Contest For Football Pick

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Couric mocks Rather in pre-broadcast taping

Though battles between news anchors have historically been between rival networks, today's ripest feud is a purely CBS affair: Katie vs. Dan.The rivalry took a humorous turn Thursday when a video was posted on the Web showing Katie Couric mocking Dan Rather while preparing to anchor a broadcast from Nashville, Tenn., last week.While her CBS crew prepared for the Nov. 8 evening broadcast and makeup was applied to her, Couric mocked Rather. A video of Rather surfaced last month, showing the former "CBS Evening News" anchor obsessing over his appearance before a remote broadcast - particularly questioning the wearing of an overcoat."I'm going to be like Dan Rather on YouTube," joked Couric, alluding to Rather by fiddling with her coat. "Geez, don't you think he deserves a little payback?"She then added, laughing: "This tart is ready to go!"Rather, who left CBS News in March 2005, in June referred to his successor as "a nice person," but said "the mistake was to try to bring the `Today' show ethos to the 'Evening News,' and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."The video of Couric (http://tinyurl.com/2w6y6a) was posted by comedian Harry Shearer on MyDamnChannel.com, a video Web site co-founded by Shearer.Letterman edges Leno in rerun battleIn the final count, the first week of the writers strike helped ABC's "Nightline" gain viewers but not enough to pull past its late-night competition.But even in repeats, NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" had more eyeballs - 3.87 million viewers and 3.96 million viewers, respectively.The big news: The perennially second-place Letterman beat Leno, who fell from a season average of nearly 5 million viewers.

How boobonomics explains the world

A friend who spends his life negotiating with the agents of glamour models explained to me the principles of "boobonomics". Let's assume a pretty girl, who has been snapped in her bikini for a local newspaper, seeks a big-time career. Her agent phones a men's magazine and proposes for a given sum, say £3,000, that she pose in lingerie.

If she's a hit with the readers, her agent will then suggest that for a greater sum, say £5,000, she will pose topless, but with her nipples concealed by her cupped fingers ("hand bra"). Subsequently her fee will rise for each coy permutation: "hair bra" or "girl-on-girl bra" (two models face to face shielding each other's breasts). Eventually, once this dance of the seven thongs has been exhausted and readers are believed to be slavering with anticipation, the agent will propose that for a huge sum say £50,000 the girl will finally reveal all.

Gadgets Scientists Devise Brighter LEDs via Nano-imprint Lithography

The LED, or Light Emitting Diode, has been around since the late 60's but only over the last few years have LEDs made headway into commercial mainstream use.

Of more interest to technophiles is the advent of LEDs for use as backlighting in our notebook computers, such as the recently announced Dell Latitude XT tablet PC, and other personal electronic devices. LEDs promise less power consumption in out notebooks thereby increasing battery life. LEDs are also slowly making their way into our flat panel TVs such as the Samsung 31-inch OLED panel DailyTech reported on last week.

La-La Land of the Giants

I should have listened to my wife. She told me to wash my car. But I'd been on the road just about every weekend for three months, covering NFL games, and a carwash didn't register on my list of priorities.

So the other day I wheezed up to the Beverly Hills Hotel in my one-headlight Volvo that's covered in dust and bird droppings, and filled with old newspapers, water bottles, my son's basketball, and -- disturbingly -- my daughter's collection of stripped-bare Barbie dolls.

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Ponderings from PapaBear

I see that there are already many great blogs posted on last nights BCS Title Game and another recap is not needed. However, I have a few final thoughts on this game and the Buckeye season. First, congratulations to Les Miles and his LSU Tigers. They were the dominate team on both sides of the ball for the final three quarters of this game and are deserving Champions. For the past month I was slowly able to convince myself that the Buckeyes had a shot at a victory in this game. In order for them to pull off the upset they would of had to play the perfect game. Their overall team effort was certainly better than the one the they put forth in last years game against Flordia, but perfect they were not. Turnovers and really stupid penalties kept this game from being close and the final result was much the same as last year...A sizeable loss.