This blog contains lots of articles and world news. Its aim is to be a source of knowledge for people to read and think, and thus make an intuitive decision on how to lead their lives fruitfully in every-day livings.Under the concept of Today-Readers are Tomorrow Leaders.' The world will be better because we begin to change for the best.
วันจันทร์ที่ 16 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2558
Noise pollution is making us oblivious to the sound of nature, says researcher
Gift of hearing birdsong and trickling water is being lost to a
process of ‘learned deafness’, says US scientist, as people screen out
background noise
Yosemite national park in California where noise pollution is increasing. Photograph: Alamy
The tranquil chorus of the natural world is in danger of being lost
to today’s generation as people screen out the noises that surround
them, a senior US researcher warns.
Rising levels of background noise in some areas threaten to make
people oblivious to the uplifting sounds of birdsong, trickling water,
and trees rustling in the wind, which can often be heard even in urban
centres, said Kurt Fristrup, a senior scientist at the US National Park
Service.
The problem was exacerbated by people listening to iPods through
their earphones instead of tuning in to the birds and other sounds of
nature that can easily be drowned out by traffic, music and others
noises, he said.
“This learned deafness is a real issue,” Fristrup told the American
Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Jose. “We are
conditioning ourselves to ignore the information coming into our ears.”
“This gift that we are born with – to reach out and hear things
hundreds of metres away, all these incredible sounds – is in danger of
being lost through a generational amnesia,” he said.
“There is a real danger, both of loss of auditory acuity, where we
are exposed to noise for so long that we stop listening, but also a loss
of listening habits, where we lose the ability to engage with the
environment the way we were built to,” he added.
For the past 10 years, the US National Park Service has recorded
sound levels at more than 600 sites across the US, including Yosemite in
California, Yellowstone and Denali in Alaska. Not one was unaffected by
some form of noise from human activity, be it over-flying aircraft,
motorbikes, motorboats, or tour buses.
Yellowstone National park, Lewis LakePhotograph: Cavan Images/Cavan Images/Cavan Images/Cor
Fristrup’s team combined the sound levels recorded from national
parks with similar data from urban settings to create a model of noise
levels across the US. They predict that noise pollution is growing
faster than the US population, and more than doubles every 30 years.
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“It’s
not surprising people are putting on earphones or even noise cancelling
earphones to try and create a quieter or more congenial environment,”
he said.
“As you raise background sound levels it has the same effect on your
hearing that fog would have on your vision. Instead of having this
expansive experience of all the sounds around you, you are aware of only
a small area around you,” he said. “Even in most of our cities there
are birds and things to appreciate in the environment, and there can be
very rich natural choruses to pay attention to. And that is being lost.”
People quickly become accustomed to changes in their environments,
including rising noise levels, and over time, Fristrup fears that we
will accept far worse environmental conditions than we should, and
forget how much quieter the world could be. “If finding peace and quiet
becomes difficult enough, many many children will grow up without the
experience, and I think it’s a very real problem,” he said.
The warning came as other scientists reported beneficial health
effects from listening to natural sounds. Speaking at the same meeting,
Derrick Taff, a social scientist at Pennsylvania State University,
described preliminary experiments which suggest that listening to
recordings from national parks, of waterfalls, birdsong and wind, helped
people recover from the stressful events.
In one experiment, Taff told participants who visited his lab to give
an impromptu talk that would be judged by researchers standing behind a
one-way mirror. Measurements of their heart rate and the stress
hormone, cortisol, before and after the speech, found that people calmed
down faster when they listened to nature recordings than when the same
audio tracks were interspersed with sounds from road traffic,
aeroplanes, and even normal conversation.
“We know that natural sounds are very important to people. They are
some of the main reasons people visit protected areas. They want to hear
the natural quiet, the birdsong, and the wind and water,” Taff said.
“We may be losing this as people are listening to the iPods all the
time, but I do believe that the public is appreciative of these sounds.
My advice is to go to your protected areas and experience what you are
missing.”
Why natural sounds might be calming to people is unclear, but
Fristrup speculates that over millions of years of evolution, we may
have come to associate the more tranquil sounds of the natural world
with safety. “I suspect there’s something about these intact soundscapes
that reminds our ancestral brains of a place that’s safe, where there’s
no sense of a predator nearby, and that these more cluttered
soundscapes are problematic for us because we know we’ve lost that
surveillance capability,” he said.
........................................................................
King Abdullah's death was triggered by massive internal bleeding and
not by pneumonia, informed Saudi sources have told me. The collapse in
his health, which happened on December 31 last year, prevented the King
from carrying out a plan to remove his half brother Salman from the
position of crown prince and replace him with Prince Muqrin bin Abdel
Aziz. Abdullah's own son Prince Meteb would have become next in line to
the throne, the sources said.
On December 31, the palace issued a statement
which said the king had been admitted to hospital, but which disguised
the severity of his condition. According to the state SPA news agency
the king " entered today, Wednesday ... the King Abdulaziz Medical City
of the National Guard in Riyadh to undergo some medical tests".
The
King was rushed to hospital from the Rawdat Khraim resort near Riyadh,
where he had been preparing to convene a meeting between the Emir of
Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Egyptian president Abdel
Fattah Al-Sisi. The meeting, which would have sealed the reconciliation
between the two sparring states, never took place.
Had it done so,
the late King would then have announced a series of decisions which he
had taken and which Meteb and the head of his royal court Khalid
Al-Tuwaijri had been urging him to take for some time. The decisions
would have secured the transfer of power to his own son, when the crown
was handed over to the grandchildren of the founding King.
Abdullah's
sudden collapse triggered panic in the Tuwaijri camp which foresaw the
consequences to them, and their partners who staged the military coup in
Egypt of Salman coming to power. Abdullah was being ventilated and
under general anesthesia, so he was unconscious.
Meteb and
Tuwaijri fought to keep his condition under wraps. They tried to prevent
Salman from entering the king's room. They searched for ways to keep
the original plan in play, so that the king's decision could be
announced under his name.
To get the plan out into the open, they
passed instructions to the Egyptians to float the idea in their media.
The Egytian TV anchor Yousef Al-Husseini revealed in his show that a
decision would be announced, relieving Prince Salman from his position
as Crown prince. Al-Husseini said that would be better for Egypt and
went on to attack Salman's son Mohammed for " meddling in the business
of others."
Salman fought back. His camp successfully pushed for
an official statement which admitted that the King had been intubated,
and thus was unconscious. On Jan 2, the royal court issued a second statement which
said that Abdullah was suffering from pneumonia and " temporarily
needed help to breathe through a tube". This extra detail puzzled
observers at the time, but it was an official admission that the king
was in no state to announce any decisions.
Tuwaijri and Meteb then
tried another tack. They proposed to Salman the idea of an announcement
that the king had abdicated due to illness. Salman would become king in
exchange for his guarantee that Meteb would become his deputy crown
prince. Salman refused to enter any discussion while the King was still
alive in hospital.
This attempt continued after the death of the
king and that explains why it took so long for the official news of his
death to come out and the conflicting media accounts of that night. It
also explains the speed with which Salman acted when he inherited the
crown, announcing the removal of Tuwaijri before his half-brother had
even been buried.
During that period, Tuwaijri and his ally
Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, used the Egyptian
media as their personal press office, and as a way to advance their
intrigues. The day before the death of the king, the Egyptian Al-Nahar
TV Channel broadcast as breaking news, a report item saying that "King
Abdullah will abdicate within hours, Salman will be King, Muqrin will be
Crown Prince and Metev will be deputy Crown Prince." This was the
proposal Tuwaijri and Meteb were trying to get Salman to accept.
We know from leaked recordings of conversations that
Abbas Kamil the manager of Sisi's office instructed journalists
directly and that he was in contact with Tuwaijri's office. Saudi
sources now point to a second man in the chain of command. He was the
UAE Minister of State Sultan Al-Jabir. His job was to communicate with
Abbas and TV channels and asked them to broadcast information about
Egypt as desired by the UAE and Tuwaijri.
Since Salman came to
power, the Tuwaijri camp has lost out. The new crown prince Mohammed bin
Nayef has gone out of his way to show that the kingdom's friends are
changing. Yesterday he met the Turkish interior minister. Last week he
chose Doha for his first official visit.
There have also been a number of hints that the Kingdom's policy on the
Muslim Brotherhood , which Abdullah declared a terrorist organization,
is about to change.
Four days ago a Saudi journalist quoted
Foreign minister Saud al-Faisal as saying he had "no problem" with the
Brotherhood. "We do not have a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood; our
problem is with a small group affiliated to this organisation," he said.
He is the world's longest serving foreign minister, so his
statement last week could not have been a slip of the tongue. Then, two
days ago a confidant of Salman gave an interview in which he said it was
"unreasonable" to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist
organization.
Ahmed al-Tuwaijri (no relation) a former member of the consultative
assembly said: "He denied the Interior Ministry had designated the whole
Brotherhood as terrorists and explained the "context" around the
group's designation as an outlawed organization.
"There is
something called linguistic context," Tuwaijri told Rotana, a television
channel owned by Saudi billionaire al-Waleed bin Talal.
"The
kingdom couldn't say in one statement that the Muslim Brotherhood is a
terrorist organization. It (the designation) came as part of a list of
terrorist organizations and the Muslim Brotherhood's name was added to
that. It (the designation) is a group of organizations that follow the
path of violence, intent on spreading terror [the designation condemns]
all those to whom this applies.To take this concept and have it
generalized over this huge organization that stretches from Indonesia to
Morocco and to say that it is all terrorist is unacceptable to someone
of reason."
The
story of the court intrigues in Abdullah's last days, and the leaked
recordings which have come out since then, show something that was not
immediately apparent in June 2013, when Egypt's first elected president
Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by his army, after mass demonstrations
against his rule.
The story shows how close the connections were
between one faction in the Saudi royal court, the Egyptian military and
UAE. Sisi was doing their bidding and expected to be paid handsomely for
it. The tone of his remarks in the leaked recordings is one of a man
who is contemptuous of his paymasters. At one point in the private
discussions of his kitchen cabinet, the Gulf states are referred to as
"half-states".
The long arm of the Saudi royal court holds true
for the shake-up that is currently under way. Salman's new personnel
will create new alliances, and put Egypt's rulers under pressure as
never before.
วันเสาร์ที่ 14 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2558
A Reason for Everything
Nobody's day is perfect. Life is full
of disappointments and pitfalls, but if you look deep enough, you'll
find that many of these little problems ultimately lead you on a better
path. After all, there is a plan for everything, and we're all part of
it. So sit back, relax, and enjoy these peaceful thoughts.
The story of this couple took my
breath away. It's so rare to find such love, such a complete sharing of
one's life, that not one day could you go on without the other. To even
know such love exists is like food for the soul.
A healthy relationship is based on
trust, mutual respect and a feeling of safety. Both parties need to feel
valued, and that the love they receive is unconditional. Sadly, not
everyone finds the perfect relationship. As adults, we learn how to tell
when we're egotistical, demanding and unpleasant, and most of us work
on bettering ourselves. This is a necessary quality in a good
relationship, be it marriage, work, family or friends.
On the other hand, you probably
encountered emotional extortionists – people who use passive-aggressive
behavior to get whatever they want, or make sure that you don’t say and
do anything they don’t like. They aren’t always aware that their
behavior is hurting others, or that they’re doing it to begin with, but
undoubtedly, their behavior is unacceptable. Allowing emotional
extortionists to continue will drain you of your energy and self-worth,
and doom you to a one-sided relationship. By paying attention and
recognizing these eight warning signs, you’ll know you’re dealing with
emotional extortionists and will have the tools to deal with them.
The emotional extortionist can’t take
responsibility for his or her behavior, especially if you call them out
on it. Once you do that, they’ll find a way to turn the accusations
back at you, making you feel bad or guilty for doing so. For example, if
you make a legitimate complaint such as “It really bothers me that you
didn’t clean the house after you said you would”, instead of
apologizing, the extortionist will acknowledge his lack of action by
saying “You wouldn’t have asked me to clean if you knew how much work I
have. Why do you never take me into consideration?”
In addition, they might offer a
partial apology along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I had to work late
last night. I should have told you that I’m feeling tired and stressed. I
think I’m getting sick”. This kind of manipulation is worse than a lack
of an apology since it makes you feel guilty for asking something in the first place.
Your response should be:
If you feel that the apology wasn’t sincere, that the other person is
being defensive or is trying to make you feel guilty, don’t give them
the satisfaction. If you do, you will empower them and encourage them to
do it again. Make it clear that a real apology is unconditional and is
followed by a change in behavior so the issue won’t repeat itself.
2. They say things and later deny having said them
The emotional extortionist may agree
to your request and even commit to doing what you asked for, only to
feign ignorance in the moment of truth. Unless you have a recording of
them making the promise, there’s nothing you can do to prove it, and
it’s your “bad memory” versus their word. An expert extortionist will
twist previous conversations to make you seem like a forgetful person
with unreasonable demands. It’ll cause you to start doubting yourself
and even feel guilty for something you didn’t actually do.
Your response should be:
If this is a reoccurring pattern, start writing down everything the
other person promises. Date it and email it to yourself and the other
person to remind them and yourselves that this is what was agreed upon.
This action may anger the extortionist who will start doubting the trust
you have in them, which will make denial more difficult next time.
The ultimate extortionist is the
passive-aggressive kind, they know where your emotional Achilles tendon
is and will cut at it until your surrender or feel like an obedient dog.
They will say things like “You can go to the movies without me, it’s
OK. I’ll stay home and finish the laundry on my own”, “If you really
want to go spend time with your girlfriends this weekend, go. I just
don’t understand how you can leave our kids for such a long time” or
even “I know we can’t afford a new car, I never had a new car. I guess
I’ll keep driving this old piece of junk”.
The extortionist knows exactly how to
play the part of the victim. They’ll spoon-feed you a mixture of guilt
and empathy, and say anything that will help them get what they want.
Your response should be: You’re
not crazy. It’s the extortionist that is driving you crazy. Don’t let
them manipulate you. Don’t succumb to their passive demands of
sympathetic appeals. Remind them that they’re an adult, and they can
deal with your decisions and actions.
4. They marginalize problems and hardships
The emotional extortionist doesn’t
really care about your problems, unless, of course, they can use it as a
platform for emphasizing their problems. The extortionist will say
things like: “You think you had it bad in traffic today? Imagine doing
that every day! It stole years from my life already! Be thankful that
you only had to endure it today”, or “I’m sorry to hear you had a fight
with your mothers, but be thankful you have a mother. My mother passed
away, and even if she were alive today, we’d fight more than you and
your mother ever did”.
Forget about trying and show the
extortionist how they marginalized your problems, they’ll will not
acknowledge it, and instead will make you feel like a selfish person.
Your response should be:
There is very little you can do in this state other than finding
someone who’s more mature and caring. Don’t expose your weakness to
people who will use them to step all over you.
5. They use emotions as a back door
Instead of being forward and direct,
the emotional extortionist will avoid honest communication and will
instead rely on a more passive-aggressive approach. They may talk about
you with others behind your back, or ask another person to talk instead
of them to avoid being the “bad guy”. For example: They may ask a friend
to tell you that they want to break up with you, or talk to a friend
and tell them how unsatisfied they are with your relationship.
The extortionist may use more passive
ways to let you know they’re angry or disappointed. They’ll moan,
grunt, stop responding or make a supportive statement without following
with supportive actions.
Your response should be:
For your personal peace of mind, show the extortionist that you’ve
noticed their behavior. Their response will most likely be angry or
defensive, but at least they’ll know you’re on to them. If this behavior
repeats itself, it may be time for counseling or even to formulate an
exit strategy from the relationship.
Emotional extortionists will try to
push others into a corner by using aggressive language, indirect threats
or even direct anger, especially if they notice that it makes the other
side uncomfortable. They will use this method to control you and get
what they want.
In this case, the extortionist’s goal
is to make your feel uncomfortable or even fearful so you’ll give up
quickly. Your partner may have a short fuse when it comes to their
spending, or they slam the doors and screams at you when you do
something they don’t like. In time, the extortionist will learn that all
they need to do to get you to surrender is to rile things up a little.
Your response should be:
As long as there’s no fear of physical violence, make it known that
you’re onto them. If this causes them to be angrier and more aggressive,
leave the room or even the house. If left unattended, this aggressive
behavior can become more destructive. Demand that you go to counseling
so that your partner will realize what they’re doing and maybe change
their behavior.
7. They prey on sensitive people with low self-esteem
An emotional extortionist looks for
vulnerable people in order to exploit them, and will often look for a
relationship that gives them control (knowingly and unknowingly).
Extortionists can easily tell who’s a
people-pleaser or has low self-esteem, which makes them put away their
needs to accommodate others. The extortionist can seem, at first, as a
caring and sensitive person, but with time, they will slowly start to
take advantage of the other person’s sensitivity.
Your response should be: If
you know you’re a sensitive and generous person, you may be susceptible
to emotional extortionists. Learn to recognize their behavior early on
in the relationship, so you don’t get too invested and drained. If
you’re already in a relationship with an extortionist, you may find it
hard to break it off. Sensitive people often feel a combination of
anger, a crisis of loyalty, guilt and a lack of confidence while in such
a relationship. You may need help from a psychologist that will help
you understand these emotions and will help you free yourself from your
destructive predicament.
The emotional extortionist can enter a
room, followed by a dark and brooding cloud. They’ll want all the
attention and is experienced in making everyone in the room know they’re
upset. Some people may try and talk to the extortionist to make him, or
her feel better. Asking questions like “Are you OK? Did anything
happen?”, will serve as a trigger the extortionist was waiting for to
suck all the energy and sympathy from them. A sensitive person that
shares a room with an emotional extortionist will feel how their energy
is being drained.
Your response should be: If
possible – leave the room and don’t let them siphon your energy. If
you’re stuck in the room with them, imagine yourself surrounded by an
impenetrable armor that shields you from the extortionist’s negativity.
Remember – you can’t cheer them up.
Final words
Emotional extortionists need to be in
control, often because they themselves have self-esteem issues. An
extortionist compensates for that by displaying a façade of confidence
and power. Their motives are almost always selfish, and they ignore the
effect their behavior has on other people. They need to feel superior
and will use different forms of manipulation to get what they want.
Your emotions are the best tools to
fight against emotional extortion. Look inside and ask yourself if you
feel like you need to defend yourself constantly, often feel guilty or
even upset. Do you find yourself making excuses or that you end up
putting aside your emotions and beliefs for the sake of the other
person? You may not be feeling it at the moment, but remember these
warning signs and see if they apply to your relationships in the future.
If you suspect that you’re in a
relationship with an emotional extortionist, this is the time to do
something about it. Consult with a professional who will help
corroborate or alleviate your concerns, as well as help you find a way
to possibly salvage the relationship. Waiting too long can mean losing
yourself in the relationship.
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 8 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2558
Homage to the crystal light
Pattarawadee Saengmanee
The Sunday Nation February 8, 2015 1:00 am
A gorgeous illustrated biography of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn offers guidance and fun
AMONG THE many events being planned to commemorate Her Royal Highness
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday in April, the ML Pin
Malakul Foundation has a head start with the launch of a spectacular
biography, "Dang Dung Kaew Song Sawang Tang Sai Ngam" ("Bright Crystal
Light Over the Beautiful Way").
Published by Nanmee Books, the collector's edition is the culmination
of four years' work, much of that time spent gathering the details as
well as a wealth of photographs that illustrate not just her life but
her aptitude in 60 different fields of endeavour.
"The book promotes Her Royal Highness as a role model for young
people," says Nanmee managing director Suwadee Chongsatitwatana. "She is
grateful and respectful to her elders, impeccably behaved and always
determined to seek out knowledge. This is her life story amended with
impressions shared by her teachers and friends."
Khunying Sumonta Promboon, the Professor ML Pin Malakul Foundation's
vice chair, explains that it was established in 1995 under the Princess'
patronage, so the account is undeniably factual.
"We want children to take inspiration from this book and follow in
Princess Sirindhorn's footsteps. They'll be able to see why people love
her and have so much faith in her."
The content is transcribed from more than 50 autobiographical articles
the Princess herself wrote. Chapter 1 deals with her birth and
education, which commenced in 1958 with kindergarten at the Chitralada
School. She was a bookworm from the start and always achieved high
scores in examinations. Clever and diligent, the Princess graduated from
Chulalongkorn University with a master-of-arts first class.
Chapter 2 demonstrates her remarkable abilities in various fields of
study. Her ambition to ensure that every Thai youngster had adequate
nutrition and educational opportunities led to sweeping developments.
In 1980 she launched the pilot project "Agriculture for School Lunch"
at Border Patrol Police schools in Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Prachuab
Kiri Khan. Students at the schools began growing their own produce and
preparing their own meals. The concept was such a success that it was
extended to more than 700 schools in remote areas around the country and
now encompasses culture, local wisdom and care for the environment.
"Her Royal Highness has sound knowledge in the basics of ideology and
philosophy," says Khunying Sumonta. "The Agriculture for School Lunch
project was her first initiative, and it demonstrated that having the
children plant vegetables themselves was better than waiting for other
people to help them. And, to get a good education, children need to have
good health."
Over the years the Princess has accumulated hundreds of postcards,
odd-shaped stones and old pens and pencils, and she uses these to create
art. She displays many of these collected items at the Suan Pratum
Villa where she lives, along with her artwork, souvenirs from her
travels abroad, traditional Thai musical instruments and various
innovative objects given to her by others.
Chapter 3 of the book is a real charmer - a survey of the Princess'
oft-praised sense of humour, presented in the context for her yen for
acquiring fresh knowledge wherever she goes. The chapter is largely
drawn from "Ram Luek Tueng Thewalai Tin Aksorn", which she wrote and
published in 1986 while having to skip school because she had to
accompany Their Majesties the King and Queen on a national tour.
To keep up with schooling, the Princess had the lessons tape-recorded
to play back on her own machine, which she called the Taypajarn.
Never decline a chance to try something new, she enthused in an article
titled "Rattanamanee Sri Silpasat" - or anything odd, either. She
recalls visiting a village in Yunnan, China, and sampling the highly
recommended gecko soup. It was as flavourful as chicken but smoother in
texture. "Don't know if my geckos in Thailand would be delicious or
not," she quips.
Chapter 4 comes from the book "Karn Jadkarn Suksa Khong Kapajao" ("My
Education Management") and reveals the Princess' gift for languages. She
explains that school holidays her mother the Queen Sirikit allowed her
to learn English, French, Pali-Sanskrit and Latin - as well as piano,
painting, math, science and more. Good teachers from several provinces
were happy to fulfill her thirst for knowledge.
The Queen was even keener to ensure that her daughter grew up healthy.
Every weekend the Princess had to complete a regimen of exercise and
play outdoors "to blow the cobwebs away". She swims, cycles and loves
playing football, volleyball and badminton. But in her book "Keela Penya
Wiset" ("Sport is Wonderful Medicine"), she confesses that she didn't
do so well in ballet classes. It was beneficial nevertheless, she says,
because it straightened her legs and she learned how to do summersaults.
The final chapter assembles fond messages from friends and former
instructors. Assistant Professor Sukunya Bumroongsook, who teaches
history at Thammasat University, remembers having the Princess as her
roommate when they were both students at Chulalongkorn.
"Princess Sirindhorn is very generous and friendly to everyone. She
always acted like any normal person. She had a big backpack full of
pens, a stapler, scissors and inhalants and was always happy to share
her stuff with her friends. She participated in all the university and
faculty activities."
Anemia is a condition, when not
enough red blood cells, which carry oxygen, are being delivered to your
body's cells and organs. People with anemia look worn out and have less
energy for activities because their hearts are working harder to pump
red blood cells around your body.
Anemia is not a disease and is
easily treatable. Sometimes it’s caused by other diseases. If you
suspect you might be anemic, it's really important to be in touch with a
medical professional. A blood test easily confirms whether you have
anemia. Now let's look at why you might develop anemia.
Anemia also occurs when your body doesn't produce enough red blood cells, orthere isn't enough hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Hemoglobin is an important protein, which transports oxygen from the lungs to other cells in your body.
If all these new scientific terms are
confusing you it might be easier to imagine the blood in your body as a
transport system, where the red blood cells are the vehicles and the
oxygen is the passengers, who need to go work at your cells and organs.
If you lose a lot of blood, or blood
is being lost faster than new blood cells are being produced, you may
become anemic. Women are more likely to develop anemia due to heavy
menstruation, pregnancy or from bleeding after giving birth. Blood loss
from trauma, surgery or internal bleeding caused by ulcers or other
digestive disorders can also cause anemia.
Types of Anemia
There are several different kinds of anemia. The most common one is iron deficiency anemia, i.e. you have low levels of iron or unable to absorb iron easily. Other nutritional deficiencies cause anemia such as vitamin B12 deficiency anemia or folic acid deficiency anemia. In rare cases, anemia is caused by inherited blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia, Aplastic anemia, or Thalassemia.
How to Tell If You Have Anemia
Anemia
isn't initially obvious. When you have mild to moderate anemia, you
will feel weak, be fatigued and experience shortness of breath. If the
condition is not detected early more, symptoms might develop such as a
racing heartbeat, dizziness, headaches, ringing in the ears and restless
leg syndrome. Additionally your skin and fingernails will look pale,
and you might have increased hair loss. As I said before, the best way
to tell if you are anemic is by doing a blood test.
Since the most common cause of anemia
is low levels of iron, your doctor can prescribe iron pills, or you can
buy supplements over the counter at a pharmacy. If one ingests too much
iron, it can be toxic, and it is recommended you consult your doctor
regarding the correct dosage for your age and weight.
Bananas, Honey, Almonds and Onions
The good news is that not only are
these delicious foods, but they are also known for stimulating
hemoglobin production. Start your day off by combining bananas, honey
and almonds in oatmeal or with muesli for a nutritious breakfast.
Avoid Iron Blocking Foods
Certain foods need to be avoided close to meal times as they can prevent iron absorption.
Red wine, black and green tea, grapes, all heavy in tannins
Coffee, chocolate, and other caffeine laden foods
Milk and calcium products
Egg yolks, which contain the iron binding protein phosvitin
Soy products
Vitamin C
This super vitamin helps iron
absorption. Vitamin C is found in many of nature's colorful fruits and
vegetables and is particularly rich in oranges, strawberries,
pomegranates or dates.
Iron can also
be obtained through your regular diet and making healthy food choices
can only help. Here is a list of iron-rich foods, with choices for both
meat lovers and vegetarians.
Meat-eaters' options:
Clams
Oysters
Fish
Red meat
Chicken liver
Vegetarian options:
Fortified dry cereal
Beets, lentils, and beans
Spinach, or other leafy green vegetables
Black molasses
Dried fruits such as raisins, currants, and prunes
Each year, more than 50,000
people set out to climb Africa’s highest peak, joining a revered tribe
of dedicated adventurers. But in the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro, nestled
in the foothills, another tribe reigns supreme. The Chagga clan, one of
more than 260 tribes in Tanzania, has been living in the laidback
village of Marangu since the 19th Century, and their descendants, the
Bantu people, began migrating to this area along the slopes of
Kilimanjaro in the early 11th Century. The village’s mountain landscape,
interlaced with streams and picturesque waterfalls, gave Marangu its
name, meaning “place of water”.
More than just a starting point for the mountain's most
popular climbing route, Marangu welcomes those who spend more time here
with green gorges, fields awash in banana groves and coffee
plantations. It also gives insight into a fascinating local lifestyle
and culture – an experience that most travellers miss. For those who
linger, a cultural tour led by a dedicated guide is the key to
discovering Marangu's charms, for beyond its modest, one-road centre,
centre, the rest of the village – hidden by swathes of jungle – is
difficult to navigate alone.
We met our guide Ludovic Tilya outside the Babylon Lodge,
a handsome budget hotel with simple but comfortable rooms set amid lush
tropical gardens, located a short stroll from the centre of town. The
previous night's rains had cleared to reveal glorious blue skies, and we
set off on a winding muddy track that led to the village's
forest-fringed back streets. Locals threw curious glances our way; in
these lesser-travelled lanes, mzungu (white people) visitors are few and far between.
Scenes from Marangu. (Richelle Harrison Plesse)
We
weaved in and out of luxuriant banana groves peppered with the odd
coffee plant, Royal Poinciana tree (also known as the flamboyant tree
due to its flamboyant display of brilliant, flame-red flowers) and
yucca. The latter, Ludovic said, holds spiritual significance for the
Chagga people, who also use its leaves for weaving, healing purposes or
as a symbolic means of settling disputes (much like the offering an
olive branch). A smattering of pretty, petite houses peered out from
behind manicured gardens, a surprise against the surrounding untamed
greenery.
Rounding a corner we crossed a clearing, where a trio of
young children was playing a game of Ring Around the Rosie. There were
shy giggles when they spotted us, but they let their guard down as soon
as they saw our cameras, insisting on playing with the dials and
scrolling through the pictures we'd taken. A few steps away was a local
primary school where recess had begun, and where boisterous boys and
girls in cobalt blue uniforms laughed and chatted excitedly. Happily
posing for a few snaps, they jostled for our attention, but stern words
from the head teacher sent them running and they disappeared in an
instant.
Leaving the kids behind, we set off in search of a local
banana beer brewer. Bananas are big business in Tanzania – in fact, the
succulent yellow fruit is the staple food of the local Chagga people and
the twice-weekly Marangu market is the country’s largest for the sale
of the regional specialty. Banana buyers come from all over the country,
with local women clad in brightly patterned kangas (cotton wraps) peddling their finest, freshest produce.
The twice-weekly Marangu market. (Richelle Harrison Plesse)
We
found the “brewery” – a small wooden hut set among a banana plantation –
deeper in the Marangu jungle. An elderly, heavy-set woman pruned the
banana trees, while an enormous cauldron filled with the fruity tipple
bubbled over a nearby open fire. Known locally as mbege, the
concoction of millet and bananas is the traditional brew of the Chagga
people. With most of the work done by hand without any help from modern
technology, its production is a lengthy and labour-intensive process.
The result is a sweet, slightly sour boozy beverage, one that's knocked
back at several Chagga festivities, including weddings, births, rites of
passage and even wakes. Later in the day, we came across a group of
locals gathered at an open-air bar to pay tribute to a deceased loved
one, swigging from small buckets to drown their sorrows after the
funeral.
While the beloved banana beer is an ever-present feature of
contemporary Chagga culture, the open-air Chagga Live Museum offers a
glimpse into the tribe’s traditional way of life. The museum’s vast
underground cave – a hideout during ancient tribal wars – is a must-see.
Entire Chagga families – up to 60 at any one time – would seek refuge
in this elaborate system of narrow tunnels during the Maasai raids,
bringing livestock along with them. For centuries, the rival tribe would
steal cattle and take Chagga women and children as slaves, a practice
that reached its height in the 19th Century and continued until the
mid-20th Century. When we climbed down a rickety ladder into the dark
chamber, the smell of damp was overwhelming.
Coming up for air, we
headed for the approximately 50m-tall Ndoro Waterfall, reached after a
steep, unnerving walk into a deep gully. Our guide Tilya constantly
pleaded with us to go “pole pole”, which means “slowly” in Swahili.
The
scenery was a handsome reward for our efforts; the cascade was flanked
by towering cliffs blanketed in dense forest, home to the rare Colobus
monkey. We cooled off with a quick dip in the rock pool's icy waters and
the blistering afternoon sun was quick to warm our shivering bodies
when we emerged.
As the sun showed signs of disappearing behind
the trees, we began our return trip to the lodge, stumbling upon a choir
rehearsal along the way. Standing on the lawn outside of a church,
Around two dozen men and women formed a semi-circle around a conductor;
the woman in the centre kept time with a small drum while everyone else
stamped their feet in unison.
A choir rehearsal in Marangu. (Richelle Harrison Plesse)
Our
18km trek through Marangu was, of course, nothing compared to the
Kilimanjaro challenge that draws most travellers to the village. But
listening to the choir’s uplifting melodies and perfect harmonies, I
realized there was no tribe I’d rather have gotten the chance to be a
part of.
Inside the conclave, when Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope, the
cardinal seated beside him whispered, "Don't forget the poor." When
asked, "What name will you take?" he said, "I choose the name Francis, in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi."
The cardinals rose to their feet in applause.
One
Vatican commentator said, "I was astonished at the boldness of it,
because the name Francis is a whole program of governance in miniature."
Years earlier, in a little known interview with an Argentine rabbi,
Pope Francis had given his own capsule biography of Saint Francis.
"He
brought to Christianity an entire new concept about poverty in the face
of the luxury, pride and vanity of the civil and ecclesial powers of
the time. He changed history."
Before greeting the public, Pope
Francis was offered a red velvet cape with ermine trim, a jeweled cross,
cufflinks and luxurious red shoes. The rumor around Rome was that he
waved them away, saying, "That circus is over." But in reality his
response was far simpler and humbler. He merely said, "I prefer not to." After his inaugural mass,
wearing a simple mitre trimmed in brown to honor St. Francis, the new
pope greeted waiting crowds in St. Peter's Square. Homemade signs
everywhere read, "Repair my Church," words God spoke to St. Francis in a
vision.
At prayer in a dilapidated chapel, the young saint felt a
Byzantine cross on the altar say to him, "Francis, repair my Church."
He traveled on foot, begged and used all he collected to restore local
churches. Years later, when St. Francis went to the Vatican for
permission to found his order, he was turned away. But Pope Innocent III
had a dream that the Lateran basilica was breaking apart. A humble man
held the entire collapsing church together, bearing the weight of the
falling walls on his shoulders. Realizing this was St. Francis, the pope
called him back and approved his order.
Giotto, The Dream of Innocent III
The
first Franciscans devoted themselves to prayer and manual labor, giving
all they could to the poor. As rector of the Colégio Máximo, Pope
Francis filled his students' days with silent contemplation, mass, and
community prayer. He founded a farm where he worked alongside them. It
fed students and impoverished residents of the surrounding barrio alike.
He sent his students out into the barrio, telling them the lesson he
learned from a poor mother with many children who often asked for help.
One night when he told her to return the next day, she said, "But
Father, we're hungry now, and we're cold now." He gave her a blanket from his own bed.
St.
Francis' message of poverty was so radical that as his own order grew,
other Franciscans opposed him. When he wrote a new Franciscan Rule, it
was destroyed by his opponents, who valued financial security and
philosophical study over utter poverty. Pope Francis too was opposed for
his radical simplicity. His farm was called an anti-intellectual boot
camp, and he was deemed pre-modern for embracing the popular devotions
of the poor.
But like St. Francis, Pope Francis remained dedicated
to the poor. He told the story of a Roman prefect persecuting a church
deacon, and demanding the church treasures. The deacon returned with a
throng of faithful poor, saying, "These are the treasures of the church."
There
are uncanny parallels between the lives of St. Francis and Pope
Francis. Both suffered grave illnesses at age 22. Convalescence served
as a time of spiritual reckoning; each emerged healed, and set on a
divine path. They were sent away by the church hierarchy for their
challenging views, but later welcomed back by the inmost circles of the
Vatican.
Both looked to the heavens for poetic evocations of
their faith. St. Francis wrote the beloved poem, "Canticle of the Sun."
He calls the sun, in its brightness, beauty, radiance and splendor, a
symbol of the divine, and writes: Praised be my Lord, for sister moon and for the stars,
In heaven Thou hast formed them clear and precious and fair.
In the conclave, Pope Francis touched on the early church fathers' sense of the mysterium lunae.
The mystery of the moon is that it has no light of its own; it only
reflects the light of the sun. He said the church should not mistake
itself for the sun. It has instead the mystery of the moon. It must
remember that it only shines by reflecting the light of the divine.
On hearing this, Cardinal Schönborn, a kingmaker of the conclave, said aloud, "That's what we need."
Scientists have worked out how flocking birds solve the "social dilemma" of who leads the flock.
Researchers from the UK, Germany and Austria studied the
northern bald ibis, tracking precisely how this species - like many
large birds - maintains a "V" formation when migrating.
They found that birds took it in turns to take the very energy-depleting lead.
This allowed every bird to take advantage of extra lift produced by by the wings of the bird in front.
The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The time bird A is in front of bird B
correlates almost exactly with the amount of time it's the other way
around - they're taking it in turns”
Bernhard VoelklUniversity of Oxford
Lead researcher Bernhard Voelkl
from the University of Oxford's department of zoology told BBC News that
he wanted to know how the birds worked together to deal with the "very
high cost" of migration.
"These birds go from Austria to Italy - a journey of 1,500km
(930 miles)," he explained. "Mortality is really high - 30% of juveniles
don't survive the first migration." Working in pairs
The researchers were able to track each bird in a flock, thanks to a unique conservation project by the Waldrappteam in Austria, which has raised northern bald ibises, and trained them to migrate behind a microlight aircraft.
The aim of this unusual project is to bring the northern bald
ibis back to Europe; the birds were wiped out by hunting, so the team
is retraining the birds to navigate a migration route that has now been
lost.
Data loggers containing GPS-based tracking devices, that the
team fitted to each bird, meant the scientists could track their exact
positions.
In a previous study of the same rare birds, Dr Steven Portugal and his colleagues revealed why birds fly in a V formation
Careful analysis of how and where the birds shifted position as
they flew, showed that birds were working in pairs, repeatedly swapping
around between follower and leader.
"What we saw was that, for each bird, there's a very clear
correlation between the time it spent in front, and the amount of time
it followed another bird," said Dr Voelkl.
"So the time bird A is in front of bird B correlates almost
exactly with the amount of time it's the other way around; they're
taking it in turns."
The researchers had expected that the birds would be
co-operating in some way, but were surprised that the pattern was so
clear and that the mechanism was so simple.
"It's crucial because these migrations are very tough for the
birds," said Dr Voelkl. "And by reducing the amount of energy they use,
they can really increase their [chance of] survival.
"They don't have to watch all the other birds in the flock -
they just have to match to one other bird, so it's very simple, but also
robust."
Dr Voelkl thinks this "pairwise matching" as he refers to it,
is likely to be used by many more bird species that undertake
exhausting annual journeys.
Myanmar is in festive mood this
month as this year marks the birth centenary of Bogyoke Aung San, which
falls on February 13, regarded as National Children’s Day.
A multitude of cultural festivities –
being staged chiefly by the National League for Democracy (NLD) in
places like Yangon and Natmauk, Aung San’s birthplace – continue to
capture the imagination of the public in the run-up to the big day.
If you missed some of these celebratory events, don’t fret. Many more are still to come.
In Yangon, a traditional Anyeint
performance by the Aung San Thuriya Hnin Si Anyeint dance troupe on
February 9 and 10 at the National Theatre. Anyeint is a type of
slapstick comedy that combines music and dance. It’s performed by not
just professional comedians, but guest artists as well like actors,
singers and dancers.
In Mandalay, the famed Mandalay
Marionette Theater will stage two shows on February 10. The Htwe Oo
Myanmar puppet troupe will perform twice on February 11 in the same
city.
In Natmauk, the Phoe Chit dance troupe
will perform on February 11 before embarking on a tour across the
country. Natmauk will also host the Human Rights Human Dignity
Travelling Film Festival on February 12 and 13 at Sutaungpyae Payagyi
monastery.
These events serve to reinforce Aung San’s national resonance.
Informally referred to as “bogyoke”
(general), Aung San was born on February 13, 1915, in Natmauk, Magwe
district, into a well-to-do family with a long pedigree.
He received primary schooling initially
at the Vernacular High School in Natmauk and secondary education at
National High School in Yenangyaung.
He attended Rangoon University (now the
University of Yangon) in 1933 and took a degree in English Literature,
Modern History and Political Science. Later he attended law classes at
the same university.
It was during his university days when
Aung San developed his interest in politics and became a prominent
student leader while doing well academically. His political aspirations
were only to have a profound impact on his university life.
Phoe Chit’s dance troupe is to stage a traditional dance performance celebrating Bogyoke Aung San’s centenary. (Photo - EMG)
As a student leader, he was threatened
with expulsion from the university for refusing to reveal the name of
the author of the article “Hell Hound At Large”, which criticised a
senior University official. This led to the Second University Students'
Strike and the university authorities subsequently retracted their
expulsion orders.
At the university, he served on various
students' organisations and bodies, notably as Editor, Vice-President
and President of the Rangoon University Students' Union, and as one of
the founders and President of All-Burma Students' Union. He also served,
even as a student, along with another student representative, on the
University Act Amendment Committee appointed by the government in 1938
and succeeded in getting the progressive University Act passed by the
Burma Legislature.
As a student, he contributed many
articles to local English and Myanmar publications and served for a time
on the editorial staff of the “New Burma”, the only Burman-owned
and-managed, nationalist English-language tri-weekly.
In October 1938, he ended his law
studies abruptly and entered national politics to pursue the patriotic
cause of national freedom by joining the Dohbama Asi-ayone (Thakins), at
the time the only militant and extremely nationalistic political party
in Myanmar.
He became General Secretary of that
party until August 1940 when he went underground to continue the fight
for Myanmar’s independence. At this point, he was anti-British, and
staunchly anti-imperialist. He became a Thakin (lord or master – a
politically motivated title that proclaimed that the Burmese people were
the true masters of their country, not the colonial rulers who had
usurped the title for their exclusive use).
As a Thakin leader, he was arrested and
detained in 1939 for being one of those leading "a conspiracy to
overthrow the Government by force", according to a government
communique. But he was released shortly after.
He served also on the Working Committee
of the All-Burma Peasants' League and was one of the principal figures
initiating the Freedom Bloc of parties and elements interested in the
struggle for Myanmar’s freedom, along with Dr Ba Maw, during 1939-40.
He also acted as Secretary of the
Freedom Bloc until he went underground. In March 1940, he led a Thakin
delegation to the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress at the
invitation of the latter and visited several cities in India including
Gaya, Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, Peshawar, Khyber Pass, Lahore,
Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bombay and Calcutta.
After that trip, he served for a short
time on the Governing Body of University College in Yangon as a
representative of the Rangoon University Students' Union while
conducting an intensive anti-imperialist, anti-war campaign in Myanmar.
When a warrant was issued for his
arrest, he went underground. He then went to Amoy, China, to find
support for his cause: Myanmar’s independence from British rule. He
stayed for about two months in the International Settlement there before
the Japanese took him to Tokyo.
After three months in Tokyo, he returned
to his country in 1941 to communicate the plans given by the Japanese
to his comrades in Myanmar. He went back to Tokyo soon after, taking
with him the first batch of young men to undergo military training by
the Japanese for the purpose of staging an insurrection in Myanmar.
In 1942, he came to Bangkok to organise
the Burma Independence Army with the help of the Japanese. He marched
into Myanmar along with the latter as part of an invasion of the
country. Ever since he and his comrades were in Japan and eventually
became disillusioned with the Japanese. He even tried to organise an
anti-Japanese movement before he came back to Myanmar.
He attempted to form an anti-Japanese
Resistance Movement from 1943 and succeeded in forming the Anti-Fascist
People's Freedom League in August 1944. Finally he led the open general
rising against the Japanese militarists on March 27, 1945. In September
1945, he and 10 other colleagues went to Kandy to conclude a military
agreement for the amalgamation of the Patriotic Burmese Forces (as the
Resistance Forces were then called) with the Burma Army under British
control.
If Aung San were still alive, he would
probably regret that Myanmar is still not a fully independent country, a
point raised frequently by his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi.
“Myanmar already regained her
independence, but the people are living under oppression, this is why,
our country is not a sovereign state,” Aung San Suu Kyi said at a
ceremony marking he father’s centenary.
“If my father were alive, he would be
almost 100 years old. My father died when he was hardly 33 years old. We
need to rethink how much we have done for the objectives of the
independence. How much freedom and security have we restored? Freedom
and security are always related together,” she said.
The country's aging population isn't the only reason
0.56 percent. That's Thailand's official unemployment rate as of
end-2014. It's among the lowest in the world, and compares with 9.4
percent in India and 6 percent in the Philippines in the region.
This is not a recent phenomenon: Thailand's jobless rate has held
below 1 percent for the most part since 2011. The record high was 5.73
percent in Jan. 2001, when the National Statistical Office first began
releasing the data every month. How did it get so low?
"Our unemployment rate has been low not because of a different
definition from other countries, but because of structural problems,''
said Bank of Thailand spokesman Chirathep Senivongs Na Ayudhya. "The
agricultural sector absorbs laborers and those who can't find work can
always look for jobs in the informal sector or do something on their
own.''
No free lunch
Because there isn't much by way of unemployment insurance in
Thailand, there isn't any impetus to stay jobless for long. Those who
lose their jobs invariably enter the so-called informal sector or seek
out a part-time job, and are counted as employed.
Farm hands
More than 40 percent of Thailand's population is engaged in
agriculture, where there is a high degree of underemployment and
off-season unemployment. The underemployed are counted among the
employed and make up about 0.5 percent of that total. If, for instance,
you lose your job as a bank teller and return home and lend a hand at
your dad's farm for at least one hour a week, you are considered as
employed.
Too few babies
Thailand's fertility rate from 2010-2015 is estimated at 1.4 by the United Nations Population Fund compared
with 3.4 in the Philippines. Plus, its population aged 60 years and
above rose to about 15 percent last year from under 7 percent in 1994,
so there are more people retiring and fewer joining the workforce. In
comparison, Japan, where more than a quarter of the population is over
65, has a jobless rate of above 3 percent.
Foreign workers
While there may be up to 3 million migrant workers in Thailand from
Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, according to Human Rights Watch, they are
mostly undocumented. The government is taking steps to register foreign
workers, but the language barrier is a challenge to increasing their
numbers in more skilled sectors, unlike Singapore which has addressed
its labor force crunch partly with more open borders.
Shades of gray
The informal sector of the Thai economy, comprising anyone who's not
covered by formal work arrangements, accounted for more than 64 percent
of the total workforce in 2013. It includes street vendors and
taxi-motorbike drivers, the self-employed and those operating in gray
areas of the economy. They are largely counted as employed.
With no major labor-market policy changes planned and with the
inflation rate falling in January for the first time since 2009 -- and
forecast to breach the lower end of the central bank's target range of 1
percent to 4 percent this year -- there are no signs yet that the
government or the monetary authority is unduly worried about the jobless
rate. So that rate is going to stay very low.
When it comes to fresh food, there has long been a dividing line
between Britain, the United States – or English-speaking countries – and
much of the rest of the world. Early and rapid industrialisation in the
former led to a divorce between great swathes of the population and the
land they once farmed.
Refrigeration, railways, suburban growth
and the car have given rise to the supermarket, with its shrink-wrapped
food, sell-by dates, and the branding and advertising of what we eat.
Driving to edge-of-town supermarkets has resulted in the closure of
family shops, the de-valuing of high streets and a decline in
interaction between buyers, growers and sellers of food.
The role
of the supermarket was once played by covered markets in Britain and
North America just as it is today in much of the world where people
still want to look closely at the food they plan to buy, and to enjoy
the incomparable buzz and the feast of all senses covered markets offer.
Grand Central Market on South Broadway,
Los Angeles - opened in 1917 and designed by the English-born architect
John B Parkinson (Alamy)
More than these quotidian pleasures, covered
markets are often special buildings, lovingly designed because their
role – feeding the city and doing so deliciously and well – is equally
as important as those of city halls and places of worship. Despite the
apparently relentless rise of factory food and supermarkets, covered
markets continue to thrive, some in bright patches of Britain and the
United States. Super markets
One of the
surprising joys of downtown Los Angeles – a city most visitors think of
as one great freeway where no-one even thinks of walking – is Grand
Central Market on South Broadway. Opened in 1917 on the ground floor of
the Homer Loughlin Building and designed by the English-born architect
John B Parkinson, the market has served succeeding generations of
immigrants. Today, 80% of those who shop here daily are Hispanic
Americans, a fact reflected in the wealth of fresh fruit, vegetables and
Spanish delis. Most of these, though, display their wares under
all-American neon signs hung from the reinforced concrete beams of an
innovative building where Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous of all US
architects, once ran his studio.
The architecture of Seattle’s
Pike Place Market is a rambling affair in a number of different styles
dating from 1907, when this waterfront enterprise first opened. Located
on several hillside levels, the nine-acre (3,600 sq m) market offers
everything from the freshest Pacific fish to local crafts. A publicly
owned development, it houses some 500 people as well as feeding and
delighting many more. Of course you can dine on sushi here, although in
its early days and before Congress passed an act in 1942 sending them to
internment camps for the duration of the Second World War,
Japanese-American families had made their special mark here, owning at
least 80% of the market stalls. Pike Place Market thrives today, a city
centre alternative to a world of manufactured food and heavily marketed
retailing. If you’re lucky, you will even see – hard to miss him – Sol
‘The Cod Father’ Amon, Pike Place’s longest serving stall holder and a
Seattle legend, outside Pure Food & Fish. Market buildings and big
characters have long gone hand in hand.
Les Halles – the ‘Belly of Paris’. This
mid-19th Century Crystal Palace of food, designed by the City Architect
Victor Baltard, was demolished in 1971 (Wikimedia Commons)
For sheer architectural beauty, Europe and the
Middle East offer the finest of all covered markets. Despite intense
competition from opulent palazzos and mesmerising art-laced churches,
few visitors to Venice can fail to be impressed by the Pescheria, the
covered fish market set cheek-by-gill with Rialto Bridge. A fish market
has existed near here since 1097, although the existing Neo-Gothic
building designed by architect Domenico Rupolo and painter Cesare
Laurenti dates from 1907. Look up at the capitals crowning the columns
supporting the roof: they sport fish heads rather than classically
correct volutes or acanthus leaves.
Competing for artistry,
however, are the displays of fresh food on offer, here and in the
next-door Erberia or fruit and vegetable market. The market is best
approached by the traghetto – gondola ferry – from Santa Sofia
on the other side of the Grand Canal. This way, the worlds of fish,
water, boats, a very grand canal, a particular cuisine and unforgettable
piscine architecture are caught in one distinctive Venetian net. Daily bread
These
Italian and US markets are particular as well as special. Paris, on the
other hand, has a long tradition of everyday covered markets throughout
the city. These are the children of the great central mother market,
Les Halles – the ‘Belly of Paris’, its name adopted from the title of
Emile Zola’s 1873 novel, Le Ventre de Paris, although this mid-19th Century Crystal Palace of food, designed by the City Architect Victor Baltard, was demolished in 1971.
Of
the thirteen surviving covered markets, Marché La Chapelle, by Baltard
in the 18th arrondisement, has been well restored. It gives a hint of
what the much missed Les Halles was like, while offering food from
Portugal and North Africa and the sight of busy local shoppers who use
this and other Parisian markets daily.
Valencia’s Mercado Central - where the
food on sale in this exquisite Spanish Art Nouveau building is as every
bit delicious as the enveloping architecture (Getty)
These French markets were elegant, yet
matter-of-fact designs. What was sold here was ultimately more important
than the architecture. This cannot be said of Valencia’s Mercado
Central, an apotheosis of the covered market as urban artwork. Happily,
the food on sale in this exquisite Spanish Art Nouveau building is as
every bit delicious as the enveloping architecture. Designed by the
Catalan architects Francisco Guardia and Alejandro Soler, the market,
with its spectacular domes, colourful ceramics, mosaics and stained
glass, was completed in 1928. Today, it boasts a thousand stalls
groaning with glorious food. Those brought up on supermarkets can only
stare in wonder, and eat in amazement; this is what fresh food can be,
and it is for everyone, every day at no extra cost.
The Al-Madina Souq in the heart of
Aleppo, its structure dating back to at least 1450, has been badly
damaged in the current Syrian conflict (Getty)
The greatest of all covered markets, in terms of
scale and magnificence, are those of the Middle East. Tragically, the
best of all, the Al-Madina Souq in the heart of Aleppo, its structure
dating back to at least 1450, has been badly damaged in the current
Syrian conflict. Here, there are eight miles of covered streets, many
leading under noble stone vaults. A place of shadows playing in
sunlight, of thousands of stalls laden with food, spices and fabrics,
this was for many centuries one of the great melting pots of religions
and cultures. Hopefully, it will be restored to its former glory.
In
Rotterdam, meanwhile, a famously tolerant city where peoples of many
different cultures live, work and shop, an eye-catching, even audacious,
new covered market has opened in the city’s Laurens district. This
large and colourful horseshoe-shaped building, by MVDRV architects,
embraces food and flower stalls, hip new fashion boutiques, bright
apartments and new business enterprises. It even includes a cookery
school for those challenged by what to do with real, fresh food. The
Markthal’s lively architectural presence makes it clear that the covered
market is not just here to stay, but also that it has a future more
enticing and pleasurable than any edge-of-town supermarket is ever
likely to be, from here to Los Angeles.
Anemia
isn't initially obvious. When you have mild to moderate anemia, you
will feel weak, be fatigued and experience shortness of breath. If the
condition is not detected early more, symptoms might develop such as a
racing heartbeat, dizziness, headaches, ringing in the ears and restless
leg syndrome. Additionally your skin and fingernails will look pale,
and you might have increased hair loss. As I said before, the best way
to tell if you are anemic is by doing a blood test.
