We had this one on deck until stuff got nuts in New Hampshire and Evel Knievel leapt over his last car … The acting US Surgeon General told the Herald that he thinks Santa is a fattie. The story is so silly that it is barely worth discussing, except to say one thing to the Surgeon General Steven K. Galson. Parents, block this site from your computer or get 'em out of the room. Santa.......

For those who will be entertaining vegetarians or vegans this Turkey Day, or for anyone looking for healthier meal options, Bostonist wanted to show that a delicious and animal-friendly feast is easier to prepare than you may think. By substituting plain soymilk for regular milk, and non-dairy margarine for butter, traditional dishes such as mashed potatoes can be made easily vegan. Oh, and if you don't tell your guests you made the switch we......

A worker at an MIT nuclear reactor facility has been exposed to "higher-than-normal" levels of radiation. Between July 1 and September 30, the worker had been exposed to 80 percent of the total radiation a person should ever encounter in a year. We presume that the worker has been moved to an other department. MIT swiftly issued a "don't panic" statement, saying that the worker is okay. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is inspecting the facility......

Word is out that there's a plague of rats in the city. Not that it's anything new. Rats fall in and out of vogue in Boston media all the time. Around this time last year, the Globe did a story on a rat invasion in the Back Bay. For the record, the Back Bay did not handle it well. In the latest story, David Abel at the Globe reports that rat complaints are up: "In......

Residents of Harvard's Pennypacker Hall had to apply insecticide cream, and their personal items were fumigated when three residents of the dorm were diagnosed with scabies last weekend. According to Lena Chen and IvyGate, word had been going around that Harvard's University Health Services had misdiagnosed the students and that they just got attacked by some especially bloodthirsty mosquitoes. If so, then the whole insecticide cream-fumigation hurrah was all for nothing. Bostonist tried to track......

Boston Vegetarian Food Festival Saturday, Oct 20, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Reggie Lewis Athletic Center 1350 Tremont Street Free More info Boston is proud of its efforts to become a foodie-haven; and the success of such chefs as Ken Oringer, Barbara Lynch, and Michael Schlow have brought well-deserved publicity to the Hub. So while cutting-edge cuisine is on the rise, Beantown has not been known to fully live up to its legume-y name.......

As if there weren't enough icky skin problems that can be spread via the questionable hygiene practices of college students! Ivy Gate tipped us off that some Harvard students are suffering from an attack of scabies. A university memo states, "Today, three students from Pennypacker were diagnosed with scabies after presenting to University Health Services with an itchy rash." Once UHS determined that the "itchy rash" wasn't caused by the usual suspects, they went into......

A Bentley student has died of bacterial meningitis. 18-year-old Erin Ortiz was hospitalized while visiting family in New Hampton, New York, and she died yesterday. The Herald spoke to Bentley's VP of student affairs, Kathleen Yorkis: She went out to dinner with her family Saturday night and went to bed early, Yorkis said. Sometime after midnight, she woke up her sister and said her “head felt so painful.” “We lost our daughter in 36 hours,”......

Current Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick is ripping on former Massachusetts governor and political aspirant Mitt Romney over health care. Patrick also pointed out that Romney's "aw, shucks" demeanor doesn't properly advertise the product within the package. Patrick said of Romney, "He's a nice fellow. But a shameless candidate." That line has echoes of the Southern "bless your heart," in which a person delivers an insult and cushions it with the line "bless your heart." The......

A survey was released saying that Bostonians aren't very good about washing their hands after blowing their nose or taking out the garbage. Now, we've seen some shameful displays of hygiene (or the lack thereof) on the T during cold season, but we've assumed that these noseblowers aren't representative of Boston in general. Boston ranked 21st out of 25 cities when it came to hand-washing frequency, with only St. Louis, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), and Denver......

The Joiner is a newcomer to Boston and a compulsive joiner of clubs and organizations. He shares his experience joining Boston area groups weekly at Bostonist. The scene at Downtown Crossing's Alley Bar the afternoon of Saturday, September 1, should have been more somber, considering New England's only gay rugby squad had lost its first match of the season by a score too embarrassing to relate. But that's not how rugby works. After the match......

Massachusetts has plenty of temptations – donuts, chowdah, beer, and all kinds of goodies. Despite all that, a report shows that the residents of Massachusetts the least obese in the nation, second only to Colorado. These stats come from the Trust for America's health, which notes that 19.8% of adults in the state are obese, and that number went up 1.2 percentage points from last year. 19.8% seems rather high, so if Massachusetts is doing......

The Charlie Weis gastric bypass trial is over. After less than half a day of deliberations, a jury decided that Weis did not prove that the doctors who performed his surgery were negligent. Testimony presented extremely different views of how the surgery went. The doctors said that Weis rushed into things before the surgery. According to the doctors' testimony, Weis hadn't even told his wife he planned to have gastric bypass when he had the......

Despite the blooms of blue-green algae spotted in the Charles, the Charles River Swimmers were able to hold their one-mile swim Saturday morning. The top overall winner was Sebastian Neumayer, and the top female finisher was Emily Sutliff. The swimmers started at the River Dock, and swam for one mile between Harvard and Longfellow Bridges. The race had been cancelled last year thanks to an abundance of algae. The Globe notes that the organizers......

Update: Tom Brady fans can settle down. Instead of having him there in person, Brady's testimony was read to the jury. Monday saw the opening arguments in the Charlie Weis gastric bypass medical malpractice trial. Weis is suing two local doctors, Charles Ferguson and Richard Hodin, because he suffered internal bleeding and still has trouble getting around after his gastric bypass in 2002 at Mass General. If this seems familiar, it should. The case already......

Never let it be said that the Schillings, Curt and Shonda, don't make an effort to leave a mark on the community. Shonda asked a question during last year's gubernatorial debate, and talk-show hosts were a-twitter over the notion of Curt running for Senate. But their latest efforts to expand beyond baseball has left a bad taste in the mouths of doctors. Shonda Schilling dealt with skin cancer, so the family is heavily involved in......

Emerge Spa and Salon opened its doors on Newbury street about a year ago and recently Bostonist had the opportunity to experience the best the Spa has to offer. Having once been to its sister salon, G20, Bostonist expected nothing but the best and Emerge didn't disappoint. Immediately, Bostonist was whisked up to the third floor while the representative explained such offerings as the roof garden, and the fireside lounge, juice bar and cafe. Weather......

Boston-born Sumner Redstone is everywhere, from The Colbert Report to MGH. Just recently, the Viacom chair made a $35-million-dollar donation to the MGH burn center. Rich people make donations all the time, but there's a reason for the mogul's gift. We knew that the 1979 Copley Plaza Hotel fire damaged Redstone's hand, the appearance of which gave rise to much speculation over at Gawker. The injuries he sustained in that fire nearly killed him, as......

Remember that cute Boston terrier we showed when we first wrote about the Menu Foods pet food recall? His name is Oreo, and, unfortunately, he was sickened by the tainted pet food. According to the puppy's owner, Oreo, who lives in New Jersey, "spent more than a full day in the hospital being treated for kidney failure.” He is back home and "energetic," but the experience was harrowing, to say the least. Oreo did wind......

It must be the Dunkies Turbo Ice. Well, not really. The makers of Hiro Beverage, yet another option on the ever-expanding field of contenders to Red Bull, asked Sperling's BestPlaces to come up with some stats on the most energetic cities to help hype the beverage's launch. Statistics supported the assertion and put Boston in third, San Francisco took the top spot and New York City was the nearest East Coast contender hitting the top......

Massachusetts First Lady Diane Patrick is suffering from depression and exhaustion. To his enormous credit, governor Deval Patrick is going to "work a flexible schedule" until she feels better. The Herald writes, "The severity of Diane Patrick’s maladies are unknown, but a source said she had to be hospitalized as her illnesses intensified in recent days. The news of her troubles comes after a string of harsh criticisms of Patrick and even the first lady,......

The Harris Center for Eating Disorders presents Thin at the Brattle Theater. The movie will screen at 7:00 tonight, and director Lauren Greenfield and Dr. David Herzog will hold a Q&A afterward. Photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, who explored "Girl Culture" in her last work, is in town to screen her documentary about women suffering from eating disorders - the timing is right now that we've seen all the lollipop-headed women parading up Oscar's......

… why not Boston? The NYC design is based on their subway system. The T logo would lend itself well to a condom wrapper. It's circular with a target T in the center, which just screams, "Hey, buddy! Put it in here!" Plus, it would give a whole new meaning to the Wonderland T stop, wouldn't it? Then again, the thought of T employees enthusiastically endorsing sex might repel you. So we have another option.......

As if the Charlie Weis gastric-bypass malpractice trial weren't close enough to an episode of Boston Legal, the judge declared a mistrial following a dramatic courtroom scene. No, the scene didn't involve Tom Brady. A juror became ill and collapsed. Since the doctors Weis was suing were present, along with other doctors acting as witnesses, the juror didn't lack for medical attention. The mistrial resulted because the other jurors saw the defendants helping the man.......

Just as the news outlets were questioning if they'd gone overboard on the Anna Nicole Smith coverage, Bostonist felt a tad envious. It seemed as if all the other -ists, including Houstonist, LAist, Phillyist, and Gothamist, had a connection to the dead model/pinup/reality-show star/trainwreck. But now Boston can join in the fray! The Globe has showcased a distant link to Smith - a doctor who received his medical degree from Boston University is in trouble......

The case of Charlie Weis versus the surgeons who performed his gastric bypass received a dose of unbridled starpower on Friday with an appearance by an immaculately groomed Tom Brady. Yvonne Abraham at the Globe deserves kudos for a slyly funny article covering Brady's impact on the courtroom: "Don't anybody get cute with those picture phones," [court officer ] O'Brien sternly warned those who remained, "or I'll take them away from you." Nobody got cute.......

Is the hoody a Yoda thing or a Darth Vader thing? It all comes down to that hoody. Pats coach Bill Belichick uses it to woo women, but the hoody might also empower him to treat his players badly. Former Pats linebacker Ted Johnson has gone public with accusations that Belichick made him get back into the game when he hadn't fully recovered from a concussion. Johnson feels Belichick's decision to put him back on......

Although Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis has moved on from the Pats, he is at the center of a high-profile malpractice case that will go to trial next month – and Pats QB Tom Brady will be a star witness. During his stint as the Pats' offensive coordinator, Weis decided to have gastric bypass surgery in 2002. Weis was a big fella and didn't like how he looked. There's even a blog out there......

It's not fuzzy math, it's just expensive. The Commonwealth's new universal health insurance law passed last year was touted as a great chance for Massachusetts to become a leader in the nation in universal health care. At the time the talk was about a $200 per month premium. The legislation (let's call it Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006 for fun) mandates that all adults in Massachusetts who make $29,412, three times the poverty......

You might want to buy enough Purell to bathe in after you read this. Local media is reporting on an "intestinal germ" sweeping the area and sending up to 3,700 people to Boston emergency rooms. The Globe said that symptoms include vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. (Perhaps the symptoms inspired the Globe's borderline-inappropriate headline – "Intestinal Germ Leaves Trail of Misery.") Authorities are blaming the illness not on the usual suspects like tainted spinach or Taco......