Beijing citizens learn Olympics manners

The Chinese government has already started to clean up its capital city, ahead
of the 2008 Olympic Games. Beijing officials started a new campaign recently to
make citizens behave better. Over fifty people have been fined in the past week for
spitting in the streets. China’s state media reported on Monday that this is part of
Beijing’s attempts to step up its efforts to "civilise" its citizens before the Olympics
start. Government workers also handed out more than 10,000 bags to tourists to
encourage them to keep the city tidy and free from litter. Special teams patrolled
the city's tourist sites during China’s week-long Labour Day holiday. This is a time
when hundreds of millions of Chinese are on the streets, and spitting and littering
are at their height.

For a long time now, China has been worried about its image as the world
spotlight will be on Beijing. A Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted a travel guide
as saying: "The Olympics are coming, and we don't want to get disgraced." The
China National Tourism Administration has printed thousands of leaflets
educating citizens and tourists on correct “street etiquette”. Also on the list of do's
and don'ts is jumping queues; people are reminded they have to stand in line and
wait patiently. The eleventh day of every month is now "voluntarily wait in line"
day in Beijing. Authorities hope this will stamp out pushing and shoving. Clearing
one’s throat loudly is another no-no. The city hopes its citizens will win the gold
medal for perfect manners.

Children into computers younger than ever

Children are using and owning consumer electronics from a younger age
than ever before, according to US market researcher NPD. Its research shows the
average age at which children begin using computers, games and other electronic
gadgets has declined from 8.1 years in 2005 to 6.7 years in 2007. The NPD report,
“Kids and Consumer Electronics Trends III”, says the youngest consumers are also
getting choosy about what they buy. More and more young children now own a
DVD player, portable video game, digital camera or cell phone. NPD’s Anita
Frazier said: “Kids are drawn to the latest and greatest digital devices just as their
parents are.” She added: “They appear to have no fear of technology and adopt it
easily and without fanfare, making these devices a part of their everyday lives.”

The study is based on data collected via an online survey to a sample of

American adults aged 25 and older who had children aged between four and
fourteen. The survey also found that kids use electronic devices an average of three
days per week. Surprisingly, many of the families surveyed were not regular

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consumer electronics buyers. Almost 25 percent of parents surveyed said they had
made no electronics purchases during the previous 12 months. Father of two
Robert Garside, 38, said he was amazed at what his children want to buy. He
admits to often having to ask his nine-year-old how to operate his Sony
PlayStation. “Children nowadays are so tech savvy that soon Sony will bring out a
PlayStation for babies,” he said. His son Robert Junior said all the gadgets around
him really were child’s play.

Bad bosses can cause heart attacks

Having a bad boss could be bad for your heart. This is the conclusion of a
Swedish study on management styles and health. The researchers concluded that
poor managers can increase their employee's risk of developing heart disease. The
Stockholm University study analyzed data on the health of 3,000 male workers.
They compared the data with the results from questionnaires about senior
managers. The questions asked workers if they thought their boss was considerate,
communicated well and offered positive feedback. Other questions looked at how
much work bosses gave to workers and how well they outlined their goals. The
research team found that workers who respected their bosses were healthier and
had fewer heart problems.
The report is published in the journal Occupational and Environmental
Medicine. It suggests that companies should re-train bosses to improve worker
health. A healthier workforce will improve the overall health of the company.
Investing in providing leadership skills to senior managers could be a good long-
term investment. The researchers said a more supportive and understanding boss
would reduce the chances of workers developing high blood pressure and stress-
related illnesses. Magnus Larsson, an engineer for a large IT company, agreed with
the report’s findings. He believes his heart attack last year was because of his boss:
“The guy was a monster. Working for him was a daily nightmare for eight years,”
The report is published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
It suggests that companies should re-train bosses to improve worker health. A
healthier workforce will improve the overall health of the company. Investing in
providing leadership skills to senior managers could be a good long-term
investment. The researchers said a more supportive and understanding boss
would reduce the chances of workers developing high blood pressure and stress-
related illnesses. Magnus Larsson, an engineer for a large IT company, agreed with
the report’s findings. He believes his heart attack last year was because of his boss:
“The guy was a monster. Working for him was a daily nightmare for eight years,”

http://www.onestopenglish.com/esp/law/branches-of-law/
 Shoplifting

‘All property is theft’, Proudhon’s slogan of the French Revolution, became

popular in the late 1960s. Until then, shoplifting was largely seen as a children’s
activity. Suddenly those owning shops were designated enemies of ‘the people’,
and it was a particularly bad time for bookshops in university towns. Even
university libraries now need very costly security systems. This attitude to
capitalism and private property is best illustrated by Jerry Rubin, leader of the
Yippie movement (the paramilitary wing of the hippies) which arose after police
rioted at the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in 1968. He wrote Steal This
Book, on the basis that all commercial operations are a form of theft. Most shops
were then vulnerable to a bold approach, and what was known as liberating goods
became a popular pastime for under-30s and has remained so. By 1972, gangs of
mainly Australian shoplifters specialized in taking large items from big stores in
London’s Oxford Street.

A culture of making criminals into anti-heroes in the French existential

tradition of Sartre and Camus evolved through a long series of American movies
from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Thelma and Louise or Reservoir
Dogs in which shoplifting, bank robbery or murder are admired. This
development has been assisted by police actions in which innocent parties have
been jailed, as in various anti-IRA operations, or shot, as in numerous US police
raids. There is also an increased reliance since the 1970s on violence or torture as
part of police interrogations, especially in the Third World. These elements have
effected the legitimization of criminal activity in the eyes of the young and
underprivileged, or in the case of so-called champagne socialists, the
overprivileged. In 1997 a vicar, the Rev. Papworth, attracted hostile attention in the
press for suggesting that the poor should not be condemned for stealing from
supermarkets. Six months later Jimmy McGovern, writer of the widely-praised
television series Cracker, about a police psychologist, announced that shoplifting
was one of his habitual activities.

Security in shops is more intense as open counters and counter assistants

have been replaced by detectives, cameras and expensive alarm systems set off by
tags at electronic checkouts. No doubt shoplifting will continue until attitudes
change, both from industrialists towards their customers and from young people
towards society, which sanctions a psychologically insidious and yet voracious
materialism to be cultivated by the subtle water torture of television advertising.

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