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nehapatel

Crazy Average Commute Cost Paid by Americans

How much do you pay to get to school or work everyday? Whether you're driving yourself or taking public transportation, I think we all know that the cost of these things in the US is incredibly high. (I should note now that these numbers come from a study put together by Citi ThankYou Premier card, so they're probably biased in some way, but the data is still interesting so I wanted to share). Here's a few more facts that were particularly interesting to me from the study: Commuters Prefer Driving: Commuters are primarily using their own car (77%), followed by the bus (21%), subway (9%) and train (8%). Gas is Overwhelmingly the Highest Commuting Cost: The majority of commuters (79%) spend most of their commuting money on gas, followed by public transportation (14%) and tolls (3%). Commute Time is Used as "Me" Time: 67% of commuters – including 72% of women – consider transit time to be the only "me time" they get during the day.
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nehapatel

Kid Gets Home Early; Parents Arrested

Here is the short version of the story: the boy arrived before his parents at home and didn't have his key, so he shot hoops for 90 minutes while waiting. When the parents got there, a cop (who had been called by the neighbors) arrested them for neglect. Now, I understand being worried about kids when they are left alone, but there is a limit to when this should be applied, and I think this was out of line. One analyst had this to say: "What is important is in Florida there is no minimum age where a child cannot be left alone at home? Where is the greater harm? In this government overreach, where they come in and kind of steamroll this family and try to address some sort of neglect charge, they created the harm, because they removed the 11-year-old child from home, along with his four-year-old brother, for a month, in and out of foster care." And that's my point exactly. Too many people today think kids can never be left unsupervised... ever. If kids are alone, people assume they must be in danger, and it's the parents' fault. And, of course, they believe that the state must do something to "protect" the children from the dangerous world. And this I just don't understand. Shouldn't we be helping our children learn how to navigate the world alone, little by little? I think the answer is yes.
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nehapatel

Why Activists Aren't Taken Seriously: The Sea Shepard Edition

When the hit show Whale Wars started airing, I would go so far as to say that the public was on their side. They public joined them in hating whalers who were killing whales and other seas creatures (like dolphins). But something changed, because these activists went too far, and because of that, other activists about whales may always be seen as extreme. The Sea Shepard, main boat featured on the show that would work to stop whaling boats from being able to kill any whales, has to pay millions of dollars to a Japanese whaling vessel for breaking laws while trying to stop the Japanese whalers. Those who still support the Sea Shepard say the settlement is good, because it will allow them to get back to their true purpose: stopping whalers. But I wonder how many supporters they still have. They did a few things that really upset people: - Their show portrayed them as obnoxious, narcissistic, self-righteous vandals. - They also wrecked that world record eco boat, by parking it in front of whaler ship to get it to stop.
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nehapatel

Really, why hasn't same-sex marriage been fully legalized yet?

Here's the statistics that matter: - 57% majority of Americans now favor allowing same-sex marriage and 39% oppose - 65% of Democrats and an identical percentage of independents favor gay marriage; only about one third (34%) of Republicans do so - 88% of Americans know someone who is gay or lesbian, with 28% saying they know “a lot” of gays or lesbians - 72% Say Legal Recognition is ‘Inevitable’ This last number, 72%, hasn't changed much from last year, but is up from 59% in 2004, marking the huge change that has happened over the last 11 years.
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nehapatel

School to Consider Dropping Homework

A school in the UK (Cheltenham Ladies' College, which is an independent boarding and day school) is considering dropping homework over the next five years due to the "epidemic of anxiety" among happening among students in the UK. Already, they've implemented a few changes: - Students will be attending weekly meditation sessions beginning in September. - Students will also have twice as long to walk between classes. They're also considering more: - "flip learning", where pupils read up on material before classes, as an alternative to homework in two or three subjects.
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nehapatel

Crazy Median Rent in Major US Cities

Bottom Line: It's Crazy Expensive!! After seeing that San Francisco's median rent has just reached an insane high at $4,225, I decided to look into the median rent in major US cities to see just how (un)affordable they are to live in. Is it only SF that is facing this kind of simultaneous housing boom and crisis? Let's take a look... (note, the data below is from Q3, 2014, so that's why San Fran's $$ is lower. You can see the methodology they used to gather the data here.) These are the average wages you probably need to make to rent a 2-bedroom in every US state, and this obviously depends on if you're in a city or not.
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nehapatel

Photographic Illusions by Jairo Alvarez

Jairo Alvarez is a photographer from Argentina. Through some photographic illusions, Jairo tries to illustrate different human themes (like losing your spirit to a few small problems, represented by yellow balloons, or becoming one with nature) through visual metaphors. All images © Jairo Alvarez Which one can you relate to? I really find the one of the umbrellas without anyone holding them to be the most interesting, and the most impacting. What happens when we become nothing by invisible shadows, carrying on but not carrying any of themselves any longer?
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nehapatel

11-Year Old Graduates from College in California

Tanishq Abraham, an 11 year old who has been in MENSA since the age of four, graduated from American River College in Sacramento, California this week. This college is one of the only schools that would accept him to take classes after he got his high school diploma by taking California's fast graduation trek test in June of 2014. I really wonder where Tanishq will go from here: he got 3 AAs, but no Bachelors degree, likely because most private and public universities will not accept a student this young that cannot live on campus, so that limits where he can attend. Though I value education and I think he will probably keep learning for his whole life, I can't help but feel that he is probably missing out on some experiences that he cannot replicate anywhere else in life, but if what he truly enjoys is learning and he couldn't find a school that would allow him to stick with his age group, well, then good for him! This is a video that was made about this child prodigy when he was just 9 years old. It's really impressive. I hope he can succeed in all he wants to do, and never lose that spark as we so often see these students who are graduating at 11-15 years old do. Stay smart, Tanishq, and keep learning! What will he do after this? "I want to become a doctor, but I also want to become a medical researcher, and also the president of the United States."
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