Etc...

Ya just can't be too careful

In perhaps the first incident of its type since the city of Sydney, Australia, began appealing to the public two weeks ago to report unattended items on or around public transportation , a bus driver has complied with the admonition, "If you see something, say something." Well, he did. After completing the day's last trip around his route, our guy noticed a suspicious package that had been left on the rear seat . What's more, when touched it emitted a popping sound. So he phoned the police, who investigated and determined that inside was ... a whoopee cushion purchased from a novelty shop.

The Bluewater Network, a division of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, considers jet skis loud, polluting, and dangerous. But the popularity of these powerful playthings now supports a billion-dollar industry, so it's increasingly hard to escape them. With this in mind, the Bluewater Network has compiled a list of the best places to avoid jet skis. The list includes the San Juan Islands in Washington State, where San Juan County was the first local government to ban jet skis and is a role model for other communities seeking to regulate jet skis.The best places, in Bluewater's estimation, which prohibit jet skis, and the state or states where they're found:

1. Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges
2. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Michigan)
3. San Juan Islands (Washington)
4. Biscayne National Park (Florida)
5. San Francisco Bay Area
6. Kachemak Bay (Alaska)
7. Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashore (North Carolina)
8. Lake Willoughby (Vermont)
9. Gulf Islands National Seashore (Florida/Mississippi)
10. Missouri National Recreation River (South Dakota/Nebraska)