A regular roundup of stuff that wouldn’t necessarily make it on the blog, but is worth noting:
• Noticed a lot of dead squirrels, mostly on roads after they’ve been smashed by cars? Not to worry -– that’s more or less normal for this time of year, says Brett Johnson, an urban wildlife biologist at Cedar Hill State Park. The squirrels, says Johnson, are scurrying about, looking for food to supply calories to bulk themselves up for winter. As such, they aren’t paying a whole of of attention to things like cars. Adding to the carnage? That we may have more squirrels this year than in the past couple, thanks to last summer’s heavy rain.
• The push earlier this year to limit garage sales in Dallas is not unique. The New York Times reports that cities throughout the country, facing a deluge of sales thanks to the economy, have enacted or are considering limits. Academics have a name for it: The thrift economy. Says one: “This is the perfect storm for garage sales. We’re coming off a 20-year boom in which consumers filled ever-bigger houses. Now people need cash because of the bust.”
• And at least the DISD doesn’t have this problem: The entire graduating class at an exclusive Australian boys school has been suspended because they allegedly ran through the school wearing only their school ties as G-strings and set off fireworks at a nearby railway station, reports the BBC. One resident told a local paper: “Their behaviour was disgraceful. They were blind drunk and some of them could barely stand.”
• And the collapse of the mainstream media has made the funnies. An Illinois newspaper reporter has created a comic strip called Pressed, about a newspaper making cutbacks to survive in the Internet age. The strip features a curmudgeon columnist who still uses a typewriter, a Web guru trying to bring the newspaper into the Internet age and an assortment of politicians, weasels and snitches.
Comments