Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
DAVID GARDNER, - Mail (U.K.)
Stephan:
It used to be the tell-tale lipstick on the collar. Then there were the give-away texts that spelled the death knell for many marriages.
But now one in five divorces involve the social networking site Facebook, according to a new survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
A staggering 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have also reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating.
Passion killer: 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have reported a spike in the number of cases using social media for evidence of cheating, with Facebook by far the biggest offender
Passion killer: 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have reported a spike in the number of cases using social media for evidence of cheating, with Facebook by far the biggest offender
Flirty messages and photographs found on Facebook are increasingly being cited as proof of unreasonable behaviour or irreconcilable differences.
Many cases revolve around social media users who get back in touch with old flames they hadn’t heard from in many years.
* Is Wi-Fi frying our brains? Fears that cloud of ‘electrosmog’ could be harming humans
* Why pretty women give birth […]
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Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
SUE MCGREEVEY, - Massachusetts General Hospital
Stephan: Long time SR readers know it is my belief that the single most important thing you can do to take control of your life, and to lead a life of wellness, is to develop the discipline of meditation.
Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s grey matter.
‘Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,’ says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study’s senior author. ‘This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.’
Previous studies from Lazar’s group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.
For the current study, MR images were take […]
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Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
GAIL COLLINS, - The New York Times
Stephan: We are facing a virtual perfect storm of transition crises -- from jobs to sea level rise -- and what is the Right concerned with? Depriving women of control over their own bodies, and the information they need to make decisions in their own best interest.
As if we didn’t have enough wars, the House of Representatives has declared one against Planned Parenthood.
Maybe it’s all part of a grand theme. Last month, they voted to repeal the health care law. This month, they’re going after an organization that provides millions of women with both family-planning services and basic health medical care, like pap smears and screening for diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.
Our legislative slogan for 2011: Let Them Use Leeches.
‘What is more fiscally responsible than denying any and all funding to Planned Parenthood of America?
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
ROBERET HERRIMAN, - examiner.com
Stephan: You'd hardly know the Iraq war continues, but 50,000 American troops are still there, as well as an equal number of contractors (read mostly mercenaries), and people are still dying and being maimed. And the final withdrawal of our troops remains far from a done deal, whatever the announcements say.
The final 50,000 American troops are scheduled to leave Iraq on December 31, 2011 according to the ‘Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq’ or better known as the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
However, there are some in the Pentagon and elsewhere who say that US troops will need to remain after the December date.
Officials in the Pentagon are fearful that Iraq is becoming a ‘forgotten war
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
, - Environmental Research Web
Stephan: The Green Transition is desirable, but it is not going to be easy. Personally for environmental and national security reasons I think a decentralized local and regional energy structure is best.
Battle of the Grids’, a new Greenpeace report, says that we are fast reaching a showdown between ‘green’ and ‘dirty’ energy. ‘Thousands of wind turbines delivering near free energy were turned off in 2010 to allow polluting and heavily subsidised nuclear and coal plants to carry on business as usual. It is estimated Spain had to ditch around 200GWh of energy last year. The buzz on the lips of industry specialists, lobbyists and in boardrooms is about system clash and the costs of building and running what is increasingly becoming a dual system’.
It is certainly true that there is a conflict looming as we plan the expand both nuclear and renewables. What happens when there is a lot of wind power available but energy demand is low, as at night in summer. Do we then switch it off or switch off inflexible baseload nuclear plants?
The Greenpeace report demonstrates the problem on a European scale, and offers suggestions for how it can be resolved. Together with Greenpeace’s 2010 Energy [R]evolution report, it builds on its earlier Renewables 24/7 study, exploring a new system for the EU which it says can deliver 68% renewable energy by 2030 and nearly 100% by 2050, […]
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