Waterproofing in audio gear is a constantly evolving technology. It is used to make speakers, radios and amplifiers for outdoor and marine use. In this article we are going to take a look at how waterproof headphones and earphones are made.
The terms headphone and earphone are used interchangeably. For the purposes of this article, we will stick to the conventional definitions.
Headphones, also known as headsets, are mobile listening devices that have big chunky earpieces with built-in speakers connected by a headband that either goes over the head or hugs it from behind. Earphones are similar to headphones except they lack the headband and their earpieces are much smaller and connected by an audio wire. Earphones are also known as in-ear headphones, or simply in-ears.
How waterproofing is done in headphones and earphones ?
Headphone earpieces, also called ear muffs, ear pads or ear cups, are of two types: around-the-ear and over-the-ear/on-the-ear. The first is larger, completely surrounds the outer ear to lock in the audio, and prevents ambient sounds from interfering with the music. The second is smaller, rests on top of the outer ear, and lets in a little more ambient sound than the first.
Both around-the-ear and over-the-ear ear muffs are made from PU leather or rexine to make them resistant to sweat, rain and humidity. It keeps the inner sponge and padding from getting wet. The headband pad has a similar water-resistant cover. The frame of the headband is made from waterproof material like stainless steel, silicone rubber and plastic to prevent rust.
All the joints in the earpiece chamber are sealed with glue. Gaps through which water might enter like speaker grilles, ports and around buttons are secured with gaskets and sealants. Further, most outdoor headphones have mylar cones instead of paper. Mylar is more resistant to moisture, and hence, is more suited to outdoor environments.
Waterproofing in earphones is done to safeguard the transducers inside the earpieces. The earpiece cabinets are securely sealed with waterproof sealants to check water ingress. The audio cable connecting the two earpieces is waterproof. In swimming earphones, the cable comes in different lengths to suit different wearing preferences. Some cables are designed to be worn over the ear, others to be tucked under the goggle strap or cap to minimize wire drag.
Earpieces terminate in earplugs, also known as ear buds or ear tips. These earplugs directly plug into the ear canal. They come in various shapes and sizes, and their fit depends on the shape of the ear passage and the curves on the outer ear. Earplugs are fully waterproof. They are made of silicone or soft malleable plastic. Following are the types of earplugs used in waterproof earphones.
Tree-shaped ear buds: These ear buds are shaped like trees and have three layers of soft bendable plastic. They screw into the ear canal to create suction which holds the ear buds in place. They also function as noise-cancelling earphones as they prevent ambient noise from reaching your ears. Tree buds are available in different sizes. They are excellent for swimmers.
Fin ear buds: These ear buds have small appendages in the shape of fins that fit snugly in the contours of your outer ear. They have a ‘twist and lock’ mechanism which creates a water-tight seal over the entrance of the ear canal. The fins keep the ear buds in place and prevent them from getting dislodged during rigorous swimming work-outs. The tips of fin ear buds do not penetrate the canal as deeply as tree-shaped ear buds. They come in various sizes and are great for all kinds of water sport.
Ergos: These are similar to fin ear buds, but do not enter the ear canal, remaining just at the entrance. They are ergonomically designed to fit seamlessly into the curves and grooves of the outer ear. They create a water-tight seal, but also allow some amount of ambient sound to enter the passage. Ergos buds offer a solid grip and prevent water from loosening the bud.
Round/ mushroom ear buds: These are the most commonly used ear buds. They are suitable for everyday use on land. The tips are made of plastic, silicone or memory foam. They are sweat-resistant and can take an occasional shower, but must not be subjected to heavy rain and water jets. They are good for travelling and work-outs in the gym.
Waterproof headphones and earphones come with an Ingress Protection (IP) Rating which indicates their ability to withstand water. Here is a chart showing the different IP ratings and what they stand for.
Devices with a rating of IPX2 through IPX6 are water-resistant. IPX7, IPX8 and IPX9 gadgets can be immersed in water. Depending on what you want to use the earphone for, choose a model with a suitable IP rating. For everyday outdoor use, a rating of IPX6 or lower works fine. For swimming, IPX7 or higher is recommended.


In DC and related conditions, however, telomeres are unusually short from birth, and patients tend to have abnormalities in the proteins that maintain them. Faulty telomere biologies also make people unusually prone cancer. And because of that connection, DC research has implications beyond helping patients and their families. In fact, studying telomere biology may help reveal how and why cancer starts—and how it might be prevented. That’s the hope at the heart of Savage’s research, and for two decades, it has been the driving force of her career.
Dyskeratosis congenita is a hereditary disorder that affects as few as one in a million people. The condition, which usually manifests in late childhood or adolescence, can cause a wide array of symptoms, ranging from abnormal finger-and toenails and unusual skin pigmentation to bone marrow failure and pulmonary fibrosis, an accumulation of scar tissue in the lungs that gradually inhibits breathing. DC, as it is known in rare disease circles, also makes people highly susceptible to cancer.
The condition was first described in 1906, but it’s only over the past few decades that scientists have identified the inherited genetic variants involved. This research led to the discovery that DC is actually one of a group of disorders of the telomeres, the segments of non-coding DNA at the ends of our chromosomes that protect them from damage.
“The analogy we always use is the plastic cap at the end of your shoelaces that keep them from fraying,” says Sharon A. Savage ’91, MD, chief of the Clinical Genetics Branch and clinical director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), whose research focuses on DC and related telomere biology disorders. “When our cells divide and our chromosomes are replicated, telomeres get shorter. For the most part, cancer is a disease of aging and there are many interesting associations between telomere length and cancer risk.”
“I am really interested in understanding why people get cancer,” Savage says. “I want to understand cancer from the large-scale level of epidemiology, all the way down to the genes and these rare disorders that affect key components of our biology. We need to understand why it’s broken, right? If you don’t know why something is broken, you can’t fix it.”
An Early Science Fascination
Savage grew up in rural Maine, “almost in the middle of nowhere,” she says with a laugh. “Between Bangor, if you know where that is, and Mount Katahdin. My high school graduating class was 70 people.”
No one on either side of her family had gone to college, but Savage was fascinated by science from a young age, and she always knew that higher education was for her. In junior high she read The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, molecular biologist James D. Watson’s autobiographical account of the momentous discovery, for which he shared the Nobel Prize with Francis Crick in 1962. Published in 1968, the book later became controversial for ignoring chemist Rosalind Franklin’s critical contributions—a case of historical sexism that Savage mentions wryly today.
“But when I was in seventh grade reading this book by Watson, it was really just remarkable,” Savage says. “I always just wanted to understand it more. I was interested in DNA and cells and biology, and was reading this stuff on my own.”
She was just very engaged, very driven, but also very approachable. She was definitely passionate about researchKeith Picthall ’92
When Savage was a junior in high school, her chemistry teacher connected her with a food science professor at the University of Maine who invited her to work in his lab over the summer, conducting research into pesticides. By the time she began to think about where she might go to college, Savage knew she wanted to be a physician-scientist. She also knew she wanted to see the world beyond her hometown.
“I didn’t have anyone to reach out to,” she says, “but I got a flyer in the mail about WPI, and I thought, ‘Oh, the WPI Plan sounds like something I might really like.’ It was when we went there to visit in person that I realized, ‘This place is for me.’ It wasn’t too big, and it had the project-based curriculum that was exactly what I was seeking. There would be opportunities for research. I knew research was always going to be a part of what I did.”
During her time at WPI, Savage, a biochemistry major, worked as a summer research assistant at the independent Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, where she studied cell motility in amoebae, a project that became her Major Qualifying Project. She played tennis—not well, she confesses—but, “It was a lot of fun,” she says. And she joined Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity, where she met Keith Picthall ’92, an electrical engineering major whom she would later marry.
Even among the hardworking students at WPI, Savage stood out, Picthall recalls.
“She was just very engaged, very driven, but also very approachable,” he says. “She was definitely passionate about research. My friends and I were all looking for the summer jobs that would pay the most, but for her, it was all about the science.”
Treating the Entire Family
After graduation, Savage enrolled at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. She took two years off to do research at the National Cancer Institute through the NIH Medical Research Scholar Program before earning her MD in 1997. She followed up with a residency in pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at NCI’s Pediatric Oncology Branch at Johns Hopkins University. That specialty combined Savage’s interests in human development, cancer, and genetics, but it also required skills a young physician doesn’t always learn in medical school.
“I love the kids—in some ways it’s not hard, because the kids are amazing. They are so strong and so resilient,” Savage says. “We have a lot of patients with pediatric cancers who do great, and then there are also kids who don’t. That, and also helping the families and the patients manage the side effects of the drugs, was really hard.”
I love the kids—in some ways it’s not hard, because the kids are amazing. They are so strong and so resilient.Sharon Savage
In some ways, she says, a pediatric oncologist has to treat the entire family, working with patients and their parents to navigate a scary and confusing experience.
“You see these parents looking like a deer in the headlights as you try to explain what’s going on,” Savage says. “I remember one of my first patients with a new diagnosis of cancer, a neuroblastoma. I was a fellow, trying to explain to her parents how their 18-month-old could have this cancer on her adrenal gland. Just helping them understand that this is happening can be really challenging. Of course, it’s really rewarding, too. In pediatric oncology, you develop these long-lasting relationships with the families.”
Helping individual children beat cancer is rewarding work, but like her patients’ overwhelmed parents, Savage wanted to understand why cancer happened in the first place. And, as it turned out, the personal touch she developed as a pediatrician treating children with terrifying diagnoses would also be invaluable in the lab.
In 2006, Savage joined NCI’s Clinical Genetics Branch as a tenure-track investigator, quickly becoming involved in an ongoing longitudinal study of large, multigenerational families in which many members had dyskeratosis congenita. Her work led her to identify a new gene, TINF2, which encodes instructions for making part of a protein complex called shelterin that works to maintain telomeres.
“That really set the stage,” Savage says, “because now we know TINF2 variants cause about 20 or 25 percent of telomere biology disorders.”
TINF2 was the first gene Savage discovered, but as genomics and gene sequencing technology improved over time, she and her team have discovered more genes linked to DC and related conditions—there are now at least 15, which contribute to some 80 percent of telomere biology disorders. The family study is ongoing, and Savage has established long-term relationships with many participants, and individuals within the worldwide community of people affected by telomere biology disorders.
An Advocate for Patients and Families
Katie Stevens’s 20-year-old son has a telomere biology disorder that led to a diagnosis of aplastic anemia at 11. He’s now doing well, six years after a successful bone marrow transplant. Meanwhile, the experience led Stevens to get involved in advocating for other patients and families. She is now CEO of Team Telomere, a support, education, and advocacy nonprofit for patients and families with whom Savage has worked closely since its inception.
“My job is to try to get physicians and researchers to listen to the patients,” Stevens says. “But I don’t have to do that with Sharon, because she’s always been the one asking, what do they need? What’s going to help serve them? It’s never been about her agenda. It’s always been about the patients’ needs. And it’s just incredible to work with her and to see that, and to be able to use her as an example for other people.”
Participating in research can be bittersweet for those whose loved ones suffer from rare diseases—too often, findings that might have led to new treatments come too late to help. But Stevens says Savage has always made it clear that the contributions of patients and families to research are immensely valuable, whatever the outcome.
“It’s a double-edged sword, depending on the day, for people who have lost children to know that new advances in research could have helped them,” Stevens says. “But I think there’s comfort in knowing that their cell lines are still here and being looked at and taken care of and are advancing research. The daughter of one of my dearest friends passed away from this disease. After Rilee died, my friend got a letter from Sharon. And it just meant so much to her that Sharon had taken the time to write, just promising that even though Rilee had passed away, Sharon would still continue to look for answers.”
Telomeres’ Connection to Cancer Risk
Savage’s findings have obvious implications for DC patients and their families, but studying the rare variants that cause telomere biology disorders can also help researchers understand how more common variations in the same genes may be connected to cancer risk.
“What I’ve been doing in the telomere biology disorders has been looking at the nitty gritty biology,” Savage says. “We are also thinking about telomere length in the general population, and how that could be a potential risk factor for cancer.”
Dr. Payal Khincha first met Savage shortly after she arrived at NCI as a fellow in 2012. She was looking for a mentor and wound up serving as a trainee in Savage’s group, drawn not only by Savage’s approach to research, but by the larger implications of her investigation into some of medicine’s most frustrating puzzles.
“Her research is not shiny like CRISPR and some of the new genomics things, but it struck me as so important,” Khincha says. “The impact is so big, even if it’s not always obvious. From the grassroots level, it’s important to understand how things happen, why things happen, and what we can do about it. We think of these rare diseases as a prototype for everything about cancer—the implications could be far and wide.”
It wasn’t just Savage’s research that appealed to her, adds Khincha, who is now principal investigator for NCI’s longitudinal family study on Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, another cancer predisposition disorder (Savage is lead medical advisor on the project). “I also realized I wanted to be her when I grew up—not just that career trajectory, but she’s very down-to-earth, very practical, and she understood there was life outside of work. It’s a hard balance to strike, but it’s one that she does so effortlessly.”
Balancing Life and Life-Saving Work
“The concept of work-life balance isn’t really a balance,” Savage remarked. “It’s a juggling act,” one that she notes would be nearly impossible without the support of her husband, Keith Picthall, as they navigate parenthood and their careers together.
For Savage, that juggle has been a little harder lately, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced her and most of the scientists at NCI to work from home. As branch chief, she oversees a team of 11 principal investigators, two dozen research fellows, and clinical staff that includes genetic counselors, nurse practitioners, and physicians—a total of about 60 people. But COVID precautions meant that much of their research was put on hold, and many patients and study subjects, who usually travel to NCI’s Maryland campus from all over the world, were unable to do so.
During the pandemic, Savage, whose hobbies include nature photography, has maintained her sanity through exercise and by getting outdoors with Picthall, their two children, and their dogs as much as possible. Last year, she ran her first marathon.
“It was virtual,” she says, “but it was the Marine Corps Marathon—I finally checked that off my bucket list. It was hard, but I did it. It was, I think, as much a mental challenge as anything else.”
It’s obvious, though, that Savage is itching to get back to the lab, says Picthall. Her recent appointment as clinical director has brought many other responsibilities, but it’s clear to those who know her that research is still where her heart is.
“I know every time she has an opportunity to dip back into the science, she’ll take it, even if it means working a lot harder,” Picthall says. “It’s always been about the science.”


In any composition there are a variety of facets that can impact the composition as a whole. Elements such as lighting, perspective and depth of field for the piece can adjust the overall tone, perspective and even objective for the entire composition.
As with any composition in the visual arts, one of the most significant facets of to keep in mind is the angle of the 'shot.'
In any narrative, each scene is perceived from a specific angle and perspective. As with most instances of first-person narratives, the angle of the scene is restricted to the available and logical perceived approaches by the narrator. The narrator is restricted to human perspectives, angles on scenes. This perspective may appear limiting but as the creator of the composition, it is possible to move the scene to accommodate a stronger impact.
Ex. I jogged down the hallway towards the figure looming over the latest victim. I was too late.
In this example the angle of the scene is perceived at distance on the same plane, the same level as the scene. Adjusting the angle and scene to create a better impact…
Ex. I jogged to the stairs and started up until I found the next victim. I knelt on the landing and cursed myself. Too late, again. Lifting my gaze, I saw the figure looming at the top of the stairs watching me.
As the angle on the scene changes so does the emotional impact and tone of the scene. If the scene is reversed and the angles change again so that it is a 'top down' angle then the perceptions change with it.
Ex. I jogged to the top of the stairs. He was standing over his next victim on the landing below. I was too late again.
In these examples the tone and perceptions of the scenes change giving a completely different tone to the composition each time. In the first example, the perceptions range from the antagonist may be caught, fight or flee. The second example, the perceptions range from sadness to fear that the character may be the next victim and in the final example the perceptions are that the antagonist may flee or be caught.
While the composition may have many facets that impact the overall tone, the angle of the 'shot' is one of the strongest elements for controlling the narrative perceptions. In a third person perspective, it is far easier to control the angle of the shot but it is also more difficult to convey the same level of emotion as the 1:1 ratio of the first person perspective. Every detail, perspective and angle has attributes that lend itself the certain compositions. It's the director, the creator's challenge to understand these and create the ideal composition.
How do you perceive the angles?


Should saving energy be of interest to the industrial compressor user?
If you are using compressed air in your plant, your company is typically wasting energy which equates to wasted dollars. In fact, estimates indicate that poorly designed and maintained compressed air systems in the United States account for up to $3.2 billion in wasted utility payments every year."(1)
Here are 10 ways to to reduce energy use in your compressed air production:
1. Eliminate Compressed Air Leaks
"Leaks are a significant source of wasted energy in a compressed air system, often wasting as much as 20-30% of the compressor’s output." (2)
Some air leaks are big and easy to find. The reality is that often it is the many small leaks over dozens or hundreds of locations in a plant that create huge air waste and useless energy consumption.
Every leaking air fitting, every leaking air cylinder and valve, every air tool left on when idle is a potential source of leaks and energy loss.
2. New Equipment Leaks Air Too
Elimination of air leaks includes checking all new equipment. Every time a new piece of air-driven equipment is added or when a new air tool is connected it needs to be double checked to prevent new leaks.
New equipment can mean new plumbing as well. Plan before installation to ensure that any new piping works seamlessly with the old and possible air-use redundancyis weeded out.
Air audits are recommended to allow a third party to scrutinize the plant's air plumbing and to locate and systematically repair all air leaks.
3. Lower the System Air Pressure
Compressed air driven equipment will come with pressure and flow recommendations ensuring that the equipment has sufficient air supply.
The plant main system air pressure is typically provided at a higher pressure than most equipment needs.
When compressed air at too high a pressure is delivered to equipment that does not require that pressure, it may not create a problem for the equipment, yet driving equipment at that too high a pressure makes the compressor work harder to generate that higher pressure. That means energy waste and added cost.
"To produce compressed air at 120 psi compared with 100 psi, you must input about 10% more power for the same volume of air".(3)
4. Use Air Regulators
An air regulator installed before each piece of equipment could be used to regulate the air pressure to the actual level needed by that piece of equipment.
If a particular section of a machine requires higher pressure than the rest of the machine, run a line from the higher pressure main only to that section of the machine. Regulate that pressure to the lowest minimum operating pressure of that section.
5. Compressor Maintenance
A compressor not maintained to high operational standards is one that has to run longer than absolutely necessary.
The maintenance issues that can lead to increased energy usage include:
Plugged filters includes any air intake filters, air / oil separators and oil filters. As these get full of debris and plugged, the compressor has to work harder and hotter, increasing energy demand for increased cooling.
Whether compressor oil is lubricating oil for the mechanical operation of the compressor, or the rotary screw oil used to actually compress the air, plugged filters make the compressor work harder and hotter.
The filter for the screw-compressing oil is critical to the operation of the rotary screw compressor. This oil must be changed even more frequently than suggested by the maintenance schedule if the compressor is operating in harsh conditions. Otherwise, screw maintenance issues will arise, efficiency of the compressor will decline, and energy use will increase.
-Heat Exchangers / Condenser Coils
In order for heat exchangers and condenser coils to work, hot air must radiate efficiently from the coils to the atmosphere. Dust and oil coating interferes with that and results in a hotter running compressor. The greater cooling required uses more energy than normal.
Further, any air compressor that runs too hot is susceptible to heat related shutdown. Additional energy is required to restart a compressor. Sudden compressor shut down can also mean sudden air loss to the plant and production loss.
-Monitor Condensate Drains
Condensate drains remove water and the filtered-out contaminants from the compressor and air systems, and can be overlooked when doing system maintenance.
The result can be fluid buildup, filter contamination and then re-contamination of the compressed air. That generates substantial downside for air driven equipment supplied by that contaminated air.
Greater energy will be consumed as the compressor attempts to overcome the constricted flow issues created by blockages in the filter media.
Automatic "no-waste" drains are recommended to keep drains purged without requiring operator intervention.
7. Compressor Heat Recovery
Compressor-generated heat is always a by-product of compressing air. It is a logical step to try to capture that heat using it to offset energy consumption elsewhere in the plant.
"It is a thermodynamic fact that around 95% of this energy is converted to heat and is wasted to the atmosphere through heat dissipated by the motor and cooling system." (4)
Compressor heat recovery includes installing equipment to capture the heat, transporting it to the point of use, and using conversion equipment to put it to work.
Larger compressors that run for extended periods are optimal for reclaiming compressor generated heat.
8. Compressors Left On
A simple concept, but one that can be overlooked in manufacturing plants is, "Why leave the compressor on"? If the plant is shut down for extended periods or regularly overnight, and it is not detrimental to the plant operation, shut the compressor down.
If all air system leaks have not been fixed, that can cause the compressor to cycle needlessly, wasting energy.
9. Examine How Air Is Used
Looking at overall plant air usage through "new eyes" might pinpoint areas in which compressor energy can be reduced.
Would new, more efficient air tools reduce air demand, reducing compressor size and use?
If the load on air cylinders had changed with less mass, then a smaller cylinder might do the job with less air use.
10. Staff Training
Does the staff fully understand the need for diligence in reducing compressed air use?
Inefficient use of blow guns or longer-than-necessary parts blow off may waste air.
Operators need to check when the shift is done to ensure that air is off resulting in less waste.
An excellent defense against energy waste in any plant is a knowledgeable and well trained staff.
A compressor that is well maintained and run with energy conservation paramount will last longer than one that is not.
What would your compressor cost to replace?


COMMENT: Bamboo ban hints at crackdown on green claims
Question: When is bamboo not bamboo? Answer: When it's used to make clothing.
At least that's according to regulators in the US and Canada, who are cracking down on marketing claims that could be misleading or deceptive in their efforts to appeal to environmentally conscious shoppers.
They argue that even if clothing and other textiles are made from a material that may have started out as bamboo, the fibres are in fact based on the plant's cellulose which is broken down by a chemical process.
And because rayon (or viscose) is, by definition, a man-made fibre created from the cellulose found in plants and trees, these fibres are rayon too. Any plant or tree - including bamboo - could be used as the cellulose source; but the fibre that is created is rayon.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the fibres' eco-friendly claims are also being dismissed.
Bamboo fibres - or 'rayon from bamboo' or 'viscose from bamboo' as we should probably now call them - were initially touted as a sustainable alternative to cotton, silks and polyesters.
This was due to the fact they are based on a fast-growing plant that grows quickly with little or no need for pesticides and is harvested without destroying the root system, which allows for rapid replenishment.
But it seems there is also controversy over the green status of bamboo fabrics, due to the fact toxic chemicals are needed to process the tough cellulose bamboo plant into soft fibres. The process itself also releases pollutants into the air.
"Extracting bamboo fibres is expensive and time-consuming," the US Federal Trade Commission claims, "and textiles made just from bamboo fibre don't feel silky smooth."
It also says there's also no evidence that rayon made from bamboo retains the antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant, as some sellers and manufacturers claim, or that that the products are biodegradable.
The US and Canada started to step up their efforts to police the use of, and claims made for, bamboo in clothing last year.
Canada's Canada's Competition Bureau last week claimed more than 450,000 clothing and textile articles have now been re-labelled as rayon or viscose as a result of its campaign. And the FTC has most recently warned 78 retailers including Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart - they may be fined unless they stop advertising rayon textile products as bamboo.
It's easy to understand the FTC's concerns that shoppers might be "greenwashed" as more and more companies jump on the bandwagon to launch eco-friendly products invariably accompanied by higher price tags.
But there is also a strong chance this is the beginning of a wider shift towards tighter standards for eco-friendly claims.
The FTA is currently in the process of updating its environmental marketing guidelines, or Green Guides, which are designed to help marketers avoid making environmental claims that are unfair or deceptive.
Last updated in 1998, they also tackle specific green claims, such as biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, recycled content, and ozone safe and even organically labelled textiles.
Discussions back in 2008 gave some hint at what textile and clothing firms will be up against - and where they might need to be clearer in future to avoid ambiguities. Terms such as "green," "eco-friendly," and "sustainable" were highlighted as misleading for consumers.
As was the labelling of a T-shirt, for example as "100% organic." Does this refer to the fabric, sewing thread, hang tag and packaging, or just one component?
It's all food for thought and, given the precedent already set by bamboo, it's not unreasonable to assume that tougher enforcement will be on the agenda.
To have plus-size clothing lines to sell, you need plus-size consumers, so it is maybe not a surprise that the American market for these garments is of critical importance....
Far from quelling months of violent protests over pay and conditions, an 80% rise in the minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh has simply led to a fresh wave of violence over claims it still ...
Labour and human rights groups in the US, Canada and Europe have accused the Bangladeshi government of repressing clothing workers after it tried to crack down on labour rights advocates leading publi...
Here is a roundup of the top five most-read stories on just-style this week. Click on each headline for the full story. ...
Destination Maternity Corporation overcame a slight decline in third quarter sales to post a much-improved profit of US$8.7m, driven by its cost reduction programme....
- SOURCING: Production problems weigh on Pakistan
- What next for smart fabrics and garments?
- Smart sportswear faces mass production challenges
- Cutting-edge companies focus on consumer needs
- Lesotho risks garment job losses if AGOA lapses
- “Unsafe” Bangladesh factory refuses to evacuate
- Cambodia labour abuse claims disputed
- Major Ethiopia textile build experiences delays
- Garment factory tool to improve communication
- RFID adoption among retailers near “tipping point”
- Myanmar's Garment Sector - Opportunities & Challenges in 2015
- Apparel Retail: Top 5 Emerging Markets Industry Guide
- Management briefing: Outlook 2015: Apparel industry issues in the year ahead
- Outdoor performance apparel: peaks, valleys, and green fields
- Global market review of swimwear - forecasts to 2019


Southern California Edison (SCE) has launched one of the most ambitious solar rooftop projects to date, promising 250 megawatts of photovoltaic power covering more than two square miles (some 65 million square feet) of southern California’s commercial building rooftops in what it claims will be the nation’s largest solar cell installation. All told, the project is forecast to cost $875 million and produce enough power for 162,000 homes. Booyah.This is of comparable size, at least in dollars, to this new solar plant. I don't really understand how much transmission lines cost, and whether distributed systems like this make more sense economically than central power plants. I should look into that (or hope that one of the highly educated loyal Fat Knowledge readers will leave a comment with some numbers or links (hint, hint)).
By spreading the panels out over an already highly wired area, SCE hopes to save itself — and presumably its customers — the cost of having to install new transmission lines. Access to transmission lines is one of the leading challenges for large solar and wind power installations, which are often located in remote regions.
It’s one of the most notable distributed-power projects ever undertaken by a large utility. The New York Times puts the size of the planned installation into context and says it is “10 times bigger than any previous such installation;” the NYTs notes that the largest in the U.S. is the 14 megawatts, at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and the largest in the world is 23 megawatts in Spain.


By: The Kumon Staff
The Kumon Reading Program aims to cultivate a high level of reading ability while introducing a variety of literature to children. Whether the stories are authored by Maurice Sendak or William Shakespeare, the excerpts featured in the books’ worksheets are intended to provoke thought and imagination. In his autobiography, Give It a Try, Toru Kumon said, “I believe that the ability to think is developed by reading books.” By encouraging a love of books early, parents can help their children develop inquisitive minds full of purpose and imagination.
As Kumon students progress through the various levels of the reading program, they enhance their reading abilities by moving from words to sentences to paragraphs and longer passages. The Kumon Method develops academic ability, as well as the mindset and skills needed for students to become critical thinkers. Through continual study and practice, children develop skills that lead to critical thinking. As they reach more advanced levels in the program, they begin developing summary and critique skills.
As students progress into the higher levels of the Kumon Reading Program, they are challenged to look closely at the context of a passage and develop an understanding of the writer’s intention. The ability to observe text closely and discover the subtle meaning in words is an essential part of students’ growth and development. Through the program they’ll develop reading skills that will enable them to become even more thoughtful and inquisitive people. Ultimately, these skills can lead to success in whichever path in life our students decide to take.
To learn more about Kumon’s programs in NYC, click here!
Enjoy 50% off reading program registration, a $25 value, when you contact your local Kumon Center for an orientation before March 31st.
Author: Kidz Central Station
Founded by a NYC mom of two young children, Kidz Central Station uses technology to solve the problem so many busy parents face—how to find, book, and manage their children’s classes, camps, local family events, and birthday parties. Kidz Central Station offers more than 20,000 classes, camps, and birthday party options representing hundreds of NYC’s top activity providers. With a sophisticated search engine and class reviews, it is easy for parents to find the best classes for their children, sign up for a trial class, and directly enroll.


COVID-19 has caused churches to shift even more of their programming online in order to continue services and maintain a sense of community. What will the lasting impact of the pandemic be on local congregations?
Christianity has always leveraged technology to communicate the gospel. Troy Dearborn extensively researched Christianity's use of technology in both the past and present as part of his Master of Divinity studies at Providence Theological Seminary. Dearborn is also an associate pastor at St. Pierre Bible Fellowship Church, in St. Pierre, Man.
"All throughout history, we have Christians leveraging technology for the purposes of the gospel. From Luther and the printing press to Billy Graham and radio, there are so many examples of where the gospel has effectively gone out through media and technology."
However, Dearborn says that we need to take new technological innovations with a grain of salt.
"Lets not just jump on board with everything. We should ask what this technology is doing. Whatever medium you're using inherently has a message that goes with it. There are dangers for going completely digital with our relationships. For example, social media, something that has been designed to connect us, has sometimes made people more disconnected."
"The centrepiece of our faith is that Jesus Christ came as a physical, embodied person and lived in close community with other people."
Technology is also beginning to change the way our brains are wired. Studies have shown that technology is reducing our attention spans and that our online interactions are increasingly polarized. However, Dearborn says that this doesn't mean we should reject technology completely.
"People are online, and we have a whole generation of kids who have grown up with the internet. So if you're a church that's trying to reach people, you need to be online as well."
Instead, he suggests that we think critically through the ways in which we can leverage technology while retaining the essence of Christian faith and community.


This brief provides an introductory discussion of five areas of social risk factors for involvement in crime: family, education, economics, community and peers, and alcohol and other drugs. Parental behaviours play a strong role in shaping a child’s risk of later involvement in criminality.
What are the main causes of crime in our society?
Top 10 Reasons for Crime
- Poverty. This is perhaps one of the most concrete reasons why people commit crimes.
- Peer Pressure. This is a new form of concern in the modern world.
- Drugs. Drugs have always been highly criticized by critics.
- Family Conditions.
- The Society.
What factors contribute to crime?
The causes of crime are complex. Poverty, parental neglect, low self-esteem, alcohol and drug abuse can be connected to why people break the law. Some are at greater risk of becoming offenders because of the circumstances into which they are born.
What are the four factors that contribute to crime?
These included biological, psychological, social, and economic factors. Usually a combination of these factors is behind a person who commits a crime.
What are the main 3 factors of crime?
The Crime Triangle identifies three factors that create a criminal offense. Desire of a criminal to commit a crime; Target of the criminal’s desire; and the Opportunity for the crime to be committed. You can break up the Crime Triangle by not giving the criminal the Opportunity.
What are the root causes of crime?
Social root causes of crime are: inequality, not sharing power, lack of support to families and neighborhoods, real or perceived inaccessibility to services, lack of leadership in communities, low value placed on children and individual well-being, the overexposure to television as a means of recreation.
What social and environmental factors influence crime?
Environmental factors that contribute to juvenile crime and violence include violent and permissive families, unstable neighborhoods, and delinquent peer groups. Most violent behavior is learned behavior. Early exposure to violence in the family may involve witnessing either violence or physical abuse.
How does crime contribute to social injustice?
Crime leads to social injustice based on the discrimination that is prevalent in society. There is discrimination based on caste, religion, status and also power. If the criminal is someone powerful or belongs to a higher class in the society then he misuses his power and money to get released.
What factors contribute to violent crime globally?
Top 10 Factors Identified as Contributing to Violent Crime.
- Gangs 82 %
- Juveniles / youth crime 80 %
- Economy / poverty / unemployment 74 %
- Impulsive violence / disrespect issues 74 %
- Release of offenders from correctional institutions 69 %
- Drugs-Cocaine 67 %
- Poor parenting 63 %
- Increased availability of guns 55 %
What is the impact of crime in communities?
These kinds of costs can include pain and suffering, and a lower quality of life. There are also the traumatic impacts on friends and the disruption of family. Behavior can be forever changed and shaped by crime, whether it be weighing the risks of going to certain places or even the fear of making new friends.
What are your possible contributions in order to minimize crimes?
Five ways to reduce crime
- Use and expand drug courts.
- Make use of DNA evidence.
- Help ex-offenders find secure living-wage employment.
- Monitor public surveillance cameras.
- Connect returning prisoners to stable housing.
What factors contribute to violence in the US?
Individual Risk Factors
- History of violent victimization.
- Attention deficits, hyperactivity, or learning disorders.
- History of early aggressive behavior.
- Involvement with drugs, alcohol, or tobacco.
- Low IQ.
- Poor behavioral control.
- Deficits in social cognitive or information-processing abilities.
- High emotional distress.
What are the 3 theories of criminal behavior?
Broadly speaking, criminal behavior theories involve three categories of factors: psychological, biological, and social.
What are the 7 types of crime?
7 Different Types of Crimes
- Crimes Against Persons. Crimes against persons also called personal crimes, include murder, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.
- Crimes Against Property. Property crimes involve the theft of property without bodily harm, such as burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson.
- Hate Crimes.
What causes crime in a city?
In the most famous of these, Shaw and McKay compared delinquency rates in various areas within twenty-one cities and concluded that three urban conditions promote high delinquency rates: poverty, racial heterogeneity, and mobility, with poverty surfacing as the most important factor.
What are elements of crime?
Most crimes require that three elements be present: a criminal act (actus reus), criminal intent (mens rea), and a concurrence of the previous two elements. Some crimes require a fourth element to be present known as causation.


General Bernard Montgomery’s armoured blitzkrieg–Operation Goodwood–ended July 20, 1944, in a storm of rain and recriminations. Before the battle, Montgomery had talked confidently of a “real showdown on the eastern flank” with his armour reaching as far as Falaise. When the operation ended the industrial suburbs of Caen had been cleared and some 40 square miles added to the Orne bridgehead. Falaise, however, was a distant dream.Montgomery’s critics at Allied headquarters were scathing in their comments, arguing that Montgomery had again failed to press home his attack. Others, especially front-line soldiers, thought the operation had been far too costly. The 493 tanks that were lost could easily be replaced, but the scores of experienced tank, troop and squadron commanders and hundreds of infantry junior leaders killed and wounded were another matter. It was felt that if the British and Canadian armies continued to take casualties at such a rate, the long anticipated reinforcement crisis would occur while the Normandy battle was still in the “dogfight” stage.
Montgomery ignored both sets of critics and got on with the job of destroying the German armies in France. News of the plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, rumours that Rommel had been killed or severely wounded, and information that the Germans had ordered 116 Panzer Division–their last uncommitted armoured division–to move to the battlefront, convinced Monty that if the Allies stayed the course the Germans would soon collapse.
Montgomery did not intend to rely on Operation Cobra–the American offensive–to end the Normandy stalemate. He planned a new series of battles on the Caen front. In a letter to Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, Monty wrote that he would continue “to try to bring about a major enemy withdrawal in front of General Omar Bradley…by a series of left-right-left blows east and west of the Orne to keep the enemy guessing, followed by a heavy blow towards Falaise.” The letter concluded with the words: “It may well be that we shall achieve our object on the western flank by a victory on the eastern flank.”
The first of Monty’s left-right-left blows was Operation Spring. It was scheduled for July 25. Both 7th Armoured Div. and the Guards Armd. Div. were to join in the attack once the Canadian infantry had broken through the German defences on Verrières Ridge. Operation Spring is one of the most controversial military operations in all of Canadian history. It was the principal topic of the Normandy episode in the television mini-series The Valour And The Horror. The operation has continued to attract armchair generals determined to prove that Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds and his commanders were careless of Canadian lives, incompetent or both. Operation Spring, therefore, is worth careful study.
As the historian David O’Keefe has pointed out, intelligence reports, including information from Ultra, provided fairly complete evidence of the enemy order of battle. The 272nd Infantry Div., reduced by casualties in Operation Goodwood, held Verrières Ridge with four battalions estimated at 600 men each. Battle groups of 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Div. were known to be in support. East of the Caen-Falaise highway, 1st SS Panzer Div. held Tilly-la-Campagne. 10th SS Panzer Div. was in reserve and 116th Panzer Div. on its way to the battlefront from north of the Seine.
Attacking this formidable array of guns, tanks and dug-in infantry with the limited forces available to Simonds does not seem to make a good deal of sense and the first question to ask about Operation Spring is why did it take place? The answer is surely quite simple. Montgomery could not permit the British and Canadian armies to ease the pressure at the precise moment the Americans were launching their major offensive. We do not need to resolve the debate about whether Spring was a holding attack to keep the Panzer division in the Caen sector while the Americans broke out, or an attempted breakthrough that failed, because it was surely both.
From Simonds’ perspective none of this mattered anyway. He was ordered to attack on a specific date with the forces allotted to him. How did he respond to the challenge? Simonds first heard of Operation Spring on July 21 and immediately began to draw up plans. Before D-Day he had issued a directive outlining his version of the artillery-based battle doctrine the Allied armies had been developing. “When the Germans decided to stand and fight”, he wrote, “only a carefully organized attack with full artillery support on a narrow frontage will succeed.” But Simonds was no longer confident that artillery, even when supplemented by massive air power, could dominate the battlefield. Throughout June and July 1944, the Allies had employed enormous quantities of shells and bombs and had apparently failed to shake German morale, never mind achieve a breakthrough.
Simonds was determined to stage Operation Spring as the first major night attack of the campaign. He believed that if the infantry could get onto their objectives in the darkness, clear out the enemy’s forward positions and then dig in, casualties would be minimized and counter-attacks dealt with from prepared positions. Follow-up battalions attacking at first light with armoured, artillery and air support would occupy a second line of villages. The 7th Armd. was also supposed to be involved in phase two, advancing south along with the Canadians. Guards Armd. Div. was to exploit a breakthrough.
Simonds has been criticized for employing just three battalions in the initial attack, but it is evident that he believed the three villages were only practical objectives in a night advance and that command and control could best be exercised within a battalion. Was he wrong? A more serious criticism was made by Brigadier W.J. Megill who commanded 5th Brigade. He thought the plan for Operation Spring was drawn up from maps by someone who had never seen the ground. To attack uphill into a strong enemy position was bad enough, but it seemed suicidal when every step forward exposed your flank to enemy mortar and artillery from the west bank of the Orne.
Simonds had seen the ground and that is why he proposed to attack at night. The problem was timing. H-hour was set for 0330 hours on July 25 with just two hours allotted for capturing the villages. The second phase battalions were to move into position to advance at first light at 0530. Limited visibility in the early morning mist of the Orne Valley would offer some protection from observation. Was there a better plan?
The first phase of Operation Spring appeared to go very well. On the left flank the North Nova Scotia Regiment (Highlanders) advanced steadily to the outskirts of Tilly-la-Campagne. Their lead companies fired a flare at 0430 hours, signalling success in reaching their objective. At 0525 hours, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Petch ordered his reserve companies into the village to mop up and reported “Hamlet”–the code word for “on the objective”–to division and corps.
In the centre, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry overcame initial opposition and seized Verrières village by 0530 hours. At 0750, Lt.-Col. John Rockingham reported that his battalion was firm on the objective. Phase two could begin. On the right, the Calgary Highlanders discovered that their start line was still under enemy fire with the enemy dug in at the factory area south of the village. Elements of two companies bypassed these positions and reached the edge of May-sur-Orne. They managed to report this before radio contact was lost. Both companies suffered heavy losses and were widely scattered. They withdrew from May but could not make contact with battalion headquarters.
As dawn broke less than three hours after the battle began, divisional commander Major-General Charles Foulkes and Simonds believed that all three assault battalions were on their objectives.
What should Simonds and his subordinate commanders have done? What would you have done? Megill described the problem this way: “You never know if your decision is the right one. Where is the line between caution and cowardice? If in doubt do you order your men to dig in? Do you refuse to carry out orders if you don’t agree with them? If there are easy answers to these questions, I haven’t heard them.” Neither had Simonds or the others involved, each of whom tried to respond to a confused situation as their training and common sense dictated.
On the left flank, the Black Watch was scheduled to begin the attack on Fontenay-le-Marmion shortly after 0545. It left their assembly area on time and was at the edge of Saint-Martin at 0500 hours when the commanding officer, Lt.-Col. S.S.T. Cantlie was mortally wounded by machine-gun fire. The same burst of gunfire wounded Cantlie’s senior company commander. Command of the battalion passed to a 24-year-old, Major Phil Griffin.
Described as a “brilliant officer” by his peers, Griffin took control quickly. Since there was no way the battalion could reach its intended start line of May-sur-Orne on time, he deployed the battalion in a more secure position and organized a new attack for 0930. Griffin knew little about the actual position of the Calgaries, but a Black Watch patrol sent into May-sur-Orne reported that it had reached the main crossroads when a single machine-gun had opened up. Griffin assigned the task of taking out the machine-gun to a fighting patrol and informed his company commanders that the Black Watch would advance directly over the ridge to Fontenay-le-Marmion. The tanks of the First Hussars, which were originally intended to advance on the open left flank, were switched to the right to assist the Calgaries in May-sur-Orne.
Both brigade and battalion headquarters had received a series of messages from division demanding action, but it is clear that neither Griffin nor Megill needed any urging. When Megill, who heard of Griffin’s revised plans through the artillery net, came forward to talk to the young Black Watch officer, the battlefield appeared to be deserted and the enemy guns were strangely quiet. The two men stood on the verandah of a house looking towards the ridge as Griffin calmly explained his intentions. Megill recalled suggesting that it might be better to stick to the original plan and move first to May-sur-Orne, but Griffin insisted that “they had patrols into May.” Once the Black Watch attack went in, he argued, the Calgaries “would fill in behind.”
Should Megill have overruled Griffin and ordered the Black Watch to first secure May-sur-Orne? The answer is surely yes and Megill regretted his failure to intervene to the day he died. But is this just hindsight? At the time, Megill admitted, it seemed better to allow Griffin to go ahead rather than force changes that would require a new fire plan and a new orders group. Order, counter-order, confusion is one of the oldest military maxims and Megill decided not to interfere. Ironically, Charlie Company of the Calgary Highlanders was working its way into the village as the Black Watch formed up for the attack. When the artillery barrage began, it forced the Calgaries to go to ground while their sister battalion was systematically destroyed. The enemy held May and the ridge in strength. It had simply been exercising good fire control, ignoring patrols and waiting until the main attack began. Griffin and 122 others were killed in the attack, 101 were wounded and 83 taken prisoner.
In the centre, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry had functioned brilliantly, seizing the village and deploying their anti-tank guns to fend off counter-attacks. Verrières village is on a reverse slope, the crest is 200 yards further south. When a 9th SS Panzer battle group tried to attack the Rileys, the fire from six-inch and 17-pounder anti-tank guns was so deadly the Germans reported “whoever crosses the ridge is a dead man” and turned away. Unfortunately, the same was true for the Royal Regiment of Canada which advanced less than 300 yards beyond the crest before its lead company was annihilated. The 1st Royal Tank Regt., borrowed from 7th Armrd Div., lost 30 tanks in not many more minutes. There would be no further advance in the centre.
The situation of the left was far more uncertain. By 0700 hours, Petch knew his battalion was in trouble and he asked Brig. Ben Cunningham for an armoured squadron to help break enemy resistance. The Fort Garries were supposed to be in reserve for phase two but Cunningham sent them forward. The lead tanks were quickly knocked out and the rest of the squadron moved around the village seeking hull-down positions. By noon, the Garries had lost 11 tanks and were withdrawn. The North Novas dug in and did what they could to survive.
Back at 9th Bde. headquarters an unusual drama was unfolding. Throughout the morning, Cunningham had listened to messages from division and corps, demanding that he begin phase two, but this was not his first battle and he trusted his own judgment. When the Garries reported their situation, Cunningham met with Lt.-Col. Frank Griffiths the veteran commanding officer of the Highland Light Infantry. Griffiths maintained that there was no point in sacrificing his battalion to a plan that had failed and made it clear he would refuse an order to try to bypass Tilly and make for Garcelles. Lt.-Col. G.H. Christiansen, the commanding officer of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, was equally adamant when his battalion was put on notice to assist the North Novas in Tilly. He, too, would refuse such an order.
Cunningham agreed with his subordinates and when Major-General Rod Keller arrived to relay demands to get moving, the brigadier stood firm. The highlanders would not be sacrificed in a hopeless cause. Keller insisted that this decision would cost the brigadier his job and within the week, Cunningham, Christiansen and Griffiths were replaced.
What lessons ought we to draw from the events described in this essay? The first thing to note is that while there were lots of heroes there were no obvious villains. Any offensive in the Caen sector was bound to meet violent opposition from an enemy that could not afford to give up the hinge of his defences. With the bulk of 2nd British Army committed east of the Orne, the Canadians were the obvious choice to attempt a break-in on Verrières Ridge. Simonds, perhaps the most innovative corps commander in the Allied armies, developed a plan that was intended to overcome the problems encountered in daylight attacks. The plan did not allow for the normal friction of war, never mind the complications of night operations, but the Canadians almost pulled it off. If the Black Watch had joined the Calgaries and cleared May-sur-Orne, the western end of the ridge could have been held.
The enemy, which suffered heavily in trying to overwhelm the Rileys, would have come under equally devastating fire approaching May-sur-Orne. There was no similar prospect of success at Tilly-la-Campagne where the 1st SS Panzer Div. was dug in, but two out of three villages would have been a victory. Even one objective out of three was pretty good going against the formidable odds facing the Canadians on July 25. And the battle was not in vain! Whatever Simonds intentions, the facts are that no Panzer divisions from the Caen front were transferred in time to deal with the American breakthrough at Saint-Lô or to prevent Patton’s breakout into the heart of France.


Last Updated on July 22, 2020, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 1546
Legendary blues musician W. C. Handy once remarked of one of Langston Hughes's shorter poems that the poet had accomplished in four lines "what it would have taken Shakespeare two acts and three scenes to say." Handy's pithy observation hits at a central feature of much twentieth-century poetry—the poet's ability to create a mountain of meaning from the studied arrangement of a very few words. Published in 1951, "Harlem" manages to evoke nearly a century of African-American history through a series of brief, bluesy, thought-provoking questions that aim to immerse the reader in the imagery of despair and disappointment. The spatial configuration of lines on the page suggests a way into the poem—a way to organize it and make meaning of it. Hughes begins with a central question that we might use to frame the remainder of the poem; and if we feel compelled to make an informed answer to this question at poem's end, then the poem, and reader, will have succeeded in generating thought about what continues to be our most pressing national problem: race relations. Note that the one-and two-line questions in the next section of the poem contain earthy images of disease and spoliation. The conspicuous absence of life-affirming images in this section is the poem's way of pushing us toward a disturbing answer to the opening question. The next section continues the "heavy," hopeless tone, or feeling, of the poem and effectively sets up the shocking conclusion. Because the reader is encouraged to respond to the questions the poem asks, the poem adheres to "call and response" patterning; that is, the tradition in African-American culture in which the "call" of the preacher or civic leader meets with a ready "response" from an attentive congregation or community.
Nearly all critics of "Harlem" interpret the "dream" in the poem's opening section as a symbol of African Americans' desire for equality—social, economic, and educational—in American society. That this desire is "deferred" means that African Americans continue to endure the difficult realities of racism and limited opportunity in a presumably free society. Critic Onwuchekwa Jemie, for example, wrote that the "dream deferred" represents "all of the broken promises of Emancipation and Reconstruction, of the Great Migration, integration and voter registration, of Black Studies and Equal Opportunity." The events the critic cites here begin at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 and actually extend beyond the poem's 1951 publication date into the 1970s and 1980s when many Black Studies programs at American universities were eliminated and when reaction against Affirmative Action programs began to escalate. By inviting the reader to answer the poem's first question, Hughes asks one to sit in the role of social commentator and critic of culture and to consider the various psychological and emotional circumstances black individuals might experience in a society that continues to struggle with putting into practice its egalitarian ideals.
The next, longest section of "Harlem" urges us to answer "yes" to the four questions asked. Here, the poet guides us, through his use of images and similes, to a deeper acknowledgment of African Americans' disillusionment with the American dreams of seizing opportunity, working hard, and enjoying success. A well-constructed image creates a mental picture in our imaginations and appeals to one or more of our physical senses. Often, its function is to carry or reinforce an important idea in a poem. In the first question, for example, Hughes uses the image of a dried raisin to convey the idea of shriveling and devaluation. The raisin was once a plump, moisture-laden fruit full with the promise of flavor and enjoyment. However,...
(This entire section contains 1546 words.)
when the fruit, like the dream of equality, remains unharvested, it metamorphoses into something shrunken and less appealing. Interestingly, this image became the title of an award-winning play,A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, which dramatizes the deferred dream of a black family's efforts to integrate a White urban neighborhood. Also helping to carry the idea in this question is a simile, or a comparison of unlike things using words such as "like" or "as" (or "than" or "seems"). The simile here compares "it," the deferred dream of equality, with the disfigured grape drying in the harsh rays of a paralyzing sun. In the next question, the image of a sore that will not heal reminds readers that the sting of discrimination and the pain of repeatedly having the dream dashed continues to drain one of the energy needed to keep hope alive. Like the perpetual sore, the stench of inedible, diseased meat speaks to the status of a dream gone bad. The "meal" Hughes serves concludes with candy, a course that potentially might have sweetened a satisfying experience, but instead the candy, like the meat, is spoiled and indigestible. It too has lost its original character and now, it would seem, is served up as ironic counterpoint to the expectations we hold for after-dinner confectionery and, symbolically, for the bitter taste of thwarted opportunity.
The figurative language and questions of this section prepare the reader for the declarative statement that makes up the poem's next section. Images are piled into "a heavy load," and the weight of keeping one's eyes on the prize of genuine emancipation after repeated defeats causes the dream to sag and puts the prize seemingly out of reach. But before taking up the challenge of the final question, additional investigation into how Hughes creates such a heavy mood may prove helpful in our efforts both to recognize additional structural elements in the poem and to begin providing some cultural context for its construction. Hughes's biographer, Arnold Rampersad, wrote in volume one of The Life of Langston Hughes, that blues music deeply influenced the poet throughout his literary career because it "alerted him to a power and privacy of language residing in the despised race to which he belonged." Blues elements apparent in "Harlem" include the everyday language of common people and repetition, perhaps the most recognizable feature of blues compositions. Indeed, one question after another and repetition of the phrase "Does it," the word "like," and "d" and "s" sounds throughout the poem tie it to this blues convention. Hughes's stated intention of writing in order "to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America" also connects with a thematic dimension of blues songs—the need to articulate the sometimes dreary realities of spoiled hopes and sagging spirits. The need to name and rename the traits associated with perennial disasppointment using the language of his people, as Hughes does in his creation of these powerful images, reflects the poet's deep pride in his folk heritage and his commitment to social change.
The poem's final line contrasts mightily with the tone of earlier questions. It is designed both to shock and enlighten readers as to the explosive spirit and drive fueling an American dream and a determined people. A raisin, a festering sore, rotten meat, and spoiled candy now become incendiary devices in the service of this dream that will not die. Yet for those familiar with blues tradition and the persevering spirit of a resisting people, Hughes's explosive conclusion may come as no surprise at all. As novelist and critic Ralph Ellison observed: the blues "at once express both the agony of life and the possibility of conquering it through sheer toughness of spirit." The fact that this final question is underlined suggests that the poet is drawing our attention to "possibility" and "toughness" as qualities born from the need to survive under an oppressive social, political, judicial, and economic order and the decay-ridden conditions it brings. It also underscores, emphatically, that the repressed, but still throbbing, dream of equal treatment will indeed be realized, but in unpredictable and potentially furious forms.
Historically, "Harlem" can be looked upon as a literary harbinger of the Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements that took place during the two decades after its publication. Additionally, when we compare "Harlem" with earlier, frequently anthologized Hughes poems, such as "Dream Variations" (1924) and "I, Too" (1925), we note a shift from the confident, optimistic tones of the earlier verse to the defiant warning that may be construed from the final line of "Harlem." Literature, as many scholars suggest, is a good way to read history, and if we use these earlier and later Hughes poems as a way of assessing race relations during this quarter century, then we come to the inescapable conclusion that few gains have been achieved during this period. As we know from our study of history, social movements are often characterized by explosive, unpredictable events fueled by long years of disappointment and frustration. Indeed, as this dream continues—in the eyes of many Americans—to be deferred, we might link the final line of "Harlem" with reactions to assassinations, controversial court decisions, and to the institutional kinds of discrimination that persist in our society. And when we recall W. C. Handy's reference to Hughes's wherewithal to be brief, we note in this eleven-line poem the poet's ability to skillfully blend history and art with the politics of resistance.
Source: Harry Phillips, in an essay for Poetry for Students, Gale, 1997.
Harry Phillips is a freelance writer and is currently teaching in the Department of English and Foreign Languages at Central Piedmont Community College.
Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 1755
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951) is more carefully orchestrated than Hughes's earlier volumes because conceived as a unity, as one continuous poem, although it is organized in sections and subtitles just like the others, and uses single poems previously published in periodicals. In Montage the days of our black lives are telescoped into one day and one night. Montage is primarily a technique of the motion picture, its camera eye sweeping swiftly from scene to scene, juxtaposing disparate scenes in rapid succession or superimposing one scene (layer of film) over another until the last fades into the next. In literature, montage provides a technical shortcut, a means of avoiding the sometimes long-winded "logical" transitions demanded by the conventional story line. Through montage, the reader/viewer is able to traverse vast spaces and times (and consciousness) in a relatively brief moment. Hughes in his prefatory note prepares the reader for this mode of seeing:
In terms of current Afro-American popular music and the sources from which it has progressed—jazz, ragtime, swing, blues, boogie-woogie, and be-bop—this poem on contemporary Harlem, like be-bop, is marked by conflicting changes, sudden nuances, sharp and impudent interjections, broken rhythms, and passages sometimes in the manner of the jam session, sometimes the popular song, punctuated by the riffs, runs, breaks, and distortions of the music of a community in transition.
The theme is the dream deferred. The vehicle is primarily be-bop but also boogie-woogie and other black music. And the mode is montage, which has its musical equivalent in be-bop and its literary equivalent in free association (stream of consciousness). Be-bop, montage, and free association parallel one another so closely in technique (rapid shifts) that the mode could be thought of as all three simultaneously. However, free association is used sparingly, as in the "Dig and Be Dug" section when talk of death leads to talk of war. (Free association will see full service in "Ask Your Mama.") Some sections open and close with the musical motif (boogie or bop), and each is sprinkled with musical references and phrases, including the "nonsense syllables" or "scat singing" ("Oop-pop-a-da! / Skee! Daddle-de-do! / Be-bop!") which especially characterized bop. In "Dive," for instance, while there is no mention of music, it is the music that is picking up rhythm "faster ... / faster," lending its speed to the nightlife on Lenox Avenue. Similarly, "Up-Beat" describes a speeding up of the beat as well as a possible metamorphosis of black youth—their emergence from the gutter, up from the dead into the quick—the kind of process by which the youngsters of "Flatted Fifths," "Jam Session," "Be-Bop Boys," and "Tag" are transformed from jailbirds into musical celebrities.
The poem could be viewed as a ritual drama, but without the stiffness that the term usually connotes. It is a vibrant seriocomic ceremony in which a community of voices is orchestrated from a multiset or multilevel stage, the speakers meanwhile engaged in their normal chores or pleasures. The setting is Harlem, with a close awareness of its connection with downtown Manhattan and its place as a magnetic mecca for refugees from the South. The time: the continuous present on which the burden of times past is heavy, with brief projections into the future. The poem opens in the morning and progresses through daytime into evening, into late night, and on to the following dawn. Harlem, a microcosm of the black presence in America, is the victim of an economic blight, relieved only sporadically by the wartime boom. This is hardly the joy-filled night-town of the 1920s. Money, or more precisely the lack of money, determines many of the human relationships presented to our view especially in the opening section. Money is the main riff, the musical current flowing steadily just below the surface and surfacing from time to time, bearing the theme of the dream deferred. A few situations transcend the terms and boundaries of the economic imperative, as in "Juke Box Love Song", where love unlocks and lets fly softness and beauty amidst the discordant, dissatisfied voices of poverty, creating a harmony that money could not by itself accomplish; in "Projection," where unity and peace are described in terms of a harmonious orchestration of disparate types; and in "College Formal," where the youthful couples, wrapped in love and melody, lend transcendence to the audience as a whole.
The deferred dream is examined through a variety of human agencies, of interlocking and recurring voices and motifs fragmented and scattered throughout the six sections of the poem. Much as in bebop, the pattern is one of constant reversals and contrasts. Frequently the poems are placed in thematic clusters, with poems within the cluster arranged in contrasting pairs. Montage does not move in a straight line; its component poems move off in invisible directions, reappear and touch, creating a complex tapestry or mosaic.
The dream theme itself is carried in the musical motifs. It is especially characterized by the rumble ("The boogie-woogie ramble / Of a dream deferred")—that rapid thumping and tumbling of notes which so powerfully drives to the bottom of the emotions, stirring feelings too deep to be touched by the normal successions of notes and common rhythms. The rumble is an atomic explosion of musical energy, an articulate confusion, a moment of epiphany, a flash of blinding light in which all things are suddenly made clear. The theme is sounded at strategic times, culminating in the final section...
The poet has taken us on a guided tour of microcosmic Harlem, day and night, past and present. And as a new day dawns and the poem moves into a summing up in the final section, he again poses the question and examines the possibilities:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
The images are sensory, domestic, earthy, like blues images. The stress is on deterioration—drying, rotting, festering, souring—on loss of essential natural quality. The raisin has fallen from a fresh, juicy grape to a dehydrated but still edible raisin to a sun-baked and inedible dead bone of itself. The Afro-American is not unlike the raisin, for he is in a sense a dessicated trunk of his original African self, used and abandoned in the American wilderness with the stipulation that he rot and disappear. Like the raisin lying neglected in the scorching sun, the black man is treated as a thing of no consequence. But the raisin refuses the fate assigned to it, metamorphoses instead into a malignant living sore that will not heal or disappear. Like the raisin, a sore is but a little thing, inconsequential on the surface but in fact symptomatic of a serious disorder. Its stink is like the stink of the rotten meat sold to black folks in so many ghetto groceries; meat no longer suitable for human use, deathly. And while a syrupy sweet is not central to the diet as meat might be, still it is a rounding-off final pleasure (dessert) at the end of a meal, or a delicious surprise that a child looks forward to at Halloween or Christmas. But that final pleasure turns out to be a pain. Aged, spoiled candy leaves a sickly taste in the mouth; sweetness gone bad turns a treat into a trick.
The elements of the deferred dream are, like the raisin, sore, meat, and candy, little things of no great consequence in themselves. But their unrelieved accretion packs together considerable pressure. Their combined weight becomes too great to carry about indefinitely: not only does the weight increase from continued accumulation, but the longer it is carried the heavier it feels. The load sags from its own weight, and the carrier sags with it; and if he should drop it, it just might explode from all its strange, tortured, and compressed energies.
In short, a dream deferred can be a terrifying thing. Its greatest threat is its unpredictability, and for this reason the question format is especially fitting. Questions demand the reader's participation, corner and sweep him headlong to the final, inescapable conclusion.
Each object (raisin, sore, meat, candy, load) is seen from the outside and therefore not fully apprehended. Each conceals a mystery; each generates its own threat. The question starts with the relatively innocuous raisin and, aided by the relentless repetition of "Does it...?" intensifies until the violent crescendo at the end. With the explosion comes the ultimate epiphany: that the deadly poison of the deferred dream, which had seemed so neatly localized (the raisin drying up in a corner harmless and unnoticed; the sore that hurt only the man that had it; the rotten meat and sour candy that poisoned only those that ate it), does in fact seep into the mainstream from which the larger society drinks. The load, so characterless except for its weight, conceals sticks of dynamite whose shattering power none can escape.
Rotten meat is a lynched black man rotting on the tree. A sweet gone bad is all of the broken promises of Emancipation and Reconstruction, of the Great Migration, integration and voter registration, of Black Studies and Equal Opportunity. It might even be possible to identify each of the key images with a generation or historical period, but this is not necessary: the deferred dream appears in these and similar guises in every generation and in the experience of individuals as well as of the group. The poem is the "Lenox Avenue Mural" of the closing section title, painted in bold letters up high and billboard-size for all to see. To step into or drive through Harlem is at once to be confronted with its message or question. The closing line is Hughes's final answer/threat and will return with some frequency in The Panther and the Lash.
Each of the five other poems of the final section takes the question and plays with it, incorporating variations of it from earlier sections. All sorts of things are liable to happen "when a dream gets kicked around." And, sure, they kick dreams around downtown, too, even on Wall Street, not to speak of Appalachia or the Indian Reservations. But right now, one thing at a time, first things first: "I'm talking about / Harlem to you!"
Source: Jemie, Onwuchekwa, Langston Hughes: An Introduction to the Poetry, Columbia University Press, 1976 pp. 63-5, 78-80.


Throughout my experience over recurring low back pain (which started since I was in grade school) and from reading lots of researches pertaining to back pain, I have found out (and I am not alone in this discovery) that close to eighty percent of back pain attacks cease after 1 month up to three after the onset. Given that there are no medications and surgeries done on the patient. Yet, there is still no comparison to the relief that may be felt during the duration of the attacks.
For the majority of sufferers, the agonizing pain may be helped with simple homeophatic therapies and by application of pain reliever creams and medications. But a number of individuals need the aids that may only be provided by treatments for relief which are typically termed as alternative medicines. Though many are still on their way to proving their worth, there are hosts of others that are widely recognized for their efficiency in easing the symptoms and effects of low back pain. And for people experiencing more advanced symptoms, the ultimate treatment is only through surgery and careful treatment plans but only under specific conditions.
But as already noted, the majority of patients experience only attacks that may last for a few short months. And the simplest course to take in order to gain immediate but temporary relief is by means of back pain exercises.
Back pain exercises virtually differ in intensity, application and routine. And most back pain exercises are especially designed to target specific conditions and to get away from specific consequences.
One good form of low back pain exercise is via yoga routines. Not only does this type of exercise induces strength and flexibility of the muscles and bones, it also create pathways to lead stress out from your system. This is most helpful for people who are showing symptoms of clinical depression due to chronic back pain. Yet, not all yoga postures and routines are allowed for everyone. Those diagnosed of advanced and more severe forms of back pain should refrain from doing more complicated poses and those that involve too much exertion and flexibility of the upper body.
Low back pain exercises in general were created to provide temporary treatment for lower back pain. It must be noted that there are so many underlying complex reasons and structures in the human body that create the back problems. Because of these, it must be understood that low back pain exercises may never ease the pain for long periods of time. The pain will keep on recurring unless the real cause is identified and properly cured.


There has been much excitement on Facebook this week about setting homework for primary age pupils. The trigger was a teacher in the US who wrote to her pupils’ parents that she would no longer be setting homework as there was no evidence that it works. As is now so often the case, the social media furore enticed many news outlets to report on the story. This was followed little more than a week later by a similar letter from a school here in the UK.
As you might expect, comments on Facebook were well-informed by research and betrayed little of the writers’ untested assumptions and prejudices [!!]. Why, I wonder, do so many people feel qualified to tell teachers how best to do their job? I drink wine, but that doesn’t mean I can advise winemakers how to improve their product. Sometimes I am ill, but that doesn’t make me a doctor. But, mercifully, everyone is an expert on education, because they went to school as a child.
Anyway – rant over!
What does the research say about ‘homework’? The Education Endowment Foundation (formerly The Sutton Trust) indicates that the impact of primary age homework on attainment is minimal, and that there are many other strategies with far greater impact, many of which are similarly cheap to employ. Developing meta-cognition and self-regulation, for example, is judged to increase attainment 4 times as much as primary homework does, for similar costs. If we are going to employ attainment raising strategies, surely it makes sense to attend to those that are proven to generate the largest gains ? [The other highest impact / low cost strategy is quality feedback]
But even the elementary teacher from the States intends to set homework. Her letter to parents states that “Homework will only consist of work that your student did not finish during the school day, there will be no formally assigned homework this year.” So what she is really saying is that such homework that is set will be of the ‘finish off because you ran out of time in class variety’ – not much independent research or deep learning here, then! I am unaware of research that says that finishing uncompleted work is worthwhile, but that ‘formally assigned homework’ is not.
The UK school’s policy offers a glimmer of hope: children will be encouraged to follow their interests in selecting their homework. This will work particularly well if teachers steer them towards areas in which the student could do with being stretched. I note that whilst there is no upper limit on the number of assignments a student can complete, neither is there mention of a lower limit: some students may exercise their newly-found independence by electing not to complete any home learning at all!
It may, however, be the case that traditional ‘homework’ has low impact not because it is inherently ineffective, rather that the quality and purpose too frequently fails to engage interest and drive learning forward. So, what might ‘good homework’ (or Home Learning) look like? The biggest element of difference between home learning and school learning is not the setting (though this can often be the source of great challenge), but the coach: parents may well have to take on the role of the teacher, especially if the learning being set is sufficiently stretching. Good home learning will happen for children with parents who do things like:
- Talk about the future (i.e. by creating a shopping list) with their children, help their children to think ahead (Planning);
- Talk about how they have changed their mind about something, help their children to do likewise (Refining);
- Listen carefully to what their child is saying, help their children to listen attentively (Listening);
- Do not assume that everything they hear on TV must be true, help their children to be healthily sceptical (Questioning);
- Talk about how things are similar and how they are different, help their children to spot connections (Making Links);
- Try different ways of doing things when faced with difficulty, help their children to adopt a similar ‘can-do’ attitude (Perseverance).
If we could find ways to wean parents off ‘teaching’ their child how to do multiplication (their way!) and get them into the habit of modelling learning positive ways of behaving, we might reap the rewards in the classroom and maybe at the same time obviate the need for homework that is too often ‘more of the same’.
Pie in the sky? Or worth a thought?


You might have been told to sit up straight by your parents or teachers when you were younger and simply rolled your eyes. The truth of the matter, though, is that posture is hugely important for a number of different reasons.
Why is having good posture so important?
There are many negatives to constantly slouching over or maintaining a rigid posture – and not just the health of our backs and spines. Experts suggest that good posture is also directly linked to1:
If you find yourself tensing the muscles in the back of your neck because your posture’s poor, it could lead to regular headaches. Try to stretch out your neck muscles and keep your head level when you’re sat down.
Having your head tilted forward too much when you’re sitting down can put a lot of strain on the muscles in your neck, shoulders and upper back. This could potentially lead to chronic muscle ache in the long run.
If you’re contracting your muscles and ligaments in the wrong way due to bad posture, they’ll have to work extra hard when you later need them for general movement. This could cause you to have lower energy levels and feel tired for no apparent reason.
If you regularly sit slumped over, chances are you’re compressing your lungs and restricting the amount your diaphragm can contract. This could affect your breathing over time and prevent your lungs from filling up with sufficient amounts of oxygen.
What are the signs of good posture?
The basic definition of having good posture is when your spine is in a neutral position – this means it’s not rigidly straightened, slumped over or overly arched. Your muscles should be supporting your spine yet not be tensed, while your shoulders need to be relaxed and your chin parallel to the floor. If you’re standing up, let your knees bend slightly so you don’t put excess pressure on your joints2.
Tips on how to keep good posture
If you’re worried about your posture and how it could impact your health in later life, it’s worth bearing in mind the following tips about achieving good posture.
Improving your posture when you’re sat down
If you spend a lot of time sat at a desk or lounging around on the sofa, it’s important that you3:
- Sit with your back straight and your shoulders back.
- Have your feet firmly planted on the ground.
- Bend your knees so they’re at a 90-degree angle.
It’s also a good idea to invest in an ergonomic chair if you’re working at a desk as it’ll support your back much more effectively. Remember to regularly stand up and walk around the room to improve your circulation, too.
Improving your posture when you’re standing
Whether you’re standing up on a train or queuing in a shop, it’s important to bear in mind the following4:
- Keep your weight on the balls of your feet.
- Don’t slouch forward or lean back.
- Have your knees slightly bent.
- Make sure your feet are firmly planted on the floor and are shoulder-width apart.
- Let your arms hang loosely at your sides.
Improving posture when you’re driving:
Commute to work in a car? Or maybe you’re in charge of the school drop off? While you might feel pretty comfortable in your vehicle, there are actually some essential things you should do to maintain good posture when you’re driving:
- Adjust the seat so your knees are higher than your hips when they’re bent.
- Make sure the seat is as straight as possible so you’re sitting upright.
- Have your shoulders back against the seat, not rolled forward.
- Ensure your headrest is adequately supporting the back of your head.
- Sit with your bum as far back as possible on the seat.
If you’re looking to improve your posture and maintain good bone and joint health, it might be worth taking a supplement such as glucosamine or cod liver oil. Always make sure you chat to a healthcare professional before taking extra vitamins as most people should be able to get the correct amounts through their diet alone.
Last updated: 29 April 2020
3 & 4 https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/patient/resource-centers/pain-workplace/expert-tips-maintaining-good-posture-throughout-day