Town in Brazil Has a Rate of Twins 1000% Higher Than the Rest of the World
This story has it all. Nazi conspiracies, international intrigue, and twins. Just like those Coors Light commercials—but with more ethnic cleansing.
National Geographic Adventure Folds
In your terrible Thursday media column: Another print magazine dies, rumors of layoffs at ALM, the Dallas Morning News goes straight to journalism hell, and Town & Country is now officially sexy.
Lewis Lapham Living The Lewis Lapham Life
In your traditional Tuesday media column: Lewis Lapham endures, Lou Dobbs is in demand, Charlie Rose gets a new column, and Sheriff Joe harassed by J-schoolers playing the race card.
Nat Geo Layoffs
A tipster tells us that National Geographic laid off 8-10 staffers today. Reason: "The economy."
Swine Flu at the National Geographic Society!
In a clear act of porcine aggression against our nation's geographers, the dreaded Mexican Pig Flu has struck the National Geographic Society. We have the memo.
The National Geographic Host: A Sad, Lovelorn Blind Item
This has been around since yesterday but, you know, we're moving slowly. Who is the National Geographic Channel host who is terribly missed by the sad lady that asked Cary Tennis for help?
Arianna on MSNBC, Obama's FDR Mystery
♦ When Barack Obama mentioned on 60 Minutes that he was reading a book about FDR, what book was he referring to? At least one publisher wants to know. [NYT]
♦ National Geographic is getting into the videogame business. [THR]
♦ Pepsi has dumped its longtime ad agency, BBDO Worldwide, in favor of TBWA/Chiat/Day. [NYT
Layoffs at Mappy National Geographic Include Mapmaker
We hear that National Geographic just laid off 13 people on the magazine staff—including a cartographer. We also hear that they are planning 5%-10% cuts across the entire company. This is bad. What will become of the cartographer? When a magazine cartographer can't get a job at National Geographic, the rest of the…
"I swear my golden retriever Chaucer said 'hi' to me one morning."
I recently started subscribing to National Geographic, and its coverage of Stonehenge and jungles is incomparable. But I'm convinced that the sly geography wonks on its editorial staff get their kicks each month by selecting the most insane letters to the editor, and putting them into the magazine. The new issue has…
Paris Hilton Still Rich Source Of Humor At Harvard
The Harvard Lampoon's soon-to-be-released April parody issue (click to enlarge) features none other than Harvard Lampoon Woman of the Year Paris Hilton! Not as good as the 1972 Cosmo parody, but still decent. When will those overeducated scamps stop with the humor and get down to business? [Faded Youth Blog]
New York Under Yet More Attack From Crappy CGI
Everyone is always destroying New York all the time. Now the damn National Geographic Channel has decided to borrow a page from Animal Planet and direct their focus away from mating gazelles and toward death and doom for us all. The video below popped up on the front page of Dailymotion today. It's a promo for the…
Arnett fired from Nat'l Geographic as well
National Geographic has also "terminated" Peter Arnett's services after his recent interview on Iraqi TV. There will, alas, be no fascinating camel documentaries.
Journalists lose Baghdad jobs [USA Today]
NBC fires Peter Arnett
Peter Arnett's "relationship with NBC" has been terminated because Arnett stated on Iraqi TV that the Bush war plan "had failed." Given that the war wasn't over yet, NBC apparently felt that declaring Baghdad victorious was perhaps a bit premature. Arnett still has his National Geographic gig, though. He may, however,…
The blizzard of 1888
A.k.a., The Worst Blizzard Ever, resulted in 40 inches of snow in New York in a 36-hour period. A friend writes, "I remember reading a National Geographic story that said the snow fell so hard, and the wind was so strong, that weeks later they found corpses standing erect in melting snow drifts."
The great white…
