An alarming environmental story that doesn't seem so alarming when you read it through the second time:
Southern Indiana's rolling hills are greener now than they were a century ago, but the region's rate of reforestation may be on the verge of being outpaced by suburban sprawl's deforestation, according to a new report by Indiana University Bloomington and University of Minnesota researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
There's been a death in the family -- my family of the newspaper world, that is. Another afternoon newspaper, the Cincinnati Post, has printed its last edition:
Relax, my fearful fellow children of America, Mommy will be president and take care of us:
The New York senator also highlighted a chapter in her book, "It Takes a Village," that talks about every child needing a champion. She said most children have someone in that role and she'd like to fulfill it for the whole country.
Another reason I don't like Mitt Romney:
According to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Survey, in 2007 about half of high school seniors had used an illegal drug. More than seven of 10 seniors had consumed alcohol, and 55% had been drunk. In fact, 44% drank alcohol in the past month. These figures rise and fall over the years: In 1980, the spring of Mr. Obama's 18th year, two-thirds of seniors had used an illicit drug and more than 70% had consumed alcohol in the past month.
Today's quiz: What is wrong with this advice from Gov. Daniels, from his TV ad urging Hoosiers to live healthy liefestyles?
And if you can, try to quit smoking.
If no one has the answer, I'll give it tomorrow.
I saw a report on WANE-TV last night about Mayor-elect Tom Henry officially taking office. Ben Eisbart, the leader of his transition team, said something like this about the difference between Henry and Mayor Graham Richard: The outgoing mayor liked staying out of the spotlight, working in the background on all the intricate details of governing. The incoming mayor will enjoy engaging the public, being the visible face of city government, talking about issues.
Shocking, just shocking:
People may insist that they aren't influenced by what others think, but a new study has revealed that negative opinions do cause attitudes to shift, especially when it comes to shopping.
The study conducted by researchers at Indiana University found that negativity not only causes shifts from good to worse, but also from bad to worse.
At an unmanned Redbox kiosk, you can pay your money and get a movie from the vending machine, even an R-rated one. The kiosks are at a lot of areas with high kid traffic, like McDonald's. So the fight is on:
Having received no response, Conklin is now preparing to seek a state injunction to remove the mature movies from McDonald's.
This should give pause to even the most ardent supporters of rights for the student press:
The Indianapolis Star editorial page, which hasn't been as reliably conservative in recent years, finds religion in a piece headlined "Lavish school buildings throw taxpayers for a loss":
The story of the veteran who ripped down a Mexican flag because it was being flown above an American flag has been everywhere. Pat White brought it up on WOWO radio yesterday afternoon, and the consensus of the callers was: Maybe the veteran was wrong legally for messing with private property but, by God, he was a real American standing up for our country against the invading hordes.
It's my gun, not everybody's:
Deep inside Washington's police headquarters is a library like few others, with floor-to-ceiling racks displaying 1,700 guns, from a World War II-era rifle with bayonet to rows of pocket-size revolvers, automatic pistols and big six-shooters that look straight out of the Wild West.
FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. - An outbreak of E. coli has sickened at least 10 people, including seven schoolchildren, and officials have ruled out school cafeteria food as a source.
Recalls of Chinese products have affected everything from our pets' food to our children's toys. Now, they're messing with the Scouts:
The Boy Scouts of America said Thursday that a painted, plastic badge commonly worn by some of its youngest scouts is being voluntarily recalled after a test revealed high levels of lead in the paint.
Jimmy Carter learns that power trumps rhetoric:
We've heard about Nazi Germany as the model of scary totalitarian states in which children are brainwashed to spy on their parents and inform on them if they do not follow accepted doctrine. Is this the same kind of thing or not?
They're watching you right now.
They counted every beer you drank during last night's Red Sox game.
They see you sneaking out to the garage for a smoke.
One possibile recommendation of the governor's commission on government restructuring is consolidation of public libraries and the elimination of small and mid-size library systems. This has upset those in charge of the Westchester Public Library:
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce did a poll and, no big shock, found a lot of unhappy Hoosiers:
Indiana has the highest number of separately elected county officials in the country, all with separate taxing authority, the Chamber said, and over 76 percent said they favor a statewide overhaul of local governments if it means greater efficiency and lower property taxes.
Some 11 percent of those polled opposed an overhaul, while 13 percent were uncertain.
When I was a kid on Halloween, I was disappointed by the people who gave out fruit instead of candy. At least this woman wasn't on my trick-or-treat route:
This is a blog. It has words. I write them. You read them. The words should all be short, and the sentences, too. That way, you will be able to understand what I am saying. That is good. Big words are bad. Long sentences are wrong. Big words and long sentences make communication harder. We do not want that. We want to keep things simple. If not, we will be sad. I won't be saying what I mean to. You won't be hearing what you need to. We both will have failed. That is not good. Let's not do it.
