Snippets and Soundbites

• Obama is going to be the new president. You’re probably tired of all the political news on TV, but if you’re interested, you can go to this website to find out how each state voted.

• The Walt Disney Company sells $5 Daisy Duck key chains. They also sell $6,000 chandeliers patterned after the décor in Mr. Disney’s former office. At one time all of Disney’s products were plastered with depictions of popular cartoon characters. Now their products are “inspired by Tinker Bell” and may not have a recognizable Disney feature at all. The chairman of Disney Consumer Products is asking people to think of Disney as a brand of luxury clothing, expensive home furnishings and hip jewelry. Do you think it’s cool to buy expensive Disney stuff? Read the whole story here.

• When you are 28 (a little over 10 years from now!) do you think you could handle the responsibilities of being a king? That might sound like a strange question – considering you live in America and we don’t have royalty. But some countries in the world still have monarchies. Bhutan is one such country. Today they crowned the world’s youngest king. This small Himalayan nation has just 635,000 people. Look at this website to read about the unique celebration and how the new king’s father established a democratic system and then gave up his crown.