http://vision.org/rss/Society & CultureCopyright 2008, VisionPRESSfeed Co. http://www.press-feed.comSun, 15 Jun 2008 01:02:09 GMTen-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rsshttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/default.aspxhttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/images/lang/1033/pv_bg-b.jpgHaving survived the depredations of war, sickness and a natural disaster in rural Bangladesh, Pramila was sure her life would unravel completely when a fire destroyed her grocery store, her entire stock, her two cows and her stored-up crops. Help was at hand, however, thanks to a revolutionary finance system known as microcredit, pioneered in the 1970s by Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank. The Grameen Bank visited her the next morning, Yunus records in his autobiographical book, Banker to the Poor. Part of the loan she used to start up a small grocery store and the rest she invested in fertilizer for her irrigated land. With the help of her three grown sons, she was able to start paying off the loan. Three months later Grameen gave her a housing loan, and she constructed herself a new house.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=8CNBpI"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=8CNBpI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=ipDJ2i"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=ipDJ2i" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=gDQfHi"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=gDQfHi" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/312555920" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/312555920/article.aspxSun, 15 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4208http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4208Muhammad Yunus, as head of the Economics Department at Bangladeshs Chittagong University, began a movement in the 1970s that has overturned many conventional ideas about banking. His work has earned him dozens of awards from around the world and has helped millions of Bangladeshi families break away from povertys grip. Professor Yunus, who earned his doctorate at Vanderbilt Universityin Nashville, recently discussed his remarkable success story with Vision contributor David F. Lloyd.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=HkmYvI"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=HkmYvI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=cJ27Li"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=cJ27Li" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=cBDvHi"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=cBDvHi" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/312555921" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/312555921/article.aspxSun, 15 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=1825http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=1825Fairy tales have clearly evolved over the centuries. And the changing tales say a lot about the changing times.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=1rD2jI"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=1rD2jI" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=Y8i4Ti"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=Y8i4Ti" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=tXb3wi"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=tXb3wi" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/311104032" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/311104032/article.aspxThu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=153http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=153For many moms and dads, going out to the ball game is a welcome diversion from daily duties, a good time of wholesome family fun in hometown America.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=8a7cQJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=8a7cQJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=JQYhKj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=JQYhKj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=ExfHpj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=ExfHpj" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/249919416" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/249919416/article.aspxTue, 11 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4710http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4710What would happen if a video of our daily lives was placed on YouTube?<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=oX6uZJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=oX6uZJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=zJgrWj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=zJgrWj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=jWs10j"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=jWs10j" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401233" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401233/article.aspxTue, 22 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4490http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4490Have you ever wondered who gives, who doesnot and why the difference? If so, you will be interested to know that Professor Brooks, has, as they say, done the math!<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=swiCkJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=swiCkJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=Pzw1Fj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=Pzw1Fj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=o3F6cj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=o3F6cj" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401234" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401234/article.aspxThu, 03 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4400http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4400Its generally acknowledged that the second-most important festival of the Christian calendar has no biblical support. Most people shrug that off as irrelevant, but is it?<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=YMHy5J"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=YMHy5J" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=hDfrqj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=hDfrqj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=cmZKWj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=cmZKWj" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401235" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401235/article.aspxTue, 11 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4116http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=4116Very soon most Americans will take a holiday, ostensibly to give thanks. But most will likely give thanks, as they have in years gone by, by simply eating too much.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=Z9UMmJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=Z9UMmJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=gqclfj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=gqclfj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=bVGX6j"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=bVGX6j" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401236" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401236/article.aspxThu, 08 Nov 2007 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3974http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3974In July, The National Marriage Project, a nonpartisan, nonsectarian and interdisciplinary initiative at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey released its annual report: The State of Our Unions: 2007. It suggests that the tradition of marriage is troubled today in large part because of an emerging cultural emphasis on individualism.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=TyE1dJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=TyE1dJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=Citbej"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=Citbej" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=zGg2cj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=zGg2cj" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401237" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401237/article.aspxSat, 03 Nov 2007 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3922http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3922The Total Fertility Rate is the average number of children born per woman over the course of her lifetime. Demographers, who study the distribution and density of human populations, declare that a TFR of 2.1 serves as a minimal replacement rate to sustain the current world population.<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=ZbqDBJ"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=ZbqDBJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=QsFhZj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=QsFhZj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?a=xg4XKj"><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~f/SocietyCulture?i=xg4XKj" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~4/233401239" height="1" width="1"/>http://feeds.vision.org/~r/SocietyCulture/~3/233401239/article.aspxFri, 03 Aug 2007 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3506http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=3506