Authoritarianism, Holding a grudge

Good week for:

Authoritarianism, after the Chinese government announced that its campaign to clean up Beijing for the Summer Olympics has resulted in a marked reduction in public spitting. Before the campaign, nearly 5 percent of China’s citizenry routinely hawked up loogies on the sidewalk, but now only 2.5 percent do.

Changing your oil, after a 1991 Chevrolet Silverado, lovingly maintained by Frank Oresnik of Gresham, Wis., rolled past 999,999 miles on its odometer. Oresnik, who delivers seafood and steaks throughout the Midwest, has changed the truck’s oil more than 300 times.

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International Falls, Minn., which this week won a federal trademark case making it officially “The Icebox of the Nation.” The townspeople celebrated by huddling around their wood-burning stoves as temperatures plunged to 40 below zero.

Bad week for:

Leaving no child behind, after a California man admitted he taught high school for 17 years without being able to read or write. “It’s embarrassing for me, and it’s embarrassing for the nation,” said John Corcoran, who is now retired.

Holding a grudge, after a British man obtained a restraining order against a bitter ex-girlfriend who sent him 10,000 phone text messages over the past two months—an average of one every eight minutes.

Berkeley, Calif., which rescinded its decision to tell the U.S. Marines they were “unwelcome intruders” for running a recruitment office in the city. The rebuff to the Marines caused a national furor, and violent protests in Berkeley itself. “We have embarrassed our city,’’ said council member Gordon Wozniak.