VBVW for October 17, 2008: Humping The Shark

• The Very Best

Scientists have confirmed the second case of a “virgin birth” in a shark. DNA testing found that a pup carried by a female blacktip shark in a Virginia aquarium contained no genetic material from a male. Hey, maybe those one billion Catholics aren’t wrong after all . . .

Video-game magnate Richard Garriott lifted off from Kazakhstan with Expedition 18, headed for the International Space Station. Some think Garriott is looking for inspiration, others say he’s just a space invader.

A UCLA team found that searching the web stimulates parts of the brain that control complex reasoning in older adults. The researchers say this might help to counteract the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down, though there’s no keeping these people from forwarding outdated jokes.

• The Very Worst

Richard Cooey, convicted of raping, beating and killing two women two decades ago, was executed in Ohio by lethal injection. Cooey, who was 5-foot-7 and weighs 270 pounds, had argued he was too fat to die by lethal injection. And our justice system actually took the time to hear him out. What is wrong with us?

New home constructions, once thought to be the only truly sound investment out there, are the lowest they’ve been in nearly 18 years. Put another way, things haven’t been this bad since New Kids On The Block had a hit song.

Thanks to the media’s ability to turn any clown into a celebrity, we now know more about Joe the Plumber and Joe Six-Pack than we do about Joe Biden.