Why arguing is so difficult
Human beings argue about everything and in many different ways from a person to another. Someone is aggressive, someone else is more passive, etc. But recently, US research into marital stress on the heart found broad differences in the way sexes argue.
According to researchers, it is a male tactic to withdraw from arguments. In fact it seems that men are very good at “self-silencing” during confrontations with their partner. On the other side, women are often in the position of bringing up and pursuing things they would like to change. Researchers also state: “The more of it a couple displays the weaker their relationship future is”. I’m not quite in agreement with this last assertion: in fact my parents are a perfect example of passive (my father)-aggressive (my mother) relationship that has being going on for more than thirty years.
Filed Under Modern Life
Who owns the Arctic?
I’ve never even thought to question it… who does the Arctic belong to? Unlike the Antarctic, it’s not its own continent, it’s not even part of one country. Made up of the Arctic Ocean and northern parts of many countries including Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, it doesn’t really belong to anyone. In fact how much each country owns of it isn’t even definite.
Governed by the Law of the Sea, a 1982 U.N. treaty signed by more than 150 countries, “the agreement gives each nation control of the area up to 200 nautical miles off its coast and whatever natural resources might lie beneath them.” If countries can prove their underwater continental shelf extends beyond the normal 200-mile boundary they are allowed to extend their boundaries upto 350 nautical miles outward. Of course, the layer of ice over these waters makes it very hard to scan the seabed.
Spats have erupted as of late, a good old fashioned race for claiming underwater land, between Russian and Canada. The U.S. Coast Guard is planning to establish its first Arctic base in Alaska, joining the race.
Filed Under Wondering
God bless Workplace Interruptions
I’m a proud supporter of the idea that worktime should be filled with activities that go beyond one’s daily duties. I try to explain myself better. Let’s take an office where everybody sits mute in front of the computer’s screen, with his fingers obsessively glued on the keyboard: for bosses, this is a soothing vision that talks about a workplace where everybody is completely devoted to his job. Yet, the reality is something a bit different: everybody in that office is probably busy with checking his email box, chatting with a friend or watching some porn. I’d rather prefer, then, to get into the office and see that half of the people are not in there and the other half is busy with smoking cigarettes, talking about last night’s movie or eating a chocolate cake. That’s a more sincere picture of a normal day at work.
Filed Under Human Rights, Modern Life
Murdered by scientists: 400-year-old clam
I’m not sure which is most common, but I’ve narrowed it down to this: 1. life is spent trying to find love, 2.life is spent trying to understand how it should be spent, 3. life is spent trying to prolong and elongate it.
While I was certain the majority was in it for 1., I’m beginning to think most everything we do ends up being an endeavour to increase our lifespan – 3. And while life expectancy is at an all time high in the world’s history, we as humans have much to learn from the Arctica islandica clam.
A record breaking life-form, one was recently plucked from the frigid waters off the coast of Iceland by researchers at Bangor University in Wales in hopes of learning “how the marine environment has changed in recent centuries.”
Filed Under Environment, Research
A tourist guide for the war in Iraq
“Shared taxis can be used between towns and cities. Both ordinary and shared cabs are orange and cream in Iraq.” For a tourist traveling in Iraq in 1994, waiting in a Baghdad square for some other people to share a taxi with is an interesting anthropological experience and a way to save some money. The same action, though, could turn up being useless and even very dangerous if you’re a US ambassador in charge of lining up a plan to rebuild the country in 2003, with the war going on and Saddam Hussein’s regime slowly falling apart. Still, the US government failed to consider this small detail and four years ago, before sending its ambassadors to Baghdad, dropped in their hands some copies of the 1994 Baghdad Lonely Planet Tourist Guide and said something like: “Now, you’ve everything you need in order to rebuild it!”. Ms. Bodine, one of these ambassadors, recently revealed this frightful story to the Bbc.
The war in Iraq, lead by such a serious and enlightened administration, has brought so far to almost 1,300,000 violent deaths amongst Iraqi people, 4,000 violent deaths amongst US and the coalition soldiers and 250 violent deaths amongst journalists, media support workers and aid workers.
Read the Lonely Planet page about going to Iraq today
Filed Under Politics
Green Thing makes green things enjoyable
Being green sure sounds boring and reading about doing green things has definitely past its prime in the realm of being interesting. Thank God for those out there who are trying to make it all seem like a bit of fun, or at least putting an artistic and creative spin on it all. Green Thing is a website that promotes simple green activities, focusing on just per month. October’s, for example, was walking. That’s it. That’s all they ask - just walk once to work, or school in the month and you’ve done your part.
Green thing hosts original and well made videos on each month’s theme and supplies participators with extra incentives, like the several podcasts made specifically for walking.
Filed Under Environment
When you love the Internet that much
Nearly one in four Americans say that the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other, at least for some period of time, says a new poll conducted by Zogby International and 463 Communications.
What’s probably more impressive, it seems that 11 percent of respondents said they were willing to have a device implanted in their brain in order to have ready access to the Internet.
As for me, I think that having a very ‘bright’ smartphone and a free fast wireless connection would be good enough. Go ahead, if you want to try. By the way, according to the poll, Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson and Patrick Dempsey are still considered sexier than the iPhone. Maybe. Not for long.
Filed Under Media & Society