One of the jobs I have increasingly more and more respect for is the job of headline writer.  It seems like a relatively unimportant task in the grand scheme of things, but in reality, a good news headline will grab your attention and make you want to read more.  But it's not just about writing good headlines.  A good (in my opinion) headline writer uses language and phrases that would be otherwise irrelevant and unimportant to bring life and enjoyment to a simple news article. 

For example, this article is about the theft of prosthetic limbs from a business in Iowa.  The headline could be "Police looking for help in finding stolen limbs".  It's simple and states the purpose of the article.  But no.  This headline writer went above and beyond, writing "Police need a hand to find stolen limbs".  The casual reader will quickly glance past the article, not noticing the subtle pun.  And that's what makes it great.  A simple headline that states the purpose of the article, but with a twist to make it funny and interesting to the more-than-casual reader. 

Then there's the headline of the decade from kottke:  A story about people in South Korea crossing the Han River on a tightrope, titled "Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo".  Instead of saying something like "People Cross a Tightrope Over the Han River", this headline writer stepped out of his shell and hit one out of the park.  To compete on a level like that, you need to be on an entirely different playing field mentally. 

A few more examples I've been collecting:  Russian fishermen catch squeaking alien and eat it, Pakistan: 11 die in kite festival, Indonesia to try to plug mud volcano with concrete balls, Rape victim turns out to be toilet-clogging fudge thief, Eagle carrying deer head crashes into power lines, causes outages, Woman sues after slipping on vomit at Wal-Mart. #entertainment