misc

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Four Celebrities You Wouldn't Expect to Testify Before Congress (but still did)

With baseball's steroids scandal hitting Washington, Roger Clemens is among the stars being asked to testify before Congress. If you're thinking that Congress maybe has better people to talk to than aging baseball legends, you're probably right. But that hasn't stopped them from inviting some decidedly non-political faces to meet with them. Here's a look at some other names you wouldn't expect to see on Capitol Hill.... READ ON

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Hello, my name is...

Ever since I was five, I've been pretty lukewarm on my middle name, Todd. It's not that I dislike the name, but it just never excited me (my apologies to all Todds out there).... READ ON

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Fun Stuff from '07: A Hangover Treat You Might Find Useful Tomorrow

Just to give you the scoop on the latest in ice cream trends, Neatorama linked to this hilarious idea for Pepto Bismol Ice Cream (I thought it was too brilliant not to post about). Using the old "spoonful of sugar" idea, the intrepid Fraser Lewry over at Blogjam concocted the treat to help get people through their morning hangovers. Amazingly, Lewry claims the stuff goes down pretty smoothly: The taste? Actually, it's quite nice. The vanilla and sugar temper the metallic bitterness of... READ ON

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Lucky Number Seven(teen)

The other day I was reading ESPN's Jayson Stark's review of the strange happenings in the 2007 baseball season when I came across this nugget. "Billy Wagner collected his 17th save of the year in the 17th inning of a July 7 Mets-Astros game -- an inning that took him (what else?) 17... READ ON

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What's Your Fantasy?

This weekend I'll be competing for the championship in my fantasy football league. I don't want to brag, but I'll just say that I'm favored to win and it'll be my second championship in a row. That said, I've grown tired of my fantasy sports leagues, so I've found some fun... READ ON

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4 Movies about Fact Checking

From His Girl Friday to All the President's Men, Hollywood has had an odd fascination with journalists. They're portrayed as glorified detectives that seek out the truth for innocent people or unravel political scandals. But what of the fact checkers? Fact checkers are the uniquely American members of the editorial chain, making sure that everything printed in a magazine is correct. Almost every journalist has spent some time as a fact checker; this Wikipedia article has an assuredly... READ ON

List

Five Sports That Should Become Popular in America (and how it can happen)

It's no secret that the sports universe in America is pretty sheltered- we've got football, baseball, basketball and a bunch of other miscellaneous ones. Still, there are those few random games that capture our attention "“ poker had its day and people are even starting to pay attention to soccer now that Posh Spice's husband plays here. In the interest of expanding our culture's sports horizons, here's a look at five sports that ought to become more popular, along... READ ON

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8 Nuclear Weapons the U.S. has Lost?!

By mental_floss contributor Erik Sass During the Cold War the United States military misplaced at least eight nuclear weapons permanently. These are the stories of what the Department of Defense calls "broken arrows" - America's stray nukes, with a combined explosive force 2,200 times the Hiroshima bomb. If you don't have enough to make you lose sleep at night, read... READ ON

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7 Geniuses and 1 Entire Science That Never Won the Nobel

Scientists and Intellectuals are supposed to be above petty politics and popularity contests, right? Nope. Here are a few bright bulbs that never got the fancy Nobel gold medallion (or the millions of Swedish krona that go with it). And you thought the Oscars were bad. 1. Joan Robinson, Economics Great Britain's Joan Robinson may be one of the most exciting figures in the history of "the Dismal Science." An acolyte of the great John Maynard Keynes, her work covered a wide range of... READ ON