Tag: Boxes

Living Women Inventors

Here are some living women inventors whose ideas produced products used by NASA, home owners, computer companies and in many other fields.

Sally Fox
• Year of birth: 1955
• Birthplace: Menlo Park, California
• Occupation: Inventor/businesswoman/entomologist
• Invention: Inventor of commercially viable fiber-colored cotton.
Colored cotton had been grown for thousands of years but was not suitable for modern textile machines and had to be spun by hand. While working as a pollinator for a farmer seeking more pest-resistant cotton, Fox began breeding brown and green cotton. It took her eight years to develop plants that were uniform in color and size as well as commercially viable. Because it doesn’t need to be dyed, colored cotton needs minimal processing and is more environmentally friendly.

Temple Grandin
• Year of birth: 1947
• Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
• Occupation: Inventor/teacher
• Invention: Animal-handling devices
She has designed animal restraint systems that rely on behavioral principles rather than the use of force. Grandin studied how cattle react to ranchers and various stimuli, and designed stockyards and chutes that reduce stress and injury. Today, almost half the cattle in North America are handled or slaughtered using equipment designed by her.

Joy Mangano
• Year of birth: 1956
• Birthplace: East Meadow, New York
• Occupation: Businesswoman
• Invention: Self-wringing Miracle Mop
Joy Mangano invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop and made it a best seller on shopping channel QVC in 1992. She went on to develop numerous consumer products and sold her business, Ingenious Designs, to the Home Shopping Network (HSN) in 1999. She holds more than 100 patents and trademarks and has been successful as a businesswoman and engrepreneur.

Valerie Thomas
• Year of birth: 1942
• Birthplace: Maryland
• Occupation: Scientist
• Invention: Illusion transmitter
Valerie Thomas invented the illusion transmitter, which uses concave mirrors to create optical illusion images. After majoring in physics at Morgan State University, Thomas began her career at NASA. When she worked on Landsat, the first satellite to transmit images from outer space, saw the need for a technology that would deliver three-dimensional images. The illusion transmitter was patented in 1980 and is still used by NASA today. Scientists are seeking to incorporate it into technology that will give surgeons three-dimensional views of the human body.

Olga D. González-Sanabria
• Year of birth: N/A
• Birthplace: Patillas, Puerto Rico
• Occupation: Scientist/inventor
• Invention: Long-life nickel hydrogen batteries
Olga González-Sanabria played a key role in the development of the long-life nickel hydrogen battery, used to power the International Space Station. A native of Puerto Rico, she joined NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland in 1979 and has held a number of senior positions there.

Janet Emerson Bashen
• Year of birth: 1957
• Birthplace: Mansfield, Ohio
• Occupation: Businesswoman
• Invention: Software to secure documents
Janet Emerson Bashen, founder, chief executive officer, and president of human resources company Bashen Corp., in 2006 became the first African American woman in the U.S. to receive a software patent. She and a cousin developed LinkLine, a web-based application that stores and retrieves information pertaining to Equal Employment Opportunity cases.

Jeanne Lee Crews
• Year of birth: 1939
• Birthplace: United States
• Occupation: Inventor/scientist
• Invention: Bumper to shield satellites from space debris
Jeanne Crews joined NASA in 1964 — one of the first women engineers to do so — and began working on the problem of protecting satellites and manned craft from space debris. She developed the “space bumper,” a multi-layered shield that is as light but stronger than aluminum and is still in use on the International Space Station.

Margaret Hamilton
• Year of birth: 1936
• Birthplace: Paoli, Indiana
• Occupation: Computer scientist
• Invention: Software development
Margaret Hamilton led the Software Engineering Division at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory that developed guidance and navigation software for the Apollo space program. The software was critical to the success of the Apollo missions and was adapted for use in Skylab, the Space Shuttle and the first digital fly-by-wire systems in aircraft. Hamilton coined the very term “software engineering.”

Patricia Billings
• Year of birth: 1926
• Birthplace: Clinton City, Missouri
• Occupation: Sculptor/inventor/businesswoman
• Invention: Geobond-replacement for asbestos
Sculptor Patricia Billings invented Geobond to prevent her works from shattering. She knew that sculptors during the Renaissance used a cement additive to make their plaster more durable and wanted to create a modern version. After years of experimentation, Billings developed Geobond, which creates an indestructible plaster when mixed with gypsum and concrete. What’s more, it is fireproof and non-toxic and thus a practical alternative to asbestos.

Lynn Conway
• Year of birth: 1938
• Birthplace: Mount Vernon, New York
• Occupation: Computer scientist
• Invention: Pioneer of microelectronics chip design
Lynn Conway is more than an inventor — she’s a revolutionary. Along with Carver Mead, Conway is credited with the Mead & Conway revolution, a design process for the integrated circuits that make microchips. She also invented generalized dynamic instruction handling, which is used to improve computer processor performance.

Erna Schneider Hoover
• Year of birth: 1926
• Birthplace: Irvington, New Jersey
• Occupation: Mathematician
• Invention: Invented computerized telephone switching method
While working at Bell Labs in New Jersey, mathematician Erna Hoover invented a way to monitor the frequency of incoming calls and prioritize tasks so as to avoid overloading phone switches. In 1971, she received a patent for a Feedback Control Monitor for Stored Program Data Processing System — one of the first software patents ever issued — and the principles of her invention are still applied in telecommunications equipment today. Hoover also worked on radar control programs for the interception of intercontinental ballistic missile warheads.

Nancy Perkins
• Year of birth: N/A
• Birthplace: N/A
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Invented and improved various household appliances
Nancy Perkins has made a career out of either inventing or improving household appliances. Perkins holds patents for various household items such as a rotary grater for cheese, an upright vacuum cleaner, a buffet server, and a slow cooker, to name just a few.

Edith Marie Flanigen
• Year of birth: 1929
• Birthplace: Buffalo, New York
• Occupation: Chemist
• Invention: Invented or developed over 200 different synthetic substances
Edith Flanigen has been described as one of the most inventive chemists of all time. Over her 42-year career with Union Carbide, she invented more than 200 synthetic substances and was awarded more than 100 patents. Flanigen is known for her work on molecular sieves, which can filter or separate complex substances, and in particular zeolite Y, which is used to refine petroleum. She also co-invented a synthetic emerald that was used in masers, predecessors of lasers, and jewelry.

Halloween and Pumpkins, a Long History

To most of us the pumpkin is a traditional symbol of Halloween. Even before we are old enough to carve our own jack-o’-lanterns, we depict them in our Halloween pictures with black cats, witches and ghosts and even tape replicas cut out of orange paper to the windows.

We can look back more than 2,000 years to the origins of Halloween. The Celtic people, who then lived in what is now Great Britain, Ireland and Northern France, looked at Oct. 31 as the last day of the year. It marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter, when even the sun seemed to be dying, leaving the world cold, dark and decaying.

It was on this night that people honored their god of death, Samhain. They extinguished their hearth fires, leaving their homes cold and dark, symbolically imitating nature’s pattern, and gathered at the sacred bonfires built by the Druids, their priests and leaders. At the celebration’s end, each family carried home a torch from the bonfire to relight its own fire, symbolizing the new year and the renewal of life, and perhaps to scare away evil spirits and light the way for ghosts, the souls of the dead, who they believed Samhain permitted to return to Earth for just this one night.

Following the conquest of the Celts by the Romans in 43 A.D., the Romans own festival to honor the dead and Pomona, their goddess of fruit trees, were combined with the Celtic ceremonies. It is likely that apples became associated with the holiday at this time. The Anglo-Saxons replaced the Romans as rulers of England in the fifth to seventh centuries. During this time Christianity spread throughout the land and some of its rites were combined with existing customs.

In the ninth century, the Christians established Nov. 1 as All Saints’ Day. The traditions of Oct. 31 were incorporated as part of this holy day, being celebrated as the Eve of All Hallows. (Hallow is the old English word for a holy person or saint.) The name for the Oct. 31 celebration eventually was contracted to Halloween. Soul cakes were eaten to mark the occasion. Poor people went “souling,” asking for soul cakes in return for saying prayers for the dead. People carved lanterns out of large beets and turnips and left candles burning in them to guide the souls of the dead to their former homes. Over time all of these observances became secularized and celebrated on Halloween.

These traditions were adapted by people from the Celtic lands when they settled in North America. “Souling” became “trick or treat,” with children wearing costumes representing supernatural spirits, such as ghosts and witches. The pumpkin replaced beets and turnips as a more suitable lantern to guide the spirits. The eerie orange light from the pumpkins led to its being called “jack-o’-lantern,” the colloquial English name for the mysterious flame-like phosphorescence that flits over marshy ground when the gases of decaying vegetation spontaneously ignite.

Inventions of Amazing Women

Women have made great strides in many fields that previously – and to some degree still – were considered the domain of men. Culture, gender bias and stereotyping play into this lack of recognition. Not all of the women on the list were trained scientists when they made their mark.

Here are living women inventors whose ideas produced simple, low-cost products used in disasters and rural areas across the world.

Ann Moore
• Year of birth: 1934
• Birthplace: Ohio
• Occupation: Inventor/nurse
• Invention: Snugli and Weego child carriers
Ann Moore invented the Snugli and Weego baby carriers after working as a pediatric nurse with the Peace Corps in Togo, where she saw mothers carrying their babies in fabric slings. Her creations allow parents to carry babies safely and securely while keeping their hands free to do different things. These baby carriers promote intimacy and bonding as well. Moore also invented the AirLift oxygen carrier, a soft mesh backpack that allows people on oxygen more mobility.

Deepika Kurup
• Year of birth: 1998
• Birthplace: Nashua, New Hampshire
• Occupation: Inventor/scientist/social entrepreneur
• Invention: Water purification system
Deepika Kurup is the youngest entrant on our list — she is currently a student at Harvard University. While still a teenager, after seeing children drinking dirty water in India, she invented a purification system that uses solar energy to remove contaminants from water.

Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta
• Year of birth: Stork: 1987; Sreshta: N/A
• Birthplace: Stork: Chicago, Illinois; Sreshta: Houston, Texas
• Occupation: Inventor/entrepreneur Inventors/entrepreneurs
• Invention: Solar-powered inflatable light
Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta were graduate students at Columbia University when they invented the LuminAID, an inflatable, waterproof, solar-powered light as part of a disaster relief project after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Their product provides light for 16 hours and requires six hours of daylight to charge. Stork and Sreshta used a crowdfunding campaign to begin making the LuminAID and started a Give Light Project to donate a light for every one purchased

Jessica Matthews
• Year of birth: 1988
• Birthplace: Poughkeepsie, New York
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Invented soccer ball that generates electricity for an attachable reading lamp.
While studying at Harvard University, Nigerian-American Jessica Matthews invented the Soccket, a soccer ball that generates electricity for an attachable reading lamp. She went on to found Uncharted Power, which specializes in harnessing kinetic energy to power microgrids for communities around the world.

Amy Smith
• Year of birth: 1962
• Birthplace: Lexington, Massachusetts
• Occupation: Engineer
• Invention: Developed a way to turn sugar-cane fibers into clean-burning charcoal
Amy Smith is the director of MIT’s D-Lab, which focuses on producing appropriate technologies for the developing world. Described as “a practitioner of humanitarian engineering,” Smith has come up with a series of inventions to help rural families. These include a way to turn sugar-cane fibers, found in countries such as Haiti, into clean-burning charcoal by carbonizing it. Other inventions include a hammer mill for grinding grain into flour and a portable kit to test water for contamination.

Emily Jane Cummins
• Year of birth: 1987
• Birthplace: Keighley, United Kingdom
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Invented pullable water carrier for manual workers
Emily Cummins is another woman dedicated to improving lives in the developing world. She invented a water carrier made largely of tree branches that can take up to five containers held in place by surplus inner tubes. The water carrier can be adapted to carry firewood or other loads and can be recycled at the end of its life. Cummins also designed a sustainable refrigerator consisting of two metal cylinders with sand or another material in between. This material is then soaked in water and evaporation cools the inner cylinder and its contents. The refrigerator is not complicated to make, doesn’t need electricity, and can use dirty water.

Nobelungu Mashinini
• Year of birth: 1948
• Birthplace: Embalenhle Township in Secunda, South Africa
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Invented cleaner method to burn coal domestically
Nobelungu Mashinini, known affectionately as “Granny Mashinini,” introduced a way to build coal fires that emit far less smoke than the traditional method. The smoke from coal fires, which are used for heating in many South African communities, has been linked to increased respiratory disease, especially among children. Instead of layering coal over a base of paper, Mashinini began her fires with coal, and then added a layer of paper and a few pieces of wood. Mashinini’s system of “making fire like the granny” has been taught to households across the country and has had a huge impact on the winter air quality.

Ann Makosinski
• Year of birth: 1997
• Birthplace: Victoria, Canada
• Occupation: Inventor/public speaker
• Invention: Invented Hollow Flashlight
Canadian Ann Makosinski won the 2013 Google Science Fair for inventing the Hollow Flashlight, a light powered by the heat of the human hand. She also invented eDrink, a mug that uses human-powered energy to charge a phone.

 

Random Acts of Kindness

Kindness at the Bank
On Aug. 21, at about 11 a.m., Martin Staniland went to the a bank branch in Pennsylvania to take out some cash and to make a change to the automatic debits from his family account.

When he had apparently finished with the ATM, he went into the bank, where to his horror and embarrassment he suddenly realized that he had left his $60 cash in the ATM.

Going back to the ATM, Staniland found the waiting notes already had disappeared. Resigned to the loss, he went back into the bank, mentioning the loss to the staff member on duty near the door. He immediately said that a very honest customer had handed the cash in and the bank staff, including the manager, very promptly and cheerfully returned my money.

Staniland asked if the customer responsible was still on the premises, but the staff replied that the customer apparently already had left the bank. Staniland salutes his my anonymous benefactor for a very thoughtful and public-spirited act of kindness to a complete stranger, as well as the bank staff for its efficient and considerate response.

Yes, this wasn’t a huge amount of money, but that makes its return all the more remarkable and touching. Chalk up one more for the decency of Pittsburghers to complete strangers on the street.

Three Cheers for Home Depot
Several weeks ago, Eileen Connelly went with her daughter and granddaughters, who were visiting from New Jersey, to visit her 94-year-old aunt.

She says Aunt Dorothy was excited to show the visitors her new porch blinds that had been put up recently. Although she lives alone, her small house is always kept neat and clean. She spends many hours sitting on her porch. Apparently she wasn’t satisfied anymore with the very old blinds and called The Home Depot and wanted to purchase new ones.

Aunt Dorothy almost never leaves her home and was concerned about how to select and measure for the new ones. Almost immediately, Telia, operations manager at the store, had new blinds installed at no cost. Aunt Dorothy could hardly stop talking about Telia and will cherish the lovely card and note from her while she enjoys sitting on her porch and the beautiful new blinds from Home Depot.

Telia actually came to the house, helped install the blinds and spent time talking to Aunt Dorothy. Eileen wonders if this special young lady knows how happy she made my sweet 94-year-old aunt feel.

Thanks to a Good Samaritan
Lois Ferrie relates that she and her husband, Ron, recently drove to a GetGo gas station to get air in their tires. As they drove up, a gentleman was just finishing doing the same and getting in his car.

Ron Ferrie had heart surgery three weeks prior, and he struggled to get out of our car. The gentleman jumped out of his car and said, “I’ll do that for you.” He then put air in all four of the Ferrie’s tires.
Mrs. Ferrie thanked him but didn’t get his name. The Ferries are very grateful for his kindness.

Thanks to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for sharing these acts of kindness.

Medical Innovations by Women

Women have made great strides in many fields that previously – and to some degree still – were considered the domain of men, such as law and medicine.

There are scores of accomplished women who have not been acknowledged for their achievements in a variety of fields. Culture, gender bias and stereotyping play into this lack of recognition. Here’s a look at some of the women who have made outstanding contributions in medicine.

Barbara S. Askins
• Year of birth: 1939
• Birthplace: Belfast, Tennessee
• Occupation: Chemist
• Invention: Used radioactive material to enhance images from space
Barbara Askins is a NASA scientist. She is best known for inventing in the 1970s a method to enhance photographs taken from space. Prior to Askins’ inventions, these photographs were often blurred or lacked definition. By exposing negatives to radiation Askins was able to produce images with greater density and contrast. Her invention had applications outside space exploration. It was used to improve the clarity of X-rays – which meant getting readable X-rays while exposing patients to less radiation – and to restore old photographs.

Patricia Bath
• Year of birth: 1942
• Birthplace: New York City, New York
• Occupation: Ophthalmologist/inventor
• Invention: Laser tool to treat cataracts
Patricia Bath is best known as the inventor of the Laserphaco Probe, a device that uses laser technology to treat cataracts. Bath is a pioneer in other regards as well. She was the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology, the first female faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute and the first African American female doctor to receive a patent. She is an advocate for the use of telemedicine to bring medical services to remote areas. In 2007, the Daily Telegraph named her one of the top 100 living geniuses.

Ruane Sharon Jeter
• Year of birth: 1959
• Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Invented toaster with a digital timer
Ruane Jeter is nothing if not versatile — she has several patents for medical devices, including a disposable scalpel, a drug cartridge and a self-injection device. She also invented a toaster with a digital timer that allows users to choose how well they want their bread toasted. She collaborated with her sister, Sheila, to develop a multi-functional machine that included a stapler, staple remover, pencil sharpener and other features.

Ann A. Kiessling
• Year of birth: 1942
• Birthplace: Baker City, Oregon
• Occupation: Reproductive biologist
• Invention: Groundbreaking work in stem research, in vitro fertilization
Ann Kiessling discovered reverse transcriptase – converting RNA to DNA – in normal human cells in 1979. Prior to this, it was assumed that reverse transcriptase was an enzyme found only in retroviruses such as HIV. Her research into eggs and embryos led to advances in Human In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

Hayat Sindi
• Year of birth: 1967
• Birthplace: Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• Occupation: Biochemist
• Invention: Penny-size paper detects disease by analyzing bodily fluids
Hayat Sindi was born in Saudi Arabia, a country where women until last year could not even drive and where they have limited choices in education and career. Sindi persuaded her family to let her go to school in the United Kingdom. She studied pharmacology at King’s College London and biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. She holds patents for a simple, low-tech diagnostic tool that could significantly change medical treatment in poor countries. The small, paper-like device detects disease by analyzing bodily fluids such as saliva, urine, or blood.

Esther Sans Takeuchi
• Year of birth: 1953
• Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri
• Occupation: Chemical engineer
• Invention: Developed Li/SVO batteries
In 1987, materials scientist and chemical engineer Esther Sans Takeuchi developed lithium/silver vanadium oxide (Li/SVO) batteries for implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). These were much smaller than the previously used batteries and lasted up to five times as long, making ICDs easier to implant and reducing the need for replacement surgery. Takeuchi, a distinguished professor in the chemistry department at Stony Brook University and a chief scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, holds almost 150 patents.

Ann Tsukamoto
• Year of birth: 1952
• Birthplace: California
• Occupation: Scientist
• Invention: Invented process to isolate human stem cells
Ann Tsukamoto played a key role in the development of a method to isolate human stem cells. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through division. Under certain conditions, they can be induced to become tissue or organ-specific cells with special functions, thus serving as an internal repair system. Tsukamoto’s work has led to great advances in stem cell research and could further advance cancer and other diseases research.

Laura van ‘t Veer
• Year of birth: 1957
• Birthplace: The Netherlands
• Occupation: Molecular biologist
• Invention: Gene-based tissue test for breast cancer
Laura van ‘t Veer invented a gene-based tissue test that enables targeted treatment of breast cancer. By providing a more reliable prognosis, patients and doctors are better able to decide whether chemotherapy is necessary.

Flossie Wong-Staal
• Year of birth: 1947
• Birthplace: China
• Occupation: Molecular biologist
• Invention: Helped genetic mapping of HIV virus
Molecular biologist Flossie Wong-Staal was born in China and came to the United States by way of Hong Kong. After attending the University of California in Los Angeles, she began working at the National Cancer Institute. In 1983, Wong-Staal and her colleagues, simultaneously with French researchers, discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. Wong-Staal was the first person to clone HIV. This led to a genetic map of the virus and ultimately to a blood test for it. She later co-founded itherX Pharmaceuticals Inc. and serves as chief scientific officer and executive vice president of research and development. The Institute for Scientific Information named Wong-Staal the top woman scientist of the 1980s. In 2007, the Daily Telegraph named her one of the top 100 living geniuses.

Rachel Zimmerman
• Year of birth: 1972
• Birthplace: Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: Inventor
• Invention: Blissymbol Printer
When she was only 12, Rachel Zimmerman invented the Blissymbol Printer as part of a project for a school science fair. The device enables disabled people to communicate using a computer. The software program translates Blissymbols – a picture language developed by Charles Bliss to help those with cerebral palsy communicate – into printed language on a computer screen. This allows physically challenged people to communicate with others. Zimmerman now works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

 

World’s Most Democratic Countries

The Democracy Index, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, helps capture the state of democracy in 165 independent nation`s and two territories. The list tries to understand how democratic a country really is, based on five parameters: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

Here are the top 10 nations:

1. Norway – 9.87
2. Iceland – 9.58
3. Sweden – 9.39
4. New Zealand – 9.26
5. Denmark – 9.22
6. (Tie) Canada – 9.15
6. (Tie) Ireland – 9.15
8. Australia – 9.09
9. (Tie) Finland – 9.03
9. (Tie) Switzerland – 9.03

The United States and Italy tied for 21st place  at 7.98.

 

Earth Landscape Heads for Major Transformation

Within the next 100 years, Earth as we know it could be transformed into an unrecognizable, alien world, with ecosystems around the globe falling apart. After looking at over 500 ancient climate records, scientists have said current climate change is comparable to what the planet went through when it came out of the last ice age – and the seismic shift in biodiversity that took place then will likely happen again.

At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered most of North America, Asia and northern Europe, the planet warmed up by between four and seven degrees Celsius. Over the course of 10,000 years, the ice melted and entirely new ecosystems emerged, eventually developing into what we see today.

Climate scientists are currently predicting that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate (the so-called “business as usual” scenario) then the planet will have warmed around four degrees Celsius by 2100.

In a study published in Science, an international team of researchers looked at hundreds of paleontological records, examining how terrestrial ecosystems responded to climate change 20,000 years ago in a bid to establish how the planet might adjust to similar warming in the next 100 to 150 years. They looked at potential changes using different climate scenarios – from warming being limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius through to business-as-usual.

Findings showed that unless there are huge reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, terrestrial ecosystems around the world are at risk of “major transformation,” with most of these changes taking place over the next 100 years.

“Terrestrial vegetation over the entire planet is at substantial risk of major compositional and structural changes in the absence of markedly reduced [greenhouse gas] emissions,” they wrote. “Much of this change could occur during the 21st century, especially where vegetation disturbance is accelerated or amplified by human impacts. Many emerging ecosystems will be novel in composition, structure and function, and many will be ephemeral under sustained climate change; equilibrium states may not be attained until the 22nd century or beyond.”

Study co-author Jonathan Overpeck, from the University of Michigan, said there will be a huge ricochet effect that will eventually threaten water and food security. “If we allow climate change to go unchecked, the vegetation of this planet is going to look completely different than it does today, and that means a huge risk to the diversity of the planet,” he said in a statement.

“We’re talking about global landscape change that is ubiquitous and dramatic, and we’re already starting to see it in the United States, as well as around the globe. Our study provides yet another wake-up call that we need to act now to move rapidly towards an emission-free global economy.”

 

A Big Day in Canada, USA

An observance dating back to the late 19th century is celebrated on the first Monday in September in both the United States and Canada. Labor Day in the USA, Labour Day in Canada.

In the States, the day honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. It is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States and it is recognized as a federal holiday.

Canada’s Labour Day is a celebration of Canadian workers’ social and economic achievements. Until 1892, unions were illegal in Canada’s archaic British law system, making it incredibly difficult for workers to strike and demand better working conditions. The foundation for Labour Day were laid in March of 1872 when the Toronto Typographical Union demanded a 9-hour work day. When its demands weren’t met, the employees went on strike and were subsequently arrested according to the law.

As trade union and labor movements grew in the States in the late 19th century, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. “Labor Day” was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, 30 states in the United States officially celebrated Labor Day.

More than 80 countries celebrate International Workers’ Day on May 1 – the ancient European holiday of May Day – and several countries have chosen their own dates for Labour Day.

May Day emerged in the States in 1886 as an alternative holiday for the celebration of labor, later becoming known as International Workers’ Day. The date had its origins at the 1885 convention of the American Federation of Labor, which passed a resolution calling for adoption of the eight-hour day effective May 1, 1886.

While negotiation was envisioned for achievement of the shortened work day, use of the strike to enforce this demand was recognized, with May 1 advocated as a date for coordinated strike action. The proximity of the date to the bloody Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886, further accentuated May First’s radical reputation.

There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically-charged date of May 1.

Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe. In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative. The date was formally adopted as a United States federal holiday in 1894.

In big cities, people try to go outside and enjoy beaches and barbecues over the Labor Day Weekend. There are also numerous events and activities organized in the cities. For example, New York offers Labor Day Carnival, fireworks over Coney Island, happy hours in restaurants, 12-hour dance parties and many other activities. In Washington, one popular event is the Labor Day Concert at the U.S. Capitol featuring the National Symphony Orchestra with free attendance.

On April 18, 1872, Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald introduced the Trade Union Act, which legalized and protected unions in Canada. Since then, Labour Day has served as a yearly celebration of the achievements made to improving working conditions and employment benefits for all Canadians.

In both countries, Labor Day weekend marks the start of the fall football season, both at the professional and college levels. There are parades and picnics across both lands. In Canada, there are many fireworks displays, including those put on by many individuals who buy their own fireworks.

Enjoy the end of summer and have a great Labor, or Labour, Day!

Human Realities of Climate Change

An excess of water – floods, rising tides – causes panic in some communities, while the lack of water – extreme drought, depleted wells – threatens others. This is not a biblical tale, but reality for people around the world facing the results of climate change.

In a new editorial series called Exodus, published on Weather.com, the people behind the meteorologists’ data show the sometimes heart-wrenching effects of a global phenomenon. According to the World Bank, more than 143 million people in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia alone. could be forced to relocate within their own countries by 2050 in response to the impacts of climate change.

The effects of climate change reach every corner of the globe, including North America.

“Much as we would cover the immediate impact of a storm, we’re commuting the long term effects, which in many cases are really devastating, of climate change, in what we hope are really human terms,” says Greg Gilderman, global head of news and editor-in-chief of The Weather Channel. The Weather Company, an IBM Business since 2015, publishes the channel of the same name.

So far, Exodus has featured the community of Scituate, Mass., where homes were slammed by four nor’easters last winter. Two of the storms caused more than $1 billion in damage and killed 31 people.

In Ellicott City, Md., devastating floods hit every few years as a warming climate increases the likelihood of heavier rains in the northeast U.S., while across the world, in Jordan, droughts are turning refugees of war into refugees of their environment. Farmers have been forced to move to the city to find work, unable to grow crops in the extreme heat.

Future features will tell the stories of Kurdistan, Sicily, Nigeria, the Bay of Bengal. Kevin Hayes, an executive editor at Weather.com, says they expect to have half domestic and half international stories by the end of the series.

“We’re trying to tell stories that are broader and more diverse and more global, because the problem is worldwide, global, and diverse,” Hayes says.

While the Weather Company addresses climate change as scientific fact, it’s aware that not all readers will acknowledge the truth. In its introduction of Exodus, the Weather Company wrote, “Look, if you’re reading this and you reject the fact that climate change is happening, these pieces probably aren’t going to convince you, because you haven’t been convinced by anything else. But climate disruptions cause human disruptions.”

With just three stories published, Exodus already has reached several millions viewers across all the company’s platforms: web, mobile, social and video.

“I do think there was a demand…for news organizations to not equivocate on many issues, but particular on this issue,” says Gilderman, adding that the series does not put statements by credible scientists against those of a climate change denier. Backed by climate science, Exodus aims to address the “subtle and direct” ways in which climate change is forcing people to migrate.

“For me it feels like a privilege to be able to tell stories to those people,” says Hayes, “and get them to interact with the reality of climate change.”

 

A European Fad We Can Live Without

Paris, the “City of Lights,” has fallen victim to a foul-smelling, unenlightened practice that also has befallen other great European cities.

Not since the days of the not-so-beloved outhouse has anything stunk up the city and its environs so badly.

It seems that a lot of European men don’t mind pulling out their “Oscar” and peeing on buildings, streets and in public parks without benefit of a rest room, leaving behind the foul stench of urine.

Paris has tried to cope with the problem by making it possible for men to take in a scene of the River Seine or the historic Notre Dame Cathedral while emptying one’s bladder in a legal, environmentally friendly way. But the installation of unscreened, bright red, straw-filled dry urinals hasn’t won over the populace. The uritrottoirs use nitrogen and other compounds to produce an organic, allegedly odorless organic compost. But the devices don’t shield the “Oscars” from view when some dude pees off a scenic tourist barge, from a bridge or on a cobblestone street.

Residents of the historic and upscale neighborhoods dotted with the red urine bins say there must be a better, less unseemly way. As one said, “It is definitely a desirable and historic neighborhood, but seeing people urinating right in front of your door is not the nicest thing.”

In Germany, folks have a whimsical-sounding word fo the act, wildpinkeln, or “wild peeing.”

Somewhat diabolical residents of Hamburg’s St. Paul quarter have begun coating walls in a “splash creating, urine retardant paint” commonly used on ships hulls that coats the wildpinkeler in his own urine. The Germans even have a word for that – Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is defined as taking pleasure in someone else’s humiliation.

Here’s to keeping our North American cities free of wildpinkelers!