Your next job application could require a social media background check. Odds are, you have no clue what that means. Nobody does. It's new and scary and probably scours the Web for pictures of you puking on the beach. [Gizmodo]

Democratic leaders have selected state assemblyman and former NYC council member Dave Weprin to run in the special election for disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's congressional seat. Sounds good? Good. Now show us your penis, Weprin.

In your hazy Thursday media column: Patch struggles with internet tendencies, Wall Street loves News Corp, Chris Matthews is banned from HBO, "new media residuals" sucks, and the AP warns reporters about the Twitter.

Here's a real infographic that ran in USA Today last Friday, July 1st. (Nobody noticed it until now because the only people who read USA Today are 74-year-old retirees.) Apparently the way the sun heats the Earth is that it gives it a hand job while whistling? In the annals of weather penises, this is a true classic.

Famous uterus Bristol Palin spent some time at Hell's nail salon, aka The View, this morning, and boy could Barbara Walters not stop filthy talking to the poor breed mare.

Semi-viable presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty granted an interview in Ames, Iowa to these gals from Gliterazzi, to discuss all things Pop Culture. The highlight comes when they talk Lady Gaga (around 1:50), whose music and television specials he seems to be quite familiar with.

Rhonda Hollander, a traffic magistrate in Florida, was arrested last week after she barged into the men's restroom at the West Regional Courthouse in Broward County and took cell phone pictures of a man peeing at a urinal. That is one seriously kinky fetish!

Human embodiment of irony Chris Hansen—the To Catch a Predator host caught on camera appearing to cheat on his wife—also sexted, claims the National Enquirer. Did he learn nothing from his TV show about the value of concealing evidence?

If you need more proof that anything is possible on the internet: The lead singer of '90s rock group Smash Mouth is preparing to eat 24 eggs for charity after people bugged him to on Twitter.

Here's a brief teaser trailer for the upcoming Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, featuring a bewigged and betoothed Meryl Streep as the loved/reviled former British Prime Minister. It seems like she's got the voice down! Now let's just see if she can use her wizardry make the bigoted, union busting Pinochet pal sympathetic.

Here's one way to deal with a newspaper scandal: close the whole damn newspaper. James Murdoch—Rupert Murdoch's son and the head of News International, the News Corp division that publishes the British tabloid News of the World—just announced that NotW will publish its final edition this weekend.

Gawker's John Cook appeared on BBC World TV on July 7, 2011. Check out the clip above. For media requests, please contact Kevin Prince at kevin@gawker.com.

Angelina seeks the "coup de grace" of Aniston life-destroying. Blake Lively moves in with Leo DiCaprio. Lil' Bow Wow has a secret daughter. Elisabetta Canalis bounces back from George. Thursday gossip is a stone-cold assassin of hearts.

The hiring practices of Silicon Valley tech companies are famously rigorous, but Facebook must be the only one to test physical strength. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes high-profile prospective hires for a hike behind the company's Palo Alto headquarters.

Though she escaped the death penalty in the trial over her daughter's death, Casey Anthony has been sentenced to four years in jail for lying to police during the investigation into Caylee Anthony's disappearance. A smiling Anthony wore her hair down at today's sentencing hearing—between good behavior and time served, her stay in the slammer may not be much longer. [NYT, image via AP]

This cross-dressing A-lister likes to pick up guys at clubs, but insists he isn't gay. This actor is making his wife sign away her rights. And this actor was dating three women at once. Three must be his lucky number.

In 2008, Christopher Renfro, a black former employee of anti-uglies retailer American Apparel, sued the company for racial discrimination, alleging that a coworker had repeatedly called him "nigger." Finally, the suit has been settled. In Renfro's favor.

The only thing standing between impoverished rural Indians and total physical collapse is the good will of international sugar-water conglomerate PepsiCo, which soon hopes to be making $30 billion a year by selling "good for you" products to people so desperate that they will turn to PepsiCo to find something good for them. "Good," in this context, means "not Pepsi cola." Please allow the WSJ to present tonight's specials at the Rural Indian PepsiCo Cafe:

Four photojournalists in Georgia, including the personal photographer for that country's hyper-paranoid joke of a president, Mikheil Saakashvili, were arrested overnight for allegedly spying for Russia. Irakli and Natia Gedenidze, Zurab Kurtsikidze, and Giorgi Abdaladze are being held by the Interior Ministry for giving information "to an organization acting under cover of the special service of a foreign country, to the detriment of the interests of Georgia." Hmm. Is he wearing Russian camo?!

This summer it seems every day brings dire news of a new data breach perpetrated by shadowy hackers. For those prone to panic, it might be enough to end in a hospital visit. But there's no need to freak out about every single attack reported by a hacker-obsessed media.