July 16: North Korean Medicine; Lohan's Anti-Recession Recipe; Porn in Pakistan

• Socialized Healthcare, North Korean style: Amnesty International says communist nation’s system is in such a shambles “doctors,” such as they are, sometimes perform amputations cold turkey – “anesthesia” consisting of four or five “medical assistants” holding down patients while damaged or otherwise defective limbs are removed.  Oh, and procedures are, not infrequently, performed by candlelight. No power.  U.S. system not there…yet. 
• “It’s the economy, stupid.”  New Gallup Poll shows 64% of Americans point to some aspect of the economy as the leading difficulty facing the nation.  The second leading difficulty is Joe Biden…who says nation’s got 3-million new jobs.  Analysts:  It appears very few of those new positions involve mathematicians landing jobs at the White House.
• One method suggested for combating recession:  Become “certifiable nutcase.”  Lindsay Lohan is reported to be getting multiple “after jail” interview offers in the half-million-dollar neighborhood…while “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore’s story has already been optioned to a major Hollywood studio and “mom” has retained a big time entertainment attorney.  Hey, it’s all good.
• Did ancient man trigger global warming?  Carnegie Institute researchers studying pollen records in lake sediment conclude prehistoric hunters killing off leaf-eating mammoths contributed to too much forest overgrowth that increasingly absorbed sunlight and caused climate’s temperatures to elevate.  Whew!  The findings are due to be published simultaneously in “Geophysical Research Letters” journal and “Mad Magazine.”
• Toyota:  Good news one day, not so good the next.  Wednesday, government investigators said that many of car company’s “unintended acceleration” cases were, in fact, driver error.  Next day, troubles with Toyota’s Matrix and Corolla are at issue.  Engineers say some of those models may experience what they describe as “steering drift.”  Company says it will fix, free of charge, “steering drift” on cars whose owners complain, and are still alive.
• Food and Drug Administration recommending...that GlaxoSmithKline’s “Avandia” diabetes drug either be sold with additional warnings because of heart attack link…or be relabeled and marketed under new name:  “Avoidia.”
• Islamic Pakistan:  Motto, “Land of the Pure.”   Maybe not so much.  Muslim nation, which has banned content on at least 17 websites to block blasphemous material, is reported to rank number one – the world’s leader – in online searches for pornography, according to Google.   Pakistan’s punishment for anyone charged with blasphemy is death.  Unknown what punishment, if any, awaits those who search web for, say, “donkey sex,” a search category Google reports Pakistan has led in per-person searches since 2004.   Must really get lonely, at times, in ol’ Islamabad.
• Walgreen’s backs off plan to sell over-the-counter genetic testing kit:  FDA says kit could be interpreted as a “medical device”…and therefore sale could be a violation of law.  Kit had been considered a significant advance, using a quick, simple saliva swab to enable purchasers to determine in the privacy of their own home through DNA results what horrendous inherited condition would, in six months, leave them deader than Elvis.