tagged w/ Quality of Life
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Where in the world can you enjoy the best quality of life?
Now, we’re value hounds here at IL. But each January we rate the single best place to live purely from a quality of life perspective.
We don’t take value out of the equation entirely. We simply make less of it.
Answering this question is never easy...
Before we pick a winner, IL’s far flung staff of writers and international team of experts examine 194 countries and crunch the numbers under nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate.
The process takes three months...and costs us tens of thousands of dollars.
Why do we spend the time and money on trying to find the world’s best quality of life destination? Because it’s in our blood. It’s what we’ve been doing for the last 30 years.
Here are some of the highlights from this year’s Quality of Life Index top ten:
New Zealand comes in this year as the fifth best place to live. The country’s immigration department sums up the attractions perfectly:
“In many ways it’s not what we have that’s important to our quality of life—it’s what we don’t have. We don’t have high crime rates, our police don’t carry guns and instances of corruption are virtually unheard of. We don’t have abject poverty or hunger and we don’t have the pollution, congestion, health issues and cramped city living that we see elsewhere.”
We ranked Italy the tenth best place to live this year. It’s not difficult to see why.
You’ve got Rome, Venice, Florence—some of the world’s most beautiful cities. Throw in 60% of the world’s art treasures...a national health care system rated second in the world...sunflowers...vineyards...the world’s best espresso...ice cream...pasta...and pizza...and you’ve got a potent mix.
Neither New Zealand nor Italy come close to this year’s winner for hands down quality of life. In fact, we sure that nobody...nowhere...does quality of life quite like this year’s winner. And at surprisingly reasonable prices...
Let me give you some examples.
-- A bottle of some of the world’s best rosé wine: $4.12
-- Half a pound of homemade garlic sausage: $1.60
-- A visit to your general practitioner: $30
-- A monthly premium for private health care (ranked the best in the world): $125
-- A four-bedroom stone farmhouse with outbuildings and a large garden: $186,000
Of course, the prices tell only a small part of the story. The real allure of this year’s Quality of Life Index winner is its unparalleled mixture of culture, gastronomy and honest to goodness joie de vivre.
This is what IL writer Steenie Harvey has to say about the place: “This year’s winner’s sensual allure leaves nobody untouched. Spend even a few months here and you will never again regard life in quite the same way. For me, it was love at first sight. I can't get enough of its culture, fashion, stunning architecture, and intoxicating history. As for the food and wine—well, even thinking about it makes me salivate.”Where in the world can you enjoy the best quality of life?
Now, we’re value... more
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BBC World Service Presents - The Noisy Ape!
A look into today's noisy culture and its consequences to human life in the planet.
Mankind has spent the entire last century making itself louder. A great deal louder. But why? And what are the consequences?BBC World Service Presents - The Noisy Ape!
A look into today's noisy culture... more
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We are making some progress folks! The US Environment Protection Agency finally put together a page on Noise Pollution;
Noise Pollution Announcements
Revised Regulation for the Labeling of Hearing Protection Devices (HPD)
See Current Activities
On this page:
* What is Noise Pollution?
* Health Effects
* Protection from Noise
* The Role of EPA
* Noise Sources Regulated by EPA
* Currect Activities
* Frequently Asked Questions
* Resource CenterWe are making some progress folks! The US Environment Protection Agency finally put... more
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Something to remember when we see the benefit food drives this holiday season..."Some 691,000 children went hungry in the US in 2007, an alarming rise of 50 percent over the previous year"
"Based on a US Department of Agriculture (http://www.usda.gov/) study conducted on 45,600 households representing approximately 118 million households in the US, some 69,000 American children were identified as having "very low food security."
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In the vein of posting solutions rather than just highlighting the problems via news, this is a great resource to find out where you can help in your local community (by zip code and category):
http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/Something to remember when we see the benefit food drives this holiday... more
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For many of us, clean water comes with the twist of a faucet. But for 1 in 6 people, access to water requires hard work: hours of walking, waiting in line and heavy lifting.
The time spent fulfilling this basic need keeps many children out of school and prevents women from carrying out all the domestic and income generating work for which they are responsible. In rural Africa, it is often necessary to walk five miles (8km) or more every day to fetch water.
In many countries, traditional water collection involves carrying a 5-gallon (20-liter) bucket on the head. This practice puts a great burden on the body and can damage the spine, neck and knees over time. A full Hippo Water Roller only feels like 22 pounds (10 kg) when rolled over level ground, making it possible for almost anyone to transport 24 gallons (90 liters) of water in much less time and with greater ease.
http://www.hipporoller.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippo_water_rollerFor many of us, clean water comes with the twist of a faucet. But for 1 in 6 people,... more
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Few challenges facing America -- and the world -- are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.
Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.
Stopping climate change won't be easy. It won't happen overnight. But I promise you this: When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America. Thank you.Few challenges facing America -- and the world -- are more urgent than combating... more
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Brian Kammerer, the 45-year-old chief financial officer of a small hedge fund, called his wife one day from a cellphone in the men's room of his Manhattan office building. A colleague had just asked him for something, he whispered, but he had no idea what it was.
[Brian and Kathy Kammerer] Family
Newlyweds Brian and Kathy Kammerer in 1991
"It clicks and it holds papers together," he said.
"A stapler?" Kathy Kammerer asked.
"I think that's what it's called," he replied.
Soon after that exchange in early 2003, the father of three was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, capping nearly five years of uncertainty and fear about his increasing forgetfulness and difficulty with language.
While most people who get Alzheimer's are over 65, Mr. Kammerer is one of about 500,000 Americans living with Alzheimer's or other dementias at an atypically young age. Alzheimer's takes a long time to develop -- usually, it isn't diagnosed until 10 years after the first symptoms appear -- but more Americans are identifying it early, thanks in part to aggressive screening programs pushed in recent years by groups including the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, a national alliance of caregivers.
The disease can be especially torturous when it creeps up on those in their 30s and 40s. As these patients move through Alzheimer's early stages, they are forced to cope with the dread of not knowing what is happening to them, often in the years when they're raising young children and building financial security. As the disease progresses, there are slip-ups to cover, appearances to keep up. When these "early onset" Alzheimer's sufferers are finally diagnosed, they face hard questions -- whom to tell and when, and what these divulgences mean for their jobs and health insurance.
Overall, an estimated 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer's, with as many as 10% diagnosed under the age of 65 -- the definition of early onset, according to the Alzheimer's Association, a national research organization. As the population ages, the number of individuals with Alzheimer's is expected to hit 7.7 million in 2030.Brian Kammerer, the 45-year-old chief financial officer of a small hedge fund, called... more
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Forget to take your ginkgo biloba today?
Don't worry, the herb isn't likely to jog your memory any way, according to a study out Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Doctors found daily doses of ginkgo biloba, widely believed to slow memory loss and slash rates of Alzheimer's disease, didn't stop elderly patients from deteriorating.
"I think this is the last chapter in the ginkgo story," said Dr. Gary Kennedy, dementia expert and director of geriatric psychiatry at the Bronx's Montefiore Medical Center.
The study of 1,500 elderly showed that 246 patients who popped a placebo pill were diagnosed with dementia compared with 277 who took ginkgo twice daily.
Participants were age 75 or older, randomly selected and tracked between 2000 and 2008, said Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Pittsburgh, the lead author on the study.
"Based on the results of this trial," he said, "ginkgo biloba cannot be recommended for the purpose of preventing dementia."Forget to take your ginkgo biloba today?
Don't worry, the herb isn't... more
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LONDON – 18th November, 2008 – Verdiem, a leader in network energy management, today announces the availability of Edison, a free energy monitoring application that allows eco-conscious consumers to actively control their PC’s energy consumption – and their household’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. As part of a global campaign against PC energy waste, Verdiem is launching Edison in the UK to help Brits save up to 80 percent of the energy used by their desktop computer, just as Edison users in the US are saving an average of £30 per year and 325 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per PC.
Made for the Microsoft Windows operating system, Edison enhances existing PC power settings and provides a consumer-friendly interface that is easy to set up and manage.
“PCs are the hidden energy wasters of the home and most users have no idea that they are needlessly throwing away 80 percent of their PC’s energy,” said Allison Cornia, Vice President Product Management, Verdiem. “If just 1 percent of all PCs used Edison we could potentially reduce environmental impacts by 3.2 million metric tons of CO2, which is equal to taking approximately 600,000 cars off the road. By finding ways to embed offsets in our daily life – even something as simple as downloading software – we will create permanent reductions in energy use and have a huge impact on our environment and resource sustainability.”
Power in numbers
Verdiem, Climate Savers Computing Initiative and Microsoft aim to empower individual PC users to understand the energy and environmental impacts of PC power management and take control of their power efficiency. This is part of a larger vision to encourage the UK public to reduce CO2 emissions in both their work and home lives.LONDON – 18th November, 2008 – Verdiem, a leader in network energy... more
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By Margot Roosevelt
November 19, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama sent an explicit message Tuesday to international negotiators of a new global warming treaty that, under his administration, the U.S would move to slash its own greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% by mid-century, and "help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change."
The videotaped message, played to a conference on climate change in Los Angeles, electrified more than 700 delegates from 19 countries gathered to debate strategies for cutting planet-warming pollution.By Margot Roosevelt
November 19, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama sent an... more
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JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday announced the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill towards president Mahmud Abbas, officials said.
Olmert made the announcement during talks with Abbas in Jerusalem which are part of the US-backed peace talks launched nearly a year ago but that have made little visible progress.
"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Abbas of his decision to release 250 Palestinian prisoners belonging to the pragmatic camp as a gesture of goodwill towards Abbas," said a senior Israeli official.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, "Abbas had asked him to free Palestinian prisoners and Olmert told him of the decision to release 250 at the beginning of December" ahead of the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.
The Israeli official said that none of the prisoners belonged to the radical Palestinian movements such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. More than 11,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons.JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday... more
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BAGHDAD (AFP)--Iraqi security forces have arrested an alleged "senior" Iranian commando from the elite Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force at Baghdad International Airport, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
The military said they suspected the man of "involvement in facilitating Iranian weapons shipments into Iraq" under the cover of working for an organization involved in the restoration of Iraqi religious sites.
The man is alleged to have used the organization as a front in order to bring weapons into Iraq concealed in shipments of building materials, the military said in a statement released late Tuesday.
The U.S. military has long accused Iran's Quds Force of arming, training and funding Iraqi militiamen to stoke the sectarian violence that has convulsed the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, charges Tehran has denied.
The statement also said the man was carrying an "unspecified amount" of cocaine.
The arrest came as Iraq's parliament was mulling a wide-ranging security pact with the U.S. that would require all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a pact that Iran has vehemently opposed.BAGHDAD (AFP)--Iraqi security forces have arrested an alleged "senior"... more
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MIAMI - The children of more than a dozen Cuban doctors and medical professionals who defected from the communist island nation are not being allowed to travel to the United States even though they have visas, their parents said Tuesday.
The parents are all Cubans who worked in countries such as Venezuela and Belize as part of a Cuban government program. Most fled to the United States, but their children remained in Cuba.
A 2006 Homeland Security policy would allow them to bring spouses and children to the United States, but critics charge Cuba has made that difficult.
The parents spoke Tuesday at the Miami headquarters of The Cuban American National Foundation, a U.S. group known as CANF that represents Cubans in exile.
Foundation lawyers said they know of 18 cases involving more than 20 children who have been barred from leaving the island, but said there could be many more.MIAMI - The children of more than a dozen Cuban doctors and medical professionals who... more
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Nursing-home residents have sexual needs too. And now researchers are finding ways to educate staff on the taboo topic and provide accommodations for the elderly to shack up under some privacy.
"Most staff have the same mindset many of us do, which is 'I don't want to think about my parents having sex, let alone my grandparents,'" Gayle Doll, who directs Kansas State University's Center on Aging, told LiveScience.
The researchers suggest educating staff about sexuality and making sex in nursing homes less hush-hush. In the long run, they hope federal guidelines will help all nursing homes deal with sexuality in a positive way, especially as baby boomers age and bring their 1950s and 1960s attitudes about sex with them to the facilities.Nursing-home residents have sexual needs too. And now researchers are finding ways to... more
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The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is laying off 3,800 employees, according to news reports.The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is laying off 3,800 employees,... more
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U.S. Steel says it is laying off 677 workers in the United States and Canada because of weakening customer demand.U.S. Steel says it is laying off 677 workers in the United States and Canada because... more
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The economy jolted into reverse during the third quarter as consumers cut back on their spending by the biggest amount in 28 years, the strongest signal yet the country has hurtled into recession.
The broadest barometer of the nation's economic health, gross domestic product, shrank at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported today. It marked the worst showing since the economy contracted at a 1.4 percent pace in the third quarter of 2001, when the nation was suffering through its last recession.
The latest GDP reading marked a rapid loss of traction for the economy, which logged growth of 2.8 percent in the second quarter, and is sure to buttress the belief of many economists that the nation is in the throes of a painful downturn.
The deterioration reflected a sharp retrenchment by consumers, whose spending accounts for the largest chunk of national economic activity. Consumers cut back their spending at a 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter, the most since the second quarter of 1980, when the country was in the grip of recession.
GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the broadest barometer of the country's economic health.
While the third-quarter's contraction wasn't as deep as the 0.5 percent annualized decline analysts expected, the poor showing underscored the terrible toll of the housing, credit and financial crisis.
More at liinkThe economy jolted into reverse during the third quarter as consumers cut back on... more
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Half of the Irish population is not prepared for the recession, according to a new survey by Hibernian.
Almost 60% of people are worried about not having enough money in retirement - and this figure rose to almost 70% for the 25-34 age group.
The survey also indicates that Irish consumers have become more conservative, with just one third of adults saying they would rather spend for today than save for tomorrow. Half of the Irish population is not prepared for the recession, according to a new... more
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Middle-class families will earn about $13,000 more in eight years if Obama wins and $5,000 if McCain wins. Middle-class families will earn about $13,000 more in eight years if Obama wins and... more
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A new study reports that England offers the lowest quality of life in Europe despite residents earning the highest incomes after taxes. The price of fuel and other essential goods, and below-average spending on health and education, place Britain at the bottom of the uSwitch.com European quality-of-life index.A new study reports that England offers the lowest quality of life in Europe despite... more
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