Wednesday, 15 December 2010

News & Animal: Shark finning continues despite EU ban

Another news article from BBC News on shark-finning.

9 December 2010 Last updated at 09:53 GMT

Shark finning continues despite EU ban, says report

By Mark Kinver

Science and environment reporter, BBC News

Loopholes in EU regulations mean that illegal shark finning is continuing undetected, a report warns.

Finning involves cutting off a shark's fins and throwing the rest of the carcass back into the sea - a practice that the EU has regulated since 2003.

Marine experts are calling on the EU to stop issuing special permits that allow fishermen to remove fins at sea.

The authors say almost a fifth of shark, skate and ray species are classified as threatened.

"The waste and unsustainable mortality associated with finning pose threats to shark populations, fisheries, food security and the sustainability of marine ecosystems," said co-author Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group (SSG).

"The most reliable way to enforce a shark-finning prohibition is to require that sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached to their bodies," she suggested.

"This method is being mandated for more and more fisheries, particularly in Central and North America, creating momentum for global change."

In the EU, shark finning is banned except where special permits have been issued that allows a fishing vessel to fin sharks at sea, without landing the entire animal.

Fin dining

Under the present regulation (1185/2003), member states are able to issue the permits to exempt fishing vessels from the finning at sea "ban".

Under the exemption, the weight of fins kept from the catch must not exceed 5% of the live weight of the shark catch.

However, the authors observed, the fins of some shark species did not typically represent 5% of the live weight of a shark, creating a loophole that meant finning could take place unnoticed.

Globally, sharks are captured in targeted fisheries for their meat, fins, liver and oil. However, it is the animals' fins that are prized as these command high prices.

In comparison, shark meat is relatively cheap, difficult to store and takes up a lot of storage space. This is why the practice of finning at sea is used - it allows vessels to harvest the valuable asset, dump the remaining carcasses, leaving storage space for more economically valuable fish stock.

Shark fin soup is a highly priced, traditional, celebratory, Chinese dish. Fins are considered to be among the world's most valuable fish products, fetching in the region of up to 300 euros/kg (£250/kg) in Hong Kong.

In contrast, shark meat retails for up to seven euros/kg (£5.80/kg) in European markets.

The report - Shark Fins in Europe: Implications for reforming the EU finning ban - was produced, the authors said, in order to highlight the weaknesses in the current system.

"For too long, the EU has left the door open to shark finning," said Uta Bellion, European co-ordinator of the Shark Alliance.

"This report reinforces our call on the EU Commission to propose legislation in 2011 with the one truly reliable option for preventing finning - a complete prohibition of the removal of shark fins at sea."

The European Commission is currently canvassing public opinion on whether the option to issue special permits should be revoked.

The consultation runs until February 2011, after which the Commission plans to submit a proposal to revise the current regulation to the European Council and Parliament for consideration.

In October, the UK government announced that it was going to stop issuing the permits that allowed vessels to remove fins while at sea.

On the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website, officials wrote: "This means that all UK registered vessels will now have to land sharks with their fins naturally attached, wherever they fish.

"We did not think that UK fishermen were engaged in shark finning, but wanted to take a strong position and make clear our support for 'fin-on' landings."

Vocabulary:

carcass -- (n) [C] the body of a dead animal, especially a large one that is soon to be cut up as meat or eaten by wild animals
unsustainable -- (adj) causing damage to the environment by using more of something than can be replaced naturally
mortality -- (n) [U]formal the number of deaths within a particular society and within a particular period of time
pose (threats to sb) -- (vb) [T] to cause something, especially a problem or difficulty
mandate -- (vb) [T] to give official permission for something to happen
exempt -- (vb) [T] to excuse someone or something from a duty, payment, etc
vessel -- (vb) [C] formal a large boat or a ship
dump -- [T] to get rid of something unwanted, especially by leaving it in a place where it is not allowed to be
celebratory -- (adj) celebrating an important event or a special occasion
prohibition -- (n) [C or U] when something is officially forbidden (= not allowed), or an order forbidding something

Opinions:

As many of you know that, Hong Kong is probably the largest shark-fin consuming city in the world. Shark fin soup is available almost in every Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong. Why do Hong Kong people like shark fins so much?

A telephone survey of 1,000 people was carried out by the Telephone Survey Research Laboratory of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the result was presented at the Shark Conference 2000 by WildAid, Hawaii Audubon Society and Pacific Fisheries Coalition. The finding showed that ...

73.8% of the respondents consume shark fin soup!!!!
23.9% said they consume shark fin soup 6-10 times a year while 24.2% said they consume shark fin soup more than 10 times a year!!!!
23.3% said they take shark fin soup in a restaurant!!!!
40.7% said they are accustomed to eat it!!! But the most shocking of all was...
When asked if you knew that shark species are declining due to the demand for shark fins, would you still eat it? Only 33.2% of the interviewees answered "yes" while a total of 66.8% answered either "No" or "Don't know/Hard to say".

Why are Hong Kong people so cruel? In many articles I wrote, which includes Animals and Environment: Do Sharks Deserve to Die for Their Fins? Discovery Channel program Shark Week has shown that sharks are as clever as dogs and cats, they think and even talk like human and can be as cute as pets! Yet people avoid learning this fact and continue eating them. Like eating dogs and cats.

Then in Animal & News: Save the Sharks NOW!!! (Updated), I have talked about the cruelty of shark-finning and how people leave the poor baby whale shark floating in the sea of the Philippines. Yet because of the demand, sharks are killed every single day. In Animal: Prehistoric Sharks, Other Fish and Our Environment, I have discussed how amazing these sharks are. And in Animal & Environment: Humboldt Squid Invasion, I have talked about the impact of the killing of sharks on the balance of the ocean.

How much more do people need to know before they will finally say, "I won't kill these fish anymore. They are actually great fish"?

"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin devoted his whole life in saving wild animals, including sharks. His Wildlife Warriors foundation continues to protect threatened or endangered wildlife after Steve unfortunate death. I have borrowed his video here, hope that my readers can also understand how beautiful these sharks are and how important they are to the oceans and the world, and us.

(Watch from 2:23)

Monday, 13 December 2010

Health and Fitness: Jurlique's Essential Oils for Christmas

Image from katiewebb82.files.wordpress.com

Image from jurlique.hk

Warning, this is not cheap! It is $215 per bottle.

But it is worth the money? Again, everybody has a different definition for the word "worth". Considering the quality and the brand, I definitely think this is worth the cost. And it also depends on who you are buying it for.

The Jurlique Essential Oils can really make great gifts for friends, family and even yourself. Most people like the smell of lavender, which has relaxation and sleep-enhancing properties, but it is also a powerful allergen and it has been widely known that pregnant women should not be in contact with it.

Lavender
Image from jadeholisticspa

So, is there something safer? What's my recommendation?

After 1 visit to Bintan and 4 visits to Bangkok, lemongrass essential oil is my pick!

First, I think most Hong Kong people are familiar with Thailand and so there is no reason they have not experienced this smell during their Thai massages or Spas.
Second, I believe that most people who like to go Thailand for shopping and holiday like lemongrass because this smell is almost everywhere you go.
Third, it is cheap to buy the same thing from Thailand but the smell doesn't last as long as Jurlique's lemongrass. Basically, if you heat 5-7 drops of it over water bath for aromatherapy, the smell can stay for 2 to 3 days. (Not the case if you open your windows all the time)
Fourth, Jurlique's essential oils are so pure that it leaves zero oil residue when you need to wash the diffuser.
Last but not least, the lemongrass essential oil I bought in Thailand finishes 3 times faster than the one I bought from Jurlique, which is about 3 times more expensive than the Thai versions but has much higher quality of sweetness.

Lemongrass
Image from billyteoh.files.wordpress.com

Sounds like a perfect gift for anyone, doesn't it? But you still have to use it with care and never overuse any of the oils.

Studies have shown that essential oils such as lemon, lime, lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus could cause complications or even danger. For more detail, please read the research papers linked by Wikipedia.

By the way, Jurlique is a German name, originates from the name of a German doctor, Dr. Jürgen Klein (Jur) and his wife Ulrike's (lique). Et Voilà.

So, next time, please DON'T pronounce it as /dʒuː.ˈlɪk/, pronounce it as /ˈjyr.lɪk/.

Enjoy your Christmas shopping and don't forget to learn something!

Vocabulary:
allergen -- [C] specialized

a substance which can cause an allergy (= condition of the body reacting badly to something) but which is not harmful to most people

aromatherapy -- [U]

the treatment of worry or nervousness, or medical conditions that are not serious by rubbing pleasant-smelling natural oils into the skin or breathing in their smell

residue -- [C usually singular] formal
the part that is left after the main part has gone or been taken away, or a substance that remains after a chemical process such as evaporation

diffuser -- [C]

a device which is used to make light less direct, especially one used with a fluorescent light, or spreading heat across an area or surface

Resources:
Jurlique Online Shop
http://www.jurlique.hk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=95&cPath=5_91

Aromatherapy -- Safety Concerns @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatherapy#Safety_concerns

Origins of the German name Jurlique
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:nQdWZachDQYJ:www.gayot.com/lifestyle/spa/jurlique.html+jurlique+german&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk

IPA for German @Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_German

Pronunciation of IPA /y/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_rounded_vowel

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/allergen
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/aromatherapy
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/residue
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/diffuser

Friday, 10 December 2010

Business Writing: How to write CV like a pro? -- Part 1

Actually, this is the continuation of Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 4; however, since the basic skills have already been covered, we can go on and discuss specifically the genre of the writing.

Since many students are asking me how to write an impressive Curriculum vitae (CV) recently, which is understandable because it is near the end of the year and the economy is getting better, I will begin a new chapter on Business Writing: How to write CV like a pro?

Image from Google

I don't know how many parts there will be, so just keep following my blog.

Okay, let's begin.

The Introduction

"If you want me to be your future boss, tell me why I should read your CV?"

This is a really important question to ask yourself before you start typing. Well, actually, the HR department people are the ones who will scan and filter CVs, so before your CV gets to your future boss, you will have to make yours look special. The introduction, which is below your name, your address, email address and phone numbers, is the first and probably the ONLY thing that the HR will read, if it is good enough, your CV will never end up on the boss's table.

Image from freelanceadvisor.co.uk

How to make it look special? Design, layout, fonts, text types, etc. are all something you should look at, but still how you write is more important.

Knowing how to WOW them is THE MOST IMPORTANT.

As we all know, a CV is best to be fit inside 1 or 2 pages of A4 paper, depending on your experience, so, there isn't really a lot of space to write too much. So, an excellent CV begins with the use of lexically dense sentences. To do that, you need to sit down and write down what you really think about your current job and then your new job.

For example,

I am a merchandiser. I have worked in the field for 10 years and I have a lot of experience in handling buyers from mainland China. I am extremely hard-working and patient. I love working in this field a lot because I like the challenges this job offers me. I want to find a new job because I want to get a better pay. My colleagues are making me sick now and I also don't like my current boss. I think changing my working environment can help me do better, maybe even get promoted.

Now, make this lexically dense while dropping or rephrasing all negative comments!

I am an experienced, patient, extremely hard-working, job-loving merchandiser with 10 years of experience in the field, particularly skillful in handling mainland Chinese buyers. I am looking for a new challenging job because I want to change my working environment to perform better.

Drop all "I am" or "I' and replace simple words with higher level descriptive keywords to WOW your readers.

A seasoned, patient, dedicated and devoted professional with over 10 years of experience in merchandising, specialising in liaising with Chinese buyers, is now seeking new challenge for better performance.

This is not the most perfect version, and there never will be, because it all depends on the readers, but I think I have shown the idea of how to write the introduction of the CV.

Is that the end? Of course not!

From here, you have a base introduction to build on, but you will need to adapt this to every single job that you are applying and add different key abilities into it to make it fit into the new company's requirement.

Homework:

Imagine that you are a merchandiser, you see this job ad from the internet and you are interested to apply:

The packaging division in Yau Tong of a listed group invites high caliber candidates to the following post. We offer attractive salary and fringe benefits package to the right candidate.

Senior Merchandiser / Merchandiser

Responsibilities:

Liaison with suppliers and buyers including brand name clients independently;
Orders follow up, sourcing the products from sample development, quality control, bulk order to shipment;
Coordinating tasks between different departments in Hong Kong office and China factory to fulfill customer requirements and to meet schedule timeline on projects;
Perform all purchasing and marketing activities including forecast report

Requirement:

Non-Degree Tertiary in Purchasing, Marketing or related discipline;
3-4 years working experience in manufacturing industry;
Solid working experience in Packaging, Gift & Premium and Sundries will be an advantage;
Independent, proactive and customer-oriented;
Good command of spoken and written English, fair Mandarin;
Proficiency in PC applications-Excel, MS Office and Chinese Windows;
Frequent travel to Dongguang, the PRC

Interested parties please send your detailed C.V. with current and expected salary to HR Manager at abc@xyz.com for interview. All information received are strictly for recruitment purpose only.

What will you add to the base introduction to make it WOW?

Resources:
Business Writing: How to write like a pro? -- Part 4
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/12/business-writing-how-to-write-like-pro.html

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

News & Technology: Google puts a big bet on Chrome

This is how technology improves with man's creativity -- the Google Chrome Operating System (OS). This OS will be a bit competitor of Microsoft.

First, let's watch a video presentation.

After the video, time to do some reading, it should make more sense now.

8 December 2010 Last updated at 02:19 GMT

Google puts a big bet on Chrome

By Maggie ShielsTechnology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Google has called the development of Chrome its "big bet" for the future.

Google introduced the Chrome browser
using a comic strip drawn by Scott McCloud

The search firm sees the software, in both browser and the operating system versions, as leading a major shift in how computers will be used.

The OS was inspired by the growing popularity of low-cost low-power netbooks and is targeted at users who spend most of their computer time on the internet.

Google's vision is one where users access everything from e-mail to photos and spreadsheets to documents via the cloud.

Industry watchers have said Chrome is clearly meant as a threat to Microsoft which makes the bulk of its profits from selling its OS and Office software for use on desktop PCs.

Microsoft has seen its dominant place in the market slip

"This is as big as they come," said Linus Epson, vice president of engineering for Chrome.

"Windows and Mac have dominated the OS landscape for a long, long time," he said. "Lots of people have tried and not succeeded so this is a once in a working career type of opportunity and problem to go after."

For Sundar Pichai, head of Chrome development, Google's aim is to shake up the industry.

"If you came from outer space you wouldn't design the computer the way it is today," he said.

"I think there is an opportunity to make computing much more delightful and simplified all the way from an advanced to a novice user. That is where the opportunity is and that is where the gauntlet gets thrown down.

"We wouldn't be doing anything if we didn't believe we could change the computing landscape," said Mr Pichai.

Start again

The bid to change the computing landscape started with the Chrome browser which was first released in September 2008.

For years Google boss Eric Schmidt was against the idea of building an independent web browser. At the time he said Google "was a small company" and that he did not want to get locked into a "bruising browser war".

Back in 2008, Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominated the web world with almost 68% of the market. Firefox was second with nearly 26% according to research firm StatCounter.

Since 2008, Chrome has grown to have more than 12% of the market while IE has lost ground. Its share stands at around 49% while Firefox has more than 31%.

Mr Pichai said for engineers like him, creating a browser from the ground up made good sense.

"If you step back and think about what Google does, it is all on the web," he said. "Almost all our users use our services through a web browser. Most of the money we generate are on web properties consumed on a web browser so in some ways the browser is one of the most important platforms we can work on."

He said the the old model typified by Microsoft was too cumbersome for many modern users.

"The PC is a legacy of how things have worked for the last 30 years in software," he said. "If tomorrow you were to come and start from scratch you would make a very different set of assumptions about what it is about."

"I consider myself to be a very sophisticated user of computers and it is extremely painful for me if I buy two PCs I have to make sure they are on anti-virus software. I have to make sure I install the same software so that I can go back and forth.

He said: "I don't have time to do all that and I think there is a far greater and simpler possibility and that is what this journey is all about."

Evolution

The browser is just half the Chrome story. The other half is the operating system.

"The OS is a natural evolution for us in the sense of when we built Chrome itself, the simple bet behind it was a web that had shifted from documents to applications," said Mr Pichai.

"People are living and using these apps on the web and so we viewed it as how do you build a modern browser which ran those apps," he said. "It is mainly understanding that users are living on the web and creating a computing experience to reflect that.

"Chrome OS is the next step in that evolution," added Mr Pichai.

One of the main challenges the team faced was undoing decades of behaviour which left people familiar with loading computers with software, features, files and documents.

Chrome means stripping everything back to the bare essentials to speed up the computing experience.

More and more users access their data via the cloud

"By not having any files on your computer and having everything synched to the cloud, your machine is a lot faster," said Mr Epson. Early demos of Chrome in November 2009 showed a notebook booting up in seven seconds.

"Once we take away that constraint of we have to run on your legacy computer then that allows us to simplify things dramatically," he said.

"The big advantage that we had was that the model that the PC has lived in for the last 30 years has a lot of baggage in it that isn't relevant anymore," said Mr Epson. "So by making this clean break (with our own OS) we are not encumbered by all the compatibility issues."

Alternative outcomes

When Google first talked about Chrome, low cost notebooks were all the rage. Today the focus is on more mobile devices like tablets, a market that has been re-ignited since early 2010 by Apple's iPad.

The tablet is the natural home for the Android operating system which powers a multitude of smartphones and has given Apple's iPhone a run for its money.

The existence of two Google OSes has led some to wonder if both are needed.

Speaking at the web 2.0 Summit in November, Google boss Eric Schmidt is in no doubt that they are. Largely, he said, because they do distinctly different things.

Chrome OS is being developed for devices with physical keyboards while Android is for touch devices.

Industry watchers have said that with a growing appetite for tablets, Chrome may have already lost out to Android.

Mr Pichai disagrees.

"We come from a simple belief that if you can create a great experience for users the market follows from that," he said.

"What the iPad validates to me is that people are looking for what I call different computer alternatives," he said. "No-one lives with the iPad as their only computing device. But it has created excitement around additional computing and we plan to do the same."

Notebooks running Chrome from the likes of HP, Acer and Asus were expected before Christmas but have now been delayed until 2011.

The reason for the delay is very simple, said Mr Pichai.

"We aren't fully ready yet," he admitted.

"We started working on this 18 months ago and we have made tremendous progress but we aren't all the way there," he told BBC News. "There are still some features we want to add and also the system still has some crashes and bugs we need to resolve before we ship it out."

"It is more of a traditional beta software quality at this stage," he said. "When we ship, we want to ship a finished consumer product."

Old habits

Google believes its Chrome product is built to last

So has Google bitten off more than it can chew and is the public ready for computing that relies so heavily on the cloud?

"It requires a change in thinking about it," said Mr Epson. "We are doing something that is pretty different than what's happened before and whenever you do that it takes people some time to adjust.

"That is the biggest thing we have had to overcome and will continue to have to overcome," he said.

Google believes its entry into a mature market will present challenges for its competitors but most importantly choice for consumers.

"For us success means being able to reach tens of millions of users over time, so we expect this to have an impact," said Mr Pichai.

"I don't think of it as throwing down the gauntlet. I want to raise the bar and Chrome did that in several areas of browsing and with Chrome OS you will see us raising the bar significantly.

"The key challenge has been time," he said. "I wish we had more time.

"What keeps me up at night is we are entering the PC space in which people have 30 years of legacy expectations where old habits die hard," he said. "We are worried people will stick with the safe and familiar and comfortable but confident that if people used Chrome for a week or two they would choose that."

From The Chromium Projects,
"Where can I download Google Chrome OS?
Google Chrome OS is not a conventional operating system that you can download or buy on a disc and install. As a consumer, the way you will get Google Chrome OS is by buying a netbook that has Google Chrome OS installed by the OEM. Google Chrome OS is being developed to run on new machines that are specially optimized for increased security and performance. We are working with manufacturers to develop reference hardware for Google Chrome OS. These netbooks will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010."

Opinion:
I do look forward to the new Chrome OS, imagine the 7 seconds bootup time, imagine now more long waiting before the computer starts, imagine the amount of money we can save. I totally buy the Google Chrome concept, because ever since their Chrome browser came out, I have not used Internet Explorer for anything, except for downloading the Chrome browser. The speed is what I really enjoyed, I press and the browser pops up.

I wonder why people are still using IE?

This may just be a habit, like someone people will switch on TV once they get home, I will switch on my computer and boil water for tea once I wake up. It will be hard to change, especially for big change like the Google Chrome OS, which has everything stored online. People may cast doubts on the security level of the data transferred, but I suppose there will be a way to solve this problem. Maybe it wouldn't even be a problem. Who knows?

Just like most people are buying iPhone 4 like crazy now, next year, iPhone 5 will come out, by then, how many people will have to spend money again? Who know?

Resources:
YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ANMrzw7JFzA

BBC news
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11894462

The Chromium Projects
http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromium-os-faq

Apple iPhone 5 Features
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2010/12/06/apple-iphone-5-features-pico-projector-and-digital-tv/

White iPhone 5 Release Date
http://www.buzzbiznews.com/034144/white-iphone-5-release-date-and-white-iphone-4-news/

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

News & Animal: Shark finning continues despite EU ban

Monday, 13 December 2010

Health and Fitness: Jurlique's Essential Oils for Christmas

Friday, 10 December 2010

Business Writing: How to write CV like a pro? -- Part 1

Senior Merchandiser / Merchandiser

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

News & Technology: Google puts a big bet on Chrome

Google puts a big bet on Chrome

About The Playground Founder

Playground Games

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

News & Animal: Shark finning continues despite EU ban

Monday, 13 December 2010

Health and Fitness: Jurlique's Essential Oils for Christmas

Friday, 10 December 2010

Business Writing: How to write CV like a pro? -- Part 1

Senior Merchandiser / Merchandiser

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

News & Technology: Google puts a big bet on Chrome

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Google puts a big bet on Chrome