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Man fakes own death to teach his family a tough life lesson

<p>A Belgian TikToker has become the subject of the internet’s scorn after playing a prank on the loved ones and mourners gathered to bid him farewell at what they believed to be his funeral. </p> <p>They were under the assumption that the service was being held for the recently-departed David Baerten - their 45-year-old friend who was not, it turns out, dead after all. </p> <p>Instead, Baerten had devised a plan with his wife and children to trick everyone into believing he’d passed on, all so that he could teach them a ‘valuable’ lesson in the importance of staying in touch.</p> <p>In a bid to make Baerten’s friends and followers believe the lie, one of his daughters even posted to social media about his passing, writing “rest in peace Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you.</p> <p>“Why is life so unfair? Why you? You were going to be a grandfather, and you still had your whole life ahead of you. I love you! We love you! We will never forget you.”</p> <p>The ‘funeral’ was held near Liege for the TikToker - who uses the name Ragnar le Fou for his social media antics - with his family and friends coming together for what they thought was a final farewell. But as they prepared for that difficult task, things took a sharp turn. </p> <p>Baerten, who had been alive the entire time, descended in a helicopter with a camera crew in tow to surprise them all. In a video later shared to social media, he could be heard telling them “cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral.” </p> <p>Another user - who was present at the time - shared a clip of Baerten in the arms of his sobbing loved ones, while others took the opportunity to complain about the entire “joke”. </p> <p><iframe style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; display: block; font-family: proxima-regular, PingFangSC, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; width: 605px; height: 740px; visibility: unset; max-height: 740px;" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7243399474553425179?lang=en-GB&amp;referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-12190705%2FMan-fakes-death-arrives-funeral-helicopter-teach-family-lesson.html&amp;embedFrom=oembed" name="__tt_embed__v11218062736010092" sandbox="allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-same-origin"></iframe>They were complaints that continued online, as the videos gained traction and many raced to condemn him for the heartless stunt. </p> <p>“Really shocking, it should be punishable by law!” one user declared. </p> <p>“I'm shocked,” another said, before asking how he’d been able to do that to those close to him. </p> <p>“He wanted to see who would be there with his eyes,” one said, “what narcissism”.</p> <p>Someone else agreed, noting that “you really have to be full of yourself to do such a thing.”</p> <p>The feedback was so strong that Baerten was forced to explain his actions, claiming that “what I see in my family often hurts me. I never get invited to anything. </p> <p>“Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated. That’s why I wanted to give them a life lesson, and show them that you shouldn’t wait until someone is dead to meet up with them.”</p> <p>And while he is yet to share his own professional footage from the day, his plan had worked.</p> <p>“Only half of my family came to the funeral,” he said. “That proves who really cares about me. Those who didn’t come, did contact me to meet up. </p> <p>“So in a way I did win.”</p> <p><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

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How to teach children to think critically about money

<p><em><strong>Dr Carly Sawatzki, a lecturer at Monash University, is a teacher-educator with expertise in curriculum and pedagogy across the Victorian and Australian curricula (VCE, Victorian Curriculum, Australian Curriculum). </strong></em></p> <p>Advice on money often boils down to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/what-aussies-get-wrong-about-money-and-schools-dont-help-20170522-gwa4hm.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">simplistic messages</a></strong></span> about budgeting, understanding compound interest and avoiding debt. But <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer-research/crpr69.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a></strong></span> suggests financial decision-making depends as much on our values, expectations, emotions and family experiences as information taught at school.</p> <p>In short, the way people interact with money is highly complex and so the way we teach our kids needs to catch up.</p> <p>It’s time for a shift from teaching children rote-learned financial rules of thumb to instilling dispositions and a thinking process that underlies good financial decision-making.</p> <p>Funnily enough, the debate over “<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-smashed-avo-debate-misses-inequality-within-generations-70475" target="_blank" rel="noopener">smashed avocadoes</a></strong></span>” illustrates two concepts that can make all the difference to how we approach financial decisions. The first is a future orientation and the second is self-regulation.</p> <p>Thinking about the future, or a “future orientation” is incredibly important when it comes to managing money. This is a tendency to consider future consequences and a willingness to delay gratification in favour of longer term goals.</p> <p>Self-regulation is the process by which we control our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Being aware of our financial motivations and having the ability to critically analyse our decisions is also important.</p> <p>These are the kinds of thought processes necessary for good financial decision-making.</p> <p><strong>Money is a limited resource</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487005000577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research shows</a></strong></span> that both parental behaviour (like discussing financial matters with children) and dispositions (such as future orientation) have an impact on their children’s financial behaviour into adulthood.</p> <p>This means that simply discussing money can help children build financial independence by practising making decisions. For example, parents and children can discuss what they want to do with any money they receive, and maybe encouraging them to bank and save.</p> <p>Giving children pocket money is another strategy for accomplishing this. Although not everyone has the means or the inclination to pay their children for helping out around the home. And you don’t have to.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038516668125" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research also shows</a></strong></span> that financial hardship - living on a limited income and going without – can be just as useful in shaping financial understandings as the experience of growing up rich. In fact, there are things that children observe and experience – like problematic gambling and the financial fallout of marriage separation - that can influence them to think and feel more conservatively about money.</p> <p>As part of my ongoing research, I have spent time working with parents, teachers, and 10-12 year old students. I’ve found that the experience of financial hardship is not lost on children. During interviews some have described the importance of working to earn an income. Others have told me that their parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet and money is stressful.</p> <p>Some children suggested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.merga.net.au/publications/counter.php?pub=pub_conf&id=2148" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selling a car to save money</a></strong></span>, or competently described sophisticated economic concepts (supply, demand and market equilibrium) in relation to buying and selling second-hand goods, particularly electronic games.</p> <p>These examples show that children for whom money is a limited resource bring valuable insights to their financial literacy education at school. There are ways that parents and teachers can sensitively tap into these insights during lessons.</p> <p><strong>Promoting critical thinking and financial independence</strong></p> <p>We live in a world that sells immediacy and makes it easy to tap and go. Figuring out how to balance short term desires with longer term financial goals that may seem out of reach - like funding higher education and purchasing a home - requires focus.</p> <p>Ultimately, children need practice applying their literacy and numeracy skills to make financial decisions independently. This can take place both at home and in the classroom.</p> <p>For instance, instead of giving children values-laden advice about what makes a wise financial decision (such as avoiding debt), use questioning techniques to stimulate and guide their thinking.</p> <p>These <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-1447133181/critical-thinking-the-art-of-socratic-questioning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could include</a></strong></span>:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Reasons: </strong>What are your reasons for making that decision?</li> <li><strong>Evidence:</strong> Can you convince me that is the best decision?</li> <li><strong>Argument: </strong>What would someone who disagreed with you say?</li> <li><strong>Impact on others:</strong> Will your decision affect anybody else?</li> <li><strong>Consequences: </strong>What might happen next?</li> </ul> <p>These questions engage children to think about what drives them and what all their available choices might be.</p> <p>As painful as it can be, it can also be productive to let go and allow children to experience the odd financial misadventure and mistake. Later, you might ask…</p> <ul> <li><strong>Reflection:</strong> How did that work out? What might you do differently next time?</li> </ul> <p>These questions have the potential to promote critical thinking, a future orientation and self-regulation - without seeming to be too judgemental or interfering.</p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-teach-your-kids-to-think-more-critically-about-money-84699" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Pink reveals how she teaches her daughter the value of hard work

<p>Pop sensation Pink is teaching her daughter an important lesson on the value of hard work.</p> <p>The singer, who is preparing for her new tour, has revealed her daughter, Willow, 11, is going to work alongside her.</p> <p>Pink spoke on the US morning show <em>Today</em>, saying, "Willow has a job on tour,” adding, “We just had to go over minimum wage and it’s different state to state.”</p> <p>She went on to reveal a cheeky exchange she and her daughter had.</p> <p>“I said it’s about $US22.50 ($A32.80) a show depending how long I go, if I run over. She goes, ‘I’ll take $US20 ($A29.20). It’s easier to do the math.’ I’m like ‘That’s not how you negotiate for yourself.’ I’m like, ‘You’ll take $US25 ($36.47), so it’s easier math.’”</p> <p>Although Pink has an estimated net worth of $200 million USD ($291 million AUD), she believes the value of hard work and knowing your worth should be a priority.</p> <p>Pink is also mum to Jameson, 6, with her husband, Carey Hart, and she teased that her son’s negotiating skills were not quite up to scratch either.</p> <p>“Jameson’s just like, ‘I want a lollipop!’” she joked.</p> <p>The pop sensation’s tour kicks off on June 7 in the UK, starting with her first US show in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 26.</p> <p>Her 11-year-old will be working alongside her mum for the entire tour and is bound to learn many more important life lessons along the way.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Getty</em></p>

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Realistic androids coming closer, as scientists teach a robot to share your laughter

<p>Do you ever laugh at an inappropriate moment?</p> <p>A team of Japanese researchers has taught a robot when to laugh in social situations, which is a major step towards creating an android that will be “like a friend.”</p> <p>“We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy,” says Dr Koji Inoue, an assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Informatics, and lead author on a paper describing the research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2022.933261" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in <em>Frontiers in Robotics and AI</em>.</p> <p>“Conversation is, of course, multimodal, not just responding correctly. So we decided that one way a robot can empathize with users is to share their laughter, which you cannot do with a text-based chatbot.”</p> <p>The researchers trained an AI with data from 80 speed dating dialogues, from a matchmaking marathon with Kyoto University students. (Imagine meeting a future partner at exercise designed to teach a robot to laugh…)</p> <p>“Our biggest challenge in this work was identifying the actual cases of shared laughter, which isn’t easy, because as you know, most laughter is actually not shared at all,” says Inoue.</p> <p>“We had to carefully categorise exactly which laughs we could use for our analysis and not just assume that any laugh can be responded to.”</p> <p>They then added this system to a hyper-realistic android named <a href="https://robots.ieee.org/robots/erica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Erica</a>, and tested the robot on 132 volunteers.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p214084-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> <p>Participants listened to one of three different types of dialogue with Erica: one where she was using the shared laughter system, one where she didn’t laugh at all, and one where she always laughed whenever she heard someone else do it.</p> <p>They then gave the interaction scores for empathy, naturalness, similarity to humans, and understanding.</p> <p>The researchers found that the shared-laughter system scored higher than either baseline.</p> <p>While they’re pleased with this result, the researchers say that their system is still quite rudimentary: they need to categorise and examine lots of other types of laughter before Erica’s chuckling naturally.</p> <p>“There are many other laughing functions and types which need to be considered, and this is not an easy task. We haven’t even attempted to model unshared laughs even though they are the most common,” says Inoue.</p> <p>Plus, it doesn’t matter how realistic a robot’s laugh is if the rest of its conversation is unnatural.</p> <p>“Robots should actually have a distinct character, and we think that they can show this through their conversational behaviours, such as laughing, eye gaze, gestures and speaking style,” says Inoue.</p> <p>“We do not think this is an easy problem at all, and it may well take more than 10 to 20 years before we can finally have a casual chat with a robot like we would with a friend.”</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=214084&amp;title=Realistic+androids+coming+closer%2C+as+scientists+teach+a+robot+to+share+your+laughter" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robot-laugh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/ellen-phiddian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ellen Phiddian</a>. Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

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Dad sparks controversy for teaching toddler to hunt

<p dir="ltr">A dad has been hit with backlash for teaching his eldest son how to hunt, sparking a discussion on whether children should be able to use weapons.</p> <p dir="ltr">Zach Williams has a passion for hunting and is currently teaching his eldest stepson, who is seven, how to shoot a bow and arrow while his two-year-old watches from the comfort of a backpack.</p> <p dir="ltr">Williams told <em>news.com.au</em>’s podcast <em>I’ve Got News For You</em> that he was taken hunting when he was a child, and that he takes his children now to pass on that experience and to bond.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I started hunting before I had any memory of going out. My grandparents used to take me out camping and fishing and hunting quite young so it's just all I've known growing up," he told host Andrew Bucklow.</p> <p dir="ltr">His seven-year-old practices shooting at targets while his youngest son watches on, laughing as the pair take their shots.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I've got my stepson's elbow and have wound down the poundage, which is the drawer weight and I've just started letting him shoot targets with help from myself," Williams said.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d7e8821b-7fff-ab19-39a5-8980078be942"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">"[My younger son] giggles, [my eldest] shoots the bow again, [and my youngest] giggles and he's like more please dad."</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/07/aussie-dad-shoot1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Aussie dad Zach Williams has been teaching his young stepson how to use a bow, sparking controversy about his style of parenting. Image: @aussie_arrow (TikTok)</em></p> <p dir="ltr">On other occasions, Williams takes his youngest to explore the terrain and local animals.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I want him to have fun out there, take notice of all the other things that's going on. You see all the native animals, you see all the native bird life, you come across lizards, see plenty of kangaroos, emus and stuff like that,” Williams added.</p> <p dir="ltr">Along with teaching them how to shoot, Williams said the boys receive other educational benefits that non-hunters don’t typically notice, such as learning about conservation and the dangers feral animals impose on the environment, as well as how to be patient and how to “butcher” their own meat.</p> <p dir="ltr">"You learn firearm safety … You're drilling in how dangerous a gun can be. But you know …, [athletes] break their necks, break their legs, break their spines, you know have all these life changing events,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Hunting can be dangerous if something goes wrong, but so can everything."</p> <p dir="ltr">However, Williams doesn’t necessarily want his sons to shoot at animals just yet, since they don’t have the strength to kill their prey humanely.</p> <p dir="ltr">"You need a certain poundage to efficiently, effectively and humanely kill something with a bow and arrow and that's what you're trying for when your bow hunting is the most humane shot possible," Williams said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"So you have to get lots of practice in it and you also have to have the right setup, the right arrow. So it's as clean a kill as possible."</p> <p dir="ltr">Unlike Williams, Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst is among those who strongly oppose the activity and has expressed concern about how NSW hunting laws could be reformed in relation to children.</p> <p dir="ltr">Under the proposed changes, children would be allowed to hunt with bows and dogs regardless of age, while those aged 16-18 would no longer need supervision while hunting using these methods.</p> <p dir="ltr">Hurst said the proposal needs to be scrapped, despite similar rules existing elsewhere in Australia.</p> <p dir="ltr">"These are absolutely shocking proposals being put forward by the Minister of Agriculture, Dugald Saunders. It completely ignores the significant safety risk of these weapons, and the enormous animal welfare impacts that they will have as well," she told Bruckhurst.</p> <p dir="ltr">Though it’s still unclear whether these changes will be implemented, Hurst said she would be keeping a close eye on the situation in case the government attempts to “sneak” it through.</p> <p dir="ltr">As for parents like Williams, she said her party was greatly concerned about the “traumatic experiences” children go through if they get hurt.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I mean, that puts that toddler in a very dangerous situation, and also risks them experiencing trauma from witnessing an animal dying and being torn to pieces. It's really concerning,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-42cc5b19-7fff-ee9f-5533-b9d167033c44"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @aussie_arrow (TikTok)</em></p>

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You actually can teach an old dog new tricks, which is why many of us keep learning after retirement

<p><a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2019073014375151">Lorna Prendergast</a> was 90 years old when she graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2019. She said her message to others was, “You’re never too old to dream.”</p> <p>Nor, obviously, too old to learn.</p> <p>In the same year 94-year-old <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-06/david-and-anne-bottomley-1/10785150?nw=0">David Bottomley</a> became the oldest person in Australia to graduate with a PhD from Curtin University. The great-grandfather said he wasn’t yet finished. “I have a great deal yet to work out,” he said, perhaps making him the ultimate lifelong learner.</p> <p>Prendergast’s and Bottomley’s achievements are examples of the levels of learning some older adults are capable of. In 2019-20, around 73,000 Australian adults aged 60 or more were enrolled in <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/total-vet-students-and-courses-2020">vocational training, community education</a> and <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2019-section-2-all-students">university</a> courses. That’s enough to populate a mid-size Australian city.</p> <p>But the term “lifelong learning” has increasingly tended to focus on the period of compulsory education and training across working lives – that is, before retirement.</p> <p>Professor of adult education, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2059.01.2017.3">Stephen Billett</a>, argues the concept of lifelong learning has come to be associated with lifelong education, which is more about the institutional provision of learning experiences.</p> <p>Instead, he says, it should go back to its roots. Lifelong learning is a personal process based on the sets of experiences people have had throughout their lives.</p> <h2>Learning after retirement</h2> <p>According to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12120">David Istance</a>, the nonresident senior fellow at the OECD’s Center for Universal Education, a result of this foreshortened view of lifelong learning is to downplay the considerable amount of formal learning taking place after retirement. This means learning like that done by Prendergast and Bottomley. Although much learning also happens in non-institutional settings.</p> <p>For example, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2016.1224037">Scottish study</a> tracked the learning activities of almost 400 Glaswegians aged 60 or over. Using a broad definition of “learning”, researchers discovered an “active ageing” subset in the sample.</p> <p>This active ageing group was:</p> <blockquote> <p>socially and technologically engaged … “learner-citizens”, participating in educational, physical, cultural, civic and online activities.</p> </blockquote> <p>Such findings are particularly significant for a country like Australia where the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/twenty-years-population-change">population is ageing</a>, due to sustained low fertility and increasing life expectancy. The result is proportionally fewer children and a larger proportion of people aged 65 and over.</p> <p>Over the past two decades, the population aged 85 and over has also increased, by <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/twenty-years-population-change">110%</a> (more than doubled) compared with total population growth of 35%. In mid-2020 there were more than half a million of these “older olds” in Australia.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434908/original/file-20211201-21-1r60yz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434908/original/file-20211201-21-1r60yz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt="Older woman painting at home." /></a> <br /><span class="caption">Learning doesn’t have to be in an institutionalised setting.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/image-senior-female-artist-painting-picture-247408171" class="source">Shutterstock</a></span></p> <p>The nation could have <a href="https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/research-projects/sydney-centenarian-study">50,000 centenarians</a> by 2050.</p> <h2>A lifetime of complex cognitive activity</h2> <p>Brain researcher <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-25/longevity-ageing-centenarian-lifespan-life-expectency/100123434">Perminder Sachdev</a> says surviving into older age relies partly on “a lifetime of good effort”. Some of that effort is a solid education in our formative years and then ongoing purposeful learning.</p> <p>Sachdev believes this builds better cognitive reserves and sets us up for a lifetime of more complex cognitive activity.</p> <p>But what is “purposeful learning”? A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2020.1819905">Swedish review</a> found older adults do formal learning to maintain or increase quality of life, including through learning new things and sharing knowledge, and to connect through social networks. They also see classes and courses as a means of developing coping skills that enhance individual autonomy, and as a way of stimulating their cognitive abilities to help stave off mental decline.</p> <p>But <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED054428;%5Blink%20text%5D(https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED084368.pdf);%5Blink%20text%5D(https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Learning+in+Adulthood%3A+A+Comprehensive+Guide%2C+4th+Edition-p-9781119490494)">numerous studies</a> in recent decades have shown formal education is just the tip of the adult learning iceberg.</p> <p>As the Glasgow study reveals, many older adults are continuing their learning in guises other than through formal courses. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713613513633">Communal examples</a> include sewing groups, men’s sheds, bird-watching clubs, travel groups, and musical jam sessions.</p> <p>Few of the participants are likely to perceive their activities in explicit learning terms, yet all four reasons for learning the Swedish study identified can be discerned within such groups.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434912/original/file-20211201-19-peszg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434912/original/file-20211201-19-peszg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">Sewing groups, bird watching clubs and musical jam sessions are ways seniors can continue their learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seniors-trekking-forest-1095221123" class="source">Shutterstock</a></span></p> <p>As in the Glasgow research, the proportion of older people engaged in purposeful learning is likely to be a subset of the larger population. Nevertheless there needs to be official and community acknowledgement that a segment of older people has both the motivation and capacity to continue to learn, including into their 90s. These people are “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713613513633">active agers</a>”.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-25/longevity-ageing-centenarian-lifespan-life-expectency/100123434">Sachdev</a>, the key to maximising healthy ageing is improving the quality of initial and ongoing education because this impacts positively on our brains.</p> <p>This is not to say older adults should feel obliged to engage in “purposeful learning”. After all, they’re not a homogeneous group, and some may decide it’s not something they want to do.</p> <p>David <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12120">Istance</a> intimates some may also subscribe to the outmoded mindset that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.</p> <p>For older people who do want to continue to engage with the wider world and have the capacity to do so, however, we need to ensure “active ageing” is part of any “lifelong learning” agenda.</p> <p>Let’s continue to promote older learning champions like Prendergast and Bottomley, not as outliers but as shining lights in a broader expanse of long-twinkling stars.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170379/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/darryl-dymock-573463">Darryl Dymock</a>, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Education, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-actually-can-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks-which-is-why-many-of-us-keep-learning-after-retirement-170379">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shuttershock</em></p>

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Can milkshakes and sharks teach kids consent?

<p dir="ltr">Criticism over the government’s ‘bizarre’ new campaign designed to educate school kids on consent have come from sex educators and advertising bodies alike. In the campaign, actors discuss respectful relationships with the help of a milkshake, taco and a shark.</p> <p dir="ltr">The videos, made by The Good Society, Morrison government’s Respect Matters organisation, discuss topics involving consent and relationships across the different school groups. In the videos aimed at senior high-school students (Years 11-12), actors act out the process of gaining consent through a discussion of ‘trying milkshakes’ and other activities.</p> <p dir="ltr">The ‘Moving the Line’ campaign also features a man trying to convince a woman to swim in shark-infested waters, reassuring her that they’ll be fine with his spear gun. Another depicts a man eating tacos to discuss sexual assault, saying that people have desires and objects such as tacos do not.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://thegoodsociety.gov.au/about/what-is-the-good-society" target="_blank">The Good Society website</a>, all content has been developed to align with the Australian curriculum, but rape prevention advocates have criticised the resources, saying that they fail to meet national education standards.</p> <p dir="ltr">Fair Agenda and End Rape on Campus on Australia (EROCA) called for a complete review of the content featured on the website. In a statement, the two groups said the videos are often “confusing” for teens trying to navigate the behaviours the videos try to address.</p> <p dir="ltr">Caitlin Roper of Collective Shout, a national body campaigning against the objectification in media and advertising, agreed and<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/governments-sex-and-consent-education-video-slammed/1b924691-c64e-4b1d-b1a8-a313eabd8357" target="_blank">told 9Honey</a><span> </span>the videos are “confusing and awkward”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“They underestimate young people’s ability to comprehend sexual assault completely,” Roper said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s important to have a national dialogue, but the content widely missed the mark.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The Good Society launched last week with 350 online materials about safe and respectful relationships for schools and families. As part of the government’s Respect Matters program, the program aims to support respectful relationships education in Australian schools and change attitudes of young people around domestic, sexual, and family violence.</p> <p dir="ltr">The push for better consent education came after Sydney activist Chanel Contos’ petition to teach consent earlier, which received 4,000 testimonies detailing school-aged sexual assault.</p> <p dir="ltr">These include allegations of violent rapes, coerced drinking, and sexual harassment, mostly perpetrated by young male students.</p> <p dir="ltr">Roper says the new videos, including the one depicting a woman rubbing a milkshake in a man’s face, avoid ‘real, honest, and meaningful conversations’ and neglect to acknowledge the ‘highly gendered’ nature of sexual assault.</p> <p dir="ltr">Depicting a woman as the perpetrator, “didn’t acknowledge the fact it is overwhelmingly women and girls enduring sexual assault and rape by men and boys,” Roper said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Kids are open to having these tough conversations, but the concept of consent alone is quite limited.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Better education around sex and consent is largely meaningless without looking at the wider culture and male sexual entitlement,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">A recent report by UN Women found that 97 percent of women experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment before they turn 24, and 97 percent of men who experienced sexual assault were assaulted by men.</p> <p dir="ltr">The videos also drew criticism for downplaying the experience of the victim and for offering more support to the perpetrator.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a narration over an infographic likening sharing milkshakes to consent, the narrator said, ‘In a respectful relationship, if someone moves the line, you might be upset but ultimately want to repair the situation.’</p> <p dir="ltr">In the video, the woman, named Veronica, smears a milkshake in the face of her visibly unhappy male counterpart, Bailey.</p> <p dir="ltr">‘It’s just a funny game, Bailey. I know you really like my milkshake,’ Veronica tells him.</p> <p><img class="post_image_group" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NbkEtQQ1DhxyN-_fHZdBJtzjHFE6jV1y3mcHCgnH6ieGUiwgwIbEbzrjkbEGBPEXnD8VyY0q_jo-ywiCptX8h6KEiUbx6ROzUet4N_IwlT-pPHPZdaHm8d2ZM1-2JM82N2CCtaU_" alt="" width="396" height="214" /><span></span></p> <p dir="ltr">‘Maintaining any relationship is hard work, but handling a disrespectful relationship can be upsetting, lonely, even dangerous. In fact, it can be one of the hardest things we do in our lives,” the narrator continues.</p> <p dir="ltr">Brandon Friedman, co-founder of sex education program Elephant Ed, told 9Honey, ‘Any engagement with young people around consent and respectful relationships needs that balance between humour and clear and concise messaging.’</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMwCOXfDlZh/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMwCOXfDlZh/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Elephant Ed 🐘 (@elephant.ed)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">‘Historically there has been taboo and shame that surrounds these issues and often people will side step around them without tackling them. But young people are crying out for educators to tackle them head on.’</p> <p dir="ltr">Social media was filled with criticism of the campaign, as many slammed how the videos approached teaching consent.</p> <p dir="ltr">EROCA wrote, ‘Yes the videos are weird. They trivialise what is a very serious issue. But they’re just one small part of what’s wrong with this resource. We need the government to start listening to actual experts in violence prevention.’</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">I spent three days digging through the government's website. I watched every video. I read all of the accompanying materials. <br /><br />I cannot work out what the milkshakes, tacos or sharks are supposed to represent. And I run an org called "End Rape on Campus Australia". <a href="https://t.co/sshajJPAkk">https://t.co/sshajJPAkk</a></p> — Sharna Bremner (@sharnatweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/sharnatweets/status/1383943321345613825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">When the program launched last week, Federal Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge said the program would be a ‘vital role’ in informing young Australians on consent and sex education.</p> <p dir="ltr">‘These materials will provide additional support to better educate young Australians on these issues and have been designed to complement programs already being offered by states and territories,’ he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">‘I will be discussing these matters further with my state and territory counterparts when we meet later this month.’</p> <p dir="ltr">Consent education on the Australian curriculum will be publicly reviewed on April 29.</p>

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What Australian birds can teach us about choosing a partner and making it last

<p>Love, sex and mate choice are topics that never go out of fashion among humans or, surprisingly, among some Australian birds. For these species, choosing the right partner is a driver of evolution and affects the survival and success of a bird and its offspring.</p> <p>There is no better place than Australia to observe and study strategies for bird mate choice. Modern parrots and songbirds are Gondwanan creations – they <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2000.1368">first evolved in Australia</a> and only much later populated the rest of the world.</p> <p>Here, we’ll examine the sophisticated way some native birds choose a good mate, and make the relationship last.</p> <p><strong>Single mothers and seasonal flings</strong></p> <p>For years, research has concentrated on studying birds in which sexual selection may be as simple as males courting females. Males might display extra bright feathers or patterns, perform a special song or dance or, like <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/51/20980">the bowerbird</a>, build a sophisticated display mound.</p> <p>In these species, females choose the best mate on the market. But the males do not stick around after mating to raise their brood.</p> <p>These reproductive strategies apply only to about tiny proportion of birds worldwide.</p> <p>Then there are “lovers for a season”, which account for another small percentage of songbirds. Males and females may raise a brood together for one season, then go their separate ways.</p> <p>These are not real partnerships at all – they’re simply markets for reproduction.</p> <p><strong>Birds that stick together</strong></p> <p>But what about the other birds – those that raise offspring in pairs, just as humans often do? Those that form partnerships for more than a season, and in some cases, a lifetime?</p> <p>More than 90% of birds worldwide fall into this “joint parenting” category – and in Australia, many of them stay together for a long time. Indeed, Australia is a hotspot for these <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2005.3458">cooperative</a> and long-term affairs.</p> <p>This staggering figure has no equal in the animal kingdom. Even among mammals, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1420-9101.1992.5040719.x">couples are rare</a>; only <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760554200/">5% of all mammals</a>, including humans, pair up and raise kids together.</p> <p>So how do long-bonding Australian birds choose partners, and what’s their secret to relationship success?</p> <p><strong>Lifelong attachment</strong></p> <p>The concept of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2014/02/10/opposites-dont-attract-assortative-mating-and-social-mobility/">assortative mating</a> is often used to explain how humans form lasting relationships. As the theory goes, we choose mates with similar traits, lifestyle and background to our own.</p> <p>In native birds that form long-lasting bonds, including butcherbirds, drongos and cockatoos, differences between the sexes are small or non-existent – that is, they are “monomorphic”. Males and females may look alike in size and plumage, or may both sing, build nests and provide equally for offspring.</p> <p>So, how do they choose each other, if not by colour, song, dance or plumage difference? There’s some research to suggest their choices are based on personality.</p> <p>Many bird owners and aviculturists would attest that birds have individual personalities. They may, for example, be gentle, tolerant, submissive, aggressive, confident, curious, fearful or sociable.</p> <p>Research has not conclusively established which bird personalities are mutually attractive. But so far it seems similarities or familiarity, rather than opposites, attract.</p> <p>Cockatiel breeders now even <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2009.01713.x">use personality assessments</a> similar to those used for show dogs.</p> <p>There is practical and scientific proof to support this approach. In breeding contexts, seemingly incompatible birds may be forced together. In such cases, they are unlikely to reproduce and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19922534">may not even</a> interact with each other. For example, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145185/">research</a> on Gouldian finches has shown that in mismatched pairs, stress hormone levels were elevated over several weeks, which delayed egg laying.</p> <p>Conversely, well-matched zebra finch pairs have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19922534">been shown</a> to have greater reproductive success. Well designed experiments have also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569426/">shown</a> these birds to change human-assigned partners once free to do so, suggesting firm partner preferences.</p> <p><strong>More than just sex</strong></p> <p>Now to some extraordinary, little-known facets of behaviour in some native birds.</p> <p>Bird bonds are not always or initially about reproduction. Most cockatoos take five to seven years to mature sexually. <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7677/">Magpies</a>, apostlebirds and white winged choughs can’t seriously think about reproducing until they are five or six years old.</p> <p>In the interim, they form friendships. Some become childhood sweethearts long before they get “married” and reproduce.</p> <p>Socially monogamous birds, such as most Australian cockatoos and parrots, pay meticulous attention to each other. They reaffirm bonds by preening, roosting and flying together in search of food and water.</p> <p>Even not-so-cuddly native songbirds such as magpies or corvids have <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760554200/">long term partnerships</a> and fly, feed and roost closely together.</p> <p><strong>All in the mind</strong></p> <p>Bird species that pair up for life, and devote the most time to raising offspring, are generally also the <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7130/">most intelligent</a> (when measured by brain mass relative to body weight).</p> <p>Such species tend to live for a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7130/">long time</a> as well – sometimes four times longer than birds of similar weight range in the northern hemisphere.</p> <p>So why is this? The brain chews up lots of energy and needs the best nutrients. It also needs time to reach full growth. Parental care for a long period, as many Australian birds provide, is the best way to maximise brain development. It requires a strong bond between the parents, and a commitment to raising offspring over the long haul.</p> <p>Interestingly, bird and human brains have some similar architecture, and the same range of important neurotransmitters and hormones. Some of these may allow long-term attachments.</p> <p>Powerful hormones that regulate stress and induce positive emotions are well developed in both humans and birds. These include oxytocin (which plays a part in social recognition and sexual behaviour) and serotonin (which helps regulate and modulate mood, sleep, anxiety, sexuality, and appetite).</p> <p>The dopamine system also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27757971">strongly influences</a> the way pair bonds are formed and maintained in primates – including humans – and in birds.</p> <p>Birds even <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26211371">produce the hormone prolactin</a>, once associated only with mammals. This <a href="https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/107/4/718/5191791">plays a role</a> in keeping parents sitting on their clutch of eggs, including male birds that share in the brooding.</p> <p><strong>The power of love</strong></p> <p>Given the above, one is led to the surprising conclusion that cooperation, and long-term bonds in couples, is as good for birds as it is for humans. The strategy has arguably led both species to becoming the most successful and widely distributed on Earth.</p> <p>With so many of Australia’s native birds declining in numbers, learning as much as possible about their behaviour, including how they form lasting relationships, is an urgent task.</p> <p><em>Much of the information referred to in this article is drawn from Gisela Kaplan’s books <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760554200/">Bird Bonds</a>. See also <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7130/">Bird Minds</a> and <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7762/">Tawny Frogmouth</a></em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125734/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gisela-kaplan-2401">Gisela Kaplan</a>, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-new-england-919">University of New England</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-australian-birds-can-teach-us-about-choosing-a-partner-and-making-it-last-125734">original article</a>.</em></p>

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3 things historical literature can teach us about the climate crisis

<p>New novels about climate change – climate fiction, or cli-fi – are being published all the time. The nature of the climate crisis is a difficult thing to get across, and so <a href="https://theconversation.com/imagining-both-utopian-and-dystopian-climate-futures-is-crucial-which-is-why-cli-fi-is-so-important-123029">imagining the future</a> – a drowned New York City, say; or a world in which water is a precious commodity – can help us understand what’s at stake.</p> <p>This is unsurprising in these times of crisis: fiction allows us to imagine possible futures, good and bad. When faced with such an urgent problem, it might seem like a waste of time to read earlier texts. But don’t be so sure. The climate emergency may be unprecedented, but there are a few key ways in which past literature offers a valuable perspective on the present crisis.</p> <p><strong>1. Climate histories</strong></p> <p>Historical texts reflect the changing climatic conditions that produced them. When Byron and the Shelleys stayed on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1816, the literature that they wrote responded to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-volcano-frankenstein-and-the-summer-of-1816-are-relevant-to-the-anthropocene-64984">wild weather</a> of the “year without a summer”.</p> <p>This was caused largely by the massive eruption of the Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora the previous year, which lowered global temperatures and led to harvest failures and famine. Literary works such as as Byron’s <em><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43825/darkness-56d222aeeee1b">Darkness</a></em>, Percy Shelley’s <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45130/mont-blanc-lines-written-in-the-vale-of-chamouni"><em>Mont Blanc</em></a>, and Mary Shelley’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-things-you-need-to-know-about-mary-shelleys-frankenstein-93030"><em>Frankenstein</em></a> reveal anxieties about human vulnerability to environmental change even as they address our power to manipulate our environments.</p> <p>Many older texts also bear indirect traces of historical climate change. In<em> <a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170419-why-paradise-lost-is-one-of-the-worlds-most-important-poems">Paradise Lost</a> </em>(1667), Milton complains that a “cold climate” may “damp my intended wing” and prevent him from completing his masterpiece. This may well reflect the fact that he lived through the coldest period of the “Little Ice Age”.</p> <p>Even literature’s oldest epic poem, <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Epic-of-Gilgamesh">The Epic of Gilgamesh</a></em> (c. 1800 BC), contains traces of climate change. It tells of a huge flood which, like the later story of Noah in the Old Testament, is probably a cultural memory of sea level rise following the melting of glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.</p> <p>These historical climatic shifts were not man made, but they still provide important analogues for our own age. Indeed, many cultures have seen human activity and climate as intertwined, often through a religious framework. One of the ironies of modernity is that the development of the global climate as an object of study, apparently separate from human life, coincides with the development of the carbon capitalism that has linked them more closely than ever.</p> <p><strong>2. How we view nature</strong></p> <p>Reading historical literature also allows us to trace the development of modern constructions of the natural world. For example, the Romantic ideal of “sublime” nature, which celebrated vast, dramatic landscapes like mountains and chasms, has influenced the kinds of places that we value and protect today in the form of national parks.</p> <p>When we understand that such landscapes are not purely natural, but are produced by cultural discourses and practices over time – we protect these landscapes above others for a reason – we can start to debate whether they can be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/28/britain-national-parks-reclaim-rewild">better managed</a> for the benefit of humans and non-humans alike.</p> <p>Or consider how in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the work of nature writers such as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_Memoir_of_Thomas_Bewick_written_by_him.html?id=CLtcAAAAcAAJ&amp;redir_esc=y">Thomas Bewick</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/charlotte-smith">Charlotte Smith</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist/2013/nov/05/natural-history-selborne-gilbert-white-anne-secord-book-review">Gilbert White</a> played a powerful role in promoting <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08905490903445478?scroll=top&amp;needAccess=true&amp;journalCode=gncc20">natural theology</a>: the theory that evidence for God’s existence can be found in the complex structures of the natural world. Past literature has also been crucial in disseminating new scientific ideas such as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25733437">evolutionary theory</a>, which understood natural phenomena as entirely secular. Literature does not just reflect changing views of the natural world; it shapes them.</p> <p>Studying historical texts helps us to understand how modern cultural attitudes towards the environment developed, which in turn allows us to perceive that these attitudes are not as “natural” or inevitable as they may seem. This insight allows for the possibility that today, in a time in which our attitude towards the environment could certainly improve, they can change for the better.</p> <p><strong>3. Ways of thinking</strong></p> <p>Some of the attitudes towards the natural world that we discover in historical literature are contentious, even horrifying: for example, the normalisation of animal cruelty portrayed in books such as <a href="https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/04/22/animal-welfare-in-the-19th-century-an-earth-day-overview/">Black Beauty</a>.</p> <p>But we can find more promising models too. Voltaire’s <a href="https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Po%C3%A8me_sur_le_d%C3%A9sastre_de_Lisbonne/%C3%89dition_Garnier">poem</a> on the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, for example, has been used to think about the ethics of blame and optimism in responses to modern disasters, like the 1995 <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/lessons-from-earthquakes-there-isnt-always-someone-to-blame-when-the-earth-goes-from-under-our-feet-1569149.html">Kobe earthquake</a> and the 2009 <a href="http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2009/04/an-earthquake-in-the-theodicy-doctrine/">L’Aquila earthquake</a>.</p> <p>Reading past literature can also help us to appreciate the natural world for its own sake. Samuel Johnson commented of the natural descriptions in James Thomson’s poems <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52409/the-seasons-spring">The Seasons</a> (1730) that the reader “wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shows him and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses”. Amid the frenzied distractions of modern life, the work of authors like Thomson, Dorothy Wordsworth and John Clare can help us to slow down, notice and love nature.</p> <p>Historical literature can remind us of our own vulnerability to elemental forces. The famous depiction of a storm in King Lear, for example, mocks Lear’s attempt:</p> <blockquote> <p>In his little world of man to out-scorn<br />The two-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.</p> </blockquote> <p>Shakespeare might appear to aestheticise dangerous weather, but the play reminds us that the storm is far bigger and messier than any human attempt to represent and interpret it.</p> <p>At the same time, literature can remind us of the need to take responsibility for our own impacts upon the environment. We may not want to follow pre-modern and early modern literature in viewing climate change as divine punishment for bad behaviour. But when Milton suggests that it was the fall of man that brought in “pinching cold and scorching heat” to replace the eternal spring of Eden, his narrative has clear figurative resonance with our present crisis.</p> <p>Historical literature can show us how writers responded to climate change, trace how they influenced modern ideas about nature, and reveal valuable ways of relating to and thinking about nature. The climate crisis cannot be addressed only through technological solutions. It also requires profound cultural shifts. To make those shifts requires an understanding of past ideas and representations: both those that led to our current predicament and those that might help us address it.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127762/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-higgins-287911">David Higgins</a>, Associate Professor in English Literature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-leeds-1122">University of Leeds</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tess-somervell-896321">Tess Somervell</a>, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in English, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-leeds-1122">University of Leeds</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-things-historical-literature-can-teach-us-about-the-climate-crisis-127762">original article</a>.</em></p>

Books

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What Plato can teach you about finding a soulmate

<p>In the beginning, humans were androgynous. So says Aristophanes in his fantastical account of the origins of love in Plato’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VV2wFhaVDBsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Symposium.</a></p> <p>Not only did early humans have both sets of sexual organs, Aristophanes reports, but they were outfitted with two faces, four hands, and four legs. These monstrosities were very fast – moving by way of cartwheels – and they were also quite powerful. So powerful, in fact, that the gods were nervous for their dominion.</p> <p>Wanting to weaken the humans, Zeus, Greek king of Gods, decided to cut each in two, and commanded his son Apollo “to turn its face…towards the wound so that each person would see that he’d been cut and keep better order.” If, however, the humans continued to pose a threat, Zeus <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VV2wFhaVDBsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q=hopping&amp;f=false">promised</a> to cut them again – “and they’ll have to make their way on one leg, hopping!”</p> <p>The severed humans were a miserable lot, Aristophanes <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VV2wFhaVDBsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&amp;q=longed&amp;f=false">says</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p>“[Each] one longed for its other half, and so they would throw their arms about each other, weaving themselves together, wanting to grow together.”</p> </blockquote> <p>Finally, Zeus, moved by pity, decided to turn their sexual organs to the front, so they might achieve some satisfaction in embracing.</p> <p>Apparently, he initially neglected to do so, and, Aristophanes <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VV2wFhaVDBsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&amp;q=cicadas&amp;f=false">explains</a>, the severed humans had “cast seed and made children, not in one another, but in the ground, like cicadas.” (a family of insects)</p> <p>So goes Aristophanes’ contribution to the Symposium, where Plato’s characters take turns composing speeches about love – interspersed with heavy drinking.</p> <p>It is no mistake that Plato gives Aristophanes the most outlandish of speeches. He was the famous comic playwright of Athens, responsible for bawdy fare like <a href="http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Lysistrata.htm">Lysistrata</a>, where the women of Greece “go on strike” and refuse sex to their husbands until they stop warring.</p> <p>What does Aristophanes’ speech have to do with love?</p> <p><strong>Is love a cure for our “wound?”</strong></p> <p>Aristophanes says his speech explains “the source of our desire to love each other.” He <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VV2wFhaVDBsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&amp;q=tries%20to%20make%20one%20out%20of%20two%20and%20heal%20the%20wound%20of%20human%20nature&amp;f=false">says</a>,</p> <blockquote> <p>“Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. Each of us, then, is a ‘matching half’ of a human whole…and each of us is always seeking the half that matches him.”</p> </blockquote> <p>This diagnosis should sound familiar to our ears. It’s the notion of love engrained deep in the American consciousness, inspiring Hallmark writers and Hollywood producers alike – imparted with each Romantic Comedy on offer.</p> <p>Love is the discovery of one’s soulmate, we like to say; it is to find your other half – the person who completes me, as <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-towering-narcissism-of-jerry-maguire">Jerry Maguire</a>, Tom Cruise’s smitten sports agent, so famously put it.</p> <p>As a philosopher, I am always amazed how Plato’s account here, uttered by Aristophanes, uncannily evokes our very modern view of love. It is a profoundly moving, beautiful, and wistful account.</p> <p>As Aristophanes depicts it, we may see love as the cure for our wound, or the “wound of human nature.” So, what is this wound? On one hand, of course, Aristophanes means something quite literal: the wound perpetrated by Zeus. But for philosophers, talk of a “wound of human nature” suggests so much more.</p> <p><strong>Why do we seek love?</strong></p> <p>Humans are inherently wounded, the Greek philosophers agreed. At the very least, they concluded, we are prone to fatal habits, seemingly engrained in our nature.</p> <p>Humans insist on looking for satisfaction in things that cannot provide real or lasting fulfillment. These false lures include material goods, also power, and fame, Aristotle <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html">explained</a>. A life devoted to any of these goals becomes quite miserable and empty.</p> <p>Christian philosophers, led by Augustine, accepted this diagnosis, and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm">added</a> a theological twist. Pursuit of material goods is evidence of the Fall, and symptomatic of our sinful nature. Thus, we are like aliens here in this world – or as the Medievals would put it, pilgrims, on the way to a supernatural destination.</p> <p>Humans seek to satisfy desire in worldly things, Augustine <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm">says</a>, but are doomed, because we bear a kernel of the infinite within us. Thus, finite things cannot fulfill. We are made in the image of God, and our infinite desire can only be satisfied by the infinite nature of God.</p> <p>In the 17th century, French philosopher Blaise Pascal <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm">offered</a> an account of the wound of our nature more in tune with secular sensibilities. He claimed that the source of our sins and vices lay in our inability to sit still, be alone with ourselves, and ponder the unknowable.</p> <p>We seek out troublesome diversions like war, inebriation or gambling to preoccupy the mind and block out distressing thoughts that seep in: perhaps we are alone in the universe – perhaps we are adrift on this tiny rock, in an infinite expanse of space and time, with no friendly forces looking down on us.</p> <p>The wound of our nature is the existential condition, Pascal suggests: thanks to the utter uncertainty of our situation, which no science can answer or resolve, we perpetually teeter on the brink of anxiety – or despair.</p> <p><strong>Is love an answer to life’s problems?</strong></p> <p>Returning to Plato’s proposition, issued through Aristophanes: how many view romantic love as the answer to life’s problems? How many expect or hope that love will heal the “wound” of our nature and give meaning to life?</p> <p>I suspect many do: our culture practically decrees it.</p> <p>Your soulmate, Hollywood says, may take a surprising, unexpected form – she may seem your opposite, but you are inexplicably attracted nonetheless. Alternately, your beloved may appear to be initially boorish or aloof. But you find him to be secretly sweet.</p> <p>Hollywood films typically ends once the romantic heroes find their soulmates, offering no glimpse of life post-wedding bliss, when kids and work close in – the real test of love.</p> <p>Aristophanes places demands and expectations on love that are quite extreme.</p> <blockquote> <p>“[When] a person meets the half that is his very own,” he exclaims, “something wonderful happens: the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and they don’t want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment. These are people who finish out their lives together and still cannot say what it is they want from one another.”</p> </blockquote> <p>This sounds miraculous and alluring, but Plato doesn’t believe it. Which is why he couches it in Aristophanes’ satirical story. In short: it’s all quite mythical.</p> <p><strong>Does true love exist?</strong></p> <p>The notion of “soulmate,” implies that there is but one person in the universe who is your match, one person in creation who completes you – whom you will recognize in a flash of lightening.</p> <p>What if in your search for true love, you cast about waiting or expecting to be star-struck – in vain? What if there isn’t a perfect partner that you’re waiting for?</p> <p>Is this one reason why, as the Pew Research Center <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/09/24/record-share-of-americans-have-never-married/">reports</a>, we see a record number of unmarried Americans?</p> <p>Alternately, what if you dive into a relationship, marriage even, expecting the luster and satiation to endure, but it does not, and gives way to…ordinary life, where the ordinary questions and doubts and dissatisfactions of life reemerge and linger?</p> <p>In his book <a href="http://thepenguinpress.com/book/modern-romance/">Modern Romance</a>, actor and comedian <a href="http://azizansari.com/">Aziz Ansari</a> tells of a wedding he attended that could have been staged by Aristophanes himself:</p> <blockquote> <p>“The vows…were powerful. They were saying the most remarkable things about each other. Things like ‘You are a prism that takes the light of life and turns it into a rainbow’…”</p> </blockquote> <p>The vows, Ansari explains, were so exultant, so lofty and transcendent, that “four different couples broke up, supposedly because they didn’t feel they had the love that was expressed in those vows.”</p> <p><strong>Enduring love is more mundane</strong></p> <p>Love is not the solution to life’s problems, as anyone who has been in love can attest. Romance is often the start of many headaches and heartaches. And why put such a burden on another person in the first place?</p> <p>It seems unfair. Why look to your partner to heal an existential wound – to heal your soul? This is an immense responsibility no mere mortal can address.</p> <p>I accept the backhanded critique Plato offers here through Aristophanes. Though I am hardly an expert on the matter, I have found his message quite accurate in this respect: true love is far more mundane.</p> <p>I should specify: true love is mundane in its origins, if not in its conclusion. That is to say, true love is not discovered all of a sudden, at first sight, but rather, it’s the product of immense work, constant attention, and sacrifice.</p> <p>Love is not the solution to life’s problems, but it certainly makes them more bearable, and the entire process more enjoyable. If soulmates exist, they are made and fashioned, after a lifetime partnership, a lifetime shared dealing with common duties, enduring pain, and of course, knowing joy.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72715/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/firmin-debrabander-217516">Firmin DeBrabander</a>, Professor of Philosophy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/maryland-institute-college-of-art-2430">Maryland Institute College of Art</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-plato-can-teach-you-about-finding-a-soulmate-72715">original article</a>.</em></p>

Relationships

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New research shows playing with old phones teaches children good habits

<p>Screens are everywhere, including in the palms of our hands. Children see how much time we adults spend on our smartphones, and therefore how much we seem to value these devices – and they want to be a part of it.</p> <p>Children see us constantly looking up information we need to know, and being continuously connected. It’s only natural that they should want to copy this behaviour in their <a href="https://theconversation.com/imitation-and-imagination-childs-play-is-central-to-human-success-7555">play</a>, and “practise being an adult”.</p> <p>Most people have an opinion about children and technology, and the media regularly present stories of their potential for learning, or horror stories of the damage they can cause. My <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.12791">research</a> takes a slightly different tack.</p> <p>Rather than studying children’s screen use per se, I looked at how they play with old and discarded devices, such as a hand-me-down phone handset or an old and defunct laptop that has otherwise outlived its usefulness.</p> <p>Many early childhood education centres contain play spaces set up to mimic situations in everyday adult life. Examples include “home corner” containing kitchen equipment, of other situations such as offices, hairdressing salons, doctors’ surgeries, and restaurants. These spaces might also let children play at using mobile phones, computers, iPads, EFTPOS machines, or other electronic devices.</p> <p>I observed classes of 4 and 5-year-olds at two early education centres as they played imaginatively using technologies, to find out how they use devices in their play.</p> <p><strong>Facebook aficionados</strong></p> <p>Some of the children’s behaviours were fascinating and eye-opening.</p> <p>Four-year-old Maddie, for example, “videoed” her educator dancing, and then said she was going to post it to Facebook. She knew the process involved, even though she had only ever watched her mother post, and had never done it herself.</p> <p>Four-year-old Jack made a “video camera” from cardboard boxes and pretended to film other children. It even had a screen where you could watch the footage he had shot.</p> <p>Another educator told me her two-year-old child knows the difference between her work phone and her personal phone, and uses a different voice while pretending to talk on each.</p> <p>In my research, children put phones in pockets or handbags before they went off and played, one child stated “I can’t go out without my phone!”</p> <p><strong>Practise and pretend</strong></p> <p>During <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-up-games-is-more-important-than-you-think-why-bluey-is-a-font-of-parenting-wisdom-118583">pretend play</a>, children are often acting at a higher level to practise new skills.</p> <p>The children in my study had seen grown-ups doing “grown-up” things with their devices, and wanted to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09575146.2016.1167675">recreate them in their play situations</a>.</p> <p>Early childhood educators can use this kind of play to help children understand complex concepts and situations. For example, I have observed preschool children acting out tsunamis in the sandpit, discussing X-rays and broken bones, and showing a child how to care for a doll to practise interacting with a new sibling.</p> <p>Technologies are no different. Parents and educators can use pretend play with technologies to teach children useful life lessons, such as how to behave appropriately with mobile phones, and when it is appropriate to use them.</p> <p>In the Facebook example above, the educator could have had a conversation with Maddie about asking permission before taking a video of someone else and posting it to Facebook. They could ask questions like “how would you feel if someone took a video of you dancing and then posted it to Facebook?”</p> <p>When the children were playing restaurants, one child declared: “no screens at the table!” The children then negotiated that it was okay when the call was very important, or if they needed to look something up to help with whatever the group was discussing. In this way, the children displayed their understanding of the importance of social interactions.</p> <p>Not only can educators teach children through play, they can also model appropriate behaviour with technologies. By asking children if it is alright to take a photo or video of them, showing the child their image before it is shared with others, and being present and not looking at a screen when a child is speaking, we can show children we respect them and behave ethically towards them.</p> <p>So before you throw away your broken laptop or your old mobile, consider donating it to your local early childhood centre or, if you have children in your own home, give it to them to use as a toy. You might be surprised at what they will teach you.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127727/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jo-bird-817807"><em>Jo Bird</em></a><em>, Lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-new-england-919">University of New England</a></em></span></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/playing-with-old-phones-teaches-children-good-habits-and-reflects-our-bad-ones-back-at-us-127727">original article</a>.</em></p>

Technology

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How to teach your cat new tricks

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cats are well-known for being aloof and stubborn, but as it turns out, cats just want to interact with their humans as best as they can.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is according to cat behaviourist Regina Hall-Jones, who spoke to </span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/life/how-to-train-your-cat-teach-tricks/11252426"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the ABC</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> about the benefits that come with training your cat.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not only can it be mentally enriching and fun for the both of you, it can also be used to address behaviour issues within your pet.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although it might be tricky as dogs definitely have a head start on cats when it comes to training, it doesn’t mean that training your cat can’t be done.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Cats were only domesticated 2,000 years ago, and even then, humans didn't actively select for certain traits [through breeding] until the 18th century," Bronwyn Orr, veterinarian from Sydney School of Veterinary Science says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"In comparison, dogs have had a significant head start. Having first been domesticated 15,000 years ago, they have co-evolved alongside humans for quite some time."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The benefits for training your cat can greatly outweigh the cons, says Hall-Jones.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Enrichment and mental and physical stimulation is so important," Ms Hall-Jones says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Cats who are generally happy and secure, have routine and familiarity … are less likely to have destructive behaviours."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cats who have been trained are also less likely to be surrendered.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Depending on the people, they surrender them or get them euthanased because they can't handle [certain behavioural] issues. I don't think people realise there are people out there who can help with these issues."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Training your cat is easier than you think, says Dr Orr. As long as you’re “establishing trust, motivation and rewards”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Patience and repetition are key,'' she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both experts agree to use positive methods and never resort to punishment.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Punishment training methods — for example, yelling at incorrect behaviour — have been shown to be less effective than reward-based methods, and can greatly damage the trust and bond you have with your pet," Dr Orr says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Depending on how old your cat is and what breed they are helps the cat learn quickly.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s a lot easier to train a kitten or a younger cat, but according to Hall-Jones, these breeds learn the fastest.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Bengals, domestic shorthairs and Siamese cats tend to learn the quickest."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Food as a reward is usually all you need to begin training.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Always keep training fun. Use short sessions, only try to teach one behaviour at a time, consistently reward good behaviour and try to be as consistent as possible," Dr Orr says.</span></p>

Family & Pets

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"You can't teach stupid": Folau receives more funds in two days than farmers' rural aid in one year

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>A Facebook post by <em>The NRL Roast </em>criticising those who donated to Israel Folau’s legal battle has gone viral in just 24 hours.</p> <p>The post highlighted donations given to the Rural Aid <em>Buy a Bale </em>campaign raised in one year matched the money raised for controversial Folau’s legal battle against the Rugby League Association.</p> <p>“In 2 days, Israel Folau has received more in donations than Rural Aid's "Buy a Bale" campaign did in the 2017/2018 financial year,” the post began.</p> <p>“Folau may or may not be in the right in regard to why he got sacked and has every right to launch legal action.</p> <p>“That’s not my gripe.</p> <p>“It's the fact that every day Aussies would rather donate their hard earned, already taxed money, to a multi-millionaire professional athlete who can use the funds however he wants...TAX FREE, while people who actually make a worthwhile contribution to society, and our communities, are left in the lurch.</p> <p>“But you can’t teach stupid… You are just born that way.”</p> <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTheNRLRoast%2Fphotos%2Fa.248365635620899%2F729888714135253%2F%3Ftype%3D3&amp;width=500" width="500" height="435" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> <p>Folau has raised $2.2 million in just two days by 20,000 people.</p> <p>Since then, the fundraiser, which is located on the Australian Christian Lobby’s website, has been paused – a little less than $1 million short of the sacked rugby star’s $3 million goal.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzATb_Wn3I_/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzATb_Wn3I_/" target="_blank">A post shared by Israel Folau (@izzyfolau)</a> on Jun 22, 2019 at 1:07am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The ACL said the donations, which opened on Tuesday, had been “overwhelming".</p> <p>“ACL, Izzy and everyone involved is humbled and grateful. We are hitting the pause button. But if the case drags on and Israel needs more support, we will re-open this campaign,” a statement on the website said.</p> <p>The original campaign on GoFundMe was shut down after it was determined they had violated the site’s terms of service.  </p> <p>“We are absolutely committed to the fight for equality for LGBTIQ+ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity,” Nicola Britton, GoFundMe’s Australian regional director said.</p> <p>Managing director of the ACL, Martin Iles, confirmed any money raised in the $3 million campaign will exclusively be used to meet Folau’s legal costs.</p> <p>In a poll conducted by Over60 with over 5,200 votes, it was determined 60 per cent of Australians believe Folau deserved to be sacked from his contract with Rugby Australia.</p> <p>However, 40 per cent voted Folau's controversial social post that claimed “hell awaits” gay people, among others, was not breaching his contract.  </p> <p><em>NRL Roast’s </em>post, which now sits with over 3,000 comments, has continued to stir debate with some users claiming the page was only adding “fuel to the fire".</p> <p>“If he can say whatever he believes then he should have the guts to face the consequences of his actions and use his own funds to fight his own battles,” one user wrote.</p> <p>Another added: “I don't see why people find this surprising. There are A LOT of people in the world with the same views as Falou.”</p> <p>“So you're complaining about people who are donating their OWN already taxed hard working money to Folau because they choose not to donate it to where YOU think they should donate THEIR money to?” an additional comment read.</p> <p>However, other people said it was “sad” farmers did not have “priority<span>“.</span></p> <p><span>"If only those who so support a sportsperson's contract breach which has been turned into a fight for Christianity could support those who grow our food and keep food on our tables...” one comment said.</span></p> <p>Another stated: “An absolute disgrace that people give money so easily to someone who broke his contract, not once but twice, but can’t find the money for the farmers who help put food on our tables every day, nothing like getting your priorities right.”</p> <p>Folau’s $4 million contract was terminated by Rugby Australia last month after a post on his Instagram page claimed homosexuals, among others, would burn in hell.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Legal

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Teach yourself to meditate and beat stress

<p>The whole world cheered when 12 boys stuck in a cave in northern Thailand with their football coach were finally freed on 10 July after spending more than two weeks in the darkness.</p> <p>According to several news sources the 25-year-old coach and former monk Ekapol Chantawong (above) had taught the boys how to meditate to pass the time, keep calm and conserve energy</p> <p>The practice has been credited with helping the boys stay mentally strong throughout their ordeal.</p> <p>So, what is meditation all about and can it really help?</p> <p><strong>What is meditation?</strong></p> <p>There are many types of meditation used by different philosophies, but at the core, meditation requires you to be mindful of the moment.</p> <p>During mindfulness meditation, one tries to redirect distracting thoughts and instead focus on the present.</p> <p>Although simple in theory, as anyone who has tried it can attest, it can be hard to switch off your thoughts even for a few seconds without thinking about work or wanting to check your phone.</p> <p><strong>What are the benefits of meditation?</strong></p> <p>Meditation has been credited with improving not just mental, but physical health as well. Studies have shown that it can increase immune function and reduce chronic pain. Meditation has also been proven to be effective in decreasing instances of depression, anxiety and stress.</p> <p>It can also sharpen your mind, help your focus and attention, and improve your memory, which is why some schools have started teaching students mindfulness techniques.</p> <p>At Westwood Primary School in Singapore, students do a five-minute mindful breathing exercise at recess every day, while students at international school UWCSEA were introduced to mindfulness techniques four years ago.</p> <p><strong>How do I start?</strong></p> <p>As with any new habit, you need to commit to it, much like you would a new exercise routine.</p> <p>Start small with just a few minutes a day. Set aside both time and space as rushing through it would defeat the purpose.</p> <p>Dress comfortably and choose a quiet spot, which means you shouldn’t have the TV on in the background and you’re away from a pet that may wander into your space.</p> <p>Sit cross-legged on the floor or upright on a chair. Don’t lie down as you may fall asleep. When you’re ready, sit quietly, breathe deeply and start observing your feelings at that moment.</p> <p>The key is to acknowledge and accept your thoughts and emotions without attaching any judgement to them.</p> <p>It will be challenging to quiet the noise in your head at first, but it’s important to keep at it until it becomes comfortable.</p> <p><em>Written by Siti Rohani. This article first appeared in </em><em><a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/teach-yourself-meditate-and-beat-stress?items_per_page=All">Reader’s Digest.</a> For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <span><a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRN87V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a></span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

Retirement Life

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7 forgotten manners every parent should teach their child

<p>An important part of raising your child is teaching them good manners that they are able to apply not only around you, but also when they are on their own.</p> <p>Being polite can set your child up for success later in life.</p> <p>Beyond the basic “please” and “thank you,” you want your child to be able to show respect to their elders and know how to be a polite guest.</p> <p>Enforce these manners from an early age, and your child will catch on in no time.</p> <p><strong>1. "Please" and "thank you"</strong></p> <p>Teach your child to always say, “Please” when asking for something and “Thank you” when receiving something or someone has helped them.<strong><br /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>2. "Excuse me"</span></strong></p> <p>Teach them to say, “Excuse me” when they need to get through a crowd, bump into someone or want to get someone’s attention.</p> <p><strong>3. Please don't interrupt</strong></p> <p>Teach them to not interrupt, whether it be interrupting a conversation between two people that they are not a part of (unless it is an emergency) or when someone is speaking to them.</p> <p><strong>4. No unkind comments</strong></p> <p>Show them how it’s impolite to comment on other people’s characteristics or physical appearances, unless if it is a compliment.</p> <p><strong>5. Always ask for permission</strong></p> <p>Teach your child to always ask permission. It’s important that they understand if they aren’t sure about taking or using something, it is always better to ask first.</p> <p><strong>6. Shoes off!</strong></p> <p>Teach your child to take their shoes off whenever they enter someone's home/</p> <p><strong>7.</strong><strong> Don't litter</strong></p> <p>Teach them not to litter and how important it is to keep our earth clean.</p> <p><span>Once your child learns these important manners, they’ll have the drive to become even more courteous as they grow up.</span></p> <p><em>Written by Morgan Cutolo. </em><em>This article first appeared in <a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/17-forgotten-manners-every-parent-should-teach-their-child">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRN87V">here’s our best subscription offer</a>.</em></p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

Family & Pets

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How to teach your adult children to be money smart

<p>Now more than ever it is vital that our children gain solid skills when it comes to managing money. As we watch them move into adult life, we see the increasing financial challenges that they face with the cost of housing, the growing pressures of a consumer society and the ease of obtaining credit.</p> <p>Much of this is a far cry from what we faced in our younger days – when things seemed a lot simpler. This makes it more vital than ever to pass on some of the wisdom we have gained over the years through our own financial successes and failures. Here are some tips that may help.</p> <p><strong>A word of warning</strong><br />The first rule when discussing money with adult children is to recognise that it can be a highly charged subject. For a variety of reasons money can be an emotive and tense subject, so it pays to be sensitive and measured in how discussions are raised.</p> <p>It doesn’t matter how much we think we know and understand about financial management, if our approach to our children comes across as interfering, patronising or demeaning, then the message will meet resistance. Make it a priority to gain their agreement about even starting the discussion before pouring out your wisdom. Respecting their independence and intelligence will gain a lot more cooperation.</p> <p><strong>Controlling the bank of mum and dad</strong><br />If we have adequate financial resources of our own we may feel obligated to help out with some cash from time to time. While this may be reasonable in some circumstances, it should never be done at the expense of letting our children take financial responsibility for themselves. Rather than giving open-ended cash handouts, be specific in asking how the money will be used. To use an extreme example, handing over $10k for them to blow on a holiday is very different from them using the money toward a home deposit, so guide them to use financial gifts responsibly.</p> <p><strong>Pay yourself first</strong><br />One of the most fundamental principles you can pass on is the concept of “paying yourself first”. In other words; save BEFORE you spend and set aside a percentage of every dollar of income toward the goal of financial independence.</p> <p>More specifically, some of these savings dollars need to be set aside purely for the purpose of investment and financial growth. It is all too easy to lump all savings together, but saving for an expensive handbag is very different than saving for investment, so try to guide your offspring into being specific and goal driven about the purpose and allocation of their savings.</p> <p><strong>Pay down high interest debt</strong><br />The lure of easy credit and the convenience of “plastic money” can easily get our kids into debt very quickly, which can stifle any long-term financial development. The key lesson to pass on regarding debt is to focus attention on high interest debt, (such as credit card debt), first, even if it is to the exclusion of savings goals for a short period.</p> <p>For example, a $10,000 credit card debt at 18 per cent interest will cost $1800 in interest in a year, if no repayments are made. If they were investing $10,000 they would be doing extremely well if they were able to get an $1800 annual return, so treat high interest debt as if it was a high interest investment and go all out to pay it down quickly to get back into balance.</p> <p><strong>Protect against disaster</strong><br />Sometimes the most productive dollar your kids will ever invest will be the dollar paid on insurance premiums. They have probably already learned at an early age that you simply don’t drive a car around uninsured. A vehicle worth thousands of dollars can be suddenly worthless in an instant if it is not insured.</p> <p>While most parents do well in teaching the kids the value of insuring possessions such as cars, many will often overlook the far more critical importance of income protection and life insurance. A car might be valued in the tens of thousands, but their income over their lifetime will be valued in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, so leaving it unprotected is simply financial folly.</p> <p>Make sure they are in contact with a reputable financial planner who can help them create a comprehensive contingency plan for their insurance protection as a foundation for all their other financial planning.</p> <p><strong>Budgets are boring, but...</strong><br />In a highly disposable consumer society and in an age of high career mobility and income expectations, the simple common sense of a household budget may seem a bit dull and archaic. Too often our kids will think the solution to a cashflow problem is simply to get a better job with a higher income. This mindset is the root of the problem. If they are earning more, chances are they will just spend more if they don’t have sound budgeting skills.</p> <p>Encourage your kids to get their income and expenses budgeted. It doesn’t matter if it is with pen and paper or a smart phone app, the important thing is to have a concrete system that allows them to track spending and allocate income purposefully, so that they can build some financial momentum and keep lifestyle spending in perspective.</p> <p>A good place to start can be the ASIC personal financial planning site, known as MoneySmart. To take a look at the MoneySmart budgeting tool <span><a href="https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-apps/budget-planner">click here</a></span>.</p> <p><strong>Time in the market, not timing the market</strong><br />Once your kids are in a position to build an investment portfolio, the most valuable lesson you can pass on is that investing in growth markets, such as shares and property, is all about being in it for the long haul and not just a quick killing. “Timing the market” by trying to pick short-term winners is more akin to gambling than it is to investing. “Time in the market” is a much more important principle, which will enable them to ride out fluctuations and build real wealth.</p> <p>A financial planner can offer expert advice when it comes to all these financial habits and practices, so encourage your kids to find one they can relate to and build a long-term relationship with.</p> <p><em>Written by Bridges. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wyza.com.au. </span></strong></a></em></p> <p><em> </em></p>

Money & Banking

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4 things our ancestors can teach us about caregiving

<p>Human life expectancy has <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">come a long way</span></strong></a> in an incredibly short amount of time, so you would be forgiven for thinking that the custom of caring for our elders is a similarly recent development in human culture. However, studies are showing that caring for the ageing members of society is something that humans have been doing for millennia. CaringNews.com explored the evidence and studies supporting this theory, and presented some pretty compelling things we can learn from our ancestors.</p> <p><strong>1. Caregiving is genetic</strong></p> <p>Anthropologist Erik Trinkaus <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.1330570108/abstract" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">presented evidence</span></strong></a> of the burial, some 50,000 years ago, of a Neandertal individual who not only had debilitating injuries, but lived with them for some time. According to Trinkaus, this individual has lost a forearm, suffered from a limp, and was deaf. Without help from their fellows, it would have been very difficult for this individual to survive.</p> <p><strong>2. People depended on their elders</strong></p> <p>Despite their typical slowness and frailty, the older members of society still had much to offer – taking the time to pass down their knowledge. Those elders were regarded as experts in the day-to-day necessities of crafting weapons, telling edible plants from poisonous, and turning animal skins into clothing and bedding. Around 50,000 years ago, an increase in general human longevity is believed to have led to marked cultural advances for humans.</p> <p><strong>3. Caregiving is a virtue</strong></p> <p>Ancient civilisations in China and Rome considered showing respect and caring for one’s elders was a mark of honour. Confucianism refers to this as filial piety. The idea that elders would regularly be sent to die alone on an ice floe is now regarded as a myth – an unthinkable action that would likely only have occurred in times of desperate need or hardship.</p> <p><strong>4. It takes a village</strong></p> <p>In ancient times, when society was much less developed than today, humans needed to hunt and forage daily just to survive, meaning that the task of caring for elders and the injured was likely shared by those beyond the immediate family.</p> <p>How do you think caregiving will develop as human society progresses in the future?</p>

Caring

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How to teach Siri to correctly pronounce names

<p><em><strong>Lisa Du is director of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://readytechgo.com.au/" target="_blank">ReadyTechGo</a></span>, a service that helps people gain the confidence and skills to embrace modern technology. </strong></em></p> <p>Siri. You either love her or you hate her. I personally love the Siri feature on Apple devices, and if you take the time to learn how to use Siri effectively, I’m sure you’ll find that she is amazing.<br /> <br /> However, there is one thing that drives me up the wall... when Siri mispronounces names! </p> <p>Some of my friends call me "Lise" (pronounced Leese...) and Siri constantly pronounces my names “Lies”.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">How to train Siri to correctly pronounce names</span></strong></p> <p><strong>1. Activate Siri, and say "That's not how you pronounce [name]" eg Lise</strong></p> <p>Siri will ask you "Which [name]?"</p> <p>Tap on the contact name that you want to change the pronunciation of.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="264" height="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e785dd9ba906ed79fad48bd7e/images/02015337-74db-432e-bd37-949440318d68.png" class="mcnImage" style="max-width: 576px; line-height: 100%; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto !important;"/></p> <p><strong>2. Siri will ask you: "Ok, how do you pronounce [name]?"</strong></p> <p>Teach Siri how to correctly pronounce the name by saying it aloud.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="264" height="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e785dd9ba906ed79fad48bd7e/images/a058583f-8b43-4dc1-b137-06185d50c3fc.png" class="mcnImage" style="max-width: 750px; line-height: 100%; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto !important;"/></p> <p><strong>3. Siri will give you several playback options</strong></p> <p>Tap on the Play symbol to hear how Siri pronounces each version.</p> <p>Choose the correct pronunciation by tapping Select.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="264" height="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e785dd9ba906ed79fad48bd7e/images/f66bc82b-9009-413e-8728-c4447c476722.png" class="mcnImage" style="max-width: 750px; line-height: 100%; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto !important;"/></p> <p>And there you have it, that's how you can train Siri to correctly pronounce names.</p>

Technology