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Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits. Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning On Jan. 1st. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon. " "I’ve worked here every day for three years-I’m not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees. " The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1st. The 401 (k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401 (k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible. Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker-the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System"-a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O’Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan-with higher deductibles and a $ 2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year-had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don’t have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said. Outside Viacom’s headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There’s too many of us to ignore. " It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company’s payroll; an MTV Networks’ spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world. Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. Why did the MTV Networks’ spokeswoman say the number of freelancers was unclear
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It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice. It provides more calories, more quickly, using less land and in a wider range of climates than any Other plant. It is, of Course, the potato. The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato. It hopes that greater awareness of the merits of potatoes will contribute to the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security and promote economic development. It is always the international year of this or month of that. But the potato’s unusual history means it is well worth celebrating by readers of The Economist because the potato is intertwined with economic development, trade liberalisation and globalisation. Unlikely though it seems, the potato promoted economic development by underpinning the industrial revolution in England in the 19th century. It provided a cheap source of calories and was easy to cultivate, so it liberated workers from the land. Potatoes became popular in the north of England, as people there specialised in livestock farming and domestic industry, while farmers in the south (where the soil was more suitable ) concentrated on wheat production. By a happy accident, this concentrated industrial activity in the regions where coal was readily available, and a potato-driven population boom provided ample workers for the new factories. Friedrich Engels even declared that the potato was the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role". The potato promoted free trade by contributing to the abolition of Britain’s Corn Laws-the cause which prompted the founding of The Economist in 1843. The Corn Laws restricted imports of grain into the United Kingdom in order to protect domestic wheat producers. Landowners supported the laws, since cheap imported grain would reduce their income, but industrialists opposed them because imports would drive down the cost of food, allowing people to spend more on manufactured goods. Ultimately it was not the eloquence of the arguments against the Corn Laws that led to their abolition-and more’s the pity. It was the tragedy of the Irish potato famine of 1845, in which 1million Irish perished when the potato crop on which they subsisted succumbed to blight. The need to import grain to relieve the situation in Ireland forced the government, which was dominated by landowners who backed the Corn Laws, to reverse its position. This paved the way for liberalisation in other areas, and free trade became British policy. As the Duke of Wellington complained at the time, "rotten potatoes have done it all. " In the form of French fries, served alongside burgers and Coca-Cola, potatoes are now an icon of globalisation. This is quite a turnaround given the scepticism which first greeted them on their arrival in the Old World in the 16th century. Spuds were variously thought to cause leprosy, to be fit only for animals, to be associated with the devil or to be poisonous. They took hold in 18th century Europe only when war and famine meant there was nothing else to eat; people then realised just how versatile and reliable they were. As Adam Smith, one of the potato’s many admirers, observed at the time, "The very general use which is made of potatoes in these kingdoms as food for man is a convincing proof that the prejudices of a nation, with regard to diet, however deeply rooted, are by no means unconquerable. " Mashed, fried, boiled and roast, a humble tuber changed the world, and free-trading globalisers everywhere should celebrate it. What is the ultimate purpose of establishing 2008 the International Year of the Potato
It is hard to get a grip on food. The UN’s World Health Organisation worries about diminishing supplies and increased prices in poor countries; recent riots and near-riots in Haiti, Bangladesh and Egypt were sparked by the growing cost of wheat and rice. But, as Paul Roberts observes in "The End of Food", the developed world has lived through "a near miraculous period during which the things we ate seemed to grow only more plentiful, more secure, more nutritious, and simply better. " 46． In the second half of the 20th century, world output of corn, wheat and cereal crops more than tripled. Yet there is not enough to feed the rich, the aspirational and the poor in the world. A golden age has been transformed quite suddenly into a global crisis.Mr Roberts insists that modern agribusiness is unsustainable and becoming more so. "Precisely at the moment in history when we need to shift our system of food production into overdrive, our agricultural engine is breaking down," he says. The industry has taken cheap oil for granted. Oil fuels transportation and farm machinery, and natural gas is the basis of synthetic nitrogen production ( prices have tripled since 2002). Agriculture accounts for three- quarters of freshwater use, and water is becoming an increasingly scarce and expensive resource. Climate change makes some old assumptions about farming redundant. 47．A combination of these factors, he says, will ultimately force a complete rethinking of the way we make food.For years government subsidies held down grain prices, making food cheaper. 48．Water was also plentiful-it takes 1,000 tonnes of water to produce a tonne of grain-and an ingenious process known as Haber-Bosch makes synthetic nitrogen fertiliser easily available to grain farmers. Ruthless price-cutting at supermarkets means consumers have grown accustomed to eating too much. (In the late 19th century, Europeans already thought Americans ate three or four times more than was necessary. ) The most damaging consequence is that by 2000 31% of American adults were obese, with another 16% defined as overweight. American airlines spend $ 275 million a year more on fuel simply to lift the heavier passengers. Mr Roberts claims that every year obesity causes 400,000 premature deaths in America. Food has become as deadly as tobacco.A fruitful start would be to halve the size of portions in all American restaurants, but most consumers are reluctant rethinkers. 49．Eating organic product could be a partial solution, although one study suggests that the cost of avoiding intensive farm chemicals would mean a 31% increase in food prices. Government scientists believe that genetically modified crops might be the only way out of the crisis, but a majority of consumers are reluctant to listen.Is there a model for the future 50．Fashionably, Mr. Roberts believes that a local system based on easily obtainable seasonal foods that do not need to be transported huge distances would form part of a solution. The economics and greenery of this are far from proven. Mr Roberts can find only one country that has made "serious efforts" in this direction: Cuba, hardly a comforting example. The coming food crisis, warns the author, is as intractable as global warming, and no less urgent. 48
It is hard to get a grip on food. The UN’s World Health Organisation worries about diminishing supplies and increased prices in poor countries; recent riots and near-riots in Haiti, Bangladesh and Egypt were sparked by the growing cost of wheat and rice. But, as Paul Roberts observes in "The End of Food", the developed world has lived through "a near miraculous period during which the things we ate seemed to grow only more plentiful, more secure, more nutritious, and simply better. " 46． In the second half of the 20th century, world output of corn, wheat and cereal crops more than tripled. Yet there is not enough to feed the rich, the aspirational and the poor in the world. A golden age has been transformed quite suddenly into a global crisis.Mr Roberts insists that modern agribusiness is unsustainable and becoming more so. "Precisely at the moment in history when we need to shift our system of food production into overdrive, our agricultural engine is breaking down," he says. The industry has taken cheap oil for granted. Oil fuels transportation and farm machinery, and natural gas is the basis of synthetic nitrogen production ( prices have tripled since 2002). Agriculture accounts for three- quarters of freshwater use, and water is becoming an increasingly scarce and expensive resource. Climate change makes some old assumptions about farming redundant. 47．A combination of these factors, he says, will ultimately force a complete rethinking of the way we make food.For years government subsidies held down grain prices, making food cheaper. 48．Water was also plentiful-it takes 1,000 tonnes of water to produce a tonne of grain-and an ingenious process known as Haber-Bosch makes synthetic nitrogen fertiliser easily available to grain farmers. Ruthless price-cutting at supermarkets means consumers have grown accustomed to eating too much. (In the late 19th century, Europeans already thought Americans ate three or four times more than was necessary. ) The most damaging consequence is that by 2000 31% of American adults were obese, with another 16% defined as overweight. American airlines spend $ 275 million a year more on fuel simply to lift the heavier passengers. Mr Roberts claims that every year obesity causes 400,000 premature deaths in America. Food has become as deadly as tobacco.A fruitful start would be to halve the size of portions in all American restaurants, but most consumers are reluctant rethinkers. 49．Eating organic product could be a partial solution, although one study suggests that the cost of avoiding intensive farm chemicals would mean a 31% increase in food prices. Government scientists believe that genetically modified crops might be the only way out of the crisis, but a majority of consumers are reluctant to listen.Is there a model for the future 50．Fashionably, Mr. Roberts believes that a local system based on easily obtainable seasonal foods that do not need to be transported huge distances would form part of a solution. The economics and greenery of this are far from proven. Mr Roberts can find only one country that has made "serious efforts" in this direction: Cuba, hardly a comforting example. The coming food crisis, warns the author, is as intractable as global warming, and no less urgent. 49
Marsh Cassady: Expect to be the most-hated mother in school because I will not allow my child to have a TV in his/her own room. I will also not use the TV as an electronic" babysitter" as so many parents do. It’s not my place to judge others, but I just don’t feel it is right for a child to sit and stare for horns on end when he could be playing or participating in other activities that are much more appropriate and stimulating.Benjamin Harrison: A lot of parents are not allowing their children any TV at all until they are much older. The reason is that the constant angle change of the camera produces passivity in children. They then expect life to be as "fast and change pace at the level that the TV does. There was once a cartoon where a child picks up a toy and says, "What does it do" That’s the problem with TV and young children. It steals their imaginations.Robert MacNell: TV is not that bad, but it’s not that good either. It has its pros and cons. The word here would be" Control". Got to learn how to have it in moderate amounts, and confirm the information that is gathered. I love TV because it improves my English speaking skills; it tells me different accents of different persons in different countries when speaking it. It makes me laugh sometimes. Discovery channel would be great.David Naster: Basically, I feel freer without a television in my house. I just feel there is something more natural about life without the glowing screens, and when I go several months with no exposure to TV, it feels like I have stepped out of a fishbowl. Of course, to people who watch TV ,the perception may be just the opposite — I do not live in a fishbowl because I have exiled myself from the TV culture that so many share.Adrienne Popper: I watch all types of sitcoms, news, talk shows, documentaries, etc.., in English, Spanish, and a little in German, with a notebook and a pen beside the set, taking notes OFF slang, idiomatic expressions, course words, everything teenagers ask me in the classroom (I mean in English classes ). Otherwise I wouldn’t have access to these things. We don’t have many natives at hand to help with them, books won’t bring them, so TV is my everyday assistant. Now match each of the persons ( 61. to 65) to the appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra statements. Statements[A] TV program is not helpful for the creation of children’s imagination.[B] Life without TV is freer and more natural.[C] Watching TV makes one feel relaxed.[D] Instead of watching TV, children should take part in other activities.[E] TV program is a good source of education.[F] There are advantages and disadvantages for TV.[G] TV is beneficial to child-care for mothers. Marsh Cassady
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