Ahmadinejad urges girls to marry at 16

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is urging young girls to marry at 16. In his very own words, he says, "We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17. The marriage age for boys has reached 26 and for girls to 24, and there is no reason for this."

Upon reading his words, a reason as to why the marriage age has raised came to mind. In many countries, it is no longer encouraged to be married at a young age. The reason being is that most married couples will have kids and in the economy today, kids are very expensive. Girls and boys who are under eighteen should still be getting their education completed. It can be noted that in particularly less developed countries, unwanted births are on the rise. Parents of many children are at a young age and have clearly not been fully educated. Why raise lower the marriage age when raising the marriage age is the better option?

In countries like China, the government had issued a One Child policy where each family is allowed one child. The reason is due to the overwhelming population growth. Also, there is the global problem of resources running on low. Even if Iran claims that the country can feed 150 million of its people, early marital statuses should not be encouraged.

According the news article, the Iranian president has sought to raise the country's population. In July, he had inaugurated "a new policy to encourage population growth with financial incentives for every new child born." Critics towards the new policy has pointed out the holes in his plan because there is an estimated 3 million unemployed people of working age in the country, yet the Iranian president is encourage population country in Iran. If the new policy were successful and did indeed spike up population rates, unemployment rates would increase as well. It is not only Iran's problem, but unemployment is all over the world. Therefore, why is Iran seemingly the only country seeking to raise its country's population?

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40298045/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

Women with stressful jobs have 40 percent higher heart risks

In many of today's societies, men and women are on equal working grounds. There are less and less gender inequality concerning work opportunities. So, men and women are able have the same type of work that induce different levels of stress. The necessity of earning money is undeniable and many people are heading towards the extreme for a job. Whether it be a doctor working in an emergency room or a secretary answering calls at a busy firm, stress levels are on a rise and people's heath are becoming a concern.

There appears to be no room for argument in the recently big U.S. government funded study that found "female workers with stressful jobs were more likely than women with less job strain to suffer a heart a heart attack or a stroke or have clogged arteries."

The research that distributed the study involved 17,415 participants in the Women's Health Study regarding heart disease and cancer prevention. According to Associated Press, "the women were healthy, 57 years old on average, and had worked full or part-time when the study began in 1999." This study is credible since it is a known health organization that has a long ongoing study. The results of the study showed that there is a 40 percent risk for women who have highly-stress jobs. They are more likely to suffer from a heart attack.

What's interesting to note from this article, is the explanation for why excess stress can be harmful for the body. Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of the Women and Heart Disease program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York says that , "stress can harm by releasing 'fight or flight' hormones, spurring inflammation and and raising blood pressure." This will then raise the chances of clogged arteries or strokes.

On a personal note, this is a worrying result because my own mother is someone who has a stressful job. She works long hours and often complains that different parts of her body hurts. After reading this article, it seems that her level of stress may conclude to an unhealthy future. Stress appears to be unavoidable when it comes to different jobs, but of course there are ways to relieve stress, as mentioned in the article. This includes exercising.

These are the facts and these are the data. A high level amount of stress is not good for the body. While I personally think that sometimes stress can be inevitable, it still better to find ways to relieve stress. So, for the people who are working their body to the limit, they should be wary of the health risks and learn how to reduce stress levels.

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40182278/ns/health-womens_health/

Pictures:
http://www.yroma.com/tag/stress/

Hotel replaces room keys with mobile phones

According to Associated Press, "visitors to Stockholm hotel will be able to use mobile phones instead of keys to unlock the doors to their rooms." How it works is that the hotel will lend repeat customers hand-held mobile phones so that they can check in before arrival. These hand-held mobile phones can also be used as keys to hotel rooms. The mobile can activate a scanner-like sensor instead of having a card-like key originally used to swipe open the suite doors.

This new technology is called Near Field Communication and envisioned for ticketing and card payment. This new radio technology is expected to be built into smart phones and will be a new addition in the mobile phone market. Although currently the use of these mobile phone keys are on trial.

"The head of Assa Abloy's mobile keys division, Daniel Berg, acknowledged that participants in the trial may find it cumbersome to have an extra mobile phone." I agree with this. I don't understand what is the point of using a cell phone when a room key is sufficient enough. I don't see the problem with having a room key and carrying around and then having to swipe it to open the hotel room. People are always looking to modernize and update technology in the present time, but sometimes some upgrades are not necessary. According to the article, it said that this new technology will be adapted into smart phones, but I know a lot of people who do not own such advanced cellphones and are still using cell phones without touch screens. In fact, they prefer their phones to stay old-fashioned with key pads instead. I think by introducing this new mobile technology for hotel rooms may be trying to change modern technology too quickly and too fast.

In the article, it said "hotels can continue giving key cards to visitors who don't have the new technology in their phones." Even though the new technology is currently on testing trial, it needs be sent back to the lab so it can be revised more. Not everyone is a smart phone consumer. What the developers of the new mobile technology are aiming at, are at the upper class people who can afford the smart phones. Instead, they should consider that there is a significantly larger amount of population of people who are unable to afford smart phones and who do not want to upgrade their mobiles. A key card seems simple enough since it is provided from the hotel itself.

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39976610/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/