At this point, most of us know not to believe Twitter death rumors, but just in case there are any concerns, the number one worldwide trending topic "R.I.P. Rowan Atkinson" is a hoax. This time we actually know how the rumor started: Twitter user Michael Robert Meras got bored. (I won't link to his Twitter account, because no one deserves attention for arbitrarily "offing" celebrities.)

Here's a brief refresher on Ray J: he's Brandy's brother, he made a sex tape with Kim Kardashian, and he was romantically linked to the late Whitney Houston. He's also an author, apparently, with the publication of his new book, Death of the Cheating Man: What Every Woman Must Know About Men Who Stray.

Oscars betting pools are generally a waste of time and money, on account of the Academy Awards being too predictable: Everyone places their bets on whoever the Entertainment Weekly said would win, and then three-quarters of the people in your pool are forced to split the prize.

Yesterday, Republican maybe-frontrunner Rick Santorum made minor waves by repeating allegations that his opponents Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were in cahoots.

In weird and somewhat unsettling news, a military torpedo was dropped off at a recycling center in Puerto Rico. Authorities don't know where it came from — just that it's, you know, a 6-foot-long military torpedo. Anyway, it's all taken care of now, probably.

Self-proclaimed "car guy" Mitt Romney accidentally outed himself as being super rich at Ford Field in Detroit. (Detroit: good place to advertise love of cars, bad place to advertise excessive wealth.) Turns out he and his wife drive multiple cars, which — while not surprising — doesn't help with the accusation that he is out of touch with the common man. USA Today brings us some analysis of the damage done by Romney's car tally.

Short on talent but not on funds? You might be in luck. While it's too late to be considered for any of Sunday's Academy Award wins, you can bid on one of 15 Oscar statuettes on Tuesday. Or, hell, bid on them all. You can always pawn off the extras when you need to pick up a Tony or a Golden Globe.

Reuters reports, "In Michigan, Santorum feels heat from within."

Beloved former South African president Nelson Mandela was hospitalized in Pretoria, according to a statement from current president Jacob Zuma.

High-quality counterfeits of American $100 and $50 are keeping North Korea's economy afloat, The End of Money author David Wolman reports in Time. Estimates on Pyongyang's black market counterfeiting profits range from $15 to $25 million "to several hundred million dollars' worth" every year.

What's up today in India? "India, the land of Mohandas Gandhi, known for its Hindu belief in the sanctity of life, is anything but gun-shy. Rising incomes have made high-end weapons a new form of bling, and rising crime and memories of Mumbai's 2008 terrorist attack have left Indians eager to be armed and dangerous," The Los Angeles Times reports. There are still only 3 guns for every 100 people in India, compared to 89 for every 100 Americans, though. [LATimes, image of Indian gun factory via AP]

When Comcast acquired NBC Universal, part of its deal with the FCC was that it would "launch 10 new independently owned cable channels, with most backed by African Americans and Latinos, by 2018." Well. The first two Black People Channels have been announced. Black people, prepare for a fiesta of cable mediocrity!

French police hauled possibly rape-y French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn in for questioning today. At issue: DSK's alleged participation in an international prostitution ring that involved "organizing sex parties" in Paris, Brussels, and Washington. "Company executives used expense accounts to pay for" the parties, Reuters reports.

Most of the common theories surrounding Whitney Houston's descent into drugs and eventual death have to do with the influence of her husband Bobby Brown. Now there's a new interesting theory. Maybe it wasn't her marriage to Bobby that turned her into an addict but breaking up with her lesbian lover, Robyn Crawford.

John Fairfax died in his home in Nevada on February 8th, at 74-years-old. Today, the New York Times ran his obituary and it is pretty great, as far as obituaries go.

And he's back. After a week long hiatus, The Colbert Report will pick up where it left off, airing new episodes beginning Monday night. Colbert suspended the show last week to deal with a mysterious family emergency.

The FBI once again proves it is the best in the world at disrupting the terrorist plots it creates. A Moroccan man in his 30s was arrested on his way to what he thought would be a suicide bombing on the U.S. Capitol. But the bombs strapped to his chest were fakes, supplied by the FBI.

In a refreshing move, MSNBC has officially "parted ways" with irrelevant old coonskin-cap-wearing racist Pat Buchanan, whose "kindly old grandpa" demeanor has been enough to keep him on ostensibly mainstream political shows, despite the fact that he is, at heart, a white supremacist.

Anthony Shadid, a 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for his coverage of Iraq for the Washington Post, died of an asthma attack yesterday while reporting in Syria for the New York Times. He was 43 years old.

The Pew Research Center released the results of a study today that found the number of mixed race marriages has doubled in the United States in the past 30 years. The Pew website features a great summary of the report if you don't want to slog through all eight pages of data. Here are some of the most interesting findings, if you don't even want to slog through the summary.