'TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sean Gonsalves: Euphemistically Speaking
During times of war, keeping track of the administration's euphemisms is a big part of understanding the political reality.
Courtney E. Martin: Paradox of the Perfect Girl (AlterNet.org)
While overachieving girls are knocking on the front doors of America's best colleges, admission officers are letting their slacker brothers slip in the back door.
Peg Tyre: The Trouble with Boys (Newsweek)
Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they're a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, "has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy."
Peter Boettke and Alexander Tabarrok: The Secret of George Mason (slate.com)
What its Final Four basketball team and its unusual economics department have in common.
David R. Sands: Researchers peg Putin as a plagiarist over thesis (washingtontimes.com)
Vladimir Putin -- KGB spy, politician, Russian Federation president, 2006 host of the Group of Eight international summit -- can add a new line to his resume: plagiarist.
Kurt Andersen: Celebrity Death Watch (newyorkmag.com)
Could the country's insane fame fixation maybe, finally-fingers crossed-be coming to an end? One hopeful sign: Paris Hilton.
Stanislaw Lem, science fiction writer of genius, is dead at the age of 84...
AS ENGLISH translations of the work of Stanislaw Lem began to be available, from 1970 onwards, it became evident that science fiction, always a somewhat disputed genre in literary terms, had a true master.
Voting Reform
Hubert's Poetry Corner
PrESIDENT Or OnLY ReSIDENT?
Update From Colby
Katherine Harris
Katherine Harris: Another Rat Jumps Ship
She couldn't keep her story straight about campaign money
and
now, her campaign staffers.
The only way out of this for Katherine is to give up her evil ways, then make a list a la "My Name is Earl". But it will never happen because she is a Republican and cannot admit any wrongdoing.
Colby
in Frostproof
Thanks, Colby!
Maybe she thinks some of that miracle water can wash away her sins...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny afternoon.
Here's all the Juno Award nominations.
No new flags.
Final Four Free Concert
John Mellencamp
Growing up near Indiana University, John Mellencamp couldn't help but become a big college basketball fan. So big, in fact, that as part of the NCAA's Final Four weekend here he's headlining a free outdoor concert Sunday - one expected to draw up to 100,000 people.
Mellencamp, whose "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." is featured in commercials promoting this year's NCAA tournament, agreed to perform largely because of his relationship with former IU president Myles Brand, who now heads the NCAA.
Brand said he had been hoping for a few years to get Mellencamp, who donated $1.5 million to IU for an indoor sports facility, to play on Final Four weekend.
The daylong event also will feature last year's American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, rock group Collective Soul, pop singer Michelle Branch and teen R&B singer Chris Brown.
John Mellencamp
Gets Hollywood Walk O'Fame Star
Destiny's Child
The women of Destiny's Child were back together for a brief moment Tuesday to accept a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Beyonce Knowles, the lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning trio, joined former bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams at the installation of the walk's 2,035th star.
"I want to thank ya'll for coming out here in this rain. We are humbled to be here," Rowland said to the umbrella-covered crowd.
Destiny's Child
Family to Get $1.1M
Notorious B.I.G.
The City Council on Wednesday approved a $1.1 million payment to the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. that resulted from sanctions imposed by a federal judge who found police erred in the musician's murder case.
City lawyers told the council an appeal was unlikely to overturn the Jan. 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper.
Cooper sanctioned the city after learning that a police detective withheld documents that were pertinent to claims made in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Notorious BIG. She declared a mistrial in July.
The order represents the cost of legal fees and other expenses incurred by the family's attorneys.
Notorious B.I.G.
Replaces Richard Karn on Family Feud
John O'Hurley
Dancing With the Stars contestant John O'Hurley, whose prior experience includes his classic role as J. Peterman on Seinfeld and a stint from 2000-02 hosting syndicated game show To Tell the Truth, is heading back to daytime TV to host the game show Family Feud.
O'Hurley will replace former Home Improvement star Richard Karn, who took over for Louie Anderson in 2002, as host of Tribune Entertainment's Family Feud next season. O'Hurley will become the fifth host of the veteran game show, which launched in 1976 with Richard Dawson. The late Ray Combs replaced Dawson in the first of several remakes in 1988.
Season to-date, Family Feud ranks fourth among the six current first-run game/relationship strips, with a 2.0 rating in households, according to Nielsen Media Research. Comparably, that is a decrease of 5 percent from one year earlier. Ratings among key women 25-54, also No. 4 in the genre, are flat at a 1.0.
John O'Hurley
Hospital News
Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose, host of the PBS interview program of the same name, was to undergo heart surgery in Paris early on Wednesday and will be away from the show for several weeks to recuperate, a spokesman for the television anchor said.
Rose was admitted to The Georges-Pompidou European Hospital on Saturday, a day after he was examined by cardiologists there, Rubenstein said.
After consulting with his own cardiologist in New York, Rose flew on Friday to Paris from Syria where he had been on location for his television program.
Charlie Rose
Full Season Pickup
'Prison Break'
Two episodes into the spring portion of "Prison Break's" freshman season, Fox has given the suspense drama a full-season pickup for fall.
"Season 1 was the prison break, and Season 2 will be the manhunt," series creator-executive producer Paul Scheuring said in a phone interview from New Mexico where he was scouting locations. "It will be 'The Fugitive' times eight. We're going to be scattering our escapees to the four corners of the country, using various modes of transportation, planes, trains and automobiles. Basically it's going to be the second half of 'The Great Escape."'
The first season of "Prison Break" followed an unusual scheduling pattern of the first 13 episodes launching early in the fall and running through the end of November, capped with a fall finale. After a four-month break, "Prison Break" returned last week for the final stretch of nine episodes.
The show's second season will be structured in a similar way with a cliffhanger embedded in the 13th episode, Scheuring said.
'Prison Break'
Resigns From Commission
Rob Reiner
Complaining of "personal political attacks," Hollywood director Rob Reiner resigned Wednesday from a statewide preschool commission he helped create.
His organization, the California First 5 Commission, has been under scrutiny for its spending practices.
Two weeks ago, Reiner dismissed suggestions he step down from the chairmanship of the commission, which has collected nearly $4 billion in tobacco taxes to fund early childhood programs. "Everything I've done is completely legal," he said.
Rob Reiner
Signs New 'American Idol' Contract
Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul has decided she can continue to put up with Simon Cowell on "American Idol." Abdul, who shares judging duties on Fox's hit talent show with Cowell and Randy Jackson, has signed a deal to remain for another three years, the network announced Wednesday.
Cowell and Fox reached a deal in November that will keep the British record executive and TV producer on the show for at least five more seasons.
Paula Abdul
Vacationing Across The Pond
Robin
When the red, red robin comes bob bob bobin' along, it can certainly send a flutter through the birdwatching fraternity in nature-obsessed Britain.
Case in point: an American robin, apparently carried by strong winds across the North Atlantic Ocean from eastern Canada, now in residence in a backyard in the southeast London neighbourhood of Peckham.
Up to 30 ornithologists, decked out in binoculars, cameras and anoraks, have descended on a residential street to catch a glimpse of the "turdus migratorius," a blackbird-size thrush with a reddish-brown underside.
Well-known in North America as a harbinger of spring, the robin is one of only 23 ever recorded in Britain, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said Tuesday.
Robin
Restoration Complete
The Green Vault
The renovation of one of Germany's most popular museums, the Green Vault in the eastern city of Dresden, has been wrapped up and it will reopen to the public in September.
The Green Vault, which was the treasure chamber of the region's Saxon rulers, houses a collection of precious furniture and jewelry unparalleled in the country.
It had been closed for four years undergoing a thorough 45-million-euro (54-million-dollar) makeover.
The Green Vault
Half Of Defamer
Seth Abramovitch
Seth Abramovitch was an aspiring comedy writer in Los Angeles, a Canadian working as a writer's assistant on the hit comedy Will and Grace, when he was abruptly fired for his supposedly sluggish note-taking.
Abramovitch, however, has had the last laugh - he is now part of the two-man team behind the wickedly funny blog Defamer, a site that artfully and mercilessly skewers Hollywood's stars, agents and studios and has developed a vast following far beyond L.A.'s show business insiders.
Abramovitch got involved last year with Defamer, part of the New York-based Gawker Media group, when Mark Lisanti, Defamer's founder, wanted to boost the number of posts on the site while maintaining the quality of its writing.
Seth Abramovitch
Denmark Mulls Moving Statue
Little Mermaid
This city's famous Little Mermaid statue may be moved out of the reach of vandals and tourists, a city official said Wednesday.
The bronze sculpture based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name may be relocated a few metres offshore, said Jon Pape, a spokesman for the city's roads and parks department. A decision will be made later this year, he said.
The statue has been beheaded twice. Its arm has been amputated. Hooligans have doused it in paint several times. Three years ago, vandals used explosives to blow it off its perch.
Little Mermaid
World's Largest Buffet
Las Vegas Hilton
Even in this over-the-top town famed for all-you-can-eat spreads, nobody had ever seen one quite like this: Forty soups, 100 salads and 150 desserts perched upon a 500-foot (152-metre) maze of tables.
It was enough -- 510 different dishes in all -- to qualify on Tuesday for a Guinness record for the World's Largest Buffet.
Las Vegas Hilton Executive Chef George Bargisen spent 24 hours straight overseeing the mammoth spread, which included dishes from a dozen ethnic cuisines and offered everything from salmon Wellington to fried alligator, and from pumpkin pie to baklava and pistachio truffles.
Proceeds from the $7.50 (4 pound) a head buffet were donated to hunger relief charity America's Second Harvest.
Las Vegas Hilton
Spotted Nesting in Big Sur
California Condors
For the first time in more than 100 years, California condors were spotted nesting in the northern part of the state, scientists said.
The condor couple was found Monday displaying typical nesting behavior inside a hollowed-out redwood tree in Big Sur, a mountainous coastal region south of Monterey, the Ventana Wildlife Society said Tuesday.
The male and female took turns guarding the nest every two or three days, never leaving the nest unattended for more than several minutes, the scientists said.
California Condors
Nielsen Prime Time
Ratings
1. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 33.4 million viewers
2. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 27.7 million viewers
3. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 21.4 million viewers
4. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 19.9 million viewers
5. "60 Minutes," CBS, 17.1 million viewers
6. "Deal or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 16.8 million viewers
7. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16.7 million viewers
8. "Lost," ABC, 16.1 million viewers
9. "Unan1mous," Fox, 16 million viewers
10. "The Unit," CBS, 15.5 million viewers - Associated Press
11. "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS, 15.1 million viewers.
12. "Deal Or No Deal" (Wednesday), NBC, 15 million viewers.
13. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.8 million viewers.
14. "Cold Case," CBS, 14.6 million viewers.
15. "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.9 million viewers.
16. "24," Fox, 13.7 million viewers.
17. "ER," NBC, 13.53 million viewers.
18. "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 13.48 million viewers.
19. "American Inventor," ABC, 13.04 million viewers.
20. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 13.02 million viewers.
Ratings
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