Bringing Out the Worst In Celebrity Coverage?

At this point -- we're on page 2 of the piece -- Jolie has not even appeared in the story yet. When she does appear, on page 3, she has some interesting things to say, particularly about her charity work in Africa and Cambodia. But she doesn't get much of a chance to say them because Junod keeps cutting away from her words so he can write more of his words about celebrity and Sept. 11.

"Democracy looks worse and worse now that Islamists have harnessed the power of the mob," he writes. "The salvation once inherent in the power of the people now depends on the power of people who live onscreen or on the radio."

That, like much of this story, is pure hooey. It reveals very little about Angelina Jolie and nothing at all about Sept. 11. But it does reveal that Junod needs a good editor.

This isn't the worst celebrity profile ever written, but it might be the most pretentious.

Human Extinction?

The July issue of Scientific American asks the question: What would happen to the Earth if all humans suddenly disappeared?

The answer, supplied by Alan Weisman, author of "The World Without Us," is that most human creations would soon start to crumble. Within two days, Manhattan would be flooded. Within a week, nuclear reactors would begin to melt down as their cooling systems failed. Soon, roads and buildings would begin to crack and crumble and burn. Within 500 years, mature forests would cover New York City. And North America would be a "giant deer habitat."

The winners of a post-human world would be birds, trees, mosquitoes -- and house cats, "who would probably do well dining on small mammals and birds."

The losers would be those animals most dependent on us -- cattle, rats, cockroaches and head lice.

But don't worry, some remnants of our proud human civilization will long endure: "Certain common plastics would remain intact for hundreds of thousands of years." Also, broadcasts of our television shows would travel though space for "trillions of years."

Which means episodes of "Survivor" will survive longer than we will. What a legacy!