“Someone once noted that watching members of Congress question Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was a little like watching the clubbing of a baby seal.”-Time magazine unloads on memory-impaired AG Alberto Gonzales. (The original “baby seal” reference apparently came in this CNN report by Suzanne Malveaux in April.)
Interesting new profile by editor Paul Hehn of Ernest O. Lawrence, the creator of the cyclotron and the father of “big science.” His creations led to the discovery of lawrencium, californium, and those other crazy elements at the end of the periodic table of the elements.
Actor Leonard Nimoy told an excited crowd at Comic-Con yesterday that he will return as the beloved Vulcan Mr. Spock in another Star Trek movie.
The family of Jim Henson is donating many of his original Muppets to a museum in Atlanta, according to The New York Times.
“Potter defeated by Sandler’s fake gay firemen.”That’s Britain’s The Guardian describing the weekend U.S. boxoffice. (Translation: Adam Sandler’s film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry took in $34.8 million to only $32.2 million for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.)
Tammy Faye Messner died on Friday after a long struggle with cancer. 48 hours earlier she had taped a final interview with Larry King, looking terribly gaunt (video) and saying her weight had dropped to 65 pounds.
“I’ve seen the miracles of God with my own eyes. I did a lot of bluffing, also.”Professional poker has its latest unknown champion: Jerry Yang, a psychologist from Temecula, California, has won the 2007 World Series of Poker.
Roger Federer claimed his fifth straight Wimbledon singles title today. The feat ties him with Swedish great Bjorn Borg, who pulled the same trick from 1976-80.On the distaff side, Venus Williams won her impressive fourth (non-consecutive) Wimbledon singles title this year.
Joey Chestnut has shocked the world of competitive eating. The civil engineering student from San Jose ate an astonishing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes in the annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating competition at Coney Island. (That’s one hot dog every 10.91 seconds, if you’re counting at home.) It’s a new world record, by 6.5 dogs.
It isn’t exactly Folsom Prison, but Paris Hilton entered a Los Angeles jail on Sunday night to serve her time for violating parole by driving with a suspended license. A few notes:
Just in time for tourist season, the latest “sighting” of the Loch Ness Monster is being reported. You don’t think that the Tourism Board of Scotland… well, let’s let that unkind thought pass.
He hasn’t formally, formally announced his candidacy, but Republican actor-politician Fred Thompson has dropped enough hints that we’ve added him to our list of Candidates 2008.USA Today says that Thompson will announce his run on July 4th. There’s something symbolic about that date, apparently.
Amazing but true: President John F. Kennedy would be 90 years old today.A few others born in 1917 who are still alive now: actor Ernest Borgnine, singer Lena Horne, and sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke.
You might have thought that committing suicide in disgrace was just an old cliche about Japan, but the practice seems to be alive and well. So to speak.
Apolo Anton Ohno skated to a new title last night: king of the TV ballroom dancers.
Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen by NASA, died Thursday of a heart attack at age 84. His family reported that he died at a hospital in La Jolla, California.
It appears that Gordon Brown is about to realize his decades-long dream and become prime mininster of the United Kingdom. Tony Blair has held the office for 10 years, but hinted strongly this week that he would step down soon.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam was killed in a car crash on Monday in Menlo Park, California. He was being driven from Berkeley to an interview with former NFL quarterback Y.A. Tittle when the crash occurred, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The University of Virginia has named the student accused of killing 32 people on campus yesterday: Cho Seung-Hui.According to a news release posted on the university’s website, Cho was 23 and was “enrolled as an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech. Cho, a South Korean native, was in the U.S. as a resident alien with a residence established in Centerville, Virginia.”
15 April 2007 is the 60th anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in American baseball. On this day in 1947, Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ebbetts Field. That made him the first African-American to play in baseball’s major leagues in the modern era. (Robinson’s line for his first game: 0-for-3 at the plate, one run scored, and he helped turn a double play in Brooklyn’s win ovef the old Boston Braves.)