Guest Writer
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Obesity epidemic simply caused by eating too much
(The Telegraph): The obesity epidemic has nothing to do with modern sedentary lifestyles and is entirely down to eating too much, a leading academic has claimed. Despite appearances, overall physical activity levels have remained constant for the last quarter of a century during which time weight levels have rocketed, Professor John Speakman said. He claimed that the average man burned 1380 calories per day in the 1980s and continues to do so today. The average woman has burned 950 calories a day during the same period. What has changed is that calorie intake has increased by at least a third to on average 3,500 calories a day, he said. Prof Speakman said that his research showed that small changes in lifestyle were not enough to fight the obesity crisis.
The Ryan family’s 302-day sailing odyssey
(CNN): Anyone who has ever owned a boat has probably dreamed of cruising around the world on it. Sadly, very few of us actually do. Work, kids, health or other commitments usually gets in the way of our ambitions. Mike and Judy Ryan were no different, with three young daughters and a hectic hotel business to run. But in 2007, they decided they had waited long enough to fulfil their dream. Back then their youngest daughter Fiona was just eight years old, Madeleine was ten and Justine 12.
Facebook alternative Diaspora rolls out first code
(BBC): Developers have been given their first glimpse of a community-funded and open alternative to Facebook. Diaspora describes itself as a "privacy-aware, personally-controlled" social network. It was conceived earlier this year by four US students during a period when Facebook came under fire for its privacy settings. The open-source project has now released its first code to developers and also published screenshots. "This is now a community project and development is open to anyone with the technical expertise who shares the vision of a social network that puts users in control," the team said in a blog.
Cayman still leading hedge fund domocile, survey says
(hedgeweek): The Cayman Islands are still the predominant domicile for hedge funds, according to a survey of European hedge fund managers by Citigroup. There is no widespread move to re-domicile funds onshore ahead of final clarity on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Onshore Ucits launches are prevalent among the larger managers, but still account for a small portion of overall hedge industry assets. There is ongoing demand for managed accounts, particularly from large institutional investors. Operational complexity is increasing as hedge fund managers offer a variety of products spanning traditional offshore domiciles, managed accounts and onshore domiciles.
Cuba’s public-sector layoffs signal major shift
(New York Times): In perhaps the clearest sign yet that economic change is gathering pace in Cuba, the government plans to lay off more than half a million people from the public sector in the expectation that they will move into private businesses. Over the past several months, President Raúl Castro has given stern warnings that Cuba’s economy needs a radical overhaul, beginning with its workers. With as many as one million excess employees on the state payroll, Mr. Castro has said, the government is supporting a bloated bureaucracy that has sapped motivation and long sheltered a huge swath of the nation’s workers. “We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where one can live without working,” he told the National Assembly last month.
Guns are not the answer
While it may be understandable that the desire for private gun ownership is on the rise in the Cayman Islands, it remains an unreasonable dream. With robberies and assaults now routine occurrences on Grand Cayman, itis no wonder that increasing numbers of people are eager to lock and load. The reality, however, is that more guns in more hands is the last thing the Cayman Islands needs at this critical point in its history.
If you fear armed robbery or home invasion then bar up your windows, add three guard dogs to your family unit, or dig a moat. Do whatever you feel you need to do to feel safe—short of adding another gun to an already too-violent society. There are many ways to react to crime. Short-term, for example, one might invest in a home alarm system. Long-term, one might stop voting for shallow, self-interested leaders who fail to invest adequately in the country’s educational and social needs.
There is one gargantuan and insurmountable objection to legalizing private gun ownership in the Cayman Islands that even gun proponents should recognize. Open season on buying guns would mean a subpopulation of scary people would suddenly be capable of shooting the rest of us. No, I don’t mean the hardcore criminals. Apparently they already have guns. I’m referring to those people who are commonly known as “idiots”.
Remember those flying cars we were all supposed to have by now? That’s one future scenario we should be relieved never came to pass. Why? Because too many people are idiots and you wouldn’t want them hovering over your house after a night on the town. Anyone who has ever driven on Grand Cayman’s roads and witnessed people driving backwards, weaving in and out of traffic, passing five cars at a time around a curve, and so on, should be relieved that the dream of flying cars never materialized. They should also be dead set against private gun ownership for the same reason. Too many idiots.
Imagine a legally purchased semi-automatic handgun in the possession of the people you see speeding around with their lights off at night, no seatbelt on, and a shirtless crusty nosed toddler standing in the passenger seat. Do you honestly think it would be good for Cayman if they were allowed to buy guns and ammo? And what about our infamous minibus drivers? Are you really ready to arm them? They haven’t even figured out what “stop” and “yield” mean yet. How can anyone expect them to comprehend the fundamentals of gun safety?
Still not convinced? Try listening to the daily radio talk shows on Rooster 101 and Radio Cayman. For the duration of just one program on each station, imagine an AK 47 assault rifle being held by the sweaty trembling hands of the various mutants who call the station to rant. As they rage on about the price of gas or whatever, ask yourself if Cayman would be better off if these sorts of people were packing heat. I don’t know about you but I would never leave my house again. And don’t think the answer is to somehow restrict guns specifically from the sorts of crazies we often hear on the radio. That won’t work because half of those callers are our elected politicians and prominent business leaders!
Here’s a deal for the gun enthusiasts: You can have guns available for legal purchase in Cayman—just as soon as you figure out a way to keep them out of the handsof the several hundred irresponsible and downright scary drooling whack-jobs currently inhabiting our islands. Take care of that and then we’ll talk.
Free rice game gets social boost
(BBC): An online game reminiscent of quiz show Call My Bluff is getting a facelift in order to provide rice to the hungry. Launched in 2007, Freerice.com challenges people to find the correct meaning of a word from four alternatives. For every correct answer given, 10 grains of rice are donated to countries such as Uganda and Bangladesh. Already attracting 40,000 players every day, the site is now aiming to integrate with Facebook and Twitter. A mobile phone app will also be available for iPhone and iPad users, and the site is extending its challenges so that users can also test their knowledge of other subjects, such as art, geography, chemistry and maths. The site is the brainchild of computer programmer John Breen, who originally designed it to help his teenage sons prepare for their college entrance exams.
Realising the game’s potential to help, he donated it to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Within a month of its launch, it had raised enough rice to feed over 50,000 people for a day. To date it has raised enough rice to feed more than four million people for a day.
Cambridge ousts Harvard as world’s best university
(The Guardian): Both of them have earned fistfuls of Nobel prizes, have educated enough statesmen to table a string of international summits, and inspired eminent scientists, philosophers and poets. But Harvard today forfeits first place to Cambridge in a league table of the world’s top universities, the first time in the list’s seven year history that the Ivy League institution has been knocked off the number one spot. British universities made a strong showing, with University College London, Oxford and Imperial all appearing in the top 10, while King’s College London and Edinburgh appeared in the top 25. American institutions dominate the list, however, taking 31 out of the top 100 places in the QS world university rankings. The list also features 15 Asian universities, lead by the University of Hong Kong at 23.
Stephen Hawking: God did not create Universe
(BBC): There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking has said. He had previously argued belief in a creator was not incompatible with science but in a new book, he concludes the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics. The Grand Design, part serialised in the Times, says there is no need to invoke God to set the Universe going. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something," he concluded. In his new book, an extract of which appears in the Times, Britain’s most famous physicist sets out to contest Sir Isaac Newton’s belief that the universe must have been designed by God as it could not have sprung out of chaos.
Citing the 1992 discovery of a planet orbiting a star other than our Sun, he said: "That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions – the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass – far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings."
How to survive the End Times for a mere £32,000
(The Independent): Are you terrified of earthquakes, floods or tsunamis? Does the prospect of terrorist attack or nuclear holocaust fill you with dread? Or does it take that ancient Mayan stuff about 2012 to get your juices flowing? Whatever your paranoia, fear not: if the End Times really are coming, then a small financial investment is all it will take for you to survive it. That, at least, is what they’re telling customers of the apocalypse industry, a small section of the American economy which, after years in abeyance following the end of the Cold War, has once more started growing again. Robert Vicino, the founder of Vivos, a Californian company building a "survival network" of upscale underground bunkers across the United States, will travel to London this week to announce the opening of his firm’s first nuclear-bomb-and-asteroid-proof property in Europe.