After a worldwide vote, Montréal will represent the most expensive property on the new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board. Latvia’s national capital, Riga, joins Montreal to round out the dark blue property group, the most prestigious property group in the popular game invented by Charles Darrow in 1935.

During a six-week period in early 2008, MONOPOLY fans from around the world voted for the global cities that they would like to see represented on the first-ever World edition game board.  More than 5.6 million votes were cast for 70 world-class cities, which determined 20 of the 22 cities featured in the game. The 20 cities with the most write-in votes faced off in a bonus vote and the two with the most votes, Taipei and Gdynia, earned the brown property spaces on the game board.



Learn more: http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/default.cfm?page=News/Item&newsid=DD5A9760-D56F-E112-4B029D9749385CC1

On Tuesday, police officers in Nashville started carrying Tasers . . . that have cameras and microphones built into the grip.

According to police officials, the footage from the cameras will be used as evidence in police brutality cases . . . to prove that officers who used their Tasers on suspects took the appropriate action (you know, unless they DIDN'T).

(WSMV News 4 - Nashville)

You can read the full story here: http://www.wsmv.com/news/17236173/detail.html

You know how famous athletes always appear on the Wheaties cereal box?  Well, it turns out MICHAEL PHELPS won't be following in their footsteps.

On Tuesday, Kellogg's announced that, starting next month, Phelps would appear on boxes of Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes instead.  (New York Daily News)

Who cares, right?  But now health experts are concerned that Phelps is sending the wrong message to kids, because Frosted Flakes has THREE TIMES the sugar of Wheaties . . . and only ONE-THIRD the fiber.

But here's how I see it:  If your ability to feed your little brat a healthy breakfast depends on which cereal Michael Phelps is hawking, then this situation is the least of your worries . . . because your kid clearly runs the show, and that's messed up.

This whole thing reminds me of another great athletic sponsorship gone wrong . . . JOHN BELUSHI, for "Little Chocolate Donuts".  Remember that classic bit? 

Check it out, here: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/little-chocolate-donuts/1563686697

Have you noticed how many new world records were set at this year's Olympics?

There have been 21 new world records set by swimmers at this year's Olympics.  SEVEN have been set by MICHAEL PHELPS alone . . . which is just ONE shy of the total world records set at the Athens Games in 2004.

Check out a full list of all swimming world records here.  The records that were set in Beijing . . . in the "location" column . . . have been set at this year's Games...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_records_in_swimming#Long_course_.2850_metres.29

Well, we might have an idea why so many records have been broken . . .

The pool in Beijing is about 10-feet deep . . . which is about THREE feet deeper than most pools.  A deeper pool means there's less turbulence in the water . . . and that helps swimmers move faster.

(New Scientist)

Did you know that in 21 states . . . it's still legal to paddle kids as punishment? 

To me, paddling seems like such an old-school punishment.  But according to a study released yesterday by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, it's not that rare . . . especially if your kid is a minority, or is disabled. 

So what did the study find?

Boys are THREE TIMES as likely to be paddled as girls.

Kids in special education classes are much more likely to be paddled than kids in regular education classes (for example, in Texas, ONE in FIVE kids who got paddled were in a special education class). 

Black students and Native American students are more than TWICE as likely to be paddled as white students. 

(Pantagraph)

You can check out the full study here: http://hrw.org/reports/2008/us0808/5.htm

Do you ever get the feeling that some people have WAY too much time on their hands? 

For example, we came across an article about an artist named Ryan Alexeiv who uses cereal . . . to create portraits of celebrities.  (Sun)

If you want to read more about Ryan and check out some of his work, featuring PAMELA ANDERSON and OSAMA BIN LADEN,  you can link to the original article here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1584649.ece#OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

A lot of Democrats were worried that JOHN EDWARDS would show up at the party's national convention in Denver next week . . . which would be a pretty huge black eye for them, thanks to his ongoing SEX SCANDAL.

Well, they don't have to worry anymore.

Jonathan Price, a member of Edwards' presidential campaign, says, quote, "Unequivocally, he is not going to Denver."

By the way, did you know John Edwards' side-action, Rielle Hunter, appeared on the game show "Lingo" with a way-hotter friend back in 2002??? 

Here's a video: http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1743188734

BARACK OBAMA has a 26-year-old half-brother named George Hussein Onyango Obama . . . and he lives in a shanty town in Kenya.

George is the youngest of Barack Obama's half-brothers.  He has the same dad, but his mother is a woman named Jael.

No one knows where the mother is, and the Italian edition of "Vanity Fair" magazine had a tough time finding George.

Probably because he lives in a shack measuring 7 feet by 10 feet, in a poor shanty town outside the capital of Kenya.  It's decorated with soccer posters . . . and a front page newspaper picture of Obama.

The two Obamas have met twice.  The first time was when they were kids.  Barack describes George in his autobiography as a quote, "beautiful boy with a rounded head."

They met again in 2006, for the first time in 21 years, when Barack was on a tour of East Africa.  George Obama said, quote, "It was very brief.  We spoke for just a few minutes.  It was like meeting a complete stranger."

George said, quote, "No one knows who I am.  I live here on less than a dollar a month . . . If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related.  I am ashamed."

According to George, his town is a tough place to live.  He said, quote, "Last January during the elections there was rioting and six people were hacked to death.  The police don't even arrest you, they just shoot you.

"I have seen two of my friends killed.  I have scars from defending myself with my fists.  I am good with my fists."

We're not sure how George Obama ended up in this condition, but he says he's taking a course at a technical college, and trying to turn his life around.