We were directed earlier today to the Wikipedia bio for MSNBC host Dan Abrams, which contains some awfully surprising news at its very tail end:

Watch now!

• Why is it that one of the most powerful women in the world is still doing interviews about her weight, diet, and workout regime? Because her triceps are fucking awesome, that's why. [Wonkette]
• For their 10th anniversary issue, Fast Company loses their mind and lets photographer Phil Toledo disturb the hell out of everyone. Babies may be cute, but baby-suits are not. [Young Manhattanite]
• Our globe-trotting brother at Gridskipper is looking for some sacrificial virgins for internships. Go forth and impress the hell out of him. [Gridskipper]
• NBC White House correspondent David Gregory never calls Don Imus without first enjoying a nice glass of Alize. [Drudge]
• Coinciding with the release of the film version of The Da Vinci Code is its corresponding porn video, The Da Vinci Load. Considering both star Tom Hanks, it'll be tough to choose which to see first. [Book Standard]
• Live MSNBC facing death? [TMZ]
• Deconstructing the HuffPo scholarship. [Snarksmith]
• Smokey Fontaine takes over the helm at Giant; Robert Goulet to assume managing duties. And then there's a rumored merger with Complex, which would be cool just for the sake of having a magazine called Giant Complex. It'd be a must read for everyone in media. [Mediaweek]

• James Risen's State of War — the impending publication of which forced the Times to finally publish the domestic-spying story — also makes Judy Miller's WMD excuses fall apart. [NYO]
• Still, the domestic-spying articles were better than the book is, says Jack Shafer. [Slate]
• Lunatic talking head Bill O'Reilly promises to "get into the lives" of Bill Keller and Frank Rich if (perhaps imagined) Times attacks on him continue. We really hope he does, because Keller would be so much sexier if he were a little less earnest. [Media Matters]
• Yesterday was CBS's first day as its own company. Well, except for all those all days as its own company. [WP]
• New Oxygen show features middle-aged women partying with college guys. We're pretty sure we saw that same show on Cinemax once. [NYT]
• Not-quite-victorious — but still really good — GMA staffers get cheesy commemorative trinkets. [NYO]
• Jon Friedman is clearly smoking crack, as proved by (among other things) his prediction that MSNBC will beat CNN and Fox News in 2006. [MW]
• Latest Q-ratings study shows Katie Couric isn't as popular as she used to be. Clearly not in the polling sample: Les Moonves. [WWD]

• Come on, Pinch, you're breaking poor Tom Scocca's heart. [NYO]
• Was Bob Woodward the first reporter to learn of Valerie Plame's identity? And why didn't he mention that to anyone till now? [WP]
• Ah, but at least Ben Bradlee says it's OK Woodward didn't tell his nominal bosses. [E&P]
• Turns out Bush-crony public-broadcasting chief Kenneth Tomlinson — you know, the guy determined to get more conservatives on PBS — broke all sorts of laws and regulations. [NYT]
• Who's to blame for Arrested Development's (latest) demise. America, obviously. [NYO]
• Rupert: This internet thing is gonna be huge! [Hollywood Reporter]
• What reference in a headline will conclusively show that boomer media dominance is over? [Slate]
• MSNBC's Chris Matthews name-drops, and Jon Friedman loves him anyway. [MW]

Let's say you're both politically interested and also a moderate alcoholic. And so, while of course you're interested in yesterday's election returns, you're also not interested enough to give up happy hour with some friends at the neighborhood bar. (It's an off year, you know who'll win NYC mayor, and certainly New Jersey and Virginia governors, while important races, aren't going to keep you home and sober.) So you go out for a while, and you get home at, say, around 10:15. At which point you turn on NY1 to confirm that Bloomberg has, of course, won. He has. And then you want to learn about the other two big contests, the two gubernatorial races, which, because they're on the other side of the Hudson, you don't expect Roma Torre to tell you about.

• Never mind Judy Miller; everything about working at the Times sucks right now. [WP]
• Of course, the entire newspaper business sucks right now, at least judging from the new circ numbers. [E&P]
• In a bid to create the most conservative editorial page in the history of the planet, Rupert Murdoch wants to buy the Journal, although he knows it's not for sale. [WSJ]
• Microsoft leads the crowded pack of companies interested in buying AOL. [NYT]
• The problem, however, is that AOL sucks ass. [AdAge]
• Anderson Cooper is termed a "boyish metrosexual," in which five of the seven syllables are accurate. [Boston Globe]
• New MSNBC show will be like dinner at the Chung-Povitch's. Just what we've always wanted. [NYT]
• Libby trial might be toughest on reporters — Miller, Cooper, and Russert. [WSJ]
• Glamour editor discovers gender imbalance in top mags' bylines. Glamour, on the other hand, we're sure has a masthead that, to use Clinton's term, "looks like America." [NYT]

Yes, we know the ratings are bad, and, yes, we know Jeff Zucker's job is sort of on the line. But, still, this seems a bit much:

Actually, maybe none. They're all about brouhahas, after all.

• How much of an idiot do you have to be to not tell the difference between a Target ad and the New Yorker's editorial content? This much of an idiot. In his defense, though, the New Yorker staff was drunk in Prospect Park when they came up with the idea. [Miami Herald]
• TimesSelect = anal sex, somehow. Paying for content is painful, we know, but the Times just wants us to know if we love it as much as we say we do. [CopyRanter]
• Everyone's been all nice to the press lately for suddenly noticing that there are poor people. We think it may be almost time to roll some of that praise back a little. Here to help is MSNBC's Lisa Daniels, demonstrating an impressive grasp of race relations and an inspiring willingness to ignore her own network's coverage. [MMFA]
• Super-advanced audience behavior research (involving "the internets") says we may be stuck with Jason Lee's crankstache and that god-awful President Thelma show for the rest of the year. Sorry. [NYT]

• Penthouse raises new cash to take on Playboy. In mud-wrestling, of course, with throngs of fratboys watching. [Folio:]
• Honcho Rick Kaplan might not be much longer for MSNBC, according to rumors. And we're sure his underlings will be sad to see him go. [NYP]
• All of Time Inc.'s business websites — Fortune.com, Business2.com, FSB.com — will be merged into Time Warner's CNNMoney.com. [Folio:]
• Reporting on VF's reporting of WP's reporting. [E&P]
• CNN's Aaron Brown thinks about ABC's Peter Jennings. Then he thinks about that damnded Anderson Cooper, who's hogging all the attention. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• The Post's scratch-off poker game — play to win! Except when winning is impossible. [Media Mob/NYO]

We imagine things there are tough for the gays, too.

We're not one of the three people nationwide who watch MSNBC, so we have no idea if this is new or not. But this tip just came in, and the female emailer was so excited she prefaced the news with at least two exclamation points and an OMG:

• Target to be sole advertiser in Aug. 22 issue of The New Yorker. For that week, definitely, it's Targ . [NYT]
• American Media, publisher of Star and National Enquirer, won't pay sources, like rival OK! They'll only pay women with sex-harassment charges against Schwarzenegger. [LAT
• If big-city life in high school with money, then Jason Binn publishes the yearbooks, says Sexy Jon Fine, who notes that he's been in those yearbooks twice. [BusinessWeek]
• Magazine Publishers Association to distribute kits on "Magazine Speak" to help ad salesmen sell. How knowing what "dek," "TK," and "FOB" mean will help sell ads is beyond us, but, then, we're not ad salesmen. [Folio:]
• As we speak, MSNBC chief Rick Kaplan is ordering a window washer killed. [Jossip]

How did Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show cover the White House flip-flop scandal? (Which, interestingly, is not a scandal about Bush's now-void promise to fire any staffer involved in the Plame leak, but rather is a kerfuffle over several members of Northwestern's NCAA-champion women's lacrosse team, who wore flip-flops on a White House visit.) "By inviting Mo Rocca on the show last night for an on-air fashion demonstration," answers Jossip, who kindly provides a screen shot.

Ouch, that has to hurt. Jack Welch, former chairman of GE, says he turns to Fox News for breaking stories. I like the Fox style ... the Fox edge. GE owns CNBC and MSNBC.
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