Karma Vista?

By Arnie Zemzow

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella stated Monday that Microsoft values and compensates female and male labor equally, according to Thomson Reuters.

Nadella has since been inundated with criticism. After presenting Microsoft's new cloud technologies, the Microsoft chairman stated that "women best not ask for a raise at work, relying on good karma." 

 

To an aghast audience, he continued: "It's not worth asking for higher wages, but it might be worth to understand and trust in the system that will reward those who do good on their career paths. This, in my opinion, is one of the additional advantages which women possess - those who do not request higher wages. This is all because of the connection with good karma. It will all come back in the future, because someone will understand that they will be trusted by others, leading to greater added responsibility."

The head of Microsoft later apologized for his comments and remarked that he was unclear with his words. Beyond that, he expressed his belief in the remuneration mechanism of Microsoft: "We, as a whole, are in great shape. Men and women receive equal pay at Microsoft." At the same time, Nadella admitted that gender roles is a sphere where Microsoft needs guidance. 

According to popular business and recruiting magazine Glassdoor, men at Microsoft all receive higher wages than women in analogous situations. These stats are based on a narrow scope of data, which are submitted to Glassdoor by Microsoft employees themselves. At Microsoft headquarters, female employees only comprise about a third of the total staff.

1001 Arabian Canals

By Alexander Vittorgan

The Egyptian government promulgated Sunday, October 18, the final agreements with six international corporations on accord of the construction of a Suez Canal alternative, according to Thompson Reuters. This is the flagship project of president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's economic restoration program. The Egyptian economy is currently in dire straits due to the political instability of late. The construction of the new canal will be actualized with the enlisted help of UAE, The Netherlands, Belgium, and the US.

The Egyptian authorities hope that the new canal will increase national profits from waterways by 2023 twofold - from 5 billion dollars to 13.5. In the same vein, there are plans to construct a figurative rest stop for boats carrying large loads.

The head of the Suez Canal administration, General Lt. Mohab Meshim informed the public of their intention to begin work no later than next week, finishing before the fall of next year. According to Meshim, Egyptian engineers have already begun extensive research and will continue alongside their international colleagues.

The new yet-unnamed canal will stream parallel to an old land route, existing for more than 150 years. The Suez Canal is the shortest passage between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Critical to commericial and, to an extent, biological life, the Suez Canal is the dominant source of international capital and investment. That is amplified in its importance in these uneasy times of weakened economic structures and financial systems since the Tahrir Revolution of 2011. 

This is the Suez Canal, as it is seen from space. If the Suez Canal is at 10 o'clock on a watch, the new canal will run at 8 o'clock.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sacrificed billions of dollars in aid since Sisi, the former Minister of Defense, rose to power through his own military coup, overthrowing Muhammed Morsi, the legitimately-elected president of the Muslim Brotherhood party.

The Psychology of Ebola

By Jacob Ausubel 

According to the World Health Organization, the 2014 Ebola epidemic resulted in 3,439 confirmed casualties by October 3^rd. The number of Ebola cases in West Africa could reach 1.4 million by the end of this year. Considering that the current strain of Ebola is highly virulent and has about a 50% fatality rate, thousands of people will most likely die in October, November, and December. Scientists are concerned that the problem could become more severe if Ebola spreads to other countries or if the virus becomes airborne. The United Nations estimated that $1 billion is required to contain the epidemic. However, the international community only invested a fraction of that cost by the beginning of October. 

The lackluster response to Ebola makes sense from a psychological perspective. In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience on October 9^th, 2013, a team of Max Planck researchers made several observations about human empathy. According to the paper, people who are in an “agreeable and comfortable situation” have difficulty empathizing with an individual’s suffering. This research suggests that westerners, unacquainted with Ebola prior to 2014 and accustomed to receiving high-quality health service, do not find the problem in West Africa relatable.

Another explanation for the response is that people spend more time focusing on positive outcomes than negative outcomes. Research conducted by neuroscientist Elizabeth Phelps suggests

that the “[direction] of thoughts of the future toward the positive” is due to the interaction between the frontal cortex, a part of the brain, with subcortical regions deep inside of the brain. Phelps’ research suggests that members of the public are not spending enough time thinking about the spread of the Ebola virus across the globe. Consequently, an inadequate amount of money is being spent to mitigate the effects of the virus. In fact, a CNN survey released in mid-September 2014 indicates that only 27% of Americans are worried about getting Ebola.

Americans should be far more concerned about Ebola than they are right now. The spread of the virus poses a risk not only to people’s lives but also to the global economy as well. The situation is not necessarily helpless. People are capable of empathizing with others, as the research of the Max Planck scientists suggests. The United States should inform citizens about the dangers of the virus so that Americans empathize more with the suffering of West Africans.

Why You Should Care About the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa- in 5 Paragraphs

by Fox Meyer

If by some rare chance the news hasn’t reached you, West Africa is experiencing the largest recorded outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) ever. Many people are not sure what this means or why it matters because there seems to always be a disease spreading, but EVD is a particularly interesting case due to its rather interesting characteristics. If that wasn’t enough, it also has a 55% mortality rate. That’s just in this instance - in previous outbreaks of this strain 90% of cases have been fatal!

Map of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa

First of all, the actual symptoms of EVD aren’t all too wild in the realm of diseases: infected people usually experience vomiting, diarrhea, aches and fever. Not so bad, right? On the surface, maybe not. The symptoms themselves are survivable, but they lead to more extreme symptoms, including dehydration and failure of the liver and kidneys. It is from these effects that the deadliness of Ebola emerges.

One aspect of the uncertainty surrounding EVD’s rise is where it actually comes from. While it is agreed that the virus likely makes the jump to mammals, including humans, through ingestion, the disease's origin is unknown. It has been observed, however, that bats harbor it in their digestive tracts. Once in a human host, the virus spreads through most bodily fluids. This fact is especially dangerous for the people taking care of the sick due to the sheer amount of bodily fluids released by the infected. Two American health workers have so far been infected, and have been flown to the U.S. to undergo tests and treatment at an Atlanta, Georgia hospital.

Doctors treating Ebola patients in the capital of Guinea

In addition to spreading to doctors, the virus actually has the ability to keep a host infective after death, creating the risk of infection for those who attend or officiate burial ceremonies and those who handle the bodies.

Although the Ebola outbreak has reached a record level of over 1,300 reported cases, there is little need to worry for your own health. The success of this outbreak can be attributed to the poor living conditions in the countries it has spread to, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, and the nation where it began, Guinea. The developed world has little to fear from Ebola, but still ought to focus on developing a cure for this dangerous and deadly disease.