Extra! Extra! Baby Born with Three Heads!

(Name that movie)

Confession. I'm a news junkie. One of my kids was using my computer the other day and laughed when CNN popped up as my homepage. "You would have CNN, Ms. Chamberlain." Last year it was washingtonpost.com and in college I went through a New York Times phase. I probably check the news 5 or 6 times a day, and yes, I probably need to get some help for that. I stayed up all night to watch primary election results last spring and knew McCain's VP pick within minutes of it being released. I like to be in the know. And even better, I can justify it! Teaching social studies allows me to use current events in my curriculum on a very regular basis - I've even got my kids trained to watch the news/read the newspapers on their own.

Every once in a while, there's a really spectacular day in the news. And I don't mean that the newspapers are broadcasting Obama's newest cabinet pick or the Dow's 300 point plunge. On the best news days, the papers are full of slightly unusual and/or shocking news.

Here are some of today's winning headlines:

First U.S. Face Transplant Described. I was a little disturbed by this one at first. The whole idea of transplanting someone's face onto a new person is bizarre to me. Waking up one morning and having a completely different face? Not for me. For those people that need it, though, it's pretty impressive technology

Drew Petersen Says He's Engaged. Really? Wife #3 is homicide case and wife #4 is a missing person. Someone's stupid enough to date the man? Not to mention marrying him. Wow. Just wow.

Colorado Doctor Finds Foot in Newborn's Brain. This is maybe the strangest thing I've ever seen.

Update: 21 December

Facing Ice, Snow, Iowa Town Looks To ... Garlic Salt A Des Moines, Iowa suburb uses expired garlic salt to salt its snowy streets. Inventive, to be sure, but what a smell!