A foul smelling and bug ridden morning run-but I got it done!

Yesterday Nova Scotia got slapped by a rather large hurricane (aka Big Bill). He luckily didn't make landfall, but his effect on the shoreline was dramatic. The shoreline is totally churned up and the waves still huge at low tide. I stayed inside yesterday as the storm raged on but this morning's run tempted me to go to the shore to get a look at what the storm had done. Bad idea. Today's workout called for speed segements following by easy running. So happily I went trotting down the street towards the shore when it hit me-peee-eww! The storm had caused a rather smelly after-effect, the smell from the seaweed and other foul-smelling sea life floated about a half kilometer up the road. Okay I thought, I can run through this, it's just a bit stinky.
Onward I go to the shore, passing a few other people out on the boardwalk likely doing what I am, checking out the damage. Suddenly something hits my face, yuck a black fly, (I think) and keep running, then another, then another. In a couple of minutes it was pretty much raining little black flies (the kind that noramlly live on the sand, but now they have no home so to the boardwalk they went). As I ran they flew into my mouth (so I shut that, flaring my nostrils to breathe through my speed sets), my eyes (so I shut them as much as I could and still see) and eventually my nose (which was a big problem at that point). As I ran like this I got a few curious looks from people in bus shelters, but then again they weren't running down the street either so the flies probably didn't seem that bad. I'm feeling pretty ridiculous at this point (especially since I was considering running with my hand in front of my face to block the onslaught of flies) so I went uphill away from the shore to get away from them. I cut my workout a bit short, but I still got my speed work in. Note to self; after a major storm, the shore is NOT the place to run.

Is the news getting more dumb?

Yesterday I was directed by a coworker to check out an article that was entered in our company's monthly newsletter. The headline read: Cold Water Linked to Cancer. Apparently drinking cold water after a meal will solidify "oily stuff" present in the food consumed and will lead to cancer. This absurd article had me extra sensitive to other bizarre new articles that I saw later; for example: Don't brush your hair, it may cause baldness!, and this morning's little gem; A High Fat Diet will make you Stupid and Lazy. So I've decided; if the news isn't reporting blatantly wrong information it swings to the other extreme and reports on the painfully obvious.
Has our culture become so dependant on outside sources of information that we'll buy anything these news organizations will throw out there? Has the Internet, while bringing us all closer together, also taken away our confidence in our own inner voices? Look at the diet industry for instance. Every diet out there claims to help you lose weight but all follow the same simple root principle; the fewer calories you consume the less you will weigh. I like to think the Internet has given humanity more than what it has taken, but with headlines like those above, it makes me wonder...