Small Takes on Big News

Hurricane Dennis, bearing down on Cuba. Being a meteorologist by training, I keep a close eye on things like this. I have relatives on the west coast of Florida, who missed being plowed by Hurricane Charley last year by virtue of living five miles south of landfall.

On today's tragic events in London, my guess is that the protagonists of this butchery were playing to a very narrow constituency - themselves. It's hard to imagine that anyone else can be, almost 4 years after 9-11, sympathetic to their cause.

Finally, this is the first occurrence of my mother's birthday since her untimely death from lung cancer last year. I know people out there who smoke who tend to dismiss the effects of smoking by saying things like "if smoking don't kill me, something else will". Folks, if you want to die young, fine. But there aren't many worse ways to die than lung cancer. It's still not too late to get your 10 years back: quit now, and get a chest x-ray. Please.