Top Stories for the Week of September 7 - 11, 2009

It's been a great summer for clock-watchers, math nuts, and well...other kinds of nuts. Two months ago the world celebrated when the clocks hit 12:34:56 on 07/08/09. This Wednesday we got 09/09/09--a date with "symmetry which some people think will bring them good luck, while others claim it can only mean the end of life as we know it," said news:lite, adding: "In China Sept 9th has always been a popular date for wedding, because the date is said jiu jiu which has an alternative meaning of 'for a long time.'" Live Science reminds us that "The Chinese pulled out all the stops to celebrate their lucky number eight during last year's Summer Olympics, ringing the games in at 8 p.m. on 08/08/08" but adds that the Japanese don't like 9 because it sounds like their word suffering.' In English, Outlook Everything notes that Wednesday and September both have nine letters. "Thank you, thank you. This train will return on 01/01/01 (January 1, 2101)," blogged Personal Money Store, which used the occasion to suggest 9/9 was a good day to modify your mortgage.

Yes, shockingly, marketers got a piece of the action. The new movie 9 presents an animated post-apocalyptic world with "striking visuals," says Film Journal. "The only major marketplace concession was giving characters voices, a decision that, while understandable, also turns out to be the film's most significant creative misstep." The Beatles sang Revolution 9 on The White Album, so on 09/09/09 their 13 studio albums plus a compilation were re-released, all remastered. PopDose calls the new versions "revelatory...if you think that the release of 14 remastered Beatles albums is some sort of marketing gimmick, think again. If you can't hear the difference in sound quality, you've either never heard the original versions or you should be visiting an audiologist soon." ArtsBeat rounds up other reviews of the lads' rejuvenated music and says Wednesday was "potentially the most momentous occasion in the band's history since the time you learned what "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" really stood for"--because it was also released date for the video game Beatles Rock Band. Writers have been making predictable puns about the big game for weeks already. And gushing: The Cartoon Lounge has fun with the NY Times mad rave that proclaimed "never before has a video game had such intergenerational cultural resonance." Elsewhere, Inquisitr shows some super-cool custom-Beatles-artwork Xbox 360s that went up for auction. Mental Floss gathers 9 very cool and rare Beatles videos, and Best Week Ever assembles 10 (10?! why? why?) really bad covers of Beatles songs.

Apple introduced iTunes 9 and other items of interest at an event on 9/9, perhaps the most intriguing being a healthy Steve Jobs with a remastered liver. Says Moco News; "Jobs, wearing his standard blue jeans and black mock turtleneck, was welcomed by the audience with a standing ovation. He said "I had a liver transplant five months ago and now I have a liver from a mid-20s person, who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs." Says Gawker: "In retrospect, it seems obvious that, as much as he hates providing information about his health, Jobs would rather calm Wall Street with a public appearance than spend months answering especially heated questions about his health." "But there weren't many roars of applause during the rest of the event," says VentureBeat. Apple's new iPod Nano "is a video camera...and radio and a pedometer and a voice recorder too... ," Gizmodo reports. But the iPod Touch still isn't a camera. Jobs says that because it's' a great game machine, according to Engadget, which liveblogged the while Apple show. The event was called "It's only Rock and Roll" but no announcement of digital Beatles music came. "We didn't get The Beatles, as rumored," VentureBeat reported, "but we did get silky voiced Norah Jones [performing live]".

Finally, news outfits have outed the obscure congressman who yelled "you lie!" during President Obama's 9/9 speech on healthcare when he said his plan won't cover illegal immigrants. "I can't think of anything like it in recent history," says Talking Points Memo, which links to video of the outburst. "The culprit was South Carolina rep Joe Wilson, who felt moved to act when The One told what was, in fact, a lie," says Hot Air. Seriously? Politico notes that "some Republicans have called for more explicit bans on funding for illegal immigrants and have claimed the bill will funnel money to illegal immigrants. FactCheck.org described those claims as false." In other impolitic politics, California assemblyman Mike Duvall resigned after being caught on a "hot" mic saying hot things about an extramarital affair. Franklin Avenue says we shoulda seen it coming : the main photo on Duvall's website "features him speaking at a podium emblazoned with Richard Nixon's name. " It's all enough to make one forget (thankfully) that this week also brings 9/11--though Charlie Sheen is having none of that.

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