Hello world, what's new?

Whew, the last couple of weeks have been crazy at work, leading up to our big annual meeting and volunteer appreciation event, among other things. I've been planning, thinking and creating non-stop for weeks and it all turned out well. Fantastic even. So I'm thankful and relieved and happy to take a few days off.

Now I have time to think about what is going on in the world around me. Let's see. Swine flu? I'm somewhat confused by the mixed messages. It's near pandemic proportions says the World Health Organization, President Obama says it's a cause for concern but not alarm, photos of masked citizens riding the subways of the world fill the news. From what I read, the best way to prevent catching and/or spreading the swine flu is a complicated and technical procedure.

1. Wash your hands often.
2. Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough.
3. Don't pick your nose.
4. Stay home if you have a fever.

Wait. I'm pretty sure mothers everywhere have been drilling those things into the heads of their offspring for generations. I've always said just use the good sense the good Lord gave ya!

Now that we've solved that problem, what else is happening. Looks like there's a need to avoid raw alfalfa sprouts due to possible salmonella. Check. What else. GM is getting rid of the Pontiac. Duh! Oh, here's a stunner.

By Andrew Stern – Mon Apr 27, 12:15 am ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Children given stimulants to treat
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms score higher on math and
reading tests than children with the condition who do not get drugs, researchers
said on Monday.

Oh for crying out loud, I should certainly hope this would be the case. It doesn't appear to be a slow news day, but apparently stating the obvious is now newsworthy. Here's another good one for the use of common sense.

Fri Apr 24, 12:13 pm ET
ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss insurance worker lost her job after surfing popular social network site Facebook while off sick, her employer said Friday. The woman said she could not work in front of a computer as she needed to lie in the dark but
was then seen to be active on Facebook, which insurer Nationale Suisse said
in a statement had destroyed its trust in the employee.

If people would just listen to their mother, we wouldn't need to be reading all these headlines. That's my summary of today's news. And speaking of mothers, just another subtle reminder of what's coming up in a mere two weeks...Mother's Day! The Bible says, and I quote: "Treat your mama right and you'll score major points". That's from 1st Carinthians, if you want to look it up.