Monday, December 30, 2019
Moms of this number of children tend to get the most sleep (surprisingly)
Moms of this number of children tend to get the most sleep (surprisingly)Moms of this number of children tend to get the most sleep (surprisingly)One in three Americans doesnt get enough sleep according to a recent study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Academy of Sleepand The Sleep Research Society recommends healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 60, sleep at least seven hours each night.The Director of the CDC s Division of Population health reports,As a nation, we are not getting enough sleep, said Wayne Giles, M.D., director of CDCs Division of Population Health. Lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the saatkorn time each night rising at the same time each morning and turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the healthy sleep they need.Considering, how big a role distractions play in keeping us up at night, it follows that moms are having considerable trouble obtaining qu ality sleep.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreA new study published by Amerisleep, analyzing data from The American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which included a sample size of 31, 621 individuals, posits that mothers of three get the least amount of sleep of any other demographic observed in the report. Oddly enough, however, mothers of five children were found to be the most well-rested, securing an average of 9.0 hours a night, which is two hours more than the recommended amount.The Parents with the worst sleepBy the time parents have five children, theyve figured out a way to maximize sleep despite the demands of their busy lives whereas parents who have three children are generally outnumbered for the first time and that may take away their ability to sleep as long, Nicole Canon told Today Parents.Today was actually the first to break the story, in th eir segment, detailing why moms of five have the best shot at consistent good nights rest. The strange thing is, as indexed in the chart above, while its true mothers of five children score the most sleep, most parents receive more than the amount of sleep recommended by medical experts. unterstellung results varied by gender, but only fractionally. The average father of one achieved around 8.8 hours of sleep per night, whereas the average dad of five got something closer to 8.4 hours of sleep a night.Moms with multiple children were also found to multitask more, and also engage in a bit more napping than dads did. The other factor that notably influenced quality sleep for parents was the ages of the children in the home. Dads with daughters between the ages of one and five and sons between the ages of 13 and 17 got the least sleep of the male respondents. Moms with daughters of the ages two and under and sons under the age of one got the least sleep of the female respondents.The di fference between these metrics owes themselves principally to responsibility and neuroscience. A recent study cited in the study titled, Do Women Need More Sleep Than Men? Published by the National Sleep Foundation, list the various factors that often sees women requiring more sleep than men. Some of them are neurological, like the studied tendency to multitask, others are things like, being woken up and moved around on the bed by the partner, (men tend to be larger than women) or worrying about problems and losing sleep as a result. Moreover, in the latest study, women were found to spend about an hour more each day on household activities then men do, which might explain why women clock in 12 more minutes of sleep than their male counterparts.Some have pointed out that there were potential variables noticeably absent from the new study. For example, an independent study conducted by The Pew Research Center, revealed that, on balance, working moms receive about five hours less slee p than stay at home moms do.Even still the latest study offers a pretty concrete explanation for the broad findings. A sizeable portion of mothers of five children observed in the survey has grown accustomed to balancing and operating amidst the chaos. The other portion made a concerted effort to achieve quality rest once their broods expanded, in order to efficiently care for them.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
How to Become a Private Pilot
How to Become a Private PilotHow to Become a Private PilotThe private pilot certificate (or private pilot license) has been the most commonly sought-after pilot certificate for years. Some people seek a private pilot certificate purely as a hobby or sport, while others desire the convenience of aircraft travel for vacations or to visit family members.Some private pilots and aircraft owners use their airplane as a primary mode of transportation to business meetings or events, and for some, its a step in the road toward becoming an airline pilot. If youve decided that the private pilot certificate is right for you, then these are the next steps.Private pilots are trained well enough to navigate a small aircraft through the nations airspace by themselves. While in training, a private pilot learns aircraft maneuvers, navigation techniques, emergency procedures, and cross-country flight planning. Private pilot training is more intense than training for a sports pilot certificate or a recr eational pilot certificate, but not quite as extensive as for a commercial pilot certificate. Here are the steps for how to become a private pilot 01Make Sure Youre EligibleMake sure you meet the eligibility requirements outlined in the regulations. See FAR 61.103 for more information. A private pilot applicant needs to be at least 17 years old, able to read, speak and understand English, successfully complete the flight training requirements and the knowledge exam. In the end, a private pilot applicant will need to pass a practical exam that consists of a verbal exam and a flight test.02Obtain a Student Pilot CertificateYoull begin by obtaining a student pilot certificate (and typically an aviation medical certificate at the same time). You have three options for obtaining a student pilot certificateYou can get your student pilot certificate and aviation medical certificate at the same time at the aviation medical examiners office when you go in for your appointment. The document t hat the examiner gives you after you successfully complete your medical exam will be both a student pilot certificate and medical exam in one. Itis the most common optionsince the medical certificate is required before a student can solo the aircraft.The second option is to go to an FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) and submit an application for a student pilot certificate by itself.Lastly (and much less commonly), a person can submit an application for a student pilot certificate to an FAA examiner.03reisepass a Third-Class Aviation Medical ExamObtain an aviation medical certificate. If you havent already passed your aviation medical exam, youll need to have one done before you can solo the airplane. Solo flight can happen quicker than you think, so its best not to put off the medical exam. To exercise privileges of a private pilot, a person is required to have a current 3rd Class FAA-issued medical certificate.04Find an InstructorIf you dont already have a flight instruc tor or flight school in mind, check at your local airport. If your airport has a flight school or Fixed-Base Operation (FBO), check there first. If not, ask around at the terminal or other business on the field. Its a small community, and most of the time, there are flight instructors that are eager to teach.05Take the FAA Written ExamSome flight schools and instructors will require you to successfully complete the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam before ever stepping foot in an airplane. Others will let you fly as much as youd like while you study at home for the test. Either way, the test must be completed before you can take the final private pilot check ride for your certificate. Its best to take it early on- flying is easier when you have the background knowledge. It just makes sense. Dont put it off.06Start FlyingYoull need to gain the required flight experience. Youll start by learning basic maneuvers, such as takeoff, landing, turns, climbs, and descents. A student needs at le ast 10 hours to solo the aircraft, but many people take more time to learn how to fly the airplane- while the primary focus might be learning how to land the airplane, youll also need to know emergency procedures, how to communicate on the radios, etc. After your first solo, youll work on solo cross-country flights youll learn navigation techniques and more difficult maneuvers. From there, youll fine-tune your piloting skills for the final exam- the check ride.07Take the Checkride (FAA Practical Exam)Youll need a certain amount of experience to be eligible for the check ride. For example, a private pilot applicant is required to have at least 40 hours of flight time, of which 20 are from an instructor, and 10 are solo flights. mora specifically, youll need at least 3 hours of cross-country training with your instructor, including 3 hours of night flying, one cross-country that is over 100 nautical miles, 10 takeoffs, and landings, and 3 hours of basic instrument training. On top of that, youre required to have 10 hours of solo flying, which includes 5 hours of a solo cross-country flight, and one cross-country that is over 150 nautical miles with landings at three different airports.The check ride is given by a designated FAA examiner, and it consists of a verbal exam and a flight exam. The exam can last from about two hours to 6 hours, depending on your level of knowledge and the examiners methods. The ground portion is usually done first and can last from 30 minutes to a few hours. If the verbal exam is successful, the examiner will then conduct the flight portion of the exam, which typically lasts 1-2 hours.08Get Your LicenseUpon successful completion of your FAA Practical Test, the examiner will assist you in filling out the FAA paperwork online. Youll have to pay them (rates vary so check with your instructor beforehand). The examiner will give you a temporary private pilot certificate to use while you wait for the official FAA certificate to arrive in th e mail.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Senior Executive Resume Template 2018s Top Format
Senior Executive Resume Template 2018s Top FormatSenior Executive Resume Template - 2018s Top FormatCreate ResumeWyatt Berry100 Main Street, Cityplace, CA, 91019 Home (555) 322-7337 Cell (555) 322-7337 example-emailexample.comExecutive ProfileAmbitious SSM Senior Store Manager who creates strategic alliances with organization leaders to effectively align with and support key geschftlicher umgang initiatives. Builds and retains high performance teams by hiring, developing and motivating skilled professionals.Skill HighlightsLeadership/communication skillsBusiness operations organization/inventory control/merchandisingCustomer-orientedQuality ManagementTraining and Development/Employee schedulingTeam Player/MotivatingCore AccomplishmentsInitiateconference calls on sales drives which resulted in Region ranking 1 in district.Managed Region while Regional Sales Director on medical leave.Handled all functions related to Reset/new store openings.Professional ExperienceSSM Senior Store Man ager, 09/1997 to 09/2013 GNC, Ft.Myers, FLSenior Store Manager overseen 6 to 14 stores. Trained and developed two new Senior Store Manager in the Region to be in control of training in selling,inventory control,merchandising,staffing,scheduling,hiring,motivating and developing people for advancement with the company.EducationGED Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA, USA nbspCustomize ResumeMore Management Resume Templates
Sunday, December 15, 2019
ISFJ-Your Myers Briggs Personality Type and Your Career
ISFJ-Your Myers Briggs Personality Type and Your CareerISFJ-Your Myers Briggs Personality Type and Your CareerISFJ is one of 16 personality schrifts that are reported by theMyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), apersonality inventory. Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers developed the MBTI based on psychiatrist Carl Jungs theory of personality. When you know your personality type, you can use it tohelp you find a suitable career. Career development specialists believe that if an individualchooses a career that is a good match for his or her personality type and other factors including interests, work-related values, and aptitudes, the chance of being satisfied with it is substantially increased. Many administer the MBTI to their clients.You can also take an online version of the assessment. Before we continue, lets take a closer look at the MBTI. If you know the theory behind it, you will better be able to understand what your ISFJ type means and how it will play a role in your ca reer planning. Carl Jung theorized that every individuals personality type is made up of how we like to energize (introversion vs. extroversion), take in information (sensing vs. intuition), make decisions (thinking vs. feeling), and live our lives (judging vs. perceiving). Being an ISFJ means you favor Introversion I, Sensing S, Feeling F, and Judging J. Heres an explanation of what that means. I, S, F, and J What Each Letter of Your Personality Type Code Means I If your preference is introversion, it means your own thoughts and ideas energize you. You dont need to interact with other people to get motivated.S As someone who prefers sensing, you use your five senses to process any information you receive. You are not one to look beyond what is currently right in front of you, for example, things you can see, touch, hear, smell and taste. You see the details rather than the patterns that emerge from them.F Your feelings and values guide your decisions. You are sensitive to the needs of others and are reluctant to give criticism. J Your preference for a judging lifestyle means you like structure. You are well-organized, and deadlines dont ruffle your feathers. You have no difficulty planning in advance to meet them. It is important to remember these are just your preferences. Pay attention to them, but do not let them dictate your life. While you may prefer to do something or live a particular way, you can do things differently or live a different way when a situation requires it. For example, you favor introversion over extroversion, but that doesnt mean you cant perform well if you have to be part of a team. You wouldrather work alone, but you can work with others too. In addition, each pair of preferences is on a scale. Your MBTI results will show where on it you fall. You may be an extreme introvert, or you may be closer to the center of the scale. In that case, your preference for introversion wouldnt be as strong. You should also know thatyour prefer ences interact with one another, so all four letters are important. Dont get hung up on the fact that you are an introvert or prefer judging. All four preferences influence who you are. Realize, too, that your preferences may change as you go through life. Using Your Code to Help You Make Career-Related Decisions And now your burning question now that you know your personality type and what it means, how can you use it to find a suitable career? Lets first look at the middle two letters, S and F. As an S you are detail-oriented. You tend to be practical and pride yourself on your common sense. Occupations that involve solving concrete problems are typically a good fit for individuals who have an S in their personality type. However, ISFJs like using their feelings and values to guide their decision-making, as indicated by the F. Given both these preferences, you would probably enjoy solving problems while helping people, maybe even assisting them in solving problems. Also consid er your preferences for introversion- getting energy from within- and judging- your need for structure. You would enjoy working independently, in a structured environment. ISFJs find satisfaction when working in the following occupations Administrative Services ManagerArchivist Athletic TrainerComputer Support SpecialistDental TechnicianElectrician Funeral DirectorHome Health AideMedical SecretaryMental Health CounselorMusicianNurse (RN and LPN)Paralegal Pharmacist PhotographerPhysical TherapistSales RepresentativeSchool Principal Social Worker Teacher Sources The Myers-Briggs Foundation Web Site.Baron, Renee.(1998)What Type Am I?. NY PenguinBooks.Page, Earle C.Looking at Type A Description of the Preferences Reported by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Center for Applications of Psychological Type.Tieger, Paul D., Barron, Barbara, and Tieger, Kelly. (2014)Do What You Are. NY Hatchette Book Group.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Apply Now for a 2015-2016 ASME Congressional Fellowship
Apply Now for a 2015-2016 ASME Congressional Fellowship Apply Now for a 2015-2016 ASME Congressional Fellowship Apply Now for a 2016-2017 ASME Congressional FellowshipSince 1973, ASME has sponsored mora than 100 Federal Government Fellows, providing them with an opportunity to serve a one-year term in the administration or U.S. Congress. Fellows serve as independent, non-biased advisors in engineering, science and technology, bringing a nonpartisan, pragmatic approach to analysis and input which has a profound impact on the decision making process. The result is effective and technologically appropriate public policy based on sound engineering principles. ASME is currently accepting applications for the 2016-2017 Congressional Fellowship, which is one of several Federal Government Fellowship opportunities offered by the Society. Sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Petroleum Division and ASME Government Relations, the Congressional Fellowship offers ASME members the chance to s pend one year in Washington, D.C., working with the staff of a congressional committee, U.S. senator or U.S. representative. Congressional Fellowships are designed to demonstrate the value of engineering-government interaction, bringing technical backgrounds and external perspectives to the decision making process in Congress, while providing a unique public policy learning experience to the Fellow.Applicants for the Congressional Fellowship must have a strong energy background. ASME has long supported a balanced portfolio of energy supplies to meet the nations energy needs, including advanced clean coal, petroleum, nuclear, natural gas, waste-to-energy, biomass, solar, wind and hydroelectric power. ASME also supports energy efficient building and transportation technologies, as well as transmission and distribution infrastructure sufficient to satisfy demand under reasonably foreseeable contingencies. To learn more, review ASMEs General Position Paper, titled Securing Americas Ener gy Future, at http//ppec.asme.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/PS14-24-Securing-Americas-Energy-Future.pdf. To be eligible for the Congressional Fellowship, applicants must be U.S. citizens and members of ASME. The following credentials are also encouraged at least five years of professional experience, an advanced engineering degree, professional engineer registration, and some public policy experience.Applications for the 2016-2017 Congressional Fellowship will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2016. For more information on the Congressional Fellowship, or to apply, visit https//www.asme.org/about-asme/get-involved/advocacy-government-relations/federal-fellows-program/congressional-fellowships. To read more about the opportunities and challenges confronting the Societys current and past Federal Government Fellows, visit ASMEs energy issues webpage at http//ppec.asme.org/key-issues/energy/.
Friday, December 6, 2019
The Hidden Truth Regarding General Resume Summary Uncovered by an Expert
The Hidden Truth Regarding General Resume Summary Uncovered by an Expert How to Choose General Resume Summary Entry-level objectives can be particularly hard to write since you likely dont have loads of work experience, but you do want to solidify that you know the sort of career youre searching for. An overview of qualifications is utilized to highlight the range of work experiences youve built up as time passes. If you choose to incorporate a quick collection of your skills in place of a resume objective, heres a great place to achieve that. With a summary anschauung, you can nonetheless emphasize your abilities and accomplishments, but could also highlight your individual brand. Since you have to be concise, its important to work out what you would like in your next position, which means you know just what skills and experiences to highlight. For those who dont know, a summary statement (also called Summary of Qualifications or just Competencies) essentially contains a smal l number of pithy and strong statements at the start of your resume that help summarize your abilities and experience for a prospective employer to rapidly receive a feeling of the value you could offer. Enable the experts at Monster help you build a brilliant career. As soon as you determine the skills you wish to concentrate on, do a bit of research and see whether they line up with job requirements listed for the positions youre seeking. A strong summary statement at the peak of your resume can increase the possibility of them noticing what youve got to offer from the beginning. Luckily, theres nothing like a small bit of inspiration to receive your creative juices flowing. To begin with, it has the incorrect focus. When writing your statement, its important to take into consideration where youre in your professional progression. OurA Sample Resume FormatsA will help direct you through the vital requirements required for a nice and presentable resume with clear layouts whic h are available for print or download. Our guide to composing your own resume profile is a practical tool if this seems like a route you want to take. There are various sorts of Resume Formats that might be used depending on specific variables that take part in the full application processes. Do not incorporate any drab information within it. Bellow youll find a CV sample, and precious tips for your job interview. The work description is another good region to use while making your resume. A summary statement is among the simplest methods to custom tailor your resume to fit the requirements of a specific role, without needing to rewrite all the content. Before you choose to apply for work, always make sure your CV is updated. You have to make sure your resume summary statement concisely demonstrates why youre a best candidate for the particular job and business. Based on who you ask and the way youre using it, summary statements can be a whole waste of space or a complete g ame changer. If you do decide to move forward with a resume summary statement, be sure to take care of it as your own private highlight reel. A summary statement is a brief expert introduction that you could increase the peak of your resume. Your summary of qualifications should incorporate a great variety of examples which make your resume really stick out. 1 A resume summary is a brief, snappy introduction paragraph that gives a summary of your very best work. Now imagine if this SAME resume had had a summary statement on top clearly outlining why youre the ideal candidate. Be certain to tailor your resume summary to the particular job listing. Dont hesitate to browse through our curation and pick the suitable general resume to utilize for the application sample that you are involved in. Although some may think general labor positions are only manual labor, the fact is that several of these jobs require familiarity with computers and software programs. General laborers wor k in many distinct areas of a manufacturing atmosphere. Besides your experience, you should list a couple of leading skill sets that demonstrate your capacity to control a business and its employees. The major advantage is the fact that it helps your resume stand out. There are 3 basic kinds of resumes that are employed in various application processes. Skilled at operating in a wide array of platforms.
Sunday, December 1, 2019
The Orwellian Lobotomy
The Orwellian Lobotomy NEWSPEAK NO EVILThe seepage of Newspeak into hiring and daily life Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?Symes, a state philologist, in Orwells 1984A clean-cut fresh-faced recent graduate abruptly stops gushing about the job you are interviewing him for to reluctantly admit under your questioning that indeed he was previously arrested for looting during a riot. As part of his predictable ausprgung of regret, he repeats what he has already endlessly repeated to shamed parents, other recruiters, puzzled friends, the police and to his former employer My friends were egging me on as they shot iPhone video. It just seemed so cool at the moment. I got caught up in it.What neither he nor any of themand perhaps even yourealize is that he has just had a Newspeak moment in your amtsstube on the heels of and as a reflection of an earlier Newspeak moment he had during the chaos of the riot. What this means is that because of coarse conceptualization, he is unable now and was unable then to make crucial distinctions that would have provided the kind of insight and guidance required to avert that disaster. Even though he may belatedly recognize the concepts and distinctions once they are presented to him, because he would never use them himself, they might as well not exist.The Menace of Mind ShrivelWithout the active or passive vocabulary to distinguish fame from infamy, publicity from notoriety, being famous from being infamous and being spontaneous from being rash during the riot, he was susceptible to the temptations of the mob (which he failed to distinguish from a party). Likewise, in only belatedly appreciating the difference and predictable connection between being caught up and being caught, he wrongly imagines he has offered you some kind of extenuation of his actions, as though being caught up , which is somehow cool and in his vocabulary, conceptually or in practice doesnt correlate with getting caught.He is another victim of Newspeak.Youthe Source, or the Target of Newspeak?Newspeak (new+ speak), the shriveled, thought-obstructing, mind-controlling version of English described In George Orwells dystopian novel 1984 is generally and rightly regarded as an iconic menacebut primarily, as Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair) himself conceived it, as a politically repressive tool and weapon developed and utilized by the totalitarian State. Now, almost thirty years later, the question to ask is to what degree has Orwells prediction come true and who is responsible for that?The possibility that Newspeak might instead or also be a creation of, rather than only a yoke imposed upon, the masses flips the cart and horse, and puts the onus of responsibility and blame on the ordinary citizen as a source, rather than as only the target of that kind of linguistic lobotomy. If this is true, then, as part of the masses, you maywilly-nillyin your day-to-day operations be setting the stage for or raising the curtain on the expansion of Newspeak (as will be illustrated below), as you fail to notice that for every new hi-tech term you learn, there are scores or maybe hundreds of venerable, useful concepts and positivs that Newspeak-free minds used to know and use that you dont. Moreover, if other psychologically, morally, politically or socially important concepts you recognize are never used by you, you are functionally operating within a framework of Newspeak.That possibility allowedif a massive dumbing-down of the masses could be self-inflicted, with or without State connivance or conspiracy, it is but a short step to consider the further possibility that not only has Newspeak already arrived, but that it is being created by those whom it controls, namely, almost everybody, including you, unless you happen to be among the Illuminati-affiliated, mass-media or pop-culture true controllers.In the 1984 super-state of Oceania, clear thinking about politics, morality, culture, society and just about everything else is deliberately impeded by the imposition of a totalitarian State-created language, Newspeak, supplemented by daze-and-trance inducing, infantile drivel-lyrics of pop-tunes and ditties-of-the-day (much like those of today). This mind-controlling stripped-down, concocted version of English was designed to express far fewer concepts, distinctions, analogies, critiques, logical inferences, examined acronyms, nuances, subtleties and insights than conventional English can.Citizen evaluation of government policies and social mores was thereby reduced to little more than orchestrated grunts of approval or disapproval, e.g., doubleplusgood (which can be usefully compared to our verrotten epithet cool) and ungood. Gone and blocked were any understanding of right, prudent, expedient, effective, generally approved and differentiation of th ese from each other and the contrasting concepts State-sponsored and decreed.Newspeak Shrink-Wrapped MindsAs the character Syme, a state philologist, puts it in 1984,After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take good, for instance. If you have a word like good, what need is there for a word like bad? Ungood will do just as wellbetter, because its an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of good, what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like excellent and splendid and all the rest of them? If that argument is correct, why have words like immoral, amoral and non-moral, when unmoral will suffice to cover them all and condemn someone who has been charged with what would previously have been called a non-moral offense, e.g., criticizing the government , but is now adjudged unmoral and no different from immoral? Doubleplus ungood can replace them all, including unmoral. Likewise, who needs a minority racial or ethnic identity when White and Unwhite or Black and Unblack are enough? In the heat of the moment and near the flames of a burning police cruiser, it can all seem doubleplusgood (i.e., cool), without any regard for or recall of the distinction between morally good and viscerally good. (Notice how cool, just like Orwells doubleplusgood, never encourages moral reflection or restraint.)Reducing the number of words in a language is but one Newspeak trick eliminating the spaces between them is another. For example, Newspeak itself is written as one word, presumably to discourage thinking about other possibilities, such as Old Speak, and perhaps subversively yearning for it.Facebook as NewspeakThe same obfuscating trick can be observed in what is among the most popular modern recruiting tools Facebook. Compare recruiting on Facebook with hypothetical recruiting on Face Book. Notice how Facebook as a s eamless conceptual unit discourages, while Face Book encourages imagining a competing alternative, e.g., Place Book (of job openings). In fact Placebook existsand as an explicitly recruiting-focused website. It is an overseas teacher job-placement site, viz., the-placebook.com. (The fact that URLs tend to be seamless in this way makes domain registration services pawns or propagators of Newspeak.)Confirming that one should never judge a Facebook by its marketing cover, at the subliminal level, fusing face and book in Facebook brilliantly obscures the fact that Facebook is neither a book nor a collection of books, while promoting the comforting and addictive illusion that it is equivalent to and a substitute for real books and reading. Moreover, by fusing face and book, Facebook implants a powerful mental and emotional association between previously rather disparate things, in a kind of Orwellian doublethinkthe power to hold two contradictory ideas in ones mind simultaneously, and ac cepting both of them (1984, Chapter 2), like War is Peace and the idea that the past is what we today say it was. In pre-Newspeak, looking at a face and reading a book were quite disparate Facebook makes them synonymous in a War is Peace oxymoronic way.To see the grip that this contradictory, unconventional juxtaposition of concepts has on the masses, ask any teenager to add one word to this one book. Odds are that the result will be face, not Domesday Book (described as the oldest public record in English history and probably the most important statistical document in the history of Europe), or paperback book or even the slightly longer kids story The Jungle Book. Nice marketing, Facebook great Newspeak.20th-Century NewspeakThe switch from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC in 1991 came across as a Newspeak distraction or inhibition of awareness, by concealing the word fried and its negative health associations from consciousness, much as 1984s Minitru blunts any critical thought about and challenges to what it represents The truth-manufacturing and destroying Ministry of Truth. (Note how much easier it would be to sell an unsuspecting vegan on the idea of working for or eating at a franchise called something like KFC than at one called something like Kentucky Fried Chicken, which since 2007 has been restored as the brand name and, of course, after the company eliminated artery-clogging (Newspeakish) trans fat (trans-fatty acids) from its North American recipes.)An institutionalized repression of expression, Newspeak, as conceived by Orwell, represented a future government artifice and control technique that would effectively replace the need for external, brute-force, boot-force suppression of dissent and debate with psychologically internalized obstruction of it. Although conceived by Orwell decades before 1984, manifestations of Newspeak were evident in that eponymous year. For example, in 1984, If English had no word for truce or negotiation, it would have for givably seemed to everyone that Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwaters Vietnam War mantra The only alternative to victory is defeat indeed enumerated and exhausted all possible Newspeak war policy optionsin both the year and one of its forms Orwell had presciently predicted.However, ancient harbingers of Newspeak can be found in the worlds oldest cultures For millennia, the Japanese, having had no concept of privacy, apparently never demanded, idealized, discussed or otherwise thought about it, until the last century, when, at last, puraibashi entered their lexicon.The Latest Newspeak Blinders and BlundersMost recently, widespread confusion and silence has resulted from the current apparent inability of some major media news networks to grasp the distinction between pending legislated authorization of indefinite military detention without trial of (non-)citizens and the pending companion legislated requirement of indefinite military detention of non-citizens, again, withou t trialtwo (or maybe four) concepts separated by and possibly separating those detained without trial from a legal abyss. Failing to recognize and correctly articulate the distinction between authorize and require, most news coverage and analysis of this hotly debated and important issue has, so far, been mere unnews, to coin a Newspeaky term.Can you imagine not grasping the difference between being authorized to hire candidate X and being required to hire him and also discovering that your HR department cant articulate it to help you comprehend it?As one of the clearest and perhaps the most engaging analysis of this issue, The Daily Shows Jon Stewart take aired on December 7, 2011 is hard to beat or forget, including for its implicit lampooning of Newspeak when Stewart points out that, in the War on Terror, terror can never surrender and end the war (an allusion to the Newspeak technique of stretching and distorting the meaning of war by obliterating the distinction between a natio n-State, viz., Iraq and a psychological state (small s), viz., terror, as conceivable enemies.)Despite the humor-tinged spin of Stewarts warning, the ominous, very unfunny and spreading Orwellian application of this casual use of war blatantly surfaced in a December 21, 2011 CNN interview with a Louisiana state representative, who is calling for the Louisiana National Guard to be indefinitely deployed in the streets of New Orleans after a 2-year-old child was killed in a drive-by shooting. The justification for the dangerous militarization of civilian policing, Chile style? The crime was, he said, unacceptable behavior and because we are at war, although with only a a few select people who commit such heinous crimes and who are creating a negative environment. He added that when you are at war (even with only a few individuals), you have to bring in the soldiers. (Even for a war on drugs, a war on terror or a war on obesity?)Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up NewspeakThe evidence suggests that if things are changing, the change has not worked against the entrenchment of Newspeak. Conceptual and critical precision are asor perhaps moreendangered today asor thanthey were in Orwells 1984 and Goldwaters 1984. The difference is that, in 2011, Newspeak-style amputation of communication is, irrespective of any possible government conspiracy to further it, being initiated from below as well as from above.The dumbing-down of non-fiction discourse, including writing, e.g., the triumph of mass-media news sound bites over deep and sustained commentary the functional illiteracy of millions the need for remedial reading and compulsory critical thinking courses the texting assault on the expression of complete thoughts the transformation of formerly hardcore-science Scientific American magazine into something like a puffy Readers Digest version of itself distraction by every sort of stimulation that doesnt require thinking about it the displacement of thought by celebrity gossip and the disappearance of leisurely contemplation and reflection are all contributing to the truncation of the amount of time and energy that should be put into thought and communication.Multicultural Newspeak Whenever I go for a walk along Vancouvers sea wall, about half of the overheard conversations are in some language other than EnglishRussian, Chinese, Korean, Czech, French, Italian, you name it. (Too much of the rest is dumbed-down Valley Girl/Boy moronic English.) It was the same in London, years ago, when I lived there. That diversity is part of the vibrancy and charm of both places.Similarly, among your colleagues and others who come into your office there are probably those for whom their first language is not English, but who, nonetheless, not only manage, but frequently excel in it. Still, it is not reasonable to expect all of them to have a perfect grasp of every English nuance. That perfect grasp can be observed, but not as a rule. Cracking a subtly-nuanced or culture-bound j oke will often immediately reveal this, e.g., What happens to worn-out hockey pucks in Canada? Answer They are iced.a delicious paradox, given the ambiguity of iced, but one wasted on anyone unfamiliar with its dual meaning.So, because of the influence of this kind of cross-cultural No-speak, Newspeak is gaining another foothold, albeit a totally understandable and innocent one, as subtle distinctions and nuances of shared, but only imperfectly shared, languages are lost. At least No-speak has no insidious motivation such as brainwashing/shriveling or the undesirable consequence of reducing contact with foreign, differently-minded cultures, as did Orwells politically-motivated and implemented Newspeak.Nonetheless, the modern and future blending of Nospeak and Newspeak means that the kind of fully expressive, reflective and critical language that used to characterize language is likely to become increasingly rare. This may be inevitable and not only because of Big Brother schemes to dumb us all down, but also because of our own mental laziness and mass-cultural distractions that make deep and precise thoughta Big Bother.
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