Could A 'Barbie' Get Real? What A Healthy Fashion Doll Looks Like : Shots - Health News hide captionLook familiar? Artist Nickolay Lamm designed a doll to look like the average 19-year-old walking — or running — on the street. Courtesy of Lammily Look familiar? For decades, the Barbie doll has been slammed by parents for promoting an unhealthy female body image. So why do we keep offering girls bone-thin dolls like Barbie and the popular Monster High crew, asks artist Nickolay Lamm? hide captionNo comparison: While the shape of Mattel's Barbie was inspired by a German sex toy, Lamm's concept reflects the dimensions of actual young women in the United States. No comparison: While the shape of Mattel's Barbie was inspired by a German sex toy, Lamm's concept reflects the dimensions of actual young women in the United States. He thinks it's time for a Barbie to get real. hide captionHello world: This concept for the "normal" fashion doll wears minimal makeup, jean shorts and a simple blouse. "Then I smoothed out some of the details," Lamm, 25, tells Shots. Don't worry, though.
21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On A Daily Basis Diabetes, Cost Of Care Top Health Concerns For U.S. Latinos : Shots - Health News hide captionA customer buys produce at the Euclid Market in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles in December. The market was reopened in 2013 as part of a project to promote healthy eating among the city's Hispanic population. Courtesy of UCLA Fielding School of Public Health A customer buys produce at the Euclid Market in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles in December. Latino immigrants in the U.S. say the quality and affordability of health care is better in the U.S. than in the countries they came from, according to the latest survey by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. About a third of immigrant respondents (31 percent) said they'd had a serious problem with being able to pay for health insurance in the past 12 months. But the health issue that Latinos said is most concerning for them and their families — whether they were born in the U.S. or immigrated here — is diabetes. The Diabetes 'Plague' 'Food Swamps'
How Dancers Think When They Dance ‹ TERP by David Kohn | photo by Toni Gauthier Neuroscientists haven’t really explored how movement and thought interact, largely because it’s hard for anyone to leap, twist and turn while lying flat in an MRI tube, or connected to a tangle of wires. But with the help of new mobile brain imaging technology, a Maryland researcher now has the beginnings of an answer. Karen Bradley, an associate professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and University of Houston neuroscientist Jose Contreras-Vidal, formerly an associate professor of kinesiology at Maryland, analyzed dancers’ brain signals as they thought about dancing and as they performed. They wore lightweight wireless sensors on their scalps in order to move unimpeded. The researchers found that dancers use multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, including those involved in higher-order decision-making, as well as parts that play a role in controlling and planning movement. Professor Karen Bradley.
A look at the landscape of pathway programs for international students run in cooperation with for-profit partners @insidehighered TAMPA, Fla. – The course: AMS 2270, 20th Century American Culture. The day’s lecture: the Civil Rights movement. The composition of the class: one-third American students, two-thirds international. The international students are enrolled in a pathway program here at the University of South Florida, one of a growing number of such programs that permit international students to take a mix of credit-bearing academic and English as a second language courses despite lacking the English language test scores required for direct admission. Over and over again in interviews, international students say this is their hardest course. It is also a lecture-based course. Grounds said that in teaching the class, she is more careful of her choice of words and purposely employs such ESL-friendly teaching strategies as repeating words and writing key phrases on the board. Pathway Programs Pop Up New programs keep popping up. Mechanisms for academic oversight also vary. 'A Big Leap’ ‘A Proving Ground’
The Nation That Elects The Most Women Is ... : Parallels hide captionRwandan President Paul Kagame takes part in a conference on the role of women at the nation's Parliament in the capital, Kigali, in 2010. Women in Rwanda account for 64 percent of the lower house of Parliament — a higher percentage than in any other country. Jason Straziuso/AP Rwandan President Paul Kagame takes part in a conference on the role of women at the nation's Parliament in the capital, Kigali, in 2010. As Rwanda began to rebuild itself from the ashes of the 1994 genocide, something unexpected happened: Women began playing a much more influential role on many fronts, including politics. Traditions that had limited women previously were cast aside, and President Paul Kagame also actively pushed for women to be in more prominent positions. Today, women make up 64 percent of the country's lower house of Parliament — a far higher percentage than in any other nation, according to figures compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. A Network Of Female Leaders "I said, 'Sure.
Slate, you’re doing it wrong There’s a map that Slate made recently that’s been getting a lot of shares. The map is part of a post on language diversity, and it shows the top language in each state other than English or Spanish. We dug a little deeper, and found a few problems. First, looking at the most recent American Community Survey data,* we find more Asian languages in the top spot than Slate found. Being interested in Asian American and Pacific Islander data, we were also curious to see the top Asian or Pacific Islander language in each state. Still, there is a deeper problem with the Slate chart than just getting the original numbers right. And when we look specifically at language need, we find that outside of Spanish, Asian language needs are at the top of the list in many more states. And, for those who are curious what this list of top language need would look like if we only looked at Asian languages, we get this. So, there you go.
States Preaching Small Government Most Dependent On Federal Government The map above is striking. It is a perfect illustration that politics and facts at times seem mutually exclusive. In short, with just a few exceptions, the states whose politicians preach small government are much more dependent on it than other states. States in green or closer to green on the map above are less dependent on the federal government. John S Kiernan, a senior writer & editor at Evolution Finance wrote an excellent piece on state federal government dependency. The extent to which the average American’s tax burden would vary based on his state of residence represents a significant point of differentiation between state economies. The conclusion of the report is something many have written about over the last several years; Red States by far are more dependent on the federal government and are poorer. Do they really want a small federal government? Articles like this are very important. LIKE My Facebook Page – Visit My Blog: EgbertoWillies.com Summary Article Name Author
Calling Me a Terrorist Is Not Flirting The author Karaoke night used to be my jam. Back in the day, my best friend and I used go to the only bar in my small hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area and watch the regulars slur along to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” The quieter one started chatting with me and asked where I was originally from. It was a combination of his blatant ignorance and his crater face under the fluorescent lighting, but I realized I’d had enough. Every single girl knows what it’s like to be creeped on. Flirty racism has been around since the dawn of time, when asshole cavemen tried to offend their potential mates all the way into the bedroom. Women are sexualized according to their race all the time. Just two months ago, people jumped at the chance to call Nina Davuluri “Miss Al-Qaeda” after she won the 2013 Miss America pageant—and guys, she wasn’t even Arab. And I know exactly who these people are. There is so much more to me than the way I look. @rulaoftheworld
How Chocolate Might Save The Planet : Krulwich Wonders... When you unwrap it, break off a piece and stick it in your mouth, it doesn't remind you of the pyramids, a suspension bridge or a skyscraper; but chocolate, says materials scientist Mark Miodownik, "is one of our greatest engineering creations." True, it begins with a cocoa bean plucked from a tree. But no one would eat a raw cocoa bean. "It tastes revolting," Miodownik says in his new book, Stuff Matters. Robert Krulwich/NPR But cut it, leave it, roast it, tinker with it for a couple of centuries (and add sugar) ... ... and cocoa beans can be totally transformed. Chocolate's Secret Chocolate bars have a circus trick, an "Oh, my" moment: They're solid when you unwrap them. The secret ingredient is cocoa butter, stored in the form of large molecules called triglycerides that come with three (thus the "tri") prongs. ... or more tightly, like this ... ... or ( I'm redrawing this from Mark's book) more richly intermeshed, like this: The denser the package, the harder the chocolate.
UC's Napolitano throws cold water on the online education craze - LA Times University of California President Janet Napolitano struck a rare blow for rational education practice this week by pushing back strongly against the craze for online learning courses. Online education isn't a panacea, she said; it's not for everyone, it's not cheap, and if it's done right it may not even save money. Are you listening, Gov. Brown? Napolitano, who took over at UC in September, made her remarks Monday during an appearance sponsored by the Public Policy Institute of California. Asked by PPIC President Mark Baldassare about UC initiatives in the online space, Napolitano moved promptly to separate fact from fantasy. For higher education, she said, "It's not a silver bullet, the way it was originally portrayed to be. As for preparing the courses, "if they're really going to be top-quality, that's an investment as well." That might come as a real disappointment for Gov. A good example is Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Obamacare success stories you haven't read
Inside Sun Noodle, the Secret Weapon of America's Best Ramen Shops - Eater Features There were only about three or four ramen shops on Oahu when Hidehito Uki founded Sun Noodle in 1981. Ramen in America was pretty much just a cup of noodles you cook in the microwave. Uki — who had come to Hawaii from Japan to make and sell fresh ramen noodles — wondered how he could ever be successful. Now, ramen shops have proliferated in cities from Los Angeles and New York to DC, Chicago, and even Milwaukee. People stand in line for ramen. Chefs create mash-ups of ramen and hamburgers, and people stand in line for those, too. Behind the scenes of the so-called ramen boom of recent years is Sun Noodle. Sun Noodle's success runs parallel to the rise of ramen in America, sometimes fueling the ramen craze and always being fueled by the ramen craze. Sun Noodle Begins A trip to Hawaii was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to an 19-year-old Hidehito Uki. Hidehito arrived in Honolulu in 1981. Getting that first customer did turn out to be a challenge. [Illustration: Philip Robibero]
The Secret to Baking the Best Chocolate Cookie? Science You like soft and chewy. He likes thin and crispy. If only there were a chocolate chip cookie recipe that pleased everyone… There is! We’ve taken our cues from a few spots: a bioengineering grad student named Kendra Nyberg, who co-taught a class at UCLA called Science and Food, and chef and cookbook author Tessa Arias, who writes about cookie science on her site, Handle the Heat. There’s also an illuminating Ted Talk animation on cookie science. “Even though I can describe what I like,” says Nyberg, “I didn’t know the role of each ingredient in the texture and shape of cookies.” Here, relying on the experts’ help and based on the classic Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, OZY presents no-fail tips for baking your perfect cookie. Ooey-gooey: Add 2 cups more flour.Crispy with a soft center: Use 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.A nice tan: Set the oven higher than 350 degrees (maybe 360). Bonus Tip: Use your nose, instructs the Ted Talk.