On the amputation beat

The whole chili finger incident simply revealed how often this kind of thing happens -- not the scam, although that probably happens a lot too, but the cutting off of fingers. I just noticed this: South Korean Demonstrators Cut off Fingers to Protest Japan's Claim to Islets. The story says a crowd was protesting "the South Korean government's 'lukewarm' response to the Japanese claims." I guess chopping off your finger is more the response they had in mind. Sort of reminds me of the old joke:

A: My sister is a vegetarian -- she only eats vegetables.

B: Really? She loves animals that much?

A: No, she hates vegetables.

Speaking of scams, there's this from New Scientist: "Giving people a whiff of a key chemical can make them more inclined to trust strangers with their cash, a new study reveals. Just three puffs of a nasal spray containing a hormone called oxytocin increased the chance that people would part with their money." That's their text -- so succinct it doesn't need rewriting.

I'm going to lunch.