Stupidity Is Final Sign of Apocalypse

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.

And sure to surpass it soon: USA Today

(NEWSER) - It's official, at least according to USA Today : The national debt is as big as the country's entire economy, and sure to surpass it soon. The federal government owes more than $15.23 trillion to creditors and government programs like Social Security, which is more than the latest estimate for the value of all goods and services produced by the US economy in one year: $15.17 trillion. That number is as of September, and the economy probably grew to $15.3 trillion by last month, USA Today notes. More»

Astronomer criticizes list of doomsday 'Mayan' predictions

(NEWSER) - The Earth will not be destroyed or burned or gravitationally warped on Dec. 12, 2012, according to a NASA scientist, Space.com reports. Despite claims that the Mayan calendar predicts our planetary demise next year, astronomer Don Yeomans says we can "sleep well on Dec. 21 of next year." Is that code for sleeping with the fishes? Apparently not, as Yeomans goes down the list of proposed apocalypses for next December: More»

Average worker skipped 2 days of time off

(NEWSER) - America, you’re working too hard. The average worker earned 14 vacation days this year, but only used 12 of them, according to a survey from Expedia. That works out to about 226 million unused days in total and, based on the national average salary of $39,416 per year for full-time workers, $34.3 billion worth of forfeited time, CNN reports. Only two nations in the study ( PDF here ) took less time off: Japan and South Korea. More»

Dec. 21, 2012 is a big day ... but not for the reason you think

(NEWSER) - Cool your jets: The Mayans did not predict the world will end in 2012, or so says a German expert. Sven Gronemeyer yesterday shared his reading of a 1,300-year-old Mayan stone tablet that makes reference to 2012: He says the hieroglyphs describe the return of Bolon Yokte, the mysterious Mayan god of creation and war. The date of his reappearance? At the end of a 13th period of 400 years: Dec. 21, 2012. The date, therefore, marks a transition to a new era, not an end, he says. More»