Immediately, on the usual lull of a Sunday afternoon, the story is front page news at every major news outlet, as both British and Brazilian lawmakers express outrage.
Texting is such a usual part of a teen's everyday routines that he or she may feel as though a precedent has been set, and may be lulled into thinking that texting while driving is normal (read: "safe").
In another encouraging sign, 1,100 residents turned up to register for a district council election of sorts which a British provincial-reconstruction team is promoting.However, these gains have come during the Taliban's usual winter lull.
And sales of inventory from the closed mine masked the usual seasonal lull in the first quarter of 1997, making the first quarter of 1998 look weak by comparison: The company reported earnings of 4 cents a share last week, down from 26 cents.
Ian Denton, director of the Jackson-Stops agency in Woburn, Bedfordshire, said: "The usual summer lull may continue through to October while we wait to appoint a new prime minister.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan after the usual winter lull, with foreign forces launching attacks against Taliban strongholds in the south and east and the Taliban hitting back with suicide bombings.
Tanker charter rates depend heavily on oil prices and on political stability in the Middle East; the usual late summer lull in shipments and the end of large-scale ground combat in Iraq have recently brought rates down.
Senior commanders have long anticipated a spike in violence with the arrival of the spring and summer "fighting season", although the usual winter lull was not seen as U.S-led forces pressed their attack against insurgents, particularly in the Taliban's southern heartland.
If you sensed something of a quiet spell about ten days ago, a lull in the usual media storm, it may have been owing to the fact that Glenn Beck, the energetically hateful, truth-twisting radio and Fox News Channel talk-show host, was absent from the airwaves for a week, to have his appendix removed.
