Shell game: China has lifted its five-month-long ban on live shellfish from U.S. West Coast waters, including Puget Sound clams, mussels and oysters. The Chinese government claimed it had detected high levels of inorganic arsenic in geoducks from Puget Sound.
Local shellfish farmers declined China’s suggestion that they toast the decision with tall frosty glasses of melamine-containing Chinese milk.
We interrupt our regular programing to bring you this very special coup: Soon after seizing power, the generals who now run Thailand commandeered every TV channel for round-the-clock broadcasts of dour announcements and patriotic hymns.
Throw in some flashy graphics and a few leggy blond news readers, and it would be kind of like Fox News Channel during the run-up to the Iraq War.
Don’t know much about history: “On this day in 1844, Samuel Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line, the precursor to all electronic communication.
At least that’s what the history books say. More likely, Morse tapped out “Is this thing on?”
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
