Etc...

Hey, here's a fun idea!

There are airport security screeners who take their jobs seriously, especially since 9/11, and - apparently - those who don't. How do we know this? It seems a screener at Denver International recently had some down time and couldn't think of a better way to spend it than by climbing onto a conveyor belt and sending himself - or perhaps herself; the Transportation Security Administration won't say - through one of the X-ray machines. "I cannot ascribe any sort of motive to why anyone would do this," TSA spokesman Mike Fierberg noted sternly. "It was clearly behavior that is not acceptable." The screener has been disciplined, he said, adding that the safety of planes or passengers wasn't jeopardized.

Despite the image its name conjures up, a prize-winning supply of water flows from the taps in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. At the annual Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) International Water Tasting, the largest such competition in the world, the town earned top honors in the "municipal" category, moving up from last year's third-place finish. Five nations, 25 US states, and the District of Columbia, were represented at the championships. A panel of judges rated room-temperature samples on appearance (which should be clear), aroma (preferably none), taste (clean), feel (light), and aftertaste, which should leave a thirst for more. The top finishers for each of the last two years:

2004
1. Desert Hot Springs, Calif.
2. Daytona Beach, Fla.
3. Kent, Ohio
4. San Francisco
5. Dubuque, Iowa
2003
1. Monpelier, Ohio
2. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles
3. Desert Hot Springs, Calif.
4. Canora, Saskatchewan
5. Kinross Charter Township, Kincheloe, Mich.
- Associated Press/Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting