US News Bytes

Internet divorce - just one click In the US, couples can get their divorce online - that is cheaper and faster than the usual way. Especially in simple cases when they are separating without a fight, more and more people don't hire expensive lawyers anymore. You can just download the necessary forms from the internet. Filling out the forms takes one night, and you can save $2,000 or more. Courts in California offer a "do it yourself" website, the divorce pages there alone have had 15,000 hits in May. Anyone who still needs a little help can ask one of the many online divorce services, for example http://www.CompleteCase.com. Prices are calculated depending on how complicated the case is. http://www.DivorceWizards.com wants $300 for a bronze divorce (no children, no capital, no debts), gold already costs $450 and titan (capital, debts, underage children and calculating spousal support) costs $600.

Grandma superstar Germany searched for a superstar and, thanks to RTL, found a 19-year old, the US - always one step ahead of old Europe - are also looking for a superstar, but one who is already retired. "Second Chance: America's Most Talented Senior" is the title of the new NBC show where senior citizens will prove their singing and dancing skills. During the qualifying rounds in senior-citizen-paradise Palm Springs a 70-year old woman even tried to strip - which was not well received. Other talented seniors defiantly started with the solidarity anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" or "I Will Survive," other joked that their chance at NBC was probably going to be their last. How long the show will be aired by NBC depends on the viewing rates.

Cosmetic surgery live on TV "That's me? My god, I didn't know I could look like that" - that's what you hear regularly in the American reality show "Extreme Makeover." The show demonstrates the effect cosmetic surgery can have on people. So far, seven episodes of Extreme Makeover have been aired, and ABC has already ordered 13 more episodes. ABC is also considering already whether to sell the rights for this show to other countries. The show costs between $40,000 and $150,000 per candidate.

A little genius A 13-year old boy from the US, Gregory Robert Smith, had his first learning successes when he was 14 months old. He learned to work with numbers and solved math problems. In nursery school he explained photosynthesis to the other kids. He graduated from high school when he was nine, right now he is graduating from university. He will receive his bachelor's degree from the Methodist college Randolph-Macon at the end of May. However, he wants to achieve even more and is talking about PhDs, political science, aerospace engineering, mathematics and biomedicine. His biggest goal, however, is becoming president of the United States. With that office, he could be helping many people around the world.

Initiative Plant "Smile Mania" That is the name of a private association in the US who don't like the bad mood many of their fellow citizens seem to be in. The economic downturn and the continuous fear of terrorism had led to the spread of pessimism in the country. The group wants to silence the resulting criticism - at least for one day, the "Great American Grump Out." A date when the grump patrol will set out to cheer up their fellow citizens with red noses or soap bubbles hasn't been announced yet.

After smoke-free now perfume-free zone In the American town of Shutesbury the participants in the town meetings will from now on be separated into three zones. Even in the public library "perfume-free hours" have already been introduced. The first zone is for people who never use perfume. The second for those who use it sometimes but nor during the meetings. The third zone is for people who forgot and have used perfume. According to town official David Ames who is in charge of special needs people, perfume in public is comparable to smoking and he recommends the introduction of perfume zones to protect the hypersensitive from the chemical substances.

Software for crime prediction Scientists of the Carnegie Mellon University (USA) have developed a software that predicts crimes. Ina ten-block area the software can calculate a crime with the help of 36,000 prognoses. The hit rate is as high as 80%. However, the prognosis is limited to the type of crime. It will ‘only' be possible to predict break-ins, arson, intended assault and car theft. Serious crimes cannot be predicted.

New version of Big Brother Candidates have paranormal powers. In the US, a new version of Big Brother is being planned. In this show, 12 candidates who say they have paranormal powers will move into the container. Similar to the previous versions, the audience will again vote them out one after the other. This happens once every week. The production company Keller Entertainment has acquired the rights for this concept that will be aired on VH-1. A start date has not yet been announced.

DHS buys town The Department of Homeland Security has acquired a ghost town near the Mexican border for roughly $5 million. It is supposed to be, above all, a training site for Marines. However, they will also conduct ‘attacks' with B and C arms to test their effect on a small town like this. With this they want to gain valuable information for preventive measures. The small town of Playas is an abandoned mining town. It was founded in the 1970s and there were mining companies' offices as well as private houses. The town has been abandoned since 1999.

University offers course for game developers The university of Dallas is now offering game development as a university course. The education will last 18 months. While the subject isn't altogether new (similar programs are already being offered in Massachusetts and Michigan), Dallas has founded an entire institute for programming games. Even the developer of the ‘Doom' and ‘Quake' games, Graeme Devine, will hold a few lectures. The tuition fees, however, will be as high as the equivalent of $32,000.

Flight passengers too heavy According to the American Federal Aviation Administration, passengers are roughly 10.3 kilos heavier now than they were in 1995 and the luggage also had become heavier. Roughly eight years ago, the average was 90 kilos per person in summer and 92.5 kilos in winter. According to the new calculations, smaller planes are now at a disadvantage, meaning seats have to remain empty. Within he next 90 days, all airlines can present their own calculations. If they do not observe this deadline, the average will be raised by 7.5 kilos.