New WWF Guide Helps Ships Avoid Vulnerable Arctic Species

Walruses - image via pixnio.com

A new WWF-Canada guide designed to help mariners in the Hudson Strait identify and avoid marine mammals is being unveiled at a Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada meeting in Montreal today.

Decreasing summer sea ice has led to growing interest in Arctic shipping operations. Mining, fishing and tourism industries will all contribute to increased ship traffic through the northern corridor, which connects Hudson Bay to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Hudson Strait Mariner's Guide is made up of two large posters to be hung on the ship's bridge: a chart that will help mariners identify whales, seals, polar bears and walrus, and maps of marine mammal habitat in both summer and winter. The guide lists phone numbers so mariners can report sightings and incidents at both the national and community level, and provides operational guidance when close to or encountering marine mammals.

WWF-Canada will be presenting the guide at the Canadian Marine Advisory Council meeting today and tomorrow, and will put copies of the guides directly into the hands of shipping company owners, operators and federal regulators.

How ship traffic affects marine mammals:

• Noise from ships can make it difficult for whales to communicate with each other;
• Passing ships can disrupt feeding patterns, and will often drive marine mammals away from their usual habitat;
• Ship strikes can seriously injure marine mammals;
• In the rare event of a spill, pollution from sewage, greywater, ballast water and fuel could damage marine mammal habitats.

Andrew Dumbrille, senior specialist, sustainable Arctic shipping, says:"This is an opportunity to create a high standard for sustainable shipping practices before we see a major increase in activity in the Hudson Strait due to longer open-water periods. We hope this guide will serve as a tool for mariners to minimize disruptions to important habitat, and increase awareness in the shipping community about the wildlife that share these waters. It will also encourage mariners to work with northern communities who depend on the continued health of marine mammals for their own survival. Sharing accurate, up-to-date information makes the waters safer for all involved."

Praise for WWF-Canada's Hudson Strait Mariner's Guide

Marc Gagnon, director, government affairs and sustainability for Fednav, says:"This guide should be on every ship that passes through the Hudson Strait. We at Fednav do our best to ensure our ships don't disrupt key marine habitats, and being able to properly identify the animals and know when and how to avoid them at different times of the year makes that so much easier. These kinds of tools go a long way to making sure our shipping practices only add value to northern communities."

Captain David "Duke" Snider, CEO of Martech Polar Consulting, says:"As someone who has been on the bridge of ships for more than 35 years, I would say that a guide like this on board will be an invaluable resource to inform mariners on species they may encounter, and help mariners avoid particularly sensitive species and habitats. I would encourage those operating ships through the Hudson Strait to make use of this guide."

The Mariner's Guide for the Hudson Strait includes a chart to assist mariners in identifying marine mammals they may encounter, and provides guidelines on safe distances. (CNW Group/WWF-Canada)

About World Wildlife Fund Canada 
WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. 

For more information, visit wwf.ca.

SOURCE: WWF-Canada

Racial Taunts For Chinese Students Haunt The Notice Boards Of UTexas

Protests at University of Texas (License: Image author owned )

There was a huge uproar over flyers targeting Chinese students that were posted on the University of Texas campus in the first week of April. What was more shocking was that these insults were posted right after the university declared its plans to make the campus more diverse. The offensive posters were categorically directed at the Chinese, accusing them of plagiarism to get high grades. They have been accused of “faking” skills to get plush jobs after graduation.

The President of the University of Texas, Austin, declared that they would be investigating the incident to identify the culprits. He voiced the university’s concern for such an act which he believed was both hateful and biased. It was stated by Fenves the next day that the students responsible had indeed been identified. He assured that the university was evaluating the crisis and appropriate action would be taken thereafter. He argued that every student and faculty member in the university should have total complete freedom to learn and teach others without fear. No one deserved to be made an object of discrimination. However, there is still no proof to suggest whether the student responsible for the heinous act was acting independently or not.

The university’s Chinese Student Association issued a statement highlighting that content of these posters did not rightly reflect the Chinese culture. The student organization referred to the act as one of discrimination. It called upon fellow students to join the organization and learn in-depth about Chinese traditions.

The issue of plagiarism has risen almost always when there have been talks of the Chinese gaining admission in US colleges.  Watch a video here.



A simple Google search on Chinese students and plagiarism will reveal the shocking numbers of Chinese students who have been expelled on this ground. So, Chinese students have been accused of cheating and plagiarism in American institutions over the years. The truth is that the Chinese view of knowledge is quite distinct from the view adopted by other countries in the West. It's also definate that they dont have access to an ultimate referencing guide for assignments.

• The Chinese pedagogy has been primarily influenced by Confucian thoughts. These encouraged students to worship knowledge-givers and to avoid questioning established ideas. So, Chinese school-going students are actually encouraged to memorize texts, whether they are learning Math or Science or Humanities. No student is allowed to produce original work or nurture original ideas.
• Secondly, Chinese students have been taught that knowledge belongs to the entire society and not to any particular person. It is assumed that the Chinese students may actually have been told that citing sources is disrespectful. So, by informing their readers about the source, they may well be implying that the reader is ignorant of the source. 
• For the Chinese students, another major problem is that English is their second language. Learning this foreign language and using it to express complex ideas turns out to be challenging for them. At the same time, this is a necessity when you are writing an academic essay or assignment. So, very often the Chinese students tend to copy-paste texts without trying to rephrase the explanations in their own words. They resort to patch writing techniques to enhance their writing skill.

Chinese students learning English (License: Image author owned)

• It can be argued that the Chinese may not be genuinely aware of why it is immoral to indulge in plagiarism. They may not understand the reasons why the western culture treats this kind of patch writing as plagiarism. They fail to realize that the west views plagiarism as equivalent to dishonesty, cheating and stealing. So, there may not be a deliberate intention to cheat the professors.
• Students do not always cheat because of ignorance, according to a University of St.Thomas counselor. There are students who resort to copying in desperation because they do not know anyone who they can approach for help. In fact there are lot of open source tools which are useful for a student to do their assignment.
• Students often tend to put off their essays and assignments till the deadline approaches. Writing an essay at the last minute may be very challenging for someone who lacks proficiency in English. This also becomes the reason why students are late in their assignment submission. This is one of the biggest reasons why foreign students tend to plagiarize content. For instance, a student from Vietnam in a US college with little experience in writing essays or researching on topics will find it hard to start off an essay. The Vietnamese are encouraged to memorize answers and now show creativity.

Chinese Meme (License: Image author owned)

In this way, plagiarism is something that is not specific to the Chinese students alone. It is an issue of grave concern which needs to be explained to students during orientation. The incident at the University of Texas is not the first of its kind. Following President Trump’s ban on the entry of people from seven Muslim-majority nations, posters targeting Muslims had been put up. The time has come for American universities to handle this kind of racial discrimination with an iron hand.

Protest (License: Image author owned) 

About Today's Contributor:
This post is written by Bella Williams , who is private tutor in Information Technology at ExpertAssignmentHelp and loves working with students to help them out with IT assignments and software packages for their capstone projects. She has also helped many students to write books and market their books in most creative ways.

Kickstarter-Backed Gallery Turns Art into Charity Dollars

A woman washes her hands in clean water from a well in India.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Compassion Gallery, a newly established fine art gallery, says a picture is worth a thousand lives, and then some. Coming on the heels of a successful Kickstarter campaign, Compassion Gallery captures the emotions of people who have a combined love for beautiful images and helping others. Their business model: Sell beautiful limited-edition fine art photography prints, and donate 100% of the after-tax profits to charity.

The concept of selling fine art photography isn't new. Photographers like Steve McCurry ("Afghan Girl" / National Geographic) and Peter Lik have already tapped into the multimillion-dollar industry by selling their prints to art-loving consumers. In fact, the New York Times reported in February 2015 that Lik alone had sold more than $440 million dollars in prints.

So can Compassion Gallery run with the likes of Lik and McCurry? Only time will tell, but they're off to a positive start. Founders and photographers, Ray Majoran and Brian Klassen, tested the waters through Kickstarter to see if their photos and idea would hold up. Not only did it hold up, but they were featured by Kickstarter as a "Project We Love." That meant prime-time viewing on a site that gets millions of visitors each week, and has raised over $2.7 billion for independent projects (source: kickstarter.com).

"Our hope is to marry Compassion Gallery with people who love art and want to make a difference in the world," says Majoran. "We believe that hanging something on a wall is about more than just décor; it's about making a statement. And if hanging something on your wall helps some of the world's most vulnerable people, then that is quite a statement."

Compassion Gallery sells all of its work online. Recognizing the dilemma of not being able to touch a physical piece of art before it's purchased, they developed a virtual reality Room Preview tool. Using the VR tool, customers can preview any piece of art in multiple rooms, frame styles, wall colors and sizes, before they buy it.

Virtual reality room preview tool. Customers can preview any Compassion Gallery art in multiple rooms, frame styles, wall colors and sizes, before they buy it.

About Compassion Gallery
Compassion Gallery exists to document the world with fresh eyes, to inspire humanity with God's beauty, and to bring hope to the most vulnerable. For more information, visit compassion.gallery. Download brand assets and photo samples from compassion.gallery/press.

SOURCE: Compassion Gallery

The So-Called Islamic State Group Has Weaponized Children

A girl leaves flowers for victims of an attack at Manchester Arena. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Mia Bloom, Georgia State University

In claiming responsibility for the attack in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, the so-called Islamic State group has sunk to a new low.

We have seen terrorists target venues where young people congregate before – shopping malls, discos and schools. If IS was indeed involved, they have now deliberately targeted young children, tweens and teens and their parents in a horrific attack that has killed 22 as of this writing and wounded 59. The attacker used a nail bomb to maximize the carnage.

Through my research I have gained access to the Islamic State’s encrypted online propaganda platform, Telegram, where last night in the aftermath of the attack, IS supporters disseminated images of dead children from Mosul, saying, “The West’s children would not be safe if their (children) were not.”

This echoed a sentiment I heard many years ago when writing my book “Dying to Kill” about suicide attackers. In August 2001, a Jordanian woman named Ahlam al Tamimi researched a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem to select a time in which the maximum number of families were present. In her attack on the restaurant, 15 people were killed, including seven children and a pregnant woman. Palestinians justified the attack, saying: “If our children are not sacrosanct, neither are theirs.”

As shocking as this attack was, it follows a tradition in which terrorists target children or venues specifically to maximize killing the greatest number of young people.

Children in IS propaganda
The IS propaganda machine uses graphic images of dead children to whip up their base and motivate people from around the world to join their so-called caliphate. These images of children are intended to persuade people that moving to the IS strongholds of Raqqa, Syria or Mosul, Iraq is the only way to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of children.

During the course of research for my forthcoming book, “Small Arms: Children and Terror,” I have found that the group has also increasingly been using children as terrorist operatives, on the battlefield in mixed commando units they call Inghimasi, as propaganda disseminators, building munitions and, since December 2014, as suicide bombers.

Akram Rasho Khalaf, 10, was captured at the age of 7, trained and sold into servitude by Islamic State militants. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

According to a report on children and armed conflict, “In rural Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and rural Raqqa, the U.N. found military training of at least 124 boys between 10 and 15 years of age. The use of children as child executioners was reported and appeared in video footage in Palmyra and specific executions.”

IS has used children as young as four to execute prisoners using a remote control, and recently disseminated a video of a four-year-old shooting a prisoner in the head.

One cannot emphasize enough that there is no childhood in IS. The terrorists do not recognize the innocence of the victims at the Ariana Grande concert. The terrorists likewise do not subscribe to the notion that children have, need or deserve an idyllic period of their life in which they are to be protected and cherished.

In fact, Ali Akhbar Mahdi, a professor of religion at California State University at Northridge, argues that the word “teen” has no equivalent in Middle Eastern languages. Instead, they refer to pre-puberty, pre-youth or pre-adult. In most contexts, childhood is simply understood to be a period of time characterized by the absence of reason (‘aql).

Killing children: New norm
Terrorist targeting of children has been more common than most people realize.

For example, from Sept. 1-3, 2004, Chechen terrorists held School Number One in Beslan, Russia hostage for three days. There were 1,100 hostages in the school, including 777 children. By the end of the crisis, 384 people were dead, among them the terrorists and more than 350 civilians.

This is not exclusively a Jihadi tactic. The Oklahoma City bombing of the FBI Murrah building included a day care center. “Of the 21 children who were inside the day-care center on the morning of April 19, the morning of the bombing, 15 died, including all four of the infants by the window.”

While IS has opportunistically taken credit for the attack, we do not yet have evidence to determine whether it was a directed or inspired attack. We do know, however, that the terrorist group has manipulated, brainwashed and exploited children for their own purposes and will continue to do so.

The average age for IS suicide bombers and executioners is skewing younger and younger, and they appear to be normalizing the use of children across its affiliates. For example, the terrorist group Boko Haram has used children against soft targets, civilians and marketplaces.

IS has gone from using children to inspire adults, to manipulating children and their parents to fight alongside adults, to targeting children instead of adults. They do not consider what they have done to be truly evil, although we know it to be.

About Today's Contributor:
Mia Bloom, Professor of Communication, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

Millennials Petition Trump to Give Them Their Own Day

Millennial leaders Ryan Avery and James Goodnow ask President Trump to recognize June 19 as "National Millennials Day."

"Millennials are entitled, disloyal, selfie-talking narcissists that need participation trophies." Sound familiar?  In popular culture, these types of sentiments are often used to describe the Millennial generation. Millennial leaders James Goodnow and Ryan Avery believe these stereotypes are "fake news," and they have launched an online petition to help set the record straight.

Starting today, Goodnow and Avery are asking the public to sign their Millennials Day Petition, which calls on President Trump and lawmakers to declare June 19 as National Millennials Day, correcting stifling stereotypes about Millennials.

But isn't this petition the ultimate example of out-of-control Millennial egotism? Now Millennials want a day named after them? Not so fast. Rather than being a day about celebrating themselves, National Millennials Day will be one of service – one where Millennials give back to their communities directly.

"As a Millennial, I cringe when I hear people write-off Millennials because of stereotypes" notes attorney James Goodnow. "For me, these are the worst kind of 'alternative facts.' Contrary to popular misconceptions, Millennials as a group are outward-focused and purpose-driven. My hope is that, by encouraging Millennials to give back on National Millennials Day, June 19 will be a turning point in upending many pervasive Millennial myths."

Avery and Goodnow note that Millennials are actually socially-conscious and passionate about improving their communities – and the world. According to research group Achieve, in 2015, 84 percent of Millennials made a charitable donation to a nonprofit, and 72 percent of Millennials spent part of their time volunteering. Goodnow and Avery also point to a Deloitte study that found six in 10 Millennials say that their current employer's "sense of purpose" is part of the reason they chose to work there.

"I couldn't be more proud to be a part of this initiative that affirms everything that is truly great about my generation – choosing your own path, pursuing your passions, and using your unique skills in the service of others," says motivational keynote speaker Ryan Avery. "Our main goal is to change the Millennial dialogue starting on June 19. How can Millennials participate? Mentor a child, become involved with a refugee organization in your community, volunteer at a homeless shelter – whatever inspires you to foster hope for a better future."

Goodnow and Avery have also recently collaborated on Motivating Millennials, a forthcoming book that teaches what companies can be doing to find, keep and motivate their next generation of leaders.

Image via millennialsday.org

SOURCE: James Goodnow; Ryan Avery