She blinked up the news and stared in surprise at the blank page in front of her. No news? None at all? No kittens lost down wells, no small children kidnapped, no wars started, no terrorist attacks, not even so much as a lost zoo animal? She flickered across the other news media and discovered a similar loss of news. In desperation, the news channels were playing old analysis of old crisis and new interviews with "personal interest" persons. She ran out to the curb and pulled out a newspaper and read it incredulously. Weather forecast, comic strips, local happenings--but no real news. She felt a strange bubble. She didn't know whether it was composed of fear or relief. No bad news. No good news.

Inspiration: The time ticked over before the Google news page loaded.
Potential: Medium.
Notes: An interesting opening, but I don't know how to keep it that way.

The iridescent seaweed glowed beneath them, surging back and forth on the tides. The crowds of people who'd come to see the strange phenomenon looked like a trail of ants converging on a bowl of sugar from the helicopter high above. She leaned forward and aimed her video camera down, catching the expressions of awe and wonder, or confusion, or boredom. She zoomed in on that face. Boredom? Who would be bored and still go down to the beach to see the strange seaweed that was washing ashore, glowing and sparkling for reasons no scientist had yet been able to explain? It wasn't a teenager who had stumbled across it and now wished to leave, either. The man with the bored expression on his face looked--

Inspiration: "iridescent seaweed" - a fantastically awesome phrase to randomly find in the dictionary.
Story Potential: High.
Notes: What is it with my stories and "phenomena scientists can't explain"?