Be Aware of Random Tennis Balls

It's the way you tell 'em. And in America, that's no more obvious than in the news reports.

Tina and I were watching the news last night when the anchors warned us to: "Be Aware of Random Tennis Balls... Find out why, later..."

In America, in a desperate attempt to keep people watching the news, the big stories are teased with horrifying snippets of misinformation. You're kept on the edge of your seat until twenty minutes later, when the truth finally emerges - and it's usually an anticlimax.

In this particular instance, the 'random tennis balls' we were warned about consisted of a single ball some kids had stuffed with match heads. A parent had found it and rung the local news station on what was apparently a slow news day. The anchors then spent twenty minutes carefully explaining and showing us how these kids had created this nasty little fireball.

So at the end of the news report, I felt no more protected against random tennis balls than I had before - but at least I (and presumably thousands of other Americans) now knew how to make one.