W.Va.: Wild, Wonderful Water

WE ASSUME that Berkeley Springs, W.Va., is upstream from any mine tailings the Mountain State is famous for. If that were not the case, it's doubtful that the town, visited by George Washington for its healing waters, could have such lovely H20. It's so lovely, in fact, that it's been lauded in water-tasting contests. but not all waters are the same. What do you do to clear your palate in such a tasting contest? Eat Carr's Table Water Crackers. According to the Oxford American, which provides an in-depth look at the water-tasting and -evaluating process, water "acquires a personality" and "develops a style" as it cycles through various aquifers and such. We wonder, did David Blaine, at left, get a chance to taste the water he was stewing in for a week during his recent failed stunt? Mmmm, get that man a contract with Poland Spring! [Oxford-American via Boing Boing]
Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

» CONGRATS TO JEAN SCHMIDT: Freshman Congressman Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, beat out Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., in Wonkette's fictional two-week Congressional Cat Fight. We aren't sure if "Mean Jean," as the Wonkettes have dubbed her, should be all that proud of the honor. The looming question now is whether Schmidt can use those fighting skills to get re-elected. According to Roll Call, she should be back next year:

After winning a much closer-than-expected special election in August 2005 to succeed Rep. Rob Portman (R), Schmidt barely survived a very nasty May GOP primary against former Rep. Bob McEwen (R). But now that she has, she is likely to do just fine against physician Victoria Wulsin (D) in a district that is heavily Republican. Democrats had hoped their 2005 nominee, Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett (D), had run again, but after dropping out of the 2006 Senate race he decided to drop out of politics altogether.

» FRIST SHOULD PLAY VIDEO GAMES: In The Post this morning, Laura Blumenfeld profiled the volunteer gorilla surgery performed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. But doing that work is tough when you have a loaded Senate schedule. According to Reuters, a new study shows that "[s]urgeons who warmed up by playing video games like "Super Monkey Ball" for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not ..." How is Frist supposed to operate on gorillas when he doesn't have time for video games? And would "Grand Theft Auto" work as well as "Super Monkey Ball" at limbering up surgeons, or would it inspire the wrong kind of behavior? [WaPo; Reuters via Yahoo]

» A LITTLE TURTLE: Earlier this afternoon, we featured an overweight cat in the Virginia suburbs. Now we'll point you a photo of a tiny, tiny endangered Testudo Kleinmanni tortoise, native to Egypt, that recently hatched at a zoo in England. [Reuters via Yahoo]

With contributions from Donn M. Fresard