As the first decade of the twenty-first century comes to a close, MSN Music has memorialized in photo album format a litany of Brittany and other innovators of the past ten years who will forever hold the sort of secure place in artistic history currently occupied by Patti Page and Rudy

INDIANAPOLIS.  Indiana State Police say they have arrested two computers assigned to Bowl Championship Series details following a "sting" operation in which undercover agents offered to trade sex and additional memory for improved BCS rankings.

"Oh yes, that's it, right

BOSTON.  Molly Yardnal is a temporary stocking clerk at the Borders book store in downtown Boston who's finding it hard to do her job in preparation for the crush of Christmas shoppers.  "I guess people are buying books because big-ticket items seem too extravagant this year," she says as

LAS VEGAS.  As the World Series of Poker has grown from a small-scale event to a nationwide phenomenon with a top prize of $12 million, it has attracted critics in the non-profit sector who say it does much less than other major sports to assist their work.

"Where is

DULUTH, Minnesota, AP.  Walter "Bug" Bujkowski, a football innovator credited with the invention of the shovel pass and the tackle-eligible play, died in his sleep last night of congestive heart failure. He was 97.

Proper shovel pass technique

One of the game's early visi

Recently, a sort of cultural arms' race has broken out between the two grocery stores that are equidistant to our house.

To the west, a formerly sleepy supermarket underwent a total makeover that included an expanded liquor department.  As every schoolboy knows, in order to celebra

KNOB NOSTER, Missouri.  Pro basketball scouts and agents have been flocking to this small town in central Missouri for months now, making for crowded conditions at the Motel 6 on State Highway 50.  “I’ve had to put two guys into the same room with a rollaway bed,” says ow

TERRE HAUTE, Indiana.  In this most typical of Midwestern cities, Bob Elmore faces a dilemma as November 30th approaches every year.  "It's time to renew my insurance," he says, "and believe me it's never easy."

Ernie . . .

Bob plays golf with Ernie Thompson, who brokers his c

News item: A Boston-area radio station began playing Christmas music on Veteran's Day this year, the earliest date ever. 

Holiday people, being too cheerful.
I'd like to give one or two a good earful.
Jolly like Santa, talking too loud-
I can't avoid them, I'm stuck in the crowd.

&n

As a condition to an appearance at a London shopping mall, Mariah Carey's list of required items included 20 white kittens, 100 white doves, pink butterfly confetti and a wand to wave.  Wonderwall, msn.com

"I am so-o-o precious!"

Dear Diary:

Just got back from my knuckle-hair waxing ses

The holidays are a stressful time of the year, straining both long-term relationships and brief flings that begin as drunken come-ons at office parties.  How does one cope with competing and often conflicting demands of "significant others" that clash with family obligations, year-end business&

FOXBORO, Mass.  It was, long-time NFL observers said, one of the most painful and excruciating injuries ever witnessed in a professional football game.  "That brain cramp there, that was as bad as anything that ever happened to Joe Montana or Bronko Nagurski," said Sean Foley, beat reporte

Rocco Landesman, new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, says he will open up funding to rap artists.  The Wall Street Journal

I was sitting at my desk, tapping out rejection letters to the poets, community theatre groups and local symphony orchestras whose pending applications sat

WASHINGTON, D.C.  The Transportation Security Agency, the arm of the federal government that protects the nation's transportation systems, today issued its pre-Thanksgiving survey of articles most likely to be seized during mandatory passenger searches, singling out snack-size bags of

BOSTON.  It’s 11:53 a.m., and Kirsten Dunster, a paralegal, has been watching the clock at the law firm where she works for the past eight minutes.  She’s about to make a break for the back door when Todd Nurdstrom, a fourth-year associate, approaches her desk.

%IMAGE

PARIS.  Jubilant fans poured into the streets here last night overturning Renaults and hitting riot policemen with baguettes after France reclaimed the World Baking Championship following a twelve-year dry spell.

"Nous sommes nombre une!"

"We had become like les Cubbies

In the case of Bilski and Warsaw v. Kappos, Justice Stephen Breyer asked counsel whether he could patent a method of teaching that would keep 80% of students awake; Justice Antonin Scalia asked if horse whispering could be patented; and Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked if speed dating could be patented

Sometimes as I sit at my desk at night, my hands pressed to my temples, trying to come up with a poem that will be rejected by both The New York and My Little Messenger, I recall an offhand remark by W.H. Auden that I read many years ago.  Where,