Read over my shoulder

Remember "Ain't It Amazing," the great country song by Don Williams? I was cleaning off the coffeetable this morning -- by which I mean piling into one stack all of the newspapers and magazines in which I've read something amazing in the last few weeks. Months. Year. The table is still crowded.

I'm now going to post those amazing nuggets here. I could make clickable links for you, but I'm pretty sure you know how to google. Besides, once I start linking I can't stop, and the last thing I need is more roads to diverge down.

Here we go:

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a virus deadly to fish that was first identified in the Great Lakes in 2005 and thought restricted to those waters, was discovered in the Clear Fork Reservoir near Mansfield, Ohio, in 2008. Kentucky's warm summer water temperatures may help prevent the disease entering our waters. July 2008

A local five-year-old called Emergency Services this week after being left at home with two siblings, no supervision, and no power for 12 hours. He was quite calm when he told the dispatch operator, "We want our mama to come home now."

Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is giving nicotine patches -- for free -- to people 60 and older who sign up for stop-smoking classes. With the city's high rates of particulates and lung cancer, I'm glad to see we're finally offering concrete assistance. Speaking of cigarettes, A Mayo Clinic study revealed that women suffer more intense nicotine withdrawal symptoms (including weight gain) and often start smoking again when they gain 5 to 10 pounds. Glad to see there's a study backing up what we've been telling you all along. January 2009

In a home slowly being overtaken by electronic gadgetry, I will never again be able to listen to a CD if my compadre can't remember where he put the cord when he installed batteries in the CD player last summer.

Last year Pakistani artist Huma Julji showed an assemblage called Arabian Delight. Materials included a suitcase and a (this is awful) taxidermied camel. Local authorities banned the piece on the second day of the show. By then, some idiot had already bought it. Note to self: include taxidermy in future artwork to establish my cutting edge style. January 2009

The snow and ice are more treacherous in Louisville today than they've been since this ice-snow-sleet-freezing rain--freezing fog mess began -- and I have the skinned knee to prove it.

The temperature is to reach the 40s and higher by the end of the week. Forget generators. It's time to buy hip boots.