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Category: Build Cultural Awareness
Women and LGBT in the Military
It's been known that minorities such as women and the LGBT community have not always been welcomed with open arms into the military. In recent history, there has been a stigma surrounding these groups joining the military and fighting for the United States. According to The Atlantic, women were not allowed to "serve in all front-line combat roles for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command" until just two years ago. And the LGBT community had their own obstacles, first to be allowed to serve in the military, and then the creation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) from 1993-2011, which created controversy and hardship for those affected.
However, it seems as though things are looking up for these two groups serving in the military. Below are two examples of how dignity and respect are portrayed by government officials and outstanding military women that are breaking barriers for our minorities.
Women in the Military
In the past two years, women have been making history and breaking glass ceilings in the military special forces. According to Defense One, "the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment has become the first special operations unit to have a woman meet the standards of its selection course."
In fact, not one, but two women graduated from Army Ranger school in December 2016. This is extremely significant because Army Ranger school is the most grueling, both mentally and physically, training course in the Army. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Defense One's Council on Foreign Relations, explains Ranger school is an "intense combat leadership course through swamps and mountains."
This achievement is also momentous because it is the first time a woman "earned a spot in the special operations forces." Although not every job in the military is opened to women yet, women have been making a difference in the forces for years. Lemmon explained that "women soldiers joined Rangers on night raids, and searched and questioned Afghan women during raids to keep the women away from the combat operation then happening in their home."
Although the process of merging women into the military and recently the special operation forces has been a long one, Lemmon said "women soldiers have proved their value to the mission and won acceptance as teammates as time went on."
General James Mattis Testimony
Another example of how a person or persons has shown dignity and respect in regards to integrating women and LGBT in the military is General James Mattis's testimony at his confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary. Senator Elizabeth Gilliland asked him whether he believed LGBT people "undermined the military's lethality" and Mattis responded by saying he wasn't "concerned about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with." Mattis continued by saying "my concern is the readiness of the force to fight and make certain it is the top of the game. When we go up against the enemy, the criteria that everything that we do in the military, up to that point, when we put the young men and women across the line of departure, is they are at the most lethal stance."
This surprised many, including Senator Gilliland and Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, who was elated to have heard Mattis's answer. "When General Mattis agreed that women and LGBT troops can contribute to the military's lethality, he was supporting the long-standing argument, backed up by a solid consensus in the research as well as the experiences of foreign militaries, that inclusive policy promotes readiness," Belkin stated.
It's encouraging to hear General Mattis's respond with statements about LGBT in the military, in an environment that has, in the past, ignored or rejected gay rights issues.
To learn more about how your organization can implement dignity and respect on issues such as minority rights, check out our website and initiatives.
Build Your Organization, Find Your Opera Singers
As a young black man growing up poor in southeastern Virginia, Ryan Speedo Green believed that opera was "something only a white person could do." (Think the singing viking lady shattering windows with her piercing high C.)
Now Ryan is an opera singer for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
After spending time in juvenile detention as a young teenager, including time in solitary confinement, Ryan returned to school and took "easy electives" – football, choir, and Latin club. What at first were excuses to slide easily through school and into a football career soon became the seeds to a different passion. In a recent interview (starts at 15:45) on The Daily Show, Ryan recounts his first visit to the Metropolitan stage, at age fifteen, where he saw African-American opera singer Denyce Graves perform in Carmen. From that day forward, Ryan knew he wanted to – and could – sing opera.
Representation Has Impact
Of course, it's possible that Ryan would still have become an opera singer without ever witnessing that performance by Denyse Graves. But he describes the power of that moment above: "the thing that made [seeing my first opera] so monumental to me – which changed my life – was that the person singing the lead role, the title role, was an [African-American singer]. And when I left the opera house that day, I told my voice teacher I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I want to sing at the Met."
What You Can Do
Maybe opera isn't really your thing. As a leader or influential member in your organization, however, helping grow a world where all of us have the same opportunities may be!
We've written a lot on both building cultural awareness and leading the way, including representation in the workplace and in our media. Ryan's story is another sign that the work, art, and efforts of our leaders – of ALL races, faiths, orientations, persuasions, and abilities – have a positive impact on the diverse world we are striving to build. Hard work and talent are not exclusive to any one group, and each one of us has a fairer shot at success when the organizations we build and influence are true examples of that diversity.
Start with Your Organization
If you build the place where every opera singer, viking lady or otherwise, understands they have a fair shot at their dream, they will come! Building that world and celebrating our differences is what the Dignity & Respect Campaign helps organizations and leaders do every day. Not sure exactly how to get started? Many organizations begin their journey with a D&R Toolkit, which provides everything you need to launch your own internal campaign. Learn more about D&R Solutions by contacting us today!
Build Cultural Awareness: Standing with Standing Rock – It's Not Over Yet
So much is happening these days that important causes come and go, or pass through our radar, as if they're mere trends. It may seem like ages ago that #NODAPL was all over our news feeds – but it was just a few weeks ago that people were pledging their support for the Native American water protectors at Standing Rock, making calls to North Dakota representatives, and sending supplies to the protesters, who held their ground even in brutal conditions.
On December 4, the Army Corps of Engineers made the decision to deny a permit for further construction on the 1,172-mile oil pipeline, which is hailed as a victory. In a statement, the National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby said "Our prayers have been answered." Importantly, he also said: "This isn't over."
The Fight Continues
It's relatively well-known that this particular pipeline was originally set to run through Bismarck, but was swiftly re-routed due to concerns that the pipeline could compromise the city's drinking water. Standing Rock has been fighting for their dignity, their rights, and even their safety ever since. What is wrong with this picture?
Understanding the #NoDAPL fight is crucial for all of us, whether we're in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, or California – not only because we're sincere in our intentions to protect the rights and safety of our fellow Americans, but because these pipelines affect ALL of us. There are about 2.6 million miles of pipeline in the United States, and since 2010, there have been 4,269 incidents, including 474 injuries.
Support Corporate Responsibility in 2017
Questions abound as a new administration takes Washington, and what is to become of the Dakota Access Pipeline is no exception. It will be as important as ever, in 2017, to stay attuned to the facts. Despite the Army Corps' decision to deny the pipeline permit, the oil company can technically disobey the order, pay the fines, and continue their build.
As leaders in any business, industry, and location, we have decisions to make about the type of world we want to help build through our work and our affairs. There are questions of environmental responsibility, integrity, dignity and respect. Each day we have the choice to build that better world, or maintain a status quo that so often fails those who aren't in power.
Do Your Part: How You Can Help Standing Rock
Protesters remain on-site at Standing Rock in Cannonball, ND, where the temperature is consistently in the 30s or well below. Many people are sending medical resources and supplies to keep conditions safe for those remaining. But the tribe is now facing new legislation from the state that essentially criminalizes aspects of protest at Standing Rock, with little to no communication or consultation with those involved.
If you'd like to support Standing Rock's on-the-ground legal team, you can donate here. To keep the protesters well-fed, you can donate here. If you'd like to discover more ways to discuss the Standing Rock protests with your organization and learn how corporate responsibility stems from the basic tenets of dignity and respect, we'd love to help. Contact us at 1-855-222-8211 today.
Bridging the Gaps in a Cross-Cultural Conversation
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who later revealed that their experience of that conversation was totally different than yours?
Maybe you entered a meeting with a new employee. Thinking that starting the meeting with small talk might seem unprofessional, you got straight into describing a new project and assigning tasks. Your employee, accustomed to a more casual conference approach, mistook your straightforwardness as dislike toward him. Once he got to know you, he discovered this wasn't your intention at all.
This isn't uncommon. We sometimes attribute a mismatch in communication to a gender, age, or social differences. When differences in culture enter the picture, however, having a conversation can be even more complex, and the consequences of a misunderstanding harder to ease.
The "Right Way" to Converse
At the same time as we focus on what brings us together, it's important to talk to someone from a different culture knowing a little bit about how they may understand the conversation differently than you.
Let's look at what is typical in a few countries. In the US, conversations are typically viewed as an opportunity to exchange information. But in Mexico, the foremost goal of a conversation is, commonly, to build the relationship between talking partners.
A professional interaction in Germany is one that leaves no room for misinterpretation. The Japanese use subtlety, general statements, and broader references in a polite exchange on a sensitive topic.
What's in a Difficult Conversation?
These "communication trip wires" — the ways social norms surrounding difficult conversations vary from culture to culture — are organized into four categories in "Having a Difficult Conversation with Someone from a Different Culture" by Melissa Hahn and Andy Molinsky:
- Getting Down to Business vs. Relationship Building: what is the primary goal of a conversation?
- Direct vs. Indirect Communication: how is sensitive information most respectfully communicated to someone else?
- Low vs. High Context: do the environment and social differences between conversation partners impact the way a message is interpreted?
- Informality vs. Formality: does emphasizing casualness of a meeting diffuse tension, or some across as incompetence or unpreparedness?
Hahn and Molinsky go on to describe these differences in useful detail. "When you think of it this way, having a difficult conversation with someone from another culture can appear perilous — and it can be. So, what can you do about it?"
Enjoy the rest of their insight and discussion here: Read More
Do Your Part
Our Build Cultural Awareness Initiative provides opportunities to learn about other cultures, faiths, and people of different backgrounds. Get started doing your part today:
- Check out more of our posts about Building Cultural Awareness. Read, watch, and learn about the #BuildCulturalAwareness topic.
- Engage your family, friends, and colleagues in meaningful conversations. Ask someone else to join the discussion so you can make new friends and learn from their experiences.
- Share your ideas, photos, related stories, and facts about your culture or something you've learned about another.
Building Cultural Awareness: Makeup Artist Uses Her Hijab to Perfect Her Looks
We know Halloween is over! But in the spirit of the festive season, we're highlighting a professional makeup artist and social media maven who goes by the name Queen of Luna. With over 360,000 followers on Instagram and counting, Sarawati can transform herself into just about any character you can imagine – and she uses her hijab to complete each look. Check out a few of her masterpieces.
Why Are We Sharing Cool Makeup Art?
While great strides have been made for women in the workplace, Muslim women are one group still struggling to obtain and maintain visibility in the professional world. As this article in Fast Company astutely puts it, "The paradox of wearing the veil in the U.S. is that there's nowhere to hide; it takes courage to stand out." Speaking on creativity, another young woman explains her decision to observe hijab: "By choosing hijab, I display who I am. But I choose to emphasize other aspects of myself that form my identity: my character, intellect, quirky personality, and illusory hopes and dreams — my inner-existence."
Not only does representation matter in our communities, our politics, and our media — it matters in our workplaces. When each of us, no matter our gender, ethnicity, religion, or lifestyle, can see an image and example of ourselves in another person, we are building a world open to the innovation and diverse creativity that is so crucial to long-term organizational success. Queen of Luna's makeup art is not only impressive, it plays an important role in the way we understand our differences — and the talents, interests, and skills that make our society and our organizations stronger.
Do Your Part
At Dignity & Respect Campaign, we focus on celebrating and building on ALL of our differences. Finding common ground by bringing our talents and mutual interests together, while embracing what makes us unique, not only makes for a better world, but a more creative, collaborative, and successful one. You can find more Queen of Luna makeup art on Facebook, Instagram, and around the Internet. Do your part to build cultural awareness (and awareness of really cool makeup art)!
All images belong to Queen of Luna.
Starbucks' Dancing Barista
Sam, an Autistic Teen from Toronto thought his movement disorder would prevent him from ever being a barista. After landing a job at Starbucks, Sam's manager Chris Ali realized his movements could be channeled into playful dancing. This led to a viral video of Sam being taken, an appearance on the Ellen show, and a big self-esteem boost for a wonderful young man.
"Sam has a such a big heart and he's made me a better person" -Chris Ali, Sam's manager
Removing Barriers: An Interview with Writer Alison Taverna
For the month of June, the Dignity & Respect Campaign has focused one of our initiatives on LGBT teenagers. We've developed both reading lists and discussion guides in order to better understand how we as a community can reduce bullying and make the world a better place for this population to live in.
However, our nation was recently shaken by the devastating tragedy in Orlando – a shooting that killed nearly 50 individuals in a gay nightclub. In the wake of such an occurrence, it's easy to be met with a range of emotions. All across social media, people from varying backgrounds are posting and sharing their diverse beliefs and feelings about the matter – everything from stances on Islamophobia to the ever-controversial matter of gun control.
But regardless of the issues that have arisen from this event, one thing is very clear: now, more than ever, we as a country need to focus on how to treat one another with dignity and respect. We need to remember that our differences are only barriers if we allow them to be.
So in the spirit of removing barriers, we feel that one of the best ways we as a campaign can honor the victims of Orlando and the LGBT community as a whole is to continue talking about it. We recently interviewed Alison Taverna, a young, up-and-coming writer who is a member of the LGBT community and writes frequently on the topic. Taverna is from Massachusetts and was gracious enough to talk to D&R about her experiences as a teenager and coming to terms with her identity:
D&R: What was it like growing up as an LGBT teen? What were some of your struggles?
AT: I never considered myself an LGBT teen. I didn't come out until I turned 19 and was attending an all-women's liberal arts college in a city far away from my own. I grew up in a small farm town about forty minutes west of Boston; the Charles River trickled through the back woods, and that was about the extent of any real movement I ever saw. I didn't identify as gay because I didn't have the space to, but the real problem was I didn't know I didn't have the space to. The summer before my junior year of high school, I traveled to D.C. for a ten-day leadership conference. It was the first time I had ever been on my own. My roommate came from Texas and brought with her a stuffed animal. I remember teasing her about it, asking, "Did your boyfriend give that to you?" over and over until finally she said, "No, my girlfriend did." That was the moment I realized I was perpetuating this assumption of a heteronormative life that, if I was being honest, wasn't something I even believed in. After that summer I really started being skeptical of what I thought and who was making me think that way.
D&R: Did you have any role models during the time? Who and why?
AT: I wrote letters to that same D.C. roommate for over a year after we went back to our respective towns across the country. We never talked about my sexuality outright, but we talked about hers and I was quick to ask questions about her girlfriends, the hard conversations she had with her mother, and gay pop culture. Looking back now, those letters are what got me here. I never saw her as an LGBT role model; I saw her as a [fellow] kid struggling to grow up. But at the same time, I knew she was free in a way I wasn't. And in her I saw a life where I could be open and my friends didn't become afraid of me, my parents would still keep me, and I'd be able to be a bold voice in a community I cared about.
D&R: What resources could have benefited you as an LGBT teen?
AT: Any type of public immersion into the LGBT culture. I would have loved to see some LGBT writers or artists come into our school to lead workshops, do readings, or have a conversation. I remember sitting in dark auditoriums where people talked at us from a stage about drunk driving and drugs. But what would have happened if we turned on the lights? If we sat facing each other? I needed successful, unapologetic, talented members of the LGBT community in the classroom. I needed teachers who taught about the worldwide persecution of human beings because of their sexual and gender orientation. We needed a Gay-Straight Alliance, a gender neutral bathroom, a higher level of policing those students who spat insanely ignorant comments based in hate.
D&R: What do you wish someone would have told you growing up?
AT: I wish someone would have told me being "other" can be a gift. I have to fight every day to continue being a person many people, often openly, reject. I think when you fight for who you are that ruthlessly you validate your life. And at the root of that validation has to be the idea that breathes you are worth it. I spend most of my days standing in front of a classroom, a classroom that looks almost identical to the ones I sat in when I was 16, and I know what I represent now. I know what people think when they look at me. I'm at a place in my life where it feels like the most important thing I can do is to keep standing there. Without shame. Because I know so many people didn't and won't get that opportunity. And man, I wish someone would have told me how beautiful my skin could feel standing like that.
For more information on Alison Taverna's latest book of poems, please click here. And to learn how your organization can take active steps to better include and interact with the LGBT community, contact our Campaign Manager to learn what D&R can do for you.
Build Cultural Awareness. LGBT High School Students
Our teen years are some of the most emotionally vulnerable for most of us. A December 2013 article in Psychology Today states that scientists are just beginning to better understand the dramatic shifts that occur in a teen's brain during adolescence. It's not just their brains, but also changes in their bodies and minds that teens must navigate. Between 4% and 10% of teens are experiencing these transformations as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender (LGBT) adolescents.
Media regularly report bullying of LGBT high school students. The most recent National School Climate Survey reports that instances of hostility toward LGBT students have declined somewhat since the biennial survey began in 1999. Yet, LGBT students who experience victimization because of their sexual orientation are more than three times as likely to have missed school in the past month, had a lower grade point average (GPA) than students who were less often harassed, and were twice as likely not to consider college or trade school.
What is the climate for LGBT students? How do they feel? What can each of us do to make the
world a better place for all LGBT students to live?
Download the LGBT High School Students Reading List (pdf) and Discussion Guide (pdf).
Disabilities in the Workplace
The unemployment rate in the United States might still feel like a major concern to many Americans, but perhaps especially so for those with disabilities. People who have disabilities are employed at a significantly lower rate- 12.5%, in fact, compared to the 5.9% unemployment rate of those with no disabilities.
This much lower rate of employment is likely due to a combination of factors, but one thing is certain: many employers are hesitant to hire people with disabilities. In the eyes of the average business owner or CEO, employees with disabilities can mean additional costs due to laws that protect those with disabilities in the workplace. But what exactly do these laws dictate, and how do they affect business owners?
The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (also known as ADA, or the Rehabilitation Act) prohibits employers from treating people with disabilities differently, or less favorably, from other staff members. It also requires employers to provide adequate accommodation to any employees who have disabilities. These accommodations can include anything from work environments to equipment, but can also encompass removing policies that create barriers for these individuals.
The ADA does exclude certain businesses from its legislation, but only if they meet certain criteria, like if accommodating a person with a disability would place an excessive difficulty or expense on the employer.
Additionally, the ADA prohibits discrimination when it comes to hiring decisions. Potential candidates who have disabilities must be given equal opportunity to able-bodied candidates.
What Disabilities in the Workplace Actually Means
It's likely that because of the ADA, business owners worry about hiring employees with disabilities because of potential costs. And just because a law is in place to prevent discrimination doesn't mean that employers aren't still hesitant about people with disabilities in the workplace. However, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report, hiring those with disabilities is actually good for a business' bottom line. In fact, employers who hired and met the needs of employees who had disabilities reported benefits such as retaining valuable employees, improving the company's productivity and overall morale, and even reducing both workers' compensation and training costs. As Judy Owen, co-founder and COO of Opportunity Works, Inc., explains: "The report also found that other accommodations had an average cost of $500. How much is that cost compared to the cost of employee turnover? It is clearly much less expensive to provide the accommodation than to have an employee leave."
What Business Owners Can Do
As a manager, business owner, or member of an organization's executive team, it's your job to ensure that the workplace you lead is an environment in which ALL of your employees can work together- with ALL of their differences. Making accommodations for employees with disabilities not only sets a high standard for your organization, but it also has the potential to bring about rewarding and positive change in the workplace.
If you're considering other ways to further incorporate dignity and respect in your work environments, be sure to contact our Campaign Manager for more information. We can provide various solutions- between training kits, workshops, and speaking engagements- to help bring together the individuals who make up your workplace, and build both trust and community.
No matter who is part of your team, differences are only barriers if we allow them to be. Learn more today!
Disabling Ableism
You're probably used to seeing handicapped parking spaces in front of stores and restaurants, or perhaps even familiar with the growing number of automatic doors into public buildings that are handicapped-accessible. And to someone who's never had the experience of being disabled, these small conveniences might seem almost like a luxury. Did you know, however, that nearly one in five Americans has a disability – and that more than half of them identify it as severe?
For people who live with a disability, simple things like parking spaces and door buttons are not a convenience, but a necessity. Many disabled people struggle to do things like housework or even fixing meals. They often have difficulty lifting items like grocery bags or grasping a glass of water. But aside from overcoming physical challenges of daily life, many people with disabilities also suffer from discrimination.
What is Ableism?
The term ableism refers to the "practices and dominant attitudes in society that devalue and limit the potential of persons with disabilities." When we talk about ableism, we're talking about not treating those with disabilities as whole people. Ableism assumes that able-bodied people are superior to anyone living with a disability.
If you've never heard this word before, you're not alone. Unlike racism or sexism, which are two types of prejudices that are widely referenced and discussed, ableism is not as mainstream. Does this mean that ableist beliefs are not as harmful or negative? Absolutely not. Discrimination towards people with disabilities is just as damaging. And because ableism is not talked about as commonly as other inequalities, it may actually be harder to know when you are contributing towards ableist tendencies.
What Can You Do to Stop Ableism?
The world might be predominantly built for able-bodied individuals, but that doesn't mean there aren't simple ways to make a difference. Read on for a few easy ways to help do your part to stop ableism:
Watch what you say. It's easy to brush off using certain words as "no big deal," but to people living with a disability, these terms can be both disrespectful and hurtful. And maybe it's a no-brainer that a word like retarded is not okay to use, but things like crazy or spaz or psycho also have harmful effects. Be sure to refrain from using any sort of language that targets someone with a disability (and for a helpful, more detailed guide – click here).
Be considerate. As an able-bodied person, you might forget that you have access to just about everywhere – and that someone with a disability might not. Places like handicapped bathroom stalls and the front seats of public transportation were put there for a reason. Though you might not be intentionally discriminating against people with disabilities, you are inadvertently doing just that by utilizing the resources there for them. So instead of taking the elevator and crowding it for someone who needs it, take the stairs or the escalator.
Always ask before assisting. One of the worst assumptions that an able-bodied person can make is that everyone with a disability is incapable of helping themselves. People living with disabilities know how to ask for help, and will when they need it. However, if you see someone who seems to be struggling, be sure to ask permission beforehand. Even if they decline, they will likely appreciate the gesture.
In addition to these simple ways to do your part to fight ableism, take the time to learn more about people who live with disabilities. Participate in the Dignity & Respect Campaign's Building Cultural Awareness Initiative and download our discussion guide and reading list for this month. Ask yourself questions about living with a disability, such as how you talk about disabilities or who should be responsible for supporting disabled persons.
Remember: differences are only barriers if we allow them to be. Do your part and learn how you can help to make this world a better place – for ALL to live.


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Fund 515, General Administration
Through the General Administration Fund, United Methodists implement a trustworthy system of administrative oversight and fiscal accountability; underwrite the legislative work of General Conference; fund the work of the Judicial Council to adjudicate questions of Church law; maintain United Methodism's official documents and historical artifacts; and designate historical shrines, landmarks and sites.
The General Administration Fund finances those general church activities that are specifically administrative in nature. Therefore, for the 2017 – 2020 quadrennium, this general fund will provide the resources for the work of the General Council on Finance and Administration (47%), General Conference (including travel and reimbursement for all delegates and meeting operations) (30%), Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters (1%), General Commission on Archives & History (12%), Judicial Council (2%), Pension and Salary aid for specific organizations, namely, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and Rio Grande Conference (7%), and a contingency reserve (1%).

subset: commoncrawl


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FedHATTA Strategic Partner for the Ground-Breaking Event: World Outdoor Gymnastics Gala
Preparations are heating up for the World Sports Gymnastics Gala (WOGG), which will be held on 7 July 2019 at Kallimarmaro – the Panathenaic Stadium, venue of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
WOGG will impress the audience in the historic stadium, by combining the classical history of the Olympic Games with modern technology. 20 Greek and 20 foreign leading Olympians, representing 20 different countries, are invited to compete in three Olympic gymnastics events against their perfect digital selves – their WOGGATAR.
For the first time in such an event, the spectators will also be the judges, by awarding marks for the performances online. The athletes will win cash prizes, with the amount depending on the marks awarded by the spectators. The event will also revive the ancient practice of athletic sponsorship, as the Greek athletes will vote to honor the best sponsor.
WOGG's golden ambassadors are Olympic gold medalist Lefteris Petrounias, world champion Vlasis Maras and our champions Vasiliki Millousi, Varvara Filiou, Nikos Iliopoulos, Evangelia Plyta, Lila Kasapoglou and Apostolos Koutavas.
WOGG's strategic partner is FedHATTA, which has undertaken to host the top foreign Olympians, who will be honor this great event with their participation.
FedHATTA, through HATTA, has secured a significant ticket discount for member travel agencies wishing to include the event in their programs.
We invite you to spread the word and become part of this unique event, which is expected to turn the spotlight of international publicity on Greece.
For more information: contact us at 210-9223522, Georgia Apostolopoulou, or email us at email@example.com. See also: www.wogg.gr Facebook Instagram
The WOGG organizing team is looking for volunteers for the July 7th Gala. In case you wish to participate and support the event you can find information at https://www.wogg.gr/ethelontes.


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A diesel fuel spill from a sunken sport fishing boat in Lake Tashmoo was contained early this week with what is believed to be minimal damage following a response from town, state and Coast Guard officials.
Shellfish beds remain closed while state biologists continue to assess environmental impacts from the spill.
According to an initial assessment at the scene by oil spill response teams from the Coast Guard and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), less than 20 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the ecologically sensitive saltwater pond. Ronald Barry of Falmouth, the owner of the 33-foot vessel named Snooper, estimated there was about 150 gallons of fuel on board when the boat sank on its mooring in about 10 feet of water near the head of the pond sometime late Sunday or early Monday morning.
The county communications center received a call about the sunken vessel at 9:24 a.m. Monday. Tisbury fire chief John Schilling and shellfish constable Danielle Ewart responded to the scene a short time later, but detected no contamination coming from the boat. By 10:30 a.m., however, a large section of the pond on both sides of the Lake street boat landing was covered with a multicolored sheen of diesel fuel floating on the surface, and a small amount of fuel washed ashore. The sheen spread over several active shellfish beds, where commercial and recreational fishermen harvest softshell clams and quahaugs.
Assistant harbor masters John Crocker and Jim Pepper arrived at the scene at about 10:30 a.m. Harbor master Jay Wilbur was on vacation.
Local fishermen helped deploy an absorbent boom along the Lake street dock, but by then the sheen already stretched well past the dock. The boom is stored at the dock for such an emergency.
At approximately 11:10 a.m., a Tisbury fire truck arrived towing a fire department skiff. Fire and harbor personnel launched the boat and arrived at the sunken vessel at 11:23 a.m., where they worked to plug a fuel tank vent believed to be the source of the leak.
"What we believe is when the tide got to a certain point, it went over the vent hole, and that's where the leaks came out," Chief Schilling said later.
By about 11:30 a.m., Department of Public Works employees arrived towing the town's oil spill prevention and response unit, a trailer packed with safety equipment including absorbent blotting pads and a large scale containment boom. Aided by Vineyard Haven Steamship Authority terminal manager Richard Clark, who has trained with the boat line on oil spill response, harbor, DPW, and fire personnel deployed the boom along the shoreline from the dock to a point about 200 yards north. They also began spreading blotting pads in the water and along the shoreline, where they began soaking up the pink-dyed diesel fuel.
Later in the afternoon, part of the boom was redeployed to form a ring around the sunken vessel as a precaution, though no further fuel leaks were detected according to Chief Schilling.
At their meeting Tuesday selectmen praised the response, although some local fishermen who make their livelihood from Lake Tashmoo were more critical.
Selectman Melinda Loberg, who works as a paramedic and is active in waterway issues, was at the scene Monday.
"Given the limits of the town's equipment and personnel, I think they did an excellent job," Mrs. Loberg said. "By the time anyone saw this, it was a matter of the horse had left the barn, and how can we stop it from spreading."
Jeff Canha, a commercial fisherman, had a different view.
"There was just not proper response time," he said. "The whole thing could have been contained. That boat should have been contained the minute it was under water. It's all a matter of preparedness, it's also a matter of action. You can have all the preparedness you want, but it's a matter of moving your feet."
David (Tubby) Medeiros was also critical. "It's a threat to our livelihood," he said. "It could have been avoided. The coordination was horrible, horrible, horrible. Nobody knew who to talk to."
Chief Schilling said he will lead a thorough after-event examination to assess the town's response, but already a consensus was emerging about the need for more training and practice. It has been several years since the town harbor, shellfish, fire and DPW staged a drill simulating an oil spill, and that drill focused on the outer harbor near Lagoon Pond drawbridge, Chief Schilling said. He said there is no lead town agency in charge of response in the event of an oil spill; instead, first responders operate under what is called "unified command," which relies on departments with different expertise and training working together to contain a spill.
Mr. Crocker, an assistant harbor master who oversees Lake Tashmoo, said in retrospect there were things that could have been done better.
"The people that came down early didn't really see any fuel leaking," he said. "When I came down, it was obvious that fuel was leaking. What we probably could have done better was to be proactive, probably could have boomed the boat. I think we did a reasonably good job." He cautioned the town is still gathering information about the response and said it is too early to draw conclusions.
According to some involved in Monday's response, delays were caused by simple things like finding the keys to the equipment trailer, and arranging a truck to tow it to the scene.
"I think everyone would agree that drilling is a good thing and we should do it often," Mrs. Loberg said. "I would like that they have a drill every year."
On Tuesday, R.M. Packer Co. began the salvage effort, using a barge and large cranes to right the sunken vessel and pump water out. Commercial diver Heidi Raihofer, working in very cold water, helped secure lifting straps and lines to the vessel. By late afternoon, Snooper was afloat again, and towed by water to the Martha's Vineyard Shipyard in Vineyard Haven, where it was lifted out and transported to the nearby R.M. Packer yard.
Coast Guard personnel from Station Menemsha were on the scene, as well as marine science technician Rory Jenkins of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment on Cape Cod. The Coast Guard has ultimate authority over navigable waters. Also on hand was Julie Hutchinson of the DEP emergency response team.
On Wednesday, Mr. Barry, a former Vineyard resident who now lives in Falmouth, was working to clean out his boat and assess the damage. The vessel was moored in Lake Tashmoo for the past three years, but has only left the mooring once, according to the Coast Guard. Mr. Barry said he has had little time to enjoy his Harris Sport Fishing boat and described the last few days as difficult.
"Sleepless nights, overwhelmed, on an emotional rollercoaster," he said. "I've got to do what I can to save it."
He could face sanctions from the DEP, and he will be responsible for the cost of the salvage effort. He could also face sanctions from the Coast Guard, though the size of the spill and the cooperation of Mr. Barry with the cleanup effort will be taken into account.
"I haven't seen any past violations," said Mr. Jenkins of the Coast Guard. "The owner has been on the scene the whole time. It shows he's been working hard, taking responsibility. I've seen plenty of sunken boats where the owner didn't want to have anything to do with it."
The week before the spill, six people harvested shellfish from the pond, according to the shellfish constable. One was Doron Katzman, a recreational fisherman who dug steamers from the left side of the landing on Sunday afternoon. When he went down to the landing on Monday, he found a layer of "ugly pink gel" coating the shoreline near at his usual spot. "It's terrible, you know, it makes me very sad," he said Tuesday by phone.
Biologist Greg Sawyer, who works for the state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), said before Lake Tashmoo can be reopened for shellfishing, a DMF biologist must visit the Island to assess the damage. Early next week, a biologist will walk the pond's shoreline and take note of any visible oil sheen or polluted sediment. They may also dig up some shellfish and inspect and smell them for contaminants. "There is no standard test for hydrocarbons, so it may seem archaic but that suffices very well and that is what has been done in the past," Mr. Sawyer said.
Shellfish are filter feeders, which means they eat particles floating in the water that passes through them.
The cold spring weather may have helped mitigate any possible environmental damage. In low water temperatures, the metabolic rate of shellfish is minimal, so when they detect something foreign in the water, they will shut down, Mr. Sawyer said. "They will sense that there is something wrong in the water," he said.
Preliminary reports suggest that the spill's impacts on pond life of all kinds are minimal. "As long as you get some sun, some wind and some tidal action in the pond, it will dissipate quickly," Mr. Sawyer said.
Had the entire 150 gallons leaked into the pond, "it would have been a much different story," Mr. Sawyer said.
In cases where pollutants remain in the water over the long-term, shellfish either starve or are forced to ingest some of the fuel. Shellfish larvae are most vulnerable to fuel pollution because they tend to hang near the water surface where diesel fuel floats. Fortunately, at this time of year, there isn't any larvae in the water yet, said Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group director Rick Karney.
"The fact that this didn't happen in the summer you might say is a good thing," Mr. Karney said.


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You'd think that the world of the supernatural and mythical creatures has been done. Overdone in fact. Vampires. Zombies. Monsters. Ghosts. Name any and there are a dozen mediocre films from the last few years to underwhelm you.
You'd think that if you really had to throw your money at something, that the world of witches is probably the let interesting. At least on paper.
You'd think that if you ignored both Thought 1 and Thought 2 on the strength of Vin Diesel and the world's most preeminent wig maker being available, that you'd want to bring more than a watered down Blade, Underworld and Constantine combo.
But then again; thinking has never been Diesel's strong suit.
As Kaulder the immortal witch hunter, Diesel proves that not even an MMA beard and a flaming sword can make dungeons and dragons cool for the mainstream. Sure his however many millions of Facebook 'friends' and social media buddies will consume this product regardless, but a guy in Diesel's position should demand more.
We are told that witches have been around for thousands of years, the secret to their longevity being 'don't mess with humans'.
Kaulder has existed across centuries. He exists to punish the forgetful witches who transgress, which is apparently a large number.
Because Vin Diesel has difficulty with large numbers he is appointed a personal attaché slash statistician. Because he is ageless and immortal, these mortal statisticians don't last as long as they should. He is up to #36.
Because Vin Diesel isn't good with names – even though he gets decades to learn them – these assistants are all called Dolan. With Dolan #36 (Michael Caine) passing at the brooms of witchery, #37 is appointed (Elijah Wood). Kaulder is powerful, indefatigable and self healing, but…
Because Vin Diesel isn't too sharp, he is poisoned and infected numerous times. He is also duped into trusting those he shouldn't.
In between he be laying medieval bitches down on these very evil witches. And to the social media army, this is the only thing that counts.
Because to toddlers – and adults with a commensurate iq – 'because' needs no further justification. The words behind the 'because' don't matter. 'Because' is enough, just because.
And finally…
Because Vin Diesel agreed to be Kaulder the witch hunter. Because he has (save me Jeebus) 100 MILLION Facebook amigos. Because they all spend money regardless of critical opinion, true entertainment value of common sense.
Because of all of that, we have The Last Witch Hunter. And XXX 3 later this year… UGH.
Final Rating – 6 / 10. All that said and remarkably enough it isn't the worst film ever.


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Linden Manor Seniors Community
15 Linden Avenue, Kitchener ON
Linden Manor is a 32 unit apartment building near Victoria Park in Kitchener. The building offers one bedroom and two bedroom suites.
AWARDS: Award of Excellence for Outstanding Site Development from the City of Kitchener
© 2023 SRM Architects Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Web Design
Content Management
by REM Web Solutions.


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Bitcoin Price $5,000 Support is Now Critical as Bull-Run Fizzles
Bitcoin price fell off its peak close to $5500 to head towards older $5000 support April 11 after a late fresh surge abruptly ran out of steam.
$5500 A Push Too Far
Data from cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, which provides Bitcoin price data often slightly more conservative than other platforms, shows BTC/USD 00 has dropped below $5200 at press time Thursday.
Bitcoin, which experienced a sudden rally of around $1300 last week, has broadly held on to its new gains.
Despite news China was intending to outlaw mining, this week saw the trend continue, with Bitcoin price hitting a local high of $5440 on Bitstamp before turning back to shed several hundred dollars in minutes.
The $5000 mark now lies around $150 away, Bitcoin having last traded below that level on April 7.
How Low Can It Go?
Correspondingly, online commentators were showing signs of misgivings about short-term price potential.
"On a daily scale, the dynamic is turning into a sideways trend, the bullish momentum might be… out of steam," one analyst wrote in a dissection of Bitcoin's latest performance on social media.
As Bitcoinist reported, data from well-known data guru Willy Woo released this week nonetheless pointed to a $5000 Bitcoin price signalling a bounce off the latest bear market bottom – something which appears to form part of a trend extending back to the cryptocurrency's inception.
His experimental metric, dubbed Cumulative Value-days Destroyed (CVDD), focused on trading habits to provide an historical trend corridor for Bitcoin price.
"CVDD has hit the historical Bitcoin price bottoms with remarkable accuracy," he summarized.
Altcoins Feel Bitcoin Insecurity
Elsewhere in crypto markets meanwhile, altcoin investors felt the pain of Bitcoin's sideways trading, its roughly 1 percent drop spelling significant volatility for other coins.
A look at the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap from CoinMarketCap revealed unpalatable performance Thursday, with largest altcoin Ether down 6 percent in 24 hours.
Others fared worse, with TRON down 9.1 percent, NEO 8 percent, and Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash both dropping around 7 percent.
The figures cap a trend which continues to revolve around many altcoins mimicking Bitcoin's performance, then delivering an exaggerated move of their own.
Bucking that behavior Thursday was Tezos, which managed to sustain 1 percent gains over the past 24 hours.
The asset had been buoyed by a decision from cryptocurrency exchange Binance to add it to its official wallet as it prepares to add a staking feature for Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies. Late last month, US exchange Coinbase also released Tezos staking via its Coinbase Custody spin-off.
What do you think about Bitcoin price? Let us know in the comments below!
Images via Shutterstock, Tradingview.com
The post Bitcoin Price $5,000 Support is Now Critical as Bull-Run Fizzles appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.


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Before Tuesday's impeachment proceedings unfolded, I was clinging to a shred of hope in the power of shame and self-interest. After Tuesday, that slim hope has fallen to dust, and I suspect Wednesday will not improve matters in any measurable sense.
Before Tuesday, I believed it possible that enough Republican senators would see the vivid, unmistakable and indefensible evidence of Donald Trump's impeachable crimes and find themselves morally incapable of supporting him further. It was a long shot, but it was there.
If doing the right thing was not sufficient in itself, I believed there would be enough Republican senators who would survey the ocean of evidence against Trump and come to the conclusion that he was simply too politically radioactive to embrace.
I believed the combination — shame and the well-honed D.C. survival instinct — could be enough to collect 20 Republican votes to remove this demonstrable menace of a president. I believed it was possible.
Once House Republican legal counsel Stephen Castor finished with his line of questioning on Tuesday, however, my hope was gone. In its place was my growing dread that after Trump is impeached by the full House, a Senate trial will likely produce some Republican votes to remove but not enough, and Trump will be available to stand for re-election a little less than a year hence.
Over a long series of questions, Castor insinuated time and again that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — the top Ukraine expert on the national security council who was on the now-infamous July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky — shared dual loyalty with Ukraine and was not a "real American." He suggested Lt. Col. Vindman may have preferred to serve in the government of Ukraine as defense minister, rather than serve in the U.S. Army as a U.S. citizen.
Other Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee — most notably Chris Stewart of Utah, who mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for wearing his uniform to the hearing and asked at one point, "Do you always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?" — took a similar tack, having found themselves incapable of un-ringing the clear evidentiary bell Lt. Col. Vindman was sounding before them.
Castor, however, set the tone, and in doing so made it clear for all time that there is nothing these Republicans will not do to stand the gaffe for the reality TV star in the White House who has so thoroughly conquered them.
My personal feelings about war, militarism and the politically expedient worship of soldiers have no bearing in this assessment. Lt. Col. Vindman is who he is — an Army combat veteran who has earned a Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Expert Infantryman's Badge, the Parachutist Badge, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, three Army Achievement Medals, along with a forest of other awards, medals, citations, ribbons and badges. Whatever else he may be, Lt. Col. Vindman is a soldier's soldier.
Once upon a time in Republican circles, that meant something. All one must do is harken back to Trump's elaborate tantrum over football players kneeling for the anthem to protest police violence against people of color. "They were fighting for our country, they were fighting for our flag, they were fighting for our national anthem," said Trump of soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in September of 2017. "For people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of national anthem I think is disgraceful."
My, how times have changed.
Lt. Col. Vindman, who found a Ukraine official's suggestion that he become defense minister of that nation "comical," repeatedly batted down suggestions that his allegiance to the U.S. was anything other than complete. The Republicans, however, pressed on with their veiled insinuations. "Did you leave the door open?" Castor purred when asking about the proffered Ukraine job offer. "Was he speaking in English or Ukrainian?… It's rather significant. Did you tell anyone?… Were there any other offers?… Did you ever think that it might create at least a perception of a conflict?"
"Disgraceful" is a proper word to describe Republicans' treatment of Lt. Col. Vindman on Tuesday, especially in the face of the decades they've spent wrapped in the flag and the stolen honor of soldiers when it suited their purposes. Those days are over, and I pray every soldier and veteran in the country saw what happened. The Army is now prepared to move Lt. Col. Vindman and his family to a military base for their protection due to concerns that they could face retaliation from Trump devotees because of his testimony. "Disgraceful" in fact, is a small word in the face of this.
European Ambassador Gordon Sondland is testifying today. Because of this, Wednesday has the feel of a potentially dramatic moment — Sondland's opening statement puts Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Pompeo in the middle of the extortion scheme — but the substance is bereft of weight, because nothing will apparently move these Republicans away from their support of Trump.
Case in point: After Lt. Col. Vindman and Mike Pence's senior aide Jennifer Williams finished their testimony on Tuesday, they were followed by two witnesses who had been specifically requested by the Republicans: former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and former White House national security official Tim Morrison.
Both witnesses shot a number of oft-repeated Republican conspiracy theories on Ukraine to pieces during their testimony. Volker even went so far as to stand up for former Vice President Joe Biden, and by proxy, his son. "The allegations against Vice President Biden are self-serving and non-credible," he declared. The remainder of his testimony further buttressed the testimony that has been pouring out of the hearing room since last week.
The case has been made, and made again. The Republicans' own witnesses undermined every defense of Trump they could muster, and all the attempted shaming of Lt. Col. Vindman failed to undo the damning first-person account he gave of the call that started this whole thing.
It will not matter in the end, I now believe. Watching the events of Tuesday murdered my last bit of hope. Perhaps these Republicans are simply fools, or share a foreign dark money source with Trump that cannot survive revelation, or are too enamored with the right-wing judges being appointed on Trump's watch.
Whatever the answer may ultimately be, it appears that the Republican Party has become the vestibule of Hell, and Trump's minions have chosen the course of John Milton's Satan: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."
Even having lost hope in the outcome of the impeachment process, however, I still hold an iron-clad belief that these hearings are necessary. The process of impeachment had to be undertaken as a matter of law and as a constitutional imperative. Failure to remove Trump will be a political thing, politics is a filthy business, and the people will bear witness to that filth when Republican after Republican refuses to do what they know is right. "Here," said Lt. Col. Vindman during his testimony, "right matters."
We need to update you on where Truthout stands.
To be brutally honest, Truthout is behind on our fundraising goals for the year. There are a lot of reasons why. We're dealing with broad trends in our industry, trends that have led publications like Vice, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic to make painful cuts. Everyone is feeling the squeeze of inflation. And despite its lasting importance, news readership is declining.
To ensure we stay out of the red by the end of the year, we have a long way to go. Our future is threatened.
We've stayed online over two decades thanks to the support of our readers. Because you believe in the power of our work, share our transformative stories, and give to keep us going strong, we know we can make it through this tough moment.
If you value what we do and what we stand for, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work.


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Although not marked on the menu, Thai Me Up serves a variety of vegan options like bowls or fresh vegan toast for breakfast. It's also a good place for having a coffe with homemade plant-based milk and enjoying the view of the sea.
Is the information outdated? Suggest an edit!


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News that Mick Fanning (AUS) was attacked by a shark during the Final of the J-Bay Open sent shockwaves through newsrooms around the world. Media outlets who had yet to acknowledge him as a mainstream icon wanted to hear from the man himself.
He started with his countrymen, holding a press conference with fellow Finalist Julian Wilson (AUS) shortly after their arrival back in Oz. Fanning expressed gratitude to Wilson for putting himself in harm's way. He also noted that the incident was completely random in his opinion, saying that he feels, "unlucky, but lucky all in the same sentence."
Next, he answered question on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, in which he explained what the encounter felt like.
"I saw a splash behind me, and when that happened I felt something pulling on my leg, and I guess that was when it was stuck on my leg rope. I knew something was wrong then."
(Watch the full segment here.)
Fanning also made an appearance on US television program Good Morning America on ABC to talk about his first surf following the attack.
The segment also featured a clip from his appearance on 60 Minutes, which featured his return to the lineup for the first time since the incident at J-Bay.
"I just didn't want to leave it too long," he said of the ocean waters key to his career. "I felt like if I left it too long I would start playing tricks with myself and having too many mind games go on so I just really wanted to get it done pretty quickly."
(Watch his full interview here.)
For more information on the incident watch the WSL Update Show and read the full story.


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TvA proposes that...
* You will satisfy yourselves as to the
marketability of your tilting vehicle concept and
you will undertake research into all tilting
vehicle system options.
* You will then be in a position to appreciate
the technical significance of TvA systems.
* You can then contact TvA and we will
construct functional prototypes which will allow
you to evaluate and promote your proposals.


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Introduction: Minecraft Bukkit Server
Hi today I am going to teach you how to make a bukkit server.
Step 1: Starting
First go to http://www.craftbukkit.org and download the development build. You could get the reccomended build but that would just leave you with more complications. Then while your eaiting for craftbukkit to load make a new folder on your desktop named mc server. ( it does not have to be named this it is just my preference) Then drag the craft bukkit download into the mc server folder. Then name the craft bukkit download craftbukkit.jar ( this may seam reasonless but it is accualy very important) if you have done all this you should be ready to go onto the next step.
Step 2: Generating
Now that you have your ingredients it is time to generate your server. Create a new text document in your server folder. Openit and type
@echo off
java -Xmx1024M -jar craftbukkit.jar -o true
Press save as and save it as start.bat. Change the type from text to all files and make sure that your coding is ANSI. Then save it in your folder. You can delete the other text document. Then double click on the start and your world should generate. Now you can go on and go into the server localhost but other people won't be able to join. That is the next step.
Step 3: Connecting
Once you are finished with this step anyone should be able to get on your server. First go to start and type in cmd. Click on the command prompt. A black prompt should pop up and then in it type ipconfig Find where it says default gateway, ipv4 and all of that. Then go into your browser and type in your default gateway. Put in your username and password for your router the default is:
Username: admin
Password: password
Then go into advanced settings and go to port triggering/ port forwarding. Press add new. The input and output port should be 25565. Make shure that it is both tcp and ucp. For your ip go to the command prompt again and your ipv4 is your ip. Type that in and name it minecraft server and save it. Now other peaple should be able to play it. To learn more about bukkit servers follow me. Thanks


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By Lauriane Lognay
The pearl is among the oldest known gems of our world (not the absolute oldest, but humanity has certainly known the pearl longer than our dear old zircon). The earliest mention of them is around 4000 BC, with the Persian Gulf considered one of the most ancient sites.
Historically, pearls have been considered divine gifts, rich with love and royalty. Kings and crowns harboured natural pearls as a sign of power, purity, and wealth—almost as though the gems would bring prosperity and long life to those who possessed them.
Meanwhile, in the New World, these beauties, which are largely comprised of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), were considered to be the most precious and expensive export (this was before the development of different mines in Mexico and Peru for gold and silver). Indeed, their value exceeded that all of all exports, such as spices.
Early, pearly days
The first notable sources of pearls were in the Gulf of Mannar, located between the west coast of Sri Lanka and the southeastern tip of India, and the Persian Gulf. In the centuries to follow, sites began to pop up around Panama and Venezuela, with written proof of findings noted around the 15th century by Christopher Colombus and Vasco de Balboa. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, these sites are, for the most part, no longer viable pearl sites.
In modern jewellery, cultured pearls are commonly used in place of their natural counterparts (with a few exceptions, such as conch pearls, which are still used in high-jewellery pieces). Cultured pearls have nearly the same composition as natural ones and, thanks to advances in technology and thorough research on pearls' growth, these gems offer a wider variety of colours and shapes than ever before.
Pearls, unlike gemstones, are rarely touched by humans; their beauty and softness makes them one of the few things humans simply leave alone and opt to put in jewellery in a natural state. This has been true since ancient times. Today, the round wonders can be dyed, shaped with new types of nucleus, and even sometimes faceted, but the grand majority of them remain untouched.
Pearls are vastly sensitive creatures; you will often hear dealers refer to them as 'alive' or 'dead' depending on their state, as growing and caring for them is tricky business. It's not uncommon for farms to use classical music to open the mollusks, so as not to stress them out. Other farmers insist on complete silence, while others still sing and play instruments—to each their own, I suppose.
Sharks, sand, natural pearls, and heaven
When describing natural pearls, some poets refer to them as tears of the gods that have fallen from heaven, while others still regard them as a piece of the moon that ended up in the ocean. Indeed, when it comes to these beautiful gems, there are countless stories of kings and queen speaking of divine gifts.
Reality, of course, is a bit different. Some natural pearls were simply formed from a grain of sand that ended up in the mollusk and irritated it, causing the phylum to activate its defence mechanism and secrete the nacre to envelop the intruder.
In gemmological studies, there are also cases where sharks create natural pearls, as their excrement in the ocean causes some live parasites, developed in dung, to enter mollusks and irritate them. They then die in the mollusk's 'body,' all while being circled in countless layers of nacre.
Thankfully, today's cultivated world means we no longer need shark poo to create the calcium and aragonite beauties we know as pearls—likewise, we also don't need the tears of gods.
How to calculate value
When it comes to determining a pearl's value and durability on the market, there are many factors to consider.
A pearl's lustre refers to the way light reflects on its surface and back at you, representing the gem's brilliance—the higher its lustre, the more valuable the pearl. A high lustre is the sharp contrast in colour on the pearl, from the dark saturated colour of the pearl to the whitish appearance of a high lustre on its surface.
Pearls of low-quality lustre do not shine much and appear chalky or milky white on the surface. Of course, the pearl's surface quality also contributes to its lustre. If the surface is too full of imperfection, the lustre won't have a chance to show its full potential. The same can be said for the thickness of the nacre on the pearl.
The quality and thickness of the nacre on a pearl are imperative when judging its value. The nacre is the result of the mollusk (often oysters or mussels) secreting a substance to combat intruders in their shells, which results in the formation of pearls. (A significant percentage of pearls formed are not considered saleable, which is why the round treasures have always had a certain value throughout history.)
Until as recently as a few years ago, Tahitian pearls had to follow a strict code for nacre thickness in order to be sold or exported out of the country. Although this is no longer the case, generally speaking, the thicker the nacre is, the better the pearl.
While saltwater pearls have a nucleus, freshwater wonders often don't require cores to form. This often results in thick coats and a longer gestation period as compared to other types of pearls.
The durability of a pearl is directly related to the thickness of its coat—if it's too thin, it will crack or be brittle. Uneven distribution can cause some 'dead zones' on the surface where it doesn't shine and instead is milky and/or matte.
When it comes to a pearl's value, uniformity in colour is important, and is often a major factor in determining its value on the market. A pearl may have high lustre and no blemishes on its surface, but if it's not pleasing to look at, it won't be expensive. What we're looking for are deep saturated colours. A light, yellowish white, for example, will not be as pleasing to a client as a deep golden (untreated) pearl, or a white pearl with pink overtones.
When considering a pearl's colour, you will notice three things:
- The main colour of the pearl (the 'body colour')
- The iridescence or orient (akin to a rainbow of colours that travel and change as you move the pearl)
- The overtone (the colour tone overlaying the main colour of the gem)
For example, you can have a black Tahitian pearl with green overtones and some iridescence on it, or a 'purple' Tahitian pearl (a black pearl with purple overtone). Pearls can be many different colours, including pistachio, pink, purple, yellow, green, and even blue in some rare occasions. Regardless, the more vivid the body colour and overtone, the more valuable the pearl. Iridescence is a great bonus.
Cultured pearls come in a variety of shapes, the main of which are:
- round;
- half-round;
- button;
- baroque;
- keshi;
- pear;
- egg;
- circled; and
- rice-shaped.
You can also find some stars, moons, and even crosses. Thanks to new techniques developed after years of research, today's pearls can have shaped nuclei (or cores), which allow them to grow in specific forms.
Nonetheless, the most valued shape for a pearl remains the perfect round. This shape is the hardest to obtain, which makes it the most expensive (and, generally, the most sought-after).
Baroque pearls, depending on their shape and size, can be quite desirable and valuable, too. Some artists use them in jewellery, and are able to transform the stone into an animal, object, or even a person. When imagination is applied, the general shape of the baroque pearl can resemble an elephant, a mermaid tail, or even the beginnings of a palace—that's where the jeweller comes in to complete what would be a masterpiece with a uniquely shaped pearl.
Some countries where cultured and natural pearls can be found include Indonesia, Vietnam, Tahiti, Japan, China, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Australia, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Germany, Russia, Scotland, New Zealand, and Mexico. Anywhere in the world you can find cephalopod, shells, oysters, or mussels, there is a slim chance pearls can be found there as well.
Surface quality
The less imperfection a pearl has on its surface, the more valuable it will be. These imperfections can range from undesired line formations within the pearl, small dots (or 'spotting') on its surface, protrusions, or dents. Other times, there are sections on the pearl where there is not enough nacre and discolouration is visible. Some also consider surface irregularity to be an imperfection in the pearl (scratches and cracks also enter in this category).
As a rule of thumb, anything that can be observed either inside a pearl or on its surface without employing a loupe will impact its price. Unlike other gems where imperfections can help identify a stone or even enhance its beauty, pearls need to be as perfect as nature can make them to achieve their best value.
That said, some pearls with small imperfections and/or bumps are likely to be more accepted when incorporated into a piece of jewellery with stones of similar appearance. Likewise, if you have some big, single pearls with small imperfections, a good way to sell the perceived flaw is to call it 'the personality' of the gem. After all, if the blemish or welt is miniscule and doesn't compromise the durability of the pearl, than the quality just makes it more unique for the customer. Some of today's shoppers even like it when bumps and welts are evenly distributed throughout the pearl.
As a general rule, the bigger the pearl, the more expensive it will be. Depending on availability, sizable pearls are not easy to obtain in a cultured environment, and this is even more challenging in nature.
Predictably, any treated pearl is less valuable than its untreated counterpart. These days, pearls can be dyed, irradiated, bleached, buffed, coated, filled (with epoxy), silver-salted, heated, and injected with metal fluids. Some of these treatments can be seen directly; others are only apparent once the pearl is pierced; and others still have to be tested in a lab. Indeed, treatments are becoming more difficult to detect as these techniques become perfected and practiced. As such, visiting a local gemmologist or sending an expensive pearl to a reputable lab to ensure it hasn't been treated is a safe way to buy. An authentic pistachio-coloured, Tahitian pearl would be up to 10 times as valuable when compared to a dyed or treated one, for example.
'Matching' refers to strands or pairs of pearls; not standalone stones. The more pearls you have in your possession that are of similar lustre, shape, colour, size, etc., the most valuable they will be.
A whole strand of vivid yellow South Sea round pearls with no surface imperfection, for example, would be far more expensive as a whole than any standalone pearl of this type. Matching, however, does not always refer to the same colour; sometimes (particularly in cases of Tahitians), pearls are matched by their lustre, body colour, and colour intensity, but have a rainbow of different overtones and orient. Such strands are as difficult to harmonize as any white pearl strand.
Pearl types
Alongside natural pearls, cultured varieties can be divided into two main groups: saltwater (from oysters) and freshwater (from mussels).
For saltwater pearls, common types include akoyas, South Sea pearls, blue pearls, blisters (including mabe pearls), rainbow pearls, akoya keshi, and black Tahitian pearls.
Meanwhile, freshwater varieties include Biwa pearls, Kasumiga pearls, and keshi (or 'reborn').
Finally, natural pearls are comprised of blisters, seed pearls (or keshi), abalone, scallop pearls, conch pearls, melo pearls, and quahog pearls.
Some standalones
'Mother-of-pearl,' known as the interior shell of a mollusk, is often carved into cabochons, small sculptures, and more. It is considered less expensive than pearls in general.
Meanwhile, abalone is, in reality, from a snail. Though not from any oyster or mussel, the powerful iridescent nacre it sometimes produces is typically enough for it to be considered a 'pearl.'
And, of course, let's not forget the lesser known pearls out there, which are just waiting to be brought to the jewellery world, including the non-nacreous natural ones (such as Hexaplex Erythrostomus; jellybean pearls from Queen conch shells; Horse conch [Triplofusus giganteus, the melo snail pearl], porcelain pearls from different clam species, Spondylus pearls, nautilus pearls [from a cephalopod], and so on), and the nacreous ones (such as turbo pearls, Oriental pearls [natural pearls found in the Persian Gulf], and pipi pearls from Cook Island).
The pearl universe is ever-expanding, and describing the shells, mollusks, and even snails that can produce pearls and how this is achieved could easily fill a 500-page book. That said, I do hope you've learned a few things about these ancient treasures.
Lauriane Lognay is a fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA), and has won several awards. She is a gemstone dealer working with jewellers to help them decide on the best stones for their designs. Lognay is the owner of Rippana Inc., a Montréal-based company working internationally in coloured gemstone, lapidary, and jewellery services. She can be reached via email by contacting firstname.lastname@example.com.
- CIBJO Pearl Book (2015) by Shigeru Akamatsu
- Pearl Buying Guide: How to Identify and Evaluate Pearls & Pearl Jewelry, 6th edition (2017) by Renée Newman, GG
- The Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A) Diploma, Fellow of the Gemmological Association (FGA) notes on pearls
- "Sustainable Pearls," found online at


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Desktop scripting: link on ID, but search by name
I've been using this technique a lot lately, so why not share it?
When linking a textbase to another, it's best to link on a unique ID: something that won't change over time. The plus side is that the link from primary to secondary textbase will not be easily broken. This is just good sense and a long-time database design golden rule. (What if you linked to a Name field and someone changed their name?)
The down side is that an ID is not people-friendly. When the time comes to link out to the secondary textbase, a number like "123" means a lot less to human eyeballs than "Smith, John". Inmagic gives you the ability to browse the available items to link to, but a list of numbers is next to useless. How do you know that "123" is the Record ID for "Smith, John"? You don't.
To retain the strength of the link-on-ID and the user-friendliness of browse-by-name, we call upon JAVASCRIPT. Hurrah. Here's what I do in edit forms. I'll use an example based on a library sign-out page: there is a Catalog, a Borrowers textbase and a Loans textbase. The Loans textbase is primary, but links to Catalog and Borrowers textbases as secondary textbases. I want to create a loan record that links to the Borrower via Borrower ID, but I don't want the user to have to know the Borrower's ID. I want them to search by borrower name to make the link.
Fig. 1. Link is made on Borrower ID, but user can search by Borrower name or barcode and the script will make the link.
In this case I give the user the opportunity to search either by name or barcode. If the script finds a single match, it automatically populates the Borrower ID field. If it finds multiple matches, it displays the top 5 so the user can either re-search with a more specific search or copy-and-paste the ID themselves.
Fig. 2. User has searched for "doe" and found 2 matches.
Here is the script which performs the search on borrower name. I have defined an object of type "Borrrower" to encapsulate all the information I need about a borrower and this function returns an array of these Borrower objects.
function GetBorrowersByName(name) //returns array of Borrower
var names = name.replace("\r", " ").split(" ");
var rs;
var fldBorrowerID, fldBarcode, fldLastName, fldFirstName, fldMiddleName, fldPatronType, fldPatronStatus;
var strNames = names.join(" / ");
var output = [];
rs = Application.newRecordset(userTextbase, Application.activeTextbase.path, userPassword);
if (rs != null)
rs.Open("Find (LastName ct " + strNames + ") or (FirstName ct " + strNames + ") or (MiddleName ct " + strNames + ")");
DebugLog("Find (LastName ct " + strNames + ") or (FirstName ct " + strNames + ") or (MiddleName ct " + strNames + ")");
if (rs.Errors.Count > 0)
DebugLog("GetBorrowersByName: " + rs.Errors(0).Description);
else if (rs.RecordCount > 0)
while (!rs.EOF)
fldBorrowerID = rs.Fields("RecordID");
fldBarcode = rs.Fields("Barcode");
fldLastName = rs.Fields("LastName");
fldFirstName = rs.Fields("FirstName");
fldMiddleName = rs.Fields("MiddleName");
fldPatronType = rs.Fields("PatronType");
fldPatronStatus = rs.Fields("PatronStatus");
output[output.length] = new Borrower(fldBorrowerID.Value, fldBarcode.Value, fldFirstName.Value, fldMiddleName.Value, fldLastName.Value, fldPatronType.Value, fldPatronStatus.Value);
return output;
Fig. 3. GetBorrowersByName function, searches Borrower textbase and returns an array of Borrower objects
Here is the script which contains the logic to decide what to do with the results. Again, if single match is found, the Borrower ID is populated automatically, and if multiple matches are found, the top 5 are shown to the user in the gray background box (called boxBorrowerInfo in the script).
function ShowBorrowerResults(results)
if (results.length < 1)
selectedBorrower = null;
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerID").content = "";
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerInfo").content = "No match found";
else if (results.length == 1)
selectedBorrower = results[0];
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerID").content = results[0].BorrowerID;
else if (results.length > 1)
selectedBorrower = null;
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerID").content = "";
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerInfo").content = "Matches:";
for (i = 0; i < results.length;i++)
if (Form.boxes("boxBorrowerInfo").content != "")
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerInfo").content += "\n";
Form.boxes("boxBorrowerInfo").content += results[i].BorrowerID + " " + results[i].Barcode + " " + results[i].LastName + ", " + results[i].FirstName + " " + results[i].MiddleName;
In the single-match-found scenario, the Borrower ID is populated with the found Borrower ID, and the window is refreshed so that any secondary link information shows up.
Fig. 4. A single match has been found for "notdoe". The Borrower ID has been populated, and the secondary fields (name and borrower type) based on the link are showing.
And there you have it. Get to know the Inmagic recordset object and you can query any textbase from any other textbase.


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Welcome to Autumn
Got the summer blues? Fear not, we at Supercity have listed some of our favourite things about Autumn. Hopefully by the end of this post you will be welcoming the new season with open arms.
Joanna, our Sales and Revenue Manager has just renewed her Kew Gardens membership and loves how the leaves change colour this time of the year. With lots to see all year round, these Royal gardens are worth a visit.
Zoe, PA to our MD and Roxanne, our Accounts Manager both agree that Autumn is their favourite season for the fashion. You also know what you're getting weather wise, unlike our dodgy summers! But what Zoe really loves the most is sitting in a cosy bar with a nice drink while the evening chill sets in outside.
Fred, our General and Operations Manager enjoys the rustic feel of Autumn. He also loves the changes in the leaves and environment before the (too cold) Winter sets in.
Joe, our Accounts Assistant says in Autumn he can finally get on the Central line without being crushed in the immense heat! Joe has actually be coming to work in summer shorts and flip flops just for the tube journey and then changing at work… He is looking forward to leaving the extra baggage!
Camelia, our Head Housekeeper says nothing beats staying in the warmth of her home relaxing with a nice drink at this time of year… cosy socks and blankets at the ready!
Ryan, our Finance Director's favourite thing about Autumn is the conkers, but not when they fall on his head! Playing the old conker games with his kids is the highlight of the season.
We now leave you with a final thought of cosy blankets, pumpkin creations, Bonfire night and toasted marshmallows…


text:
Browse by Authors and Editors
Group by: Item Type | Date | No Grouping
Jump to: Book Section
Number of items: 1.
Book Section
Nosenzo, Daniele and Sefton, Martin (2014) Promoting cooperation: the distribution of reward and punishment power. In: Reward and punishment in social dilemmas. Series in human cooperation . Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 87-114. ISBN 9780199300730


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Under development is one way to fail your product. It's the one we all think about - an incapable designer can't execute and so your product doesn't meet your expectations. The quality isn't there, and now you've wasted time and money. To avoid that, you look for a great designer whose work is impressive to make sure you get the quality you need. But you could still spend too much money or take too long - these are other more subtle ways to fail, and they tend to come from over-developing your product. To achieve the quality you need with the budget and timeline you have, you have to find great designers who can also apply great restraint. That is where beautifully simple and effective designs come from. To equip you with the mindset to achieve this ideal development let us first take a look at the extremes.
Have you ever used a product and almost immediately found a flaw or thought of a better way to do something? Then you've used a product that was under developed.
In software you'd call this a "Minimum Viable Product" or MVP (the cool kids call it beta or alpha). Reid Hoffman, who started LinkedIn, is known for saying "If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late" - meaning a software startup can launch with an embarrassingly under developed product so that they can hear from their customers what's missing, and develop only those features that actually matter. Since it's easy to release new software, you can launch when you're under developed and build as you go.
But when you're going to spend $10k, $50k, or $100k+ on just on tooling to launch your initial product, what you call an MVP has to look very different. You might be able to get away with a missing feature or two in your physical product, but they definitely have to work. Generally speaking, hiring great designers is enough to prevent under development. But that alone will not prevent you from over developing, and that's where you need an additional layer of expertise.
So, physical products shouldn't be under developed because it could cause them to flop. But if you hire great designers, this probably won't happen to you. So, hire great designers and your problems will go away, right?
Wrong. You know what great designers like to do? Design stuff. Design lots and lots and lots of stuff. And in our experience, individual inventors, startup founders, and corporate innovation leaders alike all share one thing in common when developing a product: they're passionate about their products, and this passion when unchecked can add fuel to the fire of designer over development. And being a great designer or engineer yourself doesn't tend make that problem go away, in fact, it can make it more pronounced.
This means that without a way to prevent over development you may end up solving problems that your customers don't care about at all, or at the very least, would have easily overlooked given all the other functionality. To do that, you probably spent more money on development and took longer to get to market than you had to. What if your customers could be just as satisfied sooner and with less up front investment from you? What if they eagerly shared feedback for further development, validating those features reducing your future development risk? We should all want that! But it will take another layer of expertise beyond design.
This is where hiring a firm with the expertise to not just design the product right (tactics), but to design the right product (strategy), comes in handy. And while you'll pay more for that additional layer of expertise, you'll still end up spending less than if you hired someone cheaper because any great designer can over develop a product, but great designers and strategists can prevent you from spending excess time and money.
At Ovyl, we've developed a methodology that enables clients like you to ideally develop your product by replacing subjectivity with objectivity. We start all of our projects with a strategy phase made up of activities that help us identify who we are designing for and what matters to them. Then we lay out a plan that prioritizes those objectives and lays a framework for how and when we will make decisions throughout the design process to meet those objectives. By doing this, we help you define the right product and design it well.