Time to call it a trend: the AP reports that New York has just become the sixth state to ban the use of shackles during childbirth. (On prison and jail inmates, we mean; New York readers can stop worrying that free citizens might be chained to a bed by overzealous medical personnel. We hope.)

Perhaps, like us, you were under some quaint 21st-century notion that our civilized society would never chain down a woman in the throes of labor, prisoner or not. But apparently, there are still 40-plus states out there where nine-months-pregnant inmates are considered so threatening that they must be lashed in place. Even in New York, one vestige of the practice will remain: the new law allows inmates to be cuffed by one wrist during transport.

Researchers' Conclusions Something to Snort At?

File this one under already-broken news. News reports this week are revealing the startling conclusion of a study by a UMass-Dartmouth professor: most paper currency has cocaine on it.

Shocking! you say. Perhaps, until you realize that 1) the amounts of cocaine found on bills are truly tiny, posing no health risk; and 2) this phenomenon has been known about for decades.

The ever-thorough snopes.com sums up the history of drug-testing performed on our money, concluding that the presence of cocaine in trace amounts on bills has been known about since at least the 1980s.

"Axe Body Spray: It's Not Just an Alternative to Taking a Shower Anymore"

For anyone who has been exposed to fumigation-level amounts of "Axe Body Spray" and wondered how the product can be used for good instead of evil, keep crossing your fingers. But a growing trend among teens exposes a non-traditional (albeit slightly more lethal) use of the popular spray-on deodorant.

Meet the "Axe Bomb", a homemade pyrotechnic invention that uses cans of Axe, lighter fluid, and other combustible material to create a flamethrower or home-made pyrotechnics display.