Misc stuff

[Sis]

Turn Off the TV and Your Kids Become Less Materialistic

Cutting down on kids' TV time may relieve parents of their little ones' toy demands. New research suggests that the fewer commercials children see, the less materialistic they become.

For decades, there has been concern about the number of television ads American children are exposed to. Since the 1970s, the average number of commercials a child sees in a year has doubled, from about 20,000 to 40,000.

And since half of ads geared toward children hawk toys, the situation is helping to drain parents' wallets.

It is not surprising that parents report that television is the most common source of children's purchase requests.

In the study, children who had had cut their TV viewing by about one-third had their toy demands fall. They were 70% less likely than children at the other school to have asked their parents for a toy in the previous week.

These results are evidence for a causal effect of TV viewing on children's hunger for toys.


Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics -June 2001;22:179-184

[The Purple Fuzzy]

For sure.

[Sis]

Italy Makes Blogging A 2 Year Jailable Offense

They Didn't Mean To, But Still.  Italian Government Response?  2 Bloggers Down, 4,999,998 To Go
Technology ignorant judge takes down freedom of speech in one stroke of his pen

A Sicilian judge ruled earlier this year that blogging, under Italian law, is the same as publishing an unregistered newspaper. In Italy, publishing an unregistered newspaper is a crime of "stampa clandestina," and is punishable by large fines and/or jail. And so down went the first blogger.  He was noticed because he wrote unkind things about the Italian government.  A horrible legal precedent and basis for the ruling.

But by registering a blog, the blog would then be subject to all laws governing newspaper publishing which means the blogger could no longer freely write his or her thoughts.  And so it would no longer be a blog.  And especially there would be no right to criticize the government.

Since the ruling, another blogger has been taken down.  Apparently there are those in the Italian government who have decided to run with this opportunity.

The judge, not understanding a thing about the Internet, but still given authority over it,  unintentionally, with the stroke of a pen, took down the right of free speech in Italy and empowered the government to gag its citizens.   A demonstration of the awesome power of ignorance.

Good thing our US leaders, in charge of regulating technology, like Senator Ted "the tubes to nowhere" Stevens, have complete competence in, and understanding of, what they regulate.

The Register (UK)  26-Sep-08
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/26/italian_law_kills_blog/