In today's New York Times, Dan Bilefksy examines the extraordinary existence of the "sworn virgins" of Albania . For hundreds of years, small numbers of Albanian women have taken oaths to live life as men. They dress like men, talk like men, and commingle almost exclusively with men. It's not a sexual thing; the gender-swappers remain biologically female and acknowledge it. )They also, obviously, foreswear any amorous activity.( Rather,

One moment, Angelina Jolie urges awareness for World Refugee Day . In the next momentâ€"as in June 27â€"she bloodies the screen as a well-meaning assassin in " Wanted ." Throughout all this, she looms as a larger-than-life mother figure, spurring premature hysteria around the birth of her twins )as of now, still safely in the womb(. In an industry that thrives on typecasting, Jolie's draw has been her seeming contradictions,

On Monday, radio showman Don Imus was jawing with a co-host about Dallas Cowboys player Adam "Pacman" Jones . Upon hearing that the beleaguered cornerback has been arrested six times since 2005, the shock jock asked, "What color is he?" Response: "He's African-American." Imus: "Well, there you go, now we know." And just like that, the Don bounded back into a media firestorm about race. A flurry of articles on the comment ignited in Buzz. " Imus in hot seat again ,

Imagine a campus in which students carry only man-purses, instead of 80-pound packs stuffed with textbooks. Amazon may soon get additional academic credit as more university publishers sign up with its wireless reading device. Kindle  will start carrying titles from Princeton University Press this fall. According to Inside Higher Education , the prestigious outlet joins the presses published by Oxford , Yale , and University of California in going digital.

Those born with a thirst for fame as well as an unfortunate )or boring( moniker face a tougher road to the A-list. So it's no wonder that many celebs choose to drop their given handle for something a bit more... catchy. Of course, the gawking public isn't dumb. They know the odds are slim that Sting was born with such an evocative handle. Each week we see an avalanche of searches for celebrity "real names.

Even in an age when cynical sleuths can hyper-analyze stories for truth and accuracy, the occasional hoax still slips through the cracks. Such was the case with a so-called " lost Amazon tribe ." A few months ago, mainstream news outlets )including, ahem, Yahoo!( reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos of the tribe backed up his claim. Painted red and brandishing weapons,

Good-bye, George Carlin . We will miss your scathing wit, hoarse delivery, and never-wavering contrariness . Without you, seven little words may never have been more than that, and audiences would have left comedy gigs unscathed by your rat-a-tat release . Death, selfishness, oxymorons, hypocrisy, and humankind's general lousiness never seemed so funny. Since Carlin died on Sunday, hundreds of articles and obituaries have inundated the Buzz. In Search,

Aside from the people who waited for Kanye West's Bonnaroo gig , everyone loves a music festival. True, with all the comebacks, reunions, and geezers onstage, some summer concerts look more like golden oldies variety showsâ€"but you know what, baby boomers and family events are in. Slather on the sunblock, take out a small loan to gas up the van, and get on a musical trip with the top 10 searched summer music festivals of '08. Appropriately, the Warped Tour,

Bored with baseball caps? Tired of your urban sombrero ? What if we told you that you could wear a hat that's not only made out of human hair but is also shaped to resemble the heads of animals? On a scale of one to ten, how frightened would you be? Before you answer that rhetorical question )trust us, you're response is "ten"(, check out these photos from the Buzz. Current and Craft Magazine feature collections of pictures that we found to be both disturbing, amazing,

Every time the death of the reality show is predicted, a writer goes on strike and 20 more reality monsters grow. This summer, New York Magazine might have a point in predicting an apocalypse . Denise Richards wants her 30 minutes every week, product placement gets a soundtrack in "Jingles," and competitive food eaters star in a show called "Hurl." 'Nuf said on that topic. Surely among this surreal toxic heap,

After a relentless winter and unforgiving spring, the rush to summer is understandably a little more hurried than usual. Searches for " summer solstice " and " first day of summer " are nearly 60% higher than this time last year. Not so delicious is the substantial drop in " summer vacation " queries, and the rise in summer jobs and activities. Who says slacking off is the best way to enjoy summer anyhow? Take in the buzz on the best ways to get busy.

At a time when gas prices are being described as " insane ," we don't imagine that road trips are at the top of many summer agendas. But that's not to say the great American tradition has become an impossible dream. There are a number of ways to trim costs while tasting the open road. A video from ABC explains how a GPS device can help drivers find )relatively( cheap gas. For those who have Web access on the road, gasbuddy.com can be a valuable ally. But,

In our years monitoring Buzz, we've seen many searches for " cheap wedding dresses ." But this morning is the first time that " toilet paper wedding dress " ever wafted past. Winners of the Cheap and Chic Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest were announced yesterday in New York City. The champion took home a $1,000 prize for her strappy sleeveless gown . It has a sweetheart neckline, large ruffles around the bottom, and is, we hope, 2-ply and unscented.

This week's pair of Tinseltown releases pits funnyman against funnyman. The onscreen yuks aren't finding critics and audiences in good humor, but the real draw may be the drama surrounding one comedian's comeback. Meanwhile, an American Girl gets her limited release debut, before the big Independence Day coming out party. 1. " Get Smart " )PG-13(. Unlike "The Love Guru," unimpressed critics lay the fault not upon the stars, but with the filmmakers. Still,

From a portable DVD player to a $3,500 sequined mini-dress , there's no end to the reach of Hello Kitty . The wide-cheeked cat is well-knownâ€"and well-merchandisedâ€"around the globe. But has her reputation suffered at home? According to Yahoo! Finance , the international icon of cute is looking to reconnect with her native land. In "a bid to emphasize the mascot's 'Japanese-ness'," Sanrio , the company behind the Hello Kitty phenomenon,

President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, declaring that slaves would be free on New Year's Day. However, their release took another 170 days in territories still under Confederate control. The standoff ended when a Union general and 2,000 federal troops rode into Galveston, Texas, to back up the executive order with military might. Juneteenth therefore is a curious observance,

To all those cynics who believe human beings are lazy creatures who'd rather let their brains rot than exercise them, we say thisâ€"you're mostly right. But there are plenty of exceptions. How else could we explain the popularity of puzzles in Search? By definition , a puzzle is something that "baffles or confuses." Many folks apparently like the challenge, because puzzles are among our top 2,000 overall searches. Interestingly, while puzzles are popular across all age groups,

Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog has a new post called "The best new action film you can't see )yet(." The write-up focuses on the trailer for the much-awaited martial arts siege "Ong Bak 2," from Thai fighter-actor Tony Jaa . And it's true. This is the best combat we've seen on the screen in a very long time. If you're the least bit squeamish, though, beware. The clip isn't fooling around. It's bloody and sweaty and shot through with elbow strikes, foot thwacks,

Wanna hear something you've probably heard 5,000 times before? The Nintendo Wii is really hard to find. Wanna hear something else? Thanks to Wii Fit , the hunt ain't getting any easier. Already an unqualified hit with gamers and those longing to loose a few pounds )not always two mutually exclusive groups(, Wii Fit is attracting even more buzz thanks to upcoming titles that take advantage of the game's balance board. Not surprisingly, many of these games are fitness oriented.

Tim Russert was a well-known family man. He wrote a memoir about his dad, " Big Russ and Me ," which was a New York Times bestseller. His second book, " Wisdom of Our Fathers ," chronicled "lessons and letters from daughters and sons." It also topped the book charts. So it's not surprising that searches for Russert's father and his wife, Maureen Orth , have lifted since his death.