Washington (IANS): Arguments over social media platforms among romantic partners are damaging relationships, ending in negative outcomes like emotional and physical cheating, breakup and divorce, a significant research reveals.
Individuals who are active Twitter users are far more likely to experience Twitter-related conflict with their romantic partners, researchers said.
“I found it interesting that active Twitter users experienced conflict and negative relationship outcomes regardless of length of romantic relationship,” said Russell Clayton, a doctoral student in University of Missouri’s school of journalism.
Couples who reported being in relatively new relationships experienced the same amount of conflict as those in longer relationships, he noted.
In his study, Clayton surveyed 581 Twitter users of all ages.
Clayton asked participants questions about their Twitter use such as how often they login in to Twitter, tweet, scroll the Twitter newsfeed, send direct messages to others, and reply to followers.
Clayton also asked how much, if any, conflict arose between participants’ current or former partners as a result of Twitter use.
He found that the more often a respondent reported being active on Twitter, the more likely they were to experience Twitter-related conflict with their partner.
“The aim of this study was to examine whether my previous study that concluded that Facebook use predicted Facebook-related conflict – which then led to breakup and divorce – were consistent with Twitter,” Clayton commented.
In his previous research on Facebook, Clayton found that Facebook-related conflict and negative relationship outcomes were greater among couples in newer relationships of 36 months or less.
If Twitter users are experiencing Twitter-related conflict with their partner, Clayton recommends “couples of all ages limit their daily and weekly use of social networking sites to more healthy, reasonable levels”.
According to him, although a number of variables can contribute to relationship infidelity and separation, social networking site usage such as Twitter and Facebook use can be damaging to relationships.
Cut back to moderate, healthy levels of Twitter use if you are experiencing Twitter or Facebook-related conflict, he advised in the study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
SHE wanted to introduce the racist and bigoted charter of values in Quebec to harass minorities, but Quebeckers on Monday booted out Premier Pauline Marois’ Parti Quebecois, and Marois even lost her own seat and resigned as party leader.
Quebec Liberal Party under Philippe Couillard won a majority with 70 seats in the 125-seat National Assembly. The PQ got only 30, the Coalition Avenir Québec 22 and Quebec Solidaire three.
SFU School of Public Policy Professor Doug McArthur credited the unexpected Liberal landslide victory, as opposed to a minority win, to two things. He noted: “The election result was clearly driven by young voters under 45 years of age who didn’t want to hear about sovereignty and separation. As many younger voters in Quebec are much more supportive of multiculturalism than their older counterparts, they also didn’t support the PQ’s proposed values charter.”
SFU Professor Patrick Smith said the reigning Parti Quebecois’ unpreparedness had a lot to do with its downfall. He pointed out: “It seems like they spent more time on recruitment than making sure they are on message.”
PRIME Minister Stephen Harper said: “Quebecers have chosen to elect a majority government led by the Quebec Liberal Party.
“On behalf of our Government, I would like to convey my sincerest congratulations to Philippe Couillard on his election victory.
“The results clearly demonstrate that Quebecers have rejected the idea of a referendum and want a government that will be focused on the economy and job creation.
“We look forward to working with the new Government of Quebec on those priorities.
“I would also like to thank the outgoing Premier, Pauline Marois, for her public service.”
PREMIER Christy Clark said: “Like most Canadians, I have been paying close attention to the provincial election in Quebec.
“The Canada I have lived and worked in, the country that I am humbled to represent around the world, includes Quebec.
“I look forward to working with Premier-elect Couillard at the Premiers’ table on our shared goals: building a proud, prosperous and inclusive Canada.”
THE World Sikh Organization of Canada said the result affirms what Sikhs living in Quebec have always believed, that the people of Quebec are fair minded and share their vision of an inclusive society which respects people of all faiths and backgrounds.
WSO Quebec Vice President Mukhbir Singh said, “The Sikh community in Quebec and across Canada would like to thank the people of Quebec for unequivocally voicing their support for an inclusive and respectful vision of Quebec society. Today’s result is a rejection of the politics of division. Quebeckers want to focus on the real issues such as the economy and building a stronger Quebec. The strategy of trying to divert attention from these real issues by targeting minorities has resoundingly been thwarted.”
WSO President Dr. Amritpal Singh Shergill said, “Tonight’s result is a testament to the fair-minded people of Quebec who have sent a strong message that they will not tolerate the exclusion and marginalization of minorities in Quebec society. We wish Phillipe Couillard all the best as he becomes the next Premier of Quebec and encourage him to continue on the path of building a welcoming and tolerant society. In addition, we would note that the Parti Quebecois has a history of openness and inclusiveness and we would encourage them to return to those roots.”
Guwahati/Agartala/New Delhi (IANS): India went to the polls Monday, with nearly six million people casting their vote in five constituencies in Assam and one of two seats in Tripura. The chief ministers of both the northeastern states dismissed any “Modi wave” and expressed happiness at the high voter turnout of at least 74 percent in Assam and as high as 84 percent in Tripura.
The nine-phase Lok Sabha election, the world’s largest democratic exercise involving 814 million eligible voters spread across 28 states and seven union territories, began Monday and ends May 12. The results will be out May 16.
The Election Commission in New Delhi said the voter turnout in Assam – 72.5 percent till 5 p.m. and was expected to go up as “people were still in queue to vote” – might cross 75 percent while, in Tripura, it was 84 percent till 5 p.m.
Assam’s chief electoral officer Vijayendra later said 74.19 percent turnout had been recorded till 6.30 p.m., while officials said it would go up as reports were still being collected from various polling stations.
Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency saw the highest turnout – 75.94 percent, followed by Jorhat with 75.68 percent. Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency registered 74 percent, Lakhimpur 72.76 percent and Dibrugarh 72.56 percent polling.
Brisk polling was seen in five of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Congress-ruled Assam and one of the two in Marxist-ruled Tripura. Voting for only these six seats, out of a total 543 in the country, was held Monday.
An estimated 6.4 million people were eligible to vote for the five seats in Assam.
In Assam, polling was peaceful even as the day coincided with the ‘Raising Day’ of insurgent outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
As balloting began at 7 a.m., people queued up at polling stations in Tezpur, Jorhat, Kaliabor, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur. Polling was briefly delayed in a few of the 8,588 booths due to technical snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The political fate of 51 candidates were sealed in the EVMs in Assam’s first phase of polling. Three constituencies will go to the polls April 12 and the remaining six April 24.
Prominent candidates whose electoral fate was sealed Monday include the chief minister’s son Gourav Gogoi, outgoing Congress MP Bijoy Krishna Handique, BJP state president Sarbananda Sonowal, and union ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar.
In Tripura, over 80 percent of the 1.2 million electorate cast their votes till 5 p.m. in Tripura West constituency, as polling was held for one of the two seats in the Left-ruled state, an official said.
“Long queues of people were seen in most of the 1,605 polling stations. Clear sky with excellent weather encouraged voters to come to the polling booths early,” Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal told IANS.
Voting was delayed for a while in some polling booths due to technical snags in the EVMs but engineers either replaced or rectified the machines, he said.
Jindal said no major complaint of wrongdoing was received from any party.
Polling in the tribal reserved Tripura East constituency will be held April 12.
In Agartala, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar questioned a wave in favour of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
“Where is the Modi wave? There is no Modi wave not only in Tripura but also in the entire country. The corporate media has created this so-called wave,” Sarkar said.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi spoke on similar lines in Jorhat after casting his vote: “Modi magic will not work here. It is Tarun Gogoi’s magic that will work here.”
“We earlier had problems like insurgency and lack of development (in Assam). The performance of my government is better than Gujarat’s in many aspects.”
In the last polls in 2009, the voter turnout was 84.45 percent and in 2004 it was 67.39 percent across Tripura.
SECOND PHASE ON WEDNESDAY
The second phase of the Lok Sabha elections will be held Wednesday for seven seats in five northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
Balloting will be held in the two Lok Sabha constituencies each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, one of the two constituencies in Manipur, and for the lone parliamentary seats in Mizoram and Nagaland.
In 2009, the Congress won both the seats of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur each, the lone seat of Mizoram and one of the two in Meghalaya.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won one seat in Meghalaya while Nagaland’s lone seat was bagged by the Naga People’s Front.
Polling for the 60-member Arunachal assembly will also be held April 9.
While 11 Congress candidates, including Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, have been elected unopposed tio the Arunachal assembly, 163 people will contest for the remaining 49 assembly seats, and 11 candidates are vying for the two Lok Sabha seats – Arunachal West and Arunachal East, both reserved for tribals.
Altogether, 759,498 voters would exercise their right to franchise for both the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in 2,158 polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Congress or its breakaway groups have been in power in Arunachal Pradesh since 1980. The only time when the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power was in 2003, when former Congress chief minister Gegong Apang crossed over to the BJP camp. But the BJP government lasted for only 42 days.
In 2004, the Congress bagged 34 of the 60 assembly seats. It improved its tally in 2009 to 42. While the BJP bagged three and the NCP five, as many as 10 seats were captured by local parties and independents.
In Nagaland, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will fight the Lok Sabha polls against Congress candidate K.V. Pusa. Rio’s NPF is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
In all, 1,182,903 voters would cast their ballots in 2,059 polling stations to decide the fate of three candidates in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Nagaland.
In Manipur, polling will be held for the Outer Manipur seat April 9 while the Inner Manipur constituency will vote April 17.
Ten candidates are in the fray in Outer Manipur – including the Congress’s Thangso Baite, BJP’s Gangmumei Kamei, Trinamool Congress’s Kim Gangte and the NCP’s Chungkhokai Doungel.
In all, 899,626 people are eligible to cast their votes in 1,406 polling stations in Outer Manipur.
In Mizoram’s lone Lok Sabha constituency, it will be a triangular fight between incumbent member C.L. Ruala of the Congress, Robert Romawia Royte of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and M. Lalmanzuala of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The main opposition UDF is an alliance of eight parties led by the Mizo National Front, which ruled the state for two terms (1998-2003 and 2003-2008).
The MNF had won the Lok Sabha seat, reserved for tribals, in 2004.
By-election for the Hrangturzo assembly seat would also be held April 9.
The by-election was necessitated after Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, who won from two seats in the assembly polls held in November last year, vacated the seat.
Vanlalawmpuii Chawngthu of the Congress would contest against UDF leader H. Lalduhawma, who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls from the same constituency.
Altogether 702,189 people are eligible to vote in 1,126 polling stations in Mizoram.
Tight security measures have been taken in all the states. Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Assam Rifles have been deployed in large numbers, said an Election Commission official.
“Helicopters would be pressed into service and mobile surveillance squads would supervise the election,” the official.
Considering hot weather and early sunrise and sunset, the poll panel has extended polling time by an hour in the northeastern region, except in Manipur and Nagaland, due to certain security concerns. Voters can cast their ballot from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Perth, Australia (IANS): Up to 11 military planes, three civil planes and 14 ships will assist in Tuesday’s search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) for the international search efforts said.
The search area is approximately 77,580 sq km, and good weather is expected throughout the day, Xinhua reported.
According to the JACC, the underwater search continues with Australia’s vessel Ocean Shield at the northern end of the defined search area, and Chinese ship Haixun 01 and British HMS Echo at the southern end.
The pulse signals consistent with those from aircraft black box were detected by Ocean Shield and Haixun 01 over the weekend in separate locations at a depth of 4,500 metres undersea. But further confirmation is needed as to whether these detections are related to MH370.
The Malaysian jetliner is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean although no confirmed debris has been found since it went missing on March 8 on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Mirpur (Bangladesh) (IANS): Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets to clinch the ICC World Twenty20 title for the first time at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.
After being put in to bat, India could only manage 130/4 in their 20 overs with Virat Kohli top scoring with 77. In reply, the 2009 and 2012 World T20 finalists reached the target with 2.1 overs to spare. This was the fifth edition of the tournament.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara, playing his last T20I, top scored with an unbeaten 52 while Mahela Jayawardene, also playing his last game of the format, made 24.
INDIA captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sunday admitted that his batsmen couldn’t execute the plans well in the last four overs against Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.
“In the middle overs, our batsmen tried our best to get going, but we couldn’t convert the good start,” said Dhoni, after India’s six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the final.
Indians were done in by their inability to rotate strike and some smart death bowling by Sri Lankan captain Lasith Malinga (1/23) and Nuwan Kulasekara (1/29) as they surprisingly managed just 19 runs in the last four overs.
“We could have always got those 10-15 runs, but cricket is about those runs. The last four overs they executed their plans very well and for our side that doesn’t play scoops well, that worked for them. Malinga with that slingy action kept bowling it wide. It was a perfect game for them,” said Dhoni.
Virat Kohli was the stand out performer again for India with a fine 77 off 58 balls as the 2007 champions struggled to get 130 for four in 20 overs. Kohli was also adjudged Man of the Tournament.
Dhoni lauded Kohli for his consistent performance and said the Delhi boy has a bright future ahead of him.
“Virat has been brilliant in the last few years. He is someone who makes most of the opportunity. The good thing is that he plays authentic shots and still scores runs. He is got a bright future ahead of them,” he said.
CRICKETING stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were finally relieved as they finished their Twenty20 International careers with Sri Lanka breaking the jinx by winning the ICC World T20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here Sunday.
The World Twenty20 win here for Sri Lanka came after a series of losses in four ICC World Cup events. Sangakkkara and Jayawardene, both former skippers, were a part of the Sri Lankan side that lost the 2007 and the 2011 50-over World Cups and the 2009 and the 2012 Twenty20 World Cups.
Sangakkara and Jayawardene, who have played 14 years of international cricket together, admitted that the win was sweeter as they had to wait for five ICC finals. The win was also a sweet revenge for their loss to India in the 2011 World Cup ODI final in Mumbai.
“It’s been a long time coming.. Waited five finals. Pretty happy I was able to do something for our team,” said Sangakkara, who was adjudged Man of the Match, for his match-winning unbeaten 52.
Jayawardene said Sri Lanka have been waiting for this title desperately since their last World Cup win came in 1996. They had shared the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 with India after final was washed out twice due to rains.
“We finally managed to break the jinx. Thanks so much to family and friends but this one is for Sri Lankan fans who have been waiting since 1996. It wasn’t a normal match. Lot of emotions as this was the last T20. It hasn’t sunk in yet and it will take a couple of days to get the feeling,” he said.
The two legends were then given a grand farewell by their team mates, who carried them on their shoulders around the packed stadium.
Sangakkara said it was a humbling experience for both him and Jayawardene.
“It means a lot to all of us. We are very humbled by this. The way (Virat) Kohli was batting, he was about to take the game away from us, but the way we bowled was brilliant.
“It was an all-round performance, led by Lasith (Malinga), Angelo (Matthews) had an amazing tournament. India are a tough side, but we are happy to be in the winning side. My family and playing for Sri Lanka are the two most important things that happened to me in my life. Everyone’s got to go and my time is now,” he said.
(IANS ANALYSIS) Why has the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not been able to release the party manifesto as yet, even though the first phase of balloting begins Monday? For Narendra Modi, this lapse is a major embarrassment. Not only does it point to a cloudiness of the outlook which is holding up its release but also that the “one man show”, which is how the party’s “mentor”, L.K. Advani, described Modi’s command-and-control structure, does have a few cracks.
The conjecture is that the manifesto has become a victim of the tug-of-war between Modi’s development plank and the BJP old guard’s Hindutva agenda which has the support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the head of the saffron brotherhood.
The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate appears to have already bowed to the dictates of the old guard and the RSS by slamming the Congress for allowing beef exports. He did so at a meeting in an area dominated by Yadavs, who belong to the intermediate caste which has traditionally been associated with the rearing of cattle as goalas or milkmen.
But it isn’t their supposed sensitivities which guided Modi, but the long-standing propaganda of the RSS castigating Muslims as beef-eaters who have scant regard for the veneration of the Hindus for the cow.
Similarly, Modi is believed to have acceded to the party’s pro-Bania (tradesmen) sentiments by opposing foreign investment in the retail sector although he advised the small shopowners not long ago to be prepared to face the global challenge. However, these may not be the only issues which have held up the release of the manifesto.
It is possible that the old guard and the RSS are keen on reversing the process initiated by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1996 when he put on hold the three key points of the Hindutva agenda – the building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the scrapping of article 370 of the constitution conferring special status on Kashmir, and introducing a uniform civil code which will dispense with the so-called personal laws of various communities relating to marriage, inheritance et al.
Vajpayee’s decision followed his failure to form a government because none of the “secular” parties was willing to join it despite trying for 13 days. It was after the three points were shelved that he was able to come to power at the head of an unprecedented 24-party coalition in 1998 when the BJP won 182 seats.
As is known, the RSS and the BJP hardliners have never been happy with this backsliding by the “moderate” Vajpayee, who was derided as “half a Congressman” by the Hindutva hawk, Sadhvi Rithambara.
It is not impossible that Modi’s rising star has persuaded the hardliners to restore the deleted items in the BJP’s programme. Modi may not be opposed to the idea. After all, as an old pracharak (preacher), his instincts must endorse the preferences of the RSS.
At the same time, he cannot be sure how a return to what the Sangh Parivar propagated during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement in the 1990s will play out two decades later, especially when he likes to project himself as a business-friendly “vikas purush” or development man focussed on bullet trains and “smart” cities.
Nor can he be certain as to how his admirers in the corporate sector will react to a pledge to build the temple, amend the Constitution on a sensitive subject like Kashmir and change “personal” laws which will affect the centuries-old traditions of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and others.
For instance, one such “law” which will be nullified is the tradition of Hindu brides and grooms to be married with agni or fire as a “witness” to the chanting of mantras. If a uniform code is introduced, only “civil” marriages certified by a registered officer will be legal.
It is obvious that an overturning of Vajpayee’s promise of 1996 will lead to social tremors and communal tension by rekindling fears that the bad, old days are back. Neither the corporate sector, which prefers a stable atmosphere, nor the common man will be pleased.
It is not inconsequential that the head of the drafting committee is Murli Manohar Joshi, who was known for initiating the process of the saffronization of textbooks when he was the human resource development minister in Vajpayee’s cabinet.
More recently, he was turfed out of his old constituency of Varanasi to accommodate Modi. It may not be entirely fanciful, therefore, to suggest that he is trying to get his own back on the man who humiliated him by loading the manifesto with his own antediluvian ideas.
Ironically, manifestos have rarely aroused much interest among the general public. They are usually seen as statements of intent which the parties issue as a matter of routine with no wish to implement them.
In the BJP’s case, however, it isn’t only the unusual delay which is significant because its publication April 7, when the Lok Sabha election would have started, has been frowned upon by the Election Commission, but because the internal reasons point to a deeply divided party.
New Delhi (IANS): India will begin voting Monday in a staggered national election widely tipped to give a decisive edge to a confident BJP, led by Hindutva mascot Narendra Modi, which may however still fall short of a parliamentary majority.
It will be the world’s biggest democratic exercise, involving a staggering 814 million voters – of which about 120-150 million will be first-time voters – across the length and breadth of the seventh largest country, who will cast their votes in 930,000 polling booths to choose from hundreds of candidates – nominations are still being filed — and dozens of political parties, big and small.
Although fingers are still crossed on whether the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will secure a majority in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the House of People in the Indian parliament, most agree that it has outpaced a bruised Congress and its shrunken United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that ruled India for ten years since 2004.
Ranged against both these groupings are a string of regional parties with devoted pockets of support such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (Uttar Pradesh), Biju Janata Dal (Orissa), the AIADMK (Tamil Nadu) and the Trinamool Congress (West Bengal) which could play a key role in the event of another hung parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is supremely confident of returning to power that it lost a decade ago. “We are very sure that the BJP on its own will win up to 250 seats,” spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told IANS. “Along with our allies in NDA, the tally is sure to touch 290 or so.”
The Congress is harping on the theme that doomsayers will be proved wrong again – as it happened during the last two Lok Sabha elections.
“We are not prophets or astrologers. All I can say is that the UPA will surprise everyone as it did both in 2004 and 2009,” spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress told IANS. “With our known allies and a few others, we will easily form the government.”
Most pollsters and political pundits don’t agree with Singhvi. But they also say that the BJP and its allies are unlikely to get past the half way mark of 272 seats and dismiss the widely talked about “Modi wave” as a largely urban phenomenon promoted by sections of the electronic media.
Political analyst Pradip Dutta admitted that the BJP “obviously has a much larger lead over the Congress” but added that the BJP might not win 272 seats on its own.
“I don’t see a Modi wave, and the BJP should not take its victory for granted,” Dutta told IANS. He said that the BJP, if it finishes on top of a hung parliament, could attract more allies.
Another political analyst, Badri Narayan Tiwari, was more emphatic. “The BJP won’t get a clear majority,” Tiwari told IANS on telephone from Allahabad where he is an academic. “They will have to woo more parties if they have to form a government.”
Whatever the outcome, Lok Sabha Election 2014 is a unique battle, one reason being Modi, still the Gujarat chief minister. In less than a year since he was made chief of the BJP election campaign, leading to his later elevation as the party’s prime ministerial candidate amid some misgivings within the party, Modi has grown larger than life into a figure who is both venerated and reviled like few other politicians in India.
In some ways, the 63-year-old has turned the election into a show largely revolving around him, hoisting his aggressive persona on a party which for decades believed in collective leadership, and making subtle attempts to shed his Hindu hardliner image without giving up Hindutva, or Hindu nationalist, politics.
This, analyst Tiwari said, was the BJP’s strength – and weakness.
With a proven track record of governance in Gujarat, Modi has without doubt connected with a large mass of middle class Indians, frustrated by a stuttering economy and lack of jobs, denouncing the Congress and other political foes, often using language his own colleagues may not be comfortable with.
However, he remains a divisive figure for many, having presided over the Gujarat anti-Muslim riots of 2002 for which he has never offered any apology.
On Monday, five of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam and one of the two in Tripura, both in the northeast of India, will see polling. It will be followed by Delhi and some heartland states on April 10. Seven more rounds of voting will follow until May 12. The millions of votes will be counted May 16 to reveal the mind of the Indian electorate about who will govern India for the next five years.
New York (IANS): Do you eat, sleep and drink your mobile phone, literally? Limit your WhatsApp or Facebook urge as men using cell phones for over four hours a day are at a greater risk of impotency than those who use it for less than two hours, an alarming research has indicated.
Two new studies in Austria and Egypt have linked daily cell phone use to erectile dysfunction (ED).
The researchers believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.
For the study, the researchers recruited 20 men with erectile dysfunction and another group of 10 healthy men with no complaints of ED.
There was no difference between either group regarding age, weight, height, smoking, total testosterone or exposure to other known sources of radiation.
Scientists found that men who had erectile dysfunction carried switched-on cell phones for an average of 4.4 hours daily, whereas the men without erectile dysfunction averaged 1.8 hours.
“Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility,” said the researchers in a report published in the latest newsletter of Environmental Health Trust (EHT).
A non-profit organisation, EHT focuses on raising awareness on the negative impacts of unsafe cell phone use and performing cutting-edge research on cell phone radiation.
However, neither study found sperm count was affected.
“Our study showed the total time of exposure to the cell phone is much more important than the relatively short duration of intense exposure during phone calls,” the researchers noted.
Since the preliminary study was small-scale, the researchers concluded that the results indicated a need for larger-scaled studies.
EDITOR RATTAN MALL ADDS:
Why I have NEVER kept a cellphone!
I am (perhaps) the ONLY journalist on earth who does NOT keep a cellphone and steadfastly refuses to do so – even though my bosses over the years have offered to pay for one!
In fact – are you ready for this? – I have NEVER owned a cellphone!
I know the Guinness World Records is trying to include my name – but I have threatened to sue them (just kidding!)
I just HATE the idea of being on what I call a “dog leash” all the time. It’s like responding to a dog whistle! And being a journalist, I would be “threatened” with an endless barrage of really unnecessary calls – and I’d hate that on the weekends when I want to just unwind.
So if there’s anything really important, folks can email me or call me at the office during workdays – close friends can do so on my personal email or call my home landline and leave a message (I’m hardly ever at home, being single and restless!)
And I get back to people when I want to.
A couple of years ago, Tina Dacin, a Queen’s School of Business professor, said: “[Wireless] isn’t going to take over landlines anytime soon.” She said there wasn’t enough trust across the board in technology.
Landlines are more reliable, have greater call security, do not have the dubious health associations of cellphones, and are still the safest option in an emergency, she noted.
WHAT bugs me the most is the thoughtless, uncultured way that people keep texting while walking, without the slightest regard for others. You have to avoid bumping into them on the sidewalks, in the malls and shops, and even on SkyTrain platforms!
I must confess that I have to quite often fight the urge to knock down their “idol” or “god” and stomp on it!
That old warm spirit of greeting people and interacting in public seems to have died out.
And let’s not mention all those BONEHEADS who still speed down the street while chatting away on their cellphone even though they know it’s illegal and dangerous. I have almost been knocked down downtown on several occasions.
UNFORTUNATELY, technology that we were told would make life simpler and easier and happier for us all has in fact done just the OPPOSITE!
The technological advances have just spawned ruthless competition that does not give a damn for the good old values of decency, compromise and caring. It’s always ‘ME FIRST’ – and to hell with everyone else.
It’s always grab, grab and grab!
I know there are those who try and give back to society – but compared with all the dog-eat-dog businessmen and the greedy, corrupt politicians they control, their efforts are really the proverbial drop in the ocean.
So try and keep your life balanced. Just remember, as Shakespeare put it, time and tide wait for no man. This time is not going to come back – and you’ll regret not having lived your life the way you really should have. (You youth, don’t waste your life on booze and drugs and gangs!)
And when you finally die (we all have to!), you have to leave EVERYTHING behind – yes, that includes your precious cellphone or iPhone or whatever!
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart,” as the Bible puts it.
Have a great weekend folks – I will be in Seattle – WITHOUT a cellphone!
SOUTH Asians in Surrey just can’t understand why Translink authorities cannot operate SkyTrain services earlier on Saturday and Sunday as many work downtown Vancouver and elsewhere on weekends and many others have to head home from security and other night-time jobs from Vancouver.
The first SkyTrain leaves King George station at 5:08 a.m. Monday to Friday, but on Saturday the first one starts an hour later at 6:08 a.m. and on Sunday it departs two hours later at 7:08 a.m.
From Waterfront station, the first SkyTrain leaves at 5:35 a.m. Monday to Friday, but on Saturday it starts only at 6:50 a.m. and on Sunday it leaves as late as 7:50 a.m.
Some South Asians phoned me this week to point out that the authorities are being hypocritical when they urge people to leave their vehicles home and use the SkyTrain. If they are forced to use their vehicles on the weekends because of the late SkyTrain service, what prevents them from using them on weekdays as well?
Translink media spokesperson Jiana Ling told me: “Well, the thing is SkyTrain is a machine and like any other machine you need to do maintenance work. So it needs to close down and especially during the weekend it’s closed down for longer periods of time because that gives us an opportunity to do more maintenance work.
“From Mondays to Fridays it’s opened earlier because of the daily commute that majority of people do (who) work from Monday to Friday. If there is a large amount of maintenance work that needs to be done that takes a few hours, we will save that for the weekend, and that’s why it’s opened a little bit later on the weekends to give our crew more time to do any maintenance work that is required to maintain the system in a state of good repair.”
When I asked her if anybody could something about running the service earlier on weekends, she replied: “We’ve looked at it many times and the main thing is that there needs to be allocated maintenance time for the crew to work on it. If we don’t keep it in a state of good repair, the system won’t run as efficiently as it does today. So it’s very important that we give time for the crews to do track work to run the whole line. Instead of closing down the system when it’s busy, we do it in a time when we can least inconvenience those customers.”
But commuters note that starting the service earlier on Saturday and Sunday involves a total of only three hours. So couldn’t TransLink hire more maintenance people and get work done in a shorter period of time?
Indeed, TransLink bosses need to rectify this situation.
YET ANOTHER GURMANT GREWAL CONTROVERSY: Former Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal always seems to be chasing controversy or perhaps controversy is always pursuing him. This week it was about articles that appeared in some Punjabi language newspapers in the state of Punjab that quoted him as claiming that he was the Conservative candidate in the new riding of Cloverdale-Langley City riding and that he had come to offer thanks at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Surrey businessman Paul Brar, who is also vying for the nomination, was very upset and phoned me. I explained to him that Grewal could have been misquoted. When I called Grewal’s house, I was told he was still in India and would be returning on the weekend. Another contender, former Liberal MLA Dave Hayer, told me that it didn’t matter what anyone claimed because the fact is that no one has won the nomination.
Although there are three South Asian contenders, South Asians comprise only 10 per cent of the riding’s population. East Asians form another 10 per cent and the rest are all white guys. There are two white contenders with impressive backgrounds: Mike Garisto, a life insurance salesman who spent 35 years as a union representative for the Brotherhood of Maintenance Way Employees, and former Langley city councillor Dean Drysdale, a successful businessman who runs his own consulting firm in the area of corporate finance. Drysdale is currently teaching as a Professor of Business Management at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and he has also taught at UBC and the Marine Corps University.
But now there are rumours that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may want to avoid any embarrassing situation in this riding and parachute in Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts who’s been having a tough time after 25 homicides in 2013 and with no relief from crime in sight.
If that happens, remember you read it here first!
SURREY RCMP IGNORE SOUTH ASIAN VICTIM OF BRUTAL ASSAULT: I guess if you are a BROWN guy, Surrey RCMP and City of Surrey bosses do not think you amount to much. The son of GURCHARAN SINGH GILL, 72, who was brutally assaulted by a young man in Surreys’ Newton Athletic Park on March 13, told me on Thursday that no one from Surrey RCMP had bothered to contact the family and they didn’t know what was going on about the investigation into the attack. He seemed genuinely upset about it – and he has every right to be so.
Shame on Surrey Police Chief Bill Fordy and Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts!
Gill’s son told me that the father was recovering, but he didn’t know what could happen in the long term.
Surrey Councillor Barinder Rasode had told me last week: “The horrendous nature of the crime against a senior who was walking in a public place at one o’clock in the afternoon – there is just no word for it – again, in a public facility. We have to be doing more – and more quickly.”
Or should that be ‘DOING LESS – AND MORE SLOWLY’ as far as the RCMP and the mayor are concerned?
MISSISSAUGA FUNERAL HOME MAY DIE!: I know many don’t like to joke about death, but the fact is that that’s what may happen to another Mississauga funeral home in Ontario for alleged shoddy business practices. The Toronto Star reported that the Lee Funeral Home might lose its licence over accusations of unpaid debts to suppliers and the city. But the new owner, Roy Benipersaud, “is accusing the provincial regulator of “maliciously” trying to run him out of business at the same time as it’s trying to shut down Benisasia Funeral Home, which is run by Benipersaud’s brother and sister-in-law,” reports the newspaper. The Board of Funeral Services says that’s just a coincidence and that each case will “stand on its own merit.”
Let’s see if the funeral homes will survive!
IMMIGRATION BUREAUCRACY’S STUPIDITY OR WHATEVER: Ravi Kumar Vellingiri immigrated to Canada from India in 2007 as an engineer and married Shahana Chathoth the following year in India. Chathoth and her five-year-old son, Cawin, came here in 2012, but the whole family went back to India when the mom had complications with her pregnancy and didn’t have provincial health coverage (OHIP), the Toronto Star reported.
The dad applied to sponsor the new baby right after his birth, but he didn’t know that according to the rules, he could do so only from Canada.
So the application was rejected in January. The family then applied for a visitor’s visa for the newborn, but that was denied because they had to satisfy the visa officer that they are in Canada only temporarily.
After their story appeared in the Toronto Star last month, the mom received a call from Canada’s visa post in Delhi to file a new application for a visitor visa for the newborn. And now the family has a visa for him.
But as an immigration lawyer pointed out to the newspaper, “the system has a great deal of discretion and the discretion is exercised in an arbitrary fashion.”
Anyway, at least this case had a happy ending.
WAS ORGANIZED CRIME BEHIND SUSPECTED SURREY FARMHOUSE ARSON? Landlord Amarjit Kang told the media that when he told the renters of his farmhouse who were growing medicinal marijuana hat they had to pay rent, they reportedly told them they had the backing of an organized crime group. The farmhouse went up in flames after they moved out. He told the Vancouver Sun newspaper that his farm was worth $4 million.
The Sun found that the property title is registered to Baljit Kaur Hundal. It was transferred to him in January 2010 from Kang Mushroom Farm Ltd., which bought it in 2007.
Well, let’s see what the investigation will reveal.
DID SANDIP DUHRE GET SOUTH ASIANS KILLED BY JAMIE BACON? The ongoing Surrey Six Trial in B.C. Supreme Court heard this week from the Crown’s star witness – who can only be identified as “Y” and who was a gang enforcer – that he was surprised when Red Scorpion gangster Jamie Bacon confessed that he had killed two men in east Vancouver back in May 2004 for Sandip Duhre.
Phil Hothi and Herman Dhillon were shot at the house of Chinese-Canadian drug dealer Tommy Ho Sing Chan, who was himself shot dead at downtown Vancouver’s Richard’s on Richards nightclub in 2006. Vancouver Police told the media at the time that the two South Asians were known to them.
Duhre himself was shot dead in January 2012 at the Bar One restaurant in downtown Vancouver Sheraton Wall Centre in the 1000-block of Burrard Street.
