Annette Birch, 2013
af Annette Birch, … i Historie
Se norsk artikel her: https://historienet.no/sivilisasjoner/egyptere/syke-egyptere-fikk-hjelp-av-dyrene
Lange flyture skaber kaos i hjernens ur – og rodet kan øge risikoen for depression og andre sygdomme. Forskerne arbejder på at udvikle en teknik, der kan bringe din døgnrytme i balance, så snart du lander.
Af Annette Birch | Publiceret d. 03.07.20 i Illustreret Videnskab
Du lander i København efter en flyrejse på syv timer fra New York. Tidsforskellen er seks timer, så klokken er 23 om aftenen, men viserne burde stå på 17 om eftermiddagen.
Selvom det er mørkt, er kroppen frisk og slet ikke klar til at sove. Efter en køretur til hotellet tager du kl. 1 om natten en pille, der giver kroppen besked om at føle sig træt.
Efter otte timers uafbrudt søvn er kl. 9 næste morgen, og du vågner frisk og veludhvilet uden symptomer, der forhindrer dig i at få en god dag.
Jetlag er tidsforskydelser i hjernen, som kan øge risikoen for blandt andet depression, hvis man flyver meget og langt. Selvom scenariet ovenfor endnu ikke er virkelighed, kan det snart ændre sig, hvis det står til forskerne, der arbejder på at afsløre hemmelighederne bag kroppens døgnrytmesystem.
En af dem er lektor Martin Fredensborg Rath, ph.d. på Københavns Universitet. Han har i over ti år forsket i hjernens døgnrytmer, og sammen med sine kolleger har Martin Fredensborg Rath i det videnskabelige tidsskrift Neuroendocrinology påvist, at hjernens døgnrytme styres af stresshormonet kortisol.
Den viden skal blandt andet bruges til at blive klogere på, om kroppens hormonsystem kan styre hjernens døgnrytmer for blandt andet at nulstille det rod, der kommer ved lange flyrejser.
Læs videre her: https://illvid.dk/mennesket/naturlige-hormonpiller-skal-udrydde-jetlag
DF says that passing Green Card Provision was a mistake
ANNETTE BIRCH
THE COPENHAGEN POST, FEB 28, 2014
Green Card legislation needs to be revised admitted Secretary of Labour Mette Frederiksen (S) at a parliamentary hearing on Feb. 27. The hearing was held in order to follow up on a report by 21 Søndag that showed that several high-skilled foreigners on green cards were employed as low-skilled underpaid workers.
“I can only distance myself from employers, who exploit people in that situation. It is therefore necessary that we discuss Green Card provision,” Mette Frederiksen said. She underlined that it was important also to take into account the need of Danish businesses to recruit high skilled foreign workers.
Dansk Industri, a lobbying organization for Danish businesses, agreed that it was necessary to revise the Green Card provision. It had never been the intention to have green card holders working low-skilled jobs in Denmark.
“We think that it would be best to keep the provision but make it more specific towards the Danish labour market,” said Claus Aastrup Seidelin, labour market consultant in Dansk Industri. He emphasized that the Green Card provision has been an advantage for the Danish economy – and especially for medium-sized companies which often have difficulties going through the costly process of recruiting high skilled workers in other countries.
DF: It was a mistake
The purpose of the Green Card provision was to ensure Danish companies easier access to high-skilled labour and has been widely used. In 2013 Udlændingeservice reported that they had issued Green Cards to 2,328 foreigners.
Martin Henriksen (DF) thought that his party had made a mistake in voting for the Green Card provision.
“A lot of foreigners come to Denmark [on Green Cards]. They can have all the good intentions in the world but they end up in jobs which were not intended for them,” Martin Henriksen said.
Green Card revision is just around the corner
Mette Frederiksen would not divulge the content of the revision, despite several attempts by Martin Henriksen. She only said that the government was making an inquiry into all provisions involving permits to foreigners, who come to Denmark to work. A final proposal is just around the corner.
“With regard to what the Green Card will consist of, you will have to keep your breath until we present our conclusions,” Frederiksen said. She will discuss the proposal with the parties in parliament when it is ready.
Dansk Industri expressed that the companies would benefit most from high-skilled foreigners with skills sought after by the Danish labour market.
“You could construe it like that foreigners, who have skills sought after by the Danish labour market should be given more points than those with skills not so sought after on the labour market,” Seidelin said.
The government says yes, but several experts and a majority of politicians are sceptical
THE COPENHAGEN POST, ANNETTE BIRCH
MAR 21, 2014
Se også artikel her: https://cphpost.dk/2014-03-21/general/is-personal-information-safe-from-foreign-governments/
The world has gone cyber and the government has decided to join other countries by pushing ahead with a new law regarding cybersecurity.
However, several experts and politicians are now questioning whether the law would make it easier for the government to hand over personal information to foreign intelligence services like America’s NSA.
Democratic principles at risk
“I understand that it is necessary to co-operate internationally in order to fight hacker attacks,” said Birgitte Kofod Olsen, the chairman of Rådet for Digital Sikkerhed, an independent organisation concerned with digital security.
“However, I find it difficult to see how we can uphold democratic principles, if we give our intelligence services such extended powers.”
The proposal would consolidate the Center for Cybersikkerhed’s placement under the wings of the Danish defence intelligence service, Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FET), where it was moved to from the Research Ministry in 2012 – at which point the information became exempt from public scrutiny.
It would enable the centre to not only collect and hand over information to foreign governments, but also to prevent ordinary citizens and journalists from obtaining access to information regarding the centre’s activities.
A reassuring meeting
Rikke Frank Jørgensen, a researcher and cyber expert at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, agreed with Kofod Olsen.
“The overall picture is that they get to exchange more with fewer safeguards,” said Jørgensen.
However, she was more reassured after a meeting on March 17 with the Defence Ministry and other organisations, where the ministry promised that no personal information would be handed over to foreign governments.
Access to personal details
Both experts pointed out that one of the problems was that the draft law gave too broad a mandate as to when personal data may be handed over to cybersecurity units abroad – for example to foreign intelligence services such as the NSA and British intelligence services.
”It can be each time they [the Defence Ministry] say there is a security incident,” Jensen said. “But what is a security incident? It could cover a wide range of situations.”
What is a ‘security incident’?
The law proposal only specifies that a “security incident” is a negative occurrence that could influence data or information systems. An example given is the installation via an email attachment of a trojan horse, which either destroys the existing data or allows the hacker to absorb the information of the targeted computer.
This not only includes information in connection with a terrorist attack, but also when a hacker, located in for example China, has hacked into a public computer in a council’s health department. In a case like this, the information could be handed over to the NSA if the American authorities have experienced similar attacks by a Chinese hacker.
Ministry: Nothing personal
”It could be information regarding a person’s health, their social security number and other personal information related to the incident,” Olsen said.
However, the Ministry of Defence at a meeting with all the relevant organisations on March 17 said it would further specify the type of situations in which data may be exchanged. Moreover, it was reiterated that the information that could be transferred abroad concerned traffic data, like email addresses, not content.
Majority critical
Several politicians on both sides of the aisle are concerned the new law could go too far.
“The road is paved with good intentions, but it opens up for a truckload of personal information that can be collected, stored for a long time and handed on to others – without anyone knowing about it,” Venstre’s IT spokesperson Michael Aastrup Jensen told Politiken on March 10.
The former government partner SF and its co-operation partner Enhedslisten are also concerned.
“I would be concerned that citizens and companies lose their legal rights, and that we lose control over our own information,” Stine Brix, the IT spokesperson for Enhedslisten, told Politiken on March 5.
Defence spokesperson Zenia Stampe (R) told Politiken on March 5 that her party is willing to look closer at the proposal.
Under civilian authority
Olsen recommended that the centre should be moved back under the jurisdiction of one of the civil ministries like the Justice Ministry or the Research Ministry, where the public would have insight into the information under the rules of openness in government.
“It should be removed from the Ministry of Defence,” she said.
“We do not discuss whether they can look at the information. The problem is that it [the information] is obtained by the intelligence services. When it is there, it can also be used.”
Scam artists hold all the cards in a system in which the City Council, police and rental sites are powerless to act
ANNETTE BIRCH
COPENHAGEN POST, APR 6, 2014
Se også artikel her: https://cphpost.dk/2014-04-06/general/young-renters-have-nowhere-to-turn-in-vicious-housing-circle/
The scarcity of housing in the Copenhagen area has created an environment in which rogue agents thrive, preying on desperate house-hunters unfamiliar with the Danish housing market. Most of the victims are foreign students.
Take the money – and gone
When Hristo Aleksandrov, a Bulgarian marketing student, tried to find an apartment in Copenhagen a year ago, he ran into one such scam-artist. The apartment was cheap and at a nice location. The only catch was that the landlord was in the UK.
“I thought maybe I was getting lucky,” recalled Aleksandrov, who had already sent 400 applications to rent a property over a two-month period.
However, when he asked to see the apartment, he was told to make a deposit in the account of an estate agent that only had offices in the UK. He decided not to go along with it and found another place.
Desperate, poor = easy victim
Following our request via Facebook, eleven more young people contacted us to say they had encountered similar scams in which they were asked for money beforehand. And several subsequently come across others who had the same experience.
According to Rasmus Kristensen from the renting site boligsurf.dk, it is a common trend. Young foreign students, he said, were particularly vulnerable because they were often desperate to get a place and did not have a lot of money.
Foreign students need to have an address in order to obtain a residence permit. But when the address is phoney, this can cause problems at the International Citizens Service (ICS) at the City Council.
“We often discover that the address is illegal or they have paid too much when they come to register,” said Violeta Janova, an ICS counsellor.
Too much to lose
Janova has seen it all: fake contracts, sky-high rents and unauthorised sub-renting without approval. There have also been cases in which students think they are the only ones registered at an address, but in reality there are five others living there.
“A lot of foreign students do not know what they can do and cannot do,” she said.
If the council finds out that the student’s tenancy is not legit, the student will be deregistered and therefore no longer legally present in Denmark. So the student will often tolerate difficult living conditions just to stay in the country. And pay handsomely for the privilege.
Information but no action
However, while the City Council and the ICS do everything they can to inform foreign students about housing issues, there is little either can do about individual cases. Instead, the students are referred to complain to the tenants’ complaints authority, Huslejenævnet.
So far, it has only dealt with a few cases. “We do not see them very often,” confirmed Marianne Dons, a manager at Huslejenævnet. “Normally, it would be a case for the police.”
Francesco Bergami, a 26-year-old Italian business student, went to the police last summer when a landlord living in England via Facebook asked for money before he could see an apartment in Copenhagen.
But it was a wasted journey. “I was told they could do nothing,” he said. “We were advised to report the incident to Faceook. Which we did … with zero results.”
Time consuming and costly
“The problem for us is when the person comes from a foreign country,” explained Sebastian Richelsen from Copenhagen Police’s communications department.
He explained that they could investigate who was behind the account or phone number. However, tracing the scams across borders is often both time-consuming and costly.
Renters, he conceded, should not pay any money before they have the keys to the apartment.
Landlords hold the cards
Rental portals like boligportal.dk and lejebolig.dk advise their customers to be aware of scams – especially ads in English – and to report them.
At boligsurf.dk, they have tried to establish some security for their customers by requesting them to sign in with NemID. However, it is only a voluntary requirement for landlords – instead they check their data and make a decision based on that
“We had it as a requirement for the first eight months, but we had to take it out because it put off a lot of landlords,” Kristensen explained.
DJØF-BLANDET, 13.5.2014
AF
ANNETTE BIRCH
Se også artikel her: https://www.djoefbladet.dk/artikler/2014/05/digitaliseringen-og-demokratiet
Vi bliver dagligt bombarderet med nyheder om, hvordan internettet bruges til overvågning, spionage og brug af vores private oplysninger. Men hvordan påvirker digitaliseringen egentlig vores daglige liv og vores fremtid?
Godt 1.500 djøfere havde tilmeldt sig Djøf Forum, som i år havde hovedoverskriften ”Global overvågning – dilemmaer og paradokser.”
Den svenske trendspotter Magnus Lindkvist, journalist og cyberekspert Misha Glenny og Charles Armstrong, stifter af en NGO for digitale platforme, pegede på, at mange af de problemer, vi oplever i dag, er udtryk for, at internettet til stadighed er blevet en større og større del af vores hverdag.
“Der er sket en IKEAfication: Hvad der var dyrt, er nu tilgængeligt for alle,” sagde Lindkvist. Han henviste til, at internettet siden dets start i 1990’erne grundlæggende har ændret betingelserne for vores demokrati.
Internettet har skabt en bedre og hurtigere kommunikation mellem borger og stat og åbnet op for mulighed for mere direkte demokrati – selv om det ikke helt lever op til det utopia, som internettets grundlæggere forudså.
”Vi forventede en genfødsel af det direkte demokrati med superinformerede aktive borgere. Hvad fik vi i stedet?” spurgte Armstrong. Han svarede selv, at det meste af det, der i dag bliver lagt ud på internettet, er en masse ligegyldigheder som fotografier af kattekillinger.
Dine oplysninger sælges på internettet
Internettet har imidlertid også gjort den private information, som folk frivilligt lægger ud på internettet, mere tilgængelig ikke kun for kriminelle og fremmede stater, men også helt legalt for store internetudbydere. Armstrong henviste til, at vi også bliver tagget på Facebook og fulgt på Google.
”Denne koncentration af information giver disse virksomheder en magt, der i sig selv er en stor fare for demokratiet,” sagde Armstrong.
Problemet er, at de store internetudbydere kan bruge den meget detaljerede personlige information, som mange mennesker frivilligt lægger på f.eks. Facebook, til at målrette deres reklamer ikke alene til en specifik målgruppe, men til en specifik person.
Kend din modstander og lær fra ham
Men hvad skal vi så gøre ved det? Her var eksperterne enige i, at løsningen ikke var at overgive kontrollen til NSA (National Security Agency er en af USA’s sikkerhedstjenester) eller individuelle regeringer.
”Kend din modstander og lær fra ham,” sagde Glenny og henviste til den kinesiske filosof Sun Tzu.
Det gælder, hvad enten modstanderen er en almindelig hacker, en fremmed stat, organiseret kriminalitet eller en organisation, der får privat information på legal vis. Det bedste forsvar er dog forebyggelse: At den enkelte borger, virsomhed og offentlige myndighed bliver mere bevidst om, hvordan de selv kan passe på deres oplysninger.
11.9.2014, DJØF-BLADET
AF
ANNETTE BIRCH
Se også artiklen her: https://www.djoefbladet.dk/artikler/2014/09/simulerede-onlinetests-vinder-frem
Fremtidens jobansøgere vil i stigende omfang blive testet i, hvordan de håndterer simulerede jobsituationer online – også inden den første samtale.
Hvis du skal søge job om et par år, kan du meget vel komme ud for en simuleret onlinetest, selv før du bliver kaldt ind til samtale. Det forudser flere eksperter.
”Der er ingen tvivl om, at det med at teste i reelle jobsituationer vinder frem,” siger Kim Domdal, der er partner i Deloitte.
Kim Staack Nielsen, der er formand for Dansk HR – et netværk for personaleansvarlige i både offentlige og private virksomheder – er enig. Han nævner, at det typisk er større virksomheder, der screener ansøgerne online.
”De screener især for specifikke kvalifikationer, eller hvis der er en stor mængde ansøgere,” siger Kim Staack Nielsen.
Hvis der fx er 300 ansøgere til en stilling, så kan virksomheden teste de 50 og på grundlag af testresultaterne vurdere 20 nærmere – for til sidst at indkalde fem til samtale.
Simulationsspil skal bruges efter behov
Amerikanerne er allerede i fuld gang med at bruge simulerede tests – både før, under og efter ansættelsen og til alle typer stillinger, skriver Washington Post. Her vil en ansøger til en stilling som kundemedarbejder i T-Mobile kunne komme ud for at skulle svare på spørgsmål online fra en simuleret kunde, der har ventet en time i køen.
Begge eksperter mener, at man i Danmark kommer til at se den slags simulationsspil i fremtiden – men slet ikke i samme omfang.
”Amerikanerne er vant til tests, der er baseret på det visuelle. Simulerede tests gør det både lettere for ansøgerne og går mere i dybden. Danskere er typisk bedre uddannede og behøver ikke samme billedmængde,” siger Kim Staack Nielsen.
Danmark får det også – engang
Deloitte har endnu ikke set simulerede tests på linje med de amerikanske i Danmark. Derimod benytter de i dag onlinetests til stort set alle stillinger, hvor ansøgeren kan besvare spørgsmålene hjemmefra.
”Vi sender typisk testen til dem, som vi udvælger, og bruger den som udgangspunkt i samtalen,” siger Kim Domdal.
Firmaet Cubiks, som producerer onlinetests, ser samme tendens i andre danske virksomheder.
”Flere virksomheder synes, at det er en god ide at lave testene visuelt,” siger Kristian Terp, der er erhvervspsykolog i Cubiks.
Danske virksomheder efterspørger dog ikke online-simulerede jobsituationer – som Cubiks har erfaring med, at de gør i andre europæiske lande. Derimod er det Kristian Terps erfaring, at danske virksomheder efterspørger tests, der online afprøver ansøgernes evne til at prioritere mellem forskellige opgaver eller lave en præsentation via videokonference. Og testene ligger ikke før interviewet, men typisk efter første samtale.
Kristian Terp forholder sig skeptisk til, om danske virksomheder har den tilstrækkelige størrelse og volumen, der skal til for at udvikle simulerede tests på linje med de amerikanske.
”Det kommer nok, men ikke inden jul,” siger Kristian Terp.
Som weekendfar til 3 børn, der mener alt grønt er farligt, kan det være svært at skære ned på kød og færdigretter.
Annette Birch · 15. juni 2021
Se også artiklen her: https://taenk.dk/forbrugerliv/mad-og-indkoeb/weekendfar-det-kan-vaere-svaert-spise-klimavenligt
Karsten Møller Pillsburg vil gerne købe klimavenligt ind og prøver også at skære ned på kødet. Det er bare ikke altid lige let, når man er fraskilt og weekendfar til tre børn på 7, 10 og 12 år, der er modstandere af alt grønt.
“Jeg må ærligt erkende, at jeg nok ikke tænker på klimaet så meget, som jeg burde, når jeg køber ind. Men jeg har nogle børn, der mener, at alt der er grønt, er farligt, så mange gange bliver det pasta og kødsauce igen-igen,” siger 46-årige Karsten Møller Pillsburg fra Horsens.
Han indrømmer, at der også er plads til forbedring, når han ikke har børnene. Her arbejder han meget og får ofte en rugbrødsmad eller færdigret om aftenen.
Prisen er vigtig
For ham betyder det noget, at økologiske varer for eksempel er dyrere, særligt da han lige var blevet skilt og ikke havde så mange penge.
“Lige efter vi var blevet skilt, havde jeg ikke ret meget, og jeg så derfor især på prisen. Her prioriterede jeg at lave nogle ting med ungerne i weekenden frem for at tænke på, hvor æggene kom fra,” siger Karsten Møller Pillsburg.
Mad: Sådan spiser du mere klimavenligt
Spiser flere grøntsager om sommeren
Efterhånden som han fik mere styr over økonomien, kunne han bedre overskue det. Da han nu bor på landet, køber han æg, kartofler og andet grønt fra en gård. Det er både mere klimavenligt og smager bedre. Det er også lettere at få børnene til at spise grønt om sommeren, hvor de selv dyrker grøntsagerne.
“Det ser mere indbydende ud, når man selv trækker grøntsagerne op af jorden,” siger Karsten Møller Pillsburg.
Han vil også gerne bruge flere penge på mad, hvis de smager bedre og er klimavenlige. Derimod er han ikke sikker på, at et klimamærke vil få ham til at spise mere klimavenligt.
“Der er så mange mærker i forvejen, at det er svært at finde rundt i. Der, hvor jeg gør mine daglige indkøb, skilter de med det klimavenlige køb. Det går jeg efter,” fortæller han.
Louise Holmes Jensen fokuserer på velsmag og sundhed, når hun køber ind. Men hun synes ikke, at det er nemt at købe klimavenligt i supermarkedet.
Annette Birch · 15. juni 2021
Se også artiklen her: https://taenk.dk/forbrugerliv/mad-og-indkoeb/louise-mig-haenger-klima-og-sundhed-sammen
Louise Holmes Jensen tænker meget over sundhed, når hun køber madvarer. Det er vigtigt for hende at købe råvarer af god kvalitet.
“Jeg er meget bevidst om, at det er sundt, hvad jeg putter i kurven i supermarkedet. For mig hænger sundhed og klima sammen. Jeg køber lokalt og økologisk, så jeg er sikker på, at fødevarerne ikke er sprøjtede, eller der er brugt kemikalier i jorden,” siger 33-årige Louise Holmes Jensen, der er designstuderende og bor i Aarhus.
Ingen bananer
Hun køber helst sæsonvarer og ikke ananas og bananer, da de kommer langvejs fra og derfor belaster klimaet. Desuden forsøger hun at lave ting selv, for eksempel ved selv at lave dejen til pizzaen, og hun henter bær og frugt i naturen samt ramsløg til pesto i skoven:
“Det giver også en kæmpe glæde selv at hente grøntsager og frugt – og så smager det bedre. Jeg har ikke købt en marmelade i supermarkedet i mange år, da det ikke smager af så meget,” siger Louise Holmes Jensen.
Etisk forbrug: Sådan stemmer du i supermarkedet
Køber mindre, men bedre
Hvis man skal købe økologisk, kan det dog godt være lidt dyrere end konventionelle varer, men hun får pengene til at række ved at købe mindre portioner og nyde det mere:
“Jeg køber mest økokyllinger. Man kan være heldig at få dem på tilbud, og så udnytter jeg hele kyllingen. Men jeg køber kun kylling en gang imellem, da den er lidt dyr.”
Desuden går hun efter MSC-mærket, når hun køber fisk, og undgår færdigretter. Det smager meget bedre og er sundere. Hun indrømmer dog, at der er kommet lidt mere kød på bordet, efter at hun har fået en kæreste, fordi han godt kan lide kød.
Plantefars: Kan det erstatte bøffen af kød?
Ingen skiltning i supermarkedet
Hun oplever imidlertid ikke, at hun får den store vejledning i supermarkedet til, hvad der er klimavenligt at spise.
“Det står ikke på store skilte, hvilke fødevarer der er klimavenlige, og hvilke der ikke er, så det skal man selv sætte sig ind i. Derfor kan det være svært at gennemskue. Jeg mener, at det skal være mere gennemskueligt,” siger Louise Holmes Jensen.
Annette Birch 