Slate, now losing money for the Grahams instead of the Gateses, manages today to make celebrity gossip boring by combining it with — get ready — insurance! In order to learn hilarious details about the lives of those Gods amongst us, you have to wade through paragraphs like this:

Before a bond company will assume such a gigantic risk, however, it also requires the production to purchase cast insurance from another insurer, such as Fireman's Fund, AIG, or Berkshire Hathaway. These entities will reimburse the production if anything happens to the star. With Terminator 3, [blah blah blah] completion bond company [blah] risk ... budget ... insurer, etc.

We know that you, dear reader, are a busy and important person, and probably not very bright. So to please you, O bleary-eyed drone, here's the one bit of interesting information:

Kidman ... agreed to wear a support bandage on her knee during the preproduction and filming of Cold Mountain (leading to false reports in the press that she had cosmetic knee surgery). For their part, the producers agreed to substitute a double for any activity, even bending down, that might stress her knee.

Yes, Nicole Kidman has a bending-down double. And there you are doing your own leaning like a sucker.

Tomorrow, William Saletan writes about Britney Spears' pregnancy through the lens of the Additional Child Tax Credit. Think Tankers in bow ties nod thoughtfully, download "Toxic." -AP

Nicole Kidman's Knee [Slate]