What is the world coming to? Today hits the stands a special Swimsuits Issue of... The National Geographic.

Granted, it is a serious subject, an occasion to "infusing people with new ideas and values... a vehicle to satisfy the American desire for knowledge", as goes the motto of the National Geographic Society.

Still, two weeks before the much-expected Sports Illustrated Swimsuits Issue, it looks a bit pathetic. Their cover girl is Lokelani McMichael, 18, the youngest woman to complete Hawaii’s grueling triathlon.I have nothing against stong independent women, but still, a triathlon champ?

The issue costs a hefty ten bucks, but you can find for free on their site pictures, wallpapers and cute postcards. You can also vote for your favorite possible cover, like the (false) one above.

A Kentucky woman claims that a doctor branded her uterus with the initials of his alma mater during an operation last year, according to a lawsuit filed here. Stephanie Means, a 38-year-old school administrator, alleges that while Dr. James Guiler performed an August 14 hysterectomy at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, he "used a cauterizing instrument to intentionally brand the letters 'UK,' approximately 4-5 cm in height, on Plaintiff Stephanie Means's uterus."

Means's lawsuit notes that since she and her husband were apprehensive about the surgery, Guiler filmed the procedure and gave the couple a copy of the videotape, which, the Fayette Circuit Court lawsuit states, "clearly showed the instrument being used to brand Stephanie's uterus."

Guiler, a 1976 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was a sponsor of a 2001 fundraiser benefitting UK's basketball museum.

----> Read the lawsuit