Of Human Interest: News-lite

TABLOID UNLEASHES 'ANGER' ON THE WEB

The Weekly World News tabloid -- known for its outrageous cover stories about UFOs, genetic freaks and other strange occurrences -- has taken a simple approach to drumming up more readers for its print product. Its Web site, WeeklyWorldNews.com, now features a letter from columnist "Ed Anger" that tells readers: "I want all of you deadbeats to start buying the Weekly World News and I mean now!!! ... If we don't see you buying this incredible newspaper -- no more Web site."

But fear not: although the tabloid is seeing a slump in print sales, the message is just a prank. Kevin Hyson, executive vice president of WWN's publisher, American Media, told the Wall Street Journal that the regular version of the site will return this weekend. "Every magazine that has a Web site would like to get people to subscribe or pick up a hard copy, and we're no different," he said. "It seemed like a fun thing to do."

(Thanks to UPI's Joe Warminsky in Washington)

YEAH, TV CAMERAMEN ARE SCARY, TOO

What appeared to be a masked gunman atop the parking garage of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., likely was a television cameraman.

The building and the nearby state Capitol were locked down for about six hours Wednesday following reports by two women who said they saw what they believed was a hooded gunman. The reports prompted dozens of police officers to swarm over the garage in an exhaustive search of the five-story building. No gunman was found.

The Hartford Courant reports that a film company called police later that day to say they were concerned their cameraman, who was filming a commercial on the roof, may have been mistaken for a gunman.

The incident took place on the opening day of the legislative session, with the governor also present, which might explain why police and security took no chances.

BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is helping engineers at Purdue, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas design a class of spacecraft that would act as hotels that cruise between Earth and Mars, ferrying people and materials back and forth and perhaps spearheading colonization of Mars.

"We believe these regular planetary 'fly-bys' would create an entirely new economic and philosophic approach to space exploration. Reliable, reusable and dependable cycler transportation can be the key to carry humanity into the next great age of exploration, expansion, settlement and multi-planetary commerce," the researchers wrote in a December report prepared for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The cycler spacecraft might be made up of modified versions of the space shuttle's external fuel tank, which is normally jettisoned during shuttle flights. "Orbiting hotels" would use the gravitational forces of the sun, the planets and their moons, passing close to a planet or moon, picking up speed and whipping around it in a "slingshot" trajectory.

"Once you put your vehicle into a cycler orbit, it continues on its own momentum, going back and forth between Earth and Mars. You may need to carry some propellant for an occasional boost, but it's pretty much a free trip after that," said team member James Longuski, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue.

(Thanks to UPI Science News Writer Jim Kling)

REASONS TO CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND:

FRIDAY: The Winter Olympic Games open today in Salt Lake City.

This is Laugh and Grow Rich Day.

Japanese needlepointers celebrate Ha-Ri-Ku-Yo, or the Needle Mass, today.

And it's Culture Day in Slovenia.

SATURDAY: This is National DAV -- Develop Alternative Vices -- Day.

Carnival kicks off tonight in the West Indies and in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janiero, and runs through Shrove Tuesday.

And it's St. Maron's Day in Lebanon.

SUNDAY: Today through Feb. 16 is Cardiac Rehabilitation Week. It's also Celebration of Love Week, Heart Failure Awareness Week, Homes For Birds Week, International Flirting Week, Jell-O Week (in Utah), Materials Testing Week, National Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Week, and National Pancake Week.

Shrovetide begins today. It's the three days -- Shrove Sunday, Monday and Tuesday -- before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The festivities of Mardi Gras are at their height.

This is Fasching Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent, in Germany and Austria.

And today is Plimsoll Day, honoring Samuel Plimsoll, the "Sailor's Friend," a coal merchant-turned-reformer who helped stop the practice of overloading heavily insured ships.

MONDAY: This is Be Electric Day, celebrated on the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Edison.

Carnival, a.k.a. Mardi Gras -- that period of fun and festivities prior to the beginning of Lent -- is today (Shrove Monday) and tomorrow (Shrove Tuesday).

Today through Feb. 16 is Freelance Writers Appreciation Week. It's also Love To Give Week, National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week

This is Satisfied Staying Single Day.

It's Youth Day in Cameroon

Denmark celebrates Shrove Monday with the Street Urchins' Carnival.

In Iceland, this is Bun Day. Children with colorful sticks invade homes and are rewarded with whipped cream buns.

This is National Day in Iran, celebrating the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.

And Japan celebrates National Foundation Day, commemorating the founding of the Japanese nation in 660 B.C.

(Thanks to Chase's 2002 Calendar of Events)

BY THE WAY...

When was the first opera performed in America?

The first opera produced in America was performed at the Courtroom in Charleston, S.C., on this date in 1735. The opera was "Flora; or The Hob in the Well."