Providence Monthly is out with its annual list of "10 people you don't know now, but soon will."

As is sometimes the case, a number of these putative under-the-radar-types are already familiar to close readers of the Phoenix.

Julian Dash, renewable energy czar at the EDC, was one of our Local Heroes, back in 2005.

Ryan Stewart tells us why in the new Phoenix:

Even if we weren't aware that Obama collects Spider-Man comics or that, upon meeting Leonard Nimoy for the first time, gave him the Vulcan hand signal, there was still a clear "one of us" vibe emanating from Obama, a vibe at odds with his charismatic rock-star image.

Newspapers, a bulwark of democracy, may be seriously imperiled, but there's a boom market in excrement.

From KillerStartups:

Nature calls when least expected, and it is always handy to have a resource like this one at hand. Generally speaking, this online service will let you know about restrooms in your close vicinity by displaying such information either on your web browser or your mobile device.

Newly minted Everyman Joe the Plumber . . .

. . . and TV tough guy Michael Chiklis

Maybe the Floridians are spending too much time in the sun (h/t Dirt Dogs):

The latest style to sweep the west coast, home of the Rays, is a bikini wax. Mohawk style.

Try waving that around at a game!

Michelle Foster of Skin Deep Spatique says she was inspired by her son's Mohawk, reports
Tampa Bay's 10 News.

It was fun while it lasted: the Sox won the first 10 games I went to this year, although the hot streak at home came to an ignoble close with Beckett getting hammered yesterday. In the mood for some levity, N4N was not disappointed to find the following subject lines in my smam filter this morning, each preceded by the phony tease MSNBC.

There I was, bunked in section 162, near Fenway's leftfield sideline, during last night's game against the Rays, when I spotted a familiar face sitting a few rows away. It took a moment to sink in, but I was sure it was the guy who played one of the Savage brothers from Mystic River and who portrays Rhode Island mob boss Freddie Cork in Showtime's Brotherhood

Following its publication of a story about a woman who pledged to have sex with her husband every day for a year, the ProJo wants to know whether its readers like the concept (64 percent said, "Yes!"):

Could you handle sex every day?

Yes yes yes

Gosh no

Even better are some of the responses:

May 23, 2008 11:53 a.

The old Victorian homes that dot Providence and other New England communities convey the beauty and worksmanship of a bygone age. (As James Howard Kunstler has observed, there's no small irony in how when this country was less prosperous before WWII, the homes and public buildings were far more durable and aesthetically pleasing than those made following the boom years.

Some years back, when Phillipe + Jorge picked up on a report in the Onion about anti-semiotism at Brown University, some readers failed to get the joke.

Now, as Boston Magazine reports, the Boston Herald has had its own problem with taking things a bit too literally (h/t Romenesko):

[T]he Herald got duped by a satirist.

Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts won the ad competition during last Friday's Providence Newspaper Guild Follies, rolling out a witty spoof of how Governor Carcieri's office didn't let her know -- a story first reported here -- that he was leaving the country before what became the December 13 snow debacle.

Don't just take my word for it. Check it out:

Published an anti-establishment polemic last year
LAFFEY: Primary Mistake: How the Washington Republican Establishment Lost Everything in 2006 (and Sabotaged My Senatorial Campaign), published by Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Group.
PALAST: Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans — Sordid Secrets & Strange Tales of a White House GONE WILD, published by Plume, an imprint of Penguin Group.

Just your routine Valentine's Day roundup:

-- Writing in this week's Phoenix, Amy Littlefield describes the making of a sexpert.

-- Daily Dose plays both ends against the middle, sponsoring an anti-Valentine's bash tonight while also reporting on the deleterious impact of the flower industry: