[The] USA TODAY Wine Club will feature USA TODAY reader tasting panels throughout the country selecting wines for the club. The quarterly pack features wines sourced by experts and chosen by USA TODAY readers.

Who better to select your wine than USA Today readers, pictured? The newspaper industry, ladies and gentlemen. This is it.

Earnest NYT columnist Nick Kristof is refreshingly honest about his job! He admits that his columns often have no impact; that he is "easily bored"; that he makes mistakes sometimes when he writes about things he doesn't know all that much about; and that his ignorance is widespread. He tells the truth, and he writes about things that are actually important! Nick Kristof, we want so bad to love you! If only you made a few more dick jokes or something, you could be perfect.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The New York Times has published an editor's note confirming that Edgar Martins' photos of abandoned construction project were in fact digitally altered: "A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show." Shame, because the flicks would have been fine without it.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.One part of the art of journalism space-filling is to be able to run stories that actually reveal themselves to be totally pointless. USA Today accomplishes this today, with a story (with obvious scandalous undertones) about how federal aid dollars are going "overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election." Oh, and in the last paragraph they mention: "From 2005 through 2007, the counties that later voted for Obama collected about 50% more government aid than those that supported McCain, according to spending reports from the U.S. Census Bureau." But by then you already read the story, and they successfully filled that space, so everyone wins!

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Ballplayer-turned-stock-picker-turned-mini-magazine-mogul Lenny Dykstra has reached the final stage of his career evolution: filing for bankruptcy.

Facing a string of lawsuits, unpaid bills and a long list of people he's accused of stiffing, the 46-year-old former outfielder said in his court papers in Los Angeles that he owes as much as $50 million but has only about $50,000 in assets.

Time for a comeback, Lenny. The Mets can always use extra pinch-hitting.

BusinessWeek writer Roben Farzad flaunted his facial hair.


Ars Technica editor Jacqui Cheng bitched about her car rental.

ABC newdude John Berman damned his faint praise.

Wall Street Journal writer Jessica Vascellaro sought pitchers and catchers.

USA Today Detroit bureau chief Sharon Carty planned the next day's coverage.

Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

More than half of USA Today's circulation is provided to hotel guests, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. The Gannett paper shows up "free" in front of guest's rooms. These copies can be booked as paid circulation since technically a guest could can return the paper for a nominal refund (no one ever does).

The recession has socked business travel, which in turn has taken 100,000 "subscribers" from a paper that once had a circulation of 2.3 million. The Journal:

Mr. Moon said in an interview that the slowdown has resulted in a reduction of more than 7% in the number of copies of USA Today distributed through partnerships with hotel chains such as Marriott...

Obviously USA Today should explore some kind of premium hotel content offerings. That's gone very well for other industries.

[WSJ]

Twitter has become so popular, so fast, that keeping up with its fast-growing user base is a real issue. So many people now use Twitter to update friends that the system often crashes. That could be about to change. Twitter executives are working feverishly to solve the problem through a new investment. "Twitter took off really quickly, and honestly, we were surprised and had to play a lot of catch-up," says Stone.

USA TODAY is idiotic for running such an irresponsible advertisement, suggesting that drinking and driving is some kind of American 'tradition' we should protect. Not identifying that this ad was paid for by the liquor industry is profoundly reckless.

Drunk, old, white businessmen, drunk cougars out for girls night out, and drunk wedding parties should be kept off the roads of America. Lindsay Lohan fully endorses ignition interlock devices that have been well-proven to save lives.

Snap! Lawyers for "drunk, old, white businessmen" could not immediately reached for comment, but the ones sitting down the bar from us as we write this at happy hour are clearly outraged. Or maybe they're just reacting to highlights of yet another Yankees loss? We can't tell. But someone's gonna pay, we know that much.

• Lohan mugshot used by pro-drinking and driving group [Copyranter]
• Lindsay To Liquor Industry - You're Full Of Schlitz [TMZ]

Previously: Hearst CEO Cathie Black On Office Tears: "Get Over It"

We weren't very deep into our conversation when I said it would be fun to go out for a few beers sometime this summer. Maybe they could even teach the old dog a few new tricks, I said. Worth a try, anyway.

One of the interns then confessed she didn't turn 21 until late in July, so we'd have to wait until then for our night on the town.

Suddenly I realized the young lady sitting across from me also was not yet born when I arrived at the paper. She didn't actually come out and say that, like the intern did last year. She was more subtle.

But it was still shocking to think she was born, got potty-trained, played with Barbie, experienced her first kiss, went to the prom, graduated from high school, then went off to college all in the time I sat at a desk typing.

I'm not sure I can wait until July for that drink.

Daisy-fresh interns make the old-timer wilt [USA Today]