Royal U.K.'nian?

This week, it was announced that Royal Caribbean's mega-ship Independence of the Seas will be home-based in Southampton, England in 2010. She had already spent a summer across the pond, but with the glut of Caribbean cruises and give-away pricing they have to do on TransAtlantic crossings, they decided to try to leave the ship there year-round. That'll be interesting during winter months, when the North Atlantic can be one of the roughest patches of water on Earth. In fact, the announcement about the 3,600 passenger Independence goes beyond 2010. They're calling this a permanent move (which in cruise line terms means "at least through next year until we can review profits"). There are a series of 11- to 18-night cruises planned, which will be heavily marketed to Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, creating the first-ever year 'round "drive market" for UK citizens. It also opens up some new vacation ideas for Americans, who will certainly be in the minority, but who may want to take advantage of hitting Europe by ship in the off-season, on a product they know and love. Interesting. We'll have to see how this plays out.

USAirways just announced a change to its baggage charges, in an effort to get people to check in for their flights on-line. Effective July 1st, anyone who shows up at the airport with luggage to check will pay the regular bag fees PLUS $5 per bag. To avoid this extra surcharge, all you have to do is go to the airline's website the night before and check-in, at which time you can pay for your checked bag fees and print your boarding passes. It's been something that people have just bypassed for the most part, but USAirways is hoping it allows them to use fewer humans at the airport (you know how expensive those humans can be!). Now that it will affect their wallets directly, my guess is there will be a lot more people logging on to check-in before departure.

A family visiting Seacrest Beach, Florida from Chicago got an unexpected visitor this week. They were lying on the beach, when a 3-legged, 1-eyed alligator walked up to them. The 5-foot long strange-ling definitely got their attention, and authorities were called. The rare animal was taken to a safe place, and released back into the wild. "At least now we can tell an alligator from a crocodile," said the family Patriarch. I'm not sure how much truth is in that statement, but after facing down the jaws of death, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

Did you ever play "Operation?"

That was one of my favorite games as a kid, where you tried to remove internal organs with a tweezers, without touching the electrified sides of the patient and getting "buzzed out". Well, apparently a Minnesota surgeon should have tried that game instead of marbles or Monopoly. A state investigative report says a surgeon performed an appendectomy on the same patient twice recently, after he mistakenly removed a piece of fatty tissue the first time. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the surgeon realized his mistake two days after the first operation, when a hospital Pathologist reported that what was removed was "not an appendix." The patient had been complaining of continued pain and fever (I wonder why), and was ordered back for a second surgery. The now-ruptured appendix was removed, after which the unidentified patient spent 11 days in the hospital with complications from the second surgery. The Health Department and Board of Medical Practice are not commenting on the case.

"Yes, that's right. I said it is NOT an appendix. Repeat, NOT an appendix. Yes, I understand your patient doesn't seem to be improving. Maybe if you took his APPENDIX out that would help. What's that? No, it wasn't a liver either. No, a heart would be much bigger now wouldn't it, Doctor. Say what? Could it have been a baby? No, I'm pretty sure this was a 31-year old male you were butchering - I mean operating on - so you may want to ask him if he has an Owner's Manual before you go digging inside again. Or maybe go back to your other job as a Professional Hangman & Gas Chamber Attendant...."