The Constitution Act, 1940 is a statute passed by the British Parliament to amend the Constitution of Canada by adding “Unemployment Insurance” to the list of exclusive federal powers. The amendment was requested by the federal Parliament, under the Statute of Westminster, 1931, with the support of the provinces. It was in reaction to the employment crisis of the Great Depression and expanded the scope of federal powers to respond to unemployment as a social and economic concern.
The first federal Unemployment Insurance Act mainly addressed the traditional situation of hourly workers who had lost their jobs, but it has been expanded since then to reflect unemployment issues which occur in a modern economy. For instance, maternity and paternity leave are now provided for in the Act.
(I took advantage of the paternity leave provisions when the Cub came along. )
Out of 193 countries in the United Nations, only a small handful do not have a national paid parental leave law (maternity and/or paternity): New Guinea, Suriname, a few South Pacific island nations and the United States.
As of today there are 196 Independent ISO 3166 Countries in the world, when using the ISO 3166 database at iso.org, accessible from ISO - ISO 3166 — Country Codes (find the OBP, Online Browsing Platform).
Wikipedia has a handy table; look for the independent countries here: ISO 3166-1 - Wikipedia.
The 196 countries are…
Current Countries [notes in square parens, with “note:”];
Sorted by English Short Name,
and Preceded by their ISO 3166 Alpha-3 Code
AFG: Afghanistan
ALB: Albania
DZA: Algeria [note: Dzayer (Berber)]
AND: Andorra
AGO: Angola
ATG: Antigua and Barbuda
ARG: Argentina
ARM: Armenia
AUS: Australia
AUT: Austria
AZE: Azerbaijan
BHS: Bahamas
BHR: Bahrain
BGD: Bangladesh
BRB: Barbados
BLR: Belarus
BEL: Belgium
BLZ: Belize
BEN: Benin
BTN: Bhutan
BOL: Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
BIH: Bosnia and Herzegovina [note: Bȍsna i Hèrcegovina (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)]
BWA: Botswana
BRA: Brazil
BRN: Brunei Darussalam
BGR: Bulgaria
BFA: Burkina Faso
BDI: Burundi
CPV: Cabo Verde
KHM: Cambodia [note: Khmer]
CMR: Cameroon
CAN: Canada
CYM: Cayman Islands
CAF: Central African Republic
TCD: Chad [note: République du Tchad (French)]
CHL: Chile
CHN: China
COL: Colombia
COM: Comoros
COG: Congo
COD: Congo (Democratic Republic of the)
CRI: Costa Rica
CIV: Côte d’Ivoire
HRV: Croatia [note: Republika Hrvatska (Croatian)]
CUB: Cuba
CYP: Cyprus
CZE: Czechia
DNK: Denmark
DJI: Djibouti
DMA: Dominica
DOM: Dominican Republic
ECU: Ecuador
EGY: Egypt
SLV: El Salvador
GNQ: Equatorial Guinea
ERI: Eritrea
EST: Estonia
ETH: Ethiopia
FJI: Fiji
FIN: Finland
FRA: France
GAB: Gabon
GMB: Gambia
GEO: Georgia
DEU: Germany [note: Deutschland (German)]
GHA: Ghana
GIB: Gibraltar
GRC: Greece
GRD: Grenada
GTM: Guatemala
GIN: Guinea
GNB: Guinea-Bissau
GUY: Guyana
HTI: Haiti
VAT: Holy See [note: Vatican City State]
HND: Honduras
HUN: Hungary
ISL: Iceland [note: Ísland (Icelandic)]
IND: India
IDN: Indonesia
IRN: Iran (Islamic Republic of)
IRQ: Iraq
IRL: Ireland
ISR: Israel
ITA: Italy
JAM: Jamaica
JPN: Japan
JOR: Jordan
KAZ: Kazakhstan
KEN: Kenya
KIR: Kiribati
PRK: Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of)
KOR: Korea (Republic of)
KWT: Kuwait
KGZ: Kyrgyzstan
LAO: Lao People’s Democratic Republic
LVA: Latvia
LBN: Lebanon
LSO: Lesotho
LBR: Liberia
LBY: Libya
LIE: Liechtenstein
LTU: Lithuania
LUX: Luxembourg
MKD: Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of) [note: Makedonija (Macedonian)]
MDG: Madagascar
MWI: Malawi
MYS: Malaysia
MDV: Maldives
MLI: Mali
MLT: Malta
MHL: Marshall Islands
MRT: Mauritania
MUS: Mauritius
MEX: Mexico
FSM: Micronesia (Federated States of)
MDA: Moldova (Republic of)
MCO: Monaco
MNG: Mongolia
MNE: Montenegro
MAR: Morocco [note: Maroc (French)]
MOZ: Mozambique
MMR: Myanmar
NAM: Namibia
NRU: Nauru
NPL: Nepal
NLD: Netherlands
NZL: New Zealand
NIC: Nicaragua
NER: Niger
NGA: Nigeria
NOR: Norway
OMN: Oman
PAK: Pakistan
PLW: Palau
PAN: Panama
PNG: Papua New Guinea
PRY: Paraguay
PER: Peru
PHL: Philippines
POL: Poland
PRT: Portugal
QAT: Qatar
ROU: Romania
RUS: Russian Federation
RWA: Rwanda
KNA: Saint Kitts and Nevis [note: Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla]
LCA: Saint Lucia
VCT: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
WSM: Samoa [note: known as Western Samoa until 1997]
SMR: San Marino
STP: Sao Tome and Principe
SAU: Saudi Arabia
SEN: Senegal
SRB: Serbia
SYC: Seychelles
SLE: Sierra Leone
SGP: Singapore
SVK: Slovakia
SVN: Slovenia
SLB: Solomon Islands [note: B for Bellona?]
SOM: Somalia
ZAF: South Africa [note: Zuid-Afrika (Dutch)]
SSD: South Sudan
ESP: Spain [note: España (Spanish)]
LKA: Sri Lanka
SDN: Sudan
SUR: Suriname
SWZ: Swaziland
SWE: Sweden
CHE: Switzerland [note: Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin)]
SYR: Syrian Arab Republic
TJK: Tajikistan
TZA: Tanzania, United Republic of
THA: Thailand
TLS: Timor-Leste
TGO: Togo
TON: Tonga
TTO: Trinidad and Tobago
TUN: Tunisia
TUR: Turkey
TKM: Turkmenistan
TUV: Tuvalu
UGA: Uganda
UKR: Ukraine
ARE: United Arab Emirates
GBR: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
USA: United States of America
URY: Uruguay
UZB: Uzbekistan
VUT: Vanuatu
VEN: Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
VNM: Viet Nam
YEM: Yemen
ZMB: Zambia
ZWE: Zimbabwe
ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, formed in 1947 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent, non-governmental organization. Its members are the standards organizations of 162 member countries. It is the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards and facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations. Over twenty thousand standards have been set covering everything from manufactured products and technology to food safety, agriculture and healthcare.
For the solar eclipse this August, everyone in North America, given clear morning skies, can see at least a partial eclipse. But people should make sure to have eye protection that meets the new ISO standard published in June 2015, ISO 12312-2:2015 Eye and face protection – Sunglasses and related eyewear – Part 2: Filters for direct observation of the sun.
ISO 12312-2:2015 applies to all afocal (plano power) products intended for direct observation of the sun, such as solar eclipse viewing.
ISO 12312-2:2015 does not apply to the following:
a) afocal (plano power) sunglasses and clip-ons for general use intended for protection against solar radiation;
b) eyewear for protection against radiation from artificial light sources, such as those used in solaria;
c) eye protectors specifically intended for sports (e.g. ski goggles or other types);
d) sunglasses that have been medically prescribed for attenuating solar radiation;
e) prescription sunglass lenses.
Ray-Bans were founded in 1937. They’ve been worn by Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969), Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (1976), General Douglas MacArthur in WWII (1941-1945 :)), and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator (1984).
Terminator Stout is one of the flagship ales brewed by McMenamins, one of the earliest makers and purveyors of craft beers in the US Pacific Northwest.
Teresa Heinz Kerry cashed out her stock in H.J. Heinz Company when Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital acquired the company in 2013. Three years later Kraft Foods Group, Inc. acquired the company and became Kraft Heinz Company.
An episode of the 1950s western TV series ‘Trackdown’ featured a character named Trump who claimed he would build a wall in order to protect a town from the end of the world.
A synopsis of the episode from the Classic TV Archive reads as follows:
Bart to the Future, a Simpsons episode that aired March 19, 2ooo, predicted Trump’s presidency. Writer Dan Greaney told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2016 interview that the thought of a Trump presidency at the time “just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane.”
Schizophrenia has long been blamed on bad genes or even bad parents. But a growing group of psychiatrists claim the cause is some insanity virus that lives within every person’s DNA, but most often is not genetically activated. Identical twins Steven and David Elmore were studied, as later into their teens Steven developed schizophrenia while David did not. Schizophrenia, one of the most common of mental diseases, affects about 1% of the population.
One example of the similarity of identical twins reared apart is the so-called “Jim twins”. These twins were adopted at the age of four weeks. Both of the adopting couples, unknown to each other, named their son James. Upon reunion of the twins in 1979, when they were 39 years old, Jim and Jim learned that:
Both twins are married to women named Betty and divorced from women named Linda.
One has named his first son James Alan while the other named his first son James Allan.
Both twins have an adopted brother whose name is Larry.
Both named their pet dog “Toy.”
Both had some law-enforcement training and had been a part-time deputy sheriff in Ohio.
Each did poorly in spelling and well in math.
Each did carpentry, mechanical drawing, and block lettering.
Each vacation in Florida in the same three-block-long beach area.
Both twins began suffering from tension headaches at eighteen, gained ten pounds at the same time, and are six feet tall and 180 pounds.
Meet Cathy, who’s lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Patty’s only seen the sight.
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights –
What a crazy pair!
But they’re cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.
The Stone Town of Zanzibar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its reflection of Swahili culture and for the old part of Zanzibar that brings together and homogenizes disparate elements of the cultures of Africa, the Arab region, India, and Europe for more than a millennium.
Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian science fiction novel, written in the 60’s.
The title refers to the idea that by 2010, the world’s population would be large enough to occupy the island of Zanzibar, if everyone was standing upright.
Unguja Island off of Tanzania’s east coast, at 608 mi², is the world’s 247th largest island by area, per Wikipedia. The Hawaiian island of Oahu is the next largest island, at 611 mi². Unguja Island is informally called Zanzibar Island, since Zanzibar Town is located there on its west coast.
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