Program | Jotup

Queer leaders: LGBTQI+ people still overwhelmingly absent from corporate boards

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Big corporations such as North Face, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Target and Kohl’s have all recently ran inclusive ad campaigns featuring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) people.

Key Points:

Big corporations such as North Face, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Target and Kohl’s have all recently ran inclusive ad campaigns featuring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) people.
This makes sense from a business perspective, with “pink money” weighing 3.5 trillion euros globally and around 874 billion euros in the EU.
And I can testify that diverse corporate boards are a long shot from becoming reality.
This comes as a particular surprise given the European Commission’s recent pledges to boost opportunities for the community.

The case for diversity

And yet, the case for board diversity is stark.
What’s more, a truly diverse board could boost companies’ ratings in environmental, social and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
For example, this could mean advocating for queer rights in some of the near 70 countries that continue to criminalize same-sex relationships.

Step forward

For DEI initiatives to reach a successful outcome, there must first and foremost be reliable demographic data.
Due to historic discrimination against LGBTQI+ people, there has long been a justifiable reluctance to self-identify.
The findings showed that when companies are not inclusive, LGBTQI+ employees are willing to leave for those that are.
The organization encourages out LGBTQI+ corporate directors to self-identify, be counted, and mentor qualified candidates for board seats.

Leveraging gender policies to appoint more LGBTQ+ women at the top

After the share of CEOs in the Fortune 500 dropped by 25% in 2018, a host of European countries, including Norway, Germany, Finland, France and Spain, introduced gender quotas in 2022.
As companies look to comply with this law, there is an opportunity to appoint women who identify as LGBTQI+.

Philly undercounts students who are homeless – here's what parents need to know to advocate for their child

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

During the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent data available, the School District of Philadelphia identified 4,675 children as homeless.

Key Points:

During the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent data available, the School District of Philadelphia identified 4,675 children as homeless.
Pennsylvania lags other states in identifying youth who are homeless, and data collected for the 2018-2019 school year suggests Philadelphia in particular underreports.
Schools struggle to identify students who are homeless for a variety of reasons, as a recent study in Detroit makes clear.

Know your rights

In Pennsylvania, 65% of students experiencing homelessness live in doubled-up situations – sharing housing temporarily with other people.
This includes living in cramped apartments with other families, or regularly moving between friends’ or relatives’ houses.
They can receive free transportation to and from their current school even if they move out of the district.
The Philadelphia school district has an Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities specifically designed to help students understand their rights, including supporting students experiencing homelessness.

What parents can do

To increase the likelihood for a successful school year, parents can take these steps: 1.
Contact the school’s homeless liaison: It’s important for parents to inform the school’s liaison of their family’s housing status and if they have moved.
Decide who else should know: Liaisons will keep information about students’ housing status confidential unless parents want them to inform the child’s teachers or other school personnel.
They can connect parents and students with the homeless liaison and resources within the school and in the community.
Request electronic records: Parents should try to save all emails that contain educational records from any school their child attended each year.

Why Einstein must be wrong: In search of the theory of gravity

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 25, 2023

Einstein’s theory of gravity — general relativity — has been very successful for more than a century.

Key Points:

Einstein’s theory of gravity — general relativity — has been very successful for more than a century.
This is not surprising: the theory predicts its own failure at spacetime singularities inside black holes — and the Big Bang itself.

Deviations and quantum mechanics

These signal that Einstein’s theory is failing there and must be replaced with a more fundamental one.
Naively, spacetime singularities should be resolved by quantum mechanics, which apply at very small scales.
This is enough to understand that a theory that embraces both general relativity and quantum physics should be free of such pathologies.
However, all attempts to blend general relativity and quantum physics necessarily introduce deviations from Einstein’s theory.

Cosmology matters

A century of research has given us the standard model of cosmology known as the Λ-Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) model.
Here, Λ stands for either Einstein’s famous cosmological constant or a mysterious dark energy with similar properties.
Dark energy was introduced ad hoc by astronomers to explain the acceleration of the cosmic expansion.
Despite fitting cosmological data extremely well until recently, the ΛCDM model is spectacularly incomplete and unsatisfactory from the theoretical point of view.

Alternatives to Einstein’s theory

That we are observing the first deviations from general relativity while the mysterious dark energy simply does not exist?
This idea, first proposed by researchers at the University of Naples, has gained tremendous popularity while the contending dark energy camp remains vigorous.
A very popular class of alternatives is the so-called scalar-tensor gravity.

The current situation

Theorists have spent the last decade extracting physical consequences from these theories.
The recent detections of gravitational waves have provided a way to constrain the physical class of modifications of Einstein gravity allowed.

‘An extremely serious musical comedy’ about Whitlam? Yes. The Dismissal is great fun, witty and sharply observed

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

While it lasted less than two full terms between December 1972 and November 1975, it has had an outsized cultural presence ever since.

Key Points:

While it lasted less than two full terms between December 1972 and November 1975, it has had an outsized cultural presence ever since.
Each year since, we have marked the anniversary with new stories, new angles, new details.
The story has all the ingredients of high drama – indeed, the story was told in a rather ponderous television mini-series in 1983.
So almost 50 years on, what to make of a comedic musical retelling of these tumultuous events?

Self-referential and extremely funny

Playing Gough, Justin Smith both sounds and looks like him – no mean feat.
The Dismissal is least effective when it is striving for sincerity: the early number Maintain your Rage left me concerned the show might be too earnest to be genuinely funny.
It is self-referential and extremely funny and sets a high bar for the rest of the show.
His Private School Boys is a bump-and-grind showstopper that recalls Alexander Downer’s Freaky from Casey Benetto’s 2005 musical Keating!

Sharp, funny and astute

Margaret Whitlam (Brittanie Shipway) and Junie Morosi (Shannen Alyce Quan) are voices of reason and resolve.
Stacey Thomsett has much more fun with the role of Lady Kerr, who she depicts as Lady Macbeth in a Carla Zampatti suit.
But overall, The Dismissal is sharp, funny and astute.

Voices of Black youth remind adults in schools to listen — and act to empower them

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Creating dialogue among educators and students, especially Black Canadian youth, regularly proves problematic because of the history of their negative schooling experiences.

Key Points:

Creating dialogue among educators and students, especially Black Canadian youth, regularly proves problematic because of the history of their negative schooling experiences.
As an education researcher who examines schooling experiences of Black Canadian youth and their families, I have worked alongside Black high-school students in grades 10-12 to engage youth voices at the Black Student Summer Leadership Program.
It also necessarily implies action on the part of receptive and understanding adults, willing and poised to help bring about changes youth need to see.

Struggles in and for ‘voice’

One of the greatest struggles to allow for “voice” is the role of adults in these interactions and the hierarchical nature of schools.
Paying attention to student voice involves changing fundamental values, norms and institutional practices, which means teachers need to be open to this shift.
Scholars and education researchers challenged school staff to stop seeing youth as passive recipients of an education.

Black youth’s whole selves

If schools desire genuine opportunities for students to be heard, educators must see Black youth as their whole selves.
Teachers who view the validity in sharing power in classrooms will actively seek Black students’ input.

Youth Participatory Action Research

Black students involved in this program gain leadership opportunities and positive relationships with adults and their peers while participating in research.
Participatory action research has been associated with revolutionary educational projects.

Youth as co-researchers

The principle of Youth Participatory Action Research includes adults sharing the space with youth as co-researchers, sharing ownership in decision-making and supporting and empowering youth as agents of change.
Black students learn how to become submerged in their own research, rather than experiencing themselves as the object of others’ research.

What shapes education

Youth Participatory Action Research provides Black students with opportunities to discuss what shapes their education.
In the summer program, Black students present research projects to education stakeholders.
In order for change to be implemented, key decision makers need to be willing to engage youth and to act.

A promising approach

Youth Participatory Action Research is a promising approach for creating avenues to support Black students’ self-determination and agency.
Amplifying youth voice in alignment with the mission and values of school communities is significant for an empowered path forward.

How video games like 'Starfield' are creating a new generation of classical music fans

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

“Starfield” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent history.

Key Points:

“Starfield” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent history.
Soundtracks for outer space have appeared in many films – “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Interstellar,” to name a few.
As a conductor, musician and educator, I’m excited about games like “Starfield” because they’re drawing people to symphonic music like never before.

Classical music becomes exclusive

During the time of the Renaissance, around the middle 15th to 16th centuries, there was a shift from music as function to music as art and entertainment.
Soon, live vocal and instrumental music became a form of popular entertainment, and people clamored for bigger and better sounds.
A clear divide between popular music and what became known as “classical” music emerged.
Many argue that the classical music world is no longer accessible to most people – it’s seen as too intimidating and too stuffy, with works that are too long and tickets that are too expensive.

From ‘bleeps and bloops’ to symphonic music

In a 2021 interview, video game composer and conductor Eimear Noone said, “More young people listen to orchestral music through their game consoles today than have ever listened to orchestral music in the history of music.” She’s probably right.
There are over 3 billion gamers around the world, and people between the ages of 18 and 25 spend the most time playing video games.
A 2018 poll conducted by the U.K.‘s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra found that more young people are exposed to classical music through video games than through attending live performances.
“Thanks to video games,” Boston Globe music writer A.Z.

Getting the recognition it deserves

Today’s video game music is more interactive and nonlinear than traditional concert hall and film music.
Like “Starfield,” many modern game titles incorporate symphonic music needed to provide the emotional and atmospheric underpinning of the game experience.
In 2023, the Grammys recognized “Best Video Game Soundtrack” as an official category for the first time.
Video game music has come a long way from its first “bleeps and bloops.” Symphonic music will continue to accompany players’ video game journeys, and like “Starfield,” the sky is no longer the limit.

I love swords, so I designed a course on how to use them to succeed in life

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

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Then I saw a gentleman demonstrate techniques and movements with a samurai sword, a Japanese katana, and I was instantly hooked.

Key Points:

Then I saw a gentleman demonstrate techniques and movements with a samurai sword, a Japanese katana, and I was instantly hooked.
I began training in iaido – which is the art of unsheathing and using the Japanese katana.
The katana is a sword developed during the Kamakura period – from 1185 to 1333 – and it became my passion.
The techniques taught in this course are very close to the same techniques that the samurai trained with hundreds of years ago.

Sharing benefits from the UN's deforestation reduction program remains challenging, here's why

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 4, 2023

REDD+ is the United Nations’ deforestation and forest degradation reduction program.

Key Points:

REDD+ is the United Nations’ deforestation and forest degradation reduction program.
Baca juga:
How can Indonesia improve REDD+ to stop deforestation?
To ensure equity, the distribution of REDD+ benefits must consider various factors, including who receives the funds and how they are distributed.

Who should get benefits from REDD+?

Some argue that actors who hold legal rights to the land and actively participate in emission reduction efforts should receive the benefits.
Others think indigenous communities who have a historical connection with their forest land should receive the benefits.
Under this REDD+ program, the government and community groups receive an agreed-upon share of the payment, while the private sector gets non-monetary benefits, like enhancing their sustainable practices through capacity building.

Different distribution justifications

Direct cash based on performance Paying households or individuals based on their efforts to protect or restore forests is the best option of REDD+.
However, it is also the rarest and hardest one to implement so far.
One example is a forest restoration project initiated by private company Bosques Amazonicos SAC with Federation of Brazil nut producers in Madre de Dios, Peru.
Prior to 2021, the company distributed 30% of the carbon sales revenue to the participating landholders.
Yet, in areas like Dak Lak province, the payments are less appealing compared to other options like coffee farming.
Pre-payments to induce performance Pre-payments are upfront expenses paid by donor or government to help individuals overcome the potential losses from choosing a different way to use land.

Way forward

It’s important to have an equitable process to distribute REDD+ funds that takes into account different goals and the interests of all stakeholders involved.
We should ensure fair and equal sharing of benefits in REDD+ design by following clear principles and implementing strong social safeguards.

Jobs are up, wages less so – and lower purchasing power could still lead the US into a recession

Retrieved on:

Friday, September 1, 2023

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While jobs were up, so too was the unemployment rate, which ticked up a modest 0.3% from July to 3.8%.

Key Points:

While jobs were up, so too was the unemployment rate, which ticked up a modest 0.3% from July to 3.8%.
And average hourly earnings increased by just 0.2% in the month to $33.82 – working out to a rather paltry 8 cent increase.
But earnings have generally grown slower than inflation, resulting in a loss of purchasing power for consumers.
And given that consumer spending represents about two-thirds of total GDP, a recession could still occur.

As concern about Mitch McConnell's health grows, his legacy remains strong

Retrieved on:

Friday, September 1, 2023

His doctor has said the episodes are part of the normal recovery from a concussion McConnell experienced in March, but political circles are concerned about his ability to continue to serve.

Key Points:

His doctor has said the episodes are part of the normal recovery from a concussion McConnell experienced in March, but political circles are concerned about his ability to continue to serve.
His success could hardly have been predicted when Senate Republicans elected McConnell as their leader in 2006.
He fulfilled that threat in 2016, refusing to confirm Merrick Garland, Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court.
Trump had exercised his power with what often seems like reckless audacity, but McConnell’s 36-year Senate tenure is built on his calculated audacity.

McConnell’s political rise

McConnell ran anyway.
But McConnell won.
They reacted emotionally to this touchy issue; he studied it, owned it and moved higher in the leadership.

Business, not service

McConnell makes up for that by having command of the rules and the facts and a methodical attitude.
The recording on his home phone once said, “This is Mitch McConnell.
Not something like “my service to you in the United States Senate,” but “business.” This lack of emotion keeps McConnell disciplined.
The first word was no surprise, because of McConnell’s well-known maxim; the second one intrigued me.

McConnell’s Supreme Court

He and his colleagues slow-walked and filibustered Obama’s nominees, requiring “aye” votes from 60 of the 100 senators to confirm each one.
The process consumed so much time that then-Majority Leader Harry Reid abolished the filibuster for nominations, except those to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s 2016 victory preserved the Senate Republican majority, which then did away with the Supreme Court exception, allowing McConnell and his colleagues to install by simple majority vote the sort of Supreme Court justices they wanted: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
It is the Roberts Court, but it is also the McConnell Court.