Two trends. Too fun.

Ooh, fun. Chess is being taught at more elementary schools (yay!) and young adults in California are buying up typewriters. To use. (Note: some are buying on eBay. Check those closets...)

See also Dust off the boards, chess is back in style (Bundaberg and Region NewsMail, June 3, 2005), in which reporter Nikki Royan notes that chess is catching on with some schoolkids in Australia. Volunteer Allan Menham says it gives kids an academic edge by helping them learn to sit still and concentrate, teaching them to analyse things quickly, and "It teaches them to take a beating too."

(Do I hear self-esteem program coordinators fainting left and right at the thought of their fragile darlings actually learning to be good losers and - gasp - getting experience in dusting themselves off and going back at it?)