Blog Heap of Links for the day 7 March 2009

facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs

Russian media has been poking fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a "reset" button with an ironic misspelling.... instead of the Russian word for "reset" (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word meaning "overload" or "overcharged" (peregruzka).

Cell phones belonging to hospital staff were found to be tainted with bacteria -- including the drug-resistant MRSA superbug -- and may be a source of hospital-acquired infections....

The entire population of Taloga, Oklahoma was evacuated Thursday due to a raging fire that has burned tens of thousands of acres.... All of the approximately 400 residents left, but are now allowed back in....

Over the past 30 years, author Alan Moore has almost single-handedly reinvented the comic book, transforming its language, broadening its scope and deepening its intellect. So, naturally, Hollywood has been poaching his stories for years, the most egregious being the 2003 loud and dumb adaptation of his otherwise highly literate "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." ... This weekend, however, we get director Zack Snyder's sprawling adaptation of " Watchmen...." Moore has sworn off movie profits inspired by his books; he recently told the Los Angeles Times that he is opposed to movies based on his work. About "Watchmen" he said, "I will be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

"'Watchmen' is an embarrassment of riches to the comics-obsessed philosopher," said Mark D. White, editor of the book "Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test." The book is one of a series that uses pop culture as an entry point to the sometimes abstract subject of philosophy.

Craigslist's chief executive has fired back at an Illinois sheriff who is suing the popular website for promoting prostitution with free classified ads for "erotic services." ... Buckmaster maintains that Craigslist had "very positive communications" in 2007 with the Cook County Sheriff's Office, explaining the legality and intent of the classified-ad website's Erotic Services section. Craigslist says it has since instituted new measures to prevent the website from being used as a tool in the illegal sex trade and implemented an anti-abuse plan endorsed by attorneys general in Illinois and 39 other states.

Two Bountiful Junior High School teachers are accused of sexually assaulting the same 13-year-old student, after their separate relationships with him spiraled from personal conversations to the exchange of sexual text messages and phone sex