text:
St Stephanos Church in Iran's Jolfa
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The St. Stepanos Monastery is one of the most ancient churches in the world which was built back in ninth century. This beautiful landmark is located about 15 km northwest of Jolfa city, East Azarbaijan Province northwestern Iran.
May, 27, 2019 - 18:19
- Tourism news -
It is situated in a deep canyon along the Aras River on the Iranian side of the border between Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and Iran.
The first monastery was built in the seventh century and completed the ninth century. After several earthquakes damages, it was rebuilt in the Safavid era. The Church's architectural style is a mixture of Urartan, Parthian, Greek, and Roman styles. This landmark is located in the abandoned village of Dare Sham. Prior to 1971 it was accessible only by a dirt path, however, a road was constructed providing access by automobile. This masterpiece has been registered as a UNESCO world heritage site cathedral and monastery.
There are different opinions about the date of construction. On a plaque outside the church, it says that many Armenian historians say it was established in the first century by St. Bartholomew. It's surrounded by a fortress with seven towers among a beautiful backdrop of Rocky Mountains. Each year, on the name day, Armenians visit for a Holy Mass. Due to the climate conditions, the best time to travel to this location is in April, May and June.
This is the famous wooden gate of the St Stephanos church which was gifted to the church by the Qajar rulers prime minister Abbas Mirza, in sign of his protection of Armenian population of Jolfa. After Russian Empire conquered Yerevan back in 1827, Russians displaced the Armenian population to other locations.
In years, St Stephanos church has gone under several restorations especially since 1974. The first monastery was built in the seventh century and completed the tenth century. However, St Bartholomew first founded a church on the site around AD 62 a single generation after Jesus baut it was partly destroyed during the wars between the Seljuks and the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Iranian Azarbaijan consists of the three provinces of the country's northwest tip; West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan and Ardebil. Bordering Turkey in the West and The Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the North, the population of Iranian Azarbaijan is mainly Azari with important Armenian and Kurdish minorities. The primary language of the region is Azari.
Source: Irantraveller
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text:
Trump Advises Mayor Of Sinking Tangier Island "Not To Worry" About Climate Change
By Madhuri Sathish
Getty Images/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Roughly 87 percent of people on Tangier Island voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election — but he is not necessarily prioritizing the island's needs in return. Tangier Island is threatened by erosion and rising seas, but Trump told the island's mayor that climate change will not pose a risk.
Virginia's Tangier Island is situated in the Chesapeake Bay, and has a population of approximately 450 people. CNN's Jennifer Gray described the island as a "quirky little town" where "everybody knows everybody." Its residents are well-aware that the rising sea level presents a threat to their future and the island's continued existence, but they don't fault Trump for withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement. Instead, they think that this decision will allow the president to devote more money to Tangier Island's infrastructure. Indeed, as CNN's Gray remarked during her visit there, the island's residents care more about saving Tangier than they do about what causes climate change.
"I agree with the science behind sea-level rise and global warming but it's all irrelevant to us right now. We're worried about washing away," resident Bruce Clark Gordy told CNN.
A few days after Gray's report aired, Trump reportedly called James "Ooker" Eskridge, the island's mayor. Eskridge spoke to the Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland about his conversation with the president.
"You've got one heck of an island there," Trump told Eskridge after introducing himself. The mayor replied by telling Trump that "this is a Trump island; we really love you down here." Eskridge proceeded to offer Trump his compliments, and lauded him for doing "common-sense stuff" like supporting the military.
Trump thanked Eskridge, but then switched gears by talking about rising sea levels.
"He said not to worry about sea-level rise," Eskridge said. "He said, 'Your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe your island will be there for hundreds more.'"
Trump also told Eskridge not to worry about the "negative feedback" the island received following the CNN report. Eskridge conceded to CNN that the erosion of the island is a major concern, but he said that he trusts Trump to help. Scientists, however, would caution Eskridge against taking Trump's advice to not worry about climate change.
According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the island — which is only 1.3 square miles of "very soft organic clay soil" — is losing about 15 feet of coastline with each passing year. As Forbes' Marshall Shepherd pointed out, the island is a crabbing community, which means its residents will have to contend with other climate change-induced problems as well.
Increasing global temperatures combined with melting glaciers are rapidly contributing to the expansion of oceans. This, in turn, means that low-lying coastal communities are at high risk of seeing their homes vanish. As The New York Times reported last summer, Tangier Island's residents constitute a working-class community that cannot afford to fund the infrastructure required to protect themselves from the rising seas. Any adequate help would have to come from the federal government — but while Trump was willing to make time to call the island's mayor, it doesn't seem likely that he'll prioritize its protection, or the anti-climate change efforts needed to protect future generations.
David Schulte, of the Army Corps of Engineers, told the Times that the residents of the island must grapple with both short-term and long-term difficulties:
It will take two things to save the island. One is to engineer and repair it now. The other is to make sure that the worst-case scenario of climate change doesn't happen, because I've seen what that looks like in the computer modeling, and we don't want to go there. A lot of Norfolk is under water. Miami is under water.
This is a potential future that is weighing on residents' minds, but they — and their mayor — are still convinced that the island can be saved and is worth saving. The alternative would mean that they make up the last generations occupying the island, which has had a long history since settlers arrived there in the early 1600s.
"The island disappearing — it's on everybody's mind when they wake up and when they go to bed," Eskridge told CNN. "It's always in the back of your mind. Sure is, always."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Przegląd Menopauzalny. R. 10, nr 1 (2011), s. 37-39.
245 0 0 %a Assessment of IL-6 activity in cervico-vaginal mucus connected with cervical length concerning elderly pregnant women over 35 years of age at a risk of preterm delivery / %c Paweł Pawłowicz, Wojciech Rawski, Katarzyna Grzebyk, Tomasz Stetkiewicz, Grzegorz Jakiel ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of The Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education, Clinical Department of Gynaecology and Menopausal Diseases. Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital - Research Institute.


HARARE - Zimbabwe is lobbying regional countries to lift an international ban on ivory sales ahead of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meeting scheduled for neighbouring South Africa in September, a senior government official said yesterday.
Minister of Environment Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, told Sadc diplomats at a Cites breakfast meeting in Harare, that opening up the trade of wild animal products will raise badly-needed funds for conservation given the financial challenges of developing countries such as Zimbabwe, which is staunchly opposed to a protectionist or anti-use approach.
Global trade of ivory is banned, though Cites has allowed one-off sales of national stockpiles.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said trade bans were futile, citing the rhino species which is now teetering on the brink of extinction, but whose trade has been banned for the last 40 years.
"There is no tangible evidence that trade bans have ever saved a species from extinction," Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
She said the country is currently carrying more than 70 tonnes of ivory in its armoury.
"This has become so dangerous to protect given the determination of the illegal traders of ivory," she said.
"To us, burning (ivory) is not an option, we need the resources for sustainable wildlife conservation.
Proposals for the meeting, were made public yesterday, with Zimbabwe bidding to open up the trade in elephant ivory, against initiatives led by Kenya and other West African countries for a complete global ban on the coveted commodity.
Cites held its last Cop — where proposed amendments regarding trade in wild animals and plants are voted on by member states, three years ago.
The agreements are legally binding but only regulate international trade and do not replace national laws.
Since then, thousands of African elephants have been poached for ivory and thousands of rhinos killed for their horns to meet soaring demand in Asia, dramatically raising the ecological, economic and emotional stakes in this upcoming round of wildlife diplomacy in Johannesburg.
There are 182 member states to Cites. Zimbabwe ratified and became a party to the Cites Convention in 1981.
"It is rather unfortunate that certain member states to the Cites Convention are using it as a platform to stifle economic growth in developing countries such as Zimbabwe through unwarranted wildlife trade restrictions," Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said a case in point was the move by Western countries to ban the importation of elephant and lion trophies in their countries from producer countries such as Zimbabwe, which hosts 83 000 African elephants and a sizeable rhino population of 850 individuals.
Last year, the highly-publicised killing of a lion named "Cecil" by an American trophy hunter in Zimbabwe provoked a global outcry.
"This is being done outside the original spirit and intentions of Cites," Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
President of the Chiefs Council Fortune Charumbira said it was imperative that rural communities be involved as they depend on the trade.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said Zimbabwe has already submitted a proposal to the Cop 17 to amend the annotation that is currently affecting the country's trade in ivory, thereby depriving the local population from benefitting from its wildlife.


P2P group has released an updated version of "Nitro Pro Retail/Enterprise". Enjoy!
Feel free to post your Nitro Pro v12.7.0.338 Retail / Enterprise-P2P torrent, subtitles, samples, free download, quality, NFO, rapidshare, depositfiles, uploaded.net, rapidgator, filefactory, netload, crack, serial, keygen, requirements or whatever-related comments here. Don't be rude (permban), use only English, don't go offtopic and read FAQ before asking a question. Owners of this website aren't responsible for content of comments.


text:
Heeding the Headlines: Navigating the Royal Rumor Mill
December 11, 2018 December 12, 2018 | Anna
2018 has been a whirlwind both for me personally and for the world at large — and I have to admit I've been absolutely awful at keeping up with this blog (a trend, it seems). But a LOT of people have been writing me asking for a breakdown of the rumored disputes ravaging headlines as of late. While I am extremely flattered by the assumption that I have any inside scoop, I must admit, I do not.
BUT, I do have some input regarding the feud that seems to be growing more each day…
A brief timeline
As I'm sure you know, every since the Royal Tour to Australia, the Royal Rumor Mill has been so hot I'm not sure how it hasn't yet burst into flames. In the past few months we've had…
Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton Had Secret Royal Wedding Drama That Strained Their Relationship
Prince Harry and Prince William Reportedly Had a 'Bit of a Fallout' Over Meghan Markle Last Christmas
'Dictatorial' Meghan Markle wanted air fresheners to fix 'musty' smell at wedding chapel but Buckingham Palace said no
Queen Elizabeth Wouldn't Let Meghan Markle Have Her First Choice for a Wedding Tiara: Report
As these are just a sampling, it's understandable that the general consensus is complicated. Is Meghan wreaking havoc? Is Will cold toward the Sussexes? Has the Queen thrown down the gauntlet?
First, let's take a step back.
what's in a story
As a university-trained journalist & working in advertising, I do have a few things to offer as consideration when it comes to reporting and the headline mania… here are a few things to ask yourself when you read an especially salacious headline:
Does the headline blow the actual contents of the story out of proportion?
As we're all aware of clickbait, getting your eyes on the article is the number one goal. As 59% of people share articles without having read them, a headline stating "Royal SHOCK! Meghan Markle BREAKS Royal protocol AGAIN with 'VULGAR' fashion move" sounds way more exciting than the fact the article goes on to say that the VULGAR move had to do with her dark nail polish — grab the fainting salts! — and… that's it. But you better believe we clicked. (Admit it, you clicked.) (Side note: traditionally, the reporting journalist doesn't write their own headline, rather the copy editor.)
What's the publication's traditional stance?
When reading a news source, it's pretty typical to notice whether they're more liberal or conservative, despite their attempts at objectivity. It's important to consider the network it belongs to, as well as who its owner might be connected to, i.e., Jeff Bezos owning The Washington Post & any reports on Amazon might be worth a little additional digging. And, though I'm not very well-versed in British politics, I do know that there are royalists and republicans and they're catering to their readership. Unless you're the Daily Mail, in which you just throw every thing out there and see what sticks… even if it's garbage (which sadly sticks pretty well).
what's happening in the news cycle?
Is it late Summer when the royals are out of the public eye? Then the press is probably dredging up random, questionable pieces to push like "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Reportedly Haven't Told Prince George That He Will Be King" wherein there could be a grain of truth, but who's to say.
However, a great example of shifting the narrative comes today with Meghan's appearance at the British Fashion Awards happening right before a big Brexit vote, or even Kate's wearing trousers last week as a possible show of solidarity with Meghan (to be taken with an extra big grain of salt). Timing is everything.
Who's the reporter (or the source)?
There are reputable royal reporters who have been on the beat for decades. They have strong relationships with palace insiders as well as the royals themselves. Katie Nicholl of Vanity Fair is known to be a solid source, as well as Dickie Arbiter, former Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, and his daughter, royal correspondent Victoria Arbiter. These are just a few examples, though there are loads more.
I recently read a report that cited a "close friend of the Cambridge's" as their source, and this set off alarms. William & Kate are pros at keeping the press at bay, so I suspect it wasn't a close friend of the Camrbridge's, but maybe a friend of a friend of a friend. However, I wouldn't balk at a source being a "close friend of the Sussexes'", as they seem far more open and less experienced with the whole gossip protocol.
But most importantly, it should be noted that bloggers, just as myself, really are just working with all the information we've pieced together, a bit of a detective work and a lot of red string being pinned across stories as such — this is is not to say our research isn't true nor reputable, just that I sit in an office in Hamburg and sadly do not have insider scoop to the name of Meghan & Harry's upcoming baby! But I will happily speculate and write a dissertation on what my predictions are!
Which leaves me at a perfect stopping point for the this piece, but I do hope to write my own synopsis of what I think is going down with the 'Fab Four' in the next few days… as a cliffhanger: I think there's a little bit of truth, and a whole lot of fit throwing.
[Editor's note: Elizabeth Holmes, a fantastic journalist who used to work for the Wall Street Journal inspired the insider look of this article — I highly recommend you follow her on Instagram for her famous #SoManyThoughts and general greatness]
Posted in Controversy, News, Royals of Europe
< From the Royal Archives: Henry VIII's Break-Up Letter
3 thoughts on "Heeding the Headlines: Navigating the Royal Rumor Mill"
Lelly says:
I've been following the shenanigans with interest and it takes me back to the days of Diana and Fergie. However, when staff are said to be passing on information then there are problems that weren't there before and that's a bigger problem than friends of friends being a source of (mis)information (I think you mean baulk rather than bowk).
Ha thanks for that correction! I wrote it in haste & meant to go back & change it. 😉 But you're right, staff passing information is HIGHLY problematic.
LOL – Glad you didn't mind but I learnt a new word (bowk) as well so thank you. PCs/Macs have a great way of autocorrecting without anyone knowing.
I do think there are major problems at KP. There's been nary a whisper over the past few years of arguments etc and the gossip is coming from so many different directions that there has to be much more than a grain of truth to it all. If you can't treat staff right then you're on a hiding to nothing and you'll barely recover from the damage.


If you've just bought your new TV and are wondering what the best way to mount it is, then you're in good hands. It's common (and actually, it's usually proper) to mount that nice flat-screen TV on the wall, simply because there are so many advantages (and it was designed to be enjoyed that way, too, in case you were wondering).
But more than that, there are many ways to mount your TV on the wall, and before you explore other options, you should really consider the ways in which the TV can be mounted on the wall. Here's the thing: it's not just about attaching the TV on the wall, and that's it – there are really many options available. Here's a list of the most common kinds of wall mounts for your television.
This is the classic mounting – the mounting the creators of the flat-screen TV actually had in mind when they designed it. It's a simple solution; your TV will have holes and spaces provided at the back of it for easy, simple mounting on the wall. It gives it the clean, sleek look that most people aspire for, and it will remain a classic for years to come. Often the TV is no more than an inch away from the wall – plasma TVs are best for this kind of mounting as they offer the best general viewing angle.
The tilt or swivel TV mount may cost a little more than the simple mount, but it's more than worth the simple investment because it offers a lot more flexibility – the tilt and swivel will give you a much better viewing angle, even if you're to the right or to the left of the ideal viewing position, or even if you're lying down on the floor.
It's certainly possible – these kinds of mounts offer a full arm that gives you a full range of motion in terms of location and viewing angle. It's the most sophisticated and gives you the widest range of possibilities.
There used to be only two choices, really – either mount your TV on the wall (the traditional way, so it offers very little flexibility) or place your TV mount on a cabinet or table (which takes up space, poses a safety hazard, but does give you the flexibility benefit). The choices are more varied now. Thanks to the designers of the various kinds of mount brackets and wall mounts available on the market, you can now figure out how to give yourself the best viewing experience – it just takes a little thinking through. List your priorities; what benefits do you need or want? The perfect wall mount is out there for you.


I was listening to Joe Rogan reminisce with Bill Burr about witnessing something that can never be unseen on the Opie and Anthony show. After listening to the clip I had to see for myself. I must warn you, it ain't for the faint of heart.
Hopefully this will temper any attempts of mine to make this blog thing a heady project. Just goes to show that one never knows what will pop up on this thing.


This list of Dodge Dealers located in Fargo, North Dakota (ND) is believed to have been correct at the time of posting. If your Fargo, North Dakota Dodge Dealership is not listed here or you see an error in your listing, you may tell us about it here. Standard listings are free, but they are neither guaranteed nor warranteed.


text:
/* eslint-disable */
import React from 'react'
import assert from 'assert'

import { transform } from 'babel-standalone'

import Enzyme from '../Enzyme';
const shallow = Enzyme.shallow;
const mount = Enzyme.mount;
const render = Enzyme.render;

export const QA = true;

// ---------------------------- define challenge title ----------------------------
export const challengeTitle = `<span class = 'default'>Challenge: </span>Create a Controlled Input`

export const challengeText = `Intro: Your application may have more complex interactions between state and the rendered UI. For example, form control elements for text input, such as input and textarea, maintain their own state in the DOM as the user types. With React, you can move this mutatable state into a React component's state. The user's input becomes part of the application state, so React controls the value of that input field. Typically, if you have React components with input fields the user can type into, it will be a controlled input form.`

// ---------------------------- challenge instructions ----------------------------
export const challengeInstructions = `Instructions: The code editor has the skeleton of a component called ControlledInput to create a controlled input element. The component's state is already initialized with an input property that holds an empty string. This value represents the text a user types into the input field.

First, create a method called handleInput() that has a parameter called event. When the method is called, it receives an event object that contains a string of text from the input element. You can access this string with event.target.value inside the method. Update the input property of the component's state with this new string.

In the render method, create the input element above the p tag. Add a value attribute which is equal to the input property of the component's state. Then add an onChange() event handler set to the handleInput() method.

When you type in the input box, that text is processed by the handleInput() method, set as the input property in the local state, and rendered as the value in the input box on the page. The component state is the single source of truth regarding the input data.`

// ---------------------------- define challenge seed code ----------------------------
export const seedCode =
`class ControlledInput extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      input: ''
    };
  }
  // change code below this line

  // change code above this line
  render() {
    return (

        { /* change code below this line */}

        { /* change code above this line */}

Input: {this.state.input}

    );
  }
};`

// ---------------------------- define challenge solution code ----------------------------
export const solutionCode =
`class ControlledInput extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      input: ''
    };
  }
  handleInput = (event) => {
    this.setState({
      input: event.target.value
    });
  }
  render() {
    return (

        <input
          value={this.state.input}
          onChange={this.handleInput} />

Input: {this.state.input}

    );
  }
};`

// ---------------------------- define challenge tests ----------------------------

export const executeTests = (code, errorSuppression) => {

  const error_0 = 'Your JSX code should transpile successfully.';
  const error_1 = 'ControlledInput should return a div element which contains an input and a p tag.';
  const error_2 = 'The state of ControlledInput should initialize with an input property set to an empty string.';
  const error_3 = 'Typing in the input element should update the state and the value of the input element.';

  let testResults = [
    {
      test: 0,
      status: false,
      condition: error_0
    },
    {
      test: 1,
      status: false,
      condition: error_1
    },
    {
      test: 2,
      status: false,
      condition: error_2
    },
    {
      test: 3,
      status: false,
      condition: error_3
    }
  ];

  let es5, shallowRender, mockedComponent, passed = true;

  const exportScript = '\n export default ControlledInput'
  const modifiedCode = code.concat(exportScript);

  // test 0: try to transpile JSX, ES6 code to ES5 in browser
  try {
    es5 = transform(modifiedCode, { presets: [ 'es2015', 'stage-2', 'react' ] }).code;
    testResults[0].status = true;
    if (!errorSuppression) console.log('No transpilation errors!');
  } catch (err) {
    passed = false;
    testResults[0].status = false;
    if (!errorSuppression) console.error(`Transpilation error: ${err}`);
  }

  // try to shallow render the component with Enzyme
  try {
    var React = require('react');
    mockedComponent = mount(React.createElement(eval(es5)));
  } catch (err) {
    passed = false;
    if (!errorSuppression) console.error(`Invalid React code: ${err}`);
  }

  // test 1:
  try {
    assert(
      mockedComponent.find('div').children().find('input').length === 1
      && mockedComponent.find('div').children().find('p').length === 1,
      error_1
    );
    testResults[1].status = true;
  } catch (err) {
    passed = false;
    testResults[1].status = false;
  }

  // test 2:
  try {
    assert.strictEqual(mockedComponent.state('input'), '', error_2);
    testResults[2].status = true;
  } catch (err) {
    passed = false;
    testResults[2].status = false;
  }

  //test 3:
  try {

    mockedComponent.setState({input: ''});
    const before = mockedComponent.state('input');
    mockedComponent.find('input').simulate('change', {target: {value: 'TestInput'}});
    const after = mockedComponent.state('input');
    const inputText = mockedComponent.find('input').node.value;

    assert.strictEqual(before === '' && after === 'TestInput' && inputText === 'TestInput', true, error_3);
    testResults[3].status = true;
  } catch (err) {
    passed = false;
    testResults[3].status = false;
  }

  return {
    passed,
    testResults
  }

}

// ---------------------------- define live render function ----------------------------

export const liveRender = (code) => {

  try {
    const exportScript = '\n export default ControlledInput'
    const modifiedCode = code.concat(exportScript);
    const es5 = transform(modifiedCode, { presets: [ 'es2015', 'stage-2', 'react' ] }).code;
    const renderedComponent = React.createElement(eval(es5));
    return renderedComponent;
  } catch (err) {
    // console.log(`Live rendering failure: ${err}`);
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
http://tinyurl.com/y5ljz56v
This article was written By John Berra on 11 Apr 2018, and is filed under Reviews.
Choo Chang-min, film reviews, Jang Dong-gun, reviews, Ryu Seung-ryong, Seven Years of Night, Song Sae-byeok
About John Berra
John Berra is lecturer in Film and Language Studies at Renmin University of China. He is the editor of the Directory of World Cinema: Japan (Intellect, 2010/12/15), co-editor of World Film Locations: Beijing (Intellect, 2012) and World Film Locations: Shanghai (Intellect, 2014). He has also contributed to Electric Shadows: A Century of Chinese Cinema (BFI, 2014), Ozu International: Essays on the Global Influences of a Japanese Auteur (Bloomsbury, 2014) and Killers, Clients and Kindred Spirits: The Taboo Cinema of Shohei Imamura (EUP, 2019).
Seven Years of Night (South Korea, 2018)
A slow burning guilt trip with notions of grandeur, Seven Years of Night finds director Choo Chang-min getting back behind the camera for the first time since his hugely popular period piece Masquerade (2012) to deliver a contemporary tale of grief and retribution that stems from the death of an innocent child. Although adapted from a novel by Jung Yoo-jung, this somber drama will likely draw comparisons with Mystic River (2003), Prisoners (2013), the first season of Broadchurch (2013), or the recent Netflix series Seven Seconds (2018) internationally. As with some of those overwrought procedurals, Seven Years of Night sees every possible dramatic and technical element being marshaled to create a tragic spiral of abject despair.
Events take place in a remote area where security guard Choi Hyun-su (a convincingly beleaguered Ryu Seung-ryong) is relocating with his family to patrol a dam site. At the insistence of his wife, Choi has purchased a spacious apartment in an upscale complex. Unfortunately, his meager salary barely covers the interest payments on the property, so he has accepted a transfer to the outskirts where employee accommodation is provided with the intention of renting out the apartment. Driving out there after dark to see the house following a few drinks, Choi misses the exit and ends up on a back road where he runs over a young girl who suddenly rushes out in front of his vehicle. Making what proves to be a fatal decision, he dumps the body in the nearby lake.
Attempting to resume his mundane life, Choi starts his new posting but suffers from anxiety attacks on the job while vivid nightmares cause him to go sleepwalking without his shoes and howl into the night. Meanwhile, the girl's father, wealthy dentist and landowner Oh Young-je (Jang Dong-gun), goes on the warpath once his missing daughter's body is recovered. Although the police conduct a thorough investigation, Oh takes matters into his own hands and concocts an elaborate revenge scenario once he learns the identity of the driver.
By this point, the quest for vengeance has become a stock element of South Korean cinema, but whereas the viewer usually has no trouble rooting for its furious avengers since they are usually portrayed as fundamentally decent types pushed too far by unfortunate circumstances, Oh is a different case entirely. Introduced in the midst of a messy divorce, which he is handling in a coldly manipulative manner, Oh has been physically abusing his daughter to the extent that the coroner notes signs of domestic violence on her body. By having Oh exert revenge on Choi by putting him in a morally impossible scenario involving his son, it could be said that the film turns the ostensible point of audience identification into the villain, although this certainly does not entail that the cowardly Choi becomes a hero by default.
By using the cruel nature of fate to bring Choi and Oh into the same orbit, the film not only compares two deeply flawed father figures from different ends of South Korea's economic spectrum but also shows how their respective behavioral lapses are judged by society. Shuffling multiple timelines, Choo illustrates how Choi has ended up on death row while public outrage caused by the incident almost ruins the life of Choi's son, who is being abandoned by his family and taunted at school before being taken in by his father's sympathetic colleague Seung-Hwan (Song Sae-byeok). Yet, even though his daughter was out on that night as a result of his abusive parenting, Oh never has to answer any questions regarding his culpability. His crimes remain behind closed doors.
When dealing with this terrible situation in a matter of fact manner, Seven Years of Night evidences a compulsive, gut-wrenching power. The score by Koo Ja-wan and Park Ji-man builds an ominous mood while Ha Kyoung-ho's gloomy cinematography emphasizes psychologically draining close-ups but also finds opportunities for mistily atmospheric landscapes.
However, the film is less sure-footed in its unnecessary supernatural elements, which start out as an intriguing bit of scene setting as Seung-Hwan learns from a co-worker that the lake has been dubbed "Korea's Atlantis" since it was created by flooding a whole village without bothering to demolish the buildings. Seung-Hwan is an expert diver and his early underwater excursion lends the proceedings an eerily mysterious dimension, but Choo overdoes it by having a peripheral local shaman ranting about possession and including several ghostly encounters. Choi's traumatic visions also prove distracting, creating flashbacks-within-flashbacks that distract from the main storyline and adding unnecessary levels of duress to an already anxious morality play. Suggestions that these characters and the surrounding community are under some sort of curse are inconsistent with the film's theme of accepting responsibility for one's actions.
If this means that Seven Years of Night is overwhelming rather than hard-hitting, it's nonetheless sufficiently involving to warrant being put through the wringer.
Achilles and the Tortoise (Japan, 2008)
Tracey (Hong Kong, 2018)
Missing Johnny (Taiwan, 2017) [NYAFF 2018]
Her Sketchbook (Japan, 2017) [Japan Foundation Film Tour 2020]20 Jan 2020
Only Cloud Knows (China, 2019)11 Jan 2020
Erica 38 (Japan, 2019)09 Jan 2020
Ip Man 4: The Finale (China/Hong Kong, 2019)05 Jan 2020
Asian Cinema Highlights of 201931 Dec 2019
Call for Papers – The Korean Television Reader | SAA Network on Call for Papers – The Korean Television Reader
Japanese Films at the Berlin International Film Festival 2018 – Genkinahito on Before We Vanish (Japan, 2017)
Miko Girl, The Scythian Lamb, The Wolves of the East, Blank 13, Namae no nai onnatachi usotsuki onna, The Idol Cannon Ball Run 2017 Movie, Impossibility Defense, Silent Revolution, Odayakana kakumei, Kamen Rider EX-AID: Another Ending Part 1 – Kamen on Before We Vanish (Japan, 2017)
The Director's Series 22: Ringo Lam – School On Fire on The Avenging Fist (Hong Kong, 2001)
Genkina hito's Top Ten Films of 2017 – Genkinahito on Noise (Japan, 2017)
© 2018 VCinema. All Rights Reserved.


text:
ETUC position on first-stage consultation of the EU social partners on a 'New start' for work-life balance
Good work-life balance has a positive impact on the well-being of workers. It can also contribute to achieving major EU policy goals: stimulating employment (especially among women and older workers) and growth; promoting children and youth development; and eventually achieving gender equality.
It is high time that the EU takes action to promote upward convergence among Member States on work-life balance. There is both a need to modernize existing EU legislation (such as the maternity leave directive), to address shortcomings or lack of legislation in certain areas (such as Paternity and Carers' Leave) as well to strengthen member states' coordination in order to ensure a level playing field regarding the costs and benefits of reconciliation policies.
Investment in public services as well as coherent policies to promote gender equality and family-friendly environments should be promoted. This includes improving the provision of availability, quality, affordability and accessibility of care (for children, dependants and the elderly). The achievement of Barcelona targets by Member States should be monitored through the EU semester process. Targets on elderly care and care for dependants should be also introduced by the EU Council.
Reconciliation policies must not be considered as benefits for women or parents only but rather as a deeper change in employment policies and functioning of businesses, from which all employees, regardless of their gender and family status, as well as employers can benefit.
The ETUC is ready to start discussions and negotiations with employers' organisations at EU level about the modalities in which minimum rights and conditions for the above mentioned forms of leave could be regulated at European level. The ETUC would also be ready to evaluate the EU Social Partners Agreement on Parental Leave with the EU-level employers and improve its provisions with regard to the issue of payment and other issues. These actions should be built on the joint commitment already foreseen in the context of the current EU Social Dialogue work-programme 2015 - 2017.
However, in case these discussions and negotiations would not lead to any concrete outcome in these areas, the ETUC would urge the Commission to provide the necessary initiative and come up with legislative proposals.
On 11 November 2015, the European Commission formally consulted (under Art. 154(2) TFEU) the European social partners on the possible direction of the EU action concerning legislative measures to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by men and women.
The consultation follows the publication in August 2015 of a Roadmap[1] for such a new initiative, next to the Commission's withdrawal of the proposal to revise the Maternity Leave Directive (92/85/EEC).
Shortly after launching the social partners' consultation, the European Commission also published a public consultation "on possible action addressing the challenges of work-life balance faced by working parents and caregivers"[2].
The ETUC strongly regrets the fact that the two consultations are being run simultaneously, as this undermines the social partners' privileged role in this field enshrined in the Treaty, and also creates a lack of clarity amongst a wide range of stakeholders on how the different replies will be processed. For this reason, a blueprint that ETUC members can use to reply to the public consultation is attached, based on the main messages of this position.
The issue of reconciliation of professional, private and family life has been on the European political agenda since the 1970s. In particular, the European Commission had two stages of social partners' consultation in 2006 (the so-called 'reconciliation package') to which the ETUC contributed[3].
The ETUC assessment of the follow-up given to the 2006 consultation process is very negative. Regrettably, not only did the European Commission fail to revise the Maternity Leave Directive, but it also did not propose any new legislative proposal on paternity leave and proposed only scattered initiatives to meet the Barcelona targets on childcare facilities. The only notable improvement has been the revision of the Parental Leave Agreement by the European social partners which was transposed by Directive 2010/18/EC.
This lack of progress comes during an extremely difficult period for working parents and individuals of whom, working conditions, including leave arrangements and organisation of working time have been negatively affected by the austerity measures imposed by member states in an effort to reduce the public deficits.
In fact, from the onset of the economic crisis in 2008, most of member states have implemented structural changes in their family policy mix, and in most of the cases family support measures were severely reduced.
Amongst the measures undertaken and documented by ETUC members we can recall: closure of public kindergartens; limiting after school activity; limiting care services for elderly and disabled; reduction in compensation for childcare costs; growing childcare fees; reduced services for the elderly and the disabled; closure of hospitals; governments saving on measures that encourage the equal division of care between women and men, such as paid paternity leave, and parental leave benefits; reduction of maternity leave allowances; savings on child benefits and other care and family related benefits.
Cutbacks in services and family benefits have thus compromised women's economic independence, as benefits often constitute an important source of their income and because they use public services more than men. Lone mothers and single female pensioners face the biggest cumulative losses.
The lack of European action in the area of reconciliation combined with the absence of investment and coherent policies to promote gender equality and family-friendly environments should be addressed. It is high time that the EU intensifies its actions to promote convergence instead of increasing differentiation and wider gaps between member states with regard to national policies to support reconciliation. One priority area for action is to tackle the differences that exist in terms of the duration and payment of family-related leaves as well as the wide differences that exist at national level in the provision of quality, affordable and accessible care (for children, dependants and the elderly).
In the light of this background, therefore the ETUC welcomes the Commission's decision to launch a social partners' consultation on this topic.
This response has been built on previous ETUC positions on reconciliation and on working time[4] as well on the discussions undertaken within the relevant ETUC committees.
Ensuring work life balance: an imperative not an option to achieve gender equality
Good work-life balance promotes the well-being of workers. It can also contribute to achieving major EU policy goals: stimulating employment (especially among women and older workers) and growth; promoting children and youth development; and eventually achieving gender equality.
This link has been addressed jointly by the European social partners. First in the context of their Framework of Actions on Gender Equality (2005) then more recently within the work-programme 2015 – 2017[5] where we agreed to prepare joint conclusions promoting better reconciliation of work, private and family life and gender equality to reduce the gender pay gap.
According to Eurofound, in Europe more than one worker in five is not satisfied with his/her work-life balance. At least several times a month, one out of two workers left work too tired to do household jobs; and one out of three had difficulties fulfilling family responsibilities due to working time.
Conflicts between work and other aspects of life can be caused by long working hours, unpredictable schedules or intense periods at work, as well as by the demands of unpaid work at home, particularly domestic chores and the care of children and the elderly.
The Europe 2020 strategy has set the target of 75% of women and men to be employed by 2020. However, the EU overall employment rate in 2014 stood at 64.9 % with a particularly low rate for women (59.6 % against 70.1 % for men aged 20-64) and older workers, aged 55-64 (51.8 %). Therefore, it is clear that to achieve this target, the involvement of women becomes pivotal and that a radical adjustment has to be made to the labour market, ensuring that it is accessible and capable of retaining and promoting their inclusion.
Labour market strategies as well as employment policies and practices have historically been designed around the traditional family and societal structure of the male breadwinner model. Over time this dynamic has evolved, however these changes in society and diversity of family forms have not been followed by modifications in the labour market legislation and policy.
Reconciliation policies are essential to implement this change. Women's employment is tightly linked to the distribution of work and family responsibilities within the couple. Eurofound surveys reveal that for the same amount of working hours, women are more likely to report problems with work-life balance than men, as they spend almost 12 more hours per week doing unpaid work than men.
The double burden of paid work and unpaid work within the family, together with a persistent lack and adequacy of support care services, are some of the reasons behind the declining fertility rate in Europe and can be identified as one of the main barriers to women's full participation in the labour market and decision making at all levels.
Women are more likely to take leave, work part time or withdraw from the labour market. Indeed, because of a lack of or an insufficient number of childcare facilities and work-life balance policies across Europe, 23% of women whose youngest child is under 3 and 18% of women whose youngest child is between 3 and the mandatory school age work part-time or do not work.
In the ETUC's view reconciliation policies are not, and must not, be considered as benefits for women or parents only but rather as a deeper change in employment policies and functioning of businesses, from which all employees, regardless of their gender and family status, as well as employers can benefit. Certain groups such as single parents are more vulnerable to the challenge of work-life reconciliation. It is thus essential to consider not only women, men, parents or non-parents as homogeneous groups, but also pay attention to the heterogeneity within these groups.
Response to specific questions addressed to social partners
Do you agree with the description of the issues in this paper as correct and sufficient?
The ETUC is of the opinion that the consultation paper broadly points at the most important issues affecting reconciliation in a proper manner. In particular, the need to enhance women's participation in the labour market by addressing both quantity and quality of women's employment; the link between the widespread precarious working condition of women workers, the lack of appropriate reconciliation measures and the effects on the gender pay and pension gap; the need to strengthen men's take up of family related leaves by addressing leaves' payment and stereotypes at work and in society; the importance of investing in affordable, quality and accessible care services for both children and elderly; the fact that women continue to bear the burden of family and domestic chores.
While the consultation paper underlines how these different factors impact on the quality of work life balance, it fails to address the incoherent policies which have led to the uneven situation among member states in terms of reconciliation policies and women's participation in the labour market. The first element is the impact of the austerity measures that have been implemented by member states, often without proper involvement of social partners, and which have negatively impacted the organisation of work, the quantity and quality of care and public services in general of which women are the prime users, and the payment of family related leave.
The economic downturn has particularly affected the protection of women during pregnancy and on return to work. Women are experiencing discriminatory practices in the labour-market as a direct result of pregnancy and/or giving birth, despite legislation that prohibits direct and indirect discrimination against pregnant workers. The practice of having the worker sign an undated letter of resignation at the time of hiring for future use by the employer at his or her convenience and which affects more specifically pregnant women has been become even more widespread since the start of the crisis and documented at various levels, including by the ILO. At the same time various countries have, temporarily, reduced maternity leave allowances in order to cope with budgetary deficit.
Another effect of the crisis has been the growth in part-time employment in almost all member states. This upward trend can be found more strongly for involuntary part-time employment. According to Eurostat, in 2013 29% of part-time workers had non-standard types of work because they could not find a full-time job. No fewer women than men accepted part-time work 'involuntarily'. Because of the large gender disparity in part-time working, the increase in the numbers of involuntary part-timers was actually much larger among women – almost double – although in percentage terms the surge was stronger among men.
When looking at the organisation of working time and its relevance for work-life balance, extremes in working hours should be also considered. Eurofound surveys show that men more frequently work longer hours (48 hours or more) and women more frequently work shorter hours (fewer than 20 hours). However, if unpaid and paid working hours are cumulated women's working hours are longer than men's. Reducing long hours and upgrading marginal part time work can be addressed in various ways, including by giving workers genuine options for adapting their working hours to their needs, within a protective collective or legislative framework.
In the ETUC's opinion the Commission consultation paper also fails to capture the key link between reconciliation policies and demographic change. Research shows that there is a strong link between the optimal use of work life balance options and the increase in the birth rate.
Do you consider that improvements should be made to EU legislation to improve work-life balance for parents and for people with caring responsibilities in view of the issues raised in point 4 of this document, and if so what type of improvements?
The ETUC firmly believes that EU legislation on work life balance should be improved to enable upward convergence. There is both a need to modernize existing legislation, to address shortcomings or lack of legislation in certain areas as well to strengthen member states' coordination in order to ensure a level playing field regarding the costs and benefits of reconciliation policies.
EU action in this field should look at reconciliation from a coherent perspective and promote long-term investment. A more equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men should be promoted and in particular it should aim at improving the take up by men of family responsibilities, and not further weaken the position of women in the labour market. Legislation would help a cultural change in mentality, not only of women and men themselves, but also in workplaces and at the level of management.
In the ETUC's view there is a strong need for a coherent policy with regard to reconciliation that should offer: good quality, available and affordable child and elderly care facilities; a variety of paid leave options that should be taken by both parents and especially encourage men to use them; recognition of the role of fathers with regard to childrearing; flexible working time arrangements and the possibility to reduce or extend one's working time (reversible part time work) and sound investment in public services.
The ETUC position for each of the topics is as follows:
Leave facilities should offer a genuine perspective of combining work, family and/or private life, they should be paid and ensure the right combination of length and flexibility without impacting workers' capacity to come back to work after the leave period or affect negatively their career, wages and pensions rights.
With regard to maternity protection, the ETUC shares the Commission's opinion that Directive 92/85/EEC should be revised. The Commission notes two areas in which improvements should be made: easing mothers' transition into work such as the provision of appropriate breaks and/or privacy and fostering protection against dismissal. While we consider these important elements to be focused on, especially the protection against dismissals, the ETUC is of the opinion that issue of full payment of maternity leave, should be also tackled.
Ensuring that women are paid their full salary for the duration of maternity leave, is the only way to provide those who have recently given birth with substantive equality and to ensure that they are not economically penalised for having children. The issue of pay during maternity leave cannot be dissociated from the broader issue of the gender pay gap: reductions in pay during maternity leave contribute significantly to substantive pay inequality throughout women's lives, as evidenced by the gender pension gap. Payment of maternity leave also means that women would continue to pay tax and social security contributions which would also contribute to the public purse. If Europe is serious about wanting to reduce poverty and inequalities, particularly affecting European women and children, the full payment of maternity leave must be a part of this strategy.
Secondly, the ETUC agrees with the EC paper that the protection against dismissal is not strong enough in the current directive. Pregnant women and new mothers are among the most vulnerable workers in the labour market, a situation which is exacerbated in times of economic difficulty. Maternity leave provisions must be accompanied by measures protecting the rights of expectant and new mothers prior to and on their return to work, including protection from dismissal and also from imposed night shifts and overtime or inflexibility towards breastfeeding mothers for at least six months.
Other elements of the Maternity Leave Directive which need attention are the health and safety dimension, notably in terms of prevention and risk assessment, and the need to strengthen the right to breastfeeding facilities. Another important matter is to extend its protection to all workers in atypical forms of employment, including domestic workers.
The ETUC believes that maternity protection and leave for women in relation to their role as child bearers must be clearly distinguished from leave and other facilities for parents for the purpose of care. For this reason, the ETUC strongly supports the introduction of new types of leaves to better meet the needs of workers in reconciliation of work, private and family life.
First, a new Directive on Paternity leave should be introduced in order to give the right to male workers (or partners in same-sex couples) to take some time off around the birth of their child to assist the mother and allow them to establish a relationship with the new born child. Paternity leave should be paid and its length should be adequate (from two weeks to one month). The paternity leave should be individual and non-transferable, and preferably mandatory, i.e. an automatic right and not depending on request.
To ensure that paternity leave can be taken by fathers at all wage levels it should always be paid, ensure job protection and job related rights, and it should not lead to a loss in terms of social security or pension rights.
The ETUC would also strongly welcome the introduction of a Carers' Leave Directive, as a supplement to the provision of affordable professional care. An entitlement to leave, similar to parental leave, could be considered, to enable workers to care for an elderly parent or a family member with a disability or terminal illness. The ETUC could imagine that in these cases both long term leave in various forms (full time or part time) as well as leave for 'force majeure' as regulated in the existing Parental leave Directive could offer adequate solutions to workers in different situations.
A carer's leave would be extremely beneficial to address the specific challenges faced by workers (and especially women) from the age of 50 years and above. Workers in this age category have often very low opportunities to find a job which reflects their qualifications and experience. In 2015, the gap between male and female employment of people aged 55-64 was 14.2%. Instead of leaving older workers longer in minimum income or unemployment schemes, there should be a real strategy for training and labour-market inclusion and avoid discrimination. Older women more often than older men are not encouraged to start working after longer career breaks for family duties, because they will not have enough time to build up minimum pension rights. Women in this situation are discouraged from looking for work because their country's pension system does not reward carers' leave with adequate entitlements to pensions. A carers' leave directive could introduce these pension rights for carers' leave and have positive effects on the employment of older women taking care of an ageing or disabled family member. This should include measures for protection of employment rights and provision of training and certification for persons coming out of a longer career break because of caring for family members.
The ETUC also supports the Commission's views that the Parental Leave Directive (2010/18/EEC), which is based on the EU Social Partners' agreement, could be updated to better achieve its aims. The ETUC shares the Commission's opinion that the current text of the Directive needs to foremost provide for adequate income protection during parental leave, in the interest of both women (reduction of the pay gap) and men (promotion of their take up).
The ETUC would therefore be ready to evaluate the EU Social Partners Agreement with the EU-level employers and improve its provisions with regard to the issue of payment. Other issues, suggested by the EC paper, such as greater flexibility in the parental leave arrangements as well as the maximum age of the child could be also part of this assessment.
The Commission consultation paper also address the issue of flexibility in working time arrangements. The ETUC agrees that any update of the regulatory framework should not limit itself to leave facilities, but also address the issue of working time to ensure policy coherence and a balanced combination within them.
The ETUC wants to stress that flexible working arrangements must be clearly understood as working patterns which are adapted to workers' needs (men and women) throughout a life-cycle approach. Workers need more time sovereignty for a good work-life balance. Furthermore workers need to be able to plan and organise their life, therefore they need scheduled working time well in advance.
Nowadays workers (and especially women) are often confronted with precarious work and under-employment, such as zero hour contracts, broken hours, mini-jobs, etc. Irregularity and unpredictability of working hours (often referred to as 'flexibility'), the widespread culture of presenteeism as well unsocial hours working time arrangements are a problematic issue from the perspective of reconciliation.
For those workers, planning their working and private lives is in fact impossible as they have to handle unnecessary uncertainty of their working patterns. Workers are also confronted with the intensification of work and growing flexibility in working time arrangements, with new forms of work due to the possibilities resulting from new technology and mobile devices, they are becoming and expected to be reachable anywhere and at any time.
What is needed is for employees to have greater control over their working time. One way to achieve this is to provide a right for zero-hour (and other part-time) employees to request full-time work and to place a corresponding obligation on the employer to seriously consider the employee's request and provide that only where there are serious reasons allow the employer justify the refusal. A close examination of the Part Time Work Directive 97/81/EC based on the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC) suggests that such a measure is already necessary to full that Directive's requirements.
In the ETUC's view flexible working patterns could be taken up at EU level while the development of detailed solutions is the task of collective agreements at the appropriate levels taking into consideration the different national practices. They should provide for a supportive and protective framework that allows workers to adapt their working hours and working time patterns without losing employment and social security protection. Individual solutions on flexible working arrangements should be avoided as they tend to polarize and further reinforce gender segregation in the labour market. Furthermore, it is of major importance that flexible working patterns are open to men and women alike, not only focussing on mothers or parents with small children, and be reversible.
The European social partners' telework agreement aimed at ensuring greater security for teleworkers employed in the EU by establishing a general framework at EU level concerning their status and working conditions. As mentioned in the preamble, with our agreement we wished to contribute to the modernisation of the organization of work, improve the opportunities for workers to reconcile working and family life, and prepare the EU to the transition to a knowledge-based economy and society in line with the objectives of the Lisbon process. Telework patterns should be organised in a way that they do not entail risks in terms of social protection and career perspectives and should not be limited to workers retouring from family leaves. Social dialogue agreements on telework should be promoted and workers' capacity to exert genuine influence on the organisation of their work should be ensured.
Previous ETUC comments and positions on family-related leaves and flexible working arrangements should be combined with the availability, affordability, accessibility and quality of early childhood education, elderly and dependent care facilities in all member states. They are pivotal factors for women's employment and for gender equality, and thus reconciliation of work and family life for working parents.
As indicated in a joint letter signed with the EU-level employers in July 2008[6], the EU social partners recognise that although ensuring the availability of childcare is first and foremost the responsibility of public authorities, we can play a complementary role by taking part in tripartite discussions, promoting ESF projects and in informing public authorities about labour market needs so that childcare services enable greater participation levels in the labour market.
The ETUC's new Path for Europe clearly indicates that investment in early childhood education and care for elderly should be part of any European investment plan as they are key issues to enhancing gender equality and to generate employment, which would boost additional income and tax revenue and consumption, thereby contributing to the expansion of the economy.
Conversely, due to austerity measures in many member states, publicly funded care services have been severely cut or are even non-existent, which results in private provision, often at unaffordable prices, and often with demand outstripping supply.
The Barcelona targets on childcare which were introduced in 2002 have not yet been realised and in the ETUC's opinion the Commission should systematically address country specific recommendations to member states lagging behind the targets until they fully meet them. In various member states, seemingly generously long maternity or parental leave periods (although often with low or no pay) try to mask the lack of childcare facilities, and maintain a vicious circle in which women have little choice other than to leave the labour market for long periods when they have children, and have great difficulty re-entering after several years of absence.
Regarding the promotion of the provision of elderly care and care for dependants, the ETUC has already proposed in the past the introduction of a new target to be set by the EU Council (similar to the Barcelona target) but with monitoring tools, possibly within the European Semester. Data on care of dependants is scarce and there is a critical lack of provision for the care of older people. A large majority of this work is done by women, and is either provided on a voluntary basis or in informal employment relationships, including undeclared work. Demand for this type of care is on the increase and there is a projected shortage of a million long term care workers in Europe by 2020. So it is essential that a resourced, comprehensive and proactive European employment strategy for this sector is developed, which priorities quality, professional jobs, as vital to improving the quality, affordability and accessibility of long term care, while taking into account that formal care does not substitute but rather complements informal care arrangements by relatives and communities.
Regrettably, the consultation paper makes no explicit reference to the broader context of care delivery and its effect on care workers and social exclusion. It is essential that the ongoing restructuring and privatisation of public services does not impact negatively on workers and care service users, a majority of whom are women. A gendered and social analysis of the changes introduced by privatisation is therefore also needed.
In many countries, families, the sick and the elderly increasingly rely on essential household services provided by workers, mostly women and often from a migrant or ethnic minority background, who often work under very informal and unprotected arrangements. In 2011 the ILO adopted the Convention 189 on Domestic worker. The ETUC believes the EU should adopt a regulatory framework for domestic work with a view to both provide domestic workers with basic protection and equal opportunities and to organise household services in a more sustainable way.
Would you consider initiating a dialogue under article 155 TFEU on any of these issues identified in point 4 of this consultation?
The ETUC is ready to start discussions and negotiations with employers' organisations at EU level about the modalities in which minimum rights and conditions for the above mentioned forms of leave could be regulated at European level. Such negotiations would underpin necessary developments and arrangements both in terms of collective bargaining and legislation at national and sectoral level.
The ETUC is ready to work together with European employers' organisations to ensure that genuine progress is made with regard to the parental leave directive as well as introduction of new forms of paid leaves such as paternity and carers' leave. These actions should be built on the joint commitment already foreseen in the context of the current EU Social Dialogue work-programme 2015 - 2017.
[1] "New start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families" http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/roadmaps/docs/2015_just_xxx_maternity_leave.en.pdf
[2] "Public consultation on possible action addressing the challenges of work-life balance faced by working parents and caregivers" http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/gender-equality/opinion/1511_roadmap_reconciliation_en.htm
[3] We recall the Council Resolution 2000/C 218/02, the European Parliament resolutions 2003/2129 and 2006/2276, the Council Conclusions of December 2008, and finally, the Commission "Reconciliation Pack" which includes the Communication COM (2008)635 "A better work-life balance: stronger support for reconciling professional, private and family life". More recently, the European Employment Strategy as well as the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2010-2015 also underlined the important role of reconciliation policies in achieving gender equality.
[4] Notably: "ETUC's Position on the First stage consultation of the Social Partners at Community level on the Reconciliation of Professional, Private and Family Life" https://www.etuc.org/etucs-position-first-stage-consultation-social-partners-community-level-reconciliation-professional; ETUC's Position on the Second Stage Consultation of the Social Partners at Community level on the Reconciliation of Professional, Private and Family Life https://www.etuc.org/sites/www.etuc.org/files/ETUC_position_second_stage_-_reconc._work_family_life-2_2.pdf ; ETUC strategy on the review of the Working Time Directive https://vcp.nl/symphony/extension/sm_richtext_redactor/getfile/?name=en-etuc-strategy-review-wtd.pdf
https://www.etuc.org/sites/www.etuc.org/files/ETUC_position_second_stage_Annex.pdf
[5] https://resourcecentre.etuc.org/spaw_uploads/files/FINAL_Joint_Social_Dialogue_Work_Programme_2015_2017.pdf
[6] https://www.etuc.org/sites/www.etuc.org/files/Final_draft_joint_letter_childcare_04.07.08_1.pdf
In Equality and non-discrimination, Gender equality, Work/Life balance, Industrial relations
Communication Department
The ETUC is the voice of workers and represents 45 million members from 90 trade union organisations in 38 European countries, plus 10 European Trade Union Federations.
Aims and priorities
Organisation and people
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text:
As browsers decline in relevance, they're becoming DRM timebombs
Cory Doctorow 10:06 am Fri Jul 8, 2016
My op-ed in today's issue of The Tech, MIT's leading newspaper, describes how browser vendors and the W3C, a standards body that's housed at MIT, are collaborating to make DRM part of the core standards for future browsers, and how their unwillingness to take even the most minimal steps to protect academics and innovators from the DMCA will put the MIT community in the crosshairs of corporate lawyers and government prosecutors.
If you're a researcher or security/privacy expert and want to send a message to the W3C that it has a duty to protect the open web from DRM laws, you can sign this open letter to the organization.
The W3C's strategy for "saving the web" from the corporate-controlled silos of apps is to replicate the systems of control that make apps off-limits to innovation and disruption. It's a poor trade-off, one that sets a time-bomb ticking in the web's foundations, making the lives of monopolists easier, and the lives of security researchers and entrepreneurs much, much more perilous.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a W3C member, has proposed a compromise that will protect the rights of academics, entrepreneurs, and security researchers to make new browser technologies and report the defects in the old ones: we asked the W3C to extend its patent policy to the DMCA, so that members who participated in making DRM would have to promise not to use the DMCA to attack implementers or security researchers.
But although this was supported by a diverse group of W3C members, the W3C executive did not adopt the proposal. Now, EME has gone to Candidate Recommendation stage, dangerously close to completion. The purpose of HTML5 is to provide the rich interactivity that made apps popular, and to replace apps as the nexus of control for embedded systems, including the actuating, sensing world of "internet of things" devices.
We can't afford to have these devices controlled by a system that is a no-go zone for academic work, security research, and innovative disruption. Although some of the biggest tech corporations in the world today support EME, very few of them could have come into being if EME-style rules had been in place at their inception. A growing coalition of leading international privacy and security researchers have asked the W3C to reconsider and protect the open web from DRM, a proposal supported by many W3C staffers, including Danny Weitzner (CSAIL/W3C), who wrote the W3C's patent policy.
Browsers' bid for relevance is turning them into time-bombs
[Cory Doctorow/The Tech]
(Image: Wfm stata center, Raul654, CC-BY-SA)
Copyfight
destroying the village to save it
war on general purpose computers
Trademarked "Tiffany Blue" liberated by artist in new paint shade: Tiff
British artist Stuart Semple has set "Tiffany Blue" free. You may remember he's the guy behind the blackest-black ink, the blackest-known substance, the pinkest pink, and the related battle with color hoarder Anish Kapoor. Semple's latest offering is Tiff, a "super flat matte high grade shade" acrylic paint that mimics Tiffany's trademarked robin's-egg blue." He… READ THE REST
8-Bit Trip 2: stop-motion Lego tribute gets a sequel
It's been more than a decade since the original 8-Bit Trip, but Rymdreglage hasn't been sleeping. Hello, finally, we are done with this video, we have been working on it for around 9 years (not full time). We hope you enjoy it. READ THE REST
Check out these face masks with EARS
Face masks with bendable "Baby Yoda" ears, big ears, "Scooby Doo" ears, and elf ears (and more!) are available from Kikimora Studio, a "High Fashion Circus" entertainment company in Miami, Florida. If you're wondering how a layer of spandex will keep the coronavirus at bay, you'd probably better off with a N95 or KN95 mask.… READ THE REST


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PBA, H5G Brands Renew Official Jersey Agreement Through 2022
by Bill Vint, Professional Bowlers Association May 20, 2019 4:48 pm0
CHICAGO (May 20, 2019) – H5G Brands, the Official Jersey Provider of the Professional Bowling Association since 2013, has renewed its agreement with the PBA through July 1, 2022, representatives of both companies announced Monday.
In addition to continuing its role as PBA's Official Jersey Provider, H5G Brands will assume management of the PBA's online and on-site merchandise sales in a companion two-year agreement that begins July 1, PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark, and H5G President Todd Molbeck confirmed.
"We are excited about expanding our partnership with H5G," Clark said. "Together we have grown the category of dye-sub bowling jerseys by helping shape player personalities and giving sponsors greater exposure. Now fans will have greater opportunities to feel closer to the PBA through H5G's new commitment towards merchandising a diverse assortment of products."
"H5G Brands has dedicated itself to enhancing the image of professional bowling ever since our relationship with the PBA began," Molbeck said, "and our goal will continue to pursue that objective with its diverse products and contemporary designs. As promised in the beginning, we have provided PBA competitors with high-quality clothing designed for competition and we continue to re-invest in the growth of the sport."
The merchandising agreement is new for H5G Brands, Molbeck added. His company will be responsible for merchandising sales on-site at all PBA Tour stops, through the PBA Store on pba.com and through the H5Gbrands.com website. The merchandise line will include a much larger mix of products than just jerseys and shirts when it is unveiled in September.
Bill Vint, Professional Bowlers Association
PODCAST: Josie Barnes on Winning the 2019 PWBA Greater Cleveland Open, and Much More
2019 USBC Queens Comes Down to All-International TV Finals


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Does pregnancy make me prone to motion sickness?
By Darienne Hosley Stewart | Medically reviewed by Cheryl Axelrod, M.D., ob-gyn | Oct 11, 2021
Photo credit: iStock.com / AleksandarNakic
Yes, you're more likely to suffer from motion sickness when you're pregnant. But if you're experiencing nausea and vomiting now and it's never been a problem before, it could just as easily be morning sickness, particularly if it's early in your pregnancy. With similar symptoms, the two are very difficult to tell apart.
Interestingly, if you suffered from motion sickness before becoming pregnant, you're more likely to experience morning sickness during pregnancy. If you've started feeling nauseated a lot of the time, but vomit only when you travel, you may have a combination of the two.
Motion sickness is a relatively common problem encountered when people travel by car, by airplane, and particularly by boat. It occurs when your body's balance-sensing system – which includes your inner ear, your eyes, and the sensory nerves in your skin, muscles, and joints – sends conflicting messages to the brain. If your inner ear senses motion, for instance, but your eyes don't, the result is a queasy feeling that may have you reaching for an airsickness bag.
To help ward off motion sickness in a car, sit in the front seat, open the window for fresh air, and focus on the horizon or a distant object. In an airplane, ask for a seat over the wing, where the ride will be smoothest. On a boat, stay on deck and gaze at the horizon.
Frequent light, non-greasy snacks may help soothe a queasy stomach, and it's probably best to avoid having a large, heavy meal just before traveling.
Though research is scant and results are conflicting, some women say that wearing an acupressure wristband helps with motion sickness as well as morning sickness.
Can I take medications for motion sickness during pregnancy?
To get relief from motion sickness, you can use over-the-counter drugs that contain dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl). These are low-risk for pregnant women, though it's always wise to check with your doctor or midwife before taking any medications during pregnancy.
Although Benadryl is best known as an antihistamine taken for allergies, it's also used to reduce nausea. Because both Dramamine and Benadryl can make you drowsy, don't take either medication if you're driving.
Don't combine Dramamine and Benadryl – take one or the other, because taking them together could compound your drowsiness.
Also, if you're already taking prescription Bonjesta or Diclegis (vitamin B6 and doxylamine) for morning sickness, don't add Dramamine or Benadryl to your regimen.
Talk to your provider before using the prescription drug scopolamine (Scopace) during pregnancy. It's not dangerous for your baby, but your response to it can be different while you're pregnant. It can cause side effects such as dry mouth, dizziness, and fatigue.
Keep in mind that few studies test drugs in pregnant women, which means there's not enough data to completely rule out risk, even for over-the-counter medications. That's why it's important to check with your healthcare provider before taking any medicines while pregnant.
Briggs GG. 2011. Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation: A Reference Guide to Fetal and Neonatal Risk. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Mother to Baby. 2021. Diphenhydramine. https://mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/diphenhydramine-pregnancy/pdf/ [Accessed October 2021]
Mother to Baby. 2021. Meclizine. https://mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/meclizine-pregnancy/ [Accessed October 2021]
Quinlan J, et al. 2003. Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy. American Family Physician. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0701/p121.html [Accessed October 2021]
Mayo Clinic. 2021. Scopolamine. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/scopolamine-transdermal-route/precautions/drg-20072848 [Accessed October 2021]
Darienne Hosley Stewart
Darienne Hosley Stewart is a content strategist, writer, and editor. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her spouse, two teenagers, a goofy dog, and even goofier chickens. She enjoys movies, gardening, reading, and quiet outdoor spaces.


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The Cunningham Sanitarium was a health institution in Cleveland, Ohio. Led by Dr. Orval J. Cunningham from the University of Kansas the facility was constructed to offer oxygen therapy on a large scale. The main structure for delivery of the treatment was a 900-ton steel sphere built in 1928. Consisting of five stories, the sphere stood at 64 feet and contained 38 rooms. 350 portholes helped to illuminate the rooms. The building was funded and built by the Timken Roller Bearing Company and linked to the three-story sanitarium hotel. It opened on December 1, 1928.

Dr. Cunningham chose to build the sanitarium at 18485 Lake Shore Boulevard near East 185th Street. The site, along the shore of Lake Erie, was chosen for its aesthetics. Dr. Cunningham believed that he could treat cancer and diabetes with hyperbaric medicine.

Dr. Cunningham sold the site to James Rand Jr., son of one of the cofounders of Remington Rand and protégé of Cunningham, in 1934. Rand reopened the buildings the following year as the Ohio Institute of Oxygen Therapy, making use of the unique facility. It did not last long and was soon turned into a general hospital under the name Boulevard Hospital. Financial problems led to its closure in 1937 and the site lay dormant until it was bought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. The Cunningham Sanitarium building was razed on March 31, 1942 and the steel was used in the war effort. In 1950 the ground on which the sphere stood was turned into a school, St. Joseph High School, now the Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School. The main building was used as a hospital, Catholic Youth Organization headquarters and orphanage before becoming the St. Joseph Christian Life Center. This building was razed in 2010 and the property is used for green space by the Hospice of the Western Reserve, which owns the land.

References

Buildings and structures in Cleveland
Demolished buildings and structures in Ohio
Buildings and structures demolished in 2010

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In his article "The realism" contained in A Companion to Ethics (Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1991, 1993) , organised by Peter Singer, professor Michael Smith divides the descriptivist theories into three classes: realism, irrealism and nihilism.
(Michael Smith, Realism, in A Companion to Ethics, page 402, Blackwell Publishers).
Bracketing the confusing definition of nihilism exposed above, the confusion of Smith begins with the incapacity on applying the principle of excluded middle: so, according to the principle of excluded middle, on ontological level, the theories are realism or no realism, i.e., irrealism. Thus, nihilism is or a version of realism or a verson of irrealism. There is no other possibility out of this dilemma.
Nihilism has two senses: on ontological level, is the theory of nothing, that denies the existence of values and, thus, is the same as irrealism; on eidological level, is a realistic version, is the theory that sustains the non-differentiation on values, i.e., all values are worth the same (example: «being selfish or being selfless is the same, or being a murderer or being a peaceful and homest person is the same») or that their hierarchy is unknowable to us.
«This, the psychological counterpart to irrealism, is called "non-cognitivism" (There are different versions of irrealism: e.g emotivism, prescriptivism and projectivism.)».
That is another error. Pescritivism is not confined to irrealism, there can be a realistic prescriptivism: the ideology of universal human rights is a prescriptivism, since establishes that freedoms of conscience, of anyone dispose of his body without suffering murder, mutilation, torture or humiliation are real and must be respected by all and in all human beings. Why is prescriptivism an irrealism? Smith doesn't explain that, since he doesn´t see clearly on that matter.
And why is emotivism an irrealistic theory? Emotivism is the theory that emotions are the base, the source of moral facts: these emotions can be considered real, and thus you have a realistic emotivism, or can be considered illusory and thus we have an irrealistic emotivism.
The same critic is applied to projectivism, the theory that moral values are projections from one or infinite human mind: there can be a realistic projectivism, if moral value are in fact in internal human nature and transposed by projection to physical and social acts, and an irrealistic projectivism, if moral values do not exist as internal stable realities in human soul.
There is no doubt that the greatest academic authorities in ethics currently– Peter Singer, Jonathan Dancy, Michael Smith, Richard M.Hare, etc – are theoretically poor since they don't possess a dialectical thought and commit such errors we bring to light. And this sad reality echoed in hundreds of thousand of teachers of philosophy in all the world.
In his article "The universal prescriptivism" contained in A Companion to Ethics, organised by Peter Singer, Richard M. Hare divides the descriptivist theories in three branches: naturalism, intuitionism and subjectivism.
«Descriptivistic theories can be divided broadly into naturalism and intuitionism. Both terms can be misleading, but they will serve. The dispute between these is about wheter or not the true-conditions or moral judgements, which according to descriptivism give them their meaning are to be determined by definitions (or, more loosely, explanations of meaning) which refer only to non-moral truth or properties. Naturalists think that this is possible: intuitionists, by contrast, think that no such definitions or explanations can capture the meanings of the moral words.» (R.M.Hare, Universal Prescriptivism, in A Companion to Ethics, pages 452-453, Blackwell Publishers; the bold is added by us).
«One further kind of descritiptivism may be mentionated here, namely subjetivism.» (R.M. Hare, ibid, page 454).
It is evident that R.M. Hare commits a theoretic error by lack of a dialectical thought.
This division should suppose that the three theories would be species of the same genus but they are not. Naturalism is opposed to no naturalism, not to intuitionism. Naturalism concerns to nature, an ontological region, but intuitionism concerns to a form of human knowledge, to the subject. What Hare means by intuitionism should be called supernaturalism or metaphisicism, i mean, a region beyond physical nature. This error had been already commited by George Moore, in his ethical theory.
The greatest error of Hare is to put at the same level subjectivism, naturalism and intuitionism: subjectivism is not necessarily extrinsic to naturalism, there can exist a naturalistic subjectivism (for example: a man considers the birds as gods and try to preserve bio nature as the good ethics) as it can exist a naturalistic objectivism (for example: war and murder are, in general, bad actions because they produce suffering and horror to many people).
On the other side, subjectivism – a sociological concept – is partially incorporated in intuitionism – an epistemological concept. They are not extrinsic necessarily. For example: a person who considers, by intuition, that the «secret esoteric centre of the world is Cibele ´s square in Madrid» is a subjectivist intuitionist.
So, R. M.Hare, this celebrity in ethics, on writing the article studied here, could not think in a dialectical way, and did not rank correctly the genus and species.
«Form of utilitarianism which abandons the attempt to measure utility in terms of the extent or duration or causes of happiness, and measures instead the satisfaction of desires or preferences. There are questions about which preferences should count, and whether intensity of desire is an independent factor.» (Simon Blackburn, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, page 289,Oxford press, 2005).
Simon Blackburn accepts this theorist mistake, with his uncritical regard. The so called "preference-utilitarianism", supposedly discovered in the 20th century by the new ethical theorist, is already contained in the concept of utilitarianism of Stuart Mill. Because Mill emphasized that it is not the number of persons which counts in evaluation of utilitarianistic action but also the quality of the matter.
For example, if German Army is fighting against English Army, what is the correct utilitarianistic position? There is not only one correct position, but two, at least. The commandant of English Army will try to preserve life of the greatest number of English soldiers without loosing the war or the positions and the commandant of the German Army will have a similar behaviour in favour of German soldiers.
If both commandants apply the principles of Mill ´s utilitarianism, each one will choose his preference: English people or German People. Utilitarianism, as Mill defined it, is already a preference-utilitarianism. But Peter Singer, Simon Blackburn, Michael Smith, and many other academic did not meditate this: they could not exceed the clouds of theorist confusion.
«Phenomenology A term that emerged in the 18th century, in the writings of Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-77) and Kant to denote the description of consciousness of its intentional content (see INTENTIONALITY). In Hegel, phenomenology is instead the historical enquiry into the evolution of self-consciousness, developing from elementary sense experience to fully rational, free, thought processes capable of yielding knowledge. The term in the 20th century is associated with the work and school of Husserl. Following Brentano, Husserl realized that intentionality was the distinctive mark of consciousness, and saw in it a concept capable of overcoming traditional mind-body dualism. The study of consciousness, therefore, maintains two sides: a conscious experience can be regarded as an element in a stream of consciousness, but also as a representative of one aspect or "profile" of an object. In spite of Husserl ´s rejection of dualism, his belief that there is a subject-matter remaining after "epoché" or bracketing of the content of experience, associates him with the priority accorded to elementary experiences in the parallel doctrine of phenomenalism., and phenomenology has partly suffered from the eclipse of that approach to problems of approach to problems of experience and reality. However, later phenomenologists, such as Merleau-Ponty, do full justice to the world-involving nature of experience. In a different usage, the phenomenology of a subject (such as religion) is the study of what it means to pursue a particular form of life, regardless of whether anything that is said in following it out is true or false.» (Simon Blackburn, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, page 275, Oxford press, 2005).
Let´ s explain two fundamental critics to the content of this article. First, opposite to the speech of Blackburn, Husserl does not reject dualism: he, just like Descartes, suspends the existence of external world, characterized by continuous changes and movement, to "photograph" the quiet essences of things. The rejection of dualism is merely instantaneous, not definitive, in Descartes as in Husserl.
Second, phenomenology is not characterized in this article on ontological level by Simon Blackburn: in fact, despite the ignorance of Blackburn, phenomenology is placed between realism and idealism, is the third ontological position, as Heidegger postulated. This is not theorized by Blackburn in the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy and in any of his books (at least to my knowledge).
I sustain that phenomenology is phenomenalism added or distorted with a metaphysical description in some aspects. Blackburn seems to be absolutely ignorant about this. He has lack of theorist visualization as many academics of the so called "Analytic philosophy" – only some confused minds sustain that «analytic philosophy» is clearer than «continental philosophy». The term analytic has not magic proprieties. The analysis is not only a question of internal coherence of concepts and propositions but is also a question of external correct reference to ideal or material objects.


We established our business in 2009 after graduating from the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology and have since focused our efforts on creating an easily accessible resource for everyday folks to attain uniquely designed home decor as well as custom pieces.
We found a great industrial building in downtown Rochester that was just the place for us to set up shop, and built the equipment in our studio from the ground up.
In January 2016 we moved our house and studio 850 miles away from the industrial surround of Rochester New York and to the rolling hills of southern Illinois. The new location has given us more studio space, brought us closer to family and expanded our ability to attend art shows that were previously too far away.
Currently, our spare time is spent fixing up the pole barn home that we purchased here in southern IL. During the spring and summer months we maintain our 4,200sqft garden, can excess vegetables and make lots of jellies. We have enjoyed raising five chickens this year for the first time. Our future aspirations include opening a small gift shop at the top of our property and learning the craft of brewing beer. So stay tuned!


The Firebaugh Police Departments strive for Excellence.
Our Police team is dedicated to our community by contributing to its safety by maintaining and enforcing the laws ensuring a safe and better community.
Firebaugh PAL is excited to announce sign-ups for the 2017 Girls Softball season. Sign-ups dates are January 21st, 10am-1pm; January 29th, 11am-3pm; and February 4th, 10am-1pm at the Firebaugh Police Department Training Room (1575 11th Street). Cost per player $45, young ladies ages from 5 to 12 are encourage to sign-up. For additional information please click here or visit the Firebaugh PAL Facebook page.


Answer: Rice is a starchy grain, so it's not keto-friendly.
Rice is an integral part of many cuisines worldwide. It's affordable, easy to cook, and available in every grocery store. It's an ingredient in many dishes like sushi, rice pudding, and stuffed grape leaves.
Unfortunately, rice isn't compatible with keto. A single cup of rice contains nearly 45 g of carbs. One cup is less than what you'd get as a side dish in a Chinese restaurant. Rice is very easy to overeat, as you can only have a couple of spoonfuls to keep under your carb limit for the day, so it's best to avoid it.
So many dishes feature rice that it can be a challenge to eliminate it from your diet. A great substitute is riced cauliflower. Buy it whole and grate it yourself or purchase it already grated, or "riced." Cooked cauliflower can replace rice in most dishes since it has such a light flavor. Another option is Miracle Rice. It's a zero-carb rice substitute made from glucomannan, a natural dietary fiber.


Holbrook Studio Ltd is a creative consultancy working primarily with clients in the UK and Europe.
Established for 30 years the company has a strong track record in the market place and a diverse client base covering both fashion and home.
We work closely with our clients on a personal basis, advising on: colour, fabrics, trend direction, display, advertising, brand development, merchandising and strategic planning. We like to think of ourselves as an extension of our clients' business, using creativity to help them achieve business success and a competitive advantage.


One of Australia's largest superannuation funds Australian Super, with millions of members was looking for help to optimise their chatbot capability. They wanted to improve their customer experience in the chat by ensuring readily available information was provided by the chatbot, thereby freeing up people to focus on solving complex customer queries.
A smarter way to work Help all staff find, connect and collaborate through a centralised platform managing every aspect of their working day. We worked with Australia's top financial bank to create a mobile digital assistant. For MVP, we focused on approvals and expanded the concept as we iterated.