BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China outlaws sexual harassment

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China outlaws sexual harassment: "China has for the first time outlawed sexual harassment and domestic violence, establishing gender equality as a national policy.
The amendment was passed by the top lawmaking body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
Women will now be able to take legal action against abusive husbands and those who harass them.
Correspondents say women in China are still far from equal and domestic violence remains a huge problem"

WTF ? People just take women for granted if the society has no rules. What was it in the way some of us were brought up that we automatically couldn't ever abuse women.

More from article "A national survey of 8,000 women, carried out by Sina.com and Chat magazine, found 79% of female respondents had experienced sexual harassment - compared to 22% of men.
Meanwhile, 40% of women working for private or foreign firms had been targets of harassment compared to 18% of those in state-owned companies, a study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found.
But it will take a lot more than legislation to change deeply ingrained attitudes towards women that go back over two millennia, our correspondent says. "

Born into Brothels

I am watching 'Born into Brothels' right now (Sunday morning 3:30 am). There is this part where Zana the maker of the movie is trying to get these kids of sex workers into good schools and the school authorities reject them outright. WTF?
What bothers them ? Is it that the upper strata will stop sending their kids to this school anymore ? Will this have a negative effect on the kids who arent exposed to sex let alone prostitution. I think we dont have teachers good enough to be able to assimilate the experiences of these unfortunate kids into their lessons. Is there a solution to this problem in India. The kids seem so smart and eager to learn, its a shame we cant give them this opportunity as a society. I know it sounds like BS coming from a guy in front of the TV on his reclining chair, but then I am really pissed with the state of affairs. Sending money back home isnt the only solution, but thinking that I can go back and solve everything is even more nonsensical. I am just sour right now.

-Rajan
 

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Chimps Found to Conform to Cultural Norms

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Chimps Found to Conform to Cultural Norms: "We humans aren't the only ones who want to fit in. Researchers have discovered that chimpanzees, too, preferentially adopt their fellow chimps' way of doing things.

Andrew Whiten of St. Andrews University in Fife, Scotland, and his colleagues studied three groups of captive chimpanzees and the ways in which they assumed different techniques for obtaining food. The first group contained a high-ranking female that had been taught to retrieve food from an apparatus by using a stick to push a blockage away, thus freeing the food item. The second group also contained a female expert, but one that had been instructed to lift the blockage with the stick in order to release the treat. The third group was a control group and did not have a local expert. When the experts were reunited with their respective groups, the other chimps watched their activities at the food apparatus intently and learned to apply either the poking or lifting technique themselves. Members of the third group, lacking an expert to guide them, failed to figure out the contraption on their own."

Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination - Yahoo! News

Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination - Yahoo! News: "Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming 'a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.'"

Phantoms in the Brain

This is THE most awesome book I have read.
Dr.V.S.Ramachandran.