THURSDAY AND THIRSTY

RIHANNA SAYS SHE'S SINGLE
RIHANNA was promoting "Battleship" at a press conference in London yesterday, when a reporter asked her if ASHTON KUTCHER might be coming over to England to spend some time with her.

The reporter was alluding to rumors that Rihanna and Ashton are dating.

Rihanna did NOT appreciate it. She said, "Wow, how disappointing was that question?" Then she added, "I'm happy and I'm single, if that's what you're really asking."

TRANSLATED: "we're SO banging"

Of course, that does NOT address the issue of whether she'd just nailed Ashton that morning when she left his house at 4:00 A.M., does it? These reporters need to learn to ask the right questions.









CLAY AIKEN IS IN THE NEWS...KIND OF
Clay may have started a feud with RIHANNA when he was on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" Tuesday.

Clay was asked who, on the current pop scene, wouldn't make it past the first round of the show that made him half-famous, "American Idol".

He said, "Oh God, there're too many. Too many...Current pop singer? I've stopped listening to them because they can't sing.

Yeah, ya know...because Clay has room to talk. Since he's BLAZING up the pop chart! pfffft.

"Um...Rihanna has some pitch problems for sure. She does. Now I'm gonna get in trouble, too."










BIG NFL CHANGES
The NFL announced two big rule changes for the coming season.

First, all turnovers will be reviewed by the booth, just like touchdowns are. So there won't be coaches' challenges anymore on fumbles or interceptions.

Also, the new overtime system used during the playoffs will now be the norm during the regular season as well.

That means that a team can no longer win in overtime by winning the coin toss, then just getting enough yardage to kick a field goal.

There are only two ways the game can end on the first overtime possession: If the offense scores a TOUCHDOWN or if the defense gets a SAFETY.

If the team that gets the ball first gets a field goal, the other team gets the ball and a chance to score. If they score a touchdown, then obviously they win. But if they just get a field goal, too, the game continues with sudden death rules, meaning the next team to score wins.










BIG MONEY!!!!
No one won the Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday. Which means that tomorrow, the jackpot will be an all-time record $500 MILLION. If not more.

HERE'S just how much money that is. If you're the only jackpot winner, after you pay the government its cut in taxes...almost HALF, those crooks...you'll still be richer than a bunch of famous people.

You'll wind up richer than MITT ROMNEY, who's worth about $250 MILLION...LEBRON JAMES, who's worth about $120 MILLION...and LADY GAGA, who's worth about $90 MILLION.

Want some more? Regis Philbin at $70 million...Will Smith at $200 million...Prince at $235 million...Kanye West at $65 million...Dr. Phil at $220 million...and Brad Pitt at $150 million.

You'll still be poorer than Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, Simon Cowell, Bill Gates, James Cameron, Oprah, Puffy Daddy, Bono, Adam Sandler, Mariah Carey, Michael Jordan, and, inexplicably, Master P.

Tickets are on sale in 44 states, including Ohio of course. The drawing is tomorrow at 11:00 P.M. Eastern.










GADGET CORNER
You'll never guess which gadget Americans adopted faster than any other gadget in history. It's the BOOMBOX!!!

According to data from the Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Association, within seven years on the market, over 60% of households had a boombox. No other product crosses the 60% mark. Here's the full top 10...

#1.) Boombox
#2.) CD player
#3.) DVD player
#4.) VCR
#5.) Portable CD player
#6.) Digital camera
#7.) Compact audio (Walkman)
#8.) Stereo color TV
#9.) Answering machine
#10.) Satellite TV

The gadget that no one adopted...and, really, people still aren't adopting, is the PC TV, using a computer to run their television. Color TV had the second-lowest adoption rate. DVRs are third-to-last.

Cell phones also did pretty poorly. Even though they're everywhere now, within seven years of hitting the market only 10% of households had one.

Tablets like the iPad, Blu-Ray players, and 3DTV are still too new to make this list.