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Suicide? Blame the sun

When the word “suicide” comes to mind, usually it isn’t followed by pictures of blue skies and a bright yellow sun nudged between two puffy white clouds. Instead, and it would only seem logical, to picture dark, hazy skies with a side of thunder and rain. Suicide only happens on insidiously dark days and nights, right? Wrong. Actually, as Swedish researchers have come to discover, suicides may be just as common, if not more so, on long summer days.

It’s in places like Greenland where the sun doesn’t set in the summertime, where many people face insomnia, which can drive a person to suicide.
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Recent spike in births to unmarried mothers

With as much new material as Maury Povich is able to find for his “Who’s My Baby’s Daddy” series – one of the most popular programs on daytime television – it might not be surprising to discover that births to unmarried women in the U.S. has been sharply rising in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that about 40 percent of all U.S. mothers are unwed. This number might seem high; however, a new U.S. report on births shows that the U.S. is still far behind northern European countries.

The award for leader in unwed mothers giving birth goes to Iceland, with six in 10 births among unmarried women. Following closely behind are Sweden and Norway. About half of their births are to unwed mothers.

According to the CDC, France, Denmark and the United Kingdom also have higher percentages than the United States.
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In other ridiculous news…

Watching the news sure can get you down sometimes. I suppose it’s important to know about the swine flu and the state of economy, but there’s so many other interesting things happening that we just never hear about. Here is an account of five recent events that didn’t get as much air time as they may have deserved.

1. Today is Odd Day: And you thought that every day was odd. Today literally is odd day. Today’s date (5/7/09) is one of six dates this century with three consecutive odd numbers. What a cause for celebration. Bust out the champagne! Maybe we’re all not ready to admit to enjoying something this nerdy. I will. I’ll admit it especially if we could have made it be a national holiday where we get to stay home and “celebrate privately.” What’s even more exciting is that Ron Gordon, who is really nobody in particular, is offering a prize. (If you have yet to begin celebrating you better hop on it.) The person or group who celebrates most enthusiastically will get…. $579!! Please contain your excitement!
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