Morning Roundup: I'm lovin' it (whatever it is) edition

Good morning, Houston. The AP reports on an interesting phenomenon: According to preschoolers, anything tastes better if it's wrapped in McDonald's packaging — even carrots, milk and apple juice. The study was done by Stanford University researcher Tom Robinson, whose subjects were 63 low-income children aged between 3 and 5; Robinson's conclusion was that the kids' perception of foods' taste was "physically altered by the branding." Anyone want to make the argument that marketing doesn't affect young'uns? Go for it — meantime, we're going to go have us a Big Mac. And maybe some sawdust in a McDonald's wrapper. Mmm!

>> Crossing the street — to danger: According to KHOU, 60 elderly people were hit and killed by cars in Harris County between 2002 and 2005 — that's twice the national average, and enough to worry Sheila Holbrook-White, the woman who compiled the statistics. Even more alarming, she said, is that there are clusters of auto-elderly accidents, including one particularly bad one along Bellaire Boulevard. "It seems to me that there should be some big red alert zone around any area where you're finding more than one or two or three clusters of fatalities," Holbrook-White said. The city says its pedestrian crossings meet federal standards, and TxDOT plans to make changes to help pedestrians and bicyclists when it rebuilds some highways. In the meantime, if you notice a crossing with a potential problem, call 311 — and if you see an elderly person having trouble crossing the street, please don't run over them.

>> Warding off mosquitoes the natural way: Trish Tompkins and Chari Kauffman, two Hempstead moms, are marketing what they claim is an all-natural patch that repels mosquitoes. The small, clear patch — called Don't Bug Me! — contains aloe and vitamin B-1, ingredients which are absorbed into your blood stream and protect you from head to toe for up to 36 hours, Tompkins told KTRK. Though some folks in Hempstead swear by the patch, no government testing has been done on it — but hey, anything that keeps skeeters away and doesn't leave us smelling like chemicals can't be all bad, right? Learn more at the Don't Bug Me! website.

>> Today's weather: Yesterday was beautiful — hot, but beautiful — and it looks like we'll have more of the same today. Expect a clear afternoon with a high of 97, with a heat index reaching 107 and a calm wind that won't help cool you off one bit. Tonight, clear skies will remain as temperatures fall to around 79.

Grab a mint julep (in a McDonald's cup, of course) and check out the rest of this morning's news ...