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pastiche-comic · 4 years

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History

by Margaret Willoughby-Penderghast

The volcanic islands that would become Indisclosednia were thought to have emerged from the sea approximately 6,400 years ago. Evidence suggests that the main island experienced a cataclysmic eruption during the mid-1500s. This was thought to have nearly sterilized the island, much like the famous 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia.

The islands remained uninhabited well into the 20th Century. Surveyors have noted the archipelago’s presence but had made little note of it in records and was summarily ignored for decades. It would remain untouched by humans until the fateful arrival of the transoceanic liner Serenity of the Sea in September 1982.

The Wreck of the Serenity

Engine failure forced the ship’s crew to seek safe refuge in the harbor for repairs. The crew successfully sent a distress call and expected a full evacuation of the Serenity over the course of two weeks. These crewmembers would later establish landfall on the island to supplement their supplies with coconuts and fish gathered from the islands. Not long after, the ship’s administrators gave clearance for supervised groups of stir-crazy passengers to wander the main island.

Evacuating that many people proved a logistical nightmare, however. Delays and a shortage of outbound craft meant that not everybody could be recovered at once. Although the first rescue teams arrived on schedule, the evacuation efforts for the Serenity took more than two months to complete. Eventually, the ship ran out of fuel.

The stranded crew and passengers were greeted to a sight not unlike this one, in Woodland Bay National Park.

The Harbour Authority

The remaining passengers and crew fled to the encampment at the main island. They formed what observers described as a minuscule society resembling a rustic resort. Representatives noted crew members performing as though the cruise line had not been interrupted. Despite this, the crew and passengers of the Serenity were described as egalitarian; they were “all on the same boat.” The distinction between passenger and crew became less apparent as able members of each group did their share. Many of those rescued became well acquainted with one another.

No government had exclusive jurisdiction over the islands. Rescue coordinators worked with an administration formed from the passengers and crew of the ship. Organizers deferred to these community leaders as they would government entities. This group, later known as the Harbour Authority, also built a small waystation on the islands to accommodate the rescue efforts.

Several members of the Harbour Authority would stay behind and began constructing the first long-term habitable structures in the main island, supported by a returning force of developers. By the end of 1982, their waystation became permanent, with sufficient logistical infrastructure to maintain regular contact with the outside world.

The Developers Arrive

Throughout the evacuation, many of the wealthier passengers saw great economic potential in the islands. A novel idea came when they realized that no nation had exclusive economic claims to the archipelago. On February 1983, the first surveyor’s offices were built at what was then known as Respite Harbor. Within a month, developers staked a claim for a proposed guano mine to the east. Other businesses—including agribusiness, minig, tourism, petroleum, and fishing—soon followed.

These developers received no clearance from any government with a claim to the now-discovered islands, for their operations. Many of them had companies registered in tax havens like the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg. They did defer administrative duties to the Harbour Authority. In exchange, they provided supplies, paid fees, and followed Authority regulations.

The islands and their surrounding atolls were even given a name, “Indisclosedia,” derived from a corruption of “the undisclosed islands” the activities were all taking place in. The humor extended to the chief port, Respite Harbour. Popular myth holds that activities in “who knows where” led to the present name of the capital, Hoonoisweir, though pronunciation differences dispute this.

The Need for Governance

The Harbour Authority held great sway as the main policymaker of the islands. The administration provided clearances for all buildings, held policy meetings for all stakeholders, and provided a means of individual private transport to other countries. They were also sought for guidance to settle disputes. Surveyors understood that the Authority always had the final say. But it wasn’t a government, and these settlers knew this.

Conflicts began arising between the companies in the islands and between them and the Harbour Authority. Resort planners debated with mining prospectors and agribusiness representatives on land allocations. Heated discussions concerning security, environmental protections, and labour rights were also on the table.

Ideological backgrounds exacerbated tensions. Libertarian idealists and socialist utopians alike saw an opportunity in terra nullius to build their own experimental societies. These fringe groups found themselves arguing in the Authority’s meeting rooms. More established businesses demanded an accountable, inoffensive administration that could rein in anything they saw as unpleasant.

Fears of the islands becoming a criminal haven was omnipresent. All factions feared the coming of lawless elements, especially armed ones. If word got out of the islands’ existence, they argued, it would attract drug dealers, human traffickers, and other unsavoury elements that could eject them with a show of force. Many of those early settlers also found complete lawlessness unpalatable for their business and labour interests.

Plans to expand the port to accommodate the industries faced difficulty in procuring supplies; fees collected from the partners were insufficient. Meanwhile, foreign financiers were put off by the lack of a government.

Arbitration

By mid-1983, claimants from across the region made overtures to assimilate the islands and claim exclusive rights toward resource exploration. One of the eager takers was Australia. However, their claims did not go unopposed. Besides Vanuatu and Fiji, they found one other opponent in the form of the Harbour Authority. Its members suddenly found themselves on a fork in the road. They were the first people there; sentiment that they should hold sovereignty over their archipelago grew as pressure from outsiders increased.

The move to declare a new sovereign state was not without precedent. Micronations emerging from territorial loopholes were common in Australia. In 1972, neighboring Tonga had challenged an attempt to create a libertarian “republic” in the disputed Minerva Reefs. The last libertarian attempt to control the reefs were abandoned in 1982, a year before the Serenity was stranded.

On April 1984, cease and desist letters against all economic activities were sent by Australia. This led to a strong of legal conflicts between the claimants (Australia, Vanuatu, and Fiji) and the Harbour Authority. Non-claimants (France) and observers (including New Zealand and the United States) favoured the Harbour Authority. When the move to invalidate the Harbour Authority’s legitimacy due to statelessness was put forward late June 1984, the Authority’s members knew there was no turning back. They shot back with a unilateral declaration of independence on the 7th of July.

The new republic, Indisclosednia, was recognized on the outset by France, New Zealand, and the United States. By 1985, the claims against the new nation were no longer being pursued. The fledgling state, however, would not be universally recognized until 1994, the same year it was admitted to the United Nations.

Implications

Unlike its counterparts in the Minerva Reefs, the Harbour Authority did not adhere to the concept of economic libertarianism. In many ways, it functioned like a government. It recognized the existence of labour unions and included them in policymaking meetings. Authority regulations included building codes and rudimentary sanitation and environmental policies.

Several factors in play included pressure from resort developers who were eager to make investments in tourism, which were impeded by the legal status quo of the islands. It was these regulations that won over the backing of the tourism industry. The islands’ own perilous legal state brought the need to establish order and arbitrate conflicts between the surveyors through government legitimacy.

#World Building June 2020 #WBJ #History

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anastasiamuralt · 4 years

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Today you’re welcomed in Ko Samui !

Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand located in the southern part of the Kra Isthmus and belonging to the province of Surat Thani.

Located about 25 km from the coast, it is the second largest island in Thailand, with an area of 228 km² and a population of 62,500 inhabitants in 2012. It has many natural tourist resources: white sandy beaches, coral and coconut palms.

The capital city of Koh Samui is Nathon. In the city, there are many modes of transportation as: taxis, taxi-moto, songthaw. A songthaw is a collective cab mainly used in Thailand and Laos. This mode of transportation is also found in other Southeast Asian countries, but in some countries such as Malaysia, it tends to be replaced by closed minibuses.

Cabs or taxis, are the most economical mode of transportation on the island, although the vehicles are comfortable and air-conditioned. Do not hesitate to negotiate the price of the trip before getting on.

There are unbelievable beaches in Koh Samui as: Mae Nam, Lamai Beach, Thonson Bay. I recommend you to try these places. You’ll not regret !

You have a lot to do in Koh Samui and you are free to choose whatever you want… Cultural activities, sportive activity, relaxing activity. If you like thai food you’ll be happy. There are so many good restaurants, like the FoodLab, La Playa, Jam restaurant.

Furthermore, in Koh Samui there’s markets that are very known. It’s fantastic. The biggest market is “the fischerman village” every Monday and Friday night from 6 o’clock. If you’re hungry, you’ll find happiness. If you need to buy some souvenirs, you’ll be happy too. There is a large choice of activities and shopping.

Finally, if you like to party.. there are also many discos for you. The best known is the ARKbar beach resort, with an amazing view on the beach and a swimming pool. Another known bar is the Bar Cocktail King, incredible cocktails for cocktails lovers.

Enjoy Koh Samui.

#holiday #beach

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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676

Themed surveys are the shit y’all. There should definitely be more of these.

General

Where is your country? My country is in Asia – specifically in Southeast Asia, which I recently learned a lot of people outside Asia aren’t aware of. We’re situated just right below China and we neighbor Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. How big is your country? It’s moderately large, but when you consider how many we are, we are an extremely small country. What is the population of your country? 109 million. I’m not sure if this is still updated, but we’re around the 12th most populated country in the world. Compare that with how we’re only the 77th in terms of size. How would you describe the landscape? We are an archipelago, which means our country is essentially a collection of thousands of little islands – 7,107 in total. Side note: this means it’s always been extremely hard to make an attempt to be ‘united’ as a nation, due to the fact that we are literally separated from one another. But besides that, yeah we’re made up of a lot of islands which means going from one province to another typically requires you to travel via plane, boat, or ferry. Aside from the tiny islands that we have, our country has three main islands, of which the small ones are a part of – Luzon (which is where Manila is and where I live), Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is also part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which means we have a number of active volcanoes and that we are prone to hurricanes – and we do get them, badly, every year. We also have a number of mountain ranges consisting mostly of tropical rainforests; these ranges, while beautiful, make traveling from province to province quite a challenge. Which part of your country do most people live in? Oh Manila, without a doubt. Most people, especially from the provinces, want to move to Manila because it’s the economic hub and everyone has an ideal image of it bearing opportunity for them. Unfortunately it is never what it seems and Manila is instead filled with the urban poor, some homeless and some living in shanties or illegal settlements. A lot also live in the cities surrounding Manila in a region we call Metro Manila (or, officially, the National Capital Region) to have closer access to Manila, and also because these cities have proven to give them a better life as well.

Tell me about the main industries there. The main economy is agriculture, but since then we’ve been making a shift to manufacturing and the service industries. While the shift looks good on paper, it has since meant that our farmers have been neglected and they remain extremely poor despite the effort they put into their work. Our biggest exports are sugar, coconuts, rice, bananas I think?, pineapples, and mangoes. Tourism is also an important industry and unfortunately we’ve been hit hard by the coronavirus. Nevertheless, significant tourist spots include Boracay, Puerto Galera, Palawan, Siargao, Baler, Vigan, La Union, and Baguio. Lastly – while it’s not an ‘industry’ per se, millions upon millions of Filipinos also try their luck abroad as OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) for better opportunity and higher pay. As a result, their remittances to the country is one of the biggest things that contribute to our economy every year, because these OFWs are usually the breadwinners and thus send money to their families, which obviously end up pouring into the national economy. What agricultural products are produced by your country? I’ve already mentioned them, but we’re essentially powerhouses in producing rice, sugar, coconuts, corn, rubber, several fruits such as pineapples and bananas, and a type of material called abaca.

Food and drink

What traditional dishes are served in your country? Which is your favorite? What’s the recipe? We have many, considering PH has a very rich native culture. A lot of our dishes have been inspired by Spanish and Chinese culture, such as lechon (whole roasted pig) and afritada (meat and veggies in tomato sauce) for Spanish cuisine; and siopao (a bread-like dumpling), siomai (our version of Chinese dumplings), and pancit (noodles) for Chinese cuisine. But besides those, we also have come up with our own such as dinuguan (pork blood stew), sisig (chopped pig’s cheek skin, ears, and liver), and sinigang (meat or seafood in sour broth). My personal favorite is kare-kare , which is oxtail and vegetables in peanut sauce. I dunno how to cook it but both my grandmothers have the best recipes.

What drinks is your country famous for? We’re not particularly known for our drinks as much as for our food, but we do have sago’t gulaman and taho. Fruit shakes are also widely popular, and so is coconut juice. We also produce several variants of coffee, such as barako and arabica.

What alcoholic drinks are produced in your country?Again, not really internationally renowned for drinks but Filipinos LOVE their beer. Popular favorites include San Miguel Pale Pilsen, San Mig Light, and Red Horse. Tuba and lambanog are notable local alcoholic drinks but tbh they’re so native and mostly consumed in the province that as a city girl, I don’t even know what they’re made of, and I mostly read of them in books lmao.

Are there any stories behind traditional foods? Not really. But essentially, Filipinos have historically lived in the wild, with some provinces more remote than others; and a lot of people are generally poor. That means it’s in our blood to have to make do with what we have, which is why a lot of our dishes are composed of things that may be conceived as weird by others, such as duck embryo, chicken intestines, or pig’s cheeks. We’re not ‘uncultured’ or ‘disgusting,’ we’re only from a different culture with very different origins than that of the West.

Political

What is the political system in your country? I just know we live in a democracy, but the official system name for our government is apparently a unitary presidential constitutional republic; thanks, Wikipedia.

Who is in power at the moment? Unfortunately we currently have a garbage of a President, and an internationally notorious one at that – Rodrigo Duterte.

How is your country dealing with the current financial crisis? I honestly don’t know how to answer this. The Philippines has never been one of the top dogs when it comes to global economy, and as far as I know we’ve always played it safe when it comes to this, so we don’t really get seriously hit when financial crises happen.

What can you say about the leaders of your country? Miserable. Most of our senators did not deserve a seat, but there they are. As it stands, we have a TV host, a boxer (Manny Pacquiao, no less), a former police chief, and an actor in the Senate. A number of personalities in the entertainment industry have also found careers in politics. This means a lot of the things that are urgent and need lots of rational decision-making are always handled poorly and haphazardly. A lot of politicians are known to be corrupt, stealing millions of money and spending more than they earn – but they always get away with it, the ones who are supposed to be the watchdogs of corruption are also their allies. The genuinely good politicians are always overpowered, silenced, arrested, killed, ostracized – and lose elections.

The elections system is just as sad. Most, if not all, candidates, appeal to emotion and literally exploit the poor by using them as talent in their commercials to show the other poor people watching TV that they are on their side – and because the poor don’t have access to education and don’t know any better, they end up voting for them, even though these candidates don’t actually give a single fuck about the poor. Many spend hundreds upon millions for TV and radio ads for 30-second spots. Election violence, vote buying, and ghost voting are widespread.

Cities

How would you describe the capital city and any other main cities? Manila is a sad shell of what it used to be. Look up photos of Manila in the 50s and 60s, and you’d see it looks no different than the streets of Los Angeles or New York. Today it’s neglected, overpopulated, congested, and resided by people who were once filled with hopes and dreams about Manila. There’s a side of Manila that is beautiful and pretty wealthy – the part along Manila Bay – but this side is only riddled with Chinese businessmen, most of whom treat Filipinos like shit. Quezon City, Makati, and Ortigas are the economic and financial hubs surrounding Manila and for the most part these cities are known as the hip places and it’s where the youth and adults hang out. It’s where the malls, bars, restaurants are, and these cities are the ones shrouded in Western influence; but because people do flock to these places, the cost of living is extremely high from parking fees to condominiums. The major city in Visayas is Cebu and in Mindanao, Davao; but given that I’ve only been to Cebu once, and Davao never, I can’t say much about them. What special attractions can be found in each city? Manila has Rizal Park and tons of museums but the city itself isn’t a favorite among foreign tourists; these people usually go to our beaches like Boracay and Palawan, or the cities that offer a more local scenery, like Baler, Bohol, and Ilocos.

Sports and games

What is the most popular sport in your country? How do you play it? Basketball, FOR SURE. Every barangay or municipality has their own basketball court – literally. Filipinos are just basically obsessed with it whether it’s the NBA, the PBA, or basketball even at the collegiate level. Are there any sports or games unique to your country? Very few. We’ve mostly gotten eaten up by Western culture and patronize sports such as basketball, boxing, and volleyball. The only traditional sport I know of is arnis, which even I know very little about except for the fact that it’s a martial art that involves sticks. When is the best time to watch them? I’ve never watched a game of arnis. And I generally don’t watch sports, so I’m not the best person to answer this lmao. How well does your country do in international competitions? I don’t follow a lot but we’ve made our mark here and there. Obviously Manny Pacquiao is a boxing legend, but we also have Hidilyn Diaz for weightlifting, Efren Reyes for billiards, Paeng Nepomuceno for bowling, Carlos Yulo for gymnastics, and Lydia de Vega for track. Are there any sports that foreign visitors practice in your country? I don’t think so. Is football (soccer) popular in your country? If so, which are the best teams? Not really.

Weather

Is the weather very different in different parts of the country? No. It’s mainly tropical, with extremely humid summers and it’s moderately cold by the end of the year. Only cities with high elevation, like Baguio and Sagada, get EXTREMELY cold during the Ber months, which makes them popular vacation spots during Christmas haha. Sometimes the temperature will dip down to 10 or 9 degrees Celsius, which is a huge deal here.

Can you describe the seasons? We don’t have the conventional ‘seasons’ y’all have. We have two main ones – warm and wet. Wet is just the season with typhoons, warm is either summer, or a period with no typhoons. Pretty straightforward.

What is the best time to visit? It depends on where you’re going. Going to Baguio, for example, is the best during the colder months (October to December) to really maximize the colder weather. Going to the beaches is ideal in April to June.

Language

What languages are spoken in your country? Nearly 200, but official languages are Filipino and English. What language do you usually hear on the streets? Filipino. But it depends where I am, too. In wealthier cities, I’ll hear English more. How many people speak English in your country? A good number; I’d say 60-70% can understand or speak basic English. Those who can speak it conversationally comprise a smaller amount. Some still live in pretty remote areas and thus have no concept of English.

Customs

Is there a particular national costume? Can you describe it? Yeah, for the woman we have baro’t saya, and for the men we have the barong Tagalog. Just Google them lmao.

Are there any special local dances? What are they like? Several ones, like tinikling (a dance where you have your feet play with bamboo poles routinely beat together or tapped by two other people) and cariñosa, a romantic dance. But due to the Western influence here, people are more prone to get into hip-hop or contemporary dance more. Are the people generally friendly? Without a doubt, yes. Filipinos are extremely known for their hospitality. If a tourist were to knock on our door right now we would definitely let him in, make him dinner, and my mom would probably ask me to give my bedroom to him for the night. What are some special customs or traditions in your country?

We have the mano po, which is when younger individuals would greet their seniors/superiors by taking the older person’s right hand with their right hand, and placing the back of the older person’s right hand it onto their forehead. It’s a significant sign of respect and to avoid doing it is extremely impolite.

We also have the concept of community spirit, or bayanihan. Basically, if one is in need, everyone in the same community steps up and helps. The quinetessential example for this is when one has to move their hut to a new location (Filipinos before were nomadic), all the neighbors swoop in to help lift the hut and carry it all the way to the new place.

Courtship was an important step in traditional society, and the man would do a harana, or serenade the woman while playing the guitar, in front of her house while she looks out her window.

Noche Buena is the traditional midnight meal (kinda like our version of Thanksgiving) that we have by the end of Christmas Eve to usher in Christmas Day

Po and opo are filler words used to denote respect, and is always affixed to the end of sentences when speaking with elders. It’s not required, but of course you’ll look like a disrespectful asshole if you don’t use it with older people.

History

What can you tell me about the history of your country?

Pre-colonial Philippines was rich and vibrant, and one that would be considered pretty fucking progressive even today – transgender people were welcome, women were of a higher social status than men, among others.

This all changed when the Spaniards came and tl;dr ruined everything for us. They wiped out our folk religions, literature, songs, legends, epics, and everything good that we had going. Friars abused us physically, sexually, and economically; everyone was forced to convert to Catholicism; early newspapers were shut down; forced labor was imposed; anyone who disagreed with their rule was killed.

After 333 years we were sold to the US for $20 million. Americans gave us the modern education system, a modern government system, a richer literature, religious freedom, and of course, the English language. But they also brought us colonial mentality and materialism, which persists to this day. Americans were also racist towards us and the only reason we have international schools today is because these were actually started up by American soldiers so that their’ kids would have schools that didn’t have native Filipinos in them.

By WWII, Japan destroyed the Philippines, leaving us to start from scratch. They bombed Manila, raped our women and young girls and made them sex slaves, brutally murdered everybody else who weren’t women and young girls, stole everything from us, and established a puppet government in Manila to bully us further. The only reason they gave us independence was because US had dropped atomic bombs onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they had no choice but to surrender.

Three colonizers has left us pretty traumatized, something we’ve never truly recovered from to this day. Our political system is shaky, our sense of identity is lost, we’ve never been truly ‘united’ as a nation, and the Catholic penetration has made us a widely conservative, pro-life, anti-LGBT country.

Did your country gain independence from another country? If so, when and how did this happen? See above.

#survey #surveys #bruh i feel like i just wrote a research paper #I TOOK 3 HOURS ANSWERING THIS #but it was very fun

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rootsooman · 5 years

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Enter, the most expensive mango on the market, and the most delicious! It has to be eaten at the exact right time for the best taste and juiciness.

This article above fails to give us readers a glimpse of the faces behind this so-called monopoly ANEM which controls all exports of this exotic, novelty mango.

And why is there an effort to decrease the price of this little island treasure? Let's examine the fruit, and then the history of economic and food relations between Haiti and the Colonial Megastructure next door.

The first time I had one was as s gift from a local teacher who was a family friend. I had no idea what kind of mango it was, but after taking my first bite, my world changed.

How did I, child of the ancestors, not know about this Garden of Eden gem? It has a vibrant sweetness, high juice content and soft fibrous texture. Once ripe, this mango must be eaten immediately because they start to ferment fast and take on a "gassy" flavor, possibly due to a chemical like the ones in bananas or kiwis. The aroma is mesmerizing, and the shape of the fruit is like a very wide and curvaceous S.

Mangos have existed in the Americas for 250 years, originally from India. Mango experts say the Haitian francique variety has existed since the first breeds came over.

Haiti, supposedly "poor", is home to 66 varieties of mango alone. Drained by France's forced "reparations" post-independence, the food security of the heavily isolated & embargoed nation has been a matter of great concern in modern times, thanks to the exploitative actions of neo colonialism, Monsanto and corrupt foreign NGOs.

As a vegan, my consumption of this mango means more than just the perfect summer meal. I want my money to feed my people, feed their economy, feed their repertoire as the pearl of the Antilles.

But food is very complicated.

This legendary and mystery-enshrouded nation shares its island with the Dominican Republic, but has played a way more interesting role in the course of New World history since the 1700s as the first republic established by freed enslaved people. Its army helped Venezuela win its independence from Spain, and it cast the deciding vote for Israel becoming a state.

It's indigenous pig, the environmentally appropriate Creole Pig was made extinct via the efforts by American (hyper capitalist, speciesist) and governmental measures to eradicate it for the American fear of the African swine fever that struck the Dominican Republic spreading to the United States (basically, the pig that played a VITAL role in a common Haitian's life was made extinct to save America's already loaded pork industry). This extinction led to a domino effect of food security issues that reverberate to this day. The replacement of the Creole pig with unfit American breeds saw a drop in overall life quality amongst Haitians.

Scientists have created a breed of pig similar to the Creole Pig, with restoration efforts in place now. A bit late though.

This pig was interwoven in the folklore, barter economy, religion, and marriage rites of a nation that gives the world the a clearest example of how colonialism, speciesism and capitalism create hunger.

Vegans should approach "vegvangelizing" other cultures very carefully. For an intro to vegan Haitian cuisine, follow @DooseNYC on Instagram. Lots of already vegan options exist generally.

Banann peze

Mayi moulen

Coconut milk rice and beans

MANGO 😋

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Influencers Find Welcome in Paradise, While the Rest of Us Watch From Lockdown In a season of lockdowns, Georgia Steel was jet setting. A digital influencer and reality television star, Ms. Steel left England in late December for Dubai, where she promoted lingerie on Instagram from a luxury hotel. By January, she was at a resort in the Maldives, where spa treatments include body wraps with sweet basil and coconut powder. “We be drippin’,” Ms. Steel, 22, told her 1.6 million Instagram followers in a post that showed her wading through tropical waters in a bikini. Nevermind that Covid-19 caseloads in Britain and the Maldives were escalating, or that England had just announced its third lockdown. The Maldives, an island nation off the coast of India, is not only tolerating tourists like Ms. Steel, but urging them to visit. More than 300,000 have arrived since the country reopened its borders last summer, including several dozen influencers, social media stars with large followings who are often paid to hawk products. Many influencers have been courted by the government and traveled on paid junkets to exclusive resorts. The government says its open-door strategy is ideal for a tourism-dependent country whose decentralized geography — about 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean — helps with social distancing. Since the borders reopened, well under 1 percent of arriving visitors have tested positive for the coronavirus, official data show. “You never know what will happen tomorrow,” said Thoyyib Mohamed, the managing director of the country’s official public relations agency. “But for the time being, I must say: This is a really good case study for the entire world, especially tropical destinations.” The Maldives’s strategy comes with epidemiological risks and underscores how far-flung vacation spots and the influencers they court have become flash points for controversy. As people around the world shelter in place, some influencers have posted about fleeing to small towns or foreign countries and encouraging their followers to do the same, potentially endangering locals and others with whom they come in contact on their travels. “So we’re just not in a pandemic huh?” Beverly Cowell, an administrator in England, commented on Ms. Steel’s Instagram post, giving voice to many who see such travelers as skirting the rules. Inviting influencers to visit during the pandemic risks damaging a destination’s image, said Francisco Femenia-Serra, a tourism expert at Nebrija University in Madrid who studies influencer marketing. “What’s wrong with the Maldives campaign is the timing,” he said, noting that it started before travelers could be vaccinated. “It’s off. It’s not the moment to do that.” When the Maldives shut its borders last March to guard against the virus, it did not make the decision lightly: Tourism employs more than 60,000 of the country’s 540,000 people, more than any other industry in the private sector, according to Nashiya Saeed, a consultant in the Maldives who recently co-wrote a government study on the pandemic’s economic impact. “When tourism shut down, there was no revenue coming into the country,” Ms. Saeed said. Many laid-off resort workers who live in the capital, Malé, were forced to moved back to their home islands because they could no longer afford it, she added. As the health authorities worked to contain local outbreaks, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s advisers developed a strategy for restarting tourism as quickly as possible. One advantage was that most of the country’s luxury resorts are on their own islands, making isolation and contact tracing much easier. “We really planned this out, we knew what our advantages were and we played to them,” said Mr. Solih’s spokesman, Mohamed Mabrook Azeez. When the Maldives reopened in July, health officials required P.C.R. tests, among other safety protocols, but did not subject tourists to mandatory quarantines. Around the same time, the country’s public relations agency switched its international marketing campaign and urged travelers to “rediscover” the Maldives. The government and local businesses also invited influencers to stay at resorts and gush about them on social media. Which they did. “When it’s cloudy be the sunshine!” Ana Cheri, an American influencer with more than 12 million followers, wrote from a Maldives resort in November, a few weeks before her home state of California imposed far-reaching lockdowns. “Splashing and swinging into the weekend!” Updated Feb. 27, 2021, 11:35 a.m. ET Ms. Cheri did not respond to several emails after initially agreeing to comment. A publicist for Ms. Steel, a star on the reality show “Love Island,” did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Even before the pandemic, influencers faced backlashes when their trips caused offense. Some who posted about traveling in Saudi Arabia were criticized, for instance, because of the kingdom’s role in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Influencers from England, in particular, have faced criticism in recent weeks for defying lockdown rules that ban all but essential travel. Some defended their trips, saying that traveling was essential to their work, while others apologized under public pressure. “I was like, ‘Oh, well, it’s legal so it’s fine,’” the influencer KT Franklin said in an apology video about her trip to the Maldives. “But it’s not fine. It’s really irresponsible and reckless and tone deaf.” In late January, Britain banned direct flights to and from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the Covid-19 caseload soared in both places. The emirate’s lax immigration rules and perpetual sunshine had made it a popular spot for the social media set. But as case numbers rose, officials closed bars and pubs for a month, and limited hotels, malls and beach clubs to 70 percent capacity. Officials in the Maldives, which has welcomed nearly 150,000 tourists so far this year, said they had no plans to roll out similar restrictions. The country has reported nearly 20,000 total coronavirus infections, equivalent to about 4 percent of its population, and 60 deaths. But no resort clusters have seeded widespread community transmission, and officials say the risk of that is low because some resort employees are required to quarantine if they travel between islands. “All in all, I think we’ve managed to do it well,” even though some tourists have tested positive before leaving the country, said Dr. Nazla Rafeeg, the head of communicable disease control at the government’s Health Protection Agency. “Our guidelines have stood up to the actual implementation.” Many influencers and celebrities have faced the opprobrium of other social media users who are stuck at home. Instagram accounts have sprung up to name and shame tourists who appear to be breaking social distancing and mask-wearing rules while abroad. As a result some influencers have refrained from posting travel content during the pandemic — or at least disabled comments on their posts — because they do not want to court controversy. The blowback against traveling influencers is overstated, said Raidh Shaaz Waleed, whose company arranged for Ms. Steel, Ms. Cheri and more than 30 other influencers to visit the Maldives through a campaign called Project FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. None of the invited visitors, he said, tested positive for the coronavirus. “If you are thoughtful about the safety guidelines, if you’re doing the social distancing, you can still have fun,” he said. Not everyone shares his optimism. Ms. Cowell, the administrator in England who commented on Ms. Steel’s “We be drippin’” post from the Maldives, said in emails that promoting such a trip during England’s third lockdown was irresponsible. The post was particularly hard to take, she added, because it appeared on the day she learned that her grandmother, who lives in a nursing home, had contracted the virus. “It’s not about canceling them, or creating a negative environment online,” Ms. Cowell, 22, said of influencers who flout lockdown rules, “but making sure that we don’t put celebrities on a pedestal where they feel invincible and they can do what they like.” Taylor Lorenz contributed reporting. Source link Orbem News #Find #Influencers #lockdown #Paradise #Rest #watch

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internationalrealestatenews · 4 months

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[ad_1] On the subject of actual property, Miami gives one thing for everybody. From luxurious waterfront houses to modern condos within the coronary heart of town, there are many choices for these trying to make investments on this vibrant and various market. One of the vital sought-after varieties of properties in Miami is waterfront houses. With miles of shoreline alongside the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, there are many choices for these on the lookout for a waterfront life-style. From sprawling mansions in unique communities like Fisher Island and Indian Creek Island to extra modest houses in neighborhoods like Miami Seashore and Coconut Grove, there are alternatives for patrons with a spread of budgets. For individuals who want the comfort of metropolis dwelling, Miami gives a plethora of rental choices. From high-rise luxurious buildings with facilities like concierge companies, swimming pools, and health facilities to extra reasonably priced choices in up-and-coming neighborhoods, there are condos to swimsuit each style and funds. With town's booming downtown space and up-and-coming neighborhoods like Wynwood and Edgewater, there are many alternatives for buyers to get in on the bottom ground of Miami's actual property market. Along with conventional houses and condos, Miami additionally gives a singular alternative for these on the lookout for a trip property or funding alternative: the luxurious hotel-condo. These properties, which mix the facilities and companies of a luxurious lodge with the privateness and comfort of a rental, are a well-liked choice for these on the lookout for a second dwelling or funding property. With choices just like the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Seashore and the W South Seashore, there are many alternatives for buyers to capitalize on town's thriving tourism trade. One of many causes Miami's actual property market is so various is town's distinctive cultural make-up. With a big and various inhabitants that features residents from all around the world, Miami has a thriving cultural scene that features the whole lot from world-class artwork galleries to vibrant road artwork. This cultural range is mirrored within the metropolis's actual property market, with choices that vary from ultra-modern penthouses to historic Artwork Deco houses. Along with its cultural range, Miami's actual property market can be pushed by its sturdy economic system. With a booming tourism trade, a thriving monetary sector, and a quickly rising expertise trade, Miami is a metropolis on the rise. This sturdy economic system has led to a gradual stream of latest residents and buyers trying to capitalize on town's progress. Whether or not you are on the lookout for a waterfront dwelling, a stylish rental, or a luxurious hotel-condo, Miami's actual property market gives one thing for everybody. With its various cultural scene and robust economic system, town has turn out to be a hotspot for buyers and patrons trying to capitalize on its distinctive alternatives. It doesn't matter what sort of property you are available in the market for, Miami has one thing to supply. [ad_2]

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phgq · 3 years

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DTI continues to roll out support for MSMEs

#PHnews: DTI continues to roll out support for MSMEs

MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is continuously rolling out programs that will assist the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) survive and thrive amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The latest initiative of the DTI is its partnership with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) to facilitate workshops and programs for entrepreneurs and provide them access to working capital loans and other financial services.

In a statement Wednesday, the DTI said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with BPI Business Banking, adding that the latter will support the agency’s programs such as the SME Roving Academy, the Kapatid Mentor ME, and Youth Entrepreneurship Program, as well as regional trade fairs.

“We hope that through this partnership with DTI, we will be able to make it clear to our SME customers that they are not too small to be served by a large bank. We believe they deserve to have access to the same kind of financial products and services that larger companies already have access to,” BPI Business Banking head Eric Luchangco said.

DTI Undersecretary Blesila Lantayona has underscored a commitment to help MSMEs recover from impacts brought by the global health and economic crisis.

“As both parties commit to work together in teaching MSMEs nationwide to adapt and possibly pivot their businesses to the new normal, we look forward to the actualization of this MOU by looking at the greater visibility of BPI, especially in the programs and projects of DTI regional and provincial offices,” she said.

Online mentoring

The DTI’s office in Davao Region will produce more graduates from the Kapatid Mentor ME program, which guides existing and aspiring MSMEs in their entrepreneurial journey.

DTI Region 11 will continue the Kapatid Mentor ME program through online mentoring.

Despite the pandemic, last year’s online mentoring in Davao Region produced 80 Kapatid Mentor ME graduates.

Since the program started in 2016, it produced a total of 546 graduates across the region.

SSF for returning LSIs

Meanwhile, the DTI also provided shared service facilities (SSF) worth PHP6.6 million in Caraga Region to support the national government’s Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program.

To provide a source of income for the returning locally stranded individuals (LSIs), the DTI provided SSF on food processing in three local government units (LGUs) in Agusan del Norte; SSF on virgin coconut oil (VCO) processing and organic tablea production in Agusan del Sur; SSF on mobile mariculture platform in Surigao del Norte; and SSF on cacao processing, VCO processing, and mariculture platform in the province of Dinagat Islands

As of 2020, the DTI established 169 SSF projects in Caraga. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "DTI continues to roll out support for MSMEs." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1130986 (accessed February 18, 2021 at 03:51AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "DTI continues to roll out support for MSMEs." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1130986 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

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alstarkblog · 3 years

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Economy of Madagascar

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, with $ 10 billion national income and a per capita income is less than $ 500. Although the exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that more than 70% of the country's population lives below the poverty line and more than half of them live below the extreme poverty line. The country's economy is in a great crisis due to political instabilities, foreign interventions, US and IMF policies, practices from the colonial period, monopolization of capital, difficulties in international trade due to being an island country and many other problems.

The most important source of income in the country is the agricultural sector. Vanilla, the most important agricultural export product, is important for the country's economy because 80% of the vanilla production in the world is producing by Madagascar. Other important products in agriculture are coffee, coconut, sugar cane, tobacco and various spices. The fishing and forestry sector in the country is also an important source of income and employment.

Madagascar has very rich natural resources such as petroleum, uranium, nickel, coal, chromium, graphite, mica, cobalt, bauxite, especially diamonds, gold and precious stones. Although nickel mine ranks first in exports, it is very difficult to say that the valuable resources that are more than enough to solve the economic problems of Madagascar are used in line with the interests of the country.

Apart from agriculture and mining, other important income sources for the country are tourism and textiles. Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, has an important tourism potential with its climate, sea and natural life. However, due to the political instability and insufficient infrastructure in the country, the desired development in this area has not been achieved so far.

Madagascar has an average volume of 5-6 billion dollars in foreign trade. In 2017, the total foreign trade volume was 6.4 billion dollars, with 3.6 billion dollars in imports and 2.8 billion dollars in exports. Its main export items are nickel, vanilla, clove, ready-made clothing, crustaceans, cobalt, petroleum oils and titanium; main import items are motor vehicles and passenger cars, basic food products, petroleum oils, palm oil, rice, wheat, sugar beet, wool, sulfur and cement. The most important trading partners are France, which meets 25% of exports, and China, which meets 20% of imports, and the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa and Japan.

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oliverdone-johnson · 4 years

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Context of contemporary fine art practise, Lecture 5: Fons Americanus notes

Below is my typed up notes from Wednesdays context of contempory fine art practise lecture that focused on Kara Walkers Fons Americanus sculpture at Tate Modern. I have added it to my Tumblr page for my protest project due to its relevance to protest. The notes below explain Walkers link to protest through her work.

“I am and shall continue to be the monster in your closet. Prodding at your

tightly wound arsenal, your history.

Let me out.

And. You. shall. seek. to. put. me. back. in.

And together we will: in and out and in and out together HAHA!”

Kara Walker 2000

Overview of the piece

Kara Walkers work is a focus on the institution Tate Modern. She focuses on the history of the institution and what secrets they sometimes do not want to be spilled to the public. Fons Americanus is in the Turbine hall inside Tate Modern. The term Fons Americanus could mean all things American’ or it could also mean ‘American Bum hole Fountain’ according to Stuart. The sculpture also comes with an announcement plaque, the announcement is written to be a fun ready and provides entertainment, but the subject matter on the announcement when ready covers a very dark story. This could be showing Kara Walkers sense of what art is, art is there to provide entertainment at certain times in peoples lives i.e. going to a gallery on the weekend. But she is also looking at the cost of art in life- she is pointing towards slavery that was the main fund of these institutions through the sugar or coffee industries. As over 1.5 million are known to have died being transported by boat in slavery going from Africa to nations like the UK and USA. Therefore, showing how in this piece there is much more of a focus on the content rather than the materials used. She is focusing on how it is the cost of the lives lost to create these institutions and how institutions are often made from wealth and corrupt powers, so wealth is key.

Kara Walkers early work focused on making playful cut outs that portray slavery, the artwork is presented in a way to show quite entertaining and sometime funny images i.e. a man farting but this is met with much harsher undertones and aspects of her work. Showing the balance between entertainment with the content of the project. Her work tackles serious subjects but is still inviting to an audience.

Fons Americanus was based of Queen Victoria’s Memorial monument at Buckingham Palace and was opened in 1911. The memorial shows Victoria’s life and how she commanded the largest empire in history. It also has a very nautical appearance as the navy and oceans were key to the empire. After the death of Victoria slavery was abolished. But Kara Walker uses her own statue to show the darker side of the empire and all the aspects that were forgotten in this memorial, such as slavery which was key to Victoria’s empire.

Slavery operated in a triangle between Europe, especially countries such as the UK, Portugal and Holland, America and Africa. The slaves would come from Africa and travel to the UK and USA in exchange for exports of goods. Kara Walker is also known to have taken inspiration from packaging and images from the past such as Cotton plantations in South Carolina, 18th century tobacco adverts and One of Ten Views in the Island of Antigua 1823.

The boats that transported the slaves were more like prisons that housed the slaves under deck with thousands being crammed in. Turner painted a piece called- Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on 1840. That shows a slaver throwing the slaves overboard as a way to claim insurance as he would not get money if they died on the ship but would if they drowned of the ship. Therefore, murdering hundreds of innocent humans just because their slaves.

In the Fons Americanus exhibition there is not just the large sculpture and plaque but also a Shell Grotto that depicts a man crying inside. The Shell can be shown to link to Sandro Botticelli The Birth of Venus 1484-86 and Voyage of the Sable Venus. The link can be shown from the shell as the shell is used in both just like Venus to popularise the slave trade and make it seem pure but Voyage of the Sable Venus was originally published for the book: History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies. The text of the book was written by a British politician Bryan Edwards who justified slavery on the grounds of the huge economic benefits for England. The crying figure inside the shell is linked to Sierra Leone as during slavery it was a very advantageous location due to the many islands surrounding it, they were used as various slave keeping prisons and camps. Bunce Island was the most notorious due to its Hole of the brave, which was a giant hole that slaves were thrown into to die if they refused to board the ship, hence why Walker portrays a man crying out of what seems to be a hole.

Breakdown of the sculpture

At the top of Fons Americanus stands Venus with a cut through her neck and breasts that both shoot water. Walker said that this represents the blood and milk of the Black Atlantic, becoming a reminder of the lives lost due to slavery. Walker is also known for studying in Rome where she observed Piaza Navona and the Trevi Fountain, these being two historic fountains in Rome. Below the statue of Venus there are 4 smaller characters: The Captain, The Tree, Queen Vicky and the kneeling man.

The captain represents many figures both real and fictional it has been perceived there are influences from Marcus Garvey (Jamaican 1887-1940) Political activist and entrepreneur who encouraged a sense of pride and self-worth among Africans and the African diaspora amid widespread poverty, discrimination, and colonialism. And Toussaint L’Ouverture (French 1743-1803) Revolutionary leader who helped transform the slave insurgency into a revolutionary movement. As well as Captain Paul Cuffee & The Emperor Jones (fictional) A synthesis of real & fictional heroes/characters who fight against colonialism whilst revealing contradictions – desire for their own power.

The tree represents the thousands of trees used for slave hangings and lynching’s and Walker draws upon how these hanging locations had become tourist hubs just like her monument. Trees are innocent, wordlessly submitting to the weight of injustice, witness bearing.

The Kneeling man represents the ideology of self-obsess, where people sucked up to traders i.e. black traders to improve their own financial situation over helping their people, it represents greed. “He begs a slave owner an amalgam of European Colonial Interests, full of Capital and Promises and Religion Lies, deceit and corruption.”

Queen Vicky is placed in the piece as she was the reigning monarch through slavery and profited of it the most, and because Kara Walker based her statue of Victoria’s memorial. Victoria is shown in the image to be holding a coconut and it is unclear weather Vicky is about to hit the person below her or feed them. This can represent the argument of her rule. She is a Maternal character, holding a coconut. Is it a fruit of life, or could it fall on the head of the man beneath?

Lower down on Fons Americanus there is a rowing boat surrounded by sharks. The rowing boat is linked to Winslow Homer the Gulf Stream 1899 that depicts the dangers of the waters. The sharks are also a notable link to Damien Hirst, but it is unclear weather this is appreciation of his work or a critique. Kanye Wests initials are also used on the bottom of the boat to link the past the present and show how sucking up and greed can elevate a person to a position of power.

Kara Walker could be linked to artists like Andrea Fraser and Hans Hucker with her evidential critiques in the art world.

History of Henry Tate and the Tate institute

Henry Tate 1819-1899 was a remarkably successful businessman. At the age of 50 he owned a sugar refinery company. In his later years he donated his paintings to the government. Th building that resulted was Tate Britain which was opened to the public in 1897. The institution would not be a thing if it were not for Henry Tate’s wealth. Tate is known for being involved with the sugar business, which is where Tate Lyle comes from. The sugar trade was built from slavery. And even though he did not start in the sugar trade until after slavery was abolished but he did profit from its history, which was built from slavery. The Tate recently started a project looking back at its origins and history, which is why they invited Kara Walker to create a sculpture for Tate Modern.

In 2014 created a sculpture titled ‘A subtlety or the marvellous sugar baby’ At the Domino sugar factory in Brooklyn NYC. Walker was offered an old sugar factory, so she made a giant sphinx sculpture that was covered in sugar. The sphinx was also heavily sexualized to link its humanity to other aspects such as greed and power. In this exhibition there was also smaller sculptures which were of child slaves made completely out of sugar. This represents ‘Subtlety’ as in the past little sweets were shaped to look like important people such as royals, it is a power play. So, Walker made these subtleties of slave children as a way to relook at this concept in a much darker light.

When you contrast Walkers first quote about being a monster with her invitation from the Tate it seems like a brave thing for the institution to do. As Walker unearthed and reminded the nation of much worse times and put a negative shadow over Tate and its origins. And although it could be shown as very noble of Tate to respect the artist and allow her critique of there institution Tate has since had other critiques in articles, such as there wage inequality for lower paid staff such as security and shop workers. Showing a stark difference within the institution of how they are willing to allow attention to some aspects of corruption, but others struggles such as modern-day wage inequality is shrouded in secrecy.

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helinto · 4 years

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#81days81place @helinto_official Day - 2 – God’s own Country Kerala, in south India, is often referred to as "God's Own Country" for its unspoiled tropical beauty. This coastal state has a destination for everyone— whether it's the beach, mountains, adventure, wildlife, heritage or culture you're interested in. The pace of life is slow, making it the perfect place for a leisurely vacation. Don't miss these top places to visit in Kerala. Here are top 10 places to visit in Kerala Alleppey Alleppey or Alappuzha is best known for the world-renowned backwaters of Kerala. Kochi Kochi is the cultural and economic capitals of Kerala. It’s a hub of tourist activity and attracts visitors from all over the world. Thekkady Thekkady is home to the popular Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Munnar The view of undulating hills as the touch the clouds in Munnar rejuvenates your mind and soul. Thrissur It is considered the cultural capital of Kerala because of its spiritual, cultural and religious leanings throughout history. Kovalam Sink your feet into the warm sandy beaches of Kovalam. There are numerous coconut trees here as far as the eye can see and Kovalam is your kind of getaway. Wayanad One of the prime hill stations in the south, Wayanad boasts of production of tea, coffee, cardamom, pepper and other spices. Thiruvananthapuram This city is the capital and presumably the most culturally affluent part of the state. Kozhikode The district is famous for folk songs or ballads known as Vadakkan Pattukal. The sweet-meat street is a popular tourist hub and is a centre of marketing for many products that are locally produced in the region. Poovar Island Did you know Kerala has over-water bungalows? You'll find them at Poovar Island Resort, about 30-minutes further down the coast from Kovalam. #solotravel #india #indiatourism #81days81place #kerala #Keralatour #keralaphotography #travel#nature #travelgram #love #instagood #wanderlust #instatravel #travelblogger #adventure #trip #picoftheday #instagram #traveling #explore #vacat #beach #holiday #sunset #helinto #helintotravel #helintotourism To find more ideas and inspiration follow us @helinto_official https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGiz-nh3X7/?igshid=6fqu5iuils9b

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findsunbiz · 2 years

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Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, also called Saint Christopher and Nevis, state composed of two islands of the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Their combined area is 104 square miles (269 square km). The capital is Basseterre on the island of Saint Kitts.

The population is largely black, with a small mulatto (of mixed African and white heritage) minority. There are also very small South Asian and white groups. More than two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas. The official language is English. The main religious denominations are Anglican and Methodist, with a smaller number of Roman Catholics. Both Saint Kitts and Nevis have traditionally had high levels of emigration, offsetting natural increases and enabling the islands to maintain a fairly stable population. About two-thirds of the population is between the ages of 15 and 59.

The cultivation of sugarcane—once a nationalized industry and the mainstay of the Saint Kitts and Nevis economy—ceased in 2005 following a decline in overseas markets. It was replaced by tourism as the most-important economic sector. Crops now cultivated include vegetables and fruits, chiefly coconuts.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank serves as the country’s monetary authority, and the Eastern Caribbean dollar is the official currency. Light industries in Saint Kitts and Nevis produce items mainly for export from imported materials. Products include electronic equipment, batik-dyed fabrics, and other clothing and furniture. Remittances from emigrants form an important source of foreign exchange. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Trinidad and Tobago are the principal trading partners. There is a deepwater port at Basseterre, and each island has an international airport; Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport, is on Saint Kitts, and Vance Amory International Airport, is on Nevis.

Since independence in 1983, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis has been an independent member of the Commonwealth, with the British monarch as its head of state. An appointed governor-general represents the crown. The prime minister, who together with other ministers is a member of the cabinet, is the head of government. The monarch and the National Assembly constitute the parliament, some of whose members are appointed. The island of Nevis enjoys a certain amount of autonomy within the federal structure; it has its own premier and legislature, and the constitution provides for it to secede from the federation if certain procedures are followed. There is universal adult suffrage.

Education is compulsory for all children from the age of 5 to 16, provided by a countrywide system of free public schools as well as private church-affiliated schools. There are several hospitals and many health centres throughout the islands. Tropical diseases have been virtually eliminated. Most of the state’s cultural activity is concentrated in the capital, Basseterre.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Saint Kitts and Nevis, for those who want to research and discover more about this islands. Thanks for reading.

All businesses address in Saint Kitts and Nevis: https://findsun.net/KN

#business #Saint Kitts and Nevis

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Why New Restaurants Are Still, Somehow, Opening During the Pandemic

Inside Panino Taglio | Stephanie Forrer

Saddled with debt, mortgages, and payroll, some owners have no choice but to open a new restaurant in the midst of COVID-19

Across the country, the novel coronavirus has closed countless restaurants, temporarily or permanently. Yet, even as the future for food businesses looks dire and restaurants struggle to attain financial support from Congress, new restaurants are opening their doors against economic headwinds. Established names and first-time owners are untangling health and safety requirements and navigating the murky ethical waters of employing staff, all to offer bagels, Vietnamese coffee, Korean fine dining, cheese boards, and pizza to home diners and frontline workers.

“Some people think we’re crazy to have our opening day right now,” says Chen Dien of Coffeeholic House in Seattle. Along with his wife Trang Cao, Dien opened the cafe, which specializes in brewing with Vietnamese slow-drip phin filters, for takeout only on March 17, one day after Seattle closed restaurants for dine-in service. The couple closed the cafe soon after, for two weeks, as the situation grew worse. But after Gov. Jay Inslee extended the stay-at-home order until May 4, they decided to reopen for good, without seating and with guide markers on the floor to ensure social distancing.

“It’s been our dream for many years to open our own coffee shop,” Dien explains. They simply couldn’t let the business die, and remaining closed wasn’t an option. “It’s very hard for a small business like ours to shut down for a few months and not do anything. We still have bills to pay.” Many others are in a similar spot, opening in the middle of stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures because they had little choice.

Amalia Litsa and Joshua Adrian, co-owners of the new Dear Diary Coffeehouse in Austin, decided to open their cafe for takeout on April 4, weeks after the city ordered restaurants closed on March 17. “It’s not like a business just pops up out of nowhere,” Litsa says. “Business loans, personal capital, building out a space for nine months — the business existed well before the brick-and-mortar part of it did.” The partners opened, even while other restaurants around town were closing, partly because they lacked the funds to fully ride out the storm. “No matter what, we’re going to operate at a loss, but even a weak revenue stream would slow that loss,” Litsa says. “It’s our best chance of surviving at all.”

Courtesy Coffeeholic House

Customers wait at Coffeeholic House

Courtesy Coffeeholic House

Pick-up orders at Coffeeholic House

Even restaurant groups, which could concentrate resources and staff at existing businesses, have decided it sometimes makes more economic sense to add another venue to their rosters. Brendan McGill, chef and owner of Hitchcock in Bainbridge Island, Washington, and sister restaurants in Seattle, had been leasing a space in the Georgetown neighborhood for seven years before soft opening Panino Taglio on March 21. The cafe, an extension of his downtown restaurant Bar Taglio, offers take-and-bake pizzas alongside Italian pantry items.

“I had been paying for an empty space, so I figured doing some business in there, especially if it made sense in relation to the other businesses, why not activate it?” McGill says. The team limited expenses as much as possible for the low-lift venture. McGill borrowed equipment from a friend’s warehouse during build-out and employed a delivery person in-house to avoid paying fees to delivery platforms. McGill adds, “The landscape could change constantly as we attempt it, but that’s not much different from the restaurant business anyway.”

Without foot traffic, new business owners must rely (even more than usual) on social and digital media to spread the word about opening. “There’s a lot of noise on social right now, but everyone is just at home glued to their phones,” McGill says. “I think there’s good reach right now.” He points out it’s tricky to thread the needle on messaging, encouraging people to pick up food in person while government and health authorities are telling people to stay home. But Panino Taglio offers CSA boxes, wine, prepared items, and pantry goods all in one place, letting shoppers stock up on all their needs in one fell swoop. “We’re just trying to encourage people to do it from a local foods company rather than one of the big chains,” McGill says.

“We felt like we needed to try something if we were to sustain everyone.”

Andrew Dana, co-owner of Call Your Mother in D.C., actually wanted to keep things quiet while opening a second location of the bagel shop in Capitol Hill on April 15. “This isn’t the opening where you want tons and tons of people there. You want it to feel safe,” he says. But word spread quickly through the neighborhood listservs and from there to local media. “Every food blog in the city has picked up on it because it’s not like there are a lot of other restaurants opening.” To temper the hype and keep the operation safe, he has been cutting off orders after 1,600 bagels, often the day before people can even pick up.

Beautiful Rind, a specialty cheese cafe in Chicago, passed all of its inspections on March 19, the day before Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order. Cheesemonger Randall Felts officially opened his business on April 10, even as work crews continued touch-ups on the space. Felts originally planned to service the local community during the first year of business, then launch digital offerings in year two to expand customer reach. Now he says his local customers are digital too, so he’s accelerating his web plans.

Beautiful Rind debuted by offering digital classes: Felts delivers all the cheese boards himself (“it’s actually how I started in the restaurant industry, delivering sandwiches,” he says, noting how he’s come full circle), then returns to the shop to lead customers through a tasting. “The big challenge for me right now as a business owner is quickly learning how to be a website manager or a webinar host,” Felts says, though he admits it’s not too different from other ways he’s had to pivot as a business owner — he’s a pretty good plumber, too.

That scrappy spirit has allowed small businesses like Dear Diary and Coffeeholic to open with little or no staff, delaying hiring until they can consistently afford full staffs. At Dear Diary, Litsa and Adrian are only opening the shop five days a week. The buffer allows either partner to step in if their one barista becomes ill. But for larger operations, payroll often necessitates opening.

On April 10, Corey Lee of three-Michelin-starred Benu in San Francisco launched a preview of the hotly awaited San Ho Won, a Korean concept that was announced last fall. The restaurant was supposed to open this summer, but its recent takeout-only debut, in the form of a set menu, is being orchestrated from the Benu kitchen. Lee tells Eater via email that the business is providing healthcare and a meal program to all furloughed employees across his restaurant empire, as well as financial aid to international workers on visas who don’t qualify for unemployment benefits. “We felt like we needed to try something if we were to sustain everyone’s situation for an unknown period of time,” he says. Opening San Ho Won now as a takeout concept gives staff a chance to perfect recipes for the forthcoming restaurant, and allows Lee to funnel money directly to his workers.

Dana similarly had staff in mind when he moved ahead with opening a second Call Your Mother. While the original location is only doing 10 percent less retail business at the moment, he says, the business makes almost half its revenue from farmers markets and catering, which have dried up completely. The shop hasn’t cut employee salaries at all, though, so they needed the second location to make up the difference in revenue.

Before opening the second location, Dana sent out a survey to the team asking employees how they got to work, whether they lived with high-risk individuals, and whether they wanted to work at all. The responses informed managers’ decision to open and allowed them to identify employees who could safely walk to the new location rather than taking public transit to the original shop. They’re also paying some employees to work from home, helping maintain the new online ordering system and providing customer support over the phone.

New business owners may be excited about big plans for the future, but for now they too must adjust expectations. “There’s a lot of good stuff we want to launch, but we’re waiting for the best timing,” Dien says, though he remains optimistic. “We’ve been waiting for more than a year already, so it’s okay to wait for a little bit more.” In the summer, he hopes Coffeeholic can offer more drinks, like watermelon juice, coconut coffee, and lychee or passion fruit tea.

Both the original Call Your Mother shop and the new one are limiting offerings to streamline operations for reduced kitchen staff: The new location only offers whole bagels with cream cheese. Felts also cut down offerings, and he had to pivot to feature domestic cheese and charcuterie as the pandemic affected international trade with European suppliers. “We’ve been able to transition more to those guys and spread the love as best we can,” he says. Felts has also worked to incorporate small, local partners, offering online pairing classes featuring beer and cider makers.

Randall Felts

Randall Felts leading a digital cheese tasting

The Dear Diary menu reflects shifting supply in Austin, too. “There didn’t used to be this much demand for growlers,” Litsa explains, “but now every coffee shop in town is offering cold brew growlers, so they’re really hard to get from any distributor.” She and Adrian looked for alternative packaging on Amazon and came upon plastic honey bears, popular among home beekeepers. They now package cold brew in 22-ounce bears and to-go syrups in 8-ounce versions.

As fellow coffee shops have closed, though, Litsa has also noticed the opposite problem: local bakeries and caterers with nowhere to sell their goods. Rather than spread small orders between a lot of suppliers, Litsa has decided to concentrate on developing quality relationships through substantial orders from a select few partners.

Litsa argues that new restaurants are particularly flexible to the changing situation. “In a way we’re blessed by having less business because it gives us more time to wrap our heads around what to do next and we can experiment without pissing off as many people,” she says. “By the time we have more business, either because corona has lifted or our economy has morphed, we’ll be really frickin’ good at what we do.”

Litsa brought her sewing machine to the cafe to produce masks during slow hours; she sells the masks alongside coffee. There are plans for goodie boxes of art supplies and postcards. “Corona is indefinite. It could be a year. It could be two years. It could be the economy is forever changed. We just need to accept that now and adapt,” Litsa says. “We’re bleeding over the edges of a strict coffee shop definition.”

Even as they work constantly to adapt to the rapidly changing situation, many argue their businesses are positioned to provide hope and positive energy, both in demand as much as food. “It’s a nice reminder that there’s something to look forward to,” Lee says of the pop-up, “instead of offering altered versions of existing concepts and being reminded just how much our lives have been ruptured by this pandemic.”

That positivity flows in all directions. Many owners are passing along that goodwill through charity work, sending food and drinks to hospital workers or those in need. Customers also provide owners with the necessary confidence to open and stay open.

“I know I seem a little crazy to be opening a restaurant right now,” Felts says. “But when people come in and thank me for doing that and they’re excited to see the food, to get some cheese and just have a little happiness, it makes it totally worth it.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2zLof0z https://ift.tt/2y63kF4

Inside Panino Taglio | Stephanie Forrer

Saddled with debt, mortgages, and payroll, some owners have no choice but to open a new restaurant in the midst of COVID-19

Courtesy Coffeeholic House

Customers wait at Coffeeholic House

Courtesy Coffeeholic House

Pick-up orders at Coffeeholic House

“We felt like we needed to try something if we were to sustain everyone.”

Randall Felts

Randall Felts leading a digital cheese tasting

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2zLof0z via Blogger https://ift.tt/3bS8zqj

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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Bayawan City,Philippines.

Bayawan, officially the City of Bayawan, or simply Bayawan City, is a 2nd class city in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 117,900 people.Bayawan City has a land area of 699.08 km², one of the largest in the Visayas. This accounts for 13% of the province's land area. Mabinay bounds it to the north, Santa Catalina to the east, Tanjay City to the southeast, Basay to the west, and it also shares a boundary with Kabankalan City of Negros Occidental on the northwest. The coastline is 15 km west to east, with 7 coastal barangays.Bayawan City is subdivided into three development zones: The urban area constitutes only 2.3% (15.73 km²) of the city's total area and contains the main institutional, commercial and central business district of the city. It functions as the main economic hub, while economic growth nodes are established in strategically located barangays in the hinterlands. The sub-urban area is about 14.7% (102.6 km²) of the total area and is set to contain the agro-industrial zones, industrial zones and human settlements. The existing industrial activity (lime plant), the establishment of saw mills, and the identified industrial zones in the area show the natural pattern of development. Residential zones are considered in the sub-urban area to provide settlements for the people in the commercial center and in the industrial zones. The rural area accounts for 83.1% of the total land area and is basically agricultural. However, some barangays are identified to contain a high level of commerce, trade and agro-processing industry being the economic growth nodes of the city. These growth nodes are singled out due to their strategic geographic location while other rural barangays are mainly agricultural production areas. Culture and Their Tradition The name Bayawan was derived from “Bayaw” (A Visayan word) that means “to hoist.”Derived from kawit, sugong and salad, the tools used for harvesting the coconuts and cutting the bugang in olden times, the latter being the tall reeds that once covered the island and gave it its old name, Buglas. Streetdancing and showdown competitions.Libod means “to make the rounds” while sayaw is vernacular for dance. Libod Sayaw refers to the street dancing around the town center, an original moving pageantry with choreography based on Philippine folk dances. The pristine beauty of the shallow Mantalip Reef is now the subject of the libod-sayaw, a mardi gras celebration during the feast of the town patron saint Vincent Ferrer.Streetdancing and showdown in honor of the patron, St Joseph the Worker. Presentation is highly-influenced by the MassKara Festival of Bacolod, where a common recorded music, usually a samba, is used by all contingents. Past Pasayaw Festivals used vegetables and other crops, by way of thanksgiving for the bountiful harvests that make Canlaon City the vegetable bowl of the Province.Grand finals of province wide sayawit competitions showcasing indigenous dances and music, folklore, and local Christmas customs, produced annually by the Negros Oriental Culture and Arts Council.Streetdancing and showdown competitions, derived from “sakob” or sheath for the bolo used in the “katubhan” or sugar cane fields. The festival revolves around the town’s sugar industry and its patron, Santa Catalina de Alejandria. Held usually every April 24 as a fiesta highlight.Derived from the Visayan term for the cordial custom of offering and enjoying hospitability, Sandurot celebrates the captivating quality of Dumaguete. The festival is an elaborate welcome for the different cultures drawn to the shores of the city. It begins on the Dumaguete beachfront with contingents representing the various cultural strains arriving in decorated seacraft.A beachfront ceremony welcomes decorated seacraft from which disembark costumed contingents representing these migrations. Streetdancing follows, concluding with a showdown, with the contingents in their respective regional or national costumes choreographed accordingly.Now a symbolic gesture of inviting the world to the city of gentle people. Performed close to fiesta day November 25.A movable event, featuring mainly local beauties escorted by film stars. Street dancing and showdown presentations play on the attributes of Our Lady, such as Reina de las Flores, though other traditional Santacruzan characters are not employed.Began as a post-harvest celebration by workers in an hacienda, recognizing the scarecrow as traditional sentinels of the town’s rice fields and, therefore, guardians of the town’s future.Features giant papier mache scarecrows (tawo-tawo in the vernacular) and streetdancers costumed as denizens of the rice fields, i.e., carabaos and maya birds.Recent showdowns included a brief dramatization of the legend surrounding the town’s place name, where a fierce native slays the priest at the height of the Mass, during the elevation, or bayaw.Moved from its original February date when Bayawan’s city charter was signed on December 23, 2000. In the coming months, people from the neighboring barrios from Agan-an to Maningcao would come in groups for nature’s marine bounty, which are harvested for food and as materials for crafts. This is also an occasion for trading and barter, and celebration.The festival is showcase of local arts and culture, fashion, and unity. It features Madri gras-type street dancing and related events. Held last Sunday of April. Tourist Spot

Eden's spring Resort with its beautiful scenery established itself as a tourist attraction in Bayawanand opens its gates from 7:00am to 8:00pm.Bayawan City has more amazing waterfalls. “The Lourdes Falls” are just stunning and easy to reach located at Sitio Tagubang.

TAWO TAWO FESTIVAL – THE SCARECROW FESTIVAL OF BAYAWAN CITY

Bayawan City, known as the “Agricultural Capital of Negros Oriental,” anticipates a better production yield of crops in its magnificent fields of rice.

This is where the people look upon the Tawo-Tawo, the scarecrow that repels those pesky “Maya” birds that feed on the rice grains, ensuing a much bountiful yield.

With such an effective way of protecting the crops, the people are overjoyed with the abundance of their produce, thus the Tawo-Tawo festival was born in celebration and remembrance of such bountiful harvests, portraying the two important elements of the fields: the scarecrow and the mayas. Woven together, the two form a spectacular portrait of rich history and culture.

Dancers wore costumes representing farmers, scarecrows, mayas, and carabaos. They dance on the streets in a beautifully choreographed synchronization of movements.

Yagyag is the vernacular for spawning, to lay eggs or spread, propagate and grow. The process refers in particular to the crabs and other marine creatures, which gather during the months of October to December in Sapa, one of the springs, found in Barangay Cangmating of Sibulan.The creatures lay and float their eggs during high tide, to mature in the swamps.

Spectacular Mardi gras parade and plaza revelry to highlight the fiesta of San Nicolas de Tolentino, patron of the city which cradled the province’s sugar industry.Cultural pageants, student frolics, mardi gras parade; Negros Oriental’s oldest uninterrupted annual festival. The Province’s oldest continuing festival, established by FU founder Dr Vicente G Sinco in 1949 as a concluding campus Christmas celebration.Began as a torch parade in costume, with mardi gras as motif. Grew into the longest parade to pass through Dumaguete thoroughfares, with eclectic motifs and spectacular costumes. The festival’s other components include booth presentations, grand production numbers in the Frolics competition, and a beauty pageant.

Fiestas celebrate harvests, births, and victories, as well as religious events.The Philippines is a country of fiestas, Negros Oriental is a proivince full or year round fiestas. We have 24 fiestas each dedicated to their respective patron saints, and topping it off is the BUGLASAN FESTIVAL the fiesta of the entire province, usually taking place in the 2nd week of October. Writers who Contribute in Literature

Poet, playwright, critic, fiction and science-fiction writer Brian W(ilson) Aldiss was born on 18 August 1925 in Dereham, Norfolk, and is the author of more than 75 books.

He was educated at Framlingham College, Suffolk, and West Buckland School, Devon, and served in the Royal Signals between 1943 and 1947. After leaving the army Aldiss worked as a bookseller in Oxford for almost a decade, an experience which provided the setting for his first book, The Brightfount Diaries(1955), a volume of short stories. His first science fiction novel, Non-Stop, was published in 1958 while he was working as literary editor of the Oxford Mail, a post he held between 1958 and 1969. His many prize-winning science fiction titles include Hothouse (1962), which won the Hugo Award, The Saliva Tree (1966), which was awarded the Nebula, and Helliconia Spring (1982), which won both the British Science Fiction Association Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He edited SF Horizons: A Magazine of Criticism and Comment with his friend, the science fiction novelist Harry Harrison, and he has edited numerous anthologies, including Introducing SF: A Science Fiction Anthology (1964). He has also written science fiction criticism, most recently, The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy (1995), as well as introductions to classic novels including Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1983). Brian Aldiss's autobiographical fiction includes The Hand-Reared Boy (1970) and A Soldier Erect (1971), and he has also written three volumes of autobiography, Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith's: A Writing Life (1990), The Twinkling of an Eye or My Life as an Englishman (1998) and When the Feast is Finished (1999). He is the author of several poetry collections, including Home Life with Cats (1992); A Plutonian Monologue on His Wife's Death (2000) and A Prehistory of Mind (2008).Several of his books, including Frankenstein Unbound (filmed 1990), have been adapted for the cinema. His story, 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long', was adapted and released as the film AI in 2001. His book Jocasta (2005), is a reworking of Sophocles' classic Theban plays, Oedipus Rex andAntigone.

Cultural Breaks (2006), published to coincide with his eightieth birthday, is a collection of short fictions which includes commentaries on his work by his peers. His latest novels are Harm (2007) and Walcot (2009). In 2011 a selection of his poetry, Mortal Morning, was published. His latest novels are Walcot (2009) and Comfort Zone (2013) and his is currently working on a long novel set in Russia in the 18th century. His publishers, Harper Voyager, will soon be reprinting everything Aldiss wrote in the sixties, along with a collection of stories written in his teenage years Whip Donovan, to celebrate his ninetieth birthday.

Brian Aldiss is the recipient of numerous international awards for science-fiction writing including a Kurd Lasswitz Award (Germany) and a Prix Jules Verne (Sweden). He lives in Oxford and was awarded an OBE in 2005 for Services to Literature.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His works include epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist.

A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Carl August in 1782 after taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe was a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena. He also contributed to the planning of Weimar's botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace, which in 1998 were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

His first major scientific work, the Metamorphosis of Plants, was published after he returned from a 1788 tour of Italy. In 1791, he was made managing director of the theatre at Weimar, and in 1794 he began a friendship with the dramatist, historian, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller, whose plays he premiered until Schiller's death in 1805. During this period, Goethe published his second novel, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, the verse epic Hermann and Dorothea, and, in 1808, the first part of his most celebrated drama, Faust. His conversations and various common undertakings throughout the 1790s with Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Johann Gottfried Herder, Alexander von Humboldt, Wilhelm von Humboldt, and August and Friedrich Schlegel have, in later years, been collectively termed Weimar Classicism.

Arthur Schopenhauer cited Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with Tristram Shandy, La Nouvelle Héloïse, and Don Quixote,and Ralph Waldo Emerson selected Goethe as one of six "representative men" in his work of the same name, along with Plato, Emanuel Swedenborg, Michel de Montaigne, Napoleon, and William Shakespeare. Goethe's comments and observations form the basis of several biographical works, most notably Johann Peter Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe.

William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his later years served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others.

He was born in Sandymount, Ireland and educated there and in London. He spent childhood holidays in County Sligo and studied poetry from an early age when he became fascinated by Irish legends and the occult. These topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and its slow-paced and lyrical poems display Yeats's debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the poets of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. From 1900, his poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. _@maamdoralakwatsera

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