Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Thoughts about God, deep personal convictions and social values -- it does a body good. Literally. "Reflecting on meaningful values provides biological and psychological protection from the adverse effects of stress," states a report released yesterday by psychologists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Is alien abduction real — or a creation of Hollywood? [Hint: the first abductions were only reported after a series of movies and books in the 1950s.]
From London and Berlin to Sydney and San Francisco, civic authorities over the last decade have grabbed hold of the theories of an American academic, Richard Florida. They have agreed that the key to urban prosperity (ie, revitalising dying city hearts) is appealing to the "hipster set" of gays, twentysomethings and young creatives. But the only evidence for this idea came from the dot-com boom of the late 1990s — and that time is over. And there was plenty of evidence showing Florida's thesis to be completely false.
The Los Angeles Times has added a new news topic -- the pornography industry. According to a porn industry journal, Times Staff Writer Ralph Frammolino began regularly covering the multi-billion dollar industry last spring. "It can't be ignored," Frammolino said. "The adult business is a very powerful economic engine in California and the world. It's big business -- and a legal one -- and we're going to cover it that way."
(Reported by Focus on the Family, not online)
Maybe the LA Times is responding to the fact that newspapers in the USA are struggling. "The numbers are in, and they're not good. Eighteen out of the top 20 papers reported weekday circulation losses in the most recent FAS-FAX report."
A massive shake-up is happening in the news media. "Tom Fiedler, executive editor of The Miami Herald, said he does not expect circulation to increase during his lifetime, which means newspapers must focus on the Web as a genuine delivery system: "Circulation will continue to drop until there will be a plateauing, then I expect a rapid decline. "Newspapers will become supplemental reading for a very elite audience," he added, and the online edition "will be where the popular press lives."
Even as banks and regulators step up efforts to thwart identity theft over the internet, the worry that fraudsters remain one step ahead is convincing many Americans that banking online is too risky. At an identity theft forum in New York on Tuesday, security and policy experts said banks are taking appropriate steps to stop online criminals, but that their best efforts -- and consumers' own vigilance -- may not be enough. "Consumers can do everything right -- not give out passwords or financial information -- and still become victims," said Susanna Montezemolo, a policy analyst at Consumers Union.
Is alien abduction real — or a creation of Hollywood? [Hint: the first abductions were only reported after a series of movies and books in the 1950s.]
From London and Berlin to Sydney and San Francisco, civic authorities over the last decade have grabbed hold of the theories of an American academic, Richard Florida. They have agreed that the key to urban prosperity (ie, revitalising dying city hearts) is appealing to the "hipster set" of gays, twentysomethings and young creatives. But the only evidence for this idea came from the dot-com boom of the late 1990s — and that time is over. And there was plenty of evidence showing Florida's thesis to be completely false.
The Los Angeles Times has added a new news topic -- the pornography industry. According to a porn industry journal, Times Staff Writer Ralph Frammolino began regularly covering the multi-billion dollar industry last spring. "It can't be ignored," Frammolino said. "The adult business is a very powerful economic engine in California and the world. It's big business -- and a legal one -- and we're going to cover it that way."
(Reported by Focus on the Family, not online)
Maybe the LA Times is responding to the fact that newspapers in the USA are struggling. "The numbers are in, and they're not good. Eighteen out of the top 20 papers reported weekday circulation losses in the most recent FAS-FAX report."
A massive shake-up is happening in the news media. "Tom Fiedler, executive editor of The Miami Herald, said he does not expect circulation to increase during his lifetime, which means newspapers must focus on the Web as a genuine delivery system: "Circulation will continue to drop until there will be a plateauing, then I expect a rapid decline. "Newspapers will become supplemental reading for a very elite audience," he added, and the online edition "will be where the popular press lives."
Even as banks and regulators step up efforts to thwart identity theft over the internet, the worry that fraudsters remain one step ahead is convincing many Americans that banking online is too risky. At an identity theft forum in New York on Tuesday, security and policy experts said banks are taking appropriate steps to stop online criminals, but that their best efforts -- and consumers' own vigilance -- may not be enough. "Consumers can do everything right -- not give out passwords or financial information -- and still become victims," said Susanna Montezemolo, a policy analyst at Consumers Union.
