Watercooler Stories

Text messaging takes hold in U.S.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A survey finds that U.S. cell phone users are getting more comfortable with text messaging -- and with getting emotional via text message.

The survey by Tegic Communications found that more than 60 percent of adults in the United States have sent text messages telling the recipients they miss or care for them, the Washington Post reported. At least 27 percent admitted flirting by text message; 13 percent have asked for a date; 2 percent have broken up with someone and 2 percent have proposed marriage.

Europeans have been using cell phones a bit longer, and the statistics show it -- with 70 percent of Germans saying they have sent "miss you" or "love you" messages. In Italy, 13 percent have broken up with someone by text message while in China 12 percent have.

Schools use novel ways to boost attendance

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- California students reportedly are increasingly being begged, bribed and badgered to go to class and it's not only for educational purposes.

There's also a need to boost the coffers of cash-strapped school districts that rely on state funding largely determined by daily attendance, the Los Angeles Times says.

For example, Temecula schools, losing about $30,000 a day because of absences, are raffling a car, Disneyland vacations and iPods to pupils with near-perfect attendance.

Santa Ana educators are encouraging teen moms to come to class by opening a day-care center. Other districts are urging parents who take their kids on vacation to reimburse them for lost state revenue.

Because about 80 percent of a district's budget is based on attendance, lost days add up quickly. It's estimated that absenteeism costs schools $30 to $40 per student per day, which adds up to millions of dollars annually in large districts.

Children eat up women's time to themselves

LONDON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A British survey finds that men have far more time to sleep, play computer games, spend time with friends and watch television than women.

The study done for the Web site lastminute.com found that men average 41.5 hours a week for themselves, or almost six hours a day. For women, it's 23 hours a week or just over three hours a day.

What makes the difference is childcare, the Daily Mail reports. While men put in an average of 45 hours a week on the job compared to 21 for women, women average a whopping 55 hours per week taking care of children -- chauffeuring them, feeding them, washing them, playing with them. Men average 14 hours a week.

That's why men spend an average of 18 hours a week watching television or spending time on the computer and women spend 12. It's why men spend 18 hours a week with friends and women spend six. And it's why men spend five hours playing games or exercising and women spend two.

Student sues Philadelphia for false arrest

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A college student jailed for three weeks after she was caught with condoms filled with flour has sued the Philadelphia police.

Janet Lee's lawyers told the Philadelphia Inquirer the main issue is field tests that supposedly found the white powder in her luggage was drugs.

Jeremy Ibrahim and David Oh say that, given the general reliability of field tests, either the results were deliberately falsified or the people doing them blundered badly.

Laboratory tests confirmed the substance was, as Lee had said, flour.

Lee was arrested two years ago at Philadelphia International Airport as she tried to board a flight home for Christmas from her freshman year at Bryn Mawr College, an academically rigorous women's school. She tried to explain that the flour-filled condoms were a joke and a stress reliever but was told they had tested positive for amphetamines, opium and cocaine.

Oh, who became involved with the case early, said he was suspicious because drug couriers do not mix drugs like that.