The New York Times-20080129-Postings Recent Entries from Our Blogs- -Science Desk-
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Postings Recent Entries from Our Blogs; [Science Desk]
Full Text (490 words)TierneyLab
From John Tierney's blog, nytimes.com/tierneylab.
What are the warning signs for a gadget addict? John O'Neill, director of addiction services for the Menninger Clinic, has identified five general ones, like being unable to leave home without a gadget or refusing to heed pleas from families and friends to stop. But are there more specific signs of a gadgetolic -- or should that be gadgict?
From Chris: You know someone's an addict when they are caught by their children in their front hall closet ... thumbing away on their CrackBerry. ... Sorry, Sis.
c. congdon: You think a lap dance is what happens when your cellphone vibrates in your pants.
malnicore: You know you are a gadgict when you inadvertently bump into the real world, collapse into a virtual pool of despair, and click on My God, what am I doing?
Deborah: I bought a pair of those mittens that can flip back to expose gloves without fingertips for the sole purpose of making wintertime texting easier.
caryjm: Oh Deborah, you may need in-patient rehab. You are almost too far gone. I'm running out to buy myself a pair.
Well
From Tara Parker-Pope's blog, nytimes.com/well.
Forget the flowers, reception hall and wedding dress. For most brides-to-be, according to a new study from Cornell, losing weight is the most important part of the wedding plan.
To reach the perfect wedding-day weight, more than a third use extreme dieting tactics like diet pills and fasting. One in seven buys a bridal gown one or more sizes smaller than what she normally wears.
The authors note that because brides-to-be are highly motivated to lose weight, doctors should use a coming wedding as an opportunity to discuss more healthful weight-loss and eating behaviors.
From Kate: You're minimizing and perhaps trivializing disordered eating. It's extremely dangerous and most definitely not funny.
Gregory A.: What about the grooms? Women are expected to torture themselves and abuse their bodies to be perfect ... on their wedding day, while the dudes just have to show up shaved, in a clean shirt and not too obviously hung over from the bachelor party.
Dot Earth
From Andrew C. Revkin's blog, nytimes.com/dotearth.
We all love lists of winners and losers, and an obliging research team at Yale and Columbia has been trying to refine one that regularly ranks countries on their environmental performance. Switzerland is on top; Niger is last at 149th. The United States ranks 39th, below all of the other Group of 8 industrialized nations. Albania is 25th, Russia 28th.
From Simon D.: It may simply be geography. Many of the (former) colonies, whether Canada, Tajikistan or Malaysia, were conquered by the colonial powers because of ample natural resources. Those countries then established natural-resource-based or extractive economies that supported the former colonial powers.
cynthia: Looks like we have 38 case studies available from which we can copy that which works and is transferable, and dispense with whatever does not.
