Today’s Starbucks Alter Ego comes from Alexis, who was so puzzled by her moniker that she sent us the entire back-and-forth she had with the barista, in hopes we might see where things got derailed.

I know it’s almost the weekend and you’re trying to whittle down your to do list, not add to it. But there is one important thing that you should give priority to today: deleting your Google browsing history. As you probably know, the search engine is rolling out a new privacy policy, which goes into effect today.

Move over Paris—there’s a new City of Light(s) in town. Check out this crazy, and very cool photo taken from the International Space Station. That’s the eastern seaboard at night. That big mess of nights on the right side of the frame? That’s New York City.

There a lots of heights New Yorkers can mount—the Empire State building, the Top of the Rock—but nearly none are as satisfying as the one I managed yesterday. Yes, I made NY Magazine’s Approval Matrix. Granted my lower right quadrant placement (brilliant, lowbrow) means it wasn’t much of a climb, but my Twitter followers tell me that’s the best position to find yourself in. I definitely approve.

Getting “Punk’d” is so last year. Last night, Ryan Seacrest found himself in the crosshairs of prankster Sacha Baron Cohen. Dressed as a character from his new movie—King Aladeen—Cohen was carrying an urn, which held the ashes of “his late doubles partner” Kim Jong Il, as he stopped to chat on the Oscars red carpet.  The Borat star was happy to chat with Seacrest when he stopped him, and Seacrest looked happy too—until Cohen suddenly dumped the urn all over Seacret’s tuxedo.  Seacrest handled it well but was clearly not interested in laughing along with the prank. VIDEO

We got an email from Pat’s Paper reader Kerry, who sent along a sample of what transpired at Starbucks that got her from a ‘Kerry’ to a ‘Karen’ to a ‘Herry.’

Even before Regis Philbin announced his retirement plan, it was my hope that someday I’d be asked to fill in as a guest host on “Live!”  I’m pleased to report that I’ve been asked to do just that on March 7th.

The most successful story we’ve ever had on Pat’s Papers was from a couple years ago when Canada and the US played in the Olympic hockey final. I got my hands on data from the local utilities company demonstrating, in toilet flushings, how gung-ho the Canadian public is about hockey.

Today’s Starbucks Alter Ego comes from my good friend Liane, who’s vacationing in Maui. She stopped in to a get a coffee and left wondering, is this how you say Liane in Hawaiian?