I remember drawing them on my notebook during the first Gulf War and not really knowing what they meant — and now the peace sign is turning the big 5-0. The famous symbol made its first official public appearance in 1958 to advocate nuclear disarmament, and has since been used to graphically support a range of efforts from economic justice to environmentalism. Nearly every altruistic group has
used this iconic logo as a way to communicate the idea of universal brotherhood.
The designer of the symbol, Gerald Holtom, created the logo while in a big funk.
According to new Census Bureau projections,
ethnic and racial minorities won't be that way for very long. The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who consider themselves a minority including Hispanic, black, and Asian will in combination outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Even earlier, minority children will be the majority by 2023.
Hey, don't I know you from somewhere. According to this new study, chances are, yes. Using records of 30 billion electronic conversations from 180 million people the world over,
researchers have concluded that on average, any two people are only separated by 6.6 degrees of separation — meaning they could be linked together by seven acquaintances.
Condom-free sex is the new engagement ring. As shocking and lurid as that sounds, the story behind the headline is actually kind of logical. As told in
an NPR piece in conjunction with the Youth Radio organization, for young kids in physical relationships now, they've never known a time before the threat of HIV/AIDS.
While India reels from a new
spate of bombings over the weekend, terrorist attacks like these have
become more prevalent in recent years, unsettling the country. Officials say the attacks are attempts to incite violence between Hindus and Muslims, which so far have failed. Who could be the perfect person to unite and lead a country in unsettled times.
A group of eight students at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles hunkered down in a room to
talk about a touchy subject: What's behind the Asian math-whiz-valedictorian stereotype — and why do other ethnic backgrounds appear to come up short in the classroom?
Long thought to be traceable to socioeconomic backgrounds that theory no longer makes the grade. At Lincoln High School both the surrounding neighborhood and student body are 15 percent Asian — why then do Asian students make up 50 percent of the Advanced Placement classes, and teachers can’t remember the last time a Latino was valedictorian?
The students'
talk about the difference was frank. When talking about a Hispanic student who was good at math one said, "I think Carlos is Asian at heart," and described one Asian student who didn't get good grades as, "Mexican at heart." The students squashed the economic background reasoning, agreeing that of their school, the Latino and Asian students came mostly from poor and working-class families.
Looking further at census data, 84 percent of the Asian and Latino families in the area earn below $50,000 — stumping the fact that the Science Bowl team is 90 percent Asian, as is the Academic Decathlon team.
For a publicity stunt at London's Royal Opera House, the controversy may not be over 'til that fat lady, you know whats. It's elite vs. lowbrow, and it's hard to see who's in the right.
Here's the gimmick: the opera house
limited tickets to a prestigious premiere to readers of The Sun, a tabloid newspaper, in a bid to attract a more diverse audience and upset the image that the opera is just for the elite.
Traffic restrictions started in Beijing over the weekend in a frantic effort to try and
improve the city's air quality before the start of the Games. By only allowing vehicles with odd-numbered license plates into the city on alternating days with evens, officials hope the halving of traffic will take 60 percent of the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads and reduce emissions by two-thirds.
Though the atmospheric throat-clearing is all about
getting gussied up for company, locals are loving the effect.
A record crowd of 1.5 million dancing, happy revelers
celebrated at Germany's Love Parade held Saturday in Dortmund, Germany. A
Summer tradition held for the first time in Berlin in 1989 just after the wall came down, it started as an expression of a changing Europe and was originally a political demonstration for peace and global understanding through music.
That music thumped this weekend from 37 floats and 250 DJs as the wildly costumed participants kept the peace demonstration, peaceful.
George W. Bush may have his critics, but comedians should not be among those eager to have him leave the public stage, especially if the un-funny Obama becomes President.
Bill Clinton's womanizing, Al Gore's monotone persona, and George W. Bush's trouble with words define them in "funny" terms.
