After his performance in Florida, Newt Gingrich is done says New York Times’ columnist Ross Douthat. Here are his four reasons: 1.) Gingrich’s poor showing in Florida, means he can’t compete nationally. 2.) The anti-Romney vote isn’t as strong as everyone thought. 3.) Romney showed his toughness in Florida, and 4.)  Gingrich’s “lackluster debate performances permanently undercut the strongest rationale for his candidacy.”

Some might consider Costis Mitsotakis unlucky—he’s the only person in his entire village in Spain who did not buy a winning ticket for a recent lottery.  But the Greek filmmaker’s not upset because one of his neighbors is buying the land he had for sale.

If you don’t want to have a conversation about your weight at the doctor’s office, choose a physician who’s overweight. The Wall Street Journal says your doctor is less likely to bring up the topic if he or she is tipping the scales too. Experts say it’s a symptom of a “they look like me, but I’m healthy” mindset.

No one cares if there’s an app for that anymore. USA Today says the novelty of the app is finally wearing off. A new survey has found that 68 percent of smartphone owners use fewer than five apps in any given week.

Apparently, the mis-cast “X Factor” host, Steve Jones did not live up to the Ryan Seacrest standard. He’s been sent packing. A short time later Nicole Sherzinger said she’s leaving the show to focus on her music career.  And there’s a report that Paula Abdul will not return for the talent show’s second season.

Some TSA agents at LaGuardia reportedly found two suspicious objects yesterday says the New York Post.  Initially, they thought they were pipe bombs.  But instead of calling in the bomb squad, the agents set the suspected bombs on a radiator for about six hours.

Before his death, “folklorist” Alan Lomax envisioned that his archives would be available on a “global jukebox.” Then they invented the Internet and he got his wish. The New York Times says about 17,000 tracks from Lomax’s collection will be made available to the public by the end of February.

If we don’t start building neighborhoods that encourage walking, says New York Times’ health columnist Jane Brody, than this will be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents. Experts blame the last few decades of urban planning, which has seen the rise of homes and shopping centers built far away from a central downtown area within walking distance. 

A nine-year study of the Florida Everglades has revealed something disturbing: pythons are wiping out the area’s mammal population. The Sun Sentinel says in places where the Burmese python has been the longest, there’s a 99.3 percent decline in raccoons, a 98.9 percent drop in opossums, and—I was shocked by this until I saw the photo of the front page of the Sun Sentinel—an 87.5 percent decline in bobcats.

How many water skiers does it take to break a world record? The Telegraph has some great video from Australia, of a group of 145 people water skiing their way into the Guinness Book of World Records. The group started out with 154 people, and even though nine fell along the way, they still had enough standing to break the previous record for the highest number of people to be pulled behind a single boat. VIDEO

The Seattle Times says Starubucks is gearing up to open its first store in India, about five years after it first planned to do so.  Some have warned it might be tough to break into a society of tea-drinkers. But those critics are usually silenced by Starbucks’ recent success in another big tea-drinking nation: China.

Gardeners in North Carolina have suspected this for years, but last week the USDA confirmed it: winters aren’t as cold as they used to be. The agency released a new map of temperature zones around the country, along witha new list of plants that tend to thrive in those areas.

The Giants’ trip to the Super Bowl has inspired a run on giant TVs, says the Staten Island Advance. Apparently, football fans (mostly men, of course) are using the big game as their excuse to buy a new flat screen TV. Some say they’re simply taking advantage of the discounts that retailers are offering up, others say $1200 is a steal compared to the price of two Super Bowl tickets.

In the battle of the sexes, women have just notched a considerable victory. According to a new study out of the UK, they are far superior at parking than their male counterparts. Women got high parks for being patient enough to find a space and positioning their car “centrally within it.” Researchers also noted that men tend to ‘pose park’—squeeze into a small spot instead of look for a bigger one—when accompanied by a female passenger.

Move over Microsoft Office, there’s a new boss in town. More businesses are embracing Macs in the workplace as younger employees demand them says USA Today. Last year, 46 percent of companies in the US and Europe issued Apple computers to their employees and that’s on top of the 11 percent who use iPhones at work and the 9 percent who rely on iPads.

Awards season is upon us, a time of year that’s particularly important to premium cable channels, which see the accolades as a way to convince customers of their worth. Showtime’s “Homeland” has already shaken things up by winning a Golden Globe for best drama, but Bill Carter of the New York Times says the real winners in the battle between Showtime and HBO are the viewers.

Could anything be more removed from New York than this? The New York Times says 11-year-old Amber Leetch is the only student at her school in Montana.  She’s also the only student in her school district. Although she had the company of a first-grader for a few weeks early this year, most days it’s just Amber, her teacher and the school dog.

Donald Trump may live in New York, but he wants to spend eternity in New Jersey. The Star Ledger says the Donald is trying to build a private cemetery next to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. He won’t be alone—club members who pay more than $300,000 will also have the option of keeping their hobby close to their hearts, even after their hearts have stopped beating.

There’s no place like Kansas for a Cairn terrier. The Wichita Eagle says the wheels are in motion to make the breed the official dog of Kansas. It’s not a random choice—Toto from the “Wizard of Oz” was a Cairn terrier. But despite the connection, the state Representative who introduced the legislation expects to get a little ribbing: “The first time I get on the floor to do anything, I expect to get barked at.”

One day, says the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay, men’s tennis will be boring. But that day is not now. Gay uses his column this morning to sing the praises of the sport, which he describes as offering up “the kind of outrageous viewer experience that leaves the audience gasping.” And we have three people to thank for our constant entertainment: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Mitt Romney’s real problem isn’t that he’s rich—it’s that he was born that way. Americans, it seems, prefer a “self made” politician. That’s not always the case, says the Washington Post—just look at the Kennedys, the Rockefellers, the Bushes. But when you’re born rich you have to possess some way of relating to the masses, and it’s usually “a gift for self-deprecating humor.”

Some people prefer cats. Others enjoy the company of dogs. For others still, it’s zonkies that do it. A hybrid of a donkey and a zebra, the rare breed is the size of a zebra but has the shape of a donkey, says the LA Times. Mona Lisa, the zonkey featured in today’s paper, has a gray body with black and white ears and mane, and legs streaked with black stripes.

Bad news for those whose money was tied up in MF Global. The Wall Street Journal says after three months of searching, officials still don’t have a clue where the missing $1.2 billion is.  A group of 60 forensic accountants has been scouring the company’s correspondences after it filed for Chapter 11 on October 31, but still no dice.

A fatal chain reaction halted traffic on I-75 near Gainesville, Florida yesterday. Police are calling it the deadliest interstate tragedy in the state after a string of accidents left 10 people dead and 21 others hospitalized. The Gainesville Sun talks to a survivor in today’s paper who says “it looked like the end of the world.”

Ahh, family. The New Orleans Times-Picayune says a sheriff recognized his second cousin as “the Alabama fan who pressed his testicles on the neck of an unconscious LSU fan in a Bourbon Street burger joint after the BCS Championship Game.” Apparently, a video of the…incident has gone viral. The 22-year-old man was arrested on charges of sexual battery and obscenity.

Some good advice from the Columbus Dispatch this morning. The USPS is increasing the cost to send a letter, from 44 to 45 cents this weekend. The change goes into effect on Monday. Be careful if you drop anything into the mailbox over the weekend, because it won’t be picked up until Monday—when your postage will be a penny short.

Tigers, Bears, Cougars—they all seem like standard choices for a mascot. Students at Corner Canyon High School in Utah voted last week to name themselves the Cougars. But school officials vetoed the name, saying it was “too offensive to middle-aged women.” The Salt Lake Tribune points out that Brigham Young University’s mascot is also the Cougars.

MegaUpload is in some mega trouble. Homes of people involved with the popular video-sharing site were raided yesterday after the Justice Department accused the company of “conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.” Not named on the indictment was Swiss Beatz, the husband of Alicia Keys and allegedly MegaUpload’s CEO. In retaliation, the LA Times says the hacker group Anonymous has taken down the Justice department’s and Universal Music Group’s websites.

Heartening news for those who’ve suffered a heart attack. The American Heart Association said yesterday that having sex poses very little risk for those who’ve had heart trouble or a stroke. There are some caveats: Don’t have sex if you can’t climb a flight of stairs and don’t cheat on your spouse. Says one of the doctors responsible for the new guidelines: “You can imagine an extramarital affair might raise your blood pressure.”

When you’ve been in politics as long as Newt Gingrich, there are undoubtedly some skeletons lurking in the closet. And yesterday, one came tumbling out. The GOP candidate’s ex-wife, Marianne, told reporters that Newt had given her an ultimatum back in 1999: give him an “open marriage” or a divorce. The Washington Post notes that this was the same time Gingrich was on cross-country “family values” lecture circuit.