by Vera H-C Chan August really began on 08-08-08, and made up for the doldrums of summer with political pomp and Olympian pageantry. Yet even as firsts were made on both fronts, the Search buzz was assaulted with the specter of Cold War , shocking passings, and natural disasters . Take a look back at what captivated the Web, over the past 31 rushed days of summer. Olympian Records, Herculean Efforts,

by Vera H-C Chan Gas-saving scooters! Backyard vacations! Celebrity twins! Okay, so you can't attribute all trends to a poor economy. Still, a recent run on " canning recipes " may indicate yet another resurgence of a frugal tradition. Summer interest in saving goodies for later has swelled 28% compared to last year. Even more startling, Web queries on anything canning-related is 16 times higher than in 2006. An AP report credits the canning comeback to produce costs,

by Molly McCall From the Democratic National Convention to Sarah Palin 's debut on the national stage, politics dominated the newsâ€"and the Buzzâ€"this week. Yet, other stories still managed to rise up the Buzz ranks, drawing votes and readers over the past seven days. As a relief from the Obama-Biden-McCain-and-)now(-Palin drumbeat, we present some of the buzziest of those non-presidential tales. Enjoy. The "True" Origins of Superman On an early June day in 1932,

by Claudine Zap Is there some kind of rule that calls for dads of young celebs to act even less mature than their starlet daughters? While the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears are hardly role models, they seem to take their bad-behavior cues from their worst-acting dads. But this new level of bad parenting, making its way up Buzz today, seems to merit a higher level of recognition. Let's call it the Baddies. Party Baddie . That would go to Hilary Duff 's dad ,

by Mike Krumboltz Republican presidential candidate John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin , the governor of Alaska, to be his running mate. The moment the selection was made official, bloggers, searchers, and buzzers went wild. Naturally, lookups on the little-known Palin surged, as did other queries like " alaska governor ," " sarah palin bio ," and " sarah palin voting record ." But that was to be expected. The interesting stuff came when folks picked up on the fact that Gov.

by Molly McCall This is not a joke. Really, it's not. A movie about the creation of Facebook is in the worksâ€"and it's got some mega-wattage names behind it. Hot-shot producer Scott Rudin and even hotter-shot writer/series creator Aaron Sorkin have both signed on for the project. Columbia has flashed the green light . Apparently, Hollywood loves the idea. But they might be the only ones. AppScout has pronounced the social-networking story idea a " yawn .

by Claudine Zap ' A spider beside her . It's bug season, and lots of alarmed spider-phobes sent " hobo spider " to the top of Search. Word has it that the arachnid, a rare poisonous creepy crawler with a flesh-eating chomp, was the prime suspect "for a gaping wound in a woman's leg," according to the Globe and Mail . The horror! ' Viva Venice . George Clooney and Brad Pitt added their star power to the venice Film Festival this week.

by Vera H-C Chan Three hitherto untouched movies ) untouched by critics denied previews that is( skulk their way into the Buzz Multiplex. Could this be why favorably reviewed " Traitor "â€"stocked with power actors Don Cheadl e and Guy Pearce â€"opted for a Wednesday advance, the better to avoid the stench of decaying plots? Besides the triple threat, " Mamma Mia: Sing-Along Edition " opens in select theaters. As for the unscreened triplets, not only are their plots stale,

by Mike Krumboltz Anyone who has watched the Democratic National Convention has likely noticed a few odd metaphors being tossed around. Carnivorous pundits are talking about "red meat" like it's going out of style. Politicians are playing up images of the "kitchen table." And don't forget the "Yellow Dog Democrats." What do all these things mean? Yahoo! Buzz is full of articles aiming to answer these questions. First up, red meat. Near as we can tell,

by Claudine Zap Party planning. If you're throwing a shindig that only happens once every four years, you had better bring in the blockbuster entertainment. If you don't mind all the bad dancing that goes along with rocking out, well, then, get your groove on with Buzz. You may have noticed some oldies but goodies filling the Pepsi Center where the first few days of the Democratic National Convention was held, with toe-tapping tunes like "Celebration" and "Love Train".

by Mike Krumboltz We thought discovering long, lost civilizations was something that only happened in " Indiana Jones " movies. How wrong we were. Researchers have discovered a maze of stone temples that "ancient Mayans believed was a portal where dead souls entered the underworld." Found in present day Mexico, the portal was known as Xibalba . The discovery got the bloggers doing what they do best. BoingBoing explains that, according to an ancient Mayan scripture,

by Molly McCall As the third night of the Democratic National Convention drew to a close, several questions bombarded the Search box: How was Bill Clinton's speech ? What does " cronyism " mean? And who is Beau Biden ? Joe Biden 's son Beau introduced his father last night and made his first appearance in the national consciousness. In an address warmly received by convention attendees,

by Claudine Zap Next week it's back to school for teen shows " Gossip Girl " and the all-new 90210 spinoff . Pay attention, you will be tested on your knowledge of the subject. First up, Gossip Girl . The frothy teen soap is heading into its second season )is that like sophomore year?( and features a cast that mostly could have graduated from college by now. But no matter. The show bears little resemblance to actual high school )like going to class, ever(. Instead,

by Mike Krumboltz Tiger Woods is one of the most dominant athletes alive. But is he really a mortal like the rest of us? Footage of the golfer walking on water has some folks wondering if he's actually something more... divine. Well, not really. The footage was just a viral video. Still, though obviously a joke, the clip has started a firestorm of buzz. So what's the story ? Apparently, in an older version of the Tiger Woods video game,

by Claudine Zap They've Got Words for You It's almost a pre-requisite to run. For a candidate to be considered seriously, he or she has to have a book. And since the Democratic National Convention kicked off this week, viewers have been turning from their TVs to e-booksellers for copies of the candidates' musings. The search box has been flooded with lookups for " joe biden biography ," " joe biden book " " barack obama biography ," " barack obama book excerpt father ,

by Mike Krumboltz The anticipation over Senator Hillary Clinton 's Tuesday night speech was as high as her pantsuit was orange. Some Democrats were concerned that a tone of bitterness might shine through. They needn't have worried. The former First Lady expertly summoned her supporters to vote for her former rival, Senator Barack Obama . Her speech was so electrifying, in fact, she may have inadvertently raised a key question: Should Obama have picked her as his VP? Ms.

by Mike Krumboltz The anticipation over Senator Hillary Clinton 's Tuesday night speech was as high as her pantsuit was orange. Some Democrats were concerned that a tone of bitterness might shine through. They needn't have worried. The former First Lady expertly summoned her supporters to vote for her former rival, Senator Barack Obama . In doing so, she may have inadvertently raised a key question: Should Obama have picked her as his VP? Ms.

by Claudine Zap ' Creature from the deep . As Gawker put it, it's been "our monsteriest season yet." Our obsession with beasts real and imagined continues today. A " giant squid " was found off the waters of Antarctica and recently dissected at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Curious lookie loos quickly sent searches for the 30-foot creature up 14,816%. ' The Talented Mr. Rockefeller . A mystery of a different nature cloaks Clark Rockefeller )+319%(.

by Mike Krumboltz Believe it or not, there's more than one democracy in the world. While much of the world's attention is focused on the slugfest between Barack Obama and John McCain , a recent election in Malaysia sparked a tremendous reaction in Search. Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim saw his searches soar into the top 2,000  terms after being elected to his nation's parliament. Such rarefied air is usually occupied by starlets named Britney , Paris , and Lindsay ,

by Vera H-C Chan Two, four, 68. Where do we participate? Or aggravate, depending on one's perspective of the political alliance billing its Democratic National Convention retro-protest as " Recreate 68 ." The liberal anti-war protestorsâ€"a loose coalition of groups including Code Pink and figures like activist Cindy Sheehan and author Ron Kovic â€"have made their way to Denver to reignite the revolutionary days of 1968. Not however, as its Website testily explains ,