Good week, Bad week

Good week for

Health-care reform, after an international survey found that the U.S. ranked dead last in a measure of how well the health-care systems of 19 countries deliver timely, effective care and prevent deaths. France ranked first.

Thor, after a Utah inmate sued for the right to practice the Asatru religion behind bars. To observe the Norse religion properly, Michael Polk says he needs a mead horn used for drinking wassail, a drum made of wood and boar skin, a rune staff, and a reasonable facsimile of Thor’s hammer.

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Political authenticity, after the mayor of Arlington, Ore., Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, refused to remove racy photos of herself from her MySpace page. The pictures show the mayor of the 500-person town posing on a fire truck in a black bra and panties. “I’m not going to change who I am,” she said. “There’s a lot of officials that have a personal life.”

Bad week for

Sex, after a Missouri company introduced a bed with a built-in movie projector, surround sound, iPod dock, Internet connection, and wireless keyboard.

Iguanas, which fell from trees in droves during an unusual cold snap in South Florida. When temperatures drop into the 20s, said Ron Magill of the Miami Metrozoo, the coldblooded lizards just shut down. “They lose their grip on the tree, and they start falling.’’

Cabin fever, with the news that the holiday festivities among U.S. scientists and staff at isolated research stations in Antarctica got a little out of hand. A Santa Claus groped female scientists, a drunken staffer went on a wild joy ride on a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and two workers filled with holiday cheer had a punch-out resulting in a broken jaw.