Podcasts about oecd organization

In today's podcast, we're discussing Fast and Furious. But it's not the movie series starring Vin Diesel. Instead, the catchphrase describes rapidly increasing and somewhat confusing food system environmental impact reporting. Food firms, farmers, and governments all have a clear need for more quantitative environmental impact data in order to measure and understand factors such as carbon footprint, sustainable agricultural practices, and food supply chain processes. But there is no single standard for such reporting and different measurement methodologies make it difficult to assess progress. What's more, greater transparency regarding environmental impacts and food systems will affect trade and supply chains. Our guest today is Koen Deconinck from the Trade and Agricultural Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD for short. Interview Summary You and your colleagues at the OECD recently published a paper called Fast and Furious: The Rise of Environmental Impact Reporting in Food Systems. Can you tell me a little bit about the paper? Sure. A while ago we were talking to one of the world's experts on sustainability in food systems. He alerted us that there was a major change happening in how people think about sustainability in food systems. He told us in the past, it was thought of almost as a checklist, right? People would say, here's a list of practices that you should or shouldn't use. And then we'll come and confirm whether that's the case on your farm. Then you either get certified or you don't. And he said, you should pay attention because there's a big change underway. We're more and more moving towards actually quantifying things like what is your carbon footprint? What is your water footprint? And so on. He convinced us that this was actually a major change that was happening. Oddly enough, outside of the role of the practitioners, not that many people have been paying attention to it. That is why we wrote this paper. This is a really important shift because just thinking about this in terms of economics, evaluating outputs versus the methods that you get to those outputs can have really significant implications for the various actors involved. So, this seems like a good move, but it seems also kind of complicated. I would love to hear your thoughts about that particular move. Why did you think, or why did you all realize this was a challenge and opportunity at the same? That's a great question. It actually gets to the heart of what we're describing in the paper. Starting with the good news, we do think that this has an enormous potential to improve sustainability in food systems. Because we know from the scientific evidence that there are big differences between different kinds of food products in terms of their average environmental impact. For example, beef tends to have more greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of products relative to poultry and then definitely relative to plant based alternatives and so on. You can see these kinds of average differences. But then the data also shows that within each kind of product category, there's huge differences between different farmers. And what you can do if you start quantifying those footprints is it actually unlocks different kinds of levers. The first lever, if you think about carbon footprints, which is maybe the most intuitive example. The first lever is people know the carbon footprint of different kinds of food products. They could shift their diets away from the products that have a higher footprint towards products that have a lower footprint. For example, less beef and more towards poultry or towards plant-based alternatives. That's one lever. A second lever is that if you can also start to get even more precise and use data that is specific to each producer, not just an average, then also within each product category, people can start shifting towards the producers that have a lower environmental footprint. So, for example, people will still be drinking milk, but then they can shift towards milk producers that have a lower carbon footprint. And the third interesting lever that you can unlock is if you have that data at a supplier level. Suppliers could then say, well, I changed my practices. I changed my inputs. I've done things differently to reduce my impact. You actually can stimulate innovation by each individual farmer, each individual company in the supply chain to lower that impact. And that is something that you can do if you're quantifying those impacts, and that is very difficult or even impossible to do with this previous checklist-based approach. So that's one of the reasons why we're, we think that this has tremendous potential if we get it right. That's right. Just saying that you're doing sustainable practices isn't sufficient. It's really critical to evaluate what kinds of greenhouse gas emissions or other environmentally problematic outcomes of that producer or firm is what really matters. But I have to ask you just how difficult, how realistic is it to be able to measure the environmental impact of every farm? That's a really good question. And of course, if you think about agriculture compared to other sectors, one of the big challenges for agriculture is indeed that there's just so many producers, right? I talked to people who work in the steel industry, and they say that their industry is complicated, but there's basically only 1000 steel factories around the world. That's not that many. The latest evidence suggests that there's more than 600 million farmers worldwide. So clearly, we're talking about a completely different order of magnitude, order of complexity. And the second difficulty is that when we talk about measurements, for a steel factory, in theory, you could put sensors in the chimney and sort of measure that. For agriculture, that's really not practical. Scientists would sometimes do that because, you know, otherwise it's hard to know what greenhouse gas emissions you have in agriculture. But it's clearly not something that you're going to do on 600 million farms. So, what people do instead is, scientists would do the primary research. There are different ways of doing that, to try and estimate which kinds of practices have which kinds of environmental impacts. If you have a cow and it has this kind of diet, how much methane is it burping and how is it affected by differences in the kinds of feed that you give the animal and whether it's inside or outside and so on. And then based on that very detailed research, that then gets simplified into a simpler model, a simpler tool, so that the farmer can plug in some key performance indicators from their farm. I can say ‘I have these many cows, this is the feed rations that I'm giving to them. These are the kinds of manure management options that I have.' And then that tool is a simplified tool that basically gives you an estimate of those emissions. And once you have a tool like that, of course, the challenge is already a lot easier. Because then, if your tool is user friendly and you can sort of focus on just a couple of key parameters that farmers would know, then, of course, you can scale it up. And there are actual examples like that. In Ireland, there is a scheme called Origin Green, which is an initiative by the Irish government to promote exports of Irish Agri food products. They cover something like 90 percent of all the beef and dairy farms in the country. And as part of the initiative, they do the audits anyway, but as part of that initiative, they also quantify the carbon footprint. They basically have farm level data for 90 percent of the farmers. New Zealand similarly has had a big campaign called Know Your Numbers, where they've convinced farmers to use these kinds of calculation tools to get a good insight on how much the emissions are on their farm. So, it is definitely not straightforward. But at the same time, we do see that it is actually happening. It is actually feasible. Thank you for sharing that. This is really impressive work that's happening in the European context and in New Zealand. I have to ask, how challenging is this for small or medium sized producers? I mean, both in a European or Northern context, but particularly when we start thinking about the fact that Agri food chains are global and, and so there can be production practices in the Southern countries that would be of concern. How do you think about this in this context? It is a really important issue. And actually, we've been here before. If you go back something like 20 years ago, and I think you actually did some research on this yourself back in the days, Norbert. There was a big increase in food safety standards, food quality standards. And these were not necessarily public standards. It was quite often retailers who started to impose that on their suppliers. And we did have all those concerns, right? Because on the one hand, it was making food safer and higher quality for consumers. But on the other hand, there was this risk that it would actually exclude, especially the poor producers, the small and medium sized enterprises from those supply chains. There's been a lot of research about that and it turns out that in the end, it was more nuanced than what people feared initially. But of course, we definitely have the same concern now. And there's a few elements to it. One is simply the difficulty of actually quantifying those things. I mentioned a few of these calculation tools and a few of these initiatives. So far, most of the investment in these things has been in high income countries. And even if you look at the underlying science, most of the research has happened in richer countries. So, if you go to tropical agriculture, we even have less scientific evidence that you would use to build a simplified tool like that. Then there's, of course, the challenge of actually getting farmers to use that. So, governments in developing countries typically don't have the same kind of capacity that the government of New Zealand, or the government of Ireland has to help farmers do that. So, there's definitely a role there for development cooperation, technical assistance, things like that. But there's also another concern, which is that one of the important drivers of the environmental impacts of food products is actually your productivity. There are many parts of the food system where your environmental impacts might be roughly the same, no matter whether you are actually very productive or not. So, if you have the type of variety of rice or wheat that you're using that just has relatively low yields, then, of course, you divide the total environmental impact by a smaller number. So, automatically, your relative impact is bigger. And typically, that is what we find in the Global South. So, typically, the producers there will have much lower productivity levels. And studies do find that they tend to have higher environmental impacts, all else equal. So even if they were able to quantify it, there is actually an additional risk that then they would still get excluded. What that means is that this rise of quantified environmental impact reporting is something that we need to pay close attention to. And development corporation agencies and everybody else should be thinking hard about how we are going to make sure that producers in the Global South are not only able to quantify, but also able to improve those environmental impacts. For example, through sustainable productivity growth. This is really helpful. And thank you for sharing that. And you're right. I did think about these issues. I was influenced rather by the experience of increasing food safety standards. I would say one of the differences that we saw with food safety standards was how safe can food be? I mean, we want our food to be extremely safe, but there are always these tradeoffs. With environmental impacts, I think it feels a little different. And I really appreciate the concern of the difference between these small and medium sized enterprises, particularly out of a developing country context. I've got to ask sort of a broader question. Why is all of this happening now? This increase of environmental sustainability measures, both in terms of the technical work and the demand. I mean, what's bringing all of this together? It is actually a pretty interesting story because it appears that, the way we look at it, there's been some changes on the demand side and on the supply side, so to speak, right? So, there's this growing demand for more information. Consumers are increasingly conscious about these things, even though it's not clear yet if this really translates into their shopping behavior. Civil society organizations, of course, have long been asking for more information on that. Governments, in some cases, are also pushing for that. One clear example there is in the European Union. There is this new rule in the EU. It's called the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. That's quite a mouthful. And one of the things it does is it requires all large companies to report not only their own emissions and the emissions from the energy that they're purchasing, but also their emissions upstream and downstream in their supply chain. People sometimes call this Scope Three Emissions. This has huge ramifications because it means that for the supermarkets, a large part of their Scope Three Emissions are the emissions from food. They would then probably ask the food manufacturers 'well, give us more information on your carbon footprints.' And in turn, for the food manufacturers, a large part of their carbon footprint comes upstream from the agricultural sector. So, everybody would be turning around and asking their supplier and all the way up the supply chain for more information. All the way, not only to the farmer, but even further up to the fertilizer companies and so on. So, there's definitely this push on the demand side. And, I guess governments and citizens and civil society, those are sort of the usual suspects, so to speak. There's also unexpectedly a lot of pressure from investors. We see organizations of investors pushing hard for more transparency. Their logic is that sooner or later, stricter regulations on the environmental side are going to come. For some of the companies that we're currently investing in, we have no idea how hard that would hit them. So, those companies need to disclose more information because we as investors need to know how much money is at risk if we invest in a business that is, for example, linked to deforestation and things like that. So, that's the demand side. But what is really interesting is that at the same time on the supply side, it's also becoming easier to actually provide that information compared to five or 10 years ago. Some of this is because people have been working in obscurity for a long time, trying to develop certain methods and databases. A lot of that work has been coming to fruition in just the last few years. For example, there's been development of new reporting standards, there's been development of new databases, there's been development of new methods, people are now using satellites and so on to try and quantify things like land use change, deforestation impacts and so on. A lot of these things are now converging and blending with each other. We do think that the combination of this greater demand and greater supply that is driving what we're seeing now. And of course, some of these initiatives are still at a relatively early stage. At the same time, I think the direction of travel is clear. So, we think that demand is not going to go down. It will keep getting easier to supply that information. We think that this is what explains this fast increase that we're seeing. This is really intriguing, and it makes me wonder how global value chains are going to be realigned. Going back to this idea of small and medium sized producers who may not be able to have the monitoring, or if you think of even larger firms who feel uncomfortable with having some outside agency evaluating the carbon emissions or other greenhouse gas emissions from their farm. I can imagine that this could realign value chains. Is this a fair assessment? Is this a concern? I agree with you that this is something people should be looking at. At the moment, there's not yet any data on that. I don't think anybody has really researched that. We see in general that many researchers aren't really paying attention to this trend, which was actually one of the reasons we wrote this paper. But what you're describing is exactly one of the questions we have as well. There are a few ways that this could play out. You could imagine that if it's only some markets that are getting very interested in this kind of information, you might have a situation where companies in a producing country decide to just send the sustainable stuff to the countries that care about sustainability. But they keep producing the unsustainable stuff for all the other markets. In that case, the total impact for the environment might actually be limited. But there could also be other cases where companies think, well, since a large part of our customer base is asking for more sustainability, we might as well make everything sustainable just to be on the safe side. You might have other cases where companies start working backwards because they want to make sure that what they are selling is sustainable. So, you might actually have situations where a retailer starts working with suppliers or where a food manufacturer starts working with suppliers to make sure that their production is sustainable. This is again something that we have seen in the wake of these food safety standards about 20 years ago. This was a really surprising development and there was a lot of investment from other companies in the supply chain to help farmers start meeting these stricter food safety standards. So, one possibility is that something like that might happen for environmental sustainability as well. At the moment, these are all really just hypotheses. And so I really hope people will start to investigate this more seriously, because I think it is very important also for policymakers to understand what has happened. I'm really appreciative of you making the point that there is just a great deal of uncertainty in this space and that there is a need for researchers to explore this issue. And I agree the food safety concerns of 20 or so years ago is a good example. But I think there are going to be some differences and I'll be intrigued to see how that plays out. I am interested to understand, are there any risks besides the ones that we've kind of touched on, any other risks or downsides to this movement that we're seeing? Yes, there are actually. Because the story I told so far was maybe a little bit on the optimistic side. I was explaining how it's becoming easier to supply the information in part because we now have better reporting standards. That is one part of the story. That's sort of the glass half full view of it. The glass half empty view is that actually, at the same time, there's also a fragmentation. There are also many different initiatives, and this is why we call it fast and furious. So, there's lots of different initiatives that are competing for attention. And you do end up with situations where you might have different ways of calculating certain environmental impact. Different ways of reporting it. And then it's not necessarily clear when somebody is reporting something what exactly they were using as methods. And so that poses an enormous risk, because if every supermarket or every country starts coming up with its own way of doing things, its own way of reporting, then the end result is just going to be confusion and frustration and transaction costs. And then the benefits for the environment won't even be there. So, it is really important if you want this to go well, that people get together, stakeholders, governments, researchers, to get together and try to align as much as possible on common reporting standards, common methodologies, etc. So that it's clear for everybody that the data that we're looking at is comparable. This is important, and I can imagine if we think about international accords on addressing climate change and how it takes a lot of effort to get agreement on those, you can imagine that when we're talking about these kinds of measures and getting concordance on that, there could be some real challenges. We've already touched on this, but I'm interested to know, are there other policy implications of the work that this paper is doing? Is there something we should be paying attention to? Well, one idea that I hope people would start taking seriously is I want people to start thinking in timelines and cycles. And let me explain what I mean by that. There's a lot of different initiatives out there. And you can even start to see a little bit of a hierarchy, how different things, some of these standards are building on other standards. Some of these databases are then in turn using some of those other standards. There's a kind of a logic that is emerging there. One of the problems that happens now is that it's not really clear when all of these elements are going to get updated. So, suddenly one of those standards might get updated and then now all of these other standards that build on that or those databases that build on that are suddenly no longer consistent with that original standard. And then there's some confusion and then it's not really clear whether the data you are using is actually still consistent with the original standard. One idea that I'm advocating for is that people should all explicitly define a certain iteration cycle where they say, look, every four years, for example, or every three years, every five years, we are going to review the standard. We'll give everybody 12 months of warning, and we'll have a stakeholder process, and we'll have a scientific process behind that so it's clear for everybody what we're changing and why. But this way, you know well in advance when each of these building blocks is going to get updated. Then that would make it a lot easier for everybody to make sure that what they're doing is aligned with those standards. And an additional benefit of doing it like that, I think, is these things are moving so fast and there's still so much new science and new technology coming in, that we have to keep the possibility open to keep improving and updating those methods and those standards as well. If you announce in advance that we'll do this on a three year cycle or a four year cycle or whatever it may be, I think that could help us strike a balance between the need for that flexibility, but at the same time that need for stability. Because of course, if things keep changing all the time, then you're never quite sure whether the numbers you're looking at make sense or can be compared. I think that idea would be very helpful. And that will probably require quite a bit of coordination between all the different stakeholders who work in that space. And I think that would be a very good thing to do. BIO Koen Deconinck is an economist in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in Paris. He was lead author of the OECD report “Making Better Policies for Food Systems” (2021) and has worked on market concentration, seed markets, evidence gaps, resilience, and environmental impacts of food systems. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Leuven and has published research in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the European Review of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, and Business History, among others. He currently works on measurement of carbon footprints and other environmental impacts of food.  

Provide your feedback here. Send me a Text Message.In this episode, Mike discusses the OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results: BUILDING TRUST IN A COMPLEX POLICY ENVIRONMENT OECD. The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) asked people in 30 countries about how much they trusted 11 public institutions, including the courts and judicial system, national parliament, news media and police. Just how did the police stack up against these institutions? Listen to find out.OECD countries — Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.OECD website.Trust in different public institutions, other people and media.OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions - 2024 Results — Country Notes: Canada.OECD (2022), Building Trust to Reinforce Democracy: Main Findings from the 2021 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, Building Trust in Public Institutions.Thanks for listening! Feedback welcome at legalissuesinpolicing@gmail.com

This week, host Troy Edgar met with Dan Nelson, Executive Director of Tax and Customs for Hyundai at the Ameritocracy L.A. Studio. Dan shared his perspective on current policies that are having a significant tax impact on all corporations and the effect of the OECD's new 15% minimum global corporate tax rate. OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development) is an international organization based in Paris, France and is comprised of 38 member countries, including the United States, which establishes tax rules for corporations to pay in all countries they are doing business. Troy and Dan also discuss the loss of U.S. sovereignty over international tax cooperation and the taxation concerns of the digital economy.   Ameritocracy™ is produced by Prospect House Media and recorded in studio locations in Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

Hans Labohm, an economist and former expert reviewer for the IPCC, discusses his skepticism towards the current climate change narrative. He critiques the alarming predictions about global warming, CO2 emissions, and climate policy, presenting data that contradicts these claims. Labohm argues that CO2 is not a threat but rather benefits the environment and questions the effectiveness of policies like the Paris Agreement. He also touches on the societal and economic impacts of climate alarmism and the consequences for those skeptical of mainstream views. 00:00 Introduction to Hans Labohm and Climate Hysteria 00:59 Historical Climate Fears: From Cooling to Warming 01:32 Media-Induced Panic and Public Perception 03:39 Examining the Facts: Temperature and CO2 Data 11:47 Sea Level Rise and Ice Melt: Myths vs. Reality 14:42 Biodiversity, Glaciers, and Climate Refugees 17:47 Climate-Related Deaths and Weather Extremes 20:10 Polar Bears and Developing Countries 24:06 The Paris Agreement and Climate Policy 29:02 Critique of Mainstream Climate Narrative 33:39 Personal Journey and Professional Challenges 38:22 Future Outlook and Final Thoughts Hans Labohm studied economics at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands (Holland). After his study he did his military service. Subsequently he joined the Netherlands Ministry of Defense and was posted at the Netherlands Permanent Representation at NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Brussels. Thereafter he joined the Netherlands diplomatic service and was posted in Stockholm. After that he held various functions at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague before he became deputy head of the policy planning staff. Subsequently he was posted at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in Paris as deputy Permanent Representative. After a couple of years he was posted as a senior visiting fellow and advisor to the board at the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in The Hague. In 2007 he was expert reviewer of Assessment Report number 4 (AR 4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Today, he is editor in chief of the website Climategate.nl. He is lead author of 'Chronicles of Climate Hysteria', which has recently been published Slides for this podcast: https://tomn.substack.com/p/chronicles-of-climate-hysteria Dutch site: https://www.climategate.nl/ Published April 10, 2024; “Chronicles of Climate Hysteria” on Amazon: https://a.co/d/5ofgz3Y Please support Cartoons By Josh: https://cartoonsbyjosh.co.uk/donate ———————— AI summaries of all of my podcasts (plus transcripts of recent podcasts): https://tomn.substack.com/p/podcast-summaries https://linktr.ee/tomanelson1 X: https://x.com/TomANelson Substack: https://tomn.substack.com/ About Tom: https://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2022/03/about-me-tom-nelson.html Notes for climate skeptics: https://tomn.substack.com/p/notes-for-climate-skeptics ClimateGate emails: https://tomnelson.blogspot.com/p/climategate_05.html

GUEST OVERVIEW: Hans Labohm studied economics at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands (Holland). After his study he did his military service. Subsequently he joined the Netherlands Ministry of Defense and was posted at the Netherlands Permanent Representation at NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Brussels. Thereafter he joined the Netherlands diplomatic service and was posted in Stockholm. After that he held various functions at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague before he became deputy head of the policy planning staff. Subsequently he was posted at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in Paris as deputy Permanent Representative. After a couple of years he was posted as a senior visiting fellow and advisor to the board at the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in The Hague. Today, he is editor in chief of the website Climategate.nl

This week we're digging more into work and research. How happy are others in their jobs? Why do people leave? What effect can our jobs have on us? One of the things that we found interesting was just how many people quit their boss when they decide to leave their job. We might love what we do, but the person that's either directly above us or the head of the company might cause us to quit altogether. It makes a huge different when it comes to happiness in the workplace if we like (or don't like) our supervisors. Whether it's micromanaging or setting unrealistic expectations, having a not so great boss can take a toll. We also get into how so many of us (half of us in fact) are disengaged with our jobs. We go through the motions and it's so easy to do. It can cause a toxic environment which can easily overflow into our home lives and personal lives. Every person that works for any company is an important part. They don't have to close $10,000 sales to be important. Maybe it's just someone who comes in on his or her day off to help out. What about vacation? We are shocked to discover that the United States is the only country (of 38 countries) in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that doesn't require paid vacation time. How is this even possible? Why aren't we better? Our jobs are a huge contributor to mental health and stress. We can have the best jobs in the world, but still feel the weight of stress. Even if we're doing something that we love, we need to take some time and take a break. Many of us take our work home with us and it can bleed into our home lives. It can affect our mood and relationships. We want to point out how it's important to take some time and reflect on our feelings in regards to our work. If we self-evaluate, we can start to work on ways to change those things. When we are in the midst of everything, it's so difficult to isolate those feelings and realize what's causing it. And if it's within our power, we should find a new place of work. It's not easy, but it's necessary.  There's no rule that says that we have to be at a job forever. We can always be on the look out for something that makes us happy and to find that passion. If we have a job that makes us miserable, it isn't worth all of the money in the world. It's not worth it to put yourself or your loved ones through that stress. There's always something else. It's not always easy to find. But it's worth it to be happy. Follow Us! Instagram: @thefalliblefemmes Website: thefalliblefemmes.com Email: hello@thefalliblefemmes.com Resources: https://seedscientific.com/job-satisfaction-statistics/ https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/no-vacation-nation-2019-05.pdf https://www.brainforestcenters.com/resources/how-job-stress-can-affect-mental-health

El Fondo Monetario Internacional ha publicado una nota en la que analiza las cinco épocas que ha vivido el comercio internacional desde 1870 hasta la actualidad. Shekhar Aiyar y Anna Ilyina son los autores de la nota que divide la globalización en cinco épocas: 1870-1914 (Revolución industrial), 1914-1945 (Guerras y proteccionismo), 1945-1980 (Tipos de cambio fijos – Bretton Woods), 1980-2008 ( la gran liberalización o hiperglobalización) y 2008 a la fecha (desaceleración). Hablamos de historia de la economía. Algo que a veces a muchos se les olvida analizar. Un error porque en la comprensión de lo que pasó está el conocimiento de lo que pasará. Veremos como se puede afrontar un momento tan complicado como el que se vislumbra en el horizonte.Fuentes y textos: National Center for Education Statistics. 2019. Digest of Education Statistics, 2018. NCES 2020-009. Washington: U.S. Department of Education. The new age of world trade already has a name: the IMF names and explains the fifth stage of globalization - https://houseright.co.uk/the-new-age-of-world-trade-already-has-a-name-the-imf-names-and-explains-the-fifth-stage-of-globalization/ OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2012. Closing the Gender Gap. OECD Publishing. – Kwame Anthony Appiah - 'The Importance of Elsewhere', Foreign Affairs — Urban Sprawl in Europe. Joint EEA-FOEN report, n.o 11/2016. Luxemburgo: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016 — Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst Hardcove — Base de datos. https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps Agencia Europea para la Seguridad y la Salud en el Trabajo. “Los riesgos psicosociales y el estrés en el trabajo.” Agencia Europea para la Seguridad y la Salud en el Trabajo, https://osha.europa.eu/es/themes/ psychosocial-risks-and-stress — Andrew, Alison, Sarah Cattan, Monica Costa Dias, Christine Farquharson, Lucy Kraftman, Sonya Krutikova, Angus Phimister, y Almudena Sevilla. “Learning during the lockdown: real-time data on children's experiences during home learning.” Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2020. https://www. ifs.org.uk/publications/14848

Tom Fox and Tracy Howell continue their exploration of the intersection between compliance and tax in episode 2, where they touch on the practice of transfer pricing.  The Concept of Transfer Pricing Transfer pricing encompasses the methodologies required by tax code to price transactions between affiliated companies. Devising an arm's length rate for comparable transactions between comparable entities is more art than science. As far as compliance is involved, Tracy believes that, “If you're a compliance officer that can say anything more than just the words, ‘transfer pricing,' then you are, indeed, an FOT (friend of tax).”  Parties Involved in Transfer Pricing Governments (taxing jurisdictions) tend to be involved with different regimes for selling and buying. Third party organizations that are involved currently only consist of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), who push standard transfer pricing laws and regulations throughout the world.   The objective of the governments is to get their fair share, and they do so by trying to obtain the maximum multi-jurisdictional transaction profit. Consequently, the OECD attempts to provide guidance on what constitutes a fair share. “What's fair is just somebody's opinion,” Tracy tells Tom. Developing a Transfer Pricing Strategy  As a multinational corporation, it is crucial to set transfer pricing policies and business practices at the beginning. This involves identifying the appropriate methodology that will be used to price the transactions between affiliates. Documenting this process of analysis and conclusion helps to adopt a suitable transfer pricing methodology. In summary: perform analysis, document analysis, then adopt the findings in future transactions.  Tracy poses the question, “How often have you seen a company that's got the policies and procedures, but somebody's not following them?” Claiming to have global policies for all multinational intercompany transactions, and then failing to follow them leads to an extreme loss of credibility - this is why it is important to comply with local documentary requirements, “You've got to follow the laws, even if they're a little bit different.”  Resources Tom Fox's Email Tracy Howell | Email | LinkedIn 

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That's more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It's important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander's book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander – ReRelease appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That's more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It's important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander's book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander – ReRelease appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Dr. David Bengston is an Environmental Futurist and Social Scientist with the Strategic Foresight Group of the Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, and is located in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota where he teaches a seminar on environmental futures. Dr. Bengston has published more than 160 research publications, including papers in the Journal of Futures Research, World Futures Review, Futures, and The Futurist. He was the Chair of the North American Forest Commission's Foresight Working Group and is a member of the World Futures Studies Federation and the Association of Professional Futurists. Dr. Bengston has worked as a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Union of Forestry Research Organization's (IUFRO) Special Programme for Developing Countries. He was the Coordinator of the IUFRO Ecological Economics in Forestry Working Group and was an OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) Research Fellow at Seoul National University in South Korea in 2004. In the summer of 2022, he will be a visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Eastern Finland. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/plantatrilliontrees/support

Dr. Karla Johanning, a native of Costa Rica, is the CEO and Founder of KJ Scientific & KJ Scientific Independent Testing Labs, an ISO /IEC 17025 accredited testing laboratory and Contract Research Organization (CRO) located in Georgetown, TX. Karla has dedicated her professional life to study different aspects of environmental biology and ecotoxicology in relation to human and environmental health. Dr. Johanning founded KJ Scientific in 2014 using an innovative technology that she developed with other Scientists in the US and Europe using fish liver cells to test in vitro metabolism of chemicals. The main application of this technology for risk assessment and compliance is to determine the bioaccumulation (accumulation in tissues) potential of some chemicals, ingredients in our every day's life products. This technology provides an alternative animal method to the use of whole animals for chemical testing for human and environmental safety.  Karla has written many scientific articles on the subject and set up one of two labs in the world that can commercially provide services to test chemicals using KJ Scientific's own product- isolated fish liver cells from trout and other fish species of regulatory relevance.   This new product testing lab – in collaboration with SC Johnson & Son – participated in the OECD (Organization for Economic and Co-operative Development) global Ring Trial with seven other laboratories (Dow Chemical, Du Pont, US EPA, Fraunhofer Institute, Givaudan, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson & Son/KJ Scientific) to validate the fish in vitro metabolism technology.  The Ring Trial resulted in the validation of standardized protocols - OECD Test Guidelines 319A and 319B – that can be used worldwide in testing chemicals for risk assessment.​KJ Scientific Independent Testing Labs, a subsidiary of KJ Scientific, was established to focus on testing of hemp and CBD infused products. Initial accreditation for ISO /IEC 17025 was accomplished in mid 2020. Accreditation of full panel testing has been completed and KJ Scientific is one of few testing labs in Texas capable to test plant material, concentrates and infused products using in house, robust developed and validated methods.  KJ Scientific Independent Testing Labs is not just a testing mill.  It is a dedicated research facility continuing to uphold the overarching mission of delivering the highest quality service to ensure human and environmental health safety. Dr. Johanning was one of the speakers in the Cannabis testing panel at the Texas Marijuana Policy Conference in Nov 2020. KJ Scientific Independent Testing Lab was the selected lab to test the hemp samples in the first Taste of Texas Hemp Cup in December 2020.Dr. Johanning's lab has collaborated with researchers at Baylor University (TX), University of Bern (Switzerland) and, Nicholls State University (LA).Dr. Johanning earned a Bachelor's degree at the University of Costa Rica (Costa Rica), Master and PhD degrees at the University of Rhode Island (RI, USA). She completed two postdoctoral positions at the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana Medical Center and at the Tulane University Cancer Center. She worked as a Sr. Research Scientist at the Tulane Center for Bioenvironmental Research before moving to Austin where she settled.Visit kjscientific.com and learn about their testing services.

This week we're digging more into work and research. How happy are others in their jobs? Why do people leave? What effect can our jobs have on us? One of the things that we found interesting was just how many people quit their boss when they decide to leave their job. We might love what we do, but the person that's either directly above us or the head of the company might cause us to quit altogether. It makes a huge different when it comes to happiness in the workplace if we like (or don't like) our supervisors. Whether it's micromanaging or setting unrealistic expectations, having a not so great boss can take a toll. We also get into how so many of us (half of us in fact) are disengaged with our jobs. We go through the motions and it's so easy to do. It can cause a toxic environment which can easily overflow into our home lives and personal lives. Every person that works for any company is an important part. They don't have to close $10,000 sales to be important. Maybe it's just someone who comes in on his or her day off to help out. What about vacation? We are shocked to discover that the United States is the only country (of 38 countries) in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that doesn't require paid vacation time. How is this even possible? Why aren't we better? Our jobs are a huge contributor to mental health and stress. We can have the best jobs in the world, but still feel the weight of stress. Even if we're doing something that we love, we need to take some time and take a break. Many of us take our work home with us and it can bleed into our home lives. It can affect our mood and relationships. We want to point out how it's important to take some time and reflect on our feelings in regards to our work. If we self-evaluate, we can start to work on ways to change those things. When we are in the midst of everything, it's so difficult to isolate those feelings and realize what's causing it. And if it's within our power, we should find a new place of work. It's not easy, but it's necessary.  There's no rule that says that we have to be at a job forever. We can always be on the look out for something that makes us happy and to find that passion. If we have a job that makes us miserable, it isn't worth all of the money in the world. It's not worth it to put yourself or your loved ones through that stress. There's always something else. It's not always easy to find. But it's worth it to be happy. Follow Us! Instagram: @thefalliblefemmes Website: thefalliblefemmes.com Email: hello@thefalliblefemmes.com Resources: https://seedscientific.com/job-satisfaction-statistics/ https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/no-vacation-nation-2019-05.pdf https://www.brainforestcenters.com/resources/how-job-stress-can-affect-mental-health

Show Notes:Landing page for this episode to access the visuals associated with the discussionThe book Cognitive Architecture by Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander published by Routledge, now in its second edition, has helped refine what we know and understand about how we humans respond to our surroundings, from nature to the built environment, including building, streets, and public places. Thus we highly recommend it to anyone curious about or doing work in any field where you're hoping to influence human behavior.A brief video on how you really know something is wrong with Modern Architecture…when you do biometric analyses contrasting it with traditional, is hereAs mentioned, here's the PDF from the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation + Development) based out of Paris, which declared out time, the 21st-century the New AGE of BIOLOGY in 2012 A brief overview of the 2nd edition, and how it expanded from first is hereAdditional Helpful Links:The Hapi.org - The Human Architecture and Planning Institute, IncBuilt Beautiful videoStrong Towns and the Strong Towns PodcastJan GehlDaniel LiebermanWalk Bike Places Conference Indy Cultural Trail and our video of the Cultural Trail experienceShow Credits:Audio Production by Active TownsA not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity.Creative Commons License: Attributions Non-Commercial No Derivatives 2021Please consider supporting the Active Towns Podcast by making a donation or becoming Patreon PatronTo sign up for our monthly newsletter, scroll down to the form at bottom of our home pageBe sure to check out our video podcasts and other content on our YouTube Channel - and please subscribe!Also, check out our video archive on VimeoYou can reach John Simmerman by email at john@activetowns.orgMusic: Various Logic Pro X mixes by John Simmerman★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

New research is rethinking one of the core functions of government – rule making. In this episode, we talk with Alex Roberts, Deputy Head of the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). He provides clarity to the concept of “Rules as Code” and how it can improve the compliance, efficiency, and integration of rules. We discuss this new model for rule making and the efforts to help governments take a more strategic, deliberate, and systematic approach to innovation through digital systems. Click here for transcript of this episode. Resources Microsoft Learn for Government: Driving transformation in government OPSI research on Rules as Code Free online courses to help 25 million get new digital skills for the COVID-19 economy (microsoft.com) The Future of Public Sector Work: Human-Centered Technology and Policy Strategies, CITRIS Policy Lab

I had such an awesome conversation with Takaharu and Yui, and you can easily get a feel for the passion they have for what they do and trying to create the best environment possible for kids. They give us the 'why' behind many of the design elements of Fuji Kindergarten that I hadn't heard before, and I believe we can use many of those same principles in schools around the world, no matter the design. I hope you enjoy listening this episode as much as I did, and if we have earned it, please consider subscribing and giving us a 5 star review! Thank you!Bio:Takaharu and Yui Tezuka have extensive experience designing spaces for children, such as Fuji Kindergarten, which was named the best school in the world by OECD(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and UNESCO. They recently received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture from UNESCO. Takaharu`s TED Talk recorded 7th in the world for the number of views in 2015. While their activity is based on architectural design, they hold lectures all over the world, receiving offers from OECD. Their theory on children`s environment is published as the "Yellowbook" from Harvard University. ( Learn more at http://www.tezuka-arch.com/)Timeline:00:01:30 Takaharu and Yui's Story00:07:15 Designing Fuji Kindergarten00:15:00 School and Nature Interdependence00:20:45 The Role of Sound in Education00:30:40 Small Doses of Danger00:37:00 Fuji Kindergarteners Move 4km a Day00:44:15 Leaving a Legacy00:49:00 Next Project - Junior High SchoolWebsite:http://www.tezuka-arch.com/ Ted Talk:https://www.ted.com/talks/takaharu_tezuka_the_best_kindergarten_you_ve_ever_seen MOVRS:Website - http://www.movrs.orgInstagram - wermovrsSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/movrs)

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That's more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It's important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander's book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That's more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It's important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander's book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That’s more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It’s important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander’s book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Special guest: Jessica Alexander. Denmark has been voted as having the happiest people in the world by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) almost every year since 1973. That’s more than 40 years of happiness! It begs the question—is it the parenting? I mean, is there a Danish Way of parenting? It turns out, there is, and while the Danish Way of parenting is not the only reason Danes are the happiest, it does play a very important role—and the success of it all seems to be tied to the ways they educate children far beyond academics—focusing on play, empathy and social skills. It’s important to delve into it, I hope you would agree, since happy kids tend to grow up to be happy adults who raise happy kids—and the seasons go ‘round and round again. And while in the United States and in other areas of the world, we are seeing an increase of anti-depressants, suicides among young people and mental health diagnoses, as well as a great deal of competition between parents and we have a lot to learn from the Danes. Best-selling Author, Journalist, Danish Parenting Expert & Cultural Researcher, Jessica Alexander’s book "The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident Capable Kids" has been published in over 25 countries. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, NY Times, and many more. She regularly does talks and workshops for parents, schools and organizations like Google, The Women's Network of the United Nations, The World Parenting Forum and many more. She has also worked as a spokesperson for LEGO on the Power of play. The post How to Parent the Danish Way with Jessica Alexander appeared first on drrobynsilverman.com.

Shmuel and Shalom discuss the genetic aspect of being jewish and its correlation with being a genius. Wald was born in 1936 in Milan, Italy. He grew up in Basel, Switzerland where he studied social sciences, history, and history of religions, graduating in 1962 as Ph.D. In 1964 he joined the Paris-based OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) where he stayed until his retirement in 2001. His career spanned education, technological innovation, science and technology policy, energy research policy and biotechnology policy. He was Head of the OECD/DSTI Biotechnology Unit. He joined the JPPPI in 2002 and worked on Jewish/Israeli relations with China; science and technology; and the history of Jewish civilization. Currently he reviews India-Israel-Jewish People links.   Follow Shmuel Rosner on Twitter.  

Bible – Moses 10 Commandments broken tablets – Exodus 32:15-20 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+32&version=ESV) shining face – Exodus 34:1, 29-35 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+34&version=ESV) King Lear summary (https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear/summary/) King Lear long quote (https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/lear/page_68/) – Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 268 – 283 It may be so, my lord. Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful! Into her womb convey sterility! Dry up in her the organs of increase; And from her derogate body never spring A babe to honour her! If she must teem, Create her child of spleen; that it may live, And be a thwart disnatured torment to her! Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; Turn all her mother's pains and benefits To laughter and contempt; that she may feel How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child! Away, away! (Modern English) Ah, dear Nature, my goddess, listen to me! Change your plans if you ever intended for this woman to have children. Make her sterile and dry up her womb so that no baby will ever come out of her body and honor her. If she must give birth, make her child a bad seed who will torment her, give her a forehead wrinkled with worry, make her cry until her cheeks are sunken. Let it be a wicked child who mocks the mother who cares for it. Make my daughter feel—make her feel how an ungrateful child hurts worse than a snakebite.— Now let’s leave. Go! The Tempest summary (https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/summary/) Journey-and-Destination blog (http://journey-and-destination.blogspot.com/2016/04/parents-as-rulers-scope-limits.html) - Carol's take on chapter 2, which pointed me to French Maternal Schools French Maternal Schools - -see page 17 of this PDF (https://www.oecd.org/france/34400146.pdf) for a chart for attendance and ages -see page 14 for a brief history of maternal schools -see page 21 for a brief description of current maternity leave arrangements US Maternity Leave - The United States (https://fairygodboss.com/maternity-leave-resource-center/international-perspective) is one of 2 other countries that are members of the 185-member OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that do not offer any form of pay during maternity leave. Pew Research (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/26/u-s-lacks-mandated-paid-parental-leave/) article FMLA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993) (wiki) Benefits: -12 weeks unpaid leave -Get basically your same job back Requirements: -Have worked at that company at least 25 hrs/week for 12 months -Company has 50+ employees Child soldiers in the Middle East (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2017/01/17/rehabilitating-child-soldiers-in-the-middle-east/) - quote "For us [Islamic State], we believe that this generation of children is the generation of the Caliphate…the right doctrine has been implanted into these children. All of them love to fight for the sake of building the Islamic State.” Blood Diamond (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Diamond) (wiki) Lycurgus of Sparta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycurgus_of_Sparta) (wiki) Parental over-involvement at the college level (https://nypost.com/2017/10/15/crazy-parents-are-calling-up-colleges-pretending-to-be-their-kids/) Romans 13:3 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A3&version=KJV) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same

Close your eyes for a second and dig deep into your psyche. I want you to be truly honest with yourself. Can you do that for me? Ok. Do you truly believe that one day you will actually go home from work with a completely clear desk? No projects left incomplete, no phone calls left to make, no emails to follow up on, no documents to edit, and no meetings to book?   The honest to dog truth is that there will always be work left undone at the end of your busy day. Admitting this gives us three options: We can go home, but take the work with us and then spend our evening doing it (or actively suppressing the urge to do it). This ensures maximum tension at home, unrestful rest, and then returning to work the next day tired and resentful. Drag your ass home, leave the work on your desk, then spend the evening fretting over what you left behind. Same results ensue involving the tension and fitful sleep. And when you get back to work next day, you’ll be tired and resentful—and the work will not have been done either. Take a deep cleansing breath, leave the work behind gracefully, truly forget about it, and enjoy a relaxing evening. No tension, lots of rejuvenating rest, plus you return the next day ready to tackle what’s waiting for you. Newsletter Before we dive deeper down this magical list of alternatives, I want encourage you to sign up for the Workplace Hero email newsletter over at workplacehero.me. The sign up form is on the righthand side of the page. Please know that because I believe strongly in the idea of Inbox Zero, you will only receive an email once per week, and it will be short, to the point and easy to delete. Best of all, just for signing up, you will receive a coupon code for 10% off at the online health and fitness store, GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com. Over there they have a huge array of supplements, gear, plans, coaches and clothing that will help keep you healthy and fit. So sign up for the newsletter at workplacehero.me and get your discount code for GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com now. Now back to leaving it all behind OR what happens at work, stays at work. Here are some techniques that I found at Lifehacker.com and crew.co that will help you achieve the last and best of the three options I mentioned. Like a cool down after a hard workout, treat your trip home as positive time to wind down and start the process of relaxation. Play some of your favourite music, or listen to your favourite podcast. I would suggest not catching up on the news or scrolling through social media. Choose something you really like and enjoy and that won’t remind you of work or bum you out about how truly crappy humans can be to each other. There’s a perception that more work equals more productivity, but that’s not always the case. So you never take a sick day, or a vacation, and you are always ‘on-call.’ You also put in about 70 hours a week, so that will pay off eventually I’m sure…oh wait, except it doesn’t. The Economist looked at the data from OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries found that the more productive workers were actually those that spent less time in the office. Lifehacker takes it one step further and puts an actual number on how many hours we work before we begin to see diminished results (hint: it’s about 30 hours a week). If there was ever a reason to leave work at work, this data should be it. You are actually making yourself more productive! This one is more of a psychological one - match your journey time with the time you need to relax. If that means taking the long, scenic route, so be it. If it means stopping at a park on along the way, that’s just fine. Your family and friends will prefer you half an hour later but in a calm and pleasant mood rather than half an hour earlier but in a foul one. Never be in a hurry to get home. If you do, every hold-up, every traffic jam, every pedestrian trying to cross the street in front of you, every late train, or missed bus will be a source of additional stress. Try to take it easy, and I don’t mean you have to drive under the speed limit. Simply treat your commute home as your time—a period just for you. All day at work, you’re at other peoples’ beck and call. Now it’s time to to relax and be yourself. If you need to rant and/or vent, do it before you leave work or do it along the way. Curse the world in the privacy of your own vehicle or yell at the wind as you ride your bike home. Go to the noisiest part of the subway platform and rant where no one can hear you. Just don’t walk in the door when you arrive home and launch directly into a rant. Who wants to bring a cocktail and slippers to that? Take a minute at the end of the day to write down your accomplishments because it’s easy to get bogged down in everything that you still have to do that you forget everything that you have already done. What good is working if you never take pride in those accomplishments that you put so much time and effort in? Before you end each day reassess your to-do list, look at what you something accomplished that day and feel good about it. If you must take work home—and you should treat that idea as you would infecting yourself with a repulsive social disease—designate a specific time to do it and stick to that designation. Early is best (while you are still in work mode). Plus you don’t want to do it too late or you may get into bed, wide awake and still buzzing from staring at a screen, and probably sleep badly, and then start the next day off on a bad note. Besides, no one is going to put on a Barry White album for someone who is pouring over spreadsheets in their comfy at home undies. When you get home, switch your full attention to whoever is there waiting for you (be it human, animal, amphibian or whatever). Never be physically present and mentally still at work—that sucks for everyone. If there is no one home, focus your attention on some domestic matters to help shake off the day. Do what it takes to get work out of your brain. Always keep your promises. If you’ve planned to go out for dinner, don’t cancel, claiming to be tired or swamped. If you’ve promised to help your kid with homework, do it. If you said you would dive into the new season of Game of Thrones, dive in! People who break promises are teaching those around them a dangerous lesson and although you may really really feel like you do not what to do what you promised, I bet that you will end up enjoying it—and inevitably feel far better than if you slumped in front of the TV or your laptop resenting work, yourself and the world that created capitalism. Be firm with yourself. In the end, leaving work behind, mentally and physically, is all on you. You have to want to do it, decide to do it, and then freakin’ do it—and keep on doing it, until it becomes the well ingrained norm. Slowing down and clearing your mind of the leftovers from the day is indeed an act of will. You may think that watching TV or distracting yourself in some other way can be a short-cut, but it how is that working out for you so far? The minute you ease up on the distraction, all the worries come rushing back. Right? And now, your homework. Every day this week, I want you to mentally prepare for the end of your day. When you bring work home chances are that you are thinking about that e-mail you didn’t send or the big meeting you have tomorrow or everything you have to do before Friday’s launch, and so on. So, before you leave work, simply clean up your desk. A clutter free desk (and that includes your inbox, and computer desktop) helps to clear your mind. Physical clutter competes for your attention and because the brain has limited attentional resources, this competition can reduce and damage your productivity. Try cleaning up about a half-hour before you are done with work. The process of putting things away (physically and digitally) can help you mentally sort through your day. Organizing your desk helps you organize your mind. If you work from home, this is even more important! If you don’t clean up your work area, you may feel like you are physically incapable of leaving work behind. Another great way to begin winding down your workday is to make your… wait for it… to-do list for the next day. You know how I love my to-do lists! This will make sure that you know that you are ready to start the next day with a plan and goals in mind—which means you’ll spend less time thinking about everything you have to do and more time actually doing it. And this will in turn help you have a restful, non tense evening of focussing on your friends, loved ones or who the heck is going to actually rule over Winterfell! As a closing note I want to tell you about something cool that Google is doing. Google is conducting a decade’s long study into the work lives of its employees in an effort to understand how people work better. What they’ve discovered so far is that only 31% of their employees are able to leave work at work. That means 69% of people take their work home with them. It’s more than that though - people are actually unable to distinguish between their work life and personal life to the point where Google’s Dublin office instituted a policy called “Google Goes Dark” where all of the employees in that office are forced to leave their work devices at work and turned off. This was done in an effort to draw clear boundaries between home life and work life. And I think it is pretty awesome. Nice work Google. I think all us Workplace Heroes should follow suit. So… now, go make this week a dark one. ** Workplace Hero is researched, written, narrated and recorded by me Brock Armstrong with story help from Eleanor Cohen. Podcast logo by Ken Cunningham and original music by my band, The Irregular Heartbeats.

Adams speaks of how sad he is for law to have turned from a profession into a simple craft with advertising and politics. He also opposes the medical system. It killed several family members.Lady Godiva’s naked ride on her horse was a protest over taxes. Ship money for war ships was collected in Britain even though there was then no war.Spain instituted a hated tax called the alcabala, a ten percent tax on the transfer of all real and personal property. It was unfortunately a productive revenue generator. By flight of Spanish taxpayers and fraud of disclosure, the Spaniards struggled to avoid heavy taxes. International law stated that no sovereign would aid another sovereign in collecting taxes. OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) changed that, requiring banks to provide burdensome pages of information, driving Americans from foreign banking systems.Cortez and the conquest of Mexico and Pizarro and the conquest of Peru were astounding stories about taxes being the chink in the armor of the Aztec and Inca Rulers.The tax revolt that created modern Germany was inspired by Hans the Piper. Martin Luther first supported the peasants, but withdrew that support when he saw how destructive the uprisings were.Frederick proclaimed himself King of the Poor, but he couldn’t lower taxes. Low taxes were not possible in a world dominated by military operations.The Ancien Regime was the monarchic, aristocratic, social and political system established in France from about the 15th century until the later 18th century. Most tax investigators and collectors were slaughtered during the French Revolution.Lecture 4 of 10 from Charles Adams' The Rosetta Stone to the US Code: A New History of Taxation.