Good week, Bad week

Good week for:

Strange bedfellows, after Gennifer Flowers, who in 1992 said she’d had a long-standing adulterous relationship with Bill Clinton, said she may vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008. “I can’t help but want to support my own gender,” said Flowers.

Human calculators, after Frenchman Alexis Lemaire, 27, correctly calculated the 13th root of a 200-digit number in his head in a world-record 70.2 seconds. The correct answer: 2,407,899,893,032,210. “I’m very proud of my brain,” said Lemaire.

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Specificity, after Sister Kathy Avery informed students at St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School near Detroit that they are not allowed to swear. To make sure they understood, she read a list of the forbidden words and phrases. “It got a little quiet in church,” Sister Kathy said.

Bad Week for:

The White House, which was fooled by a prank call by a teenager from Reykjavik who claimed to be Iceland’s president. The call was put through to Bush’s secretary, who said Bush was a little busy, but re-scheduled a call for a few days later. Vífill Atlason, 16, thought it was very funny until the CIA had him hauled in for questioning.

Endorsements, after former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young exhorted fellow African-Americans to vote for Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama. “Bill [Clinton] is every bit as black as Barack,” Young chortled. “He has probably gone out with more black women than Barack.”

David Leggat of Scotland, who spent four days trapped inside a men’s bathroom. The bathroom, at a private club that had closed for the winter, was freezing cold, so Leggat, 55, kept himself alive by plunging his feet into a sink he filled with hot water. “The only thing I regret,” Leggat said after he was found, “is not getting trapped behind the bar.”