KEY POINTS:
How not to market your green energy company - by flogging the message on the number plate of your gas-guzzling Porsche Cayenne!
* * *
A Sideswipe fan tells us: "Today I made a purchase at Bunnings in my area and was surprised to read the following message on the back of the till-generated receipt - 'Help the environment. A 10 cent levy per plastic bag applies, up to 50 cents for multiple bags. Proceeds to Keep Australia Beautiful !' - REALLY??"
* * *
Local authorities have arrested at least 100 Ugandans for failing to build toilets in their homes.
Northwestern Bulisa district administrator Norbert Turyahikayo justified the arrests by referring to a cholera epidemic that has killed eight people and infected 164. Police spokesman Hassan Kasinje told Reuters the building of homes without proper toilets was forbidden in Uganda, though he did not know of the arrests.
"It is illegal ... but it is not an arrestable offence. Whoever arrested them is wrong," he said. "A health officer is supposed to instruct them to build or they can be cautioned." In September, 70 Ugandans in the east were seized for the same offence. Many in remote villages lack latrines.
* * *
Balls-up 1: A surgeon who took photos of a patient's tattooed genitals and showed them to colleagues at a US hospital is out of a job.
In a statement posted on the Mayo Clinic Hospital website, CEO Denis Cortese says Dr Adam Hansen "is no longer practising medicine at Mayo Clinic". The Phoenix, Arizona, hospital held a disciplinary hearing for Hansen and said he could be fired. Officials declined to specify if he was fired or stepped down.
Hansen, chief resident of general surgery, admitted taking a photo with his mobile phone on December 11 of a tattoo on strip club owner Sean Dubowik's penis which reads "Hot Rod". Dubowik had undergone a gallbladder operation. Hospital officials are also trying to identify the person who initially reported the incident and Dubowik's name to the media.
* * *
Balls-up 2: British doctors have made a tongue-in-cheek complaint to a chocolate manufacturer which changed the shape of two sweets that could be used to measure testicles in pubescent boys.
The problem focuses on wrapped chocolates called Teasers and Truffles, whose 8mm oval shape was a dead ringer for a bead used in an orchidometer - a gadget that measures testes to ensure they are developing normally.
But Teasers and Truffles' unusual contribution to public health is now doomed after their manufacturer, Masterfoods UK, changed the shape of the chocs, leaving them bigger and flat-bottomed.
"Clearly, the original design should be reinstated," wrote Gareth Williams of the medical faculty at Bristol University and Poonam Dharmaraj, a paediatrician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. "With skilful marketing, this could play to the manufacturer's advantage: by including a simple package insert with clear, easy-to-feel instructions, young males could self-evaluate their pubertal status."
They pointed out that this should ideally not be done at the point of sale. Their letter appears in the end-of-the-year issue of the British Medical Journal, a traditional moment for publishing humorous items in the medical profession.
