Information Related to "In the News January 2011"
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52% of American adults (18+) married in 2009, the lowest percentage in more
than 100 years.
—Hope Yen, "Census Data: Marriages in 2009 at Record
Low Level," News.Yahoo.com, Sept. 28, 2010
Those who are happy, emotionally stable and well-adjusted see others as happy and well-adjusted. A study at Wake Forest University in North Carolina found that how we perceive other people mirrors our own state of well-being.
Participants who tended to judge others positively were found to be more happy, kind-hearted and courteous themselves. Viewing others negatively reflects self-centered and antisocial tendencies in ourselves (Richard Alleyne, "Happy People More Likely to See Others as Happy," Telegraph.co.uk, Aug. 3, 2010).
Developing friendships requires a positive outlook and an eye for the good in others, which, in turn, makes us friendlier.
Have you ever noticed how un-comfortable it is to have a laptop resting on your legs for a long period of time? Well, it turns out that long-term exposure to the heat produced by the computers can cause something called "toasted skin syndrome."
Long-term, low-grade heat, like that from a laptop, can cause a mottled appearance and sometimes permanent darkening of the skin. Also, it can, in very rare cases, lead to skin cancer according to Swiss researchers from University Hospital Basel ("‘Toasted Skin Syndrome' Warning for Laptop Users," NewYork.CBSlocal.com, Oct. 4, 2010).
For a commonsense solution, experts recommend limiting direct contact between laptop and skin by using a heat shield. Best of all, place the laptop on a desk or stand.
Many parents are using digital grounding as a tool of discipline. Parents are removing privileges to use Facebook, cell phones, iPods and other digital devices following an indiscretion. For a trend of low grades on report cards, a parent might revoke Facebook and cell phone privileges for a specific period of time or until grades improve.
A Pew Internet and American Life Project study has found that 62 percent of parents have taken away a cell phone as punishment. Whereas grounding used to mean not going out, driving the car or using the standard phone, it has now extended to the area of life where social activities have migrated for most teens—the digital world (Donna St. George, "Parents Use ‘Digital' Grounding as a 21st-Century Disciplinary Tool," WashingtonPost.com, Sept. 5, 2010).
Few events capture the beauty of God's magnificent creation better than the northern lights, or aurora borealis. During this current period of increased solar activity, leading to a solar maximum (a period of incredible storm activity and flares from the sun), these atmospheric disturbances are clearly seen.
A recent fantastic display of the auroras was caused, say scientists, by a massive solar storm. An explosive flare from an active sunspot sent a stream of charged particles toward the earth at 250 miles per second, followed by more flares. The beautiful colors and undulations of the auroras were the result of reactions among atoms and molecules in the earth's atmosphere (Andrew Hough and Sarah Kelley, "Spectacular Northern Lights Display Pictured After Violent Space Storm," Telegraph.co.uk, Sept. 9, 2010).
The digital age has obscured the evils of plagiarism, according to some school administrators. The "cut and paste" function has made it easy to grab a few paragraphs, sentences or phrases here and there from sources like Wikipedia and similar informational Web sites. However, other academics believe that plagiarism is less a sign of the times and more a sign of laziness in students.
Most of the 196 cases of plagiarism at the University of California Davis were not from students ignorant of how to cite sources, but from students who simply didn't care enough to do their own work (Trip Gabriel, "Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age," NYTimes.com, Aug. 1, 2010).
Plagiarism is a serious offense. As copyright laws begin to tighten, and they have recently, it is more and more important to credit sources when creating a document of any kind. When in doubt, cite; it doesn't take very much extra effort. Even sources like Wikipedia need to be given a brief citation—after all, if the source is wrong, do you really want to take full credit for the mistake?
Taking something from someone without permission is theft, and taking intellectual property (writing, etc.) from someone and pretending it is your own is also theft. God condemns theft in the Ten Commandments. Give others the gift of your original thoughts, and give credit to the originality of others.
Fifty former criminals, surveyed by an insurance company, revealed that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter provide much information about the habits of victims. One former burglar explained that while in the past thieves would pay the postman or milkman for information about the habits of home owners, now that information is freely publicized by people who update their pages with endless details about daily schedules and vacation dates when their houses will be empty (Harry Wallop, "Burglars Using Twitter and Facebook to ‘Case the Joint,'" Telegraph.co.uk, July 20, 2010).
To be on the safe side, don't post excessive details about your vacation plans or daily schedule. Also, make sure that your Twitter and Facebook pages are private to ensure that your information isn't being made accessible to everyone via search engines like Google and Bing.
Now, 18 years after the Internet was born for public use, some experts claim that part of it, the World Wide Web, is dying (well, maybe not growing as fast). Many people are using applications rather than Web pages to receive information, especially on their phones. Applications provide information like movies via Netflix, news via RSS feed and music via iTunes. These applications can bring preselected types of information to the user, rather than require the user to employ a search engine to track down the information and then spend time sifting through it. Companies like Apple also use applications to get past the "information wants to be free" aspect of the Web.
The Internet has also begun to lose its egalitarian atmosphere. In the early years it was seen as a platform from which millions of people could see and be seen, where the "little guy" could make it big. Well, the little guys have made it big, and Internet monopolies that will eclipse even Google, such as Facebook, are the wave of the future (Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff, "The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet," Wired.com, Aug. 17, 2010).
Archaeologist Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his team have found a royal viewing box that was a part of King Herod's private theater at his fortress of Herodium, 7.5 miles south of Jerusalem. The fully excavated seating area exemplifies the luxurious court of Herod in the time leading up to the coming of Christ.
The back and sides of the viewing box, which was used at the pleasure of the king, his family and close friends, were richly painted and decorated with plaster moldings. The style is unlike any previous styles discovered in Israel and is likely Roman in origin, created by artists from Italy. It was dated approximately to the year 15 B.C. (Ronen Shnidman, "King Herod's Royal Theater Box Uncovered at Herodium," JPost.com, Sept. 15, 2010).
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