Thursday, October 06, 2005
Toddlers who are looked after by their mothers do significantly better in developmental tests than those cared for by nurseries, childminders or relatives, according to a new study. The findings will show that those given nursery care fared worst. They exhibited higher levels of aggression and were inclined to become more compliant, withdrawn or sad. Those looked after by grandparents and other relatives fared a little better. Youngsters looked after by childminders and nannies came second in terms of their development to those who stayed at home with mother. The research, involving 1,200 children and their families in north London and Oxfordshire, is based on a study of the development of children over a four-year period. They were first studied when they were three months old and then at regular periods until they reached the age of 51 months. It was due to be presented to a conference in London this week by one of its co-authors, Penelope Leach, president of the National Childminders' Association.
Muriel Newman, one of the ACT MPs who missed out in this election (and a sad loss to parliament) has started a new website, the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate. It looks to be providing an outlet for people who have become disillusioned with the social welfare system through bad experiences with bureaucracy.
Forty-three percent of US workers said they've faked illness in order to dodge a day of work at least once in the past year, according to a survey by online job board CareerBuilder.com. That's up from 35 percent in last year's survey, the company says. A chance to relax and catch up on sleep was the most popular reason respondents gave for playing hooky. Others said they just didn't feel like going to the office or wanted to catch up on housework and errands.
Yahoo is working with the Internet Archive, the University of California and others on a project to digitize books in archives around the world and make them searchable through any Web search engine and downloadable for free. The project is designed to skirt copyright concerns that have plagued Google's Print Library Project since it was begun last year. The Authors Guild sued Google last week, alleging its scanning and digitizing of copyright protected books infringes copyright, even if only small excerpts are displayed in search results as Google plans.
I was fascinated by the TV news item this week on rocket racing. Shades of Star Wars pod racing!! More info and pics here.
The following has been doing the rounds for a wee while, but it's worth relaying. The Ant and the Grasshopper (New Zealand modern version):
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's
a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper calls a press
conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate like him are cold and starving.
TVNZ shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his comfortable warm home with a table
filled with food. Kiwis are stunned that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty. The Green Party, Maori Party , the trade unions and the CoalitionAgainst Poverty and the usual bunch of professional rioters demonstrate in front of the ant's house.
TVNZ, interrupting an Iwi cultural festival special from a Northland Marae with breaking news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."
Sue Bradford rants in an interview with Paul Holmes that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate
tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." In response to polls, the Labour Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper
Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant's taxes are reassessed and he is also fined for failing to hire
grasshoppers as helpers. Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the
government. The ant moves to Australia and starts a successful agribiz company. TVNZ later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the
last of the ant's food though Spring is still months away, while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house
crumbles around him because he hadn't maintained it. Inadequate government funding is blamed, Winston Peters is appointed to head a
commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000. The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose. The Auckland Herald blames it on obvious
failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity. The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of migrant
spiders, praised by the government for enriching New Zealands multicultural diversity, who promptly terrorize the community.
Muriel Newman, one of the ACT MPs who missed out in this election (and a sad loss to parliament) has started a new website, the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate. It looks to be providing an outlet for people who have become disillusioned with the social welfare system through bad experiences with bureaucracy.
Forty-three percent of US workers said they've faked illness in order to dodge a day of work at least once in the past year, according to a survey by online job board CareerBuilder.com. That's up from 35 percent in last year's survey, the company says. A chance to relax and catch up on sleep was the most popular reason respondents gave for playing hooky. Others said they just didn't feel like going to the office or wanted to catch up on housework and errands.
Yahoo is working with the Internet Archive, the University of California and others on a project to digitize books in archives around the world and make them searchable through any Web search engine and downloadable for free. The project is designed to skirt copyright concerns that have plagued Google's Print Library Project since it was begun last year. The Authors Guild sued Google last week, alleging its scanning and digitizing of copyright protected books infringes copyright, even if only small excerpts are displayed in search results as Google plans.
I was fascinated by the TV news item this week on rocket racing. Shades of Star Wars pod racing!! More info and pics here.
The following has been doing the rounds for a wee while, but it's worth relaying. The Ant and the Grasshopper (New Zealand modern version):
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's
a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper calls a press
conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate like him are cold and starving.
TVNZ shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his comfortable warm home with a table
filled with food. Kiwis are stunned that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty. The Green Party, Maori Party , the trade unions and the CoalitionAgainst Poverty and the usual bunch of professional rioters demonstrate in front of the ant's house.
TVNZ, interrupting an Iwi cultural festival special from a Northland Marae with breaking news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."
Sue Bradford rants in an interview with Paul Holmes that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate
tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." In response to polls, the Labour Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper
Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant's taxes are reassessed and he is also fined for failing to hire
grasshoppers as helpers. Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the
government. The ant moves to Australia and starts a successful agribiz company. TVNZ later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the
last of the ant's food though Spring is still months away, while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house
crumbles around him because he hadn't maintained it. Inadequate government funding is blamed, Winston Peters is appointed to head a
commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000. The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose. The Auckland Herald blames it on obvious
failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity. The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of migrant
spiders, praised by the government for enriching New Zealands multicultural diversity, who promptly terrorize the community.
