Tag Archives: population

Grayson introduces Public Option Act – Medicare for anyone

Congressman Alan Grayson, (D-Orlando), today introduced a bill (H.R. 4789) which would give the option to buy into Medicare to every citizen of the United States. The “Public Option Act,” also known as the “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” would open up the Medicare network to anyone who can pay for it. Congressman Grayson said, “Obviously, America wants and needs more competition in health coverage, and a public option offers that. But it’s just as important that we offer people not just another choice, but another kind of choice. A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative.” The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself. “The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, ‘Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.’ It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote,” Congressman Grayson said. In keeping with the “Grayson style,” the bill is clear and concise. It is only four pages. You can read the bill here. added by: WakeUpPeople

Mapping internet growth, still not many users in Africa.

The BBC has an interesting infographic showing how the internet has grown since 1998. Internet usage has increased in many parts of the world, but noticeably not on the African continent. “The Democratic Republic of Congo has 290,000 users, representing just 0.45% of the population.” Cedric Kalonji uses the internet, to create a more Democratic Republic of Congo. Watch as he and other African bloggers, show the importance of internet access. added by: joshuaheller

A World Without Toilets: Vanguard Update from India

I’m currently working on a story about toilets, or the lack thereof, in much of the world. Our journey starts here in India, which has the largest toiletless population on the planet. It was another eye-opening day here. We spent the day inside one of Delhi’s 1,500 or so “clusters,” or slums. While the toiletless population expands far beyond slum dwellers, it’s in here where the problem is at its worst. In this particular slum, there’s one toilet block for 5000 people — many of whom cannot afford the 1 rupee-per-use cost. One of the slum’s organizers introduced us to many of the residents here, who spoke to us about the many problems afflicting the population here — lack of toilets — lack of any sort of sanitation. People here are living within feet of open sewers — literally a shit-filled toilet within feet of where they eat and sleep each night. As we continued on, the picture just got worse and worse. More to come in our doc. (See more photos from my tour of the toilet museum here and from the Holi celebration here.) Follow me on Twitter, or the full Vanguard team, to get updates from the field as we shoot. added by: Adam_Yamaguchi

The Definition of ‘Sex’ [Meaning Of Life]

According to a new study by The Kinsey Institute for Higher Sexication, people don’t agree on what the term “had sex” means. Well, class, grab a seat, because we listened to Salt N’ Pepa and we’re gonna talk about sex! According to the study, 95 percent of people agree that when a penis goes into a vagina then “sex”—that thing that we have spent so much much, waged so many wars, and sweated so many hours in the gym to attain—has occurred. However, 11 percent of people say that if there was no ejaculation, then there was no “sex.” Also 30 percent of people think oral sex is not “sex” and 20 percent believe that anal sex is not “sex” even though they both have “sex” in the title. That’s like saying there’s no “doom” in The Temple of Doom . It also means that about the quarter of the population think that all gay men and lesbians are virgins. The study concludes that there is a disagreement about what constitutes “having sex.” We hate confusion, so we are going to break it down for you: “Having sex” means any consensual behavior between two or more individuals involving genital contact and bodily penetration. That means oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal sex are all “sex.” Sorry, guys on the DL, even if you have anal sex (top or bottom) with guys means you still “have sex” with men. It is also “sex” if no orgasm or ejaculation occurs. If you put a penis (or vagina) in your mouth in a coat room for 30 seconds, you had “sex” with that person. It was probably short and unfulfilled for both parties, yes, but it was still sex. “Sex” also includes any activity that happens in the presence of prophylactics. Just because you wore a condom, does not mean you didn’t bang that fat chick who lived in the room next to yours sophomore year. This leaves some leeway for hand jobs, heavy petting, and general rubbing. However, if any of these behaviors occurred and the subject of sex is brought up, they must be acknowledged. It’s like being charged with a felony but not convicted. So if you jerked a guy off in a New Jersey truck stop and someone asks, “Did you have sex today?” You can say, “No,” but you must add, “But I did jerk someone off.” Also, if you reached into a girl’s pants and played around a bit while making out before being interrupted by your screaming wife who yells, “Are you having sex with her?” you can say, “No!” but you must add, “I was just playing around in her pants a bit.” That, everyone, is the definition of sex. It’s kind of like pornography, it’s hard to define, but we know it when we see it. The rest of it is just semantics so we can make ourselves not feel like dirty sluts or get away with cheating on a significant other. Really only lawyers and eight-year-olds play semantics and only religious prudes are ashamed of sex. And no one likes any of those.

Excerpt from:
The Definition of ‘Sex’ [Meaning Of Life]

America increasingly looks like a developing nation as 30% of Americans rapidly approach poverty, or are already there

A shocking report from Brookings exposes just how massive America's poverty problem is. While substantial reductions in poverty were made during the 1990's, America's poor have been rocked by the dual economic downturns since 2000. The result is that poverty grew at twice the rate of U.S

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America increasingly looks like a developing nation as 30% of Americans rapidly approach poverty, or are already there

RIP Grandma Betty

There's sarcastic, and there's witty.

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RIP Grandma Betty

The New 50 States

What the U.S. might look like if we redrew state lines to make the population of each state roughly equal, and gave the new states charming names. I grew up in Great Basin, but I lived in Coronado before coming to New York (which no longer includes Long Island or upstate)

Excerpt from:
The New 50 States

Poodle Performs "Pants on the Ground"

By “perform” I actually mean stand there dumbfoundedly while its owner laughs in the background. It's a very subtle performance. Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment

Civilizations Wars (Game Battle)

In Civilizations Wars, your role as the supreme ruler of a civilization is to manage your population and take control of the map while the enemy civilization attempts to do the same. Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment

Pandemic Boy

As a carrier of a horrible disease, you are tasked with infecting and killing as much of the population as you can before the disease kills you off. Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment