One thing that might take a while to recover is the convention business, considering that most people are probably still a little hesitant to go someplace with thousands of people in a confined area. The Comic-Cons in San Diego and L.A. are betting that late this year will be OK. Podcast Movement is scheduled for early August. I'm debating things right now. Would you go? (Los Angeles Times)

The article is about one simple fact, that some remote jobs don't mean you can work wherever you want; they might want you to at least be in the same state or city, whether it's because they want you available to do meetings or there are insurance and tax issues. Forget that; just ask listeners where they'd work if they could really work anywhere (besides your current location). (CNBC)

Ramadan starts next week, and this article focuses on one element of the holiday to which everyone can relate. It's about the fasting. But not just that you can't eat or drink from dawn to dusk: It's the fact that you have to go without coffee all day for a month. Now, coffee isn't banned, but you can't have any during daylight hours, and having it at other times will screw up your sleep schedule. Could you go without coffee for a month, cold turkey? Okay, yes, technically, you can, but could you do it as a personal challenge to yourself? (Wall Street Journal)

Among the things that have reopened in L.A. County are bowling alleys. Okay, then, we're good, right? Obviously, there's a fan base for bowling, and there are people who don't bowl. If you haven't been waiting at the edge of your seat for bowling's return, what ARE you excited to see return? (Daily Breeze, Torrance)

So, how DO you talk to someone among your friends and family who's either hesitant or against taking the vaccine? This article has all the usual suggestions -- don't be too judgmental/accusatory, don't expect to win the argument, acknowledge concerns, be ready to back off -- but I'd also try asking this: Why, if it's so bad, do you see nobody regret having gotten the shot? I mean, people who have had the worst post-shot reactions STILL tell you they'd do it all over again, without hesitation. And it's free, quick, and, once you get an appointment (which are now fairly plentiful in most states), easy. How do you argue with that? (Washington Post)

Using product placement to target your kids: vape sellers, and the placement is in music videos. Apparently, everyone's vaping in those things. If you have kids, are you concerned by this? Does having a hip hop star vaping in a video really lead to kids vaping? Maybe, but I remember people smoking in movies and on TV when I was a kid (pre-music videos, because I'm old) and it didn't make me want to smoke, for what that's worth. (The Conversation)

A lot of rules have been eased up in the pandemic, and now that we have some light at the end of this year-long tunnel, some folks want to see the changes made permanent. Examples? Carry-out cocktails. Video doctors' visits. Online sales of weed. You get the idea, and on one hand there are people insisting that those laws were there for a reason, and on the other hand, there are people pointing out that if it was OK to dump the rules in a pandemic, maybe the rules weren't worth saving after all. What pandemic-prompted changes in life do you want to see stick around? (Wall Street Journal)

Both Israel and Chile led the world in getting their citizens vaccinated, yet Israel is opened up practically pre-pandemic style with just a few precautions and Chile has had to go back on lockdown. Why? Maybe because Chile reopened too soon; they threw the borders open and lifted all restrictions, and that may have allowed infections to come in from abroad. So, when you're calling for the pandemic restrictions to be lifted, remember, we're close -- don't blow it now. (The Guardian)

Their fears are becoming reality: Former top Trump administration officials are finding it hard to get a plum corporate job as members of practically all past administrations, Republican and Democratic, have been able to accomplish without trouble. I'm guessing that even lower-level officials will have a similarly hard time. The Trump brand is toxic. Which can be a topic for others, too: Is there something on your resume you think might be a dealbreaker? Are there other jobs you wouldn't take for fear it might disqualify you for other jobs? (Washington Post)

Prices at the supermarket are going up, and in some cases the increases are steep. A family of four might see food expenses rise about $500 for the year, and the timing, considering how tight so many people are right now, is bad. So, how will you cut your budget? What foods are the first to get cut from your shopping list when prices go up but your paycheck doesn't? (WPVI-TV/Philadelphia)

As the end of the pandemic nears, one reminder people will have of what we've been through is really bad hair. Stylists are reopening to fix what you ruined, at a price, and you'll never take them for granted again. Or will you? How'd the Flowbee work out for ya? Did you let things grow or did you try to trim things up yourself, or did you find a way to see the stylist even when the salons were closed? (Wall Street Journal)

The Guardian asked readers to comment about their decision to let their hair go grey, prompted by the pandemic and the long stretches during which hair salons were closed. Okay, then, did you let your real hair color emerge? Has that worked for you? (The Guardian)

More proof that anti-maskers are, shall we say, a little off comes from one of my old home towns, where a guy who refused to wear a mask at a Burger King ended up choking an employee and then, after getting arrested, intentionally slammed his head against a bench, as one does. Really, how hard is it to just wear the damn mask until we're clear of the virus? (WABC-TV/New York)

Another warning sign: Car dealers got through the pandemic by being loose with low-interest credit, but risky borrowers are apparently falling behind on payments and... well, it's a race between default and recovery. File this away for when you talk about the rosy economic recovery picture. (Wall Street Journal)

Friday is National Blintz Day according to I have no idea. I just thought you should know. (KNBC-TV/Los Angeles)

The deadly British variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading, which is bad. And why is it spreading? One culprit might be youth sports. The spread seems to be corresponding to an increase in youth sports, and it's the adults -- refs, coaches, parents -- who are getting sick along with infected kids. It's not just the playing, it' the carpooling, team celebrations, things like that. Did youth sports come back too soon, and what does that say about reopening schools? (Washington Post)

Lingering concern: Is it safe to stay in a hotel room yet? The answer's easy if you're fully vaccinated: yes. No vaccination? Be careful: Check the hotel's protocols, avoid close contact with staff, you know the drill. But if you know the drill, chances are that you're smart enough to get vaccinated. (CNN)

You would think that remote work would lessen your chances of dealing with certain problems at the office, but, no, as this article notes, remote work could worsen a toxic workplace, whether it's the boss spying on you at all times or nagging you via email and Slack or constantly demanding that you be available for Zoom meetings when you really need to do things like shower or go to the bathroom. Is there no escape? (BBC)

Everybody likes remote work better than the office, right? Not exactly, which raises the question of who prefers office work and who prefers remote work. Would you rather be in the office or in your PJs? (CBC)

It was at about the time you learned what an NFT is that the price of NFTs began to fall, a lot, and that may mean that the bubble burst before most people could take advantage. Or maybe it's because when "regular people" took a look at them, they realized it all seemed like a semi-pyramid scheme, the value of your investment depending on later suckers bidding up the price. Either way, the bloom is coming off the rose before it's even fully bloomed. (CNN)

LinkedIn says that the reason they're giving their entire staff this week off is to prevent burnout. You could use that, too, right? (CNN)

A diner owner in Nelson, BC had enough of anti-maskers crowding his establishment and flouting restrictions, so he closed the restaurant right in the middle of the busy day. He says they were out-of-towners, and, indeed, there had been an anti-mask rally nearby. Why can't people just wait a little while longer to let the vaccines take effect? Oh, right, they don't want vaccines either. (CTV News)

Way early on in the pandemic, one topic that came up a LOT was how the virus would likely kill off the handshake and hug. It's been a year; still think that we're gonna never shake hands again? Maybe so, because we've gotten used to it, haven't we? (USA Today)

Analysts say you haven't gotten enough TV, and so they predict streaming subscriptions will increase again in 2021, meaning they expect you will add more. How many is too many? Do you watch them all? Are they worth the price? Are you playing the game where you activate and deactivate a service month-to-month, depending on what's on? Is this all sustainable, and how do you remember which service has which shows and movies? (Motley Fool via USA Today)

And now, the rent is due. No, really, people owe a ton of back rent due to the pandemic year. This article is from the perspective of property owners and landlords who say they can't wait any longer to collect the rent. They've been subject to laws putting a hold on evictions due to the pandemic, but how long can they hold on when the banks they borrowed from to buy the properties want their money now, too? I know, nobody wants to show sympathy for the landlord, but it IS a problem. (Los Angeles Times)

The article in the New York Times bears the headline "We Have All Hit A Wall," and, yes, we hit wall a long time ago, and, yes, it's another pandemic burnout article. But it's what people feel, and as such you can and should talk about it again. How do you keep motivated and optimistic? (New York Times)

Here's a movie producer who's going all in on an idea some of you will find very appealing: making movies and TV shows for the 50-and-older demographic. She's gambling that the audience is there and profitable, and that if the big studios don't bother because their business models are built on blockbusters (and, therefore, superhero and horror for younger demos), there's an opportunity to grab that business. MRC Film, the backer of this project, is also backing studios that plan to make female-led comedies and romance movies, so they're really looking to get the business the big studios have forsaken. If you're over 50, you might take heart that someone is thinking about what you want and might just deliver it to you. (Los Angeles Times)

Another shortage: ketchup packets. The shift to takeout/delivery made ketchup packets in demand, and now Heinz et al. can't keep up. This had better ease up soon; I'm not gonna be happy without extra ketchup for my burgers and fries. (Wall Street Journal)

Here's testimony from someone who claims she was not an animal person at all until the pandemic... and is now the doting owner of a pet bunny rabbit. It started as a favor to a friend, pet-sitting her bunny, but when the friend couldn't take the rabbit back, he became a permanent member of the household. And now she knows why people love their pets. If you're a pet owner, why? What joy does having a pet bring you? For me, I don't even know how to explain it, but having a cat in our family makes every day immeasurably better. Just looking at her is joy. (Washington Post)

What happens when you achieve your lifelong goal and realize it doesn't make you happy? Los Angeles Angels reliever Ty Buttrey says that his decision to quit at the age of 28 had nothing to do with being optioned to the minors; he says he just lost his passion for baseball, period, after making it to the majors. He says he just wants to be a normal working person. Can you identify with that? Do you ever look around and think, you know, this is not what I want? (Los Angeles Times)

Because things have gone the way they've gone, it appears that more college students are majoring in political science and running for office, because they want to change things. Good luck to them. I majored in political science and look what happened to me. Not pretty. Maybe I should try running for something, too. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Some -- nobody can honestly say how many -- vegans and vegetarians have lapsed during the pandemic, breaking down and eating meat. What has the pandemic led to you doing that you hadn't been doing before? Drinking? Overeating? Blowing off exercise? (The Guardian)

The recent attacks on Asian Americans have raised a question about bystanders, and whether they're willing to step in when someone's being assaulted. So they did a study and it showed that most people are willing to intervene and help someone being attacked. But that's what people say, not what they do, so let's look deep inside ourselves. Would you really jump in? Is not doing so apathy or self-preservation? What should you do? (New York Times)

You live or work overseas. The country you're in is maddeningly slow to get the public vaccinated. What are you gonna do? Some American expats are flying back to the U.S. to get the shot, because a thousands-of-miles, expensive round-trip flight is a better option than waiting and possibly catching the virus. Also, in some countries, citizens get priority over expats. Now that shots are becoming easier to get in the U.S., it may be moot for you, but would you -- DID you -- go to extreme lengths to get your shot? Because some people did, and some people still are. (CNN)

Have we had enough of algorithms making recommendations yet? Would we rather go back to finding new things to buy or read or eat or listen to by serendipity, just stumbling onto new things, or having friends, family, or critics/experts advising us? There's even a new streamer based on the idea that they'll have pro DJs and musicians pick music for you to hear, which, come to think of it, is what radio has done since Marconi. But does the algorithm do better for you than before everything was done that way? (The Guardian)

One notable aspect of the Biden infrastructure plan is that it allocates a lot of money to public transit in general and trains in particular. We're a car culture and America's spread out -- are trains the best option? Do you ride the rails in your area? Are trains the past or the future? (New York Times)

I told you, no April Fool's Day jokes. A woman in Ohio did not listen to that advice and now she's facing charges because she thought it would be hilarious to text her sister that there was an active shooter at her workplace. Her sister called 911, the cops came out, and "I was only joking" will not keep you out of jail for that. Mark this down for next year. And for pranks in general. Not funny. (WHIO-TV-AM-FM/Dayton)

I did not know that you could, as this Australian gentleman experienced, be attacked by an octopus while you're (both) out of the water. Good to know. What's weird is that after he got video of the attack, he went swimming, at which time he was attacked again, possibly by the same angry octopus. Don't know about you, but if an octopus attacks ME, I am SO out of there. (CNN)

The guy had already caused a crash in the parking lot before he strolled into the Walmart and tried to shoplift. And when he did that, the store's security people confronted him. But they didn't DO anything, which is when a 21-year-old customer decided enough was enough and stepped in, leading to a fistfight and the suspect's arrest. Should bystanders take action if the people who are SUPPOSED to take action don't? (KCPQ-TV/Seattle)

It would have been nice had the federal government set up the rules for everyone instead of ignoring the problem and leaving each state to do its own thing, but it's too late now, and so, among the other problems of the pandemic, every state has its own color-coding for COVID-19 stages. And so, if you're in a blue stage in Utah, it's a disaster, but blue means safe in other states. California's worst stage is purple; many areas use red for that. Green's usually good, but it wasn't as good as turquoise in New Mexico. Some states have none of that. All they had to do was set up one set of guidelines, but they didn't do that. And here we are. (New York Times)

The Affordable Care Act makes chain restaurants put calorie counts on their menus, but there's a loophole that existed before but is now being singled out in light of the pandemic: food delivery apps are exempt. Postmates, DoorDash, GrubHub, etc. don't have to post calorie counts. And so nutritionists are blaming that for the poundage we've all packed on. Do you pay attention to calorie counts when you're ordering? Should those apps show nutritional information, at least if you want it? (Washington Post)

Used to be that a triple double was a big deal in the NBA. Now, they're commonplace, up 47% from last year, up 700 % from nine years ago. It's not as impressive anymore. What other feats just aren't all that great anymore that used to be awe-inspiring? (AP via Global News)

America imports a lot. That's usually not a problem, but it is now, because a lot of stuff is just sitting on boats waiting just outside the harbor here in L.A. and Long Beach, where the ports are overcrowded and ships are having a hard time getting space to unload. That's why deliveries (and raw goods for manufacturing) may be delayed and prices may go up. Way up. Consider yourself warned. (Wall Street Journal)

The latest company to warn of higher prices is Kimberly-Clark, which blames high demand and the price of raw materials for its hefty price hike on Huggies and Scott toilet paper. If you think, oh, no big deal, I don't use those, well, the competition is going to match that, and so you'll be paying a lot more for TP and other paper goods. Nothing much you can do about it, just be prepared. (CNN)

Googling your symptoms makes you more stressed out about your health, right? A new study says no, it doesn't make you more stressed or even less accurate about your illness. To the contrary, reading up about your symptoms means you get a slightly more accurate diagnosis. Knowledge is power, and not harmful. As long as you don't write yourself prescriptions, that is. (CTV)

From David Courtney's wonderful Texanist column in Texas Monthly (which has reinstituted its paywall, but you get two articles a month for free) comes the fact that in Wichita Falls, TX, they put tomato juice in beer and call it a "red draw." That exists elsewhere -- spice it up and it's a michelada -- but only Wichita Falls calls it a "red draw." I wonder if you know of other things that only exist in your town under a particular name, something weird and specific to your town, like how "grinder" (the sandwich, not the app) means something different in New England than it does in Philly, or how a Chicago Dog is very different from a New York Dirty Water Dog. (Texas Monthly)

You are exhausted by the pandemic. You are tired, you've had it. We know. Everyone's in the same boat. This article offers tips on dealing with COVID fatigue, from taking a lot of breaks during work to get going on tasks to get a mental boost from accomplishing something. Oh, and since you're Zoomed out, make plans to meet friends in person (socially distanced, that is). What are you doing to cope? And will these "how to cope with the pandemic" articles ever end? (Philadelphia Inquirer)

For sale, for $13.75 million, a Bay Area estate once owned by Bing Crosby. That's the headline, but that's not the topic. No, the topic is about one feature of the house: a secret room. Yes, it has a hidden door that blends in with the wood paneling, and behind it is a little room with a bench, windows, and a bar cart. Now, if it has a doorknob and windows, I'd contend it isn't all that secret, but apparently it was designed during prohibition and was meant as a room where you could go drink without being seen by others. And the topic could be what YOU would put in YOUR secret room, and, honestly, what you're thinking is pretty freaky and weird, so be careful. (CNBC)

With "Godzilla Vs. Kong" arriving, here's a list of classic movie crossover battles, and, yes, "Alien Vs. Predator" and "Freddy Vs. Jason" are on the list. No "Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever," because that movie was awful and Ecks and Sever were on the same side and who the heck were Ecks and Sever anyway? What were we even... oh, right, crossover movie battles. Does "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" count? (New York Times)

Okay, I still, after all these years, don't get it. The latest example of "it" is this celebration by UCLA fans after they made it into the Final Four: setting couches on fire in the street. Why? I know, it happens everywhere when a team wins a big game. I was personally in the presence of furniture being flung out dorm windows on campus when Villanova won the 1985 NCAAs, and I did see flames, too. But why? Of all the ways to celebrate, why burn things? (KABC-TV/Los Angeles)

The dark web is where you can get fake vaccines, and fake vaccine certificates, and so you have a choice: You can pay whatever the market will bear for a fake certificate, or you can go get a real vaccination for free and not be breaking any law. Seems like an easy choice, but, hey, it's your money. (New York Daily News)

Getting stuck in your apartment riding out the pandemic for a year is bad enough, but if you live in a crowded apartment building... you can imagine the issues. And in South Korea, where over 2/3 of the people there live in big apartment buildings, the issue is noise, lots of it. And that means noise wars,battling noise by blasting more noise like bass-heavy music through speakers installed on your ceiling and designed for that purpose. Or hitting your ceiling with a mallet. Or playing jackhammer sounds. How do you handle noisy neighbors? (Los Angeles Times)

Coachella and Stagecoach may not be on for 2021, but the Hard Summer festival in San Bernardino, headlined by Future, is set to go for July 31st and August 1st, which raises the question of whether we're ready to go to big outdoor music festivals yet. The end of July is four months away, but is four months enough? That's a lot of people in one area, even outdoors. But it IS outdoors, so there's that, and vaccinations. You ready? (Los Angeles Times)

Ego is what it is, but if you're a fugitive, you have to keep that in check, lest you, like this alleged mob member on the lam in Italy, get caught because you post cooking videos on YouTube. This guy kept his face out of the videos but forgot to cover up his tattoos. Busted. I wonder if he thinks the "likes" were worth it. (Washington Post)

Toldja: More companies are joining the ranks of businesses dumping office space because they know the future is in maintaining pandemic-inspired remote work. JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce, and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the latest to say they'll be getting rid of property and leases. The question is, what happens to all that office space? What happens to downtowns? What happens to office parks? What happens to towns' tax revenue? (Wall Street Journal)

Is it a sign that the pandemic is coming to an end or a rush job that Delta will stop blocking middle seats on May 1st? They're the last airline to do it, and that means all flights will be, um, not socially distanced. Anyone else a little hesitant about flying under those circumstances? (CNBC)

The headline: "Should your company do an April Fools’ Day prank this year?" The entire article: "No. No. Absolutely not." Plus a link to an article about Microsoft banning April Fool's gaggery and a GIF of Danny DeVito as Frank on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" shaking his head and saying "nope." Get the idea? This is the worst of "holidays." (TechCrunch)

A PBS show used technology to show people what it's like to be 30 years older; the subjects wore suits that replicate the ravages of age. And what sucks is to already be the age they're targeting. I don't need a suit for that. How are you dealing with aging? Are you optimistic, are you trying to stay in good health, are you resigned about it? (Washington Post)

How has the pandemic changed banking? People are banking more online, opening new accounts, but using credit cards less, the latter credited to Gen Z, a large percentage of whom are not card carriers. I'm not sure, frankly, about the reduction in credit card usage; sure, maybe people didn't open new cards, but I would imagine that they put utilities and other necessities on cards in light of losing jobs or taking pay cuts. What's your experience been with money in the pandemic? (CNBC)

Hawaii residents report that as the pandemic eases, tourists are acting badly, flouting local regulations and customs and not wearing masks and blocking roads to take pictures and just being a-holes, and this comes on the heels of a year with very limited tourism. The state economically depends on tourism, but it was kinda nice when the tourists weren't being tourists. If you live in a touristy area, maybe you can talk about whether being overrun with people who don't care that someone lives where they play is worth the economic benefit. (SFGate.com)

Oh, I love this one: it's an article with lists of major league ballpark traditions, from mascots to sausage races to home run celebrations to seventh inning stretch songs. Does your team ham it up? "Sweet Caroline" or "Thank God I'm a Country Boy?" Phanatic or Orbit? Or are you a fan of a team with practically none of that? Here, neither the Dodgers nor Angels have mascots or home run celebrations (flashing lights and jumbotron/ribbon board animation don't count), but the Phillies, my team, has all of it, including the Phanatic, the Liberty Bell home run celebration, and the late Harry Kalas' "High Hopes" after wins. Makes it just a little more fun. Fun is good. (Washington Post)

Live events are coming back! Concerts! Conventions! Back! One small problem: There's a shortage of workers to handle the events, because the pandemic left a lot of them needing to go take another job to survive. This can be applied to other businesses, too, from restaurants to, well, radio. If people gave up and went into another line of work, where will we find people to do their old jobs? (Wall Street Journal)

We all know this deep down, but we never think about it until we want to sell our cars, in which case the fact that car paint jobs affect the resale value -- and some colors will fetch thousands more than others -- will become an issue. And the hot and cold colors are different depending on the kind of vehicle and even your location, so what works for SUVs may not for a sedan or sports car. How did you decide on the color of your car? (Me, it was what was on the lot. Same for my wife's car, which is how we ended up with identical colors on nearly identical cars.) (New York Times)

Turns out that you, if you're a gardening fan, can speed up the germination of your seeds by putting them in your Instant Pot and using the yogurt setting. You put the seeds in between layers of damp paper towel in a Ziploc bag, throw them in the pot, use the yogurt setting, and there you go. What usually takes a week to ten days to germinate does it in two to four days. Works for vegetable, fruit, everything, and they say it even leads to higher yields. This makes me imagine a 1960s Roger Corman horror movie about giant rampaging vegetables, but that's just me. (CBC)

Oh, yeah, this is a cicada year. If you live in states where the cicadas come out every 17 years, you don't need me to explain what the topics here are any further. That's Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. That's one thing I don't miss about living in the mid-Atlantic; I can remember laying awake all night unable to drown out the chirping. (Scripps Media via WFTS-TV/Tampa)

I did not know that it was a thing that some people stage dog fights in car trunks, sticking two dogs in a trunk and prompting them to fight until no sounds come out of the trunk, and that could be one of the cruelest things I've heard about in years. You have to have a hole in your soul to entertain doing that. Some people are awful. New Jersey, for one, is mullig making it a felony, and I'm not sure why it isn't already a felony. (NJ Advance Media/NJ.com)

A high speed chase in Utah? Big deal, we have high speed chases so frequently here that it's a staple of KCAL-9 programming. Wait, this was the result of a guy stealing pizza and breadsticks from Little Caesar's? Okay, that's a new one. Store was busy, guy was impatient and took the pizzas and breadsticks and left, manager confronted him in parking lot, guy threatened to slit the manager's throat, manager threatened to call the police, guy heard "police" and dashed off in his daddy's car, police saw him and chased him, and, after a pause when cops stopped chasing him because of the high speed, another cop saw him and another chase began. The guy had meth on him, which explains both the behavior and going to Little Caesar's. They don't say if he ate the pizzas during the chase, though. (KUTV/Salt Lake City)

It took years and the intervention of the TV show "Hoarders," but the L.A. police have finally begun a cleanup at a suburban house in the Valley where the owner allowed the property to become a junkyard. Technically, the owner allowed her son to use the property as a junkyard, and "junkyard" is putting it mildly. The place is a wreck, smack in the middle of an otherwise typical upper-middle-class suburban neighborhood in Granada Hills. You can see the mess on Google Maps, but it got much worse since then. It makes you wonder how or why someone could even do that, and why the police and city did nothing for years until pushed hard; the city claims that its hands are tied by the prospect of a lawsuit and it would cost more than they have, but people who do these cleanups for a living say otherwise. When does a property owner's right to do what they want with their property interfere with the neighbors' rights not to have vermin and people dumping trash next door? (KCBS-TV/Los Angeles)

A story that went viral this weekend was this report about Costco customers in Anchorage who claim ravens are stealing their groceries, taking packages of meat right out of people's carts. Doesn't seem like anybody has any ideas on what to do about it. I would think that one of the problems is that, unlike when you shop at a regular supermarket, your food isn't packed into bags when you leave Costco. Maybe bring bags or something. Or buy extra meat and leave it on top for the ravens. I mean, YOU try to come up with a solution. (Anchorage Daily News)

Not every theft involves using a limousine as a getaway car, but this story of $30,000 in A//V equipment stolen from a rental company was in Vegas, so that might explain it. Basically, they took delivery of a rental order, threw the stuff in a limo they'd rented, and had the limo go to a spot where they moved the stuff into a truck and took off, with the limo driver, suddenly realizing what just happened, trailing them for a while. Not sure why they used the limo as a middle stage, though. They could have just brought the truck around. I guess the limo added that Vegas touch. (KTNV-TV/Las Vegas)

The news that many teacher preparatory programs at colleges are finding students reluctant to pursue teaching careers because the pandemic made the job less attractive raises the more general topic of which businesses and careers have become a lot less desirable in light of the last year. Nursing might be another one. (New York Times)

There are places you don't go at night, but when a crime occurs in a place where you DO go and it's in broad daylight, what then? In this case, two people were held up in gunpoint robberies in a mall parking lot, and not just any mall but the upscale, massive, very popular South Coast Plaza in Orange County, one of the biggest and most successful malls in the world. It's the kind of place where you absolutely would not feel unsafe; there are always a lot of people there, there are security cameras everywhere and rent-a-cops in little carts riding around the garages all the time... if you can get robbed at gunpoint there, no public place is safe. (Orange County Register)

This brief, sad item about a motorcyclist who died after driving over a fire hose stretched across a road in the middle of the night while firefighters fought a blaze is a reminder to me of certain things I don't do for fear that something like this can happen. I won't ride a motorcycle or even a bicycle because I can only imagine hitting something in the road -- a pothole, a stick, a rock, a squirrel -- and going head first over the handlebars. What things won't you do for fear of accidental results? (KYW-TV/Philadelphia)