Rafael Meavitali

A year in Syria

easmgr — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:05:38 +0000

I was in an airport taxi in London the other day when I checked my phone to grab some news. I read that it had been one year since the Arab Spring hit Syria. Unfortunately, the results of this uprising have not been as fruitful as those in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of problems in these countries too. Tunisia seems to have come out of it relatively unscathed (perhaps due to its diminutive size) but Egypt and Libya have a long way to go before a real sense of democracy will be felt by their inhabitants. However, they are still a lot further down that path than Syria.

For all the covert support in Egypt and the explicit support for the revolution in Libya, the western powers have been, well, powerless when it comes to Syria. Partly, this is down to criticism of the Libya campaign, partly because China and Russia have been against military action. Of course, the US and EU military forces have been a bit stretched with all their wars accompanied by cutbacks in defence spending.

The Arab League has therefore taken the lead on this one which is a good idea for the stability of the region and banishes talk of western imperialism to some extent. However, it has not been effective. This week Kofi Annan told the world he had assurances from the al-Assad leadership that Syria would respect a ceasefire but, on the other hand, more than 100 people were killed on Tuesday.

With a death toll of 9,000 since fighting began according to the UN, there are no real winners from this and no-one wants to stoke up tensions in the Middle East. Nevertheless, if the deaths of these people are to mean anything, then some progress in the struggle for freedom must take place.

Learning and earning- why one after the other?

easmgr — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:04:04 +0000

There was a time when students were expected to complete their education before moving on to the task of earning money. The student was expected to obtain general education before proceeding further to obtain specialized skills. Once the specialized skills were in hand, the student was expected to choose a career and stick to it for the rest of his or her life. Well, the Internet has changed everything. Today, a person with reasonable command over English can offer his or her content writing services to various websites online.

The student can prepare content for a UK courier website despite the fact that he or she is situated halfway around the world. There are many students who have earned so much money from these services that they decide to skip education and continue with their business on a full-time basis. Of course, there are many persons who regret their decision of stopping studies early when the business takes a downturn. However, the old belief that education has nothing to do with business and earning money has got reinforced now that the Internet is around.

A sensible student will take note of this characteristic and plan his or her approach accordingly. Instead of waiting to complete the education before earning money, the student can adopt a balanced approach and tried to mix the money and education together. Of course, content writing is of no use whatsoever if you want to become an administrator or a financial wizard. However, it may have a lot to do with your long-term career if you are interested in writing, journalism or any other field that involves use of English writing skills.

There was a time when students had absolutely no assistance from teachers in this regard. Today, they can make use of other individuals who have shifted from the traditional approach and can seek guidance from them.

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‘The Fall and Fall of Great Television.’

easmgr — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:38:44 +0000

What exactly is happening to our television programmes? Just about every channel you watch these days is full of ‘Reality'TV shows. It all started many years ago with ‘Big Brother'(one of the world’s most boooooring shows ever in my opinion) and, since then things have steadily gone from bad to worse!

Surely it would be far more advantageous for broadcasters to create good quality programmes? Think back to the ‘golden days'of television when there was always something decent to watch! Why oh why has it come to this? Are modern programme makers totally deluded? Or perhaps they have simply run out of good ideas???

No, there is actually a far simpler reason for this new wave of ‘Reality'TV shows; it is called ‘money’. Whenever you come across something in life which simply does not equate then (99.9% of the time) it will be tied-up with wonga. As Roger Waters once put it; ‘Can’t you see? It all makes perfect sense; expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence.'

Not only is ‘Reality'TV a dumbing-down of intelligent content, but it is also a kind of data deduplication of broadcasting staff. Think about it; cheap and nasty set design, no expensive ‘established stars'to pay for and an audience who are convinced that what they are seeing is an ‘accurate'reflection of society. It really is a win-win situation for programme makers! ‘Reality'TV is inexpensive to create and it draws in a record number of viewers.

And that, my friends, is the sad-but-true reason why so many of our channels are now taken-up with this type of ‘entertainment’. But hey; that’s show-business…

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Students! Prepare for change

easmgr — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:33:02 +0000

There was a time when student life focused primarily on acquiring skills and assimilating knowledge that would be useful in the life ahead. There were clear set parameters and specific rules that governed the idea of becoming successful in life. Having a college degree was very essential. Doing a job to accumulate sufficient capital was considered the first step towards success. Having proved one’s mettle in tough jobs, students would have the choice of either proceeding further in a life of employment. Or they could become entrepreneurs and try their luck on their own.

Today, none of these rules apply. College education is good but it certainly is not the most fundamental requirement to succeed. Overemphasis on college education does not make sense when a person who has not passed college can end up becoming the richest man in the world. There is no need to take up a job to earn capital. All one needs is a good idea in hand to convince investors to offer venture capital or start up business loans.

A young kid with a world shaking idea has a better chance of succeeding as compared to a traditionalist student who believes that success will arrive only then he or she grows old. There was a time when executives were required to wear 3 piece suits as their uniform. It was a part of the dress code. Today, people walk into offices wearing casuals and slacks without thinking twice about it.
In such a scenario, students ought to focus on understanding that the only thing that is permanent in this world is change. Instead of trying to stick to traditional and preconceived notions about success, it is important to understand that success can arrive in different forms. A smart student will be one who understands this and prepares for a life filled with constant changes.

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Student Performance in Higher Education

easmgr — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:56:26 +0000

It is an easily observed trend that students tend to get better in their studies. You can reach a conclusion like this simply by visiting a University campus and looking at the people around. Several years back when the UK was financially strong, students were lacking some crucial motivation to study simply because there seemed to be jobs for everyone. Now, as a natural response to a crisis that overtook the financial world, students are becoming more aware of the value of education and are pursuing personal aspirations with quite stronger dedication.

As mentioned already, the reason might be a significantly increased awareness about the benefits of education. It is a common truth that nowadays professional positions such as the school management jobs or accountant assistant positions within a small firm require high level of education because of the serious competitiveness of the market. Several years ago, especially a decade ago in the beginning of the 21st century, many people were finding desired jobs by only showing the ability to adjust to the working environment and to process the relative information about their job position. However, things have changed and young people are getting a new approach in their search for a better future – and it definitely goes through a better education.

The result from such increased higher education awareness is the improved student performance. Generally, students have shown an increase in nearly 3% in their academic performance for the 2010/2011 academic year. And the increase in their overall performance has increased with a little but more than a percent. When asked, more students answer that their are looking forward to receiving a first class degree and the university dropouts significantly reduced in number as compared to previous years.

So whether it is a result of an economic hardship or an indirect result of an improving society, the positive increase in the student performance can only make the UK confident that a new generation of well educated individuals is about to boost the economic development of the country in the following years.

University Jobs Reducing

easmgr — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:56:08 +0000

The academic elite of the UK is threatened by the financial recession that has come upon the public sector in the country. This is what several news agencies report (Associated Press being the major researcher of the issue along with the Independent) after a decrease in the demand for high-skilled teaching staff in university has seriously decreased. Many academics are now thinking of immigrating to better destinations where their work would be valued and new employment opportunities would be presented to them.

The main problem that academics are facing is the fact that university funding, as every other public sector, has been affected by the cuts system enacted by the UK government. The deficiency of funds drives smaller universities (along with larger institutions that have well established research staff) to maintain low rate of employment simply because they cannot spare the financial resource to support different research activities and maintain steady improvement of teaching staff. Even the quite successful medical faculties that offer some of the best employment opportunities – from radiography jobs to more serious surgeon specialists, are facing financial difficulties when willing to recruit new academics.

Among the most attractive destinations for such specialists are thus outside the UK. Australia, that is in constant demand for academics and highly skilled workers from the UK, is already recruiting some of the best academics graduating from the UK in an attempt to improve its education system. European countries that maintain education in English as well as a native language are already placing bids for prospective specialists especially in the areas of IT and economics and business. Germany is such a country aiming to attract more of the academic human resource from the UK in its English-based university programs. The Middle East is developing large employment programs that are also a very attractive employment opportunity for UK academics that could not succeed in finding their suitable position in the Kingdom.

Tax Dependency

easmgr — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:04:55 +0000

The UK is among the European countries that are most dependent on their taxpayers. It is usually the taxpayer that supports the economy of the state, however, countries such as the UK impose far more hardship on their working class when it comes to taxation of income. Furthermore, the various taxes added up to the household of a UK family is additionally burdening the financial well being of the population. And since more people are unemployed and more people rely on social benefits obtained through the taxpayers (that are reducing in number), the UK is gradually facing a problem that might endanger its financial stability for the upcoming years.

An example of how tax money are allocated can be found in education. Several years back job opportunities for students were posted on large format printing – nowadays the number of unemployed students keeps increasing.
Student employment is an indicator of how the tax system is indirectly affecting the sectors in the country. The chart above (Harper Adams University College) shows that most of the students are employed during their studies. However, the number of students seeking employment unsuccessfully also increases constantly. Thus, the less students are employed, the greater is the chance that governmental funding would be a main source for maintenance of these students – and this money is actually taxpayers money.

So there is a tendency in distribution of tax money and the less students work the more money from the taxpayers would be allocated to those willing to enroll in universities. Logically, the more people remain jobless, the more money would be allocated to social benefits and thus unemployment would bring deficiency of funds. When burdened with looking after a huge number of unemployed, the taxpayers would gradually start delivering more money towards maintaining some sort of lifestyle to unemployed rather than for the development of their country.

The conclusion: the UK needs to reconsider its financial politics and its tax system if it wants to maintain an economic and employment growth that would ensure steady and healthy economic recovery from the current recession.

NHS: Fight or Flight?

easmgr — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:04:09 +0000

Nursing, psychiatry, surgery, general practising – all of these disciplines our under threat of becoming unavailable to the poorest in society in the UK. With David Cameron and his band of axe wielding maniacs there is a very real possibility that the NHS in its current publicly funded form could become a thing of the past. The Conservative pledge to ring fence the entire organisation could not be further from the truth as sweeping reforms become reality.

Many posts like community nursing jobs are widely available at the moment, but with doctors and nurses all looking frightened it may be only a matter of time before the jobs dry up. Like many people I love the NHS. No other country in the world has a system quite like it. Many have begun to copy the organisation as best they can which just goes to show how much it is admired and how much the UK should be proud of it. Whilst public finances have to be balanced – in that there is no doubt – it is dangerous to allow private companies to take control of some of the services as the government is proposing.

The changes that are most worrying include the plans to allow ‘any qualified provider'to deliver NHS services. We all know that private companies exist for one reason alone: to turn a profit. Opening up the very public service the NHS provides to an external corporation or private company is frightening to say the least. We need only look at the state of the healthcare system in the US to see just how badly private medicine affects a population. More people in the US die from inadequate access to treatment then anything else. Think about that for a moment. Now apply that to Britain. It is a terrifying thought.

Many doctors and nurses are concerned and rightly so. The NHS may not be perfect but they know just how much worse it could be were private companies allowed to have free reign in providing services to the organisation. Whilst it is true that in essence, encouraging some competition within the organisation could be a good thing, the danger lies in what could happen if you allow too many companies to tender. We all know what happened with the Public Private Partnership Investment programme for the tube in London – several of the companies couldn’t complete the works required to the budgets they themselves originally tendered and several more collapsed! To apply this situation to the NHS will mean that in ten years time there might be no NHS left!

We are all living in tough times, economically and socially. That does not mean we should be dismantling the very things which give us our identity just to serve a ‘quick fix'mentality. There is a whole generation of children eager to become doctors and nurses and who have learnt how lucky the UK is to have the NHS. If we allow even one section of the service to be under private control, then we will have not only let down those children, but ourselves as well.

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Mouth Cancer in Dogs

easmgr — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:34:20 +0000

It may seem hard to believe but it is true. Dogs do get mouth cancer. Most of us will not have that experience where our dog has mouth cancer but just in case we do it is good to be prepared. This is much in the same way we do data deduplication to protect our data from any disaster that may not happen to most of us.

No mouth cancer is considered as one of the most common diseases dogs. There are different causes that can lead to mouth cancer in dogs.

There is no specific detail available about what causes this disease but according to a research, the age of dogs that gets affected by this disease is in the range of 6 and 21 months.

Carcinogens are mainly suspected for causing mouth cancer. Dogs sniff everything they find around them and that’s how carcinogens get inside them. Once they get inside, they can affect the dog by growing cancerous cells.

If you want a proper diagnosis, you will have to provide your veterinarian a report with all the details about your dog’s medical history and health. Blood tests will be performed to see the condition of those cancerous cells. The vet will also check the neck, mouth, lymph nodes and face to see the cancer’s condition. If it has already spread to many parts, it will be difficult to treat it.

Surgery is considered as the best choice by some vets as it’s the perfect choice for treating mouth cancer.

Once the surgery is performed, your dog may face some problems when chewing. You can give your dog special food by following the special food recipes given by the vet.

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Tattoo Marks – Do Girls Like Them On A Mans skin?

easmgr — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:05:23 +0000

I pondered the answer to this question recently while having my Vita coco and asked a few girls what they thought. The answers were not as simple as I thought it would be. Much, it seems, depends upon the mood and character of the girl. There are some girls that like these tattoos all over the body, while there are some others who do not like them at all. According to the surveys different girls have given different opinions about these tattoos on the body.

Girls who Like Tattoos

According to some girls, who like tattoos, these marks make persons look young. The man can look younger than his actual age. It is usually believed that those men and women, who get tattoos, have some desire to add a bit of mystery to their lives. Therefore, their partners like these tattoos since they love mystery which has played a major role to the development of these marks. Sometimes, people use to get the name of their girlfriend on their skin in the form of tattoo. Obviously the girl likes the idea of her name been written on the skin, and in this way she might be attracted by that guy.

Are Tattoos Necessary?

In general, tattooing is a great tactic to attract somebody. However, if things are looked at closely, it would be revealed that love does not need any assistance. If a person is able to impress and attract somebody, he would not require such things on his body. On the contrary, if these marks are made on the skin, the abilities could be reinforced, and chances would increase in attaining love by someone easily.

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