Seriously?

Something I love to hate on the news are new studies that prove things any knowledgable person could already assume to be true anyways. Things like 'New study finds that smoking may lead to other types of cancer besides lung cancer' or 'Leaving your child alone with strangers is a bad idea' or 'Spending too much time on your cell phone may cause pain on your ears.'

But this one is just SO dumb I can't believe that a MILLION dollars was (supposedly) spent to do this study. Here is how it goes:
"Cheap Drinks At College Bars Can Escalate Drinking Among College Students— It's no secret that alcohol use among college students can cause a number of problems, including injury, violence and even death. A new study has examined the impact of drink discounts at college bars, finding that low alcohol prices at drinking establishments pose genuine
threats to public health and safety." And so on.

Really? REALLY? Lower prices at bars means people drink more? Holy shit, what a revelation. I never knew that.

If drinks are cheap, I'm pretty sure everyone I know, myself included, would go ahead and drink as much as they feel like or know they can handle instead of what their wallet dictates to them.

I just wanted to slap her

I was out at Steak n' Shake the other night with mom, as dad was gone on his Corvette Caravan to the museum. Towards the latter part of our meal, a mother and her son (who I'm gonna put at about 9 years) were seated near us. The lady caught my attention because she was kind of obnoxious. She was talking on her cell phone and was mostly leaning over the table but then would throw herself back in astonishment or laughter because something was just SO funny... and then go back to leaning forward. Who does this?

Anyways, so that being sort of annoying in itself, the point is: she was on her cell phone. Her son was sitting across from her and I don't know if he had drawn something on the placemat or what, but he had something to show her. He says "Mommy... mommy... mommy......... mommy....... mommy....... mommy?......." a few times just trying to get her attention.

She. did. not. even. notice.

I felt so sorry for the kid. I wanted to go over and give him a hug for crying out loud and wanted to have him show ME whatever it was he was excited about. I wanted to just slap the lady! Pay attention to your son! Get off your goddamn phone! Not only was it heartbreaking at the time, if that is how she always treats him or if that carries over at home: he is going to grow up with some problems. It's the kids who go through those sorts of things that end up acting out at school and such because they don't get the attention at home; they seek it elsewhere.

She was probably on her phone for 3/4 of the time they were there, and when she wasn't, she wasn't interacting with her child in the least. I was just so saddened by her neglect for her child. Parenting these days... ugh. Sometimes I see glimmers of hope and many people that I am associated with do parent their children well. But there are just so many horrible examples out there of how lazy and terrible parenting has become.