News Cut: July 24, 2012 Archive

Minnesota best place to live -- in 20 years

Posted at 8:42 AM on July 24, 2012 by Paul Tosto

If you love Minnesota now, just wait until 2032!

The Gallup organization recently cited Minnesota and other north central states as among those that in 20 years "will have tackled unemployment, financial worry, healthcare costs, obesity, and education challenges. It will be a place where most residents are healthy, optimistic, employed in good jobs they love, and enthusiastic about their communities."

That's awesome, although it sounds a bit, uh, Utopian.

Remember, 40 years ago Time Magazine painted us in lush colors of success when it declared Minnesota "A State that Works." We didn't look all that successful in the longest state government shutdown in history.

Anyway, Gallup writes:

The West North Central region, which includes Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, is the region poised for the brightest future. Workers in this area are most likely to be employed full time for an employer in the type of good jobs associated with high GDP.

Residents have the highest economic confidence in the nation, setting the region up for a strong economic future. They are also the most likely to report easy access to clean, safe water, meaning that this region is best positioned to address one of the critical resource challenges of the future.

Gallup used metrics from job creation to dental visits and smoking rates to "city optimism" in its calculations.

Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi sit at the bottom of Gallup's list of places to live in 20 years, suggesting that income, education and poverty drive the underlying data on a state's well being, even in the future.

-- Paul Tosto

Alaska's brown bears, live

Posted at 11:48 AM on July 24, 2012 by Paul Tosto

I've been a little bear-fixated since last year when I happened to be in Yellowstone National Park the same week a hiker was killed by a grizzly

So I'm fascinated this morning watching a new web cam at the Brooks River in Alaska's Katmai National Park.

Running on wind and solar power, the cam came on line today, allowing a chance to watch the bears feeding in real time.

Sexting is a healthy part of dating?

Posted at 3:15 PM on July 24, 2012 by Paul Tosto (3 Comments)

Sending sexually explicit photos of yourself apparently is not the aberrant behavior we thought it was.

University of Michigan researchers say it may just be part of our crazy modern mating ritual!

The university today writes:

For young adults today who were weaned on iPods and the Internet, the practice of "sexting," or sending sexually explicit photos or messages through phones, may be just another normal, healthy component of modern dating.

University of Michigan researchers looked at the sexting behavior of 3,447 men and women ages 18-24 and found that while sexting is very common, sexting isn't associated with sexually risky behaviors or with psychological problems.

The findings contradict the public perception of sexting, which is often portrayed in the media and elsewhere as unsavory, deviant or even criminal behavior, said Jose Bauermeister, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Public Health and co-principal investigator of the study.

The researchers are quick to point out that their research involved adults 18 to 24, people "considerably older" than the pre-teens and young teenagers that have drawn much of the negative sexting press.

The researchers found that nearly half of the study respondents participated in sexting. Most people who reported receiving "sexts" also reported sending them, which suggests that sexting is reciprocal and likely happens between romantic partners.

The researchers asked study participants about the number of sexual partners with whom they have had unprotected sex. The participants who "sexted" did not report riskier sexual behavior than those who didn't. Nor did they report more depression, anxiety or low self-esteem.

OK, this is the part where I acknowledge that I am older (50) but that even in my wildest days I never felt compelled to fax prospective mates pictures of my private regions.

-- Paul Tosto

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