Friday, May 25, 2012 8:52 PM EDT
Men also don’t like being objectified. Just ask D’Angelo
Zosia Bielski
Do you remember that D’Angelo video?
It was 2000, and the 26-year-old soul singer was naked from the waist up, all six-pack and rippled arms, crooning into the camera and frequently licking his lips.
Untitled (How Does it Feel) would catapult D’Angelo to stardom. Unfortunately, it would also reduce the singer, who had earned comparisons to Stevie Wonder and Prince, to “the naked guy.”
Never mind that the director hired to make the video had reportedly instructed D’Angelo to envision his grandmother’s cooking – think yams and fried chicken – as the six-hour shoot unfolded around the singer’s smouldering body.
D’Angelo was officially a sex god – albeit a highly reluctant one.
Link to this post
Friday, May 25, 2012 12:04 PM EDT
Strange bedfellows: Study finds many managers sleep with their phones
Dave McGinn
If you’re looking for a book title that captures the frazzled, anxious life of executives who are too worried about work to ever unplug, you probably couldn’t do better than Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow’s new book, Sleeping With Your Smartphone.
In a survey of 1, 600 managers, Prof. Perlow found that 26 per cent brought their smart phones to bed with them when it was time to hit the sack.
The majority of those glued to their phones brought the devices to bed out of fear that they might miss an important call or work e-mail. But, 44 per cent of respondents claimed they brought their smartphones to bed because they use them only as alarms.
“Our lives are all about being either on, or on call,” Prof. Perlow recently told Technologyreview.com. “That is the fundamental interesting question: What is work these days? How do you define it? Is it work when you’re at the beach thinking you have to check your e-mail?”
Friday, May 25, 2012 11:04 AM EDT
What are the filthiest places in your office?
Zosia Bielski
You may want to treat yourself to lunch out today: New research suggests your office kitchenette is crawling with filth. Particularly gross are the handles of the fridge, microwave and sink faucet, which may have you reaching for the latex gloves – or cleaning supplies, since your office cleaning staff clearly haven’t bothered.
The researchers swabbed roughly 5,000 surfaces at law firms, call centres and health care companies, among other offices home to a total of 3,000 grubby-pawed employees. They measured for adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which shows up in surfaces coated with organic residue, including mould cells. Readings of more than 300 are full-on dirty, meaning high risk of spreading illness.
Fair warning, the study is funded by Kimberly-Clark Professional, a “market leader in professional health and hygiene solutions,” and recommends slathering everything in your cubicle with sanitizer. Still, the findings are disappointing from a basic hygiene standpoint.
Friday, May 25, 2012 8:44 AM EDT
Are Canadians slackers when it comes to working long hours?
Tralee Pearce
You think you work hard at your job? Sure, but how do you compare to the average South Korean? New statistics released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) paint an interesting country-by-country picture.
Topping the list is South Korea with an average of 2193 hours at their jobs. Canadians check in around the middle of the pack of 34 countries, with 1702 hours worked. (Key countries, such as India, China and Brazil are not OECD members.)
“Asian countries tend to work the longest [hours], they also have the highest proportion of workers that are working excessively long hours of more than 48 hours a week,” Jon Messenger, an expert on working hours told BBC writer Wesley Stephenson.
Thursday, May 24, 2012 7:01 PM EDT
Toronto man pays off $114,460 student loan – in cash
Erin Anderssen
Alex Kenjeev fulfilled the dream of every indebted student – with a grocery bag of cash.
The Toronto-based president of O’Leary Ventures recently sold his start-up for a profit, and realized he finally had the money to pay off his student loan in one fell swoop. But he wanted to make the moment mean something, so he went to his bank and asked for $114,460 in cash.
According to ABC News, the bank hesitated at first, saying he would have to pay for an armoured truck to carry that much cash. But the next day, according to the story, they counted out the money in a windowless room. “I put it into a grocery bag and walked a couple blocks to the other bank,” Mr. Kenjeev told ABC. “I tried to play it cool.”
Thursday, May 24, 2012 1:02 PM EDT
Feeling supersized? Could be today’s mega fast food portions
Chris Nuttall-Smith
Still wondering why you’re feeling fat? Check out this new chart from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing how much fast food portion sizes have changed since the 1950s. They’ve gone up, if you didn’t guess already: The average servings of fries and hamburgers in the United States have tripled in size, while soda servings have swollen from seven ounces to 42 ounces – six times as big.
“The average restaurant meal today is more four times larger than in the 1950s,” the public health agency writes in a note accompanying the chart. “And adults are, on average, 26 pounds heavier.”
The centre advises restaurant-goers to: “Take control of the amount of food that ends up on your plate by splitting an entrée with a friend. Or ask the wait person for a ‘to-go’ box and wrap up half your meal as soon as it's brought to the table.”
Thursday, May 24, 2012 9:20 AM EDT
Rich, fatty comfort foods can lead to depression, study finds
Wency Leung
The next time you’re having a bad day, you may want to reach for an apple or a bag of carrot sticks instead of soothing your sorrows with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.
That ice cream may momentarily lift your spirits, but it could actually make you feel gloomier afterward.
Scientists in Montreal have discovered that rich, fatty comfort foods make us feel good for a while. But after the initial “food-high” wears off, misery sets in.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 8:30 PM EDT
Getting a tingly feeling in your outer thigh? Blame your skinny jeans
Adriana Barton
As if coloured jeans weren’t enough of a style dilemma (how to avoid looking like a Technicolor sausage?), skinny jeans are now under fire – and not from the fashion police.
Doctors caution that skinny jeans worn too tight can cause meralgia paraesthetica – a type of nerve damage, ABC2News reports.
“It’s a disorder that occurs when one of the nerves that runs in the outer part of a thigh gets compressed,” says Karen Boyle, a physician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. “The pressure on it causes symptoms of tingling, numbness and pain in the outer part of the thigh.”
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 2:42 PM EDT
Is it futile to treat obesity?
Wency Leung
If you’re overweight, are you doomed to remain so?
Your family doctor probably believes you are, according to the journal Canadian Family Physician. In spite of expert advice and treatment, many doctors believe obese patients aren’t likely to shed much weight, leading some to question whether it’s futile – and even cruel – to keep treating obesity.
As associate scientific editor Roger Ladouceur wrote, obesity is linked to a host of genetic, environmental and societal factors that are deeply rooted in us, making it extremely difficult for people to change. Most individuals who are overweight don’t need to be reminded they should lose weight, he says. Moreover, many medications for treating obesity have been removed from the marketplace because of seriously harmful effects.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 12:04 PM EDT
Gay Canadian comic-book hero to marry boyfriend
Carly Weeks
Superheroes always get the girl. Now, at least one will get the guy, a move many fans say is a long time coming.
The first openly gay Marvel comic book character will marry his boyfriend in an upcoming issue of Astonishing X-Men. The character, Northstar, a Canadian superhero who first came out as gay in 1992, is set to propose in an issue of the comic that goes on sale today.
Earlier this year, Kevin Keller, the first gay character in the Archie Comics series, celebrated his same-sex marriage in an issue that sold out.
The Hot Button Blog Contributors
Erin Anderssen
Erin Anderssen writes about mental health, social policy and family issues. She is a five-time National Newspaper Award winner, and the co-author of New Canada, a book about young Canadians based on a Globe and Mail series. Follow her on Twitter @ErinAnderssen
Adriana Barton
Adriana Barton is based in The Globe and Mail’s Vancouver bureau. Her article on growing up with counterculture parents is published in a McGraw-Hill anthology, right after an essay by Margaret Atwood. She wishes her last name didn’t start with B.
Zosia Bielski
Zosia Bielski joined The Globe in 2008. Before that, she covered news at the National Post. She writes about sex, money, food and social media.
Wency Leung
Wency Leung is a general assignment reporter for the Life section, with an interest in spirituality, meditation, superstitions and the psychology of faith. Before joining The Globe in early 2010, she has worked as a reporter in Vancouver, Prague, and Phnom Penh. Follow her on Twitter: @wencyleung
Dave McGinn
Dave McGinn writes about fitness trends for the Life section and also reports for Globe Arts. Prior to joining the Globe, he was a freelance journalist, covering topics from trying to eat Michael Phelps' diet to why the Joker is the best villain in comics history. He's working on improving his 10k time.
Tralee Pearce
Tralee Pearce has been a reporter at The Globe and Mail since 1999, starting as a writer in the paper’s Style section. She joined the new Life section for its launch in 2007. She covers parenting and family issues for the daily section. Follow her on Twitter: @traleepearce
Carly Weeks
Carly Weeks has been a journalist with The Globe and Mail since 2007. She got her first reporting job at age 15, working as a writer for the Sault Star, her hometown newspaper. She has reported on everything from federal politics to the high levels of sodium in the Canadian diet.
Shelley Youngblut
Shelley Youngblut is the Western Editor of The Globe and Mail (and the mother of identical twins). The former editor of Calgary’s award-winning Swerve magazine, she is a veteran of ESPN the Magazine, and has commented on pop culture on ABC, CTV and CBC Radio. Follow her on Twitter: @youngblut
