Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Sucking the life out of the wire services:

CHUCK NORRIS may be 70-years-old, but he's still The Man. In fact, yesterday in Garland, TX, outside Dallas, TX Gov RICK PERRY made both Chuck and his brother, 59-year-old stunt coordinator and producer AARON NORRIS, honorary Texas Rangers.
   The Dallas Observer says about three dozen officers, friends and family members joined the Governor, who said "People whisper about his superpowers, but let me tell you, the greatest power of Chuck Norris is his integrity... Thank you for being citizens of our state, that we can point our children to and say, 'Grow up like that'."

Ten princess perks KATE MIDDLETON gets after she marries PRINCE WILLIAM from Us Weekly magazine:
   --her own secretary
   --no more nine to five, her days are now filled with meetings and charity work
   --a driver on call day and night with a fleet of armored cars
   --a squad of bodyguards
   --paid trips all over the world
   --ladies in waiting at her service 24/7
   --she can borrow from the $39 million dollars worth of royal jewelry
   --dream gown when she gets married to William
   --a royal dresser who plans her wardrobe
   --she gets to live in a palace (Myers)

Broadcast, cable and video news:

When OPRAH WINFREY visits Sydney, Australia on Dec 14, there'll be a maritime exclusion zone stretching 75 yards around Sydney's Circular Quay, and roads to the Opera House will be closed.
   In fact, Australian papers say only the lucky 12-thousand ticket holders who managed to grab a seat at one of her two shows will be allowed to wander around the Opera House.
   But the Premier of New South Wales, KRISTINA KENEALLY, says the "minor" changes to traffic patterns are a small price to pay to have Sydney on display for a global television audience in 145 countries. If the city had to pay for such advertising, it's estimated it'd cost $16 million.

Grace notes:

THE BEATLES will reunite on stage at the Hollywood Bowl next summer... sort of. The UK's Daily Star tabloid says that PAUL McCARTNEY and RINGO STARR will perform alongside digital images of the late JOHN LENNON and GEORGE HARRISON at a special charity concert on August 27th, 2011. Proceeds will benefit organizations that support world peace and research for breast cancer. (Marino)

Polling America:

The annual list of most popular baby names is out for 2009 (Source, BabyCenter.com): and there's a couple of changes in this year's top-10 list: Jacob and Isabella, names made more popular by the "Twilight" movies, dropped out of first place on the list (but only as far down as second). And for Team Edward fans, more bad news --that name didn't even crack the top 100.
   For you "Glee" fans, Finn and Quinn did make the top 100, as did the names of characters from shows like 'Mad Men' (Betty), characters from movies like 'The Frog Princess' (Tiana), and real-life winter Olympics stars (Bode, Shaun and Apollo).
   Big movers included #11 Mason (up from # 29 last year, and possibly from Uncle Mason in "The Vampire Diaries." Or maybe not.). Let's go to the list(s):

Girls:
 5. Chloe
 4. Emma
 3. Olivia
 2. Isabella
 1. Sophia

Boys:
 5. Jayden
 4. Ethan
 3. Jackson
 2. Jacob
 1. Aiden

Top names of the decade:
Girls:
 5. Ava
 4. Isabella
 3. Madison
 2. Emily
 1. Emma

Boys:
 5. Nicholas
 4. Matthew
 3. Ethan
 2. Jacob
 1. Aiden

Least popular names (Maiman):
   --Baby Gaga
   --Squishy
   --Barack 2.0
   --Poopsie
   --Best Boy
   --Anything with G-Money
   --Tax Deduction
   --Not as Tanned as John Boehner
   --Jesse "The Baby" Ventura
   --Oops! (and of course, "Mistake")