Tip # 8: Watch Films and Read Literature Set in the Destination Country.

One of the things that has enhanced my travel experience the most has been reading novels set in my destination country in advance, on the way to, and while I was in the country.

I highly recommend you indulge in literature that teaches history as well as some contemporary culture. Also, I
enjoy indulging in films set in the destination country.

A novel about a young American living in Paris is what inspired me to study in France my junior year of college.

Some personal examples are: before going to Viet Nam recently, I read The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, and later I rented the film. While near the Chinese border in northern Viet Nam, I read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. It’s an intriguing tale of the struggles and prosperity of a rice Farmer living in China during the pre-revolutionary period. As we rode through the rice fields of Viet Nam, I felt I was a part of the farmer’s world. Touring around Saigon, I saw all the landmarks that were featured in The Quiet American.

On the way to Japan, I read Gary Katzenstein’s Funny Business: an Outsiders Year in Japan. He provides an entertaining tale of his experience blundering through a foreign culture working for a Japanese company headquartered in Tokyo.

Before traveling to India, I rented several Indian films including Veer Zaara, Water, Earth, and Monsoon Wedding. On the way to and while in India, I read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Although the lifestyles of many of the characters were very foreign to me, I felt I could relate to them, because I saw them all while in India, from the monkey man, to the struggling housewife, to the outcastes living on the edges of society in tents, to the beggars in the streets etc.

In short, consuming literature and films set in the destination country enhance my total travel experiences.

Outsourcing-Philippines is Fastest Growing Worldwide

A friend of mine from business school, Steve Leof, posted this article about outsourcing trends to his blog : http://leof.wordpress.com/author/leof/

Outsourcing to the Philippines: fastest growing in the world 12/19/08

YES YOU read it right. The level of outsourcing to the Philippines is growing faster than in any other country, according to the Global Outsourcing Statistics Report released last December 15 by oDesk, the leading marketplace for online workteams for employers outsourcing technology jobs to certified, freelance developers and programmers.

The report also states that the Philippines remains a popular destination for outsourcing work. Other popular countries include the U.S., India, Pakistan, Canada, Ukraine, and Russia.

The bulk of the outsourcing jobs received by the Philippines is in the Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) sector. This includes data entry and virtual assistants. India’s largest work category, on the other hand, is in the software and web development field.

The report also divulged that the Philippines’ average feedback rating surpassed the oDesk average for the first time. The U.S. has the highest average feedback rating and the greatest number of providers.
Here are statistics from the report:

CANADA
Total Number of Providers: 3,581
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $19.60
Average Feedback Score: 4.32 (out of 5.00)

INDIA
Total Number of Providers: 27,454
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $12.52
Average Feedback Score: 4.01

PAKISTAN
Total Number of Providers: 5,960
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $11.13
Average Feedback Score: 4.36

PHILIPPINES
Total Number of Providers: 17,213
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $6.33
Average Feedback Score: 4.30

RUSSIA
Total Number of Providers: 2,721
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $16.86
Average Feedback Score: 4.31

UKRAINE
Total Number of Providers: 2,929
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $15.96
Average Feedback Score: 4.36

USA
Total Number of Providers: 52,637
Average Hourly Rate Charge: $18.32
Average Feedback Score: 4.40

Noticed something? The Philippines has the lowest average hourly rate charge. Good work at cheaper rates—no wonder it is so popular.

English Is Challenging

Here is a thought provoking, fun, interactive exercise that demonstrates how challenging English can be. It is written by Mary Beth Marino, The Writing Editor.

It’s time for a good laugh! A belly shaking, rolling on the floor laugh…AND an English lesson to boot! My love affair with words was nourished by an email that was sent to me by a friend. It challenges the English language while giving a good laugh and marvels the astonishment about how things get to be what they are and why. Curious? Read on.

I love English

Can you read these right the first time?
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Overseas Travel Tip # 5-Pack Small, Pack Wisely

from my blog-One of the more tangible ways you can minimize stress of overseas travel is by eliminating the need to check luggage. Because of all the uncertainties surrounding travel logistics including weather, flight delays, missed connections, and changing airport security regulations, the odds are, you will eventually encounter headaches over checked luggage.

By adhering to the carry-on only rule, you will save time during departure and arrival, and importantly, you will rest assured you have all the items you need in your rollerboard bag.

For the travel savvy, here is the rule of thumb: if you are staying for one week or less time, you can pack everything into one carry on wheeled bag.

Here are some guidelines that will help you with the discipline of bringing only carry-on luggage:

1. Plan Ahead. Create a master checklist (see next chapter). Envision how you will spend each day during your trip and plan accordingly. If possible, a layout all of your items two days before travel. For clothing packing, many experts suggest that once you have all your items laid out, then, take away half of them. For long trips, I write down what item I will wear each day/event.

2. Choose a Single, Neutral Color Scheme. Build your wardrobe, using items in black, navy, tan, or khaki. Add color and variety to your look with accessories (scarves, belts, costume jewelry, ties, brooches etc.)

3. Pack Compactly. Fold and roll each clothing item. Seal each one into a clear plastic bag. This will help you to glance easily without unpacking. Packing cubes and envelopes and vacuum bags are especially helpful for long trips. Browse your nearest luggage retailer for practical packing solutions.

4. Look Your Best During Travel. Because people do judge a book by its cover, always look your best and most professional while traveling. You will receive better treatment and even avail yourself to upgrades if you look the part. It also helps with networking when you dress to project the image you'd like to convey.

5. Pack to Dress in Layers. Where sleeveless or short sleeves under your jacket on travel day. You will want to remove your jacket so you can sleep lighter on the flight. Pack light weight, shirts, T-shirts, and turtlenecks. They pack easily, and they dry overnight when you do hand laundry in your hotel room.

6. Pack an Empty Duffel Bag, Just in Case

World's Happiest Places

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World.-- That is the latest book written by Eric Weidner, whom I saw at this year’s book festival in Miami. His work is a culmination of the study of happiness around the globe and actual visits to worldwide destinations long considered to produce the happiest citizens.

Here is a Forbes article about the notion of happiness around the world and a mention of Weidner’s book.

Chasing Happiness
Hana R. Alberts, 04.23.08, 7:30 PM ET Forbes.com
"Taking all things together on a scale of one to 10, how happy would you say you are?" With that question and global surveys, the folks at the World Database of Happiness* have ranked 95 nations on a happiness scale.

Switzerland's citizens closely trail the Danish, each reporting an average happiness level of 8.1 (out of 10), followed by Iceland (7.8), Finland (7.7), Australia (7.7) and Sweden (7.7), all the way down to grim Moldova (3.5).

While the Netherlands ranks only 15th on the list of the world's happiest countries, its industrial capital, Rotterdam, is home to the database, housed at Erasmus University. Its director, Ruut Veenhoven, has made his life's work researching which nations are home to the happiest citizens.

Veenhoven's research shows that Scandinavian nations come out on top, making up five of the 13 happiest nations. Denmark tops the list as a whole--its citizens rank their average happiness as 8.2 on a 10-point scale.

Inspired by Veenhoven's rankings, former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio (and self-proclaimed grouch) Eric Weiner embarked on a quest to visit the happiest places on earth. In his book The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, Weiner immerses himself in the cultural fabric of the world's happiest countries to pinpoint exactly why residents of some countries, like Iceland and Switzerland, are so downright satisfied with their lives.

The Swiss, Weiner discovered, are efficient and punctual, comparatively wealthy and face hardly any unemployment. Their streets, air and tap water are squeaky clean and chocolate is a national obsession. But Weiner saw no joy in their faces, and reasoned that perhaps it's better to live in this middle range than to vacillate between gleeful moments of elation and gut-wrenching spates of despair. Swiss happiness, he writes, is "more than mere contentment, but less than full-on joy."
Because the country is dark and cold, Weiner was initially skeptical about Iceland's ranking as the fourth-happiest nation in the world. He learned the small nation is quite literally a family; curiously, geneticists have found that all Icelandic citizens are related.

Certain phrases in the Icelandic language, Weiner writes, are even more telling. When people greet each other, the phrase they use roughly translates to "come happy," and when people part, they utter the equivalent of "go happy." The country is a favorite stamping ground of artists and cultivates a creative spirit; the government supports writers with generous subsidies.

To provide a stark contrast to Iceland and Switzerland, Weiner visited Moldova. The citizens of this former Soviet republic, according to database figures, rate their happiness at 3.5. The nation, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, had been relatively prosperous, but since the fall of the Berlin wall, per-capita income has fallen to only $880 per year.

But it's not just about money. Nigeria and Bangladesh are poorer and happier, Weiner points out, but Moldova compares itself to Italy and Germany. The country also lacks a distinct culture and any semblance of national pride. Government officials even speak Russian--the language of their oppressors for much of the last century.

So just how does the United States fit into this picture? "Happiness is there for the taking in America," Weiner writes. "You just need the willpower to find it, and enough cash." The surprising fact, though, is that America is not as happy--scoring 7.3 and ranking 17th in the database--as it is wealthy. U.S. residents are three times richer than they were in 1950, but the happiness ratings haven't shifted in the past decade. After Sept. 11, researchers found no significant decrease in measured levels of happiness.
"Americans work longer hours and commute greater distances than virtually any other people in the world," Weiner writes, but "they remain profoundly optimistic." Two-thirds of Americans say they are hopeful about the future.

Can we predict happiness based on a country's collective "personality"? Not quite. So far, the data reveal national happiness doesn't predictably track average income, type of government--democracy versus dictatorship--or even warm climate.
So with Moldova at the bottom of the happiness ratings are former Soviet republics Belarus, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, alongside such troubled African nations as Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

Thus, while wealth doesn't seem to generate happiness, extreme poverty is more likely to produce the opposite.
It's comforting, though, that most people in the world report being satisfied with their lives. "Virtually every country in the world scores somewhere between five and eight on a 10-point scale," Weiner writes. "There are a few exceptions." So while, admittedly, those Scandinavians have it pretty good, the rest of us aren't too far behind. And that's something to be happy about.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/23/happiness-world-index-oped-cx_hra_0423happy_print.html


*PS Here is the study’s (World Database of Happiness) rankings of the 13 happiest:
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Finland
6. Australia
7. Sweden
8. Canada
9. Guatemala
10. Luxembourg
11. Ireland
12. Mexico
13. Norway

Pilgrimage to Mecca-Hajj

MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- More than 2 million Muslims descended on Saudi Arabia during the weekend to perform the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Devout Muslims regard the journey, also known as the ancient ritual of the hajj, as the spiritual pinnacle of a devout Muslim's life, The Los Angeles Times said.

Controversy erupted this year over the participation of Muslims from the Gaza Strip with thousands of would-be pilgrims unable to travel to Mecca because of the power struggle between rival Palestinian factions over who had the right to distribute visas to visit Saudi Arabia.

The hajj is one of the five "pillars," or basic requirements, of Islam. The others are belief in one God and in Muhammad as his final messenger; prayer five times a day; Zakat, a form of tithing to the needy, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, if physically able.

China Bans Lip Synching From High Profile Event

China has banned lip-synching from the nation's biggest TV show, held to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The broadcasting regulator has ordered organizers to pick "real" singers and songs with "healthy" lyrics.

The CCTV Spring Festival Gala attracts hundreds of millions of viewers with comedy sketches and patriotic-themed song-and-dance routines.
China was embarrassed by a lip-synching child who performed at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Officials decided that the actual singer, a seven-year-old with crooked teeth, wasn't pretty enough to be put on view.

Instead a nine-year-old girl who was deemed to look more suitable mouthed along to a recording, charming a worldwide audience and earning the title of China's "smiling angel".
That was not the first time lip-synching had made the headlines in China.
At last year's Spring Festival Gala, actress Zhang Ziyi was criticised for miming her way through her performance in the patriotic, star-studded TV extravaganza.
This year, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued an order on its website to "Choose performers with real singing ability."
The announcement follows last month's news reports that the Ministry of Culture would revoke the licences of professional performers who are caught lip-synching it twice during a two-year period.

BBC News 12/4/08 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7765580.stm

2010 Diversity US Visa Lottery Ends Today

2010 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Opened October 2, 2008
and the registration period ended December 1, 2008.

Here is an article that covers details:

Washington — The 2010 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2010) will be held from October 2 to December 1, 2008, the U.S. State Department announced. Applicants are urged not to wait until the last minute to apply because excessive demand on the lottery Web site may cause delays as the deadline nears.

Each year the U.S. government makes 50,000 permanent residence visas (“green cards”) available through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. Visa applicants are selected through a computer-generated, random lottery, which is open to persons from eligible countries who meet certain education or work experience requirements. (See “Diversity Visa Applicants Must Meet Eligibility Requirements.”)

Persons seeking to enter the visa lottery must register online through the designated Web site (www.dvlottery.state.gov). Applications will be accepted only from noon Eastern Daylight Time (1600 GMT) on Thursday, October 2, to noon Eastern Standard Time (1700 GMT) on Monday, December 1, 2008. No applications will be accepted after that, the State Department said September 30.

The selection of a person’s name in the lottery does not automatically guarantee that a diversity visa will be issued; those who are selected have the opportunity to take the next steps in the visa application process.

The State Department’s Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, will notify the lottery winners by postal mail (not e-mail) between May and July 2009. The applicants will receive instructions on how to complete the application process for DV-2010 visas, which will be issued during fiscal year 2010 (October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010).

This lottery is only for DV-2010 visas. The DV-2009 lottery — which was for visas to be issued in fiscal year 2009 — is closed. Winners were selected from more than 9 million qualified entries and were notified by mail earlier in 2008.

Diversity visas are available only to people from eligible countries with low immigration rates to the United States. Two important changes for DV-2010 are the return of Russia to the list of eligible countries and the addition of Kosovo.

Natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2010 lottery because those nations sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
People born in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible to apply.

In the DV-2010 lottery, for the first time, applicants may check the status of their entries online and learn whether their entries are selected or not selected.

There is no fee for entering the lottery or downloading and completing the application form. The State Department warns applicants to be wary of fraudulent schemes asking for money, fraudulent e-mails, or Web sites posing as official U.S. government sites. Each person may enter the lottery only once; spouses may each submit an application.
The English-language version of the DV-2010 Lottery instructions is the only official version, according to the State Department. Instructions will be available in other languages (on the instructions page) as translations become available.

The announcement on the DV-2010 Diversity Visa Lottery and instructions for submitting the application online are available on the State Department Web site.

Results of the DV-2009 visa lottery are available on the State Department Web site.

National American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated every November

http://amlife.america.gov/amlife/diversity/american-indian-heritage-month.html

Washington — Each November, National American Indian Heritage Month pays tribute to the legacy of the American Indians and Alaska Natives — the first Americans — and celebrates their enduring contributions to the history and culture of the United States.
Today, there are nearly 5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, or 1.6 percent of the total population, and this is expected to jump to 8.6 million, or 2 percent of the population, by 2050.

Most American Indians live in metropolitan areas and not on the 227,000 square kilometers of land held in trust for reservations. The states with the highest percentage of American Indians and Alaska Natives are Alaska (18 percent of its population), Oklahoma (11 percent) and New Mexico (10 percent).

There are 562 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States. The largest, by far, are the Cherokee and Navajo nations, according to the 2000 U.S. census.
Navajo is the most widely spoken American Indian language, and almost one-fourth of Navajos speak a language other than English at home — the highest percentage of all tribes. Unfortunately, only one-half of the 300 or so native languages once spoken in North America still have any living speakers. (See “Navajo Textbook Aims to Preserve Language, Culture.”)
A recent study by the public opinion research organization Public Agenda found that non-Indians have little knowledge of the active, vibrant culture of American Indians today. There was a consensus among both Indians and non-Indians in the study about the need for more education on American Indian history and culture. (See “American Indians Seek Greater Understanding, Recognition.”)

The first U.S. state to set aside a day to recognize the importance of American Indians in the nation’s history was New York, in 1916. National American Indian Heritage Month was first designated in 1990 under a joint congressional resolution approved by President George H. W. Bush, the current president’s father.
Each year, the sitting president issues a proclamation, as did President George W. Bush this year.

THE CREATION OF AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE MONTH
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs provides some background on what has become an annual celebration of the culture and contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the United States has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.

One of the very early proponents of an American Indian Day was Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N ew York. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “First Americans” and for three years they adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kansas, formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Reverend Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call on the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on September 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens.

The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a national day being proclaimed.

The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by New York Governor Charles S. Whitman. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Several states designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day observed without any recognition as a national legal holiday.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations have been issued each year since 1994.

See the U.S. Census Bureau Web site for a fact sheet on American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month and additional data on the American Indian and Alaska Native population.
Both the U.S. Library of Congress and the National Park Service have Web pages devoted to American Indian Heritage Month. The Library of Congress Veterans History Project includes a guide to American Indian and Alaska Native military veterans and interviews with former Navajo “code talkers” Keith Little and Merril Sandoval.

For more information, see “American Indian History, Culture” on America.gov and the Web site of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin lists numerous information resources on Native Americans.

November 2008 Fact Sheet from US Census Bureau in PDF: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/012782.html

I am deeply saddened by India’s terrorist attacks.

I stayed at both the Taj Majal AND The Taj Palace hotels in Delhi (September 2007) and felt perfectly secure and pampered. I cannot imagine hiding in my room and surviving off the minibar while explosions and fires rage outside. These events will no doubt have a negative impact on travel and tourism.

I pray for the families who lost loved ones. I pray for peace and conflict resolution in troubled parts of the world.

Obama Family Gave Out Thanksgiving Food at my Grade School, St Columbanus, Today

President-elect Barack Obama and his family spent an hour handing out chickens, potatoes, bread and other Thanksgiving food to poor families on Chicago's South Side Wednesday morning after Obama introduced his latest economic advisors. Then he shook hands with Catholic grade school students ecstatic to see him.
Many of the poor and homeless -- some of whom come for food every Wednesday -- screamed in disbelief as they entered the parking lot of St. Columbanus church at 71st and Calumet Drive and realized the reason they had been wanded by the U.S. Secret Service was because Obama, his wife and daughters, were standing there ready to pass out the food usually handed out by volunteers.
"At Thanksgiving, it's important for us to remember people in need," Obama said. "They told me the number of people coming here is up 33 percent from last year."
About 600 families got food, said Kate Maehr, executive director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. That's up from 270 families last year, said the Rev. Matt Eyerman.
This is the fourth year in a row Obama has handed out food before Thanksgiving. Last year, he did it in New Hampshire.
"We started seeing increases as early as last year January," Maehr said. "In April, we started seeing double-digit increases.
"Happy Thanksgiving -- hey, don't forget your chicken," Obama said after hugging one woman who screamed when she saw him. Declining to give an autograph, he said, "If I sign autographs, I can't pass out my chickens."


Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 , stood beside their father also handing out food in the 43-degree weather beneath the elaborate 99-year-old stained glass windows of St. Columbanus church. Obama wore a leather jacket while Michelle and the girls were bundled in winter coats and hats.
Obama said it was important to bring his daughters because, "I want them to know how fortunate they are and that they have to give back," Obama said.
As he finished handing out the chickens, Obama turned and looked up at the windows of St. Columbanus School where the pre-K through 8th graders were furiously waving and screaming from their second- and third-floor windows, their screams barely audible through the closed windows.
"Hey Michelle, look," he pointed as she waved back.
"We've got to go in there and say 'hi' to those kids," he told his wife, much to the chagrin of the Secret Service, which frowns on spontaneity.
The Secret Service asked school officials to bring the school's 300 students down to the assembly hall.
"Secret Service for Barack Obama said we'd better gather the children quickly. It was like a fire drill. They said, 'can they make it down in five minutes?'" Eyerman said. "For Barack Obama, they could make it down in five minutes."


The enthusiasm was off the charts as Obama entered the room and attempted to shake hands with the children as young as five and pre-Kindergarten. Some grabbed onto his leather jacket sleeves and would not let go, trying to climb up in his arms.
"I just wanted to come by and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving," Obama said. "What I'm thankful for is my family, my friends, my community."
He asked the kids who would be having turkey and macaroni and cheese. Prompted by Michelle, he asked, "Who's getting good grades?"
"Listen to your teachers," Obama said. "One of you might end up being president."


"Who likes math?" Obama asked the students. His daughter Malia did not raise her hand until her mom gave her a playful slap and she raised her hand.
Obama took two questions from the kids. One asked what it was like to be president.
"I'm not the president yet ... once I'm president I'll let you know what its like," he said.
A girl asked him what it was like to have so many people following him.
Obama said he appreciated the members of the Secret Service and the press who he said were missing spending time with their families so they could accompany him.
He and Michelle jokingly asked members of the Secret Service to identify themselves by raising their hands. They did not.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1300994,Obama-food-pantry-112608.article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/26/obama-familys-thanksgivin_n_146725.html

Kimchi For the Soul in Seoul

Here is a great shot of 2200 volunteers making Kimchi for the poor in Seoul, Korea.

Here is the accompanying text:

Volunteers make kimchi, traditional pungent vegetable, to donate to needy neighbors for winter preparation in front of the Seoul City Hall Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. About 2,200 housewives made 130 tons (117 metric tons) of kimchi. Made with cabbage, other vegetables and chili sauce, kimchi is the most popular traditional food in Korea.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Beauty Around The World

Oprah did an eye-opening show focusing of concepts of women’s beauty around the world.
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081024_tows_beauty/1

Cultures that were featured included France, Oman, Brazil, Iran, Burma (Kayan), Japan, New Zealand (Maori), Indonesia, Ethiopia, India, and Mauritania. Topics included diets, tatoos, stomach flatteners, lingerie, skin whiteners, hair extenstions, plastic surgery, skin softeners, nose jobs, and over-eating to get fat.

The underlying messages were that:

1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholding culture. In Mauritania, bigger is better and fat is beautiful. Even stretch marks are beautiful. Diets are non-existent and no diet products are available. The downside is that girls are routinely force-fed starchy foods (till they vomit) in order to fatten them up to attract a husband. The high obesity rate there causes lots of medical problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Some women consume black market pills created to increase the appetite of camels and cows. But, the women don’t have the same poor body image issues as women in Europe and the Americas who kill themselves to be thin. Being divorced also heightens a woman’s appeal because it proves she is desired by other men.

Regarding Mauritania’s love of plump women, Oprah sang, there’s a place for us….

2. Women, all over the world are willing to go to great lengths (even risking death) to live up to their culture’s beauty standards. Plastic surgery is becoming increasingly more common all over the world. Who knew that Brazil had the second largest plastic surgery volume; and that even in Muslim Iran, where women are covered from head-to-toe, nose jobs are very common. Nose jobs are so common in Iran (60,000 per year) that wearing a nose job band-aid is a status symbol worn by women years after the actual surgery and by women who have never had the surgery.

A survey conducted by Dove reveals that 90% of women around the world wish to change some aspect of their bodies. Too bad women can't be more like men who are generally comfortable in their bodies.

How do different religions define death?

Religions have updated their definitions of death since life support technology was invented. The verdict is still out in some cases. Here is an article discussing this matter:

A Washington, D.C., court will hear arguments on Wednesday in the case of Motl Brody, a 12-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy who was declared dead last week by hospital officials. Though the boy's brain has stopped functioning completely, drugs and a respirator are keeping his heart beating and his lungs inflating. According to his parents' strict religious beliefs, this means that Motl is still alive, and the family is therefore arguing to keep the boy on life support. How is death defined in other religions?

Usually, the same way it has traditionally been defined in all cultures: by a lack of vital signs. Most world religions lack a clear doctrinal statement that certifies when, exactly, the moment of death can be said to have occurred. For most of human history, there was no need for one since prior to the invention of life-support equipment, the absence of circulation or respiration was the only way to diagnose death. This remains the standard of death in most religions. By the early 1980s, however, the medical and legal community also began to adopt a second definition of death—the irreversible cessation of all brain functions—and some religious groups have updated their beliefs.

Jewish arguments both for and against accepting brain death can be found in the Talmud, the sprawling record of rabbinical discussions on law and ethics. Some strands of Talmudic law hold that those who have been decapitated or had their necks broken are considered dead, even if their bodies continue to move—an argument that many take as proof that total loss of brain function counts as death. Other scholars point to a section from the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Yoma, which states that if you come across a collapsed building on the Sabbath, you must uncover victims at least up to their noses to determine whether they are dead or alive, as "life manifests itself primarily through the nose as it is written: In whose nose was the breath of the spirit of life"—a reference to the Genesis story of the great flood. (For a longer discussion of the Jewish definition of death, see Chapter 12 in this book.)

Christians who ardently support the traditional circulatory-respiratory definition of death tend to be fundamentalists or evangelicals. They may point to Leviticus 17:11, which states that "the life of the flesh is in the blood," or Genesis 2:7, which describes how God "formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Most mainstream Protestant groups in the United States accept brain death as a valid criterion for death, as does the Roman Catholic Church, though that ruling is not without controversy.

In 1986, the Academy of Islamic Jurisprudence—a group of legal experts convened by the Organization of the Islamic Conference—issued an opinion stating that a person should be considered legally dead when either "complete cessation of the heart or respiration occurs" or "complete cessation of all functions of the brain occurs." In both cases, "expert physicians" must ascertain that the condition is irreversible. However, the academy's statement was merely a recommendation to member nations, not a binding resolution, and the question remains an open one for many Muslims.

In 2006, the family of a Buddhist man in Boston who had been declared legally brain-dead argued that, because his heart was still beating, his spirit and consciousness still lingered and that removing him from life support would be akin to killing him. In a Boston Globe article about the case, a professor of Buddhism explained that, within Tibetan Buddhism, a person has multiple levels of consciousness, which may or may not correspond with brain activity.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Courtney Campbell of Oregon State University, Fred Rosner of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Stuart Youngner of Case Western Reserve University.
Nina Shen Rastogi is a writer and editor in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2204242/
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Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

The Miami International Book Fair is Here This Week!

It is my favorite annual event and attracts hundreds of the best authors worldwide. Many consider it to be the best book festival in the US. So far, I have seen Cornell West, Tavis Smiley, Gore Vidal, and I plan to see Naomi Klein, Scott Mc Clellan, Carl Hiassen, Vernon Jordan, Salmon Rushtie, Dave Barry and many more.
Here is an article published in the Miami Herald:

Miami book fair speaks volumes about local passion for books
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI

The Miami Book Fair International, widely known as one of the biggest and best in the country if not the biggest and best, started out small. Really small. Or the idea behind it did: to borrow some folding tables and sell used books in Bayfront Park.

Had the beginning actually been that inauspicious, we wouldn't be talking now about the fair's 25th annual edition, which opens Sunday evening with headliners Cornel West and Tavis Smiley -- what timing! -- discussing race and America at Miami Dade College's downtown campus.
Nor would there be reason to ponder once again -- as fairgoers mob several blocks of downtown Miami, filling readings by authors celebrated and obscure, lining up for signings, snapping up books by the tens of thousands -- this annual riddle: How does a bookish event attain such success and longevity in a town better known, fairly or not, for sunburns and hangovers?

Go back to 1984.
As luck would have it, Eduardo Padrón, head of the downtown campus of what was then Miami-Dade Community College, which owned the tables, rejected the used-book sale.
Padrón invited the organizers, including a young bookseller named Mitchell Kaplan, to breakfast and nudged them to think big: How about a street fair like Barcelona's famed book festival, which he had just visited? Why not have it at the college? And why not invite authors to read, speak and sign and sell books? And why not make it fun for people not that into books?

`LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE'
Kaplan and his coterie needed no arm-twisting. Kaplan had been hosting authors at his tiny, literature-focused Books & Books in Coral Gables since its opening two years before. He was selling some serious books; he knew there were hungry readers in Miami.
''As in any car-culture city, people didn't know there were other like-minded people here,'' Kaplan, still the book fair's chairman, recalls. ``Eduardo Padrón threw the weight of the college behind this thing, at a time when people thought the only books being read here were nonprescription-drug books. I knew better, but there were few models for what we were doing.''
No one was prepared for what happened at that first fair.

Throngs of greedy book lovers materialized in the forbidding ghost city of downtown, lining up for readings -- sometimes having to shove their way in -- and buying books right and left. Organizers were shocked and giddy. So were the authors and the publishers Padrón and Kaplan had had to beg to come. Thus, the template for every future fair was set.

Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobelists, poets and historians, Kennedys and Watergate burglars, mystery writers and celebrity authors, movie stars and rock stars, satirists, cooks, cranks and critics -- even Barack Obama -- have appeared at the book fair, some of them more than once. Some can't seem to get enough of it. (I saw him in 2006!!)

''Year in and year out, the Miami book festival gets stronger and stronger,'' says journalist David Rieff, author of two books on Miami and a frequent fair guest. ``It now can compete with any literary fair in the world in getting anyone to come.

``This is an important place to go as a writer, to see other writers, to publicize your book, to get noticed. They've made it a place that writers want to be.
``One thing is the broadness of it. It's a very big tent. That's one of its great strengths.''
But something else happened along the way, too.
The discovery of a core of numerous local readers and, along with it, a small group of talented but virtually unknown home-grown writers with original voices and a potent sense of this peculiar place, began to nourish a new idea of South Florida as -- get this -- a literary place. And as the fair has grown in scope and prominence, so has the reputation of South Florida as a locus for literature.

James W. Hall, Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, among others, got their first broad exposure at the book fair. Since then, prominent poet Campbell McGrath has made South Florida his muse, and Russell Banks is living part time and finding inspiration in Miami. The city has also become home to Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat, who this year won the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Brother, I'm Dying, a family memoir.
All are fair stalwarts and will appear again this year, although Danticat only as an attendee because she is ``extremely pregnant.''

''If I'm not giving birth, I will be in the audience,'' she says with a laugh.
Miami's American Exotic continues to attract the carpetbaggers as well. Tom Wolfe is now famously at work fictionalizing the place, and Scotsman Irvine Welsh of Trainspotting fame has set his new crime novel in South Beach.
They've all come here for different reasons. But for 24 years, the fair and South Florida's flourishing literary community have nourished each other, and the fair is the annual homecoming dance.

`A LITERARY CENTER'
''The book fair has turned Miami from a town that was not all regarded as a literary center into one that very much is,'' says Les Standiford, one of those then undiscovered writers and now a bestselling fiction and nonfiction author as well as longtime director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida International University, which produced Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River.
''To me, it's certainly heartening to know that every year there is going to be this tremendous celebration of the act of reading and writing,'' he adds. ``It's a yearly pat on the back.''
And great business, too. It's the publishers, agents and writers who now plead for invitations. Fair administrators guesstimate that $2 million worth of books are sold during the weeklong event every year.
''My publicist is thrilled to death that I'll be at the book fair this year,'' says Standiford, whose new book, The Man Who Invented Christmas, tells how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol.
Rich as it is, the parade of literary stars is hardly the only factor contributing to the book fair's mass appeal.
From the start, organizers say, they followed the democratic mantra of ''something for everyone.'' Thus, next weekend's street fair, the ethnic-food booths, the celebrity authors, the cookbook authors, the musicians and TV actors, the occasional political figure, the popular and ever-expanding Children's Alley, and this year, a new program focusing on graphic novels and comics for children and adults.

And just as significant are programs in Spanish, French and Creole, which draw eminent authors from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, broadening the fair's audience and appeal.
''It's this extraordinary feast,'' Danticat says. 'This book fair has grown in terms of the organizers' vision of it. Part of it is the diversity of writers and the diversity of readers. Writers from all over the world come here, which is kind of singular, operating in all these different languages.''
Moreover, several authors attest, the fair is very well run. Crates of books are delivered on time to author appearances.

Squads of volunteers are deployed to pick up authors and ferry the stars around -- sometimes catering to their whims, as with the famed author who, Padrón recalls without naming names, demanded a particular brand of high-end Scotch at the dais.
A fair offshoot, the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, with a tiny staff, has become the umbrella organization managing the $2 million main event as well as a series of year-round programs. The center helps draw grant money to supplement income from food and book sales, admission fees, corporate sponsors, kiosk rents and substantial funding from the college and Miami-Dade County, among other public entities, says Executive Director Alina Interián. Padrón, now overall president of Miami Dade College, retains his office downtown and an active role in supporting the fair.

Not that there haven't been glitches and mishaps. When Leo Buscaglia, an author known as The Love Doctor, drew several times more people than could fit into the auditorium at an early fair, Padrón had to shout at unruly attendees to behave.
Rarely have there been serious disruptions, although the occasional audience member who refuses to surrender the microphone during questions is ejected. One eminent Talmudic scholar was befuddled when heckled from the back of the room by a Jews for Jesus zealot, Kaplan recalls.

Yet, crowd enthusiasm has led to magical, spontaneous moments. At the first of several fair appearances by radio host and author Garrison Keillor, someone asked him to sing something, and he led the packed auditorium in Tell Me Why.
Another time, Kaplan cringed as a young audience member addressed Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz this way: ''Yo, Czeslaw, you married?'' But Milosz responded that his wife had recently died, and he movingly read to the mesmerized crowd a new poem he had written for her.

''A lot of writers like to come here to the book fair because there is such an atmosphere about it,'' Danticat says. ``It's always a good surprise for writers who come here and see so many people interacting with books.''

IMPRESSIVE GUESTS
The experience can be especially gratifying -- and rewarding -- for lesser-known authors, humorist Dave Barry says.
'You can be sitting in the authors' lounge, some first-time writer, and in comes John Updike,'' he says, flipping through a copy of this year's fair guide, which prompts him to add: ``You'd be hard-pressed to find a collection of authors like this anywhere at any time.
``For a lot of first-time authors, it's the best experience they will have on tour.''
He should know. At the first fair, recalls book fair co-founder Raquel Roque, she was astonished to see a frenzied, overflow mob shove its way into a mid-size room when Barry's reading was announced over speakers in the street. He was then but a humor columnist at The Miami Herald with a small-press book to his credit.
''That's when I realized how big he was going to get,'' Roque says.
Barry, who has been to almost every fair, and possibly to every single one -- the record is not conclusive -- says those who claim that people in Miami don't read are proved wrong each November.

''We're not supposed to be that kind of town,'' he says. ``But the fair's not a fluke. People don't just come out for the big names. Even the people you never heard of, the little panels, reliably get people to come. You know the big auditorium, the Chapman room? They fill that thing over and over all day long. It's amazing.''

Oh, and the weather helps, too.

What Does Arab Mean?

What does Arab mean?

a. A nationality
b. A religion
c. A race
d. A geographical area

The answer is none of the above, really.

Arab is a culture. The three unifying features of the Arab world are language (Arabic), religion/law (Islam, Koran in Arabic) and geography (24 countries in Middle East and Africa). The term Arab refers to a culture that originated in Arabia and in the 7th century, expanded to include most of the Middle East and Northern Africa. Most Arabs practice Islam, the worlds 2nd largest and fastest growing religion. Not all Islamic nations are of the Arab world including: Turkey, Pakistan, Iran (Persians), Indonesia, Malaysia (60%) and Afghanistan. Not all Arabs are Muslims. For example, there are sizable numbers of Christians living in Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Malaysia, Sudan, and Lebanon. Of course, Israel is considered a Non-Arab nation in the Middle East that is largely Jewish with two distinct ethnic heritages: Shephardic (Mediterranean, Middle Eastern), and Ashkenazic (Eastern European).

Arabs make up less than 25% of the worlds Muslims. There are more Muslims in Indonesia, for example, than in all Arab countries combined. Large populations of Muslims also live in India, Iran, other parts of East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Islam has a strong Arab flavor, though, as the religion's holiest places are in the Middle East, and the Koran (Quran) was originally written in Arabic.

Finally, not all people from the Middle East are Arabs. The four main language groups in the Middle East are Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. Other significant language groups are Kurdish and Berber. Arabs are largest in terms of population.------------------

What about the Arabic language?
Arabic is the native language of 150 million people and the official language of 20 countries. It is one of the languages of the UN and it is tied with Bengali as the 4th most widely spoken language in the world.

Spoken Arabic is different from written Arabic. Written Arabic is Classical Arabic that is used for all writing, formal discussions, speeches, broadcasts, and most importantly The HOLY KORAN. Followers believe the Koran came directly from God so the language is sacred. More than most cultures, speakers of Arabic feel their language is superior to all others. Classical Arabic is prestigious, while Arabic dialects carry little prestige. To learn classical Arabic requires many more years of study than English. It is rich in vocabulary and grammatically complex.
Arabic is written in the 28-character Arabic alphabet. In Arabic, a character may change depending on its placement in the word or sentence. Arabic letters are connected like script. Fine writing is called calligraphy and is held in high regard and appreciated as an art form in the Arabic culture.

The spoken languages are Formal Arabic and Colloquial Arabic, which includes many dialects and subdialects. Some differ so much from one another that many are mutually unintelligible and they cannot be understand by outsiders. Like Chinese, all native users understand the written language while some dialects are not universally understood by other Chinese speakers.

Arab Americans
There are 1.2 million Arabs in the US. 850,000 Americans reported Arab ancestry in the 2000 census. Another 340,000 reported combined Arab and non-Arab ancestry
80% report they are White
46% were born in US
83% are US citizens
75% speak English at home and or very well
41% have bachelors or higher
They are multiracial: white black yellow
They are multiethnic: ie Persian, Indian Egyptian
They are multicultural: religion, language, food, dress, gender roles
The United States has, at different times, classified Arab immigrants as African, Asian, white, European or as belonging to a separate group. Most Arab Americans identify more closely with nationality than with ethnic group.------------------

Ethnicity of Arabs in the US:
Lebanese 29%
Egyptian 15%
Syrian 9%
Palestinian 7%
Jordanian 4%
Moroccan 3.6%
Iraqi 3.5%

Religion of Arabs in the US-The Majority are Christian
Catholic 35%, Muslim24%, Eastern Orthodox 18%, No affiliation 13%, Protestant 10%
The largest ethnic background of US Muslims is African American (47%) followed by South Asians (24%)
The largest Muslim populations worlwide live in 1) Indonesia, 2) Pakistan, and 3) India.-------------

Additional Notes
Before 1960, as many as 90 percent of Arab immigrants were Christians, but recent immigrants are mostly Muslim. There were several prominent sects within the Christian population: Maronite Christians from Lebanon, Coptic Christians from Egypt and Chaldeans from Iraq.The new immigrants settled in or near established Arab-American communities. The Detroit metropolitan region, especially Dearborn, attracted a steady stream of Arab immigrants after 1965 and may have the largest number of recent Arab immigrants. Most came from a variety of occupational backgrounds and found work in the auto industry or in other working-class employment, although not all Detroit Arabs sought such employment.---------------

Christian Chaldeans, an Iraqi minority in a Muslim country, were among the first to take advantage of the 1965 Immigration Act. About one thousand lived in Detroit before passage of the act. After 1965 their numbers increased, until by 1974 they accounted for approximately one-seventh of Detroit's estimated 70,000 Arab-Americans. They opened grocery stores and established a reputation in that business similar to that of Korean grocers. By 1972 the Chaldeans were running about 278 stores in Detroit, and assisting others in the United States. Another large Arab-American settlement in Brooklyn had attracted earlier Lebanese and Syrian migrations. Los Angeles lured many Coptic Christians from Egypt, part of the Egyptian immigrant wave after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.--------------

Some well-known Arab Americans are: Danny Thomas, Paula Abduul, Omar Sharif, Tony Shaluub, Paul Anka, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger; Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal; Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie; creators of radio's American Top 40 Casey Kasem and Don Bustany; Mothers Against Drunk Driving founder Candy Lightner; Jacques Nasser, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., and Helen Thomas, former dean of the White House press corps.

Bhutan Measures GDH-Gross Domestic Happiness

The nation of Bhutan, an insular society resists the momentum of globalization. It will be interesting to watch how long its new prince can preserve the old traditions and values while blocking out the influence from the outside world.

Here is an article highlighting Bhutan’s focus on its measure of success: Happiness.

New king vows to shield Bhutan in globalize world
THIMPHU (AFP) — Bhutan's new king vowed Friday to shield his remote and traditionally insular Himalayan nation from the negative forces of globalization.

In a speech the day after his lavish coronation ceremony, 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck said he would protect the landlocked country's unique culture and traditions by pursuing the principle of 'Gross National Happiness.'

"My deepest concern is that as the world changes we may lose these fundamental values on which we rest our character as a nation and people," King Wangchuck, now the world's youngest reigning monarch, said in a speech to tens of thousands of people.
"Henceforth, even as more dramatic changes transform the world and our nation, as long as we continue to pursue the simple and timeless goal of being good human beings... we can ensure that our future generations will live in happiness and peace," he said.

"That is the essence of Gross National Happiness. Our most important goal is the peace and happiness of our people and the security and sovereignty of our nation."

The crowning of the new king Thursday capped a year of sweeping changes for the country, which is sandwiched between Asian giants India and China but has never been colonized.
Bhutan held its first democratic elections for a new parliament and prime minister in March, as part of a plan by the former king to modernize the country by relinquishing the Wangchuck dynasty's absolute power.

The revered former king, who is 52, abdicated two years ago, saying he wanted to match the shift to democracy with a change of face in the white-walled palace that overlooks Thimpu.
The country, home to just over 600,000 people, is one of the most remote places on earth.
It had no roads or currency until the 1960s, allowed television only in 1999 and continues to resist the temptation of allowing mass tourism -- preferring instead to allow access to only small organized groups of well-heeled visitors.

Eloquence!

Eloquence!

President-Elect Barack Obama.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/obama-victory-speech_n_141194.html

The World Wants Obama to Win Because It Wants Change

Here is a moving presentation and song (World of Friends) featuring people from across the globe who hunger for change that Barack Obama can bring. It uses the metaphor of the bridge to convey how Obama will help to the US to build bridges with the rest of the world. Some countries included are Greece Hungary, China, Germany, Japan, Cambodia, Ireland, Thailand, Guatemala, Israel, Luxemburg, Egypt, Indonesia, and The Netherlands.

Bridges for Obama: American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions.
The Obama Song (World of Friends): Japan-based American musical artists created and performed this song to celebrate Sen. Obama's historic candidacy and to inspire us all to change the world.
See it here: http://blip.tv/file/1338283

Hope!

US couple values democracy and travels 9300 miles, in 22 hours, through four cities, (costing $5,000), to vote.

The New York times reports on a couple who traveled from India to New York to vote because their absentee ballots never arrived. Here is the article:

November 1, 2008
About New York
When Use It or Lose It Means Traveling 9,300 Miles to Vote
By JIM DWYER
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/nyregion/01about.html

Before she left for the Bangalore airport on Tuesday, Susan Scott-Ker checked the mail one final time.

Nothing.

For nearly a month, she and her husband had been waiting for their New York State absentee ballots to arrive in India, where she has been working since the summer. A week ago, they realized that even if the ballots arrived before the election — a proposition that was growing more dubious by the minute — they had almost no chance of getting them back in time to be counted.

They had already called the American Consulate, to no avail, and had looked into hiring a round-trip courier service.

“We had a long talk about it,” Ms. Scott-Ker said. “We could go on holiday to a beach somewhere. Or we could come back here and vote. It was a long talk. We decided it was important to stand up and be counted.

“We bought the tickets that Friday, the 24th.”
On Tuesday evening, she and her husband caught a flight from Bangalore to New Delhi, about 1,100 miles. The next leg of the journey, 7,500 miles, took them to Chicago. By 5:30 on Wednesday morning, they had cleared immigration and customs at O’Hare International Airport, and flew the last 700 miles to La Guardia. Their journey of 9,300 miles had taken 22 hours.

It is possible for a traveler to go farther in one direction on earth — but not much. When all their expenses are counted, their trip will have cost them about $5,000, Ms. Scott-Ker said.

Experts say Americans are showing more interest and passion about this election than they have in nearly 50 years. But it is still likely that one-third of the eligible voters will not take part — much less spend two full days traveling around the world to do so.

For Ms. Scott-Ker, 45, a native of New Zealand, and her husband, who was born in Morocco, the votes they intend to cast on Tuesday in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan will be their first, ever. They became American citizens on Nov. 30, 2007.

“We became citizens so we could vote,” Ms. Scott-Ker said. “We’d lived here 13 years on green cards, paid lots of tax money, but you have no voice within the system.”

A few months after they were sworn in as citizens, Ms. Scott-Ker was transferred to Bangalore by her employer, Accenture, a management consulting, technology and outsourcing company, as its marketing director for India. She kept her eye on the election, filing the voter registration forms in August and getting the confirmation in early October. Then she discovered that an absentee ballot would require a separate application to the city Board of Elections.
“In this highly technological age and city, do we need to be mailing applications halfway around the world, just so you can get a piece of mail sent back to the same place?” Ms. Scott-Ker wondered aloud.

In a word, yes. So, she said, she followed the requirements “to the letter. I even provided an addressed envelope for the ballot to be sent back to us so it would be absolutely perfect, as it would have to have been for the India postal service.”

Still, no ballots came. The Board of Elections in Manhattan — its funding cut this year in a dispute with the mayor — has been laggard in sending out absentee ballots, officials say. Ms. Scott-Ker and her husband, a university instructor, knew nothing of that squabble.
“We realized we’re not going to get to vote, and we were all geared up to do this,” she said. “We thought, maybe a friend could get the ballots for us in Manhattan and have them couriered to India, and we could courier them back. There were so many ifs and buts. I didn’t want a bureaucratic process to get in the way of casting a ballot.”

Today marks Diwali, one of the most important Hindu holidays.

Today marks Diwali. There are more than 900 million Hindus in the world and dozens of Hindu holidays, but Diwali is one of the few celebrated by most, if not all followers across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. Diwali is celebrated on the first day of the lunar Kartika month, which comes in the month of October or November

On the day of Diwali, many wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks. Some Indian business communities start their financial year on Diwali and new account books are opened on this day. In the US, Most have origins in India, but many also come from Nepal, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and other nations. As the ''festival of lights,'' Diwali is a time of celebration, song, dance and prayer for wealth, health and peace in the future.

''We celebrate the past and get ready for the new year coming,'' says Suresh Sheth, who runs an Indian grocery store in Miami. Like many Hindus, he'll wake early, take a ritual bath, put on his best clothing, pray and head to open the shop, which he launched in 1985, seven years after arriving in the United States from Mumbai. ''It's a festival of lights and also of inner light and purity,'' Sheth says. ``We have to cleanse our bodies, our souls.''

Nation of Internationalists

Here is an article that makes the case that Americans must do a better job at becoming engaged and informed global citizens. The new President must lead the charge.

A Nation of Internationalists
By Martin Savidge
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-savidge/a-nation-of-international_b_137976.html

According to the conventional wisdom, this election is all about domestic issues. Jobs, finances, mortgages and falling commodity prices are the topics to which the campaigns are scrambling to respond, but to buy into the idea that these issues are purely domestic in scope is to be living in the past. More now than at any time in our history, our domestic problems are immediately linked to world events.

Our nation can no longer look primarily inward to find the answers. We must live in the wider world.

We may not yet know if he is a Republican or Democrat, but it's clear the next president will have to be an internationalist. Coming into office in the midst of a world financial crisis, two foreign wars, and a rapidly evolving diplomatic portfolio, the new president will be forced to focus on global events, and the United States' position in every major international development, beginning day one.

Certain foreign affairs policies of the last eight years, such as the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) and the Administration's initiatives in Africa, have been successful because they were based on a solid understanding of international events. These programs demonstrate the positive effect of well-informed action. But, one can just as easily find examples foreign affairs initiatives which have faltered or flatly failed, primarily because our efforts may not have been as well informed, or may not have taken full advantage of the expertise of the world community.

The days are gone when a small American company can count on the local community for its customer base. Everyone from the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to the owner of an Erie, Pennsylvania-based manufacturing concern with 20 employees, to a Vermont-based antique shop owner, now works internationally. Clients are no longer across town; they are working across borders and oceans, taking the best products for the money from the suppliers that meet their needs. Every American, not just venture capitalists and politicians, but workers and owners, are part of a global network.

This isn't speculative; this is the current state of American business and life. We are part of the world, and yet, we seem to want to avoid acknowledging that fact. And, as a result, we too often go into that global arena half prepared.

According to a National Geographic survey, after several years of war more than two-thirds of American students still fail to find Iraq on a world map. Nearly 45% failed to find Iran and Israel. Less than half of students 18-24 could find Ohio on a map of the U.S. These are the kind of figures that scare us, and rightly so. If we are going to do business, we need to produce a next generation that has a basic understanding of the global economy and political situation.

The same interconnectivity that has caused economies to shift toward a global orientation provides that tools our businessmen, students and workers need to compete. Information is the most powerful and important of these tools, and it is incumbent upon everyone from educators, to consumers of news, to business owners, and even the President, to instill a sense of global citizenship and sense of our place in the world. We have to see that our neighbors, our customers, and our friends may not live close by.

We can no longer treat the rest of the world as foreigners. We must become a nation of internationalists.

Perilous Peanut Butter

My brother, his wife and enfant moved back to Spain earlier this year. He is craving peanut butter. My birth Mom left from New York to visit them (and their new born) in Bilbao, yesterday. TSA at JFK confiscated the precious peanut butter. I hope the passengers are safer because of this sacrifice.

Inspiration-What it means in more than 25 languages around the globe.

Inspiration what it means in more than 25 languages around the globe.

I just spent time reviewing a website: HumanityQuest.com. One of the links that intrigued me was languages. I opened to see how more than 25 people posted personal description of what the concept of inspiration means in their culture and they have identified a word that captures its essence. I found many of the passages to be deeply moving and well…… inspirational. Some languages include Polish, Russian, Persian, Chinese, Lakota, Catalun, Arabic, Berber, Croatian, Hebrew, Icelandic, Hungarian, Korean, American Sign Language, and German.

See what you think:

http://www.humanityquest.com/themes/inspiration/Languages/index.asp

I went to see Barack Obama in Miami rally today

I walked 4 blocks from my home to Bi-centennial Park to hear Barack and Michelle Obama share their vision for change. It was exciting and envigorating to be in the audience of more than 30,000.

I Voted the First Day of Early Voting at 715AM!

I Voted the First Day of Early Voting at 715AM!

It was exciting to participate in this historical presidential US election. I was happy to set my alarm (something I rarely do), to ensure I would be in line within minutes of the opening of polling places. I drove two minutes to the Miami-Dade Government Center and joined the line at 7:09AM. I am thrilled about the return of paper ballots because they are less vulnerable to election fraud and they provide a real paper trail in the event a recall is required.

Let’s hope democracy prevails in this election!

Worst Cross Cultural Mistakes

Worst Cross Cultural Mistakes

Travel and Leisure magazine publishes the ten Worst Cross Cultural Mistakes in Power Point format. Included are discussions of eye contact, physical touch, use of left hand, attire etiquette, blowing nose in public, shoe removal rituals, accepting gifts, dinner conversation taboos, use of emoticons in emails, and drinking rituals.

Click here to see slide show:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-worst-cultural-mistakes

Beijing Reintroduces Car Rules to Reduce Pollution

Traffic restrictions have been re-introduced in China's capital Beijing, in an attempt to bring back the clear skies seen during the Olympics.

Here is an article from the BBC today:

Each car must spend one day a week off the road, in a scheme based on registration numbers.
Beijing residents miss the clean air and quiet streets they enjoyed throughout the Games.
But according to correspondents, many people have complained that the new car scheme is too complicated.

The new rules are expected to take some 800,000 cars off the road every day, according to the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications.

"It's expected to reduce Beijing's average road traffic flow by 6.5%," a committee official told the state news agency Xinhua. During periods of exceptionally heavy pollution, the restrictions will be increased so that half of Beijing's 3.4 million cars will be taken off the roads, state media reports.

Trial run
The new rules came in to effect on Monday morning - anyone with a licence plate ending in one or six could not drive into the city. On Tuesday it will be the turn of people with number plates ending in 2 and 7. The new restrictions will be implemented on a trial basis for six months until April.

A similar scheme operated during the Olympics, when factories around the city were also closed to reduce air pollution. The measures transformed the city's filthy skies, and according to a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Quentin Sommerville, it was the cleanest August that Beijing had seen in 10 years. But the authorities face a mounting battle to reduce car use in Beijing - 1,000 new vehicles join the crowded roads every single day.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7666563.stmPublished: 2008/10/13 06:00:42 GMT© BBC MMVIII

Gift vs. Bribe: International Gift-Giving Protocol

Gift vs. Bribe

What You Need To Know About International Gift Giving Protocol
By Karla Scott M.B.A.

Gift giving plays a vital role in social protocol in many parts of the world. In fact, what we consider to be bribes in the US are not only expected in many parts of the world-but, they are perceived as “gifts”.

In the arena of gift giving, it is as important to know customs associated with being the giver as well as being the recipient. Also, you need to consider: what kind of gift is appropriate, how it should be packaged, and how/when it should be presented. Each of these elements is important.

Generally, if you are offered a gift, you should graciously accept and send a thank you note.

Gift Ideas

Gifts can fall into several categories practical or useful (high quality pan), commemorative (corporate logo paperweight), personal (favorite food item), indigenous gifts (crafts from your region), cultural gifts (photo cocktail book), consumable gifts (box of candy) and just for fun gifts (Mickey Mouse T-shirt).

Here are common gift recommendations:

§ Candies
§ Wines/Expensive Liquors
§ Cocktail Table Books
§ Expensive Writing Utensils
§ Tickets to Events (Sporting, Music, the Arts)
§ Golf Equipment/Accessories
§ Symbols of your region of the country (maple syrup from Vermont, a beach towel from Florida, photo book of cowboys from Wyoming, pottery from New Mexico)
toys for children
§ Toys for children
§ T-shirts with American sayings
§ Bakery-made Dessert (if you are invited to dinner in a private home)
§ Book of Norman Rockwell paintings, Ansel Adams photographs, or a similar art/photo book
§ Photo or history books about your city or state
§ High quality folding set of binoculars.
§ Western-style belt buckles
§ Disney logo products
§ Beef jerky for Japanese hosts

Research your destination culture to identify what is appropriate and what is inappropriate.

Gift Giving Protocol in Business

Gift giving is a key component of business etiquette in most cultures outside the US. It is simply considered good manners to offer a gift to business associates, typically at the end of the first meeting. In Japan, for example, gift giving is an elaborate and expected ingredient of business culture. Consider the rank and position of your gift recipient and be sure to comply with rules for appropriate timing and location.

Gift Taboos

Before embarking on a gift shopping spree, it is important to learn specific contrary guidelines and taboos associated with this business activity.

Learn your company's policy around gift giving and reporting and know the latest IRS rules governing this practice.

Remember: A gift of money is considered to be a bribe by US standards and is usually in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 and 1998.

Here are gift taboos, you need to know:
§ Never give a clock to a Chinese. The word for clock in Chinese equates to death.
§ Never give four of anything to a Japanese or Korean because four represents bad luck.
§ Never wrap a gift in White paper in Japan, because white is the color of death.
§ Never wrap gifts in green paper in Egypt or Malaysia
§ Shamrock Green is the national color of Ireland, but orange is the national color in Northern Ireland -----------
§ Avoid giving flowers because they carry different connotations in different cultures. White flowers mean death in Japan, chrysanthemums are death in European countries, purple flowers connote death in Mexico and Brazil, and red flowers connote romance in most places.
§ In the Middle East, anything with a human image is considered offensive, against Islam.
§ Don't casually admire an object in the Middle East if you are a guest in someone's home. They will go obligated to give it to you.


Always do your homework to identify what gifts are appropriate for your host country and have fun with your selection.

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