Don't worry. You're not going to have to fly standing up

As newspapers die and take substantive news with them, the Internet is turning into a carnival of odd tidbits. The weirder or more alarming the story, the faster word flits from screen to screen.

This week, a prime nugget from the News of the Weird had to do with Spring Airlines, a fledgling Chinese carrier that is petitioning its government to allow passengers to fly standing up.

Having passengers stand up, the way they do on a subway or a bus, would stuff 50% more people into planes, reducing costs.

Ryanair, an Irish company that never saw a cheap publicity trick it didn't love, tried to act like it was inspired to consider a similar move. It might give a section of passengers barstools instead of proper chairs, envisioned its boss, Michael O'Leary, or it could even let people fly for free if they stood up -- paying the carrier's extravagant fees to take any luggage, of course.