• MILLENNIAL UPDATE – OUR NEWEST GENERATION Z:   Millennial is the moniker for GEN Y, kids born between roughly 1980 and 1995, today between 20 and early 30s. GEN Z are the kids born after 1995, currently under age 19. Each group represent around 25% of America’s population, but Zers have some very different and important attributes, having grown up completely in a time of “uncertainty – the post-9/11 world, economic recession, and changing norms in society (including racial diversity & gender roles).” Certainly the most significant factor is that GEN Z have all grown up with Social Media which “shapes everything from their academics to after-school activities, with more than half using YouTube for research projects, and a third who watch lessons & collaborate with classmates online.” Their attention span is estimated at 8-seconds, on average, “favoring ephemeral and visually engaging platforms like Snapchat… and using up to five screens for multi-tasking.”  One in five also read their studies on Tablet versus Textbook. The critical distinctions from elder GEN Y kids look like good news for the workplace however: More focused on the future than present expectation of luxury now, and more realistic than optimistic – expecting to work for success versus just being ‘discovered.’   [MASHABLE.COM – Aug 22,14] 
  • LOS ANGELES HAS THE “LEAST AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOMES IN AMERICA and California is now the worst state both for renters and mortgages,” where working households spend more than half of income on housing versus below 30% across the rest of the country, according to a new UCLA study. The most attributable factor is a “deep-rooted culture of NIMBYism (not-in-my-back-yard)” supporting: (1) Restrictive Zoning laws, with 78% of residential land restricted to single-family dwellings (over three times the rate in San Francisco or New York); and (2) Green Environmental rules which “allow almost anyone to sue to block any development, used by the slow-growth lobby to thwart vertical expansion” (often alleging ‘extra traffic’ irrespective of  improvement in air quality which results from subsequent use of mass transportation). All this impacts “why homes even in the unfashionable parts of LA cost so much.”  [THE ECONOMIST – Aug 23, 14]  
  • NEWEST MALWARE SCAM TO JPMORGAN CHASE CUSTOMERS:  A half million phishing e-mails which “looks quite legitimate, asking recipients to click & read a secure and encrypted message… linking them to a phishing page requesting credentials… directing them to an error page that suggests downloading a java update – which is actually a malware Trojan that steals banking credentials.”  JPMC is the largest bank in the U.S. with total assets of $2.5 trillion.   [SC MAGAZINE – Aug 22,14] 
  • ACROSS THE COUNTRY, SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE FORFEITING FEDERAL MONEY and bailing on the Michelle Obama Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act program. Since instituted in 2012, kids are buying a million fewer lunches, preferring to “just skip lunch and stop by the minimart on the way home instead. And when they do buy lunch, half gets thrown into the trash can” – since caloric limits have traded Salisbury steak, pizza and chicken nuggets for lean meats, unsalted canned fruits & veggies (without condiments like ketchup or mustard), unflavored fat-free chocolate milk, and 100% whole grain which “turns to mush when cooked in bulk.” Good intention notwithstanding, it’s another example of uncle Sam trying to play parent.   [BUSINESSWEEK – Aug 25, 14] 
  • “HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES WHO SMOKE POT TOGETHER MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK have the lowest rate of domestic violence.” A nine-year study of 634 married couples, reported in Psychology of Addictive Behavior, was conducted “because of beliefs that marijuana may increase positivity, reduce conflict and aggression.”  [CHINATOPIX.COM – Aug 27, 14] 
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:    Often in long-term relationships, people become like two sides of a coin – they can’t face each other, but still stay together.  Two secrets to keep the relationship stronger: Whenever you’re wrong, admit it.  Whenever you’re right, shut up. “It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sorts of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort takes a mean advantage of them.”  

     The Los Angeles Voting Ethics Commission is considering bribing people to vote with cash prize drawings for awards up to $50,000, since only 23% of eligible voters      showed up in the last election.

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