Since 1979, the Wall Street Journal has paid tribute to the wealthy and powerful with a little woodcut-style half-column portrait on its pages. Today, perfection has been attained. Ronald McDonald, the costumed creep who has long terrorized children who only wanted some chicken-feet nuggets and a gun toy, got a WSJ "stipple."

This morning, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced he would appoint William "Mo" Cowan as interim senator to fill newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry's seat until a special election. Cowan was Gov. Patrick's chief of staff from January 2011 to November 2012; before that he served as Patrick's chief legal counsel.

Babies' Day Out: JLo took her 4-year-old daughter and her 25-year-old boyfriend to their first fashion show Tuesday.

After nearly five months of rehabilitation in a Houston hospital, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was released yesterday, and is living at her husband Mark Kelly's home in the suburbs of Houston. She'll now begin an outpatient rehab program at the same hospital. The Arizona Republic spoke to Kelly yesterday:

If you thought 3-D was the last frontier in making people feel queasy during summer blockbusters, guess again. The hot new movie-watching technology out of Hollywood are "gyrating seats."

Hurrah! The rate of gonorrhea infection in the U.S. is at an all-time low.

Where were you at 10:09 AM today? Figure it out, because you're going need to tell your kids what you were doing when someone overshared from space. Astronaut Douglas Wheelock just checked in 220 miles above the Earth.

A Twitter user in Tokyo, @GGGGGGo_Lets_Go, today posted the networking site's 20 billionth tweet.

Russia just elected its first black official. Commenter Tristan13 points us to this story, saying: "With all the race baiting going on lately, I found this story quite amusing." Yeah, but you know Andrew Breitbart's getting his smears ready.

[Today the BP oil spill will become the biggest ever in the Gulf of Mexico, with 140 million gallons of crude already spilled. In other news, the toxic Hurricane Katrina FEMA trailers are being resold to spill cleanup workers! Getty]

We've read of a potential reality show; it's now a reality (show)! Susan Sarandon and her rumored boytoy Jonathan Bricklin have been shooting reality show based on their ping pong social club, Spin. It's tentatively called The Magnus Effect.

Apple has sold more than two million iPads since the tablet computer debuted on April 3, freeing at least that many people from the oppressive shackles of pornography and the tyranny of Flash-based web video. [CNET]

Pop singer Britney Spears has surpassed actor Ashton Kutcher to become the most-followed user on Twitter. Both will likely surpass five million followers. For a fun challenge, call your grandparents and try to explain this news item to them. [Mashable]

Serial marry-er Elizabeth Taylor, 78, is said to be engaged to Sterling Winters, Janet Jackson's 49-year-old manager. She loves young things, like Twitter and her men. This will be her ninth trip down the aisle. Congrats! [Getty]

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Happy Counting Day! The time is currently 12:34:56 on 7/8/09.

Xerox chief Ursula Burns becomes the first black female Fortune 500 CEO ever. Late pass.

Let's forget Facebook's soaring costs, screwed-up redesign, and paranoid 24-year-old CEO, and gaze at what Mark Zuckerberg has wrought: 200 million users chatting, flirting, living on one website. Has anyone accomplished a similar feat?