1/31 Poll of the Week: Sue or Settlement?

This week's Tuesday poll question is sue or settlement?

The results of last week's poll are below.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Last week's question: 2012: Mild Winter or Global Warming?

Results: Yes 100%, No 0%, Undecided 0%

Why Do Women Blame Themselves for Infertility?

Last month, I wrote a blog about a study on women's knowledge, or lack thereof, of their own infertility.

Well, last week, it was reported a couple had a "miracle" baby produced via in vitro fertilization. The husband was only able to produce one viable sperm and while it only takes one to make a baby the odds were in favor of the couple never conceiving.

On the surface, this story is very uplifting and encouraging until you get to this infuriating statement. The wife, a dietician, is quoted as saying, “I’d never had any woman problems and you never think it’s the guy.”

You never think it's the guy? Why would such an educated woman say such a thing? According to doctors up to 40 percent of couples who experience infertility do so because of male infertility.

To say you never think it's the man sounds reminiscent of the days when people were ignorant of how conception worked and couples who couldn't have children couldn't because the woman was "barren". Looks like society hasn't come that far after all.

Why do women blame themselves for infertility?

Source: 'Miracle' baby born from single frozen sperm

The Child of Tomorrow

The following post was written by a guest blogger. It's views do not necessarily reflect the views of P.O.V.

Previously published at: http://ifcoffeecouldtalk.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/the-child-of-tomorrow/

The Child of Tomorrow

By Alison Buckley

While most days coffee shops tend to be a bit noisy, this one was different. It was quiet, except for the occasional sound of typing on a keyboard. That was until a group of teenagers quickly ran into the place, breaking the silence. 

They didn’t order anything but weren’t being disruptive or obnoxious either.

“Look, look,” one of the girls said as she shoved her cell phone in front of her girlfriend’s face.

“Why does the light keep turning off?”

“Ugh. I hate this phone.”

Feeling impatient and obviously frustrated, the girl grabbed the phone from her friend and tapped a few buttons before returning it.

There were a few moments of silence while the friend was reading what seemed to be a text from a boy. The two girls sat close, both nodding their heads as they read.

“And then I said this……and this…“

“He’s so sweet,” her friend said.

They both giggled while I sat there frozen.

That’s when it hit me. My daughter will soon be that age! And by soon I mean, well, 14 years from now. OK, so I admit to being a little overboard with my concerns. But, either way, I was intrigued (and shocked!) by the way technology has completely consumed these soon-to-be adults.

The girls joined the others who had come with them, making a group of five – three girls and two boys.  All of them were glued to the screens of their cell phones, waiting for the next text, Facebook post, tweet or annoying phone call from their parents.

“I haven’t told my Mom about tomorrow yet,” one of the boys said with a smirk.

The girl with the juicy conversation on her cell phone reached into her pocket and held it up for the boy to see.

“Hey, did you hear me and Jacob* made out?” she asked, brushing her hands through her hair.

I sat at a table a few feet away, cringing.

“Yeah, I heard. How did it go?” he said.

She handed him the phone, pointing to show him the text. He nodded his head and smiled before they all decided to leave; heads high and the now “experienced” kisser proud as could be.

While I know I shouldn’t be surprised by anything I saw or heard, I was. I am relatively young, but it still amazes me how much teenage “love” has changed since I was in high school. There was no Facebook, Twitter or smartphones then. I had a cell phone and was able to text, but passed notes (yes, handwritten!) in class, read the newspaper and took notes using a yellow tablet.

A recent article published in The New York Times examined the new age of technology, proposing “the child of tomorrow” will crave less information and instead require more quiet time.  Companies like Intel have experimented with the idea of requiring four uninterrupted hours of work per week to clear the minds of their employees. New software is also being introduced to users, allowing buyers to disable Internet connections for those who can’t seem to stay away.

I’m not sure what this will mean for my daughter or the other “children of tomorrow”, but it seems to be moving in the right direction.

And, in all of this conversation about young “puppy love”, the tie between new technology and the increasing need for quiet, there is one tiny detail I forgot to include – my husband and I started dating when I was 15 years old and  we used AOL Instant Messenger to keep in touch.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

Alison Buckley is the mother of one year-old Avni and two furry children, wife, communicator by day and super – woman, mom, friend, family member, stranger – by night. Professionally, she works in corporate communications at Dow Corning Corporation with an emphasis on social media strategy. Her personal blog, "If Coffee Could Talk" is a series of stories seen through the eyes of the dark, brewed liquid and helps aid her increasing coffee addiction. Follow Alison on Twitter.

Corpse Bride

Just when you thought you had heard it all, a man marries his dead girlfriend. And, no, it wasn't a publicity stunt or a script from a movie.

A 28-year-old Thai man married his girlfriend of 10 years at her funeral. The pair were in engaged before she died in a car accident, and he says the gesture was a way of writing a wrong.

The "groom" views himself as a romantic, that not even death can separate him from his true love. Apparently, he never meant for the media to find out about the "marriage" nor did he seek fame and notoriety from it. Well, if that be the case, then why did he post video onto YouTube and photos onto Facebook entitled Corpse Bride?

If bragging about his wedding as if it were a legitimate marriage isn't seeking attention, then I don't know what is.

What do you think: Is he a romantic or a fame seeker?

Source: Til death do us part: Marriage to dead girlfriend draws mixed reaction

1/24 Poll of the Week: Mild Winter or Global Warming?

This week's Tuesday poll question is mild winter or global warming?

The results of last week's poll are below.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Last week's question: Will Mitt Romney go on to Win the Republican Nomination??

Results: Yes 50%, No 0%, Undecided 50%

Are You in a Most Stressful City?

Do you live in one of the most stressful cities in the United States? If you live in Florida, you stand a very good chance.

Last week, Sperling’s Best Places released its list of the top five more stressful cities. The ranking was based on population, divorce rate, commute time to work, unemployment rate, number of cloudy days, number of suicides and the crime rate. Based on this criteria, the top cities are Detroit/Dearborn, Jacksonville, Miami/Miami Beach, Las Vegas and Tampa/St. Petersburg-Clearwater.

See some cities which surprise you on the list? I am not surprised to see Detroit because of its financial problems of the last decade. But Vegas? It was a boomtown until very recently.

I am also very surprised not to see cities with higher unemployment rates/poverty rates on the list. No, money doesn't buy happiness but not having a job and worrying how you'll pay the bills does cause unhappiness and unhappiness causes stress. Poverty also can bring about crime, suicide, divorce and other negative side effects.

I would like to see a study conducted that uses the same criteria as the Sperling study, but looks at the criteria based on unemployment rate not population. I'm guessing the results would be much different.

Do you think these cities deserve this label?

Source: America's most stressful cities in 2012

The Good Old Days Were Not Good

Much is said about the good old days whether it be nostalgia for one's childhood or the yearning for the "simpler" times of the early 20th century. But no matter what the phrase "the good old days" means to you, the good old days were not that good.

Let's take a look at what the good old days were really like.

The good old days means ......

• Having a loved one die from a disease which could be cured by antibiotics.
• Worrying every summer your children would contract polio.
• Facing discrimination if you're a woman or a minority.
• No safely regulations.
• Probably not graduating from high school because you had to go to work.
• Living without modern conveniences like dishwashers, microwaves and even washers and dryers.
• There are no safety nets like medical insurance, unemployment compensation or social services in case of emergency.
• Not hearing about breaking news for hours or days after it happened.
• Worrying you couldn't get a new job if you were fired because your old employer would not give you a good reference because it was uncommon for people to switch jobs.
• Living with contaminated air and drinking water because there were no environmental protection laws.

These are just 10 examples. If you have others, please add them to the list.

1/17 Poll of the Week: Will Mitt Romney Win the Republican Nomination?

This week's Tuesday poll question is will Mitt Romney go on to win the Republican nomination?

The results of last week's poll are below.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Last week's question: Does homeschooling equal a quality education?

Results: Yes 100%, No 0%, I don't know enough about homeschooling to decide 0%

What Men Saying "I Love You" First Says About Women

Who said "I love you" first in your relationship? Was it you or your partner? A study from social psychologists at MIT shatters stereotypes and people's expectations.

Generally, women are thought to be the romantic ones. This can easily be blamed on romance novels, movies and Victorian sensibilities which still pervade our society today. Women, society tells us, fall in love before men do.

Turns out all that is wrong. The study revealed men say "I love you" first 70 percent of the time. It also revealed both sexes prefer to hear they are loved after sex, not before.

How do psychologists explain this?

In regards to when "I love you" is said, the study found people are less likely to believe the sentiment is truthful if it is said before sex, that the person saying it is using it as a means to an end.

In regards to why men say it first, the explanation is a little more complicated. The researchers say it has to do with the fact that for most of history women didn't have access to birth control and, therefore, had to be certain of a man's intentions before having sex with him and potentially getting pregnant.

Perhaps there is some biological impulse to protect our offspring present, but society also plays a role. Women my age were told while growing up not to say "I love you" first because you would scare the man away. This, of course, reinforces two stereotypes. The one that says women develop deep feelings first and the one that says men have no interest in serious relationships.

Whether we like to admit it or not, the way we view and run our relationships has a lot to do with biological impulses and society's expectations.

Source: Dudes say 'I love you' first, study finds

Are We Really That Healthy?

Every once in a while, I hear it said in the media or on television that we are much healthier than our ancestors ever were. But is this really true? Are we really healthier than our ancestors?

Well, if you look at it in terms of such things as antibiotics, asthma inhalers and insulin, then yes, we are healthier. Those three medical inventions alone have improved the lives of countless people. But what if we look in terms of the way modern society lives.

There is an obesity problem in many parts of the world, especially in the United States. Not only were very few of our ancestors overweight, they did not eat processed foods. As a consequence, there were fewer cases of type two diabetes, heart disease and other ailments related to weight. It also means they were not taking into their bodies preservatives and manufactured chemicals, more salt than their bodies need or an unnecessary amount of sugar.

Our ancestors' primary mode of transportation was their own two feet. They thought nothing of walking miles to get where they were going or to walk up a flight of stairs. Today, many people don't even want to walk from one side of the parking lot to the other and take the elevator to go up two flights of stairs.

In addition to eating better and being more physically fit, our ancestors would have slept better, if not longer, which would have allowed their bodies to heal and de-stress overnight.

Finally, our ancestors did not have things such as life-support and life-extending drugs. This means people died quickly of diseases. They didn't linger on and suffer for weeks, months or even years as the terminally ill do now. A longer life does not necessarily mean a more quality life.

Teen Kills Intruder. Could You?

What were you doing at age 18? Were you finishing high school? Planning for college? Stepping into the working world?

For Oklahoma resident Sarah McKinley, being 18 has been a series of struggles. She's the mother to a newborn baby, her husband died on Christmas of cancer and on New Year's Eve she shot and killed the intruder who broke into her home.

Before shooting the wanna-be burglar, McKinley called 911 to ask if she was allowed to do so legally. The operator told her to do whatever she had to do to protect her baby.

The burglar's accomplice ran from the scene but was caught and has been charged. The men were looking for prescription drugs they believed were in the home from McKinley's deceased husband.

Interviewed by reporters after the shooting McKinley said, "There's nothing more dangerous than a mother with her baby. But I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for him."

Would you have been been able to kill a man to protect yourself and your children?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Source: No charges for teen widow who killed intruder

1/10 Poll of the Week: Does Homeschooling Equal Quality Education?

This week's Tuesday poll question is does homeschooling equal a quality education?

The results of last week's poll are below.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Last week's question: Should abortion remain legal?

Results: Yes 100%, No 0%

The Twilight Zone: Mirror to the Early 1960s

It's become a yearly tradition, at least on SyFy, the New Year's The Twilight Zone marathon.

For anyone who loves science fiction and fantasy, the marathon is fun to watch. The plot lines, twist ending aside, are many times corny and the sets are so cheap you can sometimes tell the background is hand painted. Yet, for all the silliness, the series does provides us with a glimpse of live in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

These are some ways how The Twilight Zone is a mirror to the 1960s.

Women: The series was filmed pre-women's movement. There are rarely any female main characters. What women do appear fall into one of the following stereotypical molds: stupid, venerable, domineering, aloof, sex pot or dutiful housewife.

Minorities: The series was also filmed before the civil rights movement. There are very few minority characters and those that do appear are in minor roles. And there would never be a homosexual character.

Science: In the early 1960s, scientists had no idea what the surfaces of Mars or Venus looked like, so alien characters are often citizens of those two planets. People expected to be traveling to other parts of the galaxy in the not-so-distant future, but all the astronauts were men and all the planets were exactly like Earth.

Politics: The Cold War was referenced in a sly way: war between two different alien groups. Several episodes have a plot that revolves around nuclear war and the annihilation of an entire species.

Technology: The future was envisioned to be full of spacecraft, all with artificial gravity, yet the astronauts didn't wear spacesuits even when they step foot for the first time on alien worlds. Also, computers were not predicted to look any different than they did when the script was written. They were always large, usually with no screen and a series of beeping, flashing buttons.

Society: As I said previously, this was a world before the women's-rights and civil-rights movements. Most families were married couples with children. The races did not intermix. Married women did not work. But it's also a time before inflation was rampant, before technology took over our lives. It was a time when World War II was less than two decades old and its wounds still fresh. It was a time when the oldest members of society were not only born in the nineteenth century but remembered what life was like then.

In some ways, the early 1960s were a simpler time, but would we really go as far as to call them the "good" old days? In addition to highlighting the simplicity of the era, The Twilight Zone also highlights its flaws.

What have you learned about the past from watching old TV shows?

Random Thoughts and Questions for 2012

Random thoughts and questions for 2012.

If the world does end in 2012, what have you done that has contributed to humanity?

Remember a time when cashiers were actually polite? The first words out of their mouths were, "Hello. How are you? Sorry you had to wait." not "Do you have a rewards/credit card with us?"

Why do breast and prostate cancer awareness get a whole month while AIDS awareness gets one day?

Take religion out of politics. It has nothing to do with whether a politician can do his job or not.

I don't understand people who say they can't afford to get married. All you need to pay for is the license and the officiate. Everything else is optional.

In the Progressive soup commercials, a woman calls the factory telling a man on the other end of the line she lost weight eating their soup and now fits into her old pants. The man replies, "Okay" and the woman asks to speak to a woman. I would say, "okay", too. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I care about your weight loss any more than a man.

The show Ancient Aliens is an insult to our ancestors. It assumes they couldn't do anything without the help of extraterrestrials. On the other hand, it does offer an alternative to the supernatural as the start of the world's religions.

1/3 Poll of the Week: Should Abortion Remain Legal?

This week's Tuesday poll question is should abortion remain legal?

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Readers' Resolutions

In the last P.O.V. poll of 2011, we asked, "Do you make New Year's resolutions?".

Seventy-five percent of readers said yes, only 25% said no.

Of those, who make resolutions, seven shared their goals for 2012. They are:

• Learn more about blogging, CSS and HTML.
• To be fit for 2012. Exercise and eat healthy all year round.
• I make resolutions every day. Usually my New Year's resolutions are vague. For example, 2012 is my year to finish. It doesn't specify any one thing or pressure me while still challenging me.
• To take my business to the next level by turning it into a business instead of a hobby.
• I haven't fully decided, though I'm sure there will be more than one.
• My resolution is to not make a resolution! LOL!
• Make my business a success.