There’s only a week left to apply for the MetaFilter scholarships, people, and Matt says that only a few people have submitted their essays. What, is it really that hard to give away money?

The House International Relations Committee voted 26-22 last week to overturn Dubya’s gag order on foreign organizations which engage in abortion counseling. Unfortunately, it’s just a House vote, which is now subject to debate on the floor of the House, the floor of the Senate, a compromise committee, and then (almost assuredly) a Bush veto. (Once again, I am reminded how completely idiotic it is that this man feels that we can’t give aid to organizations engaged in family planning and abortion counseling, but we can give aid to religious groups.)

Has anyone else added SmarterChild to their AIM buddy list? (Oops. It appears that AOL has disabled the bot for now, probably in anticipation of a more public launch soon.)

Jamie, of the New Orleans Real World cast, bungee jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge over the weekend, but got tangled in his cords and had to be rescued (and arrested). He claims that he jumped in order to draw attention “to the need for a positive movement of personal growth and social healing” — or, more likely, because the voices in his head told him to.

A man filed a lawsuit for “hundreds of millions of dollars” against McDonald’s for lacing their french fries with beef flavoring, claiming that they are deceiving people by not telling them that the fries are not vegetarian. All I know is, if this guy’s lawsuit manages to raise the prices of McDonald’s fries by one cent, I’ll personally seek him out and punish him in the manner he so desperately deserves.

WOW, do I need to exercise more. Today, there was a pediatric arrest called in the hospital, but it was going on in a radiology suite that’s about five buildings from the actual children’s hospital — about a quarter mile away, including seven flights of stairs, two above-ground crosswalks, and two-dozen fire doors. By the time I got there, I was completely out of breath, and I swear that there was some substernal chest pain raring to rush forth. Thankfully, the child was fine (he was an outpatient who was being worked up for a known seizure disorder and had a seizure); unfortunately, three of us ended up in the pediatric pulmonology fellow’s office, opening up our airways with the help of a little albuterol. Because of this, when I got home tonight, I promptly strapped on my rollerblades and did the six-mile Central Park loop… I feel a bit better now.