By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

A training system for badminton players utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) that was developed by university researchers and Victor Rackets Industrial Corp is being tested at a Tainan high school, researchers told a news conference at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei yesterday.

Designed to give customized training to athletes, the system combines image recognition, racket motion trajectory, biosignal analysis and a cloud platform for data analysis, they said.

The system is comprised of a badminton racket with a built-in sensor for recording motion, a smart watch, a brainwave sensor and a camera attached to goggles to record biosignals, said Tsai Chia-liang (), director of National Cheng Kung Universitys (NCKU) Institute of Physical Education.

The sensor in the racket initally weighed 9.5g, but Victor Rackets was able to optimize the design of the racket handle to keep the weight to within 6g, Tsai said.

The system has been tested by badminton players at National Hsin-Feng Senior High School in Tainan, home to badminton teams that have won several national competitions, he said.

The research team created an experimental field at the school equipped with cameras to capture players movements, said Wang Jeen-shing (), a professor in NCKUs department of electrical engineering.

Reading collected signals through machine learning and integrating all the functions to yield precise analyses were the main goals for developing the system, Wang said, adding that the researchers hope the system will be used by professional players.

To protect players personal data, each smart racket has an identification code, but Victor Rackets might later include encrypted information protection services for different levels of players, he added.

Hsin-Feng badminton coach Lee Yi-hsun () said the system allows her to better understand her players physical condition, and the students have been inspired by the devices to work harder to improve their performance.

Victor Taiwan marketing and sales division deputy director Elvis Ke () presented the high school with 45 smart rackets during the news conference.

The companys main competitors in developing smart rackets are Chinese brands, but it is confident that it will gain the upper hand, Ke said.

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World Yoga Day is being celebrated across the world today. A lot of people have turned to fitness apps in these circumstances and rely on them to stay fit by doing activities, including yoga. On the occasion of World Yoga Day, Apple has curated a list of apps that can help you stay fit and keep your mind refreshed. The apps can be used on the Apple Watch or any other Apple device. Some of them work with third-party fitness trackers as well. Breathe

Those who use an Apple Watch will be extremely familiar with this app as it is native on the smart device. The app guides you through a series of deep breaths and reminds you to take time to breathe every day. At the end of each session, you can also see how many times you've used the Breathe app that day.

Down Dog

A useful app that gives you new yoga practice every time you use it. There are no pre-recorded videos and the app helps you break the monotony of doing the same workout again and again. There are over 60,000 configurations in the app and you can use it in multiple languages. YogiFi

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These are the apps Apple wants you to use on Yoga Day - Gadgets Now

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Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has taken full credit for transforming yoga into a global movement. While there is no doubt that Modi and the BJP government have taken great efforts popularise yoga and galvanise yoga research, it is important to acknowledge that many of their initiatives and programmes can be traced back to the efforts of Indias first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Since 2014, Modi has astutely promoted yoga as Indias gift to the world through the International Day of Yoga initiative, while tacitly expunging the contributions of leaders such as Nehru.

From demonstrating asanas on television on Yoga Day, to the Yoga with Modi YouTube channel, to his governments Fit India campaign Modi has used every platform at his disposal to brandish his saffron yogi credentials. Modi has become the face of yoga, while his government has heavily invested in promoting and researching the ancient Indian discipline. Hundreds of crores are spent on the Ministry of External Affairs annual International Day of Yoga celebrations and the Ministry of AYUSHs yoga research projects.

However, ahead of the 6th International Day of Yoga, we must remember Nehru for his contributions towards popularising yoga and framing Indias first yoga policy.

Also read: Think you can prove yoga, meditation ward off Covid-19? Modi govt has an offer for you

It is a well-known fact that Nehru regularly practiced yoga. His tryst with yoga began in 1929 when he met Swami Kuvalayananda, a medical doctor-turned-yoga guru. By 1931, Nehru had seriously begun practicing yoga.

In an interview with the American journalist Edgar Snow, he spoke about how yoga had made him more tolerant of lifes vagaries, and how it had helped him during his imprisonment from 1931 to 1935. Nehru had once publicly demonstrated sirsasana (headstand), and on one occasion, presented pranayama (breathing exercises) to Ian Stephens, the editor of then British-owned publication Statesmen.

Nehru was perhaps the first political leader of independent India to recognise yogas potential in improving physical and mental wellbeing. In Discovery of India, he wrote that yoga was a system of disciplining the body and mind. In this book, he indicated his preference for yoga over other forms of exercise this old and typical Indian method of preserving bodily fitness is rather remarkable when one compares with more usual methods [of exercise]. He further noted that it was suited to India because it fit in with the spirit of her philosophy.

In 1952, it was Nehru who moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha stating that yoga should be a part of Indias health education. In 1953, he ensured that yoga exercises were included in the National Plan of Physical Education and Recreation, which was prepared by the Central Advisory Board of Physical Education.

Also read: International Yoga Day 2020 to be celebrated on digital media platforms

Nehru also played a critical role in promoting the scientific study of yoga. In 1958, he visited the Kaivalyadhama Health and Research Center at Lonavala, where Swami Kuvalayananda was pioneering research that looked into the scientific foundations of yoga. In his meeting with Kuvalayananda, Nehru applauded Swamis work, and said Yoga could not progress unless it was examined in light of the advances in modern science.

Despite yogas religious historical context, Nehru, like Swami Vivekananda before him, argued that the practice of yoga was self-experimental and grounded in reason. He promoted it as a secular practice that would benefit anyone who practiced it. He suggested that the disciple of modern psychology could benefit from studying yoga decades before contemporary psychologists and scientists became interested in it.

Similar to how Modi pursued international outreach that led to the UN declaring 21 June as the International Day of Yoga, Nehru, too, had promoted yoga internationally. In 1956, he felicitated Swami Yogananda during a state visit to the United States, and encouraged the famous yogi bodybuilders Buddha Bose and Bishnu Ghosh to promote yoga internationally. While Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi became a spiritual classic inspiring thousands to pursue yoga, Bishnu Ghosh and his students spread the practice in Japan and Thailand.

Also read: Modis foreign policy puts Modi first, India second

There is no doubt that Prime Minister Modi has contributed much towards reviving yogas popularity. But it is unfortunate that he and his government have failed to recognise Nehrus role in popularising the ancient form.

Nehrus early initiatives really laid the groundwork for Modis present yoga policy. Be it the Fit India campaign or the Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation (SATYAM) programme, government yoga initiatives were first envisioned by Nehru 70 years ago. As author Jerome Armstrong notes in his book Calcutta Yoga: Prime Minister Modi has led a national push towards popularising yoga practice within India. However, before this, the role which Nehru played in the fifties was pivotal for the adoption of modern yoga practice within India.

The author is a graduate student studying religion at McGill University. Views are personal.

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Modi isnt the first to use yoga as govt policy. Its a Nehru legacy - ThePrint

By: Trends Desk | New Delhi | Published: June 22, 2020 1:44:33 pm The viral video impressed many on social media. (Picture credit: Twitter/ANI)

A video of people practising aqua yoga in the Palk Strait in Rameswaram on the occasion of International Yoga Day is making the rounds of the internet.

The video tweeted out by news agency ANI on June 21 shows two men floating in the water and performing various yoga asanas.

Watch the video here:

The viral video impressed many on social media. Take a look at some of the reactions here:

Due to the coronavirus, the sixth International Day of Yoga was marked on digital media platforms without mass gatherings with the theme Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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Watch: Men perform asanas in the sea as part of International Yoga Day - The Indian Express

Neha Kirpal

This International Day of Yoga, well-known yoga expert and bestselling author Ira Trivedi cannot emphasise enough the benefits of practising regular yoga for both adults and children, especially during the coronavirus lockdown.

Its really amazing during the lockdown because one doesnt need much space. All you need is a yoga mat. For most other activities, you usually need a ground, ball, field, gym or treadmill. Its very important to strengthen our immune system and respiratory system at this time, and yoga can help achieve both of these for both kids and adults, says the yoga acharya who won the Devi Award in 2015 for dynamism and innovation, and, the same year, led the first international yoga day celebrations in New Delhi that created the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest yoga class in the world.

Named by BBC among its list of the 100 most influential women in the world, Ira is also the founder of Namami Yoga, a not-for-profit organisation that supports underprivileged children and women in India. Namami Yoga does a lot of free yoga classes in the mornings in various public parks. They started in the Lodi Garden and Nehru Park in Delhi, and have also done some in Gurgaon. According to Ira, the response has been great. When you do yoga in a public space, even people around you get inspired, she says.

Recently, Ira also curated and launched Indias first online wellness festival called Being Yoga, which had some of Indias best speakers on wellness and health come together and inspire people. The festival also raised money for Covid-19. Ira plans to continue Being Yoga, while choosing various charities and bringing together well-known speakers to come and curate more online festivals around health, wellness, yoga and spirituality.

Apart from this, Ira also has her own yoga app called Ira Yoga meant for people who spend a lot of time on their desk. The app consists of short five-minute yoga asanas for the neck, back, shoulders and eyes easy for anyone to do anytime. Apart from that, the app also has meditation and breathing modules.

Before her metamorphosis into a yoga guru, Ira authored books such as What Would You Do to Save the World? (Penguin Books, 2006) and Theres No Love on Wall Street (Penguin Books, 2011) and even won the UK Media Award for the best investigative article dealing with bride trafficking in India.

Iras landmark book India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century (Aleph Book Company, 2014) explored how the nation that gave the world the Kama sutra has now become a closed, repressed society with a shockingly high incidence of rape and violence against women. Her biggest finding in this regard was that there has been a huge sexual revolution in India in the recent past, and that sexual relationships and marriage in India have changed more in the past two decades than in the past several centuries.

The act of sex always remains the same. What changes is how we connect sex to our own individuality. That has changed a lot in the past 20 years in India, she says.

In 2018, Ira also shared her #MeToo stories about Suhel Seth and Chetan Bhagat (against whom she also filed a defamation case). She says she was compelled to speak up in order to support all the women who had spoken up.

I knew personally many women who had suffered under their hands, and as a public figure, I felt it was my duty to step up and say that yes, these men are like this, and this is a movement where women are coming up and speaking about their issues. And if women like me who are public voices do not speak up, then I am doing a disgrace to women around me. Because this is a movement, and if women dont support each other, then who will? she reasons.

Ira is now bringing together her love for writing and yoga with her new book Om the Yoga Dog: Fun and Easy Asanas for Happy Kids (Puffin, 2020). The idea behind the book came about when Ira was experimenting with interesting ways to teach underprivileged children yoga with her NGO. It was at that point that she observed her own dog doing yoga. So, she decided to teach the kids yoga using a fun dog character called the Yoga Dog.

We named the dog Om, because its a beautiful sound energy. I also thought it would be a nice way to constantly keep repeating Om through the day, which is a sacred energy, she explains.

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Heres something to think about: When theres no consequence for poor work ethic and no reward for good work ethic, theres no motivation for your self-storage staff. An employee-performance review is a formal assessment of work performance. It fosters open communication between supervisors and team members and, hopefully, improves employees work going forward.

The fact is, hourly workers are the backbone of our self-storage organizations, but theyre often the most neglected staffers on the payroll and often overlooked when it comes to training and professional development. I once heard an owner say that giving performance reviews to hourly employees is a colossal waste of time and resources. In reality, every member of your team is valuable and does his part to enhance the company.

Whats your current practice? Do you review all employees, hourly and salaried alike? Do you evaluate employees after 90 days and never again? Maybe once per year? Its important to engage all workers who are at the front line of your customer experience. A good way to do this is with consistent performance evaluations.

Hourly workers typically represent the highest turnover in any company, and turnover is costly. The Center for American Progress, a public policy research and advocacy organization, puts the cost of replacing an employee who earns less than $30,000 per year at 16 percent of his annual earnings. In other words, to replace a $10-per-hour worker will cost you more than $3,000.

Workplace policies that address the concerns of hourly employees can help reduce turnover. Some states have mandated predictive scheduling laws for these staffers, while other states (and some companies) are increasing their minimum wage. In addition to financial security, these employees want to be valued in the workplace and know their employer is aware of the contributions they make in maintaining market share and customer satisfaction.

Performance evaluations can be key to retention and engagement for staff, particularly those with lower financial incentive. Employees want to know how theyre doing, and reviewing performance is a way to keep an open line of communication, which is key not only when things are going poorly, but when the site is achieving great success.

If an employee is taken by surprise at something revealed to him in a review, his supervisor isnt doing his job effectively. Reviews don't just clarify goals and reinforce positive behaviors, they help adjust behaviors that arent so positive. They assist in building the employee-manager relationship. They also serve as the foundation for career development. That recognition can turn into engagement and retention.

Skipping a performance review, or being late with one, sends a negative message, even if that wasnt the supervisors intention. The time a supervisor spends with each employee is meaningful and could make the difference between the team member staying and thriving with an organization or becoming dissatisfied and perhaps even walking away.

According to analytics and advisory firm Gallup, companies that implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates of up to 15 percent lower than those that dont. Productive employees who do good work want their work to be evaluated, so they can be recognized. In addition to raising engagement and customer satisfaction, what begins with simple recognition can develop into savings and positive outcomes for the employee and the company in the short- and long-term.

Performance reviews serve many purposes. The top ones are:

The first step in conducting a successful employee review is preparation. You should establish a system and process and follow it consistently. It might include things like:

Note: Performance reviews should be separate from any discussion about promotions or pay increases. When employees think the conversation will affect their pay, they may speak more cautiously and avoid sharing information to protect themselves. Consider a performance review a place to encourage professional development, and create a separate review for promotions and raises, even if the latter is held just a few days later.

During each review, use thoughtful communication thatll build the employee up, not tear him down. Performance evaluations shouldnt be all negative or all positive. Being overcritical will likely demotivate the employee, and yet theres almost always something that could be improved. Tactfully sharing positive attributes alongside the items that need work will help the conversation feel more balanced and ensure employees dont feel attacked.

Its also helpful to provide concrete examples for both achievements and areas of improvement. Share them throughout the review. Being able to cite specific instances of behavior to employees proves youve truly done your homework as a supervisor. This type of communication is much more effective than simply saying what your team member has done right or wrong. It shows youve been paying attention and gives your feedback more credibility.

Your company handbook should be clear about how your employee-review program works and whats expected of each team member regarding performance, attitude, attendance, sales and so on. It should explain:

Its important to lay out your entire program in the handbook and go over it with each new hire. Making this clear reduces fear and dread. It also helps protect you legally, which is why you should work with your legal counsel when developing policies relating to employee termination.

Look back on the goals you established for your employee-performance reviews. Ask yourself:

If your evaluations leave things worse than when you started, its time to change your process.

Employee-performance reviews arent there to weed out bad employees. Instead, theyre critical to determining wage increases, promotions, corrections and an overall sense of whats happening in your workforce. By providing regular reviews, youll treat your employees as what they really areyour most valuable assetand encourage and engage all of them.

Susan Haviland is the owner of Haviland Storage Services, which specializes in auditing, manager training, market studies and operational reviews. She has more than 32 years of industry experience, from serving as a site manager to acting as vice president of operations at Extra Space Storage Inc. and Price Self Storage. She's a frequent speaker at industry conferences and tradeshows. For more information, call 760.401.0297; visit http://www.havilandstorageservices.com.

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Performing Successful Staff Evaluations in Self-Storage: Why and How - Inside Self-Storage

Australian ecommerce grew more than 80 per cent year on year (YOY) in the 8 weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation.

The figures are contained in a new report from Australia Post called Inside Australian Online Shopping 2020 eCommerce Industry Report.

According to report author Ben Franzi, General Manager, Parcel and Express Services Australia Post, Though its still too early to say how the industry will look post-pandemic, its clear this crisis has set a new baseline. We had predicted that by 2025 online shopping would account for 1618% of total retail spend, but the recent growth weve seen suggests the pandemic has brought this forward. Were anticipating that by the end of 2020, online spend will hold a 15 per cent share of the total retail market.

However while COVID-19 supercharged online sales, other data from the report suggests growth was already strong before the virus sent the population into lockdown.

For instance, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2019 sales was a record-breaker, according to the report up more than 31 per cent compared to 2018, with the authors noting, As shoppers become more accustomed to this event, so to do retailers and in 2019 this shopping festival spanned more of the industry than previous years.

The report benchmarked the 30 days from Black Friday onward against the Month of April and found that online purchases were up 7 per cent higher in April compared to the 30 days to 18 December 2019 which encompassed Black Friday and the Christmas rush.

For context, the authors also say that April is traditionally a quiet month for eCommerce, as shoppers recover from their Christmas profligacy.

The report says, This influx of purchasing in April 2020 brought the number of households shopping online for the month to a massive 5.2 million, an increase of 31 per cent when compared to the average in 2019. Consequently, online goods spend grew by 95 per cent year on year in the same month. This industry-wide shift has been as dramatic as it has been swift and will no doubt alter future buying behaviour. While the current acceleration were seeing may begin to steady, many of the changes weve seen are likely here to stay through the rest of 2020 and beyond.

As to what we were wasting our money on in between oom meetings and overeating, the report provides some interesting insights.

Booze!

Wine and liquor has been a hot favourite for Australians during the pandemic, with online purchases peaking during March and April, and reaching highs of over 160 per cent YOY, say the authors.

Initially, however, shoppers were hunting for essential items Panic buying leading to stores rationing which meant customers shifted online to buy groceries, pharmaceuticals, hygiene items, alcohol, and toilet paper.

As government messaging on restrictions became clearer, understanding grew of what could and couldnt be obtained easily, leading to a more measured consumer approach towards buying essentials.

Overtime spending shifted to entertainment, self-improvement, DIY, comfortable and casual clothing.

Fashion demand softened initially, but soon rebounded recovering to single-digit growth rates before reaching highs of 100 YOY, as more active and leisurewear was purchased (or as buyers felt the impact of all those extra home-cooked meals on their expanding waistlines.

Media, which includes books and stationery, bounced around a bit as back to school and university sales were hit by the shutdown but improved as the year went on and everyone had finished watching reruns of Kolchak the Night Stalker, and the Tiger King (Carole definitely fed him to the Tigers, come on, youre all thinking it!) and people turned back to books.

Finally, the authors say Department store purchases also grew by whopping 400 per cent YOY over the Easter week, presumably because you are more likely to find a sales assistant lurking in your own home than on the shop floor of David Jones or Myers.

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Huge spike in ecommerce once COVID-19 hit - Which-50

SpaceXsuccessfully launched two NASA astronautsinto orbit for the first time on May 30 and in doing so, CEO Elon Musk reached a milestone inhuman spaceflightandis one step closer to achievinghis Mars ambitions.

Six of the SpaceX software team members who helped "develop and deploy software that flew Dragon," aka the Crew Dragon capsule used to launch the astronauts,held a Reddit"Ask Me Anything" sessionon June 6.

"We are here to answer any questions you might have about Dragon, software and working at SpaceX," the team wrote on Reddit.

The job of each team member varied from managing software development for the Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch torunning flight software and cybersecurity and each shared a bit of advice on how to get a job at SpaceX.

Here are the team's best tips on getting a software job at SpaceX.

During the AMA, a Reddit user who identified as a high school student asked, "What can I do if I want to get a software job at SpaceX sometime in the future?"

"Get your CS [computer science] degree or something similar" to "really make sure you know how things work,"Jeff Dexter, who runs flight software and cybersecurity at SpaceX, said.

"[E]ngineers who do well at SpaceX are meticulous in their understanding of how their code works, how the network works, how Linux works, how the hardware works, etc.," he explained.

Plus, many of theopenengineeringandsoftware job listingsat SpaceXinclude a bachelor's degree or higher education as a basic requirement.

In addition to a degree, "get real world experience building things and solving hard problems, either through hobby projects or in internships (at SpaceX!)," Dexter advised.

For instance, SpaceX has "noticed particularly good crossover between video game development and what we do,"John Dietrick, leader of the software development effort for Demo-2, said on Reddit."There are a lot of similar math-heavy and performance-centric problems in the two spaces."

In fact, Musk has said his own love of video games inspired him to start programming when he was 12, hecoded a video game called "Blastar," which he latersold for $500to trade publication PC and Office Technology magazine.

While a degree or experience can help, neither is the end all, be all.

"Having different people with different backgrounds (education, experience, and culturally) is a big plus on the team," Matt Monson, who used to work on Dragon and now leads Starlink software, said. "Not much of the team, for example, comes from an aerospace background. Different points of view help us see problems from different angles, and that quite often helps us see solutions we wouldn't have otherwise seen."

When it comes down to it, "we're really looking for a couple things: talent (potential) and the right attitude (desire for self improvement, serving the team over being selfish)," Monson says. "These are more important than specific experience, and we expect to be investing in people to help them grow."

As Musk himself tweetedin February, in order to work at SpaceX, "A super hardcore work ethic, talent for building things, common sense & trustworthiness are required, the rest we can train."

Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years

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Having borrowed everything she could to secure her passage, Myrtle Lewars set sail on June 15, 1955.

Efforts to improve her fortunes in Jamaica textbooks were her favourite reading and she could convert any currency mentally in less than a minute had offered no escape from the hardship that meant she had missed out on a formal education. A decent pair of shoes cost more than she could save in months.

Brought up in the rural parish of Clarendon or bush, as she called it Myrtle would move to Kingston and pin her hopes on England, the country she regarded as the motherland.

Two weeks before stepping aboard at the Port of Kingston holding a small suitcase, my maternal grandmother had chanted at dawn White rabbit, white rabbit, lucky white rabbit.

When the day came, she dressed impeccably, fixing a white rose to the lapel of her pressed suit jacket.

It had been shipped to the island in the precious consignments of imported goods known as the barrels.

An attractive young woman, Myrtle had once appeared in front of crowds to draw the sweepstake, with the moment captured on the front page of national newspaper, The Gleaner.

But like the waves of finely turned-out Jamaican migrants before and after her, she had staked everything on the land of The Queen, Vera Lynn and double-decker buses.

Myrtle would never again call Jamaica home.

She sailed from Kingston on the Ortega at 2.30pm, hoping that better must come in the promised land.

Sixty-five years on from that voyage, the Windrush Generation Caribbean migrants who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971 are still campaigning for redress after being wrongly targeted by the Home Offices hostile environment immigration policies.

A petition signed by 131,000 people was delivered to Downing Street on Friday (June 19), calling on the Government to act on the findings of a review into the scandal.

The ongoing campaign follows protests about the treatment of British citizens who have been detained, denied healthcare and threatened with deportation. While the Government has repeatedly apologised to the victims, the issue remains in the backdrop of celebrations to mark 72 years since the MV Empire Windrush first arrived with the prospective workforce in Tilbury Docks.

A sense of betrayal remains at the Home Offices treatment of some of its most dutiful subjects, who were wrongly told to leave the country they had spent decades investing in, and helped rebuild, after the war.

As MP David Lammy has forcefully stated in Parliament, the relationship between the Caribbean and UK is inextricable. But a wider debt of gratitude must be given to the Jamaican community, for the boundless energy and creativity that has helped shape the West Midlands.

Paulette Wilson was among those who marched on No10 and has helped to organise the second national Windrush Day as a member of the event's advisory panel.

She said: "We are living in extraordinary times, but the commitment and effort shown by community groups around the country to adapt and adjust their plans to ensure Windrush Day 2020 is acknowledged and celebrated is both inspiring and heart-warming.

"It clearly demonstrates the depth of feeling that exists for the Windrush Generation and their descendants and all they have contributed and continue to contribute to British society and thats to say nothing of the great resilience and fortitude they showed.

"With each passing year, Windrush Day becomes more firmly embedded in the national consciousness. It might not be a Windrush Day like we saw last year, but it will remain a Windrush Day honoured by a community fiercely proud of their heritage, and a day that provides an opportunity for us all to celebrate our shared culture and heritage."

Its only been in recent years that I have taken stock of my late grandmothers journey, feeling humbled as I examine a family anthology detailing her life. Jamaican accents are thin on the ground in Coventry and Warwickshire now, at least in comparison to years gone by.

While this is partly due to the migrants success in assimilating into British culture, a lasting foothold is still needed far beyond the Governments long-overdue back-pedalling.

While the Windrush Day anniversary does include funding for community projects in the West Midlands, the region is crying out for a yearly festival that shares not just Jamaican culture but recognises the way it has fused with British life and traditions over the years.

The exuberant Independence Day scenes that held sway in Birmingham in 2018 are an example of how the Jamaican community, a loose term encompassing many English born-and-bred people of all colours, could contribute towards a major yearly festival in the region.

The Windrush Generation's legacy, and that of the Irish, Indian and other overseas migrants who arrived in Britain at the time, should also be realised amid the relentless development, with the dull grey steel and towers of scaffolding, that swaddles much of the West Midlands.

One milestone has been reached in that June 22 the day the former German naval vessel first disembarked its prospective workforce is officially recognised as Windrush Day.

I believe there is more to do, including putting the subject on the National Curriculum in secondary schools.

One thing I am sure of is that my grandmother would have encouraged all students, from all backgrounds, to make the most of every tool, opportunity and crumb of education at their disposal.

After arriving in South London, Myrtle struggled to settle in her adopted country.

Despite her mental skills, application and willingness for hard work and self-improvement, assimilation into a cold and often hostile world was far from easy.

Life began in the smallest rented room in a Brixton tenement, with any money left over from day-to-day survival sent back to a long list of people in Jamaica. But later generations of her family would step onto the groundstones she had laid for their education and career prospects.

We owe these pioneers a lasting debt of gratitude.

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Windrush Day: Journalist Josh Layton reflects on grandmother's voyage - Coventry Telegraph

By The Associated Press

Todays Highlight in History:

On June 19, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.

On this date:

In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

In 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over, and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free an event celebrated to this day as Juneteenth.

In 1938, four dozen people were killed when a railroad bridge in Montana collapsed, sending a train known as the Olympian hurtling into Custer Creek.

In 1944, during World War II, the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.

In 1945, millions of New Yorkers turned out to cheer Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was honored with a parade.

In 1952, the U.S. Army Special Forces, the elite unit of fighters known as the Green Berets, was established at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The celebrity-panel game show Ive Got A Secret debuted on CBS-TV.

In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.

In 1975, former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois; the killing has never been solved.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to teach creation science as well.

In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned North Korea it would face consequences if it test-fired a missile thought to be powerful enough to reach the West Coast of the United States.

In 2009, Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford was indicted and jailed on charges his international banking empire was really just a Ponzi scheme built on lies, bluster and bribery. (Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison after being convicted of bilking investors in a $7.2 billion scheme that involved the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposits.)

In 2013, actor James Gandolfini, 51, died while vacationing in Rome.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to pin blame on Republicans for making life harder for the unemployed and for those who could lose their jobs without new federal intervention. Former NBA player Manute Bol, 47, died in Charlottesville, Virginia, after returning from a humanitarian trip to his birth country of Sudan.

Five years ago: The Obama administration released its annual terrorism report, which said Irans support for international terrorist groups had remained undiminished in the last year and even expanded in some respects. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees homered for his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 29th player in major league history to reach that milestone. (The Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 7-2.) Author James Salter, 90, died in Sag Harbor, New York.

One year ago: The Trump administration ordered a sweeping about-face on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coal-fired power plants. In a daylong interview with the House Judiciary Committee, former top White House adviser Hope Hicks refused to answer questions related to her time in the White House. Mexicos Senate voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new free trade agreement with the United States and Canada. (President Donald Trump signed the trade deal into law in January 2020.) Keith Raniere, the guru of a cult-like self-improvement group that attracted heiresses and Hollywood actress, was convicted in New York of turning his female devotees into his sex slaves.

Todays Birthdays: Pop singer Tommy DeVito (The Four Seasons) is 92. Actress Gena (JEH-nuh) Rowlands is 90. Hall of Fame race car driver Shirley Muldowney is 80. Singer Elaine Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 78. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (soo chee) is 75. Author Sir Salman Rushdie is 73. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 72.

Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 70. Musician Larry Dunn is 67. Actress Kathleen Turner is 66. Country singer Doug Stone is 64. Singer Mark DeBarge is 61. Singer-dancer-choreographer Paula Abdul is 58. Actor Andy Lauer is 57. Rock singer-musician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 56. Actor Samuel West is 54. Actress Mia Sara is 53. TV personality Lara Spencer is 51. Rock musician Brian Head Welch is 50. Actor Jean Dujardin is 48. Actress Robin Tunney is 48. Actor Bumper Robinson is 46. Actress Poppy Montgomery is 45. Alt-country singer-musician Scott Avett (AY-veht) (The Avett Brothers) is 44. Actor Ryan Hurst is 44. Actress Zoe Saldana is 42. Former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki is 42. Actor Neil Brown Jr. is 40. Actress Lauren Lee Smith is 40. Rapper Macklemore (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis) is 38. Actor Paul Dano is 36. New York Mets pitcher Jacob DeGrom is 32. Actor Giacomo Gianniotti is 31. Actor Chuku Modu (TV: The Good Doctor) is 30. Actor Atticus Shaffer is 22.

Thought for Today: Exuberance is better than taste. Gustave Flaubert, French author (1821-1880).

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Today in History: Today is Friday, June 19, the 171st day of 2020. - wausaupilotandreview.com