Yahoo! News - Many Smokers Still Confused About Health Risks: "One-third agreed with the statement, 'Cigarettes still have not been proven to cause cancer.' "

This story seems silly. Of course they're confused about the health risks, otherwise they wouldn't smoke. Or have I been smoking something?

It just seems like non-news.

Yahoo! News - False-Positive Cancer Screening Results Costly:

"Screening for cancer quite often produces a false-positive result, and this can lead to costly -- and ultimately unnecessary -- follow-up testing, according to a new report."

Hmm, where to begin with this story? I mean come on, a false-positive can lead to unnecessary follow-up testing? Uh, that's like the definition of false-positive....

Another rich bit: individuals with false-positive results had significantly higher medical expenditures than those without such results, the researchers note. "the researchers note". I wish they had qualified the word 'researchers' with "rocket-scientist" or "brainiac".

I guess what bugs me the most is the lack of regard for the mental well being of the patient who's just been [falsely] diagnosed with cancer! No, instead the researchers find that it's costly!

Yahoo! News - Ukraine's Yushchenko Regrets Effects of Poison

As usual, I appreciate it when headline writers are so very concise I have no need to actually read the article. Like this story about Ukrainian candidate Yushchenko - who was fed some poisoned cream soup - He regrets the effects of the poison. I'd vote for this guy, he seems completely rational.

Now you may say, "hey, what about his odd looking face which is all bloated and discolored from the poison - I can't vote for this guy." Well from the article we learn, "I have apologized dozens of times for my face. Please believe me that more than anyone else I would like it to be the way it was three months ago. Time is needed for that," he told a news conference. THIS GUY IS JUST LIKE ME! I TOO WOULD LOVE TO NOT HAVE BEEN POISONED AND HAVE A BLOATED FACE!!!

Friday the 13th Not Bad Omen for Drivers

Now here is some science for you!

There are a lot of rich quotes in this gem of a story including this one:

Furthermore, "we don't have any evidence" to suggest that women may be at higher risk of traffic accidents on Friday the 13th than men, he added.

(One bit of minutiae: I like how the sentence starts with 'Furthermore' and ends with 'he added'. This reporter must be getting paid by the word.)

and better - since this is a scientist after all:

Since the previous study on traffic deaths based its findings on a relatively small number of people, "it is indeed possible" that the result is due to chance alone, Summala said.