In this L.A. Times column, Christina Klein explains "Hollywood's latest strategy of globalization, known as local-language production. As foreign audiences show signs of tiring of Hollywood's formulaic blockbusters and express interest in seeing portrayals of their own cultures on screen, Hollywood has responded by making "foreign" films" like "A Very Long Engagement", "Kung Fu Hustle," and "Sideways."

Stephen Metcalf examines "What the Clash meant to rock 'n' roll" in this Slate article.

Eric Boehlert updates the Jeff Gannon scandal in this Salon article entitled, "Gannongate: It's worse than you think."

According to this Guardian Unlimited article, "Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism."

The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time

Frank Rich discusses the Jeff Gannon scandal in this New York Times column. Rich writes, "The prayers of those hoping that real television news might take its cues from Jon Stewart were finally answered on Feb. 9, 2005. A real newsman borrowed a technique from fake news to deliver real news about fake news in prime time."

(New technology from the New York Times Link Generator allows you to use this link to access this article even if you are not registered at the New York Times.)

According to this Space.com article, "A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.

The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed.

What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth."

This Cleveland Scene article discusses some of the more clever tribute bands including the all-female AC/DShe, the all-dwarf Mini-Kiss, and the all-naked Nudist Priest.

According to this BBC article, last December's tsunami may have uncovered the remains of an ancient port city off the coast of southern India.

In this Salon article, Eric Boehlert asks, "How can a reporter using a fake name and working for a fake news organization get press credentials from the White House, let alone curry enough favor with the notoriously disciplined Bush administration to get picked by the president in order to ask fake questions?"

Neal Stephenson discusses science, his novels, and post-9/11 America in this Reason interview.

The History of the Heavy Metal Umlaut.

This New Yorker article describes how the U.S. Army's officers are adapting to the war in Iraq. According to the article, "Whatever else the Iraq war is doing to American power and prestige, it is producing the creative and flexible junior officers that the Army’s training could not."

One reason for this success is that the younger officers "grew up with the Internet, and have created for themselves, in their spare time, a means of sharing with one another, online, information that the Army does not control. The “slackers” in the junior-officer corps are turning out to be just what the Army needs in the chaos of Iraq. Instead of looking up to the Army for instructions, they are teaching themselves how to fight the war. The Army, to its credit, stays out of their way."

Deep Throat was the anonymous source used by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during the Watergate scandal. His identity has been a secret for more than 30 years. But according to former White House counsel and Watergate conspirator John Dean Deep Throat's identity may soon be revealed. In this LA Times column, Dean writes, "Bob Woodward, a reporter on the team that covered the Watergate story, has advised his executive editor at the Washington Post that Throat is ill. And Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source's identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat's obituary."

"'War daddy' is the rare bit of football jargon that somehow manages to be both ubiquitous and obscure." Josh Levin explains what it means in this Slate article.

This Washington Monthly article discusses the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR). "Over the last decade, INR has frequently arrived at more prescient conclusions than the CIA and other intelligence agencies about the nature of threats to the United States. In 2001, when U.S. intelligence agents intercepted a shipment of aluminum tubes bound for Iraq, CIA analysts concluded they were for uranium enrichment, proof that Saddam Hussein was building a secret nuclear-weapons program. The INR, working from the same body of intelligence, concluded (rightly, it turned out) that the tubes were more likely intended for conventional, not nuclear, weaponry."

The Smoking Gun has collected the backstage riders from 197 acts. Their list includes everyone from the Foo Fighters (This rider is comprised of the things that make the band rock you like a proverbial hurricane!) to Luciano Pavarotti (There must be no distinct smells anywhere near the artist.)