Good week for:
Fibbing, after President Obama told a student reporter during a healthy-eating event for kids that his favorite food is broccoli.
Being No. 2, after Mexico overtook the U.S. as the world’s fattest nation. Thanks to a rapidly worsening diet of fizzy drinks and cheap fast food, 32.8 percent of Mexican adults are now classified as obese, compared with 31.8 percent of Americans.
Potholes, after a British ambulance racing to the hospital hit a large rut, throwing patient Ray Lee in the air. When Lee came down, the jolt reset his racing heartbeat from a potentially fatal 190 beats a minute to 60. “The paramedic looked at me in disbelief,’’ said Lee, 65. Lee said that he used to complain about local roads, “but now I never want them to fill in another pothole.”
Bad week for:
Double daring, after Wanda Podgurski of California fled rather than face California charges of insurance fraud, taunting a prosecutor with a tweet reading, “Catch me if you can.” Police used her Twitter account to trace her to Mexico, where she was arrested.
Multiculturalism, after the New York Mets scheduled “Native American Heritage Day” on July 25—when they’re playing the Atlanta Braves. After some contentious discussion between the team and a Native American organization, the event has been canceled.
Sparing the rod, after an Oklahoma man who was “noodling”—catching fish with his bare hands—grabbed hold of a cottonmouth snake. After a week in the hospital and 14 doses of anti-venom, Destry Mitchell advised fellow noodlers: “Be careful.”
