Which Ear Do you Use for the Phone?
This article is from BBC Health News, posted Wednesday, 24 June.
It was mildly interesting to me until I got to the part about phones. Yes, I think I hear and process better with my right ear, but I have always used my left ear for phones. I assumed most people do. So I asked AdventureMan, who is left handed, and he said he picks up his phone and listens with his right ear, but that is also because he needs his left hand for taking notes. Aha! And I use my right hand for taking notes.
So my question is – which ear do YOU use, and are you right handed or left-handed? I think it would make a difference.
Right ear is ‘better for hearing’
The left-side of the brain processes much of what is heard in the right ear
If you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear, say scientists.
Italian researchers found people were better at processing information when requests were made on that side in three separate tests.
They believe this is because the left side of the brain, which is known to be better at processing requests, deals with information from the right ear.
The findings are reported online in the journal Naturwissenschaffen.
We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear
Professor Sophie Scott, of University College London
In the first study, 286 clubbers were observed while they were talking with loud music in the background.
In total, 72% of interactions occurred on the right side of the listener.
In the second study, researchers approached 160 clubbers and mumbled an inaudible, meaningless utterance and waited for the subjects to turn their head and offer either their left or their right ear.
They then asked them for a cigarette.
Overall, 58% offered their right ear for listening and 42% their left.
In the third study, the researchers intentionally addressed 176 clubbers in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette.
The researchers obtained significantly more cigarettes when they spoke to the clubbers’ right ear compared with their left.
Brain
In conclusion, the researchers said: “Talk into the right ear you send your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain.
“These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesised specialisation of right and left hemispheres.”
Professor Sophie Scott, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, agreed.
“Most people process speech and language on the left-hand side of the brain and while it is not cut-and-dry a lot of what goes in our right ear will be dealt with by the left-side of the brain.
“The other side of the brain is more involved in things such as interpreting emotion and that is why we have these kind of findings.
“We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear.”
Very Strange Weather in Qatar and Kuwait
As I was writing a post, I noticed – Holy Cow! It’s 113°F / 45°C in Doha. Checking Kuwait, Holy Moly, it’s 115°F / 46°C. That is Holy Smokes Hot, that is hot hot hot, right?
Thirty seconds later, I look – and my little weatherunderground sticker says it’s “only” 106.9 °F / 41°C in Doha, and “only” 106.9°F / 41°C in Kuwait.
How amazing is that – the temperatures dropping so fast, in BOTH Kuwait and Doha, within seconds?
Truly Humbling
Tonight, just for grins, I took a look at all the search terms that brought people to Here There and Everywhere.
These are the top twenty-five, in the almost three years this blog has been up and running:
Do you notice anything? Not a single reference to Kuwait? Not a single reference to expat living? LLOOLLLL, my whole point in doing the blog was to write about cross-cultural living, and my biggest hits are birthday cakes and funny cats and hummers? Yes, it is truly humbling. 😉
I’ve shown you mine – show us yours. What search terms bring people to your blog?
Traffic Pollution Linked to Low Birth Weight Babies
This is definitely NOT good news, not for Seattle, not for Kuwait:
Pollution link with birth weight
From BBC Health News
Traffic pollution was identified as a significant problem
Exposure to traffic pollution could affect the development of babies in the womb, US researchers have warned.
They found the higher a mother’s level of exposure in early and late pregnancy, the more likely it was that the baby would not grow properly.
The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at 336,000 babies born in New Jersey between 1999 and 2003
UK experts said much more detailed research into a link was needed.
The researchers, from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, used information from birth certificates and hospital discharge records.
They recorded details including each mother’s ethnicity, marital status, education, whether or not she was a smoker – as well as where she lived when her baby was born.
Daily readings of air pollution from monitoring points around the state of New Jersey were taken from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The scientists then took data from the monitoring point which was within six miles (10 km) of the mothers’ homes to work out what their exposure to air pollution had been during each of the three trimesters of pregnancy.
It was found that mothers of small, and very small, birth weight babies were more likely to be younger, less well educated, of African-American ethnicity, smokers, poorer, and single parents than mothers with normal birth weight babies.
But, even after these factors had been taken into account, higher levels of air pollutants were linked to restricted foetal growth.
Two kinds of pollution produced by cars – tiny sooty particles and nitrogen dioxide – were found to have an impact.
Particulate matter is produced from vehicle exhausts and can lodge in the lungs. Fine particles, such as PM 2.5s, which penetrate deep into the lungs, have been linked to deaths from heart and respiratory diseases.
You can read the entire article Here, at BBC Health News.
The Next Five Years in American House Trends
Consumers stay at home more, and housewares industry takes note
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — As the recession takes a toll on most businesses, the housewares industry is actually expecting to see some benefit as more consumers eat, entertain and generally spend more time at home in order to save money.
In a presentation earlier this week, Mirabile pointed out several home trends he’s expecting for 2010. Below are five trends he predicts for the kitchen and beyond:
The live-in kitchen. Consumers spend three to four hours in the kitchen every day, not only cooking there but using it as a place to entertain, work, craft and spend leisure time, Mirabile said. The kitchen is being reinvented as a second living room, he said, as appliances are camouflaged and functional objects are hidden or minimized, allowing people to create ambiance in the room.
Living within our means. The recession is changing long-held opinions on how we spend our money. Consumers are looking for quality and durability in products — a shift away from disposable consumption, he said. They’re canning food more and growing their own herbs, they’re brown bagging lunches and they’re shopping in bulk at warehouse clubs or stocking up during grocery store sales to save money.
The green kitchen. Americans continue to make their lives more environmentally friendly, but they’re increasingly confused and frustrated about what is really “green,” Mirabile said. While they want products to be eco-friendly, they’re not going to pay much of a premium for it either — they expect retailers and manufacturers to deliver green products at competitive prices.
The wellness kitchen. Buying local food and/or growing your own often means it will be fresher and free from pesticides and preservatives — in short, more nutritious, he said. Today’s consumers are also interested in purifying their water and air.
Cooking for fun. We’re a nation of foodies, Mirabile said, quoting a Nielsen survey that found one in every five households has a “budding gourmet chef.” It’s not just women spending more time in the kitchen, either; “gastrosexuals” are men who consider cooking more of a hobby than a household chore, and use kitchen skills to impress friends and prospective partners. The popularity of the Food Network has helped to inspire a new love with food and cooking, and he expects consumers to continue to search for new recipes, techniques and cooking tools.
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.
Bad News: Brain Decline Begins at 27
Bad news today as BBC reports our brains begin their functional decline as early as age 27:
‘Brain decline’ begins at age 27
Professor Timothy Salthouse of the University of Virginia found reasoning, spatial visualisation and speed of thought all decline in our late 20s.
Therapies designed to stall or reverse the ageing process may need to start much earlier, he said.
His seven-year study of 2,000 healthy people aged 18-60 is published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
To test mental agility, the study participants had to solve puzzles, recall words and story details and spot patterns in letters and symbols.
The natural decline of some of our mental abilities as we age starts much earlier than some of us might expect
The same tests are already used by doctors to spot signs of dementia.
In nine out of 12 tests the average age at which the top performance was achieved was 22.
The first age at which there was any marked decline was at 27 in tests of brain speed, reasoning and visual puzzle-solving ability.
Things like memory stayed intact until the age of 37, on average, while abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until the age of 60.
You can read the rest of the article at BBC Health News
Flat Owners to be Prohibited from Sponsorship of Maids
Flat owners to be banned from sponsoring maids
From today’s Al Watan
Staff Writer
KUWAIT: As the number of maids employed in the country has alarmingly reached 560,000 the authorities have issued new instructions to regulate the presence of domestic laborers in the country.
According to sources at the Ministry of Interior, the ministry will not grant visas or residency permits to any nonـKuwaitis or expatriates seeking to hire domestic laborers as long as they live in apartments.
The only exception for expatriates seeking to hire maids, according to the sources, will be for those who have a compound surrounding their houses and in that case they will be required to provide a document authenticating that claim.
It has been gathered that the authorities have taken these measures in order to stem the visa trafficking trade in the country which usually results in the laborers ending up on the streets. The sources further disclosed that a special committee has been set up within the ministry to discuss issues pertaining to the issuance of visas and passports as well as issues concerning expatriate workers. They explained that the committee seeks to eliminate bureaucracy, centralization and to ensure justice and equality among companies and individuals.
Meanwhile, MPs Ahmed AlـSaadoun, Marzouq AlـHubaini, Ali AlـDeqbasi, Musallam AlـBarrak and Hassan AlـJohar submitted additional amendments to the Labor Law, calling for licensing a certain number of recruitment firms that specialize in hiring professional workers from abroad to join the local private sector. In the proposed amendments, the five MPs suggested that such recruitment firms would not be permitted to levy any recruitment charges on business owners or collect any fees from the recruited employees.
The proposal also forbids business owners from employing nonـKuwaitis without obtaining prior permission from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Last updated on Monday 9/2/2009
Stat Bump Laugh
Kuwait bloggers, if your statistics matter to you, if you want one great day, get blogger Mark, at 248am.com to give your blog a shout-out, and a link.
I got a one day bump of nearly double my daily traffic when he referred to me in a blog entry. LLOOLLL; you can see the spike so clearly!
At one time he used to post his stats; he had over 2 million the last time I saw them, which was a long time ago, and got over 10,000 hits a day. Imagine . . . . 🙂
Rising Dowries in Kuwait an Obstacle to Marriage
From today’s <a href="“> Arab Times
Rising dowries key problem in failed marriages – survey
KUWAIT, Jan 17, (KUNA): Kuwaiti youth oppose vehemently the extremely high dowries and wedding expenses amid an economic and social downturn in the society due to the current economic crisis, according to a recent academic survey. Dowry is always a bone of contention among the families of bride and bridegroom, said the survey, carried out by the Kuwait University.
Young men are more critical of rising dowries than girls, the study entitled “Social Value of Dowries in Kuwaiti Society”, showed. It highlighted the reality of dowries in Kuwait and their relative significance and social impacts, calling for taking into consideration gender differences and social and cultural changes. The survey involved a sample of 700 men and women aged between 20 and 56 from different areas in the six Kuwaiti governorates. It showed that 78 percent of the sample viewed dowries as exorbitantly high, 82.4 percent considered dowry as the key problem in surging wedding expenses, while 28.1 percent believed that Kuwaiti girls pay too much heed to dowry. The respondents are mostly dissatisfied with dowries, with 85.7 percent of the sampled men and 70 percent of the sampled women believing that dowries are too high.
Sometimes, it is the dowry which determines whether marriage can be completed due to familial hard-mindedness and intransigence, it said. The survey attributed surging dowries to women’s employment, education, lack of acquaintance and girls’ young age. It indicated common gender social awareness of social reflections of uncontrollably rising dowries on the entire Kuwaiti society. For instance, young men are now reluctant to marry Kuwaiti girls, resorting to non-Kuwaiti females, spinsterhood is growing and secret and unofficial marriage cases are mounting, it said. In conclusion, the survey recommended that the culture of moderation, especially regarding dowries, should be disseminated pursuant to the Islamic Sharia’ or Law in bid to alleviate the negative social effects of mounting dowries in the Kuwaiti society.
Young Kuwaiti men have told me that Kuwaiti women “cost too much”, that they would rather marry a hard-working Philipina girl, or a western woman, who will work and help with household expenses, than to borrow the money required to support a Kuwaiti woman.
A young Kuwaiti woman told me it is a growing problem for them, too, as they find themselves facing a dwindling pool of eligible bachelors, and that while the men are supposed to be able to support them in a style the same as they are supported by their father’s household, it doesn’t take into account that their fathers also did not always have so much money. It seems to be that both sexes have a clear idea of what the obstacles and problems are, but no one seems to know what to do about it.
Dressing for the Weather
Thank God for the sun beating in our place for a goodly part of the day. The cold has seeped in so deeply that I have to wear heavy slippers, and I am still wearing my heavy fleece robe. Here is what it looks like at seven on a Saturday morning:
Beautiful golden sunrise – but make that a beautiful COLD golden sunrise:
Here’s the problem. I get all bundled up to stay warm inside, then when I am outside, the weather is gently toasty and I am overdressed! I strip off a layer of jacket and scarf and I am OK – unless I am sitting in the shade, in which case the jacket comes in handy again. Today we will be moving around a lot, so I may find myself a little overheated. 🙂
Things are not going to get better in the next few days – take a look:
Dress warmly, Kuwait, and get out there and enjoy this fabulous weather!
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