Are You In The Loop? The Presidential Debate, National Mean Girls Holiday, and the Unemployment Rate
Sunday (September 30th, 2012)
The use of skin-lightening products in Nigeria has led to the popularity of the phrase “Fanta face, Coca-Cola legs” because of how light the face is compared to the legs of someone who uses these products. Approximately 77% of Nigerian women use these products. The entire industry of these products is worth about $10 billion. [Source]
A new study shows that division on economic policy is very similar to that of the gender gap. Typically, women prefer a larger government role while most men favor less government intervention. [Source]
Because of global warming, fish could shrink up to 24% in size according to a new study. [Source]
A new deadly strain of salmonella is spreading through Africa and is partially enabled by HIV. One in four people infected with this strain died. [Source]
Monday (October 1st, 2012)
Adele took it to Twitter to confirm that she will be singing the theme song for Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. [Source]
A professor at Michigan State University had a nervous breakdown during his calculus lecture and stripped himself of all his clothing and started screaming obscenities. He was later taken into custody and taken to a local hospital. [Source]
In fall of 2011, Russia abolished its daylight savings time but did it while the country was on its summer clock. Thus, the country experienced one of its darkest winters and now a bill is being proposed to permanently turn the clock back one hour to winter time. [Source]
A member of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church named Jack Wu is running for a seat on the Kansas Board of Education. Though he only received $5 in contribution through July, the most recent reporting period, Wu’s Democrat opponent Carolyn Campbell is still taking Wu seriously as her opponent. [Source]
The word “whom” seems to be becoming increasingly obsolete. [Source]
A Japanese study shows that people tend to be more productive after seeing pictures of cute animals, even more than those that look at pictures of adult animals or food. [Source]
Tuesday (October 2nd, 2012)
Though it’s still a big problem, teen drinking and driving has declined over the past twenty years by 54 percent. However, this still means that over 1 million teenagers were drinking and driving. [Source]
Various tennis players have had to drop out of tennis tournaments because of stomach issues that have been linked to the food in China that they have been eating. [Source]
Obama could be the first presidential candidate to raise $1 billion dollars for a campaign. To reach this mark, the campaign would need $117 million dollars in the months of September and October, which seem very feasible since the campaign was able to raise $115 million alone in August. [Source]
Wednesday (October 3rd, 2012)
On October 3rd, Aaron Samuels asked Cady Heron what day it was. “It’s October 3rd.” The internet celebrated the Mean Girls holiday accordingly by wearing pink. [Source]
A woman in Florida could face a fine of $500 and up to two months of jail for riding a manatee. In other crazy Florida news, there’s a company called Alligator Attraction that allows people to have “gator parties” in which people can swim along with alligators in a swimming pool. [Source]
The first presidential debate was held in Denver. The general consensus was that Mitt Romney won and that Obama was on the defense for most of the time. News outlets everywhere agreed that Obama needed to step up his game and left-leaning critics seemed disappointed that Obama neglected to bring up Bain, Romney’s 47% comments, and other key issues that could’ve helped Obama in the debate.
In other news, Romney’s remarks about cutting funding for networks like PBS led to the Twitter trend “Big Bird” on Wednesday night. [Source]
Thursday (October 4th, 2012)
Ever caught yourself saying that you’ll leave the country if the candidate you don’t support is elected? Well, JetBlue has a solution for you! JetBlue is having a giveaway aptly called “JetBlue Election Protection” in which if the candidate you don’t support is elected, you could win one of 1,000 trips to a tropical destination. Click here for more information. [Source]
Japan recently opened the world’s first “co-sleeping specialty shop” in which a customer pays to sleep, literally just sleep, with a person of the opposite sex. One hour will cost you about 6,000 yen. [Source]
A 20-year-old soccer player from Scotland had an unforgettable day when she was asked from the stands to sub in for an injured player during a match between Scotland’s national team against the higher-ranked Norwegian team. She ended up scoring the final goal, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Scottish. [Source]
Friday (October 5th, 2012)
Remember Romney’s 47% comments from earlier this fall? In a recent inteview with Fox, Romney retracts his previous statements. [Source]
Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte has long had a cult following and this fall is no different. However, it appears that the deman for the coffee drinks have drained supplies of the special sauce used to make the drink in stores and the instant packets sold in grocery stores. [Source]
The unemployment rate has been reported to be 7.8% in September, down from 8.1% in August. This is the lowest the unemployment rate has been during the Obama presidency. In fact, it hasn’t been this low since January 2009 when Obama was inaugurated. Some are suspicious of how the low the number is and believe that Obama manipulated the statistics due to his poor performance during the debate.
Saturday (October 6th, 2012)
Psy, the singer behind the hit ‘Gangnam Style,’ shut down streets in Seoul when he offered a free concert in front of City Hall to thank his fans for all their support. More than 80,000 people showed up to see the performance. [Source]
The Dow Jones index closed at a new five-year high, primarily powered by the drop in the unemployment rate. [Source]
Category: Other
