Huffington Post: Read the Latest News from the U.S. [March ‘11 Diet]

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Gaddafi may not be winning points with philanthropists around the world, but his money could do some major good.In February, cables released by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks, exposed large sums of money received by celebrities who had performed for members of Muammar Gaddafi's regime.More...

Source: Beyonce, Usher, 50 Cent Donate Gaddafi Money For Good

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I sat before the room dumbfounded.  Surrounding me were brilliant, beautiful, driven and successful young women.  Each high achievers in their own right.  Each on the verge of certain success.  Yet, these young women who had originally come to my office to discuss transversing that critical, but sometimes scary path of transitioning from undergraduate education to the rest of their lives, had seemingly only one thing at the top of their minds, "Will I ever find love?"Certainly finding life satisfaction in both the personal and the professional is not unworthy of attention.  Yet, their fixation on the issue struck me in terms of its intensity.  These brilliant young women, who had each excelled in some of the top universities in the nation were discussing the merits of failing to pursue their greatest professional ambitions and educational potential, for fear that reaching those goals would hamper their chances at finding a lifelong partner.  How sad, I thought.   If these young women were willing to stunt their destiny and mute their dreams for a love yet unseen, what else would they be willing to do in order to get and hold on to a man?More...

Source: Claiming Our Power in the Fight Against AIDS

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In less than an hour yesterday, Florida Governor Rick Scott denied the right to vote to hundreds of thousands, maybe as many as a million, Florida citizens, turning back the clock decades and making Florida the most punitive state in the country when it comes to disenfranchising people with criminal convictions in their past.The Florida constitution denies the right to vote for life to anyone with a felony conviction, unless he is granted clemency by the governor.  Essentially it gives the governor, an elected official, the power to decide who will (or won't) be allowed to vote in the next election. More...

Source: Turning Back the Clock in Florida

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The United States earned an overall ranking of 6 out of 139 countries in the World Economic Forum's "Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report," a global survey of the most competitive countries in travel and tourism.The top ranked country is Switzerland. The Swiss have taken home the number one rank since the first edition of the Report, so while they haven't quite "soared" to the top, those crazy Swiss sure have held the top spot in an iron grip.More...

Source: USA Ranks 6th Overall In Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report

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The country that spends the most time online may not be the one you'd think.By the fourth quarter of 2010, the average internet user (worldwide) spent 23.1 hours per month online, according to a report released by comScore. However, the heaviest internet-using country used almost twice that.More...

Source: The Top 11 Countries That Spend The Most Time Online (PHOTOS)

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Perhaps unsettled by the fact that, when combined, The Huffington Post and AOL News have over 70 percent more unique visitors than the New York Times, and that HuffPost/AOL News' combined page views in January 2011 were double the page views of the Times (1.5 billion vs. 750 million), New York Times executive editor Bill Keller decided to unleash an exceptionally misinformed attack on HuffPost in a column released today and slated for this weekend's NYT Magazine.After opening his piece by patting himself on the back so hard I'd be surprised if he didn't crack a rib (it seems everyone -- even Woody Allen and those folks on Twitter -- thinks he's super "powerful" and "influential"!), Keller turned to the putative subject of his column: "the 'American Idol'-ization of news" and the evils of "aggregation." Hearkening back to the glory years when Rupert Murdoch and his minions labeled sites that aggregate the news "parasites," "content kleptomaniacs," "vampires," and "tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet" (the news industry equivalent of "your mama wears army boots!" although, not quite as persuasive), Keller says of aggregation: "In Somalia this would be called piracy.  In the mediasphere, it is a respected business model."More...

Source: Bill Keller Accuses Me of "Aggregating" an Idea He Had Actually "Aggregated" From Me

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We've been saying it for years, but now we have one more piece of evidence: Exercise can keep you young.Last week, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published research demonstrating that exercise was able to reduce almost all the visible and functional effects of aging in mice that had been genetically programmed to grow old at an accelerated pace, according to an article in the New York Times. This study is incredibly crucial information for the human lifespan.More...

Source: How Exercise Keeps You Young

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For broadcasters seeking to provide a high quality live stream, untethered to an Internet connection and a PC, Livestream has just introduced a device from Teradek called the Cube.More...

Source: VIDEO: Ditch the Satellite Truck: Livestream Introduces "Smart" Verizon 4G and WiFi Connection Device

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Red hair.  Green tights.  Cap and feather.  It's a getup every child could recognize and quickly pick out as belonging to Peter Pan, that mischievous youth that never seems to grow up.  He might be an English character, penned by a Scottish writer, but Peter Pan embodies a timeless personality, one that has remained the focus of popular culture for more than a century.J. M. Barrie first wrote of Peter Pan in 1902, and since that time, the character has appeared in a seemingly endless number of stage productions, films and novels. That story of a flying boy and his ragamuffin band of Lost Boys never fails to spark curiosity, among adults as much as children.  Now, an Off-Broadway production has brought Peter back to life in an entirely unique way.More...

Source: Peter Pan Crows Again With Disney Magic, Off-Broadway

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Whenever President Barack Obama addresses the need to improve American education, he invariably mentions a vitally important ingredient that is missing from most school reform recipes. That is the role of parents and communities in motivating youngsters to achieve.As recently as this winter's State of the Union address, he reiterated this point. "We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl that deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair." I urge President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to use their matchless bully pulpits and convening power to transform exhortation into action.More...

Source: Community Mobilization: A Missing Link in School Reform