There was no ring, no swinging chairs or smashing tables, and his arch enemy, the ever-dastardly Vince McMahon, was some 3,000 miles away prepping for Sunday's WrestleMania. But even while completely out of his element, consummate badass Stone Cold Steve Austin managed to successfully open a can on the Harvard Lampoon during his Friday induction as an honorary member.

Yesterday, the Globe bestowed upon us a truly special gift: "Men leave their own mark on veganism." Within hours of hitting boston.com, it zoomed right up into the #1 spot in the Globe's "Most Emailed" widget, and it's not hard to see why -- it introduces us to the concept of "hegans." You know, male vegans

^{Seth Grahame-Smith speaks at the Brattle Theatre}

Ever wonder why Honest Abe always wore that tall stovepipe hat? All the better to conceal his wooden vampire-killing stake, my dear. In his most recent book, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, critically acclaimed author Seth Grahame-Smith recounts the "true story" of our nation's 16th president.

The advancement of modern medicine owes a great deal to a sharp pelvic pain felt by a Southern black woman in 1951. This pang, followed by a self-examination in a bathtub and a trip to Johns Hopkins, was ultimately diagnosed as cervical cancer. “I got a knot on my womb,” the patient had told her doctor, who scraped cells from the tumor for further analysis.

El Pelon, part of the row of restaurants on Peterborough Street that burned down in January 2009, will re-open later today at a new location on Commonwealth Avenue near the end of the B line. Great news for both the establishment and anyone within hailing distance of the neighborhood. As for those of us living and/or working in the Fenway area - in addition to being the preferred burrio of the Phoenix offices, El Pelon also was a favorite of staffers at the area hospitals, Simmons College, Mass College of Art, the museums, and the Red Sox (I saw Dustin Pedroia sneaking out of there with a takeout bag once) - El Pelon's Web site promises the Peterborough location will re-open, so all hope is not lost.

Granted, he's done this before, but yeah, last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart involved a pretty stunning takedown of Glenn Beck's recent paranoia-fueled criticisms of progressivism and the idea of social justice as a stated goal, all done while in character as someone very similar to Beck himself:

It was just yesterday that we showed you the trailer for one of HBO's upcoming series, Treme. Today, we have another trailer for you, this time for this fall's Boardwalk Empire, a Prohibition-era drama set in Atlantic City from Terence Winter, who was one of the top writers on The Sopranos for a lot of years.

Every time I consider cancelling HBO, I'm stopped by one thought: "Isn't that David Simon show about New Orleans supposed to start soon?" And now that HBO has released a trailer for Treme (above) . . . there's just no way I can get rid of it now. Treme premieres on April 11, and stars Bunk, Lester Freamon, Khandi Alexander, Kim Dickens, Steve Zahn and John Goodman as various residents of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Scientists discovery mystery behind half-female, half-male chicken
Yes, the news here is actually NOT that there are half-female/half-male chickens running around and it's fairly common (one in every 10,000 chickens), but that scientists figured out the reason behind the sexual duality is cellular, not hormonal.

Now showing on YouTube, the World Wildlife Fund's new thriller, "Everyone turn off your lights on March 27 to show how easy it is to save energy!" Two unlikely trailers for the WWF's "Earth Hour" campaign: testimonials by our boy TOM BRADY and his lady GISELE. Seeing as current and former New England Patriots were instrumental in helping elect SCOTT BROWN, we're glad to see at least a little bit of off-season liberalizin' on the part of the NFL's hunkiest QB.

As DEVAL PATRICK gears up for the fight of his political life, Boston Phoenix Executive Editor PETER KADZIS and political reporter DAVID BERNSTEIN sat down for an hour-long conversation to let Patrick make his case for why he deserves four more years as Governor of Massachusetts.

It was surprising on several levels.

UPDATE (1:45 pm): They've added a second Boston show on June 5. Tickets here.

As previously hinted at, Conan O'Brien, the internet's favorite unemployed person, will be heading on a live comedy tour which will circumvent the clause in his NBC settlement that prevents him from appearing on television for seven months.

Harvard Square to the Phoenix offices via bicycle, according to Google.

I'm a recent-ish convert to the world of bicycle commuting, and as such, I've often wondered if I've been doing it right. Specifically, is there a faster route I could be taking to get into work? Now there's an easy way to find out: Google has added a "bicycle" option to Google Maps, which seems to look for things like bike paths and areas with clearly-indicated bicycle lanes.