Civil Scramble

This week a major change was quite suddenly made in the size and print-type of the Stuart News, a local Martin County, FL, newspaper -- the overall size is smaller, perhaps as a hint about the tabloid-type incident rate in the region. The News is easier to hold and to turn the pages and the print is a bit more severe than last week's format; the sudden change is suspected to be a sort of civil defense ploy.

Also quite suddenly, within a day after the format change, newspaper and TV broadcast journalism described a teen's encounter with an alligator during which his arm "was taken", near Lake Okeechobee, during a mutual swim. It's a wonder whether other civil defense ploys in the past can be correlated with injurious alligator encounters afterward--as a consequence of balance-affecting sudden change.

Palm Beach journalism describes lax attendance at a regional boat show, while a dearth of skiffs at shoreline parks is easily ascertained.

The television ads for Comcast cable television give notice with some warning tones about an upcoming switch to all-digital television programming -- push-button only upcoming, perhaps with remote capability to explode the television screens as viewers watch? There is little doubt that such a possibility might also be categorized as civil defense.

When the PC terminal functions unusually, keep those drug-store silicon gloves handy.