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How to Save Human Jobs?

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 04:36:48 +0000

Automation of jobs is slowly but surely impacting human capital. A combined obligatory action from human capital by remaining vigilant and adapting to lifelong learning; organizations by setting aside human capital development fund for upskilling and reskilling the human capital; and government by taking legal actions to ensure fair and transparent employment practice is more imperative than ever. Perhaps if we compare the scale of worldwide unemployment caused by automation and ignited by Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, saving jobs of human capital may sound like wishful thinking. Based on research done by organizations such as McKinsey, World Economic Forum as well as articles that have been published in the top-notch journals, newspapers, and magazines, in the past few years and especially now, during the pandemic, human capital is on the cusp of being resilient and agile.

In the U.S., like in many other developed nations, workers, government officials, and other stakeholders have been vocal about automation replacing jobs by completing their jobs faster, with fewer errors, and in a fraction of time. Five years ago in 2017, a new rule of increased bonus depreciation to 100% was introduced in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which allows organizations to write off the cost of property during the first year of its use. While the idea of bonus depreciation is to incentivize organizations to create a positive effect in the labor market by hiring more workers or increasing wages, for example, no rule restricts organizations from purchasing machines that can automate works and displace human capital.

Thus, based on research, in some cases, bonus depreciation has been counterintuitive. It is because some organizations that use the bonus depreciation incentive, purchase machinery and equipment that automate human jobs turn out to be more efficient and profitable but such organizations do not have the compulsion to re-skill their employees or create more jobs. As a result, organizations are not creating as many jobs as they are profiting. Comparing employment trajectories of the most profitable companies a century back and now, it is clear that organizations in the 1900s like General Motors, for example, needed more human capital hence created more employment than organizations like Amazon for example in the 21st century and in retrospect, organizations in the 21st century more profitable. Thus, the increasing number of automation, the implication on tax law in employment, and increasing affordability of automation boil down to the upward trajectory of the changes in jobs resulting in human capital being on the verge of being replaced by automation. As human capital is one of the most expensive assets of any organization, their development and upkeeping is dependent on a legal framework that addresses concerns brought by automation, organizations who provide employment, and human capital themselves.

From a historic point of view, this is not the first time that the fear of jobs being automated is being felt. During 1800 when Jenny the weaving machine automated jobs cloth weavers resulting in Luddite riots. As it is believed that history repeats itself, the reaction of truck drivers with a strike at the Port of Los Angeles, California is a replication of Luddite riots as automated loading dock trucks were introduced to lower the cost of the company and also reduce pollution as the company claimed.

On the contrary, since the Luddite riots of the 1800s, the total number of jobs for human capital has increased. The jobs that were done back then which were more agri-based, manual, and repetitive have now been taken over by machines. Human jobs have become more knowledge-oriented, analytical, and cognitive. The classic example that can help define this conundrum is the introduction of ATMs by the banks. When the ATMs were introduced in the early 1970s, several teller jobs fell but the number of bank managers increased over time as banks could shift the funds that were previously used for bank tellers towards increasing positions for the managers. This shows that the nature of repetitive jobs changed from counting and disbursing money which could be done by the machine efficiently and accurately and shifted towards customer service which is more challenging for the machine to replicate. And now again, the number of bank branches and the relevant jobs have decreased are replaced by online banking where more sophisticated and uses advanced technologies.

Another example is Microsoft partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and farmers to use data of the crops, planting moisture in air, weather, and artificial intelligence to produce crops that are climate resilient which in the past used to be done by scientists in a silo. This also means that the jobs that took many scientists to perform and collaborate as they were collecting data in a silo in the past could be done by AI. Similarly, another example is amazon using bots in its warehouse to sort items and bring the correct ones based on the order received. Similarly, the taxi drivers protested when Uber came up with a different business model which threatened the way ride-hailing businesses operate. And should now the automated cars should find solutions to conundrum such as the ‘Molly problem’, the jobs of taxi drivers are on the verge of being automated completely.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, machines that prepare salad, checking the temperature of people at the airport, and automated dogs are reminding people to keep 6 feet distance if they are closer, and tracking people via mobile apps in case they have been to an area where they could have been exposed to a person with the Covid-19 disease have been launched. Similarly, online deliveries of food and other everyday essentials skyrocketed using online application software. If the trend continues even after the pandemic is over, then the jobs that were previously done by humans will be done by machines and the supply chain management has to be rethought. And the fact that the capability of the machine has been developed and as machines are becoming more affordable, the uptake of technologies in the everyday life of humans affecting jobs of human capital will only increase.

Human capital: All these examples only mean that the pattern of employment keeps on changing and the pace of change is getting faster. Thus, it is healthier for human capital to vigilant and upkeep their personal growth, reskill themselves continuously, and adapt to lifelong learning. Having the perspective of learning as a lifelong task rather than achieving a degree or completing a job will help human capital brace through any challenges that automation may bring to the workplace. And individuals need to have their minds open to changes and be agile. As automation may change a task of any job, people in all disciplines need to be ready to adapt to any type of change. Having said that for some jobs, the degree of automation will be in a higher degree, and as a result, the job will become obsolete and the human capital will need to look for another job in a different field. And in some cases, like in the case of ATMs taking jobs of bank tellers, more bank manager jobs that cannot be easily automated will emerge for which the human capital will need to be ready and capable of handling. And in some cases, like in the case of the taxi drivers where the jobs are being completely automated, the human capital will need to look for jobs of a different nature.

Organization: As an adaptation of automation by organizations will result in redundancy of human capital jobs, organizations need to take a stake in conscientiously reskilling and upskilling existing and incoming human capital. This idea of lifelong learning also needs to be supported by the organizations by setting aside some human capital development funds from any surplus from an adaptation of automation to train the existing employees and having an outreach at the universities and schools to bring awareness amongst future pillars of human capital.

Adaptation of automation in the workplace many times simplifies human jobs such as automating repetitive and dangerous tasks of a job, it is considered good but sometimes, automation of a major task or many tasks of a job also may result in unemployment of the human capital. It is worthy to note that while the nature of jobs has been changing due to some level of automation of jobs since the 1800s and trend has been increasing since then, the employment protection legislation around the world has not evolved as fast and is trying to keep up with the changes in the employment pattern brought by automation. Similarly, organizations need to closely monitor any trends of creating unemployment or discrimination of race or gender because of the use of automation and take actions to overcome such negative consequences.

Legal: Studies show that given that automation such as machine learning heavily relies on past data, the results from automation have a bias towards women and people of color. This means that if not implemented and monitored by employment legislation properly, automation will exacerbate already existing disparity against people of color and different genders. On the contrary to the employment legislation, like mentioned earlier, amendment of tax law in the U.S. is encouraging big firms to use advanced technology. This may not have been a problem if technologies were not evolving as fast and are becoming more affordable. And in addition, the incentive that the companies receive is good for the companies and the shareholders but not for the human capital as they become unprotected and dispensable as more automation is adopted. If a proper legal framework to set aside human capital development funds to develop diverse human capital in an inclusive environment is mandated, then organizations will be bound to take the development of human capital as a priority.

Legal transformation of employment law geared towards protecting human jobs will make organizations obligatory to compensate the pool of workforce displaced by adaptation of automation. For example, any funds raised or profit from the organization profiting from automation, but displaced workers can be used to reskill them. Similar to how organizations set aside research and development funds for a new product, funds can be allocated to train the employees who need re-skilling. If all the organizations are mandated to set aside these funds then the existing employees will be of high quality and the replacement of any turnover will be of high quality as too.

A combination of a strong foundation with proper employment law that mandates human capital development as organizations adopt automation at the workplace, followed by the organization using reskilling and upskilling of existing and incoming human capital at all levels, and finally human capital themselves taking the effort to upkeep themselves continuously and adapt to lifelong learning will be the savior of human capital from the verge of being unemployed in the era of automation as it becomes more affordable.

Source – Biva Joshi

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Asian American Workers Face Higher Long-Term Unemployment Rates Amid Pandemic

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 05:12:34 +0000

Asian American workers have faced steeper long-term unemployment rates than their Black, white and Latino peers during the economic downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, new research shows.

Almost half, or 46%, of unemployed Asian American workers had been out of work for more than six months in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Pew Research Center data. Black unemployed workers saw a 38% long-term unemployment rate at the end of 2020, followed by white (35%) and Hispanic (34%) unemployed workers. “The reason for the relatively high long-term unemployment rate among Asian unemployed workers is not entirely clear,” Jesse Bennett, a Pew research assistant, wrote in the report, which was released last week. “But it may be partially explained by the fact that they tend to be disproportionately represented in states most impacted by coronavirus shutdowns.”

In 2019, 31% of Asian Americans lived in California, a state that experienced some of the longest pandemic-inspired shutdowns, according to Pew. New York, the state with the second-largest share of the Asian American population, was also hit hard by the pandemic. The state suffered the third-most employment losses since the start of the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

All of this comes at a time of increased violence against Asian Americans. The fatal shootings of six women of Asian ancestry in the Atlanta area this week have brought new scrutiny to these violent crimes. While authorities have not concluded that the Atlanta shootings were motivated by anti-Asian sentiment, the number of hate crimes against this demographic was up by nearly 150% in 2020.

In addition to increased discrimination, many Asian American workers say they face increasingly hostile workplaces. A 2019 report by the nonprofit Asia Society found a notable decrease in favorability on diversity, professional growth and overall satisfaction and belonging among Asian Pacific American employees.

Compared with their non-Asian Pacific American peers, Asian Pacific American employees were significantly more likely to report a shortage of role models, a shortage of executives representing similar cultural backgrounds and a shortage of board members from similar cultural backgrounds at their workplaces. “The biggest problem with the Asian diversity problem is that no one knows it’s a problem,” said Buck Gee, a former technology executive and coauthor of a 2018 study published in the Harvard Business Review that found that Asian American white-collar professionals were the least likely to be selected for management positions.

“We are least likely to be promoted,” Gee said. “That’s our problem, and no one looks at that.”

Source – Kristin Stoller

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Most Ven. Aggamaha Panditha Kotugoda Dhammawasa thero passed away

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 04:56:04 +0000

Most Venerable Aggamaha Panditha Kotugoda Dhammawasa Thero, the Mahanayake of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Nikaya has passed away on Monday morning (Mar. 22) while receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.

The late Most Venerable Aggamaha Panditha Maha Nayaka Kotugoda Dhammawasa thero was 88 years of age at the time of his demise.

Source – News 1st

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Thais flock to shrine of love ahead of Valentine’s Day

Lanka Talents Creation — Sun, 14 Feb 2021 00:59:37 +0000

Kuhakan, Bangkok: Hundreds of single Thais attended a ceremony this week at a Hindu shrine in Bangkok to make offerings as they prayed to find that special someone.Image Credit: Reuters

Tucked beside one of the capital’s biggest shopping malls, the Trimurti shrine to Hinduism’s three most powerful gods has become famous in Thailand as a place people visit every Thursday in the quest to find love.Image Credit: Reuters

But this week’s crowd, mainly young people of all genders, was larger than usual as the timing also coincided with an auspicious alignment of the stars. “I came here often and got a lover before, but we broke up, so I’m here to ask for a new one,” said Thanyathron Sae-aeng, 23.Image Credit: Reuters

The ceremony began with a blast of sound from a conch shell by a Brahmin priest at 7.39pm (1139 GMT), a timing also considered auspicious.Image Credit: Reuters

“I want to meet a person who is good, kind and (find) a love that’s long-lasting,” said Apimuk Wichasorn, 29, stressing that any relationship should also be fun and free of pressure.Image Credit: Reuters

Many in the crowd wearing face masks held offerings of roses, candles, incense sticks and soda bottles, all in hues of red.Image Credit: Reuters

“It will be great if I can find love before Valentine’s Day, but if not, it’s also fine,” said 25-year-old Suthida Panlalak, who said she sought a truthful partner who could love her the way she is.Image Credit: Reuters

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Battersea’s dogs to star in virtual life drawing classes this Valentine’s Day

Lanka Talents Creation — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:44:44 +0000

Animals are better than people: Fact. So why waste your energy on a romantic relationship with another human being when you can channel all that Valentine’s Day affection into adoring cute little creatures instead. That’s got to be the logic behind this event being hosted by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on February 14. The animal charity has teamed up with Wild Life Drawing to throw a one-off virtual life drawing class – and its resident rescue dogs are set to be the models.

A few of the pooches will be posing for your at-home doodling in a one-and-a-half-hour-long class being streamed over Zoom and hosted by artist Jennie Webber, who clearly didn’t get the memo about working with children and animals. But she’s a dab hand at getting the most out of mutts. Wild Life Drawing’s regular classes help people improve their sketching skills while they also learn a little bit more about the characters they’re studying and the hardships they face – and this online version should be no different.

Once Jennie has gone over the drawing side of things – sharing tips on shapes and angles so even complete novices can come up with the artistic goods – Battersea Rehoming and Welfare Manager Becky Lodder will talk about the good work being done at the famous animal home.

‘By taking part in this life drawing class, you can help support rescue dogs and cats and show them a little love in these uncertain times,’ says Lodder. That’s because 50 percent of the price of ticket sales for the event will go to the charity. If all that doesn’t give you the February warm and fuzzies, we don’t know what will.

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Estate workers daily wage to be hiked to Rs 1000; basic wage at Rs 900

Buddhika Perera — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:09:32 +0000

The Wages Board has decided to increase the daily wage of plantation workers up to Rs 1000, the labour ministry said Monday.

“Trade union leaders had put forward a proposal to provide a daily basic wage of Rs 900 and a budgetary allowance of Rs 100,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that this proposal had been passed by 11 votes to 8 during a meeting between trade unions and estate company owners.

The increment would apply to workers attached to the tea and rubber industries.

According to the ministry, the matter had been brought before the Wages Board after 12 rounds of discussions involving employers had proved futile.

The ministry noted that the decision to provide the increment marks the end of a struggle that has lasted for nearly five years.

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94 හැවිරිදි සිව්දරු මවක් ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම සහ පාලි භාෂාව විභාගයට පෙනි සිටියි….

Lanka Talents Creation — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:00:00 +0000

සැදැ සමය ධෛර්යෙන් සහ අධිෂ්ඨානයෙන් යුතුව ගත කරන 94 හැවිරිදි සිව්දරු මවක් (06) සහ (07) දින මහනුවර ඩි.එස්.සේනානායක විද්‍යාලයේදි ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම සහ පාලි භාෂා පරික්ෂණ විභාගයකට පෙනි සිට ඇත.

ඇය නමින් විතානගේ ලිලාවත් ඇස්ලින් ධර්මරත්නයි , 1928 පෙබරවාරි 15 දින උපත ලද ඇය දැනට නාවලපිටිය මිල්ලැව ප්‍රදේශයේ බාල දියණියගේ නිවසේ පදිංචිව සිටියි.

ඉංග්‍රිසි ගුරුවරියෙකු වශයෙන් සහ නොතාරිස්වරියක් වශයෙන් සේවය කර විශ්‍රාම සුවයෙන් පසුවන එම මාතාවගේ වැඩිමහල් දියණිය බස්නාහිර පලාතේ සෞඛ්‍යය අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරිය වශයෙනුත්, දෙවන දියණිය ඕස්ට්‍රේලියා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක මහචාර්යවරියක් වශයෙනුත් , තුන්වන සහ සිව්වන දියණියන් උපාධිය ලබා දැනට රජයේවල නිරතව සිටියි.

94 හැවිරිදි වයසේ පසුවන එම දිරිය මාතාවගේ එකම අපෙක්ෂාව ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම සහ පාලි භාෂා විභාගයෙන් සමත් වි ඒ පිලිබදව පශ්චාත් උපාධිය ලබා ගැනිමය.

එම දිරිය මතාව පිලිබදව තොරතුරු සොය අප නාවලපිටිය මිල්ලැව ප්‍රදේශයේ ඇය පදිංචි නිවසට යන විටත් ඇය විභාගය සදහා පොත පත පරිශිලනය කරමින් සිටි අයුරු අපට දක්නට හැකි විය.

කුඩා පුස්තකාලයකින් සමත්විත එම මතාවගේ කාමරය බුදු මැදුරකින්ද සමන්විත වන අතර එම මාතව ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්මය සහ පාලි භාෂාව පිලිබදව හදැරිමට සහ පොත පත පරිශිලනය කිරිමට දැඩි උන්නදුවකින් කටයුතු කරන මාතාවක් බව එහි ගිය අපට දක්නට ලැබුණි.

විභාගය සදහා ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්මය සහ පාලි භාෂාව පොත් පත් පරිශිලනය කරමින් සිටි ඇය එයට බාධාවක් නොකර ගනිමින් අප සමග මෙසේ අදහස් දැක් විය.

මම විතානගේ ලිලාවත් ඇස්ලින් ධර්මරත්න, මම ඉපදුනේ රයිගම් කොරලේ මිල්ලැව ප්‍රදේශයේ.

ඊට පස්සේ මම රැකියාවත් සමග නාවලපිටිය ප්‍රදේශයට ආවා. මම ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ නොතාරිස් කෙනෙක් මම.

මට දැන් 94 යි , මම ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම සහ පාලි භාෂාව උපාධියක් කරනවා.

ශ්‍රි සුමංගල ගුණානුස්මරණ විදයෝදය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයෙන්.

මට මාස හය හතකට කලින් බරපතල ශල්‍යකර්මයක් සිදු කලා, ඒනිසා මට එක තැන ඉන්න වුණා ගොඩාක් කල්.

ඒ අවස්තාවේ මම හිතුවා අනුන්ගේ දේවල් ගැන හිත හිත ,වෛර කර කර , ව්‍යාපාරය පවත්ව පවත්ව කදුළු හල හල ඉන්න එක හොද නැ , හොද මනුස්ස ජිවිතයක් මට ලැබිලා තියෙන්නේ කියලා.

මම සියළුම කාන්තාවන්ට පණිවිඩයක් දෙන්න ඕනි , මම වයසයි , ළමයි මට සලකන්නේ නැ කියලා හිතන්නේ නැතුව හිත එක තැනකට යොමු කරගෙන කටයුතු කරන්න කියලා .

මට මේ විභාග කරලා දැන් රැකියාවක් , පඩි වැඩි කර ගන්න , විශ්‍රාම වැටුප වැඩි කරගන්න මුකුත් කරන්න බැ. ඒවා මට වැඩකුත් නැ .

මම හිතනවා මම පාලි භාෂාව දන්නවා කියලා , ත්‍රිපිඨකය , අර්ථ කතා පොත් කිය වන්න දන්නවා. එහෙම හිතන්නේ මමනේ.

ඒක ඇත්තටම දන්නවද කියලා මම දැන ගන්න ඕනි, විභායක් කරාම මට දැන ගන්න පුළුවන්නේ මම ඒක දන්නවා කියලා නැත්තම් ඒක දියුණු කරන්න පුළුවන්නේ.

මට හැමදෙයක්ම හොදට මතකයි, ඒ මොකද මම වැඩක් කරනකොට ඒ වැඩේ ගැන පමණයි හිතන්නේ.

මම මට අනවශ්‍යය දේවල් ගැන හිතන්නේ නැ , මටත් වේලාවකට හිතෙනවා මට මෙච්චර මතක හිටින්නේ කොහොමද කියලා.

මැහුම් ගෙතුම් සම්බන්ධයෙන්මට සම්පුර්ණ විද්‍යාත්මක දැනුමක් තියෙනවා.

පාලි භාෂාවට අවධානය යොමු කලේ මම බුද්ධ ධර්මයට ඉතාමත් ගරු කරන කෙනෙක්.

ලිඛිතව තියෙන පාලි භාෂාව ව්‍යාකරණ නිති අනුව මෙකේ තේරුම් මොකක්ද , කියන තැන මට අසිරු වෙනවනේ අන්න ඒ නිසා තමයි මම පාලි භාෂාව ඉගෙන ගන්නේ.

ඒක මම ඊලග උපාධිය දක්වාම කරනවා මම ජිවතුන් අතර හිටියොත්.

පාලි සහ බෞද්ධ අධ්‍යන පශ්චාත් උපාධි ආයතනයෙන් තමයි මම උපාධිය කරන්න යන්නේ.

පාලි අධ්‍යන ශ්‍රාස්තපති (එම්.ඒ) උපාධිය.

මම විභාගයක් කරනවා කියලා හිතේ තියා ගන්න ඕනි, මම ඒක කරනවා කියලා අරමුණක් තියෙන්න ඕනි.

විභාගයක් කියන්නේ අභියෝගයක් , මම තරුණ පරපුරට කියන්නේ කවදාවත් මනුෂ්‍යත්වය පහලට දාන්න එපා , මනුෂ්‍යන්ට බැරි දෙයක් නැ.

දේවියන්ට කරන්න බැරි දේවල් මනුස්සයන්ට කරන්න පුළුවන්. යනුවෙන් පැවසිය.

බාල දියණිය සමග මහනුවර ඩි.එස්.සේනානායක විද්‍යාලයේ විභාගය සදහා පෙනි සිටිමට ගිය ඇයට විශේෂ ශාලාවක් ලබාදිමටද ශාලාධිපතිවරයා කටයුතු කර තිබුණි

The post 94 හැවිරිදි සිව්දරු මවක් ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම සහ පාලි භාෂාව විභාගයට පෙනි සිටියි…. appeared first on Lanka Talents.

In Photos: London’s thinnest house is up for sale

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 06:38:14 +0000

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London: Blink and you could easily miss it. Wedged between a doctor’s surgery and a hairdressing salon, London’s thinnest house is only identified by a streak of dark blue paint. But the five-floor house in Shepherd’s Bush – which is just 5ft 6ins (1.6 metres) at its narrowest point – is currently on the market for £950,000 ($1.3 million, 1.1 million euros).Image Credit: AFP

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The unusual property, originally a Victorian hat shop with storage for merchandise and living quarters on its upper floors, was built sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. In a nod to its past, the house still has an old-fashioned glass shopfront with a lamp in the shape of a bowler hat.Image Credit: AFP

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David Myers, an assistant sales manager at Winkworth estate agents which is selling the property, said the house was worth its price tag because it’s “a unique part of London history”. “It’s a bit of London magic,” he told AFP.Image Credit: AFP

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The dimensions of the house differ throughout. While the kitchen at the end of the lower ground floor is the house’s narrowest spot, it opens up into a dining area that’s nearly double the size. The ground floor, which now contains a reception where the old shop would have been, and the first floor are of similar sizes.Image Credit: AFP

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Spiral stairs lead from the second floor – the location of a bathroom and shower room – up to the master bedroom on the third. It is accessed by a hatch which opens through the floor to save on space and the bed, which is built in, takes up an entire end of the room, fitted into the walls on either side.Image Credit: AFP

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With what the London estate agent described as “unique” period features mixed with art deco and other eclectic interior designs, the house would appeal to buyers who were “arty” or “bohemian”.Image Credit: AFP

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“There are no houses in London that are 5ft 6in. There are houses in London that are five storeys but don’t have such a unique space, such individuality,” Myers said. “From the owners that have owned it in the past, they’ve all put their own stamp on it,” he added.Image Credit: AFP

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The price of the house is prohibitive for most in Britain, where the average house price is #256,000, but typical of London’s property market. “It’s more expensive because we have everything going on. From somewhere like Shepherd’s Bush we can be in the very heart of (London) in within 10 to 15 minutes,” the estate agent said.Image Credit: AFP

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If it meets its asking price, the house will have doubled in value since 2006 when it was sold for £488,500, according to the UK’s land registry. By Myers’ estimations, the house is worth more because of its dimensions. “(In) a lot of parts of London people will use the pound per square footage mark and use it as a benchmark for what are properties going to be worth,” he said. “It doesn’t always work like that. When you’ve got something as individual as this, the price has to be reflected on that.”Image Credit: AFP

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The impact of the Covid pandemic, which Myers said had been a impetus for families in particular to move out of London and take advantage of the space afforded by lower property prices outside the capital, meant the house was unlikely to sell right away. “(In) a situation such as Covid, where all the fish in the sea have thinned out quite considerably, there’s not so many buyers out there. “And there are less buyers for a unique, individual property such as this.” But ultimately the London estate agent was undeterred. “It’s chic, it’s beautiful, and that’s why this house will sell,” he said.Image Credit: AFP

The post In Photos: London’s thinnest house is up for sale appeared first on Lanka Talents.

Mr. Bean ARE YOU OK.

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 04:30:42 +0000

Mr. Bean Photo: Ferdaus Shamim/WireImage

Mr. Bean is in the news today, mostly because he has decided to weigh in on “cancel culture” — a development the world certainly wasn’t clamoring for but one that it got nonetheless. However, the fuss over Mr. Bean’s tedious comments has overshadowed something far more chilling that Rowan Atkinson, the man behind Mr. Bean, had to say during an interview with U.K. outlet Radio Times: Apparently, he hates being Mr. Bean, and he prays every day for the ordeal to end.

Indeed, the man behind the widely beloved character who has delighted the world with his silly antics and proclivity for wreaking havoc is deeply stressed and weary. Some jobs just carry an inordinate amount of responsibility. “I don’t much enjoy playing him,” Atkinson started off, before digging further into his misery. “The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it.” While Mr. Bean has, for the most part, moved on to non-Bean projects — the character has already starred in a sitcom, feature films, animated series, and books — a new animated film is apparently in the works. “It’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually,” he said during the interview, which makes sense, given Mr. Bean largely communicates nonverbally.

Even if he is speaking hyperbolically, what a dark revelation from Mr. Bean. Behind the goofy character who gave a museum security guard horrendous diarrhea by surreptitiously pouring an entire bottle of liquid laxative into the worker’s coffee, who revived a heart-attack victim with jumper cables intended to be used on cars, and who defaced an invaluable painting was a real man who now wants nothing more than to cease being Mr. Bean. While we cannot relieve him of his burden, we feel compelled to ask: Are you okay??

The post Mr. Bean ARE YOU OK. appeared first on Lanka Talents.

Newspaper run by prisoners offers a new chance to convicts

Lanka Talents Creation — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 02:52:09 +0000

Jonathan Chiu was sentenced to 50 years in prison for first-degree murder in 2004.

In May, the governor of the U.S. state of California commuted Chiu’s sentence, and Chiu was released on parole, 34 years early.

“I wouldn’t be back out if it wasn’t for the paper,” Chiu said, referring to the San Quentin News, a monthly newspaper run by inmates in the state’s oldest prison. “I genuinely believe that.”

While behind bars, Chiu was the layout editor of the only prisoner-run newspaper in the United States, which employs 12-15 incarcerated men who are helped by seven professional advisers and a handful of volunteers.

A printed edition is distributed to the approximately 4,000 inmates at San Quentin, which is north of San Francisco, as well as to prison staff, volunteers and visitors. Another 18,000 copies are sent to California’s 35 other prisons and to local communities. The total press run is about 30,000 copies.

“San Quentin News reports on rehabilitative efforts to increase public safety and achieve social justice,” according to the newspaper’s website, where the latest edition features articles on deaths in U.S. prisons due to COVID-19, a prison reform law in California and a measure granting the right to vote to former prisoners.

“The paper wants to prove that rehabilitation is there, and that given the opportunity, people can change,” Chiu said in an interview.

Prison is rich with stories.

Each issue covers a range of topics, from the death penalty to criminal justice law and policy to art and sports. It even has a crossword puzzle, which Chiu coordinates.

“I started making the crosswords inside, using an old fashioned pen and paper, a dictionary and any information that I could retain in my mind,” Chiu said, adding: “We don’t have access to the internet or Google inside.”

To help prisoners improve editing skills, the newspaper offers a class called the Journalism Guild, taught by a volunteer instructor like Yukari Iwatani Kane, a journalist, author and journalism school professor who ran the class from 2016 to 2018.

When Kane first entered the prison, she knew nothing about prison life, criminal justice or mass incarceration. What struck her most was the talent, ambition and interest inside the walls — and her realization that it was being wasted.

“As a journalist, I’m always seeing stories,” said Kane, who currently is an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and still helps the paper as an advisor. Prison, she said, is rich with stories.

Hearing the stories, Kane became increasingly interested in learning more about criminal justice reform. “It blew open a whole world that I didn’t see before,” she said.

Kane said she was shocked to learn how extensive incarceration is in the United States. It affects the estimated 2.3 million people who are imprisoned or detained, but also the 115 million people who know them. What is more, information about prison life comes largely from “the outside,” she said.

Prisoners know what’s going on inside.

In 2020, Kane co-founded the Prison Journalism Project, which helps prisoners and those in communities hard hit by incarceration to “tell stories about their world using the tools of journalism.”

Journalists outside prisons reporting on what goes on behind bars can be limited to what the public information office shares with them. Inmates really know what is going on.

Inmates don’t need permission to interview another prisoner. Typically, they have the trust of other inmates, which allows them to tell a story with the kind of nuance that can escape an outside reporter. And an outside journalist may not know when to challenge a response that warrants skepticism.

“This doesn’t mean that outside reporting isn’t important,” Kane said. “It just means that there’s a perspective missing that we think we can fill, and we want to help our writers fill it.”

The Prison Journalism Project trains inmates to write stories — from straight reporting to opinion pieces — of publishable quality, about their communities or simply issues they care about.

“The only way to change things is by getting stories — getting good journalism — about what is really happening on the inside,” said Kane.

Those working on the newspaper don’t return to crime.

The stories that emerge from the Prison Journalism Project don’t just serve a purpose beyond prison walls. They also play an important role inside.

Prisons deliberately cut inmates off from the outside world, including other prisons. The Project partners with publications on the inside to ensure the stories reach inmates. One of those “inside” organizations is The San Quentin News, which Kane now advises.

The recidivism rate among San Quentin News alumni is zero, according to Kane. Once staff reporters at the News get released from prison, they do not go back. Why? Because the newspaper empowers prison writers, teaches them important skills and provides them with a sense of community within San Quentin.

Although most alums don’t continue to practice journalism, their work for the News gives them skills needed to be successful in the outside world. “When you’re a reporter, you are in situations where you get to interface with the outside world,” explained Kane. “Oftentimes, this means you end up with more support once you get out.”

By talking to people, a reporter develops empathy, observation and communication and socialization skills.

“And writing,” Kane added. “If you can write well, it doesn’t matter what job you take. It’s always going to help you.”

The newspaper gives a second chance to convicts.

Chiu credits his time on the paper with helping him gain confidence. Specifically, he thanks San Quentin’s visitors. When they came through the newsroom on tours of San Quentin, the staff was tasked with talking to them about the paper and answering questions.

“It allowed me to learn how to open up and talk about who I am,” said Chiu.

The San Quentin newsroom, according to Chiu, is “organized and disorganized” like any other and includes people of different races, cultures, religions and backgrounds. “At the end of the day, we all have the same belief in each other and in the mission of the paper,” he said.

Returning to the outside world, which the prison system tried hard to cut off, was difficult, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, Chiu said. Continuing to work at the newspaper, which is being run with the help of alumni during the pandemic, and contributing to the Prison Journalism Project has helped, he said.

“I felt like I needed to give back and make amends,” said Chiu. “And the paper is a way to help all of those people who are still incarcerated.”

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