THE STRIPES HAVE BEEN HUNG UP: William Rehnquist, sixteenth Chief Justice of the United States as well as a veteran of World War II in North Africa, has passed away at the age of eighty.

I don't know that there's any pop culture angle or anything else to say here. It just would feel weird not to acknowledge his passing here, and to hope that he and his family are at peace.

May God save this honorable Court.

AND NOW, TIME FOR A TOPIC TO UNITE US ONCE MORE: Sudoku, anyone?

Pure logic. Love it.

LET THE MOMILY PENALTY DEBATES RESUME: In case you don't get enough of Esquire, Danza, Guido, and the Frats during tomorrow and Monday's marathon you can pre-order the Season 1 TAR DVD's from Amazon (out September 27). Confirmed special features include 90 minutes of deleted/additional scenes, 4 audio commentaries, and interviews with Phil Keoghan and Bertram Van Munster. Hey, Team Guido gives it 5 stars. If you're looking for something to tide you over, I suggest the DVD's of original recipe (pre-Ahmad Rashad and celebrities) The Mole featuring Anderson Cooper as a great host, brilliant challenges (the "three rooms" in the penultimate episode is great, and a sheep counting challenge winds up having an immensely clever twist to it).

UNIFIED BLOG THEORY: Kanye West + Hurricane + Live TV equals a pretty good chance he won't be performing at the next Kennedy Center Honors.

Video here, if you scroll down. If nothing else, watch it for the Mike Myers reaction at the end.

THERE ARE EIGHT MILLION STORIES IN THE NAKED CITY, AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM: I was watching MSNBC last night, and caught a rather fawning interview with a "Philadelphia philanthropist" named Joe Mammana. He had something of a Joe-Pesci-in-Goodfellas vibe about him, and explained that because the president, the mayor of New Orleans, and the governor of Louisiana weren't getting the job done, it was time for Mammana to step in. He's organizing a caravan of trucks carrying relief workers and supplies to travel from Philadelphia to his "staging area," Montgomery, Alabama, as soon as Mammana can ensure the safety of his truckers. (To me, this means that the Mammanites may never leave Philadelphia, but that's neither here nor there.)

During the interview, Mammana spent a lot of time talking about how he'd gotten this city councilman to donate X, and that city official to donate Y -- it had a very inside Philadelphia baseball feel to it. So I googled the guy. He's a self-made millionaire whose entrepreneurial endeavors include real estate and boxing promotion (warning, warning, warning!) , among other things -- his philanthropy seems to be focused on offering significant sums of cash to incentivize people who may have information about unsolved crimes to step forward and cough up what they know.

Question for the current Philadelphians out there -- who is this guy, anyway?

A LIST OF DONATIONS MADE FIVE MINUTES AGO: If a little blog competition can get some cash moving toward the appropriate charities, we ought to encourage it. So if you are a regular Throwing Things reader (or contributor) -- and you've made a donation -- go log it over at The Truth Laid Bear.

UPDATE: Given our traffic, we're at a very respectable 27th place -- 10 donations for a total of $1,650. Stout numbers, guys.

CRANK UP THE GOD MACHINE? Hmmm, what do you think Jon Stewart's going to talk about when he returns from vacation?