Watercooler stories

CREMATORY CRISIS GETTING WORSE

Officials in Georgia say they are continuing to find more and more bodies near the Tri-State crematory in Noble. So far, according to court records, more than 100 criminal charges have been filed against the operator of the facility. More are expected as searchers uncover more corpses.

So far, more than 330 bodies have been found. In many cases the crematory may have given the grieving families urns of wood ash or other material, claiming the contents were remains.

Tuesday, according to Capitol Hill records, the House voted unanimously to make it a felony to abandon a body earmarked for cremation. The Senate now gets the bill.

CASTRO COOPERATING IN DISEASE ERADICATION

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has apparently earmarked as much as $12.5 million in his nation's budget to help Latin American countries deal with a resurgence in dengue (DENN'-ghee) fever. The condition, spread by insects, threw a damper into Carnival in Rio this year. Local officials even asked the visitors to the partying -- used to stripping to the less-than-bare essentials -- to wear long-sleeved pants and shirts to decrease the chances of being bitten.

Castro, according to published reports, told journalists that other countries, particularly Brazil and Peru, needed help in combating the spread of the virus.

So far, the Castro government's epidemiologists have reported about 100 cases of the disease this year and two fatalities. The government has launched a nationwide mosquito-killing fumigation campaign.

MEN WANT BETTER NOSES, SURGEONS SAY

When it comes to cosmetic surgery, at least as far as surgery that can be readily seen by others, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reports that more than 75 percent of men say they want a better nose. They often say they want one which is "more assertive."

The group reports that rhinoplasty (nose surgery) is the No. 1 elective corrective surgery among men.

Many changes can be wrought through nose reconstruction, from making the nose larger to smaller to taking out a hump or bend. More than 80,000 rhinoplasties are performed each year in this country by members of the medical group.

The average rhinoplasty, by the way, according to published reports, costs about $2,800.

DISTURBING NEW STATS ON TEEN DRINKING

A major new study undertaken by Columbia University shows that nearly a third of high school students say they binge drink at least once a month. Additionally, and possibly most alarmingly, is the fact that underage drinkers now account for a quarter of all the alcohol consumed in this country ... illegally.

The canvass was under the aegis of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at the venerable school. The report was issued Tuesday. The center, on its Web site, says the information came from two full years of research.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is quoted as calling the findings "flat-out wrong." Frank Coleman said that according to his stats, in order for students to consume that much alcohol each would have to take about 120 drinks a month. A spokesman for Jack Daniel's is quoted in published reports as claiming that the Columbia group used "Enron's accounting."