the buzz log

The "Kung Fu" master dies in Bangkok. A former Olympic snowboarder meets an untimely fate. And a timely fish tale. It was a week of good-byes on the Web. Join us for a look back at those stories and more with the Buzz Week in Review.

An actor with (karate) chops
David Carradine, son of actor John Carradine, died this week in a hotel room in Bangkok. He embodied the spirit of martial arts with his best known roles—in Quentin Tarantino's movies "Kill Bill: Vol 1," "Kill Bill: Vol. 2," and the "Kung Fu" TV series. The acting legend performed in over 200 TV shows and movies in his lifetime, going back to the 1960s. Word of the actor's demise caused searches to soar an astonishing 90,000% to the number one search for the last seven days. Read more about his career here.

A young life cut short
The 31-year-old conquered the giant slalom at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the parallel slalom in the Salt Lake City 2002 winter games. But French snowboarder Karine Ruby was bested by Mont Blanc, in the French Alps, where she died in a climbing accident. The six-time world champion had been training to become a mountain-climbing guide. The French prime minister hailed her "talent and her joie de vivre." News of the Olympic athlete's death sparked searches on "karine ruby," "karine ruby biography," and "snowboarder karine ruby."

Finding "nenue"
Here's a fishy story out of Hawaii: A man picnicking on a beach in Kauai spotted a fish swimming in an odd way. So he waded into the water and caught it, by hand, and threw it into his cooler. It was only later that the fisherman noticed that the reef fish came with a bonus: The sea creature had coughed up a gold wristwatch, still ticking and making good time, according to the AP. News of the find caused searches on "nenue" to surge.

Also buzzing this week…
•Two journalists go on trial in North Korea.
•Hitler's favorite race car is up for auction.
•Conan O'Brien takes over "The Tonight Show."

Filed under: Week in Review

Not all was about financial lows and jittery panic this week. Good news slipped in among the black yawning chasm of bad news, as celebrities made pitches for motherhood, college football fans exulted in pigskin hotspots, and lawmakers got to yell at Wall Street executives. Here now is the week in Buzz.

The Economy Just Needs a Mud Bath
Timing is everything. The Buzz Log reported an incensed surge for "aig spa" searches, but no, not for recommendations. AIG, which may have to dip back in taxpayer pockets after last month's $85 billion bailout, was handed a clue during this week's Senate hearing, when lawmakers chewed out execs for a $440,000 spa trip to reward "top-performing" life insurance agents. The Wall Street firm cancelled another junket and the plan to pay for pricy ads to apologize. Now free: $400/night rooms available at the Ritz Carleton in California's Half Moon Bay. Still wanted: Apology.

Hot Magazine Mamas
Motherhood isn't just sexy, it's high fashion. Halle Berry, the Oscar winner who also tortured audiences as Catwoman, now wears the Esquire crown of Sexiest Woman Alive. Berry's acceptance essay pondered hip dysplasia, the ripe smell of her man's (Gabriel Aubry) car, and how she feels sexier after motherhood. Meanwhile, 2004 honoree Angelina Jolie has received props from advocates like La Leche League International for being W magazine's breastfeeding cover woman for November. No essay, but she talks up pregnancy and her beau Brad Pitt. 

Something to Cheer About
At least there's always college football. USA Today lowered its head and ran with its list of "10 great places to stand and cheer college football." Among the stadiums, Neyland got kudos for passion, Husky for its views, and Camp Randall for its deep-fried cheddar balls.

Also buzzing this week ...
 • A 92-year-old tradition ended in a sad pun when Mother's Cookies baked its last Circus Animal cookies. Even NPR couldn't resist the crumbling metaphor, when the private equity firms that bought the company three years ago now declared it bankrupt.
 • Markets may fall, but the two wheels keep turning: The Economist reports pumped-up bike sales worldwide, thanks to gas prices and the battle of the bulge.
 • Forget staycation. People hankering to get away from the madding crowd found budget travel sites devoted to the cause of relaxation.

Filed under: Football, Finance, Business, Celebrities, Transportation, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, Week in Review, Cookies, Wrap Up

The world's greatest athletes may have tussled and triumphed in Beijing this week, but here at the Buzz, far more mysterious creatures held sway. A vampire dog galloped past, the body of a seven-foot hairy legend surfaced in a north Georgia woods, and an invisibility cloak cast its spell over readers. Read on for more of the week's buzziest tales...

A Chupa- what?
Early in the week, video footage emerged of a supposed Chupacabra, the mythological beast said to feast on the blood of farm animals and haunt parts of the U.S. and Latin America. Captured on tape by a Texas sheriff's deputy, the four-legged creature lopes ahead of the police vehicle, at one point turning its face to flash a long, bulbous snout.

Real? Who knows? Some investigators say the animal is possibly a coyote-fox mix; a biologist says it's a pit bull. Regardless, searches for "chupacabra texas" rose 13,424% over the past week, while the deputy's video clip ascended to the #1 spot in the week's top buzzing stories.

A Big- who?
Within days of the Chupacabra video, news broke that two men in northern Georgia had found the corpse of a Bigfoot—or so they claimed. Though the press conference to present the "evidence" wouldn't happen until the end of the week, the buzz around the revelation quickly reached a fevered pitch.

In just one day, more than 100 distinct searches related to the hairy monster besieged the Search box. In Buzz, a CNET article on the fervor topped the week's most popular science stories. Regrettably, the Friday press event left many questions unanswered.

An invisibility- huh?
Not to be outdone by vampire dogs or gigantic bipeds, researchers at UC Berkeley announced this week that they had crafted an artificial fabric that "can bend light around 3D objects." As NPR explains: "If they're able to expand the work to a wider range of wavelengths, the material could provide an unprecedented level of control over the way light moves, perhaps even making a "cloak of invisibility" possible."

The "perhaps" in that statement didn't stop anybody. Articles on the possibilities of superhero attire glided up the Buzz charts. In Search, lookups for "invisibility cloak" leapt, followed closely by the even more optimistic "invisibility cloaks." Why seek just one when you could have multiple copies?

Filed under: Cryptozoology, Week in Review