Yearly Archive: 2009

Rather than look back on the Best or Worst of The Aughts or The Zeroes or the Two-thousands, we thought we’d look ahead to some predictions for 2010.Where to begin?

How come we’ve never heard of this guy before?After massive protests shook Iran this past summer, Iran singled out an obscure American political scientist in his 80s as a key figure behind the unrest.

While Americans are playing boring old football and Indians are dabbling in cricket, the Australians have invented a new sport: swimming into baited crocodile traps.It’s possibly not a good idea.The craziness of the stunt is matched only by the wonderful Aussie slang used to describe it:

Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders kicked a 61-yard field goal today. In December. In Cleveland. The NFL has the video.

Happy holidays and a happy new year to all our readers, from editors Paul Hehn and Hans Holznagel, boiler room geniuses Mike Duffy and Ad

A boy taken to a foreign country by his mother, who dies. A father who wants to bring the boy back to their original home.It’s the Elian Gonzalez case, right? The one about the Cuban boy that sparked such bitter outrage in America and lost Florida (and the 2000 elections) for Al Gore?

90 days and 20 days behind bars: that’s what’s ahead for Richard and Mayumi Heene, the perpetrators of the Balloon Boy hoax in Colorado.Judge Stephen Schapanski handed down the sentences this morning as Richard Heene “choked back tears” in the courtroom.

Connie Hines, the Mister Ed actress who died on Friday, was 78 when she died, not 79.

President Barack Obama is taking his family home for Christmas.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal this week, notorious financier and convicted swindler Bernie Madoff is just like any other inmate at North Carolina’s Butner Federal Correctional Complex.LIke every other federal prisoner there, he wears inmate khakis, works at various jobs, has a roomie named Frank and, according to a recently released inmate, doesn’t give a tinker’s cuss what his victims think.

Playwright, actor and songwriter Noel Coward was born 110 years ago today. Coward made his debut on Broadway in 1925, appearing in his own play The Vortex. You can learn more at this Playbill feature, Today in Theatre History.

Buzz Aldin gets around, as we pointed out last month.So naturally he turned up with in a shapshot with everyone’s favorite photo pals, Michaele Salahi and her husband Tareq.

The NY Daily News, your dependable leader in Tiger Woods gossip.

Christian evangelist and television star Oral Roberts has died at the age of 91.According to this report, he was admitted to the hospital over the weekend, after taking a fall at his home.

Dang it, I can’t believe I missed this year’s Steely Dan tour.Come to Cincinnati next time, boys.

Ludwig L. Zamenhof — the inventor of the “universal” language known as Esperanto — was born on this day 150 years ago.

We’ve just added a new profile of Kaiane Aldorino, the newly-crowned Miss World 2009.  She won the title last night in South Africa.She also won the “Miss World Beach Beauty” portion of the pageant — that is to say, the swimsuit competition.  Here’s her winning pose:

Ask Ashley, the New York Post’s new advice column, is hosted by none other than Ashley Dupré — the prostitute who brought down New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.Her first question, from Meredith in Queens: “How do I know if my daughter may be in trouble?”  Lady, you’ve come to the right place.See our full profile of Ashley Dupré.

In this brief video film director David Lynch tells the story of when George Lucas offered him the job of directing Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The GOP candidate for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat posed nude for Cosmo in 1982.

Caricature artist John Kascht draws and talks about the face of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in a very entertaining video, found here.Kascht also draws and talks in other videos about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others (links go to our profiles, not those videos).

A pilot’s hat owned for years by Sully Sullenberger, the “hero of the Hudson,” is up for auction on Ebay.Proceeds will benefit two schools in the San Francisco Bay area, where Sullenberger lives when he’s not piloting engineless planes to safety in major waterways.

The Guardian is worried about Iron Man 2:A tangled love story? Too many villains? A hero struggling with his demons? Unless I’m mistaken, that sounds just like Spider-Man 3 — a superhero movie legendary in its bloated naffness.

Jennifer Aniston was served with legal papers hidden in a bouquet last night.The evening ended on a sour note when Aniston left the Sunset Towers Hotel and was served with legal papers hidden in a basket of flowers, telling her she was to be a witness in a sexual harassment suit involving her agent, Todd Shemarya.I’ve always been a little confounded by the strange dance that is process serving.

That old, beat-up typewriter belonging to Cormac McCarthy, the author of The Road and No Country for Old Men, ended up selling at auction for $254,500 — way, way, way more than anyone predicted.The New York Times has the story here. The article is worth reading — there’s a great quote from the book dealer who handled the auction.

Jesper Parnevik had a few choice words about fellow golfer Tiger Woods in a conversation with The Golf Channel on Wednesday.

A former first lady of The Philippines, Imelda Marcos has filed as a candidate for congress for the Ilocos Norte district. Back when she was the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos she was known as the “Steel Butterfly,” presumably because of her determination and not because she drank nectar.It’s a congressional seat that’s being vacated by her son, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who is running for a senate seat.

We interrupt the saga of Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren, Rachel Uchitel and Jaimee Grubbs for some even more exciting news: Cormac McCarthy is auctioning off his beat-up old typewriter!

Here’s the transcript of Barack Obama’s speech on Afghanistan tonight.Saying “Afghanistan is not lost,” Obama said he will send another 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan ASAP.

Best details yet, courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel:Authorities have yet to speak to the 33-year-old golf pro about the accident, but a source familiar with the crash scene told the Orlando Sentinel that Woods was not wearing shoes when wife Elin Nordegren Woods pulled him out of his Cadillac Escalade following the accident.

There seems to be a behind-the-scenes battle going at Wikipedia over Rachel Uchitel, whom The National Enquirer accuses of having an affair with golfer Tiger Woods.Uchitel had a Wikipedia page earlier, but a visit today at 5:20 pm Eastern time shows this screen instead:

The gossip website TMZ is now claiming that Tiger Woods was injured during an argument with his wife, Elin, before his traffic accident on Friday morning.We’re told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source, she scratched his face up.

“There are certain days that remind me of why I ran for this office. And then there are moments like this where I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland.”President Barack Obama on Wednesday.Happy Thanksgiving from Who2!

Soon to be released by Process Publishing is this collection of letters from not-so-appreciative fans of long-dead weirdo comedian Andy Kaufman, titled Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts.

As Google notes today, the 40th anniversary season of Seasame Street is coming right up. The first show airs on November 10th.Herewith, the colorful hi-tech show opener for season 40, followed by the decidedly low-tech opener for season 1 in 1969 — where “special effects” means camera zooms at 0:19 and 0:42.

On this day in 1872 Emily Post was born. Post set etiquette standards for Americans for most of the 20th century by adapting high society rules of behavior for a wider class of people — but class was still the operative word. Women were “ladies” and men were “gentlemen,” and her books on etiquette still presumed a level of education and sophistication associated with higher incomes and bigger cities.

British headline of the day.

Check out this video bit from Shabooty.com of Star Trek’s George Takei and his husband, Brad Altman, who appeared on the game show The Newlywed Game. The first same-sex married couple to do so, they say.The clip includes shots from the show and the two of them chatting about the experience.

Happy birthday to the late comedian Lenny Bruce, who would have been 84 years old today, had he not overdosed himself off this mortal coil back in 1966. His daughter, Kitty, runs The Official Lenny Bruce Website, and today marks the beginning of a two-week auction of Bruce memorabilia.

Filmmaker Orson Welles died on October 10th (that’s tomorrow) in 1985, at the age of 70. Here are a few links — mostly videos — in tribute to Mr. Welles:

Mr. Lombardi played twice with Obama during the campaign… The first time, in May 2008, came about by sheer happenstance. Lombardi was at the gym, and there was Obama, so Lombardi introduced himself.”Hey, listen,” Obama said, “I have members of my staff here, five or six guys, we wanna play full court, you go find a few guys.”

Here’s a gallery of amazing photos from Berlin, where they let France’s Royal de Luxe theater troupe crowd the streets with giant wooden marionettes.Courtesy of the Boston Globe.

Vanity Fair has a nifty slideshow of its past photos of Penelope Cruz.

Coming in December is the new album by rap star Chamillionaire. He gave fans the opportunity to vote on the title, offering 10 candidates.The possible titles included Reverse Psychology, Back for Revenge and Karma. Chamillionaire also gives dictionary-style explanations for each title. Our favorite is for Wake Up Call: “A wake up call happens during the times when people are sleeping. You set a wake up call when its [sic] time to wake people up.”

Political columnist and conservative guru William Safire has died at age 79.Safire had been under hospice care for pancreatic cancer, reports the Jewish news agency JTA.

Maybe the film festival wasn’t such a good idea.76-year-old director Roman Polanski was supposed to be honored at a Swiss film festival this week. Instead, he was arrested as soon as he landed at Zurich airport. He’s still officially a wanted man in the United States, and the Swiss have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

We’ve just posted a new profile of actress Mackenzie Phillips. You may remember her as scrawny li’l Carol from One Day at a Time, but now she’s in the news for some rather far-out comments about her dad.

Dr. Jonas Salk and comedian Larry David:Don’t believe us? Here’s about a “photo illustration” to help you see it:

“Twihards” are flooding Forks, Washington.Teenage girls aren’t the only ones hyperventilating.

In honor of Scott Baio’s 48th birthday, we present this little video:

An amusing list from the U.K.’s Telegraph recalls twenty bad sentences from the novels of Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. Some are pretty bad, and in case you’re not sure why they’re bad, don’t worry, this article will tell you.Which means it sounds nit-picky. Which means the comments section ends up being one big debate over who is stupider-er. Great!

The great Mary Travers of the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary has died.The cause was side effects from chemotherapy for leukemia, a disease she had battled since 2004. She rallied after a bone marrow transplant in 2006, but faded this year.

Actor Patrick Swayze has died after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.Photos from his career here.

I watched as they wrapped Hitler up. His legs were sticking out as they carried him past me. Someone shouted to me: ‘Hurry upstairs, they’re burning the boss!’ I decided not to go because I had noticed that Mueller from the Gestapo was there – and he was never usually around. I said to my comrade Hentschel, the mechanic: ‘Maybe we will be killed for being the last witnesses.’The BBC interviews Rochus Misch, the last survivor of Hitler’s bunker.

Yesterday I saw Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, Inglourious Basterds.I like Tarantino, but I don’t love Tarantino. Pop in Pulp Fiction and I’ll watch it any time. Pop in Reservoir Dogs and I’ll watch most of it, if not all of it. For Jackie Brown I’ll stay to see Pam Grier and Robert De Niro. Probably.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has died at his home on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.His family announced his death in a brief statement last night. No cause of death was given, but Kennedy has been fighting a brain tumor for more than a year.

This slightly strange behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of The Goonies is six minutes of pop culture sideshow at its best. As described by director Richard Donner (The Omen and Superman were his hits at the time), this not-very-good film was a pain-in-the-butt to make. And yet it has its fans, and lots of them.In this short bit you see a young Josh Brolin a couple of times, and a young Steven Spielberg — the boss on the set.

Mad cows, indeed….The NFU pointed to the fact that at least two of the four deaths involved walkers with dogs, which may be a factor in turning cows from placid cud-chewing bystanders into potential killers.Watch your back, Woody!

Jeepers, here we go. Homicide, says the LA coroner.On the morning Jackson died, Murray said he tried to induce sleep without using propofol, starting first with valium at 1:30 a.m. When Jackson was still awake at 2 a.m., Murray injected Jackson with lorazepam, then injected him with midazolam at 3 a.m. Murray told police he administered several other drugs over the next few hours.Good grief.

Here’s an amusing New York Times article about Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, finally hitting the best-seller list — 48 years after it was published.

Alas, it ain’t real. But it is awesome.

“We found him to be a highly intelligent, well-educated and deeply religious person who wishes to spend his last few weeks with his wife and five children.”Hard to believe, but Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of killing 270 people in the Lockerbie airplane bombing in 1988, is about to be released on “compassionate grounds.” He’s dying of prostate cancer.

Our bad. We’ve discovered that Shannon Elizabeth was born on 1973. We’ve had 1976 listed on her profile for quite some time.

A headline you probably don’t want to see if you’re in charge of air traffic controllers in New Jersey.

Today.

This video from 1984 features Keanu Reeves as a correspondent for a TV show called Going Great. He’s talking with a 13 year-old who collects stuffed bears.

“It was a wonderful turning point when we put him through the process of hair and makeup,” Taylor said, “and the first time we saw him with his haircut and his suit, all the women in the office kind of wilted and fainted when he walked by…”

True story.She still looked very Rosanna Arquette-ish in May at Cannes.(Photo: Zibi/WENN.com)

The U.K. Guardian has some terrific video of Russian leader Vladimir Putin on holiday. See how macho he looks here.

MAY I RESPECTFULLY POINT OUT THAT QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 IS NOT ‘HRH’ (HER ROYAL HIGHNESS), SHE IS IN FACT ‘HM’ — THAT IS TO SAY — ‘HER MAJESTY.’So writes Who2 reader Eric Ryan-Lander from the island of Madiera.

Our series continues. From late 2008: Paris Hilton and Bongo the Monkey.

Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Sergeant James Crowley, and President Barack Obama clink beer glasses at the start of their meeting in the White House rose garden on 30 July 2009.

Elizabeth Short, the ill-fated “Black Dahlia,” would have been 85 today. She was only 22 when she died in January of 1947 — the same month that Al Capone passed out.

Reese Witherspoon at the London premiere of Monsters vs. Aliens in March of this year. More Witherspoon photos here.(Credit: Zibi / WENN)

“I feel great,” she said. “It was a smooth transition of power as it should be, and a good advancement for the state.”Sarah Palin, on her Sunday resignation as governor of Alaska.

Here’s a delightful bit of fan appreciation from Japan, with Harry Potter star Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the movies) indulging a young interviewer:

President Obama will throw out the first pitch at tonight’s All Star Game.ESPN has a video of worst first pitches, but why not go straight to the all-time classic from Mark Mallory, mayor of my own city of Cincinnati, on Opening Day 2007:

Even if you’ve had enough of the Michael Jackson story, we recommend the totally awesome tribute Eternal Moonwalk. Really.

The New York Post reports a few juicy details from an upcoming biography by C. David Heymann called Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story. The book says Jackie Kennedy had a four-year love affair with her brother-in-law, Robert Kennedy.Heymann has written about Jackie and Bobby before, in 1989’s A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and in 1998’s R.F.K.: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy.

Smart work from the Australian sample artist Pogo.

Here’s the transcript of the surprise announcement from Sarah Palin today: she’s quitting as of July 26th.

“You want to have him on the site in Neverland. That’s where Elvis is at Graceland.””On the site.” Hah!The MJ story has moved along to tasteful speculation on whether Neverland can become the next big-money Graceland.

Can you name this popular singer in disguise?Hint: It’s not one of the Jonas Brothers.Answer here.

Turns out Michael Jackson’s famous chimp companion, Bubbles, now resides at the Center for Great Apes, in Wauchula, Florida.Here’s his profile from the Center.

This is it.Who2’s first blog post, on 18 September 2005, covered the last words of Pope John Paul II. (“Let me go to the house of the Father,” they were reported to be.)Post #100, from 6 September 2007, was “Still No Word on Steve Fossett.”

New Ernest Hemingway art by Paul Hehn. Other new Hemingway sketches from Mr. Hehn can be found here, here and here.

We stumbled on this obituary from the New York Times, published in May of 2007. It’s about Dr. John K. Lattimer, a urologist and Columbia University professor.

Walter Cronkite, 92, who once held the title of “Most Trusted Man in America,” is gravely ill, according to multiple CBS News sources. The network began updating his obituary more than a week ago, a source adds.CBS News executive Linda Mason, designated to speak on Cronkite’s behalf, had no comment.More from TVNewser.

Alas: Singer Billy Joel and his wife, Katie Lee, are divorcing.They married in 2004, when Joel was 55 and Katie Lee was 22. “They grew apart,” an anonymous friend tells the NY Post.(Photo supplied by WENN.)

Mental Floss has a fascinating (and brief) piece on 5 Historical Figures ID’d by DNA. Check it out.

U.S. President James K. Polk died 160 years ago today, at the age of 53.

Part Chinese, part English, Alexa Chung is the host of It’s On, MTV’s new daily show. She debuts at noon today.

Just as an aside, Osama bin Laden is celebrating his 10th year on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List.

Cher’s daughter is becoming Chaz.

So that’s what Phil Spector looks like without a wig.The 69-year-old music producer was photographed last week upon arrival at North Kern State Prison in Delano, California. He was convicted last month of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.

Wonderful images from last week’s Obama family trip to Egypt and Europe. All are official White House photos taken by Pete Souza.The family watches as Sasha Obama lights a candle at Notre Dame Cathedral on 6 June 2009.

Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, while broadcasting from Iraq, gets his hair shorn by the order of President Barack Obama:

He bagged it today. Roger Federer is now tied with Pete Sampras for the all-time record with 14 major titles: 1 French, 3 Australian, 5 U.S., and 5 Wimbledon.(He won #14 despite a dopey fan, too.)Amazingly, Federer has reached the semifinals in 20 straight major tournaments.

Here’s the opening to “Kung Fu,” the pilot for the TV series that made David Carradine a star. Well made! If you haven’t got time for the full clip, hop to minute 7:00 for the famous “snatch the pebble from my hand” moment. As TV moments go, you can’t beat it. “When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.”

Actor David Carradine has died at age 72.Details are sketchy, but Carradine was apparently in Thailand to film his latest movie. The BBC reports that the former Kung Fu star “was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.”Here’s a shot from his salad days on Kung Fu.

No gong from the Grim Reaper for Chuck Barris. The game show impresario is 80 today — born in 1929.Here’s a Barris photo from 2006. “Chuck Barris and guest at Christie’s 40th anniversary of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball. New York, 3 March 2006” is the caption provided by our friends at WENN. (Nice guest, Chuck!)

“He’ll probably play a couple of shows, then get a doctor’s sick note. Jackson’s not a well man. To do 50 concerts you need real strength, mentally and physically. He couldn’t even read the teleprompter at the press conference.”An in-depth look at Michael Jackson’s physical and financial health. 800,000 tickets have been sold for his upcoming 50-concert stand in London.

British talent show singer Susan Boyle has been sent to a London clinic after coming in second place on Britain’s Got Talent.

It’s irresistible:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories, was born on this day in 1859.Given how charmingly ancient those stories seem now, it’s surprising to realize that it’s only 150 years since Doyle was born. He died in 1930 — the same year that Neil Armstrong and Clint Eastwood were born.

Actor Zachary Quinto, lately of the new Star Trek movie (he plays Mr. Spock), has this really cool video on his official site.

Prince Charles meets Chief Almir Narayamoga of the Amazon rainforest at the Google 2009 European Zeitgeist conference in London on 19 May 2009.

theaodore kaecyndki(From yesterday’s Who2 user search logs.)

Wow! Beat author Jack Kerouac played elaborate fantasy baseball games of his own devising.By 1946, when Kerouac was 24, he had devised a set of cards with precise verbal descriptions of various outcomes (“slow roller to ss,” for example), depending on the skill levels of the pitcher and batter. The game could be played using cards alone, but Mr.

The Chicago Tribune doesn’t love it:Three years later the major players are back for more grandiloquent hackery. Hanks returns to the dullest role of his career, under the direction of Howard, who takes the material as seriously as a kidney stone on the way out.

We’ve got ’em!204 celebs and counting, from Bar Refaeli to Amelia Earhart to the always sexy Gordon Brown.(And R2-D2!)Thanks to Mike Duffy and Adam Duvander in the Who2 boiler room for making it all happen. And thanks to our new parters at WENN for providing the fascinating photos. We’ll be adding many more in the weeks to come.

Speaking of Van Gogh’s ear… the Ohio woman who got an entirely new face last year has revealed herself. (Photos not for the squeamish.)She also revealed the terrible story behind her disfigurement: Her own husband shot her in the face with a shotgun.What a story. Modern medicine!

Weird: MSNBC has a “pre-pan” of Chris Pine as Captain Kirk… by someone who admittedly hasn’t seen the movie yet.Only William Shatner can fill Kirk’s boots, that’s the message. We all love Shatner, but… wha–?

A dirt-bike accident did the trick.Bale can proudly join Daryl Hannah, and Rahm Emanuel in our loop on Celebs Missing Fingers, which is possibly why he staged the accident in the first place.

British light welterweight Ricky Hatton was KO’d in the second round by Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao last night in Las Vegas.

Nifty logo tribute from Google to Morse Code inventor Samuel Morse on his 218th birthday.

A wonderfully cleaned-up version of Samuel L. Jackson’s famous line from the movie Snakes on a Plane:

British writer J.G. Ballard has died at the age of 78.He wrote Empire of the Sun and Crash, both of which were made into movies. The Crash based on his book is the 1996 cars-n-sex one that starred Holly Hunter and James Spader, not the 2004 L.A. race relations one with Sandra Bullock and Don Cheadle.

Archaeologists in may have found the Egyptian tomb of Cleopatra — buried, perhaps, next to her lover Marc Antony.

Actor Paul Newman has been inducted into the Connecticut Hall of Fame.Other inductees include Jackie Robinson, Mark Twain and Katharine Hepburn.

“All those GI Joe dolls I bought him paid off.”So says the mother of pirate-fighting chief officer Shane Murphy of the Maersk Alabama.Capt. Richard Phillips is still being held by Somali pirates after a failed escape attempt last night.

Random photo of the day: Actor Harrison Ford feeds Happy, a 5,000-pound Nile hippopotamus, at the Smithsonian National Zoo on Tuesday.That’s Ford’s girlfriend Calista Flockhart and her son Liam watching the action. Liam seems skeptical.

Four decades after NBC axed the original series, the unstoppable Star Trek franchise was back again last night — with a feature premiere in Australia and a surprise preview in Austin.

Here’s a photo from the U.S. National Archives of the expedition party led by Robert E. Peary at the North Pole. The photo was taken 7 April 1909, one hundred years ago today.Peary and his party, including Matthew Henson, reached the pole the day before, on the 6th of April.

According to this Seattle Times story, baseballer Ichiro Suzuki will be on the Disabled List until April 15th, due to a bleeding ulcer. He’s played 807 out of 810 games in the last five seasons, and this is his first time on the DL.

Heh: a slideshow.Those cut-ups at The Times!

That’s what this report from the BBC says.

New GM head is named Fritz.

We’re testing something new on Who2: photos.Our photo set of teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson seems to be an early favorite with users.Other photo sets currently up include Jessica Alba, Malia Obama, and Natasha Richardson.

It’s still quite confusing.The actress was flown from Canada to New York yesterday, where she is at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Sara Jane Olson, also known as Kathleen Soliah, gets out of prison today, leaving the women’s facility at Chowchilla, California after serving seven years for her part in crimes committed in 1975. Kathleen Soliah was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), the sorta-Marxist outfit that famously kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst back in 1974.

Those San Franciscans!Best comment from Boing Boing:If I ever resign my job, I shall deliver the message, scorched with a magnifying glass onto the side of a large slab of beef jerky.

Sports Illustrated’s Dan Patrick offers up this video of Larry Bird scoring 60 points against the Atlanta Hawks, on this day in 1985.

It’s true: After the surprise announcement in August, the convention in September, and the baby in December, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have parted ways.

The Smithsonian has announced that they’ve found a secret message inside the pocket watch that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln. The message was left by a watch repairman named Jonathan Dillon and probably never seen by Lincoln himself.Inside the watch Dillon inscribed a note indicating that Fort Sumter had been attacked, along with the date (“April 13 – 1861”) and the note “thank God we have a government.”

What did William Shakespeare really look like? Most of us have seen the same image for the last five hundred years, from an engraving by Martin Droeshout, done about seven years after Shakespeare died.It shows us a Shakespeare who was a big-headed, little fella, in plain garments and looking a tad shabby.

Today, 50 years after her debut at New York Toy Fair, Barbie doll celebrates five decades as the world’s most popular fashion doll by unveiling a new face and throwing a pink-carpet birthday bash at her real Malibu Dream House.So says Mattel, in a press release datelined “Malibu, Calif.”Yes, Barbie is 50.

President Barack Obama, in his speech to a joint session of congress the other night, promised a lifeline to the U.S. auto industry. It reminded us that his administration came along at a time when the Secret Service was upgrading the presidential limousine.

These were the winners in the major categories at the Academy Awards held last night.(The Academy’s clumsy system means that the awards for 2008 films are held in 2009, leading to constant future confusion about which year the awards were “for.” But let’s not be bitter.)Best actress:   Kate Winslet for The ReaderBest actor:   Sean Penn for Milk

“Having just turned 10, a Sussex spaniel called Stump became the oldest best in show winner at the Westminster Kennel Club, ending his retirement last week and taking the big prize Tuesday night.”ABC News has the story.Isn’t that kind of like a 70-year-old winning the Miss America pageant?

So says The LA Times, weighing in on the Christian Bale fracas.

“Her Morning Elegance,” by new-music hipster Oren Lavie. Nice!

When did the detective’s use of cocaine become more talked about than his violin playing?

Yup, it’s a real product. The user comments really are priceless.Thank you Playmobil for allowing me to teach my 5-year-old the importance of recognizing what a failing bureaucracy in a ever growing fascist state looks like.This toy would be a lot more realistic with about 350 people standing in line for an average of an hour. I heard this also comes with tiny sets of latex gloves for the security guards!

Take your choice: January 21st is National Hugging Day and Squirrel Appreciation Day.