Word: habitability
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...public-health experts are beginning to wonder whether certain health-related behaviors are just as contagious as microbes. If you're struggling with your weight, did you in effect catch a case of fat by learning poor eating and exercise habits from a friend or family member who was similarly infected by someone else? If you smoke, do you light up because you were behaviorally contaminated by smokers who convinced you of the coolness of the habit? Even more important, if such unhealthy behaviors are contagious, are healthy ones--like quitting smoking or exercising--equally so? And what...
According to Cigar Aficionado, nearly half of all U.S. Presidents smoked. Ulysses S. Grant never shook the cigar habit he picked up during the Civil War. William McKinley had a similar love of stogies, but like Obama, he never allowed himself to be photographed in the act. Theodore Roosevelt barred his daughter Alice from smoking in the White House, so she took her habit to the roof. Calvin Coolidge was known to offer cigars to Congressmen after White House breakfasts...
Iceland knows a bit about kicking the fossil-fuel habit. At the turn of the last century, life on the isolated island was bleak. It had been among the poorest nations in Europe for centuries, and a smoky haze choked Reykjavik, thanks to the coal inhabitants burned during the interminable winters. In the 1930s, Icelandic engineers successfully diverted underground water to heat an elementary school, and the rest of the capital slowly followed suit. When the global oil crisis hit in the 1970s, efforts to turn this local resource into electricity - by drilling holes into underground heat pockets and reservoirs...
...college student planning to enter the health-care field, I applaud "America's Health Checkup" [Dec. 1]. It's about time we started putting responsibility back into the hands of the individual when it comes to our health. We've gotten into the habit of being reactive instead of proactive, living unhealthy lifestyles and relying on medicine to cure all our ailments. Emphasizing prevention through healthy eating, physical activity and regular checkups is the best approach to take if the U.S. wants to truly fix its health crisis. Sarah Grafelman, KIRKSVILLE...
...bring a so-called "new politics" to Thailand. But what that means isn't clear, apart from trying to circumvent the problem of rampant vote-buying by replacing the one-person-one-vote system with a largely appointed parliament. Doing so would ensure that the electorate's pesky habit of returning pro-Thaksin elements to office would cease. But Thailand's reputation as a stable, democratic oasis in Asia would take a body blow...