Inequity

The big topic of today was inequity and how the current trends are making it worse. The stock market has recovered but the new technology is eliminating more and more jobs. There seemed to be no solution. As Lowell remarked, it was making us all depressed. But here is a TED talk which says that job elimination by technology is great news. Do you agree with the speaker?

Does Skin Color Matter?

The Zimmerman verdict has touched a nerve in the group. For the second week racial issues dominated the discussion. And yes there is a TED Talk about skin color. The conclusion is that skin color does matter, but not in the way you might think.

Education of Women in Afghanistan

Before we got to the hot news story of the week, the Zimmerman Trial, we spent a lot of time on a question raised by Dory, would the money we spent on Afghanistan have been better spent on the education of women. I was surprised at the amount of interest on this topic, and the group had to be steered to other news. The topic one women education to bring stability in the third world actually gotten serious attention, but not by mainstream media. However, this topic has gotten much attention at the TED website. Here is just one of the talks.

If you had more to say about women education as foreign policy, before we got steered to the Zimmerman Trial, here is your chance. Just add your comment to this blog post. You don't have to limit your comment to the TED talk above.

Low-Fat Diet Bunk

Is the low-fat diet recommended by the Federal Dietary Guideline just a lot of bunk? A lot of people think so and just ignore the guidelines. But these guidelines apply to all Federal health programs and most State and private institutions follow them. The obese follow the recommended diet, only to gain more weight and eventually become diabetic. Obesity and diabetes has become a national crisis, affecting you even if you are perfectly healthy.

Here is a TED Talk which raises the possibility that the mainstream recommended diet has been wrong. Low-fat diets have long been challenged for a long time, but this movement has been growing in recent years. All previous TED Talks about diet, have extolled the virtues of low-fat. This is the first TED Talk which even hints that the low-fat approach was wrong.

If you go the TED talk webpage be sure to check out the TED conversation that I started. It encourages people to participate in the 2015 Dietary Guideline process which just got started last month.