What Do These Articles Have In Common?

Posted on by Mike 7 Comments

The following three articles ran on consecutive days last week. It struck me that there was one huge thing that these articles have in common. Here are the articles:

Article One

Report Says Sugary Drinks Pile on Pounds

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Medical Writer

Americans have sipped and slurped their way to fatness by drinking far more soda and other sugary drinks over the last four decades, a new scientific review concludes.

An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year, and the “weight of evidence” strongly suggests that this sort of increased consumption is a key reason that more people have gained weight, the researchers say.

Article Two

Sexual lyrics prompt teens to have sex

By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — Teens whose iPods are full of music with raunchy, sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found.

Whether it’s hip-hop, rap, pop or rock, much of popular music aimed at teens contains sexual overtones. Its influence on their behavior appears to depend on how the sex is portrayed, researchers found.

Songs depicting men as “sex-driven studs,” women as sex objects and with explicit references to sex acts are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than those where sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found.

Article Three

Indianapolis on Edge Over Killings

By RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Marilyn Brooks and her two children didn’t hear the gunshot that killed a teenage boy in an alley behind her home, but the slaying so traumatized her 9-year-old son that he spent the night at his grandmother’s house and refused to return home the next morning.

Thirteen people have been killed in Indianapolis in less than a week – a wave of bloodshed that has alarmed residents and civic leaders and led to stepped-up police patrols in the city’s trouble spots.

Olgen Williams, an Indianapolis activist, said young people in the city have fallen under the spell of gangsta rap and the violent lifestyle it portrays.

“They all want to be gangsters because they think that’s the thing to be. The girls want to have a boyfriend who’s a bling bling gangbanger,” he said. “In the media, if you market something enough, someone is going to buy it. And that’s what these kids are buying.”

Do you see the commonality? What commonality do you see among the articles? I’ll give you my 2ยข worth in a couple of days. Please let me hear from you.

Some Old, Some New Observations

Posted on by Mike 1 Comment
  • “When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”
    –Author Unknown
  • Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: “Take two aspirin” and “Keep away from children.”
    –Author Unknown
  • “Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.”
    –Drew Carey
  • “The problem with the designated driver program, it’s not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house.”
    –Jeff Foxworthy
  • “If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base.”
    –Dave Barry
  • “Relationships are hard. It’s like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two week’s notice. There should be severance pay, the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp.”
    –Bob Ettinger
  • “My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, ‘Mom, they weren’t trying to teach you how to swim.'”
    –Paula Poundstone
  • “A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: ‘Duh'”
    –Conan O’Brien
  • “Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I’m halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God…. I could be eating a slow learner.”
    –Lynda Montgomery
  • “I think that’s how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, ‘Gee, I’m enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn’t cold enough. Let’s go west.'”
    –Richard Jeni
  • “If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”
    –Johnny Carson
  • “Sometimes I think war is God’s way of teaching us geography.”
    –Paul Rodriguez
  • “My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law.”
    –Jerry Seinfeld
  • “Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?”
    –Warren Hutcherson
  • “Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.”
    –Oscar Wilde
  • “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
    –Mark Twain
  • “Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan.”
    –A. Whitney Brown
  • “You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, ‘My God, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!'”
    –Dave Barry
  • “Everybody’s got to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another beer.”
    –W. C. Fields