Etc...

Really, I don't need a thing

With Angela Merkel's birthday looming, her family and friends were perplexed about what to give her - especially after she ruled out throwing a big party in her honor. Merkel, as you may know, chairs Germany's opposition Christian Democrats and could run against Chancellor Gerhard Schröder the next time there's a national election. She also is a physicist. Anyway, about that gift: She said she'd be happy with a symposium on "an exciting scientific area" that isn't well understood by the general public. So that's what it'll be: a discussion by a noted researcher ... about the brain.

Everyone is entitled to make the occasional mistake, right? But publishers of the various versions of the Bible cannot afford to let many to slip through into print, lest the Good Book's message be distorted or turned on its head. Over the years, sloppy proofreading has led to such bloopers as the following of unknown origin, which commonly circulate among Bible collectors:
"Blessed are the place- makers" (Matthew 5:9)
"Go and sin on more" (instead of "no more," John 8:11)
"I will ... that women adorn themselves in modern apparel" (instead of "modest," I Timothy 2:9)
"Let the children first be killed" (instead of "filled," Mark 7:27)
"The murderer shall surely be put together" (instead of "to death," Numbers 35:16)
"Thou shalt commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14)
- Associated Press