In the News

A four year old girl who attached a letter to a balloon near her school in England got a letter from a person that found it, 6000 Miles away in China. The man who found it, wrote a letter to the class saying he found it while in the park with friends included a picture.

A couple in Marsville Ohio have three kids..all born on Oct 2. The first in 2003, the second in 2006 and the one this year, who was due on Sept 30th, was late and came Oct 2. Chances of this happening 7.5 in one million.

Federal officials estimate that fully three quarters of all farm workers in the US are here illegally. - LA Times

In the 1970's the average dad spent only about 33% percent as much time with his kids as did the average mom. By 2000 the # had climbed to 75% of moms - Time

In 2007 California will spend $3.3 Billion on its state university system and $9.9 on its prison system - LA Times

55% of Americans say they often come into contact with people who speak mostly Spanish rather than English By a 66% to 33% margin, they are not bothered by encounters with people who speak mostly Spanish - ABC News Poll

American CEOs earn, on average, twice as much as their company's second highest paid executive - Financial Times.

Only 37% of 19 to 24 year olds in the US are daily coffee drinker compared with 60% of adults 40 to 59...its 74% of those 60+. - Business Week.

Those cool new energy saving light bulbs? Cutting in to the sales of the traditional bulbs causing sales to fall 10%. As a result GE will cut 1,400 jobs. - LA Times.

Of every 1000 senior citizens who retire over 480 eventually move, usually back to their original location - Marketwatch.com

About 40% of immigrants to the US now settle in the suburbs - NY Times.

US Consumers overdrew $15.8 Billion from their checking accounts last year. The banks in turn collected $17.5 Billion in overdraft fees. - Chicago Tribune

Ohio State's $109 million athletics budget provided and average of $110,000 for each of its 980 athletes, about triple what the school spends to educate each student. - Wall St Journal

38% of employees worldwide describe themselves as disenchanted or disengaged. Only 21% say they are willing to make an "extra effort" for their employer. -Market watch.COMM

A 75 year old former Marine, wounded in the Korean War applied for his purple heart, only to be told they were "out of stock" and that he could buy one at a local military supply store for $42.00.

In 2006, 99 US Army soldiers committed suicide. The highest in 26 years. - Associated Press

The biggest gripe cell phone users have? - the fee's to change services. - Washington Post.

1 in 4 American adults did not read ANY books last year.
41% 1 to 5 books
31% read between 6 and 15
27% said they have read more than 15. - Associated Press

New York City is keeping phone booths, even with all the cell phones around. The biggest reason? Adverting dollars on the phone booths. The revenue from this alone is 13.7 million dollars. - New York Times.

An Alabama student was disciplined for hugging a friend whose parent had just died. Seems the hug violated the schools "zero tolerance" on physical contact with students.

The European Union voted that the voice of "Tarzan" could not be trademarked. The estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs had hoped to cash in on the call for ring tones, video games and advertising.

Due to the drought in the southern parts of the USA students at a recent University of Georgia were asked to "not flush" all the time. Bathroom attendants were given jobs to decide if the toilets should be flushed.

Nearly 1 in 5 American children are kept indoors most of the time because their parents fear for their safety. For blacks and Hispanics that figure is 1 in 3. - New York Times

The recent fires in California released 6 million tons of carbon dioxide..the same as about 1 million cars being every day for a year - Associated Press

Americans are making pets out of venomous snakes at a rapid pace. In 2004, 52 people had to be treated for bites and three died. - USA Today

Costa Rica has the highest standard of living in Central America, but most of the county has no street names or addresses. As a result it takes an average of nine days for the postal service to deliver a letter and 20% of the mail never reaches its destination. - LA Times.

China now has 106 billionaires. 5 years ago there were none - Boston Globe.