Rotundus.com

Egyptians Remain Optimistic, Embrace Democracy and Religion in Political Life

Pew Global Attitudes Project polls Egyptians: "When asked which country is the better model for the role of religion in government, Turkey or Saudi Arabia, 61% say the latter. However, most also endorse specific democratic rights and institutions that do not exist in Saudi Arabia, such as free speech, a free press, and equal rights for women. ... The survey also finds ongoing opposition to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel: 61% prefer to annul the treaty, up from 54% a year ago."

"It was hell, I can't walk!" Man found sobbing in street after 36-hour sex ordeal with German nymphomaniac

The byline reads that "The woman was arrested last month after another exhausted lover escaped onto a balcony and cried for help" so this isn't the first time that the woman in question did that. It involved men trapped for quite some time - compare to withdrawal of consent laws which when "a female consents to sex initially and, during the course of the sex act to which she consented, for whatever reason, she changes her mind" will deem this rape if stopping takes 5 seconds or so. Equal treatment? "Nymphomaniac" or serial rapist?

Internal Time

A few interesting tidbits. "Across most ages, men are on average later chronotypes than women. The differences decrease as men and women age. Thus, when the man is older than his female partner, their chronotypes tend to be more similar." "Young children are relatively early chronotypes (to the distress of many young parents), and then gradually become later. During puberty and adolescence humans become true night owls, and then around twenty years of age reach a turning point and become earlier again for the rest of their lives." "Our internal clocks, in fact, can be traced down to the genetic level, with individual “clock genes” and, most prominently, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN — a small region in the brain’s midline that acts as a kind of “master clock” for mammals"

Women want full-time work … for men

Originally from The Australian: “‘There's no conflict about this: Australian women don't like it when their men work part-time,’ says Jan van Ours, an international researcher… from Australia's HILDA (Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) survey. ‘Australian women want their men in full-time jobs. They are least satisfied when they, themselves, have a
job of more than 50 hours, and most satisfied when they are working part-time, or not at all.’ Happily, Australian men are in lockstep: they too prefer to work full-time - although, unlike women, they don't mind if their partners work full-time, part-time, or not at all.” (Notably, the average CEO works 58 hours per week and Fortune 500 CEOs work even longer, which would seem to suggest that such a lifestyle is one that women generally find unsatisfying - i.e. women working these hours where the least-satisfied group)

Take a look at the New York Times article More Americans Rejecting Marriage in 50s and Beyond which deals with the subject of how the divorce rate in the baby boomer population has gone up over 50% in the past twenty years. What does the article claim?

Women, who are increasingly financially independent, are more willing and able to go it alone

Where's the problem?

The elderly, who have traditionally relied on spouses for their care, will increasingly struggle to fend for themselves. And federal and local governments will have to shoulder much of the cost of their care. Unmarried baby boomers are five times more likely to live in poverty than their married counterparts, statistics show. They are also three times as likely to receive food stamps, public assistance or disability payments.

Seems like there's a bit of a logical disconnect there. Living on the government dole != financial independence.

US integrity effort hits troubled water

”Allegations by integrity officer who lost his job are a setback for plan to quash political interference in science.”

Is Creativity more like IQ or Expertise?

Though IQ is fairly stable in different types of tests, creativity doesn’t seem to be.

Canadian nutrition label claims often wildly misleading, tests show

Looks like the claimed levels of nutrients, etc. in a lot of packaged food don't line up - with more than half failing in tests done by food inspectors. (I wonder how much variation there is between samples in some of these - or how much nutrients might degrade as the product goes stale post-manufacturing).

Prescription Foods : What to eat to cure your ills

Cherries as an anti-inflammatory with similar chemical compounds as ibuprofen is an interesting starter...

Tenfold rise in stay-at-home fathers in 10 years

"Main reason given by families for men looking after children was that the woman was the higher earner, according to study"

The Island At The Center Of The World: The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

Currently about halfway through this book. One interesting reference on p. 176 for anyone with a Dutch background - "by Dutch custom women often kept their maiden names" - not sure when after the 17th century this changed.

The cops might want you to only brew espresso after you've parked though - although I imagine that won't stop some people. This thing will cost you $200 to acquire - kind of expensive (althoughespresso machines do tend to be rather expensive things, and you can easily spend a whole lot more than that on a machine for your house).

HT: The National Post