72 is the new 30 (at least in Japan or Sweden), say scientists
By Emily Senger - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - 0 Comments
A newly published study shows that a 72-year-old man in present-day Japan or Sweden…
A newly published study shows that a 72-year-old man in present-day Japan or Sweden has as much a chance of dying as a 30-year-old man would have had back in 1800.
So, obviously, 72 is the new 30, at least in Japan or Sweden where people have the highest life expectancies.
The study, which was the work of German researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, found that life expectancy in the last 100 years “has risen faster than it did in the previous 200 millennia since modern man began to evolve from hominid species,” reports The Financial Times.
The question, now, becomes how long people will eventually live. “How much longer can we extend life?” lead researcher Oskar Burger told the Financial Times. “We just don’t know.”
The main reasons for the advancements in life expectancy: antibiotics and vaccines, clean water and advancements in agriculture.
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The 10 countries that should be happiest
By Blog of Lists - Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 5:30 AM - 0 Comments
According to the United Nations, when measured by factors such as life expectancy, income and education, here are the countries that have the most reason to be happy:
1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. United States Continue…
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How Canadian are you?
By Tamsin McMahon, Nicholas Kohler and Andrew Stobo Sniderman - Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 6:00 AM - 0 Comments
Complete our interactive survey and find out how you measure up
Canadians like to fancy ourselves a modest bunch. We’re not flag-waving patriots like our neighbours to the south, but we know there’s plenty to brag about. When the world economy tanked, it was Canada that emerged as the star of fiscal responsibility. It was our banks that survived the crisis, our economy that was going gangbusters and our housing market that held strong.It turns out all that good news has done a number on our collective psyche, boosting our national ego to rather immodest new heights.
“We have a pretty positive self-image of ourselves, it’s almost bordering on narcissistic,” says Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, who surveys the shifting attitudes of Canadians toward themselves and the world. “The more things we hear about ourselves, the more it reflects on our own sense of self worth.” Canada as a country may have earned those bragging rights, but should the average Canadian really feel so smug about themselves?
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What the boomers are leaving their children
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM - 184 Comments
Fewer jobs. Lower pay. Higher taxes.
Now the Screwed Generation is starting to push back.
Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images; Andy Clark/Reuters
This January, the first baby boomers turn 65. The huge post-Second World War generation—which numbers 76 million in the United States, makes up almost a third of Canada’s population, and according to one estimate, controls 80 per cent of Britain’s wealth—will continue to enter their dotage at the rate of tens of thousands per day for the next 20 years. By 2050, there will be 30 million Americans aged 75 to 85, three in 10 Europeans will be 65-plus, and more than 40 per cent of Japan’s population will be elderly. In Canada, the ratio of workers to retirees—currently five to one—will have been halved by 2036. And despite the odd dissenter, the generation that still oddly finds Paul McCartney relevant has made clear its intention to take everything it feels it has coming. It will be up to all who trail in their wake to pay for their privilege.
Common sense, not to mention decency, wouldn’t call that just. But an outsized, over-entitled, and self-obsessed demographic is awfully hard for politicians to ignore. Take Britain’s example. In last spring’s general election, the most effective ad run by David Cameron’s Conservatives was also one of the simplest: a close-up of a newborn baby, wriggling in a bassinet as a music box tinkled in the background. “Born four weeks ago, eight pounds, three ounces. With his dad’s nose, mum’s eyes, and Gordon Brown’s debt,” intoned a female voice. “Thanks to Labour’s debt crisis, every child in Britain is born owing £17,000. They deserve better.” The point was impossible to miss: the time had come to stop mortgaging the country’s future.
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Where the boys aren't
By Julia Belluz - Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 8:40 AM - 0 Comments
Latvian ladies are facing a shortage of eligible partners
Yadid Levy/Anzenberger/Redux
For women in Latvia, a country of 2.2 million people, dating may have to involve getting on a plane and fleeing. Latvian ladies—better educated, and with longer life expectancies than men—are facing a shortage of eligible partners.
Though more boys than girls are born in the Baltic nation, in adulthood the balance between the sexes tips the other way, resulting in Latvia having about 16 per cent more women than men. Men’s life expectancy stands at only 66, compared to 77 for Latvian women, and there are varied reasons for the grim male outlook. Higher rates of car and workplace accidents have been cited. Some experts even say that women seem to have weathered the shift from Soviet Communist rule to capitalism 20 years ago more successfully than men. A persistent “macho culture” places great pressure on men to succeed financially, difficult at a time when unemployment in Latvia is 22 per cent, and GDP dropped by eight per cent in 2009 because of the global economic collapse. As a result, men tend to take solace in the bottle instead of seeking professional help, and are four times more likely than women to commit suicide.
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This apparently actually happened
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 12:25 PM - 44 Comments
Surely this calls for a debate. Do you suppose Ari Fleischer could get Ujjal Dosanjh or Jack Layton on The Factor?
Surely in the next breath, Mr. O’Reilly said “just kidding” or “not” or “psych” or something. Right?
