Moammar Gadhafi's refusal to step down has led to an unknown number of deaths and caused nearly 200,000 refugees to flee Libya. It's a bloody end to decades of dictatorship, and Gadhafi shows no signs of relenting. Is there any way for a dictator to leave power gracefully? We look to "two of the greatest losers of the last century" for clues. That's how Bill Keller describes F.W. De Klerk in South Africa and Mikhail Gorbachev in what was then the USSR. His <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06lede-t.html">profile of their departures</a> will appear in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine.
Forty five years ago today, a musician's stray comment was published in a British newspaper. That it led to boycotts and burned records months later may be surprising. Yet, the musician, John Lennon, was no minor figure. And his 1966 aside, that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus," was no laughing matter, especially to American Christians. Steve Proffitt takes us back to the media firestorm.
A few days ago we told you about the TED conference, which was an exclusive gathering of big names in technology and entertainment that cost $6,000 to attend and was invitation-only. If that was a little out of your league you might head next door to the BIL conference. It's kind of the scruffy little brother to the upscale TED. We talk with Eric Gradman, a roboticist/interactive artist/circus performer/semi-professional whistler who will be attending BIL this weekend.
With a growing lexicon and a suddenly massive Twitter following, Charlie Sheen has been the cultural icon of the week. Is he crazy, or a mad genius? Luke Burbank breaks it down in this week's edition of Awesome/Not Awesome.
