Japan seems to be in a really retro mood these days. The populace is trying to relive the 1960s:
The Beatles visited Japan only once as a band, but the country is commemorating the 40th anniversary of their concerts as if the Fab Four had never left the stage.
I like reporting like this, which tells us something we probably wouldn't know if we'd never been involved. If you get a traffic ticket, you've got nothing to lose by going to court:
Perhaps a lawyer could explain why this is a felony with $5,000 bond -- probably not because of the value of the items, a couple of Beanie Babies, or the location, a cemetery anyone can visit without breaking in. I'm not suggesting any sympathy for the woman. Someone who'd steal something from a grave would steal anything from anybody at any time.
I am reminded of an old quip, which I have heard attributed to various people but will credit to Minnie Pearl, since I heard her say it first: "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.":
Another silly survey, this one trying to spread the myth that money doesn't buy happiness:
Although most people imagine that if they had more money they could do more fun things and perhaps be happier, the reality seems to be that those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities.
I've met Evan Bayh -- nice enough fellow, astute politician (having people think he's a moderate, despite his voting record), in the normal intelligence range. But, come on. Anybody who writes about him this way needs to get a life:
Emerson Keller Elkins died 13 years ago but left a little something behind that will keep his name alive, his own personal time capsule:
Workers renovating the Indiana Memorial Union found a letter hidden inside a wall nearly 70 years ago, a message its writer said he didn't know would ever be read.
The letter, dated Jan. 15, 1939, mentions Hitler and Mussolini, conflict between Japan and China and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's problems with Congress.
I suppose this approach is worth the effort:
Health researchers investigating ways to tackle America's childhood obesity epidemic have a possible solution: heavier toys.
A study of the effects of giving children weighted blocks to play with found they burned more calories and had higher heart and breathing rates than when playing with lighter blocks.
Well, for a start, she might want to keep them away from Woody Allen:
Mia Farrow shocked audiences a generation ago in "Rosemary's Baby." Now, the actress is trying to save children . . .
But she probably already knew that.
This might be the single most incoherent raving by a political figure I've seen in the last six months:
America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions.
We can agree or disagree with some of the assessments in this story about the true extent of the damage caused by the continuous publication of leaked secrets. But I think it gets one thing exactly right:
Maybe this guy should be forced to put a sign in his yard that says, "I am a greedy, opportunistic jerk who got what he deserved":
The Indiana Supreme Court says a Munster man who leaned back too far and tumbled backward off the top row of gymnasium bleachers is responsible for his own fall.
Ah, the workings of the legal mind. John Stephenson, 42, is to die by injection after a jury convicted of him in the March 1996 shooting deaths of three people along a rural Warrick County road. Stephenson is seeking a new trial or new sentencing. Here is what his attorney says:
Quick, what's the most common thing women order in restaurants? A salad? Soup and half a sandwich? Iced tea? Guess again:
Women order fries more often than any other food.
Here's another surprise: The second-most-ordered food is burgers, followed by pizza. A main-dish salad comes in seventh.
Just a reminder, as we get closer to our first Fourth of July with legal fireworks, to read all the police reports on Wednesday, after having stayed safely indoors all day Tuesday:
A Whitefish man was critically injured early Tuesday while allegedly using fireworks to blow up mailboxes with a friend.
I know you'll find this hard to believe, but alcohol was involved.
Hooray, let's stick it to up for the common man:
A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.
What a showing of solidarity! Until those at the bottom of the pay scale get $7.25 an hour (never mind how many of them it will drive out of work), members of Congress will have to subsist on the pitiful scraps they get now.
Gosh, I thought all the evidence was in and the debate about global warming all but over. That's certainly the gist of this Associated Press review of Al Gore's movie:
OK, this is me being judgmental.
What can you say about (or to) a person who believes what she's decided is "morally wrong" but is going to do it anyway because the other options would leave her "worse off emotionally"? Sorry, kid, you could have had a life, but I would have felt so bad about having you and then giving you up.
See, there's a silver lining in every cloud, even if it's a killer cloud of tobacco smoke. Because Indiana has the second-highest percentage of smokers in the nation, we get to be a test site for this cool new product:
It's called Taboka, a smokeless, spit-less tobacco product wrapped in sheath netting. It's just days away from its national one-city debut in Indianapolis.
