most popular stories // over the past 2 weeks
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North Carolina, with a student body that is nearly 60 percent female, is just one of many large universities that at times feel eerily like women’s colleges. Women have represented about 57 percent of enrollments at American colleges since at least 2000, according to a recent report by the American Council on Education. Researchers there cite several reasons: women tend to have higher grades; men tend to drop out in disproportionate numbers; and female enrollment skews higher among older students, low-income students, and black and Hispanic students.
In terms of academic advancement, this is hardly the worst news for women — hoist a mug for female achievement. And certainly, women are primarily in college not because they are looking for men, but because they want to earn a degree.
But surrounded by so many other successful women, they often find it harder than expected to find a date on a Friday night.
These sorts of romantic complications are hardly confined to North Carolina, an academically rigorous school where most students spend more time studying than socializing. The gender imbalance is also pronounced at some private colleges, such as New York University and Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore., and large public universities in states like California, Florida and Georgia. The College of Charleston, a public liberal arts college in South Carolina, is 66 percent female. Some women at the University of Vermont, with an undergraduate body that is 55 percent female, sardonically refer to their college town, Burlington, as “Girlington.”
Leaving aside complaints about “affirmative action for boys,” less attention has been focused on the social ramifications.
“I was talking to a friend at a bar, and this girl just came up out of nowhere, grabbed him by the wrist, spun him around and took him out to the dance floor and started grinding,” said Kelly Lynch, a junior at North Carolina, recalling a recent experience.
Students interviewed here said they believed their mating rituals reflected those of college students anywhere. But many of them — men and women alike — said that the lopsided population tends to skew behavior.
“A lot of my friends will meet someone and go home for the night and just hope for the best the next morning,” Ms. Lynch said. “They’ll text them and say: ‘I had a great time. Want to hang out next week?’ And they don’t respond.”
Even worse, “Girls feel pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with, to lock it down,” Ms. Lynch said.
Faculty members and administrators are well aware of the situation. Stephen M. Farmer, North Carolina’s director of admissions, said that the university has a high female presence in part because it does not have an engineering school, which at most schools tend to be heavily male. Also, he said, more young men than women in the state opt to enter the military or the work force directly out of high school.
And the university feels obligated to admit the most qualified applicants, regardless of gender, Mr. Farmer said. “I wouldn’t want any young woman here to think that there’s somebody we’d rather have here than her,” he said.
Women on gender-imbalanced campuses are paying a social price for success and, to a degree, are being victimized by men precisely because they have outperformed them, Professor Campbell said. In this way, some colleges mirror retirement communities, where women often find that the reward for outliving their husbands is competing with other widows for the attentions of the few surviving bachelors.
The loneliness can be made all the more bitter by the knowledge that it wasn’t always this way.North Carolina, with a student body that is nearly 60 percent female, is just one of many large universities that at times feel... more
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Great Hayek VS Keynes Rap Video!
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All per Deadline Hollywood:
Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and the studio has turned to Chris Nolan to mentor development of the movie. Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a "godfather" role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan's leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. Besides, Nolan is considered something of a god at Warner Bros and has a strong relationship with the studio after the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Check out the rest. He isn't confirmed to direct, write or even look at an issue of Superman.
Photo credit: Frederick M. Brown /Getty Images
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-chris-nolan-hell-mentor-superman-3-0-while-preparing-3rd-batman/All per Deadline Hollywood:
Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and... more
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A new organic farm is coming to San Francisco; in the middle of the city and on top of a freeway.
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WASHINGTON -- Sarah Palin predicted Sunday that Barack Obama would lose the presidency if he was currently facing re-election. But apparently that's far from true if she's the Republican challenging him, a new poll finds.
"I think if the election were today, I do not think Obama would be re-elected," Palin said on Fox News.
While studies find the president's job approval ratings on a downward curve, a just-released poll by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion finds that Obama would decisively defeat Palin in a hypothetical race between the two and independent New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Marist found that Obama would win such a match-up by 15 points, garnering 44 percent of the vote to Palin's 29. Bloomberg was behind with 15 percent.
The race may well turn out to be a reality as polls show Palin is a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 2012. She also strongly suggested this weekend she may enter the race, telling Fox's Chris Wallace it would be "absurd not to consider" running.
More....WASHINGTON -- Sarah Palin predicted Sunday that Barack Obama would lose the presidency if he was currently facing re-election. But... more
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Iran anniversary ‘punch’ will stun West: Khamenei
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a “punch” that will stun world powers during this week’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Forthe Full Story On Irans Feb. 11 Treat... a “punch” that will stun world powers ..You MUST Read This!!! http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/warning-iran-anniversary-punch-will-stun-west-khamenei-22nd-of-bahman-february-11/
“The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned,” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.Iran anniversary ‘punch’ will stun West: Khamenei
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is... more
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A documentary about a painter Colleen Shull, whose captures the thrill of Roller Coasters on her canvases, and teaches seniors the joy of art.A documentary about a painter Colleen Shull, whose captures the thrill of Roller Coasters on her canvases, and teaches seniors the... more
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NBC has taken off all episodes of Conan's short-lived TTS from Hulu and Nbc.com. What gives?
Here's to hoping he ends up hair and square on Fox by next January. Till then youtube is all Team Conan has left.
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/02/09/nbc-there-was-never-a-conan-obrien/NBC has taken off all episodes of Conan's short-lived TTS from Hulu and Nbc.com. What gives?
Here's to hoping he... more
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I was walking home from Thai Town, and I noticed this poster. Apparently Rockstar, is no longer the most patriotic energy drink...
WTF Army National Guard? Really, Energy Drinks? Why do you keep trying to convince me to join your army?
You persuaded me with Citizen Soldier by 3 Doors Down. It inspired me to sign up. So stop trying to sell me energy drinks, when you know from the application that I’m already loyal to Lil Jon’s CRUNK!!!!
Selling mind-altering beverages under the guise of patriotism, sounds like dystopian science fiction, but this is the planet we live on.I was walking home from Thai Town, and I noticed this poster. Apparently Rockstar, is no longer the most patriotic energy drink...... more
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A simple lightweight way to find the number of potential girlfriends or boyfriends in a given area. its loosely based on the famous Drake Equation
link to app: http://traviswicks.com/tw/ant/lcalc/index.htmlA simple lightweight way to find the number of potential girlfriends or boyfriends in a given area. its loosely based on the... more
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Google has rolled out Google Buzz, a social networking tool integrated right into Gmail.
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A whimsical look at the lighter side of news.
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MTV decided to drop the 'Music Television' part of its logo. Not a drastic change but some are upset over the visual 'cropping' which sees the logo change for the first time in 29 years.
The picture in this story are examples from MTV of the new logo, I will admit it does look odd.MTV decided to drop the 'Music Television' part of its logo. Not a drastic change but some are upset over the visual... more
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;_ylt=Aq6nbygmGaHNFsr0ZWxu7u6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNuamdjZTZ2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjA5L2V1X3ZhdGljYW5faW50cmlndWUEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM0BHBvcwMxBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDaXRhbGlhbmNhdGhv
VATICAN CITY – A scandal in Italy's Catholic Church has morphed into a tale of Vatican intrigue complete with forged documents, reports of dueling cardinals and a papal admonishment Tuesday to put the matter to rest.
The scandal erupted in August, when the newspaper Il Giornale reported that it had court documents showing the editor of the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference had paid to settle charges that he harassed the wife of a man he was romantically pursuing.
The revelations were initially seen as retribution by Il Giornale, which is owned by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's brother, against the bishops' newspaper, Avvenire. The Catholic paper had harshly criticized the premier and demanded he answer questions about his purported liaisons with younger women.
Il Giornale accused Avvenire editor Dino Boffo of hypocrisy, saying the journalist had been fined in a plea-bargain several years ago for making harassing calls to the man's wife.
Prosecutors say Boffo made the calls, but have denied the case involved a gay angle. Boffo acknowledged being fined in the case but said someone else had used his cell phone to make the calls. Amid the fallout, he resigned from Avvenire in September, saying he wanted to spare his family and the church further humiliation.
Three months later, Il Giornale's editor Vittorio Feltri — who had penned the initial articles — admitted the document implying Boffo is gay was falsified, and apologized in a front-page letter.
The scandal resurfaced last week when Feltri said the document in question had been given to him by an "institutional" church official whom he trusted.
Some Italian media suggested that the editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, essentially the pope's mouthpiece, was involved. Others suggested the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was behind it.
There have been long-running reports in the Italian media of battles between Bertone and the leadership of the Italian Bishops' Conference, particularly its previous head Cardinal Camillo Ruini. Italian news reports have said Bertone sought to wrest dealings with the Italian government away from the bishops' conference and had vetoed candidates for the conference leadership who he deemed were too powerful.
Italian newspapers routinely publish unsourced stories about machinations in the Vatican. Rarely, though, do such reports elicit thorough and high-ranking denials.
On Tuesday, however, Bertone issued a statement saying that reports of Vatican involvement were false and that Pope Benedict XVI himself "deplored these unjust and insulting attacks" that were "defaming the Holy See."
L'Osservatore Romano ran the statement on its front page with a note saying Benedict had approved the text and ordered it published.;_ylt=Aq6nbygmGaHNFsr0ZWxu7u6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNuamdjZTZ2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjA5L2V1X3ZhdGljYW5faW50cmlndWUEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXI... more
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Australians are used to the fact that the Great Outback is not more than barely-populated arid grassland and desert that has adapted to the climatic conditions. However nowadays climate change causes a major concern in previously mild regions as well, since scorching summer months, coupled with persistent drought, demonstrate what happens when water scarcity looms. Recent bush fires have been catastrophic, but water crisis in its full complexity will be the real issue to deal with in the coming years.
Australia has a poor track record in saving resources and fighting climate change. Its per capita carbon dioxide emissions are still among the highest in the world. Farmers were traditionally engaged in rice and beef production, which are the plant and the animal species most costly in embedded “virtual water”. Australia in the past hundred years has relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and consumption. However there is a gradual shift in the Australian approach to the crisis. Now schemes like sewage-water recycling, government rebates for homeowners to install water tanks, and tougher restrictions on industries have come into effect. In today’s Australia, it is considered socially irresponsible to waste water in any form.
You should see more images here:
http://www.facingwatercrisis.org
@thewatercrisis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/facingwatercrisis/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Facing-Water-Crisis/290637752443?ref=tsAustralians are used to the fact that the Great Outback is not more than barely-populated arid grassland and desert that has... more
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P!nk was AMAZING tonight! Watch her performance NOW!
http://backseatcuddler.com/2010/01/31/pink-2010-grammy-performance-video/
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Whoa, some UK people who were alive around 1992 will be having nostalgia joy when hearing that Studio Ghibli will be taking on the Borrowers. I'm hoping that Ian Holm will sneak into the dub of the film when it's out.Whoa, some UK people who were alive around 1992 will be having nostalgia joy when hearing that Studio Ghibli will be taking on the... more
