John Walter was a longtime newspaperman and a founding editor of USA Today. He died last September, but not before writing this bullshit-free essay on the three guys who killed newspapers. The short version:

Spike Lee turns 52 today. Fashion designer Nicole Miller turns 58. Lady GaGa is 23. Holly Hunter is turning 51. Actor William Hurt is 59. Mike Francesa, the radio and TV talk show host, is 55. Author Kathryn Harrison turns 48. BET host and author Touré is turning 38. Photographer Mary Ellen Mark is 69. Christopher Heinz, the son of Teresa Heinz and stepson of John Kerry, is 36. And actor/director/writer Carl Reiner turns 87 today. Weekend birthdays after the jump!

The holidays apparently sucked for romance, because many people are breaking up, including no-longer-engaged Jennifer Love Hewitt, fresh-minted divorcee Patricia Arquette and maybe perpetually platonic A-Rod.

Where did Hearst president Cathie Black pick up her steely ways? Why from "mad man" USA Today founder Al Neuharth of course! (She said it, we didn't.) In a November interview at the 92 St. Y with New York Post gossip Liz Smith, Black dishes about being a career woman and her early days with Neuharth. One gem? Neuharth kept his employees alert by keeping the office temp at 55°. "All you could think about was how damn cold you were," Black says. Watching employees hobble around on frostbitten toes is fun times! Watch the video after the jump. [92YBlog]