Why geography challenges Americans?

As citizens of a country that ends up in armed conflicts all over the world, Americans should know a thing or two about geography. Recent polls over several years however have shown that the American youth cannot locate even those countries on a map where the US has been involved in an armed conflict. A May 2006 poll revealed the following:

Take Iraq, for example. Despite nearly constant news coverage since the war there began in 2003, 63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate the country on a map of the Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel.

Nine in ten couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.

And 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is a country in Africa.

Remember the December 2004 tsunami and the widespread images of devastation in Indonesia?

Three-quarters of respondents failed to find that country on a map. And three-quarters were unaware that a majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim, making it the largest Muslim country in the world.

And then there is Miss South Carolina in Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant with her illustrating answer about the causes of such ignorance amongst the “US Americans”. Watch the 49 second clip below and you will see how deep-rooted the problem is as she explores the reasons behind why 20% of the Americans couldn’t locate  their own country on a map.

 

Causes of geographic illiteracy amongst “US Americans”

Winehouse, Cobain, Hendrix: What is it about age 27? - The Globe and Mail

Image by NRK P3 via Flickr
The Globe and Mail wonders why some performers have died at the young age of 27. While there may not be anything peculiar or special about some performers dying at age 27, there is however enough statistical evidence to suggest that pop stars have a higher propensity to die early than the general population.

Mark Bellis and others studied the mortality rates of 1,064 British and North American pop stars and concluded that two years after becoming famous, pop stars experienced a two to three times higher risk of mortality than those in the general population who shared similar demographic traits.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiol Community Health, the authors noted that drug and alcohol were associated with most deaths followed by cancer, accidents, and other cardio-vascular ailments.

Winehouse, Cobain, Hendrix: What is it about age 27? - The Globe and Mail

Forklift mishap destroys $1m of shiraz wine

The birth of containerized logistics is partly owed to the fact that shipments were damaged during transport. However, there were certain shipments that had a higher incidence of damage than the rest. For instance, alcohol often ended up lost when bottles broke during shipments. No one really new if the ship's crew helped themselves to some fine while being on sea for weeks. Containerization put an end to this until a forklift destroyed $1m of fine wine.

BBC News - Australia: Forklift mishap destroys $1m of shiraz wine

Why tall people have higher hopes of good health

Is it true that most tall people have been healthy in their lives and thus being rewarded with a height above and beyond their genetic endowments! But what about other correlations between height and incidence of cancer later in life.

BBC News - Why tall people have higher hopes of good health

Related articles

• ScienceShot: Tall People More Likely to Develop Cancer (news.sciencemag.org)

Well endowed universities!

The current value of Harvard University’s endowment is larger than the combined GDP of the poorest nine nations. Yale’s endowment rivals Bolivia’s GDP!

The following info-graphic is reproduced from http://www.degreescout.com.

US Housing starts still in historic lows

The latest figures for the US housing starts continue to portray a dismal picture. The housing starts are at historic lows in the US showing a collapse in demand for new housing units.

Many observers are looking at the short term gain in housing starts that shows a six month high in housing starts for June 2011. However, the long-term picture (see the graph below) suggests otherwise.

Related articles

• US housing starts at six-month high (independent.co.uk)
• Housing Starts Hit Six-Month High (huffingtonpost.com)

Which Top Donor Countries Actually Send More Remittances?

"The Philippines is also a top destination for remittances from Canada and Japan. The country’s economy relies more on remittances than ODA – in fact, remittances to the Philippines ($19.76 billion in 2009) dwarf the development aid it receives ($310 million)."
International Development - Which Top Donor Countries Actually Send More Remittances?