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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check
October 27, 2009
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Small-town politics:
Having solved all the nation's other problems, Congress is set to make BILLY CARTER's gas station as a national historic landmark.
Yes, that Billy Carter, the former president's brother.
The House bill would double the National Park Service site honoring President Jimmy Carter to include the "Billy Carter Service Station museum."
The site already includes Carter's current home and his childhood home.
The bill (which you can read here and here) says the extra land "is needed to enhance visitor experience at the Site."
Billy Carter died in 1988.
CQPolitics.com reports that the Congressional Budget Office expects that adding 30 more acres to the current Carter presidential site would cost about $17 million over five years.
No word yet on whether Billy Beer will make a comeback. (Maiman)
Halloween:
A recession poll by the National Confectioners Association found that about five percent of Americans plan to turn off the lights and pretend to be out on Halloween so they won't have to give away any candy.
Guilty Pleasures:
A new global mobile phones survey from Synovate finds 82% of Americans never leave home without their cell phones, and 36% of people across the world (42% of Americans) say they 'cannot live without' their cell phone.
Overall, 23% of respondents across 11 markets own more than two mobile phones. Americans are among the most likely to own at least two at 33%, along with the French (34%). Brits and Americans were the most likely to own a smartphone at 21% and 20%, respectively. (Kaye)
Grace notes:
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND canceled their concert last night in Kansas City. An official statement read that there was a death in Springsteen's immediate family so the show at the Sprint Center has been postponed. Latest word is that his cousin, LENNY SULLIVAN, who was the assistant road manager of the E Street Band, was the one who passed away, after 10 years with the band. He was just 36 years old. No word on whether Bruce and the band are still set to perform Thursday night at the big Rock & Roll Hall of Fame anniversary concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. (Marino)
Holding up traffic:
Bridges aren't just for transportation anymore. Just ask the residents of Sydney, Australia.
Agence France-Presse says cars weren't allowed on the Sydney Harbor Bridge for several hours this past Sunday. That's because a few thousand people were having a picnic on the bridge instead.
Around three-thousand people showed up for the planned picnic --designed to showcase local food vendors. The 37-hundred foot bridge was carpeted with fake grass and participants dined on local specialties like vegemite, yogurt and muesli. It was all part of Sydney's month-long October food festival. (Still)
Jedi mind tricks:
The World Cup soccer tournament is set to take place next year in South Africa. And, leaders there are already making preparations.
Reuters says traditional tribal leaders plan to bless the soccer stadiums --by slaughtering live animals. ZOLANI MKIVA is with a group called the Makhonya Royal Trust. He says, "We must have a cultural ceremony of some sort, where we are going to slaughter a beast."
Zolani says his group plans a ritual sacrifice at each of the ten World Cup arenas. (Still)
Digital Domain:
On the internet, there's dot-com, dot-gov and dot org, dot-net, dot-mil and dot-edu. Gay activists want a dot-gay.
Starting next year, the international group that oversees domain names will add more "dots" to accommodate web addresses in non-Latin letters, opening the way for domain names in Asian, Arabic and other scripts. The BBC calls the move the biggest change in the Internet since it was invented 40 years ago.
(Maiman) -
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