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Showing posts from September 14, 2008

Football player inspires teammates, fans

I usually don't post my sports stories on this blog, but the one I wrote today for the DMN really isn't much about sports, and it has received a lot of response. It's about a high school football player named Shawn Baldwin who had his best game ever about five hours after his mother's funeral. I traveled to Eustace, TX, to talk to him and his teammates on Wednesday and wrote up this column .

It's Captain America! Wait, no it's not

"Man in American flag cape scales library, descends to crowd of waiting police" Not surprisingly, it happened at a college. This photo kind of makes me miss my days in college, although I don't remember anyone scaling the library while draped in a flag. I guess we just weren't that patriotic at the University of Arizona. Here's some more details from an observer: Collin Czarnecki, a junior journalism major, witnessed the scene from his Eddy classroom. He said that the caped man rappelled with a rope off the back side of the library and tried to flee by bike from a motorcycle policeman, but had his cape caught in the spokes and failed to escape on foot.

Texting and driving under the influence

I guess this is mildly surprising to me, but it makes sense. Researchers have determined that texting behind the wheel is more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol . When you're under the influence of alcohol, your steering might be affected. But when your texting, you don't even have hands to steer. You probably should be charged with a DWI (Driving While Idiotic). What you really want to watch out for is the person texting while drinking and driving.

'80s reminder: Eat a balanced breakfast

Back in the '80s, as some of you probably remember, there was a terrible problem sweeping the nation: Children not having a balanced breakfast. I, too, was affected. Many, many times I would simply have a bowl of Cheerios and forget to have toast, some assorted fruit and juice. It just didn't fit into my schedule of waking up 20 minutes before school and making it there before the bell rang. However, I do remember a public-service announcement reminding me of the importance of breakfast. It features some kind of -- well, I don't what it is, but it's wearing a hat -- talking to us about the grumbling in our tummies. Here it is:

AIG has the strength to take an $85 billion donation

So now the government is bailing out American International Group: In the most far-reaching intervention into the private sector ever for the Federal Reserve, the government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money . Hey, it's just $85 billion, and with that money, AIG will have the strength to be there! Well, this time, anyway. But the commercial below was just a little misleading, huh? AIG wasn't going to prevent any nightmares.

Unemployment and cattle prods

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During this political season, maybe it's time for new ideas. I wonder if this one from Australia would be popular over here: An Australian politician has used his first speech to parliament to call for unemployed idlers to be stung with a cattle prod to get them to work. That will get some people moving. (Note: I thought about writing that will get people "moooooving," but then thought it was just stupid. So please forget that I even mentioned it.)

This is no way to travel

Here's a frightening image: A man riding in the back of a pickup and holding a mattress was seriously injured when the truck hit a bump and sent the man and mattress airborne , Grand Prairie police said. According to the story, there was a similar incident last year. Two men who were sitting on a piece of plywood in the back of a pickup were injured when the plywood flew out of the truck with them on it. Amazingly, neither misadventure involved Johnny Knoxville .

Do the dishes or else

So you don't want to do the dishes tonight? Want your significant other to do all the work? Well, make sure you know your special someone well. Otherwise, you could get bitten and have a picture frame broken across your face. Oh yes, and you could be attacked with a sword .

Here comes three-ply T.P.

With the economy showing more signs of being in the toilet , it's probably the perfect time for this: The unveiling of three-ply toilet tissue. According to this story , "a team at Georgia Pacific's Innovation Institute in Neenah has come up with a three-ply version of its Quilted Northern product." It took a TEAM to come up with that? Also from the story: "The company touts the toilet tissue as "ultra-soft" and says it plans to market the product to women 45 and older who view their bathroom as a "sanctuary for quality time."

Humor Me: This might not be a drill

By MATT WIXON When I was in elementary school, Sparky the fire dog would visit occasionally. He was 6 feet tall, bumped into desks, and, in a strange coincidence, wore the same shoes as our P.E. teacher. But the kids at Horizon Elementary, home of the fightin' Panthers and the occasional lice outbreak, took Sparky seriously. After all, he and his fellow firefighters brought along a message about fire. How quickly it could spread, how destructive it could be, and how a fire could happen at our house, even when we were sleeping. Yes, Sparky and company pretty much scared the bejesus out of us. Take, for example, the "stop, drop and roll" thing. It was fun to practice, because rolling on the ground would turn into rolling into each other, which would turn into somebody knocking over a desk. That would turn into a teacher screaming at us and Sparky raising his paws to his cheeks -- creating the international mute-mascot hand signal for "Oh my!" But then we would rea