An email sent to one News Corp.-adjacent building on Sixth Avenue says that the FDNY is reporting a possible reaction of "approximately 30 gallons of hazardous chemicals" as the cause of this morning's 10:39 a.m. explosion at the News Corp. building. There aren't any offices on the floors affected, which house the heating, cooling and utilities systems for the building. Fox News (whose offices are in the basement, insert satanic crack here), just wants everyone to know that "The explosion on the 45th floor has not interrupted the Fox News channel's broadcast," according to its website. New York Post offices are on the 10th floor. According to WNBC, a spokesperson for the FDNY says "We have some sort of reaction between two chemicals that caused a slight explosion." No word on which chemicals might be the culprits here, but um... 30 gallons of hazardous chemicals? Seriously? So far, the cops have closed "48th Street from 7th Avenue to Broadway and 6th Avenue from W. 47th St."

Noah Kalina's video, "Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years," has been viewed 7,278,715 times on YouTube. Apparently that's the threshold loser-generated content must cross before warranting a Simpsons parody. Like the one below, which isn't just clever, but also an ironic test of fair use, the broad exemption in copyright law which allows for commentary and criticism.

New York Post staffers just got word via panic-inducing NYPD email of a "chemical explosion" on the 45th floor of their News Corp. office building. The explosion was "POSSIBLY CAUSED BY OXIDIZERS REACTING WITH ACID," reads the memo. "HAZMAT TEAMS ARE RESPONDING," and several surrounding floors have been evacuated. One person has been injured, according to a story on the Post's website, which identifies the explosion as occurring at 1211 Sixth Avenue, "on the 45th floor of a midtown highrise." This might be one of those times where self-referentialism is acceptable, guys. You'll be pleased and much reassured to know that the fire department "HAS BEEN TOLD NOT TO ENTER THE 45TH FLOOR." Memo after the jump.

"Fire trucks outside News Corp., something about smoke at the top of the building," a tipster tells us. We knew someone would set fire to Rupert Murdoch's office someday. Apparently people inside the building aren't being evacuated, but the fire department isn't letting anyone inside. "All the news photographers who can't get into their offices are taking photos of the people standing outside!" Spot news in action.

When Rupert Murdoch goes a-poaching to staff his Wall Street Journal newsroom, the New York Times won't be the first place he'll look, if you take at face value (not advisable) comments he made yesterday during an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "There are some very fine journalists there we would be happy to have, but, I mean, equally there are in other newspapers." Shut up, no way.

MySpace is settling into its new San Francisco office space on Second Street near South Park, from the looks of this photo sent by a helpful inside spy. The building was a former startup incubator owned by LookSmart. No computer setups, yet, but note the size of the coffee machine. This should keep coders awake long enough to fix the social network's screamingly bad user interface. More pictures of the office follow.

A Reaganesque landslide: Dow Jones shareholders voted 60 percent in favor of Rupert Murdoch's purchase of the company which publishes the Wall Street Journal. The Bancroft family, split as always on the deal, tendered 54 percent of their supervoting shares to approve the deal, while an overwhelming 78 percent of common stock was voted in favor. Murdoch has already started replacing execs at Dow Jones, and News Corp. takes formal control tomorrow. (Photo by AP/Evan Vucci)

From the mailbag, about the big News Corp. party on the 14th: "Omg you would not believe the news corp holiday party invite. it's in the form of a comic book about how 'we saved the planet. (*not yet but let's party like we did.') My favorite nauseating bit: 'When it comes to climate change it's important to remember the 3 Rs: Relax!! Rejoice!! Rock!!' Whew—i feel so much better about my planet's future now that NEWSCORP is on it! Also we're asked to wear something blue in honor of COOL CHANGE, the party's theme. And all the rooms at the hilton have appropriately dubbed monikers for the party (my favorite being the escalators, now renamed 'The Winds of Change' that will blow you to the appropriate part of the venue). Good god." It goes without saying that you must send us images of this invitation NOW.

NBC and News Corp.'s joint Web-video venture Hulu remains in an invitation-only beta. But if you can't wait to access "Conan the Barbarian" online, blogger Matt Schlicht has your workaround. It's called OpenHulu. It's full of embedded Hulu videos like Arrested Development clip below. Other than whatever cash he's earning from Google ads he runs on the site, why's Schlicht taking so much time to index Hulu's content? "It's mainly the satisfaction of sticking it to the man and bending the rules," Schlict tells Last100. Sticking it to The Man by promoting his ad-supported content on your site and stirring up as much enthusiasm for his product as possible. Yeah! That'll teach him!

For all those whining about Hulu's video quality, the NBC-News Corp. venture as added high-definition content to its Web library. Right now, offerings are limited to a few movie trailers, but we're betting shows will pop up in HD before long. Not that that solves Hulu's terrible interface or lack of selection, of course. [NewTeeVee]

The House of Murdoch celebrated Baby Jew Jesus' Birthday at the Angel Orensanz Center last night. A spy says: "The girls at the door were in waaaaaaaay over their heads, and were rudely denying people (who were supposed to be on the list) left and right! I witnessed them make people wait outside in the cold, while they frantically called their Fox Interactive contacts to get them in the door.... I heard the party was pretty fun from co-workers though. Samantha Ronson was DJing, but her ladyfriend L. Lohan wasn't there. The coat check was a clusterfuck, as people waited for ever to leave and the dirt-bags at Fox were waving money around in the coat-checkers faces trying to get ahead in line. Half my co-workers are still drunk!" IS THIS TRUE, FOX WORKERS?

As expected, Robert Thomson, a News Corp. editor close to Rupert Murdoch, is taking over as publisher of the Wall Street Journal. What does this mean for the Valley? Well, that Thomson will be headed her soon on a goodwill tour to shake loose advertising dollars. Not much else. [WSJ]

"Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino is expected to announce his resignation Thursday afternoon, one week before Rupert Murdoch is set to assume official control of the company and its storied Wall Street Journal...." [Newsweek]

LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye, touring New York to brief journalists on embargoed news we already reported, told CNET that LinkedIn's backers have "great confidence in our independent path." CNET takes this for code that the rumored News Corp deal is off. Nah. It's just good negotiating. LinkedIn still may not sell, but if it does, Nye's billion-dollar posturing will ensure the site isn't sold cheap. It's a lesson some overeager startup flippers should take to heart.

News Corp will acquire Beliefnet, a portal for the spiritually inclined, FishbowlNY reports. Word from Silicon Alley Insider is that Peter Levinsohn, News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media head honcho, didn't make the move. Instead, Fox Digital Media topper Dan Fawcett pulled the trigger. That group markets Fox movies and TV shows online. Wait a second: Shouldn't the digital operation inside HarperCollins have done this deal instead? Sure, it's another redundant interactive arm of News Corp., but HarperCollins is one of the world's largest Bible publishers. (Photo by tanakawho)

NBC and Apple have finally parted ways. All NBC Universal shows have been removed from iTunes completely after talks to renew their contract fell apart. Disagreements on pricing led the partnership, once hailed for saving NBC's The Office, to founder. But Apple found an unlikely replacement: News Corp.'s Fox studio, NBC's joint-venture partner in online-video site Hulu.

News Corp. executive Jeremy Philips wants to get himself LinkedIn. But the business-oriented social network has just hired a fancypants new CEO, Dan Nye, who's told Fortune there's no way. No way, that is, unless Philips and his boss Rupert Murdoch pony up "a lot more" than a $1 billion. Ah, finally Nye is starting to understand the rhetorical game Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plays so well.

Jeremy Philips, the thirtysomething wunderkind of News Corp., is the reported "driving force" behind talks to acquire business networking site LinkedIn. Word is Philips wants to integrate the social network with News Corp.'s other new toy, the Wall Street Journal, in attempt to rejuvenate the paper's sagging classifieds revenues. Like the sound of that? Well good luck trying to contact Philips for some biz dev. The piker has all of 79 connections on LinkedIn. Newbie!

Let's all jump on the Murdoch's News Corp. is buying LinkedIn rumor treadmill. Following up last week's acquisition accusation by TechCrunch UK, VentureBeat says "a well-placed source has confirmed with us that these talks are serious." LinkedIn still has nothing to say. [VentureBeat]

I got hooked on iTunes TV shows last year, marathoning my way through Battlestar Galactica and then Lost. My TV-hating wife went from rolling her eyes to rolling up a chair to watch with me. But NBC has yanked the rug. My favorite shows of the moment — Galactica and the outstandingly witty 30 Rock — are no longer being added to iTunes. They're on Hulu, the new NBC/News Corp. site. I hate Hulu, for four very good reasons.