community Service means Business!

29 May 2008

Buy the latte and line the pockets of the rich who exploit the poor

Some two decades of involvement in the music industry has done little to dull my amazement at how the person who creates the actual product for sale — the musician — is the lowest person on the food chain. Musicians get paid last and least, their cut far less than that of the retailer or the distributor handling their CDs, never mind the label. And if you think that downloads are an improvement, think again. Less than half of the 99 cents of an iTunes MP3 makes it back to the label, and you can be sure the artist will only be getting about 15 cents from that. Why not cut out the middlemen,...

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Death and Cookies



Aging, illness, and death are inevitable. Many Buddhists deal with this truth by meditating and contemplating such concepts as emptiness, impermanence, and interconnectedness. Another way people often handle thoughts of these pillars of suffering? Delicious cookies. In a study published in New Scientist, participants with low self-esteem who were assigned to ponder their own deaths ate more cookies (thoughts of death had little impact on those with high self-esteem). Ruminations of mortality also inclined them to spend more money. "When you indulge in shopping or eating, it helps you forget yourself," notes Dirk "Captain Obvious" Smeesters of Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

Tricycle Editors' Blog 5/29/08 5:18 PM Sarah Todd News Random Notes Science Comments

It's Spelling Bee Time Again!


The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee kicks off today, and every year there seems to be more and more public attention paid to this preeminent spectacle of word-nerdery. As in the past two years, tomorrow's semifinal and final rounds are being broadcast live on national television (semifinals on ESPN from 11 am to 2 pm, finals on ABC from 8 to 10 pm). It's always exciting to see middle-schoolers battle it out for the spelling crown, in a competition rife with dramatic "thrill of victory" and "agony of defeat" moments (most memorably depicted in the suspenseful documentary Spellbound). Adults can only marvel at the preternatural abilities of the young finalists to spell super-obscure words that most of us have seldom — if ever — come across. Where do they get those words, anyway?
Visual Thesaurus : Online Edition 5/29/08 12:00 AM Word Routes

Jero


jero.JPG

The Washington Post has an inexplicably long article on Jerome White, Jr., also known as Jero who is a Pittsburgh born and bred, 26-year old entertainer in Japan who happens to have a Japanese grandmother (now deceased) and performs old style Japanese enka songs. The article describes enka as WWII-era syrupy and maudlin music. His debut single went as high as #4 on the music charts. The article is certainly interesting and touches on many issues bandied about here on Japundit (gaijin in Japan, greying society, etc.) but the article is about three times as long as it needs to be.

If the Washington Post article doesn't satiate your Jero needs, Japan Today also has a long bio article. 

Japundit 5/28/08 11:00 PM Brian Engel Celebrity Entertainment Gaijin in Japan Japan Music Really? Revealed Comments

Brisk Spam Sales Help Boost Hormel's Profits


As rising oil prices and food prices eat into household budgets, people are shifting to more affordable edibles. Spam's maker, Hormel, has seen a 14 percent jump in profits for the recent quarter — in part because its famous canned meat product is selling so well, the company says. The average 12-ounce can costs $2.62.

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U.S. Beef Imports to Resume Fully in S. Korea


After years of diplomatic wrangling, South Korea announced Thursday that it will start inspecting U.S. beef imports. The move will lead to a full resumption of American beef imports for the first time in four years. A case of mad cow disease in Washington state prompted the nation to close its doors to the imports.

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[KOREA] US Beef Deal to be Posted at 4:00


I know you're all giddy with anticipation:

South Korea's agriculture minister will request the posting of the new beef import deal with the U.S. on the government gazette later Thursday, opening the local market to most meat cuts, an official said.

Agriculture Ministry spokesman Kim Hyeong-soo said the announcement is to be made at 4 p.m. and will elaborate on government measures taken to enhance import quarantine control, country-of-origin rules, support for farmers and policies to improve quality of locally grown cattle.

"Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun will make the announcement along with working level officials," the public relations officer said.

From Yonhap News.

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The Marmot's Hole 5/28/08 11:56 PM Robert Koehler ROK-US Issues Comments

[KOREA-U.S. Beef Protesters] Well, I Guess This Was Only a Matter of Time…


Well, at least somebody's being honest about the "crackdown" on illegal protests being one big joke.


A photo montage on the Internet ridicules the arrest of protestors in a candlelit vigil, mocking it as a ``chicken cage car tour.'' A patrol wagon, usually a big bus with cage-like, steel-bared windows, is often called ``dakjangcha,'' literally meaning chicken cage car in Korean.

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

In a new form of voluntary defiance of the use of police force, citizens and students protesting the imports of U.S. beef turned themselves into authorities, making the crackdown on what they call illegal candlelit vigils more complicated.

Protestors call it a ``chicken cage tour,'' a mocking of the voluntary tour in the riot police bus to the police station after the turn-in. The riot police bus, mostly a modified big bus with cage-like, steel-bared windows, is often called ``dakjang'' here which literally means a chicken cage. 

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The Marmot's Hole 5/29/08 7:41 PM Robert Koehler ROK-US Issues Comments

[KOREA] World Cup Time?


Nope, it's the anti-US beef protests in front of City Hall!

Well, it's nice to see the Korean left found something to do after getting trashed in the presidential and general elections. And besides, they were always more comfortable with this kind of stuff than actually governing.

The Marmot's Hole 5/29/08 7:52 PM Robert Koehler ROK-US Issues Comments

Mercenaries Sue San Diego


San Diego doesn't seem to want Blackwater to build a training facility in their fair city. The firm many think of as a bunch of mercenaries -- but which calls itself "a great American company that provides innovative private sector solutions to US Government and non US Government clients" -- is fighting back, with a lawsuit. We hope this doesn't, er, escalate.

Wired News 5/29/08 11:14 AM Danger Room

Comcast.net Hijacked, Redirected


Cable giant Comcast was the victim of a DNS hijacking beginning late Wednesday and into early Thursday. The hacker group Kryogeniks claimed responsibility for the stunt, which blocked Comcast customers from accessing their webmail service. Customers were redirected to a page in which the hijackers boasted of the ploy.

Wired News 5/29/08 6:00 PM Threat Level

28 May 2008

Elementary schoolboy fights for life following judo teacher's powerful throw


MATSUMOTO, Nagano -- An 11-year-old boy is unconscious in a hospital after suffering massive injuries after being thrown by his judo teacher and landing on his head, police said.
Japan National News 5/27/08 11:40 PM

Senior Citizens : Between a Rock and a Hard Place


India's elderly population are literally caught between the devil and the deep sea. The government might have provided adequate incentives in the budget for children to buy medical insurance for their ageing parents; but it is not working well. For in the entirely money-driven economy that we live in today, the elderly are not insurable and pose a business risk where the claims will be possibly higher than the premiums realized.

Strangely speaking, the public sector insurers &nd...
GroundReport.com 5/28/08 5:06 AM

Smaller Classes/Greater Achievement?

Mr. Pullen wonders if smaller class sizes lead to greater student achievement as his superintendent decides the research suggests it doesn't.

It makes sense that if a teacher lectures all day that it's not going to make a big difference whether the teacher has 20 students, 24, or 32.  However, if a teacher meets with small groups, has student conferences, and individually supports groups then having a few less students can make a difference.

Perhaps a lot of research on smaller class sizes is inaccurate because teachers might have smaller class sizes without changing the way they teach.  I don't think that smaller class sizes in themselves necessarily make for better teaching, they just make life easier for a teacher.

What research have you encountered on the subject?

Creating Lifelong Learners 5/28/08 8:00 AM Mathew Classroom Mangement smaller class size Comments

'Ping-pong ball sized' diamond breaks records under the hammer


A 101.27 carat diamond the size of a squash ball, has been sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than $6m (£3m).
BBC News 5/28/08 8:34 AM Asia-Pacific

Calif. Professor Fired for Rejecting Loyalty Oath


California still requires public employees to swear a patriotic oath that hasn't been updated since the 1950s. The pledge was designed to keep Communist influence out of government jobs. Now it's blocking decidedly innocuous job candidates, like Quakers and pacifists, from employment.


Take that, 6 percenters!

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/05/28/take-that-6-percenters/

Take that, 6 percenters!
The monopolistic hold big real estate agents have had on information — on access to use multiple listings services — has been blown open at last thanks to the Justice Department’s antitrust settlement with the National Association of Realtors.

Kiss your 6 percent commission good-bye, Ms. Agent! Competition is on the way.

The only reason — only reason — that Realtors could hold onto their high commission for such little value and work is that they kept information away from the marketplace, making it inefficient. To quote Umair Haque (sorry, no link; I’m pulling this from my manuscript):    more

27 May 2008

Sutersville church shutters after 117 years of fellowship


The Presbyterian church in the community, down to six members, held its last service. Many reasons are listed for the decline, including the drop in the community's population.

Most Homeless in New Orleans From City, Survey Finds


A survey showed that 86 percent of the homeless were from the New Orleans area. Sixty percent said they were homeless because of Hurricane Katrina.

NYT > Home Page 5/27/08 8:17 PM By SHAILA DEWAN Homeless Persons New Orleans (La) Hurricane Katrina

Nuclear clean-up costs 'to soar'


The cost of decommissioning the UK's ageing nuclear facilities is set to rise above £73bn, the BBC learns.
BBC News 5/27/08 5:12 PM Science/Nature

Japan urges limits to youngsters' cell phone use as panel notes dangers of crimes, overuse


TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese youngsters are getting so addicted to Internet-linking cell phones that the government is starting a program warning parents and schools to limit their use among children.
Japan National News 5/27/08 8:23 AM

Silent suffering


Victims of 'abuse' by peacekeepers struggle for justice
BBC News 5/27/08 8:13 AM World

Zimbabwe's Slow-Motion Horror Show


Does a nation's sovereignty allow it to destroy its own people?

[Japan] Elementary school principal hit with wage cut for assaulting 9 students


KITAKYUSHU -- An elementary school principal has been slapped with a wage cut for hitting nine children as punishment for leaving their seats during classes, local education authorities said.
Japan National News 5/26/08 11:59 PM

26 May 2008

Distinguishing Liberty from Slavery

Distinguishing Liberty from Slavery
April 7, 2008 11:17 AM by Gary Galles | Other posts by Gary Galles |
Comments (8)


At its heart, liberty means renouncing the use of coercion against
others. That is why those who would employ coercion against others must
invent arguments to defend their actions as consistent with liberty.
That is also why slavery — the opposite of liberty — is a useful
touchstone in evaluating defenses that coercion is consistent with
liberty, when it always increases the enslavement of someone.

One of those most adept at using slavery to test supposed justifications
for coercive policies was F.A. Harper. He recognized that "Strange is a
concept of 'liberty' [where]…you enjoy the right to be forced to bow to
the dictates of others." He rebutted arguments for why obvious
violations of people's liberty — as with innumerable government price
controls, regulatory restrictions and tax impositions — do not "really"
take it away, by showing that they were consistent with slavery. Mere
rhetorical tap-dancing cannot demonstrate that liberty is maintained by
government acts or approaches that are consistent with slavery.

Harper's use of this approach was particularly pronounced in Liberty: A
Path for its Recovery. There he used them to clarify Abraham Lincoln
statement that "We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word
we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean
for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his
labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as
they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here
are two, not only different but incompatible things."

Consider some common "liberty is not really lost" defenses that are
offered and Harper's responses.

Our liberty is maintained because the federal government can only do
what advances the general welfare.
Suppose that the master pleads innocence of slaveholding on the ground
that he is spending the slave's earnings for what he considers to be the
slave's own welfare. Would that change the degree of liberty of the
slave? Is liberty to defined in such a way as to allow me to take from
you the product of your labor, so long as I claim that I shall use it
for your welfare, or for the 'general welfare'? Should the robbing of
banks be allowable under liberty, provided the bank robbers promise to
put the proceeds of the robbery to some use they claim to be worthy, or
even to some use that a majority of the people have judged to be worthy?
Our right to petition the government for redress of our grievances
guarantees that liberty is maintained.
Being able to review a decision or to request its review…does not assure
that liberty will be protected. Reinstatement of lost liberty can be
requested and refused time and time again, without end. A slave,
similarly, might ask his master for his freedom time and again; he is
not considered to be free by reason of the fact that his is allowed to
ask for liberty.
Though our power to vote, infringements on our liberty are prevented.
[L]iberty is…the right of a person to have control over his own
affairs…the expansion of governmental activities…[requires that]
Minorities become the slaves of the others … Participation in these
steps that make it possible for someone to rule others does not ensure
liberty. It is fantastic nonsense to assert that the democratic process
will assure liberty to the individuals of any nation…it would be more
accurate to say that it is a most certain path to slavery.
[C]hanging of top personnel in the government, or 'reform governments,'
[is not] any answer to the basic problem. The gaining of better
administration of an evil in the form of unwarranted power is a victory
without virtue. The most efficient and best possible administration of
slavery will not transform it into liberty.
Government does not violate our liberty because it just provides goods
and services people want.
The excess that the government takes is no longer available for the
citizen to spend as he wishes, as required under liberty. It may be said
that the people want these services and would buy them anyhow if they
were performed by private business instead of by government. But the
slave who is given some turnips by his master cannot be called free
economically because of the fact that he might have wanted to buy some
turnips with some of his wages as a free man, had he been free. The
citizen, likewise, is not judged to be free because of the fact that he
might have bought, in a free market, services similar to those offered
by the governmental monopoly where users and non-users alike are forced
to pay the costs in their tax bills.
In the same sense that the welfare state grants benefits, the
slave-master grants to his slaves certain allotments of food and other
economic goods. In fact, slavery might be described as just another form
of welfare state, because of its likeness in restrictions and "benefits."
Liberty is maintained because there is nothing like slavery in America
today.
Partial liberty under slavery is well illustrated…masters granted their
serfs two days out of the week to work for themselves. They had that
degree of economic liberty…The test of economic liberty…[is] the right
to the product of one's own labor. One who is deprived of these rights
is a slave. To whatever extent he is deprived of these rights, he is to
that extent a slave.
[A] temporary grant of freedom by the welfare state…[is like] when a
master allows his slave a day off from work to spend as he likes…the
person who is permitted some freedom by the welfare state is still a
vassal of that state just as a slave is still a slave on his day off
from work.
Slavery cannot be transformed into no slavery by having a group of
owners combine to do the same thing…even when it is government that does
the taking…
[T]he slavery of person to person…has been judged to violate the rights
of persons to be free. But there is rapidly arising a form of slavery
even more dangerous and deadly … The superstition prevails that if the
government takes from unwilling people the product of their labor to pay
for governmental costs of which they disapprove, it becomes a
commendable act unlike that of the master taking from his slave…as
though… robbery becomes a commendable act if a large enough number of
people approve of it…the government is…engaging more and more in the
enslavement of the citizens. If this process had involved the complete
enslavement of certain persons, it would be more noticeable and we would
then be able to see it in its true light.
Our voluntary tax system demonstrates that our tax burdens are
consistent with liberty.
The mere fact of taxes having been paid is no test of basic willingness;
it is no evidence that a form of slavery does not exist…that a slave
works in his master's field, similarly, is no evidence that slavery is
not involved. The giving of one's wallet to the hold-up robber is no
evidence that the robbery did not take place… there is an overhanging
threat which causes the seemingly peaceful submission; the unfortunate
victim is allowed no alternative consistent with liberty.
Acquiescence of the citizens to that part of their taxes in excess of
what is necessary to preserve liberty is no evidence that liberty has
not been lost thereby. Loss of liberty is not to be measured by the
extent of refusal to pay taxes any more than slavery is to be measured
by the degree of rebellion of the slaves. Slaves are none the less
slaves because they are not always attached to their masters by a chain!
The size of the tax burden is not so large as to infringe on liberty.
The administrative costs…of control operated by the government greatly
understates the total loss of liberty which it entails…Iike that of a
slaveholder who may spend no more than the equivalent of one-tenth of
what the slave produces as the cost of hiring an overseer to hold the
slaves under the yoke of complete slavery; it is not necessary to spend
all that the slave produces as the cost of depriving him of his liberty.
F.A. Harper's powerful use of slavery to test liberty claims gives new
life to Patrick Henry's famous 1775 declaration: "Is life so dear or
peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as
for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"


$18 $16

He reminds us of the fact "[T]hat some other person or persons will
decide what you shall do, and force you to do it…[is] a definition of
slavery rather than of liberty," and demonstrates that "The belief of
the master that his judgment is superior to that of the slave or vassal,
and that control is 'for his own good,' is not a moral justification for
the idea of the welfare state." He showed how inadequate supposed proofs
that the modern coercive state has not destroyed liberty are by bringing
us back to the fact that "Liberty…specifies the right to do what [one]
desires, rather than the obligation to bow to the force of others in
doing what they desire him to do; otherwise slavery becomes 'liberty,
and true liberty is lost."

Harper saw how confusion about liberty, constantly bent, spindled and
manipulated by the misleading assertions of those who wish to justify
their coercion of others, was a dangerous threat to maintaining it. And
he knew how high the stakes were—that "[I]t is, in fact, a main purpose
of liberty that the blind are free to follow those who can see. The
danger is that in the absence of liberty the blind may become authorized
to lead those who can see—by a chain around their necks!" If we are to
stop or reverse the continuing erosion of our liberty, we need to see
that as clearly as he did, so that we can better defend the truth about
liberty, allowing other open-minded individuals to also discover it,
despite persistent attempts to cloud the most essential issues.

The Quickening....


That so many evidently believe that freedom and coercion can coexist, or that coercion is necessary to preserve freedom, is sickening enough.
Propeller.com Hot Stories 5/25/08 11:54 PM populist Array Array Array Array Comments

Tired of pricey gas, police pump up bike patrols


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Since even the long arm of the law can't rein in fuel prices, the long legs of the law are getting more exercise these days....

Dog misses planted drugs in Japan, customs embarrassed


Japanese customs officials apologized Monday for putting cannabis in an unsuspecting passenger's luggage but no one has come forward yet to accept the apology or to return the drugs. (CBC)
NewsOnJapan.com 5/26/08 9:43 PM CBC

Corn-fused [...don't be..]


Think using corn to make biofuels raises the cost of food? Think again
WireTap Magazine 5/26/08 3:34 AM Ally Klimkoski

The Ethanol Program [at Work]


Thanks to the inflating cost of popcorn, the price of movie tickets is expected to skyrocket by as much as 30% this year, according to Ricard Gil, a University of Santa Cruz economist who studies the business. "You're going to see a one- to two-dollar increase in the price of a movie ticket," he said. "And that's being conservative."

Here is the link.  So what model is required for this to be true?  If movies and popcorn are complements, you might think that higher popcorn prices would imply lower movie prices, to partially restore the cheapness of the overall bundle.  But more realistically, the movie is a loss leader to attract buyers of high-margin popcorn.  If popcorn gets priced out of buyers' range, movie prices will rise to make up the difference since cheap tickets no longer bring in so much extra revenue at the concession stand.

Thanks to John de Palma for the pointer.

Marginal Revolution 5/26/08 8:23 AM Tyler Cowen Film

'Lost Boy' of Sudan Served U.S. in Iraq


Renee Montagne talks with U.S. Army Captain David Moses. He served two tours in Iraq, and will be one of the speakers marking Memorial Day at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington today. Moses was one of the thousands of children in Sudan displaced by civil war. He is known as one of the "Lost Boys." He tells us how serving in Iraq reminded him of the rough days he survived as a child in Sudan.

NPR Programs: Morning Edition 5/26/08 9:28 AM


South Korea: A Disturbing Beating Death of an Infant

http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/05/26/a-disturbing-beating-death-of-an-infant/

“시끄럽게 운다” 엄마가 영아 때려 숨지게해
Mother Beats to Death Infant Crying Loudly

경기도 수원서부경찰서는 태어난 지 70여일된 아들을 때려 숨지게 한 혐의(폭행치사)로 A(30.여)씨에 대해 구속영장을 신청했다고 26일 밝혔다.

The Suwon police announced on May 26 that they petitioned to keep in custody a 30-year-old woman, A, for beating to death her 70-day-old infant.

경찰에 따르면 A씨는 3월 13일 아들 B군을 출산한 직후부터 이달 15일까지 “시끄럽게 운다”면서 주먹과 젖병 등으로 수시로 때려 아들을 숨지게 한 혐의를 받고 있다.

According to the police, Ms. A had been beating her son, B, since the time he was born on March 13 until the 15th of this month, using her fists and a nursing bottle as he cried loudly.

조사 결과 평소 아내가 아들을 자주 때리는 것을 목격한 A씨의 남편은 지난 21일 다른 지방으로 출장을 가 집을 비우게 되자 평소 알던 C(43)씨에게 자신의 아들을 맡겼다.

The investigation revealed that because of the wife’s frequent beatings, the husband left the child with a 43-year-old acquaintance, C, before leaving on a business trip to another region on the 21st.

맡길 당시 B군은 머리에 멍이 든 상태였고 C씨는 23일 오후부터 B군의 몸이 차가워지는 등 이상 증세가 나타나 인근 병원으로 데려갔으나 B군은 이미 두개골 골절상으로 사망한 상태였다고 경찰은 설명했다.

C first noticed bruises on B’s head, and on the afternoon of the 23rd, B’s body turned cold with unusual symptoms appearing and was taken to a nearby hospital; it appeared that he was already dead from skull injuries, said the police.

A씨는 경찰에서 “아이가 시끄럽게 울어 때렸다”고 폭행 사실을 인정했다.

A admitted to the violence to the police, “The child was crying loudly as I hit him.”

Adults Squeezing Out Teens for Summer Jobs


The weakening economy and rising unemployment are producing middle-aged competition for all sorts of summer jobs that young people rely on. But teenagers and college-aged people still have a lock on lifeguard jobs.


Conversation Killers: Why most viral marketing amounts to lazy, clueless chatter

Jaffe Juice 5/26/08 10:53 AM
Joseph Jaffe Content is King
Conversation Killers:
Why most viral marketing amounts to lazy, clueless chatter
Here's the text:  http://www.jaffejuice.com/2008/05/conversation-ki.html

The movie Rounders contains a life lesson: "When sitting down at the poker table, look around for the sucker. If you don't recognize the sucker, get up and leave, because the sucker is you." Along the same lines, the next time you sit down at a planning table to discuss something viral, look for the moron leading the project and if you don't see him, excuse yourself from the meeting because that moron, my friend, is you. ...MORE

Free Choice and the Female Science Divide


The Boston Globe has a provocative article that sheds some new light on the old debate over why there are so few women in maths and physical science subjects. One important factor seems to be that they simply choose other professions, but if you think this answer is too simplistic, there may be more to it than meets the eye.

It no longer seems to be the case that women are being explicitly blocked from maths, physics and engineering jobs, although the number of women in these professions is still very small.

One strong argument for why women are in the minority is that they suffer from the effects of implicit sexism, a system designed to take advantage of male attributes and life choices.

Some argue that the lack of support and consideration for women's lives puts them off, and so they decide against what seems like a bad option.

However, the article presents an interesting piece of evidence against this as being the major influence.

Link to Boston Globe article on women in science and engineering.


Viagra behind sexual infections? [...no, it's the unprotected sex..]


 British doctors have warned that there has been a drastic increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STD) among older men using Viagra, because it fuels extramarital affairs. According to British health information, rates of sexual infections such as gonorrhea more than tripled in men between 45 to 64 years of age and for fold increase among teenagers. The number of chlamydia cases has also experienced a significant increase of 315 percent between 1997 and 2006. Though the sex drug may ...
GroundReport.com 5/26/08 11:31 AM

Tory work plan for young jobless


The Conservatives are to tighten proposals aimed at getting the young jobless back into work.
'Street-corner culture'
At present, under-24s who have been claiming Jobseekers' Allowance for six months or more must take part in the government's New Deal programme for young people.
This scheme, which involves a personal mentor and work experience, helps young people look and prepare for work.
The Tories said their proposals would stop people from "playing the system", whereby they sign up to a New Deal programme, take a job for a while and then go back on benefits afterwards.
Mr Grayling said: "With this approach, for those who are struggling there will be real help. For those who are not there will be no opt-outs."
The Conservatives would end the "street-corner benefit culture among young people which this government has left to fester for the past 11 years", he added.
A spokesman for Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said as most young people find a job within six months, the three-month scheme would be a "waste of public cash".
BBC News 5/26/08 12:25 PM Politics

[...You Rang..?]


A Japanese plumber was arrested for calling a toll-free number around 500 times so he could hear a taped female voice, police said on Monday. Hiroyuki Nomoto, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing the business of the company, a food firm based in the city of Takasaki north of the capital.
Mail & Guardian Online 5/26/08 1:59 PM And in other news...

Military: Manpower = ?


Definition: The number of draft-age males and females entering the military manpower pool in any given year and is a measure of the availability of draft-age young adults. Per capita figures expressed per 1,000 population.<br/>Source: CIA World Factbook<br/>Number of countries: 153

25 May 2008

Pump, Pump It UP!

WOM Knowledge Nugget


From Hugh MacLeod's twitter missives, I read something that the marketer in you should also read. Word of Mouth isn't created by marketers, it is co-created with consumers. Right on Hugh, right on.

Hugh_on_wom

Brand Autopsy 5/13/08 8:22 AM johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy) Word of Mouth Marketing

daily bREAD

New Campaign Seeks to Curb the Rise in Black Depression


What do Academy Award nominee Ruby Dee, comedian Mo'Nique, actor John Amos and author Terry McMillian have in common? Besides being entertainers and activists, they are all playing an active part in a national campaign to raise awareness about the growing number of Blacks suffering from depression, called Healing Starts With Us.

African-American News 5/25/08 7:47 AM

Refugees in new Afghan drugs crisis


Afghanistan, struggling with a huge indigenous drug problem, has a new crisis. Its drug treatment centres -- particularly in the capital, Kabul - are being inundated by heroin-addicted former refugees, many forcibly expelled from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
Mail & Guardian Online 5/25/08 5:06 PM International

TV Feeds Hate and Fear Toward Immigrants, Report Says


U.S. cable television is fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, according to a study published Wednesday, reports EFE news service. The report, "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News," identifies CNN's Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, along with Bill O'Reilly of Fox, as having done the most to create "anti-immigrant hysteria."

NewsCloud.com Front Page 5/25/08 5:06 PM

Wonder Girls


It's been a while since we had any music on JAPUNDIT, so here's a little something from the Wonder Girls of South Korea.

Japundit 5/25/08 5:00 PM Edward Chmura Cool! Cute Entertainment Music Sexy South Korea Comments

What's Your Fruit Number?

Read the Numbers on Your Fruit
by David Askaripour


I learned that sticker labels on the fruits actually tell you how the fruits have been grown — 
whether they were organically grown or conventionally grown with pesticides and herbicides; 
oh, and let's not forget about the genetically engineered fruits.

Conventional Fruit Labels

Four digits and does not start with 9
** mostly starting with the digit 4

Organic Fruit Labels

Five digits and starts with number 9

Genetically Modified Fruits

Start with the digit 8

** this is good to know because stores aren't obligated to tell you if a fruit has been genetically modified (grrr….)

Okay, so if you come across an apple in the store and it's labels 4922, it's an conventional apple 
grown with herbicides and harmful fertilizers. If it has a sticker 99222, it's organic and safe to eat. 
If it says 89222, then RUN!!!! It has been genetically modified (GMO).

So next time you go shopping, remember these critical numbers and know how to avoid 
purchasing inorganic and GMO fruits.

Shop Safe :)

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