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The Coast Guard Thinks You've Put on a Few PoundsBy Dashiell Bennett | The Atlantic Wire – Mon, Jan 2, 2012 The Coast Guard recently raised its "Assumed Average Weight Per Person" standard to 185 pounds, reflecting the growing waistlines of the American populace. The number — which is 25 pounds higher than the previous average — is used to the determine the safe operating capacity of passenger boats around the country. The change may force tour operators, ferry services, and other charter companies to adjust the capacity of their vessels or risk failing their next Coast Guard inspection.

Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show. The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046. The figures demonstrate how the nation’s political and financial classes are prospering as the economy struggles with unemployment above 9 percent and thousands of Americans protest in the streets against income disparity, said...

Have Drivers Finally Thrown in Their Keys? Mass Transit Sees Uptick in Ridership Gas prices are now the highest they have ever been during the month of April and at its fourteenth highest nominal price according to data from the Energy Department going back to 1990. The average gas price is $3.79 per gallon of regular, according to the Energy Department's weekly figures released today, an increase of 11 cents from last week and 93 cents from a year ago. As the average price of gasoline edges closer to $4 a gallon -- with at least one gas station in...

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel confirms that's how much the average Milwaukee teacher will be paid in salary and benefits in 2011: the average MPS teacher would receive total compensation of $101,091 -- $59,500 in salary and $41,591 in benefits. We double-checked with MPS spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin and she confirmed the figures. We wanted to compare the $101,091 for MPS teachers to other teachers, but the latest figurescompiled by the state Department of Public Instruction are for 2009-2010, two years earlier. Those figures show for 2009-2010, MPS teachers earned, on average

[Milwaukee, Wisconsin] MacIver News Service – For the first time in history, the average annual compensation for a teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system will exceed $100,000. That staggering figure was revealed last night at a meeting of the MPS School Board. The average salary for an MPS teacher is $56,500. When fringe benefits are factored in, the annual compensation will be $100,005 in 2011. MacIver’s Bill Osmulski has more in this video report.

Obama: Washington should cut back like average families doBy Andrew Restuccia - 02/12/11 06:00 AM ET President Obama said Saturday that his upcoming budget will force Washington to “live within our means” at a time when American families are having to make difficult economic decisions every day. In his weekly address, Obama outlined his fiscal year 2012 budget request, which he will send to Congress on Monday. Obama’s budget comes as Republicans in Congress are railing against government spending. House Republicans just unveiled a bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year that, at the prodding...

In today's Real Clear Politics polling average, Obama has hit an average 50% disapproval rate for the first time! The graph can be found at the link, but here are the raw numbers: Poll                                  Date         Sample        Approve        Disapprove       Spread RCP Average                7/13 - 8/3        --                 44.7                 50.0               -5.3 Gallup                            8/1 - 8/3      1547 A            44                   48                   -4 Rasmussen Reports        8/1 - 8/3      1500 LV         46                    53                   -7 USA Today/Gallup        7/27 - 8/1    1208 A            41                    53                  -12 FOX News                   7/27 - 7/28   900 RV           43                    50                   -7 Reuters/Ipsos                 7/22 - 7/25  1075 A            48                   48                   Tie CNN/Opinion Research 7/16 - 7/21  1018 A            47                    50                  ...

In today’s economy, looking good is no longer something we can dismiss as frivolous or vain. How beauty can affect your job, your career, your life. Most of us have heard the story of Debrahlee Lorenzana, the 33-year-old Queens, N.Y., woman who sued Citibank last month, claiming that, in pencil skirts, turtlenecks, and peep-toe stilettos, she was fired from her desk job for being “too hot.” We’ve also watched Lorenzana’s credibility come into question, as vintage clips of her appearance on a reality-TV show about plastic surgery portray a rambling, attention-obsessed twit, stuffed to the brim with implants and collagen....

RealClearPolitics.com, which averages all recent national public opinion polls, now shows President Obama's job approval average has dropped to 49.9%, marking the first time this number has dipped below the critical 50% line. Obama's job disapproval average has also climbed to an all-time high of 44.6%, thus narrowing the approval/disapproval gap to a new low of +5.3%.

There are a couple of data points worth keeping in mind as we await President Obama’s address to the nation tonight - and as we digest an aide's claim today, as Jake Tapper reports, that his strong approval rating is "earned." One, while his rating is high, it’s also dead average for a new president. The other is the impressive partisanship beneath it.

Adjusted gross income reported on tax returns in 2006 averaged $58,029. In 2006 dollars that was an increase of $739, or 1.2 percent, from the $57,289 average in 2000, analysis of Internal Revenue Service data showed. Total income increased by $619.2 billion or 8.3 percent, all of which went to those making more than $75,000, and 42 percent of which went to the roughly one in 400 taxpayers who made more than $1 million in 2006. Average income fell sharply in 2001 and in 2002, when it dropped to $51,870, off nearly 10 percent from 2000, tax data show. The...

WASHINGTON - The Antarctic ozone hole is back to an average size, shrinking about 16 percent from last year's record high, NASA said Friday. But it's still the size of North America. The ozone hole in mid-September reached a maximum size of 9.7 million square miles, down from its peak of 11.5 million square miles last year, said NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman. Human produced gases, containing chlorine and bromine, damage the Earth's protective ozone layer, forming a hole over the South Pole and into the Southern hemisphere. Because the ozone layer protects life on Earth by blocking ultraviolet rays,...

The 2,234 employees of the California Legislature earn an average of $56,675 annually, up slightly from the year before, in jobs that range from maintaining order in the houses to running the bosses' errands to crafting complex and politically charged legislation. The per-capita average is about $12,000 a year higher than workers in Marin County, which has the highest per-capita income average of California's counties, and nearly triple the level of workers in surrounding Sacramento County. Nearly 200 employees earn $100,000 annually, or more. The figures were compiled by the Legislature at Capitol Weekly's request. A complete listing of the...

How's He Doing? George W. Bush is "average," but far from ordinary. BY JAMES TARANTO Monday, September 12, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT Ask someone to describe the presidency of George W. Bush, and "average" is not a word you're likely to hear. Mr. Bush's detractors treat him with a level of vituperation unseen since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt; some even blame him for bad weather. His admirers don't go so far as to credit him when the sun shines, but their affection for him is palpable. So it may come as a surprise that in a new survey...

NEW YORK - McDonald's has so far prevailed in the lawsuits that have asserted it is partly to blame for its customers' bulging waistlines. But a new lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco insists the burger giant has failed in its promise to move to a healthier cooking oil, and it is being brought not by fry-eaters but by Kathy Fettke, a "personal coach" and infomercial pitchwoman who "is living her dream by helping others live their dreams." Fettke, who has also worked as a television host and actor--she played a bridesmaid in Flubber--is married to the similarly...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

When is it “OK” for an innocent bystander to be brutalized at the whim of a common thug? Amid the collection of worldviews we endeavor to rationalize in our pluralistic cultural, brutalizing ones neighbor and stranger alike is still repugnant to most. Who among us, whether atheist, Christian, or secular humanist will praise and commend the actions of a judge who in the name of love and understanding does not penalize the lawbreaking thief, rapist, and murderer. Why is it so difficult for the average person to apply this simple example of reality to God? If the Creator God...

I heard this guy on Ken Hamblin's show today. He's just a regular Joe who wrote a book about what it really means to be conservative in America. Really knew his stuff. He and Ken had great rapport. It's about time we had a book about life in middle-America written by someone who actually lives there. More info is at http://www.conservativelikeme.com including an online version of the first chapter. Good stuff.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 July 2 The Average Color of the Universe Credit: Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry (JHU) Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky was smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. To determine this,...