Are criminals happier than policemen?
Which person do you think is happier, a criminal, or a police officer? The arrested, or the authority? According to the survey conducted among many jailed mobsters by the Korean Institute of Criminal Justice, most gangsters said they were very satisfied with their life in organized crime, unlike the law enforcers, who didn’t seem to be too content with their modus vivendi. If you think about it, just make sense; delinquents get most of their money through traditional methods such as extortion, prostitution and gambling, making on average about 4 million won ($4,255) a month, typically higher than the pay for police, which job is to enforce the law to create justice in a correct honest way. The line between easy money and ethics is very thin. I rather work clean and enjoy a perpetual modest happiness, than just to remember those wonderful rich old days while I spend my life in jail…
Filed Under Research
The sweet right to siesta
“I’d rather need a good siesta”. That’s what French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand must have thought many times, having to go to some boring institutional meeting straight after lunch. Now, he finally decided to solve the unpleasant situation, both for himself and for the French people, launching a plan to fight the sleep problem in his country. “Its time to turn the sleep into a primary health issue – he said – It actually has a big impact on our everyday life”. I
Filed Under Human Rights, Politics, World Health
There’s still life in the city
There’s something missing in the city, it isn’t nature itself but rather an appreciation of its force.
As concrete and void as a city can seem, there, on your street void of trees, is something sprouting from the sidewalk cracks. And in your apartment bedroom, with your mattress on the floor and smog rolling through the open window, there is a mosquito buzzing in your ear. These are small forms of life, but they are there and they may be annoying but it means that you’re far from being alone. And maybe that is what is the most underappreciated.
Unless, of course, you are Jef Taylor, a man who has devoted many years and many blog entries to “life” in the city. In 2006, Taylor found one urban specie for every day of the year, photographed it, and wrote personal and scientific stories on each. Now finally complete, the list (beginning with Northern Mockingbird and ending with human) is now available on his blog, “The Urban Pantheist.”
Filed Under Environment
A Second Life for the Swedish embassy
Second Life, the most famous Internet-based virtual world, has recently hit three million users worldwide. If you decide to play with it, you will be one of the motional avatars – this is the characters’ definition - who move along this alternative reality, exploring, socializing, participating in individual and group activities, trading with other avatars, or – why not – flying and teleporting. But also in a fantasy world, success can attract the interest of somebody. It’s the case of the Swedish Institute - a promotional body which works alongside the foreign ministry - that has just decided to open an embassy of Sweden in Second Life. The embassy will not issue passports and visas, but will be able to reach many young people and provide information about Sweden. Sweden is the first country to do so, following the example of several real-world companies which have created virtual shops in Second Life.
Read the original article on the Bbc
Filed Under Media & Society, Politics
Mahatma Mandela
Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela joined top leaders, nobel laureates and elder statesmen to make a worldwide call using Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent approach to solve conflicts. Mandela said the Mahatma combined ethics and morality with a steely resolve that refused to compromise with the oppressor. “Gandhi’s message of peace and non-violence holds the key to human survival in the 21st century”, said Mandela.
Filed Under Human Rights, Politics
Is being fat that frightening?
America the Obese – it’s not just a matter of health, it’s an obsession. The obese are scrutinized, they are stared at, whispered about, pointed at, cried for, picked on, motivated, judged, prodded, poked, having their photos forward to others, segregated, and being made the topic of “fun fact” lists. But why the ongoing scrutiny? I suppose the growing weight of America could be deemed an epidemic. A threat. But in actuality, the obsession with the fat seems, according to this obesity fact list, to be fear based. As the list reports: Between 15 percent and 30 percent of the 4,000 surveyed Americans said they’d rather walk away from their marriage, give up the possibility of having children, be depressed, or become alcoholic rather than be obese. In other words, they’d rather lose their love, meaning of life, happiness and liver than be stared at, whispered about, pointed at, cried for, picked on…
Is being fat terrifying? If so, what’s scares you the most?
Filed Under Diversity
Be serious when you play
John, our average man, sits on the sofa. He opens a packet of Pringles. He rubs his belly. He drinks some beer. He turns on the Playstation. And, God sake, instead of switching off his brain in front of dragons, helicopters or basketball players, he’s forced to think. Because that videogame is playing with is just one of many videogames that focus and comment on the world’s social and political ills.
For example, Ayiti: it challenges players to guide a family of five as they struggle to survive amid poverty in rural Haiti; or another one that asks gamers to double the price of crude oil by afflicting a fantasy land with a series of natural disasters; many others, like Fantasy Congress, invite players to play a role in national politics and elections.
Filed Under Media & Society, Politics