11/25: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

Former FEMA Director Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown, heavily criticized for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job.

Hunger and malnutrition are killing nearly six million children a year, and more people are malnourished in sub-Saharan Africa this decade than in the 1990s, according to a U.N. report.

The barge that bore the body of British World War II leader Winston Churchill down the River Thames during his state funeral 40 years ago will go on sale next month and is expected to make over one million pounds.

A New York Barnes and Noble locked its doors around 11 a.m. Tuesday, hoping to stem the crush of spectators trying to catch a glimpse of the Golden Girls cast, who were signing Season Three DVD sets. [via Fark]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Dida shares Blotter's love of haiku and going home and taking snow days. Read her blog at Highway 47 Blues.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Superman Returns teaser trailer

Tabloid Photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Express (1936-1961) An exhibition curated by Diane Keaton for the Los Angeles Public Library

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I love giving the golden shower. I've done it before in the shower. It's like so sexy, you know, the temperature of your body and the shower water is very different."

-- Pop singer Ricky Martin, in Blender, on peeing on other people in his shower