NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The GlobalOmega-3 Marketis projected to reach USD 4.50 billion by 2027. The Omega-3 market is fueled by the rising awareness for food nutrition and dietary improvements. Moreover, various factors such as developing economies and subsequently increasing incomes of consumers, adoption of e-commerce and m-commerce platforms, and demand for the overall organic supplements & functional foods are expected to create enforcements in the market.

Avocado benefits, avocado benefits for skin, avocado nutrition, avocado benefits for hair, avocado oil benefits, avocado recipes, omega-3 fatty acids for dogs, omega-3 fatty acids benefits, omega-3 fatty acids capsules, omega-3 foods, omega-3 capsules, omega-3 fish oil, fish oil supplements, fish oil pills, fish oil dosage, omega-3 supplements vegan, omega-3 weight loss, to name a few are some of the most crucial corresponding factors and topics that have been influencing the market growth in many ways, have been additionally discussed in the report in detail.

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While dietary improvement is a desirable goal for many common individuals ranging in various age bands, changing dietary patterns seems extremely hard for most of them also. Thus, it is becoming a common practice that many people are consuming additional dietary supplements to augment the daily intake of nutrients so that they may lead a healthier lifestyle. Additionally, rising numbers of patients with heart diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, and eyesight problems, among others, are the reasons the demands for the omega 3 are being raised.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

The COVID-19 pandemic has created endless disruptions to the manufacturing or production industries due to a shortage of resources in different parts of the world. The leading players in the industry are skeptical about the market's future and try to redesign their strategies to support the challenge. The pandemic had a serious impact on the distribution chains as a result of regular lockdowns. The manufacturing industries have been disrupted due to reduced available human resources. The companies are incorporating different techniques to increase the production volume and trying to develop innovative solutions at an affordable price, which can meet customer requirements at a much lower cost.

To identify the key trends in the industry, click on the link below:https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/omega-3-market

Further key findings from the report suggest

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For the purpose of this report, Reports and Data has segmented the global market on the basis of type, source, end-use verticals, and region:

Type Outlook (Revenue: USD Billion; Volume: Kilo Tons; 2017-2027)

Source Outlook (Revenue: USD Billion; Volume: Kilo Tons; 2017-2027)

End-Use Verticals Outlook (Revenue: USD Billion; Volume: Kilo Tons; 2017-2027)

Regional Outlook (Revenue: USD Billion; Volume: Kilo Tons; 2017-2027)

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Omega-3 Market To Reach USD 4.50 Billion By 2027 | CAGR: 7.2% | Reports And Data - PRNewswire

Global Potash Ore Marketwas valued US$ XX Mn. in 2019 and is expected to grow around US$ XX Mn. by 2027, at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period.

The report study has analyzed the revenue impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the sales revenue of market leaders, market followers and market disrupters in the report and same is reflected in our analysis.

Definition:

Potash ore is the primary source for manufacturing potash, which is used in chemicals and fertilizers. Usually, it consists of potassium chloride, sodium chloride, silicate anhydrate, and carbonate. Potash ore is processed with numerous methods including chemical processes with hot leaching, and mechanical methods, like floatation. In the chemical method, potash ore is processed by hot leaching, followed by crystallization potash salts from unsaturated salt brines. This method is dependent upon physiochemical properties of potassium chloride, sodium chloride, & water, and used for manufacturing potassium compounds in granular and white crystalline form. Also, in the floatation method halite and sylvite surfaces are moistened with water by the addition of acting chemicals namely surfactants. Potash finds major applications in the fertilizer industry as potassium the third major plant and crop nutrient after phosphorus and nitrogen. As elemental potassium is not available in nature, because of its violent reactive nature with water, potash ores have high demand.

Market Drivers:

Global potash ores market size is expected to increase during the forecast period (2019-2027), thanks to the demand for potassium from several industries around the world. Because of the demand for organic food and the growing population around the world, the fertilizer industry is expected to support the growth of the market in the future. Potash is an important nutrient for crops, which improves the yield and quality. Hence, this is expected to drive the market growth. Sodium chloride has witnessed increasing demand from the chemical industry for the production of caustic soda, sodium chloride, etc. Moreover, it is also used for the product in fish preservation.

Introducing new products and services along with other strategic alliances by the market key player will create a productive demand for this market. For example, as per the companys news release in January 2018, PotashCorp and Agrium announced the merger and formed a new company known as Nutrien. The formation of a new company will enable a new market position with an expandable product portfolio. Also, increasing the use of potash mobilizing bio-fertilizers is expected to pose excellent growth opportunities for market players.

On the other hand, increasing health concerns about the consumption of potash fertilizers are expected to restrain the global potash ores market growth. Also, fluctuating prices of potassium chloride are expected to hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

Market Segmentation:

By product type, the potassium chloride segment is expected to dominate the market owing to its use in the production of fertilizers. Huge demand for food and the cultivation of fruits and plants can fuel the segment growth till 2023. On the other hand, sodium chloride is set to expand at a rapid pace due to its use in the making of chemicals such as sodium chlorite, caustic soda, and others

Region-wise, North America is expected to hold the largest market share of the global market by 2027, thanks to the utilization of potash ore in agriculture, metallurgy, and chemical sectors. The demand for organic food and in other end-use industries can act as a catalyst for the market in the region. Canada, the U.S., and Mexico are the main contributors to the region.

APAC can grow at a rapid pace, because of the rising investments by end-use industries in the region. An increase in disposable income levels, demand for organic food, and a large population are factors driving the regional market growth.

Europe is witnessed to experience a significant growth rate, attributable to the demand for organically grown vegetables & fruits and the emergence of organic food stores. Technological breakthroughs in fertilizer formulations can drive market growth. France, Germany, Italy, and the U.K. are the biggest contributors to the regional potash ore market.

The objective of the report is to present a comprehensive analysis of the Global Potash Ore Market including all the stakeholders of the industry. The past and current status of the industry with forecasted market size and trends are presented in the report with the analysis of complicated data in simple language. The report covers all the aspects of the industry with a dedicated study of key players that includes market leaders, followers and new entrants. PORTER, SVOR, PESTEL analysis with the potential impact of micro-economic factors of the market have been presented in the report. External as well as internal factors that are supposed to affect the business positively or negatively have been analyzed, which will give a clear futuristic view of the industry to the decision-makers. The report also helps in understanding Global Potash Ore Market dynamics, structure by analyzing the market segments and project the Global Potash Ore Market size. Clear representation of competitive analysis of key players by type, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence in the Global Potash Ore Market make the report investors guide. Scope of the Global Potash Ore Market

Global Potash Ore Market, By Product Type

Potassium Chloride Sodium Chloride Others Global Potash Ore Market, By Application

Agriculture Chemical Metallurgical Others Global Potash Ore Market, By Region

North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa South America Key players operating in the Global Potash Ore Market

Agrium Inc. BHP Billiton Ltd. Elementals Minerals Limited Encanto Potash Corp. EuroChem Intrepid Potash K+S GmbH Mining Associates PotashCorp Uralkali Nutrien Ltd. JSC Belaruskali ICL Kore Potash Limited Others

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National Parks Adventure. Photo courtesy of Carnegie Science Center.

Here are the events you need to know about this week in Pittsburgh: August 10-13. Know of an interesting event taking place soon?Email us here.

Monday, August 10: Yoga in Schenley Plaza 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Flow into a new week with this free outdoor yoga class held in the green, grassy heart of Oakland. All levels are welcome and advance registration is encouraged.

Monday, August 10: Virtual Book Club Discussion with Josh Bell and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 12-1 p.m. Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell is not just a star on the field. Passionate about using books to spark important conversations, Bell will lead a discussion of Michelle Alexanders bestselling book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Register for the free virtual event here and get a digital copy of the book with your CLP Library card.

Poets Robin Coste Lewis. Frank X. Walker and Quenton Baker.

Monday, August 10: Cave Canem presents Robin Coste Lewis and Frank X Walker 7 p.m. Cave Canem which nurtures the artistic and professional growth of African American poets is bringing the voices of two renowned poets to your home. Robin Coste Lewis and Frank X. Walker will read from their work and participate in a live Q&A moderated by poet Quenton Baker. Author of Voyage of the Sable Venus, Lewis is the poet laureate of Los Angeles and has been published widely. The first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, Walker has published 10 poetry collections. Register for free here.

Tuesday, August 11: Sculptural Aluminum Casting with Rivers of Steel 4-8 p.m. During this three-day workshop, artist Ed Parrish will demonstrate how to create 3D sculptural forms in cast aluminum. The workshop includes instruction in the use of wax, plasticene (oil-based clay), pattern-making and mold making, design techniques, casting and more. Register here.

Tuesday, August 11: After Dinner Conversations with the Office of Public Art 7 p.m.Join the Office of Public Art for its new Instagram Live seriesand have some culture for dessert. Featuring Pittsburgh-based cultural producers in conversation with peers across the country, After Dinner Conversations will kick off the free series with art historian and curator Kilolo Luckett and art critic Jessica Lynne, who co-produced the 2016 By Any Means Symposium at Carnegie Lecture Hall.

Tuesday, August 11: Perseid Meteor Shower Kayak Tour at North Park Lake 9 p.m.-12 a.m. View one of the brightest meteor showers of the year from inside a kayak. Led by experienced L.L. Bean guides, youll enjoy a peaceful night paddle, learn about local history, habitats and wildlife and with luck, catch a spectacular celestial display. Buy tickets here.

Wednesday, August 12: Shadyside Summer Sampler Various times Summers just beginning in Shadyside. Stroll through the East End neighborhoods during this open-air sidewalk sale showcasing more than 40 businesses. The five-day event will include outdoor activities, games, live jazz music and more.

Photo courtesy of Rivers of Steel.

Wednesday, August 12: Collaboration is Key: Effective Strategies to Grow Your Brand 10-11 a.m. Are you a small business owner looking to collaborate? Regional creative entrepreneurs from Studebaker Metals, Boom Concepts and Clark Morelia will talk about how collaborations have helped them grow their businesses. Facilitated by Knotzland founder Nisha Blackwell, the online discussion will address how cross-brand collaborations can become a catalyst for developing new products and reaching new markets, customers and opportunities. Register for free here.

Wednesday, August 12: Dress for Success FAB Sale at The Design Center Building 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Give your closet a makeover while also doing a good deed. Equal parts thrift sale and treasure hunt, Dress for Success FAB Sale (aka fill a bag) supports local women who are entering or returning to the workforce. Fill a bag with as much as you can from business casual attire to cocktail dresses to accessories as your shop from an extensive overstock inventory.

Wednesday, August 12: Yemanj: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil 7 p.m. Did you know that more than four million Africans were brought to Brazil during the trans-Atlantic slave trade? Narrated by Pulitzer-Prize winner author Alice Walker, this award-winning documentary film explores the Afro-indigenous Candombl spiritual culture of Bahia, Brazil through the voices of its extraordinary female leaders. Watch the documentary and then participate in a live discussion and Q+A with filmmakers Donna Roberts and Gerald (Chip) Hoffman. Register for free here with The Show Must Go Online.

Thursday, August 13: National Parks Adventure at Giant Rangos Cinema 2:30 p.m. Commemorating the U.S. National Park Services 100th anniversary, this immersive film follows world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they hike, climb and trek their way across Yellowstone, Yosemite and more. Filmed in 30-plus locations, National Parks Adventure the awe-inspiring, eye-popping footage will make you soar over red rock canyons, hurtle down mountains and explore breathtaking terrain.

National Parks Adventure. Courtesy of Rangos Giant Cinema.

Thursday, August 13: Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures with Stephen Heyman 6 p.m. For its next Made Local event, Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures welcomes Stephen Heyman, author of The Planter of Modern Life. Heymans new book chronicles the remarkable story a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who became the countys most famous farmer and inspired the organic food movement with his utopian experimental farm, Malabar. During the online event, Heyman will join a conversation with Beth Kracklauer, food and drinks editor for The Wall Street Journal. Signed copies of Heymans book are available for sale from White Whale Bookstore. Register for free here.

Thursday, August 13: Wine 101: Tasting and Wine Basics 6 p.m. Palate Partners and Dreadnought Wines are on a mission to teach rookie vino enthusiasts how to effectively and confidently taste fine wines. While sampling five different wines, youll learn about grape growing and winemaking, as well as the key characteristics of grape varieties. Register for the class here. Buy the wines here.

Thursday, August 13: Family Drive-In Movie Series at South Park 7 p.m. The parking lot of the South Park Ice Rink is now a makeshift drive-in movie destination. Your kids will cool off and sing along with Anna, Elsa and Olaf at tonights screening of the Disney musical fantasy, Frozen 2. All movies are free and first come, first served. Dont forget to place your online for movie snacks from Ekernally Yours Popcorn.

Yemanj: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil.

Thursday, August 13: An Evening of Oakland Storytelling 7 p.m. Oakland Planning and Development Corporations signature fundraiser, the virtual event will feature stories from artist and activist Ty Williams, photographer and writer Laura Zurowski, a partnership with Storyburgh and a musical performance by Sierra Sellers. Register for free here.

Thursday, August 13: Public PlayTime presents Trouble in Mind 7 p.m. The virtual curtain will rise again when Pittsburgh Public Theater presents this iconic work of pioneering African-American playwright, Alice Childress. Penned in 1955, the timeless classic follows accomplished actress Wiletta Mayer to Broadway, where culture clashes that erupt in rehearsal with her white director and fellow cast members as they grapple with the dynamics of power, race, and ego on stage and off. The free PlayTime reading is directed by Monteze Freeland.

For more events,go here. Know about an interesting event taking place soon?Email us here.

Pittsburgh eventsPittsburgh virtual eventsThings to do in AugustThings to do in Pittsburgh

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Things to do this week in Pittsburgh, from a virtual book club with Josh Bell to a meteor shower kayak tour - NEXTpittsburgh

DUBLIN, Aug. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Lactoferrin Market Size, By Product, By Application, Sales Channel, By Region, Trend Analysis, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The increasing consciousness amid consumers concerning health and diet, along with the rising prevalence of skin-related health circumstances, is predictable to boost the demand. Lactoferrin is alleged to have antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, catalytic, and anti-allergic functions and properties, which is predicted to drive the product demand from pharmaceutical and personal care industries.

The acne cure market is also consequently predictable to see healthy development during the estimated period. Numerous clinical trials have proven the capability of lactoferrin to treat acne and other such skin disorders efficiently.

Due to its anti-provocative properties, lactoferrin eliminates the main food foundation for pathogens by nullifying its contributors. Increasing consumer consciousness towards gut fitness, joined with the increasing demand of lactoferrin to avoid bad-tempered bowel drive and bloating and reduces colonic inflammation, is expected to boost this section's request for the prediction period. Consumer consciousness due to product advertising creativities taken by brand owners coupled with an inclination toward organic products with minimum side effects and higher efficiency is probable to additional boost the demand.

Rising health awareness among consumers is a significant cause driving the development of the lactoferrin addition market as lactoferrin controls iron metabolism, acts as an antibacterial agent, has antioxidant properties and thus, helps in refining immunity. Besides, there has been a growth in the request for sports diet products due to the growing fitness trend among youths, which is likely to drive the lactoferrin addition market as lactoferrin offers nourishing value and is easy to eat.

The Asia-Pacific developed as the leading regional section in 2019. China, India, and Japan were found to be the most important local markets for the product. This important share of Asia Pacific can be attributed to the growing spending volume of the consumers. The presence of a major consumer base in these countries, along with increasing birth rates among the population, is anticipated to create development opportunities.

Growth Drivers

Rising Awareness Amongst Consumers Regarding Health and Diet

The increasing awareness amongst consumers regarding health and diet, along with the rising prevalence of skin-related health conditions, is predictable to increase the request. Lactoferrin is assumed to have catalytic, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-parasitic, and anti-allergic functions and properties, which is expected to drive the product demand from pharmaceutical and personal care industries.

The acne treatment market is also consequently expected to witness strong development during the prediction period. Numerous clinical trials have proven the capability of lactoferrin to efficiently treat acne and other such skin circumstances.

Strong Growth Potential in the Developing Countries

The consumer's fondness for cosmeceutical products that syndicate cosmetic and pharmaceutical features, such as acne conduct and anti-aging, is increasingly becoming famous and is projected to see growth at 10%-20% per annum in the Asia-Pacific region. Personal care is the primary market in China, Australia, and India. Lactoferrin is expected to record a surging demand in acne care products.

Lactoferrin, combined with vitamin A and zinc, acts as a critical ingredient for mild to moderate acne. Dairy proteins are measured the most significant foundations of bioactive peptide. There has been a growth in the usage of these peptides in various sports nourishment and nutraceuticals, due to the rise in mindfulness on numerous health issues, along with rising people and growing disposable income.

Key Topics Covered

1. Research Framework

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Global Lactoferrin Industry Insights 4.1. Industry Value Chain Analysis 4.2. DROC Analysis 4.2.1. Growth Drivers 4.2.2. Restraint 4.2.3. Opportunities 4.2.4. Challenges 4.3. Technological Landscape/Recent Development 4.4. Regulatory Framework 4.5. Company Market Share Analysis, 2019 4.6. Porter's Five Forces Analysis 4.7. Impact of COVID-19

5. Global Lactoferrin Market Overview 5.1. Market Size & Forecast by Value, 2016-2026 5.1.1. By Value (USD Million) 5.2. Market Share & Forecast 5.2.1. By Product 5.2.1.1. Spray Dried Powder 5.2.1.2. Freeze-Dried Powder 5.2.2. By Application 5.2.2.1. Food & Beverage 5.2.2.2. Personal care products 5.2.3. By Sales Channel 5.2.3.1. Direct Sales 5.2.3.2. Indirect Sales 5.2.4. By Region 5.2.4.1. North America 5.2.4.2. Europe 5.2.4.3. Asia-Pacific 5.2.4.4. Latin America 5.2.4.5. Middle East & Africa

6. North America Lactoferrin Market

7. Europe Lactoferrin Market

8. Asia-Pacific Lactoferrin Market

9. Latin America Lactoferrin Market

10. Middle East & Africa Lactoferrin Market

11. Company Profiles 11.1. NOW Foods 11.2. Jarrow Formulas 11.3. Life Extension 11.4. Fonterra Cooperative Group 11.5. Glanbia Nutritionals 11.6. Synlait Milk Ltd. 11.7. Metagenics, Inc. 11.8. Naturade 11.9. Ingredia SA 11.10. Agennix Inc. 11.11. Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd. 11.12. Other Prominent Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d8jcpk

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Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

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Global Lactoferrin Market, Forecast to 2026 with Profiles of NOW Foods, Jarrow Formulas, and Life Extension Among Others - PRNewswire

Congresss inability to actually represent the real-live human beings of America, combined with an economic system that rewards lack of empathy and an excess of greed, has brought us to a dark time when an oncoming tsunami of financial ruin, destitution and evictions towers over our heads, blocking out the sunlight.

The impending evictions may soonkick 28 million people/familiesout of their homes. To put that in perspective, only ten million people lost their homes during the 2008 economic crisis, and that was considered by anyone paying attention to be the craziest thing to ever happen.

What were facing now could be three times crazier, getting to Charlie Sheen levels. (I almost wrote Kanye West levels but everything he does is in hopes of being mentioned in the media, and Im not falling for it. Shit. This parenthetical has betrayed me!)

To talk about the impending homelessness tsunami, we have to first get past the fact that our government could totally bail people out and keep them in their homes. Not only have they already bailed out big banks and Wall Street to the tune of$4.25 trillionbut on top of that the Pentagon hasover $21Trillionof unaccounted-for adjustments on their books over the past 20 years. This is to say theres plenty of money.

Money is an idea, a concept, an imaginary metaphysical belief, and its high time we faced the fact that the U.S. government has an unlimited imagination. As philosopher Alan Watts once put it: Money is not a thing, its a measurement. Saying theres not enough money to do something is like a builder saying there are not enough inches to build a house. He has the wood, nails, and hammers. Hes just out of inches.

The U.S. government could easily give every American $2,000 a month for the foreseeable future, which would keep almost everybody in their homes and apartments. In fact, Canada has opted togive $2,000 a monthto those who lost work because of the pandemic.

But ignore the fact that theres enough money. Thats not what were here to discuss.

There are also enough empty homes.As of 2018, there were nearly 1.5 million vacant homes in the country. Compare that to the estimated553,742 people homelesson any given night. So even before the pandemic, there were three empty houses for every homeless person. Three. Thats not even accounting for empty apartments, yachts, sheds, extra bedrooms, garages, condos, cubbyholes, attic spaces, basements, barns, pool houses, and walk-in refrigerators.

If those vacant locations were used to house the houseless, those of us lucky enough to have our own abodes wouldnt hardly notice a difference except that homelessness would have vanished. It would be something we talk about in a remember when fashion like VHS tapes, game shows about grocery shopping, and dating that didnt involve blood tests and an Instagram audit.

No more people on the street, no more fear that a little bad luck would result in you or your family under a bridge giving a guy your underwear in exchange for a sandwich. All that utter madness would cease to exist.

And the impending number of evictions28 millionisnt even accounting for how many people stay in horrible relationships because they cant afford a place of their own, both horrible marriages and other living arrangements. (Like a 25-year-old who has to live with his mom who cleans her feet on the couch every night while watching Wheel of Fortune and eating soup that smells of rotting raccoon carcass. Call me crazy, but in our post-scarcity world, that 25-year-old should be given an apartment.)

But lets back up even further and question the brain parasites we were given from our social engineering. Why should someone be homeless just because they dont have enough money? Some would say indignantly, Because they didnt work hard enough, so they deserve to be homeless. Thats called work ethic and its what this countrys founded on! George Washington something something Ford Motor Company. Meh!

Okay, thats a great point exceptNo, its not. How hard someone works hardly matters in our society. Think for a moment about all the filthy rich trust-fund kids who sit around on their asses all day smoking weed out of the skull of an exotic lemur. Yet theyre still rich. How many trophy wives or trophy husbands lounge by the pool eternally caressing their junk in the sunshine? They dont work hard. How many superfluous board members get paid hundreds of thousands to sit on a board and attend one conference call a month?

Plus, consider people that actually do work for their fortuneslike a CEOdo you honestly believe they work athousand timesharder than a janitor or a dishwasher or a coal miner? Of course not. Whats the hardest job in the world? Probably ripping asbestos out of a dilapidated sewage treatment plant in Phoenix, Arizona in 110-degree heat with improper safety equipment.

Do you think those guys get paid the highest salary in the world because they work the hardest? No! Theyre lucky if they get dental. Theyre lucky if their lunch break is long enough for a sandwichanda piss.

America is not based on hard work. Get it out of your head that this society is at all set up to be fair. Fair would be everyone with a roof over their head. Fair would be every kid getting a solid education. Fair would be every person drinking delicious clean water. Fair is the opposite of whatever the hell were doing here.

But very little of this discussion exists in our culture. Instead, the banks and landlords are preparing to kick 28 million families out. And its not like the bank will resell all those homes during the impending depression lathered in a pandemic. Nope. Those homes will sit empty, just like the 10 million foreclosed homes during the 2008 Great Recession sat empty for months if not years. So the reason for kicking people out is simply to um make sure theyre homeless? How can that make sense?

If the goal is to have a good, functioning society, its completely illogical to kick people out of their shelters. The families will be devastated. The kids will be traumatized. Divorces will occur. Suicides. Addiction. Overdoses. None of that is good for society. None of that helps America even slightly. So the trulypatrioticthing to do is demand housing for all.

Whats good for society is to have people comfortable in their homes, able to get educated and grow as humans. Whatever happened to the pursuit of human growth for every individual?

Some may argue, We cant let people stay in their homes because we need to teach them personal responsibility. Thats the argument every vomit-brained Fox News guest spits out reflexively. Yet its impossible to be responsible for something no one saw coming. Did anyone see this pandemic coming? Did anyone including the government prepare for it?

No. In fact, weve bailed out whole industries, the airline industry for one. Billions of dollars just handed to them. How are the heads of the airlines any different from a homeowner who lost her job in the pandemic? Theres no difference. Shouldnt the airline CEOs be the ones evictedleft out on the street sleeping in a box?

On top of all thisand this point is really going to blow a hole through your pantsits cheaper to keep people in their homes. For example,according toTheWashington Post, Utah was spending on average $20,000 on each chronically homeless person. So, to in part cut those costs but also to save lives, the state started setting up each chronically homeless person with his or her own house.

It worked. By 2015, they cut homelessness by 91 percent and saved the state money. However, since then, homelessness has gone back up. Its tough to say why, but one director of aUtah food pantry said, The mistake we made was stopping [the program].

Yeah, thatmayhave been the reason. Utah lawmakers found out how to end homelessness. and then they stopped doing that! (Why in this country do we run screaming from every great idea like its a hive of angry bees that all want to talk to us about life insurance??)

So here, alas, are the solutions. Housing should be a human right. We have enough homes. We have enough materials. We have enough dollars and enough inches. It doesnt need to be a goddamn mansion, but everyone should have a roof over their heads and four good walls. Hell, Ill even compromisetwo and a half good walls.

Even if we didnt have enough homes, which we do, we can now3D print a housein a matter of hours. (Although it must suck when the printer jams. All those houses stuck together in the tray.)

Point is, dont tell me we dont have enough houses and apartments for everyone.Paris Hiltons dogshave a fucking $325,000 mansion! Im not kidding. Just for the dogs. Thats, shall we say, mildly upsetting. (Let me guess those dogs worked hard to get where they are.)

The next solution is to fight the impending evictions. Dont let the authorities kick your friends and neighbors onto the street. We have a strong (suppressed) history in this country of fighting against landlords and the cruelty of evictions, such as the greatRent Strike War of 1932in the Bronx, and theChicago Eviction Riots of 1931.

Fighting back is not just an option, its an obligation. If youre strong enough to resist the profit-centered social engineering we are fed every day of our lives, then you will soon realize housing should be a human right.

Feature photo | This Sept. 25, 2019 photo shows an eviction notice on the front door of Apartment 17, the home of Ed Buck in West Hollywood, Calif. Brian Melley | AP

Lee Camp is the host of the hit comedy news show Redacted Tonight. His new book Bullet Points and Punch Lines is available atLeeCampBook.comand his stand-up comedy special can be streamed for free atLeeCampAmerican.com.

This article was published with special permission from the author. It originally appeared atConsortium News.

Stories published in our Daily Digests section are chosen based on the interest of our readers. They are republished from a number of sources, and are not produced by MintPress News. The views expressed in these articles are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.

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Lee Camp: A Dozen Reasons Now is the Time for Housing as a Human Right - Mintpress News

By Rose Vaughan

Student Intern, Davie

Cooperative Extension

The trend of the agricultural industry in Davie County is looking up.

Despite the threats of farmland loss, Davie farmland is growing. North Carolina ranks number two in the top 12 states at risk for loss of farmland due to urbanization.

Davie County is resisting that trend. Before 2012, the county was losing 12 percent of its farmland. Since then, there has been a 29 percent increase in the total amount of farmland. Farmers in Davie County are beginning to gain land back and they have used it to more than double the income of the industry.

Across all farms in the county, costs are decreasing and profits are increasing. In just five years the net profits for farmers increased by 270 percent. These improvements took place despite the fact that the number of farms declined by eight percent. Theres no doubt that the strength of agriculture in Davie County has grown.

Although data shows that Davie County agriculture is becoming stronger, it is evident that some things are changing. Some crop sales have decreased substantially. The production of tobacco has gone to zero dollars in sales, which was a significant decline since 2012 when the sales were nearly $1 million. On the other hand, the value of fruit, nut and berry products has gone up by 29 percent and the value of sod, greenhouse, nursery and floriculture products is up by 17 percent.

The amount of land used to harvest forage, corn, soybeans and wheat has grown.

Even more, modern and unique forms of agriculture like agritourism have taken off. In less than a decade, revenue from agritourism has increased by 121 percent. Therefore, many crops and other forms of agriculture have been in an upward trend in terms of production and profits. Its easy to think that the loss of one crop leads to a decline in agriculture as a whole based on those numbers, but the industry is making progress in other areas.

Being ranked No. 20 in the state, one of the strongest agricultural programs in Davie County is in the production of layer hens. Layers are the breed of chickens that are produced primarily for the purpose of laying eggs, hence the name layers. Whereas pullets are the chickens that are produced to replace the layers that die. The numbers of both the layers and the pullets have been increased to more than 318,000 chickens. On top of that, the county was able to raise the profits from egg production by $782,000 in a single year; thats a lot of eggs. The growth in layer hen and egg production has coincided with a 14 percent increase in the value of animal products since 2012.

What does that mean?

While the county is experiencing loss in some areas of agriculture, its making up for those losses by making progress in other areas of production. The shift from tobacco to grains and forages, for instance, may be more profitable for farmers because it allows them to focus their efforts on the more successful crops. On top of that, Davie County is resisting the threat for loss of farmland and even gaining more farmland back.

Ultimately, the changes in the industry seem to just be redirection. As George Bernard Shaw said, Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. The changes in Davie County agriculture has produced an overwhelmingly positive result which is evidence of progress, not decline.

Farmers are supported by consumers through local sales. They have grown their sales to consumers by 21 percent in five years. The Cooperative Extension Davie County Center has made an effort to increase the connection of farmers to consumers through local farmers markets and by giving consumers access to local farm information. You can support these farmers further by visiting our Web page at https://davie.ces.ncsu.edu/davie-local-farms/ for more information on how to reach local farms.

Link:
Agriculture alive and well in Davie County - Davie County Enterprise Record - Davie Enterprise Record

If one wishes to count in decades, the 1920s was surely the greatest single decade in Irish writing in English. What other one could equal it for the sustained quality of its artistry, the immediate and lasting impact of its major works, its conviction in the value of the written word?

There is scarcely a year in the decade in which something remarkable did not occur. In 1920, George Bernard Shaws Heartbreak House premiered in New York. In 1921, WB Yeats published Michael Robartes and the Dancer, the volume that contains Easter 1916, The Second Coming and A Prayer for My Daughter. Ulysses made 1922 a watershed in modern literary history. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.

The Abbey Theatre produced The Shadow of a Gunman, the first work in Sean OCaseys Dublin trilogy, that year, and Shaws Saint Joan, a play about political martyrdom, was premiered in New York. In 1924, OCaseys Juno and the Paycock was staged at the Abbey; Daniel Corkerys The Hidden Ireland, probably the most significant work of cultural criticism produced in Ireland that decade, appeared too. In 1925, Shaw received the Nobel Prize and Yeats published A Vision. This was the only the decades midpoint.

In 1926, OCaseys The Plough and the Stars was staged in the Abbey, prompting riots. The year 1927 was a quiet one, though Shakespeare and Company published Joyces Pomes Pennyeach in Paris. In 1928, The Tower, one of Yeatss finest volumes, was published. Anna Liva Plurabelle, extracted from Joyces Work in Progress, was also published by Faber & Faber and the Gate staged Oscar Wildes Salom for the first time in Ireland. Elizabeth Bowens The Last September was published in 1929.

In 1930, Yeatss Words Upon the Window Pane appeared and a 24-year old Samuel Beckett, making a beginning, published Whoroscope.

Across the Atlantic, Irish-American writers made a real mark in the 1920s. Eugene ONeills The Emperor Jones was staged in New York in 1920 and established ONeills reputation as an experimental playwright. F Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. In 1927, ONeills All Gods Chillun Got Wings premiered with Paul Robeson starring in New York, and in 1928 ONeill won a Pulitzer Prize for Strange Interludes, premiered in New York that year.

They dont belong to Irish writing in any direct sense, but ONeills and Fitzgeralds works mark a moment when Irish-Americans left a permanent stamp on American literature. ONeills grandparents emigrated from Kilkenny in the wake of the Famine. His Irish-born father, James, grew up in a Buffalo slum, the family cared for by his mother Mary ONeill when her husband returned to Ireland. James made a considerable fortune in American touring theatre. In two generations, the family had moved well up the class system, though Eugene ONeill never forgot his fathers terror of the famine poorhouse or his familys Irish or class origins.

The collective contribution these writers Irish and Irish-American made to the arts of modern poetry, fiction and theatre in a single decade is immense. It is worth remembering, too, that many of them engaged, some occasionally, some consistently, with public political issues.

Roy Fosters biography of Yeats relates how on February 7th, 1921, the poet gave an address to the Oxford Irish Society, declaring to a young Irish republican student, James OReilly, that he would tell his audience their kings soldiers are murderous. As good as his word, he used his oration to praise Sinn Fin justice and denounce the Prussianism of the Black and Tans.

On November 8th, 1923, he defended Joyce in Trinity College against the charge of dullness. Ulysses, Yeats responded, might be as long as Johnsons dictionary and as foul as Rabelais, but Joyce was the only Irishman who had the intensity of the great novelist.

His 1925 Senate speech challenging the Cosgrave governments anti-divorce legislation is better remembered today than these earlier contributions. Knowing his side would lose, Yeats told his listeners on that occasion that There is no use quarrelling with icebergs in warm water and that while his opponents would now carry the day when the iceberg melts [Ireland] will become an exceedingly tolerant country.

OCaseys The Plough and the Stars prompted a riot at the Abbey which still possessed an audience passionate or excitable enough to make one. Norah Hoults short story collection Poor Women! (1928) portrayed the inner consciousness of women from varied class backgrounds struggling with religion and suggested that new constituencies were starting to find their own voices. Bowens first novel launched the career of a superb stylist.

Still, if the 1920s was a glorious literary decade, changes soon to come would irrevocably alter Irish writing and literary production generally. The first Pan-African Congress met in Paris in 1920 and the Harlem Renaissance was getting into its swing in New York. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1920 and in 1922 Gandhis Non-Cooperation Movement began in India.

ONeills The Emperor Jones, in its own way a critical commentary on the 1915 US occupation of Haiti, and a work that gave a leading role to an African-American character, now looks a decidedly dated play that deploys crass stereotypes of African-Americans and Caribbean peoples. The African-American actor Charles Gilpin, who played the lead role of Brutus Jones quarrelled continuously with ONeill and throughout the production changed the n-word in the dialogue to Negro or coloured to ONeills chagrin.

As the non-white colonies of Britain and the US asserted themselves in the decades ahead, the kind of casual racism to be found in most white writing in the 1920s would be called out more and more vigorously. And as Irish society settled into conservative state consolidation, and most Irish writers failed to connect with new struggles emerging across the British Empire, much Irish writing lapsed into its own version of a post-independence insularity and would not long remain to the fore in the annals of anti-colonial struggle.

In 1925, John Logie Baird transmitted the first television image and in 1928 made the first transatlantic TV transmission from London to Hartsdale, New York. In 1929, the Academy of Motion Pictures conferred its first awards, known as the Oscars, in Los Angeles. Though the full effects would take time to impinge on Ireland, when TV and cinema created new publics locally and globally, and shaped new kinds of attention and distraction, the literary authors authority, like an iceberg in hot water maybe, slowly declined.

In the familiar narratives of the 20th century, TV and cinema threw light on a darkened autarchic Ireland and created a more open society. This seems at best partially true. They also locked Ireland even more firmly into an Anglo-American transatlantic perspective, to the point that it could sometimes seem that anything happening beyond Great Britain or the United States scarcely mattered.

In any event, as the world became media-saturated over the course of the 20th century, in western-style liberal democracies especially, fewer and fewer writers would enjoy the immense public esteem once commanded by major 19th-century writers such as Victor Hugo or mile Zola in France, Charles Dickens or George Eliot in England, or Leo Tolstoy in Russia. Yeats in Ireland and Sartre in postwar France could inspire and provoke a nation in ways few writers in any contemporary liberal democracy can do today.

It is easy to criticise in retrospect, but the writers themselves may not always have helped matters. When Yeats rejected Sean OCaseys The Silver Tassie in 1928 and OCasey left in dudgeon for London, the fallout may have damaged both. The Abbey Theatre lost its only serious left-wing political writer; OCaseys experimental works in London never had the impact of his Dublin plays . The Abbey, Irish political drama and OCasey may all have been the long-term losers.

More generally, with the advent of what was already beginning to be called mass culture (FR Leaviss Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture was published in 1930), many of the greatest writers of the time tacked in the opposite direction towards avant-garde difficulty and specialist-audience obscurity.

Joyces Work in Progress, published as Finnegans Wake in 1939, is an astonishing feat with many admirers but few avid readers. Yeatss alienation from the new Ireland to which he had tied his fortunes led to works such as On the Boiler, published by the The Cuala Press in 1939; it was a fanatic rant seething with eugenicist disdain for the lower classes, mainly Catholic in Ireland. The strident anti-populist impulse that disfigures his later life especially set a pattern in Irish letters repeated later by others including Francis Stuart and Conor Cruise OBrien, the former drawn to Hitlers Germany, the latter indulging in late career belligerent Zionism and Islamophobia.

In an age of celebrity, Beckett would win celebrity by apparently eschewing celebrity. One way or another, the tango between writer, media and public remains even now tortuously difficult.

For those to whom it matters, the coming decade will be a time to look back, to celebrate, to think critically about Irish literary achievement. No commemorations or conferences in the 2020s, however, will return us to the 1920s. Nor will any amount of Booker Prizes or Tony Awards greatly change the situation of the contemporary writer either.

Today, accomplished poetry, literary drama and maybe even the literary novel are typically quiet niche pursuits closer to ballet or opera than to the novel and poetry a century ago. TV or cinema can make an occasional sensation of The Commitments, The Butcher Boy, Brooklyn or Normal People, but transmedia adaptability doesnt typically do much for the work of a Derek Mahon or Sinad Morrissey. Even when they do serve fiction writers, such as Colm Tibn with Brooklyn, they rarely serve as their more ambitious works, such as Tibns The Master.

The streaming companies that secure strong ratings on the back of works like Normal People rarely repay the favour to the literary world. Though a good novel with a neat story will always serve their purpose, it would be idle to look to Hulu or Netflix for serious critical programming on modern writing. Since writers contract to publishing corporations, and publishing corporations to distribution behemoths like Amazon, or to conglomerates like Disney or Time Warner, the writer, as much any other profession, lives in a world saturated in neoliberal capitalist hierarchy and values.

Looking back on Irish writing in the 1920s, two obvious things stand out: how male that world was and how Protestant. After the fall of Gaelic Ireland, the world of Irish writing and the Irish visual arts were a Protestant stronghold and Joyces exile and Daniel Corkerys crankiness need to be understood in that context.

Neither privileged masculinism nor Protestant patricianism inhibited work of quality. Yet, like ours now, the 1920s world was changing faster then than anyone could keep up with. Did Yeats in 1901 look farther into the future than he knew in Ireland and the Arts when he wrote: We who care deeply about the arts find ourselves the priesthood of any almost forgotten faith, and we must, I think, if we would win the people again, take upon ourselves the method and fervour of a priesthood. We must be half humble and half proud.

In a 21st-century Ireland where almost forgotten faiths are the norm, writers struggle, like priests or ministers, for real vocation and publics that care. Still, young writers continue to appear and even Trinity College, the early 20th-century heart of Irish dullness, continues to produce a few. The Irish generation that came of age after the 2008 financial crash has moved sharply leftwards and wants its own new Ireland. Its support for causes like that of the Palestinians or Black Lives Matter indicate that its views are more internationalist than narcissistically nationalist. The current pandemic and its fallout may push them further to the left.

Today, several youthful Irish writers, most prominently Sally Rooney and Oisn Fagan, announce themselves Marxists, resurrecting another almost forgotten faith, and are doing their best to create a new Irish political fiction capable of speaking to their own era. Their task will not be easy. For all the attention, nationally and internationally, lavished recently on Rooney, what her Marxism might mean for Irish writing today has generated little comment.

What does it mean to be a Marxist writer in the 21st century? Or to be an Irish one more particularly? How can it become something more than a marketing tag a distinguishing brand image? These are questions for critics even more than for writers like Rooney. However, for Irish critics to address such questions well, they will need to take capitalism, Marxism and literature all equally seriously, a rare enough occurrence in Irish studies.

The fact that Rooney and Fagan both attended Trinity reminds us, if reminder is needed, that the literary arts have always been, for better or worse, the preserve of elites. This has not changed greatly since the 1920s. No one can cut a leftist swathe in that world without difficulty. Still, the ambition is to be admired and bespeaks of the writers a faith in themselves and in literature, and a hope for a responsive public willing to consider the issues they raise seriously.

As we move into the centenary of the 1920s, we must wish these young starters well and hope that they, and their readers, can be half humble, half proud, and set our ambitions high. There is a literary tradition to inspire, much in it to emulate, much to avoid, much to renew.

Joe Cleary teaches English and Irish literature at Yale University. Cambridge University Press will publish his Modernism, Empire, World Literature next year.

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Golden decade: How Irish writing roared in the 1920s - The Irish Times

By Vejas Liulevicius, Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville The Haymarket Riot, May 4, 1886, Chicago. Beginning as a strike rally, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb that killed eight police and a number of civilians.. (Image: Everett Historical/Shutterstock)

During the decades after the death of Karl Marx, the socialist movement expanded in many countries. Although there were fears among the Marxists that his ideology might grow faint or diverge from its initial principles, it continued to thrive, although with internal clashes between theory and practice. Also, there were many factions based on the interpretations of the principles in many countries.

Learn more about the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.

In Austria-Hungary, under the rule of the Habsburg Empire, Marxists struggled to reconcile Marxs idea of fading nationalism with their ethnically diverse social structures. These Austro-Marxists came up with novel ideas and models such as federalism and autonomy to prevent the fading of ethnic identity. This was a problem that was persistent in the coming years and proved especially challenging to practice.

Another peculiar aspect of the Austro-Hungarian socialist movement was the immense mass power it had. This power was demonstrated through rallies in the streets. This was hugely impressive for a young man who had just arrived in the city in 1908. His name was Adolf Hitler. Although he was not attracted by the Social Democrats, the idea of mass politics was highly fascinating to him. In his book, Mein Kampf, he recalls how impressed he was with those masses selling to the proportions of a menacing army.

In the late 18th century, Poland was divided by Russian, German, and Austrian empires. Different regions of the country were ruled by these empires. As a result, the socialist parties were not able to form unified and long-lasting parties in this country. Different parties under different names were formed, including the Proletariat Party, a Polish Socialist Party, the Polish Social Democratic Party, and the radical party of SDKPiL (Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania). These were all underground parties that broke up in the early stages.

This is a transcript from the video series The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin. Watch it now, on The Great Courses Plus.

In France, the socialist movement was revived after it was wiped out by the suppression of the Paris Commune. There was a wide range of movements including non-Marxist socialists, Anarchists, and Utopian Socialists. All of these revolutionary and non-revolutionary movements had their share of supporters.

The socialist movement in Britain was completely different from the rest. Although Marx had spent a good portion of his life in exile in Britain, his ideas were not as widely accepted there as in his home country, Germany.

British socialists had opposite ideas to the revolutionary Marxists. Instead of revolution and sudden upheaval, they believed in gradual reform. These ideas were adopted by British socialists from the principles of Fabianism. Some of the most noted members of the British socialist party include George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Fabianism also influenced the Labour Party. According to Harold Wilson, a Labour Prime Minister, the Methodist movement was a more influencing factor in the development of British socialism than Marx.

Learn more about World War I as a revolutionary opportunity.

Like Britain, America was different from the mainstream European socialism. The Americans perceived socialists as dangerous non-American foreigners who were not different from anarchists. This idea, known as the Red Scare, was the result of a historical event in 1886.

On May 4, a group of German anarchists were holding a protest in Haymarket Square, downtown Chicago. With police intervention to end the rally, things got out of hand after someone threw a bomb. The police opened fire and seven policemen and four civilians were killed. Some of the anarchists were found guilty and four of them were executed.

This tragic day still has its marks on American society. In most parts of the world, May 1 is celebrated as Labor Day, which was announced by the Second International to honor the Haymarket affair. But in America, the first Monday of September is Labor Day to separate it from the violent incident in Haymarket.

The incident has been known as one of the reasons why there is no mass socialism in America. But there are some other reasons which are more rooted in American culture and lifestyle. A number of scholars believe that capitalism is more imprinted in the minds of Americans than socialism. The high living standards in America are in contrast with socialist ideas of an absence of social class and private capital.

The Haymarket affair in America increased anti-radicalism and anti-anarchism sentiments. The Americans associated socialism with anarchism after this incident. This is one of the reasons why there is no mass socialism in America.

The Haymarket affair, which had great implications for the socialist movement in America, ended with the arrest of several anarchists. Four anarchists were hanged. Several policemen and civilians were also killed in the riot.

Socialism after the death of Marx continued to spread in Europe through trade unions and socialist parties. They vowed to improve working conditions for workers and create a better life. The Second International brought these parties together in periodic congresses.

Karl Marx, the German philosopher first put forth the ideas of social justice and equality. In his Communist Manifesto, together with Freidrich Engels, he laid the foundations of Communism. After his death, socialist movements spread in the world and created massive changes in history.

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Marxism after Marx in Europe and America - The Great Courses Daily News

Editors note:Dr. Shedingeris a Professor of Religion at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is the author of a recent book critiquing Darwinian triumphalism,The Mystery of Evolutionary Mechanisms.

Recently I acquired a copy of the fourth edition of Strickbergers Evolution (2008) from a retiring biology colleague. Edited and updated by Brian K. Hall and Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Strickbergers Evolution bills itself as the most broadly based textbook on evolution and a staple in undergraduate education in evolutionary biology.

But what will biology students actually learn from this textbook? On my reading, this textbook functions more as staple in indoctrination in Darwinian triumphalism than it does a staple in undergraduate education. In a series of posts, I hope to provide a critical review of many of the ways this textbook misleads students and fails to provide a foundation for real education, which must always present an accurate and nuanced picture of our current state of knowledge.

Here, I will point out several basic errors of fact to be found in Strickbergers Evolution. Any textbook must be rigorously fact-checked, lest the existence of clear errors undermine the credibility of all the information presented. Such a process seems not to have happened here. As one small example, Francis Galton is called Darwins first cousin in a discussion about eugenics. Of course, Galton was only Darwins half-cousin, having been born to a daughter of Erasmus Darwin who was a half-sister to Robert Darwin, Charless father.

Unlike many textbooks on evolution, Strickbergers Evolution includes a section called Belief, Religion, and Evolution. In it we read:

Until Copernicus and Galileo in the sixteenth century, no one had seriously challenged the idea of a powerful deity controlling the physical universe. In the new worldview they and others ushered in, however, God appeared as an initial creator rather than as an incessant manipulator of the universe. The advent of Darwinism posed further threats to Western religion by suggesting that biological relationships, including the origin of humans and of all species, could be explained by natural selection without the intervention of a god.

Here we see the often-repeated error viewing the Darwinian revolution as the fulfillment of the Copernican revolution, in which humans were systematically removed from the center of concern. But left out of the discussion is the inconvenient fact that Copernicus primary motivation for placing the sun at the center of the cosmos was religious. Copernicus had no empirical evidence compelling this move. The Ptolemaic system still worked and accounted for observations, though it had become aesthetically messy due to the addition of many ad hoc features.

Copernicus reasoned that the God he worshiped as the great Artisan would never have created such an aesthetically displeasing monstrosity. Placing the sun at the center created a simpler cosmos more in keeping with Copernicus theologically motivated aesthetic sensibilities, and this was his primary argument for why a heliocentric model must be correct.

A few pages later, this error is repeated:

The first significant cracks in the theological armor of continued divine intervention in nature were made in the discoveries of natural laws regulating the motion of the solar system, by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler.

But, of course, the idea of divine intervention did not end with Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, for Isaac Newton would come along and become the closest thing in the 17th century to an advocate of intelligent design!

Hall and Hallgrimsson are biologists, not historians of science, so perhaps these errors can be excused. But what should we make of their statement, Natural selection acts because of the differential survival of individual organisms with particular features? Even a novice would know that natural selection is a term to describe differential reproduction, not survival. Survival means nothing if organisms with particular features fail to out-reproduce organisms lacking these features. But Hall and Hallgrimsson seem to double down on this error when they write, Biological evolution tracks opportunistic pathways, and is blind to destinations other than survival. But natural selection cannot track anything, and even if it could, it would track reproduction, not survival. Darwin may have focused on survival, but the focus on differential reproduction has been at the center of evolutionary theory at least since the advent of population genetics in the 1930s. As Thomas Kuhn once pointed out, scientists are often woefully ignorant of the historical development of their own subjects.

This is not the only instance of faulty understanding of basic aspects of evolutionary theory and its history. In a section titled Randomness of Mutation, Hall and Hallgrimsson write:

Until the 1950s, the accepted view among bacteriologists was that bacteria had a unique plastic heredity in which appropriate mutations arise as an immediate response to the needs of the environment.

Actually, the randomness of mutation had already become an article of faith by 1943 due to the famous fluctuation test of Salvador Luria and Max Delbrck, whose seminal Genetics paper (Mutations of Bacteria from Virus Sensitivity to Virus Resistance) doesnt make it into the textbooks bibliography. The randomness of mutation was very much an accepted fact within the biological establishment long before the 1950s.

Eventually, this idea was challenged in 1988 when John Cairns and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health reworked Luria and Delbrcks fluctuation test and claimed to find evidence for directed mutation. This was followed in the early 1990s by two papers by Barry Hall purporting to demonstrate anticipatory mutagenesis. But these complicating challenges to the randomness of mutation, published in such respected journals as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature, and Genetics, are entirely ignored in the textbook.

Finally, in one grand statement of Darwinian triumphalism, Hall and Hallgrimsson write:

Darwins theory made it clear that species fixity was not natural. These radical ideas, which revolutionized biology, also affected sociology, anthropology, economics, politics, womens rights, fiction, poetry, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Tennyson, George Eliot, George Bernard Shaw, Henri Bergson, and Sigmund Freud are just a few of those who incorporated evolution into their studies, writings, politics, and world views.

The oversimplification here is staggering (Darwin and womens rights?!) and would take an entire book to unpack. At the very least, the late 19th and early 20th century eclipse of Darwinism (to borrow Peter Bowlers term) is ignored here. Lamarckian and vitalistic theories continued to be popular until the development of the evolutionary synthesis of the 1930s and 1940s. George Bernard Shaw was a harsh critic of Darwin, and in coining the term lan vital, Henri Bergson was certainly no friend of Darwinism. I suppose such historical inaccuracies are a small price to pay in service to Darwinian indoctrination. But this makes a mockery of the educational process. Students deserve better.

In upcoming posts, I intend to discuss Strickbergers Evolution on issues such as its portrayal of Darwin, its presentation of some of what Jonathan Wells calls the icons of evolution, its discussion of coevolution and the initial stages of variation, the meaning of convergent evolution, and a few additional items like eye evolution and selection in pre-biotic chemistry. If Thomas Kuhn was correct that science textbooks constitute initiations into currently reigning scientific paradigms that bleach the blemishes of complicated histories, then Strickbergers Evolution could stand as Kuhns paradigmatic example.

Image: Charles Darwin, by Francis Darwin (Ed.) / Public domain, 1891.

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The Triumphalism of Strickberger's Evolution - Discovery Institute

Covid-19 has brought along tremendous changes in our daily lives. It has compelled us to adopt technology and digital tools in all areas of our lives. With so much of our time being spent online, an hour-long webinar with Mrs. Aditi Rindani, a media and communications specialist with more than 10+ years of experience probed me to write about the evolving digital world of education and communication.

The webinar began with the basics of communication and gave insights on the importance of non-verbal communication. 60-70% of human communication is inclusive of non-verbal communication and it is said that non-verbal cues strengthen a verbal conversation. The lack of personal connect and physical meetings have made it difficult to understand people and have paved the way for numerous assumptions and misunderstandings. Another disadvantage of online modes of communication is frequent distractions fueled by notifications, accessing other tabs and applications causing poor attention span of a person.

Various communication barriers like emotional barriers can be overcome by simply being empathetic and a good listener. Enquiring about their emotional status and well-being would go a long way in eliminating such hurdles. The communication barriers with respect to the ongoing Coronavirus need to be understood and dealt in a healthy way. At a time when inter-personal communication has gone for a toss, it is difficult to gauge non-verbal cues and build trust among people. Stress levels are high more than ever and deeming the need to be understood and showing empathy a priority.

The deeply affected education sector has now paved the way for using technology in education. Even with the boost of EdTech systems, there is an empathy deficit and a lack of human-centric feedback. Being confined to homes and screens has created a lot of anxiety and impatience among students. The responsibility of teachers has increased manifold as they have to create visual content to teach, keep track of students individually and conduct assessments simultaneously along with keeping a tab on the childrens well-being. The Delhi Government uses Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) under the umbrella of its Mission Buniyad. Parents and students can give a missed call to get an audio lesson every alternate day for more than 8 lac children enrolled across various public government schools. Such noteworthy initiatives ensure outreach of education to various communities of the society.

Professional communication for workplaces needs to be evolved and changed keeping in mind the dynamic circumstances. Respecting time and privacy, selecting the right mediums of communication, and keeping humans at the center rather than the task at hand would better help in maintaining a healthy relationship between employers and the employees. Setting group norms such as keeping color codes for various states of the mind (red for stress, green for happy and relaxed), having light conversations before meetings, or even group activities would provide more enthusiasm and provide a sense of belonging to the workforce. Previous responses and texts can be analyzed and improved to be more empathetic in the future. Importance must be given to proofreading emails and messages and using the right exclamations at the right time leaving no room for misunderstanding and hurt. Use appropriate sentences like these are good suggestions, let us discuss them tomorrow and give appropriate feedback whenever required.

Providing a sense of assurance to the people, be it employees or children must be done through constant communication. Conversing about things apart from work and conducting creative activities can prove much beneficial. Understand if they are coping with the changes, offer assistance, and inculcate kindness and empathy. Be a good listener and provide the benefit of doubt.

Battling challenging times like these, especially when it comes to education and communication, must be difficult at different levels and it is a leaders role to ensure the correct management of people. Understanding their perspectives and building a rapport with them can help to overcome the communication barriers.

As George Bernard Shaw rightly said, The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

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The Other Side Of Education And Communication In Covid-19 Times - Youth Incorporated