Young crew members of the replica HMS Bounty climb the rigging while preparing to set sail from Toronto harbour, Aug. 27, 1997.Reuters
Abandon ship? Who first?
"In her book Women and Children First: 19th-Century Sea Narratives and American Identity, English professor Robin Miskolcze chronicled the origins of our maritime evacuation priorities," says Slate.com. "Until the second half of the 18th century, it was widely believed in England and America that God decided who would survive a shipwreck, so no one criticized men for climbing over whoever stood between them and safety. However, as Enlightenment thinkers began to emphasize human agency, and women came to be viewed as the holy protectors of the family, news reports grew critical of men who survived shipwrecks that killed female passengers."
Mass hysteria in school
"Twelve teenage girls at a New York school who fell ill with Tourette's-like symptoms of tics and verbal outbursts experienced mass hysteria, a doctor says. Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, a neurologist in Amherst, N.Y., says his diagnosis of the girls attending LeRoy Junior-Senior High School in upstate New York is 'conversion disorder,' or mass hysteria," reports United Press International. " 'It's happened before, all around the world … It's a rare phenomenon. Physicians are intrigued by it,' Mechtler told NBC's Today show Wednesday. 'The bottom line is these teenagers will get better.'… High school cheerleader and art student Thera Sanchez says her tics, stammer and verbal outbursts started out of the blue after a nap last October. 'I was fine. I was perfectly fine. There was nothing going on, and then I just woke up, and that's when the stuttering started,' Sanchez said. The New York State Health Department has been investigating and says the school building is not to blame, ruling out carbon monoxide, illegal drugs and other factors as potential causes."
Young love and passwords
"Young couples have long signaled their devotion to each other by various means – the gift of a letterman jacket or an exchange of class rings or ID bracelets. Best friends share locker combinations," writes Matt Richtel in The New York Times. "The digital era has given rise to a more intimate custom. It has become fashionable for young people to express their affection for each other by sharing their passwords to e-mail, Facebook and other accounts. Boyfriends and girlfriends sometimes even create identical passwords, and let each other read their private e-mails and texts."
No surfing in Chicago
"A Chicago man was arrested Tuesday evening after police reportedly caught him surfing near Oak Street Beach," says The Huffington Post. "Rex Flodstrom, 40, was cited for disorderly conduct, two counts of violating a Chicago Park District ordinance and one count of being in a park after hours, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Chicago's beaches are closed until May 25. … Flodstrom's surfboard was also confiscated."
Budgies yawn like us
"Budgies agree: a yawn is a difficult thing to resist," says the New Scientist. "The highly social birds are the latest animals to join the contagious yawning club. Many animals yawn, but only humans and a few other primates are known to trigger cascades of yawns around a group. Andrew Gallup at Binghamton University in New York watched 21 budgies over 15 days and counted their yawns – a wide open beak and slightly closed eyes, followed by a brief stretch of the neck. Each bird yawned one to three times an hour, but was more likely to do so if their neighbour had just yawned. It's the first good evidence for contagious yawning in a non-primate, says Gallup."
Thought du jour
"Marriage, like a submarine, is only safe if you get all the way inside."
Frank Pittman (1935- ) U.S. psychiatrist and author