The Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2007: w00t! The rest of this year’s top ten: 2. facebook3. conundrum4. quixotic5. blamestorm6. sardoodledom7.apathetic8. Pecksniffian9. hypocrite10. charlatan Last year’s word of the year: truthiness..

Here’s a map of the world with the countries resized based on oil reserves. Embiggen the image and predict where we’ll invade next! It’s fun!(Via – Andrew Sullivan.)

What was the best pop single this year?.

Here’s Feedback, Janet Jackson’s first single off her upcoming album.

“Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of new life … constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.” – Pope Benedict, in the 15-page annual papal message. Also standing in the way of …

You’ll love this one. Icelandic teenager Visill Atlason was watching a recent episode of the Ellen Degeneres show during which Jenna Bush called her dad live on the show, using Ellen’s on-set landline. Apparently, Atlason was somehow able to decipher the number that Jenna dialed and called Dubya’s secret private number himself, pretending to be president of Iceland. Atlason, 16, …

Just got a press release announcing that 2008 will be “The Year Of Amanda Lepore!” And here the Chinese have been thinking it would be the Year Of The Rat. Anyway, you can get your 2008 Amanda Lepore calendar on her website and she’ll be signing copies at Patrica Field on December 21st. Somehow I doubt these calenders will end …

Last night Aaron, Father Tony, Little David and I saw Charles Busch’s Die Mommy Die! at the New World Stages. I haven’t seen Busch since I saw my very first play in NYC, Vampire Lesbians Of Sodom, sometime in the 80’s. I’d already seen the movie, but I still had a great time, even if I’m not sure that the …

Even though we’ve had a few (very light) bouts of snow, it took yesterday’s rain to cause most of the leaves on my street to finally give up for the winter. The supers of Manhattan are always glad when the last of the leaves are down.

From the ABC News blog, The Blotter: Teenaged congressional pages performed oral sex in front of their colleagues for weeks before they were caught and expelled from the program, according to a new report in Roll Call newspaper. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to reform the page program, which brings dozens of 15- and 16-year-old students to live …

More than two dozen Democrats in the House have sent Homeland Security a letter protesting the proposed new travel rules for HIV+ foreigners. The letter says that the so-called “streamlining” of the process of allowing HIV+ individuals to enter the United States places the burden of the decision on those lacking the necessary medical expertise. The letter goes on to …

“It was also no surprise that Barbara Walters 10 most fascinating people of 2007 included no scientists and was loaded with no less than seven celebrities, who are primarily interesting because we want to sleep with them, thus they boost ratings. I’m sure Justin Timberlake is interesting, but what about the scientists who just turned skin cells into stem cells? …

(Photo credit: Rex Wockner.) Noted gay author and historian Allan Berube has died due to ulcer complications at age 61. Author Wayne Hoffman, Berube’s longtime friend, has written an obituary: Gay historian Allan Berube, award-winning author of “Coming Out Under Fire,” died on December 11, 2007. He was 61. His death was due to sudden complications following the discovery of …

Harper’s Magazine is speculating that Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott may be resigning because of his possible interference in the FBI’s investigation of his brother-in-law, Richard “Dickey” Scruggs, a Mississippi lawyer who, with three other lawyers, has been indicted for attempting to bribe a state circuit court judge. Scruggs, described as “arguably the most famous and possibly the wealthiest trial …

From the Sunday Times: DESMOND MORRIS, who became a bestselling author by applying zoology to explain human behaviour, has now utilised the techniques to put forward an explanation for homosexuality. In his latest book, The Naked Man, he concludes that men are “made gay” because they retain infantile or juvenile characteristics into adulthood – a phenomenon known as neoteny. According …

House Resolution 847, to be presented today by Rep. Steve King (R-IA): Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world; Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity …

Third & 68th, Tuesday, 9AM Woman On Cell: Wait a minute. Hold up. Go back. You get a 20% discount at Bloomingdales? When? ALL THE TIME? And you’re just telling me this NOW? I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to totally reevaluate our friendship..

The Human Rights Campaign is trying to engineer a meeting between Mike Huckabee and Jeanne White-Ginder, mother of Ryan White, the Indiana teenager whose battle with AIDS in the 80’s riveted the nation and made Ryan a darling of AIDS activists such as Elton John. White-Ginder says Huckabee’s recent comments about AIDS have infuriated her and that “We have to …

This sounds like it was Mirapex. (Paris) A French civil servant who claims he was turned gay by his Parkinson’s medication has won a lawsuit against against a distributor of drugs containing dopamine. Didier Jambart is seeking about a half-million dollars in compensation. His lawsuit claimed that he was not told the medication could lead to compulsive behavior. He claimed …