The graduating class of 2015 is the most indebted in history, owing a total of $56 billion in student loans. About 71 percent of college students graduating this year took out loans, at an average of $35,051 each. In 1996, just 58 percent of students took out loans, owing less than $20,000 each at graduation.
Read more
A growing numbers of drought-afflicted California farmers began hiring dowsers to locate underground water. “Scientists don’t believe in it,” said vintner Marc Mondavi, “but I do and most of the farmers in the [Napa] Valley do.”
Read more
About a dozen inmates die behind bars each day, or about 4,400 jail and prison inmates each year. In jails, suicide is the leading cause of death.
Read more
Percentage of the average “knowledge worker’s” time that is spent reading and writing emails: 28
Read more
Due to the high demand of the “dip season,” a national shortage of Velveeta has shoppers hunting stores for the gooey, bright-yellow “cheese product.” People planning Super Bowl parties are calling the shortage of the dip-friendly substance a “cheesepocalypse.” One fan tweeted, “If this is true, I’m going to die.”
Read more
Portion of the Indian Ocean that is underexplored by scientists because of pirates: 1/4
Read more
Drivers are doing more than just texting behind the wheel. In a new study by Braun Research, 33 percent admitted they regularly send and read emails while driving, while 28 percent said they browse the internet and 27 percent said they use Facebook.
Read more
. . . ordering a margarita, after heavy rains, tree disease, and cartel violence sent prices for Mexico’s limes soaring from to $14 a case to $100. “We don’t buy them [anymore],” said the owner of a San Antonio Mexican restaurant. “We substitute lemons.”
Read more
Percentage change in the number of overweight people in the developing world since 1980: +261
Read more
75%: The percentage of wages earned by full-time black and Latino retail workers relative to their white counterparts, according to a June 2 report from the NAACP and the liberal think tank Demos.
Read more