ShockBurst

In the 2006 take-off crash of a Comair commuter airliner at the regional airport in Lexington, Ky. (which the FAA blamed on pilot error), all 47 passengers were killed, and 21 lawsuits have been filed, with attorney William Johnson defending the only cockpit survivor (the first officer). The Lexington Herald-Leader reported in January that, in court papers filed in the lawsuits, Johnson had offered the defense that the seat-belted-in passengers should share the blame for their own deaths, in that they should have chosen other airports that might have been safer. (Shortly after the newspaper report, Johnson withdrew the defense.) [Lexington Herald-Leader, 1-25-08]A prominent British novelist (former winner of the prestigious Whitbread Prize) announced in January that she had won a settlement of the equivalent of more than $200,000 from a shoe manufacturer in the town of Totnes because fumes from its factory so sapped her creativity that she was forced to write down-market thrillers instead of literary works. Joan Brady said numbness in her hands and legs, caused by pollutants, made her settle on simpler plotlines involving violence as she worked out her aggression toward the factory owners. [The Times (London), 1-24-08]

William Harvey, defending a DUI charge in court in Perth, Scotland, in February, told the judge that his high blood-alcohol reading was because he has a “balloon-like” pouch in his neck (sort of like a pelican’s) that collects most of the alcohol he swallows and therefore makes it seem that he is much more inebriated than he really is. (He was convicted.) [BBC News, 2-18-08]

Three Chihuahuas came to New York’s North Shore Animal League in April so badly deformed they resembled pint-sized kangaroos.

These three pups, born without front legs, quickly learned to hop on their back paws. But it was a short-term solution. And now they’ve got what they really need — a set of wheels.

“Chihuahuas aren’t meant to hope around. Long term, it would lead to spine and hip injuries,” Animal League spokesman Devora Lynn told About.com.

Lynn suspects that the dogs fell victim to human misbehavior. “Celebrities have made Chihuahuas a hot commodity, and some breeders are not acting responsibly.”

Front-Wheel Drive New for Canine Drivers

Now the three 11-month-olds — Venus, Carmen and Pablo — are learning to steer Chihuahua-sized aluminum wagons, small and light enough for them to push, that will let them lead normal lives.

It’s not uncommon to see dogs with hip injuries use wagons for their rear haunches, but front wheels are a novelty, especially when two-and-a-half-pound pups are driving.

The three-wheeled wagons were custom built for $1,000 — and they may soon bring relief to other animals.

In another doggie innovation, Hungarian scientists are working on computer software analyzing dog barks that could allow people to better recognize dogs’ basic emotions. The result could be “a device for dog-human communication.”

I can’t wait to ask my favorite pooch why toilet water tastes so good.

Single voters have spoken, and the presidential candidate they most want to see naked is — drum roll, please — Barack Obama.

And, in what is surely a more competitive race, the most visually unpleasant White House hopeful — Ron Paul. (Somewhere, Dennis Kucinich is smiling.)

The results are part of a January 2008 survey of 900 single voters by Engage.com, a part of its “Every Single Vote” campaign to boost voter registration.

“Voting makes you sexier in the eye of a potential romantic,” says Trish McDermott, Engage’s vice president of Love.

Some of the findings:
• 85% of all singles are open to dating across party lines, with Republicans being more likely than Democrats to cross the political line for love.
• Thirty-eight percent of all singles surveyed said their vote is influenced by a candidate’s appearance.
• Singles are most likely to say the economy will be the important issue influencing their presidential choice, followed by the war in Iraq, and then healthcare.

Clinton and Obama - The Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Politics

Democrats can’t unite the increasingly bitter race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but genealogists can. It seems he’s distantly related to Brad Pitt and she’s a far off cousin of Angelina Jolie.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society are reporting many famous branches in the candidates’ family trees.

Clinton has familial ties to Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.

Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.