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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 9, 2013
September 9, 2013
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The 411:
New Census data shows that the vast majority of Americans still have a landline phone. However, it's slowly changing.
The Wall Street Journal notes that "just 71 percent of households had landlines in 2011, down from a little more than 96 percent 15 years ago. Cellphone ownership reached 89 percent, up from about 36 percent in 1998, the first year the survey asked about the devices."
Of course, you don't have to be a "math whiz" to figure out that most of the households that have landlines also have cell phones, and it isn't just a generational thing where older people have landlines because that's what they grew up with as kids. A full third of households "led by people ages 15 to 29" also have a landline.
--Phoner: Do you still have a landline? Why? (OK, I'll bite: Because 911 knows where it originates (a physical address) when you call ... even if you're unable to talk. Because the signal is perfect, it doesn't overheat or need recharging, and it never gets lost. And maybe you don't leave the house very often. Also, if a zombie attacks you, quite a few of the old analog rotaries are heavy enough to do some bludgeoning damage.)
--I have a landline which I use to call my own cell phone after I lose it somewhere in the house. It's a big house and I'm bad at hide-and-seek. Now get off my lawn! (Maiman)Gossip Central: tabloids with Cory Myers:
JENNIFER LOPEZ has ticked off TAYLOR SWIFT. According to Star magazine, J-Lo was rude to Taylor's staff when she appeared at her L.A. concert making sure that no one looked her in the eye or spoke to her without permission.
NORTH WEST is going to be throwing up on some nice designer clothes. Star magazine reports that her mom KIM KARDASHIAN has been buying her newborn daughter baby clothes by DIOR, FENDI and JEAN PAUL GAULTIER.
NY Fashion Week Round-Up:
Trend alert! Neon orange lipstick is all over everybody at NY Fashion Week. Fashionista.com says "they're the lips this season." The PRABAL GURUNG runway and at the Rag & Bone and Creatures of the Wind shows, all the models were decked out with their mouths painted in the traffic-cone orange color. (Bartha)
Today's police blotter:
Police in the Maldives are holding a coconut for questioning.
The coconut is suspected of being part of a plot involving black magic. Cops say the fruit is covered with magical inscriptions and may have been used to disrupt a bitterly-contested presidential election. Officers have brought in a white magic practitioner to examine the fruit. So far, no arrests have been made. (Still)Casting Call:
JENNIFER LOPEZ is not just doing "American Idol" this season.
Daily Variety reports she's been cast in the upcoming film, "The Boy Next Door."
She'll reportedly play a single mom who becomes attracted to the teenage boy who moves in next door and befriends her son. She starts and ends the romance, but he doesn't let go so easily. -
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