This image was loading from the top down and all I could think of was “Yaaaaaaaaay….awwwwww.”

Consider this a follow-up to a column I wrote about ace reporter Chris Hansen and his show “To Catch a Predator.”

Researchers have found a snippet of sound recorded into a piece of tinfoil from 1860, about 20 years before Thomas Edison first found a way to capture and play recorded sound. The sound is of a woman (probably) singing a song called “Au Claire de Lune.”

The catch is that the inventor responsible - a French typesetter named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville - never found a way to actually play the sound. He was more interested in preserving a record of the human voice and figured that, someday, someone would come up with a way to play those scribbly lines he etched into his Reynolds Wrap.

Turns out he was right. The link below plays the song along and also shows the phonautograph, the machine that would have been used to record the sound. This song, which clocks in at a very brief 11 seconds, is sure to open up a whole new realm of nightmares for you.

In public, they may appear as rivals, but don’t let the media fool you. Behind closed doors, senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton share more than a lust for the presidency.

I hope this clip helped to alleviate some of the pains brought about by campaign fatigue. And for those who disdain crude humor…sorry.

When I saw this link pop up on my Gmail browser, I decided initially to treat it the same way I treat all the Gmail links: that is, pretend it isn’t there and continue to press refresh until someone actually e-mails me. But, when I saw it twice, I just couldn’t help but check it out. Nestled safely between links to “Sean Combs settles punching lawsuit” and “Amazing black bean brownies” sat the subject of this blog: “Squirrels Network like Facebook Friends.”

Although I am perpetually fascinated with squirrels, the idea of exploring their social networks in more depth was simply too intriguing an opportunity to pass up. So, I did the unthinkable. I clicked. And off I went to Discovery News, where I learned the following factoids.

1. Squirrels belong to social networks

2. Certain squirrels are more important to these networks than others. These are the “Kevin Bacons,” the ones who serve as central connecting points between other squirrels.

3. The head honcho squirrel in this study was named Mercedes. Other squirrel monikers - 65 Colombian ground squirrels in Alberta, Canada were studied and named - include, but are not limited to, 7-Up, Eighth Notes and Princess Pea.

Unfortunately, the study does not look to have extremely profound implications.

“What I like about this paper is that it shows individuals have different relationships with others,” said Daniel Blumstein, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Not exactly rocket science, Mr. Blumstein. But I’ll be you had a great time naming the little fellas.

Squirrel kissing, defined in the study as “oral contact that does not lead to bickering,” is at least somewhat similar to human kissing in that respect.

Katie Hamilton, a U of I student who’s majoring in public policy is now the face of one of the great newspaper battles of recent memory. She’s been interning at the Chicago Tribune and before that she did press work for the Illinois Student Senate. Bravo!

Full disclosure: I’m a Cardinals fan so I’m not as invested in the Cubs as most people in this area are but even I think selling Wrigley is a bad idea.

Speaking of John McCain, who is currently reading up on his Middle East history - having blown the cover on his ignorance on the difference between Sunnis and Shi’ites - I have a friend who runs a Web site devoted to the exploration of the idea that Mac is, in fact, a robot.

While the idea is a bit far-fetched, the site does quite a job bringing an oft-criticized (read: false) ideology to the forefront of national discussion. It’s worth checking out here.

Queen anticipated the McCain robot by about 31 years on their album cover for “News of the World.”

No doubt McCain’s current journey to the heart of the war is unrelated to his bid for the presidency. Surely, he just wants to do another quick check-up on the Iraqi people.

Unfortunately, he brought two cronies and major supporters along for the ride.

Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham inject a shot of politics to a trip that should be a solemn commemoration of one of Iraq’s worst tragedies, Saddam’s use of chemical weapons against the Kurds.

No reasonable person would dispute that the senator cares deeply about Iraqi citizens and about U.S. troops - this is his eighth trip to the country since August 2003. But those trips did not involve meetings with multiple leaders of the free world. McCain is planning to get friendly with Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy and Ehud Olmert (leaders, respectively, of Britain, France and Israel) over the next week. So what if he has sand in his boots when he shows up at 10 Downing Street; are we still to believe he didn’t have any ulterior motives?

Even if McCain’s people say he’s not there for the photo-op, it’s hard to believe that wasn’t one of the motivating factors.

After reading a blaring comment concerning my March 4th blog, Elitists rejoice!, I feel the need to defend myself. The intention of my blog was not to pay homage to elitists, but, instead, ridicule them. Websites, such as Virgil Griffith’s Booksthatmakeyoudumb, reassure people who like books, such as Lolita, that, yes, they are in fact smart. However, by using subtle sarcasm, I was attempting to let the people who have not read Griffith’s top ranked books know that they, too, have potential.

According to Griffith’s websites, smart people read Lolita and listen to Beethoven, and dumb people read Zane and listen to Lil’ Wayne. However, life isn’t that simple; SAT/ACT scores are not the sole determinate of our likes and dislikes. More important variables, such as our family and friends, have a greater impact. My roommate is the quintessential example of this. According to Griffith’s Musicthatmakesyoudumb list, the people with the lowest SAT scores (889) prefer the rap artist Lil’ Wayne. However, my roommate, who scored a 29 on his ACT (which is the equivalent of 1300 on the SAT), adores Lil’ Wayne.

Thus, Griffith’s lists should not be taken literally. By telling students who like Lil’ Wayne that they are among the worst test takers in America, Virgil Griffith is doing nothing but associating their taste in music with unintelligent behavior. Moreover, he is categorizing these students in such a way that belittles their self-worth and indirectly encourages them to give up and let the Lolita readers of the world take over.

A new Pew Research Poll notes that only 28% of Americans could correctly identify the number of troops that have died in Iraq, which stands just shy of 4,000. This is an enormous drop in awareness about the human toll of this war; only seven months ago, in March 2007, 54% were familiar with the death count.

The drop, however, can be accounted for. The Project for Excellence in Journalism recently found that coverage of Iraq has fallen from 15% of total news coverage last July to 3% in February, so it’s not just the people who have lost interest in the war. It’s the journalists, too.

The link above has a great chart that shows - via a squiggly line that resembles an EKG heart monitor - the percentage of news coverage devoted to the war in Iraq.

Another question the survey asked: “Who is Oprah Winfrey backing for president?” 84% of Americans nailed that one.