Spending evenings in front of a glowing computer, TV, or cellphone screen can put you at risk of depression, Science News reports. Nighttime exposure to light from gadgets has already been shown to contribute to insomnia, cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Now, a new study shows that screen glow can cause mood-related changes in the brain. For weeks, researchers exposed hamsters […]
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American culture is sick, and secularism is the cause of our disease. That, said Steve Chapman, is the contention of religious conservatives like presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who insist that feminists, liberals, and gay marriage have undermined traditional morality, and that only a return to our Christian roots will cure what ails us. But all evidence suggests that this view […]
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■ A cat that ran for the U.S. Senate in Virginia received about 7,000 write-in votes in last week’s election, according to his owners. That means Hank, who hails from Springfield, Va., can claim third place behind Democratic victor Tim Kaine and Republican also-ran George Allen.The human candidates were separated by 180,000 votes, which means that Hank did not affect […]
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■ A World War II veteran was able to hear a symphony he wrote 67 years ago for the first time, when the U.S. Army Orchestra premiered it in Washington, D.C. Retired Col. Harold Van Heuvelen, 93, was inspired by his experiences as a soldier to write a symphony in 1945, but it languished on the shelf for decades and […]
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Hormones found in birth control pills could be polluting the water supply and increasing men’s risk of prostate cancer. That’s the suspicion of Canadian researchers who found that countries that have the highest percentage of women using oral contraceptives also have the highest rates of men with prostate cancer. Women who take birth control pills excrete estrogen from the medication […]
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Liberals are horrified by a new New York City ad campaign to discourage teen pregnancy, said Richard V. Reeves. The ad pictures a tear-stained young child who declares to an unseen mom, “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.” Planned Parenthood condemned the ad, saying it was trying to “shame” teens […]
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■ A flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger’s service dog repeatedly pooped in the aisle. The dog,Truffles, lost control of his bowels an hour into the flight, and the stench caused passengers to vomit. “That is the worst blowout I have ever smelled,” said one traveler. When flight attendants ran […]
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■ A Polish man impaled his head on a screwdriver, but only realized it later, when he saw himself in his rear-view mirror. “I don’t remember what happened that day,” said the 25-year-old, who doesn’t want to be named. “At some point when I was working in my garden I slipped and fell down.” Only later, after feeling some pain, […]
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A Canadian spring break trip turned out to be pretty expensive for one Michigan family. As the parents drove over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada, their 11 year old son was unknowingly racking up thousands of dollars in roaming data charges while watching videos on his iPad. “It was an innocent trip,” said Mike Domzalski. “We had never been to […]
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Though New York City’s waiting list for subsidized housing stands at over 300,000, the agency still has only nominal ability to evict a tenant who once qualified but subsequently became wealthier, and the latest “beneficiary” of those rules, according to a November WPIX-TV report, is a household that reported earning $497,911 in a recent year. Initially, one housing authority official […]
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