So I was driving around the other night at 12:30 looking for an open gas station (the band and I were "rehearsing" -- with beers -- until way too late as usual on a Tuesday night) and I finally found working pumps at a station I don't normally use.

Gas was $3.73. Crazy.

I started pumping my gas, and suddenly a glitzy TV screen springs to life on the pump, with the KSTP Channel 5 "PumpCast." While a quick Google search reveals this is not brand new, I'd never seen anything like it. It felt a little like "Back To The Future."

Maybe more like "Idiocracy."

You see, the idea is to cram something vaguely like an entire newscast into the time it takes you to fill your tank. And the results are comical. My favorite was probably the movie segment. I'm not making this up:

Hi there, I'm Rusty Gatenby with the latest movie news. "Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia" is out. It's the sequel to the first Narnia movie. I saw it the other day, and I have to tell you -- it's pretty good.

And that's it. He doesn't even say goodbye. Then on to the headlines, weather, etc. Followed by an ad for corn dogs. It's a breadth-to-depth ratio of infinity.

Is news like this worth anything? Maybe momentary distraction from the dollars you're pumping out of your wallet these days.

When I went out looking for more info on PumpCast, I didn't find anything legimate (KSTP doesn't even mention the service on its web site). I did, however, find that some good fun has been had with the PumpCast concept.

The check is in the mail . . . or for many Americans, already in the pocket. What are we doing with the money?

Buying ponies. Or getting our teeth pulled. Or investing it in really awesome arcade games.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you are hard up for creative ideas on how to spend your check, click over to How I Spent My Stimulus. It's a running commentary from average citizens on how they plan to stimulate (or not) the economy. It's also like reading a mini-novel on someone's life situation, like this entry.

Much like the comments for our recent YouTube video, folks are stopping by to discuss and diss (mostly diss) the whole idea of stimulus checks. Still, people seem more than happy to get the money. And you really shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth . . . or a gift pony.

While America is marveling over the imagined technological feats of Robert Downey Jr., the Swiss are cheering on this guy.

Yves Rossy is a pilot, inventor and, um . . . a rocket man (cue the Elton John song).

Yesterday he strapped on a pair of homemade jet wings and gave a public demonstration of his flying machine. He flew over the Swiss alps at a speed of 186 miles per hour and apparently he even pulled off a 360 degree mid air roll. He was later quoted as saying: "that was to impress the girls."

Well, okay. It's not the cleanest city in the world. According to Forbes.com Calgary is the cleanest city in the world. But Minneapolis is number 5 (right after Honolulu, Helsinki and Ottawa).

(MPR Illustration/Preston Wright)

But hey, we live in or around Minneapolis. Does this ranking surprise you?

I have to admit, I didn't expect to be in the top 10. At least once a summer we have an air-quality alert. Our public transportation system leaves much to be desired and we've recently found dangerous chemicals in our water and lawns. But I guess it says something about the world's general state of cleanliness that even the cleanest of the clean still have a ways to go.

And it could be worse, much worse. Check out the list of the 25 dirtiest cities in the world. The good news here is that according to pollution experts quoted in the article, it would take relatively little money to clean up 90% of the pollution in these cities. But getting the governments to actually do it is another matter . . .

An ITL listener put us in touch with a former college classmate who is teaching in China -- specifically Beibei, which is near Chengdu and about 250 km from the epicenter of the 7.9-scale earthquake.

Rescuers search the rubble of the collapsed Juyuan middle school where six children died in Dujiangyan, in southwest China Sichuan province. (AFP/Getty Images)

I was on the top floor of a dormitory building (6th floor) when the quake began. To tell you the truth I did not notice it right away...Then I realized the building was shaking, and some students said "earthquake" rather calmly to me and my friend who is another teacher at the University, they even told us in English which was helpful. Then we preceded to exit the building, it was very calm and orderly scene, I did not hear any screaming or an uncommon amount of yelling...

I personally did not feel scared at any point, although many of my Chinese friends were very concerned about the threat of aftershocks. As a result many students were encouraged, if not directed, by the teachers or administration to not sleep in the dormitories on Monday night. This meant that all of the athletic fields and open areas on campus were filled with students on Monday night. It was a very interesting sight to say the least...

Although I am nearly sure there are no sort of rescue efforts going on in Beibei, due to extremely minor amount of damage, the rescue efforts have been extremely impressive. The response by the central government was almost instantanious, much different than the events currently taking place in Burma/Myanmar in Southeast Asia, or dare I say...New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The troops from the Peoples Liberation Army were unable enter many of the affected areas by vehicle or aircraft due to bad condititions, so they went by foot to begin rescue efforts as soon as possible. Even Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao travelled to the area within hours of the earthquake and he is helping with the rescue efforts.

Now, I am in Beibei, everyone has been glued to the state news channel, but I think life is more or less back to normal (in Beibei).

Thanks to Keegan for the details, and listener Matt Steele for the contact.

(TSA graphic)

Basically, you're supposed to sort yourself based on how much of a hassle you're likely to be going through security.

To simplify the concept (at least for skiers) they adopted the "black diamond," "blue square," "green circle" code: Are you an "expert," a "casual traveler" (though apparently not frequent enough to be an "expert" yet) or are you a green circle "family" or "special assistance" case?

The TSA (here's their latest press release) has a scintillating and dramatic video that takes five minutes to walk you through basically what I just explained in about 50 words.

McCartney's column is upbeat; people in Orlando certainly seem to be fans. The idea is increased speed for people in a hurry, and less stress on slower people.

My big question is the middle category. Now...I'm not an everyday business traveler. And I'm hesitant to declare myself an expert on anything. But when it comes to going through airport security...dare I say I know most of what there is to know?

Who has been on a plane more than twice in the past five years who is not basically an expert? It's hard for me to imagine someone arriving at the security lanes and thinking, "Now, how does this whole thing work again? I'm supposed to walk through where? I'd better take the casual route 'till I can wrap my head around this dag-burned system."

Then again, maybe I'm missing something. What additional levels of knowledge might I still need to attain black diamond level?

Not the deepest blog post ever...

Out with the old...

...in with the new.

• * It's made of possibly toxic plastic (I haven't confirmed this),
• * ...which has partially melted because it has metal inside and I once nuked the mug by mistake,
• * ... besides which I haven't really washed it more than four times since I got it.

It does however have a lid, which I really like, and sentimental value: It was given to me by my Rochester reporting colleagues when I moved from St. Cloud to St. Paul in 2003. I think it's funny that this mug which I suspect has been leaving toxic traces of plastic in my body says "Mayo Clinic" on it.

I don't think a workday has gone by that I have not used this mug in five years. It was a sad, if brief, trash-can funeral.

My temporary replacement (temporary, because it does not have a lid, which is essential as much as I carry my tea around) is valuable mostly for kitsch value. I got it for free when I refilled an inkjet cartridge at OfficeMax. It features images of a heavily tattooed man and woman, whose backs sport the reminder to "Save Money on Ink."

Am I veering too close to the true blog aesthetic with a post like this? Perhaps. I'll have a sip of tea, refill some ink cartridges, and think it over.

(btw, I'm currently drinking Republic of Tea "Acai Green Superfruit" tea -- $15 a tin. Not sure if it's worth it. I think I'll have to wait another 40 years before I learn whether all these extra antioxidants are doing me much good.)

The food shortage is hitting close to home. Real close. Check out this story from Marketplace about the increase of traffic at St. Paul food shelves.

All of this has got me thinking about a story I did a while back on dumpster divers (right click to download). I still hang out with a lot of these same people and they are still foraging for food in the trash. In fact, one friend of mine gets the majority of his groceries from the garbage . . . everything from veggies and breads to easter candy and flower bouquets. He's doing fine. Trash cans are still more than full enough.

Of course not everyone has the time to go looking for free grub. And I'll be the first to admit, the idea of dumpstered food is not that appetizing for a lot of people. But my point is that there is a lot of free or wasted food in this city. Even with organizations like Sister's Camelot and Second Harvest trying to save some of this stuff, there's still almost 100 billion pounds of food being wasted every year in the U.S.

It would be great if there was more food in the world, but in the meantime, how can we get better about making use of the tons of food we are throwing out?! What's stopping us from getting it to the people who could actually use it?

Our hardworking friends at Public Insight Journalism have just released their most massive online game project yet. It's safe to say online game concepts don't come much meatier than balancing the federal budget.

While I believe it is available as a widget that will probably appear on multiple sites around the web, for starters the Budget Hero game has established an outpost on the Marketplace web site.

Sure, I've got a slight personal interest in the project (um...whose voice is that in the tutorial?). But I'm pleased to be tangentially attached to something that really did turn out great, considering the incredible ambition of building an interactive game around something so complex.

At times, I'm a little thrown by the simplifications that had to made to tame this beast of an idea. But that's part of the necessity of a project like this: No sane human being who isn't justly compensated would want to contend with the true vastness of the federal budget.

This allows people to engage with the concepts and trade-offs -- built from the actual budget numbers and forecasts, to be sure -- and get a sense of how truly difficult the process is. That's especially true if you remain true to your values (the "badges" you are asked to choose at the start of the game) rather than just hue to fiscal discipline.

It's a good eye-opener for an election year. Give it a whirl.

What do you think? You can comment on the game on the page where it resides at Marketplace, on Gather.com, or -- if you like -- right here.

Indiana was a squeaker -- the sound of leaking air, perhaps?

Yet the numbers still let a crack of light through the door. And we all know how hard it is not to walk toward the light.

Of course, the unscientific opinions of the great unwashed masses are deeply important at a time like this.

So, what say you?