12/16/10 Afternoon Show Segments

Fast Facts for Thursday:

• Mark Burnett, the guy who gave us "Survivor," is going to help NBC launch a rival show to "American Idol." The show’s called "Voice of America," based on a show in the Netherlands, NBC will try to launch it this spring before Simon Cowell can bring his X-Factor to the states this fall.
• Scientists taking a real close look at the Mona Lisa say that Leonardo da Vinci actually put tiny little numbers and letters in her eyes.
• "Dexter" co-stars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are getting a divorce.
• Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are officially over. Done. Kaput.
• Meanwhile, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez say there's nothing going on... just friends...
• For whatever reason, Chelsea Handler felt it was necessary to Tweet a picture of her and 50-Cent in bed together.
• Gwyneth Paltrow says she's going to be coming back to "Glee."

Afternoon Oddball:

We can't really blame this dad for being furious that his 17-year-old daughter was dating a 57-year-old man. Though perhaps the measures he took to stop the affair were a little extreme. After learning of the relationship, Helmut Seifert of Germany went to the police, but when he was told they could do nothing about it, Seifert took matters into his own hands. He went to the man's house and castrated him with a bread knife! Then he ran off with the man's severed testicles. Seifert was arrested and is expected to be tried for attempted murder next year. But he doesn't feel he did anything wrong. "I saw it as my duty as a father," he said. He certainly had balls, we'll give him that.

On This Day in the 80s/90s:

In 1983 A judge in Riverside, CA, denies a request from cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouvia to starve herself to death in a county hospital.

In 1985 The Mafia boss of bosses, "Big Paul" Castellano, is shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

In 1995 A budget impasse leads to the second shutdown of federal government.

In 1997 UN weapons inspector Richard Butler leaves Iraq after failing to persuade President Saddam Hussein to open his palaces to inspections.

In 1997 A Pentagon-appointed panel concludes that the Army, Navy and Air Force should segregate male and female recruits in their earliest phases of basic training.