In the News

A study of high school students found that students that savage their peers via rumors and excluding them from cliques are viewed by other kids as popular and well liked.

A Wisconsin woman spent 6 days in jail...for unpaid Library fines. She was pulled over for a routine stop and found to have $159.00 in unpaid Library fines as well as $172.00 in fines for missed court appointments.

A poster for Britains Royal Opera House has been withdrawn after one of the actors complained the poster made his genitals look too small.

After 15 years of consecutive growth the number of college applicants is expected to level off next year and then begin to decline. Washington Post.

56.7 Million foreign tourists visited the USA last year, setting a new record. The old was 52.1 in 2000. Most of this is due to the falling dollar value. Associated Press

South Asia has the world's highest concentration of slave labor, with more than 10 Million people who are forced to work for subsistence pay or less. Foreign Policy

Bill Gates is now number 3 on the list of the worlds wealthiest people. Gates gave 695 Million to his foundation last year still raked in 2 billion. Warren Buffett, who is #1 is worth 62 Billion. Bloomberg News

A New York stock broker is suing a Manhattan gentlemen's club claiming he was injured by a stripper during a lap dance.

A woman whose ancestor lent $299.58 to the city of Tampa during the Civil War wants the debt repaid...with interest to the tune of 22.7 million dollars.

During the first part of the Elliot Spitzer sex scandal the New York lottery had to close down betting on the numbers 871 which was the hotel room number he met the prostitute. Too many people were playing the number.

Americans are growing less aware of the number of U.S. fatalities in Iraq. Only 28% know that 4,000+ American Soldiers have died in the war. In a similar poll last August 54% knew that the level was close to 3,500. In the poll, 46% overestimated while 26% underestimated. - Pew Research Center

Of the 4,000+ US Soldiers to have died in Iraq more than 52% were killed by roadside bombs, only 16% have been killed by enemy gunfire. - USA Today

Only 75% of US children complete secondary school. Norway is at 100% followed by Germany, South Korea, Russ and Italy. - Boston Globe

There are currently 900,000 names on the federal governments primary terrorist watch list, and list that is expected to hit one million by summer. The Atlanta Journal-Constiturion

A Syracuse University philosophy professor walked out of a lecture when a student typed a text message during his lecture. The professor, who warned students he would not tolerate this, said he would continue to walk out rather than tolerate such brazen disrespect.

A horse owner had his horse in the Irish Grand National. It was a 33-1 to one shot, the owner didn't place the bet on his horse and it won.

In 9 out of the last 10 presidential elections, the candidate who wrapped up the nomination first ended up winning in November. New York Times.

The number of Americans on food stamps will rise to 28 million in the next fiscal year, an all time high. = New York Times.

The number of states that require motorcyclists to wear helmets has dropped to 20. This has resulted in a death toll from 2,160 to 4,810. They account for 10% of all traffic fatalities - USA Today

Last year's average Major League Baseball salary was 2.82 million. For the 99 innings he pitched for the Yankees, Roger Clemens (the highest paid pitcher) was paid $200,000 per inning or about 1 million per game. - The New Yorker

A Serb farmer who was ordered to split 1/2 his property with his ex-wife cut every single one of his tools in half.

The son of Dubai's ruler (Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bi Rashid al-Maktoum) recently spent 2.7 million dollars on a single camel.

A wedding reception in California recently got out of hand..so much so the bride and groom needed to stopped with Taser guns.

The 10 million dollar bill that was recently introduced in Zimbabwe can buy the holder about two rolls of toilet paper. Newsweek.

High Profile colleges are are logging records of acceptance rates. Harvard has about 7% of applicants accepted, Yale 8.3% and Stanford 9.5%.. Most schools now reject 9 out of 10 students that apply. USA Today

Two of the four finalists in this years NCAA college basketball tournament had graduation rates among the lowest in the country. University of Memphis has 30% and UCLA has 29% (this is for male students with basketball scholarships) - LA Times.

Apple's iTunes music store is now the largest US music retailer. It has passed Wal-Mart. Since its launch in 2003 iTunes has sold more than 4 billion songs to 50 million customers. BBCnews.com

The number of new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to 407,000 in the week ending March 29th. That is the highest level since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina left thousands with no kjobs. - Associated Press

Mariah Carey recently scored her 18th #1 hit song. She has one more chart topper than Elvis and she is two shy of over taking the Beatles all time high at 20. MSNBC.com

The Internet domain pizza.com sold for 2.6 million at auction. The seller registered the name 14 years ago...for $20.00. - CNET.com

Alia Sabur of Long Island New York is now the worlds youngest college professor. She is 18 and will teach physics. She began to read full novels at age 2, and entered college at age 10.

Gambling revenue on the Chinese island of Macau jumped 62% in the first quarter to 3.8 billion..that is twice what Las Vegas took in during the same period.

Of the 100 top grossing films of all time, 13 were made by Steven Speilberg or George Lucas.

In 1985, 15.7% of auto buyers said that air conditioning was "essential" today that is 90.4%. Demand on good sound systems has also changed, from 8.7% in 1985 to 95.8 today. USA Today