Centives

Kate Bolic of The Atlantic wrote about her single life at 39, and how society is trending towards her path. In her article, she writes about how modern gender roles have developed over the years and how society as a whole is going through a radical change with its stance on relationships. Over the last 50 years, marriage has lost importance to many and many statistics reflect this:

– In 1960 the median ages for marriage were 23 and 20 for men and women respectively, today it has risen to 28 and 26

– Today, 22% of people between 18 and 29 are married compared to half in 1960

– 43% of Generation X thinks marriage “is obsolete”

To read more, you can read the article here.

Source: The Atlantic

Reuters reports that research firm GfK has found that iPhone users have the most desire to use a phone with the same operating system again. The report also states that 63 percent of all smartphone users would prefer to stay with their current OS; this number, as the article states, means that while there will continue to be movement as time goes on, there likely will not be extreme changes in market shares in a rapid fashion. Insights from this article include:

– 84% of iOS users want to stay with that OS, whereas 60% of Android users wish to stay, and only 48% of Blackberry OS users want to

– Smartphone sales rose 49% last quarter compared to last year

To read the article you can head here.

Source: Reuters

Bitcoins are a desirable currency for many of the web’s denizens, bitcoin’s anonymity being reflective of the internet itself. However, there has been less support for bitcoins recently after several incidents affected the bitcoin community. Wired tells the entire story of bitcoin so far; from its beginning as just an idea proposed in a paper, to its meteoric rise and fall. Some takeaways from the article are:

– Bitcoins peaked at 1 bitcoin being worth $29.57

– Shortly after, bitcoin went through a few crises which greatly devalued the digital currency

– No one knows the true identity of the inventor of bitcoins

For more of their very interesting article you can head here.

Source: Wired

The New York Times produced a calculator that aims to help you decide if you should buy your next house or rent it. Some of its feature include:

• It takes into account the opportunity cost of the lost earnings from choosing not to invest the money that you used to purchase a house.
• It systematically takes into account all taxes that you are likely to incur as a result of purchasing/renting.
• It will tell you how long you’d have to stay in the home to make buying more cost effective than renting.

To try it out for yourself click here.

Source: The New York Times

The Wall Street Journal recently did an analysis of census data to find how rates of unemployment and earnings varied by major. The six majors with a 0% unemployment rate are:

• Actuarial Science
• Pharmacology
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• School Student Counselling
• Geological and Geophysical Engineering
• Astronomy and Astrophysics

Clinical Psychology, at an unemployment rate of close to 20%, seemed to be the worst major for a college student to pick. To find out how your major compares to others in both earnings and unemployment %s click here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: Marginal Revolution

Salon recently provided an overview of several theories about the effect that the recession has had on sex. Key points of the article include:

• The popularity of sex related items has gone up since the start of the recession.
• Some have suggested that this is because sex is a cheap form of entertainment in difficult times.
• Evolutionary psychology on the other hand suggests that it is because during a recession individuals feel that there is a greater likelihood of death and so people are programmed to try to pass on their genes as soon as possible.
• Others argue that the rise in popularity for items such as condoms is primarily due to the fact that couples do not want to have children in times of economic uncertainty.

To find out Salon’s answer to the question of whether or not infidelity and sex increase during a recession click here.

Rupert Cornwell at The Independent recently took a look at the different ways that the United States and Europe handle their sporting systems. Some of the highlights from the article include:

• America and Europe’s management of sports run contrary to national stereotype. Capitalist America has a franchise system that that encourages cartel and depresses the law of the free market by instituting things like caps on player salaries. Welfare Socialist Europe has a free market system that allows tycoons to bid obscene amounts for players.
• The reason for this paradox is the dual role of sports. In the United States the emphasis is on sports’ ability to make money for its owners. In Europe the emphasis is on sports’ ability to provide entertainment.
• The US system of regulations has done a better job of ensuring that no one team dominates in a sport.

To see a table that clearly lists out the pros and cons of both systems, as well as to see some of the hard numbers involved click here.

Source: The independent

Via: Ariff Kamarudin

• The $120 billion that tourists spent in 2010 represented 8% of the United States’ exports
• Between 2000 and 2009 tourism dropped 39%
• The stringent tourist visa requirements that leave no room for exceptions – even for children – have been discouraging individuals from visiting the United States
• The travel promotion act of 2009 created a Federal Agency that is dedicated to promoting tourism

To see more hard numbers, and to find out some of the steps that the government is taking to increase tourism while continuing to maintain security click here.

Source: Slate