1.)     If you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, you probably feel that you’re wasting time.    It’s not just time that you’re wasting though.   A new report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute shows that we wasted $121 billion dollars in 2011 – a $1 billion dollar increase over 2010 – on time and fuel.     2.9 billion dollars of gas was burned by Americans stuck in traffic last year.      For you and I, the research shows that sitting in traffic works out to costing each of us about $818 dollars each year.

2.)     You’ve got a smart dog, but exactly how smart is your favorite four-legged friend?    If you’ve ever wondered, now you can find out.    The test can be taken on-line at Dognition.com.      You dog will did a bunch of guess testing their brains on everything from memory to reason to compassion.      Then you get a full results breakdown on your dog's intelligence and personality. It also tells you which of the nine major dog personality categories it falls into . . . like the "Einstein" dog who is great with physics, or the "Maverick" who's independent.     The cost for finding out just how smart … or dumb your dog may be?    60 dollars.

3.)     A second grader at recess was playing a make believe game in which he threw an imaginary grenade into a box with pretend evil forces inside.    For that, the 7 year old Loveland, Colorado child was suspended from school.       The boy didn't throw anything real or make any threats against anyone.     He said he was pretending to be the hero, trying to say the world.      But school administrators say he broke a key rule during his pretend play.    The school lists "absolutes" designed to keep a safe environment. The list includes absolutely no fighting, real or imaginary; and no weapons, real or imaginary.