton and Trump should be discussing on TV today.
The topics the organization has selected for their Great Decisions program in 2017 are as follows:
The topics the organization has selected for their Great Decisions program in 2017 are as follows:
- The Future of Europe
- Trade and Politics
- Conflict on the South China Sea
- Saudi Arabia in Transition
- U.S. Foreign Policy and Petroleum
- Latin America's Political Pendulum
- Prospects for Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Nuclear Security
Experts have written short summaries for each of these discussion topics at fpa.org. At the same site, you can sign up to receive Foreign Policy Association updates and to learn how to start a Great Decisions discussion group.
Looking back on the Foreign Policy Association's past discussion topics, such as the rise of ISIS, international migration, and Cuba and the United States, suggests this organization has useful insights on issues the world is likely to face in 2017.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
You Oughta Be in Pictures
Bollywood and Nollywood are known around the world as the Hollywoods of Bombay, India, and Nigeria, because they house major film producers and distributors. In Nigeria, Jason Njoku's iROKOtv is transitioning from a Netflix distributor to a Nollywood producer. Sure, making movies helps countries make money and attract tourists, but countries such as China also see films as a way to influence social norms, politics, and economic decisions.
As the Mauritius Film Development Corporation notes, a film industry creates jobs. Movies require acting talent but also camera and sound technicians, carpenters, make-up artists, costume designers, rental companies, caterers, restaurants, hotels, and airlines. How many tourists have films attracted to London, Paris, Rome, and New York over the years? After "Break Up Guru," which was filmed in Mauritius, played to 40 million Chinese, Chinese tourists flocked to Mauritius. The government now provides generous tax breaks to film producers who choose to take advantage of the good weather they can count on when they make a movie in this island off the east coast of Africa.
Movie making is one of India's biggest revenue producing industries. Vinod Chopra, who has been directing films there since 1942, also works on productions in other parts of the globe. Indian film companies, such as Eros International and YRF Films distribute their movies throughout the world.
In China, the State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China stands ready to censor and change films in order to control what movie audiences see and think. For example, Chinese villains might be altered to become North Koreans. Now, Chinese influence is coming to the United States, since Chinese companies are buying AMC movie theatres to gain distribution in Washington, DC, New York, and small U.S. towns. A Chinese production company already owns Legendary Films, which produces Batman films, and has been negotiating to partner with Lionsgate.
Anyone thinking about making a film in any country can check Kemps Film and TV Production Handbook for a list of helpful resources.
(The following earlier posts also look at what movies can do: How Do Films Depict Countries? See the World in Oscar-Nominated Films, See the World at the Movies, Humor Paves the Way for Refugees.)
As the Mauritius Film Development Corporation notes, a film industry creates jobs. Movies require acting talent but also camera and sound technicians, carpenters, make-up artists, costume designers, rental companies, caterers, restaurants, hotels, and airlines. How many tourists have films attracted to London, Paris, Rome, and New York over the years? After "Break Up Guru," which was filmed in Mauritius, played to 40 million Chinese, Chinese tourists flocked to Mauritius. The government now provides generous tax breaks to film producers who choose to take advantage of the good weather they can count on when they make a movie in this island off the east coast of Africa.
Movie making is one of India's biggest revenue producing industries. Vinod Chopra, who has been directing films there since 1942, also works on productions in other parts of the globe. Indian film companies, such as Eros International and YRF Films distribute their movies throughout the world.
In China, the State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China stands ready to censor and change films in order to control what movie audiences see and think. For example, Chinese villains might be altered to become North Koreans. Now, Chinese influence is coming to the United States, since Chinese companies are buying AMC movie theatres to gain distribution in Washington, DC, New York, and small U.S. towns. A Chinese production company already owns Legendary Films, which produces Batman films, and has been negotiating to partner with Lionsgate.
Anyone thinking about making a film in any country can check Kemps Film and TV Production Handbook for a list of helpful resources.
(The following earlier posts also look at what movies can do: How Do Films Depict Countries? See the World in Oscar-Nominated Films, See the World at the Movies, Humor Paves the Way for Refugees.)
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Learn to Express Ideas Orally
Global issues require students to be able to discuss matters such as climate change, nuclear proliferation, cyberwarfare, terrorism, religious and racial differences, and female rights in a well-spoken and confident manner. A public school in London decided learning to speak was as important as reading and writing and began helping students learn the basics of discourse.
As we have seen in the presidential race in the US this year, discussing difficult topics can bring out horrible behavior that fails to lead to a solution. When I served on a jury for a criminal trial in Wisconsin last week, I was worried about my ability to get along with the other 11 jurors as we discussed the merits of the case.
Having training in oral communication is too important to ignore. Oral communication requires students to listen to another's argument and express a differing opinion politely. It requires using research to challenge another's thinking and to defend your own position.
Listen to or read the speeches of Churchill and John F. Kennedy to see how important word choice is. Try out new approaches in the classroom and around the dinner table, and learn the power of oral persuasion.
As we have seen in the presidential race in the US this year, discussing difficult topics can bring out horrible behavior that fails to lead to a solution. When I served on a jury for a criminal trial in Wisconsin last week, I was worried about my ability to get along with the other 11 jurors as we discussed the merits of the case.
Having training in oral communication is too important to ignore. Oral communication requires students to listen to another's argument and express a differing opinion politely. It requires using research to challenge another's thinking and to defend your own position.
Listen to or read the speeches of Churchill and John F. Kennedy to see how important word choice is. Try out new approaches in the classroom and around the dinner table, and learn the power of oral persuasion.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
UN Secretary-General Nominee
Although seven of the 13 candidates for UN Secretary-General were women, Security Council members recommended the General Assembly elect Antonio Guterres, Portugal's former prime minister and a devout Catholic, for the position (See the earlier blog post, "Front-Runners for UN Secretary-General.").
Guterres served as the UN's High Commissioner of Refugees from June, 2005 to December, 2015. In his campaign-like speech to the General Assembly, he said the UN is "the best place to address the root cause of human suffering." Should he assume the five-year term of Secretary-General on January 1, 2017, he will take on the difficult task of uniting members, including Russia, to end human suffering in Syria.
Guterres served as the UN's High Commissioner of Refugees from June, 2005 to December, 2015. In his campaign-like speech to the General Assembly, he said the UN is "the best place to address the root cause of human suffering." Should he assume the five-year term of Secretary-General on January 1, 2017, he will take on the difficult task of uniting members, including Russia, to end human suffering in Syria.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Space Newcomers
Joining India's mission to Mars, that has been sending back data since September, 2014, are eight satellites, three built in Algeria, that India launched into different orbits on September 26, 2016.
Nigeria has launched five satellites into orbit and plans to send an astronaut into space by 2030.
From French Guiana on September 14, 2016, Peru launched a French-built satellite to monitor weather and internal security.
Brazil is assembling its sixth satellite to be launched on a Chinese rocket by December, 2018.
Nigeria has launched five satellites into orbit and plans to send an astronaut into space by 2030.
From French Guiana on September 14, 2016, Peru launched a French-built satellite to monitor weather and internal security.
Brazil is assembling its sixth satellite to be launched on a Chinese rocket by December, 2018.
(For earlier news about space activity, see the post, "Space Explorers.")
Monday, October 3, 2016
Colombia Concludes Peace Deal with FARC
Colombia and FARC revolutionaries signed a peace accord to end 50 years of fighting on September 26, 2016, but, despite Colombia's President Santos winning the Nobel Prize for Peace shortly after a referendum, voters in Colombia decided on October 2 to reject the terms of the accord by a slim margin. These terms stipulated:
- The Colombian government would grant FARC guerrillas amnesty from their crimes. A major sticking point. Guerrillas would also be guaranteed a minimum wage and seed money to build new communities. They would help the government destroy landmines and the coca crops that once funded their operations.
- FARC would take part in a truth commission similar to the one South Africa formed after apartheid.
- FARC would surrender its guns.
- FARC would become a political party.
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