In recent years I've been confused by a couple things I've read.
On the one hand, I read that Americans lead the world in charitable giving, setting a record in 2006 by giving $300 billion.
On the other hand, I read that America is near the bottom of the industrialized nations in terms of foreign aid as a fraction of its GNP. That is, it's total giving is big but not so much as a fraction of its economy. The $20 billion number quoted in the Wikipedia article is a lot smaller than the $300 billion mentioned above. From this I assumed that the US is a great giver but mostly gives to itself.
An editorial in the LA Times by Robert Reich (Is Harvard a charity? Most donations go to institutions that serve the rich; they shouldn't be fully tax-deductible) reveals another side of this issue.
This year's charitable donations are expected to total more than $200 billion, a record. But a big portion of this impressive sum -- especially from the wealthy, who have the most to donate -- is going to culture palaces: to the operas, art museums, symphonies and theaters where the wealthy spend much of their leisure time. It's also being donated to the universities they attended and expect their children to attend, perhaps with the added inducement of knowing that these schools often practice a kind of affirmative action for "legacies."
It turns out that only an estimated 10% of all charitable deductions are directed at the poor.
Here is a list of what I've been watching. Obviously, I'll have to drop a bunch of these...some sooner rather than later (Torchwood, for example). My favorites of the new-ish batch so far are Damages, Aliens in America, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, and Five Days.
An article of the same title in today's NY Times by Kim Severson places the blame for your kids picky-eating habits:
Researchers examined the eating habits of 5,390 pairs of twins between 8 and 11 years old and found children’s aversions to trying new foods are mostly inherited.
The message to parents: It’s not your cooking, it’s your genes.
According to the report, 78 percent is genetic and the other 22 percent environmental.
Most children eat a wide variety of foods until they are around 2, when they suddenly stop. The phase can last until the child is 4 or 5. It’s an evolutionary response, researchers believe. Toddlers’ taste buds shut down at about the time they start walking, giving them more control over what they eat. “If we just went running out of the cave as little cave babies and stuck anything in our mouths, that would have been potentially very dangerous,” Dr. Cooke said.
One of the most interesting aspects of the article is the trickery that Jerry Seinfeld's wife uses with their kids:
Mrs. Seinfeld, the wife of the actor Jerry Seinfeld and the mother of three young children, became fed up with trying to get her children to eat fruits and vegetables. The oldest, Sascha, who is 6, is so picky she used to dictate what the rest of the family ate.
Her new book, “Deceptively Delicious” (Harper Collins), outlines a series of recipes based on fruit and vegetable purées that are blended into food in a way that she says children won’t notice. Half a cup of butternut squash disappears into pasta coated with milk and margarine. Pancakes turn pink with beets. Avocado hides in chocolate pudding and spinach in brownies.
Some experts don’t buy the method...hiding foods doesn’t help a child learn to appreciate new tastes...
That's what the city of London spends each year to remove chewing gum from subway trains and stations. U.K.-based Revolymer is developing a new kind of chewing gum that will wash easily off of any surface. From an article on TechnologyReview.com:
The gum easily comes off roads, shoes, and hair, and it barely sticks at all to some surfaces.
About 600,000 metric tons of chewing gum are manufactured in the world every year, Pettman says. A large percent of that ends up on streets and pavements, becoming a pollution issue.
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