Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• The acquisition of Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) digital television chip division by Broadcom Corp (BRCM)...[note - AMD is now pushing into the resistance discussed in this post - Is Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) on the Comeback Track?...]
• The acquisition of Grey Wolf Inc (GW) by Precision Drilling Trust (PDS)...
• Optimism on the computer hardware sector...Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IBM (IBM), and Dell (DELL) are mentioned...
• An argument that commodities have bottomed...
• Sales data on existing homes...
• A reserves update from Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI)...
• A warning from Korean regulators...
• Downbeat comments on American International Group Inc (AIG)...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest news is this trio of reader/colleague-submitted stories -

• From Zak - Woman Attempts To Kidnap Ex-Virtual Boyfriend - "...distraught after her online relationship with a 52-year-old man from Claymont, Delaware came to an end. The pair apparently met online in "Second Life...""
• From Joel - Religious Man Eaten After Trying to Receive Blessing From Crocodile - "...a crocodile killed and ate a 25-year-old after he waded into a pond..."
• From Mark - Gibbon Quarantined After Biting Helpful Zoo Visitor - "...got away from the Cincinnati Zoo for a few minutes and bit a visitor in a parking lot..."

I don't really have anything to add to this. However, Mark seems to believe that the Gibbon escape was actually an attempt to silence my concerns about the looming animal uprising (since it happened in my home town.) But fear not, I will not be intimidated. And, even if I am struck down in some sort of bizarre animal "accident", Mark has offered this - "Nick, I will lift the flag and carry on should you die."