EVER
wondered why you suddenly have spam emails about dating or food
recipes? Or whatever? It's because you are single and you are a
foodie. You are being watched online or whatever you're clicking and
typing on your smartphone, that's why... In fact, even retailers are
watching your social media persona... Or even your inbox? For
example, Nordstrom wanted
to learn more about its customers — how many came through the
doors, how many were repeat visitors — the kind of information that
e-commerce sites like Amazon have in spades. So last fall the company
started testing new technology that allowed it to track customers’
movements by following the Wi-Fi signals from their smartphones.
Nordstrom’s “experiment” is part of a movement by retailers to
gather data about in-store shoppers’ behavior and moods, using
video surveillance and signals from their cellphones and apps to
learn information as varied as their sex, how many minutes they spend
in the candy aisle and how long they look at merchandise before
buying it. All sorts of retailers — including national chains, like
Family Dollar, Cabela’s and Mothercare, a British company, and
specialty stores like Benetton and Warby Parker — are testing these
technologies and using them to decide on matters like changing store
layouts and offering customized coupons.
HOOK-UP
culture, who's taking the lead? Some experts say, now it's ladies'
choice. Hanna Rosin, in her book, “The End of Men,” writes that
hooking up is a functional strategy for today’s hard-charging and
ambitious young women, allowing them to have enjoyable sex lives
while focusing most of their energy on academic and professional
goals. Although others, like Susan Patton, the Princeton alumna and
mother who in March wrote a letter to The Daily
Princetonian urging female undergraduates not to squander the chance
to hunt for a husband on campus, say that de-emphasizing
relationships in college works against women. “For most of you, the
cornerstone of your future and happiness will be inextricably linked
to the man you marry, and you will never again have this
concentration of men who are worthy of you,” advised Ms. Patton,
who has two sons, one a Princeton graduate and the other a current
student. In many places, Ms. Patton was derided for wanting to return
to the days of the “Mrs. degree,” though a few female writers,
noting how hard it can be for women to find mates in their 30s,
suggested that she might have a point. Majority of my current friends
and Facebook readers are females, so what do you think?
WHEN
people speak wistfully of the past, they typically become more
optimistic and inspired about the future. I agree... “Nostalgia
makes us a bit more human,” says a group of psychologists at
University of Southampton. They consider the first great nostalgist
to be Odysseus, an itinerant who used memories of his family and home
to get through hard times, but the shrinks emphasize that nostalgia
is not the same as homesickness. It’s not just for those away from
home, and it’s not a sickness, despite its historical reputation.
However, nostalgia does have its painful side — it’s a
bittersweet emotion — but the net effect is to make life seem more
meaningful and death less frightening. Nostalgia is common around the
world, including in children as young as 7 (who look back fondly on
birthdays and vacations). I guess, I do reminisce a lot about my
childhood and memories of home...
ARE
you an expectant mom? Stockpiling diapers and choosing car seats—or
are you struggling with bigger purchases? Heard of birthing tub as
epidural
anesthesia? According to a NY Times research, cost of maternity care
these days range from $4,000 to $45,000. An ultrasound for $935, and
a $256 bill to a radiologist to read the scan? Plenty of other
pregnant women are getting sticker shock in the United States, where
charges for delivery have about tripled since 1996, according to an
analysis done by Truven Health Analytics. Childbirth in the United
States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care
constitute the single biggest category of hospital payouts for
most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs. The
cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well
over $50 billion. And though maternity care costs far less in other
developed countries than it does in the United States, studies show
that their citizens do not have less access to care or to high-tech
care during pregnancy than Americans. But then, do we really need
those “high-tech care”?
RECENT
studies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less
and getting fewer licenses as each year goes by. Okay. Has America
passed peak driving? The United States, with its broad expanses and
suburban ideals, had long been one of the world’s prime car
cultures. America’s love affair with its vehicles seems to be
cooling? When adjusted for population growth, the number of miles
driven in the United States peaked in 2005 and dropped steadily
thereafter, according to an analysis by Doug Short of Advisor
Perspectives, an investment research company. As of April 2013,
the number of miles driven per person was nearly 9 percent below the
peak and equal to where the country was in January 1995. Part of the
explanation certainly lies in the recession, because cash-strapped
Americans could not afford new cars, and the unemployed weren’t
going to work anyway. But by many measures the decrease in driving
preceded the downturn and appears to be persisting now that recovery
is under way. The next few years will be telling. So let's wait and
see... Meantime, I need to score a bag of sugar at a store a mile
away.
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