Speak, bro - A news item reported that when Gerald Grinstein retired last year as chairman of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line he received a cash bonus of $1.5 million, plus his $750,000 salary. Someone posted the item in the break room of the company's Balmer yard in Seattle. An added comment observed: "Another obscene greedy pig bonus."

Makes a pungent sauce - With a reported shortage of durum wheat, used in making pasta, the feds will pay millers $35 a ton to process durum from Southwest crops infected with a rare fungus. (Assertedly, it costs more to process the infected wheat.) They assure the fungus is not harmful to humans but concede that if the infestation is heavy enough the flour may smell bad and taste "unusual."

Favors moderate extremism - One-time French film star Brigitte Bardot says her marriage to Bernard d'Ornale is made difficult by his support for the ultraright National Front, which she finds "too extremist." She also declares she may have to flee France, which she asserts has been "invaded by a foreign, especially Muslim, overpopulation."

Simple solution - Britain's National Health Service reported significant progress in ending the intolerable situation of people waiting for more than a year to get necessary hospital care. They expanded staffs and facilities? Nope. They simply arbitrarily chopped people from waiting lists. A spinal specialist at one hospital sent a letter to patients declaring, "I do not regard this as satisfactory, but I am told this is how the health service is to run."

Just helps 'em make right choice - A survey found that among preteens, only Bugs Bunny outranked Budweiser's frog in recognition. A Bud official said the commercial won't be yanked, that it's not aimed at children, and besides, "Watching a beer ad does not cause a kid to drink."

Breathe shallow - Each year in the United States, some 64,000 people die one to two years prematurely because of pollution, a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council showed. Those with heart and lung diseases are most vulnerable to the lethal particles carried by the smoke and soot from coal- fired plants, gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, and other sources.

It's being taken care of - The highest estimated pollution toll was the Los Angeles-Long Beach area. Runner-up was the New York City-New Jersey area. Interestingly, in most of the 239 areas where that pollution study was conducted, the level of poisonous particles met current health standards.

Thought for the week - "In the past five years, they [pollution particles] have killed more people than AIDS." - Harvard Medical School professor Joel Schwartz.  
 
 
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