This just in...

I like to get my news on the web. Yes, I know not everything published is fact. Or even close. At least at first. But that is the same as the other, more traditional, news outlets. I long ago learned never to trust initial reports.

Take the Balloon Boy story, for example. It had the country (and a fair portion of the world) glued to TV sets for hours trying to learn the fate of the boy supposedly trapped in a balloon racing across the Colorado landscape.

A hoax, of course, and obvious in hindsight. I was, as I am by nature, skeptical of the premise that a child of 6 could have climbed into the small compartment and somehow securely latched the door behind him (since such a compartment usually doesn't have any inside handles). So I claim my interest was based solely on learning when the news organizations would catch on.

Today, I learned of the Justice Roberts retirement rumor . It apparently went from initial exposure to stories about how rumors fly about on the internet well before I learned about it.

Which might mean I have gotten out of touch...