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Gen Y to the rescue
"Even in a weak economy, or quite possibly because of it, there continues to be a strong interest among the millennial generation in pursuing an entrepreneurial career," Dr. Jeffrey Cornwall blogs for The Christian Science Monitor. "A recent survey of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 conducted by the Kauffman Foundation found that 54 per cent of those surveyed have entrepreneurial aspirations, and about half of these have already launched a business. … Given that there are an estimated 50 million millennials in the U.S., their interest in launching new businesses bodes well for the long-term health of the economy."
Phone keeping you awake?
"Michelle Fox had just fallen asleep when her cellphone buzzed on the night table," says The Chronicle of Higher Education. "She read the text message from her friend, thought about answering it, but then remembered her early class and instead tried to fall back to sleep. But Ms. Fox, a senior at the University of Rhode Island, couldn't stop thinking about the message and how her friend might be upset with her if she didn't respond. She had to answer the text. Many people, especially young adults, feel a sense of attachment to their phones and view the devices as a social lifeline that they can't do without, even when the anxiety the phones produce keeps them up at night, say researchers studying students' use of cellphones." A study of more than 200 students at the university found that they were losing an average of 45 minutes sleep each week because of their cellphones.
The lure of the open road
"A dog allegedly was spotted driving a mobile home down the street in Darwin, Australia, after learning how to drive by [watching]his owner, observers claim," says United Press International. "Woodley, a two-year-old German Koolie, allegedly took the mobile home for a spin while his owner, Richard McCormack, was in a store, The Sun reported. … This isn't the first time Woodley has tried to take the wheel, his owner explained. 'He sits next to me when I'm driving and in the driver's seat when I'm not. The handbrake is on the dashboard and he's seen me release it many times. He was just copying me. He's tried it on before,' said McCormack. The vehicle was eventually brought to a stop when bystander Phil Newton, 30, jumped in an open window and put the handbrake back on after seeing that a dog was navigating the mobile home."
Unaffordable illness
"Chronic and seriously ill patients," reports the New Scientist, "fare worse in the U.S. than in other industrialized countries, a survey of 18,000 patients in 11 rich nations has concluded. The New York-based Commonwealth Fund found that 42 per cent of the Americans polled couldn't afford the treatment they needed, at least twice the comparable rates elsewhere."
Average height, more kids?
"Women might dream of tall, dark and handsome, but researchers are claiming that it is men of average height who are having the most children," says BBC News. "Scientists studying men in the U.S. said those who were [5-foot-10] were the most reproductively successful. Writing in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, they said such men produced, on average, more than two-and-a-half children. The authors said it might be due to men of average height marrying earlier."
Clown burlesque
"Dottie Lux, a professional clown who performs in San Francisco, says people often come up to her and say, 'I've always been afraid of clowns, but I love you.' " The New York Times magazine reports. "… She's part of a growing nightclub subculture called Clown Burlesque, emerging in cities like London and Detroit, that thrills audiences with suggestive clown dances and strategically placed pink-balloon pasties. Some clowns worry about long-term consequences. David Magidson, who has toured with Ringling Brothers Circus, says a six-year-old's accidental exposure to a near-naked clown with balloon breasts could result in 'kids having to see therapists for the rest of their lives.' "
Thought du jour
"Words today are like the shells and rope of seaweed which a child brings home glistening from the beach and which in an hour have lost their lustre."
- Cyril Connolly (1903-74), English intellectual