Still waiting.

* It's not exactly Douchiest College honors, but Duke is #14 on the Times's ranking of top 200 universities worldwide.

* Bitter Laughter reports by way of Nate Silver that public option opt-out may be a compromise that can actually get through the Senate—and Steve Benen agrees it's not a bad thing.

* Also in health care: Olbermann's hour-long "Special Comment" from last night, which wasn't nearly as unbearable as I imagined it would be when I heard it was coming.

* A second NJ-GOV poll—albeit one taken before Fatgate—shows Corzine up, this time by three.

* Lots of talk today about this New York Times genealogy of Michelle Obama, focused on an enslaved ancestor who was raped by her owner.

* Pee before you fly. It's funny how low-cost, outside-the-box carbon solutions—like Stephen Chu's suggestion that we paint our roofs white—are never taken seriously. It's like our society has a death wish.

* The literary journal is dead. Long live the literary journal.

Friday morning and one week down!

* David Sedaris delivers a pizza.

* Stephen Colbert rightly demands that he be named worst person in the world. I certainly hope a Special Comment™ is forthcoming on this travesty.

* Confidential to climate change deniers: A headline that reads "Global Warming: Scientists' Best Predictions May Be Wrong" doesn't necessarily help your argument. See also. (Via Atrios.)

Something's a little off at MSNBC: after last night's Keith Olbermann Special Comment rant about the Republicans' exploitation of 9/11, it seems a little strange to hear from Gawker that the network is currently playing its footage from 9/11/01 in real time. What's the old saying? You can't put lipstick on that pig. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I generally like KO, but the Special Comment segment should simply be taken out behind the barn thrown under the bus retired. The novelty, and thus the power, is gone, and all that's left is a deeply overused ratings stunt they now start advertising two days in advance. Last night was the worst, I think: the rant turned in the end to John McCain's non-existent secret plan to capture Osama bin Laden, all but accusing McCain of treason for failing to share this plan with the rest of us. But the point, of course, is exactly the opposite. It's not that McCain "knows how" to capture Osama bin Laden because he "knows wars" and "knows how to win them"—the point, sir, the point is that John McCain's tough talk is plainly empty on its face, and therefore worthy only to be mocked.

Good night and good luck.