Feb 19
He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world.
Feb 19
We talk a good game about opportunity in this country, but here are three signs that we’re failing to provide young people with a fair shot at prosperity.
Sign #1: People typically achieve most of their earnings gain in the first 10 years of employment.
A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that “the bulk of earnings growth happens during the first decade” of a person’s employment. (The study actually focused on men, for methodological reasons.)
The authors reviewed nearly 40 years of data from the Social Security Administration, and found that the the typical employee makes the largest income gains between the ages of 25 and 25:
For most people, these years represent the greatest opportunity to reach a good lifetime income. The average income increase for median earners falls to zero between the ages of 35 and 55. For all but the top 10 percent of earners, income actually declines (“negative growth”) between the ages of 45 and 55.
That means the first years of employment are critical. These are the years that will determine a person’s lifetime earnings.
Sign #2: Young Americans are trying to build careers in a historically tough job market.
The unemployment rate for workers between the ages of 18 and 34 peaked at more than 13 percent in 2010, and that figure doesn’t include underemployment or discouraged workers. Younger people continue to feel the sting of unemployment at a higher rate than that of the overall population.
As a recent White House report on Millennials observed:
Younger workers have less experience and more tenuous connections to employers than older workers, so they are often laid off in greater numbers and have to compete against more experienced workers for new jobs once recovery begins. They therefore tend to be among the last groups to recover fully from a recession.
Nor do these figures address the challenge of underemployment. Many younger Americans have taken jobs outside their chosen career paths, and since the jobs created since 2008 have predominately been in the service sectors. As the National Employment Law Project noted, as of February 2014
Lower-wage industries constituted 22 percent of recession losses, but 44 percent of recovery growth.
Mid-wage industries constituted 37 percent of recession losses, but only 26 percent of recovery growth.
Higher-wage industries constituted 41 percent of recession losses, and 30 percent of recovery growth.
A December 2014 Pew Research Center report compared the jobs lost in the 2008 crisis with those created since the recovery began in 2009:
Millennials must struggle to establish their careers under these challenging conditions. The White House report notes that workers who start their career during a recession earn as much as 9 percent less per year “for at least 15 years after starting a career.” (Emphasis ours).
This conclusion, when combined with the ten-year window for earnings gains identified by the Federal Reserve of New York study, suggests that many Millennials’ lifetime earnings will suffer substantially if more isn’t done – and that many of them may be condemned to a lifetime of reduced achievement in unsatisfying jobs.
Sign #3: Millennials are facing the highest student debt burden in history.
As we noted in an essay written with Mary Green Swig and Steven L. Swig:
Approximately 41 million Americans now carry student debt, a figure that rose 40 percent between 2004 and 2012. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average amount owed for each graduating borrower has risen from less than $10,000 in 1993 to more than $30,000 in 2014 (in inflation-adjusted dollars).
The total amount of student debt currently owed is $1.3 trillion. That debt is disproportionately affecting lower-income households:
While this burden is most onerous at lower incomes, the debt burden is hampering the financial prospects of young graduates at all but the highest income levels.
Three Signs, One Reality
Young Americans face a weak job market, crushing student debt, and an economy in which their current earnings determine their financial future.
These three signs add up to one stark reality: A nation which prides itself on being the land of opportunity is closing the avenues of financial advancement for an entire generation. There are ways to change that, but only if we take action. An aggressive job program for younger Americans, combined with student debt relief, would certainly help.
In the end, however, we can’t solve the problems of young America without solving the inequality and wage stagnation which hamper the economy for most Americans. We’ll need a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda for all Americans.
One thing is clear: Until we take action, a nation which sings anthems to its young – “teach the children well,” “I believe the children are our future” – will have abdicated its responsibility toward its young.
Songs may inspire us — but numbers don’t lie.
Feb 19
Take the <i>QI</i> Test
Posted in: Today's ChiliQI (the letters stand for quite interesting) is a wildly successful TV game show that has been running in the UK for 12 years. It reaches an extraordinarily broad demographic, not just in Britain but also in Australia — where it is one of the country’s most successful imports, and repeated so often that there have been complaints in Parliament.
The idea behind the program is that audiences are much smarter than they are generally given credit for, but not necessarily better-informed. We also think people deserve friendly, cheerful television.
QI debuts tonight at 8pm on BBC America and runs every Thursday, three shows a night for five weeks. If you think you’re smart (or even if you think other people are smarter than you) you need to be there.
Because, as we say, “Everything you know is wrong.”
The show, hosted by British polymath Stephen Fry, asks a panel of four comedians two different types of questions. The first kind are so obscure and so difficult that they barely make sense, such as “What is 15 miles away and smells of geraniums?” or “Why don’t pigeons like going to the movies?” And the second kind are so pathetically obvious that even a five-year-old child could answer them: “How many moons does the world have?” “How many wives did Henry VIII have?” and “What’s the tallest mountain in the world?”
The answer to the first kind of question delivers information that will astonish you and enlarge your perspective of the universe. The thing that is 15 miles away and smells (so scientists say) of geraniums is the Ozone Layer. Pigeons don’t like going to the movies because they see in slow motion, to enable them to navigate through trees at dusk and avoid being run over by cars. A pigeon at a movie would have a really tedious experience — a single still frame of, say, Brad Pitt, a slab of black, then another, ever-so-slightly-different frame of Brad Pitt, and so on ad infinitum (from a pigeon POV) for hours and hours.
The second kind of question delivers a knockout punch. Get one wrong and you risk a 10-point forfeit. The Earth does not have one moon, it may have as many as 80,000. Henry VIII had either two or three wives (depending on whether you believe his testimony or that of the Pope). And the “tallest” mountain in the world is not Everest, but Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which is massively taller than Everest from base to summit, because most of its bulk is under the sea.
Orologists, who study mountains, measure the “height” of a mountain from sea-level to peak — but its “tallness” from base to peak. So Mauna Kea is “taller,” but not “higher” than Everest.
You may find this pedantic, but children love this stuff. On the show, we call it “General Ignorance.”
I met a 24-year-old teacher recently (who was 12 years old when QI began in the UK) and he estimated half his general knowledge came directly from the show.
QI was the first in popular culture to reveal that human beings have four nostrils not two, that Pluto is not really a planet and that coffee is not made from beans.
Tasked with coming up with the questions are a small team of researchers, dubbed by Fry “the QI Elves,” because, with their tiny spades, they chip away assiduously at the Mountain of Knowledge.
What, for example, was Mozart’s middle name? You’ll be amazed to hear it wasn’t Amadeus. The true answer is ‘Wolfgangus’. Two years before we asked, even Wikipedia didn’t know. Mozart was christened Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. (Amadeus is Latin for Greek Theophilus, “loved by God.”) The first article about Mozart on Wikipedia in 2001 fitted comfortably onto a single page. Today, it’s 18 times as long: Even the references take up more room.
The amount of available knowledge increases exponentially each day. One edition of the New York Times contains more information than the average person in the 17th century would have come across in a lifetime. You’d think, by now, everyone would know everything. But they don’t. In fact, my guess is we know less than we did 20 years ago.
Because we don’t need to remember anything any more: Whatever you need to know is there at the click of a mouse. Did you know, incidentally that mice prefer peanut butter to cheese? That’s something I didn’t know until recently, when the QI Elves delivered the MS for our latest book, 1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways, to be published by WW Norton later this year.
Our QI books, incidentally, have been published ’round the world, in 29 different languages — the first one, a New York Times bestseller, sold over a million copies.
Each series of QI deals with a different letter of the alphabet. The one about to start on BBC America is the “J” series. So we’re asking about jam, jargon, journalism, jungles, jobs, journeys, jingle bells and places beginning with “J.”
And we always have more stuff than we can fit in. It’s impossible to whistle in a spacesuit. The average US shareholding lasts 22 seconds. Nobody knows who invented the fire hydrant: the patent records were destroyed in a fire.
Adult fans of QI, older than the broadcasting Holy Grail of 16-30, find this kind of thing Quite Entertaining. Young people, however, have a very different take on the show. I’ve met 13-year olds who know whole episodes off by heart and can recite our books verbatim. Saudi Arabia imports sand. Sandcastles kill more people than sharks. Your brain uses less power than the light in your fridge. The Statue of Liberty wears size 879 shoes. Only 5% of the world’s population has ever been on a plane. A raw carrot is still alive when you eat it.
Only this week, we discovered three new Quite Interesting things. In 2010, the US military built a supercomputer out of 1,760 Playstation 3s, penguins can’t taste fish, and the strongest material in the world is snail’s teeth.
Join us tonight on a mad meander round the universe.
Get more information, or catch The QI Elves’ popular weekly podcast No Such Thing As A Fish on www.qi.com. Or visit Twitter @qikipedia or Facebook.
Feb 19
Harris Wittels, co-executive producer of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Thursday. TMZ was first to report the news, which was confirmed to The Huffington Post by a spokesperson for Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
In a statement to The Huffington Post, a Los Angeles Police Department representative said the 30-year-old was found by his assistant at around 12 p.m. PT on Thursday. The cause of death is not yet determined, and will be decided by coroner.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, police responded to a call to Wittels’ home for a possible overdose.
Wittels had spoken about his battle with drug addiction in the past, and had been to rehab twice.
In addition to “Parks and Recreation,” which ends it series run next week, Wittels also worked on series such as “Eastbound And Down,” and “The Sarah Silverman Program.” He is also credited with coining the term “humblebrag,” a type of boast disguised in modesty. He published a book in 2012, “Humblebrag: The Art Of False Modesty,” based on his Twitter account.
Feb 19
It has been quite a while since BlackBerry updated its own mobile operating system, but now the wait is over for the BlackBerry faihtful. The company has just announced the launch of BlackBerry 10 version 10.3.1 which, among other things, gives users access to Android apps via Amazon’s marketplace. But more than just the new features, one of the important … Continue reading
Feb 19
Rumors and leaks about Apple’s electric vehicle, which may or may not be self-driving, just keeps on pouring in. Apple has been known to eye cars but, until recently, everyone presumed it was just for in-vehicle infotainment systems. Now insider sources are revealing just how aggressive Cupertino’s automobile push really is, saying that the iPhone maker is eying a 2020 … Continue reading
Feb 19
A black hole and its galaxy are locked in a cosmic struggle, evolving in tandem and balancing each other’s growth. In this artist’s recreation, you can see cosmic winds howling out of supermassive black hole PDS 456. These winds are so strong that they prevent the galaxy from forming new stars.
Feb 19
10 Surprising Things You Never Knew About Infidelity
Posted in: UncategorizedAn enormous amount of research has been done on infidelity, as people seek to understand why and how cheaters stray.
And while the studies and surveys advance our understanding, some of the findings are just plain weird. (We’re looking at you, researcher who discovered that men who cheat are more prone to break their penises.)
Below are 10 fascinating tidbits about infidelity culled from studies and less-than scientific surveys.
1. You may be genetically predisposed to cheat.
If you’re the cheating kind, you may have your genes to blame: Researchers from Binghamton University found that about half of all people with the DRD4 gene — also known as the “thrill-seeking” gene — were more prone to promiscuity and unfaithfulness.
2. Women think men with deep voices are more likely to cheat.
Bad news for men who sound anything like Barry White. A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences showed that women perceive men with deep voices as being more likely to cheat. Researchers asked women to listen to men’s voices and determine which guys were prone to cheat, and which they were most attracted to for long- and short-term flings. The verdict? The deep-voiced men were seen as being more suitable for a fling and more likely to stray.
3. Democrats are more tolerant of cheating than Republicans.
How you react to being cheated on might have something to do with your politics. In a YouGov poll commissioned by The Huffington Post, 14 percent of Democrats versus 10 percent of Republicans surveyed said they would definitely give their partner a second chance if they discovered an affair.
4. Having an affair may increase the risk of a broken penis.
Affairs don’t just break hearts, they might also break penises. Dr. Andrew Kramer, a urologist and assistant professor of surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center, studied 16 cases of penile fracture between 2007 and 2011 that required surgery. Half of those men admitted to fracturing their member during an extramarital affair. “I think the time you don’t see a lot of men fracturing their penises is in the bedroom with his wife that he’s been married to for a number of years,” Kramer explained to the Huffington Post
5. Cheaters find their spouses more attractive than their affair partners.
When it comes to cheating, it’s not all about looks. Extra-marital dating site Victoria Milan polled over 4,000 of their members and found that most cheaters considered their significant others to be more attractive than their affair partners.
6. Men who cheat are more likely to have heart attacks than non-cheaters.
And in another blow to cheating men everywhere, a study out of the University of Florence suggested that “sudden coital death” is more common when a man is getting it on with his mistress in an unfamiliar setting than when he’s having sex with his spouse at home.
7. Women are more likely to cheat if their mothers were cheaters.
A survey by Illicit Encounters — an extra-marital dating site based in Britain — polled 2,000 members and found that 73 percent of women who admitted to having an affair had mothers who cheated as well. Apparently, the unfaithful apple doesn’t fall far from the unfaithful tree.
8. Cheaters love taking their dates to Morton’s The Steakhouse.
Chain restaurants and steak houses came out on top when extramarital dating site Ashley Madison asked roughly 43,000 of their users where they take their dates to dinner. Morton’s The Steakhouse was the most popular choice. The Cheesecake Factory and Ruth’s Chris made the list, too.
9. Most millennials consider flirting online to be a form of cheating.
Be careful with those heart-eye and winky face emojis if you’re in a relationship. The website Fusion recently asked 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds if they thought “online flirtations or relationships” counted as cheating, and 82 percent said yes.
10. Wednesday is the most popular day for people to cheat.
They don’t call it “hump day” for nothing: Wednesday, between 5 and 7 p.m, is the most popular day and time for people to cheat, according to dating site Ashley Madison.
Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Divorce on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our newsletter here.
Feb 19
WASHINGTON (AP) — The operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city from Islamic State militants will likely begin in April or May and will involve about 12 Iraqi brigades, or between 20,000 and 25,000 troops, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday.
Laying out details of the expected Mosul operation for the first time, the official from U.S. Central Command said five Iraqi Army brigades will soon go through coalition training in Iraq to prepare for the mission. Those five would make up the core fighting force that would launch the attack, but they would be supplemented by three smaller brigades serving as reserve forces, along with three Peshmerga brigades who would contain the Islamic State fighters from the north and west. The Peshmerga are Kurdish forces from northern Iraq.
The official said there also would be a Mosul fighting force, largely made up of former Mosul police and tribal forces, who would have to be ready to go back into the city once the army units clear out the Islamic State fighters.
Included in the force would be a brigade of Iraqi counterterrorism forces who have been trained by U.S. special operations forces. The brigades include roughly 2,000 troops each. The official was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Military leaders don’t often disclose as many details of an operation before it takes place, but in some cases it can have an impact on the enemy, trigger a reaction or even prompt some militants to flee before the assault begins.
The operation itself comes as no surprise to the Islamic State group. Iraqi leaders have for months made it publicly clear that they were planning an operation to retake Mosul and that they were eager to get started. In addition, U.S. officials had already acknowledged that they were beginning preparations for the Mosul mission, including using airstrikes to shut down supply lines that the insurgents were using to get equipment or people in and out of the city.
Asked why U.S. Central Command was telegraphing the timeframe and details of the operation to the enemy, the official said it was important to highlight the effort the Iraqi security forces are putting into the mission and how committed they are to it.
The official said the U.S. will provide military support for the operation, including training, air support, intelligence and surveillance. The official said there has been no decision made yet on whether to send in some U.S. ground troops to help call in airstrikes. That decision would be made by senior defense and military leaders and President Barack Obama.
Islamic State militants overtook Mosul last June, as the group marched across large sections of Iraq and Syria, sending Iraqi forces fleeing. At this point, officials estimate there are between 1,000 to 2,000 Islamic State insurgents in the city of Mosul. Military leaders have been talking about retaking the city for some time, but they have said they won’t launch the operation until the Iraqi troops are ready.
The official said they wanted to retake Mosul in the spring, before the summer heat and the holiday month of Ramadan kick in.
“But by the same token, if they’re not ready, if the conditions are not set, if all the equipment they need is not physically there and they (aren’t) trained to a degree in which they will be successful, we have not closed the door on continuing to slide that to the right,” he said.
Under the plan, the approximately 3,200 Iraqi forces that have completed the training already or are going through it now would replace the five main brigades wherever thay are now, and those five units would then go through several weeks of final training before the Mosul operation begins.
The official also revealed for the first time that Qatar has agreed to host a training site for coalition forces to train moderate Syrian rebels who would return to Syria to fight the Islamic State forces there. Other sites are in Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The training facility in Jordan is ready to go. The technical agreement on the Turkey training site was signed Thursday, and it is nearly ready. The facility in Saudi Arabia will be ready to open in one to three months, and the site in Qatar will be finished in six to nine months, the official said.
The U.S. and other coalition nations will train the Syrian fighters so they can return to their own country and battle the Islamic State group.
Feb 19
Grateful for SNL's Humility
Posted in: Today's ChiliSincere humility and gratitude aren’t qualities one normally associates with the entertainment industry. That’s why I was bowled over during the closing segments of Saturday Night Live‘s recent 40th-anniversary broadcast.
The “Wayne’s World” sketch featured Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprising their roles as hosts of a cable-access TV show that ends with a Top 10 list. Previous installments have featured rankings of their favorite albums and music videos (the more risquè the title or content, the better). On this outing, however, the ever-youthful duo’s list was “The Top 10 Things About SNL”.
The #1 item had nothing to do with sex, drugs or rock and roll. No, for Wayne and Garth, the best thing about Saturday Night Live is… the crew! The hosts gave a heartfelt thanks to the camera operators, cue-card holders, and all of the other behind-the-scenes employees whose hard work and dedication are rarely acknowledged publicly.
Yet in a national prime-time broadcast seen by over 23 million people, those tireless men and women were given a standing ovation by the show’s hosts and an audience filled with the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift and other A-list celebrities.
Watch the segment here.
This morning, NBC’s TODAY aired a segment that explained why Eddie Murphy chose not to get easy laughs by impersonating Bill Cosby on SNL’s Jeopardy! parody. Murphy declined to participate in the skit because he didn’t want to “kick a man when he is down,” according to fellow cast member Norm Macdonald.
Are there bigger ethical issues in the world than the goings-on in a television comedy show? Yes. If Bill Cosby really is guilty of the horrendous charges against him, does he deserve to be punished? Yes.
But with public expressions of humility and gratitude so few and far between, the choices made by Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, and Eddie Murphy deserve our respect, because they are signs of something all-too-rare in popular culture or anywhere else: high character.
* * *
What do you think? As always, I welcome your thoughts.
Thank you for reading this blog. Live honorably!
Warm regards from ice-cold New York City,
Bruce Weinstein, Ph.D.
The Ethics Guy®
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