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If you haven’t heard of Joshua Clover before now, allow me to introduce him. Clover is a tenured professor at the University of California, Davis, and the author of nearly a dozen books. He’s also a big fan of social media, or at least he used to be. Before taking his Twitter account private, it seems that the professor really enjoyed mixing it up with other users, including a number of charming tweets where he wished that more police officers would be murdered. Even in California, that was a bridge too far for some, but Clover remains on the...

What's Behind ‘Cloverfield' Illness? Wave of Nausea Hits Moviegoers By Michael W. Smith WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD Latest MedicineNet News Jan. 22, 2008 -- Scan the news and blogs and not only do you see that Cloverfield had a record-breaking opening weekend, but there was an unforeseen side effect: nausea. And it didn't come from the popcorn, or the writing -- but the camerawork. In Cloverfield, a giant monster attacks Manhattan. The problem -- at least for those prone to motion sickness -- is that it's all filmed through a very jerky handheld camera. "I saw...

From Minnesota to New Mexico, Americans love their lawns. But the uniform sea of two-inch green stalks that washes over subdivisions across the country is hardly natural or necessary. Lawn care has become a national pastime, and each year, Americans waste billions of dollars and their limited free time in a never-ending struggle to maintain the perfect lawn. In the Southwest, lawn maintenance is no less than absurd given that drinking water in often in short supply. And in places like Michigan, where water is plentiful and the climate is temperate, grass is still impractical and time-consuming, and lawn maintenance...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will play host to the world's biggest ever strip poker contest if bookmaker Paddy Power gets its way. The idea was originally floated as an April Fool's joke but generated so much interest that Dublin-based Paddy Power has decided to look seriously at organizing a contest it hopes will find a place in the Guinness Book of Records. "We got almost 100 requests to take part," the company's spokesman, also called Paddy Power, said. "We're trying to investigate whether it's possible or whether we'll get put in prison for it." Poker has become big business in...

Shh! Shamrock is a sham! DUBLIN, IrelandFor one week a year, nursery owner Cecil Geddis is knee-deep in shamrock, the delicate three-leafed plant that people the world over associate with Ireland and St. Patrick's Day.  "You have to move fast in this business. Nobody wants to buy a shamrock on March 18," said Geddis, whose nursery has produced 80,000 shamrock plants, most shipped out in cartons bearing leprechaun decorations and labeled: "Authentic shamrock -- grown in Ireland."While wearing a freshly cut shamrock is a fading tradition in Ireland, a few savvy growers and seed merchants are wooing foreign buyers and...