Does Money Buy Happiness?

This debate had spilled over lately and a serious comparison had been made to find out what the exact relationship between having more money and happiness is. The first survey was among those who won the lottery, between $2000 and $250,000 and the finding was there was a 1-% increase on their happiness scale. The other study was among households who make more than $90,000 and those who make $50,000 -$89.999 and the finding was that the “we are very happy” level was 43% and 42% respectively, but when compared with those who make under $20,000 it is possible to say more money means a better level of happiness. The final conclusion was those who, for example, make $150,000 when compared with those who make $40,000 can say they are much happier, but the researchers have failed to furnish a reason and had left the outcome dangling. The other hypothetical question was would making more money inspire people to be creative and help them make more money. Still there were no strong proof except that even if people with a lot of money can buy happiness with money, the source of real happiness might be getting a good life partner, if there is anyone who can buy this as an answer.

This is ludicrous

In Japan where there will be a shortage of workers due to the declining rate of population growth, they are set to make up for the shortage by using robots. The latest development is there have come robots that could be hired as temporary workers. And some of the task they could accomplish is greet customers and work as receptionist to guide visitors through an establishment. They could also handout goods like balloons or even work in retail stores where they can hand out items with their remotely controlled arms. Till date there are two that are full time employees in hospitals and they guide people around. They can also show video from a projector that is located in their head.

Yahoo Outmaneuvering Google

Very recently Google stroke a deal with some 50 newspapers to put ads on their papers that would originate from its advertisers, and the assumption was because online advertising has become less effective it might be an effort to hold on the client base by opening for them another advertising venue that is a sure eye grabber. Now Yahoo has done the same except this time the number had made it to 150 newspapers where Yahoo clients’ ads will appear. The recent speculation is the search engines are doing it to help the sagging revenue of the struggling newspaper.

However, the reality could be businesses could be having a hard-time of being found on the search engines because of how the ad system works, while on the other hand the newspapers that are charging a lot of money for putting ads on their paper might not have a better choice other than bringing the cost down. A good portion of those advertising on the search engines were those that were advertising on newspapers classified section, which is not that expensive, and it is a similar text ad like the search engines, which means they do not need the search engine companies to introduce them to such advertising method. This goes on to ascertain that the newspapers that were hurt when they were deserted could get back their hay days and the facilitators will be the search engine companies.

Chocolate Good for the Heart

People who eat any amount of dark chocolate daily have a chance of reducing the occurrence of heart attack, because it is proven chocolate could prevent the clotting of the blood. Chemicals known as flavons are responsible for preventing the blood clotting. Others are saying chocolate has the same effect asprin has on the blood and flavon is found in cocoa. This finding is new in addition to what had been proven that eating chocolate moderately reduces tension and helps the blood to circulate easily.

Wall-Mart in Hot Water in Mexico

Local and U.S. activists had gone up in arms against the expansion of Wal-Mart in their community claiming that it will take business from small retailers. The company had claimed it had opened more discount outlets, a Sam’s Club, two restaurants and a clothing store in Mexico and that will bring the companies chain to a total of 870 in the particular country. The main opposition seems to stem from fear that some of the locations that were considered historical places will be infiltrated by Wal-Mart. Some of the historical locations mentioned were Comitan, Juchitan, in Oaxaca, in Patzcuaro and according to the organizers, these locations are considered historic. A spokesman for the company said it would contribute benefits for the consumers as well as its presence in these locations would generate traffic. The activists encouraged the local buyers to choose local businesses over Wal-Mart.

Shading Light on Kidney Donation

A recent news piece about kidney donation in Pakistan for money had shade light on how dangerous it could be for the health of the donors, although recipients regain their health. Farmers that are strapped for cash because debt they owe whose number is big have no choice other than selling their kidney. Those who sell their kidneys could make up to $2,500 or less while those that are getting the transplant could pay from $6,000 to $12,000 whose number reach 2000 on a yearly basis. In neighboring China, the amount could reach $70,000. The Pakistani government is contemplating banning selling kidney, whereas in the U.S. it is already banned, yet in Belgium the government is in the process of allowing the selling of kidneys at around $40,000.

Those who had sold their kidneys are expected to be under medical observation to monitor their health so that the remaining kidney will not be affected. However, from what was gathered from the donors, almost all of them are suffering from some kind of an ailment. Some are claiming that they cannot do what they used to do at the same level, whereas some are claiming they have problem walking, running, and lifting up items. It is no wonder governments around the world are banning selling kidneys and they are planning to take legal measure on those in the medical profession caught in the process.

Thirteen Nations Denounced

The non for profit group known as Reporters Without Boarders, established by the French journalist Robert Menard stated that there are 13 nations that are still censoring Internet users in their country where some of are being systematically denied access, and others had been put to jail for expressing their opinion on blogs. There are 61 people arrested around the world, 52 of them in China for posting what is labeled as subversive material. The report stated that portals like Yahoo had been collaborating with foreign governments as it was witnessed by the arrest of Jiang Lijuin who was arrested by police after they obtained information from Yahoo. The portal company stated that sometimes in order to abide by the law they have no choice other than divulging information about users, in spite their strict adherence to users privacy.

Two Interesting News Items

The recent popular Internet portals MySpace and YouTube have things going for them. MySpace that is owned and run by Newscorp is expanding into Japan where the number of social network users has climbed to 10 million, whereas YouTube that was bought recently by Google is being wooed by Verizon, the number two telecommunication company in America to allow some of its videos to viewed on cell phones and eventually on TV as Verizon is planning to launch a nationwide TV program and the video clips might be available on-demand basis.

The Internet is Saturated

The recent Google’s venture into advertising on print newspaper might send a signal that businesses are not being found on the Internet because of how the system works. It might seem that small businesses that would not be able to afford putting ads on newspapers might have been those that are taking advantage of online advertising. But bigger businesses are also advertising online and if they were getting enough business through their ads there would not be any need to go back to print that they deserted in droves. And one of the companies that promised them maximum exposure is taking them back to where it found them and the pretext this time is smaller businesses that could not afford to advertise might be able to do so. But how much it is going to cost is not stated. What this would mean is when the dust settled down the print newspapers that had bled heavily might have hold their ground.

Seafood could Disappear by 2050

Seafood could Disappear by 2050




This is the finding by a group of scientists that are claiming the current fishing method is affecting the ecosystem that has resulted in depleting the fish stock by 29%. If this trend continues, by around 2050 close to 90% of the fish supply could be depleted and cannot be recovered, yet the scientists claimed that it is not too late to do something about the overall ecosystem that will find it difficult to recover from climate change. The suggestion is to better manage the overall ecosystem instead of trying to preserve individual species, flanked by controlling over-fishing by big trawlers, and controlling pollution. To accomplish that it would require a huge political will and the coming together of many forces.

However, the National Fishery Institute, which represents the fishing industry, does not buy into the finding claiming that the fish population goes up and down. In addition, the use of technology to catch targeted species that will be allowed to replenish after a given period is keeping the ecosystem in good condition. However, when the consumption of fish in the USA is 16.6 pound a person, and when 1 billion people depend on it for their protein intake, the worry could be justified. In addition to that, it is an $80 billion industry where 200 million people depend on to make a living.

The Outsourcing Industry under Scrutiny

The outsourcing industry that is especially dealing with software used by the nation’s defenses system is said to have made the system vulnerable to hackers and spies. In addition, there is fear building up about whether the industry is sending out sensitive technology abroad that could be used to sabotage American’s ability to wage war.

According to the findings the possibility is there even if most programs are done in small pieces and are assembled into a bigger program, to the point where those that are writing them might not know exactly what their use is. However, most computers that are manufactured abroad could hide spying codes in the programs that instruct the CPU to do anything and one recent case was when the Commerce Department had to discard computers bought from outside sold by the giant Chinese manufacturer Lenvo Group after Chines hackers tried to take control of the system through back doors. One of the suggestion made is the government might take measures where certain programming to be done in the country by approved local programmers.