How much attention do you pay to the news? How does the news affect your everyday decision-making?

If you are a business person, do you use what you read in the regular (including entertainment and sports) news to make decisions or do you pay attention only to the business news? If you are an employee, does what you read and hear affect how you work? What actions if any do you take in relation to the news considering just yourself, not to your employment? Does the news affect your mood? Your relationships? What you buy?

I like to keep aware of what is happening. I like to multiple-source everything, and I also try to keep aware of bloggers left, right, and center. As part of a troop/veteran support group, I stay in contact with serving military and recent returnees and those who (like me) have been out for a while.

The effect is a general belief that most things make sense, if you take the context into account, while some of those around me are freaking out :)

Also, I am making low-level preparations for various threats (meteorological, economic, political etc.) as I become aware of them, in order to be a little ahead of the game if certain trends continue or threats materialize. If I don’t keep up, how will I know what to be ready for?