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Compared to 2008 Hillary Clinton is now very clear that she will stand up for woman's issues openly- "it is about no ceilings, no limits, for any of us." About playing the women's card she says "deal me in." One of the paradoxes of this election season is that white women registered voters 35 to 64 years of age have shown less enthusiasm for Hillary, around 34-36 percent in polls such as the NBC-WSJ poll. Interestingly the figure climbs to 66 percent for ages 18-34, and to 56 percent for ages over 64, for all women. Experts attribute this to the fact that women over 35 are facing fewer barriers than the women over 64 who remember the hard won battles for women's rights when it was hard for women to get a credit card or run for office, or be promoted in business. Traditional career choices were being teachers or nurses. A lot has changed in the last 20 years, and this has left some women who are no longer facing such barriers turning to other issues to choose their candidate such as happened in their enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders. Overall for all women registered voters  Hillary gets 52 percent support, Trump 37 percent, according to a July 2016 NBC/WSJ poll.   ...

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What will the workplace of the future look like? What has happened during the pandemic that will change the way we look at work and life? These questions are answered in this WSJ report. There will be a greater mix of people of all ages, it says, as people live and work longer. Companies competing for workers will offer travel, sabbaticals, parental care, and flexibility for remote work around the world depending on an employee's needs and preferences. Some software firms already offer 60 days of remote work overseas, as travel is seen as broadening and good for mental health. Meditation, mindfulness, mental health assistance are seen as part of services companies will give employees.

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During the latter period of the pandemic midsized companies encouraged workers to take minivacations to avoid burnout from excessive hours of work in the pandemic environment. These companies found that happier workers were more productive workers. In 2024 workers are continuing to protect their mental health following the pandemic by adding mini vacations using the opportunities to work remotely. Workers are doing this across the workplace for all ages because this saves their official vacation days and because vacation days are scarce. Only 15 days after working 5 years and 18 days after working 10 years, these vacation days are precious for mental health and for medical situations in the family, and for essential time off work to rejuvenate.

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Wide gaps in learning persist for the British population. This analysis of GCSE, General Certificate of Secondary Education results in The Guardian shows 28% of grades awarded to students in London were at Grade 7 or above, in the northeast of England this drops to 18%, with gaps widening in 2023. GCSE is the part of the National Curriculum taught to students ages 14 to 16 years in years 10 and 11. The Grading system gives more attention to A's with three Grade 9,8 and 7 for A's and only Grade 6 for B's, and in this way puts more emphasis on one extreme top section of students than the middle to upper, which may be a mistake.

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Heat domes such as this one are rarely seen in the northeastern US. This week mid June 2024 is seeing a heat dome develop over areas from Albany, New York to Pittsburgh and Chicago. A heat dome is an area of compressed air like a lid on a pot that stays that way over a vast area with the sun heating the air at the surface till air flows in from another part of the US. Thus seen in the summer in the south and southeast rarely in the north and northeastern US and is one more sign of the cha nges in weather patterns coming from climate change. Itself a result of business and industry operating over decades on fossil fuels coal and oil without any oversight over consequences.

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This editorial in the Hindu and the related article in the NYT point out the impressive record of the Awami League party government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in growth- tripling electricity in a decade, and in social indicators, such as gender parity and education, improvements in infrastructure. A related report from Germany also showed the positive sense of the changes in Bangladesh including the first long bridge over the Ganges river near Dhaka connecting different parts of the country.

This sense of progress is marred by what is seen as increasing authoritarianism of the government. 

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Wall Street Journal analysis shows top earners at 38 U.S. banks and securities firms will get $145 billion in 2009, an 18% increase over 2008. This even after increasing public anger about exceedingly high levels of executive compensation with no relation to performance, and at a time of high unemployment.

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The impact on global trade of the pandemic is uneven with faster recovery in export led economies China, Germany and South Korea, and slower recovery in U.S., France and India. Export shipping from ports in Ningbo, China, Hamburg, Germany, and Los Angles, U.S. are gradually returning to normal. Yet the impact on orders from the U.S. for Chinese companies is slow compared to before the pandemic and some companies in China says the orders are placed to meet current demand but future demand is uncertain. As trade recovers the U.S. and European policy on supply chain renewal is leading to companies redoing their supply chains. This means less manufacturing in China and more in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the world following the pandemic.

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Born 1904, he joined the Indian Independence Movement in 1926. Union Home minister, and then prime minister to succeed Jawaharlal Nehru in 1965, Lal Bahadur Shastri was the first Indian prime minister to take up the cause of Indian agriculture. It was under his leadership and with the kind help of U.S. president Lyndon Johnson that the Green Revolution was launched in India after periodic famines in northern India for many centuries of its history. 

As Transport Minister he introduced new rules for woman drivers and conductors in public buses and trains.

This story in The Hindu says he had to swim across the Ganges river with the books tied to his head to attend school. Shastri was known for his exceptional humility in public life. 

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Click on Original Article for Images of ten old towns in Germany most on UNESCO World Heritage. The most well known is Heidelberg on the Neckar river with its old town, castle and old bridge. Then there are the Hanseatic League trading towns of Lubeck and Wismar both near the Baltic Sea. In Wismar with access to the Baltic Sea its old town and three cathedrals. Lubeck surrounded by two branches of the Trave river like an island. In the Middle Ages trade made Lubeck rich and there are many buildings from that period. Then there is Rothenberg in Bavaria with its walkable defensive wall and medieval town largely preserved with timber framed houses. Red brick or clay and wood framed houses in colorful designs form part of all these towns.

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Huge crowds greet Modi at Madison Square Garden in New York City as he outlines his plans for India's rapid economic development and cleaning up the Ganges river.

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Jupiter and Saturn appearing this close for the first time since the Middle Ages during Christmas. Can be seen at night with a pair of binoculars.

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It helps to pay extra attention to intervals in aging at 40 years and 60 years as the body needs more attention to nutrition, sleep, connection, mental health, exercise and the way we handle stressors, during these period intervals in ages.

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Zhang Juwei of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believes that the overall fertility rate is at most 1.6. A recent report by CASS says the figure of 1.8 used by the government is an overestimation. CASS says its data shows the fertility rate for migrant workers is about 1.14, much lower than people think. The policy for one-child only was introduced 30 years ago, when the fertility rate was close to 3, having fallen to that level from close to 6 in 1960. Does the policy serve China well in the future as China's population ages and there are more older people for younger workers to support, is a question raised by critics in the Chinese media. China's government family planning officials say it applies to 40% of the people, considering the two child policy operating in some areas of the country.

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Nova Poshta Ukraine's unstoppable Postal Service that delivers next day across Ukraine from Kviv to Kharkiv and Kherson in war zones. The Guardian gives this amazing story in Ukraine In Depth- Charlotte Higgins in Kviv and Mariana Matveichuk in Kharikiv show the resilient spirit at Nova Poshta postal service that quickly delivers millions of parcels across Ukraine and to millions of refugees from Ukraine in Britain, Spain, Poland, Germany and other countries.  Pictures show the automated lines that sort out parcels and get them ready for delivery in Kviv and in Kharkiv. Even in war zones the work goes on night and day even in nights when there is no electricity and water using generators designed for Nova Poshta with its own energy supplies. Ukrainians of all ages in all parts of the country depend on Nova Poshta for delivery and it is what keeps the country going through war and drone attacks from the skies, and on the frontline cities such as Kharkiv. This report gives stories of many people in Kharkiv and Kviv who depend on the postal service, of workers, and of troops at the front lines. ...