Good week, Bad week

Good week for:

Beatlemania, Version 2.0, after Apple’s iTunes Store finally worked out a deal to sell the Beatles’ music. Within a day, two Beatles albums reached the top 10 on the iTunes chart.

Heterosexual rights, after Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, a straight British couple, demanded that they be granted a civil partnership—a legal union available only to same-sex couples. “The titles of husband and wife don’t appeal to us,” said Doyle. “We feel like civil partners, and we want the government to recognize that.”

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Seeing yourself as others see you, after Bob Mewse of Britain, who weighed 297 pounds, lost 100 pounds after seeing himself—complete with pendulous belly—on Google Street View. “I was horrified when I saw that photo,” said Mewse.

Bad week for:

Self-editing, after an Indonesian author released a 5,472-page book on Barack Obama. The book, which is 1 foot thick, chronicles Obama’s early life in Indonesia. “He is someone I’ve been inspired by,” explained author Damien Dematra.

Accepting defeat, after Sheriff Raymond Hamrick of Cleveland County, N.C., who lost his bid for re-election to Capt. Alan Norman, fired Norman three weeks before he moves into his office.

Accepting victory, after Steven Cowan of Wisconsin became so enraged that Bristol Palin keeps advancing to the next round of Dancing With the Stars that he allegedly blasted his TV with a shotgun, leading to a 15-hour standoff with police. “Steven did not think that she was a good dancer,” his wife told police.