AAAOct. 31, 20134:58 PM ET Kenya bombs Somali militant camp after mall attack AP
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2008 file photo, a Kenya AIr Force F5 jet fighter takes to the sky from the Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Kenya. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2008 file photo, a Kenya AIr Force F5 jet fighter takes to the sky from the Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Kenya. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 file photo, two Kenyan army soldiers shield themselves from the downdraft of a Kenyan air force helicopter as it flies away from their base near the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, file photo, a woman who had been hiding during the gun battle runs for cover after armed police enter the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya after gunmen threw grenades and opened fire. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo/Jonathan Kalan, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2008 file photo, Kenyan Air Force F5 jet fighters stand at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Kenya. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken from footage from Citizen TV, via the Kenya Defence Forces and made available Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, a man reported to be Umayr, one of the four armed militants, walks in a store at the Westgate Mall, during the four-day-long siege in Nairobi, Kenya which killed more than 60 people. Kenya's military said Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 that its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. (AP Photo/Kenya Defence Force via Citizen TV, File)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's military says its air force has attacked a militant training camp in Somalia in retaliation for last month's al-Shabab assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall.
Col. Cyrus Oguna said Thursday the militants who carried out the Westgate attack received training at the camp, which he said was 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Binswor, Somalia.
Oguna said the military won't know how many of the 300 militants in the camp were killed or wounded until an assessment Friday. He said four military trucks were destroyed. Oguna said "many more" such attacks will be carried out.
The four-day siege of Westgate Mall began Sept. 21. The al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab said it carried out the attack, which killed at least 67 people, in retaliation for the Kenyan military's push into Somalia in 2011.
That's how many people signed up for Obamacare on Day 1, according to CBS News, and no that's not a misprint.
The Obama administration has kept the number of enrollments close to the vest. Its touted the number of visitors to the troubled HealthCare.gov website – 4.7 million – but hasn't released the actual number of enrollments.
But according to CBS News, notes from a "war room" meeting the day after the Affordable Care Act launched on Oct. 1 say "six enrollments have occurred so far." By the end of Day 2, enrollments totaled 248 nationwide.
The White House predicted 500,000 would sign up by the end of the month, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press, and that was considered a "modest start" for the market.
CBS notes that in order to meet the goal of seven million enrollments by March 1, the exchanges need to enroll an average of 39,000 a day.
During Wednesday's Congressional hearing, Health and Human Services head Kathleen Sebelius was asked several times for the number of enrollments. She explained that the data was unreliable and would not be available until mid-November.
"We do not have any reliable data around enrollment, which is why we haven’t given it to date," she said.
The Obama administration has enlisted the services of computer engineers from tech companies such as Google and Oracle to help fix the troubled healthcare website, which has been plagued with issues from the start. As Sebelius testified Wednesday that the site "has never crashed," users trying to access it found a message that read, "The system is down at the moment."
How much is a brand worth? Not the stuff a company sells, or the buildings and factories it owns. Just, basically, the name of the company — and all of the customer loyalty attached to that name.
Charles Dharapak/AP
Charles Dharapak/AP
Oscar Yuan's job is to answer this question. He's a Vice President at the brand consulting firm Millward Brown Optimor.
I visited him recently and asked him the obvious question: How much is NPR's brand worth? He ran through some numbers — NPR's audience size, our budget — and came up with a very rough estimate: $400 million.
Not bad!
It puts us in the same ballpark as companies like JetBlue, Jack in the Box, and Barnes and Noble. Estimates of brand value vary widely from one analyst to another. (And Yuan warned us that he usually does these kind of calculations for for-profit companies.)
Some companies cash in on their brand value by licensing their name to other companies. So, for example, if you run a little-known company that makes toaster ovens, you can pay Black & Decker a fee and they'll let you sell your toaster oven as a Black & Decker. (Black & Decker appliances are now made by a company called Spectrum.)
Not actually made by Black & Decker.
Dan Bobkoff/NPR
Not actually made by Black & Decker.
Dan Bobkoff/NPR
AT&T has licensed its brand name to a company that makes phones; Procter & Gamble has licensed its Mr. Clean and Febreeze brands to companies that make mops and candles.
Robinson Home, a company based in Buffalo, New York, makes kitchen products under license from brands like Sunbeam, Pyrex, Oneida and Rubbermaid. "You're buying all the goodwill that they built up with the consumer, and the trustworthiness and the expectation of quality that comes with that brand name," Jim Walsh, the company's CEO, told me.
Robinson does all the design, finds a manufacturer and sells products to stores. The big companies approve the designs and get a cut of sales.
I asked Oscar Yuan, the guy who told me NPR's brand was worth $400 million, how NPR might capitalize on its brand.
"Could we start a television show?" he said. "Could we open stores? Could we possibly have an amusement park with Terry Gross and Carl Kasell there?"
Maybe not. There are plenty of stories of disastrous licensing deals. Colgate — of toothpaste fame — briefly licensed its name to frozen dinners. Bic, which makes disposable pens and lighters, licensed its name for disposable underwear.
Perhaps the most famous cautionary tale in the brand-licensing business is Pierre Cardin. The high-end designer spent the 1980s licensing his name to anything. At one point, there were Pierre Cardin frying pans. In the end, all the licensing ruined his image
That's the problem with brand value. The more you try to exploit it, the less value it has.
Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute
Darach Watson has been awarded the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists for his outstanding and innovative research in astrophysics, where he has developed a groundbreaking method for measuring distances in the cosmos using the light from distant quasars. The result was selected by Physics World as one of the year's most important breakthroughs in physics.
Darach Watson is from Ireland and received his PhD from University College in Dublin. He came to Denmark in 2003 and has been a core member of the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen since 2005. He is a leading expert in X-ray astronomy and has played a key role in the important developments in the research of supernovae (exploding massive stars) and gamma-ray bursts (violent outbursts of gamma radiation.
"His research style is original and inventive and by combining different techniques and ideas, he creates new knowledge," explains Jens Hjorth, professor and head of the Danish National Research Foundation's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute.
New groundbreaking methods
Darach Watson has broken new ground in several areas. In 2006, he developed a new method to study the properties of cosmic dust. The method is now one of the most advanced for studying the detailed properties of cosmic dust in distant galaxies.
In 2011, he made his most important discovery to date. He developed a new method for measuring long distances in space using the light from quasars (active black holes). Again, it was ability to think differently, innovatively and originally that gave him the idea.
"During a lecture, as one of my colleagues was talking about quasars, I suddenly got the idea that if the brightness of the quasar was related to the size of the gas cloud surrounding it and if you could measure the size of this cloud, you could calculate the distance to the quasar," explains Darach Watson. The idea proved to be brilliant. He explains that quasars have many advantages. They are common throughout the universe and they are stable sources that do not fade and disappear after a short time like supernovae. They are also extremely luminous and can be observed at much greater distances than other sources for distance measurement. Most important, he points out, is that the measurements can be very accurate.
History Chemistry Physics - Astrophysics
But what was it exactly that led him to astrophysics?
"I always knew I wanted to do a PhD. My father was a professor of Irish and Dean of the Faculty of Celtic Studies and my mother had a PhD in history. I was interested in many topics and when I was in my last year of secondary school, I talked with my mother about what I should choose to study at university: chemistry or history. She said I could always become a professional research scientist and an amateur historian, but it was almost impossible to be an amateur scientist. I followed her advice and chose chemistry. Halfway through my studies, I discovered what really excited me were the physical processes; what the elements could do and what the physical mechanism was. At the same time, I looked at the curriculum for physics superfluidity, high-energy particle physics, relativity theory and gravity, superconductivity, plasmas and I thought it sounded incredibly exciting. So I switched to physics. When I had to decide what to do my PhD on, I discovered that astrophysics was the most interesting branch of physics," explains Darach Watson.
Enthusiastic research
Suddenly, he got a chance to work with gamma-ray bursts explosions of massive stars, the most violent explosions in the universe since the Big Bang and he jumped at the opportunity. They managed to obtain the first high-quality X-ray spectrum of a gamma-ray burst and discovered the signature of a supernovae in that spectrum. He can still remember the walk home after the discovery, "I was so elated," he explains. It is this excitement that is still the driving force for his research in astrophysics. But history has not been forgotten.
"What I find peculiar is that my love for and interest in history has crept into my science. My research is related to the history of the universe on a large scale: how it was formed and evolved, how stars and galaxies develop over time and how we ended up where we are now," says Darach Watson thoughtfully and welcomes the recognition his research has now received with the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists.
###
For more information contact:
Darach Watson, Associate professor, Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-5994, darach@dark-cosmology.dk
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Darach Watson receives Lundbeck Research Prize
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute
Darach Watson has been awarded the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists for his outstanding and innovative research in astrophysics, where he has developed a groundbreaking method for measuring distances in the cosmos using the light from distant quasars. The result was selected by Physics World as one of the year's most important breakthroughs in physics.
Darach Watson is from Ireland and received his PhD from University College in Dublin. He came to Denmark in 2003 and has been a core member of the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen since 2005. He is a leading expert in X-ray astronomy and has played a key role in the important developments in the research of supernovae (exploding massive stars) and gamma-ray bursts (violent outbursts of gamma radiation.
"His research style is original and inventive and by combining different techniques and ideas, he creates new knowledge," explains Jens Hjorth, professor and head of the Danish National Research Foundation's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute.
New groundbreaking methods
Darach Watson has broken new ground in several areas. In 2006, he developed a new method to study the properties of cosmic dust. The method is now one of the most advanced for studying the detailed properties of cosmic dust in distant galaxies.
In 2011, he made his most important discovery to date. He developed a new method for measuring long distances in space using the light from quasars (active black holes). Again, it was ability to think differently, innovatively and originally that gave him the idea.
"During a lecture, as one of my colleagues was talking about quasars, I suddenly got the idea that if the brightness of the quasar was related to the size of the gas cloud surrounding it and if you could measure the size of this cloud, you could calculate the distance to the quasar," explains Darach Watson. The idea proved to be brilliant. He explains that quasars have many advantages. They are common throughout the universe and they are stable sources that do not fade and disappear after a short time like supernovae. They are also extremely luminous and can be observed at much greater distances than other sources for distance measurement. Most important, he points out, is that the measurements can be very accurate.
History Chemistry Physics - Astrophysics
But what was it exactly that led him to astrophysics?
"I always knew I wanted to do a PhD. My father was a professor of Irish and Dean of the Faculty of Celtic Studies and my mother had a PhD in history. I was interested in many topics and when I was in my last year of secondary school, I talked with my mother about what I should choose to study at university: chemistry or history. She said I could always become a professional research scientist and an amateur historian, but it was almost impossible to be an amateur scientist. I followed her advice and chose chemistry. Halfway through my studies, I discovered what really excited me were the physical processes; what the elements could do and what the physical mechanism was. At the same time, I looked at the curriculum for physics superfluidity, high-energy particle physics, relativity theory and gravity, superconductivity, plasmas and I thought it sounded incredibly exciting. So I switched to physics. When I had to decide what to do my PhD on, I discovered that astrophysics was the most interesting branch of physics," explains Darach Watson.
Enthusiastic research
Suddenly, he got a chance to work with gamma-ray bursts explosions of massive stars, the most violent explosions in the universe since the Big Bang and he jumped at the opportunity. They managed to obtain the first high-quality X-ray spectrum of a gamma-ray burst and discovered the signature of a supernovae in that spectrum. He can still remember the walk home after the discovery, "I was so elated," he explains. It is this excitement that is still the driving force for his research in astrophysics. But history has not been forgotten.
"What I find peculiar is that my love for and interest in history has crept into my science. My research is related to the history of the universe on a large scale: how it was formed and evolved, how stars and galaxies develop over time and how we ended up where we are now," says Darach Watson thoughtfully and welcomes the recognition his research has now received with the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists.
###
For more information contact:
Darach Watson, Associate professor, Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-5994, darach@dark-cosmology.dk
[
| E-mail
Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute
Darach Watson has been awarded the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists for his outstanding and innovative research in astrophysics, where he has developed a groundbreaking method for measuring distances in the cosmos using the light from distant quasars. The result was selected by Physics World as one of the year's most important breakthroughs in physics.
Darach Watson is from Ireland and received his PhD from University College in Dublin. He came to Denmark in 2003 and has been a core member of the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen since 2005. He is a leading expert in X-ray astronomy and has played a key role in the important developments in the research of supernovae (exploding massive stars) and gamma-ray bursts (violent outbursts of gamma radiation.
"His research style is original and inventive and by combining different techniques and ideas, he creates new knowledge," explains Jens Hjorth, professor and head of the Danish National Research Foundation's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute.
New groundbreaking methods
Darach Watson has broken new ground in several areas. In 2006, he developed a new method to study the properties of cosmic dust. The method is now one of the most advanced for studying the detailed properties of cosmic dust in distant galaxies.
In 2011, he made his most important discovery to date. He developed a new method for measuring long distances in space using the light from quasars (active black holes). Again, it was ability to think differently, innovatively and originally that gave him the idea.
"During a lecture, as one of my colleagues was talking about quasars, I suddenly got the idea that if the brightness of the quasar was related to the size of the gas cloud surrounding it and if you could measure the size of this cloud, you could calculate the distance to the quasar," explains Darach Watson. The idea proved to be brilliant. He explains that quasars have many advantages. They are common throughout the universe and they are stable sources that do not fade and disappear after a short time like supernovae. They are also extremely luminous and can be observed at much greater distances than other sources for distance measurement. Most important, he points out, is that the measurements can be very accurate.
History Chemistry Physics - Astrophysics
But what was it exactly that led him to astrophysics?
"I always knew I wanted to do a PhD. My father was a professor of Irish and Dean of the Faculty of Celtic Studies and my mother had a PhD in history. I was interested in many topics and when I was in my last year of secondary school, I talked with my mother about what I should choose to study at university: chemistry or history. She said I could always become a professional research scientist and an amateur historian, but it was almost impossible to be an amateur scientist. I followed her advice and chose chemistry. Halfway through my studies, I discovered what really excited me were the physical processes; what the elements could do and what the physical mechanism was. At the same time, I looked at the curriculum for physics superfluidity, high-energy particle physics, relativity theory and gravity, superconductivity, plasmas and I thought it sounded incredibly exciting. So I switched to physics. When I had to decide what to do my PhD on, I discovered that astrophysics was the most interesting branch of physics," explains Darach Watson.
Enthusiastic research
Suddenly, he got a chance to work with gamma-ray bursts explosions of massive stars, the most violent explosions in the universe since the Big Bang and he jumped at the opportunity. They managed to obtain the first high-quality X-ray spectrum of a gamma-ray burst and discovered the signature of a supernovae in that spectrum. He can still remember the walk home after the discovery, "I was so elated," he explains. It is this excitement that is still the driving force for his research in astrophysics. But history has not been forgotten.
"What I find peculiar is that my love for and interest in history has crept into my science. My research is related to the history of the universe on a large scale: how it was formed and evolved, how stars and galaxies develop over time and how we ended up where we are now," says Darach Watson thoughtfully and welcomes the recognition his research has now received with the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists.
###
For more information contact:
Darach Watson, Associate professor, Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-5994, darach@dark-cosmology.dk
[
| E-mail
Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Darach Watson receives Lundbeck Research Prize
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Gertie Skaarup skaarup@nbi.dk 45-35-32-53-20 University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute
Darach Watson has been awarded the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists for his outstanding and innovative research in astrophysics, where he has developed a groundbreaking method for measuring distances in the cosmos using the light from distant quasars. The result was selected by Physics World as one of the year's most important breakthroughs in physics.
Darach Watson is from Ireland and received his PhD from University College in Dublin. He came to Denmark in 2003 and has been a core member of the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen since 2005. He is a leading expert in X-ray astronomy and has played a key role in the important developments in the research of supernovae (exploding massive stars) and gamma-ray bursts (violent outbursts of gamma radiation.
"His research style is original and inventive and by combining different techniques and ideas, he creates new knowledge," explains Jens Hjorth, professor and head of the Danish National Research Foundation's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute.
New groundbreaking methods
Darach Watson has broken new ground in several areas. In 2006, he developed a new method to study the properties of cosmic dust. The method is now one of the most advanced for studying the detailed properties of cosmic dust in distant galaxies.
In 2011, he made his most important discovery to date. He developed a new method for measuring long distances in space using the light from quasars (active black holes). Again, it was ability to think differently, innovatively and originally that gave him the idea.
"During a lecture, as one of my colleagues was talking about quasars, I suddenly got the idea that if the brightness of the quasar was related to the size of the gas cloud surrounding it and if you could measure the size of this cloud, you could calculate the distance to the quasar," explains Darach Watson. The idea proved to be brilliant. He explains that quasars have many advantages. They are common throughout the universe and they are stable sources that do not fade and disappear after a short time like supernovae. They are also extremely luminous and can be observed at much greater distances than other sources for distance measurement. Most important, he points out, is that the measurements can be very accurate.
History Chemistry Physics - Astrophysics
But what was it exactly that led him to astrophysics?
"I always knew I wanted to do a PhD. My father was a professor of Irish and Dean of the Faculty of Celtic Studies and my mother had a PhD in history. I was interested in many topics and when I was in my last year of secondary school, I talked with my mother about what I should choose to study at university: chemistry or history. She said I could always become a professional research scientist and an amateur historian, but it was almost impossible to be an amateur scientist. I followed her advice and chose chemistry. Halfway through my studies, I discovered what really excited me were the physical processes; what the elements could do and what the physical mechanism was. At the same time, I looked at the curriculum for physics superfluidity, high-energy particle physics, relativity theory and gravity, superconductivity, plasmas and I thought it sounded incredibly exciting. So I switched to physics. When I had to decide what to do my PhD on, I discovered that astrophysics was the most interesting branch of physics," explains Darach Watson.
Enthusiastic research
Suddenly, he got a chance to work with gamma-ray bursts explosions of massive stars, the most violent explosions in the universe since the Big Bang and he jumped at the opportunity. They managed to obtain the first high-quality X-ray spectrum of a gamma-ray burst and discovered the signature of a supernovae in that spectrum. He can still remember the walk home after the discovery, "I was so elated," he explains. It is this excitement that is still the driving force for his research in astrophysics. But history has not been forgotten.
"What I find peculiar is that my love for and interest in history has crept into my science. My research is related to the history of the universe on a large scale: how it was formed and evolved, how stars and galaxies develop over time and how we ended up where we are now," says Darach Watson thoughtfully and welcomes the recognition his research has now received with the Lundbeck Foundation Research Prize for Young Scientists.
###
For more information contact:
Darach Watson, Associate professor, Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, +45 3532-5994, darach@dark-cosmology.dk
[
| E-mail
Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Texting has become such a normal way to communicate that it's hard to imagine that we ever used our voices to tell our better halves, "Hey, I got the milk."
But when it comes to a committed relationship, researchers say it's better not to lean too heavily on the texts for the tough stuff. Stick to "I <3 U" rather than "I M sooo disappointed in you!!"
Texting terms of endearment really seems to help. Affirmations like that are associated not just with a more stable and satisfying relationship, but with mitigating hurts and frustrations.
But texting more isn't always better. Women who texted their partner a lot considered the relationship more stable, while men who received those texts or texted a lot themselves said they were less satisfied with the relationship.
"That surprised us," says Lori Schade, a marriage and family therapist at Brigham Young University, who led the study. Sending more texts may be a sign of a failing relationship. That might sound counterintuitive, she says, but it may be a way for men to back out of the relationship, or at least stay out of the line of fire. "Maybe it was a way for then to check out or not have to show up, by using their cellphone instead."
Schade and her colleagues surveyed 276 young adults from 2009 to 2011. All were in committed relationships; more than half were either engaged or married. Almost all texted their partner multiple times a day.
That didn't surprise Schade. She sees couples in therapy, and has gotten used to having one person whip out their phone to prove their partner's awfulness. "They'll come in and want to show me the hurtful messages."
A lot of time those nasty texts are sent to get the partner's attention, Schade thinks. But it can backfire. "Face to face you can raise your voice," she tells Shots. "The way to do that with texting is to be more aggressive in the language. They do it quickly without a lot of thought. But there may be unintended consequences."
Indeed, real life has a lot going for it when it comes to negotiating the intricacies of a long-term relationship. In texting, people "tend to keep responding," Schade says. "They have time to think about it and stew about it and then respond again. It's almost harder to disconnect."
And texts don't fade with time. It's easy to create an archive of slights and scroll through them, reviving the hurt.
So moving the discussion offline can be a good strategy, Schade says, especially when tackling tough issues. "Just slowing down is good," she says. "You may need ways to say, 'This is getting too heated for me. I need to talk with you later about this in person.' "
Women were more likely than men to use texting to try to manage the relationship, whether to apologize, work out differences or make decisions, the study found. But that approach was associated with poorer relationship quality, too. Schade says that's probably another example of work best left done face to face.
The results, which were published online Wednesday in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, are exploratory. They don't prove that the texting behavior caused relationship issues, but give a first glimpse. One other interesting finding: Couples almost never communicate with each other on Facebook.
Sending lots of love or lighthearted comments tended to buffer the negatives, the researchers found. That warm fuzzy glow can spread far beyond the tiny screen, too.
So for connubial bliss, go for an electronic update of an old saw: If you can't think of something nice to say, don't text it at all.
Every disaster has its moment of clarity. Physicist Richard Feynman dunks an O-ring into ice water and everyone understands instantly why the shuttle Challenger exploded. This week, the Obamacare O-ring froze for all the world to see: Hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters went out to people who had been assured a dozen times by the president that “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.” The cancellations lay bare three pillars of Obamacare: (a) mendacity, (b) paternalism and (c) subterfuge.
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