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Oprah’s New Book Club Selections “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations” Are Free on Kindle

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2010Culture, Technology65th oprah book club, a tale of two cities, Amazon, android-based devices, charles dickens, classic dickens books, classic novels, e-ink, free kindle books, great expectations, ipad, iPhone, ipod touch, kindle, penguin edition, russ grandinetti, victorian world

*The works of Charles Dickens and millions of other out-of-copyright works are available on Kindle for free*

SEATTLE, Dec 06, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The 65^th Oprah Book Club pick is a Charles Dickens double-header. The selections are “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations,” and Amazon.com today announced that both are available on Kindle for free, along with millions of other out-of-copyright works. These free Kindle books can be read on the bestselling $139 Kindle (www.amazon.com/kindle) with new, high-contrast Pearl e-ink or on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, Android-based devices, PC, and Mac using free Kindle reading apps (www.amazon.com/kindleapps). (more…)

New Report Summarizes Key Themes in American Doctoral Education

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2010Culture, Educationamerican system of doctoral education, doctoral education system, doctorate recipients, engineering, mathematics, microsoft excel, pdf, portable document format, Science, sed, stem, stem pipeline, subra suresh, survey of earned doctorates, Technology, united states, universities, us universities

*Summary report, “Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: 2009” is available online*

A new report recently released by the National Science Foundation, titled “Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2009,” presents a statistical overview of the U.S. doctoral education system in snapshots and long-term trends.

It notes the American system of doctoral education is widely considered the world’s best, as evidenced by the large number of international students who choose to pursue a doctorate at U.S. universities. But this status is subject to the many factors that shape U.S. doctoral education. (more…)

Pray Tell: Americans Stretching the Truth About Church Attendance

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2010Cultureamerican religion, american religiosity, church attendance, religious practice, sunday activities

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries. (more…)

Billion Dollar Bonanza: Cyber Monday Surpasses $1 Billion in U.S. Spending as Heaviest Online Shopping Day in History

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2010Culture, Technologybillion-dollar threshold, Comscore, cyber monday, gian fulgoni, holiday season retail e-commerce spending, online spending, us web sites

*Cyber Monday Shows 16 Percent Increase vs. Year Ago with Half of Online Spending Coming from Work Computers*

RESTON, VA, December 1, 2010 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 29 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $13.55 billion has been spent online, marking a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. Cyber Monday reached $1.028 billion in online spending, up 16 percent versus year ago, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass the billion-dollar threshold. (more…)

Amazon.com and Penguin Group (USA) Announce Fourth Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2010Culture, TechnologyAmazon, amazon breakthrough novel award competition, competition, createspace, farishta, jeff belle, lev grossman, manuscripts, patricia mcardle, penguin, penguin group, popular novel, self-published authors, talented writers, the magicians, tim mccall

*Two grand prize winners, one for general fiction and one for best young adult novel, to be published by Penguin Group (USA)*

SEATTLE & NEW YORK, Dec 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. and Penguin Group (USA) today announced the fourth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. Due to the popularity of the additional young adult category in 2010, the competition will again award two grand prizes: one for general fiction and one for best young adult novel. Each grand prize winner will be published by Penguin Group (USA). The 2011 competition will again be open to unpublished and self-published novels. Writers around the world are encouraged to begin preparing their manuscripts for entry into the competition, which will launch on Jan. 24, 2011. (more…)

Black Friday Boasts $648 Million in U.S. Online Holiday Spending, Up 9 Percent vs. Year Ago

By Guest PostNovember 29, 2010Culture, TechnologyAmazon, black friday, Comscore, digital world, e-commerce spending, gian fulgoni, groupon, november 26, online shopping season, shoplocal, thanksgiving day

*Thanksgiving Day Surges 28 Percent to $407 Million as Consumers Increasingly Use Day for Online Shopping*

RESTON, VA, November 28, 2010 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported U.S. retail e-commerce spending for the first 26 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $11.64 billion has been spent online, marking a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. Black Friday (November 26) saw $648 million in online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2010 and representing a 9-percent increase versus Black Friday 2009. Thanksgiving Day (November 26), traditionally a lighter day for online holiday spending, achieved a strong 28-percent increase to $407 million. (more…)

Why Do People Behave Badly? Maybe It’s Just Too Easy

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2010Culture, Generalbadly, behave, job application, michael inzlicht, people, psychology, rimma teper, scarborough

Many people say they wouldn’t cheat on a test, lie on a job application or refuse to help a person in need.

But what if the test answers fell into your lap and cheating didn’t require any work on your part? If you didn’t have to face the person who needed your help and refuse them? Would that change your behaviour? (more…)

UNESCO World Heritage Sites Threatened by Tourism

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2010Culturemount danxia, old quebec, principles of conservation, reddish sandstone, world heritage program, world heritage sites

Machu Picchu Temple of the Sun (also named “the watch tower”). The stones of its dry-stone walls built by the Incas can move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing. Image credit: Fabricio Guzmán. Source: Wikipedia

The UNESCO World Heritage program aims to protect cultural and natural sites considered important to the common heritage of humanity. However, many of these sites are now threatened by excessive tourism, according to Christina Cameron, professor at the Université de Montréal School of Architecture and holder of the Canada Research Chair on Built Heritage.

A case in point is Machu Picchu in Peru. “This site should receive no more than 2,000 visitors per day, but it currently welcomes twice as many,” says Cameron, who sounded the alarm while speaking as a panelist at a celebration commemorating 25 years of Old Québec being such a site.

“The UNESCO World Heritage convention was established in a spirit of solidarity and international cooperation in order to share best practices for conservation,” says Cameron. “It was the post-war era and people were seeking for a way to bring together members of the international community. Tourism was never an objective of the convention. In fact, these sites were meant to be protected from it.” (more…)

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