Thursday, January 4, 2024

Translating Earth system boundaries for cities and businesses - Nature.com - Translation

Abstract

Operating within safe and just Earth system boundaries requires mobilizing key actors across scale to set targets and take actions accordingly. Robust, transparent and fair cross-scale translation methods are essential to help navigate through the multiple steps of scientific and normative judgements in translation, with clear awareness of associated assumptions, bias and uncertainties. Here, through literature review and expert elicitation, we identify commonly used sharing approaches, illustrate ten principles of translation and present a protocol involving key building blocks and control steps in translation. We pay particular attention to businesses and cities, two understudied but critical actors to bring on board.

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Fig. 1: The scope, scale and sharing approaches in cross-scale translation.
Fig. 2: A typology of cross-scale translation as revealed from combinations of sharing approaches applied at a single scale or across multiple scales.
Fig. 3: Ten principles of translation.
Fig. 4: Key building blocks in connecting ESBs to actors and the applicable ten principles of translation.
Fig. 5: Towards a protocol for cross-scale translation of ESBs.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the Earth Commission, which is hosted by Future Earth and is the science component of the Global Commons Alliance. The Global Commons Alliance is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, with support from Oak Foundation, MAVA, Porticus, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Global Environment Facility and Generation Foundation. The Earth Commission is also supported by the Global Challenges Foundation and Frontiers Research Foundation. Individual researchers were supported by the Australian Government (Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT200100381 to S.J.L.) and the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-00371 to S.J.L.). We thank S. Bringezu for his valuable inputs and V. Vijay for her comments on an earlier version of this paper. The authors take full responsibility for the contents and any remaining errors.

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X.B., S.H., L.S.A., A.B., S.K., D. Ospina., J.L., S.E.C., O.S.M., A.d.B., B.C., F.D., J.G., H.H., N.N., D. Obura., G.W., W.B., S.J.L., J. Rockström., B.S.-K., D.v.V. and C.Z. contributed to the conceptualization and deliberation of the work. X.B. led the work and the writing process. S.H. led the literature review of sharing approaches. X.B., S.H., L.S.A., D. Ospina., A.B., S.K., J.L. and O.S.M. drafted the manuscript. S.H., X.B. and L.S.A. produced and finalized the figures. X.B., S.H., L.S.A., A.B., S.K., D. Ospina., J.L., S.E.C., O.S.M., A.d.B., B.C., F.D., J.G., H.H., N.N., D. Obura., G.W., W.B., S.J.L., J. Rocha, J. Rockström., B.S.-K., D.v.V. and C.Z. provided critical reviews, extensive comments and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xuemei Bai.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Cameron Allen, Daniel Hoornweg and Zhu Liu for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Bai, X., Hasan, S., Andersen, L.S. et al. Translating Earth system boundaries for cities and businesses. Nat Sustain (2024). https://ift.tt/26x70N8

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Lost in translation: Interpretation gaffes more dangerous than hilarious for N.J. | Editorial - NJ.com - Translation

About 1 million New Jerseyans speak English “less than very well,” according to a 2020 U.S. Census Bureau survey, and when faced with a crisis like a pandemic, or the victim of a crime, we don’t want state authorities just defaulting to pulling up a sloppy translation off their phones.

The results can be worse than cringe-worthy. A domestic violence victim may struggle to get a restraining order because the responding officers wrongly reported that her abuser was “holding” her neck, instead of strangling her. Or she might mistakenly identify her child’s “caretaker” as her abuser, because of a bad translation that connotes financial support.

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Wednesday, January 3, 2024

‘Five volumes of Sanskrit dictionary to be open for public in two months’ - Hindustan Times - Dictionary

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Jan 04, 2024 05:56 AM IST

the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi

In the works since 1948, a year after India got independence from the British rule, the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi.

With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)
With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources.

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Murthy announced that the dictionary will be open for citizens in the next two months with digitisation of first five volumes completed.

Murthy said the Central Sanskrit University has been roped in to provide permanent resources and collaborate with the Deccan college for the project.

“The digitalisation project will be open for public within two months, wherein users can get access to this body of work. It is a continuous work in progress. We will ensure that the remaining work is completed in a shorter period with the use of technology and young resources,” Murthy said.

The review meeting at Deccan college was attended by Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairperson, National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) and also chairperson of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); professor Shrinivasa Varakhedi, vice-chancellor, Central Sanskrit University (CSU); Vikas Chandra Rastogi, IAS, principal secretary, state higher education; professor Nitin Karmalkar, former vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and chairperson of the NEP 2020 Steering State Committee; professor Pramod Pandey, vice-chancellor of Deccan College Deemed University Pune; Shailendra Deolankar, state director of higher education of the state; and professor Suresh Gosavi; vice-chancellor, SPPU and Prof Prasad Joshi, editor of Sanskrit dictionary since 2017 .

Murthy said that there are 61 departments, ranging from agriculture to archaeology, across the nation on the Sanskrit dictionary project.

“In today’s meeting it was decided that the Deccan College under this new arrangement should continue in its leadership role to provide guidance and collaboration to all these departments,” he said.

It was also decided that Karmalkar and Pandey will make an outreach to major universities in the country like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University and other varsities and see how this collaborative work is done, he said.

“NEP 2020 provides framework for joint collaboration and the Maharashtra government will launch programmes towards dissemination of Indian Knowledge System (IKS) from next academic session. In this, four universities from Maharashtra are combined to provide 7-8 courses to 30 lakh odd students interested in doing a minor course in that discipline. Using this introductory programme, we would reach out to other central universities and offer such type of course based on that discipline and profession. It will a major project to be carried out in coming years,” Murthy said.

Sahasrabudhe said, “The basic groundwork has been done by C-DAC Pune and it will continue as new vocables will be added for the dictionary. As we go along not only Sanskrit to English, but also in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu that also could be thought of as a long-term road map for work ahead. Scholars across universities will be supported by the use of technology in this project.”

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‘Five volumes of Sanskrit dictionary to be open for public in two months’ - Hindustan Times - Dictionary

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Jan 04, 2024 05:56 AM IST

the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi

In the works since 1948, a year after India got independence from the British rule, the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi.

With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)
With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources.

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Murthy announced that the dictionary will be open for citizens in the next two months with digitisation of first five volumes completed.

Murthy said the Central Sanskrit University has been roped in to provide permanent resources and collaborate with the Deccan college for the project.

“The digitalisation project will be open for public within two months, wherein users can get access to this body of work. It is a continuous work in progress. We will ensure that the remaining work is completed in a shorter period with the use of technology and young resources,” Murthy said.

The review meeting at Deccan college was attended by Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairperson, National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) and also chairperson of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); professor Shrinivasa Varakhedi, vice-chancellor, Central Sanskrit University (CSU); Vikas Chandra Rastogi, IAS, principal secretary, state higher education; professor Nitin Karmalkar, former vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and chairperson of the NEP 2020 Steering State Committee; professor Pramod Pandey, vice-chancellor of Deccan College Deemed University Pune; Shailendra Deolankar, state director of higher education of the state; and professor Suresh Gosavi; vice-chancellor, SPPU and Prof Prasad Joshi, editor of Sanskrit dictionary since 2017 .

Murthy said that there are 61 departments, ranging from agriculture to archaeology, across the nation on the Sanskrit dictionary project.

“In today’s meeting it was decided that the Deccan College under this new arrangement should continue in its leadership role to provide guidance and collaboration to all these departments,” he said.

It was also decided that Karmalkar and Pandey will make an outreach to major universities in the country like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University and other varsities and see how this collaborative work is done, he said.

“NEP 2020 provides framework for joint collaboration and the Maharashtra government will launch programmes towards dissemination of Indian Knowledge System (IKS) from next academic session. In this, four universities from Maharashtra are combined to provide 7-8 courses to 30 lakh odd students interested in doing a minor course in that discipline. Using this introductory programme, we would reach out to other central universities and offer such type of course based on that discipline and profession. It will a major project to be carried out in coming years,” Murthy said.

Sahasrabudhe said, “The basic groundwork has been done by C-DAC Pune and it will continue as new vocables will be added for the dictionary. As we go along not only Sanskrit to English, but also in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu that also could be thought of as a long-term road map for work ahead. Scholars across universities will be supported by the use of technology in this project.”

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Tuesday, January 2, 2024

New Urban Dictionary entry for 'Israeled' becomes proxy battle - The Jewish News of Northern California - Dictionary

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New Urban Dictionary entry for 'Israeled' becomes proxy battle  The Jewish News of Northern California

Remove 'workload' word from Indian cricket's dictionary: Sunil Gavaskar - ETV Bharat - Dictionary

Sunil Gavaskar slammed BCCI's player workload management policy saying remove 'workload' word from Indian Cricket's dictionary. This came after the hosts South Africa thrashed India by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test in Centurion.

Mumbai: Erstwhile skipper Sunil Gavaskar lambasted saying remove the 'workload' word from Indian cricket's dictionary ahead of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, starting from Monday. The hosts outplayed Men in Blue in the first Test at Centurion, defeated by an innings and 32 runs. Gavaskar feels that India should capitalise on time between the two matches by playing against the South Africa A team or playing matches against a county or a state team for the preparations. He criticised India's workload management strategy with the schedule where they play only two Test matches with a gap of seven days in between.

Speaking at the Star Sports, India's television broadcasters, the 74-year-old also said, "Nothing happens to senior cricketers. They will play the second, third and fourth matches even if they fail. Practice matches are necessary for the young players. If you want, you can ask your senior players to come at ease, they can come a day before the Test match, but you need to arrange practice matches for the young players."

After the Rohit Sharma-led side faced a humiliating defeat in the first Test, the veteran India opener earlier excoriated India's decision to play an intra-squad game over playing a First Class practice game as a 'joke'.

"The reasons are straightforward - you didn't play any matches here. If you straightaway play Test matches, it doesn't work out. Yes, you sent the India A team. The India A team should actually come before the tour. You need to play practice matches after coming here. Intra-squad is a joke because would your fast bowlers bowl extremely fast to your batters, would they bowl bouncers, as they would be scared about injuring their batters," he added.

"My Playing XI would not change too many changes. Ravindra Jadeja, once he is fit, will probably walk back into the team at the expense of Ravichandran Ashwin. That's what it is looking to be because Ravichandran Ashwin was hardly used in the previous game. There could be a change in the new ball bowling, too, with Mukesh Kumar coming in place of Prasidh Krishna."

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Monday, January 1, 2024

Urban Dictionary’s Anti-Jewish Terms - Aish - Dictionary

Urban Dictionary began in 1999 as a parody of the popular website Dictionary.com. A crowdsourcing website, urbandictionary.com allows users to upload words and phrases in real time; a team of moderators approves users’ submissions before allowing them on the site. The site has gained a devoted following, garnering over 65 million monthly visits, archived by the Library of Congress, and is a major reference for linguists studying English slang.

If Urban Dictionary is useful in giving a snapshot of the way language is used, then its current range of definitions is worrisome. Dozens of Jewish and Israel-related words and phrases have intensely negative definitions, depicting Jews and the Jewish state as venal, untrustworthy and dangerous.

Take the word “Jew” itself. Some mainstream definitions exist on the site, defining Jews as members of the Jewish religion and people. Many other definitions are offensive: “Synonym for screw over; to cheat or deceive someone;” “Term for someone who is rich and stingy; and “to jew someone out of money is basically short changing them.” Other words related to Jews display hurtful definitions: “Hebrew Jeebies” are “something you feel when a person of Jewish decent (sic) leaves you with an unsettled feeling.” “Kosher Casino” is defined as the stock market; one who makes money on the stock market “beat them at their own game,” apparently referring to Jews. “Jew Gold” is “a term for the small bag of gold that Jews wear around their neck… It has been scientifically proven that it is impossible to get a Jew to part with their jew gold.”

Post-October 7 Hatred

Urban Dictionary has contained multitudes of antisemitic content for years; recently, it’s got even worse. Since Hamas’ brutal terrorist incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and 240 Israelis kidnapped, Urban Dictionary’s definitions have taken an even darker turn.

“Israel” is now a verb, defined as: “The act of taking something that is not yours and then kicking out the rightful owner,” and “when a person tells you that your property is theirs (when it obviously isn’t).”

Urban Dictionary users are advised to say “I’ve been Israeled!” whenever they’ve been cheated out of something. Similarly, “Israeling” now means lying or cheating on someone: “My girlfriend lied…she was totally Israeling,” Urban Dictionary declares.

A contributor on the site who goes by the name Oxford Curriculum Reviewer goes even further, defining “Israeling” as “stepping over corpses” to steal what rightfully belongs to another person. All of these insulting definitions were approved by Urban Dictionary monitors.

Users on the site define “Israel” in numerous vulgar ways, giving definitions such as “wants to take over land that isn’t theres (sic),” defining Israel as not a real country, and calling Israel a brutal country which steals others’ land and history. Some post-October 7 definitions to the site betray a strange preoccupation with trying to prove that Jews living in Israel are somehow not “real” Jews or are not “Semites” (sometimes twisting themselves in knots trying to prove that hating Jews is therefore not antisemitic.)

Since October 7, the new word “Palestined” has arisen as with largely positive associations attributed to it. To be “Palesinted,” is: “To reclaim something that has been Israeled from you for so long.” Some users have posted more negative definitions, but the vast majority are positive. Users are given the sample sentence “I finally reclaimed my pen after that guy took it from me and claimed it as his!”

These offensive definitions are a snapshot of the way our language is evolving and indicate high levels of confusion about Israel and the Middle East.

Outlets such as Urban Dictionary don’t only reflect current trends in language, they help dictate it too. When users read that “to Israel” means to steal, that odious definition seems a little more plausible. When users know that speakers somewhere are using Jew in a derogatory way, then it becomes that much easier to utter anti-Jewish slurs themselves. Trends have a way of snowballing; as more and more users define Israel and Jewish-related words in negative ways, doing so will become ever easier and more likely.

Resisting the Rise in Hate Speech

There are a few ways we all can resist the rise in negative speech on Urban Dictionary and elsewhere. When it comes to urbandictionary.com, reach out to complain about antisemitic (and other offensive) definitions at info@urbandictionary.com and telephone 1 (415) 570-8721.

More generally, resolve to stand up to offensive or demeaning language. Object whenever you hear people or groups of people referred to in a derogatory way. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy, starting with the newest anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slurs that are being spread. Call out biased and inaccurate media reports which depict Israel as a cartoon villain, fueling the spread of anti-Israel slang. Speak up, educate your peers, blog, and tell people about the complexities behind the Israel-Hamas war.

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