I was in the grocery store the other day, and my son (he's three) pointed at a pack of bubblegum and said "What's that?" I decided to enlighten him by purchasing the gum and showing him its many marvels. Of course, he swallowed his little piece after about two minutes, even though I told him not to. But as I was chewing away, it occurred to me: no one chews gum anymore.

I teach at a high school, and back when I was in school, the bottoms of desks would be crammed with ugly, booger-like blobs of pink where various students had deposited their spent gum. I can report that nowadays the bottoms of desks are lonely and vacant. What gives, I wonder? Maybe gum just has this old-fashioned, 50's greaser association that kids avoid. Or maybe it's just another ebb and flow of popular opinion.

In a completely unrelated rant, WHAT THE HELL did dA do with the comment bank and our mailbox? When I get a message that is longer than the standard box length (which accounts for a lot of messages), I cannot view the whole message. I have to go to the original page where the message was posted in order to read it. This sucks! And furthermore, there seems to be issues with the viewing of comments on certain pages. I've seen a few pages now where you can't get past the first displayed page of comments to view newer comments.

Anyone else notice these things?