Ummm. Yeah.

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Smoke-free Illinois

A friend alerted me to something today that these websites confirm; however no one I’ve mentioned it to has heard anything about it. It was in the Post, I see.

This past Monday, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed a bill into effect that will ban smoking in all public buildings, including restaurants, bars, and casinos. It goes into effect at the start of next year.

Something tells me that those seeking late-night, East-side action aren’t going to be too happy.

Working Late

Discovered today: Diet Pepsi Max has twice the caffeine.

Currently, this is helpful.

Planet-Sized Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

When my IT-guy, friend, co-worker, cube-wall sharer showed me this this morning, I thought he was full of you know what. But when he confirmed it was the BBC and not the Onion, I had to post it. He came up with the title.

But seriously, it’s a planet that turned into a diamond! A cosmic diamond. Actually, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. That’s what they named it.

It’s a dead white dwarf star whose carbon core has crystallized. Our sun will do the same thing in about 7 billion years. Cool huh?

Obesity in the U.S.

I did a large story on this for the Ferguson-Florissant School District before I left. Therefore, this map isn’t news to me. I have a lot to say on the matter, but for now, I will let the map speak for itself. This is a much bigger issue than people realize. People complain about the cost of smokers on our health system. Obesity is worse and has quickly skyrocketed to within the top few health risks in the country; I think it might be number two. For example, the instances of juvenile Diabetes II has greatly increased due to lack of healthy eating and physical activity. Thanks Playstation. Of course, the liklihood of obesity is at least 50% higher in children with obese parents because of genetics and bad familial eating habits. I could go on and on, but I said I wasn’t going to.

Locked Out

The worst part about being locked out of my apartment building for over an hour wasn’t actually walking barefoot in my pajamas two and a half blocks to my landlord’s house. It wasn’t even the fact that she wasn’t home, and I had to walk back. It was very nearly facing my downstairs neighbor when she finally came home and let me in. (Although, I’m sure this embarrassment will linger.) The worst part was sitting 20 feet through an open window away from my laptop, Harry Potter 6, and the several hours of proofing I have left to do tonight. If I’d just had one of those things with me, I could have sat out there for hours. But having nothing but your thoughts of what a dumb ass you are for screwing up the door propping before watering the flowers… well that sucks. I don’t sit without activity very well. Though, now that I am back inside and blogging, it’s definitely the neighbor thing. If only it had been the first time she’s let me in. Oi. But we’ll label that something else, like “the worst part about being let in.” Sigh.