Of all the prizes awarded during the Nobel week every October, none is more anticipated and talked about than the peace prize.

This year, the committee that picks the winner received 278 nominations, more than any other time in the past. And the buzz has steadily built leading to Friday's announcement.

The smart money is on Pope Francis. His win would be historic -- he'd become the first Roman Catholic pontiff to win the peace prize.

But the Nobel committee is notorious for making surprise choices. Think President Barack Obama's win the first year of his presidency.

Here are some of the most talked-about contenders for 2014. The winner could be someone from this group. Or it could go to someone we've completely overlooked.

In 1882, when Texas frontier judge Roy Bean began calling himself the "Law West of the Pecos," he was referring to the Pecos River, which flows from the mountains of New Mexico for almost 1,000 miles down through West Texas to the Rio Grande. The Pecos is an important source of water in the northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert—and that's how it attained its most unusual geographic distinction. Near Carlsbad, Mexico, locals brag, the Pecos becomes the world's only river that crosses itself.

• How can a river cross itself? In 1887, a group of settlers drew up plans for an irrigation canal on the Pecos, to irrigate crops in the semi-arid Pecos Valley. A series of hastily built dams and canals began to appear, and soon orchards and farms dotted the valley.

• The centerpiece of the project was a massive wooden flume. Supported by trestles, the 145-foot flume carried eight feet of water south through the main canal, crossing over a bend in the Pecos. Since water from the Pecos River was being carried across the Pecos River, Robert Ripley's Believe It or Not comic strip made the flume famous as the "World's Only River That Crosses Itself!"

• The flume carried 9,000 gallons of water a second, and its planners had lofty dreams of irrigating half a million acres. But the new canal proved no match for the region's flash floods. The flume was washed away and rebuilt in 1893, and within a decade the replacement was ready to collapse as well. With the help of the federal government, the wooden flume was replaced in 1903 with a majestic concrete version 47 feet high. At the time, the 497-foot structure was the largest concrete aqueduct in the world.

• Today, tourists still visit the Pecos River Flume, but it's seen better days: what was once one of the nation's premiere engineering feats is now a leaky, weed-choked overpass. But climb up the ruin and take a look: after heavy rain, water still flows through the channel above and along the rocks below. The Pecos River, over a century after Robert Ripley made it famous, is still crossing itself.

Written by Ken Jennings

[readon1 url="http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-10-06/how-the-pecos-river-became-the-only-river-that-crosses-itself?mbid=synd_digg"]Source:www.cntraveler.com[/readon1]

Jay Adams, a skateboarding pioneer and one of the original members of the Zephyr skate team, died in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, early Friday morning. He was 53.

Adams' manager, Susan Ferris, says the Skateboarding Hall of Famer died of a heart attack. A full report from the Puerto Escondido medical examiner's office is pending.
Adams had been on an extended surf vacation in Mexico with his wife and friends, including Solo Scott and Allen Sarlo. He had been surfing across the point earlier Thursday and came in feeling sick, then began having chest pains around midnight, according to Scott.

"His wife called us over in the middle of the night and we administered CPR until we could get an ambulance, and they kept working on him the whole way but he never revived," Scott told XGames.com.
"The important thing is he went out peacefully in his sleep, during the best surf trip of his life. He'd been down here for three months surfing every day, and he was in great shape and really good spirits. I've never seen him so happy and content and at peace."

Adams was known for bringing his aggressive surf style to skateboarding, first on the sidewalks of Venice, California, and eventually into the area's empty backyard pools. He was the first to air above the lip in a pool on a skateboard and the first to try handplants and other tricks that since have become staples.

"I've had the good fortune of spending decades in this sport, and he was the purest form of skateboarder that I've ever seen," Stacy Peralta, another original member of the Z-Boys team and director of the documentary film "Dogtown and Z-Boys," told XGames.com. "He was literally skateboarding incarnate, and the genius of it was he wasn't the best at anything, he just was it. I've said before that he was the original virus that got so many people hooked on skateboarding. Now the original spore is gone, but that virus lives on in so many others. Jay's passing reminds all of us and reaffirms that we're connected. We're all rolling down the sidewalk together."

Adams was the youngest member of the original Zephyr skate team when it first formed in 1975, according to Zephyr Surf Shop owner and co-founder Jeff Ho.

"I first met Jay in the water when he was a little kid on a borrowed surfboard, even before he was the little kid on a skateboard everybody's seen pictures of," Ho told XGames.com. "You could tell even then that he was something special. Once the first photos of what he was doing on a skateboard came out, he was an instant icon. He was so creative in his skating that he was just so, so far beyond his time. He lived his life the way he wanted to live it, and, you know, he was surfing some mean sick barrels at Puerto and getting great shots with the boys right up until just before he passed away, still doing what he wanted to do."

Jim Muir, another member of the original Dogtown Z-Boys skate team, added: "Everyone involved in skateboarding needs to thank Jay for who he was and what he made our sport. He was one of a kind, and there will never be anyone else like him."

Adams will be remembered as much for his sneer and for flipping off the camera as for his brazen skateboarding prowess. When skateboarding got competitive and corporate and some of his peers became celebrities, he mostly opted out.

"Wearing uniforms? That wasn't me," he wrote in an essay for "My Rules," a forthcoming book by photographer Glen E. Friedman.

Friedman's first published image for Skateboarder Magazine was a shot of Adams airing above the lip in a pool for the first time. Adams was just 15 at the time; Friedman was 14. The image rocked the skateboarding world with new possibilities, even though Friedman admits Adams "was clearly not [landing the trick]."Even Adams' accidents could be inspirational.

"When you look at Jay, you have to think of the personification of all the Dogtown stories that Craig Stecyk wrote and all the Dogtown photos that I took: All we were trying to do was capture Jay Adams' essence," Friedman told XGames.com. "He was really f---ed up, and he was really incredibly great, all at the same time. For so many, he was the inspiration, he was the seed. He was one of the originators, and he didn't do any of it on purpose. He was as spontaneous as they come, and because of that he was one of the sport's great revolutionaries."

Friedman shared an excerpt of Adams' "My Rules" essay with XGames.com:
"I always skate for the love of it, the feeling that is like nothing else. Doing the thing I did, that some people after the fact look back and say it was so progressive and pushed the limits, that's cool but I wasn't thinking doing that. I just acted spontaneously and did stuff, see what happens and hope not to get hurt. I wouldn't think about it until afterwards, if at all. Style was a motivator at times, but honestly it just came naturally to me, and although it meant everything at times, who's to say the kook with horrible style isn't having more fun than you? Having fun is what really matters in the end, unless you're just out to impress others."

Colin Bane, Writer

PHOTO GALLERY

[readon1 url="http://xgames.espn.go.com/skateboarding/article/11358968/influential-skateboarder-jay-adams-dies-mexico"]Source:xgames.espn.go.com[/readon1]

Today the first man to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died in a Dallas hospital. That news, of one Liberian man’s death, is really just that: a mortality statistic.

The inability to save Thomas Eric Duncan, age 42, points to the devastatingly lethal potential of this once rare virus. Given that Ebola is spreading – it’s crossed the Atlantic and the Mediterranean – and even if it weren’t here in America – his death highlights the need to deal with this epidemic head-on, for the sake of people in western Africa, and ourselves.

Health care workers are, understandably, anxious about catching this virus. Hospital-acquired infections are notoriously hard to contain even when they’re not transmitted through copious amounts of bloody vomit and diarrhea, as characterizes active Ebola. Bacterial infections in hospitals are, most often, spread by hands and fomites – inanimate objects like doorknobs, remotes, keyboards or dollar bills (among countless examples). This is different.

As a mom and hematologist who worked with AIDS patients and in an AIDS lab before there were drugs for that disease, I can relate to these concerns. I used to worry about transmitting an infectious, blood-borne virus home to my family. I was cautious – and although I never shied away from my responsibilities – I made an effort and took time to be extra-vigilant. In those days before checklists, common sense played a role in my behavior: frequent hand-washing; minding not to put my fingers near my mouth (much easier in the days before cellphones), and that sort of thing.

Ebola, which is not transmitted by air, does get around by blood and, possibly, dried blood. It differs from HIV in this regard; most AIDS patients don’t bleed profusely – even full-blown AIDS is usually not such a messy condition as Ebola. The same goes for hepatitis C – which by is, by blood, at least 10-fold more infectious than HIV. As for Ebola, I’m not convinced that we know its “R0” – the degree of infectiousness.

As much as there’s a danger in being overly fearful, there’s a danger in overconfidence.

In the absence of a U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Tom Frieden at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has done a terrific job in communicating what’s going on and, in general, appropriately assuring the public. But the agency could be more up-front about what we don’t know and should offer more guidance for ordinary people might do in homes, at work, in schools, in airports, prisons, churches, gyms and cafeterias – basically everywhere – to minimize chances of catching and spreading Ebola.

To this end, the CDC might answer some questions. Straight answers from public health officials could affect the behavior and lives of ordinary people, including patients with other medical conditions:

1. Can Ebola be spread by food handlers? Think of typhoid Mary. (Note that typhoid, or cholera, differs from Ebola in that it’s caused by a bacterial infection, not a virus.) But either might be spread by contaminated feces.

There’s a reason why my grandmothers feared raw vegetables, unpeeled fruit and uncooked foods. Because if someone has infectious diarrhea, or carries a germ on his or her hands, they might contaminate the food or beverages (and dishes).

2. Is it OK to eat salad in a restaurant? What about salad bars?

Relatedly, does heat – as might be applied by cooking – kill the Ebola virus? Homemakers and chefs, and guys in trucks and food stands around the world, might benefit from knowing the answer.

3. Does Purell kill Ebola? This is a very practical matter, as not everyone is in a position to wash their hands before, say, eating a sandwich on a plane. And if Purell is insufficient, what might ordinary people do to stay clean?

4. Can you get Ebola from a toilet seat? Seriously. I was traveling earlier this week, and I couldn’t help but notice the women working in hotel and airport bathrooms – whose job it is to keep those places clean. The CDC might offer guidelines (in many languages, clearly translated) about what you shouldn’t touch. And if you or they do accidentally brush up against an unclean surface, what then?

The risk of the CDC and local health authorities not addressing this sort question is that toilets will be left unclean – and then the odds of spread from just a few cases would grow. And if the answer is that cleaning workers, and homemakers like hospital aides – all, should all be trained in how to use Clorox CLX +2.17% or whatever it takes to clean up a bloody excretory mess, then do it

These are just a few of my questions as a physician-mom-patient-homemaker. Since around 1960, after the advent of antibiotics and polio subsided, we’ve lived – for the most part in the U.S – free from concern of rapidly-spreading contagious conditions with high death rates. That may be changing. Our near-sterile modern cocoon is no longer.

Maybe we need to re-think our attitudes about cleanliness and, in the absence of guidelines, invoke common sense. If there’s a serious, infectious virus that may spread by body fluids, including feces, basic hygiene practices – which many Americans have forgotten, or ignore – may prove life-saving.

My thoughts are with the family of Mr. Duncan, and who are struggling with the disease now. At the same time, I’m keenly aware – by the facts of history of epidemics, and current modes of world travel – that it’s impossible to stop this sort of infection by quarantine. We have to stop it with science. Meanwhile, we need to take care, and be prepared, and not down-play risks.

[readon1 url="http://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2014/10/08/how-ordinary-people-and-public-health-officials-might-counter-the-spread-of-ebola/"]Source:www.forbes.com[/readon1]

Wilmer Valderrama has not been quiet about his disappointment over the lack of action by President Barack Obama and Congress on immigration this year.

The 34-year-old actor and activist said that the Latino community not getting what has been promised time and time again is the equivalent of "taking a back seat again.”

“It was a dark day for all of us,” Valderrama told Fox News Latino regarding the President’s decision to delay executive action until after November's midterm elections. “We needed a more comprehensive action, and it was delayed.”

He believes that the inaction by the country’s leaders will ignite a backlash from the Latino community at the midterms next month – and that is exactly what he wants.

“Minorities have been through many downfalls … many scenes of disappointment with the things that hit home, but they don’t have the champions to get things passed,” he said. “They are starting to see that it can’t be just the president fighting the battles. Unless you have the right people to fight these battles, it’s just not going to get done.”

Valderrama is calling on everyone who is eligible to vote – especially those in the Latino community – to register and to let their voices be heard at the polls next month.

“Make sure anyone in your family who is eligible to vote goes out and represents their household, your family and themselves," he told FNL. "We need to get the equation right to move the needle forward.”

Valderrama, who is well known for playing foreign exchange student Fez on “That '70s Show,” has been working with nonprofit group Voto Latino to ignite a passion in young millennial voters nationwide to get involved in politics and in their local communities.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, the organization launched a voter outreach program to get young Latinos registered. Valderrama said the response to the campaign has been incredible.

“There was no real emotional investment (from people) in the midterms. Most people thought elections stopped at the presidential elections,” he told FNL. “We have found a level of excitement for the midterm election and that has been the biggest gift of this movement.”

Valderrama, who had the opportunity to have dinner with Obama along with girlfriend Demi Lovato and director Robert Rodriguez this summer, said his message to get Latinos out to vote in the coming weeks is fundamentally non-partisan.

“Nobody (Democrat or Republican) has had the courage to stand up and be the swing vote in their party,” he said. “It’s a non-partisan conversation.”

In a handful of the most competitive gubernatorial and Congressional races this year, political analysts say the Latino community could determine who wins – a notion Valderrama strongly agrees with.

“That is a fact,” he said. “The history and future of both parties relies on Latinos. It’s math.”

When asked why he is so passionate about politics, Valderrama said that it’s because he is “so grateful for this country.”

The actor was born in Miami but grew up in Venezuela. His family moved back when he was 14 for the same reason that millions of immigrants have arrived in the U.S. have going back centuries: to find work.

“This country gave me the ‘American Dream’,” Valderrama said. “Everyone appreciates the opportunities given here, (but) we can’t pretend the government will fix everything.”

Despite his activism, Valderrama said he is not interested in going into politics. He admitted that people have asked him if he would consider running for office, but it’s not in the cards.

“I think I am a little louder on this side of the fence,” he said. “As artists we ignite passions to start the conversations. That’s my job. My work as an activist has been the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.”

[readon1 url="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/10/08/wilmer-valderrama-future-both-political-parties-relies-on-latinos/"]Source:latino.foxnews.com[/readon1]

You know the feeling: you wake up after a long night's sleep in a hotel bed, slip into your fuzzy hotel-issued slippers and hotel-issued robe, step onto the fluffy hotel carpet and think "WHY is this so amazing?!"

The question is certainly intriguing. So we asked a handful of HuffPost editors for their favorite hotel bed experiences. And the more we researched, the more we realized that all blissful hotel experiences have one important detail in common:

All the best hotel beds are white.

You've probably never thought about it, but try to imagine an ideal hotel bed that isn't white, and you'll see what we mean. And yet we all spend time trying to find colorful quilts and crazy bohemian-print sheets for our bedrooms at home... what's the deal?

Turns out white is a symbol of luxury, and the bet is that you'll feel more luxurious -- and sleep more luxuriously! -- in a white bed.

"Visually, the idea of the white bed is important," said Erin Hoover, vice president of design for Westin and Sheraton hotels. "Something about an all-white bed connotes luxury and a good night's sleep."

When Westin pioneered its now-famous Heavenly Bed in the 1990s, Hoover says, the idea of an all-white hotel bed was an unpopular one -- hotels mostly used colored bedspreads, which were easier to keep clean. But after seeing the results of trial testing, Westin designers were convinced there was only one way to go.

"The all-white bed created this halo effect -- people thought a room had been renovated, even if it was just the bed that had been changed," Hoover explained. "It had a huge impact."

It's not just Westin that features an all-white bed as the centerpiece of a perfect hotel room. The Miraval, Hilton and Park Hyatt -- home to some of our editors' other favorite rooms -- feature white beds, too. It seems to be a move toward simplification, a subtle sign that hotels are the place to leave your worries and the clutter of the world behind.

"Park Hyatt moved toward a clean, white bed and away from show pillows to present guests with a simple, clean and inviting place to lay their heads," said Sybil Pool, a spokesperson for Hyatt's luxury brand. She stresses that a central part of the experience is "clean, white, high-thread-count sheets."

And while there aren't exactly scientific studies to prove you get a better night's sleep in a nice hotel, we're using experience as proof that those all-white wonders really do work the best kind of magic.

Goodnight!

Hotels with Spectacular Views (PHOTOS)

[readon1 url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/best-hotel-beds_n_5881548.html"]Source:www.huffingtonpost.com[/readon1]

Colombian former soccer star Faustino Asprilla plans to launch his own line of flavored condoms, which will be developed and manufactured in China, local media reported.

“I’m currently meeting with executives of a pharmaceutical company about this new product,” the former Colombian national team forward told the El Tiempo newspaper’s online edition.

The condoms will be offered in a variety of flavors and sizes, the Bogota daily reported Wednesday.
“It’s a good idea and it’s nice to make a contribution to safe-sex campaigns,” the 44-year-old Asprilla said. “The condoms will come in all sizes. I hope people will like them, buy them and enjoy them.”

The condoms will hit the market as soon as the brand’s logo and patent documents are finalized, he added.

“They’ll be normal condoms,” Asprilla said. “I’d recommend the ones with guayaba flavor because in the patio at the house where I grew up there was a guayaba tree. I always liked it and had success with that aroma.”

Asprilla, who competed for Colombia at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and the 1998 tournament in France, played during his career for Premier League club Newcastle United, Italy’s Parma, Universidad de Chile and Brazilian-league side Palmeiras, among other teams.

Flights were halted at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports early Sept. 26 after a fire and evacuation in the region’s air traffic control in Aurora, Ill., at about 5:40 a.m. The shutdown had the potential to disrupt air travel in the country.

The FAA facility was evacuated. Upon arriving at the control center in Aurora, a city about 40 miles southwest of O’Hare, authorities found a man in the basement with “self-inflicted, non-gunshot wounds,” the Chicago Tribune reported. The fire was deliberately set but not a terrorist incident, the newspaper said, quoting the Aurora police chief, who said the incident involves a local contractor.

The FAA said flight operations are being handled by other adjacent air traffic facilities, spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said.

Initially, flights were halted until 8 a.m. at O’Hare, although cancellations appeared to continue after that. At Midway, dominant carrier Southwest Airlines cancelled flights at least until noon, the Tribune reported.

FlightAware, a website that tracks air traffic, reported that there were 818 cancellations at O'Hare International by 10 a.m. Central time and 258 at Midway.

[readon1 url="http://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/fire-grounds-flights-at-chicago-airports.html"]Source:www.travelpulse.com[/readon1]

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.

The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period.

Executive and Legislative Documents

The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Hispanic American Heritage Month.

If there's one thing everyone should know about Hispanics in the United States, it's that this rapidly growing minority has an undefined identity crisis.

Why? Because of the confusion surrounding what to call people whose ethnic background is from Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries. Some even feel 100% American or 100% Latino -- or Hispanic, depending to whom you're talking.

How do you know which term to use? "Hispanic" and "Latino" are often used interchangeably and aim to describe the same group of people, but technically they do not mean the same thing.

What's more, within Hispanic communities in the United States, most people identify with their country of origin and often use hyphens to represent their loyalties to both cultures: like "Mexican-American."

We're constantly having to straddle two worlds: the one where our families came from and where we've chosen to live.

To make matters even more complicated, all that can change depending on where Latinos are in any given moment.

When I'm in my parents' native country of Peru, I'm American with Peruvian parents and that's that. No matter how hard I've tried to be "Peruvian enough" to my fellow Peruvians, I might as well be a gringa in their eyes.
Share your immigration story with CNN Report

And, when I'm back in United States, someone will inevitably ask me where I'm from in a way that suggests I'm not from the good ol' U.S. of A.

In other words, imagine having to constantly tell people that you're made of two colors: blue and yellow, but all people see is green, and you constantly have to go in the light and show them you are made of both colors.

Identifying as Hispanic or Latino comes with its ups and downs. But perhaps breaking down what these terms mean and how they're used within this diverse community of 54 million Latinos can help shed some light on our experience.

Hispanic or Latino?

Years ago, I attended a media networking event hoping to meet more established journalists.

I remember saying something along the lines of, "Ah, the joys of being Hispanic," and an older Latina woman turned around and said, "No, sweetie, you are a Latina. Don't refer to yourself as Hispanic. The government invented that word for us."

Um, OK. I think I hit a nerve.

Then, a younger Latino man snickered and asked her to not take those labels so seriously. She quickly turned to him and, judging by her wide eyes and stiff demeanor, she clearly did not agree. Her eyes then met with mine and she looked at me as if I had to make a choice: Hispanic or Latino? What's it going to be?

The room immediately felt as if it divided into two uncomfortable teams.

I could feel the warm embrace from the "Hispanic team," which was easygoing and used both terms interchangeably, and imagined them saying to me, "Come on over! Hispanic? Latino? Whatever you feel is best."

But the looming eyes of "Latino team" made me feel obligated to side with them and take some kind of political stance on the term. Using Latino had a slight "sticking it to the man" feel.

I wasn't sure how I felt about identifying with either term, so I decided to hold my tongue, take a deep breath and smile.

Even though this woman I had never met tried to impose her label on me, she was partially right.

The term Hispanic was first used by the U.S. government in the 1970s in an attempt to count people from Mexico, Cuba and Central and South America but what she failed to mention was that the term has existed for centuries.

Back then, there wasn't a private or public sector that had a uniform way of collecting data on the Hispanic community, so a committee was formed and it opted not to use Latino because, if taken literally, it could include Europeans of Latin origin.

The goal was to accurately account for this growing and discriminated against population so laws could be implemented to help with their needs as well as trace their accomplishments.

The term Latino finally came to fruition in the 2000 census as a more inclusive way to include mixed races known as "mestizo" or "mulato" in Central and South America.

In short, Hispanic refers to language and Latino refers to geography.

One reason for my ambivalence with both these terms is that I didn't grow up using either one.

I was born and raised in New Jersey by my Peruvian immigrant parents in a predominantly Hispanic community where everyone identified with their family's country of origin. I was Peruvian for the better half of my life and it's perhaps why I use the terms interchangeably and have no preference.

I'm not alone.

Most Hispanics in the United States prefer to use their country of origin to describe themselves most often. About half said they have no preference for either term but for those who did, Hispanic was preferred over "Latino," according to the Pew Research Center.

"For example, in California, the state with the largest Hispanic population, 30% say they prefer 'Hispanic' and 17% say they prefer the term 'Latino,'" according to Pew. The results were similar in Florida and New York.

The only exception is Texas where there was an overwhelming preference for "Hispanic." Among Hispanic Texans, 46% prefer the term Hispanic, while 8% say they prefer Latino.

But this wasn't always the case.

"There was a time when Latino was primarily used in the West Coast and Hispanic on the East Coast," said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Hispanic Research at the Pew Research Center.

The use of both pan-ethnic terms are unique to the United States, Lopez added, as is the ongoing identity debate on which term to use.

Latino vs. Hispanic on social media

Latinos are the most active of all ethnic groups on social media networking sites -- Hispanic adults topping at 72%, followed by African Americans at 68% and whites at 65% -- and CNN recently looked into which term was used more often and in what state across the country.

Even though Pew found that Hispanic was preferred over Latino when it came to identity, in the past year, CNN found that Latino was mentioned more on Twitter than Hispanic.

"From what I've seen, the term Hispanic inspires more rage than Latino," said Adrian Carrasquillo, former social media manager at NBC Latino and now editor of Latino coverage for BuzzFeed.

"For a long time the Latino community has been fragmented, but now they are starting to have more cohesion and the rise of Latino is bringing people together more," he added.

The term's popularity may also have to do with the sudden surge of niche sites that containin the term, like Fox New Latino or The Huffington Post's LatinoVoices or two new magazines: Cosmopolitan for Latinas and Glam Belleza Latina.

CNN found the states where Google users searched the most for the term Latino from 2011-2014 were Virginia, California, Texas, Florida, Arizona and New York. The states with the highest Google searches for Hispanic were New Mexico, Texas, District of Columbia, Florida and Arizona.

Google searches for Hispanic have declined over the past 10 years, while searches for Latino have remained steady and even seen an uptick in the past two to three years. The only exception each year was during Hispanic Heritage Month.

"Groups like Latinos in Social Media and niche Latino sites that have launched recently have a lot to do with Latino being used more than Hispanic, but Latino refers to flavors, people and music. You don't hear people say
'Hispanic music,' they say 'Latino music,' " said Joe Kutchera, author of "Latino Link: Building Brands Online with Hispanic Communities and Content."

"Latino media outlets have turned to Latino more because the term feels more inclusive, but that can always change. Younger generations are generally more accepting and don't care as much about these labels," Kutchera added.

Such was the case for Lance Rios when he started the popular Latino-based community Facebook page Being Latino. He said he realized Latino held more weight than Hispanic because it was a term embraced within the community.

"Twenty years ago Chicanos were Chicanos, and Boricuas were Boricuas but now it's different," Rios said. "Latino encompasses many more who can identify with having parents from different parts of Latin America."

Hispanics in the United States: Fast Facts

That annoying question: Where are you from?

Marco Perez, founder of the United Latino Professionals, has developed a good-natured sense of humor when he is asked a question that many Latinos often hear: Where are you from?

Perez said the question doesn't bother him much anymore.

"I just say I was born in Guatemala but was raised in New York since I was toddler so I identify myself more with 'American' culture," Perez said.

It's clearly not a one-word answer for Perez but not as complicated as some make it out to be.

"Their reaction always depends on who it is, their level of education and what part of the country I'm in. But I get reactions such as, 'No, I mean ethnic origin,' but in many cases they simply leave it at an awkward, 'Oh OK,'" Perez said.

There are a couple of reasons why this question is irritating to many Latinos. It implies that the person being asked is a foreigner when he or she, or his or her family, could have easily been in the United States for several generations.

It also inevitably puts Latinos in a box, making them feel singled out and forced to justify their American-ness.
Before I knew any better, the question also made me feel foreign, so I always had my Americana spiel ready to go:

"Yes, I'm Peruvian but I was born and raised in New Jersey. And, I went to Rutgers, and watched 'Full House' and

'Saved by the Bell' growing up. I love apple pie and spend Fourth of July weekend down the shore, etc."

'Where are you from?' is not the right question

The only time I feel like I'm identifying with the Hispanic or Latino label is when I'm around non-Latinos or filling out the census survey.

Living in two worlds

With all the "Latino boom" talk, I realized I am a part of the population that isn't just part of the changing face of America but that also is altering its economic landscape.

You've heard the statistics: Latinos have a $1 trillion buying power only expected to grow. The Latino vote helped Obama get elected in 2008 and 2012. They're one out of every six people, one out of every four babies born each year.

The Hispanic population accounted for more than half of the country's growth in the past decade as well as 95% of the teen population growth through 2020. And, by 2050, Latinos are projected to make up 30% of the U.S. population.

That's what Hispanic marketing expert Chiqui Cartagena calls the duality of the Latino reality.

"From the grocery aisle where you pick up your Corona beer and your dulce de leche ice cream, to the Billboard charts where Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez routinely dominate, to the lunch you order at Chipotle .... the Latino effect is everywhere," wrote Cartagena, the vice president of corporate marketing for Univision Cartagena, in an op-ed for CNN.

When companies talk about the Hispanic market, they are referring to the bilingual Latino who has embraced both cultures, eats pizza and tacos, and the growing share of Hispanics who prefer to consume their news in English from television, print, radio and Internet outlets.

But Pew also found that most Latinos acknowledge the importance of speaking Spanish and found that more than 34 million Hispanics ages 5 and older spoke Spanish at home, which may be the reason why English and Spanish have influenced each other so much.

Fewer Latinos will speak Spanish, more non-Latinos will, report says

Language isn't the only aspect of Latino culture to keep in mind when speaking to this growing community in the United States. It's also important to know that Latinos are not a monolithic culture.

While a large percentage of the Hispanic market is of Mexican origin, there are still two dozen other nationalities that make up America's Latino population. Also, Latinos come in all shapes, complexions and sizes.

Glenda Guevara has little patience for stereotypes these days.

"I now take the 'where are you from?' as a teaching moment," said Guevara, who was born in El Salvador. "But I do get furious when I'm told that I can't be from El Salvador because I don't fit the 'look.'"

Without completely losing her cool, Guevara continually responds by asking, "What exactly does an El Salvadoran look like? Please tell me what my people should look like?"

Latin America's diverse racial demographics are the result of a mixed-race background of European, African and indigenous cultures.

All the attention Latinos have gotten over the years has come with its fair share of stereotypes and misconceptions, some I'm able to laugh off and some I wish I could wave a magic wand and change immediately, like:

Being asked to say something in Spanish (Nope, I'm not here solely for your entertainment.), to explain where exactly Peru is (Don't admit the little geography you know.), if I know someone you once met in Peru (It's a big country, the chances are impossible.), if I'm a U.S. citizen (That's never, ever appropriate.), and -- my personal favorite -- introducing me to your friend from a Latin American country because you believe we will hit it off. (Common backgrounds don't necessarily mean you are introducing me to my future bestie.)

These awkward and often staggering encounters only confirm how ambiguous Latinos' collective identity is to those on the outside.

But if waving that wand meant having to alter who I am or how I move seamlessly between two worlds, then I'd hold back. I can only hope that as the Hispanic community continues to grow, so will a more defined identity.

Study: Hispanics show increasing cultural, economic and social diversity

How do you identify and why? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/03/living/hispanic-latino-identity/"]Source:www.cnn.com[/readon1]

With summer here, standing in line at the pedestrian bridge on the U.S. Mexican border can take a toll on your body.

 To help speed up the entry process at the crossing in Larado, Customs and Border Patrol are implementing new ready lane scanners to help alleviate pedestrian traffic flow.
 
“On a given year forty one million people enter the united states walking. Not in a car, not in a train, not on a plane.  So what we wanted to do is bring the technology to the pedestrians walkway to help expedite the pedestrians coming through,” said Acting Port Director Jose Uribe.
 
The new ready line cards have radio technology that — when used in a kiosk – enables the C.P.B. officer to check biographical information, including a photo and results for terrorist and criminal connections.
 
And while the new technology does not replace face to face interaction between officers and travelers, it allows C.P.B. to focus their time on each individual.
 
“We get a small window that helps us adjust the time on the processing here in Laredo, with over 3 million pedestrians a year those few seconds make are the difference,” Uribe said.
 
Although the pedestrians KGNS spoke to haven’t felt the speed of the pedestrian traffic change, they believe once officers and travelers get accustomed to the change time on the bridge will be cut.
 
“Well it’s a new system. In the beginning it’s slow, but it’s going to be much faster, said Jose Antunes in Spanish.
 
“Now it’s really slow, but later when they get the hang of it, it will be better,” Addie Mendieta said.
 
Laredo ”Bridge One” is one of the 12 busiest border crossings to use the new scanners, including cities like El Paso and San Diego.

At the New Republic, Christopher Beam looked into horoscope-related hiring choices in China, where “astrology-based discrimination is real.” He reports that astrological signs often influence employment, based on assumptions about personality and perceived compatibility with other signs. Beam writes:

In this astrological version of natural selection, no one has it tougher than Virgos, born between Aug. 23 and Sept. 22. The persecution is mostly playful. This month, Virgos have been taking a ribbing online for the usual sins: They’re picky, they’re spoiled, they’re fussy to the point of being obsessive-compulsive … An online survey conducted by Sina this week asked, “Which astrological sign has the most trouble finding work?” Virgo won—well, lost—by a long shot.

The maligned Virgos, meanwhile, have begun a campaign to reclaim their reputation. Typical Virgo. They just want to put their exasperating diligence to work — for you, hopefully! Please reconsider their applications. Don't forget to double-check their references. They just love the concept of double-checking, that's all.

[readon1 url="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/09/one-wants-to-hire-virgos.html"]Source:nymag.com[/readon1]