Monday, May 14, 2007

Newsweak


Wig in bus stop
Originally uploaded by 倉促成事.
(Well, I can't call it "Friday Follies" if it isn't Friday.)

Doctors are experimenting with new surgical techniques that allow them to go in through natural openings in the body rather than abdominal incisions. "The idea is part of a broader trend to make surgery less and less invasive. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, surgeons began removing gallbladders with laparoscopic surgery, performed through a few small slits in the belly for a camera and surgical tools instead of the 10-inch incision needed for the original, open operation." (NYTimes story, may require registration.)

"I can't have someone like you here. We might need to part ways," the Christian boss (allegedly) said to the atheist soon-to-be ex-employee.

No good deed goes unpunished: The unintended consequence of increased popularity of fuel-efficient vehicles is that their owners don't pay their "fair share" of gasoline taxes, jeopardizing road maintenance and expansion projects. Oregon has been experimenting with gas pumps that query the vehicle's electronic odometer and calculate taxes based on miles driven instead of gallons purchased.

If the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 passes, I'll be a journalist! The same federal "shield laws" that protect newspaper reporters will also apply to bloggers.

M-I-C-K-E-Y J-I-H-A-D.

Sears.com tells you that the item you've ordered for in-store pickup is in stock, whether it is or isn't.

After 88 years on the menu, you can't buy a wopburger in Louisville, CO any more.

Barack Obama, in Kansas City: "The day that this president steps down, the entire world will breathe a sigh of relief." At least he didn't fly to Syria to say it.

And, at the bottom of the news, presenting Britain's, and perhaps the world's, oldest functioning vacuum cleaner.

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