Funny Statistics

Some popular posts on my new blog

2007-10-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

Below are some of the popular posts on my new blog:

long TV viewing cause shorter attention.
the secrete of good wines.
what are your lifes regrets ?
viagra promote feelings of love.
height is almost genetic.
.
translates numbers into images.
population map of the future.
No sleep enough is deadly.
steroids is the explanation for home runs surge
commuter-marriages increases in us.
.
feminity of poverty
why kids love McDonald's worlds' most expensive coffee
gene and gender differences
top 10 reasons why humans have sex
some Iraq war statistics
.
why fingernails grow faster than toenails
solve all rubiks cubes in 26 moves
higher risk suicide linked breast implants
link between cell phone usage and car accidents
worlds tallest buildings
.
obesity is contagious.
few kids walk or bike to school.
men are as talkative as women.
how to procrastinate.
how long it takes for plastic bag to decompose ?
.
our urban deforestation.
tattoo regret and removal.
marriage makes family rich.
high gasoline price humor.
.
Mouse vs. Supercomputer
How We Learn
Internet porn consumption statistics
The world is walking faster
Women outnumber men in colleges
.
Five reasons why you should marry me.
Which human body part increases to 10 times its size when stimulated?
Positive and negative national influence.
Barack obamas popularity in Myspace.

I have started a new blog

2007-02-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

I started a new blog, consider it as the Part 2 of 'It is a numeric life'. If you linked to this blog before, and like to link to the new one, please make a small change on the linking URL:

URL of this blog -> http://numericlife.blogspot.com/
URL of my new blog -> http://www.numericlife2.blogspot.com/

Employees less productive when paid less

2007-02-15T05:57:00.000-08:00

Like many people, I am a strong believer that employees are more productive when they're paid more. Now I found a solid number to back up this believe. In a new paper published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, (no online version yet), researcher Alexandre Mas (Univ. of California-Berkeley, Haas School of Business) examined how police officers' productivity can be affected by how much money they're awarded in arbitration proceedings. Looking at compensation disputes involving New Jersey police unions, Mas found that when the officers' salary demands were met, the number of crimes they solved over the next two years was 12% higher than when they lost.

The benefits of napping

2007-02-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

The benefits of napping is well documented. Here are some more numbers:

1) a recent study have found that the good nappers, men and women who napped at least three times per week for an average of at least 30 minutes, had a 37% lower coronary mortality risk than those who took no naps.
2) an earlier NASA sleep researchers have found that a nap of 26 minutes can boost performance by as much as 34%.

Do our bosses know these ?

Valentine's Day by the numbers

2007-02-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

According to a recent US consumer survey, 63% planned to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, most between the ages of 25 and 34. On average, "men will spend $154 on their Valentines, nearly double the $85 the average female will spend on her sweetheart".

Based on Hallmark' s number, Valentine's Day is the 2nd biggest card-giving holiday of the year after Christmas.

Views on global warming

2007-02-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

National Journal has released a new poll which surveyed 113 members of Congress about their views on global warming. The results were unbelievable. Although many scientific evidence concluded that human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming, only 13% of congressional Republicans say they believe that human activity is causing global warming, compared to 95% of congressional Democrats.

Well, man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest.

Rates of home price appreciation

2007-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

We all heard about it, now we can see - rates of home price appreciation are obviously slowing:

Sources: PMI releases Winter 2007 Economic and Real Estate Trends report (pdf)

Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder

2007-02-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of 'beer-goggling' effect ? - the regrettable effect that alcohol drink, ambient light and smokiness have on our ability to judge attractiveness. 'Beer-goggling' make the aesthetically-challenged more attractive; in fact, a poll showed that 68% of people had regretted giving their phone number to someone to whom they realized was not attractive the morning after. A research project headed by Nathan Efron, Professor of Clinical Optometry(Univ. of Manchester), tried to reduce the "beer goggles effect" down to a interesting equation. Other than the amount of alcohol, room's light level & smokiness, drinker's own eyesight and distance between two people are also factors.

Health statistics

2007-02-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

1) Loneliness could boost Alzheimer's risk: a 4-year long study on group of old people (averaging 81 years of age) found 20% increase on the loneliness was associated with about a 51% increased risk of developing Alzheimer's.

2) Children who get more rest less prone to obesity: sleeping 1 extra hour a night reduced the chance of being overweight from 36-30% in young children, and from 34-30% percent in older children. Similar results were also observed for adults before. Researchers don't know exactly why sleep and childhood obesity may be related, one factor is that lack of sleep may disrupt hormones that influence metabolism and hunger.

Are men better chess players than women ?

2007-02-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Currently, there is only 1 woman among the top 100 chess players; and only 8 women among 900 grandmasters. Are men better at playing chess? In a recent study, researchers concluded that the underrepresentation of women in the highest levels of chess can be explained by the low proportion of girls who enter chess at the lowest levels. The researchers looked at the ratings of over 250,000 players over 13 years and found that while men have higher ratings than women on average, in areas where women account for at least 50% of new young players, the initial ratings of boys and girls are not significantly different. Check and mate!

Math of life (5)

2007-02-06T06:33:00.000-08:00

Opportunities always look bigger after they have passed.

Top 10 world's worst sound

2007-02-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

A Salford University (in UK) acoustic engineer set up an internet survey where participants rated the unpleasantness of 34 sounds. With over one million votes from around the world, the sound of vomiting (not safe for stomach) made most voters want to hurl. Microphone feedback came in second, and crying babies and scrapes and squeaks of a train were tied for third. My vote - the popularly derided "fingernails on a chalkboard" sound, only came in at low 16th. Below is the top 10 list of world's worst sound:
1. Vomiting
2. Microphone feedback
3. Wailing babies
4. Train scraping on tracks
5. Squeaky seesaw
6. Poorly played violin
7. Whoopee cushion
8. Argument in a soap opera
9. Mains hum
10. Tasmanian devil

Math of life (4)

2007-02-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

LUNCH = DINNER/1.5 - SWEET

GOOD DOG = BARK/BITE

MARRIAGE = TILL DEATH DO US PART - DIVORCE

NAGGING = REMINDING + REMINDING + REMINDING

MIDLIFE CRISIS = WHAT I WANT TO DO/WHAT I'VE DONE

(also see Math of life - part 1, part 2, part 3 )

Americans don't save

2007-02-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

In 2005, Americans saved -0.5% of their money in their banking accounts; in 2006, Americans saved -1.0 % of their money in banks. In previous years, the only time they saved less than that was 1933, with -1.5%. As you may know, America was in the Great Depression that year.

Source: heard from radio station wbbm780 , Feb 1st, 2007.

Women are Safer Drivers

2007-01-31T21:43:00.000-08:00

An recent report found that women are far safer drivers than men. As a matter of fact, according to the assembled data, men have a 77% higher chance of dying in a car accident than women. Some of the notable facts from the report are:
- An 82 year old woman is more 60% more likely to die in an accident than a 16 year-old teen.

- Drivers 40-50 are the lease likely to die in an accident.

- The safest passenger in a vehicle at any time, any where is an infant in a car seat in a van.

- School buses have a fatality rate that is 1/50th that of a passenger car.

- Motorcycle riders are 32 times as likely to be killed than drivers in a passenger car.

- A rider between the ages of 21 and 24 riding between midnight and 4AM is 45,000 times more likely to be killed on the bike than in a car.

US household credit card debt

2007-01-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

a)heard from the NPR radio (1/26/2007): the average US household now carry credit card debt of $7,753 , after many years of climbing of debt.

b)spot the stock price of Mastercard Inc. at Yahoo as of 1/26/2007:

Computer in our everyday lives

2007-01-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

According to this recent survey, 65% of us (Americans) spend more time with computers than our spouse.
I am pretty sure among our bloggers, that percentage number is much higher.

If you are a parent, the ratio of time spending on computer vs. time spending on kids are also increased in recent years, since kids playing with computer more than before.

The cost of having kids

2007-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

What is the take and give for having kids? If you think caring for children is taking years off of your life, you might be right! While researchers always assumed there was a human "fitness cost" for having kids—the price parents pay in their own health and longevity—a new study (which looked at 21,684 couples who lived in Salt Lake City and married between 1860 and 1895) actually quantifies this cost. Researchers found that a mother with 12 kids had a 5 times greater chance of dying prematurely than a mother of 3. And the toll on women was greater than that on men: Older mothers were 4 times as likely to die within a year of having a child than their male spouses were.

Overcoming procrastination

2007-01-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

I procrastinate quite often. According to Pies Steel, a human resources professor at the Univ. of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, 95% of us procrastinate at times, with 15% to 20% being chronic offenders.

Three factors make us procrastinate: (1) lack of confidence about finishing the job; (2) boredom with the task; (3) human tendency to go for immediate reward over long-term gain. A common ploy for avoiding work at the office is reading each email, or IM, as it comes in.

How to overcome procrastination? Professor Steel believe the key is cut off distractions from the working environment. In his words, "millions of people-hours are spent making distractions as succulent as possible ... there are so many ways we could do something else ... convenient access to inferior choices is decidedly inconvenient".

Rich people sleep better

2007-01-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

According to an recent report (American Journal of Epidemiology, June 1st, 2006), sleeping comes easiest and lasts longest for the wealthy, white, and female. Researcher Diane Lauderdale followed the sleep habits of 669 Americans aged 35 to 50 and found that those with yearly income of less than $16,000 spend longer in bed than those making $100,000 or more, but they sleep less (...a lot to worry about), so there is this "Sleep Efficiency" difference between poor people (68%) and rich people (85%).

Adult Literacy Statistics

2007-01-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

Globally, literacy has risen considerably over recent decades, and developing countries are catching up with developed countries quickly.

According to Unesco Institute For Statistics, below are adult literacy(age 15 and over) statistics in 2005:

EUROPE - 99%;

OCEANIA - 94%;

AMERICAS - 94%;

ASIA - 78%;

AFRICA - 65%;

World Average - 82%.

Projected adult literacy in 2015 is -

EUROPE - 99%;
OCEANIA - 95%;
AMERICAS - 95%;
ASIA - 82%;
AFRICA - 73%;
World Average - 85%.

A bipolar world

2007-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

In Dec. 2006, the 5 brokerage firms in New York - Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman brothers, Bear Sterns and Goldman Sachs - paid out $36 billion as bonus to their brokers. Their compensation and bonus together roughly are equal to Vietnam's GDP.

We are living in a bipolar world with huge wealth concentration.

Source: Barrons, Jan 15, 2007

Do homosexual marriages last longer ?

2007-01-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

There will always be battles during heterosexual marriages between the sexes because men and women want different things. According to one study, over 40-year span, the divorce rate for heterosexual couples in their 1st marriages is 67%.

Guess what is the divorce rate of homosexual marriages ?

In theory (and many studies have showed), gay/lesbians couples should understand their partners' bodies and biases with a certainty, resulting relationships less mired in deception and friction. However, it turned out that the break-up rate for homosexuals, over a 40-year span, is grim 64%, and gay men are far more likely to split than lesbians.

Well..., we are all Homo sapiens.

Source: Psychology Today, Jan/Feb, 2007.

Why we don't like our bosses

2007-01-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Many employees complain about their boss being clueless on the dynamics of working environment. Now a new study shows that powerful individuals have a reduced ability to comprehend how others see, think and feel.

Researcher used a unique method in which the participants were told to draw the letter E on their forehead. If the participant wrote the E in a self-oriented direction, backwards to others, this indicated the participant have not thought or cared about how others might perceive the letter. On the other hand, when the E was written legible to others, this indicated that the person had thought about how others might perceive the letter. The results showed that those who had previously been randomly assigned to a high power group were almost 3 times more likely to draw a self-oriented E than those who were assigned to the low power condition.

In summary, researcher found that possessing power itself serves as an impediment to understanding the perspectives of others.

51% of women live outside of traditional marriages

2007-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

According to a New York Times analysis of census results, in 2005, 51% of women in US said they were living without a spouse, up from 35% in 1950 and 49% in 2000.

There are several factors contributed to this statistical shift - women are marrying later or living with partners more often and for longer periods; women are living longer as widows and, staying single longer after a divorce, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.

As for men, a larger share of men are married and living with their spouse - about 53%. Men often remarry quickly than women after a divorce.

Source link (you need to register to see the article)

Sports Stats

2007-01-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

More than 1/3 of the American population is expected to tune in to the Super Bowl on February 4 this year. Super Bowl is almost like America's modern town-hall meeting.
At least 90 million toilets will be flushed during the Super Bowl - enough water to flow over Niagara Falls for 3 minutes.
In recent years, several US professional teams (Chicago Bears, for one) were given new stadium to play. 24% of a team's home field advantage is lost during their 1st year in a new arena, but after that it's smooth sailing.

Source - Psychology Today, Jan/Feb, 2007.

Having pets improve health

2007-01-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

Needless to say having pets can improve pet owner's health. I just found some numbers for this:

1) one study of women recovering from breast cancer found 87% reported that their pets filled at least 1 important role in their social support. 43% reported that their pets fulfilled more than 10 important support functions, such as being cared for, tactile comfort.

2)another survey pulled more than 11,000 people from 3 countries found that over a 5-year period pet owners made 15-20% fewer annual visits to the doctor than non pet-owners, and those who went to the doctor the least were those who continuously owned a pet.

Source link

Quick thinking is better thinking

2007-01-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

We all expect people to make more accurate decisions when given the time to look properly. But it turned out that in many cases, people performed better when given almost no time to think.

In a recent study, participants were asked to identify an oddly rotated symbol on a screen of more than 650 identical symbols. When subjects were given 0.5 second, participants picked the correct answer 95% of the time. With 1.0 second to contemplate an answer, this accuracy dropped to about 80%.

Researcher attributes this result to the difference in the abilities of the subconscious and conscious minds to recognize the rotated symbol as different from the original. Often, our instincts and higher-level functions are in conflict and in this case our instincts (subconscious) are often silenced by our reasoning conscious mind.

Anyone who have read the book Blink will found above numbers very assuring.

Corporate funded nutrition researches are biased

2007-01-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

After examing 206 scientific papers on the health effects of soft drinks, fruit juice and milk (111 of which declared their funding source), researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston (US) found that industry-backed papers are 7 times more likely to produce a conclusion favoring a company's product. The reasons for the bias may include a failure to publish unfavorablele findings, or a tendency of firms to back only studies that are likely to present their products in a positive light.

Source: heard from radio station wbbm780 , Jan 9, 2007.

Numbers of Sins

2007-01-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

1) I have never placed a sports bet (in US) before; according to an article on WSJ (Jan 5th, 2007), this makes me a member of social minority. The amount of money Americans wager on sports has grown to rival the gross domestic product of New Zealand. In 2007, 118 million people will wager an estimated $96 billion on different sports events.

2) According to a new report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 45% of teenagers surveyed had consumed alcohol within the previous month, and 64% of that group admitted to more than 5 drinks in a row (so called binge-drink). Girls ages 12-14 were more apt to binge-drink than their peers, although boys outdrank girls in other age groups.

How do you discipline children ?

2007-01-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to discipline children nowadays. We used many approaches: time-outs, removal of privileges, yelling and spanking. Sometimes they works, many time they don't, and we give up. In a survey of more than 2,000 parents of children between the ages of 2 and 11, researchers have found that more than 38% were using the same discipline methods their own parents used on them as a child. Overall, 45% of the parents using time-outs as a disciplinary action. Almost 42% removed their child's privileges, followed by 13% who resorted to yelling and 9% who opted to spank their children. Here is the bummer though- almost 31% of participants reported they believed their methods were not effective !

Is silver hair really sexy on guys ?

2007-01-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

According a recent pull among Match.com users, the answer is yes. 72% of women think gray hair is hot! Apparently many women believe men with gray hair (silver fox ?) having more money and power, and much more mature in terms of building relationships and families.

Housework beats athletics at reducing cancer risk

2007-01-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Housework prevents breast cancer more effectively than athletic activity or manual paid labor does, according to a recent study of 200,000 women. According to researchers, "out of all of the activities, only housework significantly reduced the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal women getting the disease", and spending "16 to 17 hours a week cooking, cleaning and doing the washing" reduced cancer risk "by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women".

All exercise alters hormones and metabolism, which affect breast cancer, but why housework beats athletics? Researchers explained that moderate forms of physical activity, such as housework, may be more important than less frequent but more intense recreational physical activity. Another reason why women live longer than men ?

(the original research paper link)

The non-secret formula of long life

2007-01-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

The non-secret formula of long life is stay in school, according to Dr. Lleras-Muney, an economist at Princeton. People's life expectancy at age 35 was extended by as much as 1.5 years simply by going to school for 1 extra year; or expressed in another way - 1 year of education lowers the probability of dying in the next 10 years by approximately 3.6%.

About 100 years ago in US, different states started passing laws forcing children to go to school for longer periods, say, 6 years to 7 years. In 1999, Dr. Lleras-Muney went back and found the laws in the different states and then used data from the census to find out how long people lived before and after the law in each state was changed. She then found out the above formula. So far it has been confirmed by other studies covering many other countries.

It is not clear yet how it works between Education and Health (correlation? causation?). In my opinion, education promote the habit of acquiring knowledge, and knowledge in turn help people optimizing their lives in many ways.

Everyone has a boss to deal with

2007-01-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

1)when employees were pulled to pick New Year's resolution for their managers,

- 18% say 'deal with workplace conflicts faster'.

- 14% say 'be less of a micromanager'.

- 12% say 'recognize work well done'.

- 0% say 'plan events for building office morale'.

Source: Businessweek, Jan 3rd, 2007.

2) when asked to rate their managers, a study found that:

- 39% of workers said their supervisor failed to keep promises.
- 37% said their supervisor failed to give credit when due.

- 27% said their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers.

Washing hands can save lives

2007-01-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 90,000 Americans die every year from infections they contract while hospitalized. So some hospitals asking Doctors and nurses to follow few simple and cheap procedures - as basic as hand-washing - to reduce the spread of infection in hospitals.

The current New England Journal of Medicine reports on a study conducted in Michigan hospitals to see if increased vigilance on hand hygiene would cut down on the incidence of catheter infections. And it worked, big-time. A year and a half after the hand-washing procedure changes were made, the rates of catheter-related bloodstream infections dropped by 66%, according to the study.

What were they (Doctors and nurses ) thinking?

I don't have anything to wear !

2006-12-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

Oh, yeh? Many women are 'periodic excessive buyers', according to Jean Chatzky, the author of book Make Money, Not excuses. Although women's income are less then men, they spend more. In 2005, full-time full year female works earned 23% less than male workers, but single women spent $1,069 on clothing and services vs. $832 spent by single men. By some estimates, 12% -15% of American women are so called 'excessive buyers'.

Condoms too big for Indian men ?

2006-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

A recent survey found that 60% of Indian men have penises which are between 3 and 5 centimetres shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.

This is not a laughing matter. About 1 in every 5 times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears, an extremely high failure rate; and Indian already has the highest number of HIV infections of any nation.

The healing power of the music

2006-12-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

Listening to music has already been shown to promote a number of positive health benefits. For example, previous research found listening to 45 minutes of soft music before going to bed can improve sleep by more than 1/3. A recent study revealed that music can help reduce chronic pain by more than 20% and can alleviate depression by up to 25%.

The math of life (3)

2006-12-30T07:34:00.000-08:00

Internship = Shitwork + College Credit

Rumor = Distance/Truth

Office Workers = Ants - 4 Legs - 2 Feelers

'Similarity breeds connection' start with new-born

2006-12-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Common sense tell us 'similarity breeds connection'. There is inexorable tendency for human beings to link up one in ways that confirm rather than test our existence. A recent study showed that human have developed this tendency in very early stage - just 3 month old.

Researcher studied infants from three groups: white babies raised among white people; black infants similarly raised among their own people; and black babies raised in a mixed black-and-white environment. Then researchers analyzed whether the babies spent more time looking at the white or black human faces in the testing environment. It has been long believed that longer gazes at one face indicate preference for it.

It turned out that white babies raised in white environments spent an average of 63% more time looking at white faces, and black babies spent 23% more time looking at faces from their own race than the other. Black babies raised in mixed-race environments spent roughly equal amounts of time looking at both types.

So much for "opposites attract".

Are female teacher better for girls ?

2006-12-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

Are female teachers better for girls? or male teachers better for boys? One interesting (may be controversial ) study say the answer is yes. According to the author, Thomas S. Dee (an economist at Swarthmore College), “Learning from a teacher of the opposite gender has a detrimental effect on students, My best estimate is that it lowers test scores for both boys and girls by approximately 4% of a standard deviation and has even larger effects on various measures of student engagement".

I am just glad that the 4% is not a big number (if it is confirmed by other studies). Be reminded that about 80% of teachers in U.S. public schools are women currently - the same likely to be true, more or less, for other countries.

Dee said he also discovered that a teacher's gender influenced attitudes towards student behavior: Female teachers were more likely to see boys as disruptive, and male teachers were more likely to see girls as inattentive.

Santa Claus is coming to town

2006-12-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

What are you smoking (or eating) ?

2006-12-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

A public policy report says marijuana has become America's biggest cash crop. Estimated market value: $36 billion per year. By comparison, the United States produced an average of $23.3 billion worth of corn annually from 2003 to 2005, $17.6 billion worth of soybeans, $12.2 billion worth of hay, $11.1 billion worth of vegetables and $7.4 billion worth of wheat.

Poor people in rich neighborhoods have higher death rates

2006-12-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Are people living in a high socioeconomic status neighborhood all well off? It turned out that when poor people living in a rich neighborhood, their risk of death increase. According to a study spanning 17 years, 1.9% of low socioeconomic status women who lived in wealthier neighborhoods had died of heart disease, compared with 1.1% of women from poorer neighborhoods. (the trend was the same in men, but less dramatic). That is 73% increase on the death rate.

The reason? 1) cost of living in an rich neighborhood could leave poor people with little income to spend on health care and healthy food; 2) poor people get reminded every day that they're at the bottom of the social ladder. This psychological and social discrepancy have an negative effect on a person's health.

How much does peer pressure do to us ?

2006-12-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

People behave differently under the peer pressure. When our classmate, co-worker or spouse is particularly hard-working, dishonest or lazy, how do we behave? In a scarily detailed experiment, the productivity of supermarket worker were measured in the lens of 'Peer Effect'. In a supermarket, "a quick worker will tend to lighten the burden on their colleagues. That might encourage them to slack off, or it might encourage them to work harder". Research find that workers working close to someone who is 10% quicker (than average) will raise their own productivity by 1.7%.

Can you believe this ?

2006-12-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

Many men don't know how to use condoms; when paired with ill-fitting condoms during sex, this lead to high levels of erection loss, scientists report. Many grown men apparently are not confident in their ability dress themselves—and they don't necessarily fit comfortably, so men often lose their erections while preparing for safe sex, the researchers say. Rather than risk repeated failure, these men may ditch condoms for a high-performance, high-risk sexual encounter. Kinsey Institute fellow Cynthia Graham surveyed 278 men at an sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic and found that 37% had lost an erection while applying a condom at least once. 40% of those men reported ditching the condoms before they had finished intercourse, in contrast to about 20% of those who didn't have erectile issues.

What will happen in the next hour ?

2006-12-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Calculated from the US government Census data, on average, in any given hour on any given day, the following changes are likely occurring in US:

There are 203 marriages and 109 divorces.
4,900 Americans move, and 7,100 change jobs.
There are 160 DUI arrests, 5 traffic fatalities, and over 2,000 auto insurance claims paid.

Source: Quality Planning Corp.

How narcissistic are celebrities ?

2006-12-16T23:05:00.000-08:00

We all have guessed that celebrities are more narcissistic than average people, but how narcissistic are they ? Tough question to answer though, since celebrities are typically shielded by public-relations people and managers who rejects requests for things like peronality questionnaires.

Recently, Drew Pinsky, the University of Southern California psychiatry professor, also an insider to many celebrities, found that on average, celebrities are about 17% higher than the general public — with females ranking significantly higher than males. Interestingly, celebrities with the most skill (musicians) were the least narcissistic; those with no skill (reality-show stars) were off the narcissism charts. Drew Pinsky also found people with narcissistic tendencies seem to be attracted to the entertainment industry rather than the industry creating narcissists.

Numbers of the day

2006-12-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

1)the average American gets 2 - 4 colds a year;
2)today the average American woman weighs 163 lbs;
(eliminate 1 soda a day, and you can drop 13 lbs in a year)
4) up to 27% of people include pets in their wills.

Source: RD, Jan, 2007.

Healthier numbers

2006-12-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

(1)

Again and again, researchers find alcohol in moderation may extend life span. The latest - drinking a moderate amount of alcohol — up to four drinks per day in men and two drinks per day in women — reduces the risk of death from any cause by roughly 18%.

(2)

Over the past several decades chicken (white meat) consumption has gone up, red meat isn't going anywhere or falling down somewhat. Sign of healthier times. (below, click it to see bigger picture)

Sources:http://www.ers.usda.gov/

Less help for mother

2006-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

In today's society, most (if not all) working mother do the "2nd shift" at home after work. To make the matter worse, they get less help at home. Here is an interesting (but sad) research addressing the decline in Co-residential female support for the mothers of young children. Using national census data for the period 1880 to 2000, the research found that in the late 19th century, nearly 50% of mothers with young children lived with another female (daughter, sister, mother)who might help carry the load. By the end of the 20th century, the figure was down to about 20%. This decline has been caused by other female attending school or employed outside the home.

The math of life (2)

2006-12-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

Compassion = What if that were me ? / I'm glad that's not me

Ignorance = It / What I know about it

Dog = Cat + Loyalty

Men put off going to ER during big games

2006-12-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

David Jerrard, a emergency physician, looked at hospital emergency room visits around 800 regular season college and pro football, baseball and basketball games in Maryland. He found that male emergency room attendance increases by 50% after the conclusion of a football game. Also, 30-40% more men check into emergency rooms after a baseball game ends than during the innings. Men stay home instead of seeking treatment for everything from chest pains to a cut finger. Jerrard warns, "Men should not risk their health by putting off going to the emergency room because they want to see the final results of a football game. It could be the last game they ever see."

In my opinion, when men are watching a football game, they are just too focused to feel the pain.

Could web pornography prevent rape ?

2006-12-09T01:53:00.000-08:00

For few sexually frustrated, bitter, power-hungry males, common sense tells us web pornography may acting as a substitute for rape. Indeed, according to a new study by Clemson University economist Todd Kendall, increased access to pornography is associated with a decrease in instances of rape. By looking at the growth of internet usage around the country and comparing it with crime statistics, Kendall found that at 10% increase in web use correlates with a 7.3% decrease in reports of rape. Kendall notes that there is no similar association between web access and other violent crimes. He also points out that the effect of internet access on sexual crime has been most pronounced in 15 to 19-year-old boys.

Want to live to 100? This may depend on Mom

2006-12-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

A team at the University of Chicago found that people born to women younger than 25 were about 2 times more likely to live for a century or longer than people born to older mothers.

The study of 198 centenarians born in the United States from 1890-1893 found that first-born children were more likely to live to 100 than later-born siblings. After further analysis, the researchers concluded that this longevity advantage among first-born children was largely linked to the fact that they were born when their mothers were in their teens or early 20s.

Just a FYI - according to the Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000, the number of centenarians in the United States increased from 37,000 to 55,000. Women are 3 to 5 times more likely than men to reach 100 years.

Half of the sky

2006-12-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

According to a 2003 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 1/3 of wives earn more than their husbands.
According to a study by the Families and Work Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in New York, women overall bring in 43% of household incomes.

Source link

Single adult is the most common US household type

2006-12-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

See below. 1 is not the loneliest number.

Eating slowly may promote weight loss

2006-12-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

A new study on a group of women provides the scientific proof that if you eat slowly, you will eat less, and therefore you will control your weight. When eating quickly, the women group took in an average of 646 calories in 9 minutes. But when they slowed down, they consumed 579 calories in 29 minutes, and enjoy the meal more. Win-Win situation.

She looks just like her father

2006-12-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

According to a study presented at the 2005 Human Behavior & Evolution Society conference, subconsciously, women claim that their babies look like Dad in order to reassure the father that the kid really is his. The researchers corralled 69 families with 83 children and asked the parents to rate how much their kids looked like themselves versus the other parent. 100% of the mothers of newborns said the babies looked more like their partner, but only 83% of fathers agreed. Unrelated judges said the kid looked most like dad a mere 40% of the time. It's easy to see how women might benefit evolutionarily from convincing their partners that they should invest in rearing the child. But must the men continue to trust these deceptive vixens?

People bear an uncanny resemblance to their dogs

2006-12-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

In one study, researchers studied 355 dog owners in Ohio, about half of whom owned a high-risk breed such as a pit bull, and found that 100% of people who owned a vicious dog had at least 1 run-in with the law (even if it was only a traffic citation). 30% of those who owned a high-risk dog and had failed to register it had felt the wrath of the law at least 5 times, whereas only 1% of owners of gentle, licensed dogs were 5-time convicts. The researchers say their results show that owning a socially deviant dog is itself a marker of social deviance.

Taller men and slimmer women have better chances of finding a date

2006-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why Snow White found Prince Charming so attractive ? May be because he is tall.

A new study out of the University of Essex shows that for every 1 inch of height a man has on his rivals, the number of women who want to go out with him increases by 5%.

In addition to discovering that ladies like tall men, the researchers found that dudes dig smart chicks: Women with a college degree bested their less educated counterparts. Thin women also did better than the clinically overweight. Both sexes preferred youthful partners, and non-smokers generally stuck to other non-smokers, showing that people prefer rosy cheeks and rosy lungs. Most significantly, the researchers said, a man's success was dependent upon how he stacked up against the others in his speed dating group; a 5'9 man in a group of 5'6 guys did as well as a 6'2 man in a group of 5'11 guys

Don't sit up straight !

2006-11-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

Your mother's advice to sit up straight in your chair could be a prescription for lower back pain. A new study using new imaging technology reveals that sitting upright with a straight back (90 degree) and thighs parallel to the floor increases the strain on the lumbar discs in the lower back.
In fact it's better to lean back a bit in a chair, even if looks like slouching. The best position is what you get in a La-Z-Boy, 135 degree between back and thighs.

Source: Chicago Tribune, Nov.28, 2006.

The Miniature Earth Project

2006-11-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would look something like this ...
1) 47 live in an urban area;
2) 61 Asians, 12 Europeans, 16 Africans;
3) 9 are disabled;

4) 33 Christian, 18 Muslins, 16 are non-religious;

5) 6 people own 59% of entire wealth of the community;

6) if you have a bank account, you are one of the 30 wealthiest people in the world;

7) this community spend more than $1.12 trillion dollars on military expenditures, but only $0.1 trillion dollars on development aid.

......
See more at: The Miniature Earth Project

Job burnout could boost the risk of illness

2006-11-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

We all heared this already - the daily rigors of work, such as tight deadlines and long hours, can lead to job burnout, which then lead to an increase in rates of heart disease, flu virus, and high blood pressure. A recent study showed those who experienced job burnout were 1.8 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, in which a person's body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin.

Source: Psychosomatic Medicine, Nov. 2006.

The math of life (1)

2006-11-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

Ever heard those math of life before ? See below:

DISAPPOINTMENT = EXPECTATION/REALITY

LOVE = LIKE x LIKE

UNCLE = DAD + FUN

TEEN ANGST = HORMONES/PHILOSOPHY

The math of politics

2006-11-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

E=MC2 (Election = Message times Candidate squared)

Explanation: people vote for a candidate they trust with the right message. For the mid-term election just passed, it looks like to me that Republicans never found their true voice and the message on why they should have stayed in power.

The formula was coined by Joe Gaylord in his book "Flying Upside Down".

The link between health and wealth

2006-11-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

We all know the health leads to the wealth. Here are some numbers to back it up - a study of 10 industrialized countries from the beginning of the 20th Century through the mid-1990s found that better people's health - such as better dietary and medical care - increased the rate of national economic growth by about 30%. As an example, 10% fall in cardiovascular mortality alone can generate 1% increase in per capita income.

Funny statistics - how do we invest ?

2006-11-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

source link

How many of us are addictive gamblers ?

2006-11-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

According to research cited by the National Council on Problem Gambling, 2 million adults (1% of the population) meet the diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling. Another 4-8 million adults (2-4% of the population) can be considered problem gamblers who are experiencing direct problems as a consequence of gambling.

Source link

People aren't losing their virginity at ever younger ages

2006-11-09T20:53:00.000-08:00

A survey produced some surprises about global sex trends. One of the findings is people are not losing their virginity earlier:

"Nearly everywhere, men and women have their first sexual experiences in their late teens — from 15 to 19 years old — with generally younger ages for women than for men, especially in developing countries. That is no younger than 10 years ago".
"Still there are considerable variations across countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, men and women tend to lose their virginity at ages 16 1/2 and 17 1/2 respectively. In comparison, men and women in Indonesia waited until they were 24 1/2 and 18 1/2 respectively".

How many passwords do you have ?

2006-11-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

The average adult in the U.S. has to remember 9.8 passwords, PIN codes, or other bits of secret information.
The number "1" is the most common number people use in their passwords — almost twice as much as any other number.
Source: Perfect Passwords

Hip-Hop and breast implants

2006-11-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Are you a Hip-Hop fan? This fact may someday be used to against, or for you. A survey by British psychologist say 53% of Hip-Hop fans confessed that they've committed a crime, compared with 18% of fans of musicals.

Know someone has breast implants? Be careful. Canadian epidemiologists find that women with breast implants have a 73% higher suicide rate than the general population.

Source - Discover, Dec, 2006.

Atheists - the least trusted group in America ?

2006-11-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

It is well known that most people (90%, suggested by the most recent poll) in US believe in God or a supreme spirit . A recent University of Minnesota study there are only 1% of the national mix dares to identify itself as atheists, and that lonely group is the least trusted one in America.

However, one recent Harris poll study found that 42% of adult Americans were not "absolutely certain" about the existence of God, up from 34% three years ago.

Source: USNEWS, Nov.13, 2006

Does a picture worth 1,000 words ?

2006-11-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

People remember pictures more readily than remember words. This is because our brains short-term memory for line drawings was superior to memory for printed words. Who doesn't know the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" ?

In an recent experiment, volunteer participants were asked to recall as many of the words as possible on some pictures or printed words they just saw. The experiment was repeated until the list of 54 words (simple nouns like "baby," "whale," and "handcuffs") had each been used (embedded) in picture and print form. As expected, pictures were correctly recalled more often than printed words, but only by 1.5 times more. Thus, technically, a picture may in fact only be worth about 1.5 words, not 1,000.

Source: Memory & Cognition, 33(3), 499-513, 2005.

Information overload

2006-11-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

How to live a longer life ?

2006-11-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

1) the refrigerator is used to lengthen the life of food, and a new study suggests a similar principle could prolong life, too. Researchers have found that lowering the body temperature of mice by just 0.5°C extends their lifespan by around 12% for males and 20% for females. In the future, people might be able to take a drug to achieve a similar effect on body temperature and enjoy a longer life.

2) the only previously proven method of significantly increasing the lifespan of an animal has been through a restricted calorie diet. In an recent experiment, mice fed with 30% fewer calories than usual lived 20-30% longer.

Does weekend polls favor the Democrats ?

2006-11-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

In US, it's a common claim that weekend political phone polls skewed toward the Democrats. Here is the reasoning: on the weekend, the people who are most likely to answer their phones are older people who are more likely to be at home, so the polls may not be representative of all Americans; the poll samples could have a bias toward the older people. My dad told me this claim few time before.

However, a recent review rebuffed this common claim. For the last 3 presidential elections, among the Sunday-to-Thursday people polled in 2004, 49% supported Bush and 46% supported Kerry. Polls of the stay-at-home, Friday-to-Saturday folkls produced similar numbers - 48% and 46%.

It is reassuring that our polling methodology and standards have much more scientific merit than common claims.

Men do compulsive buying too

2006-11-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

I have long believed that only women experience compulsive buying disorder, a condition marked by compulsive buying and subsequent financial and relationship ruins. It turn out that men have the same problem, according to a survey done by Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers found that 6% of women and 5.5% of men in US had symptoms consistent with compulsive buying disorder.

Well, we are all human; men and women just buy different things.

Divorce harms women's long-term health

2006-11-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

Another study from Iowa State's Institute for Social and Behavioral Research suggests divorce harms women's long-term health. In the short term, women who got divorced reported 7% more "psychological distress" than those who didn't. After a decade, the divorced group reported 37% more physical illness than the married group. Women who remarried fared better than those who didn't.

Are entrepreneurs made or born ?

2006-10-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

Typical entrepreneurs are restless, independent, have a tendency to be a loner, and extreme self confident. Like most human behaviors, entrepreneurial behavior can be traced to a complex interaction of innate, background, and environmental factors. But which factor is critical ? According to a recent survey, nearly 2/3 of entrepreneurs claim they were "inspired to start their own companies by their innate desire and determination, rather than by their education or work experience". So if this study can be further confirmed, we can say entrepreneurs are born, not made.

I must say we need to acknowledge and celebrate the inequality that has enabled many entrepreneurs making fortune, and at the same time enriched the lives of the rest of us.

If you are reading this, you may be an addict

2006-10-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

The United States could be soon filled with Internet addicts (who use Internet to self-medicate) clinically ill as alcoholics, a survey suggested. This survey indicated more than 1/8 U.S. residents showed at least one sign of "problematic Internet use." Most disturbing was the discovery that some people hid their Internet surfing, or went online to cure foul moods in ways that mirrored the way alcoholics use booze. Research indicated that nearly 14% of the survey respondents found it difficult to stay away from the Internet for several days and that slightly more than 12% often remained online longer than expected.

Do we really like (many) choices ?

2006-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

When facing too many choices, people actually could feel miserable. Here is interesting number from Jonathan Mendez's blog:
"A U.K. jam maker did a supermarket tasting. The first day they had 23 different flavors of jams available for tasting and purchase at their table. The second day they had they exact same display and amount of bottles on the table but with only six flavors. Result? Sales day one were 1/10th of day two".

Ideas and execution

2006-10-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

To accomplish anything which hasn't done before, a good idea itself is not enough. Below is a numeric formulation on this subject, given by Derek Sivers, president and programmer, CD Baby and HostBaby :

To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier.Execution is worth millions. Explanation:
Awful idea = -1
Weak idea = 1
So-so idea = 5
Good idea = 10
Great idea = 15
Brilliant idea = 20
No execution = $1
Weak execution = $1000
So-so execution = $10,000
Good execution = $100,000
Great execution = $1,000,000
Brilliant execution = $10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two. The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20. The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000. That's why I don't want to hear people's ideas. I'm not interested until I see their execution.

Insecurity and horsepower

2006-10-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Do we need 2 Earths ?

2006-10-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

Globally, humans are consuming resources at an unprecedented rate, far beyond Earth's capacity to support them. If this trend continues, according to a recent report from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), humanity will need 2 Earths' worth of natural resources by 2050; and "if everyone around the world lived as those in America, we would need 5 planets to support us".

People feel pain differently

2006-10-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have long believed that pain sensitivity varies genetically among people. In a recent medical research, a gene called GCH1 regulates an enzyme that correlates with pain sensitivity in rats. In humans, having 1 copy of a particular version of the gene makes you less pain-sensitive than other people; having 2 copies makes you highly insensitive to pain.

I am sure I get just 1 copy (or less) of GCH1, and my daughter have 2 (or 3) copies. Next time when you admire someone who seem more heroic than you, please understand that they may just be luckier and more comfortable under pain.

Quest for a perfect body

2006-10-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

We are living in a image-conscious time. According to one survey, over 56% of women and 43% of men are dissatisfied with their appearance. That dissatisfaction motivates a whole host of behaviors - weight loss, cosmetic and fashion purchases, and cosmetic surgery. Although the idea that breast implants can trigger silicone-induced cancers, autoimmune disorders and other deadly disease is well known, more than 290,000 women in the US had breast implants in 2005, up 37% from 2000.

Cancer patients are more likely to commit suicide

2006-10-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

According to a sobering finding of a new Canadian study published in the Oct. 19 online issue of the Annals of Oncology, cancer patients are more than twice as likely to take their own lives compared to those in the general population.
The rate in the study worked out to be 19 out of every 1,000 male cancer patients and 4 out of every 1,000 female patients. The overall rate of suicide was about 2 to 2.5 times that of the general U.S. population. In this population, males committed suicide at 4 to 5 times the rate of females, which is consistent with the suicide rate in the overall American population.

According to this research, "the high-risk patient was male with head or neck cancer or myeloma, advanced stage, with little social or cultural support and limited treatment options."

Eating chocolate make us feel better

2006-10-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

In one experienment, college students volunteered to report on their mood and emotional states (hunger, boredom, fear, joy, and guilt) before and after eating chocolate or apples twice a day for six days. As can be seen from the resulting chart above, eating chocolate resulted in an immediate elevation in mood, much stronger than that associated with eating an apple. What's more, this difference spanned the entire duration of the task. The researchers found similar results for "joy," as well as a decrease in "tiredness" compared to eating nothing.

Source: Macht, M., & Dettmer, D. Everyday mood and emotions after eating a chocolate bar or an apple. Appetite, 46, 332-336, 2006.

Extreme commute

2006-10-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

Almost unheard of a decade ago, but now 8% of U.S. working population commute more than 1 hour (one way) to go to work.
Source NPR radio (10/16/2006).

Lung Cancer Run in the Family

2006-10-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

A new study in the October issue of Chest found that that having a first-degree relative with lung cancer nearly doubled the odds of developing lung cancer. The association was even stronger for women. Women who had a first-degree relative with lung cancer almost had triple the risk of lung cancer, while men with a first-degree relative with lung cancer had about a 70% higher risk.

Can we communicate with the dead ?

2006-10-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Americans have always seemed fascinated by the idea of communicating with spirits in another world. Who else can make movies like Ghost? According to a recent study by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 20% of Americans believe that the living can communicate with the dead. In an online survey of 10,000 Beliefnet members, 77% said they'd felt the presence of a spirit, angel or dead soul.
Both the survey results and the TV statistics indicate that women are more likely to believe it's possible to interact with the spirit world. 46% of women surveyed believed that "the souls of the dead protect the living as spirit guides," compared with 27% of men. Women were also more likely than men to believe that "the dead can hear our prayers or intercede with God on our behalf."

U.S. federal deficit in 2006

2006-10-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

The amount of this year's U.S. federal deficit is $248 billion. Small compared to the projection of $423 billion, but still one of the largest in U.S. history.

Source: chicago tribune, 10/12/06

Death toll of Iraq invasion

2006-10-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

Around 655,000 people have died in Iraq as a result of the US-led coalition invasion, according to the largest scientific analysis yet. That is 2.5% of the country's entire population. The study was conducted by US and Iraqi scientists to determine how many Iraqis have died since the invasion in March 2003.

Source: Lancet: (vol 364, p 1857)

Beautiful parents have more daughters

2006-10-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics found that 56% of the most beautiful people from a survey had a daughter first compared with only 48% of the average people, so "by marrying a beautiful spouse you are slightly increasing the chance that you'll have a daughter".

The researcher's explanation? Natural selection may find a way to make better-looking people more likely to have daughters because being beautiful tends to pay off for women (in terms of reproductive success) more than for men. Satoshi Kanazawa also noticed that violent men have more sons (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 239: 450-459, 2006).

Silence is gold

2006-10-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

The route to happiness

2006-10-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

In 2005, Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky developed a comprehensive model of sustainable happiness (General Psychology, 2005, 9, 111-131). The result was a theory which proposed that up to 50% of one’s happiness was rooted in a genetically determined set-point, 10% was related to circumstantial factors (nation of residence, demographics, culture, income, etc), and the remaining 40% was determined by intentional activities such as pursuing goals, looking at things optimistically, and being physically active.

Tall woman more likely have twins or triplets

2006-10-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

The difference in average height between mothers of single and multiple-birth babies in the U.S. is 1 inch, and research shows being tall increases a woman's chance of having twins or triplets. The reason? taller people have more insulin like growth factor, which increases the chance of spontaneous twinning. Previous studies have found that women who consume animal dairy products were 5 times more likely to have twins; because cows produce insulin-like growth factor and release it into the blood, and the protein makes its way into their milk.