Current Affairs

Most of us in the press and the blogosphere -- including me -- were pretty tough on Jack Trudeau when the story broke about his apparent hosting of a drinking party for his child's graduation. Here's a different point of view:

Drat. Al Gore has seen through our global-warming denial:

"I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view. They're almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," Gore said.

Criminal genius of the week:

18-year-old Ruben Zarate, entered a muffler shop in the 2600 block of North Laramie Avenue yesterday and declared a robbery. He allegedly waved a gun around and demanded money, according to police.

When he was told the money was in a safe and that the manager who knew how to open it was not there, the suspect had a brilliant idea; at least he thought it was brilliant. 

Why has it taken so long to reach this common-sense realization?

Pielke's analysis, published last month in the journal Natural Hazards Review, is part of a controversial movement that argues global warming over the rest of this century will play a much smaller role in unleashing planetary havoc than most scientists think.

His research has led him to believe that it is cheaper and more effective to adapt to global warming than to fight it.

Be careful whom you talk to; it coud be a crime:

After an El Dorado Hills mom reported observing a strange man speaking with her two children at each of three children's-story events, deputies arrested the man at his Folsom home.

Victor Emmer, 49, was arrested March 13 on suspicion of loitering where children gather.

Apparently, "supporting the troops" is not as widespread a phenomenon across the political spectrum as we might have thought:

A national tour featuring decorated veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan won't be stopping at Forest Lake Area High School today as planned, after school leaders abruptly canceled the visit.

For the well, duh file:

A happy marriage is good for your blood pressure, but a stressed one can be worse than being single, a preliminary study suggsts.

And this just in: "Women, Want a Healthy Marriage? Marry Man Uglier Than You, Study Says."You now know what to do. I'll be waiting for all your calls.

It didn't work with alcohol, and it hasn't worked with marijuana and other illegal drugs. It won't work with cigarettes, either. But they never learn, so now we have Twinkie Prohibition: 

With candy sales banned on school campuses, sugar pushers are the latest trend at local schools. Backpacks are filled with Snickers and Twinkees for all sweet tooths willing to pay the price.

In the digital age, medical people can share information about us more easily, but our medical privacy is harder to maintain:

You've seen it in movies and novels and on television: Somebody is buying something from an outdoor bazaar in a foreign country and starts to pay whatever price the seller asks. But wait, the buyer is told by more savvy American friends. You have to haggle. Otherwise, they'll take you for an ignorant Westererner, and they may even be insulted. It's a not-too-subtle putdown of Third World quaintness, looking askance at those who aren't "developed" enough to know that setting the retail price is one of the landmarks of civilization.