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CURSO GRATUITO DE INGLÉS PARA PERIODISTAS

Durará 14 semanas.

Por Vicente Calderón.

Tijuana, miércoles 25 de enero de 2017.

Por primera vez un grupo de periodistas de Tijuana toman un curso de inglés auspiciado por el consulado de Estados Unidos en esta frontera e impartido por el CETYS Universidad.

Yanira Rodríguez, coordinadora del centro de idiomas de la escuela privada, dijo a Tijuanapress.com que el objetivo es que los profesionales de los medios de comunicación mejoren tanto su vocabulario como su pronunciación.

"Y que puedan hacer unas entrevistas eficaces y que se sientan seguros de que pueden hacer eso" agregó Rodríguez.

El curso interactivo será gratuito y durará 14 semanas.

Tres días a la semana, los comunicadores asistirán al centro de idiomas de 6 a 8 de la noche, la mayoría después de su jornada como reporteros.

Fueron 60 los periodistas que respondieron a la convocatoria hecha desde hace meses por el Consulado de Estados Unidos en Tijuana.

Tras una evaluación 20 presentaron el nivel necesario para este tipo de curso que se imparte en inglés.

"Fue muy impresionante yo sí pensé que tenían un poquito más de conocimiento del idioma, o de más preparación en el idioma, por la carrera, por su área, a lo que se dedican"

Doce de los seleccionados acudieron a la primera clase, el 24 de enero .

En Tijuana, como ocurre en muchas ciudades de México hay relativamente pocos esfuerzos de capacitación por parte de las empresas de medios para su personal.

En años recientes, diversas organizaciones no gubernamentales han tratado de facilitar la mejora profesional del gremio periodístico con talleres, cursos y conferencias.

En esta país muchos profesionales de la prensa son empíricos y pueden pasar mucho tiempo sin acceso a programas de capacitación o actualización igual que los que egresaron de las carreras de comunicación o periodismo.

Yanira Rodríguez dijo que aunque la institución no cuenta con una carrera de comunicación o similar, se sienten comprometidos con los periodistas

"Forman parte de la vida diaria, ellos día con día están trabajando por nosotros.( ) Entonces que bueno que nosotros ahora le vamos a poder dar a ellos." agregó.

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CURSO GRATUITO DE INGLÉS PARA PERIODISTAS

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Durará 14 semanas. Por Vicente Calderón. Tijuana, miércoles 25 de enero de 2017. Por primera vez un grupo de periodistas de Tijuana toman un curso de inglés auspiciado por el consulado de Estados Unidos en esta frontera e impartido por el CETYS Universidad. Yanira Rodríguez, coordinadora del centro de idiomas de...

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CONCLUYERON COMUNICADORES CURSO GRATUITO DE INGLÉS

Por Vicente Calderón

Tijuana, miércoles 3 de mayo de 2017.

Este miércoles concluyó el curso de inglés para periodistas impartido por el CETYS universidad bajo el auspicio del consulado de Estados Unidos en Tijuana.

De acuerdo a directivos del Centro de idiomas de la institución educativa privada 11 completaron el curso que llegó a su fin coincidiendo con la conmemoración del día mundial de la libertad de prensa.

En la ultima clase estuvieron 8 de los periodistas, editores y redactores que asistieron durante las 14 semanas.

Los estudiantes agradecieron el esfuerzo y la paciencia de los profesores y se mostraron entusiasmados por el progreso logrado en su segundo idioma.

En esta ultima clase presentaron dos videos en los cuales presentaban noticias en inglés.

Los estudiantes no tuvieron que pagar inscripción, colegiatura ni materiales.

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CONCLUYERON COMUNICADORES CURSO GRATUITO DE INGLÉS

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Por Vicente Calderón Tijuana, miércoles 3 de mayo de 2017. Este miércoles concluyó el curso de inglés para periodistas impartido por el CETYS universidad bajo el auspicio del consulado de Estados Unidos en Tijuana. De acuerdo a directivos del Centro de idiomas de la institución educativa privada 11 completaron el curso que llegó a...

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Download this mini-lesson

The reading

This news might not come as a great surprise to mothers, but a new study confirms that moms (and mums) get less sleep than fathers. Researchers at Georgia Southern University in the USA analyzed data on the sleeping habits and patterns of nearly 3,000 women and 3,000 men. They wanted to get to the bottom of what affects adults' sleep. The researchers discovered that having children in the house leads to sleep deprivation in many mothers. Motherhood significantly reduced the number of hours a mother slept each night. Unsurprisingly, this had an adverse effect on mothers' energy levels and tiredness during the day. The study found that fathers' sleep remained largely unaffected by having kids in the house.
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)
The study reveals that children were the biggest cause of mothers being sleep deprived. Dr Kelly Sullivan, co-author of the report, said each child increased a woman's risk of getting insufficient sleep by 46 per cent. In addition, 48 per cent of mothers under 45 reported getting an average of seven hours of sleep a night, compared with 62 per cent of women of the same age who did not have children at home. Dr Sullivan said a lack of sleep negatively impacts physical and mental well-being. It increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and depression. She added: "It's important to learn what is keeping people from getting the rest they need so we can help them work towards better health."

http://www.livescience.com/58026-moms-get-less-sleep.html http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316076.php http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/02/27/living-with-children-really-can-affect-your-sleep-if-youre-woman.html

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Download this mini-lesson The reading This news might not come as a great surprise to mothers, but a new study confirms that moms (and mums) get less sleep than fathers. Researchers at Georgia Southern University in the USA analyzed data on the sleeping habits and patterns of nearly 3,000 women and 3,000 men.

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International Women's Day!

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Rachael Levy

The world's third-largest asset manager installed a bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street's iconic charging bull statue on Tuesday morning as part of its new campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards.

State Street Global Advisors, a nearly $2.5 trillion investor and unit within State Street Corp., is rolling out the campaign ahead of International Women's Day on Wednesday.

The money manager said it would vote against boards if a company failed to take steps to increase its number of members who are women. State Street plans to send a letter to 3,500 companies on Tuesday asking the companies to act.

State Street is a huge player in the index fund world, managing about 90% of its assets in passive funds, which are often investing in companies held in the Russell 3000 and FTSE.

The money manager has cited gender diversity as a way to improve company performance and increase shareholder value. The lack of women on boards has long been a problem. Beyond pipeline issues, some boards see no reason to increase their gender diversity, data shows.

"There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, but the needle hasn't moved materially," Lori Heinel, State Street's deputy global chief investment officer, told Business Insider after the statue's installment.

State Street wants every company it's targeting to have at least one female board member and to take steps toward fixing its gender gap, Heinel said.

"We're not going to always automatically vote against the company, but we want to make sure there are tangible, concrete measures they are taking," Heinel said.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

For State Street, the statue was a way to draw attention to the problem. Currently, nearly a quarter of boards represented in the Russell 3000 have no women at all, Heinel said, citing Institutional Shareholder Services data.

"One of the most iconic images on Wall Street is the charging bull. So the idea of having a female sort of stand against the bull or stand up to the bull just struck us as a very clever but also creative and engaging way to make that statement," Heinel said. "Even though it's a little girl, her stance is one of determination, forwardness, and being willing to challenge and take on the status quo."

Earlier on Tuesday, underneath a light rain, passersby and tourists snapped photos in front of the newcomer. One young man who said he worked in the area described the statue as "cool."

State Street installed the statue in collaboration with city officials and expects the statue to stay for up to a month, a company spokesman said.

The sculpture was created by artist Kristen Visbal. You can read more about her in this Wall Street Journal profile.

We've updated this article to include a reference to the artist behind the sculpture.

MUST READ: Why are so few women hedge fund managers?

SEE ALSO: A bunch of men were asked what they think about diversity on corporate boards - the answer won't surprise you

NOW WATCH: A $2.5 trillion asset manager just put a statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull

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A $2.5 trillion asset manager just put a statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull

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The world's third-largest asset manager installed a bronze statue of a defiant girl in front of Wall Street's iconic charging bull statue on Tuesday morning as part of its new campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their boards.

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UN: Both sides committed war crimes in Syria's Aleppo

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UN investigators have released a scathing report on the battle for Aleppo last year, accusing all sides of committing war crimes against civilians.

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Class Reading and Discussion

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Chris Wade reached into the darkness to silence his blaring alarm clock. It was 4:30 on a frigid winter morning in Warren, Ohio, and outside a fresh layer of snow blanketed the yard.

Thank God, Wade thought to himself. He would be able to get out his plow and make some quick cash.

Money never used to be a problem for Wade, 47, who owned a house with a pool back when he worked at Delphi Automotive, a parts manufacturer that for years was one of the biggest employers in this wooded stretch of northeastern Ohio. But 10 years after taking a buyout as part of Delphi's ongoing shift of production out of the United States and into Mexico and China, the house and the pool were gone.

Berta Alicia Lopez, 54, is the new face of Delphi. On a recent chilly morning, she woke before sunrise on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico, and caught an unheated bus that dropped her an hour away at the Delphi plant.

Lopez earns $1 an hour assembling cables and electronics that will eventually be installed into vehicles - the same work that Wade once did for $30 an hour. A farmer's daughter who grew up in an impoverished stretch of rural Mexico, Lopez is proud to own a used Toyota sedan and a concrete block house.

She frequently thanks God for the work, even if it is in a town troubled by drug violence, even if she doesn't see many possibilities for earning more or advancing.

The two workers live 1,800 miles and a border apart and have never met. But their stories embody the massive economic shift that has accompanied the rise of free trade.

In the United States, that shift has contributed to the loss of jobs that once helped workers buy homes, pay for health insurance and send children to college. In Mexico, it brought jobs - though they didn't create the kind of broad, middle-class prosperity they once had in America.

President Trump has pledged to bring factory work back. But it may be too late to turn back the clock on the powerful forces shaping the lives of Wade and Lopez and two cities, one American and one Mexican, that remain inextricably linked by the geography of global economics.

An empty Delphi plant known as Plant 8 in Warren, Ohio.

After a day of work plowing snow, Chris Wade talks on the phone about the rest of the week's work.

A binder full of Wade's business papers and receipts. Wade worked at Delphi Automotive Systems for 13.5 years. Photographs by Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times

Top: An empty Delphi Automotive plant known as Plant 8 in Warren, Ohio. Bottom left: After a day of work plowing snow, Chris Wade talks on the phone about the rest of the week's work. Wade worked at Delphi Automotive Systems for 13 and a half years. Bottom right: A binder full of Wade's business papers and receipts. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

To hear Trump tell it, free trade deals and globalization have produced clear winners and clear losers.

Delphi had been reducing its U.S. workforce for years before it moved most of its operations overseas in 2006.

"Every time I see a Delphi and I see companies leaving, that wall gets a little bit higher, and keeps going up," Trump promised at a campaign rally in Ohio a few days before the election. "We are going to fight Delphi and other companies and say, 'Don't leave us, because there are going to be consequences.'"

He has pledged to tax imports from Mexico and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminated most tariffs on the continent and, in Trump's view, enriched Mexico at the expense of middle America.

But the real legacy of NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, is more complicated.

Nobody disputes that the loss of manufacturing has left a bruising mark in parts of the U.S., especially in places like the Rust Belt, where lower paying service industry jobs are increasingly replacing middle class factory positions. But many economists say changes in technology, along with competition with China, are more to blame than NAFTA.

The period of steepest decline in manufacturing jobs, which fell from 17 million to 11 million between 2000 and 2010, is substantially attributable to the free import of goods manufactured more cheaply in China and increasing reliance on machines to do the jobs humans once did, according to Gordon Hanson, an economist and trade expert at UC San Diego.

U.S. jobs with Delphi Automotive once paid $30 an hour, but after a move to Mexico, the same jobs pay $1 an hour. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

South of the border, free trade has indeed helped modernize Mexico by creating millions of jobs since the passage of NAFTA, boosting investment flow and helping to diversify the country's manufacturing sector. Mexican workers now help build everything from Whirlpool washing machines to Bombardier jets.

But wages have remained low, so that Mexico remains attractive to manufacturers who might otherwise be tempted to locate in China or elsewhere in Asia. Since NAFTA went into effect, there has been no change in the number of Mexicans living below the poverty line - more than half.

Now, as Trump pushes companies to cancel plans for new factories in Mexico and vows to renegotiate trade deals, it appears more dramatic change is on the horizon.

His administration has proposed a 20% tax on imports from Mexico and other countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit. Economists say the plan poses a serious threat to Mexico, which sends roughly 80% of its exports to the U.S., and whose peso has plummeted amid fears of what the Trump administration may do.

"It's a new era," Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, said in a recent speech, warning that if trade deals are opened up, everything - including Mexico's cooperation with the U.S. on matters of immigration and security - will be up for negotiation.

Lopez is only vaguely aware of Trump - she's too busy for politics.

Wade said he just wants things to go back to the way they were.

But even he sometimes wonders: "Is it too late?"

After shoveling a client's driveway, Chris Wade shovels the walkway. Wade worked at Delphi Automotive Systems for 13 1/2 years before taking a buyout in 2006 as part of the company's ongoing shift of production out of the U.S. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

The snow kept falling, so Wade called up some buddies he works with and fired up his plow.

He sipped coffee from a thermos as he wove along a country lane through a landscape that looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting, with cornfields and churches and quaint clapboard houses all cloaked in white.

His first job was to clear the driveway of an industrial park that once belonged to Delphi.

"That's when times was good," Wade said in his raspy drawl. "That's when I liked this place."

Delphi began as Packard Electric, which started out in Warren in 1890 making light bulbs, but later branched out to auto parts. It became a division of General Motors in 1932, eventually expanding to include factories across the U.S.

The company's factories in Warren paid middle class wages and helped build a prosperous city, with bustling streets lined with handsome brick buildings.

Both of Wade's parents worked for Packard, earning enough to take the family on summer vacations and build a swimming pool in the backyard. Growing up, Wade heard stories at the dinner table each night about what had happened that day on the factory floor.

By then, Packard had started reducing its U.S. workforce by moving some of its operations to Mexico to take advantage of lower labor costs in cities such as Juarez, which was inviting foreign companies to build factories there while paying minimal taxes. The threat that more jobs could be shifted overseas forced union representatives in Ohio to make concessions in salaries and benefits.

Still, Wade's brother and sister-in-law went to work at the Warren factory after high school and Wade figured he'd land there too.

By the time he did - in 1993, after a stint in the Navy that ended with a knee injury - the union workforce in Warren had dropped to less than 9,000, compared with 13,000 a decade earlier.

Still, Wade was happy with his life. He worked nights on the assembly line and cashed his paychecks every Thursday at the bar across the street. On days off, he went duck shooting with his chocolate Labrador, Hunter.

By the early 2000s, after Packard had been renamed Delphi Automotive Systems and spun off as a company independent of GM, Wade had the house and pool. His wife drove a brand new Trailblazer, and he drove a new Chevrolet pickup.

He had no idea what was coming.

Berta Lopez, top left, talks with a fellow worker on the bus to Delphi factory.

Workers leave the Delphi factory after a shift is over in Juarez, Mexico.

A poor neighborhood in Juarez where many factory workers live.

Berta Lopez earns $1 per hour working at the Delphi factory in the city. Photographs by Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times

Top left: Berta Lopez, left, talks with a fellow worker on the bus that takes them to and from their jobs at a Delphi factory. Top right: Workers leave the Delphi factory after a shift is over in Juarez, Mexico. Bottom left: A poor neighborhood in Juarez where many factory workers live. Bottom right: Lopez at home. She earns $1 per hour working at the Delphi factory in the city, and says she frequently thanks God for the work, even if it is in a dangerous city. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Lopez grew up in Bermejillo, a dusty town in the state of Durango, where her stepfather spent his days in the sun, irrigating cotton and melon fields. Her mom had pulled her out of school when she was in fifth grade.

"Why study if you're just going to work and have babies?" her mother told her.

Sure enough, by the time she was 17 she had a son, the first of her five children.

For centuries, people in Bermejillo made their living in the fields, and Lopez had little reason to think she would be any different.

But NAFTA made things hard on small Mexican farmers, who found themselves competing with imports from giant U.S. agribusinesses, many of which received healthy subsidies from the U.S. government. In places like Bermejillo, a generation of young people were suddenly out of work, and many headed north to the U.S.

Others went to frontier towns such as Juarez.

As NAFTA took effect, Juarez was transformed overnight from a desert oasis best known for its nightclubs and casinos into a sprawling grid of concrete industrial buildings intersected by dirt roads. The population grew faster than officials could build highways, schools and other infrastructure.

Migration to cities like Juarez also marked a cultural shift. Parents worked all day, and without extended family to look after them, children often found themselves alone. Drug cartels, whose power was growing, found easy recruits. As the city erupted into gang warfare, murders spiked, along with suicides and violence against women.

Lopez had been working in a cafe for $5 a week when a truck driver passing through town told her about new factory jobs up north. She arrived in Juarez in 1996 with her husband and five children. Her eldest son, then 16, who had not been able to find work in Durango, immediately found a job at a maquiladora, as they call the U.S. factories that had begun to proliferate along the Mexican side of the border.

So did Lopez, at Delphi, where on her first day she was so nervous she offered to clean the bathrooms instead of working on the floor.

"God helped me," she recalled. "However good or bad, at least we had work."

She took to factory life - gossiping with the other workers on breaks, earning the equivalent of a GED in classes offered after her shifts, making peace with living in a big city far from home. Then in 2001, her second eldest son committed suicide.

She was so despondent after his death that for the first time she stayed home from work. One of her managers at Delphi traveled to her neighborhood and gently persuaded her to return to the factory floor.

Lopez thought about returning to Durango, but she knew there would be no good jobs there. She resigned herself to the fact that the Delphi factory was probably the best place she'd ever work, and that Juarez was now her home.

The sun sets over Juarez, Mexico, where many maquiladoras are located. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

"If I didn't have the job, I wouldn't eat," she said.

Delphi had its own listing on the New York Stock Exchange, but its fortunes still rode on General Motors, its biggest customer. When the car company slumped in 2004, the transnational auto parts maker went into a tailspin.

The next year - amid an accounting fraud scandal in which the SEC fined several top executives - Delphi filed for bankruptcy.

Its board hired a new chief executive, Robert Miller, who complained that the company's U.S. workers were overpaid, with labor costs triple that of other unionized auto suppliers.

In March 2006, Delphi announced it was closing or selling 21 of its 29 American plants, a move that eliminated more than 20,000 jobs, or about two-thirds of its total workforce. Operations were shipped to factories in China or Mexico, where Delphi now has about 70,000 employees working at factories in 20 cities.

Most of the plants in Warren remained open, but with a much smaller workforce. While Miller got a sendoff package that by one account was worth $35 million, workers were urged to take a buyout and warned that if they stayed, their wages would drop from an average of $29 an hour to $16.50.

On the day he walked away from Delphi with a buyout package worth $140,000, Wade was, as he put it, "fired up." "The CEOs and the guys at the top make millions while everybody else can barely survive," he said. "It's not right."

In Trumbull County, the former manufacturing and steel stronghold where Warren is located, the Delphi cuts felt like kicking a guy who was already down.

Wade's post-Delphi years were not easy. Shortly after leaving the factory, he went through a divorce and narrowly avoided prison after being pulled over while drunk and with unlicensed guns in his car.

He had received his truck driver's license, but the DUI eliminated that career plan. He earned a certification to sell insurance, but that didn't pan out either.

He works in roofing now during the summer and plows snow in the winter. After a decade, he's making about what he was when he worked at Delphi. But he doesn't have the security of a pension, paid vacation or health insurance. If he had kept his job at Delphi, he would be just seven years from retirement.

Wade doesn't want to hear about the Mexican workers who replaced him. He boils when he hears what low wages they get paid, and is equally angry about immigrants who work illegally in the U.S.

He liked that Trump called out Mexico on the issue. It was the kind of talk that helped persuade Wade, a lifelong Democrat and union member, to give Trump his vote. He was joined by many others in Trumbull County, which voted Republican for president for the first time since 1972.

Brian Lutz, shop steward with the union that once represented Wade, said he understands the anti-establishment anger.

"I hear all the time people who say why would I continue to vote for a Democrat when all the people I worked with are gone and the Democrats haven't done what we sent them to do?" he said.

His union recently negotiated a contract that starts workers at $13 an hour. That's about 10 times as much as Lopez takes home from the Delphi plant in Juarez today, two decades into her career there.

At the end of the shift in Juarez one recent afternoon, hundreds of workers streamed out of the Delphi factory toward the long line of white buses that take them home. Lopez climbed onto No. 6621, which headed east along the U.S. border, past dozens of other factoriesand a slew of big box stores.

It dropped Lopez in New Lands, a grid-like housing development that rises from the sand on the outskirts of the city. Overweight and suffering from diabetes, she shuffled past the Toyota in her driveway.

Trump's warnings to companies to keep their business in America are already having an effect on the Mexican economy.Last month, after being criticized by Trump on Twitter, Ford announced it is canceling plans to build a new $1.6-billion factory in Mexico, opting instead to hire workers in Michigan.

Trump claimed credit, though the company said market demand was a bigger factor. The Mexico factory was designed to build small cars, but as gas prices have fallen, demand has shifted toward bigger models made in Michigan.

But some companies that produce goods in Mexico say there's no going back to the U.S. That includes Delphi.

The company just announced a plan for more layoffs in Warren, where only 1,500 employees remain.

Speaking at Barclay's Global Automotive Conference in New York in December, Delphi's chief financial officer Joe Massaro explained what he thought would happen to Delphi under several Trump trade scenarios.

If Trump were to close the border with Mexico outright, "in less than a week, all the people who voted for him in Michigan and Ohio would be out of work," Massaro argued, underscoring the fact that many factories in the U.S., including car makers in Detroit, depend on parts made in Mexico.

If the United States were to withdraw from NAFTA and start taxing imports from Mexico again, Delphi would continue doing business in Mexico, he said. The company would pass on the extra cost to its suppliers or to consumers, or would find a way to reduce its production costs - which could mean layoffs or salary cuts in Mexico.

What it all means for Lopez and her family, she is not sure.

Of her four children, three work in factories.

For the last couple of years, every spare peso has gone to pay the college tuition for her youngest son, Sergio, who is studying computer engineering. He dreams of starting a software company that can compete with U.S. firms.

He has watched his mom's life, and wants to earn more than factory wages.

Lead art: After shoveling his client's driveway, Chris Wade shovels their walkway. Wade worked at Delphi Automotive Systems for 13.5 years before taking a buyout in 2006 as part of the company's ongoing shift of production out of the U.S. He works in roofing now during the summer and plows snow in the winter. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
This story was reported in part with a grant from the International Women's Media Foundation. kate.linthicum@latimes.com Twitter: @katelinthicum
"It's a lot of work for little money," he said.

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A tale of two cities: What happened when factory jobs moved from Warren, Ohio, to Juarez, Mexico

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Chris Wade reached into the darkness to silence his blaring alarm clock. It was 4:30 on a frigid winter morning in Warren, Ohio, and outside a fresh layer of snow blanketed the yard. Thank God, Wade thought to himself. He would be able to get out his plow and make some quick cash.

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The phrase loose lips sink ships is a warning to be careful about what you say publicly. It stems from propaganda posters from World War II that proclaimed "Loose Lips Sink Might Sink Ships," meaning that anything you say could be overheard by an enemy, with literally catastrophic results. This is part of a complete episode.

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The phrase loose lips sink ships is a warning to be careful about what you say publicly. It stems from propaganda posters from World War II that proclaimed "Loose Lips Sink Might Sink Ships," meaning that anything you say could be overheard by an enemy, with literally catastrophic results.

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Entertain, for a moment, the idea that the NBA's Dallas Mavericks had an ace up their sleeve during their fabled 2011 championship run. Listen to the then-38-year-old point guard Jason Kidd days after beating the Heat in Miami, running his jaw to ESPN Dallas: "We thought it was our secret weapon."

Now, imagine that the folks who put that silver bullet in front of the Mavs brass had discovered "it" stuffed away in a nondescript shopping complex in North Dallas. "Nobody knew [the Mavericks] were using it," says Mark Murdock, one of two men who introduced the NBA team to the secret weapon called whole-body cryogenic chamber therapy. "The whole time, the announcers kept saying things while they were watching the game like, 'It looks like Jason Kidd has found the fountain of youth.' "

In reality, the "fountain of youth" was a vertical chamber that spits out nitrogen vapor below 200 degrees Fahrenheit, engulfing whoever's inside for about three minutes. The person in that frigid tube is naked, except for his or her underwear and the woolen socks and gloves that keep the extremities from becoming frostbitten.

The person's socks and gloves and underwear have to be dry, though. The American sprinter Justin Gatlin climbed into one of these chambers in 2011 and suffered frostbite on his feet due to his sweaty socks.

So, what exactly is whole body cryogenic (pronounced kry-o-GEN-ic) chamber therapy? "We are sending all the blood to the core for three minutes while they're in this unit," Murdock explains. "What we're also doing is stripping the tissue, skin, surface tissue, and muscle tissue around the surrounding joint space of everything that causes pain and inflammation that slows recovery."

Proponents of "cryo" therapy say it shifts a person's post-workout recovery process into overdrive, doing in three minutes what typically takes the human body 48 hours. Its critics say it's a waste of money, that the science to support the claims is questionable, and that people like Murdock are selling icy snake oil vapor.

Murdock and his business partner, Eric Rauscher, own Dallas-based CryoUSA, a therapeutic center boasting a pair of cryogenic chambers. Since its founding, CryoUSA has become a vendor as well, selling the Ukranian-made chambers for between $45,000 and $50,000 each. Murdock says he has sold at least 70 chambers to buyers across the country, including to 10 NBA teams. The New York Knicks, he says, have two.

The 46-year-old Murdock is wiry and fit, the result of all those rope climbs and power cleans and kettlebell swings he does in the CrossFit gym a couple times each week. Discussing CryoUSA's brand of physical therapy, his speech speeds up, as though he's trying to fit in as many words as he can between breaths.

When he finishes a thought, he often smiles and sums up his explainers, like this: "We are taking the process that God designed that takes 48 hours and shoving it into three minutes."

TECHNOLOGY FROM JAPAN
Murdock first stepped into a cryo chamber in 2009. He was skeptical, he says, until hours later. Back then, he was running between 13 and 22 miles each day. He spent the remaining day "wrecked." This time, he did his standard 13, then drove to North Dallas and got the therapy.

"I got out [of the chamber] and thought, 'OK, my legs feel completely fresh,'" he says. Then came the doubt: "This is in my head, it's psychosomatic. I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker, I'm very pessimistic about this."

He had heard his friend Rauscher proselytize about getting in that odd therapy tube at the behest of his Ukranian father-in-law, who'd listened to Rauscher complain about his stiff back. The cryotherapy seemed to work. Rauscher went to work researching the business potential and found there was no such industry in the United States. Murdock, a Division II basketball coach for 17 years, started looking into the science of it.

The technology was created in Japan in 1978 for individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. It's relatively new to America, meaning stateside researchers haven't performed many peer-reviewed studies.

European researchers, however, have delved into the technology. So far, their findings are mixed. Some discovered that cryotherapy aids recovery in the short-term, while others contend that cheaper alternatives offer similar results. (A typical session at CryoUSA costs $75.)

A German study published in 2000, which can be found on the website of the National Institutes of Health, showed that "the pain level after application of the cold therapy decreases significantly" for about 90 minutes. Long-term effects were negligible, but the study found it had a positive effect when used as part of a rehabilitation regimen.

Another study, which examined whether athletes should return to physical activity after cryotherapy, found conflicting results that prevented researchers from reaching a definite conclusion about its effectiveness.

Still another study was damning: "Until further research is available, athletes should remain cognizant that less expensive modes of cryotherapy, such as local ice pack application or cold-water immersion, offer comparable physiological and clinical effects."

"I don't know that the literature is strong enough to say one way or the other," says Dr. Rebecca Stearns, the vice president of operations and director of education at the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute, a nationally renowned program that researches ways to improve the health and safety of athletes. "We definitely need more literature in this area, and it's going to vary case by case."

Stearns, though, notes what many cryo users say when confronted with the varying results of those studies: If the person using it feels that he or she benefits from it and the risk level is low - which is the case with cryogenic therapy - there's no harm in continuing to climb in the tube.

"Perceptually, if they're convinced that it works and they can afford it and they like it and there's no reason to think it's giving them any negative health benefits, that might just be what works for somebody," she says.

TCU CLIMBS ABOARD
Count Dallas Mavericks head athletic trainer Casey Smith among the converted.

The New York Knicks training staff was in town in the fall of 2010, Smith recalls, and set up a meeting with Murdock and Rauscher, whose business was then known as Millennium Ice and located at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano. Smith tagged along and was impressed with the presentation.

Soon, he brought a few players to try it out. "Anecdotally, they had a good report from it and they liked the way it made them feel," Smith says. "So we incorporated that into our recovery solutions."

It became an important part of the recovery process for Kidd, Jason Terry, and Shawn Marion, Smith says. After winning the NBA title, Rauscher snapped a photo of Terry donning a championship cap and a toothy smile in the chamber, the frigid vapor creeping up above his neck. The Mavericks began using the chambers so often that the cryo company moved from Plano to the Park Cities in Snider Plaza so the players didn't have to drive as far.

The spread of cryogenic therapy is intrinsically linked to its stamp of approval from the Mavs. The press that followed piqued the interest of business owners, athletes, and sports trainers, and the business took off.

Athletic higher-ups at Texas Christian University, for example, took note of superstar Dirk Nowitzki undergoing the therapy and began researching the process. A booster bought the school its own cryo unit in 2012. During football season, the players will use it upwards of 120 times a week, says David Gable, the team's head athletic trainer.

The therapy is used as part of the team's standard post-workout recovery regimen, similar to the way ice baths are used. Gable says it's appealing to players because of its convenience. It's much quicker than waiting to dry off after a stint in the ice tub: "They can get in the chamber for three minutes, and then they're on their way to dinner," he says.

But the chamber also produced beneficial effects that Gable and his colleagues didn't anticipate. It's proven effective in helping athletes recover from acute injuries, for instance. Gable says the swelling on a tweaked ankle, say, is visibly lessened after a session. Combined with another recovery modality, such as electrical stimulation and a compression unit, the therapy helps "get swelling out a whole lot quicker than we were previously able to," he says.

Tight end Stephen Bryant, a self-described "big sweller" after an injury, says he saw an immediate impact on an ankle injury he suffered last year. "Right after I got out, the swelling had gone down," he says. "You could see it dramatically after being in there three minutes."

Gable says the TCU kinesiology department is launching a small study on cryogenic therapy, which the football team will be a part of. He knows there needs to be more research done, but he also knows the results he's seen. Athletes feel an endorphin rush after the therapy, and they report sleeping better at night. "I think we're only hitting the tip of the iceberg with what this thing can do right now," he says.

He scoffs at the assertion of one study equating the effect of cryogenic therapy to that of an ice pack. Those types of statements only illustrate the need for further research, he says. It works on an anecdotal level, he says; now it needs to be proven empirically.

"It goes back to simple science," Gable says. "What's occurring in your body is occurring; it would happen whether you were standing out in the cold or whatever the case may be."

Then he pauses and sums up: "It's a great tool to have, and we use the heck out of that thing."
This was originally published in the June issue of D CEO's Medical Directory.

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Entertain, for a moment, the idea that the NBA's Dallas Mavericks had an ace up their sleeve during their fabled 2011 championship run. Listen to the then-38-year-old point guard Jason Kidd days after beating the Heat in Miami, running his jaw to ESPN Dallas: "We thought it was our secret weapon."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Entertain, for a moment, the idea that the NBA's Dallas Mavericks had an ace up their sleeve during their fabled 2011 championship run. Listen to the then-38-year-old point guard Jason Kidd days after beating the Heat in Miami, running his jaw to ESPN Dallas: "We thought it was our secret weapon."

Now, imagine that the folks who put that silver bullet in front of the Mavs brass had discovered "it" stuffed away in a nondescript shopping complex in North Dallas. "Nobody knew [the Mavericks] were using it," says Mark Murdock, one of two men who introduced the NBA team to the secret weapon called whole-body cryogenic chamber therapy. "The whole time, the announcers kept saying things while they were watching the game like, 'It looks like Jason Kidd has found the fountain of youth.' "

In reality, the "fountain of youth" was a vertical chamber that spits out nitrogen vapor below 200 degrees Fahrenheit, engulfing whoever's inside for about three minutes. The person in that frigid tube is naked, except for his or her underwear and the woolen socks and gloves that keep the extremities from becoming frostbitten.

The person's socks and gloves and underwear have to be dry, though. The American sprinter Justin Gatlin climbed into one of these chambers in 2011 and suffered frostbite on his feet due to his sweaty socks.

So, what exactly is whole body cryogenic (pronounced kry-o-GEN-ic) chamber therapy? "We are sending all the blood to the core for three minutes while they're in this unit," Murdock explains. "What we're also doing is stripping the tissue, skin, surface tissue, and muscle tissue around the surrounding joint space of everything that causes pain and inflammation that slows recovery."

Proponents of "cryo" therapy say it shifts a person's post-workout recovery process into overdrive, doing in three minutes what typically takes the human body 48 hours. Its critics say it's a waste of money, that the science to support the claims is questionable, and that people like Murdock are selling icy snake oil vapor.

Murdock and his business partner, Eric Rauscher, own Dallas-based CryoUSA, a therapeutic center boasting a pair of cryogenic chambers. Since its founding, CryoUSA has become a vendor as well, selling the Ukranian-made chambers for between $45,000 and $50,000 each. Murdock says he has sold at least 70 chambers to buyers across the country, including to 10 NBA teams. The New York Knicks, he says, have two.

The 46-year-old Murdock is wiry and fit, the result of all those rope climbs and power cleans and kettlebell swings he does in the CrossFit gym a couple times each week. Discussing CryoUSA's brand of physical therapy, his speech speeds up, as though he's trying to fit in as many words as he can between breaths.

When he finishes a thought, he often smiles and sums up his explainers, like this: "We are taking the process that God designed that takes 48 hours and shoving it into three minutes."

TECHNOLOGY FROM JAPAN
Murdock first stepped into a cryo chamber in 2009. He was skeptical, he says, until hours later. Back then, he was running between 13 and 22 miles each day. He spent the remaining day "wrecked." This time, he did his standard 13, then drove to North Dallas and got the therapy.

"I got out [of the chamber] and thought, 'OK, my legs feel completely fresh,'" he says. Then came the doubt: "This is in my head, it's psychosomatic. I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker, I'm very pessimistic about this."

He had heard his friend Rauscher proselytize about getting in that odd therapy tube at the behest of his Ukranian father-in-law, who'd listened to Rauscher complain about his stiff back. The cryotherapy seemed to work. Rauscher went to work researching the business potential and found there was no such industry in the United States. Murdock, a Division II basketball coach for 17 years, started looking into the science of it.

The technology was created in Japan in 1978 for individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. It's relatively new to America, meaning stateside researchers haven't performed many peer-reviewed studies.

European researchers, however, have delved into the technology. So far, their findings are mixed. Some discovered that cryotherapy aids recovery in the short-term, while others contend that cheaper alternatives offer similar results. (A typical session at CryoUSA costs $75.)

A German study published in 2000, which can be found on the website of the National Institutes of Health, showed that "the pain level after application of the cold therapy decreases significantly" for about 90 minutes. Long-term effects were negligible, but the study found it had a positive effect when used as part of a rehabilitation regimen.

Another study, which examined whether athletes should return to physical activity after cryotherapy, found conflicting results that prevented researchers from reaching a definite conclusion about its effectiveness.

Still another study was damning: "Until further research is available, athletes should remain cognizant that less expensive modes of cryotherapy, such as local ice pack application or cold-water immersion, offer comparable physiological and clinical effects."

"I don't know that the literature is strong enough to say one way or the other," says Dr. Rebecca Stearns, the vice president of operations and director of education at the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute, a nationally renowned program that researches ways to improve the health and safety of athletes. "We definitely need more literature in this area, and it's going to vary case by case."

Stearns, though, notes what many cryo users say when confronted with the varying results of those studies: If the person using it feels that he or she benefits from it and the risk level is low - which is the case with cryogenic therapy - there's no harm in continuing to climb in the tube.

"Perceptually, if they're convinced that it works and they can afford it and they like it and there's no reason to think it's giving them any negative health benefits, that might just be what works for somebody," she says.

TCU CLIMBS ABOARD
Count Dallas Mavericks head athletic trainer Casey Smith among the converted.

The New York Knicks training staff was in town in the fall of 2010, Smith recalls, and set up a meeting with Murdock and Rauscher, whose business was then known as Millennium Ice and located at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano. Smith tagged along and was impressed with the presentation.

Soon, he brought a few players to try it out. "Anecdotally, they had a good report from it and they liked the way it made them feel," Smith says. "So we incorporated that into our recovery solutions."

It became an important part of the recovery process for Kidd, Jason Terry, and Shawn Marion, Smith says. After winning the NBA title, Rauscher snapped a photo of Terry donning a championship cap and a toothy smile in the chamber, the frigid vapor creeping up above his neck. The Mavericks began using the chambers so often that the cryo company moved from Plano to the Park Cities in Snider Plaza so the players didn't have to drive as far.

The spread of cryogenic therapy is intrinsically linked to its stamp of approval from the Mavs. The press that followed piqued the interest of business owners, athletes, and sports trainers, and the business took off.

Athletic higher-ups at Texas Christian University, for example, took note of superstar Dirk Nowitzki undergoing the therapy and began researching the process. A booster bought the school its own cryo unit in 2012. During football season, the players will use it upwards of 120 times a week, says David Gable, the team's head athletic trainer.

The therapy is used as part of the team's standard post-workout recovery regimen, similar to the way ice baths are used. Gable says it's appealing to players because of its convenience. It's much quicker than waiting to dry off after a stint in the ice tub: "They can get in the chamber for three minutes, and then they're on their way to dinner," he says.

But the chamber also produced beneficial effects that Gable and his colleagues didn't anticipate. It's proven effective in helping athletes recover from acute injuries, for instance. Gable says the swelling on a tweaked ankle, say, is visibly lessened after a session. Combined with another recovery modality, such as electrical stimulation and a compression unit, the therapy helps "get swelling out a whole lot quicker than we were previously able to," he says.

Tight end Stephen Bryant, a self-described "big sweller" after an injury, says he saw an immediate impact on an ankle injury he suffered last year. "Right after I got out, the swelling had gone down," he says. "You could see it dramatically after being in there three minutes."

Gable says the TCU kinesiology department is launching a small study on cryogenic therapy, which the football team will be a part of. He knows there needs to be more research done, but he also knows the results he's seen. Athletes feel an endorphin rush after the therapy, and they report sleeping better at night. "I think we're only hitting the tip of the iceberg with what this thing can do right now," he says.

He scoffs at the assertion of one study equating the effect of cryogenic therapy to that of an ice pack. Those types of statements only illustrate the need for further research, he says. It works on an anecdotal level, he says; now it needs to be proven empirically.

"It goes back to simple science," Gable says. "What's occurring in your body is occurring; it would happen whether you were standing out in the cold or whatever the case may be."

Then he pauses and sums up: "It's a great tool to have, and we use the heck out of that thing."
This was originally published in the June issue of D CEO's Medical Directory.

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Entertain, for a moment, the idea that the NBA's Dallas Mavericks had an ace up their sleeve during their fabled 2011 championship run. Listen to the then-38-year-old point guard Jason Kidd days after beating the Heat in Miami, running his jaw to ESPN Dallas: "We thought it was our secret weapon."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"If you see distraction externally, you end up creating an internally distracted state." - Tim Ferriss

This episode of The Tim Ferriss Show is a bit of an experiment. Most the time, I interview world-class people, and I ask them many, many questions to try and figure out what makes them good at what they do.

Many of you have wondered what would happen if I flipped the script and had to answer my own questions. In this episode, I decided to do just that and answer one of your most common questions: what does your morning routine look like?

What you'll find here are the five things I'd like to accomplish within the first 60 to 90 minutes of an "ideal day." If I can hit at least three of these items, then I've won the morning. And, as the saying goes, "If you win the morning, you win the day."

Let me know if you like this type of episode by responding to me on Twitter (@tferriss) or Facebook. Please let me know if you want more, never want to hear this type of podcast again, or suggest another question you'd like me to answer.

Want to learn more about morning routines from a world-class entrepreneur? Listen to my two-part conversation with Tony Robbins. In the episodes below, we discuss Tony's use of cryotherapy, his daily priming ritual, and how to get out of a slump. (Stream the episodes below or right-click here for part 1 and here for part 2 to download.)

This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.

Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you-for free-exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.

This episode is also sponsored by the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run...

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What other questions would you like me to answer on the podcast? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for the episode links...

Selected Links from the Episode

Pu-erh tea | Turmeric ginger | Green tea
Posted on: September 18, 2015.
If you like this type of advice and want more of my insider tips and tricks, as well as the latest of what I'm enjoying, please subscribe to 5-Bullet Friday.

Please check out Tools of Titans, my new book, which shares the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers. It was distilled from more than 10,000 pages of notes, and everything has been vetted and tested in my own life in some fashion. The tips and tricks in Tools of Titans changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for sample chapters, full details, and a Foreword from Arnold Schwarzenegger!

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5 Morning Rituals That Help Me Win The Day

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"If you see distraction externally, you end up creating an internally distracted state." - Tim Ferriss This episode of The Tim Ferriss Show is a bit of an experiment. Most the time, I interview world-class people, and I ask them many, many questions to try and figure out what makes them good at what they do.

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Copy of Sublists of the Academic Word List

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Paulo Cohelo/ blog tim Ferriss

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"A successful writing day is the day that I suffer in the morning, and I have fun in the evening." -Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho ( paulocoelho on Facebook) has long been one of my writing inspirations.

His books, of near universal appeal, span from The Alchemist to the most recent and have been translated into more than 70 languages.

Few people know that The Alchemist, which has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide, was originally published by a small Brazilian publisher to the tune of... 900 copies. They declined to reprint it. It wasn't until after his subsequent novel () that The Alchemist was revived and took off.

I, for one, have always been impressed with consistent writers. Paulo, who averages one book every two years, is staggeringly consistent. As I type this, I am under the pressure of deadlines and often feel as Kurt Vonnegut did: "When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth."

My output is erratic at best, and I wondered: how does Paulo write? What is his process? How does he think about it?

I reached out to him, and he was kind enough to reply with the audio I've included in the podcast. In it, he provides some gems and answers the following questions (see below), which I posed to him (I provide my own abbreviated answers in brackets)...

If you only have 3 minutes, I recommend this portion on avoiding writer's block.

Enjoy!

- When on deadline, what is the first thing you do in the morning? What does your daily schedule look like? Do you take any days off, and what determines if you've had a "successful" writing day?

[TIM: 2-3 hours of fasted writing in the morning to Mozart and pu-ehr tea. Success is two shitty pages of drafts.]
- How do you capture ideas that might be helpful in your writing? These days, what software and tools do you use for writing? [TIM: Evernote, Moleskine notebooks]
- How much of your books do you visualize/outline upfront vs. writing organically piece-by-piece? In other words, how much of the story arc have you decided before you start writing? Let's take two books as examples - The Alchemist and Aleph. Otherwise, how did your process differ for these two books?

[TIM: Though it changes as I write, I outline everything before starting. I suspect organic writing is more common in fiction.]

- What are the most common mistakes that you see first-time novelists making? Most common weaknesses?

[TIM: N/A]

- Do you base your characters on real people? Why or why not? If not, how do you develop those characters?

[TIM: N/A]

- What are the 2-3 things you personally find most invigorating or helpful when you're stuck or feel stagnated with writing/ideas? Do you have a team of any type (researchers, etc.) who help you?

[TIM: Rereading Bird by Bird when I doubt/loathe/chastise myself, deadlifting, and doing sprint workouts.]

Paulo offered a few additional notes and resources for further exploration:

As for the sentence in Alice in Wonderland: "Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

If you want more, here are three podcasts on his writing process:

1) On writing I http://youtu.be/vKBOKLF3Ul8
2) On writing II http://youtu.be/3_TJ4MIGeg8
3) Inspiration http://youtu.be/VWRmbSgS2Yw

For more musings, see Paulo's Facebook fan page, with almost 30,000,000 fans (!).

###

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: If you write, what have you found most helpful for the first and last questions? Here they are, and I'd love your thoughts in the comments.

###

Want to hear another podcast with a successful writer? - Listen to this podcast with Maria Popova. In this episode, she discusses being interesting, creating more time in a day, and how to start a successful blog (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by MeUndies. Have you ever wanted to be as powerful as a mullet-wearing ninja from the 1980's, or as sleek as a black panther in the Amazon? Of course you have, and that's where MeUndies comes in. I've spent the last 2-3 weeks wearing underwear from these guys 24/7, and they are the most comfortable and colorful underwear I've ever owned. Their materials are 2x softer than cotton, as evaluated using the Kawabata method. Check out MeUndies.com/Tim to see my current faves (some are awesomely ridiculous) and, while you're at it, don't miss lots of hot ladies wearing MeUndies.

This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.

Check out wealthfront.com/tim , take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you-for free-exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim .

Scroll below for links and show notes...

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

Show Notes

When on deadline, what is the first thing you do in the morning? [8:53]

What does your daily schedule look like? [11:11]

Do you take any days off? [13:13]

What determines if you've had a "successful" writing day? [14:12]

How do you capture ideas that might be helpful in your writing? [15:35]

Why Paulo Coelho wrote The Alchemist [16:53]

What software and tools do you use for your writing? [20:51]

How much of your books do you visualize or outline upfront versus writing organically piece-by-piece? [23:37]

Most common mistakes and weaknesses made by first-time novelists [24:24]

Do you base your characters on real people? Why or why not? How do you develop those characters? [30:07]

What are the 2-3 things you personally find most invigorating or helpful when you're stuck or feel stagnated with writing/ideas? [31:50]

Posted on: April 23, 2016.
Please check out Tools of Titans, my new book, which shares the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers. It was distilled from more than 10,000 pages of notes, and everything has been vetted and tested in my own life in some fashion. The tips and tricks in Tools of Titans changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for sample chapters, full details, and a Foreword from Arnold Schwarzenegger!

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The Habits of a Master - Paulo Coelho, Author of The Alchemist

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"A successful writing day is the day that I suffer in the morning, and I have fun in the evening." -Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho ( paulocoelho on Facebook) has long been one of my writing inspirations. His books, of near universal appeal, span from The Alchemist to the most recent and have been translated into more than 70 languages.

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The Tim Ferriss Show is generally the #1 business podcast on all of iTunes, and it's been ranked #1 (of all 300,000+ podcasts) on many occasions. It is the first business/interview podcast to pass 100,000,000 downloads, and it has been selected as iTunes' "Best of 2014," "Best of 2015," and "Best of 2016" (most downloaded).

Each episode, I deconstruct world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics, tools, and routines you can use. This includes favorite books, morning routines, exercise habits, time-management tricks, and much more.

Prior guests include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Foxx, Edward Norton, Tony Robbins, Maria Popova, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Amanda Palmer, Malcolm Gladwell, Rick Rubin, Reid Hoffman, Jon Favreau, Whitney Cummings, Mike Shinoda, and dozens more.

Aside from promo impact (often bigger than full-page NYT, WSJ, or Esquire coverage, or primetime CNN), guests enjoy the show because it's friendly, long-form, and they have final cut before audio is published. This leads to extremely open, raw interviews and - paradoxically - fewer edits. Here is a good overview from The Observer: " How Tim Ferriss Became The 'Oprah of Audio' "

Salon has included the podcast in their list of "suggestions to make you remember the world can be a good place." It's about positive tactics you can use, not "gotchas" or other B.S.. The Internet has enough of that, and I wanted to do something to reverse the trend.

DISCLAIMER: The people interviewed are well-trained experts and highly skilled in their areas of practice. They take many safety precautions prior to attempting the activities described. The activities or research discussed in these podcasts should not be attempted without qualified supervision and training with professionals.

Show Notes, Links, and Resources for All Episodes

Below are all the shows, listed from newest to oldest!
You can also search for any guest's name in the search bar below. Just type it in and hit Enter once you can select them.
Calming Philosophies for Chaotic Times - Krista Tippett

Jerrod Carmichael - Uber-Productivity and Dangerous Comedy

Mr. Money Mustache - Living Beautifully on $25-27K Per Year

Soman Chainani - The School for Good and Evil

Lessons from Warren Buffett, Bobby Fischer, and Other Outliers

The Most Feared and Well-Liked Journalist in Silicon Valley - Kara Swisher

The One-Minute Workout Designed by Scientists - Dr. Martin Gibala

Arnold Schwarzenegger Part 2! Bodybuilding, Investing, and Online Battles

The Return of the Money Shot

How to Design a Life - Debbie Millman

Fasting vs. Slow-Carb Diet, Top $150 Purchases, Balancing Productivity and Relaxation, and More

What I Learned in 2016

A.J. Jacobs: Self-Experimenter Extraordinaire

Becoming the Best Version of You

The Random Show Threesome - Tim Ferriss, Kevin Rose, and Matt Mullenweg

Ezra Klein - From College Blogger to Political Powerhouse

Tools of Titans: Brené Brown Distilled and Other Goodies

Testing The "Impossible": 17 Questions That Changed My Life

Mark Bittman on Changing the Food Industry and Living Dangerously

Tools of Titans: Josh Waitzkin Distilled

David Heinemeier Hansson on Digital Security, Company Culture, and the Value of Schooling

Tools of Titans: Derek Sivers Distilled

The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour: Meditation, Mindset, and Mastery

Susan Garrett - Master Dog (and Human) Trainer

Stephen Dubner - The Art of Storytelling and Facing Malcolm Gladwell in a Fist Fight

Charles Poliquin - His Favorite Mass-Building Program, His Nighttime Routine For Better Sleep, and Much More

Drunk Dialing - Ladies Night Edition!

Meet the Machine, Dave Camarillo

David "DHH" Heinemeier Hansson: The Power of Being Outspoken

The Magic and Power of Placebo

My Life Extension Pilgrimage to Easter Island

The Return of Drunk Dialing

The Art and Science of Learning Anything Faster

Matt Mullenweg: Characteristics and Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs

Shay Carl on Wealth, Parenting, and the Future of Video

Dom D'Agostino on Disease Prevention, Cancer, and Living Longer

Jocko Willink on Discipline, Leadership, and Overcoming Doubt

Tony Robbins on How to Resolve Internal Conflict

Practicing What You Preach

Shep Gordon - The King Maker on His Best PR Stunts, Hugest Failures, and Practical Philosophies

Cal Fussman - The Master Storyteller Returns

Jason Nemer - Inside the Magic of AcroYoga

How to 'Waste Money' To Improve the Quality of Your Life

The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training, Part Two - Home Equipment, Weighted Stretches, and Muscle-Ups

What's Important to You?

Tony Robbins - On Achievement Versus Fulfillment

Seth Godin on How to Think Small to Go Big

Mike Birbiglia, The Sleepwalking Comedy Giant

How to Cage the Monkey Mind

The One-Handed Concert Pianist, Nicholas McCarthy

Lessons from Geniuses, Billionaires, and Tinkerers

Dom D'Agostino - The Power of the Ketogenic Diet

The Random Show - New Favorite Books, Memory Training, and Bets On VR

Shay Carl - From Manual Laborer to 2.3 Billion YouTube Views

Useful Lessons from Workaholics Anonymous, Corporate Implosions, and More

Dissecting the Success of Malcolm Gladwell

Jamie Foxx Part 2 - Bringing the Thunder

How Creatives Should Negotiate

The Canvas Strategy - What Ben Franklin and Bill Belichick Have in Common

Kevin Kelly - AI, Virtual Reality, and The Inevitable

Marc Andreessen - Lessons, Predictions, and Recommendations from an Icon

How to Be Tim Ferriss - Featuring Freakonomics

Lessons from War, Tribal Societies, and a Non-Fiction Life (Sebastian Junger)

Assessing Risk and Living Without a Rope - Lessons from Alex Honnold

How to Optimize Creative Output - Jarvis versus Ferriss

The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training

The Importance of Being Dirty: Lessons from Mike Rowe

Joshua Skenes - Playing with Fire

On Zero-to-Hero Transformations

The Habits of a Master - Paulo Coelho, Author of The Alchemist

The Man Who Studied 1,000 Deaths to Learn How to Live

On Philosophy and Riches

How to Overcome Fear - Lessons from Firefighter and Luger, Caroline Paul

Morgan Spurlock: Inside the Mind of a Human Guinea Pig

How to Live in the Moment

Josh Waitzkin, The Prodigy Returns

How to Avoid the Busy Trap (and Other Misuses of Your Time)

The Random Show, Ice Cold Edition

The Interview Master: Cal Fussman and the Power of Listening

How to 10X Your Results, One Tiny Tweak at a Time

The World's Most Famous Performance-Enhancement Chemist

How to Achieve Self-Ownership

Kaskade and Sekou Andrews: The Musician and the Poet

Shaun White and the Magic of "Who Cares?"

Meet "Scorpion," The Real-Life Santa Claus

How Seth Godin Manages His Life - Rules, Principles, and Obsessions

How to Practice Poverty and Reduce Fear

Naval Ravikant on Happiness Hacks and the 5 Chimps Theory

Luis von Ahn on Learning Languages, Building Companies, and Changing the World

The Tao of Seneca: Letters from a Stoic Master

Edward Norton on Mastery, Must-Read Books, and The Future of Crowdfunding

Chris Sacca on Shark Tank, Building Your Business, and Startup Mistakes

Eric Weinstein on Challenging "Reality," Working with Peter Thiel, and Destroying Education to Save It

Daymond John and How to Turn Weaknesses into Strengths

Recommendations and Resolutions for 2016

Derek Sivers Reloaded - On Success Habits and Billionaires with Perfect Abs

Amelia Boone on Beating 99% of Men and Suffering for High Performance

25 Great Things I Learned from Podcast Guests in 2015

Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying "No" to Millions

Jamie Foxx on Workout Routines, Success Habits, and Untold Hollywood Stories

Rainn Wilson on Meditation, The Sexy Nostril Exercise, and Acting as Therapy

The Magic of Mindfulness: Complain Less, Appreciate More, and Live a Better Life

B.J. Novak of The Office on Creative Process, Handling Rejection, and Good Comedy

Will MacAskill on Effective Altruism, Y Combinator, and Artificial Intelligence

Kevin Costner on Building His Career, Positive Self-Talk, and Making Dances with Wolves Happen

How Philosophy Can Change Your Life, Alain de Botton

Dom D'Agostino on Fasting, Ketosis, and the End of Cancer

How Renegade Filmmaker Casey Neistat Breaks Rules, Reinvents Himself, and Gets Thanked For It

Thinking About Extra Dimensions with Physicist Lisa Randall

The Athlete (And Artist) Who Cheats Death, Jimmy Chin

5 Tools I Use For Faster And Better Sleep

The Nasty Icon of Retail, Sophia Amoruso

Should You Start a 'Startup' or Build a Cash-Flow Business?

The Tattooed Heretic of Wine and Whiskey, Richard Betts

The 5 Things I Did To Become a Better Investor

Comedy's Dynamic Duo, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

The Scariest Navy SEAL Imaginable...And What He Taught Me

Scott Adams: The Man Behind Dilbert

5 Morning Rituals That Help Me Win The Day

Are Psychedelic Drugs the Next Medical Breakthrough?

Drunk Dialing Fans-Celebrating The 100th Podcast Episode!

"The Iceman," Wim Hof

The Oracle of Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman (Plus: Michael McCullough)

Brené Brown on Vulnerability and Home Run TED Talks

How to Build a World-Class Network in Record Time

The "Wizard" of Hollywood, Robert Rodriguez

The Person I Call Most for Startup Advice

Kevin Kelly on Artificial Intelligence and Designer Babies

What Evernote's Phil Libin Learned from Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, and Others

Tara Brach on Meditation and Overcoming FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

Jane McGonigal on Getting More Done with Less Stress and The Health Benefits of Gaming

Maria Popova on Being Interesting, Creating More Time in a Day, And How to Start A Successful Blog

Charles Poliquin on Strength Training, Shredding Body Fat, and Increasing Testosterone and Sex Drive

Peter Diamandis on Disrupting the Education System, The Evolution of Healthcare, and Building a Billion-Dollar Business

Laird Hamilton, The King of Big Wave Surfing (Plus: Gabrielle Reece and Brian MacKenzie)

General Stan McChrystal on Anti-War Americans, Pushing Your Limits, and The Three Military Tests You Should Take

Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read

General Stan McChrystal on Eating One Meal Per Day, Special Ops, and Mental Toughness

Whitney Cummings on Turning Pain Into Creativity

The Maverick of Brain Optimization

Sam Kass on Reinventing Yourself and Baptism by Fire

The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million

Chris Sacca on Being Different and Making Billions

How to Build a Large Audience From Scratch (And More)

Is It Time to Kill Sacred Cows In Your Relationship?

Rick Rubin on Cultivating World-Class Artists (Jay Z, Johnny Cash, etc.), Losing 100+ Pounds, and Breaking Down The Complex

How Facebook's #30 Employee Quickly Built 4 Businesses and Gained 40 Pounds with Weight Training

How One Computer Hacker Conquered Online Dating, Opens Locked Cars, and More

Triple H on Pre-Fight Rituals, Injury Avoidance, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Hit Filmmaker Jon Favreau's Techniques and Routines

How to Earn Your Freedom...And A Motorcycle Ride Across China?

Inside the Mind of Glenn Beck, You Find...Walt Disney and Orson Welles?

Amanda Palmer on How to Fight, Meditate, and Make Good Art

The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide - Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More

Optimizing Investing, Blood, Hormones, and Life (Podcast Double-Header: #63 and #65)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of CrossFit

Productivity Secrets of a Master DJ (Meditation, Morning Routines, and More)

Matt Mullenweg on Polyphasic Sleep, Tequila, and Building Billion-Dollar Companies

Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)

How to Create a Blockbuster Podcast

How to Think Like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos

Pavel Tsatsouline on the Science of Strength and the Art of Physical Performance

Are We Really 10% Human and 90% Bacteria? Exploring The Microbiome...

Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief

Dr. Peter Attia on Life-Extension, Drinking Jet Fuel, Ultra-Endurance, Human Foie Gras, and More

Human Foie Gras - A Golden Opportunity

Marc Goodman, FBI Futurist, on High-Tech Crime and How to Protect Yourself

Bryan Callen on Eating Corgis (Yes, The Dogs) and Improving Creativity

The Random Show: Hating Tech, Hidden Japanese Gems, Sexual Awkwardness, and More

Nick Ganju on The Majesty of Ping Pong, Poker, and How to Write Hit Songs

Margaret Cho on Comedy, Bisexuality, and The Slow-Carb Diet

Rolf Potts on Travel Tactics, Creating Time Wealth, and Lateral Thinking

The Unusual Books That Shaped Billionaires, Mega-Bestselling Authors, and Other Prodigies

Andrew Zimmern on Simple Cooking Tricks, Developing TV, and Addiction

Maria Popova on Writing, Workflow, and Workarounds

Tony Robbins on Morning Routines, Peak Performance, and Mastering Money

Ramit Sethi on Persuasion and Turning a Blog Into a Multi-Million-Dollar Business

The Tim Ferriss Show: Tracy DiNunzio on Rapid Growth and Rapid Learning

The Tim Ferriss Show: Interview with Peter Thiel, Billionaire Investor and Company Creator

The Tim Ferriss Show: Interview of Kevin Kelly, Co-Founder of WIRED, Polymath, Most Interesting Man In The World?

The Random Show, Episode 25 - Gut Bacteria, Meditation, Startups, and More

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 22: Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, on Steve Jobs, Stories, and Lessons Learned

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 21: Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park - Making Art, Making Music, Getting To 60+ Million Albums

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 20: Dan Carlin - Hardcore History, Building Podcasts, Creativity, and More

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 18: James Altucher on How to Say "No", Fail Better, and Build Businesses

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 16: Joe De Sena on Grit, Endurance, and Building Empires

The Tim Ferriss Podcast, Ep 15: Neil Strauss, Author of The Game

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 14: Sam Harris, PhD on Spirituality, Neuroscience, Meditation, and More

Not-To-Do Lists, Drugs, and Other Productivity Tricks

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 12: Dr. Rhonda Patrick on Life Extension, Performance, and Much More

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 10: Brian Koppelman, Co-writer/Producer of Rounders, The Illusionist, Ocean's Thirteen

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 8: Chase Jarvis, Master Photographer

The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 7: Stephen Dubner, Co-Author of Freakonomics

The Tim Ferriss Podcast, Episode 5: Filmmaker Jason Silva

The Tim Ferriss Podcast, Episode 4: Ryan Holiday

The Tim Ferriss Podcast, Episode 3: Kelly Starrett and Dr. Justin Mager

The Tim Ferriss Podcast is Live! Here Are Episodes 1 and 2

Please check out Tools of Titans, my new book, which shares the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers. It was distilled from more than 10,000 pages of notes, and everything has been vetted and tested in my own life in some fashion. The tips and tricks in Tools of Titans changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for sample chapters, full details, and a Foreword from Arnold Schwarzenegger!

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Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs Shay Carl

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The Health Benefits of Gaming Maria Popova

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Practice Poverty and Reduce Fear Naval Ravikant

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Food Industry and Living Dangerously Tools of Titans

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The Power of Being Outspoken The Magic and Power of Placebo My Life Extension Pilgrimage

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Wolves Happen How Philosophy Can Change Your Life

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The Tim Ferriss Show is generally the #1 business podcast on all of iTunes, and it's been ranked #1 (of all 300,000+ podcasts) on many occasions. It is the first business/interview podcast to pass 100,000,000 downloads, and it has been selected as iTunes' "Best of 2014," "Best of 2015," and "Best of 2016" (most downloaded).

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Economy

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North American Economy North American Competitiveness Outlook

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Security The Imperatives of Binational Security Cooperation Mexican and Canadian Diplomacy Towards

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As the current administration continues to call out perceived pitfalls of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, trade experts, business leaders, former government officials and current policymakers will gather at UC San Diego to lead timely and important conversations on the likely consequences of revoking or renegotiating the trade agreement.

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Science

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The pendant is remarkable for being the second largest Maya jade found in Belize to date, said Braswell, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at UC San Diego. The pendant measures 7.4 inches wide, 4.1 inches high and just 0.3 inches thick.

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Bad Kid Learns Colours Best Preschool Education Toys for Toddlers Learning Video

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Wooden Shape Sorting Clock Educational Toys

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Press Conferences and Oral Communication

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week 1

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The Benefits of Being Bilingual - Univision Noticias

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Journalism 4 | Penn Arts & Sciences Online Learning

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School of Arts & Sciences | University of Pennsylvania

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Wk 1

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class work

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Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education

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The correct use of who and whom in questions and statements may seem like a lost battle, still fought only by punctilious English teachers. This wikiHow will teach you how to use who and whom correctly, which will make you seem more...

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Find world news

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Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator.

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who and whom

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Knock-knock jokes are practically an art form in English, and when I heard this one at a Christmas Eve party from Fred Kaimann of The Star-Ledger, I roared. Not only because I was planning to write a blog post on and whom, but also because these two relative pronouns seem so difficult for so many people, even native English speakers.

Many don't know the difference but think whom just sounds more correct, so they tend to use it when they're trying to sound educated. Nine times out of 10, they're wrong.

So what's the difference? It's very simple.

Who is subjective, or nominative, case; use it for the subject of a sentence or clause. (In Who's there? it's the subject of 's, or is. Note that it's not spelled whose; that's the possessive form of who.) Whom is objective - that is, used as the object of a verb or a preposition. That's why it should be to whom - to is a preposition - rather than to who. If whatever the pronoun stands for is performing the action of the verb, use who. If it is being acted upon or is the object of a preposition, use whom.

Is this example from student work correct or incorrect?
Windsor Terrace has turned into the residence of young urban professionals, who the natives call yuppies.
Incorrect. Yes, who is connecting its subordinate clause of the sentence, but it's the direct object of its clause. If this sentence were written as two, it would look like this: Windsor Terrace has turned into the residence of young urban professionals. The natives call them yuppies. It's smoother to connect the two clauses into one complex sentence, which whom does while standing in for them.

But you wouldn't say Whom moved my cheese? - or at least Spencer Johnson, author of the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" would hope not. Here who is clearly the subject of the sentence.

That much is simple. Often, the tricky part is figuring out whether the pronoun is a subject or an object. As relative pronouns, who and whom connect clauses and need to match the pronoun's function in the sentence.

Another example from a student:

We have to pay attention to whom the media gave the news.

In this case whom is correct. Not because the whole clause whom the media gave the news is the object of the preposition to, but rather because it's the direct object of the verb gave. ( The media gave them the news.)

I said it was tricky. Even the stage director Michael Kahn was either confused or misquoted when he said, in an interview for the book "Upstaged" by Anne Nicholson Weber:

"Their heroes are whomever is the major movie star of the moment."

Incorrect. Whoever and whomever follow the same rules as who and whom. In this case, the pronoun is the subject of a clause: whoever is the major movie star of the moment. The entire clause is a predicate nominative, equivalent to the subject of the sentence, their heroes.

Granted, Kahn was speaking, not writing, and speech tends to be less precise. In this New Yorker cartoon, for example, it's technically wrong to end a sentence with a preposition, but that's the way people talk. And in casual conversation, most people would find nothing wrong with the who. Writing tends to be more formal and correct, although in journalism you don't want to sound stuffy.

To test your understanding of who and whom, here's an interactive quiz. The first thing you'll see is a note: "Although the correct choice of WHO and WHOM is no longer considered a terribly important matter in grammar, it remains one of the most often asked questions, a sure sign that it bothers people to use it incorrectly." Strike a balance, but know the difference.

About Diane Nottle

Diane Nottle is the ESL coach to the international students and other non-native English speakers in CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism. Her 35-year career in journalism included 20 years as an editor at The New York Times specializing in arts and culture. She holds a certificate in English language teaching from New School University and has taught English at Columbia University, the University of Lower Silesia in Wroclaw, Poland, and Hunan University of Science and Technology in Xiangtan, China. She has also taught journalism at the University of British Columbia, Colorado State University and Emerson College. View all posts by Diane Nottle

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Hunan University of Science and Technology

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Colorado State University and Emerson College

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Knock-knock jokes are practically an art form in English, and when I heard this one at a Christmas Eve party from Fred Kaimann of The Star-Ledger, I roared. Not only because I was planning to write a blog post on and whom, but also because these two relative pronouns seem so difficult for so many people, even native English speakers.

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NEW YORK TIMES

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Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra Perform Grammy-Nominated Sibelius Symphonies

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The musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Osmo Vänskä performed Feb. 1, 2013, at the Minneapolis Convention Center to celebrate their Grammy Award-nominated recording of Sibelius Symphonies. This MNuet video takes you backstage before the concert to meet several musicians and delivers extended passages from the concert.

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Pair work

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Directions: Click on " The sentence, please!" and a sentence will appear in the top text-area. Try to eliminate redundant statements and useless phrases from the sentence. When you are finished with each sentence (or, if you wish, wait until you've done them all), click on " Grammar's Version," which will reveal how we would rewrite the sentence.

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Quiz

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Article

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Free ESL Current Affairs Lesson with Lesson Plan

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Feature news/soft news

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In the run up to his presidency, Donald Trump made it very clear that he was not a fan of Alec Baldwin's impersonations in which he famously mimicked the Republican candidate on Saturday Night Live.

It's emerged, however, that so effective is the impression, a newspaper has mistakenly used a picture of Baldwin's version of Trump in place of actual Donald Trump.

The newspaper in question is the Dominican Republic's El Nacional with the gaffe arriving in a story about the President's policies in the Middle East.

As far as reports are concerned, the piece was not intended to be satirical or tongue-in-cheek which makes the entire error more hilarious.

See for yourself below.

That awkward moment when a Dominican newspaper uses a picture of Alec Baldwin instead of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/nRUlikR7Ef
- Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) February 11, 2017

Baldwin's not the only one to have jumped on the impression bandwagon; Melissa McCarthy impersonated White House press secretary Sean Spicer while Rosie O'Donnell threw her name into the ring to take on Trump's assistant, Steve Bannon.

This week, Australian comedian Jim Jefferies tore into Piers Morgan on a US talk show after the British broadcaster refused to brand Trump's travel ruling a Muslim ban.

Reuse content

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A newspaper's photo of Donald Trump has one extremely awkward problem

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In the run up to his presidency, Donald Trump made it very clear that he was not a fan of Alec Baldwin's impersonations in which he famously mimicked the Republican candidate on Saturday Night Live . It's emerged, however, that so effective is the impression, a newspaper has mistakenly used a picture of Baldwin's version of Trump in place of actual Donald Trump.

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Dominican Newspaper/hard news

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Newspaper Accidentally Uses Alec Baldwin 'SNL' Photo Instead of Donald Trump

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Maybe Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump impersonation is... too good? Dominican newspaper El Nacional apologized on Saturday after mistakenly using a photo of Baldwin dressed as President Trump on "Saturday Night Live," instead of president himself. The photo appeared in the paper next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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a/an article

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A/an - Pronunciation is the key. Use 'an' before any word or abbreviation beginning with a vowel sound... The News style guide has been compiled to assist producers and journalists.
A/an
Pronunciation is the key. Use 'an' before any word or abbreviation beginning with a vowel sound, including words beginning with a silent 'h' (as far as we know there are only four of these: hour, honour, heir, honest and their derivatives). You use 'a' with consonant sounds (eg: unicorn), including words beginning with an 'h' which is pronounced (eg: hat, hotel).
Abbas, Mahmoud
(Palestinian president.) We should call him Mahmoud Abbas alone, unless he is referred to in a quotation as Abu Mazen, when we can use the formula 'Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen' to explain. In feature-type pieces it would be acceptable to use both terms.
Aboriginal
Means indigenous; earliest known inhabitants of a particular country. Use a cap ( Aboriginal) if the reference is to the indigenous Australians; otherwise, aboriginal. Likewise, Aborigine/ aborigine.
Abortion Abu Bakar Ba'asyir Abu Hamza al-Masri
At first mention only, spell out his full name - thereafter he can be referred to as Abu Hamza. Never shorten the name to 'Hamza', even in a headline.
Abu Mazen
(Palestinian Authority president.) We should call him Mahmoud Abbas alone, unless he is referred to in a quotation as Abu Mazen, when we can use the formula 'Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen' to explain. In feature-type pieces it would be acceptable to use both terms.
Abu Qatada
(Radical Palestinian-Jordanian cleric.) He remains Abu Qatada at second reference.
Acas Accents Accidents Achilles heel
ie no apostrophe and upper case 'A'.
Acronyms
Use the abbreviated form of a title without explanation only if there is no chance of any misunderstanding (eg UN, Nato, IRA, BBC). Otherwise, spell it out in full at first reference, or introduce a label (eg the public sector union Unite).

Where you would normally pronounce the abbreviation as a string of letters - an initialism - use all capitals with no full stops or spaces (eg FA, UNHCR, NUT). However, our style is to use lower case with an initial cap for acronyms where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word (eg Aids, Farc, Eta, Nafta, Nasa, Opec, Apec).

There are a few exceptions:

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is capped up ie NICE

The UK Independence Party is capped up ie UKIP

Strategic Health Authority becomes SHA ('Sha' looks like a typo)

Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes SAD ('Sad' would be confusing).

When abbreviating a phrase, rather than a name or title, use lower case (ie lbw, mph).
AD
(in the year of the Lord) ie unpunctuated. It goes before the year (eg AD800) - with no gap.
Add, to
As in: 'This is the end of the road,' he added. Should be used sparingly; acceptable only if it really is the last addition to a set of quotes. And do NOT use with indirect quotes (eg 'He added that this was the end of the road.')
Admit
Use with care. To say: 'He admitted his companion had fired the first shot' suggests we accept what is being said as the truth. A more neutral term such as said is preferable.

NB: when using 'admit' in the sense of 'plead guilty to', there is no need for a preposition eg 'He admitted to manslaughter'. Just say ' He admitted manslaughter'.
Admit responsibility
Avoid saying 'The Taliban admitted/claimed responsibility for planting the bomb.' Say simply: ' The Taliban say they planted the bomb.'
Adrenalin
is our preferred spelling - not adrenaline.
Advertising Standards Authority
- and not 'Agency'.
Adviser
is our preferred spelling, not 'advisor'. But advisory - with an 'o'.
Aeroplane
is the correct spelling - do not use airplane, which is the American term. Better anyway just to write plane.
Affect/effect
Not synonymous. The verb 'to affect' means 'to have an influence on' eg ' Wine does not affect me'; 'to effect' means 'to cause, accomplish' eg ' A month at the clinic effected my recovery.'
Afrikaans
is the language (and the adjective). The people are Afrikaners.
Age
An age placed after a name should be sandwiched between commas eg ' John Jones, 61, has been knighted.'
Ageing
is our preferred spelling - and not 'aging'.
Agencies
When quoting news agencies, we should use the full description if space allows, ie 'Reuters news agency/the Associated Press news agency.' But if we are pushed for space short-forms such as 'AFP says' or 'he told AP' are acceptable.
Agenda
Is singular eg ' The agenda was fiercely contested'.
Aids Airbase/aircrew/airdrop/airlift
ie in each case, one word - and no hyphen.
Air force/air strike/air raid
ie in each case, two words - and no hyphen.
al-Aqsa mosque
ie with a hyphen. We say ' the al-Aqsa mosque', despite the fact that'al' is Arabic for 'the' so technically we are using the same word twice.
al-Iraqiyya
(the main Sunni-backed alliance in Iraq) ie with a hyphen and two 'y's.
Alasdair/Alastair/Aleister/Alistair
Be aware that there are several ways to spell this name.
A-level
ie with hyphen and lower case 'l'.

Also AS-level - the first stage of an A-level, and a qualification in its own right. It stands for Advanced Subsidiary.

And A2 ie without a hyphen - the second stage of A-levels, following the AS-level. The plural is A2s.
Al Fayed Al Jazeera
Arabic television channel, based in Qatar. Cap 'A' and no hyphen.
All right
and never 'alright' (unless part of a title, as in 'It'll Be Alright on the Night').
al-Maliki, Nouri
(Iraqi prime minister) ie not Nuri.
al-Megrahi, Abdelbaset Ali
(Libyan convicted over Lockerbie who died in 2012.) We previously used the full name given in legal documents - Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. However, for consistency and simplicity, stick to the above. On second reference it is just Megrahi.
al-Motassadek, Mounir
(Moroccan student convicted in Germany for being an accessory to the 9/11 attacks) (ie lower case 'al' followed by a hyphen). On second reference, just Motassadek.
al-Muhajiroun al-Qaeda
ie lower case 'al', hyphen, and upper case 'Q'.
Alternative AM Ambassador America
should not be used as a synonym for the United States on first reference unless it is clear from the context that is what is being referred to. For brevity, US is OK (eg: The US president is to visit Belfast; Police throughout the US are on high alert).

NB: Do not refer to 'North America' unless you specifically mean the continent of North America, which includes Canada and Greenland.
American spellings
American spellings should not be used for job titles (eg 'US Defence Secretary Robert Jones', rather than 'Defense Secretary'). However, they are retained for the official names of organisations, buildings etc (eg US Department of Defense, Lincoln Center, World Trade Center, World Health Organization).
Americanisms
Take care not to copy and paste them from agency copy. We say: meet (not 'meet with'), consult (not 'consult with'), talk to (not 'talk with'), protest against a decision (not 'protest a decision'), appeal against a verdict (not 'appeal a verdict'). We say car rather than 'automobile', town centre rather than 'downtown', shopping centre rather than 'shopping mall', dustbin rather than 'trash can', lorry driver rather than 'trucker', producer rather than 'showrunner', mortuary rather than 'morgue', power cut rather than 'outage'. Do not use ouster. We tend not to convert nouns into verbs (avoid 'to hospitalise', 'to scapegoat', 'to rubbish', 'to debut'). Our sports teams do not 'post' a total (eg of runs) - they score it. News agencies might report that protesters have been throwing rocks - we would use stones. Beware words that have different meanings for US and UK audiences eg: 'slated', 'suspenders', 'pants' etc.
America's Cup
ie apostrophe before the 's'. Initial caps.
Amid
And not 'amidst'.
Amok
We say ' run amok' - rather than 'run amuck'.
Among
And not ' amongst'.
Ampersands Annex/annexe
'annex' is the verb. The noun is 'annexe'.
Antenna
The plural is antennae for an insect's feelers, antennas for aerials.
Anthrax
is a bacterium, not a virus.
Anticipate
is not synonymous with 'expect'. It means to take action, because of something you expect to happen eg 'The goalkeeper anticipated the shot by coming off his line.'
Any more
Is our preferred version, rather than anymore.
Apostrophes
There is no apostrophe in the possessive 'its' (eg: Virtue is its own reward).

For names, use the possessive 's whenever possible - eg: Burns's, Jones's, Charles's, James's, Dickens's, Phillips's. But be guided by how the last syllable of the name is pronounced - eg: Jesus', Bridges', Moses', Hodges', Griffiths', Walters' - also Wales'.

The bank ( Lloyds TSB) has no apostrophe, but the insurance underwriter and the register of shipping ( Lloyd's) does.

The church in Langham Place, London - All Souls' - has an apostrophe. The college in Oxford is All Souls.
Appraise/apprise
You 'appraise' something when you put a value on it. You 'apprise' someone of something when you inform them about it.
Arabic names
Names beginning with al- such as Bashar al-Assad lose the prefix on second mention - ie Mr Assad. If it's a place name, no need for the al- at all.

Do not use an apostrophe in an Arabic name. Examples: Baath, Shia.

For the founder of Islam, our style is the Prophet Muhammad. Second reference: Muhammad or the Prophet. For the spelling of individual Muslims named after him: there is no simple rule, because the spelling Muhammad/Mohamed/Mohammad) varies from country to country. But in the Arab world, where Arabic script rules, we should standardise the name as Muhammad.

Abu: means 'father of'. We do not follow the practice of some news agencies in using a hyphen - eg: 'Abu-Mazen'.
Some common men's names:
Ahmad

Ali

Abdullah

Ibrahim

Mahmoud

Yasser

Yousef
Our preferred spelling of cities/towns often in the news:
Amara

Baghdad - ( not Bagdad)

Baquba

Basra

Dahuk

Diwaniya

East Jerusalem ( not Arab East Jerusalem)

Falluja

Hilla

Irbil

Karbala

Khan Younis

Medina

Mosul

Nad Ali

Qalqilya

Rafah

Sharm el-Sheikh

Sulaymaniyah

Tehran ( not Teheran)

Tulkarm
Aran/Arran
Aran sweaters are traditionally associated with the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland. They have nothing to do with the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde.
Archbishops/archbishops
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of All England

The Archbishop of York is the Primate of England

The Archbishop of Armagh is the Primate of All Ireland

The Archbishop of Dublin is the Primate of Ireland

The Archbishop of Westminster can be referred to as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Area
Adjectival phrases defining an area should include hyphens in both metric and imperial measures. Always mention both; the context will determine which comes first: eg The French fishermen denied reports that they had been operating inside the X-sq-km (Y-sq-mile) zone (note: there is no 's' on nouns used adjectivally). Elsewhere, there is no need for hyphens eg The UK government is calling for a ban on fishing within a zone of X sq miles (Y sq km).
Argentina
Lower case, also, if you are using it adjectivally - eg: Rain has thwarted army efforts to deliver food.

Note that armed forces is lower case.

Foreign armies generally take lower case, but the US Army is the correct title and so takes cap 'A'.

Most army ranks can and should be abbreviated even at first reference - see list below. Listed separately are those abbreviations to be used only at second reference - after the rank has been spelt out in full at first mention. A third category lists those ranks that we do not abbreviate, even at second reference. But ranks should be spelt out in full (lower case) when they are used without reference to a specific name - eg: The major general attended the meeting.
Abbreviations which can be used at first reference:
If knighted, military figures would be Gen Sir Arthur Whitehead, then Gen Whitehead. If made a peer, they would just be Lord Whitehead.
Corps
Both the US and UK armies are divided into corps - which should be capped up when you are giving a name - eg: The Royal Corps of Signals. Any preceding number should be expressed as a Roman numeral - eg: III Corps. A corps is led by a lieutenant general - written as Lt Gen at first referencewhen accompanied by the name. If the full title is Lt Gen Sir John Smith, then the correct form at second reference is Gen Smith.
Divisions
Army corps are divided into divisions. Capped up when you are giving a name - eg: 1st Armoured Division; lower case if the reference is non-specific - eg: Two divisions of troops will take control of the area. A division is under the command of a major general (which you would spell out only if there is no name attached - eg: A division is led by a major general. As a rank, the title is written Maj Gen, even at first reference.
Regiments/Brigades Battalions Small units
The correct terms with reference to tanks and armour are regiment/ squadron/ troop with reference to the Infantry, they are battalion/ company/ platoon/ section; and withreference of the Artillery, they are regiment/ battery/ troop/ section.
Art movements Arrest/detain Around
Do not use to mean 'approximately' - the best substitute is usually about.

Is not synonymous with 'round' - eg: It may drive you round the bend if you work around the clock.
Asbo
ie follows our usual rule of upper and lower case for pronounced acronyms. It stands for Anti-social Behaviour Order.
Ashkenazi
(Jewish people of European descent) ie with upper case 'A'.
Assassinate
Use only for the killing of political and religious leaders. Lesser mortals are killed.
Assisted suicide
Be careful to ensure this is really what you mean - ie 'encouraging or assisting the suicide of another', as the revised Suicide Act of 1961 has it. This is not the same thing as killing someone who cannot do it for themselves - sometimes described as a so-called mercy killing. (This is an emotive phrase which should be used sparingly.)
Asteroid Asylum seeker
ie no hyphen. Never refer to 'bogus asylum seekers' unless you are quoting someone.
At-a-glance Athletics
The first reference to a time should spell it out in full, following our usual convention with numbers below 10 eg: one hour two minutes 23.34 seconds (ie no commas between the units). After that, switch to a more compact style (eg: 1:03:25.67).

Our numbers convention is ignored in events where times below 10 seconds are regularly achieved, such as the 100m. In such cases: all numbers are written as digits, and the word 'seconds' need not be used throughout. Eg: X took gold with a time of 9.93 seconds. In second place was Y, on 9.94. And the bronze medal went to Z, on 9.96.
ATM Attorney Attorney General/attorney general
ie (both here and in the US) no hyphen. Capped up if the name of the individual follows. Lower case without the name.
Audience Aung San Suu Kyi
is the main opposition leader in Myanmar. The name is always spelt out in full in her own language, as any abbreviation would be regarded as impolite. We should generally spell out her name in full, but can follow the common practice of using 'Suu Kyi' for headlines and 'Ms Suu Kyi' in text where this is required for space reasons.
Australia and New Zealand
If you want to use the term, our style is down under: ie two words, both lower case.
Australian Labor Party
ie we use its own spelling, without a 'u'.
Awards
CBE, OBE and MBE stand for Commander, Officer and Member of the Order of the British Empire. So people do not 'get' an MBE etc: they are appointed, or they can become a CBE etc. Medals such as the British Empire Medal and George Medal are conferred. A person can be made a peer, a baronet or a knight.
Ayatollah
(highest Shia religious authority) ie upper case 'A' if used with name, and retain as title on subsequent references - eg: the ayatollah.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
(Leader of al-Qaeda). He is Zawahiri (no 'Mr') at second reference and in headlines.
Azerbaijan
Former Soviet republic, now independent. The inhabitants are Azerbaijanis - some of whom, but not all, are Azeris.

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Falluja Hilla Irbil Karbala Khan Younis Medina Mosul Nad Ali Qalqilya

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Baquba Basra Dahuk Diwaniya East Jerusalem

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National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

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Primate of All England The Archbishop of York

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Ahmad Ali Abdullah Ibrahim Mahmoud Yasser Yousef

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A/an - Pronunciation is the key. Use 'an' before any word or abbreviation beginning with a vowel sound... The News style guide has been compiled to assist producers and journalists. A/an Pronunciation is the key.

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Quiz

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In the following story from The New York Times, the prepositions have been removed. Fill them in using words from this list, some of them multiple times:

The Minnesota Orchestra announced Thursday night that its president, Michael Henson, whose decision to seek a substantial pay cut _____ its musicians led ______ a bruising 16-month lockout when they resisted, would be leaving his post ______ the end of August.

The departure ______ Mr. Henson could pave the way ______ the return ______ its former music director, Osmo Vanska, who resigned ______ frustration when the lockout dragged _______ (phrasal). After the lockout ended this year, ______ the musicians agreeing _____ a smaller pay cut, Mr. Vanska said that he believed ______ the orchestra to heal, Mr. Henson would have to leave.

This put the orchestra's board _____ a bind: musicians, critics and many fans were clamoring ______ Mr. Vanska's return, but to bring him back they might have to get rid _____ the administrator who executed their strategy to try to put the ensemble _______ sounder financial footing.

"Michael has always supported the orchestra's artistic mission, and when the board asked him to address the serious financial challenges _______ the organization, he faced this issue directly, re-organizing administrative staff and helping to deliver a musicians' contract agreement that was difficult but necessary," the chairman ______ the orchestra's board, Gordon M. Sprenger, said _______ a statement. "It is never easy to be an agent ______ change, but Michael leaves the Minnesota Orchestra secure, _____ more solid financial footing and established ________ a beautifully renovated venue that will meet the needs _______ our organization, audiences and community ______ decades to come."

The lockout made Mr. Henson something ______ a lightning rod, and even _______ it ended he continued to be viewed ______ suspicion by supporters ______ the musicians, who were eager ______ Mr. Vanska's return. The orchestra did not mention Mr. Vanska's future ______ Thursday night.

_____ Mr. Vanska's leadership the orchestra had reached new artistic heights; _____ January the orchestra won the Grammy Award _____ best orchestral performance ______ its recording ____ Sibelius's first and fourth symphonies _____ Mr. Vanska. Last month, when the orchestra played its first concert ______the lockout, there were cries ______ "Bring back Osmo!"

The labor battle ______ Minnesota was one _____ the most contentious _____ the world ______classical music. Citing high annual deficits that were forcing the orchestra to eat ____ its endowment, management initially sought to cut the base pay _____ musicians by about a third, to $78,000 a year. _______ the long lockout, the players agreed this year _____ a three-year contract that would cut base pay ______ 15 percent _____ the first year, ______ $96,824 ______ about $113,000 currently, ____ modest raises afterward. The deal required musicians to pay a greater portion _____ their health care costs.

This month The Star Tribune, citing anonymous members _____ the board, reported that the board had "voted strongly _____ favor" ____ Mr. Henson at a meeting _____ the end ______ February. Fans _____ the orchestra took _______ (phrasal) Facebook to urge the board to rehire Mr. Vanska.

Mr. Henson, who became the orchestra's president and chief executive officer _____ 2007, said ____ a statement that working there had been a privilege.

"It has always been my aim to do what is right ____ the organization, however great the challenges, and I'm proud _____ our accomplishments," he said. "The right thing now is _____ me to work to ensure continuity ______this transition ______ the next phase _____ the life ______ the Minnesota Orchestra, which I believe will be very bright."
Check yourself by comparing your work with the original story. Click here. A, AN, THE or NONE OF THE ABOVE Here's a quiz created from a recent business story in The New York Times. Most of the articles have been removed. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate article, or none.
DETROIT - American automakers said ______ new-vehicle sales in the United States rose sharply in January, raising _____ expectations that ______ industry's steady recovery would accelerate in 2013.

General Motors, _____ largest of ______ Detroit auto companies, said it sold ______ 194,000 cars and trucks during _____ month, _____ 15.9 percent increase over ______ same period ______ year ago. _____ company said all four of its brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick - had _____ double-digit increases in January.

G.M. also rebounded from ______ tepid sales of its core pickup trucks in ______ recent months. ______ company said ______ sales of its Chevrolet Silverado pickup increased 32 percent compared to January 2012, and ______ sales of _____ GMC Sierra improved 35 percent.

"The year is off to _____ very good start for General Motors," said Kurt McNeil, _____ head of ____ G.M.'s United States sales operations. "There's _____ sense of optimism among our dealers that only comes when you pair _____ growing economy with ____ great new products."

Last year, _____ overall American auto industry had its best performance in five years with _______ sales of 14.5 million vehicles - _____ 13 percent increase over 2011.

______ (a)utomakers and industry analysts are forecasting sales this year to be as high as 15.5 million vehicles. _____ optimistic projections were in part because of _____ growing need by _____ consumers to replace _____ aging vehicles, as well as _____ improvements in _____ economy.

Ford Motor Company, ____ second-biggest of _____ Detroit automakers, said its sales in January rose 21.8 percent to 166,000 vehicles.

Ford reported that its passenger cars did particularly well, with _____ increase for the month of 34.1 percent. Sales of _____ recently redesigned Ford Fusion midsize sedan increased 64.5 percent.

Executives at _____ Ford said ____ company expects _____ consumer demand to consistently grow in 2013.

"_____ biggest driver of the year is going to be ____ replacement," said Ken Czubay, ______ Ford's United States sales and marketing chief.

Chrysler, ____ smallest American car company, said it sold 117,000 vehicles in January. That was _____ 16.3 percent increase over _____ same month in 2012, and extended Chrysler's year-over-year sales gains to _____ 34 consecutive months.

Chrysler said _____ sales of ____ cars rose about 50 percent during ____ month, while _____ sales of ____ SUVs and trucks increased by 3 percent. Its new small car, ____ Dodge Dart, had its best performance since being introduced last summer, _____ company said.

Toyota, _____ largest Japanese automaker, said its sales in January grew ____ 26.6 percent to _____ 157,000 vehicles.
To check yourself, look at this version of the story on nytimes.com. It's been updated since the quiz but uses much of the same material and phrasing. THAT? WHICH? WHO? WHAT??? Complete each sentence with the correct relative pronoun.
1. Those ________ have done well don't seem more likely to vote for President Obama, and those with less money appear to be least likely to vote for Mitt Romney.

2. Customers have complained since last week, when Apple released a software update _________ replaced Google's map service with its own.

3. Correct or incorrect? By 7 a.m. he had 15 pages which quoted extensively from Young.

4. The second season of "Homeland," ___________ begins on Showtime on Sunday, has to pry even deeper into its entwined and deeply damaged protagonists without burning out their mystery.

5. "Won't Back Down," an education drama __________ takes a good-versus-evil tack, stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis.

6. The precise reference is to an episode in ________ a young courtier, coming upon flowers, is moved to compose a love poem using irises as an image.

7. Correct or incorrect? Bernstein looked like one of those counterculture journalists that Woodward despised.

8. Misogyny and indifference remain obstacles for women globally, but those are values _________ can be absorbed and transmitted by women as well as by men.

9. It crowds out realism, ______ we need more of these days.

10. We have tax rates ________, by some measures, are near the lowest in the postwar era.

11. There has always been a subset of men _______ engage in crude, coercive and exploitative behavior.

12. Europe, ______ was less aggressive, has fared worse.

13. They also left a whole lot of lessons for the people _______ will have to battle the next financial crisis.

14. The protection would allow CRP to receive donations from corporations, _________ were forbidden by campaign laws to contribute to individual candidates.

15. Janet H. Brown is responsible for organizing and orchestrating the presidential debates, the quadrennial verbal smackdowns __________ can define candidates.
NOW: Write three sentences of your own, one of each using: that which who(m) 4, 6, 9, 12 and 14, which; 2, 5, 8, 10 and 15, that; 1, 11 and 13, who; 3 and 7 are both incorrect.

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In the following story from The New York Times, the prepositions have been removed. Fill them in using words from this list, some of them multiple times: The Minnesota Orchestra announced Thursday night that its president, Michael Henson, whose decision to seek a substantial pay cut _____ its musicians led ______ a bruising 16-month lockout when they resisted, would be leaving his post ______ the end of August.

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Listening

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Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Protesters across the U.S. immediately objected to the restrictions. Some argue that Trump's order discriminates against Muslims and defies the American tradition of welcoming immigrants.

Many of these protesters correctly point out that the U.S. is a country of immigrants. However, history shows that the U.S. is also a country of restrictions on immigrants.

Trump's government is not the first administration to restrict immigration, including on the basis of national origin.
Restrictions on Asian immigrants
The U.S. Constitution, which went into effect in 1789, gave Congress " absolute authority " over immigration law, says Linda Monk. The president executes those laws through regulations.

Monk wrote a book about the Constitution called " The Words We Live By."

She explains that for about the first 100 years of American history, Congress did not place any federal limits on immigration.

During those years, Irish and German immigrants came to the U.S. in large numbers. Many Chinese immigrants did, too. They hoped to find gold in California and then, when they did not, they stayed anyway.

But some members of the American public disapproved of these groups. They did not like the Catholic religion that many Irish and Germans immigrants practiced. And they did not like Asian immigrants, whom they viewed as convicts, prostitutes, or competition for jobs.

So, in the late 1800s, Congress moved for the first time to limit the number of immigrants. Lawmakers targeted Asians, especially Chinese. The Page Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act banned most Chinese women and workers.
Restrictions on other nationalities
By the turn of the 20 th century, the U.S. federal government had increased its role in immigration. It established Ellis Island in New York as the entry point for immigrants. And it oversaw a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants, especially from Italy and Eastern Europe. Many of the new arrivals were uneducated and had little money.

Once again, some people opposed the number and kind of immigrants entering the country. A group called the Immigration Restriction League was formed. They petitioned Congress to require immigrants to show that they could at least read.

Both Presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson opposed the requirement. But in 1917, Congress approved the measure over Wilson's objections. People who wished to settle in the U.S. now had to pass a literacy test.

In the 1920s, restrictions on immigration increased. The Immigration Act of 1924 was the most severe: it limited the overall number of immigrants and established quotas based on nationality. Among other things, the act sharply reduced immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa. And it completely restricted immigrants from Asia, except for Japan and the Philippines.

At the same time, the historian's page at the State Department notes that the act made more visas available to people from Britain and Western Europe.

"In all of its parts, the most basic purpose of the 1924 Immigration Act was to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity," the State Department history page concludes.
Major change in U.S. immigration policy
During the 1940s and 50s, the U.S. made some policy changes that increased - however slightly - the number and nationalities of immigrants.

Then, in 1965, a major change happened. Under pressure in part from the civil rights movement, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act. President Lyndon Johnson signed it.

The act eliminated the quota system based on nationality. Instead, it prioritized immigrants who already had family members in the U.S. It also sought to offer protection to refugees from areas with violence and conflict.

Even though the act kept some limits in place, the origins of immigrants changed dramatically. Instead of being from Western Europe, most immigrants to the U.S. by the end of the 20 th century were originally from Mexico, the Philippines, Korea, the Dominican Republic, India, Cuba and Vietnam.
So, what about Trump's order?
A professor at the University of Miami School of Law says the 1965 law ended " overt discrimination" in U.S. immigration policy. Kunal Parker is also the author of a book called " Making Foreigners: Immigration and Citizenship Law in America."

Parker says that people who are protesting Trump's executive order probably "perceive what is happening as contrary to U.S. tradition since 1965."

But Parker cautions against seeing Trump's action as illegal. He points out that the Supreme Court has historically permitted the president and Congress a good deal of authority to regulate immigration.

And, he notes, President Obama also signed an executive order related to immigration. That order aimed to protect the families of undocumented immigrants with U.S.-born children.

However, Parker says, "Something that is legal might be very problematic."

Both Parker and legal scholar Linda Monk also note the Constitution requires both Congress and the president follow certain procedures when regulating immigration. Those procedures protect against discrimination.

"The highest law says that these actions have to be carried out fairly," says Monk.

I'm Anne Ball.
Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
___________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

executive - adj. an order by the president

origin - n. the point or place where something begins or is created

petition - v. a written document that people sign to show that they want a person or organization to do or change something

quota - n. an official limit on the number or amount of people or things that are allowed

slightly - adv. n a very small amount or degree

eliminate - v. to get rid of something

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US Has Long History of Restricting Immigrants

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Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Protesters across the U.S. immediately objected to the restrictions. Some argue that Trump's order discriminates against Muslims and defies the American tradition of welcoming immigrants.

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HOMEWORK LISTENING ACTIVITY
Write 5 questions.

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Steven Pinker: What our language habits reveal

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In an exclusive preview of his book The Stuff of Thought , Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.

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ECONOMY AND THE FUTURE

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Bloomberg -RRB- Terms of Service Trademarks Privacy Policy

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LoginBloomberg Terminal Demo Request Connecting

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Meet the Collaborative Robots That Work With You

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Rethink Robotics designs collaborative industrial robots that work alongside people. Bloomberg Technology visits the Boston-based startup and speaks with its founder and robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks. (Source: Bloomberg)

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH
HUMANAE Angelica Dass

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Suffolk County District Attorney 's Office

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Wonder which talks to get started on in 2016? A collection of hand-picked gems for your viewing pleasure.

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sustainablilty

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On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn blasted off into space and became the first American to orbit Earth. Behind the scenes, thousands of engineers and mathematicians worked tirelessly to make NASA's Friendship 7 mission a success. Historical photos show them as white men in crisp white shirts and ties - but we now know there's more to that picture.

In her book Hidden Figures, author Margot Lee Shetterly gives name and voice to the African-American women who worked as human "computers" in the space program. Now, just a few months after the book was published, a new movie is also telling that story. (The film rights were optioned just a couple of weeks after Shetterly got her book deal.)As mathematicians and engineers, these women made incalculable contributions to the space program - and the fact that they were African-Americans working in the segregated South makes their stories even more remarkable.

Shetterly grew up in the 1960s in Hampton, Va., not far from NASA's Langley Research Center. She's African-American, and her father, extended family and neighbors were all scientists, physicists and engineers at NASA. But it wasn't until about six years ago that she understood the magnitude of the work black women were doing there. She recently told NPR's Michel Martin, "I knew that many of them worked at NASA. I didn't know exactly what they did."

Shetterly spent the next six years searching for more information. She researched archives and interviewed former and current NASA employees and family members. In her book, she details the journeys and personal lives of Langley's star mathematicians, and recounts how women computers - both black and white - broke barriers in both science and society.
"They were dreamers"
In the film Hidden Figures, Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughan, NASA's first African-American supervisor. The movie shows a tenacious Vaughan insisting that her title reflect the supervisory work she was already doing.

When Spencer first heard the film pitch, she says, she thought it was fiction. "And then when I realized it wasn't fiction, it was even more imperative to be a part of the story. ... They were highly educated and they were moms and they were dreamers and they had fierce natures. And so there was so much about who they were that wasn't lost on me."

Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Johnson, an extraordinary mathematician who calculated the trajectories for Glenn's Friendship 7 mission. (Johnson also worked on the Apollo and space shuttle programs.) Sitting in her trailer after shooting a scene in which Johnson explains a difficult equation to her perplexed male colleagues, Henson confesses that in real life, "Math and science scares me. It makes my heart palpitate."

Henson remembers feeling a little angry when she first learned about Johnson's achievements. "The world needs to know her," she says. " ... Whenever I watch any footage of anything about NASA, you see men. You see a smoke-filled room full of suits and ties. You never see women."

Singer and actress Janelle Monáe cried when she first read the script. She plays Mary Jackson, who, according to NASA, "may have been the only black female aeronautical engineer in the field" in the 1950s. Monáe says, "I was really upset because, as an African-American young woman, I had no idea who Mary Jackson was, who Dorothy Vaughan was, who Katherine Johnson was, who the colored 'computers' were. I had no idea. And I'm just like: This clearly had to be a mistake. These are American heroes. Without their brains, without their hard work and dedication to NASA and the long hours that they worked together, we would have not made it into space. We would have not made it into orbit."

In the film, Monáe's character is portrayed as feisty and unstoppable. She's furious when she learns that the courses she needs to advance her career are only taught at Hampton's all-white high school. "Every time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line," Jackson bemoans. " Every time."

In real life, Jackson petitioned the city to let her attend. As Shetterly writes, "Mary was seeking to make herself more useful to her country, and yet it was she who had to go hat in hand to the school board. It was a grit-your-teeth, close-your-eyes, take-a-deep-breath kind of indignity. However, there was never any doubt in Mary's mind that it must be done."
"It's our story"
At 98, Katherine Johnson is the only surviving "hidden figure" featured in the movie. (Mary Jackson died in 2005, and Dorothy Vaughan in 2008.) In 2015, President Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her 33-year career at Langley.

Today, with her daughters by her side, Johnson seems bemused by all the fuss around the new movie. When asked about her role in Glenn's historic mission, she says, "It was just an assignment. I'm accustomed to being asked something and I, of course, answered to the best of my ability and hoped that's the answer they were looking for."

Johnson, who became a high school freshman at age 10, says she always liked learning. She's concerned about today's youth relying so heavily on the Internet for information. "They're hurt and don't know it," she says quietly. "They're not using their brain. ... And you've got to use your brain for it to grow and for things to be learned."

Twentieth Century Fox is seizing every opportunity to show Hidden Figures to the audiences most affected by the human computers' achievements. There have been screenings at the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture, and for the National Society of Black Engineers.

Actress Octavia Spencer has attended many of these screenings. She's discouraged that, even today, more young women aren't going into STEM-related fields. "Young girls have now been taught that it's not cool. I mean, our culture is sexualizing everything in a way that, well, if you have a brain, it's just ... " Spencer shakes her head in frustration. "Dorothy and Katherine and Mary are important because young girls need to know that it's really wonderful if you're inclined in any of those disciplines. It's wonderful because we need it."

I feel Mary in my spirit. She went after it. She didn't let anything stop her. Not even her husband.

After a screening for NASA employees, senior systems analyst Julie Williams-Byrd, who is African-American, beamed. "I loved it," she says. She likes that the movie showed what these women were going through as they were making history, whether it was motherhood or having to run across Langley's campus to use the segregated bathroom. Williams-Byrd was particularly taken with Mary Jackson. "I feel Mary in my spirit. She went after it. She didn't let anything stop her. Not even her husband," she says with a laugh. " ... And that's one thing that we need to tell our young people. You know, 'Don't let anything stop you. If you've got a vision, go for it. Go for it. You can do it.' "

African-American astronaut Yvonne Cagle had a fitting reaction to the film. "I feel totally lifted up and off the planet," she says. Cagle is also a retired Air Force colonel and flight surgeon. "It's my story. It's your story. It's our story. It's a conversation that talks about: Even with limited thinking, dreaming is limitless." For Cagle, the movie affirmed her belief that "if you prepare and you persevere, anything is possible."

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'Hidden Figures' No More: Meet The Black Women Who Helped Send America To Space

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On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn blasted off into space and became the first American to orbit Earth. Behind the scenes, thousands of engineers and mathematicians worked tirelessly to make NASA's Friendship 7 mission a success. Historical photos show them as white men in crisp white shirts and ties - but we now know there's more to that picture.

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HIDDEN FIGURES

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Counter Stories: The ‘Hidden Figures’ of history

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The Counter Stories team watched the Academy Award-nominated movie “Hidden Figures” and gave their reviews. They also considered other forgotten, but important, people of the past.

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Slang video University of Peru US Embassy

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#YearInReview: El año ya casi termina y... - Embajada de Estados Unidos en Perú | Facebook

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YearInReview: El año ya casi termina y queremos compartir un video que muestra los 53 expresiones idiomáticas del #AmericanEnglish que aprendimos juntos a lo largo del 2016 gracias a la serie #SayWhat. ¿Las recuerdas todas? ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Happy New Year!

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Listening

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Objects hold history. They're evocative of stories stamped in time. As part of The Washington Post's coverage of the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture, people submitted dozens of objects that make up their own lived experiences of black history, creating a "people's museum" of personal objects, family photos and more.

The Historically Black podcast brings those objects and their stories to life through interviews, archival sound and music. The Washington Post and APM Reports are proud to collaborate in presenting these rich personal histories, along with hosts Keegan-Michael Key, Roxane Gay, Issa Rae and Another Round hosts Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton.

1619 Some 20 enslaved Africans arrive at Britain's Jamestown colony in Virginia.

1776 Thirteen colonies issue "Declaration of Independence" and establish United States of America.

1788 United States Constitution adopted. It declares enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person and includes a fugitive slave clause.

1808 Congress bans further importation of slaves.

1820 Missouri Compromise bans slavery north of Missouri's southern border.

1831 Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in Virginia.

1857 U.S. Supreme Court hands down Dred Scott decision, which denies citizenship to slaves, former slaves and their descendants.

1860 Abraham Lincoln elected president.

1861 Civil War begins.

Members of an extended Tennessee family talk about their great, great grandfather, a slave owned by his white, biological father. After emancipation, their ancestor managed to buy a farm. Family members reflect on the strength it took to survive slavery and to prosper in the years that followed. Listen.

1863 President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation.

1865 Civil War ends. Slavery is abolished by 13th Amendment to Constitution. President Lincoln is assassinated. Ku Klux Klan founded in Pulaski, Tenn.

1866 Congress passes first Civil Rights Act, granting African Americans full citizenship and equal rights to whites. Southern states pass laws known as "Black Codes" to limit black freedom.

1870 Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi (Senate) and Joseph Rainey of South Carolina (House) become the first African Americans elected to Congress.

Born into slavery, William Hooper Councill founded one of the nation's first HBCUs, Alabama A&M University. Negotiating the racial politics of Reconstruction and the dawn of Jim Crow was dangerous work. Councill was a peer of Booker T. Washington's and is remembered for his accommodating stance toward whites. His complicated story helps us understand the times he lived in and the legacy of HBCUs. Listen.

1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws last Federal troops from South. Reconstruction era ends. Rise of Jim Crow laws enforcing harsh racial segregation in the South.

1881 Booker T. Washington appointed first head of Tuskegee Institute.

1909 W. E. B. Du Bois co-founds National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

1914 Marcus Garvey forms Universal Negro Improvement Association, a black nationalist fraternal organization.

1915 Start of the Great Migration; more than six million African Americans move from southern states to the west and north.

1917 United States enters WWI.

1920s The emergence of the Harlem Renaissance, a black social and cultural movement in New York and other communities.

1929 Stock market crash; beginning of Great Depression.

1939 Marian Anderson gives free concert at Lincoln Memorial on Easter, with 75,000 people in attendance.

1941 United States enters WWII after Japanese warplanes bomb Pearl Harbor.

During World War II, a labor shortage obliged the military to hire African American women with mathematical skills to help make complicated computations for warplane designs. This small team of black women faced discrimination but eventually would help NASA astronauts land on the moon. One woman whose grandmother was a "computer" helps tell the story. Listen.

1945 End of WWII.

1947 Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1948 President Harry S. Truman orders desegregation of Armed Forces and use of fair employment practices in federal agencies.

1950 Start of Korean War.

1954 U.S. Supreme Court issues Brown v. Board of Education decision, striking down principal of "separate but equal."

1955 NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat to white passenger, kicking off Montgomery bus boycott.

1955 Start of American involvement in Vietnam.

1957 Martin Luther King, Jr. is elected president of newly founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

1962 Whites at University of Mississippi riot in opposition to registration of a black student named James Meredith.

1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: King delivers "I have a Dream Speech" to massive crowd on the National Mall.

1963 President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

1964 Civil Rights Act signed into law.

1965 Malcolm X assassinated in New York City. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads march from Selma to Montgomery, AL, after civil rights protestors, including John Lewis, were severely beaten in Selma.

1965 Voting Rights Act signed into law.

1965-68 Summer rioting in African American sections of Los Angeles, Newark, Detroit and other U.S. cities.

1967 U.S. Supreme Court hands down Loving v. Virginia ruling, outlawing ban on interracial marriage.

1969 The U.S. lands first man on the moon.

1969 Rep. Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress.

1984 Reverend Jesse Jackson runs for president in Democratic primary, winning one-fourth of votes.

1988 Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved.

1991 Start of Gulf War.

The Million Man March of 1995 is recreated through the conversation between a young woman and her father, who attended it. He talks about how the event changed his life, and she recalls what it meant to see a poster of the march hanging on the wall of her father's den since she was a girl. Listen.

1995 Minister Louis Farrakhan hosts Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

2001 Terrorist attack on 9/11; start of war in Afghanistan.

2004 Condoleeza Rice is first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.

2008 Barack Obama elected first African American president of United States.

2015 Supreme Court rules that same-sex marriage is a Constitutional right.

In February 2017, Historically Black was distributed to public radio stations nationwide and heard as a three-part series.

PRODUCERS
Kate Ellis
Stephen Smith

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Historically Black | Podcast | APM Reports

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Hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, Roxane Gay, Issa Rae, Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton.

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Watch and discuss...

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Charlie Brotman - The President's Announcer

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Washington D.C. native Charlie Brotman has been the official announcer at 14 inaugural parades, going back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Brotman is again returning to Pennsylvania Ave. to announce President Barack Obama's inaugural parade. Video shot for The Washington Times.

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For Current Events

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ESL Discussions: English Conversation Questions / Debates: Speaking Lesson Activities

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14,100 discussion and conversation questions for speaking practice. 705 FREE ESL lesson plans, handouts, worksheets and downloads. Controversial and mainstream topics.