As a direct antidote to this post, there is new hope in the fight against childhood obesity. In parenting, nothing is black and white all over but varying shades of grey. Video games are not necessarily the antichrist.
According to a study published in Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine and reported in Science Daily, the key is the kind of video games that are being played. So-called active video gaming, which includes dancing and boxing, have all the benefits of physical activity—i.e., increased heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure.
While traditional sedentary video games are linked to obesity, systems like the Wii encourage movement and physical fitness.
Researchers at the University of Chester in England studied the physiologic responses and energy expenditure of 11- to 15-year-old children playing games that do not require a game controller. Though the sample was small (only 18 children were involved), the authors found notable increases in heart rate, oxygen uptake and energy expenditure while the kids played Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing.
"Although it is unlikely that active video game play can single-handedly provide the recommended amount of physical activity for children or expend the number of calories required to prevent or reverse the obesity epidemic, it appears from the results of this study that Kinect active game play can contribute to children's physical activity levels and energy expenditure, at least in the short term," concluded the study's authors.
So if your kids are begging for screen time, why not indulge them in active gaming? There are certainly worse ways to spend a rainy day...
These days a cellphone is the modern equivalent of an extra appendage for many of us. Even though the technology is now such an integral part of our everyday lives, when it comes to cell phone etiquette, we're still a little hazy on what is and isn't socially acceptable.
According to an article in the UK Sun, of the 2,000 Britons surveyed in a recent poll by UK mobile phone provider, Vodafone, half deem it fine to take a call during a wedding, and a third wouldn't have a problem answering their cell phone during sex. (Says a lot about the quality of the love and the lover, no?)
More than half (54 per cent) wouldn't hesitate to pick up the phone during dinner, and an even greater number (57 per cent) would accept an incoming call whilst in the toilet. Eew. Small comfort, I know, but more men than women do this.
Eight out of ten people have numbers on their contacts that they have no intention of ever calling. And the fine irony in all this: 40 per cent of those surveyed felt that the art of conversation was dying, with 21 per cent of people blaming social media and text messaging for its demise.
Are there hard and fast rules when it comes to answering a call on your cell? Is it a case of across-the-board common sense, or do different terms apply to different generations and cultures?
Are there times when you absolutely refuse to answer your cell?
Ridiculous, but apparently true. According to an article in the BBC, a Hong Kong tycoon is offering $65m to the Prince Charming who can 'convert' his lesbian daughter, who recently married her long-term girlfriend.
No, it's not some bad modern day fairy tale. But the promise of a marriage bounty this big is likely to draw all kinds of punters and Don Juan types.
Though property and shipping billionaire Cecil Chao is himself a bachelor, he's convinced all his daughter Gigi needs is a "good husband" to sort her out.
Since same-sex marriage isn't legal or recognized in Hong Kong (where homosexuality was only decriminalized in 1991), Gigi Chao married her partner, Sean Eav, in France.
Apparently businesswoman and University grad Gigi isn't taking her father's bounty at all seriously. For now.
"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor," Mr Chao said of the potential suitor. "The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted. Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work."
Though Mr Chao claims he won't force his daughter to "marry a man against her will," isn't it bad enough that he wants to change who she is at some fundamental level?
I can only cringe to imagine the long line of men thinking they are demi-god enough to convert a natural born lesbian... So much for progress.
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