The American College of Emergency Physicians warns of the danger of more serious accidents involving oblivious texters.

It seems we (that's Americans, those of us living in a country that sent 363 billion text messages last year) are texting while walking, biking and -- wait for it -- driving. Really, we should wait for the stoplight.

Strange, though, they didn't mention the woman texting while trying to navigate that shopping cart at Harris-Teeter last week.

Liza and I saw "The Dark Knight" Sunday night. Yeah, we waited a week to avoid the crowds, as we have a certain place in the theater we like to sit and I can't stand having people sitting on top of me.

Wow! It was everything it's hyped to be. Heath Ledger is phenomenal. That's all there is to it. He makes the sociopsychopathic Joker into the most likable villain ever. You want to bring the boy home, even though you know you'd end up dead in the morning. Remember that Ted Bundy had to be adorable for women to pick him up.

If you've ever been to Pompeii, you know the overwhelming sensation of experiencing a moment frozen in time. It's a mecca for ancient history fanatics, that archaeological site off the highway between Rome and Naples. I made it a must-see on the Italian excursion we took a few years ago, and I relived a bit of that mystique Thursday morning at the preview for Discovery Place's new Pompeii exhibit.

Have you heard about The Big Read? No? Well, to quote the web site, it's "an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture." The folks over at the NEA think the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below.

There's a meme making the rounds on LJ, and I thought you guys should participate. Take a look at the list and count how many you have read. Make a note of those you intend to read.

As for me, I've read 74 of the 100. Guess I have some work to do this summer.

I heard a rumor there's a new traffic pattern over at Bird Street and University Drive, so on a trip back from Sullivan Middle School this morning, I checked it out.

Wow! A traffic circle. Right there at the old intersection in front of St. Anne's. No more stopping at University, counting the minutes till you can turn onto Bird. Now you can just slip into the circle and keep turning the wheel left till you want out. Pretend you're the No. 19 car coming into that fourth turn ... only a lot slower.

The season finale of "Lost" is Thursday night. It's all over the wires, complete with details about the Oceanic 6.

Does anyone care? Is there anyone still watching? That show jumped the shark, swam 'round in circles and beached itself long ago for me.

Oh, well.

Gas hits $4.01 in Charlotte. The regular kind. Not the premium stuff my car won't take anyway.

So what? Are you going to stop driving? No. Sure, it's a lot when you consider we were paying half that a year ago. But let's look elsewhere before we get too depressed.

A friend who lives in New Zealand posted Saturday to her LJ about buying a bike. "The price of petrol went up again here yesterday," she wrote. "We now pay the equivalent of $7.08 US for a gallon."

Then another friend responded: "Yeah, I just calculated and we pay 8,90 US in Germany by now."

Oh, wait, we already do. American TV is becoming British, as ABC proves today with adding "Life on Mars" to its fall lineup.

"Life on Mars" is a highly successful BBC production starring John Simms (he who was the Master in series 3 of "Doctor Who"). This fall, David E. Kelley is bringing an Americanized version of it to ABC. Who's starring? Irish actor Jason O'Mara.

Jason will have across-the-pond company in LA with the likes of British actors Jonny Lee Miller (who plays an American lawyer on ABC's "Eli Stone") and Hugh Laurie (FOX's "House").

This hasn't been the best of weeks. I can't go into detail, but you mothers out there would empathize. Anyway, I get over Hump Day and I think it's easy cruising till the weekend.

Nope. No way. Forget that.

I find out this morning my beloved Cupps is closing. This is a major blow for the 14yo. We spend every Tuesday afternoon at Cupps, from about 5 to 7, doing homework, chatting online, noshing, marking the time till I drop her at Woody's for guitar lessons.

Bruce Springsteen, The Boss, he who epitomizes American rock, has endorsed Obama. Read it here.

Do we need to continue with any campaigning? Let's just have a big concert instead of conventions. The candidate with the best line-up wins.