The Who2 Blog

Republican Fred Thompson has dropped out of the 2008 presidential race. The Washington Post has details.That leaves five serious contenders for the GOP nomination.

Factoid of the day: On the same day that Communist icon Vladimir Lenin died — 21 January 1924 — TV

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are now one win away from the first 19-0 season in NFL history.The Patriots beat San Diego on Sunday, 21-12. That punched their ticket to Super Bowl XXXX-somethingorother on February 3rd, where they’ll play the New York Giants.

Actress Susanne Pleshette has died at age 70. She had surgery in 2006 for lung cancer.

A Rosa Parks mug shot?

Chess champ Bobby Fischer has died in his adopted home country of Iceland. Here are the opening lines from selected obituaries:”Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius and high school dropout who became the only US world chess champion, has died in self-imposed isolation…” – The Financial Times

News reports say eccentric chess champ Bobby Fischer has died in Iceland at age 64.This video (5 mins.) captures the turmoil of Fischer’s 1972 win over Boris Spassky. Fischer won the championship, but never defended it and gave up his title in 1975.

Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book and Gunga Din, died on this day in 1936.The year is surprising. Kipling seems like a figure from the olde Victorian Age, not someone who was still alive when Woody Allen and Willie Nelson were lads.

The Library of Congress has dug up some new photos of President Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration.

Scholars at the University of Heidelberg say they have determined the true identity of the Mona Lisa “once and for all.”