.larger.jpg "One Is the Loneliest Number: 100 Million Chinese Are \"Onelies\"")
For someone who puts a fair amount of stock in how astrology and birth order affects a personality, this news released yesterday by China's state media is chilling: there are now
100 million only children running around. China's famed one-child policy began in the late 1970 and continues to limit couples to one child per household has resulted in 100 million people with no one to fight with, share with, relate to — and the shrinking family is becoming permanent. In 1982, the average Chinese household was 4.4 people.
Merriam-Webster Unveils New Dictionary Words
Merriam-Webster Inc. has added more than 100 new words. Is it acceptable to serve edamame to a dinner guest who's a pescatarian? Should you pour prosecco or soju for the winner of the Texas Hold 'em game you're planning near the infinity pool? And what's that wing nut in the corner saying about dirty bombs and nasty Noroviruses? These and about 100 other words that have taken root in the American lexicon — and the dictionary.
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Last week's terrorist bombing in Iraq, carried out by a woman, made
many of you question the logic behind suicide bombings. While men are still far more likely to be suicide bombers than women, more and more women are ready to die and ready to kill. Male or female, the endgame is always the same, but what leads them to a crowded square with a bomb strapped on is not.
Time magazine
tells the story of Hasna Maryi, a suicide bomber who found her calling after her brother died en route to his mission when a fellow jihadis's belt prematurely exploded.
In Albania, gender equality has a literal meaning — and a less modern, more traditional translation that your 9 to 5 or Working Girl tropes. For centuries, sworn virginity has
allowed woman to live as men, with all the responsibilities and rights that accompany the role in a conservative society.
In closed-off rural northern Albania, the practice of swapping genders was a practical solution motivated by social necessity, for a family with a shortage of men.
Living in sub-Saharan Africa isn't an easy existence for anyone — but for albino people living in one of Earth’s hottest areas has intense challenges. Their total lack of pigmentation, which affects 1 in 3,000, is excruciating under the glaring African sun — they are predisposed to severe skin burns and often die of skin cancer before the age of 30.
Though lately, the weather is the least of their problems. Tanzanian officials claim that witch doctors are
promoting the sale of albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in spells to create prosperity.
