Here's an article from Salon that examines how social media sites (like Facebook and Twitter) have encouraged what they call "peep culture." (Get it? A clever play on "pop culture.")

While driving to work on Monday, I heard a funny-but-fascinating story about crows on NPR. Yes, crows.

According to research by University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite, divorce will break your heart - and that health streak you've been on. In an article for the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Waite says "people who suffer marital disruption through either divorce or widowhood are 20 percent more likely to have chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer than married people." They are also 23 percent more likely to face mobility issues in older age.

The Centers for Disease Control just released a report that says the rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases rose dramatically in 2006 and 2007. Everyone is offering an interpretation. Some are blaming the Bush administration. Others are blaming the Right Wing of the nation. Still others are just blaming it all on irresponsible teens. But it does raise some interesting questions for us. The folks at the Her.meneutics blog are hosting a conversation about it all. There might something there for you to think about.

There might be something in this fascinating piece about the history of swine flu. Health officials are quick to point out that we've actually been trapped in the same pandemic since 1918.

I don't know if this will be of interest to most of you, but the folks at Time magazine have put together a nice little article about the lost art of handwriting. With the advent of computers - and thus the advent of a type-first-and-write-only-if-you-have-to mentality - more and more kids are growing up without being taught cursive lettering and so forth. In fact, it's so rushed or even ignored that when cursive writing is taught, kids think it's cool. Anyway, there are some intriguing possibilities here - thoughts about how rushed we've become, the impersonal nature of communication, even the point the article makes about why teachers don't take time to teach writing (they are "teaching for the tests," i.e. standardized testing).

People should probably climb out of those tanning beds. Now. Researchers have determined that they are as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas. Something tells me a good chunk of America will ignore the report. We have to look good, you know?

Man robs bank. Man goes to church. Man offers confession to priest. Man gives money to priest to return it to the police. Man flees the confessional booth. You might be able to do something with this one. Read the story, and you'll find that the police are still looking to arrest the man. In other words, even beyond confession, we might still face a few consequences.

Here's a short story about a couple who used a GPS system but missed their destination by some 400 miles. But here's the deal: it's not the GPS's fault. It's classic owner malfunction.