That's what some people did on Saturday to get their kids into a class at the Roche Community Center. Andrew Watson reports:

... I arrived at the official opening time of 9am, hoping to be able to get my kids into a swimming class. It was conveniently timed and very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only person who thought that. Someone I know emerged from the center just after I arrived: she'd arrived at 3:30, and hadn't been first in line. She wanted to make sure her kids got into their swim classes, since there are only 5 kids per class. ...

A local company wants parents of newborns to spray them with dust, Mass. High Tech reports.

The MIT-inspired idea behind Baby Boost is to get farm-fresh plant and animal proteins into young lungs, on the theory this will stimulate their immune systems and reduce their odds of developing asthma and other immune-related ailments as they grow up up in the antiseptically sterile urban bubbles created by crazed parents with bleach wipes:

Dao said he and other researchers have assembled a prototype of an automatic air freshener that uses the Baby Boost technology. "Instead of releasing a scent, it releases proteins," he said.

The story does end with a cautionary note from some Debbie Downer editor about lack of clinical studies, etc.

Mayor Tom Menino is scheduled today to announce details of a multi-million-dollar foundation to better fund athletic programs at Boston public schools, the Globe reports.

The Globe, which recently did a seven-part series on BPS athletics, doesn't specify, but I suspect the money will only be used at schools that actually have gyms and athletic programs, which leaves a fair number of schools out and which won't do anything for kids who have no interest in team sports but who might still benefit from physical education.

Scum will download them and use them for Craigslist adoption scams.

I found this today. Looks like I'll have to have The Responsibility Talk today with my kittens... worse, I don't think they've fed the poor fish even once.

Or, at least, it felt like that.

Today was her first day at a three-week program at Boston Latin to get ready for the ISEE test this fall - which will determine whether she has a chance of getting into Latin or the other two exam schools (Boston Latin Academy and the O'Bryant School of Math and Science).

Barbara Ferrer: Boston public-health director.The city Public Health Commission is attempting to convince local businesses to not penalize workers who stay home for seven days either because they have the flu or they have to care for kids with it.

Barbara Ferrer, commission director, said seven days is the period required to ensure people are no longer infectious. "We really have asked the business community to help us with this," she said at a city-council hearing this morning called by Councilor Chuck Turner.

Also, she said, businesses need to trust their workers that they or their kids were sick, rather than forcing them to get notes from their doctors - because the medical system would be "doubled up" filling out all those notes.

Tom Ulrich tweets the entire museum was shut around 11:40 a.m. because of "an epoxy smell coming from one of the exhibits."

Music instructors are fighting a proposed law that would require them to sterilize wind instruments - a potentially expensive move that could benefit a campaign contributor to the bill's sponsor.

On Somerville Voices, Melissa McWhinney posts a copy of a call to action by Richard Saunders, the music director for Somerville Public Schools, and adds:

The problem is that there's no evidence that the current system is any danger to students, and the guy who invented a system to "sterilize" instruments stands to make a killing, while driving music departments out of business because they will have to spend tons of money they don't have, to fix a problem that isn't a problem, while the proceeds go into the inventor’s pocket!

Earlier this month, the Globe reported the legislation had been filed by state Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford, one of whose constituents is Lorenzo Lepore, a dentist who spent 10 years developing an instrument sterilization system that costs between $50 and $320 per treatment per instrument, to kill the germs he says can last for long periods in the instruments.

State campaign finance records (search here) show that Lepore has donated $1,550 to Donato since 2006.

Nearly $200,000 in statewide grants help families cope with the economic crisis