Bigger Brother. Matthew Vandenberg
colors from a young age, so that they notice when a color is used incorrectly. The colors to add a further dimension to the words should be universal (but not black, or simply from white stars). Black or white words should be viewed with suspicion, like the world of someone wearing a mouth mask and watching the world go by. That way everyone is on the same page: undercover and curious, always questioning the information they're provided with if it's apparently black-and-white.'
'So eventually, associating colors with words would be a standard part of reading,' Gao says. 'That means a modified version of the Stroop test could be employed to check whether Pakistani drug traffickers can read. If not then there is a good possibility that they were taken advantage of [1.] when they left their country alone (they didn't even touch any country, let alone land in a bad way, so why must they end up six feet under?).'
'That's the key,' Aria says. 'Productive partnerships. Encourage working thinking about trust (thinking for good on the job and in the future). Pakistanis need smart female partners to read to them. Like aspiring Chinese doctors, or nurses if the Pakistani wants to hang out with three women rather than just one. Pakistanis need nurses [4.]. A productive partnership - Pakistani men as laborers and Chinese women as nurses or doctors - should be a prerequisite for entry into Saudi Arabia for work, along with an agreement that they will eventually move to either Pakistan or China to work upon completion of their work in Saudi Arabia. (Partnerships with more than a single dating agency are also vital. More than single [for one; honest; with only two leaders, CEOs] dating agency competitive partnerships are required). A long-distance working relationship between Chinese nurses and their patients in China is possible if patients are patient: Saudi and Chinese patients can in fact be figuratively paired in threesomes, foursomes or moresomes if presenting with similar conditions or symptoms.'
'A bachelor's degree is not as important as reading and comprehension,' Gao says. 'What's important is for people to have someone they can turn to in a time of need. How can a piece of paper or mouth mask be more valuable than trust? We could remove them, and talk, and know that we'll be there for each other no matter what happens.'
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References
1 The Economist | Junk bondage https://www.economist.com/node/21779318?frsc=dg%7Ce, ["Labour is one of Pakistan’s biggest exports and Saudi Arabia has for decades offered work to poor Pakistanis. The kingdom plays host to 2.7m Pakistanis, more than any other country. Remittances from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan are projected to reach $2.6bn this year. Yet despite the importance of these workers to the economy, campaigning lawyers say, the government is doing too little to shield them from exploitation. Some 3,200 Pakistani convicts languish in Saudi jails, many on drugs charges."; "“These people are small fish, these are people who do not know how to read, they have never left the country, they don’t know what a passport is.”"]
2 The Economist | Under observation https://www.economist.com/node/21779302?frsc=dg%7Ce, ["...the World Health Organisation says half of China’s doctors do not have a bachelor’s degree. Among those in villages and small towns, only 10-15% do. Some practise traditional Chinese medicine, a form of treatment that has government approval but little scientific basis (stocks of an oral liquid based on such medicine have been flying off shelves since a recent report by Xinhua, an official news agency, that it can “suppress” the virus). There is also an acute shortage of nurses. The average in rich countries is three per doctor. In China it is only one."]
3 Demi Lovato - Let It Go (from "Frozen") (Official Video), https://youtu.be/kHue-HaXXzg
4 Naya Daur, Pakistan Faces Acute Shortage Of Nurses. 1.3 Million More Needed, https://nayadaur.tv/2019/05/pakistan-faces-acute-shortage-of-nurses-1-3-million-more-needed/
Live Thai
*Based on true events, Monday February 10, in Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok*
'They're present when your head's lighter than the dark period of a journey,' Aria says, noticing a Thai nurse or two entering the dim house. 'Headlights. Impact. It's hard to know just how light until it's heavy enough to get you on more than your knees (there's a heavy body the passage brings to life, taken down). You find yourself on the ground, surrounded by passers-by, like surround sound now has a physical presence. That's a new record for you: a single dizzy spell (no album necessary), wandering around like a wand that's walking (who's in control now?), fueled by loneliness and isolation if we're to take a bad break, for instance. Get it? The effect of the fall. But the fuel that enables the rapid descent can be fanned away by the generous Thai women now present: generators (for generations) of a better warmth than the crippling heat of the Thai day, holders of cheap but effective fans that figuratively push away that fuel that keeps people down in the West, for the sake of a newly assured resting mind and body separated from the scent that may have caused the blackout: it's light outside now.
'So there you lie, a busted bag on your back, on your back, in the bustling quarters of the thriving Thai marketplace of Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok. And there they stand or squat, the women attracted to you specifically because you look down, and really . . . and you are, I think that's as clear as the chemicals in the tiny bottles they offer you, for the nose. That's for you to be up (exciting?). Everything cheap, everything available: this isn't just an apt description of the marketplace but also the health care in Thailand. In the States, over a trillion dollars a year goes toward health-insurance [2.] that's barely ensured, and the prices of drugs are through the roof [2.]: but you long to simply get up now, and this simple and cheap liquid is the perfectly adequate means, along with sugar - ironically, that is indeed cheap in the States, but therefore not the drug marketed by drug companies.
'Price lists here are not closely guarded [2.]: aid and sugar are FREE. Everyone is up. The nurses come up in no time (not guards but helpers, much like light angels), the treatment is targeted (you're the one white pill in the sea of stalls that they take away like it's a drug, without hesitation: you a foreign concept), any headache is met head on by a pillow and accompaniment of a bed, like it's a traditional courtship dance (an age-old tale for a bedtime story), any depression as nurses are warmly met is wrestled away by a massage of arms and forehead (but hardly are you exasperated by such meetings: you don't have an available parking spot for your scooting arms on your head now), and memory problems are non-existent given this aid cannot be forgotten. So I don't think post-concussive syndrome [1.] is an issue.'
'You weren't expecting us?' the first Thai nurse says.
'Not really,' Aria replies. 'But we're super glad you're here. Thanks for coming.'
'House rules,' the nurse says, shrugging. 'It's early in the day and we have to make sure that everyone is up.'
'Smart,' Aria says.
'In a sense the help is conservative,' the nurse says. 'But not so much so that it's mental. Like, we're not concerned about who's in bed, unlike in Brazil [3.], but just making sure that everyone can get up.'
'Everyone can get up,' Gao says, strolling into the kitchen, stretching. 'But now it's time to haggle. To haggle like politicians but with the normal people, to see what we can buy. Can we take socialism to the States please. And the viewers DO care who's in bed with whom, I'm sure. That's why we're popular.'
"#FeelTheBern [4.]"
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References
1 New Scientist, Why our understanding of concussion has been completely wrong , https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532691-800-why-our-understanding-of-concussion-has-been-completely-wrong/, ["Some people develop a chronic condition called post-concussive syndrome, especially if they don't receive education and targeted treatments. Typical symptoms include headaches, depression and memory problems."]
2 The Economist | What he did, not what he said https://www.economist.com/node/21779307?frsc=dg%7Ce,["Presidents can have a lot of influence over American health care through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an organisation that is much more interesting than it sounds.'; "In 2019, America spent a mere $685bn on defence compared to the $1.2trn spent at HHS—most of it on Medicare, the government