Rotundus.com

Nutrition: Dessert at Breakfast May Help Dieters

Somehow I'm guessing that a diet that adds dessert to the diet is one that might be a bit more appealing. (If you look at how much sugar is in the typical coffee-ish beverage, you've got to wonder what fraction of people are effectively eating dessert with breakfast already).

How Companies Learn Your Secrets

It's the how-Target-figured-out-a-teenage-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-knew story. What I found most interesting was the pretense of non-targetting companies like it might make to avoid being seen as creepy - although it sounds almost creepier. "Then we started mixing in all these ads for things we knew pregnant women would never buy, so the baby ads looked random. We’d put an ad for a lawn mower next to diapers. We’d put a coupon for wineglasses next to infant clothes. That way, it looked like all the products were chosen by chance. And we found out that as long as a pregnant woman thinks she hasn’t been spied on, she’ll use the coupons. She just assumes that everyone else on her block got the same mailer for diapers and cribs. As long as we don’t spook her, it works."

Volunteers sought for simulated Mars mission and study of 'menu fatigue'

Finally a job description for nerdy foodies: "The researchers are hoping to attract highly educated volunteers, including scientists and engineers, with the enticement of working on their own personal research projects while in Hawai'i." (Not quite haute cuisine though).

Goats 'can develop their own accents'

"Goats can develop their own unique accents accent from their surroundings, a British study has suggested. "

35 percent of British adults sleep with bear

I was amused: "Twenty-five percent of male respondents reported they take their teddy bear with them when going away on business. Many said the bear reminds them of home and a cuddle helps them to nod off."

Seems like somewhat of an overly idealistic approach to the situation if you ask me - hoping for a day in which 25% of the population are once again farmers (the current figure for America is something like 0.7% if the figures I came up with in Google are accurate).

I tend to think that a lot of modern farming involves some unsustainable practices, but I'm not sure this is the way to go. But, then again, I tend to like renewable energy systems and employing those to do useful things. Even with a lot of renewable energy involved, you'd still need to do something about fertilizers and soil erosion issues though.

John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74

Makes your life seem a little boring: "At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate."

You Can’t Legislate Morality

Martin Luther King Jr.: "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also."

Shared care dead as mother stands firm on no access

"In a decision that suggests the 'shared care' law introduced by the Howard government was effectively dead, a full bench of the Family Court said 'the mother would ignore any order for contact' and, as a result, it was pointless to order her to co-operate." Wonderful when a judge deems someone not following a court order as a reason not to issue it rather than to impose sanctions for failure to comply. (Might have to come at this one via Google)

Female teachers accused of giving boys lower marks

What the actual article suggests is that teachers give better marks to students of their own gender - although with 85% of elementary school teachers being female per the article it's not that significant a difference.

Those responsible for the book Academically Adrift, which gathered a fair bit of media attention last year are back with more. From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

... the data actually show two distinct populations of undergraduates. Some students, disproportionately from privileged backgrounds, matriculate well prepared for college. They are given challenging work to do and respond by learning a substantial amount in four years.

Other students graduate from mediocre or bad high schools and enroll in less-selective colleges that don't challenge them academically. They learn little. Some graduate anyway, if they're able to manage the bureaucratic necessities of earning a degree.

And, in turn, those students in the second group - who account for most of those in higher education - don't really seem to exhibit the same post-educational gains seen by those in the first group.