07-02-08 - early morning BBC musings
Denmark 'world's happiest nation'
Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.
The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.
The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life.
Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.
The study was directed by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart. He says that unlike other studies, which have focused on economic factors, his research has found that financial prosperity is not the only reason for happiness.
"Our research indicates prosperity is linked with happiness. It does contribute," he says, "but it is not the most important factor.
"Personal freedom is even more important, and it's freedom in all kinds of ways. Political freedom, like with democracy and freedom of choice."
A happier world
The world is becoming a happier place overall, according to the survey, which has been conducted since 1981.
Dr Inglehart says that gender quality is also an indicator of happiness, as is rising social tolerance. He says that both of these things have risen dramatically in recent years.
The world's wealthiest nation, the United States, was found to be the world's 16th happiest country, behind Switzerland, Canada and Sweden.
The study also found that the countries at the bottom of the list all struggle with widespread poverty or authoritarian governments.
Zimbabwe, which is gripped by hyperinflation, and has recently seen a controversial presidential election marred by violence, was found to be the least happy nation amongst the countries covered by the survey.
*I love reading about these kinds of studies even if there is an obvious "duh" factor in the underlying causes...I realized recently that I've hit a wall as far as places I would like to move to within the US. Now, I know most people would say "Good god girl! So stop moving then!" and I always think that the itch to do so is going to go away at some point-but like clock work, I hit a year in and start looking longingly at maps mentally picking out my next city. This time around I'm going to try and curb that by traveling more (and thus coming home to the same city at the end of each trip) and moving to a different house in a different area. I think I'll actual live IN Portland this time...anyhow, I digress. Perhapse if I end up the other way and toss off the US in responce to my lack of longing for our own cities-I'll use this "happiest" country study to find my new nation. Hahaha. It's almost the 4th of July. See my ironic patriotism?
Algae invade China Olympic venue
More than 10,000 people have been mobilised in the Chinese city of Qingdao to clean up green algae, which have invaded the Olympic sailing venue.
The algae had arrived in late May and now covered 13,000 sq km (5,000 sq miles) of sea, Xinhua news agency said.
They occupy almost a third of the area that will be used for the sailing competition during the 9-21 August Olympic Games.
Officials estimate that the clean-up will take two more weeks.
'Smelly'
Richard Zheng from Qingdao told the BBC News website that a number of his fellow students had been involved in the clean-up effort.
"There is really too much algae. When I go to the beach, I can smell it and it is really quite smelly - a bit like a soup we drink in restaurants," he said.
"Some people are getting quite worried in case this will have an impact on the Olympic Games. But there are many fishing ships out collecting the algae as well as students. We believe the algae will disappear when the weather changes.
"This has happened before in Qingdao but not so frequently in the last few years," Mr Zheng added.
Nitrogen
At a news conference on Sunday, Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee member Yuan Zhiping said workers were focusing on the competition area.
"We have stressed to all the people devoted to this campaign that the priority should [be] given to the Olympic venue and we expect to eliminate all these sea weeds before 15 July," he said.
Olympic sailors were already training in the area and their preparation was being affected, Xinhua said.
More than 1,000 boats were involved in the clean-up operation and 100,000 tonnes of the weeds had already been removed, it added.
Coastal areas and lakes in China see frequent algae blooms, often caused by the discharge of nitrogen-rich chemical pollutants, sewage and fertilisers in the water.
But Wang Shulian, of Qingdao's Oceanic and Fishery Department, put the presence of the algae down to the temperature of the water and its salinity.
*Damn it China! I started out reading this article thinking..."Wow. I'm just glad to know that there is still vegatation of one kind or another growing on it's own in the enviornmental catastrophy that is China" and yes, I realize that's not the most optimistic reaction anyway, but after snickering at the "There is really too much algae. When I go to the beach, I can smell it and it is really quite smelly - a bit like a soup we drink in restaurants," quote from professor Zheng...I was still feeling pretty ok with this development. Right up until I got to the end where they cop to the fact that the algae booms are often cause by chemical pollutants, sewage and fertilisers. Oh well, at least I had a little moment of hope there.
Video shows death of US patient
Video footage has emerged of an American woman dying on the floor of a New York City hospital as workers failed to help for more than an hour.
Esmin Green, 49, who was said to have suffered a mental breakdown, had been waiting to be seen at Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, for some 24 hours.
She collapsed in the waiting room at 0532 (0932 GMT) on 19 June.
According to the footage, it took almost an hour for the staff to notice and check her, but she had died.
Lawsuit evidence
On Tuesday, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the hospital, agreed to increase the monitoring of patients at the hospital's psychiatric ward as part of a lawsuit settlement.
The lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and others a year ago.
"That it took somebody keeling over and dying, and it being captured on videotape, for the city to come to the table in a meaningful way is unconscionable," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the union, is quoted as saying in the New York Times newspaper.
According to the lawsuit, patients at the hospital "are subjected to overcrowded and squalid conditions often accompanied by physical abuse and unnecessary and punitive injections of mind-altering drugs".
The case had remained largely unnoticed until the video was released after it was handed over to the union by city lawyers as evidence in the court case. The civil liberties union released it on Tuesday.
The hospital has now agreed to check patients in the waiting room every 15 minutes, and will attempt to shorten the average waiting time to around 10 hours in future.
Six people have since been fired or suspended as a result of the incident, including security staff and members of the medical staff.
*What? We're only 16th on the world's list of happiest countries! This is an outrage-I'm shocked!
Starbucks to close 500 more shops
Coffee chain Starbucks plans to shut 500 stores in the US on top of the 100 closures it had already announced.
Up to 12,000 full and part-time jobs will go, although Starbucks will try to move staff into other stores.
While it is closing underperforming stores, the company is still opening new US outlets, although it is cutting back from 250 to 200 next year.
Starbucks opened many stores in areas which have since been hard-hit by the housing slump such as Florida.
Feeling the pinch
About 70% of the outlets scheduled to be closed have only been open since 2006.
The company has been hard-hit by US consumers feeling the pinch and cutting back on their spending on expensive coffee.
The job losses would be about 7% of the company's global workforce.
Starbucks said it was closing stores that were either not profitable or likely to struggle in the future as economic conditions deteriorate.
"This makes our decision to close stores difficult because it is disrupting the lives of the people who have worked so hard to deliver superior service to our customers," said chief executive Howard Schultz.
"At the same time, we recognise that it is necessary to make decisions that will strengthen the US store portfolio."
Starbucks shares were trading up more than 1% on Nasdaq on Wednesday morning.
*And now we've hit the real heart of the problem that causes our country to be so unhappy...I find it difficult to retain my zen with out fancy coffee too. You may think I'm being sarcastic here, as it can be difficult to portray tone via text, but no. I'm serious. I'm a bitch bag with out my coffee...and most of you are too.
Humans are latest zoo attraction
Humans are to form the latest attractions at Edinburgh Zoo - as part of an unusual Fringe event.
Five performers will live in a cage at the zoo for 11 days in an enclosure originally designed for penguins.
The show, Enclosure 44, will have people behaving like captive animals, and being fed at certain times by other performers dressed as zoo keepers.
Actors will interact with the public for the course of the event, which runs from 5 to 16 August.
From 1000 BST breakfast will be served before the humans change from their pyjamas ready for a day of visitors.
Choreographer Janis Claxton, said: "My intention with this project is to show the deep connections of both movement and behaviour that we humans share with animals.
"Working within the space of an animal enclosure is a great challenge but also gives a unique interaction with the audience."
*Maybe if they were to try this out at the Portland zoo Philip would be more apt to take me. I've been craving a zoo experience that doesn't end with me crying and completely devestated ever since I made the huge mistake of going to the zoo in Beijing...come on, Add-am. Take me take me take me.
'Mental risk' of Facebook teens
Dr Tyagi said that people born after 1990 did not know a world without the widespread use of the internet.
He warned that the current crop of psychiatrists were perhaps not fully prepared to help young people with internet-related problems.
While social networking sites offered great benefits, he said, there were potential pitfalls.
'Unstimulating'
"It's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it, and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable."
He said: "People used to the quick pace of online social networking may soon find the real world boring and unstimulating.
"It may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities and can therefore be at risk in their real lives, perhaps more vulnerable to impulsive behaviour or even suicide."
He called for more investigation and research into the issue.
However, Graham Jones, a psychologist with an interest in the impact of the internet, said that while over-use of social networking sites could lead to problems, the risks posed by them had been overplayed.
He said: "For every new generation, the experience they have of the world is a different one.
"When the printing press was first invented, I am sure there were crowds of people saying it was a bad thing.
"In my experience, the people who tend to be most active on sites such as Facebook or Bebo are those who are most socially active anyway - it is just an extension of what they are already doing."
*It's an intersting argument, and I see where they are coming from here; but while I may not be persicely the demographic they are talking about here, I feel the need to mention that my "social networking" time logges is actually higher the farther away I get from any kind of depression. I at least fit into the later category Dr Jones is talking about...when I'm generally happy I'm more likely to blab my opinions of the world in my web logs. It seems like a natural train of thought but maybe that's just me.
Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.
The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.
The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life.
Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.
The study was directed by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart. He says that unlike other studies, which have focused on economic factors, his research has found that financial prosperity is not the only reason for happiness.
"Our research indicates prosperity is linked with happiness. It does contribute," he says, "but it is not the most important factor.
"Personal freedom is even more important, and it's freedom in all kinds of ways. Political freedom, like with democracy and freedom of choice."
A happier world
The world is becoming a happier place overall, according to the survey, which has been conducted since 1981.
Dr Inglehart says that gender quality is also an indicator of happiness, as is rising social tolerance. He says that both of these things have risen dramatically in recent years.
The world's wealthiest nation, the United States, was found to be the world's 16th happiest country, behind Switzerland, Canada and Sweden.
The study also found that the countries at the bottom of the list all struggle with widespread poverty or authoritarian governments.
Zimbabwe, which is gripped by hyperinflation, and has recently seen a controversial presidential election marred by violence, was found to be the least happy nation amongst the countries covered by the survey.
*I love reading about these kinds of studies even if there is an obvious "duh" factor in the underlying causes...I realized recently that I've hit a wall as far as places I would like to move to within the US. Now, I know most people would say "Good god girl! So stop moving then!" and I always think that the itch to do so is going to go away at some point-but like clock work, I hit a year in and start looking longingly at maps mentally picking out my next city. This time around I'm going to try and curb that by traveling more (and thus coming home to the same city at the end of each trip) and moving to a different house in a different area. I think I'll actual live IN Portland this time...anyhow, I digress. Perhapse if I end up the other way and toss off the US in responce to my lack of longing for our own cities-I'll use this "happiest" country study to find my new nation. Hahaha. It's almost the 4th of July. See my ironic patriotism?
Algae invade China Olympic venue
More than 10,000 people have been mobilised in the Chinese city of Qingdao to clean up green algae, which have invaded the Olympic sailing venue.
The algae had arrived in late May and now covered 13,000 sq km (5,000 sq miles) of sea, Xinhua news agency said.
They occupy almost a third of the area that will be used for the sailing competition during the 9-21 August Olympic Games.
Officials estimate that the clean-up will take two more weeks.
'Smelly'
Richard Zheng from Qingdao told the BBC News website that a number of his fellow students had been involved in the clean-up effort.
"There is really too much algae. When I go to the beach, I can smell it and it is really quite smelly - a bit like a soup we drink in restaurants," he said.
"Some people are getting quite worried in case this will have an impact on the Olympic Games. But there are many fishing ships out collecting the algae as well as students. We believe the algae will disappear when the weather changes.
"This has happened before in Qingdao but not so frequently in the last few years," Mr Zheng added.
Nitrogen
At a news conference on Sunday, Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee member Yuan Zhiping said workers were focusing on the competition area.
"We have stressed to all the people devoted to this campaign that the priority should [be] given to the Olympic venue and we expect to eliminate all these sea weeds before 15 July," he said.
Olympic sailors were already training in the area and their preparation was being affected, Xinhua said.
More than 1,000 boats were involved in the clean-up operation and 100,000 tonnes of the weeds had already been removed, it added.
Coastal areas and lakes in China see frequent algae blooms, often caused by the discharge of nitrogen-rich chemical pollutants, sewage and fertilisers in the water.
But Wang Shulian, of Qingdao's Oceanic and Fishery Department, put the presence of the algae down to the temperature of the water and its salinity.
*Damn it China! I started out reading this article thinking..."Wow. I'm just glad to know that there is still vegatation of one kind or another growing on it's own in the enviornmental catastrophy that is China" and yes, I realize that's not the most optimistic reaction anyway, but after snickering at the "There is really too much algae. When I go to the beach, I can smell it and it is really quite smelly - a bit like a soup we drink in restaurants," quote from professor Zheng...I was still feeling pretty ok with this development. Right up until I got to the end where they cop to the fact that the algae booms are often cause by chemical pollutants, sewage and fertilisers. Oh well, at least I had a little moment of hope there.
Video shows death of US patient
Video footage has emerged of an American woman dying on the floor of a New York City hospital as workers failed to help for more than an hour.
Esmin Green, 49, who was said to have suffered a mental breakdown, had been waiting to be seen at Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, for some 24 hours.
She collapsed in the waiting room at 0532 (0932 GMT) on 19 June.
According to the footage, it took almost an hour for the staff to notice and check her, but she had died.
Lawsuit evidence
On Tuesday, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the hospital, agreed to increase the monitoring of patients at the hospital's psychiatric ward as part of a lawsuit settlement.
The lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and others a year ago.
"That it took somebody keeling over and dying, and it being captured on videotape, for the city to come to the table in a meaningful way is unconscionable," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the union, is quoted as saying in the New York Times newspaper.
According to the lawsuit, patients at the hospital "are subjected to overcrowded and squalid conditions often accompanied by physical abuse and unnecessary and punitive injections of mind-altering drugs".
The case had remained largely unnoticed until the video was released after it was handed over to the union by city lawyers as evidence in the court case. The civil liberties union released it on Tuesday.
The hospital has now agreed to check patients in the waiting room every 15 minutes, and will attempt to shorten the average waiting time to around 10 hours in future.
Six people have since been fired or suspended as a result of the incident, including security staff and members of the medical staff.
*What? We're only 16th on the world's list of happiest countries! This is an outrage-I'm shocked!
Starbucks to close 500 more shops
Coffee chain Starbucks plans to shut 500 stores in the US on top of the 100 closures it had already announced.
Up to 12,000 full and part-time jobs will go, although Starbucks will try to move staff into other stores.
While it is closing underperforming stores, the company is still opening new US outlets, although it is cutting back from 250 to 200 next year.
Starbucks opened many stores in areas which have since been hard-hit by the housing slump such as Florida.
Feeling the pinch
About 70% of the outlets scheduled to be closed have only been open since 2006.
The company has been hard-hit by US consumers feeling the pinch and cutting back on their spending on expensive coffee.
The job losses would be about 7% of the company's global workforce.
Starbucks said it was closing stores that were either not profitable or likely to struggle in the future as economic conditions deteriorate.
"This makes our decision to close stores difficult because it is disrupting the lives of the people who have worked so hard to deliver superior service to our customers," said chief executive Howard Schultz.
"At the same time, we recognise that it is necessary to make decisions that will strengthen the US store portfolio."
Starbucks shares were trading up more than 1% on Nasdaq on Wednesday morning.
*And now we've hit the real heart of the problem that causes our country to be so unhappy...I find it difficult to retain my zen with out fancy coffee too. You may think I'm being sarcastic here, as it can be difficult to portray tone via text, but no. I'm serious. I'm a bitch bag with out my coffee...and most of you are too.
Humans are latest zoo attraction
Humans are to form the latest attractions at Edinburgh Zoo - as part of an unusual Fringe event.
Five performers will live in a cage at the zoo for 11 days in an enclosure originally designed for penguins.
The show, Enclosure 44, will have people behaving like captive animals, and being fed at certain times by other performers dressed as zoo keepers.
Actors will interact with the public for the course of the event, which runs from 5 to 16 August.
From 1000 BST breakfast will be served before the humans change from their pyjamas ready for a day of visitors.
Choreographer Janis Claxton, said: "My intention with this project is to show the deep connections of both movement and behaviour that we humans share with animals.
"Working within the space of an animal enclosure is a great challenge but also gives a unique interaction with the audience."
*Maybe if they were to try this out at the Portland zoo Philip would be more apt to take me. I've been craving a zoo experience that doesn't end with me crying and completely devestated ever since I made the huge mistake of going to the zoo in Beijing...come on, Add-am. Take me take me take me.
'Mental risk' of Facebook teens
Dr Tyagi said that people born after 1990 did not know a world without the widespread use of the internet.
He warned that the current crop of psychiatrists were perhaps not fully prepared to help young people with internet-related problems.
While social networking sites offered great benefits, he said, there were potential pitfalls.
'Unstimulating'
"It's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it, and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable."
He said: "People used to the quick pace of online social networking may soon find the real world boring and unstimulating.
"It may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities and can therefore be at risk in their real lives, perhaps more vulnerable to impulsive behaviour or even suicide."
He called for more investigation and research into the issue.
However, Graham Jones, a psychologist with an interest in the impact of the internet, said that while over-use of social networking sites could lead to problems, the risks posed by them had been overplayed.
He said: "For every new generation, the experience they have of the world is a different one.
"When the printing press was first invented, I am sure there were crowds of people saying it was a bad thing.
"In my experience, the people who tend to be most active on sites such as Facebook or Bebo are those who are most socially active anyway - it is just an extension of what they are already doing."
*It's an intersting argument, and I see where they are coming from here; but while I may not be persicely the demographic they are talking about here, I feel the need to mention that my "social networking" time logges is actually higher the farther away I get from any kind of depression. I at least fit into the later category Dr Jones is talking about...when I'm generally happy I'm more likely to blab my opinions of the world in my web logs. It seems like a natural train of thought but maybe that's just me.