Saudi Womans Slugs Virtue Cop

(Newser) – A Saudi woman stopped by a virtue cop pulled off every feminist's dream: As her male companion mysteriously collapsed, she proceeded to give the cop a thrashing—to the point where he was taken to the hospital with bruising. The unnamed woman was strolling through an amusement park with her friend when they were stopped by a religious cop looking for unmarried couples, who cannot legally socialize.
If the 20-something is charged, she could face prison time and lashings. “To see resistance from a woman means a lot,” one women’s rights activist tells the Media Line. “People are fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years. This is just the beginning and there will be more resistance.”

How can Iran oversee women's rights?

WASHINGTON — If you thought Iran's withdrawal of its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council was a step in the right direction, think again.

There are no circumstances under which it makes sense for Iran to sit on any human rights committee. For it to sit on the UNHRC, would have been the ultimate manifestation of wolves guarding the sheep. Apparently, and thankfully, enough members of the U.N. General Assembly agreed, and Iran withdrew its candidacy.

But that wasn’t Iran’s most preposterous quest. Instead of the UNHRC, Iran will now sit on the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women. Seriously. Iran is being given an opportunity to oversee the rights of women around the world.

The U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women is a four-year assignment tasked with reviewing abuses to women’s rights and helping nations reach gender equity. This body, made up of 45 nations elected on a rotating basis, is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women.”

So Iran, whose criminal code allows women accused of adultery to be buried up to their necks and stoned to death, will now help oversee women’s rights.

Iran, which deems spousal rape legal, will now monitor how other nations treat women.

Iran, which, according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2009 country-by-country report, cracked down on women’s rights reformers protesting the disputed June 2009 elections, will help other nations achieve gender equality.

Iran, as the U.S. State department notes, according to a study published in 2008, is a country where “52.7 percent of women reported being physically abused during their married lives.” It will now have a say in the global treatment of women.

In Iran, even adult women need their father’s consent, or approval of the courts, to marry, and the testimony of two women equals the testimony of one man. An Iranian cleric recently announced that such natural disasters as earthquakes are caused by women who dress and act immodestly.

Iran is particularly unfit to fulfill the vital mission of an organization dedicated to women’s rights.

The UNHRC, to which Iran first sought admission, is already crammed with some of the most unsavory, questionable-on-human-rights nations. The council avoided complete and utter obsolescence by Iran’s withdrawal.

Would that it were so for the women’s council.

A global women’s guardian is now staffed by a nation that severely oppresses more than half its population.

Why Fish Don't Freeze in the Arctic Ocean

Why Fish Don't Freeze in the Arctic Ocean: Chemists Unmask Natural Antifreeze

Bochum researchers have discovered how natural antifreeze works to protect fish in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean from freezing to death. They were able to observe that an antifreeze protein in the fish's blood affects the water molecules in its vicinity such that they cannot freeze, and everything remains fluid. Here, there is no chemical bond between protein and water -- the mere presence of the protein is sufficient.

Vacation Rentals

Women do best in women-led companies

A innovative study has found that women executives in the U.S. working in women-led firms earn between 15 and 20 per cent more in total reward than women working in other firms.

The study, by Haverford College Economics Professor Linda Bell, reveals that having a woman at the wheel of a company is instrumental to the success of other executive women in scientific and significant ways.

But overall, it emerged that top women executives in the U.S. are still paid between eight and 25 per cent less than male executives.

Women executives do better - in relative compensation and numbers - in firms with a female CEO or Chair, especially if the female CEO is a member of the Board.

Women executives also have relatively better compensation and representation among top management in firms with more female Board members.

"My research shows very strong observed confirmation that women leaders are associated with positive outcomes for women executives in substantive and important ways," said Professor Bell.

"It seems a logical conclusion to infer that women leaders help the women below them. If equity for high-skilled and performing women is a policy goal, then the one obvious instrument is affirmative action at the very top of the corporate hierarchy."

Firms in the ExecuComp data constitute more than 80 per cent of the total market capitalization of U.S. public companies.

Oceanway moves step closer

Plans for the new Palm Beach Oceanway will be finalised when full Council meets in mid March 2009.

Divisional Councillor Daphne McDonald said local residents had been consulted about the project extensively during the planning stage in 2006/07.

“Consultation on this project has gone above and beyond the normal timeframes to encourage community input and the adopted concept plans incorporate a significant number of changes raised by local residents,” said Cr McDonald.

“Although the response to the Oceanway project has been generally positive, I have received a small number of objections from residents concerning some design elements included in the adopted plans.

“These design elements were included to ensure the safety of users due to the path being used by vehicles as well as pedestrians and bike riders.

“However, I believe residents deserve to have their views heard on this and I have been pushing for the matter to go back to committee for further discussion.

“I have also been working with Council officers to ensure the Oceanway is the minimum width required by Australian standards to ensure it does not take up too much space.”

The matter will go before Engineering Services Committee on 11 March 2009, with construction on the Oceanway due to commence in May 2009.

Calculator

A calculator is a machine for performing calculations. Although modern calculators often incorporate a general purpose computer, the device is calculated for performing specific operations, rather than for flexibility. Modern calculators are more convenient than most computers, though some Pads are comparable in amount to handheld calculators.

In the past, some calculators were as huge as today's computers. The first automatic calculators were mechanical desktop devices which were replaced by electromechanical desktop calculators, and then by electronic devices using first sung valves, then transistors, then hard-wired integrated circuit logic. New calculators are electrically powered and come in innumerable shapes and sizes varying from cheap, give-away, credit-card sized models to more sturdy adding machine-like models with built-in printers.

Business

In economics, a business is a legally-recognized organizational entity existing within an economically free country designed to sell goods and/or services to consumers, usually in an effort to generate profit.

In predominantly capitalist economies, where most businesses are privately owned, businesses are typically formed to earn profit and grow the personal wealth of their owners. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for their work - that is, the expense of time and energy - and for their acceptance of risk-investing work and money without certainty of success. Notable exceptions to this rule include cooperative businesses and government institutions. This model of business functioning is opposed by socialists, who advocate either government, public, or worker ownership of most sizable businesses; and to a lesser extent by individuals advocating for a mixed economy of private and state-owned enterprises.

The etymology of business refers to the state of being busy in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work. The term business has at least three usages, depending on the scope - the general usage, the singular usage to refer to a particular company or corporation, and the generalized usage to refer to a particular market sector, such as the record business, the computer business, or the business community-the community of suppliers of goods and services.