If the school bell has finally sounded for the final time and the kids are gleefully preparing for several long, hot months of family road trips and spilled frozen dairy dessert substances, it can only mean one thing: time to start your back-to-school shopping now. Now. There is no respite in this world of gloom.

The state of Maryland, well known for... always being there, has voted to allow casino gambling. Casino companies spent $80 million to get the bill passed, in order to earn the privilege of building an $800 million "destination resort" in Prince George's County, where people will go and gamble.

A new study says that urban kids (homicide) and rural kids (suicide, accidents) are equally likely to die from guns. Good? Another study says that a mere 7.7 million children under five will die this year. Yay? [WP, NYT]

A janitor at Ohio State University was told that he'd be getting laid off. This morning, he shot two of his supervisors, killing one. Then he killed himself. Since no students were hurt, this incident will be quickly forgotten. [LAT]

Burger King sales are plummeting now that "super fans" are cutting back. For example, one super fan "figures he is saving more than $100 a week by eating fewer burgers." Goodness! Can America's food crisis grow any more dire?

Dude, it is so refreshing to listen to "indie" musicians because "indie" musicians are "independent" from corporate control. Ha. We should pretty much eradicate the word "indie," which has become a total, depressing farce. In order to sell a single freaking song in today's environment, musicians must rush around bootlicking every monster corporation of any type willing to give away some airplay and free promotion. It's only a matter of time before Lockheed Martin is making bombs that play Pearl Jam songs on the way down. Witness what one single up-and-coming "indie" singer named Greg Laswell subjected himself to in the quest for publicity:

Popular pretend-life game The Sims is now selling $20 add-on packs of virtual IKEA furniture to decorate their virtual houses. Advertising like this in video games seems, on its face, to be a win-win business proposition; companies get captive, slack-jawed audience for their virtual ads and products, and game developers get a new revenue stream where none existed before. The only problem: nobody really knows whether these types of ads work. Oh, and the other problem: The entire concept is incredibly sad.