(ECONOMIST) 24 April 2008:

It’s been shown that in a minority (perhaps 5%) of US counties the centuries long rise in lifespans has gone into reverse. This generation is not living longer than the last. Instead, the people of this generation are living shorter lives.

The decline is most notable among women and there are two possible explanations being touted. The first is that women took up smoking (to the same level as men) only after WWII: we are thus seeing the death rates of that social change and given the drop in smoking since then life spans will again increase in the next generation.

The other is that the obesity epidemic is finally being seen in its effects upon lifespans: one clue here is that the counties with decliniing lifespans are in Appalachia and the South, deep fried cooking country. And yes, women are more prone to the diseases obesity can cause.

(REUTERS) 16 April 2008:

Great news for consumers who want natural food but find the cost to be prohibitive: Wal-Mart has announced that the milk sold in its stores under the “Great Value” label will be free of artificial growth hormones like recombinant bovine somatotropic (rbST).

The US FDA insists that milk with rbST does not pose a threat to human health, but consumers feel otherwise. Many of them feel that we just don’t know enough about it. The children raised on rbST milk haven’t aged enough for us to know if the growth hormone  has had an effect.

(CBS NEWS) 14 February 2008:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that at least 82 American youths have died from “playing” the “choking game.” The kids used various household items including dog leashes to wrap around their neck to temporarily cut blood flow to their head. “The goal is a dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain.” The CDS estimates that 20 percent of teens and preteens play this “game.” Nearly 90 percent of the deaths were boys and the average age is 13.  Warning signs that a child is engaging in this activity include bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, frequent and severe headaches, disorientation after spending time alone, and ropes, scarves, or belts tield to bedroom furniture or doorknobs or found knotted on the floor.

(THESMOKINGGUN.COM) 4 December 2007:

A US Senate aid was arrested November 30 after allegedly arranging a lunchtime sexual encounter with a teenage boy, according to court records. James McHaney was arrested by FBI agents after he arranged the encounter. A cooperating witness set up the encounter while conversing with McHaney online.  The witness asked McHaney if he was interested in engaging in sex with a 13 year old boy. McHaney replied, “I’ll be there.” He later asked for photos.

McHaney had worked as scheduler for Senator Maria Cantwell. He’s been fired.

(MSNBC.COM) 11 October 2007:

In not so surprising news, women are just as likely to get an abortion in a country where the procedure is outlawed as they are in a country where it is legal, according to a study published by The Lancet medical journal.

“The legal status of abortion has never dissuaded women and couples, who, for whatever reason, seek to end pregnancy,” Beth Fredrick of the International Women’s Health Coalition in the U.S. said in an accompanying commentary. Nearly 97 percent of all unsafe abortions were in poor countries, according to the story.

(MSNBC.COM) 5 October 2007:

US Olympic Gold Medalist Marion Jones has vehemently denied using performance enhancing drugs for years. On October 5, she recanted and admitted that she had used them.

“I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after,” Jones told a US District Court judge. “By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs.”

She also pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using the drugs. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years and 500K.

(ALL HUNGARY) 4 July 2007:

One of the things we’ve seen in the US in recent decades is that the traditional ratios of men and women going to college have reversed: somewhere between one half and two thirds of new students are female.

But this is not something restricted to the US: it’s well known in the UK as well and now we have the news that it is happening in Hungary. Perhaps more of a global than local matter.

Things aren’t changing all that much though: in all three countries very few men train for such jobs as kindergarten teacher, while very few women did so in electrical or electronic engineering.

(REUTERS) 4 May 2007:

A recent international survey of infidelity revealed that the French cheat less often than Americans. This is something of a surprise when you think of the traditional French attitude that marriage is one thing and fidelity another, while in the US the latter is considered essential for the former.

Other notable results were that only 6% of Americans thought that cheating could ever be justified, 40% of Russians saw no problem at all and the Japanese think it’s not infidelity if you’re paying for it.

But there is one thing in which the US leads: those who do cheat feel much worse about it than those of any other country.

(NEWSOFTHEWEIRD.COM) 9 March 2007:

During the first days of the new year, Germany had itself a baby boom.  This is attributed to the government’s child-bearing incentives,  some as high as $33,000 US. The incentives were so lucrative, some moms who were due to give birth in December attempted to delay the birth of their babies until January 1, when the new law went into effect.  This is the opposite of babies due the first week of January in the US.  In order to take advantage of child tax breaks for the year 2006, some of the US moms wanted to have the babies BEFORE January 1.

(REUTERS) 29 August 2006:

A new version of the classic story, Lassie, is released to US cinemas this week. Based on the original novel set in the UK, rather than the TV shows which were in California, the drama is the classic “family falls on hard times, sells the dog, which is taken away to escape and struggle back to the family.”

Lassie is always said to be a she but all of the 10 dogs who have played her so far have been male. Directors say this is because the male dogs are larger thus making the child actors performing with them look smaller and thus younger. It is also because the female version of the collie sheds her thick coat once a year and grows a new one.

If only I could get my wife to grow the new winter coat she insists upon each year.