Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Tomorrow is "New Seniors Day.":

In the U-S, somebody turns 65 every 10 seconds now.
   Some of the celebrities turning 65 this year include HALE IRWIN, JOHN HEARD, JOHN LITHGOW, JOHN WALSH, KIM CARNES, STEVE LANDESBERG, LONI ANDERSON, MIA FARROW, DON McLEAN, PAT RILEY, TOM SELLECK, DIANE SAWYER, ERIC CLAPTON, STEVE MARTIN, DAVY JONES, ANNE MURRAY, BARRY BOSTWICK, BETTE MIDLER --and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
   DON POTTER, a marketing expert and author of "The 50+ Boomer: Your Key to 76 Million Consumers," says seniors are tired of being typecast as "over the hill" and beyond their usefulness. That's why 6/5 (get it --65???!!?) is now a day to celebrate "the new senior class": 
   --By 2015, New Seniors will account for about a third of disposable income and over half of the nation's wealth.
   --The 30 million pre-boomers (born between 1930 and 1945) represent a population bigger than the entire adult Hispanic population living in the US.
   --The 76 million baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) start turning 65 next year at the rate of one every 10 seconds.
   Potter says "We're not like any other generation of seniors; we feel younger, look better and are healthier than any group that turned 65 before us."
      FYI: for more on New Seniors (for you guys in "Oldies" formats), head HERE.

Collegiate Capers:

Today's college students are heartless narcissists.
   A new study suggests that compared with college students in the 1970s, today's college kids are 40 percent less likely to show signs of empathy. The study was presented at the Association for Psychological Science in Boston and was based on a review of 72 studies conducted between 1979 and 2009.
   Survey questions gauged student responses to statements like, "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me," and "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective."
   Today's students didn't fare well.
   Researchers have spun a number of theories explaining the self-centeredness of the so-called "Me" generation, pointing fingers at the media, social networking, and video games. "Many people see the current group of college students... as one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history," said one of the study's authors.
   An unrelated study suggests that whether students are selfish, they're definitely not prepared for the workplace. According to a York College survey, most graduating seniors are not ready to deal with the realities of a nine-to-five job, and instead think that "they're entitled to become, let's say, president of the company within the next two years."
   Editor's note: Oh, and the younger kids always think: "I'll do a way better job raising my kids than my parents raised me! No you won't. (Have I mentioned that you should get off my lawn? --Maiman)

Weird science:

Tweeting cats. As in, your pet cat on Twitter. Seriously.
   Marketing Daily reports Sony's Computer Science Lab recently demonstrated a prototype of Cat@Log, equipped with a still camera, GPS, accelerometer, and Bluetooth, capable of reporting minute-by-minute activities on Twitter.
   About 11 pre-programmed phrases are triggered on Twitter based on the cat's actions. For example, when the cat eats, the system tweets "this tastes good." Some of the activities that trigger tweets include eating, facial gestures (!!!), jumping, running, and sleeping. (Kaye)

Morons on Parade:

Latest dangerous teen game: "Eyeballing."
   That's where teenagers at a party pour vodka directly into someone's eye. Sounds like fun?
   Of course, if you're in the right mood --in other words, blind drunk-- anything can seem like fun. But doctors say the alcohol in the straight vodka can take off the top layer of the cornea.
   Four words: not a good thing.
   Three 2009 college grads explained to the Washington Examiner that eyeballing felt like "getting shampoo in the eye."
   And there are hundreds of YouTube videos (search for "vodka eyeballing") about the practice.
   Dr BARRY EIDEN says there's other risks as well, telling AOL Health once the damage to the cornea occurs, further damage to deeper layers could lead to permanent vision loss. And there's also a problem if the bottle hits the eye itself, as well.