Travel etiquette 101: Body language

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In Travel Tips

06 May 2011 | By Robert Reid, Lonely Planet

Thumbs up! – the customary greeting in Belize. (Andrew Marshall & Leanne Walker/LPI)

You step over someone’s legs in Nepal and you might not even realize that you committed a grave social taboo! Read below for a list of etiquette tips, complied from Lonely Planet guidebooks and staffers, to help you navigate different parts of the world.

1. In Asia, never touch any part of someone else's body with your foot, which is considered the "lowest" part of the body. If you accidentally do this, apologize by touching your hand to the person's arm and then touching your own head. Do not point at objects or people with your feet, do not prop your feet on chairs or tables while sitting. (From the Thailand travel guide and other Asia books.)

2. Also in Asia, refrain from touching people on the head or ruffling their hair. The head is spiritually the "highest" part of the body. Don't sit on pillows meant as headrests, as it is a variant on this taboo. (From the China travel guide.)

3. Shaking hands was introduced to Fiji in the 19th Century by way of Tonga, and quickly became the established custom. An affectionate handshake can be very long, and may even last throughout an entire conversation. (From the South Pacific phrasebook.)

4. In Nepal, it is bad manners to step over someone's outstretched legs, so avoid doing that, and move your own legs when someone wants to pass. Also do not step over or sit on a monk's cushions in or near a temple, even if no one is sitting on them. Always walk around stupas and chortens (Tibetan-style stupas) in a clockwise direction. (From the Nepal travel guide.)

5. In Japanese baths, called onsen, always wash first before entering the water. The water is considered fouled if someone does not do this, kind of like the American equivalent of peeing in a pool. Also, use a wash cloth to cover your private bits. (From the Japan travel guide.)

6. The people of Italy are emotionally demonstrative, so expect to see lots of cheek kissing among acquaintances, embraces between men who are good friends and lingering handshakes. Italian men and women may walk arm-in-arm. Pushing and shoving in busy places is not considered rude, so do not be offended by it. Try to hold your ground. (From the Italy travel guide.)

7. Shaking hands across a threshold is considered unlucky in Russia, thus some pizza delivery guys will refuse to conduct a transaction across a threshold. You either have to go out to the hall or invite them just inside the door. (From the Russia travel guide.)

8. In India it is possible to pay a tremendous compliment with body language alone. When somebody approaches a person with their tongue between their teeth and gathers the air around the person's head with their hands to draw it into their own personal space, it means they find the person either unbearably beautiful or extraordinarily intelligent. (From the Indian English Language and Culture book.)

9. Do not stick your index finger and middle finger up with the palm of your hand facing towards you in the United Kingdom; it is the equivalent of giving someone the finger. Tip: Do not order two beers in this fashion in UK bars. Doing it palm facing out - the piece sign - is OK. (From a Lonely Planet staffer in the UK).

10. Moroccan greetings can last up to 10 minutes. Shake with your right hand then touch your hand to your heart, to indicate that you are taking the meeting to heart. Good friends may tack on up to four air kisses, accompanied by a stream of well wishes: "How are you? Everything's good with you? I hope your parents are well? Baraka (blessings) upon them!" (From Alison Bing, Lonely Planet Morocco author.)

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'Godzilla' lionfish threatening Cayman paradise

By Tim Ecott Cayman Islands

An explosion in the population of the predatory lionfish in Caribbean waters, where it has no natural predators, is posing a widespread threat to marine wildlife.

Just off the north shore of Little Cayman, I sink into the blue abyss.

No-one knows how the lionfish came to be in the Caribbean waters

I am descending the vertical coral wall at Bloody Bay Marine Park.

Straight ahead and straight down there is nothing but blue - a dizzying empty space where sunlight streams down and down into darker places well beyond my reach.

But up close, the wall of coral is covered in giant barrel sponges as tall as a man, bright purple vase sponges, green and red corals and creatures that creep, crawl and swim within and among them.

I spot a seahorse, clinging to a whip coral by its tail, a spider crab with legs almost 3ft (1m) wide and a baby hawksbill turtle rocketing to the surface for a breath of air.

And there, spiralling up from the depths come three graceful Caribbean reef sharks, curious and skittish.

Suddenly, I notice Peter Hillenbrand, my diving buddy, gesticulating angrily - he points with one hand and pulls the trigger on an imaginary gun.

It is not the sharks he is angry at, but a brightly coloured fish covered in feathery spines.

I recognise it immediately as a lionfish - distinctive with its tracery of red-brown stripes and the high venomous spikes all along its back and protruding from its pectoral fins.

I have seen thousands of these fish in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but they should not be here in the Caribbean.

No invasive tropical fish species has ever survived so successfully outside its own home ecosystem like this Dr Carrie Manfrino

"These fish are like Godzilla," Peter tells me on the boat after we surface.

"Two or three years ago we would see the odd one here and there, but now on every dive they're there.

"I've been diving these reefs for over 30 years and I'm worried that these fish are taking over," he says.

On Little Cayman, I visit the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, where scientists are studying the invasive population of lionfish, more properly known as Pterois volitans.

Morgan Edwards, a post-graduate researcher at the Institute invites me to watch her dissecting them.

Even in death they are beautiful, with a maze of dark red stripes all over their head and body, protective spines covered in a web of fine skin and delicate frilly tassels of skin hanging from their mouths.

After measuring its length, weight and other details, Morgan removes the stomach from each fish and opens it to find out what they have been eating - shrimps, baby grouper, damsel fish and crabs.

"Their stomach can expand up to 30 times its volume," Morgan explains.

"And they can swallow any other fish up to two thirds their own body length.

"But they seem to have no natural predators here in the Caribbean."

Stealthy predators

The facts about lionfish are frightening.

Lionfish have red-brown stripes and long venomous spikes

A female can produce 30,000 eggs every four days. The eggs are unpalatable to other fish.

And lionfish are growing larger than they do in their native waters - up to 18in long (47cm), and they are stealthy ambush predators.

No-one knows how lionfish got into the Caribbean.

One theory says they escaped from a Florida aquarium during a hurricane about 10 years ago.

Others believe that tropical fish keepers released their pets into the sea when they grew too large to keep at home.

One study in the Bahamas showed that lionfish reduced native species populations on one reef by almost 80%

It does not really matter how they got here, but since 1992 they have spread from Florida up the east coast of the United States as far north as Long Island in New York.

About six years ago they crossed the western Atlantic to Bermuda and then drifted south to Bahamas, Jamaica and Cuba.

In 2008 the first lionfish was spotted at Bloody Bay on Little Cayman.

One year later there were hundreds, and now thousands. And they have now gone south as far as Venezuela.

"This isn't just an invasion," explained Dr Carrie Manfrino, Research Director at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute.

"This is an explosion. No invasive tropical fish species has ever survived so successfully outside its own home ecosystem like this."

Appetising

Regular diving expeditions to cull lionfish have been authorised by Cayman Islands Department of the Environment in collaboration with the Institute.

LIONFISH Females can produce 30,000 eggs every four days Grows up to 18 inches long Eat up to 30 times its stomach volume

But no-one is sure that anyone can catch enough lionfish to make a difference.

One study in the Bahamas showed that lionfish reduced native species populations on one reef by almost 80%.

Back on Grand Cayman, 100 miles away from the reefs of Bloody Bay, I make another discovery about lionfish.

They taste delicious.

At Michael's restaurant at the popular Camana Bay waterfront development, well-heeled tourists and residents are being offered a new dish.

Flash fried fillets of lionfish flavoured with chilli, fennel and mustard seed.

Chef Thomas Tennant says he cannot get enough of them.

"They cook beautifully," he tells me enthusiastically.

Perhaps in the end, that may be the answer. This is one reef fish we can eat with a clean conscience.

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US 'web suicide nurse' William Melchert-Dinkel jailed

A judge said Melchert-Dinkel, shown in February, was not the only factor in the victims' deaths

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A US man who helped persuade an English man and a Canadian woman to commit suicide after finding them online has been given a jail term in Minnesota.

Ex-nurse William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, was convicted in March over the deaths of Mark Drybrough, 32, from Coventry, and Nadia Kajouji, 18, from Ontario.

The judge ordered him to spend an initial 320 days in prison and then for the next 10 years return to jail on the anniversaries of his victims' deaths.

His lawyer plans to lodge an appeal.

Melchert-Dinkel, who wiped away tears as he was sentenced, apologised in a statement read by his lawyer, Terry Watkins, and said he felt "shame and remorse".

The official sentence handed down by Judge Thomas Neuville was six-and-a-half years in jail, with most of it suspended unless Melchert-Dinkel violates the terms of his probation over the next 15 years.

The sentence was structured in such a way that he will have to spend two-day spells in prison on the anniversaries of the deaths of Mr Drybrough and Ms Kajouji over the next decade.

The judge said that while Melchert-Dinkel's actions were directly related to the victims' deaths, other factors were also involved.

Ms Kajouji's mother, Deborah Chevalier, told the Associated Press news agency she was disappointed the sentence was not longer.

Coventry man Mark Drybrough, 32, hanged himself in 2005

Melchert-Dinkel had faced a maximum jail term of 15 years on each count of aiding suicide.

During his trial, the court heard he was obsessed with suicide and hanging.

Prosecutors claimed he hunted down his victims on the internet for "the thrill of the chase" and gave them advice and encouragement, while posing as a female nurse.

US prosecutors said Melchert-Dinkel acknowledged having taken part in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

Mr Watkins has said his client intends to appeal against the conviction on the grounds his remarks were shielded by the free speech protections of the US constitution.

Source

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Commentary

The power of words are more evident than ever. You can and will be convicted if you use them improperly.

Freedom of speech ends when murder, oppression, and injustice begin.

This man should have been forced to spend 5 years in prison and 1 year of parole. He got off easy in my opinion. You can't toy with other people's lives and get away with it.

Gravity Probe B confirms Einstein effects

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Gravity Probe B was launched in 2004

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Nasa's Gravity Probe B has produced remarkable new confirmation of some key predictions by Albert Einstein.

The satellite's observations show the massive body of the Earth is very subtly warping space and time, and even pulling them around with it.

Scientists were able to see these effects by studying the behaviour of four perfectly engineered spinning balls carried inside the probe.

The results are published online in the journal Physical Review Letters.

They are significant because they underline once again the genius of the great German-born scientist, but also because they provide more refined tools to understand the physics that drives the cosmos.

On a more human level, the findings represent the culmination of an extraordinary odyssey for the leading lights of the mission, some of whom have dedicated more than five decades to the quest.

These include Francis Everitt, the mission's principal investigator at Stanford University - a researcher who was there at the inception of the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) idea in the late 1950s.

"We've completed this landmark experiment, testing Einstein's Universe - and Einstein survives," he announced on Wednesday.

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“Start Quote

The idea came about three to four decades before the technology was available to test it”

Rex Geveden Former GP-B programme manager

GP-B itself was not launched until 2004, and it has taken since then for the mission team to assess the data and to be sure of its observations.

Part of the group's difficulty has been in showing that some fantastically small measurements were real and not biases introduced by flaws in the experimental set-up. For a while, it looked like the venture might not succeed.

Gravity Probe B was put in space to confirm two important consequences stemming from Einstein's Theory of General Relativity - his description of gravity. The predictions characterise the way space and time will be distorted by the presence of huge objects such as planets and stars.

One, known as the geodetic effect, is the amount by which the mass of the Earth will warp the local space-time in which it sits.

The other, which physicists refer to as frame-dragging, is the phenomenon that sees the Earth twist local space-time around with it as it rotates.

The quartz gyros (left) were coated with niobium (right). They were described as the most perfect spheres ever engineered

GP-B sought to observe both these effects by measuring tiny drifts in the spin axes of four gyroscopes relative to the position of a star called IM Pegasi (HR 8703).

To ensure accuracy, the balls had to be chilled to near "absolute zero" (-273C) and were flown inside a giant vacuum flask containing super-fluid helium. This and other measures isolated the spheres from any external disturbance.

If Einstein had been wrong in his ideas then the gyros should have spun unhindered by external forces (pressure, heat, magnetic field, gravity, and electrical charges).

But given the physicist has taught us that local space-time around the Earth is curved and frame-dragging then a deviation in their behaviour ought to be expected and measurable - albeit with great difficulty.

Over the course of a year, the anticipated drift in the spin axes of the balls due to the geodetic effect was calculated to reveal itself on the scale of just a few thousand milliarcseconds. The frame-dragging effect was predicted to be even smaller.

"A milliarcsecond is the width of a human hair seen at a distance of 10 miles. It really is a rather small angle, and this is the accuracy Gravity Probe B had to achieve," explained Professor Everitt.

"For the geodetic effect, the predicted relativity effect is 6,606.1 of these milliarcseconds, and the measured result is a little over a quarter of a percent of that. The frame-dragging we've measured to a little better than 20%."

Tech spin-off

The idea for the mission was first proposed in 1959, but the project had to wait until the technologies to carry it through could be invented.

Some 100 students achieved their PhDs by working on some aspect of the mission

"GP-B, while conceptually simple, is technologically an extremely complex experiment," said Rex Geveden, the former programme manager on GP-B and now the president of Teledyne Brown Engineering from Huntsville, Alabama.

"The idea came about three to four decades before the technology was available to test it. Thirteen novel technologies were created for GP-B. The quartz balls were thought to be the roundest objects ever manufactured. The diametric variation across the spheres is about two-tenths of a millionth of an inch."

Innovations from Gravity Probe B have fed directly into improvements in the Global Positioning System (GPS). And a Nasa mission called Cobe that pictured the Universe less than a million years after the Big Bang owed its success to technology developed on Gravity Probe B.

Unending tests

Some 100 students achieved their PhDs by working on some aspect of the mission during the many years it took to develop, build and then fly the probe.

Most of these PhDs were earned at Stanford, and at the universities in Huntsville; and in Aberdeen, UK. More than 350 undergraduate students also worked on GP-B, including one who later became the first female American astronaut in space, Sally Ride. Another was Eric Cornell, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001.

"The precession of a gyroscope in a gravitational field of a rotating body has never been measured before today. While the result in this case does support Einstein, it didn't have to," commented Professor Clifford Will from Washington University, St. Louis.

"Physicists will never cease testing their basic theories, whether in order to confirm them better or in order to reveal new physics beyond those standard theories.

"In some realms the only place to do this, to carry out such experiments, is in space. This was the case with GP-B."

Continue reading the main story

• 1. The spin axes of the gyroscopes were initially aligned with a guide star. The gyroscopes were then monitored for changes in their angle of spin caused by general relativity effects
• 2. The disturbance due to frame-dragging was expected to cause the spin axes of the super-smooth gyroscopic spheres to change by an angle of just 0.041 arcseconds per year
• 3. For the geodetic effect, the spacecraft expected to see a bigger signal - for the gyroscopes' spin axes to change by an angle of 6.6 arcseconds over a year of observations
• 4. Gravity Probe B's gyroscopes were held inside a vacuum container
• 5. The US space agency (Nasa) satellite was launched on 20 April, 2004

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Nato strike 'kills Saif al-Arab Gaddafi', Libya says

A Nato air strike in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has killed the son of the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, a government spokesman has said.

Colonel Gaddafi himself was in the large residential villa which was hit by the strike, the spokesman added, but he was unharmed.

His son Saif al-Arab was killed, as well as three of his grandsons.

Journalists say the building was extensively damaged and one unexploded bomb remains at the site.

Saif al-Arab was the youngest of Col Gaddafi's sons, with a lower profile than his brother Saif al-Islam.

He had been studying in Germany and returned to Libya recently.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the villa was attacked "with full power."

"The attack resulted in the martyrdom of brother Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29 years old, and three of the leader's grandchildren," he said.

"The leader with his wife was there in the house with other friends and relatives, the leader himself is in good health, he wasn't harmed."

"This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country," the spokesman added.

Libya's government took journalists to the site where they said Saif al-Arab Gaddafi was killed

~~~~~~~~~~

Commentary

Even if we agree that Gaddafi is a horribly corrupt and unjust person, we still can't condemn his innocent children and family members for his sins.

I'm glad this small revolution is taking place in Libya, where the people are crying for justice, but I will never allow the death of an innocent to weigh on my soul.

These three grandchildren and child of Gaddafi, were innocent bi-standards. By the laws of war, you cannot and should never kill them. Collateral damage is an unacceptable term for murder.

If Gaddafi is with children and you're told to bomb the compound, you do not bomb it. You do not kill innocent children, and you do not destroy the soul within you, forever tarnishing your purity of intent and morality.

This should not be celebrated on any level. Nato should be ashamed of itself for ever launching an attack on children.

What separates you from the enemy if you're willing to do whatever he is to succeed? Where is the morality and ethics if you would pick up a sword and aim it at children? How can you then claim to fight for justice?

Shame on those that caused this incident, and may they be treated harshly on the day of Judgement.

Man dies after police use Taser at Universal Studios

A man who was causing a disturbance outside Universal Studios in Florida died after being shocked with a Taser stun gun by off-duty police, US authorities have said.

Adam Spencer Johnson, 33, was said to have been acting irrationally when the five officers approached, police said.

The officers used a stun gun because Johnson was "violently" resisting arrest, said Sgt Barb Jones.

Mr Johnson became unresponsive on the ground and was later pronounced dead.

The off-duty officers responded to a call from a security guard at Universal Studios early on Friday morning about a man acting irrationally outside the Cinemax theatres in the city of Orlando.

"He was kind of pacing around, grabbing his beard, grabbing his head and hair, and they were trying to get a hold of him. He was being disorderly," said Sgt Jones, of the Orlando Police Department.

One officer shocked Mr Johnson with a Taser stun gun, before placing him under arrest.

Police said they immediately tried to revive Mr Johnson when he became unresponsive. He was later declared dead at Dr Phillips Hospital.

All officers involved in the incident with Mr Johnson, who was a resident of Winter Haven, are being placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

Source

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Commentary

This story teaches us a number of things. The first is that Tasers are not safe. This has been known for a while and demonstrated over and over again.

YET they still are marketed as NON LETHAL weapons. That's just B.S, to be honest. These weapons are deadly and have caused significant damage to a number of people.

This story also shows the lack of training involved in using Tasers. You don't need to taze someone who is not leaving the park. Back in the old days you could kick someone out by just forcefully throwing him out. Tasing should be reserved for VIOLENT offenders. This article said no word about violence, just disorder.

Tasers should be treated as the weapons they are, and should be respected as such. This disrespect of tasers leads to deaths such as those above. If we don't educate our police force about this now, then maybe your son or daughter will be the next person that dies of a tasing when they attend a protest or get too "disorderly".

The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice

The words that could unlock your child

Comments (175)

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In today's Magazine

• Should spitting in the street be banned?
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As children face their final month of revision before the exam season starts, many parents are looking for the words to motivate their offspring. But could they be mistakenly praising the value of ability over effort, asks Matthew Syed.

Take a glance at these expressions of encouragement:

"You learned that so quickly, you're so smart!"

"Look at that drawing. Are you the next Picasso or what?"

"You're so brilliant - you passed that exam without really studying!"

They come across as precisely the kind of confidence-boosting statements that should be given to children or, indeed, anyone else. Such phrases are used in homes and classrooms every day, particularly with exams looming.

But are they benign? Or could they unlock the reason why so many children are failing at school and elsewhere?

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“Start Quote

Intelligence-based praise orients the receiver towards the fixed mindset - it suggests to them that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed”

To find out we need to take a quick detour into the science of expertise, and ask a question. Where does excellence come from? For a long time, it was thought the answer to this hinged, to a large degree, on genetic inheritance. Or, to put it another way, it is all about talent.

It turns out that this is mistaken. Dozens of studies have found that top performers - whether in maths, music or whatever - learn no faster than those who reach lower levels of attainment - hour after hour, they improve at almost identical rates.

The difference is simply that high achievers practise for more hours. Further research has shown that when students seem to possess a particular gift, it is often because they have been given extra tuition at home by their parents.

This is not to deny that some kids start out better than others - it is merely to suggest that the starting point we have in life is not particularly relevant.

Why? Because, over time, with the right kind of practice, we change so dramatically. It is not just the body that changes, but the anatomy of the brain.

A study of pianists, for example, showed that the area of the brain governing finger movement is substantially larger than for the rest of us - but it did not start out like this; it grew with practice.

The question of talent versus effort would not matter terribly much if it was merely theoretical. But it is so much more than that. It influences the way we think, feel, and the way we engage with our world.

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Mindset experiments

• Computer studies students received lessons on importance of growth mindset. It resulted in a dramatic improvement in test scores after a six-week intervention
• Students at Stanford University were encouraged towards the growth mindset in a workshop. At the end of term, these students had earned significantly higher grade point averages than the control group

To see how, consider a youngster who believes excellence is all about talent - labelled the "fixed mindset". Why would she bother to work hard?

If she has the right genes, won't she just cruise to the top? And if she lacks talent, well, why bother at all? And who can blame a youngster for this kind of attitude, given the underlying premise?

If, on the other hand, she really believes that effort trumps talent - labelled the "growth mindset" - she will persevere. She will not see failure as an indictment, but as an opportunity to adapt and grow. And, if she is right, she will eventually excel.

What a young person decides about the nature of talent, then, could scarcely be more important.

Think how often you hear children saying "I just lack the brain for numbers" or "I don't have the coordination for sports". These are direct manifestations of the fixed mindset, and they destroy motivation.

Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, do not regard their abilities as set in genetic stone. These are the youngsters who approach tasks with gusto. "I may not be good at maths now, but if I work hard, I will be really good in the future!"

Many schools already praise effort as much as achievement

So, how do we orient our children to the growth mindset? A few years ago, Carol Dweck, a leading psychologist, took 400 students and gave them a simple puzzle.

Afterwards, each of the students were given six words of praise. Half were praised for intelligence: "Wow, you must be really smart!" The other half were praised for effort: "Wow, you must be hard working!"

Dweck was seeking to test whether these simple words, with their subtly different emphases, could make a difference to the student's mindsets. The results were remarkable.

After the first test, the students were given a choice of whether to take a hard or an easy test.

A full two-thirds of the students praised for intelligence chose the easy task - they did not want to risk losing their "smart" label. But 90% of the effort-praised group chose the tough test - they wanted to prove just how hard working they were.

Then, the experiment came full circle, giving the students a chance to take a test of equal difficulty to the first test.

The group praised for intelligence showed a 20% decline in performance compared with the first test, even though it was no harder. But the effort-praised group increased their score by 30%. Failure had actually spurred them on.

Many people believe that talent is a fixed quality

And all these differences turned on the difference in six simple words spoken after the very first test.

"These were some of the clearest findings I've seen," Dweck said. "Praising children's intelligence harms motivation and it harms performance."

Intelligence-based praise orients the receiver towards the fixed mindset - it suggests to them that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed.

And this takes us right back to those expressions of praise we started out with. They all sounded like confidence-boosting statements. But now listen to the subliminal messages in the background:

"If I don't learn something quickly, I'm not smart."

"I shouldn't try drawing anything hard or they'll see I'm no Picasso."

"I'd better quit studying or they won't think I'm brilliant."

This reveals a radical new approach to the way we engage with children - that we should praise effort, never talent; that we should teach kids to see challenges as learning opportunities rather than threats; and that we should emphasise how abilities can be transformed.

Experiments from around the world have shown that when parents and teachers adopt this approach, and stick to it, the results are remarkable.

Matthew Syed is the author of Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice.

Source

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Commentary

This point should be obvious to most people, although sadly it isn't. All our minds have equal potential and are 99.9% alike.

The thing that makes us different is our likes and dislikes and what we decide to put effort into and what we ignore.

Take the most gifted pianist in the world and they may struggle at architecture. Does that mean they're less gifted? No. It just means they didn't put in the practice to learn architecture properly.

I'm definitely a subscriber of the effort model, as I believe anyone that tries to learn something can learn it. There is no knowledge from birth, where someone is born with calculus burned into their memory. It's all practice, diligence, and a love for that particular field.

If it stimulates you, and you enjoy it, you'll get better at it, and be seen as more talented. Talent isn't born, it's earned and worked for. The hard work and sweat of trying to learn something is the essence of talent.

Talent is not genetic and that idea is easily disproven with simple logic and a cursory observation of the world around us.

You want to be good at something? Then you should work at it. Practice makes perfect.

Should men in uniform be forced to shave?

By Rajini Vaidyanathan BBC News, Washington

Several US organisations ban beards, including the military and police forces

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A Jewish rabbi is suing the US Army for refusing to let him serve unless he removes his beard. The US military, as well as many police forces across America, require recruits to be clean shaven. But what is wrong with sporting a beard in the line of duty?

Chin straps, goatees, stubble, soul patches, mutton chops or just the old-fashioned full version.

There are many ways to grow a beard, but if you're serving in the US military, getting creative with your chin furniture is not an option.

The different branches of the US insist that recruits are clean shaven. Those later in their career are permitted to go as far as growing a moustache. But even that facial freedom comes with caveats.

"Moustaches are allowed, but hair may not extend beyond the edges of the lips, nor may it extend below the top of the upper lip," says a US Army spokesman.

Rabbi Stern believes he should be allowed to serve with his beard

"Sideburns may not grow below a level even with the bottom of the ear canal."

As for beards, well, they're banned.

Serving members of the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps may qualify for a "shaving waiver" if they suffer from medical conditions that make shaving difficult or painful, but still have to keep any facial hair short.

The beard ban has meant some Muslims, Sikhs and Hasidic Jews have been unable to sign up for duty.

"I was told my application to join the army would only be accepted if I shaved off my beard," says Menachem Stern, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, from the Chabad Lubavitch Community, who applied to join the army as a chaplain in 2008.

The 29-year-old is suing the US Army for refusing him the right to keep his beard, on the grounds of his religious beliefs.

"This is a tenet of our faith - it's not optional not to have one in our community.

"Could you imagine any of the great sages - whether Abraham, Isaac or Jacob - clean shaven?" he says.

Rabbi Stern's case has been taken up by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who has written to the army secretary asking for the beard policy to be modified for chaplains.

In recent years, shaving waivers have been issued for some applicants, and not for others. According to Mr Stern's lawyer, Nathan Lewin, three Sikhs have been given permission to keep their beards since 2009.

Continue reading the main story

LAPD Facial hair regulations

• Employees shall be clean shaven when reporting for duty. Beards shall be permitted only when required by the nature of the assignment or for a bona fide medical condition
• The employee's beard shall be neatly trimmed and not longer than one-quarter inch in length
• Male employees may wear a short and neatly trimmed moustache of natural colour
• Moustaches shall not extend below the vermillion of the upper lip or below the corners of the mouth and may not extend to the side more than one‑half inch beyond the corners of the mouth

Back in 1976 Mr Lewin fought a case on behalf of a bearded rabbi who wanted to serve in the US Air Force, and won. He's disappointed to be having the same battle all over again.

"I would like to be able to say that government agencies are becoming more accepting of various aspects of appearance but frankly Rabbi Stern's experience with the US Army leads me to conclude that there are still very strong restrictions that the people who have control over these institutions are imposing."

'Group identity'

But why is there a ban in the first place?

A US Army spokesman said it was to do with "long-standing traditions of uniformity, hygiene, and good order and discipline", adding that it was in keeping with strict dress codes which required a sense of professionalism and group identity.

Beards are also banned in the US military for practical reasons, explains Penny Jolly, a professor of art and art history, who has studied social trends in appearance.

"They were eliminated in the US military in WWI due to the need to wear gas masks. Razors were issued in GI kits, so men could shave themselves on the battlefield," she says.

The gas mask argument is also often made by police forces - though across the US a patchwork of different rules and regulations exists.

'Excessively bushy'

At the end of last year, Durango County police force in Colorado relaxed its rule to allow officers to sport goatee beards (which apparently do not affect the seal between the gas mask and the face).

In the opposite direction of growth, New York's police department tightened its follicular restrictions in 2008, banning goatees, chin straps and "designer beards".

Moustaches are generally permitted in the police, but subject to some strict rules.

The Chicago police department reportedly outlaws moustaches that are "excessively bushy, rolled or curled".

Los Angeles Police Department, one of the largest police forces in the country, says they must be neat and tidy and of a natural colour.

"Moustaches shall not extend below the vermillion of the upper lip or below the corners of the mouth and may not extend to the side more than one half inch beyond the corners of the mouth," reads the LAPD moustache manifesto.

Handlebar moustaches

The British armed forces also have a troubled relationship with facial hair.

Some operatives in Afghanistan sport beards to help them win the trust of the local population

In the Army and RAF, beards are generally allowed only on medical or religious grounds, though some infantry regiments have a rank of "pioneer sergeant" - responsible for carpentry and joinery - which comes with the right to grow a beard.

The British Navy also has its own beard tradition - allowing a "full set" (beard plus moustache) on the permission of the commanding officer. The Navy does not accept the argument that a beard prevents a gas mask working effectively.

The RAF, for its part, has a fondness for handlebar moustaches - far bushier than anything allowed in the US forces. One British airman with floral facial hair got into hot water when temporarily attached to the USAF.

But while joining the army can sometimes be difficult for Muslims, Sikhs and Jews who feel obliged by their faith to grow a full beard, in a country like Afghanistan, the boot is on the other foot. Here it's the US and British servicemen who have a challenge fitting in.

"Our men in the field are growing their beards because the Afghan soldiers think it is respectful," said a Ministry of Defence spokesman in 2006. "For men working very closely alongside the Afghans for long periods, wearing beards has proved to be an excellent way of helping to win trust and breed understanding."

US special operations units in Afghanistan have also long worn beards to gain the respect of tribal elders. Combined with Oakley wrap-around sunglasses, though, the look is sometimes more Hell's Angel than Helmand.

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Commentary

This has nothing to do with the gas mask issue, something the Navy completely agrees on. They force all recruits to look similar because it's easier to boss around people when they're working as a unit "for the greater good".

Each individual is then marginalized and told to work as part of a network, making hard choices "for the greater good".

The problem with doing things, "for the greater good", is that there is no limit where it ends. Torture is o.k, "for the greater good", as is murder and crime in general.

No beard, no individualism, forcing them to work as a group, and "work for the greater good".

That's the Army's mission, from day 1 and it's what they teach you in Army 101.

Michael Moore and Wisconsin

Wikileaks row: US spokesman Crowley quits over gaffe

Mr Crowley later added that his remarks were his own opinion

Continue reading the main story

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US state department spokesman PJ Crowley has resigned after calling the treatment of the man accused of leaking secret cables to Wikileaks "stupid".

He said he was taking responsibility for the impact of his remarks about Bradley Manning.

Private Manning is being held in solitary confinement at a maximum security US military jail.

He has been on suicide watch at the Quantico marine base in Virginia and is shackled at all times.

He faces 34 charges relating to the leaking of 720,000 diplomatic and military documents.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she accepted Mr Crowley's resignation "with regret".

She said he had served his nation "with distinction", "motivated by a deep devotion to public policy and public diplomacy".

'Ridiculous'

Intelligence analyst Bradley Manning served in Iraq

Mr Crowley was speaking to an audience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about new media and foreign policy when he made the controversial remarks.

He was asked by a participant about the "the elephant in the room" - Wikileaks - and, in the questioner's words, "torturing a prisoner in a military brig".

"I spent 26 years in the air force," Mr Crowley reportedly replied.

"What is happening to Manning is ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid, and I don't know why the DoD [Department of Defense] is doing it. Nevertheless, Manning is in the right place."

He said his comments were on the record, though he later added that they were his own opinion.

In his resignation letter he said: "Given the impact of my remarks, for which I take full responsibility, I have submitted my resignation."

His remarks were revealed in a blog by the BBC's Philippa Thomas, who attended the event.

President Barack Obama later insisted he had received assurances that the terms of Pte Manning's confinement were "appropriate".

Earlier this year, rights organisation Amnesty International expressed concern about the conditions in which Mr Manning was being held.

It said he had been held "for 23 hours a day in a sparsely furnished solitary cell and deprived of a pillow, sheets, and personal possessions since July 2010".

He was also reportedly forced to disrobe on a daily basis.

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