Current Affairs

Usually I try to catch a few minutes of "Good Morning America" before coming to work -- it's about the least annoying of the morning "news" shows. The downside is that the program frequently gets caught up in breathlessly reporting some gushy nonsense about people behaving strangely. Today was one of those shows.

Oh, for Pete's sake:

President Obama's energy adviser has suggested all the world's roofs should be painted white as part of efforts to slow global warming.

 Professor Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, said the unusual proposal would mean homes in hot countries would save energy and money on air conditioning by deflecting the sun's rays.

Now that the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign has moved its sign campaign ("You can be good without God," "In the beginning, man created God") to Chicago, Time magazine finds the issue worthy of comment, reporting that residents there have largely greeted the ads with "a quick, curious look and then a shrug." The piece closes with a non-believer saying that atheists are still "in the closet," afraid to "come out" to their families and "say they don't believe in God" and makes this observation:

I'll be darned. I've known some mentally ill people in my time, but I never realized there were so many of them:

You know them. I know them. And, increasingly, psychiatrists know them. People who feel they have been wronged by someone and are so bitter they can barely function other than to ruminate about their circumstances.

I notice that I've failed lately to keep you abreast of exciting developments on the Saving the Planet front. I will attempt to make up for it by calling your attention to this blog, in which the author offers eight tips for being a good green citizen. Go paperless. Turn off unnecessary electricity when you're not home. Use cloth grocery bags. And, of course, my personal favorite: Recycle!

Well, aren't we all just stunned and amazed. With nearly 100 million votes case, underdog Kris Allen has won the eight season of "American Idol"! Phhht.

Taxpayer-funded study of the week (this one in England, thank goodness):

The assumption has always been that rainy weather is good for ducks. Now a three-year study funded to the tune of £300,000 by the taxpayer has proved it.

It's not just the rich and famous who are saddling their kids with dumb names:

Apple, Suri and Shiloh may be household names because their parents are stars, but a new study of millions of babies finds it's not just celebrities who seek out distinctive names for their kids.

Regular folks do, too, driving down the percentages of those who pick popular names.

A warning shot in California:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to permanently fix California's "broken budget system." But three times now he has tried and failed to smooth out the state's roller coaster revenues.

Voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected his latest effort, a package of budget-balancing measures that he promised would provide a short-term patch for the current financial crisis and prevent further catastrophe in the future.

On Monday, my sister lost her cat of many years, Milo, to failing kidneys. She's almost quit crying now. So now I read this story from Muncie:

During this time of the year, college town shelters, like the Muncie Animal Shelter, often see an increase in the number of pets being abandoned.