Crumbs 'n Stuff, Take 10

And you thought Face/Off was only a movie. A doctor in Cleveland is making preparations for a first-of-its-kind operation, and it's a beaut: a face transplant.

AP's Marilynne Marchione reports that Dr. Hannibal Lechter -- er, I mean Maria Siemionow -- is interviewing candidates for a first-of-its-kind operation:

"It is this: to give people horribly disfigured by burns, accidents or other tragedies a chance at a new life. Today's best treatments still leave many of them with freakish, scar-tissue masks that don't look or move like natural skin. These people already have lost the sense of identity that is linked to the face; the transplant is merely 'taking a skin envelope' and slipping their identity inside, Siemionow contends.

"Her supporters note her experience, careful planning, the team of experts assembled to help her, and the practice she has done on animals and dozens of cadavers to perfect the technique.

"But her critics say the operation is way too risky for something that is not a matter of life or death, as organ transplants are. They paint the frighteningly surreal image of a worst-case scenario: a transplanted face being rejected and sloughing away, leaving the patient worse off than before.

"Such qualms recently scuttled face transplant plans in France and England.

"Ultimately, it comes to this: a hospital, doctor and patient willing to try it. The first two are now in place. The third is expected to be shortly."

The entire story is fascinating and obviously brings up a host of philosophical and ethical questions.

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Thinking of uses for a dead cat? Here's one, courtesy those crazy Germans (and via CNN):

"Christian Koch, 55, from the eastern county of Saxony, told Bild newspaper that his organic diesel fuel -- a homemade blend of garbage, run-over cats and other ingredients -- is a proven alternative to normal consumer diesel."

Koch, whom it is safe to say it probably more of a dog person, says that about 20 dead felines added to his patented "KDV 500" machine can help churn out enough fuel to fill an 11-gallon tank.

There's really nothing I can add to this. Insert your own joke: ___.

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Our misguided but well-meaning buddy, Red Dirt, has temporarily traded in his political invective for a decidedly more Zen-like approach. God bless him and his little, hairy Hobbit-like feet.

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Speaking of religion, beliefnet has a decent story on Jesus and South Park.

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Thanks to McSweeney's, we now know what Alfred Hitchcock would have said when complaining about his hotel room: "I am also less than pleased with the facilities. The en suite decor is twee to the point of insult. All bathrooms should be brilliant white to contrast with the emission of certain bodily fluids or chocolate sauce."