Rotundus.com

For Athletes, the Time of an Event Can Affect Performance

"What really matters, they say, is whether the time of an event is in sync with an athlete’s body clock. The most extreme example involves people who naturally go to bed late and wake up late. Even trying as hard as they can, they are as much as 26 percent slower when they sprint in the morning as in the evening. Individuals, like runners or cyclists, and people playing team sports, like soccer or football, would be affected."

The School That Killed the Word 'Mr.'

"Under a new university policy, CUNY staffers are instructed to omit Mr. and Ms. from “all types of correspondence” with students and prospective students ... The policy went into effect for the Spring 2015 semester at the Manhattan public university as part of an 'ongoing effort to ensure a respectful, welcoming, and gender-inclusive learning environment.'"

Kim Jong-un Says N.Korean Poverty Keeps Him Up at Night

Not what I'd expect from what apparently was the state media agency: "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in unusually frank remarks last week said North Koreans 'never enjoyed an abundant life' and added he 'cannot sleep' when he thinks about their suffering."

J.K. Rowling Is ‘Unnerved’ by Everyone’s Crushes on Draco Malfoy

Her words: "Draco remains a person of dubious morality in the seven published books, and I have often had cause to remark on how unnerved I have been by the number of girls who fell for this particular fictional character ... All this has left me in the unenviable position of pouring cold common sense on ardent readers’ daydreams, as I told them, rather severely, that Draco was not concealing a heart of gold under all that sneering and prejudice"

Last week The Globe and Mail reported on Norway working to fight deforestation:

For inspiration, look to Norway, which has a pleasing habit of nixing the purely ideological and going for the practical. At the climate change summit in New York last September, when leaders from government, business and civil society met to “galvanize and catalyze climate action”—the UN’s words to describe a process that pretty much did the opposite—little Norway was busy doing a deal with little Liberia. It will see Norway pay Liberia up to $150 million (all currency in U.S. dollars) to stop the rapid destruction of its ample forests. The amount is a fortune for the West African country, a perennial economic basket case with a gross domestic product of less than $2 billion and practically no money to fight the Ebola crisis.
... Norway’s Liberia deal is not unique. The Norwegians have been swapping bucks for forestry preservation for years through the UN-REDD Programme (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Compare to another article on Norway which dealt primarily with travel to the country but also touched on its agricultural policy:

Another factor is the high tariffs on agricultural imports that keep Norwegian farms in business: “We have perhaps the most protected agricultural system in the world,” he said. “It’s not a particularly easy place to grow anything. Farms are small and the season is short.”
That may mean higher food prices, but at least you are buying local.

If looking to help the developing world, it's worth thinking about the implications of those agricultural subsidies:

Subsidized agriculture in the developed world is one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth in the developing world. In 2002, industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) spent a total of $300 billion on crop price supports, production payments and other farm programs. These subsidies encourage overproduction. Markets are flooded with surplus crops that are sold below the cost of production, depressing world prices. Countries with unsubsidized goods are essentially shut out of world markets, devastating their local economies. Moreover, farm subsidies lead to environmental harm in rich and poor nations alike.
Prosperous countries give about $50 billion to $55 billion annually in foreign aid to underdeveloped nations. If developed nations reduced their subsidies and eliminated trade barriers - such as import tariffs protecting domestic producers from international competition - this aid would arguably be unnecessary and rural poverty might be significantly reduced.

It's worth noting that Norway's seemingly highly-intensive farming made feasible through those subsidies suggests that its likely using relatively environmentally destructive modes of farming, whereas Norway removing the barriers keeping foreign agriculture out would seem to enable countries like Liberia to improve their agricultural economy and possibly enable less destructive modes of farming to be using.

The article does mention that this program is hoped to stop the destruction of Liberian forests but I wonder whether Norway might accomplish that same environmental goal by returning some of its own seemingly-low-productive land to forest.

Those old terrorist tendencies

"I discovered the secret through reading about 19th-century history ... this period of European (and American) history was crawling with young, often solitary male terrorists, most of whom showed signs of mental disorder when caught and tried, and most of whom were attached to some prevailing utopian cause. ... The 19th-century mind identified these young men as congenital conspirators. It emphasized what they had in common: social maladjustment, mania, an overwhelming sense of mission and, usually, a prior record of minor crimes."

Insurance row over vicar's Jesus Christ car stickers

"Reverend Wena Parry, 75, was told that stickers saying 'Christ Must Be Saviour' and 'Christ For Me' could be regarded as 'modifications' and could invalidate her insurance policy."

You Are What You Eat, and You Eat What You Earn

What I suspect you won't find in Canada: whole milk being disproportionately consumed by the low-educated poor.

Ontario father can donate his liver to save only one twin daughter

As far as terrible ethical dilemmas go here's one. (I was a bit surprised that the girls are adoptees which means that when it suggests that "the family is going public with their story in the hopes of finding a donor for the other daughter" the likelihood that there's somewhat out there that'd match goes up).

Here's an interest article that goes against some of what you may have heard reported on the topic. Compare and contrast the premise that "There has been a growing concern that modern society is increasingly lonely" with the studies reported here.

Study 1

"showed a modest decline in loneliness over time"

Study 2 (with a different sample group):

"high school students reported a decline in loneliness from 1991 to 2012.

Where this gets interesting:

subjective isolation declined, but social network isolation increased, which suggests that high school students perceive less loneliness but poorer social networks. High school students reported fewer friends with whom to interact, but less desire for more friends.

So ... less likely to feel alone but more likely to actually be alone.