Rotundus.com

New F.D.A. Nutrition Labels Would Make ‘Serving Sizes’ Reflect Actual Servings

"Those labels were based on eating habits and nutrition data from the 1970s and ’80s, before portion sizes expanded significantly" I've never quite encountered someone who eats just "one serving" of something

Your porn is not Canadian enough, CRTC warns erotica channels

What Canadian bureaucrats are up to these days. They impose and enforce Canadian content quotas where you might not expect.

No sugar-coating: WHO says daily sugar intake should be cut in half to 5% of your calories

"After a review of about 9,000 studies, WHO's expert panel says dropping sugar intake to that level will combat obesity and cavities. That includes sugars added to foods and those present in honey, syrups and fruit juices, but not those occurring naturally in fruits. ... average [Western] sugar intake would have to drop by two-thirds to meet WHO's suggested limit." (That's a 50% drop in the recommended limit, which would seem to correspond to a 2/3 decline in actual consumption).

Just Thinking about Science Triggers Moral Behavior

"Psychologists find deep connection between scientific method and morality"

I've been familiar with the claims made by this article (based on 1994 Swiss census data) that fathers seem to have an outsized influence on what their children believe:

If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all. If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.

If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers, and 37 percent will attend irregularly. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church.

Let us look at the figures the other way round. What happens if the father is regular but the mother irregular or non-practicing? Extraordinarily, the percentage of children becoming regular goes up from 33 percent to 38 percent with the irregular mother and to 44 percent with the non-practicing, as if loyalty to father’s commitment grows in proportion to mother’s laxity, indifference, or hostility.

Today listening to With this faith I thee wed?– A Conversation on Interfaith Marriage with Naomi Schaefer Riley the opposite claim was made. Drawing from an Economist review of her book you find the claim that:

Childbirth tends to bring Americans back to religion, and women then tend to take the lead: children in mixed unions are twice as likely to be brought up in their mother’s faith as their father’s, even when that clashes with the paternalist traditions of religions such as Islam.

I haven't read her most recent book, which makes a similar note on p. 115 and then on page 159 says that children were more than twice as likely to adopt their mother's faith. I didn't see sources for her claim though, and am unclear as to whether this might be projection as to the future path of the kids' lives (or perhaps if this would really be either a result of or create a path towards nominalism).

I'm wondering what the cause difference might be. Is either figure accurate? Is this a generational difference - which might be explainable by church trends such as the "seeker-sensitive" movement or churches emphasizing more some of the particular emphases of female believers? Is there a difference between the Swiss context and the American context that accounts for the distinction?

Muslims seek refuge in C. African Republic church

Something to think about if you've got overly simplistic categories for African groups. "Muslims and Christians lived together in Carnot in relative peace for generations until a Muslim rebellion from the country’s far north overthrew the government and unleashed total chaos. The rebels known as Seleka were blamed for scores of massacres on predominantly Christian villages across the country. When they were forced from power in January, it unleashed a wave of violent vengeance against Muslims throughout the anarchic nation."

Lots of People Who Support Gay Marriage Think Gay Sex Is Immoral

Seems sort of like the classical definition of tolerance - being willing to put up with something you may not agree with - rather than more typical modern definitions of the same term which seem to prohibit disagreement with anything.

Opternative Is The First Online Eye Exam That Writes You A Prescription

Seems they're charging $35 for the test, but this seems to be something that could be used a lot more generally, particularly in impoverished communities.

Out of Siberian Ice, a Virus Revived

"The thawed virus, which infects amoebae, is not a threat to humans. But if the new study holds up to scrutiny, it raises the possibility that disease-causing viruses may also be lurking in the permafrost."

Add a supercomputer of course.

NPR, where I came across this video, also noted that IBM is operating a food truck with some of the resulting dishes.