Mike Myers returns as shagadelic superspy Austin Powers in "Goldmember," co-starring Beyonce Knowles, this summer.

Iraq "celebrates" Saddam's 65th birthday
At 65, he should seriously consider retirement, that would be a good thing quite frankly.

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One year later and still no clue as to what happened to Chandra Levy

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First Amendment on a stick

In a city where the silence is often shattered by a gunshot blast or wailing police siren, long-suffering Hartford residents have set their sights on a different noisy "nuisance" - one that evokes lazy summer days.

They're going after Mister Softee.

The latest villain in the capital city's neighborhoods is the old-time ice cream truck that serves up the soft serve and cranks out the canned kiddie music.

"I can't stand it anymore," said Hyacinth Yennie, a South End community activist who has helped lead the charge against Mister Softee. "Every night, it's the same songs, over and over. It drives you crazy."

... Forget-about-it, if only for the children's sake. Geeez!

Here are the nominees for the 2002 Webby Awards. over 150 websites in several categories have been recognized. I quickly noticed however that there wasn't a separate category for Best Weblog, given their recent explosion in popularity ... Makes me wonder if the Webby people are in touch with what's going on.

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Are Internet celebrities the next big thing or one-hit wonders?
"Tom Winkler? Matt Haughey? Tiffany Shlain? Recognize these names? You shouldn't feel bad if you don't - even if, according to Shift magazine, they just happen to be among the world's top Internet celebrities.

The Canadian-based digital-culture bible recently published a list of its "Top 25 Web Personalities," featuring mostly not-quite-household names, along with a few that you might recognize: Hunter S. Thompson, Matt Drudge and Wil Wheaton, among others.

The list provides an insightful glimpse into the cult of online celebrity - a constantly evolving sphere that values originality, intelligence and chutzpah and that feeds our need to continually follow, worship and dissect pop culture icons.

After all, while the Madonnas, J. Los and Tiger Woodses of the world aren't likely to lose our interest anytime soon, we can now satisfy our hunger for new celebrity blood by turning to the guy or girl next door (especially if he or she has a Webcam) for a fresh, weird or wacky perspective."

Via Nando Times

'Spider-Man' spins towering tribute to New York

"Several movies underwent the editing knife after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused certain sights and subjects suddenly to be in questionable taste. But Spider-Man, which suffered a snip of its own, may be one of the few to be inspired to make an addition because of last fall's world-shattering events."


The comic-book marvel swoops into a theater near you on May 3.

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Al Roker has a Blog ... Go ahead Al!

Money Matters
Are you making what you're worth? Click Here to find out. "The Salary Wizard accesses Salary.com's proprietary compensation database, which contains salary information on thousands of job titles and calculates salaries based on job title and geographic location." In my case, the system was quite accurate I thought.

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Mastercards' Mysterious Move
There is some unease floating about in e-commerce land this week. Last Friday, USA Today ran a story on MasterCard's intentions to put a halt to "third-party" transactions as of May 1. If the plan takes effect unaltered, companies like PayPal could suffer a serious revenue hit, and the repercussions will be felt by such giants as eBay . There has to be more to this story ... I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Looking back
On April 29th, 1992, a jury acquitted four white Los Angeles police officers for their roles in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. The riot and rebellion that ensued focused the nation’s attention on antagonisms between the police and the people, especially poor people and people of color. Ten years later, have we moved forward? Advances Are Noted, But Tensions Linger And New Issues Emerge.

Plans for Haitian Bicentennial Celebration
Two years from now, in 2004, the U.S. will experience another presidential election. A more momentous occasion will be celebrated in Haiti, as this impoverished nation salutes its bicentennial.

In 1804, the largest slave rebellion in the Western hemisphere was brought to a close as Haitian rebels defeated, in succession, military forces from Spain, Britain and France. It was a proud day for the former French slave colony and this defeat ended Napoleon's quest to conquer the world.

Rays of Inspiration

Focus Ahead
Sure it’s good to learn from past errors so that we do not repeat them. I also believe that if we continuously probe and whine about bad memories there’s no end to the damage that this will do to our well-being. Face your problems and deal with the cards you’re dealt. Drop your grudges, focus on the positive, stick to the basics and live in the present. If you take responsibility for your emotional state, you will be ahead of 90% of the population.

Children are our future
Raising children can be difficult; I speak from experience. I think action does speak louder than words, so I lead by example. Kids are very aware and they pay attention to what adults do. Parents should encourage their kid’s imagination and help them appreciate the joy of thinking and the art of conversation. We should also prepare them to succeed in a ruthless and competitive world. It’s certainly an overwhelming task, but as parents we have to step up to the challenge, as we shape their future, we are also shaping our society’s future. Teach them discipline, morality, integrity, guidance and the truth about how the world really works.

Attorney claims alleged psychic Miss Cleo is ‘for real’

Miss Cleo’s lawyer went on the offensive last Wednesday after two months of near-silence, asserting his client has a gift of clairvoyance and suggesting she’s the subject of a latter-day witch hunt.

“It does not take a crystal ball to see that the allegations against Miss Cleo may be politically motivated,” attorney William Cone Jr. said in a statement. “Is this Florida politics, or a bad remake of the Salem witch trials?”

Apparently Miss Cleo's lawyer is playing the "psychic" card, But I suppose that only Miss Cleo really knows how this will all end up .... or does she?