Today we celebrate Comedy Central’s 20th birthday, we browse through the Royal Wedding Guest List, and we talk about how cool Berlin is…again. Plus, we look at the world’s largest Lego tower, which was built this weekend, we reexamine FOMO, and we take a look at the most committed hipsters.
1. Katie Couric is pursuing the idea of her own syndicated talk show, possibly with her former “Today” show co-host, Matt Lauer. [NYT]
2. Comedy Central turns 20, still going strong. [NYT]
3. Saving Childhood. More and more girls are hitting puberty too soon, leaving researchers at a loss. About 15% of American girls now begin puberty by age 7, according to a study of 1,239 girls published last year in Pediatrics. One in 10 white girls begin developing breasts by that age — twice the rate seen in a 1997 study. [USA Today]
4. America’s most stressful colleges, 2011. [TDB] At #1? New York’s own, Columbia University.
5. How to prepare for death in the digital age. What should your last Facebook message be, for instance? [Today]
6. Reese Witherspoon is the face of Vogue’s May 2011 issue: [Vogue]
7. Want a digital The New Yorker account for free? Just become friends with the magazine on Facebook! [Bloggasm]
8. A new study finds that multitasking takes a toll on memory on top of everything else. [NYT]
9. Two-year-old Keterin de George clutches her limited edition Princess Catherine Engagement Doll which sold out within hours at Hamleys toy store in London on Thursday. [Today]
- The Royal Wedding guest list is out! [VF]
- Unlike Princess Di, Kate Middleton won’t have to prove her virginity. [HowAboutWe]
10. I love this. At San Quentin state prison, inmates are allowed to escape from their incarnation for awhile….through yoga classes. [TheDaily]
11. Facebook is heading to China. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed an agreement with Baidu, China’s largest search engine, to begin a jointly-owned network that presumably complies with China’s strict censorship laws. The website’s launch date is currently unknown. [Atlantic]
12. Paging Billy Gray. Berlin moves from capital of cool to start-up haven. Billy, your move. [expatica]
13. The largest lego tower was built in Brazil this weekend. The tower, built largely by children was composed of 500,000 Lego pieces and reached 102 feet and 3 inches, breaking the previous record set in Chile last year. [Telegraph]
14. A toddler was mistakenly served a margarita at an Applebee’s in Michigan. The child thought it was apple juice. Whoops. [Fox]
15. An ad for Harvard published in an 1870 issue of The New York Times downplayed the difficulty of its entrance exam, telling prospective students that out of 210 candidates who took the test in June, 185 got in. [NYT] And, OMG the entrance exam was hard in 1869! Check out some of the questions (including an ability to translate into Latin AND Greek) here: [NYT]
16. The ultimate hipsters. You really should check out Lucas Foglia’s Re-Wilding series. It’s fascinating.
“From 2006 through 2010, I traveled throughout the southeastern United States befriending, photographing, and interviewing a network of people who left cities and suburbs to live off the grid. Motivated by environmental concerns, religious beliefs, or predictions of economic collapse, my subjects build their homes from local materials, obtain their water from nearby springs, and hunt, gather, or grow their own food.” [Lucas via MPD]
17. Friend Jenna Wortham investigates the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) age in the [NYT]
18. Left: a letter from Kurt Vonnegut to WNYC pitching his radio series about reporting from the afterlife.
“There is no hell, but since the O.J. Simpson trial there is serious talk of constructing one. It would be modeled after the Atlantic Airport.” LOL [BB]
19. Last meal requests by notable prisoners. [Flavorpill]
20. Christian Louboutin SA, the designer of expensive red-sole women’s shoes popularized by characters on “Sex and the City,” sued Yves Saint Laurent America Inc., alleging it violated Louboutin’s trademark for the footwear – it’s red soles. [Bloomberg]
21. VIDEO: President Barack Obama surprised tourists, stopping by the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, telling visitors that they were able to see the sights because of last night’s budget deal. [WaPo]
22. Sidney Lumet, director of Network died this weekend. Tumblr pays its respects. [WaPo]
23. Finally, I love journalist Laura Havlin’s Iconic Eyebrows. History has seen the rise and fall of the eyebrow, literally. [AnOtherMag]
Well, that’s all for me today. Do you have something to include in tomorrow’s list? Email me: Rachelle@guestofaguest.com!
