Programme Overview and Aims

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Mobile VersionDesktop VersionThe Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme prepares university graduates to teach in Hong Kong in sectors ranging from kindergarten to tertiary institutions. The programme is also relevant to teachers teaching in training institutions, community colleges and international schools. The PGDE is a teacher training qualification recognized by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government.

Full-Time (one year)The full-time programme is primarily intended for graduates without formal teaching experience.

The programme runs throughout the academic year from September to June. It emphasizes methods and practices of teaching and the theoretical aspects of education. Course participants will be given the opportunity to gain practical teaching experience in Hong Kong schools in the first semester and to undertake further teaching practice in the second semester under the guidance of a university teacher and a school mentor.

Students may be required to join evening classes or Saturday classes for some courses.

Part-Time (two years)The part-time programme is primarily designed for students who are serving teachers normally with at least one year of relevant teaching experience. It covers the methods and practices of teaching and the same theoretical aspects of study as the full-time programme.

The programme extends over two academic years of part-time study. Classes are normally held from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. or 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. on two evenings per week in Year 1 and one evening per week in Year 2, and run through each academic year from September to June. However, some Major Methods teachers may schedule classes on Saturdays.

Prior approval should be sought from principals or employers to ensure that candidates may attend classes punctually.

  The first 3-year cycle of the New Academic Structure (NAS), the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) examination has been implemented smoothly with notable positive impacts and achievements.

     Updating the progress on the review of the NAS, the Chairperson of the Curriculum Development Council (CDC), Professor Kenneth Young, today (April 18) said this was made possible with the concerted efforts and collaboration of various stakeholders in the education sector.

     "The NSS curriculum has effectively enhanced the quality of students' learning in both academic and non-academic areas. It has had a positive impact on the development of students' communication skill, independent thinking and creativity, as well as on the cultivation of positive values in life," Professor Young said.

     "For the inaugural HKDSE, about 70 per cent of the day school students have attained level 2 or above in five subjects (including Chinese and English language), representing a 10 percentage points increase over that of students attaining Grade E in five subjects in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations (59 per cent) under the old system," Professor Young said.

     Commenting on the review, the Chairman of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, Mr Rock Chen said, "The NAS produces students who are more proactive and outgoing. It also opens up multiple pathways for our next generation to pursue their own interests.

     "Striving to build on this foundation, we will identify areas where we can improve further to meet the needs of our community and contribute to the development of our next generation," Mr Chen said.

     The Deputy Secretary for the Education Bureau, Dr Catherine K K Chan said, "In the past four years, we have consulted teachers and principals, amounting to more than 100,000 times. We have collated views and opinions from students and parents through various channels and forums and received about 28 submissions from professional bodies and organisations in the community.

     "Both the qualitative information and quantitative data showed that the implementation of the NAS has generally achieved our intended policy objectives," Dr Chan said.

     "While building on existing strengths, there is a need to address the practical concerns of schools. These include adjusting the breadth and depth of the curriculum, teachers' workload, School-based Assessment (SBA), lesson time and catering for learners' diversity.

     "We have come up with recommendations for the short-term stage of the review, taking into account the practical concerns of schools and frontline teachers without compromising international benchmarking and curriculum objectives," Dr Chan said.

     These short-term recommendations include:

1. Streamlining curriculum content such as in Business Accounting and Financial Studies (trimmed by 15 per cent) , Mathematics (M1/M2),

2. (i) Deferring SBA in nine subjects - Chinese Literature, Literature in English, Economics, Ethics and Religious Studies, Geography, Tourism and Hospitality Studies, Health Management Social Care, Technology and Living, Music (SBA will be implemented earlier in Music if supported by schools).

(ii) Streamlining and updating SBA arrangements for 11 subjects - Chinese Language, English Language, Information and Communication Technology, Chinese Literature, Economics, Geography, Health Management Social Care, Tourism and Hospitality Studies, Technology and Living, Music, Liberal Studies.

(iii) Not implementing SBA for three subjects - Mathematics, Business Accounting and Financial Studies, Physical Education

(iv) Replacing SBA with a practical exam for one subject - Physical Education

3. For HKDSE, adjusting examination time and improving assessment design to cater for learners' diversity, depending on the situation of different subjects.

4. Flexibility in lesson time, recommending 2,400 ± 200 hours as the flexible range of total lesson time, emphasising quality rather than quantity in Other Learning Experiences (OLE) and flexible allocation of lesson time for OLE (10-15 per cent).

     These recommendations will be implemented in the 2013/14 school year for Secondary 4 students who will sit in the 2016 HKDSE Examination.

     Dr Chan said that every effort would be made to support schools and teachers in implementing the fine-tuned NSS curriculum and assessment. This includes providing supplementary notes on clarifying the breadth and depth of all curricula, offering professional development programmes and sharing good practice, learning and teaching resource packages among the teaching profession.

     "We will continue to collect views from different stakeholders in order to make recommendations for the medium- and long-term stages, with a view to further fine-tuning the curriculum and assessment and enhancing student learning," Dr Chan said.

     "The medium-term review will be launched within this year. The focus will be on exploring the feasibility of adjusting the curriculum and assessment framework, the teaching and assessment of prescribed texts, further recognition of Applied Learning and issues requiring more comprehensive deliberation.

     "The NAS earmarks a 'fundamental' change where the curriculum, learning and teaching, assessment, the entire system and multiple pathways are aligned to facilitate smooth implementation with positive impacts for our students. Such diversified and 'fundamental' change requires careful and long-term planning with continuous review for the benefit of our next generations," Dr Chan said.

     The NAS review made special reference to the first cycle of implementing and supporting the NSS curriculum, the delivery of the HKDSE examination and the achievement of NAS policy goals. It was jointly conducted by the EDB, the Curriculum Development Council and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

Ends/Thursday, April 18, 2013Issued at HKT 15:01

(a) To organize extra-curricular activities, including outdoor activities, for students with special educational needs; (b) To assist in the teaching activities and the Student Support Unit; (c) To assist student with learning difficulties; (d) To assist teachers in handling non-teaching duties; (e) To assist in preparing teaching tools, materials and references; (f) To facilitate extra-curricular and students' activities; (g) To provide academic and counseling support for students; (h) Work on shift or overtime may be required; and (i) Other duties assigned by the school. 

TransAsia Pilots Apparently Shut Off Wrong EngineFeb 6, 2015, 4:44 AM ETTaipei Plane Crash: Pilots May Have Made Deadly MistakeNEXT VIDEO TRANSASIA CRASH PLANE 'LOST ENGINE POWER' AUTO START: ON |OFF

One of the engines on TransAsia Airways Flight 235 went idle soon after takeoff, and the pilots apparently shut off the other engine before the plane crashed, according to Taiwan’s top aviation official.

Aviation Safety Council Executive Director Thomas Wang, speaking at a news conference today, presented preliminary findings based on the flight-data recorders, which were recovered after the plane crashed in the Keelung River in Taipei. Wednesday’s crash killed at least 35 people, with eight still missing. Four bodies were recovered today, officials said.

Within a minute of takeoff, the plane's right engine triggered an alarm, Wang said. The data, however, showed it had not shut down, or "flamed out," as the pilot told the control tower, but rather went into idle mode, with no change in the oil pressure, he added.

Dramatic Video Shows TransAsia Airways Plane Moments Before Deadly Crash

Taiwan Plane Scraped Highway Before Fatal Crash

After that, the pilot apparently shut down the left engine, the only engine producing power, a maneuver that Wang said officials are continuing to investigate.

AP PhotoPHOTO: Relatives of the victims in a commercial plane crash pray over the wreckage along the river bank in Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 5, 2015.

Steve Ganyard, a former Marine Corps fighter pilot and ABC News consultant, said ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft are designed to be able to fly with one powered engine.

“It sure seems like it was a crew coordination problem, that they misidentified the engine that was having problems and made the situation worse,” Ganyard said.

Once the engine is shut down, it can take about 30 seconds to get the engine restarted, but given the plane’s low altitude, there wasn’t enough time, Ganyard said.

AP Photo

PHOTO: Emergency personnel work on top of a commercial plane after it crashed in Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 4, 2015.

Moments before the plane crashed, the pilot communicated with air traffic controllers for the final time: “Mayday, mayday, engine flameout,” the pilot said. The plane veered sharply, with the wing striking a vehicle and barrier before careening into the river.

Parents in Hong Kong struggling with rising cost of English-language educationAnd local system makes few allowances for non-Chinese speakers, leaving children struggling to learn, comes warning from expatriates

PUBLISHED : Monday, 21 April, 2014, 10:58am

UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 April, 2014, 8:49am

Shirley Zhaoshirley.zhao@scmp.com

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Joao Vitor Passos dos Santos, 16, and Amanda Chapman have had difficulties navigating the city's education system. Photo: Jonathan

Wong

After almost 20 years in Hong Kong, English teacher Amanda Chapman may soon be forced to leave the city because of difficulties in finding a suitable and affordable school for her daughter.

Chapman, who works at a government-funded school, pays HK$8,600 every month for her seven-year-old's schooling at Renaissance College, a private independent school in Ma On Shan set to provide an alternative curriculum for local families.

The monthly fee will rise to HK$9,230 in the coming school year, says Chapman, and she will not be able to afford it any more if it continues rising at this rate.

But for non-Chinese speaking pupils like her daughter, there are few cheaper options. She said she had contacted schools recommended by the government to families like hers, but many did not admit children who could not speak, read or write Chinese.

"English-language education in Hong Kong is increasingly becoming a privilege exclusive to those who can afford it," said Chapman, who came from Britain 16 years ago.

"If you don't speak Cantonese, then you have no choice but to go to international schools. And the government refuses to acknowledge there is a problem and so does nothing about it," she said.

After the government's decision to phase out the English Schools Foundation's annual HK$283 million subsidy takes effect in 2016, ESF schools will become more expensive for middle-class expatriate families who are not too well-off.

"The government's argument that it should not have to support a non-local curriculum is nonsense when you consider that senior civil servants' children are educated either overseas or in international schools here at taxpayers' expense," Chapman said.

"Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim sent his two children to the Australian International School."

The Education Bureau's website lists 83 direct subsidy schools under the category "Education services for non-Chinese-speaking students". Direct subsidy schools, unlike government-funded ones, can charge fees and have greater freedom to implement different curriculums.

The South China Morning Post called all the schools on the list to find out their admission requirements for non-Chinese-speaking children.

Of the 62 secondary schools, 38 said they did not admit such pupils because either most of their lessons were taught in Chinese, or the subject was compulsory in their curriculum.

Ten out of the 21 primary schools said the same, but many of the remaining 11 that did enrol non-Chinese-speaking pupils said parents should expect their children to encounter difficulties with the subject.

A bureau spokesman said the list was meant to give expatriate parents information on all types of schools to facilitate their decision-making process in applying for places for their children. All public-sector schools, including direct subsidy ones, are to receive extra resources to give non-Chinese-speaking pupils school-based support, he added.

Even if these children do enter the local school system, they face daunting challenges in handling the language.

Joao Vitor Passos dos Santos is an exchange student at CUHKFAA Chan Chun Ha Secondary School in Ma On Shan. The 16-year-old came from Brazil last year hoping to learn Cantonese, but has not managed to pick up much so far.

Most people in his school are too reticent to communicate with him in English or to teach him Cantonese, Santos said.

He cannot learn much about his other school subjects either, because most of his teachers - except his maths teacher - use Chinese as their teaching medium, he said.

Tanya Hart, who came to the city from Australia 12 years ago, has put her seven-year-old son through the local school system since kindergarten because the boy was interested in learning Cantonese.

Although her son has been doing well, Hart said she felt a lack of support from the school for non-Chinese-speaking parents, citing Chinese-only school reports, notices and homework.

Hart and Chapman agreed that it was possible for non-local children to study in local schools if the schools made more effort to respect their cultures rather than coercing them to integrate into the local system.

"There will come a point where it is impossible for us to pay those high fees," Chapman said. "We … can leave Hong Kong. But many local people don't have the option of a good English-language education because they cannot afford it."

 

Squeeze on international-school localsInternational schools that reserve at least 80 per cent of places for non-local children may be given priority in the government's land grant scheme, an education official says.

Wendy Chung, principal assistant secretary for education, said yesterday on the Education Bureau's website that the government would not be following suggestions to increase that proportion to at least 90 per cent.

International schools currently operating are required to have at least 70 per cent non-local pupils - although the average proportion is 85 per cent, according to Chung.

Last month, the Education Bureau earmarked two vacant schools in Ap Lei Chau and Tai Po and three undeveloped sites in Tseung Kwan O and Tai Po for international primary school development.

Successful applicants usually enjoy a nominal rent or land premium and interest-free capital loans.

The move is set to relieve an expected shortage of 4,200 primary international school places by 2016 - a shortfall partly caused by an increasing number of local parents choosing international schools for their children.

The two vacant schools are expected to provide 1,200 primary international school places by 2016. Together with other schools in the pipeline, it should help limit the shortage of primary places to 1,500 that year.

Chung said it was important to leave places for some local children in international schools, and it would be "arbitrary" to ban children of returning emigrants or overseas families with permanent Hong Kong residency.

"In addition, we need to … uphold freedom of choice for local families who wish to have their children learning in an environment outside the public sector school system at their own cost," she said.

But Civic Party lawmaker Kenneth Chan Ka-lok said affordability was a big problem and if the additional supply meant more "elitist places", it would not help expatriate or returning emigrant families who belong to the middle or lower-middle class.

He said that in return for granting these schools cheap land, the government should have a say in determining the level of fees they charged.

Chung countered that the schools were self-financed and market-driven.

When I was seven years old and my sister was just five years old, we were playing on top of a bunk bed. I was two

years older than my sister at the time -- I mean, I'm two years older than her now -- but at the time it meant she had

to do everything that I wanted to do, and I wanted to play war. So we were up on top of our bunk beds. And on one

side of the bunk bed, I had put out all of my G.I. Joe soldiers and weaponry. And on the other side were all my

sister's My Little Ponies ready for a cavalry charge.

0:38There are differing accounts of what actually happened that afternoon, but since my sister is not here with us

today, let me tell you the true story -- (Laughter) -- which is my sister's a little bit on the clumsy side. Somehow,

without any help or push from her older brother at all, suddenly Amy disappeared off of the top of the bunk bed and

landed with this crash on the floor. Now I nervously peered over the side of the bed to see what had befallen my

fallen sister and saw that she had landed painfully on her hands and knees on all fours on the ground.

1:05I was nervous because my parents had charged me with making sure that my sister and I played as safely and

as quietly as possible. And seeing as how I had accidentally broken Amy's arm just one week

before ... (Laughter) ... heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet,(Laughter) for

which I have yet to be thanked, I was trying as hard as I could -- she didn't even see it coming -- I was trying as hard

as I could to be on my best behavior.

1:36And I saw my sister's face, this wail of pain and suffering and surprise threatening to erupt from her mouth and

threatening to wake my parents from the long winter's nap for which they had settled. So I did the only thing my little

frantic seven year-old brain could think to do to avert this tragedy. And if you have children, you've seen this

hundreds of times before. I said, "Amy, Amy, wait. Don't cry. Don't cry. Did you see how you landed? No human

lands on all fours like that. Amy, I think this means you're a unicorn."

2:02(Laughter)

2:05Now that was cheating, because there was nothing in the world my sister would want more than not to be Amy

the hurt five year-old little sister, but Amy the special unicorn. Of course, this was an option that was open to her

brain at no point in the past. And you could see how my poor, manipulated sister faced conflict, as her little brain

attempted to devote resources to feeling the pain and suffering and surpriseshe just experienced, or contemplating

her new-found identity as a unicorn. And the latter won out.Instead of crying, instead of ceasing our play, instead of

waking my parents, with all the negative consequences that would have ensued for me, instead a smile spread

across her face and she scrambled right back up onto the bunk bed with all the grace of a baby

unicorn ... (Laughter) ... with one broken leg.

2:43What we stumbled across at this tender age of just five and seven -- we had no idea at the time -- was

something that was going be at the vanguard of a scientific revolution occurring two decades later in the way that

we look at the human brain. What we had stumbled across is something called positive psychology, which is the

reason that I'm here today and the reason that I wake up every morning.

3:02When I first started talking about this research outside of academia, out with companies and schools, the very

first thing they said to never do is to start your talk with a graph. The very first thing I want to do is start my talk with

a graph. This graph looks boring, but this graph is the reason I get excited and wake up every morning. And this

graph doesn't even mean anything; it's fake data. What we found is --

3:20(Laughter)

3:24If I got this data back studying you here in the room, I would be thrilled, because there's very clearly a trend

that's going on there, and that means that I can get published, which is all that really matters. The fact that there's

one weird red dot that's up above the curve, there's one weirdo in the room -- I know who you are, I saw you earlier

-- that's no problem. That's no problem, as most of you know, because I can just delete that dot. I can delete that dot

because that's clearly a measurement error. And we know that's a measurement error because it's messing up my

data.

3:53So one of the very first things we teach people in economics and statistics and business and psychology

courses is how, in a statistically valid way, do we eliminate the weirdos. How do we eliminate the outliersso we can

find the line of best fit? Which is fantastic if I'm trying to find out how many Advil the average person should be

taking -- two. But if I'm interested in potential, if I'm interested in your potential, or for happiness or productivity or

energy or creativity, what we're doing is we're creating the cult of the average with science.

4:18If I asked a question like, "How fast can a child learn how to read in a classroom?" scientists change the answer

to "How fast does the average child learn how to read in that classroom?" and then we tailor the class right towards

the average. Now if you fall below the average on this curve, then psychologists get thrilled, because that means

you're either depressed or you have a disorder, or hopefully both. We're hoping for both because our business

model is, if you come into a therapy session with one problem, we want to make sure you leave knowing you have

10, so you keep coming back over and over again. We'll go back into your childhood if necessary, but eventually

what we want to do is make you normal again.But normal is merely average.

4:51And what I posit and what positive psychology posits is that if we study what is merely average, we will remain

merely average. Then instead of deleting those positive outliers, what I intentionally do is come into a population like

this one and say, why? Why is it that some of you are so high above the curve in terms of your intellectual ability,

athletic ability, musical ability, creativity, energy levels, your resiliency in the face of challenge, your sense of

humor? Whatever it is, instead of deleting you, what I want to do is study you. Because maybe we can glean

information -- not just how to move people up to the average,but how we can move the entire average up in our

companies and schools worldwide.

5:23The reason this graph is important to me is, when I turn on the news, it seems like the majority of the

information is not positive, in fact it's negative. Most of it's about murder, corruption, diseases, natural disasters. And

very quickly, my brain starts to think that's the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world. What that's doing is

creating something called the medical school syndrome -- which, if you know people who've been to medical

school, during the first year of medical training, as you read through a list of all the symptoms and diseases that

could happen, suddenly you realize you have all of them.

5:48I have a brother in-law named Bobo -- which is a whole other story. Bobo married Amy the unicorn. Bobo called

me on the phone from Yale Medical School, and Bobo said, "Shawn, I have leprosy." (Laughter)Which, even at

Yale, is extraordinarily rare. But I had no idea how to console poor Bobo because he had just gotten over an entire

week of menopause.

6:11(Laughter)

6:13See what we're finding is it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain

views the world that shapes your reality. And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we

can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.

6:25When I applied to Harvard, I applied on a dare. I didn't expect to get in, and my family had no money for

college. When I got a military scholarship two weeks later, they allowed me to go. Suddenly, something that wasn't

even a possibility became a reality. When I went there, I assumed everyone else would see it as a privilege as

well, that they'd be excited to be there. Even if you're in a classroom full of people smarter than you, you'd be happy

just to be in that classroom, which is what I felt. But what I found thereis, while some people experience that, when I

graduated after my four years and then spent the next eight years living in the dorms with the students -- Harvard

asked me to; I wasn't that guy. (Laughter) I was an officer of Harvard to counsel students through the difficult four

years. And what I found in my research and my teaching is that these students, no matter how happy they were with

their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of

being there, nor on their philosophy or their physics. Their brain was focused on the competition, the workload, the

hassles, the stresses, the complaints.

7:18When I first went in there, I walked into the freshmen dining hall, which is where my friends from Waco, Texas,

which is where I grew up -- I know some of you have heard of it. When they'd come to visit me, they'd look

around, they'd say, "This freshman dining hall looks like something out of Hogwart's from the movie "Harry Potter,"

which it does. This is Hogwart's from the movie "Harry Potter" and that's Harvard.And when they see this,  they say,

"Shawn, why do you waste your time studying happiness at Harvard?Seriously, what does a Harvard student

possibly have to be unhappy about?"

7:41Embedded within that question is the key to understanding the science of happiness. Because what that

question assumes is that our external world is predictive of our happiness levels, when in reality, if I know everything

about your external world, I can only predict 10 percent of your long-term happiness. 90 percent of your long-term

happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the world. And if we change

it, if we change our formula for happiness and success, what we can do is change the way that we can then affect

reality. What we found is that only 25 percent of job successes are predicted by I.Q. 75 percent of job successes are

predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a

threat.

8:21I talked to a boarding school up in New England, probably the most prestigious boarding school,  and they said,

"We already know that. So every year, instead of just teaching our students, we also have a wellness week. And

we're so excited. Monday night we have the world's leading expert coming in to speak about adolescent

depression. Tuesday night it's school violence and bullying. Wednesday night is eating disorders. Thursday night is

elicit drug use. And Friday night we're trying to decide between risky sex or happiness." (Laughter) I said, "That's

most people's Friday nights." (Laughter) (Applause) Which I'm glad you liked, but they did not like that at all.  Silence

on the phone. And into the silence, I said, "I'd be happy to speak at your school, but just so you know, that's not a

wellness week, that's a sickness week. What you've done is you've outlined all the negative things that can

happen, but not talked about the positive."

9:07The absence of disease is not health. Here's how we get to health: We need to reverse the formula for

happiness and success. In the last three years, I've traveled to 45 different countries, working with schools and

companies in the midst of an economic downturn. And what I found is that most companies and schools follow a

formula for success, which is this: If I work harder, I'll be more successful. And if I'm more successful, then I'll be

happier. That undergirds most of our parenting styles, our managing styles,the way that we motivate our behavior.

9:33And the problem is it's scientifically broken and backwards for two reasons. First, every time your brain has a

success, you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like. You got good grades, now you have to get

better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better school, you got a good job, now you have to

get a better job, you hit your sales target, we're going to change your sales target. And if happiness is on the

opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. What we've done is we've pushed happiness over the

cognitive horizon as a society. And that's because we think we have to be successful, then we'll be happier.

10:01But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in

the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at

positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your

creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome

improves. Your brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or

stressed. You're 37 percent better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the

correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed.Which means we can reverse the formula. If

we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we're able to

work harder, faster and more intelligently.

10:45What we need to be able to do is to reverse this formula so we can start to see what our brains are actually

capable of. Because dopamine, which floods into your system when you're positive, has two functions. Not only

does it make you happier, it turns on all of the learning centers in your brain allowing you to adapt to the world in a

different way.

11:01We've found that there are ways that you can train your brain to be able to become more positive. In just a

two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually

work more optimistically and more successfully. We've done these things in research now in every single company

that I've worked with, getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three

new things each day. And at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world, not for the

negative, but for the positive first.

11:29Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive

it.Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the

cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the

task at hand. And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness.We get people, when they open

up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their social support network.

11:54And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we

can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but create a

real revolution.

12:06Thank you very much.

Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living

by Julie Powell

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61  ·    rating details   ·  100,154 ratings    ·  6,742   reviews

Powell needs something to break the monotony of her life. So, she invents a deranged assignment: She will take her mother's dog-eared copy of Julia Child's 1961 classic, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," and cook all 524 recipes in the span of just one year.

With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars. (C) Paramount

Space Junk Menace: How to Deal with Orbital Debrisby Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist   |   January 25, 2013 12:03pm ET

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The saga of what steps that must be taken to deal with the evolving threat of Earth-circling orbital debris is a work in progress.  This menacing problem — and the possible cleanup solutions — is international in scope.

Space junk is an assortment of objects in Earth orbit that is a mix of everything from spent rocket stages, derelict satellites, chunks of busted up spacecraft to paint chips, springs and bolts. A satellite crash in February 2009, for example, marked the first accidental hypervelocity crash between two intact artificial satellites in Earth orbit. That cosmic crash created significant debris — a worrisome amount of leftover bits and pieces.

Against this backdrop of untidiness in space and the global worry among spacefaring countries it causes, experts continue to tackle the issue of exactly what to do about orbital debris. A number of rules have been pondered to address the space debris problem, from regulations that attempt to cut down on the shedding of new debris to better tracking of the human-made refuge, as well as scavenging concepts including fishing nets, lasers and garbage scows.

But how to best characterize the orbital debris dilemma, and its future, also stirs up debate and heated dialogue.

Point of no return

The clutter in Earth orbit is a situation that will continue to worsen, according to Marshall Kaplan, founder and principal of Launchspace in Bethesda, Md.

"The problem is that we've already fallen off that cliff," Kaplan told SPACE.com. "That's the reality of it and people don't want to admit that reality." [Photos of Space Junk & Cleanup Ideas]

Spending millions of dollars to retrieve space junk isn't effective, Kaplan said.

Now, ways to better track and identify space debris are being devised. Low-Earth orbit is where the main problem is — from roughly 435 miles (700 kilometers) to about 745 miles (1,200 km), he said.

"It's a serious, serious challenge," Kaplan said. "This is not a U.S. problem … it's everybody's problem. And most of the people that produced the debris, the serious offenders, like Russia, China, and the United States, are not going to spend that kind of money. It's just not a good investment."

While the creation of orbiting junk continues rise with each rocket launch, there is no market for tackling the issue directly, Kaplan said.

"We've reached the point of no return. The debris will continue to get worse in terms of collision threats … even if not another satellite were launched, the problem will continue to get worse," he added.

Various concepts have been proposed to rid space of orbital clutter, like this fishing net to bag debris.Credit: Melrae Pictures, Space Junk 3D: http://www.spacejunk3d.com/View full size image

Speeding debris crashes

Kaplan said the frequency of collisions between active satellites and debris pieces is going to increase.

The real question, Kaplan said, is not what everyone is going to do about debris. Rather, the true question is what needs to be done about active satellites in harm's way of speeding riffraff.

"My prediction is that we are going to evacuate the areas of high debris density. It's just too dangerous to operate there. We're going to need to reinvent how we use space," Kaplan said. [Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]

In the case of large national security satellite assets, one option may be to distribute smaller satellites in lower altitudes, Kaplan added. These multiple layers of spacecraft would collectively create virtual products, such as imagery and other intelligence data. The users of this information would receive the same kind of data, but from a different satellite constellation, he said.

As one step toward that future, Kaplan is working with multiple universities to help establish new research centers on space debris and a next-generation national security space architecture.

Environmental stability

Darren McKnight, technical director for Integrity Applications Incorporated, headquartered in Chantilly, Va., suggested that the current debate on active debris removal and the evolution of the debris environment is still developing.

McKnight said that, currently, policymakers and engineers examine environmental stability, preventing the cascading of derelict collisions from increasing exponentially over the next century. This scenario, known as the "Kessler Syndrome," is the primary metric to judge how many derelicts need to be removed and when they should be removed.

The Kessler Syndrome is one in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade. Each collision generates space debris, which increases the likelihood of further collisions. [Solar Sails Could Sweep Up Space Junk (Video)]

"The overall issue is that as we continue to consider active debris removal options, I question whether or not environment stability is the only metric to be tracking," McKnight told SPACE.com.

Lethal space debris

McKnight, along with company colleague Frank Di Pentino, propose that the probability of satellite failure from impact from non-trackable, yet lethal debris fragments — in the 5 millimeter to 10 centimeter size range — is a more appropriate metric. The reason is because it directly reflects harmful effects of space debris on space operations. Furthermore, these effects are likely to occur much sooner than observable manifestations of the cascading effect.

McKnight and Di Pentino's research suggests that any mitigation scheme, be it just-in-time collision avoidance, active debris removal or other methods, cannot rely on a model that does not account for projected add rates, new launches on other factors. They contend that collision rate is “not a sufficient metric” for assessing operational risk.

Wanted: A long-term plan

There is much work to do regarding orbital debris, said Donald Kessler, chair of the 2011 National Research Council (NRC) report "Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA's Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs." He is a retired head of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office and is a space debris and meteoroid consultant in Asheville, N.C.

Kessler said that the NRC committee that produced the report strongly felt that what was missing from the programs was a long-term strategic plan — one that outlined a path that eventually determines how  manage future space operations in a way that preserves the environment.

"However, this is not simply a NASA issue … it is an international issue, and will require a carefully coordinated effort," Kessler said.

Can the space junk problem be solved?

NASA and the international community, Kessler said, "have already done enough research to know that the environment will continue to get worse if we continue on the same path … the only environmental issue to be resolved is how quickly the environment in various regions deteriorates."

The international community, through the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), has been very active in understanding the current environmental trends, sharing information and establishing internationally recognized mitigation requirements.

However, Kessler said that current mitigation practices are insufficient, even with 100 percent compliance. Missing in action is a plan to determine what do about the predicted worsening space environment, he said — that is, how to stop or reverse the trend of increased debris resulting from increased collisions.

Sustainable environment

Kessler added that the fundamental issues to be resolved are:

How do we minimize the possibility of future high-velocity collisions between spacecraft and upper stage rockets?

If we cannot eliminate that prospect, how do we clean up after a collision?

"Removal from orbit, collision avoidance, satellite servicing and repair, satellite recycling in orbit, debris storage locations, change to using a 'stable plane' at higher altitudes especially in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) … are all possibilities," Kessler added. "Some are mutually exclusive and may not be appropriate at all altitudes, while others could combine to be more effective."

Still to be sorted out is what type of legal structure might be needed in order to implement any plan, Kessler said.

"I believe it is time that the international community takes a serious look at the future of space operations," Kessler said. "There's need to begin a process to answer these questions and determine which path will most effectively provide a sustainable environment for spacecraft in Earth orbit."

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

So, I guess it is a result of globalization that you can find Coca-Cola tins on top of Everest and a Buddhist monk in

Monterey. (Laughter) And so I just came, two days ago, from the Himalayas to your kind invitation. So I would like to

invite you, also, for a while, to the Himalayas themselves. And to show the place where meditators, like me, who

began with being a molecular biologist in Pasteur Institute, and found their way to the mountains.

0:51So these are a few images I was lucky to take and be there. There's the Mount Kailash in Eastern Tibet --

wonderful setting. This is from Marlboro country. (Laughter) This is a turquoise lake. A meditator. This is the hottest

day of the year somewhere in Eastern Tibet, on August 1. And the night before, we camped, and my Tibetan friends

said, "We are going to sleep outside." And I said, "Why? We have enough space in the tent."  They said, "Yes, but

it's summertime." (Laughter)

1:36So now, we are going to speak of happiness. As a Frenchman, I must say that there are a lot of French

intellectuals that think happiness is not at all interesting. (Laughter) I just wrote an essay on happiness, and there

was a controversy. And someone wrote an article saying, "Don't impose on us the dirty work of

happiness." (Laughter) "We don't care about being happy. We need to live with passion. We like the ups and downs

of life. We like our suffering because it's so good when it ceases for a while." (Laughter)

2:12This is what I see from the balcony of my hermitage in the Himalayas. It's about two meters by three, and you

are all welcome any time. (Laughter)

2:22Now, let's come to happiness or well-being. And first of all, you know, despite what the French intellectuals

say, it seems that no one wakes up in the morning thinking, "May I suffer the whole day?"(Laughter) Which means

that somehow -- consciously or not, directly or indirectly, in the short or the long term, whatever we do, whatever we

hope, whatever we dream -- somehow, is related to a deep, profound desire for well-being or happiness. As Pascal

said, even the one who hangs himself, somehow, is looking for cessation of suffering -- he finds no other way. But

then, if you look in the literature, East and West, you can find incredible diversity of definition of happiness. Some

people say, I only believed in remembering the past, imagining the future, never the present. Some people say

happiness is right now;it's the quality of the freshness of the present moment. And that led to Henri Bergson, the

French philosopher, to say, "All the great thinkers of humanity have left happiness in the vague so that they could

define -- each of them could define their own terms."

3:45Well, that would be fine if it was just a secondary preoccupation in life. But now, if it is something that is going to

determine the quality of every instant of our life, then we better know what it is, have some clearer idea. And

probably, the fact that we don't know that is why, so often, although we seek happiness, it seems we turn our back

to it. Although we want to avoid suffering, it seems we are running somewhat towards it. And that can also come

from some kind of confusions.

4:19One of the most common ones is happiness and pleasure. But, if you look at the characteristics of those

two, pleasure is contingent upon time, upon its object, upon the place. It is something that -- changes of

nature. Beautiful chocolate cake: first serving is delicious, second one not so much, then we feel disgust.

(Laughter) That's the nature of things. We get tired. I used to be a fan of Bach. I used to play it on the guitar, you

know. I can hear it two, three, five times. If I had to hear it 24 hours, non-stop, it might be very tiring. If you are

feeling very cold, you come near a fire, it's so wonderful. Then, after some moments, you just go a little back, and

then it starts burning. It sort of uses itself as you experience it. And also, again, it can -- also, it's something that you

-- it is not something that is radiating outside. Like, you can feel intense pleasure and some others around you can

be suffering a lot.

5:31Now, what, then, will be happiness? And happiness, of course, is such a vague word, so let's say well-

being. And so, I think the best definition, according to the Buddhist view, is that well-being is not just a mere

pleasurable sensation. It is a deep sense of serenity and fulfillment, a state that actually pervades and underlies all

emotional states, and all the joys and sorrows that can come one's way. For you, that might be surprising. Can we

have this kind of well-being while being sad? In a way, why not? Because we are speaking of a different level.

6:26Look at the waves coming here to shore. When you are at the bottom of the wave, you hit the bottom.You hit

the solid rock. When you are surfing on the top, you are all elated. So you go from elation to depression -- there's no

depth. Now, if you look at the high sea, there might be beautiful, calm ocean, like a mirror. There might be storms,

but the depth of the ocean is still there, unchanged. So now, how is that? It can only be a state of being, not just a

fleeting emotion, sensation. Even joy -- that can be the spring of happiness. But there's also wicked joy, you can

rejoice in someone's suffering.

7:12So how do we proceed in our quest for happiness? Very often, we look outside. We think that if we could gather

this and that, all the conditions, something that we say, "Everything to be happy -- to have everything to be

happy." That very sentence already reveals the doom of destruction of happiness. To have everything. If we miss

something, it collapses. And also, when things go wrong, we try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the

outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory. So now, look at inner conditions. Aren't they stronger? Isn't it

the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering? And isn't that stronger? We know, by

experience, that we can be what we call "a little paradise," and yet, be completely unhappy within.

8:15The Dalai Lama was once in Portugal, and there was a lot of construction going on everywhere. So one

evening, he said, "Look, you are doing all these things, but isn't it nice, also, to build something within?"And he said,

"Unless that -- even you get high-tech flat on the 100th floor of a super-modern and comfortable building, if you are

deeply unhappy within, all you are going to look for is a window from which to jump." So now, at the opposite, we

know a lot of people who, in very difficult circumstances,manage to keep serenity, inner strength, inner freedom,

confidence. So now, if the inner conditions are stronger -- of course, the outer conditions do influence, and it's

wonderful to live longer, healthier, to have access to information, education, to be able to travel, to have freedom.

It's highly desirable.However, this is not enough. Those are just auxiliary, help conditions. The experience that

translates everything is within the mind. So then, when we ask oneself how to nurture the condition for

happiness,the inner conditions, and which are those which will undermine happiness. So then, this just needs to

have some experience.

9:39We have to know from ourselves, there are certain states of mind that are conducive to this flourishing, to this

well-being, what the Greeks called eudaimonia, flourishing. There are some which are adverse to this well-

being. And so, if we look from our own experience, anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, obsessive desire, strong

grasping, they don't leave us in such a good state after we have experienced it. And also, they are detrimental to

others' happiness. So we may consider that the more those are invading our mind, and, like a chain reaction, the

more we feel miserable, we feel tormented. At the opposite, everyone knows deep within that an act of selfless

generosity, if from the distance, without anyone knowing anything about it, we could save a child's life, make

someone happy. We don't need the recognition. We don't need any gratitude. Just the mere fact of doing that fills

such a sense of adequation with our deep nature. And we would like to be like that all the time.

10:55So is that possible, to change our way of being, to transform one's mind? Aren't those negative emotions, or

destructive emotions, inherent to the nature of mind? Is change possible in our emotions, in our traits, in our

moods? For that we have to ask, what is nature of mind? And if we look from the experiential point of view, there is

a primary quality of consciousness that's just the mere fact to be cognitive, to be aware. Consciousness is like a

mirror that allows all images to rise on it. You can have ugly faces, beautiful faces in the mirror. The mirror allows

that, but the mirror is not tainted, is not modified, is not altered by those images. Likewise, behind every single

thought there is the bare consciousness, pure awareness. This is the nature. It cannot be tainted intrinsically with

hatred or jealousy because, then, if it was always there -- like a dye that would permeate the whole cloth -- then it

would be found all the time, somewhere. We know we're not always angry, always jealous, always generous.

12:12So, because the basic fabric of consciousness is this pure cognitive quality that differentiates it from a

stone, there is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting. That is the ground for mind training. Mind

training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time. You could go from

love to hate. But you cannot, at the same time, toward the same object, the same person, want to harm and want to

do good. You cannot, in the same gesture, shake hand and give a blow. So, there are natural antidotes to

emotions that are destructive to our inner well-being. So that's the way to proceed. Rejoicing compared to

jealousy. A kind of sense of inner freedom as opposite to intense grasping and obsession. Benevolence, loving

kindness against hatred. But, of course, each emotion then would need a particular antidote.

13:17Another way is to try to find a general antidote to all emotions, and that's by looking at the very nature.Usually,

when we feel annoyed, hatred or upset with someone, or obsessed with something, the mind goes again and again

to that object. Each time it goes to the object, it reinforces that obsession or that annoyance. So then, it's a self-

perpetuating process. So what we need to look now is, instead of looking outward, we look inward. Look at anger

itself. It looks very menacing, like a billowing monsoon cloud or thunderstorm. But we think we could sit on the cloud

-- but if you go there, it's just mist. Likewise, if you look at the thought of anger, it will vanish like frost under the

morning sun. If you do this again and again, the propensity, the tendencies for anger to arise again will be less and

less each time you dissolve it.And, at the end, although it may rise, it will just cross the mind, like a bird crossing the

sky without leaving any track. So this is the principal of mind training.

14:29Now, it takes time because we -- it took time for all those faults in our mind, the tendencies, to build up, so it

will take time to unfold them as well. But that's the only way to go. Mind transformation -- that is the very meaning of

meditation. It means familiarization with a new way of being, new way of perceiving things, which is more in

adequation with reality, with interdependence, with the stream and continuous transformation, which our being and

our consciousness is.

15:03So, the interface with cognitive science, since we need to come to that, and it was, I suppose, the subject of

-- we have to deal in such a short time with brain plasticity. The brain was thought to be more or less fixed. All the

nominal connections, in numbers and quantities, were thought -- until the last 20 years -- thought to be more or less

fixed when we reached adult age. Now, recently, it has been found that it can change a lot. A violinist, as we heard,

who has done 10,000 hours of violin practice, some area that controls the movements of fingers in the brain change

a lot, increasing reinforcement of the synaptic connections. So can we do that with human qualities? With loving

kindness, with patience, with openness?

15:48So that's what those great meditators have been doing. Some of them who came to the labs, like in Madison,

Wisconsin, or in Berkeley, did 20 to 40,000 hours of meditation. They do, like, three years' retreat, where they do

meditate 12 hours a day. And then, the rest of their life, they will do that three or four hours a day. They are real

Olympic champions of mind training. (Laughter) This is the place where the meditators -- you can see it's kind of

inspiring. Now, here with 256 electrodes. (Laughter)

16:30So what did they find? Of course, same thing. The scientific embargo -- if ever has been to submitted to

"Nature," hopefully, it will be accepted. It deals with the state of compassion, unconditional compassion.We asked

meditators, who have been doing that for years and years and years, to put their mind in a state where there's

nothing but loving kindness, total availability to sentient being. Of course, during the training, we do that with

objects. We think of people suffering, we think of people we love, but at some point, it can be a state which is all

pervading. Here is the preliminary result, which I can show because it's already been shown. The bell curve shows

150 controls, and what is being looked at is the difference between the right and the left frontal lobe. In very short,

people who have more activity in the right side of the prefrontal cortex are more depressed, withdrawn. They don't

describe a lot of positive affect. It's the opposite on the left side: more tendency to altruism, to happiness, to

express, and curiosity and so forth.So there's a basic line for people. And also, it can be changed.  If you see a

comic movie, you go off to the left side. If you are happy about something, you'll go more to the left side. If you have

a bout of depression, you'll go to the right side. Here, the -0.5 is the full standard deviation of a meditator who

meditated on compassion. It's something that is totally out of the bell curve.

18:08So, I've no time to go into all the different scientific results. Hopefully, they will come. But they found that -- this

is after three and a half hours in an fMRI, it's like coming out of a space ship. Also, it has been shown in other labs

-- for instance, Paul Ekman's labs in Berkeley -- that some meditators are able, also,to control their emotional

response more than it could be thought. Like the startle experiments, for example. If you sit a guy on a chair with all

this kind of apparatus measuring your physiology, and there's kind of a bomb that goes off, it's so instinctive

response that, in 20 years, they never saw anyone who will not jump. Some meditators, without trying to stop it, but

simply by being completely open, thinking that that bang is just going to be just a small event like a shooting

star, they are able not to move at all.

19:03So the whole point of that is not, sort of, to make, like, a circus thing of showing exceptional beings who can

jump, or whatever. It's more to say that mind training matters. That this is not just a luxury. This is not a

supplementary vitamin for the soul. This is something that's going to determine the quality of every instant of our

lives. We are ready to spend 15 years achieving education. We love to do jogging, fitness.We do all kinds of things

to remain beautiful. Yet, we spend surprisingly little time taking care of what matters most -- the way our mind

functions -- which, again, is the ultimate thing that determines the quality of our experience.

19:57Now, our compassion is supposed to be put in action. That's what we try to do in different places. Just this one

example is worth a lot of work. This lady with bone TB, left alone in a tent, is going to die with her only

daughter. One year later, how she is. Different schools and clinics we've been doing in Tibet.

20:25And just, I leave you with the beauty of those looks that tells more about happiness than I could ever say.And

jumping monks of Tibet. (Laughter) Flying monks. Thank you very much.

So I want to talk today about money and happiness, which are two things that a lot of us spend a lot of our time thinking about, either trying to earn them or trying to increase them. And a lot of us resonate with this phrase. So we see it in religions and self-help books, that money can't buy happiness. And I want to suggest today that, in fact, that's wrong. (Laughter) I'm at a business school, so that's what we do. So that's wrong, and, in fact, if you think that, you're actually just not spending it right. So that instead of spending it the way you usually spend it, maybe if

you spent it differently, that might work a little bit better. And before I tell you the ways that you can spend it that will make you happier, let's think about the ways we usually spend it that don't, in fact, make us happier. We had a little natural experiment. So CNN, a little while ago, wrote this interesting article on what happens to people when they win the lottery.It turns out people think when they win the lottery their lives are going to be amazing.  This article's about how their lives get ruined. So what happens when people win the lottery is, number one, they spend all the money and go into debt, and number two, all of their friends and everyone they've ever met find them and bug them for money. And it ruins their social relationships, in fact. So they have more debt and worse friendships than they had before they won the lottery. What was interesting about the article was people started commenting on the article, readers of the thing. And instead of talking about how it had made them realize that money doesn't lead to happiness, everyone instantly started saying, "You know what I would do if I won the lottery ... ?" and fantasizing about what they'd do. And here's just two of the ones we saw that are just really interesting to think about. One person wrote in, "When I win, I'm going to buy my own little mountain and have a little house on top." (Laughter) And another person wrote, "I would fill a big bathtub with money and get in the tub while smoking a big fat cigar and sipping a glass of champagne." This is even worse now: "Then I'd have a picture taken and dozens of glossies made.Anyone begging for money or trying to extort from me would receive a copy of the picture and nothing else." (Laughter) And so many of the comments were exactly of this type, where people got money and, in fact, it made them antisocial. So I told you that it ruins people's lives and that their friends bug them. It also, money often makes us feel very selfish and we do things only for ourselves. Well maybe the reason that money doesn't make us happy is that we're always spending it on the wrong things, and in particular, that we're always spending it on ourselves. And we thought, I wonder what would happen if we made people spend more of their money on other people. So instead of being antisocial with your money, what if you were a little more prosocial with your money? And we thought, let's make people do it and see what happens. So let's have some people do what they usually do and spend money on themselves, and let's make some people give money away, and measure their happiness and see if, in fact, they get happier. So the first way that we did this. On one Vancouver morning, we went out on the campus at University of British Columbia and we approached people and said, "Do you want to be in an experiment?" They said, "Yes." We asked them how happy they were, and then we gave them an envelope. And one of the envelopes had things in it that said, "By 5:00 pm today, spend this money on yourself." So we gave some examples of what you could spend it on. Other people, in the morning, got a slip of paper that said, "By 5:00 pm today, spend this money on somebody else." Also inside the envelope was money. And we manipulated how much money we gave them. So some people got this slip of paper and five dollars. Some people got this slip of paper and 20 dollars. We let them go about their day. They did whatever they wanted to do. We found out that they did in fact spend it in the way that we asked them to. We called them up at night and asked them, "What'd you spend it on, and how happy do you feel now?" What did they spend it on? Well these are college undergrads, so a lot of what they spent it on for themselves were things like earrings and makeup. One woman said she bought a stuffed animal for her niece. People gave money to homeless people. Huge effect here of Starbucks.(Laughter) So if you give undergraduates five dollars, it looks like coffee to them and they run over to Starbucks and spend it as fast as they can. But some people bought a coffee for themselves, the way they usually would, but other people said that they bought a coffee for somebody else. So the very same purchase, just targeted toward yourself or targeted toward somebody else. What did we find when we called them back at the end of the day? People who spent money on other people got happier. People who spent money on themselves, nothing happened. It didn't make them less happy, it just didn't do much for them. And the other thing we saw is the amount of money doesn't matter that much. So people thought that 20 dollars would be way better than five dollars. In fact, it doesn't matter how much money you spent. What really matters is that you spent it on somebody else rather than on yourself. We see this again and again when we give people money to spend on other people instead of on themselves. Of course, these are undergraduates in Canada -- not the world's most representative population. They're also fairly wealthy and affluent and all these other sorts of things. We wanted to see if this holds true everywhere in the world or just among wealthy countries. So we went, in fact, to Uganda and ran a very similar experiment. So imagine, instead of just people in Canada, we said, "Name the last time you spent money on yourself or other people. Describe it. How happy did it make you?" Or in Uganda, "Name the last time you spent money on yourself or other people and describe that." And then we asked them how happy they are again. And what we see is sort of amazing because there's human universals on what you do with your money and then real

cultural differences on what you do as well. So for example, one guy from Uganda says this. He said, "I called a girl I wished to love." They basically went out on a date, and he says at the end that he didn't "achieve" her up till now. Here's a guy from Canada. Very similar thing."I took my girlfriend out for dinner. We went to a movie, we left early, and then went back to her room for ... " only cake -- just a piece of cake. Human universal -- so you spend money on other people, you're being nice to them. Maybe you have something in mind, maybe not. But then we see extraordinary differences. So look at these two. This is a woman from Canada. We say, "Name a time you spent money on somebody else." She says, "I bought a present for my mom. I drove to the mall in my car, bought a present, gave it to my mom." Perfectly nice thing to do. It's good to get gifts for people that you know.Compare that to this woman from Uganda. "I was walking and met a long-time friend whose son was sick with malaria. They had no money, they went to a clinic and I gave her this money." This isn't $10,000, it's the local currency. So it's a very small amount of money, in fact. But enormously different motivations here. This is a real medical need, literally a life-saving donation. Above, it's just kind of, I bought a gift for my mother. What we see again though is that the specific way that you spend on other people isn't nearly as important as the fact that you spend on other people in order to make yourself happy, which is really quite important. So you don't have to do amazing things with your money to make yourself happy. You can do small, trivial things and yet still get these benefits from doing this.  These are only two countries. We also wanted to go even broader and look at every country in the world if we couldto see what the relationship is between money and happiness. We got data from the Gallup Organization,which you know from all the political polls that have been happening lately. They ask people, "Did you donate money to charity recently?" and they ask them, "How happy are you with your life in general?"And we can see what the relationship is between those two things. Are they positively correlated? Giving money makes you happy. Or are they negatively correlated? On this map, green will mean they're positively correlated and red means they're negatively correlated. And you can see, the world is crazily green. So in almost every country in the world where we have this data, people who give money to charity are happier people that people who don't give money to charity. I know you're all looking at that red country in the middle. I would be a jerk and not tell you what it is, but in fact, it's Central African Republic. You can make up stories. Maybe it's different there for some reason or another. Just below that to the right is Rwanda though, which is amazingly green. So almost everywhere we look we see that giving money away makes you happier than keeping it for yourself. What about your work life, which is where we spend all the rest of our time when we're not with the people we know. We decided to infiltrate some companies and do a very similar thing. So these are sales teams in Belgium. They work in teams; they go out and sell to doctors and try to get them to buy drugs. So we can look and see how well they sell things as a function of being a member of a team. Some teams, we give people on the team some money for themselves and say, "Spend it however you want on yourself," just like we did with the undergrads in Canada. But other teams we say, "Here's 15 euro. Spend it on one of your teammates this week. Buy them something as a gift or a present and give it to them. And then we can see, well now we've got teams that spend on themselves and we've got these prosocial teams who we give money to make the team a little bit better. The reason I have a ridiculous pinata there is one of the teams pooled their money and bought a pinata, and they all got around and smashed the pinata and all the candy fell out and things like that. A very silly, trivial thing to do, but think of the difference on a team that didn't do that at all, that got 15 euro, put it in their pocket, maybe bought themselves a coffee, or teams that had this prosocial experience where they all bonded together to buy something and do a group activity. What we see is that, in fact, the teams that are prosocial sell more stuff than the teams that only got money for themselves. And one way to think about it is for every 15 euro you give people for themselves, they put it in their pocket, they don't do anything different than they did before.  You don't get any money from that.You actually lose money because it doesn't motivate them to perform any better.  But when you give them 15 euro to spend on their teammates, they do so much better on their teams that you actually get a huge win on investing this kind of money. And I realize that you're probably thinking to yourselves, this is all fine, but there's a context that's incredibly important for public policy and I can't imagine it would work there. And basically that if he doesn't show me that it works here, I don't believe anything he said. And I know what you're all thinking about are dodgeball teams. (Laughter) This was a huge criticism that we gotto say, if you can't show it with dodgeball teams, this is all stupid. So we went out and found these dodgeball teams and infiltrated them. And we did the exact same thing as before. So some teams, we give people on the team money, they spend it on themselves. Other teams, we give them money to spend on their dodgeball teammates. The teams that spend money on themselves are just the same winning percentages as they were before. The teams that we give the

money to spend on each other,they become different teams and, in fact, they dominate the league by the time they're done. Across all of these different contexts -- your personal life, you work life, even silly things like intramural sports -- we see spending on other people has a bigger return for you than spending on yourself. And so I'll just say, I think if you think money can't buy happiness you're not spending it right. The implication is not you should buy this product instead of that product and that's the way to make yourself happier. It's in fact, that you should stop thinking about which product to buy for yourself and try giving some of it to other people instead. And we luckily have an opportunity for you. DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit for mainly public school teachers in low-income schools. They post projects, so they say, "I want to teach Huckleberry Finn to my class and we don't have the books," or "I want a microscope to teach my students science and we don't have a microscope." You and I can go on and buy it for them. The teacher writes you a thank you note. The kids write you a thank you note. Sometimes they send you pictures of them using the microscope. It's an extraordinary thing. Go to the website and start yourself on the process of thinking, again, less about "How can I spend money on myself?" and more about "If I've got five dollars or 15 dollars, what can I do to benefit other people?" Because ultimately when you do that, you'll find that you'll benefit yourself much more. Thank you. (Applause)

COMMENT›INSIGHT & OPINION

Until society trusts the authorities, there can be no national security legislation in Hong KongWilson Leung says authorities need to regain the public's confidence before seeking to enact national security laws, and the best way to do that would be to fulfil their promise of universal suffrage

PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 12:52am

UPDATED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 12:52am

Wilson Leung

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There is a thin, easily abused, line between protecting the nation and stifling dissent.

In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character is stuck in a time loop, forced to relive the same day again and again. It is only when he realises the error of his egocentric ways and develops compassion for mankind that he is able to break out of the loop and carry on with his life (alongside a newfound love).

Hong Kong people may be forgiven for thinking they are stuck in the same kind of time loop. In 2003, the government was proposing to enact national security legislation in order to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law. The push was spearheaded by Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a rising star in the establishment. Another prominent proponent was chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. The rest of the story is well known: following a massive protest on July 1, the bill was shelved, Ip resigned, and Tung departed not long after.

Twelve years later, we hear noises again about national security legislation and Article 23. Tung, having apparently recovered from the leg pains that afflicted him at the time of his resignation, is again trotting out - or being trotted out - to remind Hongkongers of the importance and desirability of national security. Ip's political star is back in the ascendancy, and she, along with Antony Leung - another throwback to 2003 - are being touted as possible contenders for the city's top job. Will Hong Kong, like Murray's character, be able to break free and live happily ever after?

Both in 2003 and now, we are constantly reminded by the Article 23 cheering squad that Hong Kong has a constitutional obligation under the Basic Law to enact national security legislation. However, there are two essential points that are being ignored by these enthusiasts.

First, the Basic Law does not stipulate a time limit for the enactment of the legislation. This clearly means that it is left to Hong Kong to enact the legislation at an appropriate time of its own choosing. What constitutes an appropriate time depends on the political, social and economic conditions prevailing in the city.

Second, Hong Kong equally has a constitutional obligation to implement elections for the chief executive by universal suffrage. This obligation exists because of Article 45, read together with the National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision of August 31, that there is a need for selecting the chief executive through universal suffrage for 2017 and after.

With those two points in mind, it is difficult to see any reason for another attempt at implementing national security legislation - the previous bid having ended in fiasco - unless and until the universal suffrage issue has been resolved.

National security legislation is a sensitive topic. There is a thin - and easily abused - line between protecting the country and stifling dissent. Such legislation, if it is not carefully drafted, debated and scrutinised, can threaten fundamental rights and freedoms. There is a particular risk to the freedom of expression, the right to personal liberty, the right of assembly and the right of free association.

In consequence, it would be a fool's errand to attempt to introduce national security legislation when there is a profound lack of trust between the government and the residents of Hong Kong. It was this lack of trust that resulted in the implosion of Tung and Ip's foray in 2003. The same mistrust would torpedo any renewed efforts in the same direction - so long as the chief executive is chosen by a small-circle election and perceived as pandering to the interests of Beijing and the business elite. It is only by delivering on the promise of universal suffrage, and allowing elections that produce a leader who is freely chosen by the people of Hong Kong, that Beijing and the government can create the atmosphere of trust needed to enable the enactment of national security legislation. If the government is seen to be twisting the meaning of terms such as "universal suffrage" and "election", how far can they be trusted on words such as "treason", "sedition" and "state secrets"?

Contrary to what some Article 23 advocates have suggested, the Occupy protests did nothing to show there is an urgent need for national security legislation. The large-scale protests were widely lauded in the international media for being remarkably peaceful, civilised and polite. Also, the protest leaders emphasised they were not trying to overturn the nation's system but simply asking for real universal suffrage within Hong Kong.

Despite repeated claims by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, there is still no evidence to prove the protests were instigated by "external forces" determined to subvert the central government or cause Hong Kong to secede from the People's Republic. These kind of bald assertions do little to reassure the populace that national security legislation would not be used to target opponents of the government.

Those who are pining for national security legislation would be better off calling on Beijing and the government to fulfil their promise of universal suffrage.

Wilson Leung is a barrister and convenor of the Progressive Lawyers Group

Relaxing land use regulations would ease warehouse shortagePUBLISHED : Wednesday, 04 February, 2015, 6:00am

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Warehouse rents in Hong Kong are expected to grow further this year amid a shortage of supply. Photo: Shutterstock

Relaxing regulations regarding land use for special industries such as shipbuilding and manufacturing of polystyrene plastics may be an efficient way to ease the shortage of warehouses, according to industry experts.

As these industries have largely shifted across the border, sites are underused.

In the past two years, only two sites designated for logistics and industrial purposes have been sold by the government, which mainly focuses on selling residential land to ease the city's housing shortage.

"There are three large sites in Tsing Yi South that are not fully used," said Alnwick Chan, an executive director at Knight Frank.

Of the three, the biggest one is a 3.1 million square foot site that is currently used as a dockyard for shipbuilding, ship repairing, cargo handling and storage and repair of containers.

The other two sites with areas of 129,168 square feet and 350,605 square feet are reserved for manufacturing of polystyrene plastics, and making and assembling industrial equipment.

With a plot ratio of just 2.5, these sites could yield a total gross floor area of 7.85 million square feet, he said.

"As these industries have moved to the mainland, the majority of the area is left unused. But owners have no choice because usage is highly restricted," he said.

He suggested the government relax the land use requirement of these three sites from special industrial use to "general industrial use". Once the land use requirement is relaxed, the plot ratio could be raised to 9.5 times. These sites could then free up 34 million square feet for potential redevelopment.

"Besides, addressing the supply shortage of warehouse facilities, these spaces will also help the government accommodate some of the existing industrial operators in the northeastern New Territories," Chan said.

These brownfield sites could then be freed up for housing projects, he said.

Chan's suggestion comes amid a pilot scheme to relocate existing industrial operators to multistoreyed buildings to free land in the northwestern New Territories for housing. The idea was unveiled in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's third policy address last month, as a way to increase land supply in the medium to long term to ease the city's housing shortage.

"The prevailing supply shortage in the warehousing sector will remain unresolved this year, which will support warehouse rents to grow further during the year," Antonio Wu, a deputy managing director at Colliers International Hong Kong, wrote in a report.

Synopsis

Hector (Simon Pegg), a psychiatrist, enjoys his job, loves his girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike) of 10 years and has a

steady routine. He suddenly tires of his humdrum life and decides to travel to other countries to research the secret

formula for happiness.

As Clara worries whether Hector is going on a trip to get away from her, Hector has a series of adventures, including

some life-threatening experiences. Despite some setbacks, he learns a great deal about happiness.

CY Leung suspends capital investment entrant scheme in policy address

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying pledged to boost long-term land supply to ease the housing crunch and announced new measures to attract talent from the mainland and overseas in his third annual policy address.Those measures include a pilot scheme “to attract the second generation of Chinese Hong Kong permanent residents who have emigrated overseas to return to Hong Kong” and the suspension from tomorrow of the capital investment entrant scheme.Thousands of mainland millionaires have migrated to Hong Kong through the scheme, which since 2003

has allowed people to gain residence in the city by investing no less than HK$10 million in the local markets.The scheme had attracted nearly 40,000 people, of whom more than 90 per cent were from the mainland, official data showed.Leung also promised to do more for more retired needy citizens, earmarking HK$50 billion for such future needs.In a speech that went over many initiatives on housing already spelt out earlier, Leung hinted that the government may also have to reconsider country parks as it scours for more developable land.“Hong Kong experienced a long period of economic downturn and saw a declining property market after the Asian financial crisis [in 1997]. The government scaled back the speed and scope of our planning and development of land, and did not foresee the huge demand for developable land as a result of the eventual economic recovery,” he said.“A substantial amount of land was zoned for non-development uses such as country parks to improve the environment. We also lowered the development intensity of land newly planned for development. These are causes of the serious shortage of housing supply that we have been facing in recent years.”

Leung said the consultation process for land planning and development had become drawn out, and time was being lost over judicial reviews on land usage.“We have to take into consideration more and more factors such as the impact on traffic, environment, conservation and even air ventilation in the planning process. As a result, the supply of developable land has decreased or decelerated. Society as a whole must make hard choices.”On public housing, Leung announced a new type of subsidised housing, as reported by the South China Morning Post, that those in the Public Rental Housing scheme (PRH) can buy their own flats with “prices set at a level lower than those of the Housing Ownership Scheme”. The Post earlier reported that this could be at a discount as high as 50 per cent.A key plank of Leung’s speech was on the poor and elderly and their need for enhanced welfare measures. On the HK$50 billion for elderly retirement needs, he said: “Retirement protection is a very important social issue. In the coming few months, the Commission on Poverty will devise a framework and set out the details for a public consultation in the latter half of this year. I look forward to rational and pragmatic discussions with a view to arriving at a community consensus.”On youth, and the controversial issue of national education, he said that authorities “will renew the curriculum content of Chinese history and world history and enrich the learning experience of students. The training of teachers will also be enhanced. The objectives are to reinforce students’ interest in and understanding of Chinese history and culture and broaden their global outlook.”He also spelled out a shift in strategy as he announced a subsidy for students to join at least one mainland exchange programme each in the primary and secondary stages, and financial and professional support to double the number of primary and secondary sister schools in Hong Kong and the mainland to about 600 pairs within the three years.“This will help further promote experience sharing between sister schools, enhance teaching and learning effectiveness, and relieve teachers from some of the administrative work,” Leung said.“At the same time, we will explore with mainland provinces and cities to expand and enhance such exchange and cooperation. Young people can broaden their horizons through two-way visits, life experience activities, cultural and service collabouration as well as job-seeking experience sharing.”Leung said the government will set up a HK$300 million youth development fund to support innovative activities not covered by existing schemes, including subsidy in the form of matching funds for NGOs to assist young people in starting their own business.

Leung arrived at the Legislative Council amid tight security this morning, as he made his first visit to the building since the end of the 79-day Occupy protests last month.But his speech was delayed by 10 minutes as about 20 pan-democrat lawmakers made further calls for

genuine universal suffrage. They opened yellow umbrellas – the symbol of the Occupy movement – then walked out of the chamber, unfurling two yellow banners repeating the call for Leung’s resignation.“Shame on you,” they said while raising their fists in the air.People Power’s Raymond Chan Chi-chuen and Albert Chan Wai-yip waved posters saying “CY Leung step down” and “We want true universal suffrage” as they shouted pro-democracy slogans. Both were carried out of the chamber by members of Legco security staff.Leung kept a smile on his face throughout the shouting, before urging the public to support universal suffrage rather than be at a “standstill”.He also reiterated the government’s stance that city elections must be held within the framework set by Beijing.“The substantive power to decide on constitutional development rests with the central authorities. The slogan of ‘Hong Kong shall resolve Hong Kong’s problems’ does not conform with our constitutional arrangements,” Leung said, referring to a popular saying during Occupy protests.On August 31, the national legislature ruled that while Hong Kong could elect its chief executive by “one man, one vote” in 2017, it must only choose from a slate of two or three candidates backed by half of a 1,200-strong nominating committee’s members.The decision triggered a series of class boycotts in universities and secondary schools in September, before it evolved into the Occupy movement.But Leung reiterated that Beijing’s August 31 decision “has irrefutable legal status and is legally valid”.

Immaculate Heart of Mary College is sponsored by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows from 1981. Each student will live Catholic values, serve humanity and society, and grow towards maturity as a person of character, of education and of charity. Students are encouraged to reach for excellence in every dimension of their lives (spiritual, moral, cognitive, emotional, physical, aesthetic and social) through the range of activities offered in the school so that they will grow towards maturity as persons of character and education.

Our School Motto: AMOR ET LABOR "Love and Labour"

 

Supervisor: Sister Mary Lucy Chung.O.S.FPrincipal: Ms Mok Kit YueAddress: Jat Min Chuen, Shatin, N.T. , Hong Kong

Tel: 26471358Fax: 26479606E-mail: info@ihmc.edu.hk