Thursday's Tidbits - As soon/far/long as...

As soon /far/long as…

The transition phrases in English as soon as, as far as, and as long as are very common in the English language. Understanding these transition phrases will help you to better connect your ideas. Let’s look at the difference between the three.

As soon as

As soon as can be used  to describe something that happens directly after another event. Here are some examples:

He called his mother as soon as he finished work.

She found a job as soon as she graduated.

I will help you fix your car as soon as I get out of class.

As far as

As far as is used similarly to the phrase with respect to. It is always followed by a noun or a noun phrase. Here are some examples:

He is very careful as far as his eating habits.

I didn’t understand him as far as his opinions on safety policies.

As long as

As long as is used to express conditions; meaning, one thing has to happen before another thing happens. They are generally used for promises. Here are some examples:

I will pick you up at the airport as long as I get my car back from the mechanic.

The boss will give us a vacation as long as we finish the project on time.

Check yourself

Complete the following sentences with the correct transition phrase (as soon as / as far as / as long as).

1. People will stay at their job ______________ they are paid decently.

2. I’m going to buy a car _________________ I have enough money.

3. Some things need to change ____________________ your attitude.

4. I will give you a call __________________ I finish lunch.

5. I think he can be trusted ________________ lending money.

6. We plan to go to the beach __________________ it doesn’t rain.

7. He will take you to the airport __________________ you give him gas money.

8. The cat jumped onto the table _________________ he heard the thunder.

9. You can have dessert _____________________ you eat all your vegetables.

10. I don’t think there will be any problems ________________ the weather.

Answers to last week’s Check Yourself.

1. He hates to (lost / lose) to anyone at anything.

2. Walmart is having a big (sale / sell) today.

3. My grandfather (dead / died) many years ago.

4. We need to (sale / sell) our car ASAP!

5. It looks like the fire is (dead / died).

6. The team suffered a humiliating (lost / loss).

7. Our pastor often talked about (dead / death) in church.

8. I asked him to (sold / sell) it at a lower price.

9. I got completely (lose / lost) in the forest.

10. It is difficult to lift because it is (dead / death) weight.

The Weird and the Wonderful

Tennessee man to be exhumed to retrieve wrong dentures

From: www.msnbc.msn.com   

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Tennessee man's body is being exhumed to remove dentures that belong to another man after a mix-up at a Chattanooga hospital.

Parkridge Medical Center spokeswoman Alison Counts told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that the body of 76-year-old Kenneth Ray Manis will be exhumed after his family learned the dentures belonged to an intensive care patient who shared the same hospital room.

Court records obtained by the newspaper showed Manis died on June 12. The dentures were with personal items placed inside his coffin. Counts said Manis' family asked that the dentures be removed.

The hospital has apologized and will be paying for new dentures, as well as reburial costs and attorney's fees. The hospital declined to identify the patient who lost his dentures.

Word of the Day

Exhume
ex·hume: \ig-ˈzüm, igz-ˈyüm, iks-ˈ(h)yüm\
Origin: Middle English, from Medieval Latin exhumare, from Latin ex out of + humus earth — more at ex-, humble
First Known Use: 15th century
Verb
1: disinter <exhume a body>
2: to bring back from neglect or obscurity <exhumed a great deal of information from the archives>
— ex·hu·ma·tion noun
— ex·hum·er noun

More Vocabulary

Denture: n. an artificial replacement for one or more teeth
Burial: n. he act or process of burying
Spokeswoman: n. a woman who speaks as the representative of another or others often in a professional capacity 

Costa Rican Butterflies Big Stars In Indiana Zoo

From: www.insidecostarica.com

They get their start in Costa Rica, but it's not until South Bend that they become bright stars. Fifty or so species of colourful butterflies make their home at Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, Indiana, flying around freely in an indoorexhibit.

The zoo's full-immersion exhibit, Butterflies in Living Color!, is now open through Labour Day for its fourth season.

However, it will be the final season for the exhibit, which will close after this year, according to zoo director Terry DeRosa. He noted the exhibit was established at a time when the zoo needed to fill a void.

"We wanted something new while the otter exhibit was being built," DeRosa said. "It's been a success but it is very time consuming and requires a lot of work."

That work doesn't go unnoticed. It's an attractive exhibit in a greenhouse with lush plants, trees and exotic butterflies native to various parts of the world.

Word of the Day

Species
spe·cie: \ˈspē-(ˌ)shēz, -(ˌ)sēz\
Origin: Middle English, from Latin, appearance, kind, species, from specere to look — more at spy
First Known Use: 14th century
Noun
1a : kind, sort; b : a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name; specifically : a logical division of a genus or more comprehensive class <confessing sins in species and in number>; c : the human race: human beings —often used with the <survival of the species in the nuclear age>; d (1) : a category of biological classification ranking immediately below the genus or subgenus, comprising related organisms or populations potentially capable of interbreeding, and being designated by a binomial that consists of the name of a genus followed by a Latin or latinized uncapitalized noun or adjective agreeing grammatically with the genus name (2) : an individual or kind belonging to a biological species; e: a particular kind of atomic nucleus, atom, molecule, or ion
2: the consecrated eucharistic elements of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Eucharist
3a: a mental image; also : a sensible object; b : an object of thought correlative with a natural object

More Vocabulary

Exibition: n. a public showing (as of works of art, objects of manufacture, or athletic skill)
Immersion: n. instruction based on extensive exposure to surroundings or conditions that are native or pertinent to the object of study
Labour Day: n. (in US and Canada) a public holiday in honour of labour, held on the first Monday in September
Otter: n. any of various largely aquatic carnivorous mammals (as genus Lutra or Enhydra) of the weasel family that usually have webbed and clawed feet and dark brown fur
Void: n. empty space

Tuesday's News

Costa Rica: The Source of the 19 Cent Banana

From: www.insidecostarica.com

Trader Joe’s shoppers are probably familiar with the store’s incredible deal on bananas - 19 cent apiece for conventionally grown and 29 cents for organic. I’ve thrown many a bunch in my cart, happy to get a low price for such a healthy and tasty snack. Have you ever stopped to think about how that banana got to the store and how they can possibly be so cheap?

I admit, I hadn’t really, until I took a trip to Costa Rica (sponsored by Dole) to check out their banana and pineapple plantations and shipping operations. It’s nothing short of astounding.

Dole is the #1 producer of bananas for the US and Japan with 34% and 32% of the market share, respectively. They’ve got 9% of the market in Europe. Worldwide they sold approximately 153 million boxes of them in 2010. Those bananas come from Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru, growing on approximately 32,000 acres of company-owned farms and around 71,500 acres of independent producers’ farms; 2-3% of the bananas sold are organic.

Believe it or not, from the fields to the packing, almost every component of getting those bananas ready is done by hand. How can it possibly be so cheap? And what’s the environmental impact?

All Hands on Deck

The preparation of bananas for shipment is a very hands-on affair. Each touch of a banana will result in a bruise when the fruit ripens, so great efforts are made to reduce the number of touches.

Despite all the human attention to the fruit, it’s incredibly cheap, which means that wages are very low. A banana plantation must be located in a place where wages are extremely low to be anywhere near cost competitive.

Dole’s Costa Rican plantation workers are paid, on average, 46% above the national minimum wage of $10.31/day. Though unions are available (and 37% of Dole’s workforce worldwide belong to collective bargaining agreements), most employees in Costa Rica choose to belong to Solidarismo, a social organization that is one part credit union, one part Lions Club, with a dash of union thrown in (accept for the ever-important right to strike).

Despite these outlets for worker protection, Dole currently has 11 labor cases pending in Costa Rica under the national insurance program, according to Dole’s 10-K.

At the end of the day, Dole did appear to be a pretty good place to work, at least considering the alternatives. A (female, Costa Rican) translator on the trip asked the banana packagers what they thought about their jobs and heard that the working conditions had improved a great deal in the past several years and the worker was very happy with her job. Everywhere we went, people smiled at us.

Environmental Impact

Every kilogram (kg) of banana produced results in 1.48 kg of global warming emissions, (at least to deliver the bananas to Norway, which is a bit further than they might go otherwise, but the study was commissioned by the Norwegian Research Council) and requires .19 square meters of land. But water is where bananas have their biggest impact, with 860 liters required to produce 1 kilogram of banana, according to the Water Footprinting Network.

On the Farm

The company’s Costa Rican operations are leading the way to make GHG reductions and efficiency improvements, due to Costa Rica’s commitment to become carbon neutral by 2021 and general support for environmental programs which protect the gorgeous natural landscape of the country.

On banana plantations, Dole uses precision agriculture and control-released fertilizers to reduce the GHG emissions by hectare by 45%.

Shipped Direct to You

Dole has a vertically integrated supply chain, which means it can both conduct carbon footprinting exercises and manage their emissions much more easily than a company that contracts out for shipping.

Dole’s analysis showed that there were efficiency gains to be made almost everywhere along the supply chain. They held driving seminars with their truck drivers to teach them about conservative driving, which resulted in a 10% reduction in fuel consumption. Where they could, they switched to rail transport, which resulted in a decrease of 34% in emissions from farm to shipyard transport.

Given the short life for fresh fruit, bananas enter refrigeration shortly after being picked. The company has also made great strides to reduce leaks in the refrigerated shipping containers, resulting in, cost and energy savings, as well as huge reductions in global warming potential:

The company is also engaged in Costa Rica’s National Forestry Fund, a program to pay owners of rainforested land for not clear-cutting it.

Water Savings Strategies

Water is a key component of the environmental impact puzzle.

75% of water used worldwide is for agriculture, and nearly 66% of that is lost through evaporation and inefficient irrigation. That’s a big deal in Costa Rica, where 80% of the electricity comes from GHG-free hydro electric power. If the rivers dry up, the country will need to source more carbon-intensive power, which will make it more difficult to reach its 2021 goal of carbon neutrality.

Water savings are where Dole can really distinguish itself on the banana front. Traditionally, bananas are soaked in water when they reach the packing plant, in order to remove the latex that keeps them protected during the growing process… The New Millenium Plant on the Rio Frio Banana Farm simply dips the bananas in water, stores them upside down overnight and the latex rolls off on its own. The new system has resulted in a 90% water savings for the plant over traditional banana packaging facilities.

The facility has 1,600 hectares, about 13% of Costa Rica’s banana plantation land. Right now, the facility is the only one utilizing the water savings scheme, but plans are in place to expand it to other plantations.

So there’s your 19¢ banana in a nutshell.

Word of the Day

Conventional
con·ven·tion·al : \kən-ˈvench-nəl, -ˈven(t)-shə-nəl\
Origin: 1580s, "of the nature of an agreement," from L. conventionalis  "pertaining to convention or agreement," from conventionem  (see convention). Meaning "of the nature of a convention" is from 1812, now rare; "established by social convention" is from 1761; that of "following tradition" is from 1831; that of "non-nuclear" is from 1955.
Adjective
1: formed by agreement or compact
2a: according with, sanctioned by, or based on convention; b: lacking originality or individuality: trite; c (1): ordinary, commonplace (2) : nonnuclear 1 <conventional warfare>
3a : according with a mode of artistic representation that simplifies or provides symbols or substitutes for natural forms; b : of traditional design
4: of, resembling, or relating to a convention, assembly, or public meeting
— con·ven·tion·al·ism noun
— con·ven·tion·al·ist noun or adjective
— con·ven·tion·al·i·za·tion noun
— con·ven·tion·al·ize transitive verb
— con·ven·tion·al·ly adverb

More Vocabulary

Astounding: adj. causing astonishment or amazement
Clear-cutting: n. removal of all the trees in a stand of timber
Consumption: n. the use of something
Front: n. an area of activity or interest
Gorgeous: adj. splendidly or showily brilliant or magnificent
Outlet: n. a medium of expression or publication
Precision: adj. adapted for extremely accurate measurement or operation
Rail: n. railroad

Idiomas & Phrases

At the end of the day: when everything else has been taken into consideration

• The committee interviewed many applicants for the post, but at the end of the day made no appointment.

In a nutshell: something that you say when you are describing something using as few words as possible

• Well, to put it in a nutshell, we're going to have to start again.

Monday's News

Ron Shaich Lets Panera Bread Customers Pay What They Can

From: www.huffingtonpost.com

Ron Shaich, the founder and chairman of Panera Bread, has sculpted his company into one of the most successful small restaurant chains in the country. He's also done something no other chain has done before.

By creating a unique, pay-what-you-can model at three "Panera Cares" cafes around the country -- and more are coming soon -- he has proven an idea that seems revolutionary for a large corporation, but is actually very simple: trust people; they'll often surprise you.

Panera's history goes back thirty years, when Ron opened a small bakery in Boston. That bakery soon merged with Au Bon Pain, which at the time operated three locations in the Boston area. Au Bon Pain, Inc. expanded rapidly and went public in the early 1990s. Around that time, they purchased the St. Louis Bread Company, a 19-store chain in Missouri, which baked breads on–site.

"A lot of investors really didn't like this idea back then," Ron said. "But I saw it as a vehicle to, shall I say to serve real food to real people. At the time, fast food had basically become self-service gas stations of the human body. We wanted to give people food they could respect."

He trusted this idea so implicitly that he convinced executives at Au Bon Pain, Inc. to sell the Au Bon Pain restaurants to a private firm, and focus on the more personal operation behind the St. Louis Bread Company. In 1999, the company was renamed Panera Bread, and has since expanded to over 1500 restaurants nationwide.

"Ultimately, Panera has been the best-performing restaurant stock over the last decade," Ron said. "And I think we've done that by operating within communities, by making communities a key part of our company."

A few years ago, he was watching a news segment about the Same Cafe in Denver, Colorado.

"It was this community cafe without prices. You just paid whatever you could," Ron said. "I remember turning to my wife that night and just saying, 'We could do that.'"

Ron and his kids had volunteered at food banks before, and he knew he'd want his cafe to be brighter, more positive. At a time when close to 50 million Americans, according to FeedingAmerica.org, are living in "food insecure households," the idea of creating a welcoming place was most appealing to him.

"I thought, if we do this, we're going to give it the full Panera menu. We've got to create a place with better energy, where people feel happy to be there."

The first Panera Cares cafe opened just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. Ron ran the restaurant himself for its first month; he created a self-sustainable business model and registered the organization as a non-profit. Customers were greeted at the door and told they could leave anything they wanted in exchange for fresh soups and sandwiches. There was a donation box by the counter.

"It worked," Ron said. "20 percent would leave more than the suggested donation, 60 percent would leave the suggested amount, and 20 percent would leave less."

Ron says that restaurant, as well as the two other Panera Cares locations -- in Detroit, Michigan and Portland, Oregon -- have reported revenues in excess of their costs. The extra money goes into an employment program, which, Ron says, trains at-risk youth to become Panera employees.

"We developed a program to take some of these kids no one else would hire and give them job skills," Ron said. "They're working in our cafes now."

Panera plans to open a new Panera Cares location every four months in the next year, and the company will serve at least half a million meals through the program. Ron says more locations will be established as long as his model continues to work.

"Imagine a world in which Walmart did all the distribution for food shelters," Ron said. "Or where Gap ran thrift stores or Home Depot was involved more intimately in rebuilding communities. It all comes back to defining responsibility in corporations. We have to demand this of them."

Word of the Day

Sculpture
sculp·ture: \ˈskəlp-chər\
Origin: Middle English, from Latin sculptura, from sculptus, past participle of sculpere to carve, alteration of scalpere to scratch, carve
First Known Use: 14th century
Noun
1a : the action or art of processing (as by carving, modeling, or welding) plastic or hard materials into works of art; b (1) : work produced by sculpture (2) : a three-dimensional work of art (as a statue)
2: impressed or raised markings or a pattern of such especially on a plant or animal part
Verb
1a : to form an image or representation of from solid material (as wood or stone); b : to form into a three-dimensional work of art
2: to change (the form of the earth's surface) by natural processes (as erosion and deposition)
3: to shape by or as if by carving or molding

More Vocabulary

Bank: n. a place where something is held available
Donation: n. a free contribution
Implicit: adj. being without doubt or reserve
Revenue: n. the gross income returned by an investment
Stock: adj. of or relating to a stock company
Thrift shop: n. a shop that sells secondhand articles and especially clothes and is often run for charitable purposes

Tuesday’s News

Father’s Day Celebration

From: www.theholidayspot.com

Surprisingly, the dates of the celebration of Father’s Day are not the same everywhere. The customs and traditions differ from one country to another. With the earliest record of Father’s Day found in the ruins of Babylon, one can easily understand the fact that Father Day has been celebrated for centuries. The Countries, where the Catholic Church was of significant influence on the culture and society, Father’s Day is celebrated on St. Joseph’s Day (March 19). However, a more secular celebration which is not associated with any religion is followed in recent times to reflect the increased diversity of the people who live there. There are times when the Dads get a little lucky and enjoy Father’s Day goodies more than once every year!
Indulging the sweet daddies with breakfast in bed; gifting out cards, flowers, chocolates ,neckties, shirts, electronic gadgets, stationery items; games and various other activities, get-togethers mark Father’s Day to strengthen the bond between a father and child and are the traditional way of celebrating Father’s Day not only in U.S. but also, all over the world in the recent times.
Father’s Day is celebrated with enthusiasm and gifts galore to reflect on the invaluable role and contribution of fathers in the family. People honor their father and express gratitude for his love and affection on Father’s Day. As a Father’s Day tradition, people in US and Canada, along with their Dads, pay tribute to grandfather, stepfather, foster father, uncle or men who play the Father figure role in their lives. The tradition of celebrating Father’s Day in Canada has been influenced from US. People in Canada, too, wear roses to express gratitude and love for their father as their US counterparts. The event is popularly observed as a time for family reunion as well, with children staying away from families coming together to celebrate the day with their fathers and other loved ones; paying tribute by giving out donations in the name of their fathers or by performing acts of service; dining out. Business in restaurants and eating joints witness a huge rush on the occasion.
Several clubs, schools and cultural societies in United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and South Africa organize Father’s Day parties and get-togethers and provide people an opportunity to celebrate the day on a wide scale to stress the importance of Father’s role in the development of the family and the society as a whole. The effort to spread a sense of responsibility and devotion to fathers are also made besides, children who in turn are encouraged to pay full attention and respect to their father.
The occasion in Australia is celebrated privately in households. Breakfast meetings for families are also a common affair of Father’s Day celebrations in Australia.
Many in South Africa go out for picnics, fishing or just for a meal in a restaurant.
Celebrating Father’s Day is a new concept in India and highly influenced by the U.S. celebrations. It is perhaps not even a decade old. The idea of honoring fathers has been appreciated by Indians as well, to a large extent like all other countries. Father’s Day celebration in India takes place in the same way as in UK or US, though in a limited way. Awareness about Father’s Day festivals are much greater in metropolitan cities and bigger towns due to the greater exposure of people to the western cultures and are fast catching up with people in smaller towns and cities of India as well. The idea is to instill noble values and principles in children to pay due respect to the elders, especially dads, and understand the importance of a family.
However, the popularity of Father’s Day has also led to an extensive commercialization of the event. According to critics the rigorous marketing campaign has spoiled the noble idea of honoring fathers on Father’s Day as many observe the day by performing the mere formality of presenting gifts to dad. Others on the other hand see the positive side of commercialization and consider that it has helped to spread awareness and the significance about the day for children to honor their fathers.
Here’s wishing all the wonderful fathers out there a perfect Father’s Day. May you be blessed with a life of contentment, peace and happiness forever.

Word of the Day

Tradition
tra·di·tion:  \trə-ˈdi-shən\
Origin:  Middle English tradicioun, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French tradicion, from Latin tradition-, traditio action of handing over, tradition — more at treason
First Known Use: 14th century
Noun
1 a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom); b: a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable
2: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction
3: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions
4: characteristic manner, method, or style <in the best liberal tradition>

More Vocabulary

Custom: n. a usage or practice common to many or to a particular place or class or habitual with an individual
Decade: n. a period of 10 years
Exposure: n. the condition of being presented to view or made known
Gadget: n. an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often thought of as a novelty
Galore: adj. abundant, plentiful
Goody: n. something that is particularly attractive, pleasurable, good, or desirable
Instill: v. to impart gradually
Joint: n. place, establishment
Rigorous: adj. manifesting, exercising, or favoring rigor : very strict
Secular: adj. of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred

Love those Phrasal Verbs

Catch up: to come up to or overtake

• I’m glad the recycling habit is finally catching up in the office!