Special K**

Recently eaten:pastrami and cheddar, rice pudding
Recent annoyance: rain that just makes it hotter outside

**Yes, I know that ecstasy and special K are different drugs. Save your snarky comments about fact-checking for Newsweek.

Russians to honour the letter 'k'
Oh, those crazy Russians are at it again! First it's the guffaw-inducing gulag stories, now it's controversial leter representing a dipthong. And they say vodka is destroying their moral fiber? Puh!

"A local sculptor, Alexander Zinin, has been awarded responsibility for the project to immortalize in red granite the letter k, a dipthong corresponding to the sound "yo" and the only character in the Russian alphabet with an umlaut, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Controversy that has for years delayed permission to proceed with the monument centered mainly on the fact that to the Russian ear the "yo" sound is closely associated with a range of colorful profanities or other exclamations considered in poor taste by opponents.

Examples of those phrases include "yob tvoyu mat," an unseemly commentary implicating the mother of the recipient, and "yolki-palki," which literally means "pine-tree branch" but which in popular usage is more equivalent to something like "dammit" or "crikey."

Back in the USSR, I wouldn't touch your yob tvoyu mat with a yolki-palki (cymbal crash)!

Ecstasy reverses Parkinson's disease
"Amphetamines, including the party drug ecstasy, reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease in mice, US researchers have found."

In a related story, Janet Reno's Dance Party has been banned in at least 12 states as ecstasy-induced rioting nad touching has occurred. At least 37 people have claimed that taking ecstasy at the former Attorney Generals bashes has "totally ruined sex" for them forever.

Michael J. Fox had no comment, but really enjoyed touching this reporter's microphone.