Current Affairs

Moving is one of the worst experiences of human existence. Everything you've spent years accumulating and arranging to perfection suddenly has to be packed up and hauled away. It's a process that consumes weeks, and often you have to think so much about the new place -- how can I possibly fit this couch in that living room, and didn't there seem to be more cupboard space when we signed the papers? -- that any semblance of a normal life in the old place is impossible.

Another reason we can't do without newspapers. This hardhitting article in USA Today tells us how to wash our hands!

Popular alcohol hand gels aren't as effective as soap and water, but they're better than nothing, Smith says.

Soap and water help dislodge dirt, bacteria and viruses so they "can go down the drain," he says. With gels, "the bacteria has nowhere to go."

Before any Fort Wayne officials get the bright idea to copy this, they might want to look into the legality of restricting parking on publicly financed streets:

Parking in front of your neighbor's house overnight is now against the law in Richardson.

Probably like many of you, I've been fascinated by Flight 1549, which first had an incredible stroke of bad luck, then had so many things go right it could be considered a miracle. The pilot is being called a hero, but I'm not sure that's quite the right description. This gets a little closer:

Well, this one's going to make me sound like a callous jerk, but here goes anyway.

The next time you see a news organization jumping on a politician for being "out of touch with the lives of ordinary Americans" (like, let's see, Bush 41 being amazed at supermarket scanners or John McCain being ignorant of computers), consider that the news organization might need a little reality check itself. Here's CBS-TV telling viewers how to have meals "on the cheap":

For 15 years, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have measured nations' commitment to free-market capitalism with their "Index of Economic Freedom." On the 2009 list, the United States has lost ground because of increases in both tax revenue and government spending as a percentage of GDP. It might not seem like that big a deal -- we dropped only from fifth place to sixth on the list of 183 nations -- but it bears watching:

Barack Obama just doesn't think outside the box -- now, this is a stimulus plan:

Just in case you don't yet realize that cameras are everywhere:

The manager of an upmarket restaurant used CCTV footage to eavesdrop on a customer's lunch conversation and dispute the woman's complaints about poor service.

Panicky Americans: Oh, God, this is the worst economy since the Great Depression, and we're all going to be standing in bread lines with holes in our shoes! Save us, federal government, please save us now! Hoosier seniors who actually lived through the Great Depression: Suck it up, you whining wusses. You ain't seen nothin' like what we lived through: