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Study finds split in attitudes on religion, relationships; largest generation gap since ’60s
Written on 4 Jul, 2009 at 14:10 in Featured, General | viewed 726 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
A new study released Monday by the Pew Research Center found Americans of different ages increasingly at odds over a range of social and technological issues. It also highlights a widening age divide after last November’s election, when 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Democrat Barack Obama by a 2-to-1 ratio. Almost eight in 10 people believe there is a major difference in the point of view of younger people and older people today, according to the independent public opinion research group. Full Story : Startribune.com….
Cyber Bullying Affects One in 10 Students
Written on 4 Jul, 2009 at 13:05 in Featured, General | viewed 640 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Bullying still makes life miserable for plenty of students, only these days some aggressors apparently operate electronically. A new study shows that many children in grades 6 through 10 have either bullied classmates or been bullied by them, sometimes online or through cell phones. According to the study, 20.8 percent of respondents reported being perpetrators or victims of physical bullying in the past two months; 53.6 percent were victims of verbal bullying; 51.4 percent were victims of relational bullying, which involves social exclusion, and 13.6 percent of cyber bullying on a computer, cell phone or other electronic device. Full Story : Forbes.com….
Oil and Coal Could Cost US $30 Trillion By 2030 Says Study
Written on 3 Jul, 2009 at 12:45 in Featured, General | viewed 430 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
America’s economy and quality of life as we know it is at risk, according to a new study released by Environment America. The study claims that “big oil and dirty coal” could cost the United States $30 trillion dollars by 2030, four times the earnings of American workers in 2007 alone. According to the study, 85 percent of America’s energy is supplied by fossil fuels. American consumers and businesses spent 7 percent, or $921 billion, of the nation’s GDP on fossil fuels, more than the total spent on education or the military. Full Story : DigitalJournal.com….
Gay sex decriminalised in India
Written on 2 Jul, 2009 at 13:08 in Featured, General | viewed 622 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Gay rights activists in India say a ruling by the Delhi High Court decriminalising homosexuality in the country is a landmark. The judgement overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which described a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”. Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence. Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights. Full Story : BBC.com…..
(Continue reading)Savings in UK hit record high despite shrinking economy
Written on 30 Jun, 2009 at 12:50 in Featured, General | viewed 478 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
The amount of money Brits are putting aside for a rainy day has reached a record high, according to research by National Savings & Investments (NS&I). The average UK consumer deposited £92.41 per month into their savings account this spring, the highest amount since NS&I records began in 2004. The proportion of consumers saving regularly remained at 47% for the fifth consecutive quarter. Full Story : FinanceMarkets.co.uk….
(Continue reading)UN: Islamic law is major influence on refugee law
Written on 29 Jun, 2009 at 11:03 in Featured, General | viewed 471 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
The 1,400-year-old Islamic custom of welcoming people fleeing persecution has had more influence on modern international refugee law than any other traditional source, according to a new study sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said that more than any other historical source, Islamic law and tradition underpin the modern-day legal framework on which UNHCR bases its global activities on behalf of the tens of millions of people forced from their homes around the world. Full Story : Adrkronos.com….
Political Blogs More Credible than Newspapers, Say Those Who Read Both
Written on 28 Jun, 2009 at 11:25 in Featured, General | viewed 1,450 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
According to research by a Brigham Young University political scientist, people who closely follow both political blogs and traditional news media tend to believe the content on blogs is more accurate. Professor Richard Davis reports this and other blog-related insights in Typing Politics, a new book published by Oxford University Press. Davis studied daily blog readers from a nationally representative sample and found that just 3 percent got most of their news from blogs. Most readers still got their information from traditional news organizations, despite some bloggers’ predictions that they would entirely replace traditional media. Instead blogs have become an echo chamber that extends the shelf life of news stories, Davis said. Full Story : Dagorret.com…
Rating attractiveness: Study finds consensus among men, not women
Written on 27 Jun, 2009 at 11:34 in Featured, General | viewed 597 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Men’s judgments of women’s attractiveness were based primarily around physical features and they rated highly those who looked thin and seductive. Most of the men in the study also rated photographs of women who looked confident as more attractive. As a group, the women rating men showed some preference for thin, muscular subjects, but disagreed on how attractive many men in the study were. Some women gave high attractiveness ratings to the men other women said were not attractive at all. More than 4,000 people participated in the study. Full Story : Machineslikeus.com…
Abuse calls rise amid recession
Written on 25 Jun, 2009 at 13:27 in Featured, General | viewed 426 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Research for a summit on the recession shows a leap in calls to a domestic abuse helpline in Wales. Around 14,000 calls have been made to the helpline since December, and 8,000 had not phoned before. According to research presented to the sixth all-Wales Economic Summit, financial difficulties could lead to more relationship break-ups. The summit also heard about problems caused by increasing levels of unemployment. Full Story : BBC….
French parliament creating commission to study wearing of burqas, full-body veils
Written on 24 Jun, 2009 at 10:57 in Featured, General | viewed 456 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
The French parliament created a commission Tuesday to study the wearing of body-covering burqas and niqabs in France, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Islamic garments turn women into prisoners. The 32-member commission, with members from France’s four major political parties, will hold hearings that could lead to legislation banning burqas from being worn in public. Full Story : Targana.com….
People think bottled water is healthy
Written on 19 Jun, 2009 at 14:41 in Featured, General | viewed 590 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
A small study has shown that people tend to believe that bottled water is somehow healthier than water from the tap. However, the research, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, also shows that people are unsure exactly what these benefits might be and that they are rarely the main reason for choosing bottled. Bottled water was described as being more ‘pure’ than tap water, and was also described as containing more ‘minerals’. The most commonly cited reason for purchasing bottled water was convenience. Full Story : EurekAlert.org…
Woman fined to tune of $1.9 million for illegal download
Written on 19 Jun, 2009 at 12:23 in Featured, General | viewed 259 views times and users have made 1 comment so far
A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each — a total of $1.9 million — for 24 songs. Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said. Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was shocked at the fine, noting that the price tag on the songs she downloaded was 99 cents. Full Story : CNN.com….
Consumers Favor Internet Over Cell Phone and Cable TV According to New Study From Pew Research Center
Written on 17 Jun, 2009 at 14:19 in Featured, General | viewed 264 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Americans value broadband more than ever with home broadband adoption rates up 15 percent in 2009 and consumers favoring Internet over cell phone and cable TV, according to new research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The new research shows 63 percent of adult Americans surveyed now have broadband Internet connections at home. The growth in broadband adoption indicates that the economic recession has had little effect on decisions about whether to buy or keep a home high-speed Internet connection. Full Story : PRNewswire.com….
Australian drinks most alcohol in the world
Written on 16 Jun, 2009 at 14:53 in Featured, General | viewed 280 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
AUSTRALIANS are now the world’s undisputed beer-swilling kings - with even the Irish failing to keep the pace of our outback booze hounds. A report has shown Northern Territorians drink 15 litres of pure alcohol each year - three times the global average. The only nations that come close to matching Territorians at the bar are the Irish and Czechs, who drink 13 litres of alcohol. Full Story : Dailytelegraph.co.uk….
Men are the best tippers
Written on 14 Jun, 2009 at 14:56 in Featured, General | viewed 253 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Men are considered to be the best tippers by restaurant staff, according to a new study. Reported in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, the study examined surveys from 1189 servers in 49 states, and looked at whether servers’ had developed perceptions of their customers’ tipping habits. The study further revealed that teenagers and foreign customers were thought to tip the least. Full Story : Hamaraphotos.com…
Mathematicians take aim at ‘phantom’ traffic jams
Written on 10 Jun, 2009 at 11:12 in Featured, General | viewed 174 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
Countless hours are lost in traffic jams every year. Most frustrating of all are those jams with no apparent cause — no accident, no stalled vehicle, no lanes closed for construction. Such phantom jams can form when there is a heavy volume of cars on the road. In that high density of traffic, small disturbances (a driver hitting the brake too hard, or getting too close to another car) can quickly become amplified into a full-blown, self-sustaining traffic jam. A team of MIT mathematicians has developed a model that describes how and under what conditions such jams form, which could help road designers minimize the odds of their formation. Full Story : MIT.edu….
Global arms spending rises with US, China leading the way
Written on 9 Jun, 2009 at 15:34 in Featured, General | viewed 209 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
World governments spent a record $1.46 trillion on upgrading their armed forces last year despite the economic downturn, with China climbing to second place behind top military spender the United States, a Swedish research group said Monday. Global military spending was 4 percent higher than in 2007 and up 45 percent from a decade ago, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said in its annual report. Full Story : Taragana.com….
Part of Air France jet’s tail found by Brazil navy
Written on 9 Jun, 2009 at 0:35 in Featured, General | viewed 157 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
The Brazilian navy on Monday found a huge piece of tail section from Air France Flight 447 floating in the Atlantic Ocean, raising hopes that crews will be able to find more wreckage to help determine what caused the plane to crash. U.S. aviation experts said the almost perfectly intact vertical stabilizer provides evidence that the jetliner broke apart before hitting the water and said it resembles the condition of a tail that was torn off an Airbus that crashed in New York City in November 2001. Full Story : LAtimes.com….
Blind Japanese woman receives IBM’s top award
Written on 5 Jun, 2009 at 13:11 in Featured, General | viewed 197 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
US computer giant IBM has named Chieko Asakawa as the first blind engineer — as well as the first Japanese female — to receive the company’s highest technical honour. Asakawa, 50, was named this week as one of eight Japanese to win the title of IBM Fellow for her achievements in making the Internet widely accessible for visually impaired people. Asakawa, who lost her vision as a teenager, joined the computer maker in 1985 and has since worked to increase computer accessibility not only for the disabled but also for the elderly and novices. Full Story : TheAge.com….
African-Americans are more vulnerable to welfare penalties
Written on 2 Jun, 2009 at 14:18 in Featured, General, Health | viewed 233 views times and users have made 0 comments so far
African Americans are significantly more likely to be sanctioned by the United States welfare system than whites, according to research published in the June issue of the American Sociological Review, the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association. In a study led by sociologist Sanford F. Schram, a team of researchers conducted a multi-pronged analysis to determine how and why race influences sanctioning under welfare reform in the United States. The study combined real-life data from the Florida Welfare Transition program and experimental data from a survey in which case workers were asked to make sanctioning decisions based on hypothetical scenarios. Full Story : EurekaAlert.org…..
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