Gender

I won't burden you with my thoughts on

The Dangerous Book for Boys
by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden
HarperCollins, 288 pp., $24.95

but I will say this review is a great introduction, with some quotes from eminent personages that you never heard before and can impress your spouses and neighbors with. 

John

Recently the US Military confirmed that it sought to build a "gay bomb".

The theory apparently is that they would drop this hormone bomb on enemy troops to "turn them homosexual", and thereby make them more interested in sex than fighting.

Our tax dollars at work, I guess...

According to the N-G, Patrick Thompson will get a new trial on the home invasion and sexual abuse charges.  The story is at www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/04/25/champaign_man_to_get_new_trial  Not too surprisingly, there's also a UCIMC discussion at www.ucimc.org/node/1143 with some predictably nasty comments about the alleged victim's "sparatic parenting," and the oh-so-clever quip: "Hos (freudian typo slip)in the hell can this be happening?"  The people at the Rape Crisis Center were rather concerned, since this sort of thing could make sexual assault victims even more afraid to come forward.

Update: UCIMC has hidden the post with the "hos" joke and gratuitous information about the alleged victim's personal life.  I appreciate the show of respect for the woman's privacy, and I will respect theirs by removing the IP address information that was previously posted in this thread.

This meme has been floating around for a few days, but it hit the Tribune today so I thought I'd post it.

Women are increasingly outnumbering men at America's colleges, a gap that is widest--and most troublesome--among low-income and minority students, researchers said in a report released Tuesday.

The share of males age 24 and younger dropped to 45 percent in 2003-04 from 48 percent in 1995-96. The gap is even wider for students older than 25, and among African-Americans and Latinos, particularly those from low-income families.

"Yes, this is a matter of concern, but let's put it in context," said Jacqueline King, the author of the study by the American Council on Education, a group that represents more than 1,600 colleges and universities. "Gaps by gender are still much smaller than gaps in higher education participation by race and by income."

The picture is similar in Illinois, where last fall, 57 percent of college students--from those in community colleges to professional schools--were women. The gaps are widest at community colleges and private universities, where an average 58 percent are women.

Does anyone know what the breakdown at UIUC is?

Is this trend a good thing?

Why has this imbalance occurred?