News Briefs

Britney Spears loses custody of kids

For Britney Spears, the blows just keep coming. In the past month, her supposed comeback flopped, her management firm dropped her, her divorce lawyer quit, and now, she’s lost primary custody of her children. Kevin Federline, her former husband and once the brunt of “Mr. Britney” jokes, has full custody of their children. Spears is limited to visiting them every-other day. Spears lost custody of her children after she drove without a valid driver’s license and missed a court-ordered drug screen. But the court is not completely in Federline’s favor; both Federline and Spears must attend “Parenting Without Conflict,” a class taught by the court to coach divided parents. Federline appeared in court wearing an eye-patch because he had a sore eye.



Asteroid Sulu?

What do George Takei and space (that is, the final frontier) have in common other than Star Trek? It would seem that the infinite and the 70-year-old actor shared little, that is, until now. On Wednesday, asteroid 1994 GT9 was renamed 7307 Takei after the actor, famous for his role as Hikaru Sulu on the original Star Trek series. The name has been approved and adopted by the International Astronomical Union’s Committee on Small Body Nomenclature, thereby changing the official astronomically-correct name to 7307 Takei.

“I am now a heavenly body,” said Takei. “I found out about it yesterday…I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky - just like an asteroid.”



Satisfying Civics

Looks like there’s more to government than checks-and-balances and a good old-fashioned filibuster. Turns out naked women are also involved in politics and are a key component of making bills into laws. At least, that’s the lesson Ohio State Representative Matthew Barrett seemed to be teaching a class at Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Ohio.

Barrett had just inserted a memory stick into his computer to launch his presentation when a full-screen image of a topless woman splashed across the screen. Barrett quickly removed the drive from his computer and proceeded to deliver the lecture with handouts.

Following the lecture, the drive was examined by school officials and IT personnel, who determined that it had a directory of pornography in addition to his presentation.

“I have no idea where these came from,” claimed Barrett.