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Bad things happen.

There's nothing anyone can do; they just happen. This past week, we saw our fair share of incidents. Nationally, a man whose life has been in a continual spotlight died in a plane crash. Locally, a young woman was found dead after being missing since July 4.

Tragedies strike at all times, mostly when least expected. There are numerous levels of tragedies, yet they all come back to one thing — loss. Losing something or someone can be devastating. But eventually, the void becomes a part of you, while you try fervently to concentrate on other things.

In today's society, there are two groups of people — ones who get paid to cut grass and ones who cut grass only because it's their duty to the country. Actually there's a third, smaller group of people, composed mostly of apartment dwellers, kids and travel agents. But they, too, have either had to cut the grass or will in the future.

Nomads have wandered through cities during the last two weeks, sold their goods and departed for lands of milk and honey.

They don't leave a trail, but their wares do – usually ashes, perhaps a foul-smelling odor but always a glowing experience.

Fireworks salespeople have rigorous lives. I recently caught up with one such seller, Smokin' Joe Romancandle. What follows is his normal day:

6 a.m. Wakes up, sings the "Star-Spangled Banner," eats a Pop-Tart and brushes his teeth.

Last month I was in Wal-Mart, and I aimlessly wandered into the vitamin aisle. There were hundreds of nutritional supplement items, but one caught my attention – shark cartilage.

Unfortunately, the label contained little information pertaining to what the product actually does, such as make one lose weight or grow a dorsal fin.

As a kid, I used to see "Jaws" on my wall at bedtime. Now I see health companies trying to withhold routine information on Jaws' cousins.

Can you keep a secret?

Last week, I met with a special agent from the Department of Defense. I had my shrubbery costume ready (luckily, there were no dogs around), but it wasn't necessary. The agent led me into a room in the Crawfordsville Armory, looked both ways and closed the door. The questioning was ready to begin.

What constitutes an American tradition? It probably depends on who you ask. When I think of traditions of this country, I think of baseball, apple pie, and freedom (not necessarily in that order ... ). Holiday traditions in the U.S. are a little easier to define, only because they are recognized by a large number of people who live here. Religious traditions can be seen in the same vain, although few religions were actually created in this country.

Unlike Michael Jordan and the Monkeys, it appears that SiteFinder won't be making a comeback.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that Verisign's system of redirecting users who type in bad domain names shouldn't be rerouted to its search directory.

I wrote about this last year (click here for article) and wondered how Versign could get away with something like this. Apparently, they won't!

Everyone these days is interested in whether or not their sites are listed in Google. OK, maybe it's just me, a handful of companies and search engine optimization people. Nevertheless, there's a simple way to find out how search keywords compare to one another. At Google Fight, you have the ability to compare two sets of search terms and see which one has more results.

After tallying the results of my informal questionnaire two weeks ago, I stumbled onto some startling results.

People actually read my column!

It's late in the week. You are probably fretting even starting work today. Sounds to me like you need a little break. What I'm about to show you may mystify or confuse you. But remember, it's for your own good.

Time to visit ROXIK | PICTAPS. If you click on the "Paint!" button, you will have the ability to create an avatar that dances. Or, you can just watch some of the samples the site already has available. Regardless, make sure to turn up the music as load as possible.