May 5, 2008, 8:25 PM CT

Moms have few interactions with their infants during TV time

Infants who are exposed to television and video in low socio-economic households tend to have limited verbal interactions with their mothers, as per a new study led by Alan L. Mendelsohn, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Research for the divisions of General and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at NYU School of Medicine.

The study, reported in the recent issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, is the first to assess parent-infant interactions as they relate to specific media content. Overall, parent-infant verbal interactions across broad media content were limited. When the programming was educational and co-viewed by both mother and infant in each others presence, interactions increased. However, the study showed that educational programming did not promote co-viewing, which is a factor that contributes to verbal interactions.

Our conclusions are particularly significant because parent-infant interactions have huge ramifications for early child development, as well as school advancement and success during adolescence, says Dr. Mendelsohn, MD.

Because of its findings, the new study supports the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics that television should be off limits to children under the age of two. Earlier data on this topic include a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation which cited that 61 percent of children younger than two years of age are exposed to television on a daily basis. In the new study, 97 percent of mothers with 6-month olds reported their infants were exposed to television or radio at the median rate of two hours a day......... Posted by: Gina      Read more         Source

May 5, 2008, 7:38 PM CT

Hillary supports McCain's 100 years in Iraq

It is facinating to see Hillary holds 'McCain's 100 years in Iraq" view :

How easy we forget...Febuary 20,2005 on national TV...CBS's Face the Nation. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Lindsey Graham were interviewed by Bob Schieffer.

I found this interview....well I almost fell off the chair. Given the recent DNC ad about John McCain's 100 year in Iraq statement and the GOP threat to bring suit to remove it. W'ell it's a hot topic and a big anti McCain issue....but Hillary has said the same thing..and never a peep about it.

Senator McCain made the point earlier today, which I agree with, and that is, it's not so much a question of time when it comes to American military presence for the average American; I include myself in this. But it is a question of casualties.

We don't want to see our young men and women dying and suffering these grievous injuries that so a number of of them have. We've been in South Korea for 50-plus years. We've been in Europe for 50-plus. We're still in Okinawa with respect to protection there coming out of World War II.

You know, we have been in places for very long periods of time. And in recent history, we've made a commitment to Bosnia and Kosovo, and I think what is different is the feeling that we're on a track that is getting better and that we can see how the Iraqi government will begin to assume greater and greater responsibility. The elections were key to that. The training, equipment, equipping and motivating of the Iraqi security forces is key to that. But so is our understanding that if we were to artificially set a deadline of some sort, that would be like a green light to the terrorists, and we can't afford to do that......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

May 5, 2008, 5:55 PM CT

As gas prices climb, employee productivity plummets

Rising gas prices are affecting more than the family budget. More pain at the pump results in more employee stress on the job, says Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State Universitys College of Business.

People concerned with the effects of gas prices were significantly less attentive on the job, less excited about going to work, less passionate and conscientious and more tense, Hochwarter said. These people also reported more blues on the job. Employees were simply unable to detach themselves from the stress caused by escalating gas prices as they walked through the doors at work.

Hochwarter gleaned the information by surveying more than 800 full-time employees this spring when gas prices hovered at about $3.50 per gallon. All of the people surveyed work in a wide range of occupations, primarily in the southeastern United States. All drove personal transportation to work and had an average commute of 15 miles each way.

Survey respondents said gas prices were foremost on their mind, including a disgruntled factory worker who wrote, I spend more time at work trying to figure out what I need to give up to keep gas in my tank than thinking about how to do my job.

Hochwarters research will be submitted for publication later this summer. Among his findings:........ Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

April 30, 2008, 6:21 PM CT

Lexicon Evolved To Fit In The Brain

The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary boasts 22,000 pages of definitions. While that may seem far from succinct, new research suggests the reference manual is meticulously organized to be as concise as possible a format that mirrors the way our brains make sense of and categorize the countless words in our vast vocabulary.

Dictionaries have often been thought of as a frustratingly tangled web of words where the definition of word A refers users to word B, which is defined using word C, which ends up referring users back to word A, said Mark Changizi, assistant professor of cognitive science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. But this research suggests that all words are grounded in a small set of atomic words and its likely that the dictionarys large-scale organization has been driven over time by the way humans mentally systematize words and their meanings.

Dictionaries are built like an inverted pyramid. The most complex words (e.g., albacore and antelope) sit at the top and are defined by words that are more basic, and thus lower on the pyramid. Eventually all words are associated with a small number of words called atomic words, (such as act and group) that are so fundamental they cannot be defined by simpler terms. The number of levels of definition it takes to get from a word to an atomic word is called the hierarchical level of the word......... Posted by: Jaison      Read more         Source

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:26:10 GMT

Book Review: You're So Money

Farnoosh Torabi, whose current claim to fame is getting that crazy Jim Cramer to sit down every day for a video interview on stocks to watch at TheStreet.com, is the author of a new book You're So Money, which offers a wealth of personal finance advice to those in her generation, i.e., 30 and younger. Sort of a Personal Finance for Young Dummies, the book is an enjoyable read, and I learned a few things, even though I'm slightly too old to be the target market.

The best thing about You're So Money is that it's so conversational, meaning it tries to actually engage you and make the money issues a bit more enjoyable to consider. As a too-regular reader of personal finance books, I found Torabi's style made it much easier to want to keep turning the pages, even when the talk turned to credit scores and vision insurance.

Torabi covers both the conventional personal finance advice-401Ks, college debt, investing basics, home buying-and the less conventional, such as which type of makeup you can afford to cheap out on and making the most of your student ID even when you're no longer a student. She uses many, many personal examples as well as profiles of other twenty-somethings and their money trials and successes. Even if these examples don't always pertain to your situation, it's a good way to see what others in your age bracket are facing and how they're tackling their financial challenges.

You're So Money carries the tag line "Live Rich, Even When You're Not." While Torabi does offer some interesting examples (she lived in Manhattan for $500 a month by moving into the extra bedroom of a married couple), by and large there aren't big secrets here that show you how to look richer than you are. Other than the obvious advice to splurge on the things that matter to you most, and a few ideas on how to get expensive clothing or whatever at a cheaper price, this is really not a handbook to living large on a small budget. And that's fine. Because what the book is-a smart, fun take on a rather boring topic, targeting an age group unlikely to sit still for 200 pages of IRAs and APRs and COBRAs-is plenty.

If you're past 35, You're So Money might make you feel a bit old (or maybe that's just me). But if you're out of school and still getting your act together financially, this one's for you. Posted by: Justin McHenry      Read more     Source

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:32:56 GMT

Party San Antonio Style

What began as an Easter celebration at a time when San Antonio was still a small desert enclave has become a week long celebration in America's fastest growing city. Fiesta rings in spring Texas style. There are parades, concerts, dancing in the streets, and of course, plenty of food.

Downtown San Antonio hosts nearly one hundred events beginning on April 18th. It is estimated that three million people will attend at least one event this year. The city's schools and municipal offices close on April 25th for a parade known as Battle of the Flowers.

With such a high concentration of good times, April might be the perfect time to visit San Antonio. Sure, you'll have to fight the crowds, but the festive atmosphere will surely offset any stress.

Source Posted by: Josh Lew      Read more     Source

April 21, 2008, 6:10 PM CT

Sharper imags: sports vision clinic

The standard eye chart only covers letters and numbers, but athletes need above average vision to track balls hurtling toward them at alarming speeds. To test those special skills, a University of Houston optometrist has founded the Sports Vision Performance Center, a facility where athletes perform while a strobe light is flashing, play tag with a board of lights and engage in other activities designed to improve their visual abilities.

The biggest problem that athletes face is not knowing they can potentially see much better than 20/20 vision, said Kevin Gee, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and an assistant clinical professor with the UH College of Optometry. Gee opened the Sports Vision Performance Center in January to individual athletes and teams from various sports, and utilizes a range of tests to analyze what is called the visual system.

The visual system is more than just whats the smallest line on the chart you can see, Gee said. The visual system consists of many things, but specifically for sports, depth perception, color, speed and accuracy of movements and contrast sensitivity or the ability to detect an object off a background.

To assess these skills, Gee and his staff use instruments, such as a 3-D movie projected on a computer screen with shimmering objects that pop up to measure depth perception, a lighted batting test that can time up to one-thousandth of a second to gauge timing and accuracy, and a Dynavision board a vertical lighted peg board that determines reaction time, peripheral awareness and accuracy of movement......... Posted by: Jim      Read more         Source

April 17, 2008, 7:38 PM CT

Wanted: Forty-thousand More Health IT Professionals

Study by OHSU expert says a 40 percent hike in IT workforce will be needed to move U.S. healthcare toward a paperless system that controls costs and reduces medical errors.

If the U.S. healthcare system moves toward wider adoption of advanced information technology systems to control health care costs, reduce medical errors and improve patient care, it will need at least 40,000 additional health IT professionals - or almost 40 percent more than U.S. hospitals now are estimated to employ.

That is the finding of an analytical report presented today, at a meeting on Capitol Hill of the Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics, by William Hersh, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology at Oregon Health & Science University.

The meeting was moderated by U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., author of a bill, H.R. 1467, addressing the need to train more health IT professionals, which the House passed recently and that is awaiting consideration in the Senate.

"I commend Dr. Hersh for his research on healthcare IT workforce issues," said Rep. Wu. "His findings further justify the need for my 10,000 Trained by 2010 Act, which provides funds for healthcare IT education. A workforce trained in healthcare IT is essential to bringing greater quality and efficiency to the healthcare industry"......... Posted by: Mac      Read more         Source

April 10, 2008, 8:14 PM CT

Strong Labor Market for Scientists and Engineers

Science and engineering workforce availability in the United States is under serious scrutiny by observers who worry about a decline in the nation's ability to fill future demand. However, three newly published National Science Foundation (NSF) reports show increasing supplies of researchers and engineers, as well as a strong labor market.

As per NSF data, the number of individuals working in science and engineering (S&E) occupations grew by 4.3 percent, and their unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 percent in 2006, the lowest unemployment rate since the early part of 1990s.

Every two years NSF surveys and collects data on researchers and engineers, defined as people with a bachelor's degree or higher with science, engineering or related degrees or occupations.

NSF collects data on these individuals with three separate national surveys: the National Survey of College Graduates, the National Survey of Recent College Graduates, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients. Collectively, these surveys are known as the Researchers and Engineers Statistical Data System, or SESTAT.

The first report records data on the overall science and engineering workforce, specifically the number of individuals working in science and engineering occupations since 2003. See http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08305/........ Posted by: Mac      Read more         Source

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:22:45 GMT

Pressing on

Pressing On (Return of the Phoebe) from the Undiscovery Channel on Vimeo.

Ah, to be as single-minded as a phoebe! To sing for the sheer joy of it, one’s message reduced to the bare fundamentals:
I am here.
Life is good.
Gimme some sugar.
Isn’t that really what we’re all trying to do, as artists and writers ?

Apparently not. “Whether a person blogs to make a little money, to influence opinion or just for sheer ego gratification,” Vimeo, “amassing a large audience is the goal.” Oh. Oops.

Funny thing, though. Remember my Vimeo? Anon. used a slightly different yardstick to measure success in blogging:

One of my blogs lasted only a few weeks and got mentioned on instapundit and metafilter, logged hundreds of readers daily, was cut and pasted and forwarded as emails, and led to several offers of publication in whole or in part. A year before that, I had written another blog that also lasted only a few weeks. This second blog drew few readers, was not widely linked, didn''t feature my best prose, and when it ended, wasn''t archived by me or anyone else. It, however, involved my wandering in snowy woods by myself several times a week. For that reason alone, I prefer it to its more celebrated cousin.

Now this same individual, writing under a pseudonymn and working with an agent, has gotten an offer from a major publisher to bring out his second novel, which also gestated in a (now discontinued) blog — one with a daily readership probably around 100, I’m guessing. (Which still sounds like a lot to those of us who have been writing poetry for a while, and are used to thinking of a large audience as anything in excess of ten people, including family members!) Nor is he the only friend or acquaintance for whom blogging has led to authorship.

But judging by the advice proffered by most of the blogging experts I’ve read, my friends are basket-cases. Not only do they fail to measure their success by Google PageRank or Technorati authority, but their blogs often lack a tight focus; their titles usually aren’t terribly descriptive; most of them probably don’t know how to use tags to increase their SEO; and their posts often ramble far from the point and include lengthy paragraphs that few casual visitors would be able to focus on (Anon. was famous for that). But like our friend in the video above, they are hardly lacking in dedication.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the American blogging cognoscenti have completely ignored what I consider the most significant blogging story of 2008 so far. Japan’s most prestigious literary award — the Akutagawa Prize, which recognizes up-and-coming fiction writers — Vimeo named Mieko Kawakami. She began blogging in 2003 as a way to try and stir up interest in her music, but soon the writing took over. The prize went to her third work of fiction; all three were originally written for her blog.

Kawakami’s award-winning novella, “The Breast and the Egg,” explores the ideas of divorce, the questioning of beauty standards and other themes of solitary womanhood that are still relatively new territory in Japanese literature. Kawakami’s stories in some ways are those of Japan’s Everywoman. […]

“It’s about living, our body, the changes of the heart that accompany the body, the urgency, the problems being born, moment by moment,” Kawakami said. “The fact that we are always doing our best at living.”

So it seems that some top-notch writers are finding their voice through blogging now, even if blogging as a medium for literary expression hasn’t really caught on here yet. As someone who has helped publish bloggers and other writers and artists in a Vimeo for three years, this is obviously a topic of keen interest to me. In Japan, as the AP article goes on to point out, it’s not uncommon now for writers to produce novels in installments meant to be read on mobile phones. To say that Japan has a healthy blogging culture would be a bit of an understatement.

There are more blog posts in Japanese than any other language, according to Technorati Inc., which tracks nearly 113 million blogs globally. Last year, Technorati found 37 percent of all postings were in Japanese — about 1.5 million per day. Postings in English — from Americans, Britons, Australians and people in many other countries — accounted for 36 percent of the total.

It’s not just a matter of numbers, though. In Japan, the personal or diary blog is the dominant form, not only as a percentage of the whole (which may be true here, too) but in terms of public perception. This makes sense, because letters and diaries have held a central position in Japanese literature for over a thousand years, enjoying equal status with poetry and novels. (You may have noticed the quote at the bottom of my sidebar from Sei Shonagon, whose tenth-century Pillow Book was as much like a personal blog as anything one can imagine.) Moreover, novels based on lightly-fictionalized autobiography have been a staple of Japanese literature for close to fifty years now. So a Japanese blogger with literary aspirations would not have to look far for role models or an appreciative audience.

Here in the U.S., by contrast, the literary establishment seems reluctant even to concede the value of online literary magazines, let alone blogs. The proper curmugeonly thing to do is express distaste for something so obviously deleterious to the cause of true literature, as the British novelist Doris Lessing did in her Vimeo this past December.

What has happened to us is an amazing invention — computers and the internet and TV. It is a revolution. This is not the first revolution the human race has dealt with. The printing revolution, which did not take place in a matter of a few decades, but took much longer, transformed our minds and ways of thinking. A foolhardy lot, we accepted it all, as we always do, never asked, What is going to happen to us now, with this invention of print? In the same way, we never thought to ask, How will our lives, our way of thinking, be changed by this internet, which has seduced a whole generation with its inanities so that even quite reasonable people will confess that once they are hooked, it is hard to cut free, and they may find a whole day has passed in blogging etc.

God forbid! Then again, if all the bloggers I know followed the advice of the blogging gurus, I think we would have to concede Lessing’s point. Posted by: Vianegativa      Read more     Source