A funny thing happened on the way to this Monday… Facebook went public, the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI

-o- Facebook went public -o-
Here’s a take from Wired: “The 6 most surprising things from Facebook’s IPO filing.” Also, check out Mashable‘s “illustrated view” of the filing.

-o- The Giants won the Super Bowl -o-
And it was a great game. Both teams played so efficiently; the game lasted less than four hours WITH the halftime show, and I have no evidence for this yet, but I think that there was more actual playing time than usual. But Manning won out!

Other notables from the game:

• Was Madonna really singing? I could barely hear her. She looked beautiful, though. According to an AP article, M.I.A. stole the show, Janet-Jackson style. Get the story.
• Commercials: mehhhhh. Babies, cars, some mildly offensive overuse of exotic women, beer and snack food. According to Todd Wassmerman at Mashable, Honda’s Ferris Bueller ad got the most buzz. Here’s the article.
• According to the Giants’ website, they won the Super Bowl 24 hours before kickoff. Here’s the article on Mashable… funny! Hey, they were right.

-o- One Occupy D.C. camp taken down -o-

Here’s NPR’s article on the dismantled protest.

-o- Best D.C. Restaurants for Valentine’s Day -o-

According to The Washington Post, the three best restaurants in the District for Valentine’s Day dining are:

• Cashion’s (for the foodie)
• Toki Underground (for the hipster)
• Plume at the Jefferson Hotel (for the traditionalist)

Here’s the column by Tom Sietsema.

My favorite restaurants in D.C. for romantic dining are:

• The Melting Pot in Dupont
• J&G Steakhouse at the W Hotel
• the Tabard Inn
• Bistrot du Coin

Brian and I are staying in and cooking this year… stay tuned for the menu! Here’s our New Year’s Eve dinner menu.

-o- New internet trend, apparently: Breading Cats -o-

I just can’t figure out how this got started. Did someone try and play on the term “breeding”? Did a cat trip and fall, or otherwise get themselves into a piece of bread, sparking an idea?
Here’s the article on Gawker. And, my favorite part of all this, the best Tweets on the subject, also from Gawker. Don’t worry, there are pictures!

-o- Check out my brother’s new blog, Jammable -o-

My younger brother James has begun blogging. He’s already kicking my butt. Check it out: Jammable.

A funny thing happened on the way to this Monday… What is Apple worth more than? Plus, 30 Super Bowl menus

-o- Apple is worth more than… -o-
Apple’s market cap rose to a record $400 billion on January 19, 2012. Check out Mashable‘s “Apple Worth More Than All the Tea in China; What Else Does It Beat?” article; here’s more.

-o- 30 Super Bowl Menus -o-
Loved this. There’s a Giants-themed menu, a Packers-themed menu, and sooo many more. No Philly or Baltimore menus, which I found sad… but if you’re a Philly fan, just switch out one of the items here for cheesesteaks. Ravens fans… crabcakes, of course. Find them all here on Epicurious.

Here’s my favorite menu in the bunch:

• Cheese Straws
• Dates with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto
• Roasted Asparagus and Red Onion Quesadillas
• Salad Bar Cobb
• Chili Chicken Wings
• Italian Sausage Meatball Heroes
• Beer Margaritas
• Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts

Here are all the recipes in this menu.

-o- Films coming out this Spring -o-
Let’s face it: movies have been less enticing of late. Sure, there have been scattered gems, but in general I find film-going has become more of a tiresome expense than a stirring engagement.

Still, I like movies, and I like movie theaters. Here is a list of films writers at The Washington Post recommend making an exception for this Spring.

Also, Spring exhibits in the D.C. area. 40 X-Rays of huge fish in the Sant Ocean Hall in the Natural History Museum? Oh, for sure (begins. Feb. 4).

-o- Where are the 2012 candidates on student debt? -o-
According to an article by Forbes‘ Stephen Richer, “Rock the Vote” polls in 2006, 2008 and 2010 demonstrated that young voters rated “education and the cost of college” as one of the top 5 issues of concern. So how do the 2012 presidential candidates make voters feel about this?

For more, read Stephen Richer‘s article “Student debt: Obama gets it, Romney and Gingrich Don’t.” Richer uses this year’s State of the Union address as evidence of Obama’s awareness and support of those facing large amounts of student debt, and campaign materials from Romney and Gingrich as evidence that their stances are unlikely to bring out voters in their favor… at least on this issue.

-o- Paula Deen, Novo Nordisk’s new diabetes drug rep -o-
Oh, the irony. FiercePharma covered this story twice: first, when Novo Nordisk announced Deen’s sign-on, and then when her publicist dumped her for, in MY words, blatant hypocrisy. Here are our articles, written by Tracy Staton: Is Novo’s Deen-on-diabetes campaign brilliant–or insane?; Publicist quits over Deen’s tie-up with Novo.

By far, the funniest coverage of this event was an opinion piece written by and published on Fox News. Here it is; I strongly recommend a read. If you need more convincing, here’s the title: “God, guns and grease! Northern snobbery fuels the Paula Deen fingerpointing.”

New York Sports Club ran an ad making fun of Deen; here it is along with Foodista‘s Rosemina Nazarali‘s notes on the ad.

-o- Can one be de-baptized? -o-
Read NPR’s article on Rene LeBouvier , the man who took the church to court in France for the right to be removed from the baptismal records. The church maintains that being baptized changes one “permanently” in the eyes of God.