naps stories 18
Sincere thanks to all those unknowns who wrote these articles and to those who forwarded to the rest of the mankind
Compiled & Prepared by A.Narayana Prasad., narayanprasad_a@yahoo.com
BAR ECONOMICS Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.'Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
Thanks to internet -2-
And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
Thanks to internet -3-
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier. For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Thanks to internet -4-
Worried About a Moody Teen? Everyone warns parents about the drama of the teen years—the self-righteous tears, slamming doors, inexplicable fashion choices, appalling romances. But what happens when typical teen angst starts to look like something much darker and more troubling? How can parents tell if a moody teenager is simply normal—or is spinning out of control? This may be one of the most difficult dilemmas parents will ever face. Signs of Depression Physicians often use the mnemonic "SIGECAPS" for the checklist of symptoms, says Mark Goldstein, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He cautions that parents should not try to diagnose their children, but bring the child to a pediatrician. A teen may have a problem if four or more of these signs persist for two weeks or longer. Sleep Is your teen's sleep impaired? Is he or she sleeping too much? Not enough? Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Interest Has your teen lost interest in once-enjoyable activities? These could include school, sports or extracurriculars, friends, even eating.
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Guilt Does your teen have excessive guilt? Or, is the child feeling worthless or devalued? Energy Does your teen feel a loss of energy? Is he or she unusually tired or exhausted? Concentration Does your teen have a diminished ability to think and concentrate? An increased indecisiveness? Appetite Has your teen's appetite changed? Either decreased or increased? Some teens lose weight with depression. Others gain it. Psychomotor Skills Are your teen's physical movements speeding up or slowing down? This one may be hard for parents to determine. But look for sluggishness—or, alternately, restlessness or the jitters. Suicide Is your teen thinking about death? Doctors ask teens: Have you had thoughts about death repeatedly? Have you thought about suicide? Do you have a plan?
Thanks to internet -6-
Studies show that about 20% of teenagers have a psychiatric illness with depression, anxiety and attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder being among the most prevalent. Yet parents of teens are often blind-sided by a child's mental illness. Some are unaware that mental illnesses typically appear for the first time during adolescence. Or they may confuse the symptoms of an actual disorder with more normal teen moodiness or anxiety. Eric Beasley, a 49-year-old project manager for a software company in Cary, N.C., has been there. He says that his daughter always seemed like a typical child. She was a good student and a great soccer player with many friends. But three years ago, when she turned 14, she began to throw temper tantrums when her team lost— stomping her feet and yelling at her teammates. She even asked her dad for help managing her anger, and he talked to her about ways to cope. "I thought it was typical teen behavior," says Mr. Beasley, who also has two sons. "We'd never had girls before. And I'd heard they were very moody and emotional." But his daughter's behavior declined. She snuck out of the house one evening to meet her boyfriend and stayed out all night. When they confronted her about some of her actions, she became alarmingly depressed, weeping in bed for days and refusing to eat. She took a handful of her father's heart medicine and was committed to a psychiatric hospital for 10 days.
Thanks to internet -7-
Mr. Beasley says he expected his daughter's problems to be solved by the hospital stay. "We had no idea that was only the beginning," he says. His daughter did feel better for about a week, he says. But even with therapy and medication, she sank further into depression, throwing tantrums over little things, "like whether she was given a fork instead of a spoon at the dinner table," Mr. Beasley says. She started swearing, lying and leaving the house in anger. Her parents took away her cellphone, monitored her email accounts and put an alarm system on the house to keep her from sneaking out. After she told her parents that she was running away to live with a boyfriend, Mr. Beasley had her hospitalized again for six days. Several months later, she tried to overdose using her own medication. Experts say that many parents fail to recognize the signs of a child's mental illness. Some don't know what to look for. Others don't want to admit that there is a problem. After all, everyone wants a perfect child: 10 fingers and 10 toes, looks, brains, charm—and hopefully a Harvard degree. A mental illness can threaten to derail much of that. And a psychiatric disorder—unlike, say, cancer—can come with a stigma attached, which can fuel a parent's feeling of denial.
Thanks to internet -8-
Making matters worse: It can be genuinely difficult for parents to tell the difference between early signs of a mental illness and typical teen behavior. But the risks of missing the more serious problems are huge. Untreated depression and other mental disorders can derail a child's developmental progress or, in the worse-case scenario, lead to suicide. For this reason, experts say, parents must be vigilant. "All we want parents to do is notice there is a problem and to bring their child to the doctor," says Mark Goldstein, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He recommends parents first take their concerns to a pediatrician as that doctor has the longest relationship with the family and will be easier to get an appointment with than a psychiatrist. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been making a push in the past few years to better train its members in how to identify and manage mental illnesses in children and teens. This month, they issued a 160-page guide to help doctors screen early, intervene and determine when to refer to a mental-health specialist. And today the group is publishing a new CD-Rom for doctors that includes tools to help pediatricians screen and assess for psychiatric disorders, develop care plans and educate parents. "It's one of those things, an ounce of prevention kind of deal," says Evelyn Gerber, 37, a chemist in Salt Lake City. She says she has become "hyper vigilant" about watching for signs of troubling behavior in her 16-year-old son, who was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in second grade.
Thanks to internet -9-
Ms. Gerber says her son was an emotional child who sometimes got pushed around by bullies on the school bus and once stabbed a kid with a pencil in an attempt to fight back. After that incident, in 4th grade, she got counseling for him. These days, he functions well in school and has good friends. But he also sometimes pouts or cries in frustration after he has a fight with his dad and locks himself in his room. Other times, he turns red-faced or yells when he doesn't get his way or he is frustrated with the computer. But Ms. Gerber says she never lets him brood in his room for more than a few minutes before going in to talk to him. And she uses the 15-minute drive to school each day to chat with him about everything from peer pressure to drugs and alcohol. "If you can see the problems coming and ward them off, your child won't sink so deep," she says. Parents who are worried that their teen is showing signs of mental illness should first put their child's behavior into perspective, experts say. Occasional outbursts of anger, irritability or crying are normal for teens. So is dressing weird, rebelling against rules and even experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Periodic tension is typical, too. "It's when the conflict rises to the level of hostility and real animosity, and doesn't recover easily, that I become concerned," says Guy Diamond, a psychologist and director of the Center for Family Intervention Science at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Thanks to internet -10-
TO BE CONTINUED‌..