In the News (first installment!)

I've decided that on a COMPLETELY random basis I will do a post related to what I see in the news. Where will I find this news? Randomly! I will open up Google News and offer my input on six selected articles and the subjects therein, and link to those articles. 

This is because I need to blog more, but I've run out of topics that don't sound whiny and that don't interfere with other peoples' privacy.

Big surprise, kids will eat healthy cereal. Did it really take us that long to figure this out? I mean, seriously! It's simply a matter of what is offered. Growing up, we rarely had the option to try super sugary cereals - a lot of the time it was oatmeal, or eggs, or just plain cereal without too much added sweetener. It's not a shock to me that kids would go for the regular cereal so long as they could put something on it. If parents offer the choice for healthier foods along with some more "fun" foods, the kids are more likely to eat the healthier stuff. It's got to be there for them to try!

I just nearly wet myself with joy - they're hoping to open Chernobyl to tourists! For me, exposing the public to what Chernobyl really looks like and what really happened is a good thing. I would love to tour the site. It would be a sad, but frank, exposure to a world not many people have ever seen before. A lot of bad decisions were made at Chernobyl, and a lot of things could have been done to prevent what happened. It's a good warning to people of what happens when there aren't safety measures in place, but I think it also is a good way to show people what the damage really was - and who is at fault for it.

This is a sticky one. I think Scalia has it right. It's time to get over this. Florida had mega fail - and it's not something that can be fixed or recovered. We shouldn't be still dwelling on how bad of a job handling votes they did during that election - unless we're focusing on making sure it never happens again. It's been ten years. I don't think that the last ten years would have fared much better under Gore, or any of the other potential candidates. Just let it go.

Somehow, we are still surprised by two things: Young celebrities do available drugs, and fans will try to emulate them. You know what? Drew Barrymore was a mega child star from a kind of jacked up family, too. Drew Barrymore also had a number of illegal substance abuse problems before she was even 16. MANY child stars get into drugs. Salvia, however, is legal. As far as fans emulating stars - frickin' duh. Maybe if the parents kept a little closer eye on their kids, and maybe if the parents would teach their kids morals and actual facts about drug use, this would be less of an issue. 

Can someone please explain to me the sense behind an inflatable roof on a building in a city that the average annual snowfall is over 3 feet? Part of the reason why winters are such a clusterfuck is because people don't prepare in a reasonable manner. It's always a surprise that winter starts to people, for some stupid reason, and when it does start, it creates a massive panic. Pittsburgh is guilty of this. I know I just get annoyed and a little worried that the roads will be full of morons my whole way home. I'd really love to see people actually adjust sensibly to changes in season. This is part of the reason why I don't want to live where there is snow.

Kids who live in apartments are exposed to more secondhand smoke. Let's consider this for a moment. Kids who live in shared spaces that have shared air systems, with people who smoke outside then come inside with the smoke on their clothing and hair and skin, or in rooms that may have been occupied by heavy smokers, have a greater exposure to secondhand smoke. How is this a surprise to anyone? Especially considering the smaller spaces. It is generally a good idea to smoke outside because of the damage it does (not just to people!), and at least in apartments where you're paying rent and it's owned by someone else, it does make sense to have rules for that kind of thing. Now that we know more about it, while I hope that no one tries to start enforcing this in privately-owned, non-shared housing, I do hope that people are mindful of it.

So there it is! My first news-relevant post. woo!