The power of Women

I received an e-mail recently that had an article on the correlation between the safety/security of women and the relative peacefulness of the nations in which they live.

I quote from the BYU news release:

The researchers spent seven years building a new database that covers 260 factors regarding the treatment of women in 174 countries. Then they used that data to show a statistically significant relationship between the security of women and peacefulness of nations.

This research is available at http://womanstats.org and boasts that is has "the most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of women in the world."

Valerie Hudson is the project's lead.

I further quote from the article:

"We suggest that the root of what we call national security may actually lie in a very unusual or unexpected place, and that is the treatment of women in society," says lead author Valerie Hudson, BYU professor of political science. "We offer what we consider to be fairly strong preliminary empirical evidence based on our new database that this is a viable alternative hypothesis."

The researchers compared their findings regarding the treatment of women with commonly held explanations for peacefulness: levels of democracy, levels of wealth and identity of the civilization. The association with peace was strongest with the treatment of women.

"If you used all four variables to try to predict state peacefulness, the one that would give you the best predictions of the four would be violence against women," Hudson found.

Hudson and her co-authors acknowledge that the relationship they observed can operate in the other direction, that is, state insecurity and violence can exaggerate the insecurity of women. And they say much further research is necessary before their results can be considered authoritative.

Of course this is stating the obvious, but think about it- the nation who values and seeks the security of womanhood is the most peaceful... why would it not be so? Seek the security of women, and the family, and the security of the nation will follow.

So, when we're told to be especially nice to girls, we'd better listen...


But what about the men? What effect do they have on a nation? How about this article, entitled "Bare Branches" compiled by the same team, that is forecasting major problems for China, a nation with a culture that values male children over female. They will apparently be faced with 30 million surplus men in about 10 years...

Chinese leader Hu Jintao, reviews the troops... this will be quite a task in about 10 years...

Utah's Economy

Utah is not an island, and the economy has caught up to us a little more as we've gone into 2009, but here is a map showing what the unemployment rate was in October:

I was sent this article in November published in "The Economist" that discusses the reasons why Utah's economy hasn't suffered as much as other states' have as of late. I found it interesting:

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12480476

It is true that Gov. Huntsman and Mayor Godfrey (Ogden) have been very aggressive in attempting to grow business here in Utah. Lots of tax breaks and incentives for the companies that have chosen to either relocate or expand in Utah recently.

What a lovely name!

A friend, Scott, showed me a little website a few days ago that will help you to learn a little more about names. It is called "What a Lovely Name." I looked up my name and found out a little more about it:

Loren

Americanization of the German name Lorenz, a variant of the Latin name Laurence. Ultimately taken from the Latin word "laurus," meaning "laurels".

Alternates: Lorin

Tags: American, calm, gentle, independent


That was nice, but I took a few minutes and looked a little further:

Meaning of "Loren"
English name
In English, the name Loren means- Variant of Lorin: Variant of Laurence: From the place of laurel trees. Famous Bearer: conductor Lorin Maazel (born 1930). Other origins for the name Loren include - English, American. The name Loren is a unisex name and can be used for a boy or girl name (male or female).

English Meaning - Variant of Lorin: Variant of Laurence: From the place of laurel trees. Famous Bearer: conductor Lorin Maazel (born 1930).

Origin - English

Oil prices going up? No problem... just procrastinate that oil change!

Here are some thoughts and recent finds on car care, or more specifically, oil changes. A while back I rambled on about gasoline prices. And due to a complaint that my posts were sometimes long, here's a two-point summary of what the rest of this post says (so you don't have to read it all):

1. Oil changes can be done at 4,000 or 5,000 miles instead of 3,000 (unless you've really been driving in rough, dirty conditions). I usually change mine at about 4,000 miles, sometimes later. Also, your oil filter also doesn't NEED to be changed at every oil change, but considering they are between $3 and $6, it is not really a big deal to change it, and most places do (make sure they do). A study found that oil change places like Jiffy Lube were not doing a lot of what they said they were. I change my own oil and just don't like the idea of having that clean oil I just put in my car running through a used filter.

2. A few eco-friendly, oil-free transportation options and some fun links. The solar car is quite interesting. I'm telling ya- we'll all be driving something like this in about 20 years.

Here are the details:
I can remember reading in the auto manual of the first car I owned (a light blue "Calvin & Hobbes-ish " Nissan Stanza Wagon- an awesome car- I could fit 4 mountain bikes upright in the back of it if I took off their front tires). The manual recommended oil changes at least every 7,500 miles. I was a little surprised. This morning I came across an article at KSL.com on oil changes- that we don't have to do it every 3,000 miles. It states that "Toyota recommends getting a change between 5,000 and 7,500 miles, or every six months, and under certain circumstances, the closer to 5,000 miles the better."


The KSL article reminded me of a study on oil brands that I read in Consumer Reports (CR) several years ago (I couldn't find it on-line). The Consumer Reports team was researching the quality of different brands of oil and testing how they protected the engines of several taxi cabs with newly-rebuilt engines. They chose to do their testing with taxis because of the sheer number of miles they put in each day, the fact that they are running most of the day, and that they are used in what is considered the most wearing type of driving- city driving (lots of stops, starts, constant accelerating/decelerating). Anyway, the rebuilt engine parts were measured before they were put back together and then after a significant period of wear, were taken out and measured again. As I remember, a different brand of oil, including synthetic oil varieties, were used on different group of cars. And each group using a specific oil type had cars that had its oil changed at either 3,000 or 6,000 miles. They hoped to determine whether it made any difference. Well, to make a long story short, they drove and drove all of the taxis for what I think was 60,000 miles. At this point they took all of the engines apart and found no measurable difference in the engine wear of all the cars and the oil types they tested. They concluded that for 60,000 miles of wear, changing your oil at 3,000 miles or 6,000 miles didn't really make a difference. The only difference in the oil brands were that some started breaking down on a molecular level earlier than others, but all still seemed to protect fine.

The only significant difference that a synthetic oil makes is that it "bonds" better to the engine parts due to its finer molecular structure. It also can increase your mileage by 1-2 miles per gallon. This works, both myself and a friend have tried it, though it does cost between $3 and $5 per quart of synthetic oil as compared to $1 or $2 a quart for regular oil.

Here are a few useful and fun links:

John's Tool Box:
A simple FAQ's page from a Consumer Reports Auto Mechanic
This is a great 1-web-page summary on basic car care. I'd recommend browsing through it. It has information on all of his recommendations on basic car maintenance. Yes Ladies, this one is for you!

On another note, the city of Seattle is seeing "greener" taxis nowdays. I understand that Vancouver, Canada has had hybrid taxis for a few years now. NYC has some hybrid Ford Escape hybrids as well.

But who needs gasoline and oil? Here you can read and view footage about a solar-powered taxi on its trip around the world...


and also a prototype of a wind-powered car:

Of course you can just ride your bike- but don't forget to put a little oil on the chain.

Google on your telephone!

Everybody may already know this, but my brother (Andrew) told me about it.

If you call this number on your cell or home phone and you can find company phone numbers or address of a business using voice commands. It is awesome!

1-800-GOOG-411
(1-800-466-4411)

I have used it 2-3 times over the past few months to find a few companies. You can even ask for a text of the address and phone number or if you have a fancy phone with internet, you can get a map of how to get there! It currently searches business listings only, not residences.

Put it in speed dial and there'll be no more driving around in circles!
Think of the gas we'll all save!