Sad as it may be, i was intrigued yesterday by the plastic bag our newspaper arrived in. OK, not the bag, rather the specificity of it's warning:

CAUTION: KEEP AWAY FROM SMALL CHILDREN
THE THIN FILM MAY CLING TO NOSE
AND PREVENT BREATHING

First of all, should people in need of such specific wording really have children left in their care?

Secondly, the warning provoked my brother (17 years old--go figure!) to try to suffocate himself, but he could not get "the thin film" to "cling to nose." Not that this is a bad thing.

But what age children do they test said bags on? "Small children" seems vague to me--does it relate to size or to intelligence? Hmmm...

The bag got me thinking (This is really pitiful!): When someone begins hyperventilating or hiccoughing, a common suggestion is for the person to breathe into a bag. How does that help? Wouldn't that limit the quantity of air one could take in per draught? And shouldn't the potentially diminished O2 content in the bag actually increase, rather than alleviate, hiccoughs?

If this kind of thinking becomes a trend when i'm home, i may have to start refusing days off from work.

Penny *really loving the "500 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time" on the local rock station this weekend, though* stamp