Rare 19th century books to go on-line

The British Library is digitising and putting on-line more than 100,000 old books previously unavailable to the public. The programme focuses on 19th Century books, many of which are unknown as few were reprinted after first editions.  This excellent initiative will help teachers who otherwise can not get access to this literature, and it will …
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US schools cleaning up the menu

It appears from anecdotal evidence that school cafeterias in the US have made a concerted effort to facilitate better diets: fewer fried foods, smaller servings and no cupcakes.  Growing awareness of increasing obesity and federal guidelines have encouraged a administrators to take steps to make food in schools healthier.  For example California school districts have …
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Stop giving drugs to infants

Stop giving drugs to infants is the thrust of recommendations made in the US by safety experts for the Food and Drug Administration who urged an outright ban on over-the-counter, multisymptom cough and cold medicines for children under 6.  This recommendation is underpinned by the recognition that warnings about their use on infants just do …
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Gaining calories impulsively

IHL consulting polled 1,000 shoppers in the US on what they grab while waiting in the check-out line, from nothing to chocolates. I have a regular battle with my sweet tooth and children while paying for groceries because of the raft of delights staring me in the face. None of those sweets are good for …
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Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written Into Our Genes?

An article by the New York Times based on a series of recent articles and a book, “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt, a moral psychologist at the University of Virginia, who has been constructing a broad evolutionary view of morality that traces its connections both to religion and to politics.  Here’s an extract: Of …
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TV beats family, hands-down

Sad but unsurprising results of a UK survey show that children spend far more time watching TV than spending time with family, or anything else. A survey of of 1,800 families with primary school-age children was part of research accompanying the government-backed Booktime literacy project.  The survey suggested that children were more likely to be …
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Should the state be on death row

The US Supreme Court agreed to reevaluate execution by lethal injection just as Texas was preparing for its 27th execution this year on 27 September. This article summarised the recent trend. But reading it made it clear that there is a self-evident inequity in capital punishment in an advanced nation. It seems that the proportion …
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Gender pay gap increasing again as corporates opt for convenience.

In the UK at least, the gender pay gap among managers has widened for the first time in 11 years.  The Chartered Management Institute disclosed in early September that women, from trainees to chief executives, have failed to keep pace with the rise in male earnings. In a survey of more than 42,000 managers in …
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Another report exposing the dangers of food additives

In early September, the UK government’s Food Standards Agency took the significant step of issuing revised guidance to consumers recommending that they steer clear of products containing certain E-numbers if their children are showing signs of hyperactivity or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The release of the new public health advice follows the results of the …
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