Ahoy, shipmates and/or the googlerobot! Good news (especially for my creditors): I am still among the living. If you are, I hope that you are well; please post your status. Even if you're behind bars, that's cool.

Extra Credit for anyone who knows the single common denominator of the following:

Bazega
Boulkiemde
Kenedougou
Loroum
Namentenga
Tapoa
Zondoma
Zoundweogo

What do these people reportedly have in common, other than that they are people and well-known?

Jennifer Aniston
Bing Crosby
Laura Bush
The Beatles
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Johnny Carson
President Bill Clinton
Johnny Depp
Harrison Ford
Bill Gates
President Andrew Jackson
President Thomas Jefferson
Steve Jobs
President John Kennedy
Stephen King
Ann Landers
President James Madison
Madonna
John Stuart Mill
President James Monroe
Mozart
Friedrich Nietzsche
Peggy Noonan
President Barack Obama
Sarah Palin
Governor George Pataki
Pablo Picasso
President Franklin Pierce
Brad Pitt
Oliver Sacks
Arnold Schwarzenegger
William Shakespeare
Barbra Streisand
George Soros
President Zachary Taylor
Queen Victoria
President George Washington
John Wayne



Click here for the answer

A realistic computer video virally circulating the internet has rekindled fears that an asteroid will hit Earth and send mankind the way of the brontosaurus.

Based on NASA projections, there is indeed a chance that such an asteroid will impact Earth in the next year.

It is…

click here

p.s. Happy (asteroid-free) New Year, shipmates!

The stooge went to the CIA in Langley, Virginia.  He attended a conference in the "Bubble," the secure auditorium that looks like a snow globe.  Afterward, over beer (who knew you could guzzle beer at a law enforcement place?), he heard all sorts of "war stories" from great spooks.  He had a chat with the Director, General Hayden, of NSA wiretapping fame.  He even came home with a cool gizmo.  Unfortunately, the stooge's details of the visit include little of this fun stuff, only reporter-type details and quotes from guys who wear ties and so forth:

Huffington Post Story: What the CIA Doesn't Need Me To Know

The stooge wanted to write about the new administration's Department of Agriculture strategy, but I prevailed on him to write this pirate yarn instead.