The Water Cooler

Here are a few things in news, sports, entertainment and popular culture that we've been talking about lately.

* Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, foretelling six more weeks of winter. Then Dick Cheney, with time on his hands, shot him, foretelling an eternal winter for Phil.

* The Strip will go dark for 60 minutes on March 28 to help raise awareness of climate change. Or for good if Nevada's economy nosedives even further.

* The Las Vegas Wranglers sponsor Ron Blagojevich prison uniform night, during which both teams and the officials wear prison-style uniforms. The only missing sartorial touch: Blago-style hair helmets.

* About 30 seconds' worth of pornography interrupts the Super Bowl telecast for some Arizona Comcast cable subscribers. For 30 seconds, the word "score" meant something else entirely.

* Michael Phelps apologizes after a British paper runs a photo of him smoking marijuana. But the megamillion endorsement bandwagon rolls on with the impending release of Michael Phelps Signature AquaBongs.

By JOHN PRZYBYS (jprzybys@reviewjournal.com)