Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 8, 2011

Big Money, Big Problems:

New ABC News /Washington Post poll says what we all know: it's tough to find jobs and the latest recession is causing major changes in everybody's lifestyle.
Moreover, lots of people are angry about it.
A record 74 percent say someone in their household or a close friend or family member has been laid off in the last year. That includes nearly three in 10 who say it's occurred in their own household, just slightly off its peak last December.

If you're keeping track of U-S stocks, the market finished with mixed gains and losses on Friday, but all of that was before the S&P downgrade.
But if you think you had a bad week on Wall Street last week, consider this: Mexican billionaire CARLOS SLIM, the world's richest man, lost $8 billion last week as Mexico's IPC index dropped 7.4 percent. The peso also dipped 2.5 percent against the dollar amid concerns that the struggling U-S economy will affect demand for assets in Mexico.
Slim, 71, has seen his $63 billion-dollar stock portfolio drop 11 percent since July 29. That's more than the 7.1 decrease in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. (Maiman)

Teen Choice Awards:

The Teen Choice Awards were on last night, and the big winners --from over 100 million votes-- were the second to last "Harry Potter" movie, JUSTIN BIEBER and girlfriend SELENA GOMEZ, TAYLOR SWIFT and the movie "The Vampire Diaries."
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," was named Choice Movie among its seven awards; the Bieber won four awards (Choice Music Male Artist, Choice Male Hottie, Choice TV Villain for his "CSI" appearance and --wait for it-- Choice Twit).
Although there were rumors in the NY Post and the London Sun over the weekend that the couple had split, Bieber sat next to girlfriend Selena Gomez and cuddled, getting up to cheer her on while she performed with her group, THE SCENE, and as she won three awards including Choice Female Hottie.
The show was hosted by KALEY CUOCO from "The Big Bang Theory," and also had performances by ONEREPUBLIC and WILL.I.AM of the BLACK EYED PEAS. For a list of winners, head to the LA Times.

Grace notes from Vinny Marino:

BARRY MANILOW fans may finally get their wish this fall. Barry told Parade magazine that "Glee" co-creator RYAN MURPHY sent him an email assuring him that his music would be used in the upcoming season of the show. Barry said he's heard that before, and would be thrilled if it happens... then added (quote), "But who knows?" (Marino)

Off the beaten path:

A Canadian man set up a live webcam inside a lobster trap, and the link has gone viral.
According to CNews, the live lobster-cam is the brainchild of camera salesman RALF PICKART. He runs the website novascotiawebcams.com, which hosts over 40-other live cameras around Nova Scotia. He says, "The response has been huge. The first day we had 14-thousand hits. On the second day, yesterday, we had over 33-thousand hits."
Pickart says the popularity is probably due to plain old fashioned curiosity. (Still)

Computers, and other techno-geek-a-zoid crap:

New survey says --not really surprisingly-- that given the choice, Geeks would rather have their cellphones than sex.
The TeleNav survey of 514 mobile phone owners says given the choice between a week without sex, or a week without a cellphone, 33 percent would give up sex.
Broken down by device, it turns out that Apple iPhone users prefer their own kind in the bedroom, as do Blackberry owners.
And here's a skeevy fact: 40 percent of iPhone owners would sooner go a week without their toothbrush than give up their phone.
Think that's extreme? More than 50 percent would give up caffeine for a week rather than give up their phone, 63 percent would dump chocolate, and 70 percent would give up alcohol.