Topic Reading-Vol.2149-2/28/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Saudi women join the workforce as country reforms

A college degree to serve coffee? It’s not really a matter of education but motivation for women to work in Saudi Arabia. Recently, this ultra-conservative country in terms of women’s participation in jobs, politics, and sports whether performing or just watching, seems to have been accepting, though not officially, gender mixing in the work environment under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s initiative to increase female participation in the workforce in all sectors. Despite the persistence of conservative social attitudes about women’s role at home and in workplaces, more young women are entering the job market these days.

While the law still prevents gender mixing in the workplace, more opportunities have arisen for women in various businesses, such as shops selling women’s items, drug stores, and optics shops, provided that they are separated from male workers and customers. In the meanwhile, there already are young women with college degrees working in a Starbucks coffee shop.  

This year, women in the kingdom are going to be allowed to drive. As they earn more freedom and self-control, they will surely gain higher presence and influence in their society.

Enjoy reading and learning about the changes taking place in one of the most conservative societies in the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/06/middleeast/saudi-women-in-the-workforce/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2148-2/27/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

One family's struggle to conserve water in dire Cape Town drought

Turn the tap on, water comes out. But what if it doesn’t?

While Egypt and Ethiopia are having a dispute over the construction of another dam on the Nile River in northern Africa (as introduced yesterday), people are struggling to conserve water in South Africa.

Cape Town, a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, is famous for flat-topped Table Mountain. The second-most populous urban area in the country has been suffering a severe drought for three years, and this year, "Day Zero," the day when Cape Town runs out of the water, is nearing. Residents are already restricted to only 50 liters of water per person per day. The city has managed to halve its daily water consumption, but supplies are still running low, the summer season hasn’t finished yet, and rain hasn’t fallen days.

As children in this civilized town are experiencing unprecedented water shortage, they are learning ways to conserve the scarce resource, and also how reliant people are on water for every part of their daily lives. They are children of climate change.

Watch the video of an ordinary family saving water for survival.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/familys-struggle-conserve-water-dire-cape-town-drought/story?id=53199256

Topic Reading-Vol.2147-2/26/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Damming the Nile: Explore with 360 video

The Nile. It is the longest river in the world that flows 6,853 km northward through eleven countries including Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, and into the Mediterranean Sea. But the Nile is not just one river from one origin. The waters of the White Nile and Blue Nile converge at Khartoum, the capital of Sudan

In particular, the Blue Nile is the main water source of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt. On the river, a new dam called the Grand Renaissance Dam is being constructed in Ethiopia. Once completed, this 170-meter-tall, 1,8km-long dam will hold enough water to fill 30millio Olympic pools water in 1,874 square kilometer land, larger than London.

Egypt is very much worried about this huge hydroelectric project if it will reduce waters that run to its fields and reservoirs from Ethiopia’s highlands. Sudan supports the project, expecting the dam to regulate floods and provide electricity and irrigation.

Sharing the same water resource seems like a very critical issue for beneficiaries. And when the resource becomes scarce, it could cause disputes, conflicts and …

Enjoy seeing this new 360° video documentary by BBC.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43117710

Topic Reading-Vol.2146-2/25/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

In South Korea, age is measured in bowls of soup

February 16^th was Korea’s first day of the lunar calendar. It is called Seollal, one of the most celebrated holidays in Korea, which lasts for three days. It is not only a time for paying respect to ancestors but also an important opportunity for Koreans to catch up with family members. Those who are away from home travel back to see their family. Those who welcome them prepare a variety of traditional foods. Together, they all pay respect to their ancestors, exchange gifts, and enjoy special dishes to celebrate the new year. Yes, Seollal is a great occasion especially for kids, but it is very costly for parents and grandparents.

The main dish of the day is tteokguk, a traditional soup made with sliced rice cakes with ingredients like beef, pork or seaweeds, and egg and vegetables. It seems quite simple to make this traditional soup dish, but it requires cooperative work by men and women to pound glutinous rice flour and water into the dough for the rice cake. What is special about eating tteokguk on New Year’s Day is that it adds a year to one’s age. Everyone gets a year older at the same time. Indeed, Korean society is very communal.

It seems that Koreans were very busy during Seollal this year hosting guests from all over the world to the Olympic games while celebrating the new year.

Enjoy reading and learning what this new year tradition means to Korean people.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180219-in-south-korea-age-is-measured-in-bowls-of-soup

Topic Reading-Vol.2145-2/24/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

5G is helping make Pyeongchang the most high-tech Olympics ever

Only a day left to close the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. There have been heated competitions on the snow and ice. Many sports fans around the world are enjoying watching those games on TV screens or smartphone displays. But there in this small rural Korean town, another spectacular show has been experienced by the visitors from the world. 2018 IT shows have been presented by high-tech leaders, Intel and Samsung, and auto giant Hyundai.

The highlight of the technology show is 5G, the 5th generation mobile networks, the next telecommunications standards that can transmit data ten times faster than the current 4G standards. The new technology, though it is still yet to come, allows a higher density of mobile broadband users, and supports device-to-device, more reliable, and massive machine communications, such as self-driving cars, virtual reality, smart cities and networked robots. It also can connect sensors, thermostats, cars, robots, and other new technology to realize the Internet of Things or IoT. When this technology is applied to ice skate racing, a coach can monitor the body movement of the racer almost real time, and then sends back instructions to the racer instantly, probably not during the race but during the practice.

Enjoy reading the article and seeing the videos to learn what is also shown in the winter Olympic venues.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/19/technology/pyeongchang-winter-olympics-5g-intel/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2144-2/23/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Photographer documents the plight of China's left-behind kids

There are over 280 million, or about one-third of the total workforce, migrant workers in China. They have helped the country develop rapidly working in manufacturing, construction, retail, transport, and hotels. Most of them come from the countryside where there are few financially rewarding jobs other than farming. Indeed, they have been the engine of China’s spectacular economic growth of the last three decades.

However, China’s half-century-old household registration system, hukou, designed to facilitate welfare and control migration, has created numbers of children who are left in rural towns without a parent or both, as many as nine million. That’s because they don’t have access to social welfare including schooling in the cities where their parents live to work. Most of such children are taken care by their grandparents, but they can meet their parents very occasionally or never. This causes psychological and emotional disconnection with their parents who are needed the most during the early part of childhood.

There is a photographer who visited rural towns and talked with such left-behind children. He was shocked to hear what those children have said.

Enjoy reading the article and seeing the photos to learn what’s behind the scene of China’s recent prosperity.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/04/health/china-left-behind-kids-photography-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2143-2/22/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Spice: Why some of us like it hot?

Do you like spicy foods? There are all kinds of spicy delicacies around the world; Indian, Thai, Sichuan, and Mexican to name a few. Some of them are so violently spicy and hot that the eater may even feel torturous to eat or just to taste. Is that hospitality or hostility?

One reason to use spices is to preserve food without refrigeration. Spices are rich in antimicrobial agents, and some are so hot that even microbes can’t survive. Another is hot spices make people sweat. This helps them cool down the body temperature in hot and dry places.

Besides these fundamental physical benefits, spices add extra or extraordinary flavor, stimulate appetite, and provide psychological satisfaction.

There seem to be various reasons and motives for spicy foods around the world even today.

Enjoy reading and learning the myths of spice.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180216-spice-why-some-of-us-are-hardwired-to-like-it-hot