Mirth and Madness
By Brandon Bosworth

New York City accounts for 7 percent of the U.S. population, and is home to 23 percent of the nation's psychiatrists.

The Census Bureau reported that 18 of America's 25 largest metropolitan areas have decreased in population since 2000. The greatest losses were in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Speaking at an outdoorsmen's event in Nashville, Antonin Scalia recalled how, as a boy, he "used to travel on the subway from Queens to Manhattan with a rifle.... Could you imagine doing that today in New York City?"

"Whenever I'm at a restaurant and spot somebody in a military uniform, I pick up their check to show them my appreciation for what they're doing for my country," says former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, quoted in the Washington Times.

Crimes committed by the elderly are on the rise in Japan, reports Tokyo's National Police Agency. Since 1990, the number of those over the age of 65 involved in crimes such as theft, arson, and murder has quadrupled, and senior citizens now account for 10 percent of all arrests.

Venezuela's murder rate has nearly tripled since leftist Hugo Chavez became president in 1999.

Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid, a professor at the National University of Malaysia, generated a computer program to calculate prayer times and the direction of Mecca for Muslim astronauts.

Hannelore Schmidt, wife of former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, will not speak on television if she is not allowed to smoke. "It keeps my brain ticking, otherwise I can't work," said 84-year-old Schmidt. "If we stopped smoking at our age, the resulting stress for our systems would be more dangerous than a whiff of nicotine...."

Due to improved nutrition and exercise, China's bra makers are having to greatly increase production of C, D, and E cups.

The Web address Sex.com recently sold for $12 million, the largest amount ever paid for a domain name.

A third of British women find household chores more satisfying than sex, reported the U.K.'s Independent.

The Dalai Lama praised George W. Bush as "very straightforward" in an interview published in London's Daily Telegraph. He has met with the President a few times, and the Dalai Lama "was astonished by his grasp of Buddhism."

Like the late Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama prefers Doc Marten footwear.

Theft of personal information over the Internet resulted in fraud losses of $690 million in 2004, reported Business Week. By 2005, the amount had increased to $1.5 billion.

Over 25 million Americans signed up for wireless phone service in 2005.

Nearly half of all American households have three or more remote controls.

About 50 million Americans get their news from the Web every day, according to the Pew Research Center. That is almost double the number from 2002.

Marketwatch.com reported that over half of all U.S. employees spend most of their day working on computers.

Fifty-two percent of all paper products, totaling 51 million tons, were recycled in the U.S. in 2005.

In Florida, 500,000 homeowner policies have been canceled by insurers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Denmark has the world's most business-friendly environment, according to a survey of 82 nations by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Finland and Canada round out the top three. The U.S. came in eighth.

Grubine, Croatia boasts the world's highest per-capita level of Mercedes-Benz ownership.

Over $22 million of the alcohol industry's sales are generated by underage drinkers, according to a Columbia University study.

Men now account for 10 percent of the total market in cosmetics.