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Home › Blogs › Sheila Newman's blog
World Population Day - what helps keep populations sustainable?
Fri, 2009-07-17 10:52 — Sheila Newman
The Emperor Julian codified the land-tenure laws which Napoleon later consolidated. The substitution of the Napoleonic code for the British inheritance system could help overpopulation and poverty.
July 11 was World Population Day, marking the day in 1987 when the world's population passed five billion. This year's theme in the UN is 'Fight Poverty: Educate Girls.'
Here are some things that the UN does not talk about and which Bill Gates probably doesn't realise.
The third world countries that have natural increase problems began by their steady-state communities being disorganised through massive immigration - then called colonisation, now called industrialisation. The problems began with loss of land-tenure as entire peoples were disorganised and disoriented by having their traditional land removed from their control. Africa and India, for instance, had many stable populations for centuries, as testified by their high biodiversity and healthy natural systems at time of colonisation. The degradation of their natural systems has accompanied the destabilising of their human social organisation and overpopulation.
It was not until the 18th and 19th Century, with the imposition of the English political systems that these populations blew out. Polynesia, micronesia and Australia, colonised later, are succumbing later to the same failure of practical democracy.
The people of the original steady state societies lost their land to the colonisers and were encouraged to become wage-earners instead of self-sufficient. The new economy was initially agricultural and then manufacturing. Large landless families benefited both agriculturalists and manufacturers. Those without land were totally dependent on wages for their labour to survive and could not opt out of the labour market. Thus, people who for thousands of years had been self-sufficient and free, became servants.
Like the Americas and Canada, Australia is still being 'colonised'. The landless people who were forced to come here or who came voluntarily and displaced the aboriginal population are now losing their own access to land here, just like the Aboriginals. At the same time women here are being conned into having more children. It is becoming harder to get a decent education as well.
There is every reason to anticipate that this difficulty will increase.
The Importance of Child Labour Laws in preventing overpopulation:
Once the rot has set in, next thing to go are effective child labour laws. This is because if there is no ban enforced on children labouring, then large families are preferred to educated wives. Once children are a major source of income, mass-education withers away.
Child Labour Laws as a variable in fertility rates[i]
Here are some explanations for changes in human fertility since the beginning of agriculture.
In countries where effective labour laws prohibit the employment of children, those children become costly rather than income-beneficial.[ii] In those countries where working for wages is the main option for survival for many but where child labour is prohibited, then people who rely mainly or uniquely on wages will have fewer children.
Similarly, a woman who has education will be more valuable as an income-earner than as a child-producing wife in a society that prohibits child-labour. Where women earn less than men for doing the same job, in a society which needs skilled workers and prohibits child-labour, then this will be a disincentive for taking such women out of the workforce to have children. It will also be an obstacle to marriage because men's capacity to find work will be undermined by the cheaper but still skilled labour of women. In societies where monogamous marriage is the model for raising children, there are implications for marriage frequency. With children a high cost, only men with high incomes will be able to afford to take a wife out of the workforce to nurture children.
Inheritance Laws as a variable in average wealth differentials
In countries where men can own and inherit land, but women cannot, (England from the 12th century until the 1920s) then lack of land is an incentive for women to marry for material survival, but women who can own land and earn a salary may experience their ability to earn as a disincentive to marriage due to the status and power of running their own lives.
A disincentive also operates in countries where, in divorce, either partner may acquire rights to the assets that the other brought to the marriage.
Some countries have facilitated the ability of women to work, raise and educate children outside marriage -- e.g. France. To this should be added the fact that French women also benefit from equal inheritance rights to men.
Although French women only recently (in the 1970s) regained the right to manage their affairs, this right, coupled with the government's duty to house, educate and assure an income to its citizens, enhances women's security and independence.
France also, through its inheritance system, makes French women more likely to inherit wealth than British women and many British men, who had almost no land inheritance rights until primogeniture was revoked in 1926.[iii] Even though all children may now inherit in societies based on British law, because there is no legal requirement that they inherit, there is still a profound tendency to disinherit children in those societies, through second marriages or due to their being the product of casual union, or based on ideology or a whim. (I often think of how the very rich Australian, Reg Ansett, disinherited his son, Bob, apparently excusing the inexcusable with an ideology that everyone should make their own way in the world, failing to take into account that different generations have very different prospects according to resource depletion and other changes.)
The legally enforceable inheritance rights of any French child, legitimate, illegitimate, issue of first or subsequent marriages is almost certainly a major factor in the lesser disparities between rich and poor in France and those other countries in Europe which benefited from the Napoleonic Code (a Roman law based system). It is noteworthy that Pacific Islands which have inherited the French system do not have the same rates of overpopulation, homelessness and economic poverty as the ones that were colonised with the English system. (Neither do those in Japanese waters, with the exception of those which passed into US ownership after the Second World War. The Japanese inheritance system also preserves land in families.)
Unfortunately the French situation of equity will be affected by changes to the Napoleonic Code introduced by President Sarkozi in 2008. Now it becomes possible for a spouse to make a serious claim on part of a deceased's estate where that estate previously went entirely to blood relatives.
The recent ability of technological societies to prove paternity is a new factor that could be exploited to access additional income for children whose mothers might otherwise be their sole providers. This could act to increase the fertility rate, but men might become more careful about impregnating women under these new circumstances.
[i] Excerpt from my book in progress below on this subject.
[ii] Doepke, M., Growth and Fertility in the Long Run, Mimeo, University of Chicago, 2000, available in reduced form in Doepke, M. "Accounting for Fertility Decline During the Transition to Growth", Journal of Economic Growth, 9(3), 347-383, September 2004. The speed of the fertility transition depends on policies that affect the opportunity cost of education, namely education subsidies and child-labor restrictions. Doepke considered the case of two countries that started to grow at roughly the same time, but which had experienced very different government policies: (South) Korea and Brazil. Korea had a strong public education system, and child-labor restrictions were strictly enforced, while Brazil had an ineffective public education system, with little systematic enforcement of child labour restrictions. Doepke found, as his model predicted, that the fertility decline associated with development proceeded much faster in Korea than in Brazil.
[iii] The rule of primogeniture in England was not changed until the Administration of Estates Act of 1926.
Emperor-Julian.jpg 5.14 KB
population theories
Sheila Newman's blog
Sun, 2009-07-26 17:12 — Tony Boys
Stable and sustainable populations
I'm quite surprised that no one has added a comment here since this really seems to be one of THE central issues of what is happening in the world today. I think you are about 95% right, so this is not an "aggressive" comment - I just want to check that I understand what you have said in the way you meant to say it. You say:
The problems began with loss of land-tenure as entire peoples were disorganised and disoriented by having their traditional land removed from their control. Africa and India, for instance, had many stable populations for centuries, as testified by their high biodiversity and healthy natural systems at time of colonisation.
The first sentence I agree with. The second sentence needs a lot more explanation, clarification and verification. Are you saying that 'these societies had stable populations because they had reached the limit of their carrying capacity for the food producing technology available to the people there at that time, thus maintaining the population at a stable maximum for the given endowments/technology, but somehow not degrading the environment so as to cause a population crash'? There are examples of this: Japan in the Edo Period (1603-1868) had a more or less stable population (30-33 million) but regular famines due to poor harvests. Some (Polynesian?) island cultures are/were like this, or were somehow able to hold their population to within carrying capacity through some forms of contraception, infanticide, outmigration or premature death of older people (ubasute in Japan). Other island cultures (Easter Island) did not do this and degraded their environment until their populations crashed. There are plenty of examples of this too; the population of ancient Egypt went up and down like a yo-yo, apparently. The early civilisations of the Middle East crashed when they deforested their lands and overworked their soils or ruined the fields through salt damage caused by irrigation.
OR are you saying something different: "These societies, because of their land-tenure systems, had stable populations AND lived well within their carrying capacities"? If so we need to know a lot more about these societies, and I hope you are going to do this for us in your upcoming book. This will be interesting, and in a sense earth-shattering (if true). The 'establishment' still wants everyone to believe that food production increases through ever more sophisticated technology are necessary to 'keep up with the rising population.' I think you have done a lot to demolish this myth and to show the economic and political forces that are still trying to push it. I have 'assumed' for a long time that, contrary to the 'establishment' notions, population increase was driven by food availability - the more food available, the more the population will rise. Thus the stupidity of calling for food production increases. But you seem to be saying that this is too simplistic, and that there have historically been many cultures over large areas of the world (India and Africa) for which this has not been so. Although there are bound to be many cultural differences, how, basically, did these societies suppress their fertility? Were they just 'clever' because they knew roughly what their carrying capacity was and consciously decided to stay well within it (by having fewer offspring than they were capable of) because life was sure to be more comfortable that way? Or was there some other mechanism(s) working to keep the population in check at some optimum level well below the carrying capacity?
Or is it possible (as in the areas of N Thailand, N Burma and N Laos up until at least the second half of the 19th century) that populations in these areas simply had not reached their limits for the carrying capacity of the land? We 'know' this is true for the 'Golden Triangle' region because it was still possible to carry out semi-nomadic (periodic relocation of villages) swidden (slash and burn) cultivation up to that time. The population does seem to have been increasing, though. The land horizon (the ability to relocate villages or establish sister villages) seems to have disappeared by about the 1930s, but this is at least partly (largely?) due to pressure from lowland populations seeking new farmland in relatively mountainous areas.
Hope you have time to reply, even if briefly, to the above and look forward to your answer, and in the (near?) future to reading your book.
Sun, 2009-07-26 21:03 — Andrew McKenzie (not verified)
Just briefly reading this website I notice a heavy emphasis on "Sustainable Population" etc. I have a particually strong interest in this topic and would like to take this oppourtunity to share them with you and perhaps the wider community in the future.
Through maturing views I have established that the priorities in summary for Victoria should be a continuing strong but realistic growth for Victoria's population as a whole but for this population growth to instead be centered on the regional cities which at present are far in disparity in size to Melbourne as I am sure you well know. Government stimulus packages rather than furthering growth in a city that could easily sustain itself (but chooses to neglect in this regard) should be to instead spread this proven growth strategy (albeit more disciplined) to the regional cities who in turn could act as great service centres to their sorrounding regions, a role Melbourne cannot serve for the obvious distance reasons.
Having briefly read the history of Victoria and how it has developed over the past couple of centuries there seems to of just being a lazy and simplistic (what seems to define Australian political policy) attitude and this has resulted in taking for granted that a strong Melbourne means a strong state. Also the "lazy and simplistic" attitude has resulted in us only adopting effecient production strategies when its conveniant and necessary rather than fulfilling any realistic or emotional ambition to make Victoria a state to be proud of and for this to in turn assist Australia's development into a strong and independant country. Sporting prowess is entirely seperate and cannot count towards this. If I believed that Australia was in such a position that it was doing the best it could with what it had then I may well not be making this reply or even have much of a care for this matter, but there appears to be a desire from both sides of the fence for the under-disciplined and naive per capita consumption to continue. In this theory someone else must always be compromised so the individual can have more than their fair share.
The two sides of this debate seem to be either see Victoria continue revolving around Melbourne and letting the rest of the state fend for itself or halt any growth altogether and see us become a smaller, inferior and more sub-ordinate part of the world order rather than helping Australia make any majorly influential and/or take any positive part in such a thing.
If Australia were a person it would be a naive spoilted brat that has little to no ambition for itself and instead wants to rely on the virtues of others as a substitute for belief in itself.
Fri, 2009-07-31 00:23 — Vivienne (not verified)
Why should halting growth mean "inferior" or "sub-ordinate"?
To "halt any growth altogether and see us become a smaller, inferior and more sub-ordinate part of the world order rather than helping Australia make any majorly influential ..". You obviously believe in the "growth is good" and "bigger is better" mentality! Why should halting growth mean "inferior" or "sub-ordinate"? We could never support the population of India, Japan or China, and compete with their massive economic and industrial powers. It simply isn't sustainable. Close-knit regional communities are struggling with lack of water and drought conditions. Why would they be willing to share their limited resources any further? It might just turn out that the countries that are self-sufficient and with stable populations are the smart ones more likely to survive the erratic weather, species losses and the financial/humanitarian costs etc that will come with climate change.
Mon, 2009-07-27 03:45 — Sheila Newman
Naturally stable populations
This is a response to Tony Boys' post of July 26th on "Stable and sustainable populations"
Hi Tony,
(Readers interested in the background to this exchange should read Tony's articles on Japan and Korea in Sheila Newman, The Final Energy Crisis, Pluto Press, UK, 2008. Please let us know where we can also read that book on the Karen that your friend Ferguson wrote, Tony.)
Good to hear from you. I note that there are many visitors still to your articles on Japan. Let us have some more please!
Response to your questions:
Indeed, there is a difference between:
'these societies had stable populations because they had reached the limit of their carrying capacity for the food producing technology available to the people there at that time, thus maintaining the population at a stable maximum for the given endowments/technology, but somehow not degrading the environment so as to cause a population crash'
'These societies, because of their land-tenure systems, had stable populations AND lived well within their carrying capacities'.
The first could mean survival on the edge of limits, with degradation always a possibility in times of environmental change, for instance. The second could mean survival at optimum levels for all species concerned.
I think that the extreme richness of biodiversity, including massive energy intensive herbivores like elephants, rhinos, hippos as well as a remarkably wide range of carnivorous cats and bears, plus a huge variety of different human societies, in environments maintaining very rich soils over many centuries (India particularly) is incontrovertibly an indication that these societies, because of their land-tenure systems, had stable populations AND lived will within their carrying capacities.
There can be no doubt that India is an extremely rich country in terms of soil endowment and water. I think that Africa's endowment was more varied, with many more deserts, but still extremely rich in many places – and, of course, Africa is much bigger than India.
These qualities of soil and water richness are reflected in the traditional population carrying capacities of India and Africa, both quite high. Modern agriculture and reorganisation from the 18th Century caused population blow-outs and broke features of the natural systems and the carrying capacity of these lands is being affected downwards. For a time this was patchily masked by industrial agriculture and imports paid for through loans, but the draw-down on wells and the destruction of forests for firewood and building materials and to clear for new fields, shows that those apparent gains were transitory. When oil runs down and the prospect of an international growth economy fails, the carrying capacity of India and Africa will not return to what it was before the advent of the industrial revolution.
[Tony Boys wrote:]
"If so we need to know a lot more about these societies, and I hope you are going to do this for us in your upcoming book."
Yes, I started with neolithic times and Pacific Islander societies, then looked at the Roman and then the Germanic land-tenure and inheritance systems. At the moment I am doing a detailed examination of the French Revolution in comparison with the British revolution and restoration and changes to laws. I believe that I have identified some elements of land-tenure and inheritance which allow some societies more control over numbers and consumption than others and also favour democracy.
"This will be interesting, and in a sense earth-shattering (if true)."
The information was well-known to anthropologists before the 1970s. But it was suppressed. Every so often someone discovers it and writes about it, but the matter does not get a wide reception. I may publish my book but the chances are that only a few will read it and the people who currently run economies and populations from a distance will not be motivated to allow us all to relocalise and regain control. For instance, in Australia, the current system needs to break down and for people to build sustainable communities around it. The government needs to be treated as an irrelevance, but that will require people to start talking to each other and having a look outside instead of reading the papers and watching American sit-coms. Widespread unemployment will probably do the trick. That will remove the government's tax base and give people more time. Hopefully they will quickly learn to share what is available. As people move back with their relatives in tough times, organic patterns of social organisation, from family up through clan, may naturally reassert, no matter what governments and vestigial big business may do. Sooner rather than later, I hope because the bigger the population the smaller the scope for survival.
"The 'establishment' still wants everyone to believe that food production increases through ever more sophisticated technology are necessary to 'keep up with the rising population.'"
That's right. There is a lot of money tied up in perpetuating the mass production system and constantly increasing product. If people relocalised their politics and production they would also quickly adapt their populations to the local visible realities which are so much easier to identify for you and me on the ground than the total carrying capacity of a continent or a planet. They would not need the global economy.
Constantly increasing crop production for profit needs to perpetuate the problem of run-away population growth to justify itself. So we are constantly lied to about the inevitabilty of growth.
"I think you have done a lot to demolish this myth and to show the economic and political forces that are still trying to push it. I have 'assumed' for a long time that, contrary to the 'establishment' notions, population increase was driven by food availability - the more food available, the more the population will rise. Thus the stupidity of calling for food production increases."
It is actually very interesting. Population numbers (of mice and humans) probably ultimately respond to food availability, but not to the point where they uses up every available calory. The setting point is somewhat below total uptake of resources available over a relatively extended period in a given area. It is not true to assert that in the past and in other species, everyone is living on the edge of survival. That is really naive and ill-supported. It relies on the ahistorical normalisation of colonial and ex-colonial population overshoots. A problem arises where a population is misinformed of what is available in a situation where they do not have the means to work out the situation for themselves.
Australia is a case in point. A farmer can look at the dam level falling and the grass wearing down in his dry paddocks and immediately know that he should not increase his flock. The flock also realise this. The signs are obvious. But how does the population in North Melbourne know if they are close or far away from starvation? They get their information from the newspaper and the television. They assume that they will be told if the situation warrants alarm. They are told by people promoted as 'authorities' - church, politicians, Bernard Salt, the Pope, the Property Council of Australia, etc - that Australia needs a much bigger population, that we are rich and selfish. How would they work out that this is not true? No-one is visibly starving in their street and the media and government always have always other explanations than a stretched economy for the increasing number of homeless, buskers and thieves. There is one thing that will, however, indicate to the people of North Melbourne that supply is getting dangerously low, and that is increasing costs for necessities like water and food. A declining standard of living will reduce their reproduction.
The Growth lobby has a way of overcoming these signals though. The public can be strung along for a while with the illusion that borrowing money will take care of these rising costs and that the water crisis will be overcome with investment, technology and higher charges to make us less selfish.
And as marginalised people begin to suffer visibly, the public will be told that this is because they are lazy or have brought it upon themselves in some way.
There is no way that the growth lobby could con people to this extent if they could verify what was happening locally with their own eyes and by comparing their perceptions with other local people. Manipulation of populations requires disorientation, a complex system, and propaganda from distant sources sources of 'authority' - the high priests in banking, talk circuits, media and government etc, talking the garbage-jargon of the religion of global economics.
There is another way to stimulate population growth in a country where people are instinctively limiting it, and that is via high immigration, preferably from countries with denser populations with lesser incomes than the receiving country. The immigrant is even more disoriented and dependent on the manufactured reality of the growth merchants. They may be told, for instance, that Australians are too lazy to work, so there is plenty of work here. If Australians are unemployed it is their fault that they don't want to 'work hard'. Likewise, they may hear that Australians don't have large families because they are selfish, so the immigrant may easily be made to believe that it is quite okay to go ahead and have large families in this country. And the immigrant may hear that the water shortage will be taken care of by technology and higher prices. Well that's okay, isn't it, since there are lots of well-paid jobs etc etc. And, oh yes, they may be told that Australians are racists, so don't pay attention if they tell you that the population is growing too fast and they don't want immigrants. Australia needs immigrants and a much bigger population! So that's okay, don't listen to the locals; the government doesn't.
"But you seem to be saying that this is too simplistic, and that there have historically been many cultures over large areas of the world (India and Africa) for which this has not been so. Although there are bound to be many cultural differences, how, basically, did these societies suppress their fertility?"
I think it was a random evolutionary option. The societies that preserved certain patterns of land-tenure survived and the ones that used other patterns did not survive. Those patterns, to do with restrictions on marriage (meaning mating with view to procreating) and procreation with near relatives, seem to be present in most or all animals. Once upon a time you had to walk a very long way to find someone who either wasn't already married and wasn't closely related to you. The opportunities for marriage/having legitimate children were low. And no-one would marry you and have your children if you couldn't show that you had land to support children, because without land they would not survive. So people without land did not get married and did not have children.
At times, events, particularly climate events causing seas to rise, probably pushed distant populations together, bringing more opportunities for meeting non-relatives. Technologies evolved from necessity to serve denser populations, but people still could see the limits to the carrying capacity in their local area. Sometimes one people invaded and subjugated another and made them work as slaves and servants, with the ruling caste living a high quality of life and the lower castes living in very reduced circumstances. The ruling castes learned to preserve and aggregate land among themselves by intermarrying, but their rate of reproduction was slow due to their social organisation which ruled out marriage with anyone outside their own caste and kept their population small and sparse therefore few opportunities for marriage. (Think of how long it takes a member of a royal family to find a spouse because of the limited number of suitable royals in the world. )
Marriage or 'fertility opportunity' for the lower castes, however, could go two ways. In France, for instance, prior to the Revolution, the lower castes - the serfs - were often not allowed to marry anyone outside the manor lands they were born to. Incest avoidance and the Westermarck Effect (which makes us sexually unattractive to people we are brought up with in infancy) meant that these serfs in France had a low marriage and birth rate. In Britain, however, the serfs were dispossessed early and turned into land-less labour. These landless laborers moved all around the country and had many opportunities to have children with other landless laborers whom they had not grown up with. Furthermore they were encouraged to do so by the fact that parishes and local governments paid more to a woman with children and the man who married that woman derived benefit from this. And child labour (Queen Elizabeth made laws that forced children as young as 7 years old to be sent to work on farms) meant that children brought in an income. The British were brutalised for centuries in this way.
"Were they just 'clever' because they knew roughly what their carrying capacity was and consciously decided to stay well within it (by having fewer offspring than they were capable of) because life was sure to be more comfortable that way? Or was there some other mechanism(s) working to keep the population in check at some optimum level well below the carrying capacity?"
Yes, the mechanism, as I said above, was incest avoidance and the Westermarck effect plus the fact that their familiarity with the territory and their reliance on a local economy meant that the limits to carrying capacity were obvious. Folktales and memory of old people of what their parents and grandparents had described would have given them knowledge of variations over time.
"Or is it possible (as in the areas of N Thailand, N Burma and N Laos up until at least the second half of the 19th century) that populations in these areas simply had not reached their limits for the carrying capacity of the land?"
I don't think that a population that has self government and local control over its economy and is not subjugated by an enslaving caste gets out of control. The only reason that it would is if it starts very small in conditions of isolation. Then, if the population does not override incest avoidance and the Westermarck Effect, it will die out. But if it does override these built in brakes on multiplication, it will theoretically multiply to infinite numbers. Another cause would be a sudden change for the better in the productivity of the environment, causing an influx of immigrants and more opportunities for marriage, followed by an exhaustion of the windfall resource, leaving a larger population suddenly overwhelming the available resources - as with discoveries of minerals or changes in sea-level increasing or decreasing land-supply.
"We 'know' this is true for the 'Golden Triangle' region because it was still possible to carry out semi-nomadic (periodic relocation of villages) swidden (slash and burn) cultivation up to that time. The population does seem to have been increasing, though. The land horizon (the ability to relocate villages or establish sister villages) seems to have disappeared by about the 1930s, but this is at least partly (largely?) due to pressure from lowland populations seeking new farmland in relatively mountainous areas."
Ah yes, but I have, of course, read your anthropological notes and we know that the land-tenure arrangements and inheritance conditions have changed. :-) Once the women controlled the land and married late. They were not obliged to find a husband to keep them and they had other roles besides the role of mother and wife to occupy them. I think that land was not bought and sold, so it remained in the hands of the same families. Money was not necessary, even though the Karen you describe had a complex society with beautiful art and clothing and their own writing - does my memory serve me in this last detail? It was the usual traditional thing of having to go a long way to find people not related to you to marry and you needed to have land in order to marry. Furthermore you would marry within the Karen culture, which had a limited number of members. You didn't consider the neighboring tribe that spoke a different language and wore strange rings around its neck, and it didn't consider the Karen suitable either, marrying within its own people. Oh, there was always a certain amount of immigration, but it required the consent of the receiving community which might be granted if for some reason there was a greater lack than usual of marriage opportunities within the tribe.
But, in the situation you are talking about, with the encroachment of the industrial economy of mass production, land speculation and travel for education and work brought more and more people in contact. People were pushed off their land by the military who claimed to be able to manage it more efficiently. The military were often preceded by the church, which had the job of softening up the traditions by giving people new expectations and making them unhappy with themselves and dissatisfied with their lifestyle. The rules about needing land before you married were relaxed. Married couples cohabited where perhaps they did not before, (this was a factor in the population explosion of Pacific Islanders after the missionaries interfered) and you only needed a wage to marry, and maybe a credit card. Phut! Along with the land and the old communities the social organisation was lost. And the knowledge of contraception.
The same thing happens to kangaroos and mice when they are disorganised.
"Hope you have time to reply, even if briefly, to the above and look forward to your answer, and in the (near?) future to reading your book."
Thanks. Obviously I've left a lot out - like all my sources. I have to publish first.
Hope you may answer by talking more about the Karen, maybe quoting that book about them and from your chapter on the Edo period of Japan and the Industrialisation of Japan, and also from your chapter on how the Koreans starved when the could no longer afford to purchase enough oil on the world market.
How are things with the Karen at the moment? Last time I heard from you things were going terribly badly. I have come to feel deeply for those people.
Sheila Newman, population sociologist
Wed, 2009-07-29 09:31 — Tony Boys
Conditions for stable populations
Thank you very much for your long and interesting reply. I think you have many of the elements that could help to stabilize the global population. Unfortunately, the established elites are running hell-for-leather in the opposite direction. I may reply again at some point, but for the time being I need to take time to assimilate your comments and then see if we can develop this discussion in some way (also hoping that others will take part too).
As for my stuff on Japan and Korea, as well as the chapters in The Final Energy Crisis, Pluto Press, UK, 2008, please visit:
http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~aslan/
for a menu of past papers and so on. For Japan, with food self-sufficiency at 40%, a sudden food/energy crisis would be a nightmare of horrific proportions. If world transportation of food breaks down, almost 100% of the Japanese people will 'be hungry' and 1/3 to 1/2 of the population will be in danger of starvation. The government seems to think that an average of 2020 kcal/cap/day can be provided domestically (that will keep you alive, but not 'happy'), but internal distribution is likely to be as bad as global distribution, so despite the people who tell me 'Japan isn't North Korea' I still think that what is happening in that country is a big warning sign for the Japanese. Personally, I think the conditions for avoiding this kind of disaster are the five I set out in my comment on "Surely these are the "inconvenient truths", livestock industries and population blow-out!" (#1408).
For material on the Karen, please visit:
http://tonbo80.spaces.live.com/
where you will find the novel by Francis Ferguson that you mention, a book translated from Thai (but written by a Karen) on Karen rotational swidden farming, as well as two photo albums to back these up.
The Karen in N Thailand are just about hanging on and their own efforts to keep their culture alive are growing. Things are not wonderful, but there is a little glimmer of optimism. The government is not, of course, about to allow them to return to traditional lifeways, which would include rehabilitation of their rotational swidden farming.
You mention writing. In fact they did not have an extensively used writing system until the US missionaries found them in eastern Burma and adopted the Burmese alphabet in order to translate the bible into Karen ('Skaw' Karen). Most Karens now use this writing system, but the Roman Catholics in N Thailand have a system that uses the Roman (English) alphabet. It is actually quite good and they published a very useful dictionary two years ago.
Thu, 2009-07-30 22:51 — Brian McG (not verified)
Overpopulation in Pacific dictates extinction pandemic
I read an interesting article in the UK Guardian newspaper yesterday (29 July, p15) about the Death of the southern hemisphere and how the Pacific region may become the extinction hotspot of the world. A report just published in the journal Conservation Biology highlights six causes driving species extinction - almost all linked to human activity and a burgeoning human population in the region. It says the population of Australia will likely rise by 30% by 2050 (I though the projection was 100% from 23m to 46m?). New Zealand's pop would rise by 25%, while New Guinea faces a 76% increase and New Caledonia 49%. Just think of all the pressure of many more islanders wanting to move to Australia and NZ. The report says the populations of many Pacific Islands have now outstripped their capacity to deal with waste. Richard Saunders, an environmental scientist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney is the lead author of the report.
I hope it is making a strong splash in Australian and NZ media?
Brian (MCGavin)
Thu, 2009-07-30 23:56 — Tigerquoll
Society for Conservation Biology - details please!
Thanks Gavin for providing this predictive finding and for importantly bringing us awareness of the authors of the 'Conservation Biology' journal.
The SCB, which I have just learnt is:
1017 O Street NW
Washington, DC 20001-4229 US
voice: 1-202-234-4133
information@conbio.org
However, in order to access your reference article, the SCB website requires up front membership and annual membership costs $125. The SCB's report that population rises in the Pacific are set to rise substantially prompts one to ask..WHY? It sounds quite feasible that six causes driving species extinction would be linked to human activity and a burgeoning human population in the region. But it would be helpful to obtain more details on this finding.
Meanwhile, I found out at http://www.conbio.org/ that,
"The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is an international (US)professional organization dedicated to promoting the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. The Society's membership comprises a wide range of people interested in the conservation and study of biological diversity: resource managers, educators, government and private conservation workers, and students make up the more than 10,000 members world-wide
What is the mission of the Society?
"To advance the science and practice of conserving the Earth's biological diversity."
What is the SCB Vision?
"Our vision for the future takes a global perspective both in how we want the world to be and how we, as a Society want to be." In these visions we see:
* A world where people understand, value, and conserve the diversity of life on Earth.
* SCB as an effective, internationally respected organization of conservation professionals that is the leading voice for the study and conservation of the Earth's biodiversity."
A website for reform in democracy, environment, population, land use planning and energy policy
Copyright may differ amongst site authors. Please check copyright notices of individual authors.
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Florida police officer fired after arresting 6-year-old children
Robert Wilson | The BL 09/25/19, 09:25
The Orlando police officer who arrested two 6-year-old students at school on suspicion of misdemeanor battery charges last week has been fired.
Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolón said Monday that the incident made him "sick to [his] stomach," especially when he found out the children had been put in the back of a squad car.
"When I first learned about this, we were all appalled and we could not fathom the idea of a 6-year-old being put in the back of a police car," Rolón said at a news conference. "It's still shocking to us. … To have something like this happen was completely and totally a surprise to all of us."
Department officials immediately suspended Turner and launched an investigation. Rolón explained that there's a policy that "strictly prohibits" officers from arresting children under the age of 12. The police previously said that one of the children was 8 years old, but on Monday the chief corrected that mistake and said they are both 6.
Meralyn Kirkland rushed to the Juvenile Assessment Center when she found out her granddaughter had been arrested for battery.
"I asked them for her, and they told me she was currently in the process of being fingerprinted. And I think when they said fingerprinted is when it hit home to me. And I'm like, 'Fingerprinted?' And they said, Yes,' and they escorted me into an office and on the desk in that office were two mugshot pictures of my 6-year-old granddaughter," said Kirkland.
Chief Orlando Rolón said one of his top priorities is "the trust between the community and our officers and because of this incident that trust has been put in question."
"On behalf of the entire Orlando Police Department, I apologize to the children involved and their families," he said in a statement.
"As a grandfather, I can understand how traumatic this was for everyone involved."
Rolón also said he issued a notice last week to remind officers that any juvenile arrests must be approved by a manager beforehand.
Tags:6-year-old arrested Categories: U.S. Florida
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Crafthouse is a clean, minimal e-commerce child theme, built to harness the customization power of Layers. It offers modern visual appeal and simplicity, with the addition of Layers building widgets for even more layout control.
Below are links to helpful articles to get you going with this child theme. The setup order is important to ensure the content you need is present prior to diving into presets and page building.
This theme's demo uses the StoreKit extension for the menu cart and product widgets on the Shop pages, which require WooCommerce to be installed and configured first.
WooCommerce defines a set of templates for displaying your products, including how the image, price, additional info and so on are arranged. Layers simply provides simple styling to help these layouts conform to the Layers theme and framework for a more unified look. WooCommerce is required for StoreKit compatibility and shop functionality.
From your WordPress admin, go to PLUGINS → ADD NEW and search for WooCommerce and install and activate it.( It is listed as WooCommerce – excelling eCommerce with a purple hedgehog graphic).
Upon Activation you will be taken through the WooCommerce Onboarding wizard. We recommend you do this now.
If prompted to install WooCommerce pages, do so.
StoreKit is a Layers extension, that adds additional functionality to Layers such as shop and product customization, product widgets for your builder pages and a header cart.
View the StoreKit User Guide for detailed setup and usage instructions.
Your theme can be used without any WordPress plugins, but is greatly enhanced both by extensions packaged with the theme, and a few select free plugins we use on the theme demo. The following steps are recommended if you do not have existing plugins to fill these roles or are setting up a new site.
Optional: On the Add New Plugin screen, search for Contact Form 7 and install and activate it. This is the most popular contact form plugin, used on the Contact page, and is easy to configure.
Click the BROWSE button inside the center white box (Choose File on some browsers)and navigate to the location of your layers-concept-living-theme zip file.
You will be directed to the Getting Started screen.
Wait before installing any page presets! You must install and configure plugins and demo content first to ensure products load! Proceed with the next section to setup your shop.
Themeforest Users: Getting a stylesheet not found error? Make sure you unzip the themeforest download package first to find all of the install zips and supporting files!
Layers themes use Presets instead of traditional demo content that you load via an XML, but we do provide this file if you do not have any existing Product content and want to rapidly setup Presets. You can find this file inside the Themeforest zip package.
The XML will not setup widgets, customizer settings or plugins, it will only auto-load posts, products and images.
Some presets use the StoreKit Product widgets, which grab products by ID. The widget content may appear blank if you do not use our demo file. You may need to configure the widgets with your own product post content, as IDs are unique to each WordPress install.
WooCommerce also offers some starter product content to populate your store and give you an idea of how products are put together. See the Importing WooCommerce Content for details and how to load it into WordPress.
Finally, time for the fun part!
If you leave the Header Cart enabled in StoreKit, you will see a little cart button to the right of the Header Menu that displays the total. When clicked, this will expand a drop-down containing the current shopping cart and totals on desktop screens. We recommend also placing the Cart widget in the mobile sidebar so the cart can be easily accessed on mobile screens.
Custom Menu Widget – Your top bar is not visible on mobiles. Select the Top menu here or create a new one that combines your top and footer links into one utility menu.
Our demo uses a basic Site Title and Tagline with "Display Header Text" checked and no image logo.
Header – Assign to the Header Menu location. We recommend adding your Shop and Blog pages, plus Product Categories to this menu. Drop-downs are supported.
Top – Assign to the Top-Right location. We recommend adding the My Account and Checkout pages to this menu. This menu is intended to be utility, no drop-downs are supported.
Footer – Assign to the Footer location. We recommend adding the Shipping & Returns or other policy pages here, plus your Contact and About pages if you have them.
If you have installed Layers Pro, you can add social link icons and your profile URLs by using the Custom Link option in the Appearance/ Menu builder.
Create a new menu called "Social" and assign to the Top-Left location.
Our demo uses the Logo Center Top layout without Sticky enabled.
How you configure WooCommerce, and which WooCommerce extensions you use, can affect how your catalog and single products look in Layers, requiring specific settings and in some cases, additional custom styling to fit the overall design of your site. Below are some basic settings we recommend for WooCommerce to work best with your Layers setup.
These settings in the customizer allow you to choose whether to show or hide the Shop Sidebar on your catalog and product pages.
Browse to your shop or product page in the preview panel.
Click EDIT LAYOUT and expand the SHOP SIDEBAR to add WooCommerce or standard sidebar widgets. Do not put Layers Builder widgets in this sidebar.
Depending on the sidebar layout, you will notice the size of your images in the product column changes. The maximum width and the crop of these images is determined by your WooCommerce Product Image settings.
We recommend using a uniform image size for all of your original product images and leave the hard crop unchecked in your WooCommerce Product settings, especially for clothing shops. The subject should be centered and have some space around the edges of the photo to ensure it is not cut off by the crop or resizing.
Your originals must always be at least as wide as your single product image width setting.
Crafthouse and StoreKit are premium products with dedicated support offered through Layers Messenger. To enable the messenger, go to Layers > Dashboard and check the box on the far right in the Messenger panel. For general Layers questions, including any customization or CSS help should be directed to our Community forums.
Want full color customization, accordions, call to action bars and blog options? Check out Layers Pro!


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Confusion, fear over Indonesia maid ban
Top News | Mary Ann Benitez 19 May 2016
Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong are confused and fear for their jobs after it was reported that President Joko Widodo ordered a stop to maids going abroad starting at the end of the month.A complete ban will then take effect from next year.However, Singapore's Straits Times said the country will only stop sending live-in helpers.Soes Hindharno, director of placement and protection of ov...
Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong are confused and fear for their jobs after it was reported that President Joko Widodo ordered a stop to maids going abroad starting at the end of the month.
A complete ban will then take effect from next year.
However, Singapore's Straits Times said the country will only stop sending live-in helpers.
Soes Hindharno, director of placement and protection of overseas workers under the Ministry of Manpower, told the newspaper they will send "better quality workers certified in Indonesia and trained to excel in specific skills."
He added: "We want better protection for our workers."
Soes said the target is for all Indonesian workers abroad to be "true professionals" who work in companies from 2018.
The cut-off of the maid supply will first be made in the Middle East, followed by Asia-Pacific, including Hong Kong.
Eni Lestari, coordinator for the Network for Indonesian Migrant Workers, told The Standard government officials recently laid out the new requirements for helpers going abroad.
They should be at least 23 years old, have attended secondary school, have training certificates of skills, and have gone through recruitment agencies.
"The truth is they are not banning helpers going abroad," she said.
The recruitment agencies will be the helper's employers, who will put them up in boarding houses to work as cleaners in hotels and homes, Lestari said.
"The government is indirectly putting migrant workers in a more vulnerable situation especially those already abroad," she said.
She said many Indonesians in Hong Kong "fear they will lose their jobs" as about 30 percent of them had only primary education.
She said helpers here have been paying for courses to gain training certificates and attending Sunday classes at the Indonesian consulate to upgrade their school qualifications, but these are not cheap.
Angela Yip Wai-kuen, spokeswoman of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, said the SAR government is unlikely to relax its live-in policy.
There are about 300,000 foreign helpers in Hong Kong, half of whom are from Indonesia.


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11 Trends Shaping the Future of Shopping
Whether digital or physical, shopping itself is being disrupted, and it's all about creating a completely seamless experience. Here are 11 trends shaping the future of shopping.
By Soren Kaplan, Founder, Praxie@sorenkaplan
Imagine sitting down to watch TV and you see a shirt on your favorite actor and think, "I want that shirt for myself!" Good news. You click a button and it's instantly 3-D printed at your home. You buy the shirt and receive it within minutes. Feels like magic.
While this type of instant 3-D printing is a ways out, Walmart's Vudu streaming video service just announced you can instantly buy products you see on its interactive shows. It's a great example of "seamless shopping," where the customer experience and marketing converge into one; where any type of friction is eliminated in the purchasing process and instead it's merged with value-added content or buyer experiences that reinforce the brand and drive loyalty.
This article is part of my Everything Transformed series and highlights the technology and business model disruption occurring across industries.
Weak Signals Become Major Disrupters
I was recently asked by a client based in Finland to help them understand the future of shopping. When I do a research project like this, I look for the "weak signals" of today that will become the disrupters of tomorrow. The full report is freely available for download, but I've summarized the key points and findings in this article. What I found surprised me:
Shopping is going away, and at the same time, it's going to be everywhere.
The Three C's of Seamless Shopping
Fifteen years ago, consumers went through about two touch points when buying a product. Today, it's six touch points, on average. The counterintuitive increase in the number of interactions it takes to make a decision and purchase a product speaks brilliantly to the need for a more integrated shopping experience.
Three C's underlie the future of seamless shopping:
Context -- The setting, environment, or event in which the customer participates
Content -- Data and information that support the product, provide personalization, and drive the business model
Commerce -- A transaction involving the exchange of value, usually financial
The holy grail of the seamless shopping experience is the complete blending of context, content, and commerce into one unconscious experience. The integration of these attributes makes purchasing products and services a natural and essentially invisible part of the overall customer experience itself.
Some big companies are starting to get it. The fast-fashion giant Zara, for example, recently introduced an augmented reality app to help customers see what new clothes look like on without trying them on, a self-service checkout, and click-and-collect options on Zara's website. Other companies, including P&G, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, and Danone have all banded together in an initiative called Loop to produce a line of reusable and refillable products sold within an overarching subscription service -- and that literally closes the loop in the customer journey by creating a continuous experience of purchase, use, return, and delivery of a refill.
11 Trends Shaping the Future of Seamless Shopping
The research report highlights 11 trends that promise to make seamless shopping a future reality, all of which advance the seamless integration of context, content, and commerce into the overall customer journey:
Location awareness
Mobile-local retailing
Try (virtually) before you buy
Voice everywhere
"Me-tail" and hyper-personalization
Subscription business models
Real-time proactive intelligence
Refilling, reusing, and recycling
Seamless payments and transactions
Flexible ordering and pickups
Automated "delivery drivers"
The traditional customer journey is still relevant, but it will change. Consumers will continue to move through the steps of awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy, but the order of those steps and the importance of each will depend entirely on the context, content, and type of commerce-based experience in which they're engaged.
More and More Startups Sell Seamlessness
A cadre of startups are envisioning and building the future infrastructure to drive seamless shopping as a standard across industries. Taken together, they might turn Amazon into just another online store by giving everyone else incredible new capabilities that help merge context, content, and commerce in new ways:
Afterpay: Afterpay provides small loans to consumers through a mobile app, creating a seamless and straightforward process for consumers to buy products.
Allure Systems: Allure Systems creates augmented reality models of fashion and clothing products that customers can view by scanning a QR code or going online.
Carbon: Carbon is reinventing the way physical polymeric products are designed, engineered, manufactured, and delivered and is shaping the future of 3-D printing.
Clinch: Clinch produces personalized, programmatic advertising based on user data and demographics.
DeepMagic: Powered by A.I., DeepMagic has developed a fully automated way to help merchants run employee-less stores through cameras that monitor inventory and automatically charge customers for any product they take from the shelf and don't put back.
Flexetail: Flexetail is an on-demand mobile retail store that allows brands to build small-format retail solutions affordably.
Flirtey: Flirtey is developing the world's first drone delivery startup. Flirtey aims to make individual deliveries faster and safer by using drone technology.
Radius8: Radius8 helps retailers develop customized websites tailored to their specific location.
As in most things, technology will continue to play an important role as an enabler of innovation. But it's also important to remember that the future of seamless shopping is less about technology and more about removing roadblocks to great -- truly seamless -- customer experiences that tap into trends that help merge context, content, and commerce. That's the future of shopping no matter what you're selling.


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Konadu Rawlings Banned From Central Region
The founder and leader of the 31st December Movement, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has been asked not to set foot in the Central Region as part of her intention of thanking those who voted for her in the NDC congress to elect a flag-bearer. According to 14 out of 19 organizers of 31st December Women�s Movement in the region, Nana Kanadu, through her tour, had been inciting the youth against the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which they claimed was not healthy and bred indiscipline among the youths. �What did the youth benefit from her when she and her husband were ruling the country?� they asked. The organizers made the statements in a release issued to some selected media houses in Cape Coast on Monday to express their displeasure about the behavior of Nana Konadu. According to the organizers, they did not need any thanks from her since they were aware of the insults she kept on hauling on Fantes, adding that they were fed up with her insults and would not compromise any longer. The organizers bemoaned the situation where Nana Konadu was still maintaining her Friends of Nana Agyeman Konadu Rawlings (FONKAR) and other groups after the congress, creating disunity in the party. They disclosed that after congress in 2000, Nana Konadu called for the disbanding of all splinter groups like the Veranda Boys and Girls, Friends of Atta Mills among other, wondering why she could not adhere to the party leadership�s ban on splinter groups. �Our concern is the message she is giving to her followers and the general public such as Ghana is a very very, expensive country to live in Africa, things are getting very expensive in the country under the Mills administration among others, �they said. The organizers wondered which party Nana Konadu was representing that she had appointed one Derick as her campaign manager.They alleged that although Nana Konadu was preaching unity, her actions would breed disunity in the party if she was not checked. The organization revealed that the utterances of Nana Konadu would not only damage President Atta Mills but the country at large.


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Lenovo expands Mirage AR roster with Marvel Dimension of Heroes
Assemble!
by Chris Kerr
Follow @@kerrblimey
05 September 2019 / 19:30BST
If you've ever dreamed about joining The Avengers (which, let's face it, of course you have) you'll want to check out Marvel Dimension of Heroes, a new augmented reality experience from the boffins over at Lenovo and Marvel. Available exclusively on the Lenovo Mirage AR headset ($249.99), the game tasks you with saving the world from the forces of evil as Black Panther, Thor, Captain Marvel, Starlord, Dr Strange, and Captain America. To do that, you'll need to quite literally step into the shoes of each hero by donning the smartphone-powered Mirage AR headset and wielding the new dual Universal Controllers so you can punch, slice, blast, and quip your way through supercharged skirmishes and push back the forced of darkness. Dimension of Heroes features an original story mode, a wave-based survival mode, and a co-op mode that lets players battle as heroes side-by-side. Best of all, the game will be free to download and play as long as you own a Mirage AR headset, which sounds exactly like the kind of philanthropy the late, great Tony Stark would've enjoyed.
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15 Behaviors We Don't Always Recognize Are Self-Harm
Juliette V.
If you struggle with self-harm or an eating disorder, the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting "START" or "NEDA" to 741741. For a list of ways to cope with self-harm urges, visit this resource.
Article updated on February 17, 2020
Self-harm or non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is officially defined as causing intentional damage to tissue on your body. When people talk about "self-harm," they're usually referring to self-mutilation behaviors like cutting. But cutting is not the only way people self-harm — in fact, sometimes self-harm doesn't "look" like self-harm at all.
Mighty contributor Catherine Renton wrote eloquently about this in her piece, "The Behavior I Didn't Realize Was Actually Self-Harm." Renton realized the casual sex she engaged in was actually a way she had been harming herself. She wrote,
Self-harm isn't always about causing physical pain. It's continually tugging at that thread that will cause you to unravel. Sadly, what can start as fairly innocuous behavior can lead to more serious harm and even attempts at suicide.
Self-harm doesn't always manifest physically, and self-destructive behavior can crop up in areas of our lives we may not be aware of.
Maybe you put everyone else's needs above your own to the point of burnout so frequently, it's a way you are hurting yourself with or without realizing it. Maybe you tend to push people away, and in sabotaging your relationships, you are actually subconsciously self-sabotaging. Or maybe you use outwardly "healthy" behaviors like exercise to extreme excess and end up hurting yourself.
We wanted to know what behaviors people engaged in that they realized were actually self-harm, so we turned to our Mighty community to share their experiences. You can read what they shared with us below.
It's important to remember not all of the behaviors listed are automatically self-harm. For example, avoiding going to the doctor may be the result of a struggle with anxiety, not self-harm. Often what makes a behavior self-destructive is the harmful thought process behind the behavior.
Here's what our community shared with us:
1. Overspending
Overspending can be simply defined as living beyond your financial means. If you overspend, there is no shame in struggling. Whether you struggle with depression and spending money feels like it "fills" the emptiness, or maybe borderline personality disorder (BPD) or bipolar disorder affect your impulse control, overspending is a common struggle. This kind of behavior can be self-sabotaging and destructive, so if you need help, please reach out to Crisis Text Line by texting "START" to 741741.
"Spending money. I don't mean to. Actually when I'm not depressed I'm very frugal. But when my depression kicks in, I always buy things. A lot of it has do with self-image too. I think if I have nice things, I will feel better about myself. Then there is that part of me that just wants to fill that void. This is so harmful because erratic spending makes me feel worse when I realize I 'wasted' money. Then I descend into the cycle all over again." — Philomena R.
"Buying things I really don't need to fill a void. When I'm buying, I'm happy that moment, but when I run out of money or look at the things I brought that I really don't need, I feel bad." — Alicia A.
10 Tips for Handling Impulsive Behavior
Why My Short-Term Solution to Depression Means I Struggle With Money
The Unexpected Habit My Therapist Connected to My Borderline Personality Disorder
2. Isolating Yourself
Isolation is a common experience for those living with mental illness. Though isolation isn't always a self-harm behavior, pay attention to your motivations for isolating yourself when you feel those feelings come up, and try to challenge yourself to reach out to a loved one. If you don't feel like you have supportive people in your life, you can always reach out on The Mighty, by posting a Thought or Question with the hashtag, #CheckInWithMe.
"Actively isolating. I stay home all the time, even when I know it would be good for me to get out and do something. My health issues make me feel like nobody would want to accommodate me if I wanted to go somewhere, so all I ever do is grocery shopping and go home. I'm alone or with my kids all the time." — Suzy J.
18 Texts to Send a Friend Who's Isolating Themselves
The Isolation Cycle of Depression and Anxiety
When Anxiety Tells You Isolation Is the Answer
3. Having More Casual Sex Than Usual
Though hypersexuality is something people (particularly with bipolar disorder) can experience, turning to casual sex more than you usually do may be a sign that it's time to reach out for help. It's important to note that not all instances of casual sex are inherently self-destructive — but they can be, so keep checking in with yourself and investigate the reasons behind your actions. If you are struggling and need support right now, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
"Convincing myself that my hypersexuality is actually just me being in control of my own body and embracing who I am when sometimes it's a negative coping skill and it leaves me empty and lonely and feeling unfulfilled." — Clarice S.
"I will trade access to my body for someone to just hold me for a few minutes. If/when he hurts me, it's because I believe I deserve it. " — Missa D.
The Behavior I Didn't Realize Was Actually Self-Harm
The Symptom of Bipolar Disorder We Don't Talk About
4. Putting Everyone Else's Needs Before Your Own
If you struggle with "pouring yourself out" for others to the point of exhaustion consistently, you might relate to the "self-harm" component of helping others at your own expense. This particular form of "self-harm" is so tricky because it looks like "altruistic" or "high-functioning" behavior on the outside. And while someone who perpetually puts others' needs above their own might truly be an altruistic person, it could also be a self-destructive behavior.
In these cases, learning to establish proper boundaries to protect your mental health is important. As Annie Wright, a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), told The Mighty, "There are very few other subjects that I think are as important as knowing what your boundaries are, knowing how to assert your boundaries and taking care of yourself."
"One destructive behavior people don't think of as self-harm is putting others needs before your own. An example is friends who want to talk late at night. Even though I need to sleep for work, school and kids in the morning, I will continue to talk to them, because I don't want them to feel alone. Or I'll have bills of my own to pay, but my friend's water is getting shut off, so I give them my own bill money to pay their bills, and I'm left scrambling to get money." — Esther P.
What It's Like to Care Deeply for Everything Except Yourself
How to Have Boundaries With Someone Who Doesn't Respect Your Boundaries
10 Ways You Can Be Kinder to Yourself With Self-Care
5. Eating Too Much or Too Little
Folks who struggle with eating disorders often struggle with self-harm behaviors as well. Though not all people who self-harm using food automatically have an eating disorder, it's important to reach out to a medical professional if you you are preoccupied about food, or it is affecting your daily functioning.
"People with eating disorders tend to take out their feelings on themselves," Meg Burton from the eating disorders advocacy group Project Heal said. "Self-mutilation is really similar to eating disorders in the sense that it is an act of extreme self-hatred."
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating, please reach out to the NEDA Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.
"I binge eat. I lose all mindfulness of what I'm eating and will continue to eat until I can't any longer. Then, I begin self-loathing and hating myself for what I've done." — Rebecca B.
12 Hidden 'Signs' of Binge Eating Disorder
I'm 'Nostalgic' for the 'High' My Eating Disorder Gave Me
6. Allowing Toxic People Into Your Life
We all struggle with making poor decisions in terms of our relationships from time to time. But if allowing toxic or abusive people into your life is a pattern, or you're plagued with thoughts like, "I deserve this kind of treatment," it might be indicative of a self-destructive behavior. If you or a loved one is affected by domestic violence or emotional abuse and need help, call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233
"I will allow toxic people back into my life constantly because I feel as though I deserve the way they treat me. I have this notion that I am evil and deserve punishment so I do that by letting toxic people stay in my life." — Caitie A.
11 'Harmless' Comments Partners Say That Can Be Emotionally Abusive
21 'Signs' of an Abusive Parent We Can't Keep Overlooking
7. Putting Yourself in Risky Situations
If you find yourself struggling with the desire to put yourself in "risky" situations at the expense of your well-being or life, please reach out for help. You're not alone and your life is worth living. You can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting "START" to 741-741.
"Generally risky behavior, such as going out by myself during the night in a bad neighborhood, and placing myself in a position where I feel anxious." — Chloe L.
17 'Impulsive' Things People Don't Realize You're Doing Because of Borderline Personality Disorder
What I Want Someone Struggling With Self-Harm to Know
8. Watching Things to Make Yourself Feel Worse on Purpose
It's natural for people to match what they watch or listen to to how they are feeling — listening to sad music when you're sad is a thing for a reason! But if you find that you are using the media you consume as a tool for making yourself feel worse on purpose, we encourage you to change your surroundings and reach out for help if you need it. Check out the resources below for other viewing alternatives.
"Watching emotionally draining TV shows or movies. I'll intentionally search Google for movies that are depressing or about suicide to make me feel worse than I am already." — Hannah D.
25 Go-To Movies to Watch When You're Depressed
10 Movies About Mental Illness and What They Taught Me
20 Relatable Movies for People Who Live With Anxiety
9. Scratching
According to The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) like scratching, compulsive skin picking or hair pulling are rarely engaged in to intentionally produce pain or obtain relief from a negative emotional state — as in most cases of self-harm. Though rare, some folks may indeed turn to these behaviors with the intention of self-harming. If you struggle with this particular kind of self-harm, you're not alone. For a list of ways to cope with self-harm urges, visit this resource.
"I scratch and scratch and scratch. I will scratch my arms raw or I'll pull my hair. I told my counselor this once and he dismissed it and said that self-harm is only when you draw blood." — Alysha P.
23 Things to Do If You're Fighting Self-Harm Urges Right Now
My 12 Go-To Distractions When I'm Fighting the Urge to Self-Harm
10. Avoiding Going to the Doctor
Avoidance can be a common symptom of anxiety, but if you find that you don't think you're worthy of taking care of and avoid the doctor as a result, it is probably a good indicator to reach out to a trusted loved one and/or mental health professional. If you are in crisis right now, contact your primary care doctor or the Crisis Text Line by texting "START" to 741-741.
"Continually avoiding the doctors when I've seriously injured myself and could do more damage. Honestly, I've had bad experiences at the doctors and try to avoid it as much as possible." — Candace C.
"Not doing anything. Giving up. Canceling appointments, not bathing or cleaning, skipping meds because it all seems so pointless. And doing it all in isolation to avoid being a burden." — Autumn S.
My Anxiety Made Me Avoid a Lump on My Jawline for 15 Years
2 Things Doctors Shouldn't Say to People Who Self-Harm
11. Sabotaging Important Relationships
Though relational difficulty is a classic symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD), it can affect anyone — regardless of mental illness. When you're struggling with feelings of wanting to self-harm or self-sabotage, it's important to reach out to a trusted professional, loved one or The Mighty community. Check in with people who "get it" by posting a Thought or Question on The Mighty.
"I hurt the people I love. I destroy my relationships and my life because I don't think I deserve anything good. So I just ruin everything." — Angela W.
"My destructive behavior is pushing people away with my erratic and emotional outbursts. I feel strong feelings, sometime justified and sometimes not. I become triggered and I lash out. I've lost friendships and relationships over it. I've quit jobs because of it. It's my own 'self-harm.'" — Mande M.
"Telling my friends to leave me. I recently realized I do this. I will say 'crazy' things in order to push them away. They haven't left me yet, but I do feel as though our relationship has changed." — Kat W.
Why I Self-Sabotage as Someone With Borderline Personality Disorder
When Anxiety Makes You Hurt People to Push Them Away
12. Excessive Use of Alcohol or Drugs
Turning to substances is a common "numbing" strategy when coping with intense emotions. Whether you are using substances as a form of self-harm intentionally or not, using alcohol or drugs can cause significant bodily harm. If you or a loved one is affected by addiction and need help, you can call SAMHSA's hotline at 1-800-662-4357.
"For me it's excessive drinking of alcohol. I drink more heavily when I am worse in my depression, because the alcohol gives me a temporary mood improvement and makes it easier to keep my mask of happiness on around those who care about me." — Liv W.
"I think one of the things I do is self-medicate. Whether it is pot or alcohol. I don't really see it as self-harm at the time — that is until a few days later when I crash into another depressive episode and realize what I have done." — Bethany M.
Why I Won't Treat My Addictions as Personal Failures
Words of Wisdom I Found New Meaning In While Recovering From Addiction
13. Eating or Drinking Things You Are Allergic to
Ingesting substances you are allergic/have an intolerance to can be very dangerous. If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please call the crisis hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text "START" to 741741.
"Drinking milk although I'm not supposed to because I'll get extremely sick." — Shyian G.
How to Self-Heal Instead of Self-Harm
The Unexpected Way I Manage My Self-Harm Urges
14. Punishing Yourself by Not Dressing for the Weather
Though a seemingly mild form of "self-harm," purposely subjecting yourself to discomfort due to weather should be taken seriously. Please reach out to a trusted mental health professional or check in with people who "get it" by posting a Thought or Question on The Mighty.
"Sometimes, in the cold, I would force myself to keep from putting on extra layers to keep warm for a time. Telling myself to just give in to the cold. I used it as a punishment. It didn't hurt, but I really don't enjoy being cold. Not 'winter cold,' anyways. Or, when it's hot, I don't take off my extra layers. I feel closed in when I'm really hot. I get claustrophobic in lots of situations, especially with heat, so I use my discomforts as a punishment for myself since I can't allow myself to harm myself in the same ways I used to. Same idea, just different weather. And at the end of the day, it still isn't good enough… I'm working on resisting those things, and trying to practice self-care. And sometimes the most I can do is brush my hair and wash my face, but it's still something." — Camryn D.
For Those Who Wonder Why I Self-Harm
15. Over-Exercising
Compulsive exercise is not an official diagnosis, but is present in some who struggle with eating disorders or disordered eating. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), compulsive exercise is defined by activity that significantly interferes with one's life and occurs at inappropriate times or in inappropriate settings. An individual struggling with overexercising may also continue exercise despite injuries or medical complications. If you or someone you know is using exercise as a means of self-harm, please reach out to the NEDA Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.
"Overtraining in the gym. People think because you're active… that you're actually doing well." — Candy J.
"Over-exercising. People tend to think of it as a healthy coping skill, but I abuse it — resulting in overuse injuries and dangerous energy imbalance." — Nika B.
Building My Relationship With Working Out While in Eating Disorder Recovery
A Letter to My Eating Disorder: You Will Not Win
According to Stephen Lewis, P.h.D., cofounder of the nonprofit Self-Injury Outreach & Support (SiOS), it takes time to find a coping mechanism that works well for you — especially because these coping tools are not "one size fits all." He told The Mighty,
It's also important, I think, to know that you can't just sort of sub in one behavior, and then take out another behavior — in this case, taking out the self-injury. Because part of it is finding what works for that person and different things will work differently for different people. Some people can express their emotions and obtain relief by, you know, engaging us into the artistic or creative activity for other people. Maybe it's exercise for other people, maybe it's talking to someone.
If you're struggling with self-harm or self-destructive behavior, you're not alone. Recovery from self-harming behaviors takes time, so whether you push people away, or struggle with disordered eating behaviors, or engage in "classic" self-harm behavior like cutting — be patient with yourself as you heal.
To learn more and get support, check out The Mighty's Guide to Understanding Self-Harm, with info specifically for young people, adults and parents, plus additional self-harm resources.
If you or someone you know needs help, visit our suicide prevention resources.
If you struggle with self-harm and you need support right now, call the crisis hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text "START" to 741741. For a list of ways to cope with self-harm urges, visit this resource. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.
Header Image via Unsplash
Hi, I'm Juliette. I'm the Mental Health Editor here at The Mighty. I joined The Mighty because I believe storytelling is a powerful tool in raising awareness about mental health and trauma. I'm inspired every day by the brave vulnerability of our community. #MightyTogether
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text:
Deputy David Mabuza postpones swearing-in as Member of Parliament
Deputy-President David Mabuza will not be sworn in along with the rest of Parliament today. The office of the Presidency released a statement explaining that Mabuza will be awaiting the outcome of the ANC Intergrity Commission's investigation.
Deputy-President David Mabuza will not be joining the rest of Parliament today as they are sworn into service.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's office released a statement saying that Mabuza had requested his swearing -in to be postponed, pending the outcome of the Integrity Commission's investigation.
According to SowetanLIVE, Ramaphosa commented on the situation, saying that:
"The deputy-president made the request in light of a report by the ANC Integrity Commission in which he is alleged to have prejudiced the integrity of the ANC and brought the organisation into disrepute."
READ ALSO: Explainer: Why Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is Ramaphosa's best option
Ramaphosa went on to say that Mabuza had elected to postpone his swearing-in 'out of respect for the ANC's institutions and processes'.
The ANC commended the deputy-president for putting the interests of the party above his own. It appears that he may well not serve the party at all in this term of office, with rumours circulating that Judy Hermans may take his place instead.
Briefly.co.za reported earlier that Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had indicated she would be more than happy to step into the roll, but it now appears as if she has been overlooked by Ramaphosa. Unless, of course, the president has bigger plans for her.
SA Parliament Latest News - South Africa Parliament NewsANC News - African National Congress latest NewsRamaphosa News - Cyril Ramaphosa latest newsDavid Mabuza Latest NewsSA Government Latest News
List of gqom songs 2019 Telkom balance check Kefilwe mabote
Ace Magashule's ex-secretary scored millions for CCTV cameras tender


Bursting with yoghurt goodness and flavour – the tasty way to start the day.
Superbly blended from top quality creamy milk using only the finest yoghurt ingredients.
A flavoursome yoghurt combination of decadent chocolate cookies and cream and candyfloss makes this a delectable taste sensation.
Serve chilled. Consume desired amount for breakfast or snack.
Keep refrigerated, once opened use within three days.
Please recycle packaging after use. At Fair Cape we are mindful about our environment.


text:
package de.codesourcery.jasm16.exceptions;

import java.util.List;

import de.codesourcery.jasm16.compiler.ICompilationOrderProvider;
import de.codesourcery.jasm16.compiler.ICompilationUnit;

/**
 * Thrown by {@link ICompilationOrderProvider}s that failed to determine the compilation/link order
 * for a given set of {@link ICompilationUnit}s.
 *
 * @author tobias.gierke@code-sourcery.de
 * @see ICompilationOrderProvider#determineCompilationOrder(de.codesourcery.jasm16.compiler.ICompiler, List)
 */
public class UnknownCompilationOrderException extends RuntimeException
{
    public UnknownCompilationOrderException(String message) {
        super( message );
    }

    public UnknownCompilationOrderException(String message, Throwable cause) {
        super( message , cause );
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


BBM began almost twenty years ago with a conviction that ministries and believers need to live and minister balanced on . . .
Most years until 2013, the founder/director, Gary Becker, served BBM part time while he was serving full time as a Senior Pastor of a multiple staff church. During these years BBM helped a number of churches through pastoral transitions, mostly through consulting and coaching.
Implementing a strategy with accountability (Proverbs 15:22).


Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats is seeking a full-time Off-Centered Dishwasher at our BRAND NEW brewpub! We are looking for a dishwasher who is a master of their domain rocking organization and cleanliness to perfection. We need folks who are relentless in their pursuit of sparkle and who will never allow their silverware to succumb to spots! We pride ourselves on being great team players, so if going above and beyond to help your fellow coworkers is on your important list of to-do's then this is the place for you. We also expect you to be unwavering in your commitment to safety as this comes with the territory. Communication skills and dependability are essential, along with a passion for craft spirits and beer, Dogfish, and off-centeredness. If you enjoy supporting an awesome guest experience, dig our innovative beers and want to be a part of Dogfish history, we can't wait to hear from you!
The ideal candidate should have a high school diploma with one year of dishwashing experience preferred. If that experience is in a high volume spot, it's a huge plus! We're looking for dynamic individuals with a killer eye for the details who take pride in turning out dishware, glassware, and utensils that are pristine! Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats serves up lunch and dinner seven days a week and this role should have great availability to cover these windows as well as holidays.
Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats offers competitive compensation, great food discounts, a fabulous healthcare package & 401K, and an amazing off-centered work environment!
If interested, please submit a cover letter with resume for consideration at www.dogfish.com/careers. Resumes without cover letters will be hard pressed for consideration, truly. Help keep busy recruiters sane, no phone calls pretty please. Proud to be an EOE.


What is primary cough headache?
Primary cough headache is a condition characterized as headache that occurs only in association with coughing, straining or a bearing down. The underlying pathology of these headaches are not associated with abnormalities on neuro-imaging.
Data from patients with primary cough headache, who reported starting treatments within the last 5 years.
Who has primary cough headache on PatientsLikeMe?


Have you seen all the new resources that have been posted up? Use the categories on this list to filter resources to those you are most interested in.
Findings from the Every Newborn Series, published today in The Lancet, paint the clearest picture to date of a newborn's chance of survival and the steps that must be taken to end preventable infant deaths. New analyses indicate that 3 million maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths can be prevented each year with proven intervention – including the promotion of breastfeeding, neonatal resuscitation, kangaroo mother care for preterm babies, antenatal corticosteroids, and the prevention and treatment of infections. These interventions can be implemented for an annual cost of US$1.15 per person. The research was led by Professor Joy Lawn, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Save the Children, UK, with Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta at the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, the Aga Khan University, Pakistan and Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada in collaboration with more than 54 experts from 28 institutions in 17 countries.
The Lancet publishes a new Series on maternal and child undernutrition, providing startling new estimates of the numbers of children dying from malnutrition every year. The Series highlights how the persistent burden of malnutrition can be tackled, presenting the best evidence and latest developments in the field.
A new Global Action Plan launched today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF has the potential to save up to 2 million children every year from deaths caused by pneumonia and diarrhoea, some of the leading killers of children under five globally. The DGAPP is based on the most recent data and evidence collected in a special series published in The Lancet today led by Prof. Zulfiqar A Bhutta of The Aga Khan University, Pakistan. This Series identifies 15 key interventions that, if delivered at high coverage and quality, would reduce 95% of diarrhoeal and 67% of pneumonia deaths in children younger than 5 years by 2025. Catch the news at the following links and also take a sneek peak at all the latest series papers under our "RESOURCES" section.
Bill Gates said Tuesday that the world must commit to wiping out the remaining cases of polio and finally eradicate the disease despite squeezed aid budgets and violence plaguing vaccination efforts.
Battle to Contain Polio: Future?


1. Kasia (14): What scientific experiments are carried out on the space station at present?
2. Michal (12): How does the magnetic needle work in space?
3. Julia (12): How do you handle different illnesses?
4. Piotr (15): How would a pendulum clock work on board of the ISS?
5. Magda (13): Was there anything that surprised or impressed you during your stay in space?
6. Oskar (15): What was the largest mammal (except for humans) which was on the ISS?
7. Patrycja (13): How do flying insects behave in zero gravity?
8. Blazej (16): Do you know how many centimeters your body lengthened in weightlessness?
9. Szymon (14): Is it easy to use a pen or a fountain pen on the space station?
10.Oliwia (16): Do you think that time in space passes faster?
11. Damian (18): How do you observe and explore the Moon?
12. Jakub (15): What or how did you feel when you saw the Earth from space for the first time?
13. Tomasz (15): Does Kirobo work well and fulfill its mission on the ISS?
14. Jakub (16): Is it hard to get used to weightlessness?
15. Arek (19): Is it possible to be able to breed crystals in weightlessness?
1. What should I do if I wanted to become an astronaut? I mean what educational path should I follow, which degree would be the best to take, in your opinion?
2. Do you have particular memories you would like to share with us?
3. Why is it important going to the outer space? Is it more important to spend money on space missions than on other fields?
4. How many crew members are there with you? Have you been trained also to get along well to each other?
5. How long does it take you to regain all your physical ability when you come back to Earth?
6. What types of experiments are you currently running? Which are the most useful for mankind?
7. What do you do when you get sick in space? Do you need a doctor on board the ISS?
8. Have you ever been scared to fly in space?
9. How long are the missions?
10. What is the strangest question you have been asked by students?
11. Do you believe that someday man will discover other planets that support life?
12. How often do micro- meteoroids collide with your space shuttle? How difficult is to avoid them?
13. Will it be possible for astronauts to land on other planets in the future?
14. How is the International Space Station able to keep in contact with the Mission Control Center?
15. What type of antennas do you use for it?
16. What kind of operating system do you use in the space station?
17. What are your daily tasks in the space station and how do you spend your free time?
18. What kind of training do you need to become an astronaut?
19. How long did it take you to reach your destination orbit?