FEAST OR FAMINE

Inclusive means everyone. Inclusive education means education for all – regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, background, status, wealth, or physical ability. So what then is ‘inclusive growth’? Georgia’s 2020 government strategy aims to ‘ensure that the majority of Georgia’s population benefits from economic growth; ( Financial , March 17, 2014, http://www.finchannel.com ). What it means is that the government aims to ensure that the economy grows while creating jobs and business opportunities for everyone including for the marginalized and low socioeconomic communities. How? Access and quality are two key factors. For the people it means increased social benefits, public provision of pre-school education, and health care. Financial’s article indicates that social transfers – the redistribution of government income – could come at a trade-off at the expense of public and private investment in infrastructure and productive capital. To make the government...

Not known for my fashion evaluations, I was nevertheless impressed with the collection of Georgian designer, Tiko Paksashvili. She won three prizes at the June 2013 BE NEXT Fashion Design Contest for her ‘structured cuts, innovative use of fabrics and feminine style’ (reported the online fashion magazine by MUUSE). The contest aimed to showcase 25 new design talents from Georgia and the region. Paksashvili was the outright winner of the contest, winning a scholarship in Milan at the Domus Academy and a MUUSE contract for her graduate collection. The international judges were fascinated with her ‘distinct signature details, her knowledge on how to treat fabrics, and the way she skilfully combined contrasting structured cuts with feminine waves of cotton.’ Titled ‘Unknown’ the collection was hand-made textiles of cotton and silk in white. In a MUUSE interview with Paksashvili (October 30, 2013), Tiko said she liked to create illusions, using soft and strong fabrics tog...

The practice of fish pedicures is both traditional and controversial. Known to have been an oriental foot treatment in their natural habitat of the warm springs, particularly in Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus for hundreds of years, and commercially from the 1900s, garra rufa fish – or ‘doctor fish’ – nibble on feet to remove dead skin. Hence their nickname, ‘nibble fish.’ Georgia too is famed for its warm springs. Tbilisi, the City of Hot Springs, was founded on natural hot springs, and Tbilisi itself means ‘warm.’ In the heart of the Old City in Tbilisi is a fish pedicure salon. At the Fish Spa, once feet are cleaned (and dried with disposable paper towels), they are dangled in an aerated freshwater tank of garra rufa fish. At first the sensation resembles tickling (for the fish do not have teeth; they have a sucker), but this soon passes with acclimatization. They are actually sloughing off the dead skin, or exfoliating the feet. During the 30 or 60 minute session, bevera...

Spotted in the Old City, Tbilisi, Georgia, in an office supply store on February 17, 2011. The women  were adding up the price list on the abacus (which pre-dates the computer, the calculator, and the slide rule).

Georgian eggs may go south to Iraq. There are 26 egg production companies in Georgia, which produce enough eggs for the domestic market. Therefore Georgia does not import eggs. However, they are exploring the potential to export eggs to neighbouring Iraq ( Caucasian Business Week , March 24, 2014). As summer approaches, the Poultry Development Association in Georgia says that fewer eggs will be consumed. That’s the regular pattern of egg consumption. To mitigate the reduction in consumption, the PDA has launched a campaign to eat eggs. However, with the reduction in consumption, the PDA plans to export eggs to Iraq. Consequently a delegation will be in Georgia in March to discuss the cooperative agreement. The price of a dozen large eggs in Tbilisi is 3.55 Lari (USD $2) – latest update on March 20, 2014 ( http://www.expatistan.com/price/eggs/tbilisi ). However, in summer the cost drops by up to 84% - resulting in the PDA seeking export markets for their eggs....

Depression-related illnesses cost European workplaces an estimated GBP 77 billion a year, or $127 billion ( Financial , March 17, 2014,  http://www.finchannel.com ). These costs are mainly from absenteeism and lost productivity, according to a report by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and King’s College, London, published in PLOS ONE, March 2014. The report states that although 30 million people in Europe, and 350 million people worldwide, are affected by depression at some stage of their working life, most workplaces ‘seriously underestimate its impact.’ In a survey of 500 employers in the United Kingdom, over 50% believed that depressed and stressed workers could still do their job effectively. This is contrary to a study of 7,000 people in 7 European countries – UK, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Turkey, and Germany. LSE and King’s College researchers studied the survey of seven European countries and found 20% of employed peo...

As Canberra experienced a ‘complex weather pattern’ and Sydney received rains, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted a hotter and drier than usual year due to an El Nino climate pattern forming in the tropical Pacific Ocean (Canberra Times, March 25, 2014). A United Airline 747 was forced to land at Canberra Airport as high winds and rainfall spread across the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and eastern New South Wales (NSW) on Monday. Two aircraft were diverted from Sydney to Canberra. At least 10 millimitres fell on Canberra yesterday and winds reached speeds up to 30 km/hr. The BOM said it was a ‘complex weather pattern’ coming from Queensland. The thunderstorm was more intense on the coast, rather than in Canberra. Sydney also experienced the force of the storms with almost 100 millimetres of rain in an hour at lunch-time on Monday. In Sydney, one man drowned, two were struck by lightning, and at least six people were trapped in their cars in ...

Where is Asia’s largest tulip garden? It is located in Jammu and Kashmir, mostly a mountainous region of the Himalayas bordering the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in the south, China in the north, and separated from Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir by a Line of Control. In this beautiful region is the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden on the banks of Dal Lake, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The lake, known as the Jewel in the crown of Kashmir, is the second largest in the region. It shoreline is 15.5 kilometres (9.6 miles) lined with gardens and parks. The lake covers an area of 18 square kilometres (7 square miles) and is part of a natural wetland which includes a floating garden known as Rad. Unfortunately Dal Lake has a eutrophication problem, often called hypertrophication, in which the ecosystem reacts to substances such as nitrates and phosphates (caused by fertilizers and sewage). The reaction appears as a ‘bloom’ of phytop...

Devex, in collaboration with partners, launched a campaign to promote conversations about women and girls in development issues and projects on March 8, 2014, to commemorate the annual International Women’s Day. The campaign, She Builds , is a platform for organizations to work more collaboratively and more effectively to raise the voice of women in development. Since launching She Builds hundreds of thousands of individual women, as well as organizations, have participated via the Devex website and social media. The campaign commenced with She Builds Communities, launched on March 8, to spotlight the critical role women play in creating healthy, stable communities as political and spiritual leaders, educators, advocates, health workers, law enforcers, and in other roles. From March 14, She Builds Economies focused on women’s contributions to economic growth as bank account holders, farmers, small business owners, and more. Between March 17-21, companies,...

It takes less than a second to form an impression of someone’s personality based solely on their voice. That’s the conclusion of researchers at the University of Glasgow, Scotland ( New Scientist , March 14, 2014). Researchers at UG recorded 64 people as they read a passage, and extracted the word ‘hello’ as a separate voice file. They asked 320 people to rate the voices (saying hello) on a scale of 1 to 9 for one of ten perceived personality traits, such as trustworthiness, dominance, and attractiveness. The first surprise was how similar people’s ratings were. The researchers scaled the responses for similarity or difference of opinion about the personality traits they gave to each of the 64 hellos. If 0 represented no agreement and 10 represented total agreement, the 320 respondents who judged the 64 voices scored an average of 0.92 for all 10 traits. That’s 92% agreement levels, meaning that most people agreed very closely with each other on the personality trai...