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Thailand’s Mr. Condom Revolutionizes Education
Chiangrai Times – How many of us in school memorized historical dates and mathematical and scientific formulas that we now no longer remember? How can students learn without forgetting them and use the knowledge to improve their lives?
A man in Thailand has found a way to make learning fun and helpful not only to the students but to their families as well.
The students receive free meal from the school.Khun Mechai Viravaidya, popularly known in Thailand as “Mr. Condom,” believed that in order to create a new generation of citizens, thinking out of the box was the key. He established the Mechai Pattana Bamboo School in 2009 in Buriram, one of Thailand’s provinces whose residents have the lowest educational attainment.
As its name suggests, the school boasts. All its school buildings are crafted out of open bamboo, which makes them breezy.
The school has received a lot of recognition for its revolutionary model of education to improve the creative abilities of the children.
Explaining the philosophy of the school, Jordan Worthington, program officer of the Mechai Viravaidya Foundation, said that “we have to think outside the box. We have to change our school from something old-fashioned to something that is applicable to their everyday lives, something that would give them skills to work.”
News reporters joined the Philippine-Thai Cultural Organization (PTCO) in a study tour of the Mechai Pattana Bamboo School as well as the other projects of the Mechai Viravaidya Foundation, which was made possible by the Royal Thai Embassy. The tour was part of Thailand’s people-to-people program that aims to promote and foster friendship and cooperation between the Philippines and Thailand..
Paying tuition with trees
The school has a qualifying examination for aspiring students. Also, the students and parents are interviewed in order to orient them about the school, its programs and to ensure their commitment to the school and its objectives.
Bamboo classroom with WI-Fi connectivityThe Bamboo School is unlike any other private schools because the students and their families come from the poorest members of society. Tuition is paid by planting 400 trees and 400 hours of community service for every school year.
The students help in the temples, help the elderly, clean at hospitals, and help in planting and harvesting rice.
Each student is given a booklet where teachers can record his or her good deeds.
The school has opted to do away with the rote method of learning where students only repeat what they have learned without fully understanding them. Instead, they have adopted the learning method that uses critical thinking, creativity and group work.
The students have a voice in selecting their teachers and the incoming Grade 7 students. They are also part of the purchasing committee to teach them about budgeting, planning, transparency and negotiation skills.
The students and their families also learn practical agriculture-based courses including animal-raising (pigs, chicken, ducks, frogs, fish and even crickets). They also plant fruits and vegetables, often in an unconventional manner. Vegetables are grown in sandbags to save space. The sandbags are placed under lemon trees to save water consumption while cantaloupe is grown and fed using leftover intravenous catheters (IV lines). The IV tubes and plastic lines are used for storing water and drip irrigation. In a two-meter-wide, plastic-covered shelters, mushrooms are grown. Scientific knowledge is applied to ensure that fruits grow off season to fetch high prices.
Every morning, the students have their physical education class. Some students also have yoga classes. When we visited the school, some students just had their massage class.
The students are also allowed to use the computers. The Bamboo School has a partnership with Microsoft and the entire school has Wi-Fi connectivity.
Worthington said the students have an IT class for three hours a week and can also use the computers for research and project-based lessons.
“In the future, we want to start e-learning so students [can] take lessons at their own pace,” Worthington said.
Currently, she said the school laboratory serves as an IT hub for the community as well. Local school children and the villagers can come to learn basic computer concepts—use of Office applications (e.g.Word, Excel) and how to use the Internet. Students from the Bamboo School also visit computer classes in other smaller schools to teach children how to use computers.
World’s largest geodesic bamboo dome“In our school, we want to give as many opportunities as possible [because] most of our students come from disadvantaged families,” she said.
Teachers do not impose. Creativity is present not only in the art class but in every lesson. Aside from the regular subjects, agriculture and IT class, the students have a say on what other areas they want to learn about. The students choose projects they would like to explore, and the teachers guide them.
Free meal
The students receive free meal from the school. The meal is sourced from the agricultural produce resulting from the labour provided by the students and their families. A portion is used for their meals in school while a part is given to their families, and the rest are sold for added income for the school.
From the creation of the Bamboo School came the School-BIRD (School-Based Integrated Rural Development) program that aims to assist government primary schools in poor areas to become hubs for social and economic progress.
Aside from monetary support, the primary schools receive training for the teachers as well.
Some of these beneficiary schools include the Huaysala School and Ban Pangpuay School, both of which have adopted programs initiated in the Mechai Bamboo School.
Like in the Bamboo School, the students are taught to plant fruits trees and vegetables, and take care of fishes, frogs for income-generating purposes.
Currently, five schools follow the Mechai model. The project in Huaysala is only about 4 months old. But unlike in the Bamboo school, the parents do not always participate. The students teach their families about agriculture.
Somboon Chaiyet, one of the teachers in Huaysala School said Mechai Foundation provides training programs for teachers, particularly in agriculture, who in turn share the knowledge to their students.
However, he said the teachers do not receive extra pay for their training.
“We have too many work but we are happy,” he said with a smile.
The Mechai Foundation provides funding for the school as well as its village. A representative from the foundation evaluates the projects in the school and the village and determine the areas that need improvement.
Plants in sandbags“It will start with the school and continue with the village,” Somboon Chaiyet said.
Like in Huaysala, Ban Pangpuay School also has a roomful of toys that the students can borrow for a week but only after they have finished their school tasks and planting of trees. Both schools also have their own computer room and both have free Wi-Fi connection.
But still, the public schools continue to receive funding and infrastructure support from the government.
Support
The Mechai Foundation does not solely rely on donations. It has established profit companies to help fund its non-profit, rural development activities. These profit-making businesses include the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant chain, the Birds and Bees Resort in Pattaya and the Business for Rural Education and Development (BREAD), which sells rural goods and handicrafts.
The schools are but part of the variety of rural development projects of the Mechai Foundation. Mechai has also managed to convince various companies to relocate in Buriram and employ villagers to prevent them from transferring to other areas for work.
The PTCO hopes to adopt in the Philippines what was learned from the Buriram trip and use it as a pattern for its projects.
Khun Mechai has shown that a vision need not be impaired by limited resources, and with passion and creativity, a goal is always attainable.-By Tetch Torres
The author, Tetch Torres, with PTCO officers and Bamboo school teachers.News
Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion
A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.
The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.
This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.
The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.
In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.
Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened
“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.
Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.
Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.
In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.
An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.
Enforcement efforts Questioned
By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.
“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).
The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.
The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.
“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.
Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem
Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.
“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.
Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.
Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.
“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.
“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue
Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.
(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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