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November 2019: Christmas Conundrums
Birdwatching can spoil you for other simple pleasures. When I'm watching a film on TV I can't help noticing that the bird songs they put on the film tracks are often wildly inappropriate. From my armchair I have heard tawny owls hooting in Ireland (there aren't any there), swifts screaming in February (June is more like it), and canaries singing in a Jane Austen English country garden (come off it). Popular songs aren't any better. How about 'a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square' (must have been a robin) and 'there'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover' (swallows, I suppose – bluebirds are an American species).
Christmas carols aren't any better. 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' starts off OK with twelve drummers drumming and eleven lords a-leaping, and I don't really have an ornithological problem with seven swans a-swimming or six geese a-laying. I'm getting suspicious, though, when we come to four calling birds (which ones?) and three French hens (why French?). And I'm positively mystified when we reach two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. There aren't any turtle doves around at Christmas – they're summer visitors in Britain. As for the partridge, this is presumably a grey partridge since this is a traditional carol and the red-legged partridge wasn't introduced into this country until 1790; but I've never seen a grey partridge up a tree of any kind, let alone a pear tree. Poetic licence? No, it's more interesting than that. One theory is that all the twelve 'presents' are really religious symbols and the whole carol is in a kind of code because it was composed at a time when it was dangerous to express an outspoken commitment to Christianity. Then it all makes sense: the twelve drummers are beating out the twelve doctrines in the Apostles' Creed, the eleven pipers are the eleven faithful apostles spreading the word, and so on, down to seven beautiful swans as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, six laying geese as the six days of creation, four colly birds (the old country name for blackbirds) as the four apostles, three French hens as the three virtues, and two turtle doves as the two Testaments. Finally, the partridge is lifted aloft as the resurrected Christ, and that draws on an even older Greek myth whereby Athena raised from the dead her lover Perdix (the Greek name for a partridge) and carried him to heaven in the branches of a pear.
That just leaves us with the puzzle of the Christmas turkey – wild turkeys being native to the USA, though they eat them at Thanksgiving, a month earlier. Henry VIII seems to have started the tradition here, but when was he a role model for anything. Perhaps we should just eat it and stop worrying. Happy Christmas!
Jeremy Mynott
October 2019: Pearls of wisdom
I was enjoying a lunch of oysters in September at the excellent Butley Oysterage in Orford on the Suffolk coast. The month was significant because the old adage is that you should only eat oysters in months with an 'r' in them – so, it had been a long wait since April. There is a reason for that in fact. Oysters have a close season from May since that's when they spawn, and in any case they are more likely to spoil in the 'r-less' summer months from May to August.
Quite apart from the delicious taste, they are interesting little creatures anyway. In scientific terms, they are bivalve molluscs, usually to be found in salt or brackish water and often heavily calcified. The name 'oyster' comes to us via the old French oistre, which in turn comes from the Latin and ultimately from the ancient Greek word for a bone, osteion, referring to the hard, encrusted shell. Oysters have two hinged parts and they feed by filtering water between them and extracting the organic material like plankton which makes up their diet. An oyster can filter some 50 gallons a day and this filtering process brings huge benefits for us in cleansing and clarifying the water and removing pollutants from it. Oysters like to form large communal beds, each one cementing itself on to the others and that produces large three-dimensional structures that provide shelter for other marine species like anemones, barnacles, tiny fish and mussels; and those in turn provide food for larger fish and wading birds. So that makes oysters what is called a 'keystone species', adding greatly to the biodiversity in our seas.
And of course, some kinds of oysters also produce pearls, which is one other reason why they have been so admired and valued over the centuries. When Pistol in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor gave us the familiar quotation, 'Why then, the world's mine oyster', he meant that he had the whole world in which to go and find his treasure. I suppose that's also why London Transport called its travel passes 'Oyster cards', to suggest a freedom to roam. Oysters have been farmed and consumed in Britain at least since Roman times and there are several famous 'oyster festivals' in Britain, like the long-standing one in October every year in Colchester, which is rightly famous for its native oysters on the Colne and at West Mersea. Oysters need our support, though. The UK has lost some 99% of its traditional oyster beds. In the nineteenth century they were so common that they were a regular working-class meal, but now they are much scarcer and are regarded more as a gourmet dish. We are therefore lucky to have these local oyster beds still actively farmed in East Anglia.
Oysters also have an unusual life history, beginning as a male and changing sex with each breeding cycle. So, nothing unusual about transgender categories in their world.
September 2019: Now and Then
The first conservation body I ever joined was the Essex Bird Watching Society and they have just produced a 70thanniversary reissue of their inaugural annual report of 1949. (Yes, I was one of their youngest members then …). It's just a slim report, lovingly typed out on a real old-fashioned typewriter (remember them?) and printed on cheap post-war paper. Compared to the fat, glossy county reports we get nowadays, it's a poor thing physically. But there are riches within. There's a whole string of records of species that were relatively common then but are now decidedly scarce or entirely absent: whinchat, woodlark, nightingale, turtle dove, spotted flycatcher, tree pipit, willow tit – all familiar birds of my boyhood in the woods and fields around Colchester. Plus one more species I could actually watch from my bedroom window – a red-backed shrike, which nested in a bramble patch just opposite our house. Its old country name was 'butcher bird', so called from its habit of keeping a larder of beetles and other insects impaled on thorns for a handy snack, and I could watch the grisly action from just yards away. It's amazing to think of this now. Within a few years the red-backed shrike would be extinct as a breeding bird in Britain; and the old bramble patch was long ago grubbed out to build a large housing estate, so the skylarks and yellowhammers in the fields beyond have also gone. It's much the same story in Suffolk too, of course.
These devastating losses have been caused in this case not by climate change, which tends to be blamed for everything nowadays, but by more direct human interventions through intensive agriculture, pesticides, pollution, habitat loss and land development. The statistics of this decline are truly staggering, with some 44 million breeding birds lost from the British countryside in the last 50 years. But there are two other striking developments since the 1949 Report, which really arecaused by climate change. First, we have had some gains as well as losses to our birdlife. For example, there's no mention in the 1949 report of little egrets or collared doves, both of which colonised Britain much later but are common throughout the country today – and are likely to be followed by other Mediterranean species that now find our climate more hospitable. Secondly, there are interesting notes in the report on the arrival dates of various summer migrants, including two warblers that are traditionally among the first to return to Britain from Africa. The report records the first date for the chiffchaff in 1949 as 31 March, and the first for the blackcap as 17 April. By contrast, my first record for the chiffchaff this year was 7 March, and for the blackcap 13 March. They have been getting here earlier and earlier, and indeed some of them have even started to overwinter here.
If you still need proof of climate change, ask a birdwatcher.
August 2019: Return of a native
It's hard to remember just how recently little egrets have become such a familiar part of our landscapes. You can't now walk along a Suffolk seawall without seeing one in a creek or on the marsh, immediately recognisable by that dazzling whiteness – whiter than any detergent advertisement would dare pretend – and those cute yellow feet. You even get them as far inland as Thurlow sometimes, along the river. Yet they were once prized by birdwatchers as exotic rarities, with the first breeding record in Britain only in 1996 – less than 25 years ago. And they are being followed here by other exciting water-birds, like great egrets and cattle egrets, all encouraged by global warming to move north from the Mediterranean and colonise our shores.
But the most impressive of these new immigrants are surely the spoonbills, huge white heron-like birds with extraordinary bills shaped like long ladles, hence the old name of 'banjo bills'. They feed by sweeping these from side to side in shallow water, using the 'spoons' at the end to trap small water insects and crustaceans, and even fish and frogs. The bills are beautifully designed for the purpose, with little ridges to help them sift and grip their prey and lots of tactile sensors at the tip to locate food items in muddy water. And their legs have the refined adaptation of being laterally compressed and flattened so they can wade through water with minimal resistance. Spoonbills also have elaborate courtship displays, with much bowing and the mutual touching and clattering of bills, but they are not the most faithful of couples. While the males are off gathering sticks for the nest, the females often mate briefly with other partners; as indeed do the males when the females are sitting on eggs. Think of it as a sort of reproductive insurance policy on both sides, strictly for the birds of course.
Spoonbills have been loitering around our Suffolk coasts each summer for years, particularly in secluded places like Havergate Island, and they seem poised to become the next local colonist. Or in this case a re-colonist. Spoonbills were common in Britain in the middle ages, when there was even a colony by the Thames at Fulham. And there's a fascinating wooden carving on the misericords in Lavenham church, featuring a spoonbill (on the right) pecking at some unfortunate man. The bird on the left is also usually described a spoonbill, but I'm not so sure. The 'spoon' seems to be concave in this case and looks more like the man's ear; moreover, if you look at the bird's tail, which seems to be carefully depicted in the form of a drooping bustle of feathers, I wonder if this second bird could instead be another charismatic species once common in the Fens and now also making a come-back, a crane? Cranes have nested at Wicken Fen this year, so they are getting closer. Whatever next? Dalmatian pelicans once nested in the Fens, too …
July 2019: Moth names
If you're of my generation, you will have some strong memories of the 1960s – whether it's the Beatles, Mary Quant dresses or some youthful rite of passage… But one thing you may have forgotten is the experience of driving home late at night sixty years ago and finding your windscreen splattered with insects, in particular moths. You don't see it now, do you, and the reason is the catastrophic decline in all our insect species, including butterflies and moths. That's seriously worrying for the future of the planet, since insects are at the bottom of the food chain on which everything else depends; but what is also sad is that we risk losing, along with the moths, a treasury of the most extraordinary and beautiful names given to any animal group. How wonderful to know that we have living amongst us such creatures as the Flounced Rustic, Pebble Prominent, Frosted Orange, Willow Beauty, True Lovers' Knot, Powdered Quaker, Dingy Footman, Tawny Shears and the Setaceous Hebrew Character. There's a magic in these names and in trying to picture their owners.
I've just read a lovely new book by Peter Marren, called Emperors, Admirals and Chimney Sweepers, which explains how our moths came by these weird and wonderful names and what they all mean. Take that last tongue-twister, for example, the Setaceous Hebrew Character. 'Setaceous' apparently means 'bearing a bristle' and it refers to the white line round the mark on the wing that looks like a 'character' in the Hebrew alphabet, the letter nun, as below, which is part of the moth's wing pattern.
Marren adds the tidbit that 'A well-known Jewish moth collector, the Baron de Worms, whose thinning hair stood up in stiff tufts, was affectionately known by his fellow moth-hunters by that name'. I could think of one or two local people one might want to call as 'flounced rustic' as well! There's a wealth of such charming anecdotes and surprising information in the book. Did you know which is the only moth to be named after a character in the Bible, the only butterfly to be named after a woman, and which two moths are named after the city of Manchester? Nor did I, but they're all in there. Could be useful knowledge if you're a pub-quizzer.
The scientific names are just as extraordinary as the English ones. How about Amphipyra tragopoginis'fire-flier with a goat's beard' (the mouse moth) or Lacanobia thassalina'sea-green vegetable eater' (the pale-shouldered brocade). Most of these Latin designations were assigned in the eighteenth century by the great Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, who was described as 'a poet who happened to become a naturalist'.
What's more, despite the national decline in moth numbers we still have all these species locally, so you can take a trip back to the sixties in your own garden if you have a moth trap.
June 2019: Conservation politics
I see that Chris Packham has raised the controversial question of whether we should cull deer to help protect nightingales. What – do deer attack nightingales and kill them? No, not directly, of course. What's true is that the deer population in Britain has exploded in recent years. There are now an estimated two million deer at large in Britain's countryside – the highest numbers for over a thousand years. There are now no natural predators here like bears, wolves or lynx to keep them in check and the numbers of our native roe, red and fallow deer have exploded and have also have been augmented in recent years by various introduced species like muntjacs and Chinese water deer. And all these deer are eating away the understory of trees and bushes in our woodlands on which nightingales and other songbirds crucially depend for cover. Nightingale numbers are in free-fall anyway. We have already lost over 90% of the population from various causes and the deer may be finally pushing them over the edge. Surely we couldn't bear to lose this iconic species, that 'singest of summer in full-throated ease', as Keats put it? On the other hand, could you look into Bambi's soft brown eyes and pull that trigger yourself?
Nature conservation presents us with many such dilemmas and choices. We know that badgers and hedgehogs can't coexist, for example. They are both favourite characters in countless children's books, but I'm afraid Mr Brock kills and eats Mrs Tiggy-Winkle whenever he can catch her. Whose side do we take and why? We prefer red squirrels (Squirrel Nutkin) to the grey ones (aka 'tree rats') – so much prettier and cuter. The greys were introduced into Britain from North America in the 1800s and have progressively displaced all 'our' red ones by a combination of brute force and pox ('oversized, oversexed and over here' again). So, should we perhaps re-introduce some lovely pine martens from Scotland to predate the greys, which the martens find easier to catch than the reds? But, whoops, hang on – pine martens kill young chickens and pheasants too and take all manner of wild birds' eggs, so perhaps they are best left up North?
Introductions can go badly wrong anyway – just think of the disaster of taking rabbits to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. They bred – well, like rabbits – and caused untold damage to the environment and to crops. Do you remember coypus? This huge South American rodent was introduced into England to be farmed for its fur last century, but some were let into the wild and they started destroying the river banks and water systems and had to be expensively eradicated. And are the Americans glad to have the two hundred million starlings that derive from the eighty pairs from England released in Central Park in 1890?
How do we decide such questions anyway? Is it a matter of sentimental human preferences, charisma, perceived beauty, economic interests, nationalism or what? Someone should write a book about it …
May 2019: Changing places
This month's Nature Note comes from New York. What? Nature in New York, the ultimate concrete jungle? Well, yes, there are jungles within jungles even here. I used to work in NY once and my local birdwatching patch there was Central Park, which is alive with wildlife of all kinds. This was a sentimental return visit. Central Park is over two miles long by half a mile across, so about the same size as my local patch in Thurlow – and the two have more in common than you might think.
Central Park was created in the 1860s by two landscape architects of genius, Olmsted (an American) and Vaux (an Englishman, who actually invented the term 'landscape architect'). The area had been a sort of swamp before then, 'a pestilential spot', said Olmsted, 'where rank vegetation and miasmatic odours taint every breath of air') and they proceeded to recreate it completely, according to their manifesto that 'the Park throughout should be a single work of art'. They employed some 3,000 labourers (mostly Irish) and shifted one billion cubic feet of earth. They introduced lakes, hills, rocks, streams, meadows, gardens and woodlands, all designed to create a green sanctuary within the city. They planned it with human visitors in mind, but it didn't take long for the birds to find it as well, and for two main reasons.
First, NYC is right on the flyway for the thousands of birds migrating between their summer homes in New England and Canada and their winter quarters further south. Every spring, tired migrants gratefully pause to rest and refuel in Central Park, which from the air must seem like an oasis in a concrete desert. Secondly, the Park offers a great range of habitats: lakes and streams for wildfowl and water-birds; woodland for all manner of American thrushes, warblers, tanagers and vireos; thickets for owls and catbirds; mature trees for woodpeckers, flickers and sapsuckers; vantage points for raptors; and even a few paved areas for urban refugees like starlings and house sparrows. Starlings were introduced to America when 40 pairs were released in Central Park in 1890, on the initiative of one Eugene Schieffelin, who had the absurd ambition of introducing to America all the 60 or so birds mentioned in Shakespeare. The starlings and the sparrows flourished, but the nightingale and most others failed (and what he did about the ostrich and the phoenix isn't recorded…).
You can see 100 different species here in a day in the spring, well over 200 in the course of a year, which compares very well with the countryside round Thurlow. The other thing I like is the familiarity. I knew just where I would find American robins on the Great Lawn, palm warblers by Willow Rock and buffleheads in the corner of the Reservoir. There was even a rare bird in the Ramble, a yellow-breasted chat, in which the drug-pushers were taking a proprietorial interest ('It's over there, second bush on the left, and would you be wanting anything else, Sir?").
April 2019: Welcome migrants
April and May are the great months for travel in the natural world. For centuries people have used the comings and goings of birds as a sort of seasonal calendar. As the Song of Solomon has it in the Old Testament, 'For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land'. Well, the lovely 'voice of the turtle' (that is, the turtle dove) isn't much heard in this land now, and the prophet would be lucky to find one in Thurlow this year. I used to think of the turtle dove as the sound-track of summer, with that lovely purring song, but the numbers have declined so precipitously in recent years and we've lost over 95% of our turtle doves in a generation. But the general point is true. Bird migration has long been a source of wonder, particularly its regularity. I've been recording the arrival dates of summer visitors like the chiffchaff, swallow, cuckoo and swift (usually in that order) for over three decades, and although the dates have been getting steadily earlier with climate change, I still look out for particular birds on particular days each spring and welcome them like old friends, with a mixture of familiarity and relief. It's a bit like those airport announcements, 'The 12 April Swallows from Cape Town have just arrived on time at the Great Thurlow Barn'.
But it isn't just birds that make these huge and hazardous journeys. Lots of butterflies and other insects do, too. Most of the red admirals and painted ladies we see here in the summer have migrated from the continent, sometimes in huge numbers. I well remember the extraordinary summer day in 2009 when painted ladies poured in off the sea on the Suffolk coast in what seemed like a continuous stream for hours on end. It's estimated that over ten million of them crossed the channel into Britain that day and they were everywhere. Some moths migrate, as well, and we are just learning some remarkable facts about how they manage it. The Silver Y moths, for example, one of our common summer migrant moths, can choose exactly the right altitude at which to fly to catch the most favourable tail-winds and can even orient their tiny bodies in the best direction to compensate for cross-winds. Incredibly, they can sometimes fly faster this way than migrating birds like warblers crossing at the same time. Ladybirds have also been recorded migrating at great heights – sometimes as high as 1,100 metres. And marmalade hoverflies (what a great name) arrive in their millions every summer, to perform a wonderful pest-control service in your gardens where their larvae consume literally trillions of aphids. And they do it for free.
March 2019: Connections
You know that BBC programme, Only Connect, where brainy panellists have to guess the unlikely connections between quite different words. Well, here's a free suggestion for a tricky question: what's the connection between cows, beetles and partridges?
Starting with cows, then. Cows have been blamed for a serious contribution to global warming through their massive emissions of methane gas. That comes from both ends, so to speak –belching and flatulence. Apparently, a cow can produce some 50 gallons of methane a day, and since methane is over twenty times as powerful as the carbon emissions we hear so much about, and there are some 16 million cows in Britain, you can see (and often hear) the scale of the problem. In New Zealand, which has much more livestock than we do, there was even talk a few years back of a 'flatulence tax' to help save the planet. But I recently read a scientific article with the splendid title, 'In praise of cowpats', which makes a rather different point. Cowpats feed a host of insects. Masses of flies and beetles arrive within minutes of a fresh, glistening cowpat hitting the ground; these are followed by legions of others as the pat matures, decays and is eventually pulled underground by worms and dung beetles, so contributing to rich new plant growth. Each pat in open pasture produces some 1,000 developing insects this way – so with an average output of six pats a day that's 6,000 insects a day or over 2 million a year.
And we now know how crucial insects are to the whole chain of animal and plant life. They pollinate plants, provide food for birds and mammals, and are crucial to human agriculture and food supplies. It's been estimated that if all the world's insects were ever to disappear humanity would only last a few months and the earth would eventually become a vast compost heap, supporting only a gigantic blooming of fungi. But we also know that insects are themselves under great threat. A recent study in Germany revealed a 75% decline in insects since 1989 – and that was in German Nature Reserves! This is largely a consequence not of climate change but of habitat loss and the pesticides with which we drench the land; and that in turn explains why many farmland birds have declined so sharply.
Which brings me to the third element in my quiz question: the grey partridge, whose numbers in Britain have declined by a staggering 90% in a single generation. Wild grey partridges were once common in the East Anglian countryside, but the ones you see around here now tend to be released birds, though there are plenty of red-legged partridges. Now – I'm getting to it at last – the scientific name of the grey partridge is perdix, so called because the whirring sound of a covey of partridge taking flight was thought similar to the natural human process described by the ancient Greek verb perdomaimeaning 'to break wind'. So there you have it. Not many people know that.
February 2019: Changing diets
Did you make any New Year resolutions about diet? Still keeping to them? Thought not, so take a tip from wildlife. Some species have remarkable ways of changing their diets to suit the season – and in particular to get them through the winter. As the days get darker and colder in autumn insects become much scarcer, so blackbirds, blue tits, starlings and other insect-eaters go vegan and switch to alternative sources of energy like seeds, nuts and berries. A good example for us, if you believe all those diet books.
But other species take more extreme measures you're unlikely to want to imitate. There's a bird called a bearded tit, for example – a real misnomer, since (a) it isn't bearded (it has a nice black moustache) and (b) it's unrelated to the blue tits and great tits you see on your bird-table. Bearded tits breed in large reed-beds like those at Minsmere and Walberswick, but they range more widely in winter. I've seen them a few times on the Suffolk coast, feeding – rather incongruously – at the roadsides. What they were doing was swallowing gravel and tiny stones, which they store in their crops to help them crush and digest the seeds they'd been harvesting from bulrush heads. It's a sort of DIY grinding machine. Their waists and weights expand accordingly over the winter period.
Shrews go even further. They can't hibernate and switch off, but need to feed continuously and therefore have to take quite drastic measures. The organ that absorbs most of their energy budget is the brain, so they re-absorb that and literally shrink their heads to reallocate resources. The scientific name of this strategy is known as Dehnel's phenomenon. As a solution to a critical problem it's a no-brainer, you might say. Come spring, if the shrews have survived, they just grow their brains again. Don't try this at home, but 'going to see a shrink' may take on a whole new meaning for you.
The most extreme solution of all is practised by various moths. The December moth, for example, is so called because it's one of the few flying at that time of year. But in its earlier form it fattens itself up as a caterpillar, over-indulging as if it's Christmas lunch every day. And when it later emerges as a plump moth from its chrysalis stage into chilly winter, with no nectar or sap to feed on, it just lives off its accumulated fat … and then dies. Adults are physically incapable of feeding, so that's it. No Plan B and not much of a life, you might think. But it does at least get to mate and deposit some eggs to ensure the next generation. Whether as a moth it remembers its happy childhood seems unlikely, but that's metamorphosis for you.
I think humans tend to put on a little weight in the winter as well – to cheer themselves up and add a little insulation, but you can always revive your resolution and change your diet again in the spring. Life goes on.
January 2019: Berried alive
I've never seen the hawthorn bushes so laden with berries as this year. If you walk along the lanes you'll see the lines of ancient hawthorns stippled in scarlet like a pointilliste painting. The haw of the hawthorn is the red oval cup, technically called a pome (not to be confused with the acronym P.O.M.E. 'Prisoner of Mother England', originally used of inmates deported to Australia – just in case you're doing any pub quizzes). The hawthorn belongs, somewhat surprisingly, to the large rose family, which also includes rowan, blackthorn, damson, apple and cherry, as well of course the rose itself, all of which have similar pomes encasing their seeds. The word 'haw' comes from the old-English haga-berige, meaning hedge-berry, and the trees are an ancient part of our landscapes. There are more references to hawthorns in the Anglo-Saxon charters than to any other tree and hawthorns are also the trees most often encoded in English place-names, like Hawstead. But it wasn't until the parliamentary Enclosures of the 18thand 19thcenturies, when some 200,000 miles of these 'quick-thorns' were planted, that they marked the rectilineal geometry of our field boundaries in such abundance.
In spring, of course, this is the May tree (the only tree that shares its name with a month), and last spring was notable for the billowing clouds of white blossom that graced our hedgerows everywhere. I met a lady on a walk in Thurlow recently who asked me if I believed the old country saying that a heavy berry crop presages a hard winter. In fact, I fancy that the causation works the other way around, and that the foaming bridal display in spring is now being realised in this wonderful, winter fruitfulness. I doubt the hawthorn can make long-range weather forecasts any better than the BBC can …
Any tree as ancient and charismatic as the hawthorn is bound to present itself today not just as a biological species but also as a cultural icon, trailing a comet's tail of myth, fable and folklore. The hawthorn's red berries, like those of the holly, speak of dark rites involving blood and sacrifice. But they can be positive omens, too: Joseph of Arimathea, leaving Jerusalem after the crucifixion, is supposed to have travelled to Britain and struck his staff into the ground at Glastonbury, whence it burst into a sacred thorn tree that has for centuries flowered in the nativity season; and every Christmas a sprig from its descendants is still sent to the Queen as a symbol of renewal. And these same berries are providing a rich larder for all the winter thrushes – redwings, fieldfares and blackbirds – that have migrated here from northern Europe to escape the hard weather. Let's hope these little beasties from the East don't bring it with them this year.
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Document #2010786
USDOS – US Department of State
2019 Trafficking in Persons Report: Cuba
CUBA: Tier 3
The Government of Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore Cuba was downgraded to Tier 3. Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including prosecuting sex traffickers and one labor trafficker and imprisoning sex tourists engaged in child sex trafficking. However, the government did not take action to address forced labor in the foreign medical mission program, despite persistent allegations Cuban officials threatened and coerced some participants to remain in the program. The government did not criminalize all forms of forced labor or sex trafficking of children ages 16 and 17. The government lacked procedures to proactively identify forced labor victims, lacked a comprehensive package of services to include housing and physical protection, and detained or charged potential sex trafficking victims for unlawful acts their traffickers coerced them to commit.
PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS
Implement policies to prohibit force, fraud, or coercion by foreign labor recruiters and state-owned or controlled enterprises, including foreign medical missions in recruiting and retaining employees. • Draft and enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that prohibits and prescribes significant prison terms for all forms of human trafficking, including forced labor, sex trafficking of children ages 16 and 17, and the full range of trafficking "acts" (recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving persons). • Vigorously investigate and prosecute both sex trafficking and forced labor offenses. • Implement formal policies and procedures on the identification of all trafficking victims and their referral to appropriate services, and train officials, including first responders, in their use. • Proactively identify trafficking victims, including among vulnerable populations. • Adopt policies and programs that provide trafficking-specific, specialized assistance for male and female trafficking victims. • Ensure participants in the foreign medical missions program retain control of their passports. • Screen individuals charged or detained for prostitution-related offenses for sex trafficking and refer victims to care providers. • Educate all Cuban workers about trafficking indicators and where to report trafficking-related violations. • Establish a permanent inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee and implement the 2017-2020 national anti-trafficking action plan in partnership with international organizations. • Provide specialized training on trafficking indicators for hotline staff and interpretation for non-Spanish speakers.
The government maintained law enforcement efforts. While the penal code criminalized some forms of trafficking, it did not criminalize all forms of forced labor or sex trafficking of children ages 16 and 17, defining a child as an individual younger than 16 years of age, younger than the age set in international trafficking law, which is 18. Article 302 criminalized procuring and trafficking in persons and prescribed penalties of four to 10 years' imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent, and with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, the law established the use of force, fraud, or coercion as aggravating factors, rather than essential elements of the crime. The law defined trafficking broadly to include exploitative labor conditions and illegal adoption without the purpose of exploitation. Article 310 criminalized corruption of minors younger than 16 for sexual purposes and prescribed penalties of seven to 15 years' imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Article 312.1 criminalized corruption of minors younger than 16 for begging and prescribed penalties of two to five years or a fine. Articles 310 and 312.1 considered violence or intimidation, among other factors, as aggravating factors for which the penalty increased to 20 to 30 years' imprisonment or the death penalty. Provisions for adult and child sex trafficking did not explicitly criminalize the acts of recruitment, transport, and receipt of persons for these purposes. The penal code and labor code prohibited some conduct associated with forced labor including the deprivation of freedom (article 279.1), coercion (article 286.1), extortion (article 331), arbitrary exercise of rights (article 159.1), and directly establishing labor relations with adolescents younger than age 17 (labor code article 116). However, Cuban law did not prohibit forced labor as defined in international law. Since 2015, the government has noted its efforts to amend the criminal code to address trafficking as defined in international law, but as of March 31, 2019, the criminal code did not prohibit all forms of trafficking.
In December 2018, the government published official data for calendar year 2017 on prosecutions and convictions of traffickers, the most recent data available. Authorities reported 20 prosecutions in 2017, compared to 21 in 2016 and 10 in 2015, and 20 convictions (19 sex traffickers and one trafficker for forced child labor), compared to 39 in 2016 and 17 in 2015. The average sentence was 9.2 years' imprisonment, compared to 10.5 years in 2016 and 12 years in 2015. Authorities imprisoned eight foreign nationals for purchasing sex from child sex trafficking victims. The Cuban government organized and sponsored numerous trainings, postgraduate courses, scientific forums, and a national video conference for prosecutors, law enforcement and court officers, medical staff, and employees of the government-organized NGO Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). Authorities educated participants about trafficking victim protection and assistance and procedures related to transnational organized crime and trafficking. The government maintained more than 20 bilateral cooperation agreements or memoranda of understanding with 15 other countries that included trafficking, which resulted in the identification of Cuban victims abroad and the conviction of a trafficker in Cuba. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in trafficking, despite persistent allegations officials threatened and coerced some participants in the foreign medical missions to remain in the program.
The government maintained some efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims, but provided services to only five child victims and penalized some victims for unlawful acts their traffickers coerced them to commit. Authorities identified at least 24 victims in 2017 (seven child sex trafficking victims, 16 adult sex trafficking victims, and one child forced labor victim), compared to 27 victims in 2016 (17 child sex trafficking victims, nine adult sex trafficking victims, and one child forced labor victim) and 11 victims in 2015 (seven child sex trafficking victims and four adult sex trafficking victims). Of the 24 victims, 23 were female and one was male. The government reported having procedures to proactively identify and refer sex trafficking victims; police, social workers, educators, and medical professionals identified and evaluated potential trafficking victims and referred them to other professionals for medical, psychological, psychiatric, educational, family, or social services. The government did not report having procedures to identify victims of forced labor. Government-organized NGOs, like the FMC, the Prevention and Social Assistance Commission, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, could identify and refer trafficking victims to state authorities and provide victim services.
The government funded child protection centers and guidance centers for women and families, which served all crime victims, including some trafficking victims. These centers had the ability to screen cases, make referrals to law enforcement, assist with arranging cooperation with law enforcement in preparation for prosecution, and provide victim services. The Attorney General created a special Family Protection and Jurisdictional Issues Directorate in 2016 to provide specialized attention to child victims of crime and violence, including trafficking, but did not report whether it provided services to children in 2017. The FMC continued to receive funding from international organizations and operated centers for women and families nationwide to assist individuals harmed by violence, including victims of sex trafficking. These centers could provide services such as psychological treatment, health care, skills training, and assistance in finding employment, but they did not report whether the 16 adult female victims associated with reported prosecutions received services. Observers noted despite existing social services that victims may be able to access, the government did not offer a comprehensive package of services, particularly housing and physical protection. Neither the government nor the government-organized NGOs operated shelters or provided services specifically for adult male victims. Independent members of civil society expressed concern about the government's protection efforts and limited information on the scope of sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba given sparse independent monitoring by NGOs and international organizations.
Police encouraged child sex trafficking victims younger than the age of 16 to assist in prosecutions of traffickers by gathering testimony through psychologist-led videotaped interviewing, usually removing the need for children to appear in court. Observers reported law enforcement did not proactively screen for indicators of trafficking as police may have detained individuals in prostitution or charged them with crimes such as "social dangerousness," thereby potentially penalizing some victims for unlawful acts their traffickers coerced them to commit. Cuban law permitted courts to order restitution be paid to victims, but the government did not report any such orders in 2017. The government did not identify any foreign trafficking victims in Cuba in 2017.
The government did not make efforts to prevent forced labor, but did make efforts to prevent sex trafficking. The government reported it continued to implement its national anti-trafficking action plan for 2017-2020, which included some efforts to prevent trafficking, protect victims, investigate and prosecute traffickers, and promote international cooperation. The plan required the government to establish indicators to assess progress and an overall assessment in 2020, but such indicators were not made public. The government published its sixth annual report of anti-trafficking efforts in December 2018, covering 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. International observers noted challenges in coordination across the government and with civil society, but the government did not report whether it had established a permanent interagency committee. The Ministry of Justice led an informal working group to combat trafficking comprising various ministries and law enforcement. As in prior years, the government held training sessions for government employees, teachers and school administrators, police officers, tourist industry employees, prosecutors, judges, and parents on prevention and detection of trafficking. The government and the FMC continued to operate a 24-hour telephone line for individuals needing legal assistance, including sex trafficking victims, but did not report whether any calls in 2017 led to trafficking investigations or identifying victims, or whether it implemented the UN special rapporteur's recommendation for specialized trafficking training and multilingual staff.
State media continued to produce newspaper articles and television and radio programs, including a new public service announcement, to raise public awareness about sex trafficking. The FMC raised public awareness through workshops and training with social workers, educators, and students, and the distribution of materials explaining trafficking and risks associated with it. Authorities maintained an office within the Ministry of Tourism charged with monitoring Cuba's image as a tourism destination, combating sex tourism, and addressing the demand for commercial sex acts. The Ministry of Tourism also reported training law enforcement officials assigned to the tourism sector to identify cases during inspections of state-owned hotels and tourist facilities, but authorities did not identify any cases in 2017. The ministry monitored foreign tour companies and travel agencies, whose employees may be held accountable for marketing the country as a sex tourism destination or for trafficking offenses, but the ministry identified no such employees in 2017. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security offered training to labor inspectors to detect trafficking, but the ministry did not identify forced labor among the 1,573 labor violations in 2017. The government reported taking steps to identify and prevent young people who might be vulnerable to traffickers from traveling abroad. The government did not implement policies to prohibit force, fraud, or coercion by foreign labor recruiters and state-owned or controlled enterprises in recruiting and retaining employees, despite persistent allegations Cuban officials threatened and coerced some participants to remain in the foreign medical mission program.
TRAFFICKING PROFILE
As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba, and traffickers exploit victims from Cuba abroad. Sex trafficking and sex tourism, including child victims, occur within Cuba. Traffickers exploit Cuban citizens in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Traffickers exploit foreign nationals from Africa and Asia in sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts. According to statements from government officials, the government employed between 34,000-50,000 healthcare professionals in more than 60 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Portugal in foreign medical missions through contracts with foreign governments and, in some countries, with international organizations serving as intermediaries. In November 2018, Cuba ended the five-year-old "Mais Medicos" medical mission program in Brazil, which was facilitated by a UN-affiliated organization, following demands from Brazil's then president-elect to improve the treatment and employment conditions of Cuban healthcare professionals after allegations of coercion, non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, and restrictions on their movement. In November 2018, Cuban healthcare workers filed a class action in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida under the Trafficking Victims Protection and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Acts alleging the Cuban government profited from the export of healthcare professionals; the case remains pending. In Brazil, the Cuban government collected revenue for each professional's services and paid the worker a fraction of the revenue depositing a large percentage of the worker's wages in an account in Cuba only accessible upon completion of the mission and return to Cuba. The Cuban government collected approximately 7.2 billion pesos ($7.2 billion) in annual revenue from the export of services, including foreign medical missions in 2017. Some participants in foreign medical missions as well as other sources allege Cuban officials force or coerce participation in the program; the government has stated the postings are voluntary, and some participants also have stated the postings are voluntary and well-paid compared to jobs within Cuba. Observers report the government does not inform participants of the terms of their contracts, making them more vulnerable to forced labor. The Cuban government acknowledges that it withholds passports of overseas medical personnel in Venezuela; the government provided identification cards to such personnel. Some Cuban medical personnel claim they work long hours without rest and face substandard working and living conditions in some countries, including a lack of hygienic conditions and privacy. Observers note Cuban authorities coerced some participants to remain in the program, including by withholding their passports, restricting their movement, using "minders" to conduct surveillance of participants outside of work, threatening to revoke their medical licenses, retaliate against their family members in Cuba if participants leave the program, or impose criminal penalties, exile, and family separation if participants do not return to Cuba as directed by government supervisors. The government uses some high school students in rural areas to harvest crops and does not pay them for their work but claims this work is voluntary.
ecoi.net summary:
Annual report on trafficking in persons (covering April 2018 to March 2019)
Original link:
https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-2/cuba/
Periodical Report

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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BERKELEY, CALIF. - The No. 12-ranked California baseball team captured its seventh game in a row to improve to 10-1-1, defeating San Francisco, 6-2, Tuesday at Evans Diamond. The Golden Bears were led by the solid pitching of freshman right-hander Kevin Miller, who earned his first collegiate victory, pitching 6.0 innings with three hits, no earned runs, no walks and two strikeouts. Offensively, Cal was bolstered by senior second baseman Josh Satin's two-run homer in the third inning.
The losing pitcher for the Dons (6-8) was junior left-hander Evan Fredrickson (1-2), who threw 6.2 innings with five hits, three earned runs, six walks and seven strikeouts. The Bears also received solid relief pitching from sophomore right-hander Daniel Wolford (2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts) and junior right-hander Matt Gorgen (1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, no walks, one strikeout).
Cal scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning on sophomore right fielder Blake Smith's RBI double down the right field line, and junior shortstop Michael Brady's sacrifice fly to center field. San Francisco came back with two runs in the top of the third on an RBI single to right field by Tavo Hall and an infield hit to shortstop by Connor Bernatz. However, Cal immediately broke the 2-2 tie by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the third, highlighted by Satin's two-run shot to left-center field off of Fredrickson. It was Satin's sixth home run and 18th RBI of the year.
The Bears tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on a throwing error by USF catcher Ryan Lipkin and a wild pitch by Don reliever Sean Burns.
Cal will next host Loyola Marymount in a four-game series beginning on Friday, Mar. 14, at 2 p.m. at the Evans Diamond. The Bears will then face the Lions in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Mar. 15, and then play a single game beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 16.
Cal: Satin, two-run homer in the third inning.


Posted by: The Gospel Fellowship Africa | more..
We must not punk out. God's made us as strong as we need to be to do the work that He's given us. We must get our words from God, and then we must stand. It doesn't matter what He'd have us to say, so long as we say His word, as we've received it. They will fight against us, but we will stand. They will beat against the man who pleases God, because they are a rebellious house. We will prevail because we are strong enough for the task.
Do not go in your own strength with your own reasoning! Let Him speak to you supernaturally, then you'll have something to say by faith, and it will be His word and His Spirit. Do not use the strength of man; it is not strong enough; it is pride, and it will fail. Preaching God's word argumentatively, instead of in the power of the Spirit, will lead us to sin, because we don't have God ourselves. Preaching it faithfully, as we've received it, will cause us to shine and save the elect.
Secondly, it doesn't matter what He'd have us to say, we say it. Ezekiel says, "When He unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it [Ezek 2:10]." It doesn't matter if we're in Italy preaching against Catholicism, or in Nigeria and against Pentecostalism and lying signs and wonders. It doesn't matter if we're preaching against the materialism and nationalism of the American church. We preach the gospel, and all that He says, we say it! We are gospel preachers, so that is always the tone of the message, but we reprove, rebuke, and we warn. We preach patiently, lovingly, and fiery sermons. We do not relent or yield, nor do we spare them for their crying, but we pull the log from our own eye, so we can see clearly how to help our brothers and call men to repentance.
We care more about God than their anger; we care more about them than ourselves, and we will not hold back the word for any reason. Their blood will not be on our hands [Acts 18:6]! God's given US this glorious task, and we are most privileged. CH Spurgeon said, "To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in the world", and he was right: To be in the BATTLE WITH GOD is the highest privilege of mankind; to labor together with Christ is the greatest, most enjoyable, heart rending, and satisfying work that we can enter.
Thirdly, do not fear what they shall do to you. He says, "Do not be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces." Too many are scared to tell the whole truth. Too many preserve reputation and do not stick by their convictions, so they are taken away, and they become mute when they should be speaking, and so honor goes to someone else! Don't let this happen to you.
You have God on your side, and you are fully equipped. He says, "Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint." You have His peace, His joy, and His Spirit. You have what NO MAN can give you, which is God on the inside and satisfaction in doing His will. While others run from the battle, run to the forefront and do all that He's commanded you. The problem is not with us who preach faithfully; it is with them who will not hear [Ezek 2:6].
Finally, the Lord has blessed us to get in the game. Get your uniform dirty. Make plays. Go all out. Do it with your might!


text:
Home News FG approves 10 years validity for Nigerian passport
FG approves 10 years validity for Nigerian passport
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the validity of passports issued in the country, should be increased from five to 10 years.
The Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede, revealed this on Thursday, when he visited the Ikoyi passport office in Lagos.
He said the president also approved improved security features and quality for the passport booklets.
"He (Buhari) has approved 10-year validity for passports which is great news. When the report comes, passports will be valid for 10 years which is great news especially for adults from the age of 18 and above. Though people will pay more, if they can pay more and get the booklets quickly, it's good with improved security for 10 years validity. They would pay more but the document would be available, that's good.
"Ten years after the enrolment of the e-passport system, we need to improve the security features. You can't keep documents for 10 years without seeing decreased values in them, so we are improving the security features which would raise the standards of the passports," he said.
Babandede added that the new changes, will ease the stress of renewing passports and also help the country.
"And we will ensure it is done before the end of this year because the booklet has to change," he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari


text:
La transposition pinacolique ou réarrangement pinacolique est une réaction de chimie organique au cours de laquelle un diol vicinal est transformé en composé carbonylé sous catalyse acide.

La réaction tient son nom du premier substrat sur lequel elle a été observée, le pinacol, transformé en pinacolone. Elle a été découverte en 1860 par le chimiste allemand Rudolph Fittig.

Mécanisme

Dans un premier temps, l'un des deux groupes hydroxyle est protoné, puis est éliminé, formant un carbocation. Si les deux groupes hydroxyles ne sont pas similaires, c'est celui qui produira à terme le carbocation le plus stable qui réagira. Par la suite, un groupe alkyle du carbone adjacent migre vers le carbocation. On suppose que la force derrière cette étape de réarrangement est la production d'un ion oxonium plus stable, pour lequel tous les centres ont une configuration en octet (ce qui n'est pas le cas du précédent carbocation). Cette migration se produit selon la règle habituelle de l'aptitude migratoire des groupes, c'est-à-dire hydrure > carbanion phényle >  carbanion tertiaire (si formé par la migration) > carbanion secondaire (si formé par la migration) > carbanion méthyle, le groupe partant étant celui qui stabilisera le mieux le carbocation. Enfin, le groupe hydroxyle restant se déprotone pour former un groupe carbonyle.

Exemple de réarrangement asymétrique :

Dans le cas ci-dessus, les deux groupes -OH ne sont pas équivalents. Celui porté par le groupe portants des groupes phényles aura plus de chances de partir, car le carbocation ainsi produit sera plus stable que celui produit par le départ de l'autre groupe. En effet, la carbocation (1) est plus stable car les groupes phényles sont plus volumineux, et qu'ils peuvent en plus stabiliser le carbocation par effet mésomère, ce qui va orienter la réaction dans le sens de la migration d'un groupe méthyle plutôt que phényle.

Stéréochimie du réarrangement

Cette réaction présente plus d'intérêt dans les systèmes cycliques. Dans ces réactions, la stéréochimie du diol joue un rôle crucial dans la détermination du produit majoritaire. Seul un groupe alkyle en position trans- par rapport au groupe –OH partant peut migrer. Dans le cas contraire, il se produit une expansion de cycle, c'est-à-dire que le cycle lui-même migre vers le centre carbocation. Ceci révèle un autre aspect de la réaction, à savoir que le mécanisme est largement concerté.

De plus, si l'atome-clé du groupe alkyle migrant est un centre stéréogène, sa configuration reste la même après la migration.

Histoire

Si Fittig est le premier à avoir publié à propos du réarrangement pinacolique, c'est Alexandre Boutlerov qui a correctement identifié les  produits de réaction.

Dans un article de 1859, Fittig décrit la réaction de l'acétone avec le potassium métallique, mais il part d'une mauvaise formule pour l'acétone, (C3H3O)n (une conséquence d'un débat bien plus large sur la masse atomique, question finalement tranchée lors du congrès de Karlsruhe en 1860). Il croyait également à tort que l'acétone était une alcool, ce qu'il espérait prouver en formant un sel métallique d'alcoolate. À la place, il obtint un produit qu'il nomma  « paracétone », qu'il pensait être un dimère d'acétone (en fait le pinacol, produit de la réaction de couplage pinacolique de l'acétone). Dans une seconde publication en 1860, il fait réagir cette « paracétone » avec de l' acide sulfurique (c'est-à-dire le réarrangement pinacolique en tant que tel).

De nouveau, Fittig est incapable de donner une structure moléculaire au produit de réaction qu'il pense être un autre isomère ou un polymère. Les chimistes contemporains qui s'étaient adapté à la nouvelle réalité de la masse atomique ne firent pas mieux. Charles Friedel, par exemple, croyait que le produit de réaction était un époxyde, l'oxyde de tétraméthyléthylène, par analogie avec les réactions de l'éthylène glycol. C'est finalement Boutlerov qui en 1873 identifie correctement les structures après avoir synthétisé de façon indépendante l'acide triméthylacétique (acide pivalique) que Friedel avait obtenu plus tôt par oxydation par le dichromate.

L'un des problèmes lors de la détermination de ce différentes structures était que les réarrangements du squelette carboné étaient inconnus à cette époque. La théorie de Boutlerov permettait ce réarrangement, et avec ce nouveau concept, permit de déterminer la structure de la pinacolone.

Synthèse de composés spiro

Une possible application du réarrangement pinacolique est la synthèse de composés spiro. Cette méthode commence par le couplage pinacolique d'une cétone cyclique, par exemple la cyclopentanone (1), produisant un dimère diol vicinal qui réagit ensuite par réarrangement pinacolique pour former un composé spiro (2), avec une expansion du cycle de la cétone initiale.

Notes et références

Voir aussi

 Transposition semipinacolique
 Réarrangement de Tiffeneau-Demjanov
 Réarrangement de l'acide benzilique
 Couplage pinacolique

pinacolique

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Using Dance in the Classroom CEU Workshop was a blast–more workshops to come!
The GAC hosted its first CEU workshop for the 2015-2016 school year on Saturday, November 14th. Participants took part in basic yoga and stretching, then got into some dancing with teaching artist Emily Tschiffely (check out her website here). Emily also taught us about the history of dance and led discussions on creative ways to incorporate dance and dance history into the classroom. Teachers had a fantastic time at the workshop, and we're already looking forward to the next CEU workshop, which will be Saturday, January 23rd, 2016, and will focus on connecting African drumming/music with core curriculum. The GAC is hoping for a better turnout at the January workshop, so start spreading the word now! Teachers, these workshops are a fun, engaging way to gain CEU credit, and your students will benefit immensely from the creativity and arts integrated activities you'll learn to incorporate into your classroom.
Who knew getting CEU credits could be this fun?
For more info about CEU workshops, contact Lesedi Chambers at execadmin@greenville-arts-council.com or at 662-332-2246. Stay tuned for updates about the 2016 workshops!
Over the past two weeks, we facilitated professional development (PD) sessions with 3rd and 4th grade GPSD teachers. Teachers got creative making their own original comic strips to illustrate math concepts. They also learned how their students can create comics to test their classmates with math word problems, summarize a book they read in class, or demonstrate their understanding of a range of subjects.
Resources and handouts from these PD sessions can be found on the "2015-2016 Resources" page, which is located under the "Resources for Educators" tab.
This week, we had professional development sessions with 1st and 2nd grade GPSD teachers. They learned how to use the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge website (which is a fantastic resource for arts-integrated lesson plans) and participated in part of a model lesson from the site connecting social studies, science, and ELA concepts with visual art. Through this lesson, the teachers made their very own rain sticks! Check out pictures and videos below from the two sessions.
Check out the 2nd grade teachers makin' it rain (video on FaceBook)!
Resources from these PD sessions can be found on the "2015-2016 Resources" page, which is under the "Resources for Educators" tab.


One of the key battle grounds at the next General Election is undoubtedly going to be immigration. A topic that is very closely related to EU membership and what can be done to limit the number of people coming to the UK. One side of the argument is that immigrants coming into the UK boost growth and add to the strength of the economy. The other side is that once in the UK, immigrants don't move into work and end up taking more from the welfare state than they give to it through taxation.
However, the report is not all positive about the effects of immigration. When considering the impact on the economy of migrants from outside of the EEA, the picture is quite different. Over the past 17 years, immigration has cost the UK economy approximately £120bn, through migrant's greater consumption of public benefits, such as the NHS, compared to their contributions through taxation. The debate is likely to continue and this report will certainly be used by both sides of the argument as evidence that (a) no change in immigration policy is needed and (b) a major change is needed to immigration policy. The following articles consider this report.
Why is immigration such a political topic?
How are UK labour markets be affected by immigration? Use a demand and supply diagram to illustrate the effect.
Based on your answer to question 2, explain why some people are concerned about the impact of immigration on UK jobs.
What is the economic argument in favour of allowing immigration to continue?
What policy changes could be recommended to restrict the levels of immigration from outside the EEA, but to continue to allow immigration from EU countries?
If EU migrants are well educated, does that have a positive or negative impact on UK workers, finances and the economy?


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JR: Can I give you my home phone so I can download the new Iphone software.
JB: Sure. Where are you at with The Men Who Stare at Goats?
JR: It's finished. I believe it's not too long until people see it. Shit! The Iphone software server cannot be contacted! What's the big fucking problem!
JB: I guess it's too much in demand
JR: I'll try again. Do you know who's in it
JB: Spacey, Bridges, Clooney. McGregor. How does that feel?
JR: Well it's funny how, you know, it's extraordinary at first and then you adapt to your new circustances and feel, this is all I deserve. Which isn't true. I went out there for a couple of days and watched them filming it and saw conversations between McGregor and Clooney doing dialogue from real conversations that I have really had 5 years earlier with people so it was extraordinary but you just sort of feel that everything your life will become fantastic but of course that doesn't happen, you've got the same coffee adiction you've always had.
JB: Have you had any input?
JR: No. But you know what that's kind of how it should be. And in fact I am now with Peter - who wrote the screenpay. I'm adapting stuff and I wouldn't want the people who's lives I'm adapting to want to have any input either. You've got to take a step away and peter decided he wanted to take a step away from me to the extent that he even changed the name of the character who's based on me. Cos think he felt he needed to have free reign to fictionalise whatever was necessary to make a good film. Which is completely the right thing to do plus all this happened when I didnt think I had the ability to write screenplays. so i would never want to interfere. Nick Hornby told me not to interfere. Not that I was ever going to, but he said they know how to make films and we don't.
JB:You didn't have any concerns that it might be Hollywoodised?
JR: Well until I read the screenplay it was just ... it wasn't happening. The film got optioned and it just felt sort of theoetcal. And then the screenplay came in and it was so funny - Peter had got it so right. He's changed loads and fictionalised a lot off it but he's completely kept the spirit of the humour of it. And the sort of kindness. So as soon as I read that. A. it was a brilliant script so I thought we'll be alright and then when I heard who was getting involved again I felt safe. So I have no doubts. I suppose if someone else had bought it and someone else wasdirecting and starring in it I might have my doubts but not with the people who are doing it.
I'm sorry if my answers are too loveyish. I suppose if I wasn't happy I'd still say I was happy but I am happy.
JB: Are you nervous about seeing it?
JR: Not really in a funny sort of way because it's not my project. You just feel that these peole know how to make films I'm sure it'll be relly good, it''s allquite separate to me in a way. I spent a couple of days watching it being filmed and what I saw looked really funny. I'm confident it's going to be really goood. And it feels, it's there thing, anyway.
JB: It is a straight comedy?
JR: It's not entirely a comedy. I mean, I don't know - this is from reading the screenplay - but there's som serious stuff in there as well. It'l be like the book. It's sort of clsh between funny and serious. It starts funny nd gets stomach churning, and tht journey from one to the other is part of the screenplay.
JB: What is it that attracts you to these things - conspiracy theories and bizarre plots?
JR:Well I suppose it's mysteries isn't it. It's a sort of mix of ourneying into far-out places and hanging out with far-out people which I always find really interesting - let's go to extreme situations. And also, solving mysteries to. I've always - this is really pretentous - but I've always wanted my books instead of beeing by jon Ronson to be 'a Jon Ronson mystery'. Lik a NNAncy Drew mystery. One day maybe I'll be able to achieve that. Ireally like going off into this bubble off absurdity that's just when I feel most alive when I'm in the middle of mad ansurd unfolding stories.
JB: It's interesting that your first book was about living in the world of the supremely wealthy. Is there a similarity?
JR: Hmm. Wel I haven't done that much on the super-rich. Well, anything extreme. I oftn think the most interesting stories are on the mrgins of society and that includes I suppose the super-rich
JB: I heard something you did for Radio 4 a while ago - the networking events. Guy with the fence.
JR: Thats right theres that man who works for Mohammed Al Fyed and he was being an absoute scumbag. No theres another story I thought you were talking about a man who thinks that everyone they employ is there to rip them off so he just stands glaring at the servants all the time and he teaches him to take an interest in the servants. So that was a sort of extreme. Not to freakshow the extreme, just to experience it from within
JB: Well, maybe money creates those extremes because it gives you such freedoms.
JR: Well, maybe you hae to be a nut to become that succesful, I've always had that suspicion like Bernie Madofff
JB: Or Stanford
JR: Absolutely. Well the landed gentry, they're sort of nice and polite, they're fucked up like everyones fucked up but nice and polites, but the self - made people who have spent their life acccumulating wealth they have to have personality disfunctions and disorders to just want to do that.
JB: Which sort of links into my next question which is about Stanley Kubrick and what led you to make the programme about his boxes
JR: Yeah, I'll probably show this at Latitude. Well, that did sort of come to me because they contacted me to begin with because Kubrck had liked one of my documentaries and I got the invite to the house and like everybody who was around at the time the Kubrik house had the reputation of being like Xanadu, this mad hermit genius sort of thing, thats how I managed Kubrick but it wasn't really true. It's true he didn't leave the house much and had his quirks but he wasn't a mad hermit. The house was always jam-packed full of people and he was a funny person. Unpurchased item could not be purchased!
So I turned up at the house and it was jam-packed full of boxes, thousands of boxes so I said can I look through them and they said alright, sort of nervously,
JB: Worried about what you might find
JR: Yeah, and what I might do with what I find. Would I perpetuate the myths about him. Which I think I didn't - I had to show the film to Kubrick's wife and brother in law and so on, there was some lawyer in America who didn't like it all but in the end we got our way.
JB: Well the film does portray him accurately as obsessive
JR: Yeah, but obsessive to the point that there was a purpose to it. I think what they were worried about was him appearing madly obsessive, irrationally obsessive and I think Kubrick, prbably quite uniquely, his obsessiveness worked as a creative device. It just goes to show that that sort of thing isnt always destructive. It's definitely strange that he would have to see every doorway in London to find the perfect dooorway for one partcular scene in Eyees WIde Shut. But it's what worked for its wwhat he needed. You do wonder if it was a kind of diversionary tctic. That he like the search more than the actual doing. That's why he made less and less movies ecause he was using the search as an excuse not to make movies. I think that possible though I wouldn't want to be a psychiatrist analysing from afar.
JB: The first time I went on GoogleMaps' Streetview I thought of Kubrick and how much he'd love it
JR: And the internet in general. He dies when it was still in ins infancy because all those memos he wouldn't have had to write because he could have just emaled them. I'm going on Streetview now to look at his house. There it is, I'm going into the house. Wow look at that Chiddickbury. Theres the huge house,a nd the stable block. You're right - he wouldn't have had to send Manuel, his Nephew, out to photograph Commercial Road for weeks and weeks on a ladder. And then he had to put all the films together to get a sort of concertina panorama of Comercal Road getting them all developed at Snappy Snaps. And then when he took them all back Kubrick looks at it and says well it sure beats going there.
JB: It's almost like the image is better than reality.
JR: Well, yes that's true but it's also that he would rather stay in the mansion and get someone else to the dirty work because he'd earned it by being Stanley Kubrick. That's that I took from that story.
At Latitude I'll show some clips from that film, and something on Bohemian Grove. Annd I might show some of the actual conversations that have now been dramatised. I went to the Isle of Wight and it was really disappointing It was just one giant dump. It was a big group of drunken callow eyed teeneagers who wanted to get drunk and throw their pizza boxes everyhere. I saw this man and woman about three o'clock in the afternoon both dressed as cavemen beating the shit out of each other. For real. I don't want to be here.
There comes a moment when a film gets optioned, they're renting the rights and then they buy it. Universal have bought THEM so it bodes well and Mike White wrote a screenplay that I thought was fantastic, just as good as Peter's screenplay really funny. But beyond that the downside of them buying your book is that you're not really in their loop any more which I again I understand because its like when you provide the source material for somebody and that includes being an interviewee for a Journalist, when you've given them what they need theres no need to contct them any more and thats the same with the author when your boooks bought by a film company. So the downside is that I don't know whats going on but the upside is that they bought it.
JB: So youre confident that it will come to fruition?
JR: I hope so because its my favourite book that Ive written and Mike White's script was really good, but beyond that I've got no idea but I'd really love it. I mean one great thing that will happen with the Goats movie is the the book suddenly gets back into the shops and stuff and for that to happen to THEM would just be fantastic. I've always thought, I'm probably going to sound like a bit of an old cunt here, but I've always thought that THEM didn't sell as many copies as it should have done. I mean I did think iit was so good that it needed to sell as many copies of the bible and be in every hotel room, so I did have high expectations for it but I do think theres a lot of people out there who would really like THEM but haven't read it and consequently if the film does get made I'm sure a lot of peoplee would read thhe book and really ennjjoy it who have never heard of it and that would be great. Beyond that I know nothIng.
JB: Whats the next thing?
JR: Im working on a new book at the moment. A little bit of it is about to go on 'This America Life', I'm still at least a yer or two from finishing it but this really good American Radio show, are taking a little bit of it as a work in progress. Plus I'm doing 'how to find god', about the Alpha course.
JB: Isn't it supposed to just make you consider the issues?
JR: Well, no, I think it's real agenda is to make you get more soul. I think it is a Christian conversion scheme.
JB: Almost like Scientology.
JR: Yeah, although you know what I would personally say that if you had an an evangelical Christian next to a scientologist next to a Christian the one you're going to get the most bothering from is the evangelical Christian And thats really what Alpha's about I think including one with Peter who wrote Goats, which I think is going quite well.
JB: Have you done anything on Scientology?
JR: I'm actually doing some at the moment and I've got to say - and I hope I don't eat my words - that I've found them perfectly nice and fair and straightforward, and I'm going to say that actually in what I'm writing because I've been dealing with them on and off all year and they've been nothing except together and fine
JB: Maybe they're responding to all the bad press
JR: That's quite possible, or maybe the thing I'm doing benefits them, I'm not their enemy. But even so I haven't had a glimmer of trouble with them and I've been with a lot of religious groups that have caused me terrrible trouble. But my hand to got I'd sort of recommend them but I've got to say right now they've been fine. And I watched the John Sweeney thing.
JB: Which wasn't particularly strong
JR: I thought right from the word go, it was such a hatchet job
JB: Their one press representative was a bit of an diot
JR: Yes he did make himself look quite bad. I gave the talk to a bunch of sceptics the other day if you watch it now and take the anti-scientology hat off and watch it objectively I think John Sweeney behaved worse then they did because they invited him in assuming he didn't have an agenda but he had a huge agenda right from the beginning and all he did was feed the agenda riight from the beginning. I always think that polemical journalism, cusading - not crusading - polemical - this is my view and whatever happens I' going to slot it into my view is quite a corrupt thing to do. I said to the sceptics the other day I don't know why they don't go after Michael Moore, more. Because it's full of deceits.


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J.K. Rowling is begging fans not to spoil "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"
Elizabeth Entenman
Updated Jun 07, 2016 @ 1:14 pm
Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jvwA5ObQeA
It's time to return to Hogwarts. We know who the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is and what they look like, and we can't wait for them to bring the next installment to life. Public previews of the play start today, but author (and playwright!) J.K. Rowling wants to make sure the magic stays real for every new audience who comes to see it.
Rowling released a video yesterday on YouTube asking Cursed Child audiences to keep the story's secrets to themselves. In the video, she's standing next to a "Keep Calm" parody poster that reads "Keep Calm and Keep the Secrets."
Credit: giphy.com
"You've been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you didn't spoil the books for readers who came after you," she says. "So I'm asking you one more time to keep secrets and lets audiences enjoy Cursed Child with all the surprises that we've built into the story."
When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book of the series, was released, Twitter had only been around for a little over a year. It didn't have nearly the number of users it does now, and people certainly didn't flock to it to share every feeling, reaction, and, well, spoiler that they do now. But 10 years later, we're experiencing Harry Potter in a new generation of technology and connectivity. Once Cursed Child is out there, it will be easy to spoil the story. So please, if you're going to talk about the plot, lead with a ton of spoiler warnings.
Here's the video of Rowling making her plea to audiences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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CRYSTAL MONKEYSdecorate people and rooms with our special crystal collection!
The name of the company, which was founded by Manfred M. Adamer and Harald Andratsch, stands for "to be different".
The core values of the two founders complement perfectly: Manfred, the passionate sales expert with a nose for business, and Harald, the experienced marketer with an eye for crystal and design.
With over 20 years experience within the leading crystal Company "Swarovski" the decision to work only with crystals from Swarovski® was an obvious choice from the beginning!
The collection is manufactured and produced in Austria, by using only high-quality raw materials, to produce "affordable luxury".
The collection is trendy, exclusive, playful, exquisite and unique. These timeless pieces with sparkling crystals are a touch of magic into everyday life!
Furthermore CRYSTAL MONKEYS also offer access to crystal products from Swarovski in the areas of Interior and Gift Solutions (Swarovski Gift Solutions) and several other products (see Agencies).


420 of Taiwan's top manufacturers will convene at the country's biggest hardware exhibition, Taiwan Hardware Show (THS) on 17-19 October this year at Taichung International Exhibition Center. The convergence of OEM, ODM and OBM with different production niche at one venue will ease the process of finding new potential business partners for the 35,000 local and international customers that want to procure or have their products manufactured in Taiwan's largest hardware industries cluster region.
A direct business matching service is provided to assist visitors in meeting the most relevant manufacturers and suppliers exhibiting at THS. Taiwan's trusted manufacturers at THS are able to meet the brand aspirations and quality level desired by customers worldwide as their high-demand products are utilized in the automotive repair, precision instruments, mechanical equipment, aviation, construction, transportation, shipbuilding, electronics industries and others.


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Mental Health and policing
by Jane Kennedy
At the end of last year a report by the Health and Social Care information centre indicated that up to 36% of people detained under the mental health act had been taken to a police cell.
This is a deeply worrying statistic and one that has driven Police and Crime Commissioners around the country to take action.
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 was designed so that police cells could be used as a place of safety only in exceptional cases. Sadly, it would seem that around the country cells are being used far too often, often as a desperate last resort. This includes cases involving some of the most vulnerable in our society – young people, veterans, and those who desperately require care from specially trained health professionals.
Chief Officers here on Merseyside recently assessed that up to 20% of all call to the Force are now related to mental health issues. This places a massive strain on the organisation, but I am pleased to say Merseyside Police and our health partners are responding effectively.
So well in fact, that in Merseyside it is actually incredibly rare for anyone in mental health crisis to end up in a prison cell. This is all thanks to some innovative partnerships which are working to improve the treatment and care of those with mental health needs, while also releasing valuable police time and ensuring officers are back on the beat more quickly.
A prime example of this is the Red Amber Green (RAG) risk assessment initiative, pioneered by Merseyside Police's Detective Superintendent Tim Keelan and our dedicated Mental Health Liaison Officer Hayley Sherwen in collaboration with the Mersey Care NHS Trust.
This scheme ensures anyone believed to have mental health problems is taken straight to dedicated healthcare professionals in A&E departments, so an assessment can be carried out in a safe and secure environment, while allowing officers more time to carry out their duties on the streets.
This scheme has already dramatically reduced waiting times for Mental Health Act 136 referrals. Three years ago police officers engaged in 136s in the Mersey Care Trust's area were waiting an average of nine hours per assessment. Using the RAG system, we have seen this average reduce to less than three hours per assessment.
To further improve this work, earlier this year the Force and Mersey Care again united to launch a "136 Street Triage Car" service across Liverpool, learning from others across England. This initiative sees police officers and mental health nurses working together to provide a dynamic, mobile service to individuals suffering mental health crisis, ensuring ill people are given the best possible care, by trained health professionals often at a time of acute need.
But it doesn't stop there. Those individuals who do need to be detained are not neglected. Merseyside now has Criminal Justice Mental Health Liaison Teams working in our custody suites. These in-house mental health nurses are on hand to offer support and care at that critical moment when someone may be at their lowest ebb.
The Mental Health Liaison Team also helps officers respond to calls and can provide assessments to identify those with problems in order to cut reoffending. The team also support individuals either through the criminal justice process or help to divert individuals in poor mental health to better services to help them recover.
It's been successful. Earlier this year, Mersey Care NHS Trust was selected as one of just 10 organisations to secure additional NHS England funding as part of the National Diversion Programme to extend the hours of this provision. This now means anyone from the age of 10 upwards is given care between 7am and 10pm, 365 days a year.
This work has also been so effective it was highlighted in the Force's last HMIC custody review, when inspectors praised this type of liaison and diversion scheme. In 2017, when – as we all hope and anticipate – this programme is rolled out nationwide, Merseyside will be ahead of the game in terms of mental health provision and be able to take pride in the fact our region was among the first to put this scheme into operation.
All these initiatives are designed to save officers' time, reduce costs and hospital waiting times but, most importantly, they will help to ensure people experiencing mental ill health are given the care and support they need.
So what can I add as Police and Crime Commissioner? PCCs in some areas have been deeply concerned about the over-reliance on the police service around the country to respond to cases where individuals clearly need specialist health care.
In March, PCCs united to develop the Mental Health Concordat, alongside organisations like the police, NHS Trusts and local authorities. This Concordat is a multi-agency mental health agreement that sets out how we should work together in order to deliver a high-quality response, help and on-going support to those mental ill health. It acts as a pledge to improve crisis care and commits partners to work together to improve the system of care and support for those with mental health problems.
I have also been working with our partners in mental health care to raise awareness of the key issues among frontline responders. In January, alongside the ADHD Foundation, I hosted an awareness training course for officers, PCSOs and other staff of the condition. Experts in the field detailed how to recognise the characteristic behaviour and symptoms of the disorder when they come across it in their working lives.
In October, to mark World Mental Health Day, we united with the Beacon Counselling Trust to host a major seminar to raise awareness among more than 130 'first responders' in the police and other services and promote understanding of mental conditions. We have also increased awareness of the needs of those suffering mental ill health in custody among our Independent Custody Visitors and, next year, I will be hosting a further seminar on learning disabilities, such as autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
Police officers are often the first to respond to a call for help and that's why it is important they are both trained and supported by specialist healthcare providers in the most effective and efficient way to help people who may be at their lowest ebb.
But while a police officer will still be on the frontline of care, a prison cell is not the right place for anyone suffering a mental health crisis. Individuals suffering mental ill health need the right care, at the right time and in the right place. That is why getting that care to them is so important.
Jane Kennedy, Merseyside Police Commissioner
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Description August 18, 1938 photograph of City Manager T. P. Thompson and a Norfolk Welcome Committee greeting Rear Admiral Alfred W. Johnson, U. S. N. aboard his flagship the USS Wyoming at the Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, Virginia. The battleships Texas and Wyoming had recently arrived to join their sister ship New York which was undergoing repairs in the Portsmouth Navy Yard. All three ships carried a complement of 1200 midshipmen between them. The Texas and Wyoming would participate in target practice before returning to Annapolis.
Headline City Manager Thompson Welcomes Midshipmen (image), Norfolk Greets Naval Middies: 800 Additional Annapolis Men Arrive At Base This Afternoon: City Manager Heads Welcome Committee (article).
Source From SMC Photograph Collection, FNL28.


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Relations with Shareholders
Communication with shareholders is a priority for Rotork and the Company openly engages in a regular dialogue with its major shareholders. In 2018, the Board, and in particular the Chief Executive and Finance Director, have engaged with shareholders in a number of ways including:
Hosting and participating in roadshows, both in the UK and internationally
Hosting webcasts and conference calls
Attending shareholder events
Hosting investor site visits
Attending conferences
Arranging ad hoc one to one and group meetings and calls with shareholders
A new Investor Relations Director joined Rotork in February 2019 to increase the resources available to support existing and potential shareholders and enhance our reporting to shareholders.
During the year we maintained an expanded investor communications programme. Shortly after Rotork's 2017 results announcement, Kevin Hostetler embarked on a shareholder roadshow, meeting all Rotork's top investors to explain his background and plans for the Group. Subsequently and throughout the year, Kevin Hostetler and Jonathan Davis have carried out a number of further roadshows, meetings and calls, updating both current and potential investors on the progress of our Growth Acceleration Programme. Finally, the Board engaged an external consultant to conduct research with Rotork top shareholders, to better understand perceptions of Rotork and any potential room for improvement. The results of this review were presented to the Board in October and key recommendations will be followed up on throughout 2019.
The Chairman ensures that all directors are made aware of major shareholder issues and concerns by ensuring the Board receives reports on meetings with analysts and shareholders. In addition, the Board receives reports from its brokers which give anonymised
feedback from investors.
Rotork makes constructive use of its AGM as an opportunity for the Board to communicate with, and answer questions from, shareholders who attend in person. The entire Board is normally available during the meeting, and for lunch following the meeting, to allow direct interaction between the directors and the shareholders. This year, Rotork will again adopt automatic poll voting at its AGM in order to better reflect the views of shareholders; previously voting on resolutions was generally undertaken on a show of hands at the AGM itself. Automatic poll voting ensures that all votes cast in person or by proxy are taken into account on a particular resolution.
Rotork also maintains a comprehensive investor relations section on its website which provides a variety of resources for investors including current webcasts, presentations and press releases as well as annual interim reports. The website can be accessed at www.rotork.com/en/investors.
Electronic communications are also used by Rotork to communicate with its shareholders. All shareholders can request to receive the Annual Report & Accounts in electronic form rather than in hard copy form. Any shareholders wishing to receive corporate documents electronically can do this by registering for the service at www.shareview.co.uk and clicking on 'Register' under the 'Shareview Portfolio' section. Rotork also makes available electronic proxy appointment for shareholders who wish to appoint a proxy online to vote at the Company's AGM.


POSCO, one of the largest steel producers in the world has placed 200 ProfiHubs B5 in twenty PROFIBUS DP networks.
In order to strengthen the international competitive position, the highest uptime of the installation is required. POSCO has optimized the entire network structure around the ProfiHub B5.


Of all the small towns in Artemisa, SAN ANTONIO DE LOS BAÑOS, about 20km south of Havana's western suburbs and a 45-minute drive from Habana Vieja, is the only one that merits more than a fleeting visit. A riverside hotel with good opportunities for swimming and boating, an engaging museum and a countryside park provide at least a day's worth of laidback activity. The town itself has the undisturbed, nonchalant feel that characterizes so much of Cuba's interior, with an archetypal shady square and residential streets largely free of traffic.


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Jordan recalls its Iran ambassador
Jordan recalled its ambassador from Iran, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news channel reported on Monday, saying the diplomat had been called back for consultations over what it described as Tehran's interference in Arab affairs.
It is the latest Arab country to recall its envoy from Tehran since Saudi Arabia cut ties with the Islamic Republic after angry demonstrators protesting Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric attacked its missions in Tehran and Mashhad.
Hezbollah praises synagogue attack in Jerusalem -statement