What Caught My Eye Today

China - China's economy grew to the world's third-largest in 2007, another milestone in the country's stunning ascent in the global pecking order that puts it behind only Japan and the United States. Not a bad way to start of the Year of the Ox, wouldn't you say? China has grown tenfold in the past 30 years, and the revised data leapfrogged it ahead of Germany. The new estimate raised gross domestic product to 25.7 trillion yuan, or $3.5 trillion at 2007 exchange rates, the statistics bureau said. That would be ahead of Germany's 2007 GDP of 2.4 trillion euros, or $3.3 trillion. So what exactly does being the world's third largest economy get you these days? Turns out, not much. The status is symbolic — China's 1.3 billion people are, on average, among the world's poorest. The United States is the world's biggest economy at $13.8 trillion in 2007, followed by Japan at $4.4 trillion. Germany's 85 million people were still far ahead of China in GDP per person in 2007 at $38,800. China's per capita GDP was $2,800 in 2007. Still, China's accomplishment is quite remarkable. Just 30 years ago, China's GDP was $300 billion, one tenth what it is now. That's right, boys and girls, if you investing in China in 1979, you would have realized a 1000% return on your investment.

Vatican - One of the Vatican's most secrecy shrouded tribunals, which handles confessions of sins so grave only the pope can grant absolution, is giving the faithful a peek into its workings for the first time in its 830-year history. Stay with me on this one. I'll get to my point in moment, but context is important here. The Vatican has long lamented that fewer and fewer Catholics are going to confession, the sacrament in which the faithful can receive forgiveness if they sincerely confess their sins to a priest. By lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding the tribunal's work, the Vatican hopes to emphasize the fundamental role the sacrament plays in saving souls. Almost there... Confessions of even the most heinous of crimes and sins — such as genocide or mass murder — are handled at the local level by priests and their bishops and are not heard by the tribunal. Its work involves those sins that are reserved for the pope — considered so serious that a local priest or bishop is not qualified to grant absolution. These include defiling the Eucharist, a priest breaking the seal of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who sought penance, or a priest who has sex with someone and then offered forgiveness for the act, or someone who directly caused an abortion — such as by paying for it — who then seeks to become a priest or deacon. So let me see if I've got this straight. You can go out and attempt to wipe out an entire race and have your confession heard by the local priest, but if you help someone get an abortion, you have to appeal to the Pope himself or risk eternal damnation. Is it just me or does this seem a bit out of whack? Has the Vatican heard of the concept of "letting the punishment fit the crime"? I gotta tell you, I'm not sure this gesture is going to have me banging down the door at the local confessional.

Iran - This next story cinches it for me. I say Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a lock for the Nobel Peace Prize. Iran's president urged Arab leaders to cut all contacts with Israel and use their political and economic influence to pressure the Israelis to halt their offensive in Gaza. Iranian authorities issued an order banning international companies from working in Iran if they have shares owned by Israelis. The Iranian government also said it plans to impose sanctions on foreign companies in Iran who also deal with Israel. It is unclear how or when the ban might be carried out, and no details were given regarding the sanctions. Of course not. Come to think of it, that would be quite a trick given that Iran doesn't recognize the existence of Israel in the first place. Still, I think this represents remarkable progress for the peace-loving Ahmadinejad. Why, it seems like just yesterday, boyfriend was advocating the use of arms to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.

Medicine - I'm a big believer in the K.I.S.S. principle ("Keep It Simple, Stupid"), but this next story, scares the bejeezes out of me. Scrawl on the patient with a permanent marker to show where the surgeon should cut. Ask the person's name to make sure you have the right patient. Count sponges to make sure you didn't leave any inside the body. Doctors worldwide who followed a checklist of steps like these cut the death rate from surgery almost in half and complications by more than a third in a large international study of how to avoid blatant operating room mistakes. The checklist was developed by the World Health Organization and includes measures such as these:

• Before the patient is given anesthesia, make sure the part of the body to be operated on is marked, and make sure everyone on the surgical team knows if the patient has an allergy.
  One would think that this was a no-brainer. Apparently not.
• Before the surgeons cut, make sure everyone in the operating room knows one another and what their roles will be during the operation, and confirm that all the needed X-rays and scan images are in the room
  Maybe they can all wear name tags or huddle up before the procedure to get to know each other.
• After surgery, check that all the needles, sponges and instruments are accounted for.
  What a novel idea.

The researchers estimated that implementing the checklist in all U.S. operating rooms would save at least $15 billion a year. So the dude I'm allowing to gut me like a fish needs a checklist to remember what most simpletons like you and me would refer to as common sense? Next time I need surgery, perhaps I'll just take my chances with death. I'm thinking my odds cannot be much worse.