Sunday, February 25, 2007

Bill Gates keeps close eye on kids' computer time

Is this the result of the evaluation of evidence?

The following piece of news in not conclusive.

Just because you're the daughter of Bill Gates does not mean you get to play on your computer all day long.
The Microsoft founder said his 10-year-old daughter, his oldest child, was not a hard-core Internet and computer user until this year, when she started at a school where the students use tablet computers for almost everything.
"She became very avid and discovered a lot of computer games, including one that runs on the Xbox 360 called Viva Pinata, where you take care of your garden," he told a business audience in Ottawa.
"She could spend two or three hours a day on this Viva Pinata, because it's kind of engaging and fun."
Gates said he and his wife Melinda decided to set a limit of 45 minutes a day of total screen time for games and an hour a day on weekends, plus what time she needs for homework.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Obesity in the world. WHO ranking

There are currently 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world, according to the World Health Organization. That number is projected to grow by 40% over the next 10 years. The following list reflects the percentage of overweight adults aged 15 and over. These are individuals who have individual body mass indexes, which measures weight relative to height, greater than or equal to 25. Obese is defined as having a BMI greater than or equal to 30.
Rank Country %
1. Nauru 94.5
2. Micronesia, Federated States of 91.1
3. Cook Islands 90.9
4. Tonga 90.8
5. Niue 81.7
6. Samoa 80.4
7. Palau 78.4
8. Kuwait 74.2
9. United States 74.1
10. Kiribati 73.6
11. Dominica 71.0
12. Barbados 69.7
13. Argentina 69.4
14. Egypt 69.4
15. Malta 68.7
16. Greece 68.5
17. New Zealand 68.4
18. United Arab Emirates 68.3
19. Mexico 68.1
20. Trinidad and Tobago 67.9
21. Australia 67.4
22. Belarus 66.8
23. Chile 65.3
24. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 65.2
25. Seychelles 64.6
26. Bahrain 64.1
27. Andorra 63.8
28. United Kingdom 63.8
29. Saudi Arabia 63.5
30. Monaco 62.4
31. Bolivia 62.2
32. San Marino 62.1
33. Guatemala 61.2
34. Mongolia 61.2
35. Canada 61.1
36. Qatar 61.0
37. Uruguay 60.9
38. Jordan 60.5
39. Bahamas 60.4
40. Iceland 60.4
41. Nicaragua 60.4
42. Cuba 60.1
43. Germany 60.1
44. Brunei Darussalam 59.8
45. Slovenia 59.8
46. Peru 59.6
47. Vanuatu 59.6
48. Finland 58.7
49. Jamaica 57.4

50. Israel 57.3
51. Saint Lucia 57.3
52. Austria 57.1
53. Azerbaijan 57.1
54. Turkey 56.8
55. Tuvalu 56.6
56. Dominican Republic 56.5
57. Slovakia 56.3
58. Cyprus 56.2
59. Saint Kitts and Nevis 56.1
60. Costa Rica 55.8
61. Colombia 55.6
62. Antigua and Barbuda 55.5
63. Switzerland 55.4
64. Montenegro 54.9
65. Serbia 54.9
66. Serbia and Montenegro (The former state union of) 54.9
67. Albania 54.8
68. Fiji 54.8
69. Bulgaria 54.2
70. Luxembourg 54.2
71. Croatia 53.9
72. Bosnia and Herzegovina 53.8
73. Portugal 53.8
74. Armenia 53.3
75. Grenada 53.3
76. South Africa 53.3
77. Iran (Islamic Republic of) 53.2
78. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 53.2
79. Lithuania 53.1
80. Lebanon 53.0
81. Czech Republic 52.9
82. Syrian Arab Republic 52.8
83. Spain 51.8
84. Hungary 51.6
85. Panama 51.4
86. Tunisia 51.0
87. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 50.6
88. Brazil 50.5
89. Belize 49.8
90. Sweden 49.7
91. Norway 49.1
92. Russian Federation 49.1
93. El Salvador 48.7
94. Lesotho 48.5
95. Suriname 47.8
96. Paraguay 47.7
97. Guyana 47.5
98. Poland 47.5
99. Latvia 47.3
100. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 47.2
101. Ecuador 47.1
102. Turkmenistan 46.8
103. Ireland 46.6
104. Belgium 46.3
105. Marshall Islands 46.2
106. Netherlands 46.0
107. Uzbekistan 46.0
108. Denmark 45.8
109. Mauritius 45.6
110. Oman 45.6
111. Italy 45.5
112. Iraq 45.4
113. Georgia 44.8
114. Ukraine 44.8
115. Solomon Islands 44.0
116. Botswana 43.6
117. Honduras 43.5
118. Equatorial Guinea 43.0
119. Morocco 42.9
120. Dem. Republic of Timor-Leste 42.7
121. Mauritania 42.5
122. Estonia 42.2
123. Republic of Korea 42.0
124. Swaziland 41.8
125. Kazakhstan 41.4
126. Republic of Moldova 41.1
127. Bhutan 40.9
128. France 40.1
129. Cameroon 39.9
130. Maldives 39.9
131. Algeria 39.8
132. Dem. People's Republic of Korea 39.4
133. Kyrgyzstan 39.2
134. Romania 39.1
135. Lao People's Democratic Republic 38.9
136. Cape Verde 38.2
137. Tajikistan 37.3
138. Gabon 36.5
139. Myanmar 36.3
140. Liberia 35.6
141. Sierra Leone 33.4
142. Haiti 32.8
143. Zimbabwe 32.1
144. Thailand 31.6
145. Papua New Guinea 30.2
146. Malaysia 29.9
147. Ghana 29.2
148. China 28.9
149. Benin 28.5
150. Comoros 28.0
151. Angola 27.5
152. Nigeria 27.1
153. Yemen 27.0
154. Senegal 26.4
155. Philippines 25.2
156. Djibouti 24.9
157. Mali 24.1
158. Togo 24.0
159. Guinea 23.5
160. Sudan 23.1
161. Cote d'Ivoire 22.9
162. Singapore 22.9
163. Japan 22.6
164. Namibia 22.5
165. Pakistan 22.2
166. Sao Tome and Principe 21.4
167. United Republic of Tanzania 21.2
168. Malawi 19.3
169. Congo 18.9
170. Niger 17.6
171. Madagascar 17.4
172. Mozambique 17.3
173. Guinea-Bissau 16.7
174. Gambia 16.6
175. Indonesia 16.2
176. India 16.0
177. Somalia 15.8
178. Chad 15.6
179. Afghanistan 15.1
180. Uganda 14.8
181. Kenya 14.3
182. Burkina Faso 14.1
183. Rwanda 13.7
184. Zambia 13.0
185. Burundi 12.9
186. Central African Republic 12.9
187. Cambodia 11.3
188. Dem. Republic of the Congo 9.1
189. Nepal 8.4
190. Sri Lanka 7.4
191. Viet Nam 6.4
192. Bangladesh 6.1
193. Ethiopia 5.6
194. Eritrea 4.4

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Berkeley and BP: A partnership of a public University and a Private Company

A new partnership led by UC Berkeley has been selected to receive an unprecedented $500 million from global energy firm BP to lead the way in research to develop new,
clean, renewable sources of energy. With this remarkable support, the work Berkeley will undertake will be transformative for the US and, indeed, our planet.
The UC campus will partner with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in this 10-year effort, which was announced this morning at a campus press conference by Robert A. Malone, chairman and president of BP America Inc., along with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
This new research effort -- the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) -- will focus initially on biotechnology to produce biofuels, that is, transportation fuels that are made from plants. Berkeley and its partners will bring the most creative science, innovative technologies, and astute understanding of social sciences to bear to
develop viable solutions to global energy challenges, among the most
fundamental problems facing us today.