Comments(3)

|

E-mail

|

Print

Most people only find vegetables, not cash, in their backyard gardens. Photo: Brand Ward/ San Francisco Chronicle

By Kelsey Williams, SFGate.com:

On Monday, Wayne Sabaj, 49, an unemployed carpenter living in McHenry County, Ill., (about 60 miles northwest of Chicago) found some green stuff in his garden—about $150,000 worth, stuffed into two duffel bags.

The Chicago Tribune reports: “[Sabaj] contemplated his position for about a half hour, then – fearing that the money might have come from a bank robbery and someone might come back looking for it—he called the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.”

Sabaj, clearly a realistic sort, did not toast his good fortune at the load of dough that literally appeared in his backyard, but said to his father, “We have enough problems, now we got another problem.  Look what I found in the garden.”

At this point the police are baffled by the discovery, and for all they know, it could be that a leprechaun has traded in pots-of-gold for duffels of cash. Still they are examining the bags and their contents for clues and say they will work with Sabaj to see if he can keep the money if no true owner or explanation is found.

All I want to know: What kind of fertilizer does Sabaj use?

Comments(2)

|

E-mail

|

Print

By Kelsey Williams, SFGate.com

A new study shows Facebook as well as other social networks could have lasting psychological effects on teens.

Since the rise of social media, parents have been concerned with what exactly their kids are doing online.  But now, Mashable reports, a study out of California State University Dominguez Hills, suggests it is not what the kids are doing on Facebook, but what Facebook is doing to them psychologically that is a real issue.

Narcissism, aggressive tendencies, lower school performance, anxiety and depression were all cited as side effects in teens who use Facebook on a regular basis.
For the study, Dr. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at CSU-Dominguez Hills, observed 300 teens while studying with access to social media and collected findings from 1,000 surveys distributed to urban teenagers.

Rosen shared his findings in his presentation, “Poke Me. How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids” at the 119th annual American Psychological Association convention last weekend in Washington.

Although negatives seemed to outweigh the positives, Rosen also noted some good outcomes of social media use,  including heightened actual empathy from those exhibiting “virtual empathy” online.

He also mentioned that socially inhibited teens were able to become less introverted as they used Facebook to learn to “socialize behind the safety of various screens.”

Still, despite his findings, Rosen claims there is a simple way to understand both what kids are doing online and how it is affecting them—one that tends to be a cure-all for many parenting dilemmas, and is likely hugely frustrating to the masses of parents whose daily questions to their hormonal teens are greeted with monosyllabic retorts—communication.

Science Daily quoted Rosen as saying, “If you feel that you have to use some sort of computer program to surreptitiously monitor your child’s social networking, you are wasting your time. Your child will find a workaround in a matter of minutes. You have to start talking about appropriate technology use early and often and build trust, so that when there is a problem, whether it is being bullied or seeing a disturbing image, your child will talk to you about it.”—hopefully before the narcissism, aggression or depression set in.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

By Kelsey Williams, SFGate.com

While not “the most popular figure” ever polled, God still beats many American leaders.

A new poll found that most Americans think God is doing a pretty swell job running things. The same can’t be said for Congress.

A Democratic polling company, Public Policy Polling, conducted a survey of 928 Americans, and found that 52 percent of voters approve of the deity with only nine percent disapproving. The survey, found here, was conducted over the phone from July 15through July 17, and had a margin of error of 3.2 percent.

In the survey, the polling firm referred to God as “it” to avoid placing a specific gender on the deity, a choice that could have affected perception of the poll.

God far surpassed Congressional approval ratings, a mere 33 percent for both Republicans and Democrats, and beat Senate Majority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, by a hefty margin.

In the results, the research team found a significant gap in the numbers depending on age groups with voters between the ages of 18 and 29 more likely to be critical of God—26 percent disapproving. Only four percent of respondents over 65 voiced their disapproval.

Michael Sadowsky also noted another age discrepancy in the company’s blog:

“Only 15 percent of those 18-29 said they were unsure whether they approved of God, while 54 percent of those over 65 said they were unsure. This could indicate that the youth is much more comfortable answering silly questions about religion while the elderly feel a question on God’s approval is taking religion too lightly.”

God scored highly in his role in creating the world—71 percent approval—but not so well in dealing with natural disasters—50 percent approval and 13 percent disapproval.

While the firm noted that God was not the most popular figure it had polled, the omnipotent being is scoring well compared to other American leaders and is absolutely demolishing the widely unpopular Rupert Murdoch who received only 12 percent approval with 49 percent disapproval.

Rupert Murdoch’s approval rating pales in comparison to the supreme being. (Duh!) Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Comments(2)

|

E-mail

|

Print

By Kelsey Williams, SFGate.com

Ladies, if you’re down on your marriage, a new study suggests a diet and a treadmill could be just the ticket.

In the sitcom, “The King of Queens” Kevin James is noticeably larger than his on-screen wife played by Leah Remini. Should be a happy couple, according to this study. Photo: CBS

A study out of the University of Tennessee Knoxville suggests that the secret to marital bliss may just be a skinnier wife.

WRCB TV in Chattanooga, Tenn., reports:

A study by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, doctoral candidate Andrea Meltzer and psychology Associate Professor James McNulty shows married couples are happier when wives are thinner than their husbands.

Over the course of four years, Meltzer and McNulty followed 169 newlywed couples, tracking each partner’s height and weight and having each participant privately fill out marriage satisfaction surveys every six months.

The findings, after controlling for depression, income and education factors, showed that both men and women were more satisfied in their marriages if the wife had a lower body mass index (BMI) than her husband.

“We believe that the discrepancies between partners’ BMIs affected women only through their effects on men, which takes time to emerge,” Meltzer said. “In other words, we believe that the wives are happy because their husbands are happy.”

However, an essential clarification that the researchers were keen to highlight is that the key to happiness in marriage is not a supermodel skinny wife. Size 0 or size 16 was not the issue.

“Our study does not show that women have to be ‘thin’ in absolute terms,” Meltzer said. “Rather, it shows that women of any size can be happy as long as they are with the right partner. It’s relative weight that matters, not absolute weight.”

So, large women can be happy too, but with larger men.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Whaddaya mean, d—-iest? (Michael Macor, SF Chronicle)

GQ is out with a revised list of The 10 D—-iest Colleges in America (using a somewhat offensive sexist word meaning arrogantly brainless, sort of).

Most of the list comes from the Northeast, with Cornell ranking No. 1. It’s described as a place where students spend $160K to be freezing and miserable for the sole purpose of getting “an Ivy League degree lots of people don’t even realize is Ivy League.”

Yale ranks third for its secret societies and students who in 20 years will be  “bitterly disappointed if they don’t become president.”

Stanford ranks fourth, winning the “mobile app division” for its high-tech gloss. Speaking as a loyal alum (Orange Bowl champions, baby!), I think a lot of the description is ridiculous stereotyping. And did they really need to bring up Tiger Woods when Andrew Luck is around as a role model? Still, there might be a grain or two of truth in this passage…

You have 17,000 Facebook friends, some of whom you’ve met before, and you plan on starting a company and getting filthy rich someday so that later you can “do good.” But, you know, first you have to get filthy rich.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

By Kelsey Williams, SFGate.com

The red region would become “South California” according to Stone’s proposal.

The south will rise! Southern California that is—according to a plan by one Riverside politician.

Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone says that he wants as many as 13 counties in Southern California to secede from the state.

CBS Los Angeles reports:

Stone said in a statement late Thursday that Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties should form the new state of South California.

The new state would therefore encompass almost half of California’s landmass, leaving out the strip of Southern California counties along the coast including Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

This is not the first time California has dealt with plans for secession, but until now most of the proposals have come from the rural counties of northern California where counties have tended to get left behind with state funding.

In fact, in 1941, a campaign to create the new state of Jefferson from several counties in northern California and southern Oregon was on the brink of success. The counties, frustrated from their lack of adequate roads and funding put together the movement, and Jefferson looked to be on track to be the 49^th state (Alaska and Hawaii weren’t on board yet).

By December, a “Proclamation of Independence” had been circulated and the residents had even elected a governor. But, on the week the Jefferson statehood movement was to make its national debut, the attacks at Pearl Harbor quashed all plans as residents went to work for the war effort.

Since then, every few years these and other northern counties have mounted several more secession attempts, but none have come quite so close to success as the Jefferson movement.

Now, Stone seems to hope to revive a similar rebellious spirit in the hearts of southland residents.

Stone said that the new state of South California would “allow officials to focus on securing borders, balancing budgets, improving schools and creating a vibrant economy.”

Stone’s proposal comes in the wake of the state budget proposal signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that would reallocate $14 million in 2011-12 vehicle license fee revenue from the new cities of Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Menifee and Wildomar in Riverside County.

According to Stone, who plans to submit his proposal to the Board of Supervisors on July 12, the new state would have no term limits, only a part-time legislature and limits on property taxes.

Other officials and experts believe the move is more symbolic than anything, and South California is not likely to come to fruition any time soon.

“A secessionist movement? What is this, 1860?” Brown spokesman Gil Duran told The Press-Enterprise.

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster called Stone’s proposal a “crazy distraction.”