Friday, March 23, 2007
Microsoft ditches supplier over diversity
Microsoft has dropped a supplier because of the company's attitude towards diversity issues and claims to be increasingly examining its providers' diversity practices.
The software giant told Personnel Today that "cavalier" diversity policy was the reason for it choosing not to use one provider. Businesses in Britain are being warned to take diversity policies seriously as it could cost them business in the future, as more and more companies assess corporate responsibility when awarding contracts.
Read more: MicrosoftU.S. Airmen must learn to navigate the global cultural landscape
U.S. Air Force officials are broadening their vision of the expeditionary Airman.
Armed with a wide range of combat skills, serving multiple deployments in wartime theaters, this leaner, more agile Airman must now learn to navigate the global cultural landscape. "Our Air Force needs Airmen who can influence the outcomes of U.S., allied and coalition operations anywhere in the world," wrote Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley in a January memo to the deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, whose organization has been tapped to develop a process for aligning foreign language and culture skills to meet the service's mission.
Read more: AirforceBook Translations and Globalization
The most stunning figure I have come across lately is this: translations of books from English into German have decreased by roughly half in one decade. In 1995, 7,815 books were translated into German (of some 80,000 new titles that year). In 2005, despite more new titles than ever, only 3,691 new English translations were done. And Germany was and probably still is translating more foreign books than any other nation.
Paradoxically, in that same period, globalisation soared. The debate on US cultural dominance, or, think British, of Harry Potter, the smashing prevalence of Anglo-Saxon ideas and stories, was perceived as a threat of "homogenization" (this term for a truly global anxiety) against all other cultures and nations.
Read more: BooksWord of Day: animadversion
animadversion \an-uh-mad-VUHR-zhuhn\, noun:
1. Harsh criticism or disapproval.
2. Remarks by way of criticism and usually of censure -- often used with 'on'.
No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion. -- Samuel Johnson, Rambler No. 155, October 17, 1908
This animadversion pales before those of other critics. -- Scott C. Martin, "Violence, Gender, and Intemperance in Early National Connecticut", Journal of Social History, Winter 2000