HAIL TO THE KING: Dr. (and Pate fan) Ken King, that is. Of the hundreds of awards that the Boy Scouts of America presents each year to those o­n the local council, regional, and national levels, the Silver Antelope award, granted for outstanding service to youth within the territory of a BSA region, is o­ne of the most prestigious. I am informed that Ken will be awarded this honor in May. Congrats, Ken!

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: Out-of-State Plates, their disc of rarities and b-sides, has been pushed back to June 28th, but it's going to be a double disc, with two new songs and a bunch of covers, including ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head" and Britney Spears' "...Baby o­ne More Time."

ON THE PITCHFORK: A good review for The Lucksmiths. A bad review for The Bravery, which, despite a few highlights, "is still rock made o­n an assembly line-- predictable, economically efficient, and about as dynamic as a Model T." Ouch.

SXSW video is online, including an interviews with Elvis Costello and Roky Erickson, panel discussions o­n MP3s, filesharing and blogging, and a feature o­n eating nuclear tacos at Brush Square Park.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN EXPERIENCED? Carl Wilson blogged Last weekend's Experience Music Project Pop Conference, to amusing results. One panel covered Eric Lott's Love and Theft, the seminal book o­n minstrelsy which also became the title of a Bob Dylan album; Lott claimed he was naming his next book Blonde o­n Blonde. On Day Two, Wilson discovered that Cleveland mid-sixties monster-movie TV show host "Ghoulardi" was the father of movie director Paul Thomas Anderson.

DOES ZARQAWI HAVE A DIRTY BOMB? The Washington Times is often summarily dismissed because it is owned by the Moonies and has a conservative tone. But reporter Bill Gertz gets intell so good that the CIA has investigated him to try to plug the leaks. Gertz now writes: "Recurrent intelligence reports say al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi has obtained a nuclear device or is preparing a radiological explosive -- or dirty bomb -- for an attack, according to U.S. officials, who also say analysts are unable to gauge the reliability of the information's sources." That's bad on two counts, including the inability to figure out whether the reports are reliable.

JACKO JUSTICE: Cap'n Wacky takes a shot at developing a sequel to Frank Miller's Sin City, with a new cast of celebrities and using their own words. Michael Jackson is just o­ne of them. FWIW: Matt Drudge reports that the prosecution may introduce evidence involving a Michael Jackson request for Vaseline. Safe for work, but creepy nonetheless.

CATS AND DOGS: PetPlace lists the top names for cats and the top names for dogs. Also, women are more attched to their pets than men. Indeed, women are much more likely to take their pet to a pet psychic, groomer or therapist.

PROFILING SEAFOOD AND SHELLFISH: It's the law of the land.

A GIANT TURTLE dwells in The Lake of the Returned Sword in the center of Hanoi.

JOURNOS IN TRAINING: A Colorado State Collegian staffer reports: "In an attempt to bridge the gap between the gay community and the community at large, Sacha Sacket, a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and the Transgendered (GLBT) singer known for his innovative and unique music, performed a free concert at CSU Monday night." I could be wrong and often am, but I'm going to say Mr. Sacket can't be all of the above.

POPE BENEDICT XVI: The Moderate Voice has a massive round-up of reaction to the election of the new Pope.

IRAQ: Iyad Allawi, Iraq's caretaker prime minister, survived an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber on Wednesday. The attack seems to be part of an insurgent strategy targeting top government officials and military recruits. That such attacks are launched on the eve of an expected announcement of a new government should not be surprising. Fortunately, U.S. and Iraqi security forces say they are gaining ground on insurgents and criminals because Iraqis are phoning more and better tips to a hotline set up in October. Related: Austin Bay examines the linkage of insurgencies and gang warfare.

SIDEWAYS: Grape Radio is a podcast and blog for oenophiles. Sideways co-star Sandra Oh has filed for divorce from husband Alexander Payne, who directed and co-wrote the film. Though Oh stars in ABC's new hit television series Grey's Anatomy, she's seeking spousal support. And did you know that the CIA is offering a course in wine tasting?

THE CURRENT is streaming a bunch of in-studio gigs from artists I've mentioned here, including The Shins, Crooked Fingers, Mark Olson, Bloc Party, Stars, The Hold Steady and more.

WHAT WAS TOPPING THE CHARTS ON YOUR BIRTHDAY? This Day In Music has the answers, for both the U.S. and U.K. charts.

INDY wants to be your intelligent internet radio.

EAT! IT WON'T KILL YOU most of the time. Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the Centers for Disease Control thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation. The CDC now estimates that obesity accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the U.S.; as recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths. Plus, the new study found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight.

CULT OF THE iPod: Britney Spears' Celebrity Playlist. I like "Teenage Wasteland" by Bob O'Reily, but my favorite may be track 11.

IF THAT MOVIE SEEMED A LITTLE BLURRY in the theater, it's probably not you.

OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL: Two senior investigators with the committee probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program have resigned in protest, saying that the committee is going soft on secretary-general Kofi Annan and not following the trail of evidence. Maurice Strong withdrew as U.N. envoy for Korea on Wednesday while investigators probed his ties to a lobbyist suspected of bribing U.N. officials with Iraqi funds. Claudia Rosett, who has covered this story longer than just about anyone, has more on Mr. Strong.

DRIVER SMACKED IN NOSE by a flying sausage. Police are o­n the case.

BLOGGER ETHICS: The Online Journalism Review looks at the potential conflicts that may come when companies pay bonuses to bloggers who increase site traffic and when bloggers are both the editorial and business side of a blog.

A BIG WIN FOR LIONEL HUTZ in Moscow, as the Simpsons are cleared of charges that their show piqued a young son's interest in cocaine and prompted the child to insult his mother.

THE WHITE STRIPES' forthcoming disc, Get Behind Me Satan, is previewed at The ModernAge. Miss Modernage says the single, "Blue Orchid," "Reminds me of full o­n Led Zeppelin." Elsewhere there be marimbas and electric piano.

COBRA VERDE (once most of GbV) is set to release Copycat Killers, a disc of covers, o­n May 10th. It will include numbers from Donna Summer, Hawkwind, Leonard Cohen and more.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: Although Chart Attack reported that the band will stagger the release of three discs beginning later this year, but sources closer to the band are not at all sure that will happen.

JOHN LENNON o­n LICENSE PLATES in Florida. Even more strange is that Yoko isn't charging for it.

MEET THE NEW POPE: Same as the old Pope? London's Times has a handy bio calling Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, an intellectual bedfellow of John Paul II. However, he's called rock music a "vehicle of anti-religion" and "the expression of basic passions," so don't count o­n him hanging with Bono any time soon. But he seems more likely than some of the other "candidates" mentioned to be tough o­n pedophile priests in the States, which would be a good thing. As the "XVI" indicates, "Benedict" is a pretty popular nom de Pope and reflects his scholarly background. At 78, he was probably too old to go for Pope John Paul George Ringo, but wouldn't Pope Hilarius II have been a nice choice for a guy nicknamed "The Enforcer?"

CATFIGHT: Sadly, this o­ne was between a hungry bobcat and a frail, older house cat, not two hot women. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

CELEBRITY BLOGS, both real and fake, are covered by the Ottowa Sun.

LINDSAY LOHAN has gone blonde for her next movie, though she may have been figuratively blonde before now. Page Six didn't have a photo o­nline, but Stereogum has o­ne.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: AOL will make thousands of older music videos available for free and o­n demand.

DINOSAUR, JR.: Their appearance o­n The Late Late Show is avaialble at Free So Free, though you have to register.

TOM JONES considered throwing himself in front of a subway train right before he scored with It's Not Unusual.

THE NEW BRITISH POP CHARTS now include downloads, boosting Stereophonics and Gorillaz and hurting Elvis Presley. But "Is This the Way to Amarillo?" the revived hit by 61-year-old crooner Tony Christie, remained Top of the Pops.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled fomer Libertine (and current libertine?) met up with former bandmate Carl Barat for the first time in about a year. A little chilly at first, but then the pair got rather chummy.

BRITISH CHANNEL FOUR compiled a list of 100 Greatest Albums. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is number seven and still places higher than Revolver. The Rolling Stones' highest-rated is number 35 and it's not Exile o­n Main Street.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? Inside TV, a new magazine aimed at young women, hits newsstands Thursday with a cover interview with hot Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria. The intent is to show a good side of celebrities in fashion and homes. Right... as if everyone doesn't know what's o­n Eva's nightstand? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

IRAQ: Blogger Arthur Chrenkoff has a poll and report from Haider Ajina about U.S. withdrawal, street demonstrations and the U.S. media coverage of them.

ECO-VANDAL is sentenced to over eight years in prison and ordered to pay $3.5 million for his role in a spree of arson and vandalism that targeted gas-guzzling Hummers and other sports utility vehicles.

DORK STREET: You don't want to live there.

IS THE U.S. LOSING THE HI-TECH RACE? An article in Foreign Affairs argues America will suffer for falling far behind Japan and other Asian states in deploying broadband and the latest mobile-phone technology. Although there's more than a little political edge -- "In the first three years of the Bush administration, the United States dropped from 4th to 13th place in global rankings of broadband Internet usage" -- it's a point worth considering.

JOHN BOLTON had the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote o­n his nomination as U.N. ambassador delayed for three weeks after Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) asked for more time to study allegations that Bolton was a bully to State Department staffers and others: "I think o­ne's interpersonal skills and their relationship with their fellow man is a very important ingredient in anyone that works for me. I call it the kitchen test." The irony of making that statement in the course of blindsiding his Republican colleagues o­n the committee seems to be lost of Sen. Voinovich.

CULT OF THE iPod: Downhill Battle wants someone to design SueThePresident.com to poke fun at the fact that President Bush has illegal copies of songs o­n his iPod (as noted here recently). Davka will put the Torah o­n your iPod. The BBC is making 20 more radio shows available for download to digital music players. You may want to check that last story, just for the picture that the BBC thinks is representative of Pod people.

POLICE MONKEY: The Mesa, AZ Police Department is seeking about 100 grand in federal grant money to purchase and train a capuchin monkey -- considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee -- to use in Mesa SWAT operations.

BUDDYHEAD runs a MP3 blog called Medication that is fairly eclectic, at least within rock music; recent entries include The Jesus & Mary Chain ("Who Do You Love?"), The Allman Brothers ("Melissa" and "One Way Out"), The Gun Club ("Sex Beat"), Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Stevie Wonder and more.

MARY CAREY: The former porn star and o­ne-time candidate for California governor was arrested last Friday in an undercover sting operation at a Lakewood strip club, according to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. Touching the wrong thing at the wrong time, allegedly.

FRIENDS: Courteney Cox Arquette and husband David are fuming over unauthorized pictures from their daughter Coco's christening that have been widely circulated over the Internet via an e-mail spoofed to appear as though sent by none other than Coco's godmother and Cox Arquette's Friends confidante, Jennifer Aniston. The Superficial has the photos of Aniston and Cox as of press time, but the threat of litigation may see them vanish.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS: Gawker notes an incident tending to support the rumor that the ex-Dawson's Creek cutie is pregnant. And that boyfriend Heath Ledger seems to be spreading that rumor.