Some of the news that is fit to print

Show-off...

So we went to the National Symphony Orchestra's annual Decorator Show House this weekend. This is where numerous decorators each do a room of the house. This year's house, Château Peyrenc de Moras in Potomac, Md., is one of those McMansions that have proliferated around the country and are really awful. That made the task for the decorators more difficult. It is also often jarring. One goes from one room to the next and finds a complete design change. It just leaves your head spinning. And I just don’t think the decorators did as well this year as they have in years past.

There is a wonderful sitting room that had this amazing flat panel television which raises right out of the cabinet. And there is an amazing window treatment that is actually a canvas that was been painted. Those were quite nice. The rest of it, however, was a bit over the top, which, combined with the over the top house, was way over the top.

Cold hair

One of my favorite magazines, Real Simple, lists myths. This has always been one of my favorite myths.

Go Out in the Cold with Wet Hair "You don't have a higher risk of catching cold," says Michelle Brenner, a pediatrician at the MCG Children's Medical Center, in Augusta, Georgia. "This is truly a myth. If you were to get a cold, it would have to be a virus that you literally caught from someone else."

Worst Case: Your hair might freeze stiff.

Happy MLK Jr. Day

it is MLK day...
The King Center
Commemorating King: Local Events
These area events are scheduled to celebrate the birthday and life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Standford University collects King papers
Everything you wanted to know about the holiday
And if you have not listened to The Speech -- the "I have a dream..." speech -- it is a great time to do it. It is quite amazing...
The History Channel also has it...
and MLK is pictures from Life

HP's revenge...

In what may be the headline of the day...
Harry Potter and the Reader's Poundage Headache [WP]
The spell cast by the latest Harry Potter book may have an unintended side effect -- a bad bad. A Washington doctor warned that he has seen three children complain of headaches caused by the physical stress of relentlessly plowing through the epic 870-page adventure.

Charlie, the CIA's catfish...

Via SJMN's Good Morning Silicon Valley
Aquatic robotic meets tragic end at annual CIA fish fry: Among the gadgetry on display at an exhibit marking the 40th anniversary of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology are a laser-guided robotic dragonfly and a 24-inch-long rubber robot catfish named Charlie. Charlie is capable of swimming inconspicuously among other fish. Why the CIA needs a 24-inch rubber catfish is anyone's guess. "Charlie’s mission is still classified, we can’t talk about it," Toni Hiley, curator of the CIA museum told Reuters. "All we can say is he’s our work on aquatic robotic technologies.”

A joke by any other name...

Following the Letterman model...
The George W. Bush joke that isn't really a joke... taken from his 10.28 press conference

THE PRESIDENT: Let's see. Mark Smith, a radio man.

Q Thank you very much, sir, for including our radio folks here.

THE PRESIDENT: A face for radio. (Laughter.)

Q I wish I could say that was the first time you told me that, sir. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: The first time I did it to a national audience, though. (Laughter.)

Q Actually -- my wife the last time. (Laughter.)

Buy now...

Start Holiday Shopping Now -- Or Else [ABCNews.com]
Have you started your holiday shopping yet? If you're after the perfect big-screen TV, or that must-have cashmere sweater, you might want to get started now — or risk being empty-handed when the holidays come.

Happy Halloween...

Ulaq, a polar bear, gnaws at a pumpkin that keepers gave him for a Halloween treat at the Cincinnati Zoo. [AP]

Can we talk?...

So book clubs are so passe...
Can We Talk? [WSJ]
It's the new book club -- without the books. "Discussion groups" are combining cocktails with heavy subjects. But we find debating foreign aid isn't always a party.

Station wagons are back -- sort of...

Station Wagons Are Back -- Sort Of [Forbes.com]
Automakers are hitting the market with super battery-powered hybrid vehicles and new "crossover" station wagons that combine the power of an SUV with a car frame.