News Cut Category Archive: Surveys and trivia

A firm which knows how to get attention for its press releases has calculated the market value of the White House:

Real estate Web site Zillow.com today announced it has calculated a Zestimate(R) value for the White House were it actually a home that could be bought and sold. That estimated value - $308,058,000 - would make this by far the most expensive residence in the United States, however still more than $23 million less than its value one year ago. Zillow(R) calculated this value using its proprietary Zestimate algorithm that determines a home's estimated worth today based on public data and recent sales.

It's also calculated that the monthly payment would be $1.48 million, not including the taxes and insurance escrow.

The firm has also calculated that the market value of the White House has declined by 7.2% this year which is a much smaller hit than many Americans have taken.

A few weeks ago, Google announced it was putting thousands of Time-Life photos on its image search, and when I checked it out, this was one of the first ones I found. It was from the 1964 World's Fair and this population clock was a big deal to me (10 years old at the time) because it was in the Equitable Life pavilion and my dad worked for Equitable.

I was thinking of this today because the Census Bureau put out a press release this afternoon that said as of New Year's Day, the U.S. population will be 305,529,237.

It said In January 2009, one birth is expected to occur every eight seconds in the United States and one death every 12 seconds.

And, according to the census bureau, net international migration is expected to add one person every 36 seconds to the U.S. population in January 2009, resulting in an increase in the total U.S. population of one person every 14 seconds.

That's a factoid that, coupled with the photo, makes me whip out the official News Cut calculator.

Let's see:

Since 1964, the population has grown by 113,430,699. There are 31,556,926 seconds in a year. There have been 11 leap days since 1964, each containing 86,400 seconds or 950,400. So, since that picture was taken in 1964 (I'll guess and say Jule 1) to New Year's Day, 1,405,233,607 seconds have come and gone.

So the population has increased at the rate of 1 every 12 seconds, somewhat less more than the predicted 1 every 14 seconds for 1999.

One reason for that may be those people sitting at the top of the stops in the picture above. It's a couple and their 14 kids. There's something you don't hear a lot of anymore -- couples and their 14 kids.

How can any guy compete with Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail? They can't, and a study out of Scotland confirms it -- romantic comedies are bad for relationships because they create unrealistic expectations.

Researchers at Heriot Watt University's Family and Personal Relationships Laboratory in Edinburgh studied 40 romantic comedies released between 1995 and 2005, and found that problems reported by couples in relationship counseling reflect misconceptions about love and romance depicted in the movies.

I have been away from News Cut for the last five days and the way this "cold" has treated me so far, it may be a few days yet before I return. From what I understand, everyone in Minnesota is suffering from the same seasonal disorder, though the strongest in the majority are going to work, leaving the weakest in the herd behind to stretch out on the sofa, watching the stock market ticker on a minute-by-minute basis (we're too weak to turn the channel) and wondering which will kill us first: the economy or this misnamed affliction.

A "cold" sounds so puny, and it usually is until you hit your 50s and then you find it takes longer to recover from such things. We don't expect others to understand, and so we embellish our woes a bit. "I have the flu," one might say, and that worked great until Google ruined things by developing an application a few months ago that tracks the flu.

Google has determined that keywords that people enter in its search engine are indicative of a flu outbreak. For peace of mind alone, I've been entering "I have the freakin' flu" in the search box for the last two hours, but Google has determined that I don't.

By the way, if you actually type in "I have the freakin' flu" in Google, the number one item that is returned in the search is "get your freakin' flu shot."

The Pew Center is out with a survey this evening that says most people like the idea of living in a diverse neighborhood or area, even though most don't live in areas that are politically diverse.

Says the survey:

This preference for diverse communities is greater among Democrats, liberals, college graduates, blacks, and secular Americans than it is among the population as a whole. But virtually all major groups, at least to some degree, choose diversity over homogeneity when asked where they would like to live.

But almost half the votes cast in the presidential election last month were cast in counties that went for either Barack Obama or John McCain by huge margins.

Back in 1976, only 27% of all voters lived in such "landslide counties," according to figures compiled by Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing, authors of "The Big Sort," a book which argues that Americans are clustering into politically like-minded enc

What's unclear, they say, is whether that's happening by accident or whether people are intentionally living in or moving to areas where other people -- at least politically -- are just like them.

This one writes itself.

Says the Associated Press:

In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.

Sixty-four percent cheat? There are some standardized tests where the barely 64-percent passed!

ONe of the questions asked kids to respond to the assertion that "in sports, if you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough." Thirteen percent of boys agreed. But the real question is how what percentage of that percentage is on the team?

Perhaps more disturbing than the numbers is the ease with which some education officials dismissed them. Perhaps it's not really about the "pressures society puts on them."

The survey was done by the Josephine Center at the Institute for Youth Ethics. They were smart enough to ask the kids if they were being honest in answering the questions. Almost 30 percent said "no."

Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, was on Face the Nation this morning and something didn't seem quite right. After nearly 30 years of a steady diet of red power ties on Sunday morning talk shows, there he was in a power blue tie.

Then I realized, it's not an accident. Check the lineup from Friday's Obama news conference:

And I can't quite tell from this picture of Friday's news conference by Mark Ritchie, Minnesota's Secretary of State, on Mary Lahammer's excellent blog, but from a distance, isn't that a bluish tie?

Ritchie popped up on KSTP today on Tom Hauser's show (which I believe is taped) and we have not one, but two power blues.

On Meet the Press, meanwhile, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn was sending a bipartisan message.

Perhaps last week's election was the first part of the men's department stimulus package.

Update Mon. 11/10 4:35 p.m. - President-elect Obama met President Bush at the White House today, and injected new life into the blue-tie theory.

(Washington photos via Getty Images)

Last evening, I posted a picture of Mary Lucia's dog with the request for captions that will make us laugh. This is clearly the winner in the "Photoshop" division.

This is the outstanding work of News Cut reader Dan Gilchrist of Minneapolis. It's true, I didn't actually have a Photoshop category. Now I do.

The BBC carries a story this afternoon about a 26 year old passenger on a train in France, who dropped his cellphone into the toilet. He tried to fish it out, only to become trapped.

"He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off," said Benoit Gigou, a witness to the man's plight.

There are many ills in America's political system but one of the most disturbing ones is that important stories get lost in the nonsense of campaign trivia.

Here's one:

Half -- half! -- of the doctors in this country prescribe phony pills. Even worse, most of them don't feel bad about it.

Says the New York Times:

Several medical ethicists say they're troubled by the results, including study coauthor Franklin Miller: "This is the doctor-patient relationship, and our expectations about being truthful about what's going on and about getting informed consent should give us pause about deception

Some of the doctors embrace the "benevolent deception" theory-- that it's OK to deceive you if it's good for you in the long run.

And do patients really have that close of a relationship with doctors anymore, where the absence of trust is a big deal?

By the way, don't tell the New York Times, but I actually first brought this up in January.

In days gone by, I joked with Mary Lucia of the Current that all the world's strange things happen in Oklahoma. These days, it's Ohio.

Dateline: Blue Ash, Ohio. (Begin sound of Dragnet theme here). The cops surrounded -- I might be embellishing this a bit -- the home of Edna Jester.

"Give the football back," a cop on a loudspeaker says as the simultaneous sound of rifles being cocked (are rifles cocked? I don't know, I don't own a gun.) pierces the calm Ohio air.

"You'll never take me alive, coppers" the old biddy shouts as she knocks the stained glass portrait of Boomer Esiason out to get a more tactical look at the situation.

In suburban Cincinnati, where they've had 8 property crimes all year, Edna -- did I mention she's 89 years old -- is Public Enemy #1.

Some kids kept kicking a football into her yard, she kept it, and the police arrested her.

"It's the only way to get through to these kids," she said.

Film at 11.

The Oxford Internet Institute is out today with a survey that shows a wide disparity in couples depending on where they live.

"Britons are the least likely to complain if modern life leaves their partners too tired for sex. Australians are less worried by their spouse being less affectionate and Americans argue more," says the BBC.

The survey was put together for the online dating site, eHarmony, and appears to be part of a massive year-long project to explore the Internet and dating. Serious stuff.

Couples in the U.S. experience a dip in "marital satisfaction" around the birth of their first child, something that may be surprising to anyone who hasn't had a kid yet.

But wait, there's more in the survey!

In the US, couples put more focus on the interpersonal facets of their relationships, reporting that they laugh together, exchange ideas, kiss, and confide in each other more often. However, they also have more arguments and are more likely to report that their partners annoy them.

There's something you can discuss with your spouse this evening. Let me know how that goes. And spare no details.

Let's step back from the ledge for a few minutes, just long enough to remember that it's still OK to have a little fun.

For sheer, gee-I-wish-I-could-do-that-if-I-weren't-so-chicken daydreaming, nothing fits the bill better than Yves Rossy, who jumped out of an airplane over France this morning, and landed about 13 minutes later in England.

He wore a jetpack-powered wing on his back:

Rossy's wing was made from carbon composite. It weighs about 121 pounds when loaded with fuel and carried four kerosene-burning jet turbines. The contraption has no steering devices. Rossy, a commercial airline pilot by training, wiggled his body back and forth to control the wing's movements.

He wore a heat-resistant suit similar to that worn by firefighters and racing drivers to protect him from the heat of the turbines. The cooling effect of the wind and high altitude also prevented him from getting too warm.

Why? What the heck! Why not? It beats sitting around watching the 401K free-fall.

The Census Bureau released its American Community Survey this morning. Here's some insight into Minnesota:

Speaking English:17.9% in the 5th Congressional District (Minneapolis) speak a language other than English -- the highest percentage in the state. Only 3.4% of people in the 8th District -- northern Minnesota -- speak a language other than English.

Home-grown Minnesotans:Eighty percent of the people in the 6th District were born in Minnesota. Only 64% in the 5th District were born in Minnesota. 84.4% of the people in Stearns County are Minnesotans by birth. Twenty percent of Brooklyn Park was born in another country.

Need a lift? 77.8% of the people in the state drive to work alone. Scott and Anoka County residents drive to work alone most often. (84%). Almost 9% of the metropolitan region carpools to work. Washington County has the highest percentage (10.1%) of carpoolers.

Sherburne County residents have the longest mean commute -- 32 minutes. The median commuting time in Minneapolis and St. Paul is about 22 minutes.

I get around: Just over 17% of the people in Ramsey County and St. Louis County lived in another house one year ago.

Five brides for seven brothers: There are more unmarried men per 100 unmarried women in Minnesota in Northern Minnesota (123) than in any other part of the state. But Carver County has the highest single-man ratio (134).

Sixty something: The youngest median age in Minnesota is the 2nd Congressional District. The oldest is the 8th District. The 7th District has more people over 65 (17%) than any other part of the state. Of the major counties, St. Louis County has the highest percentage of residents over 65 (15.9%). 18% of Bloomington is over 65.

High school: Stearns County has the lowest percentage of people 25 or over who completed high school or received a GED. (89.9%)

The poor: 9.5% of the people live below the poverty level. The highest is St. Louis County (14.9%). Twenty-three percent of St. Cloud lives below the poverty level.

It's Carver! The median household income is $55,802. It's $78,975 in Carver County. The median family income is $69,172. It's $96,885 in Carver County. The median cost for housing per month is $1,500.

The highest median housing value of an owner-occupied home is in Washington County ($282,500).

34.6% of mortgage owners spend more than 30% of their income a month on housing. The highest percentage, however, is in Sherburne County (41.6%).

Why is it so hard to change the mind of a voter? A Nebraska study out today theorizes that there's a physiological reason:

46 volunteers were first asked about their political views on issues ranging from foreign aid and the Iraq war to capital punishment and patriotism.

Those with strong opinions were invited to take part in the second part of the experiment, which involved recording their physiological responses to a series of images and sounds.

The images included pictures of a frightened man with a large spider on his face and an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects were also startled with loud noises on occasion.

The more easily startled, the study says, tended to have more right-wing political views.

The University of Nebraska's Dr. John Hibbing says there's no political value to his research other than to explain to both sides of the proverbial fence that the other is simply experiencing the world differently.

Rice University political scientist John Alford told Newsweek magazine that there are three influences on political opinion: biological predisposition, socialization, and adult experience.

"If you ask someone why they support the Iraq War, they would probably give you some answers out of those latter two categories. They would make an intellectual argument: we were faced with a threat and this was the right choice. If you pushed, they might also mention socialization: well, I'm an Army brat, my dad was a Colonel, my brother's in the Marines. One thing that they'd never say, in my experience is I'm simply biologically predisposed to be sensitive to threats. What's really important here is that we're not dismissing intellectual choice or experience. We're just asking for a place at the table for biology."

Why is it so hard to change the mind of a voter? A Nebraska study out today theorizes that there's a physiological reason:

46 volunteers were first asked about their political views on issues ranging from foreign aid and the Iraq war to capital punishment and patriotism.

Those with strong opinions were invited to take part in the second part of the experiment, which involved recording their physiological responses to a series of images and sounds.

The images included pictures of a frightened man with a large spider on his face and an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects were also startled with loud noises on occasion.

The more easily startled, the study says, tended to have more right-wing political views.

The University of Nebraska's Dr. John Hibbing says there's no political value to his research other than to explain to both sides of the proverbial fence that the other is simply experiencing the world differently.

Rice University political scientist John Alford told Newsweek magazine that there are three influences on political opinion: biological predisposition, socialization, and adult experience.

"If you ask someone why they support the Iraq War, they would probably give you some answers out of those latter two categories. They would make an intellectual argument: we were faced with a threat and this was the right choice. If you pushed, they might also mention socialization: well, I'm an Army brat, my dad was a Colonel, my brother's in the Marines. One thing that they'd never say, in my experience is I'm simply biologically predisposed to be sensitive to threats. What's really important here is that we're not dismissing intellectual choice or experience. We're just asking for a place at the table for biology."

Video games do not turn people into socially isolated creatures. So says a new study from Pew.

Here's the full report. It comes just a few weeks after an MIT professor debunked 8 myths about video games.

In other news, video games have been blamed for a fiery motorcycle crash, a sex attack, and a satanic sword killing.

A new survey says 35 percent Of BlackBerry And PDA users would choose their device over their spouse, according to CBS.

Here's what else the survey from Sheraton Hotels found:

84% check their PDAs just before they go to bed and just after they wake up.
84 % feel that technology gives them more quality time and flexibility with family and friends.
77% say their PDA helps them enjoy life more.

... one credential at a time.

(h/t: St. Paul writer Erik Hare)

I admit to occasionally wishing ill will on weather people who stand outside in the middle of a hurricane (or tropical storm), dressed in their sponsor-logo raingear, desperately trying to stand still, and ready to take one for the team, all in the interest of telling us to take the hurricane seriously and stay indoors.

But I wouldn't wish this on anybody, no matter how ill advised the activity that led to it. Kevin Kearney was badly injured while kite surfing during Tropical Storm Fay in Ft. Lauderdale.

The obvious question: What was he thinking? A less obvious one: Why didn't he let go?

His mother told a TV talk show this morning that the man saw the video for the first time last night. "He thought they filmed the wrong guy," she said. Alicia Paradise-Garza says he doesn't remember the incident. "He knew there was some kind of danger, but he didn't calculate the tornado or windspout that picked him up."

Last night, his friends set up a Web site on the man's behalf, to help raise money for his medical bills.

A similar accident in Spain last year won a Darwin Award nomination.

The "press release" folder in my INBOX reveals the "campus sustainability report card" today from the National Wildlife Federation.

This comprehensive study by National Wildlife Federation and Princeton Survey Research Associates International reviews trends and new developments in environmental performance and sustainability at 1,068 institutions. It recognizes colleges and universities for exemplary efforts and awards academic letter grades (A through D) for collective, national performance on environmental literacy, energy, water, transportation, landscaping, waste reduction and more. The report analyzes collective trends in the areas of management, operations, and academics.

But enough about them, what about us? We're Minnesotans, afterall, and we love surveys that show our superiority.

University of Minnesota Morris
Augsburg
Bemidji State
Carleton
College of St. Benedict
Dakota County Technical
Gustavus Adolphus
Northland Community and Technical
St. Cloud State
St. Olaf
Winona State

.. were all listed in the "exemplary" category.

Individual states didn't get rated but the Midwest got a "B" for setting goals (the Midwest was lowest rated), B- for staffing environmental programs (middle of the pack), C- in orienting students, C in integrating environmental topics into academics, B- in professional development (highest of all regions), A in water efficiency upgrades (everyone got an "A"), B+ in energy efficiency, D in use of solar, wind, and biomass, A in recycling, C in transportation management, and B in landscaping.

Find the full report here.

It's not that I don't love my job; I do. But I always marvel at the folks who undertake great expeditions without a care, apparently, for having to make a living at it. The various journeys to Antarctica and the North Pole from Minnesota explorers are a couple of examples.

Now there's a third. Two guys are going to spend time riding a scooter from Minnesota to New York City-- and back again. Why? To demonstrate the power of the scooter in the era of high-priced gasoline.

Says the 'expedition's' Web site:

2007, Dustin Saunders moved to Minnesota to seek new opportunities. Once he settled in, the love for his scooter he left in Utah was too much to bear. Dustin then traveled with his friends to Utah to pick it up, and drive the scooter back to Minnesota.

Scooter Quest was originally meant for family and friends to check to see how progress was going as the crew made it back from Utah, to Minnesota. Now, in 2008, Sean, Dustin, and Michael will take their scooters and venture across parts of the United States on an epic adventure of traveling, exploration and fun. The adventure begins on August 23rd, 2008 from Minneapolis, MN ending in New York, NY with checkpoints in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia along the way.

Check out their Web site and their plans to stay connected during their journey. They leave in a couple of days.

(h/t: Laura Yuen)

The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal is out with its list of the best places to work.

According to a news release, here's the criteria:

To be eligible for consideration as a Business Journal Best Place to Work, companies had to have an office in the Twin Cities 11-county metro area with 10 or more employees, or be Minnesota-based companies with at least 1,000 employees in the state. They also had to have a certain number of employees, depending on company size, complete the online survey.

The online survey part of it is a little questionable. One can imagine the benevolent boss begging the employees to click the survey.

Here's the list:

Administaff Inc.
Arts Midwest
Azul 7
C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.
Capella Education Co.
Carmichael Lynch
Certes Financial Professionals Corp.
Clockwork Active Media Systems
CMGRP Inc.
Colliers Turley Martin Tucker
Comcast
Ecolab Inc.
Ecumen
First Financial USA Ltd.
Fortune Financial
Fredrikson & Byron
Goff & Howard Inc.
Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett
Great River Energy
Harbinger Partners Inc.
HealthEast Care System
Horizontal Integration
Intertech Inc.
Into the Mystic Inc.
JRA Financial Advisors
Lakeview Health
Lancet Software Development Inc.
LarsonAllen
Lindquist & Vennum
Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc.
Olson
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly
Parsinen Kaplan Rosberg + Gotlieb
RBA Inc.
Reside
Riverbridge Partners
Salo
Securian Financial Group Inc.
Solution Design Group Inc.
SPS Commerce
Tobin Real Estate Co.
Vibrant Technologies Inc.
Wells Fargo
Wenck Associates Inc.
Winthrop & Weinstine

If you work at one of those places, what's so great about it. If you work at another place not listed, why do you think it shold -- or shouldn't -- be on the list.

(PS: I'll be on the road to St. Cloud this morning. Posting will be sporadic until the afternoon)

I admit it: I love surveys that are about... us.

Minnesota leads the nation in ACT scores? Great. We eat it up. Good job, kids. Take that, Wisconsin! How do you like us now, Iowa?

Less fascinating are the ones -- the obviously inaccurate ones -- that paint us in a less flattering light.

Forbes, for example, says fans of the Minnesota Twins are among the fairest of the fair-weather fans in Major League Baseball. We console ourselves with this injustice by reminding people that the same outfit named Kevin McHale the best general manager in all of sports.

Late today, came another blow to our Gopher-sized ego. Minnesota ranks 44th -- 44th! -- in the nation in fast Internet connections. The Minnesota average is 1.57 megabits per second. The U.S. average is 2.35. Japan is 63.60 megabits per second. A year ago, Minnesota ranked 26th. Wisconsin has passed us. Iowa has not.

The report comes from the Communications Workers of America, the union that stands to benefit, of course, should panic ensue over the situation.

In Wisconsin, an underaged person can be served -- and drink -- alcohol, as long as it's OK with the parents who are with the kid. But don't try playing a guitar. Insert your own Wisconsin joke here.

But it's not a laughing matter for Tallan "The T-Man" Latz. He's 8 years old and apparently a heck of a blues player.

But the state of Wisconsin is threatening action if he keeps trying to play in the state's bars and taverns, the Associated Press reports.

An anonymous e-mail sent to state officials complained that Tallan was too young to perform in taverns and nightclubs because of state child labor laws. His booking agent even got an anonymous letter threatening her with death if she keeps booking him.

When Tallan's father read him the state's letter saying he couldn't play clubs anymore (he can still play festivals), the boy's response -- like his music -- seemed beyond his years.

"He goes, 'It's not how many times you get knocked down but it's how many times you get back up and go forward,' Carl Latz said his son told him. "And I told him that's exactly what this is all about and if nothing else this letter just taught you a life lesson."

Tallan was apparently turned in by another blues guitarist who was tired of losing gigs to a kid. Drink up, kid. The show's over.

Money Magazine, the magazine that's made surveys a cottage industry, has another Minnesota feel-good survey for us.

Plymouth, you're number one.

Lots of rich people, plenty of good jobs, and -- no doubt -- more than a few Money Magazine subscribers makes it the "best small city in America."

Eagan is at #17

More people come to work in Eagan than leave each day. Big companies like Thompson-Routers and Blue Cross Blue Shield are its largest employers.

Check with us on that a year from now, Money.

Apple Valley is #24

To combat urban sprawl, the city has a core downtown area where all commercial businesses lie, with the surrounding neighborhoods free from them.

No offense, Apple Valley -- and Money -- but unless I'm missing something, you look like just about any suburb in America.

Lakeville, which actually has a there there, is #26.

Lakeville is a southern suburb of the Twin Cities that has more than 100 years of history. The town treasures an historic downtown that gives it a unique feel compared to other burbs.

Eden Prairie is #40. Maple Grove is #41. Burnsville is #43. Rochester is #70 (not really sure why Rochester is on this list since it's apparent you have to be a cookie-cutter suburb to even be considered in Minnesota. How else do you explain the absence of so many -- you know -- small cities where people actually answer with the name of the city they actually live in when people ask them where they're from?). Blaine is #93.

Texas had the most number of cities on the list (13). Minnesota tied with New Jersey (9) for second.

Last week MPR's Cathy Wurzer interviewed Eric Thomas of Duluth, who aims to sail solo from San Francisco to Hawaii in the Singlehanded TransPacific Yacht Race. Yacht sounds like a big boat to us landlubbers.

Here's his yacht, courtesy of MPR listener Andrea Diamond, who took this picture a year ago at the conclusion of the Trans Superior race.

Andrea wrote on Saturday:

Hi, I sail w/ Eric on Polar Bear when he's not doing the solo thing. I just got a text message from his wife Sarah that he's off and was first across the starting line (that's a great way to start!). I am looking for some photos I took of Eric finishing the Trans-Superior last summer and will send those along.

Here's a page where you can follow along.

How do you want to "go?" Quickly or slowly?

Yes, it's creepy to talk about it but fascinating nonetheless as Jen Gross proves on the New York Times' blog The New Old Age. She writes this week about a recent presentation that asked people when they wanted to die. Most, as you might expect, chose when they are "old."

Then the presenter asked : When the room was not thrilled with cancer and then heart disease, they were told that they'd just chosen "dementia and frailty."

"How many of you expect to die?" she asked.

The audience fell silent, laughed nervously and only then, looking one to the other, slowly raised their hands.

"Would you prefer to be old when it happens?" she then asked.

This time the response was swift and sure, given the alternative.

Then Dr. Lynn, who describes herself as an "old person in training," offered three options to the room. Who would choose cancer as the way to go? Just a few. Chronic heart failure, or emphysema? A few more.

"So all the rest of you are up for frailty and dementia?" Dr. Lynn asked.

On the screen above the dais, she showed graphs describing the three most common ways that old people die and the trajectory and duration of each scenario. Cancer deaths, which peak at age 65, usually come after many years of good health followed by a few weeks or months of steep decline, according to Dr. Lynn's data. The 20 percent of Americans who die this way need excellent medical care during the long period of high functioning, she said, and then hospice support for both patient and family during the sprint to death.

Deaths from organ failure, generally heart or lung disease, peak among patients 10 years older, killing about one in four Americans around age 75 after a far bumpier course. These patients' lives are punctuated by bouts of severe illness alternating with periods of relative stability. At some point rescue attempts fail, and then death is sudden. What these patients and families need, Dr. Lynn said, is consistent disease management to head off crises, aggressive intervention at the first hint of trouble and advance planning for how to manage the final emergency.

The third option, death following extended frailty and dementia, is everyone's worst nightmare, an interminable and humiliating series of losses for the patient, and an exhausting and potentially bankrupting ordeal for the family. Approximately 40 percent of Americans, generally past age 85, follow this course, said Dr. Lynn, and the percentage will grow with improvements in prevention and treatment of cancer, heart disease and pulmonary disease.

The News Cut editorial board (me and the dog) is split over whether it's a good idea to spend even one minute of your life doing relatively pointless things. Take Jim "Mouth" Purol, who is trying to set a world record (kept somewhere) by sitting in all 92,542 seats at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, MSNBC reported, the 56-year-old Anaheim resident had sat on at least 30,000 seats after starting his mission Monday morning.

"I've been wanting to sit in the Rose Bowl's seats for over 20 years, but I kept getting turned down by the city of Pasadena," Purol said. "They thought it was dumb."

It's not all dumb. Purol is raising money for Outward Bound.

He's got an assistant keeping him hydrated and "facilitating the continuous interviews with the media."

Two factoids worthy of consideration: