Random

A lot of interesting tidbits came up on my radar today -- which is Friday out here "where America's day begins" but is still Thursday in most of the US. I suspect that people just had a lot to say before taking a long Easter weekend.

~ The Seattle P-I has a really fine summary of the issues associated with the current wave of teens/20's -- learning style, consumer habits, affect of ever-changing waves of technology -- "'Millennials' thrive on choice, instant results."

~ Forbes has a new list of best places for businesses and careers. Many of them are very livable places, too. Notably absent are California cities -- although Santa Ana shows up as #70 in the major metro list and Redding as #126 in the small cities list.

~ High-tech instruction does not lead to higher scores in science and math, according to a new study.

~ "The Big Dry" -- Australia is in the midst of a major drought.

~ This bodes well for all --
+ A record 57,318 high school seniors have been admitted to the University of California as freshman for the 2007-2008 school year
+ that's a 3.8% increase over last year
+ high school grade-point average of 3.79
+ average 590 on each test of the SAT and 25 on the ACT
+ admissions for Black and Hispanic students are up by 10%
+ Blacks, American Indians, and Latinos constitute nearly 23% of fall 2007 admissions
+ 38% of admitted freshmen are from families where neither parent has a four-year degree
+ about 35% come from low-income families

~ Just when you thought that the dorky Bluetooth ear attachment is the most Borg looking thing out there, along comes Ear-Lite, the flashlight that attaches to your ear. Battery life of 18 hours! So, when you're trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas... they're only 7 US bucks.

~ Rumor has it that researchers in New Zealand have discovered a dye that can be used in solar cells -- producing electricity at a fraction of the cost of current silicon-based solar cells.