Good Week, Bad Week

Good week for:

Gaydar, after Dutch scientists found that gay men and women are more detail-oriented than heterosexuals, which can help them detect the sexual preference of others. “This is the first time that scientific proof has been found for the existence of a gaydar mechanism,” said researcher Lorenza Colzato.

Moving abroad, after British consulting company Mercer ranked 221 cities around the world based on their “quality of living” and placed no U.S. city in the top 30. The top five were Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, and Auckland, New Zealand.

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Desperate measures, after a man lost in Saskatchewan’s northern wilderness chopped down four power poles, causing a blackout. The helicopter that came to investigate rescued him.

Bad week for:

Fowl play, after Indian police detained a pigeon under the suspicion that it was on “a special mission of spying” for Pakistan. The pigeon is being kept under armed guard, without visitors.

Ann Curry, co-host of NBC’s Today show, after she used her commencement address at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., to name the college’s famous alumni. Unfortunately, she named famous graduates from a different Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Ill. “I am mortified,” Curry said in her apology.

Listening to the public, after newly elected Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn set up a website asking residents for suggestions on how to improve the city. The most popular requests were for better mass transit, legalized marijuana, and nude beaches.