Life in Canada

Asians made up more than 36% of all US newcomers in 2010, compared to 31% with Hispanic origins in the same year.The study found Asian immigrants to be the most educated group of immigrants in US history.

Analysts say the trend reflects a slowdown in illegal immigration as employers boost their demand for high-skilled workers.

"For an economy that requires higher skills, Asian-Americans are very well positioned," said Elaine Chao, a former US Secretary of Labor.

More than 6 in 10 adults who recently arrived from Asia have at least a bachelor's degree, twice the rate of recent non-Asian immigrants.

Ms Chao, who served for eight years under President George W Bush as the first Asian-American female cabinet member, warned that issues for the foreign-born population still remain.

"Their first concern is to make a living, survive in this country, take care of their kids and put them in the best schools possible," said Ms Chao at a Pew-sponsored event in Washington DC.
Heterogeneous group

The fact that this milestone happened in 2009 and went largely unnoticed startled many experts, who attributed it to cultural differences.

Brands have found a new interest in the growing Asian American community

"There has been an argument to keep your head down and study hard and succeed more in the private sector than in the public sphere," said Neera Tanden, a former senior advisor in the Obama administration and herself a daughter of Indian immigrants.

Asian-Americans are still considered a small minority in the US, representing less than 6% of the total population.

But the US Asian community consists of more than a dozen subgroups speaking almost as many different languages.

In the study, Pew found that the six largest immigrant Asian immigrant groups to the US were Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Vietnamese, Koreans and Japanese.
Diplomatic opportunity

The fact that 74% of Asian-American adults are foreign-born trickled down to many other findings.

Pew found that 19% describe themselves as "Asian-American" and only 14% as "American", with 62% preferring their country of origin or the hyphenate of that country, for example, "Chinese-American".

One interesting trend could be the development of Asian-Americans born in the US, said Elaine Chao.
Gary Locke and Hu Jintao US Ambassador to China Gary Locke shakes hands with China's President Hu Jintao

"The median age of the second generation in this community is 17 years old so their chapter has yet to be written."

The rise of Asian-Americans in US society is seen by many experts as a chance to build bridges with emerging economies in Asia.

Both the US ambassador to China, Gary Locke, and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy in Beijing, Robert Wang, are Chinese-American.

"Having in China two Chinese-Americans representing the United States is very powerful," said Benjamin Wu, vice chair of the US-Asia Institute

What are we doing in Canada I ask..? Will it be too little too late as usual and then throw money at the idea.

Teenagers who regularly log in to their Facebook page and other social media will get lower grades at school, according to a US study.

They are also likely to have behavioural problems and narcissistic tendencies from spending too much time logged on to the site. According to the research popular social network sites, like Facebook, are having a negative effect on teenagers as they grow up.

Psychology professor Larry Rosen said researchers watched as students spent 15 minutes studying something that was important to them. He said the research team at California State University were 'staggered' as the students concentration lapsed because of the need to check their Facebook page.

'What we found was mind-boggling,' said Rosen.
'About every three minutes they are off-task. You'd think under these constraints, knowing that someone is observing you, that someone would be more on task.

'The more media they consumed per day, the worse students they were.
'If they checked Facebook just once during 15 minutes, they were worse students.'

Psychological disorders: Children who overuse social sites and technology on a daily basis are also more likely to be prone to bouts of anxiety

Rosen delivered his findings in a speech at the 19th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association entitled ‘Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids’.

He said: 'While nobody can deny that Facebook has altered the landscape of social interaction, particularly among young people, we are just now starting to see solid psychological research demonstrating both the positives and the negatives.

Rosen said the negative effects of teenagers overusing social media include making them more prone to vain, aggressive and anti social behaviour.

Researchers discovered that children under 13 and teens who overuse social sites and technology on a daily basis are also more likely to be prone to bouts of anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders as well as sleeping problems and stomach aches.

Rosen’s study also found that social networking had some positive effects for teens and said they helped shy children interact more.

The professor said parents should keep a check on their children's online activities.

MONTREAL - The president of a major European water research institute says Canada's wasteful and polluting ways have set a bad example for the increasingly parched planet.

Riccardo Petrella says Canada's neglect of its vast freshwater resources has left the country rich in polluted water.

Petrella also fears Canada will cave to pressure from the United States and export its freshwater as a commodity.

He says all of this is happening while more than a billion people around the world still don't have safe drinking water.

Speaking in Montreal today Wednesday 21st April at the Millennium Summit on international development, Petrella said 2.6 billion don't even have access to a toilet.

But he says if world economies pooled together to invest $30 billion that would at least give those people access to public toilets.

Its all the Rage..the decline of self discipline.

It appears to be all the rage these days. Rage, that is. It comes in
countless varieties -- road rage, grocery store rage, airline rage,
youth sports rage, restaurant rage, standing-in-line rage,
can't-get-in-line rage, ad nauseum. There is no end to short tempers
and bad manners on public display these days. Rage is becoming the norm!

Just examine say the sports pages of your newspaper even the free ones. Poor sportsmanship and anger literally "beat out" scores and game highlights.The fiercest action is in the stands.

A mother slaps the mother of a girl on the winning basketball team at the end of the game. A high school baseball coach breaks an umpire's jaw after a disputed call.

A father beats another father to death in an argument over rough play at their sons' hockey practice.

All sorts of explanations are offered for this epidemic of anger.
Social scientists blame stress, high expectations, and multi-tasking.

Perhaps this isn't merely a psychological problem. It's a moral issue that
reflects a lack of the virtue once called self-control. It is in my view a lack of
respect for other people and reflects the childish sentiment some never
outgrow that everything must happen my way.

If you're holding a brick, don't let fly. Let go.

The late Henri Nouwen told the story of John and Sandy. "We've never
had an argument," said John. "Let's have a squabble like other people
have." "But how do we start an argument?" asked Sandy. "It's very
simple," replied John. "I take a brick and say, 'It's mine,' and then
you say, 'No, it's mine.' And then we have an argument." So they sat
down to find out what quarreling was like, and John took a brick and
said, "This brick is mine."

Sandy looked over at him gently and said, "Well, if it is yours, you
take it."

Where did I get the idea that I am entitled to everything I want
whenever I want it? Has our materialistic and narcissistic age so
infected us all that no one can do without, wait her turn, or lose an
athletic contest? Do others have rights?

'Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right
in the sight of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends
on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:17-18 TNIV)'.

If you're holding a brick of anger or resentment today, don't let fly.
Let go.

let me finish with this..


I am guided by a friend to this speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD. "I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk or your life on a bus or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good parent to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my spouse. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and them to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, at best mediocre, at my job if those other things were not true.

You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon or found a lump in your breast?

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.

I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face.

Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived".