Smile, though your teeth are yellow: A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that smokers not only have more problems with their teeth than nonsmokers, they also go to the dentist less often. A full 20 percent of smokers said they had not seen a dentist in at least five years.

The other 80 percent had seen a dentist but only because they bumped into the doctor while they were both taking a smoke break.

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Dippity dogs

A Bothell therapist uses a 9-foot-by-6-foot rehabilitation pool to help her canine clients regain mobility and recover from injuries.

The therapy pool's for dogs only, because she'd need a chain-mail bathing suit if she tried it out on a cat.

New Netflix competitor: Redbox and Verizon are teaming up on a new business that will provide movies via streaming Internet and supermarket DVD kiosks.

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Oh, shut up

Turning conventional wisdom on its head, business book author Susan Cain argues that bosses who place a high value on collaboration waste the ideas and problem-solving talents of introverts, who don't function well in a team environment.

If Cain's book does nothing else but lead to fewer awkward office birthday parties, The Buzz says she deserves the Pulitzer Prize.

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Specious origins

You say you want an evolution: Atheists, freethinkers and humanists have joined ranks in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington, home to Washington State University, and will mark their collaboration by celebrating International Darwin Day with events dubbed "Darwin on the Palouse."

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That's the ticket: Former quasi-presidential candidate, unfulfilled debate moderator and presidential birth certificate authority Donald Trump endorsed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, R-Celebrity Apprentice, during a Las Vegas appearance with the candidate.

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The Face that launched a $5 billion IPO: The social network Facebook has filed with federal regulators to sell shares publicly with the hopes of raising $5 billion to expand its audience beyond its current 845 million users.

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Hey Hey, My My

Veteran rocker Neil Young on Tuesday endorsed a digital music format that delivers much higher fidelity than the heavily compressed format sold at Apple's iTunes store.

Downloading one song would take about 30 minutes, or almost as long as one of Young's guitar solos.

Stimulus shock: A much-ballyhooed electric-car factory in Indiana has gone bust, in a cautionary tale for states eager to throw money at high-tech manufacturing jobs.

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Get a gross of beer and pretzels while you're there: Costco is offering Super Bowl ticket packages for Sunday's game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis that range from $2,999.99 for one ticket up to $15,499.99 for two tickets and a pre-game party with an NFL legend.

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Fight club

On this day in 1798, a brawl broke out in the U.S. House of Representatives after a congressman from Vermont spat in the face of a colleague from Connecticut.

There haven't been any fisticuffs in Congress since senators Benjamin Tillman and John L. McLaurin squared off in 1902 -- yet another sign of how far our federal government has strayed from the Founding Fathers' vision.

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What a long strange trip it's been: Barring a prison break, we should be reading less about Colton Harris-Moore, the Camano Island Barefoot Bandit whose cross-continent string of burglaries and plane thefts captured the attention of international media. Harris-Moore was sentenced in federal court to 6 1/2 years in prison, to run concurrently with a state sentence.

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I'd like to buy a vowel: A? Longtime "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak admitted during a ESPN2 talk show that he and the lovely letter-spinning Vanna White often partook of four-or-more-margarita meal breaks when they were younger.

This must have made things difficult for Sajak; the entire studio was spinning long before contestants even touched the wheel.

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Is there nothing it can't fix? Citing the cost and controversy, Monroe Mayor Robert Zimmerman says its unlikely that the city will renew a contract to use traffic cameras at intersections after 2013. Existing cameras won't be taken down because of a binding contract with the camera company.

But we think the mayor can solve even that problem with some strategically placed duct tape.

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Those magnificent men in their flying machines: Colton Harris-Moore, the Barefoot Bandit now awaiting sentencing for his cross-continent string of burglaries and aircraft thefts, characterized police and prosecutors in monitored calls and email as "swine," "fools" and "asses" and noted of himself, "Nobody on this planet have (sic) done what I have, except for the Wright brothers." (above)

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The Disney Look

The Animatronic Abraham Lincoln no longer is the only worker bee at Disneyland with facial hair. The Walt Disney Co. will soon allow employees, presumably only the male ones, at Disneyland and Disney World to grow beards or goatees.

Disney also will allow Casual Fridays, but frankly we can't quite see Honest Abe in a blue shirt and tan chinos.

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Ice Road Suckers

Fools of the road: Street Smarts columnist Bill Sheets recently asked readers to send in their driving pet peeves and received more than 140 responses. Among the top gripes were left-lane campers, tailgaters and those who drive too fast for conditions when it snows.

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Tehran Barbie

Authorities in Iran have resumed their decades-long crackdown on Barbie, saying the doll exemplifies unwholesome Western culture.

How typical of the cruel, repressive Iranian regime to deny that nation's girls the opportunity to dress provocatively, crave expensive status symbols and starve themselves so they may have freakishly skinny waists.

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He's dead, Jim: Priceline, the travel booking website, is killing off its Negotiator character in a fiery bus plunge in a new commercial. For the last 14, years, the Negotiator was played by William Shatner, whose James T. Kirk character from "Star Trek" also met a dramatic end.

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Slip-sliding away

Look on the bright side: With roads still treacherous with ice and snow, auto body shops in Snohomish County have geared up for the parade of crumpled fenders and shattered tail lights that are sure to follow.

Think of it this way: That's not a $500 check you just wrote for the deductible; it's a flat-screen TV for your mechanic.

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One of our plows is missing: Everett School District employees reported that one of the district's snow plows was stolen from an equipment lot during the recent snowstorm.

Suspicion has fallen on those in the area with snow-free driveways who weren't sweaty and breathless from shoveling.

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Guess there won't be one more thing: A company that planned to sell a lifelike 12-inch doll of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, down to the black mock turtleneck, rimless glasses and jeans, said it will respect the request of Apple and Jobs' family and will not market the doll.

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Made to be broken

Facebook requires that its users be at least 13 years old, but children younger than that are creating their own pages, with help from parents anxious for them to "embrace technology."

These kids are learning two lessons: That Facebook is a powerful social networking tool, and that you don't have to abide by rules you think are dumb.

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How about a Windows phone instead? Apple's plans to begin selling its iPhone 4S in China on Friday were delayed in Beijing after huge crowds surrounded the Apple store there, raising concerns about safety. When the store didn't open at 7 a.m., the crowd responded in anger, hurling eggs and shouting at employees.

Apple employees avoided harm by asking Siri to show them a good escape route.

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Knives sharpened: Attacks and counterattacks continue within the Republican Party as presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry attack Mitt Romney for his alleged "vulture capitalism," while others criticize Perry and Gingrich for not valuing the free-market system.

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Twinkies may be around longer than Hostess: Hostess, maker of the perpetually shelf-stable Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is declaring bankruptcy, a victim of Americans' improving attitudes about food and nutrition. More are choosing energy bars and yogurt for snacks and whole-wheat bread over white.

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II'm afraid I can't do that, Dave: Apple products aren't featured at the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, but some attendees are discussing how Apple might change the industry with am iPhone-inspired iTV. Some speculate it might be controlled by voice or with a sweep of the hand, like Apple's iPhone 4S.

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Mr. Microphone

A new breed of TV will come with remotes that will let you can send emails or tweets by speaking into a microphone.

Never an early adopter, The Buzz will wait for TV Microphone 2.0. We're hoping it will let us disrupt a meeting in the board room by telling Donald Trump to shut the #@%! up.

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So long ...

And thanks for all the fish: Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking was too ill to attend a conference in honor of his 70th birthday, but he recorded a message for attendees that repeated his call for travel to other planets, arguing that humans face eventual extinction unless they colonize other worlds.

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A 593-pound bluefin tuna sold for $736,000 at a Tokyo fish market Thursday.

The prized fish was thought to be destined for Tokyo's swankest sushi parlors, but then it was revealed that the buyer was poor little rich boy Ri¢hie Ri¢h, who really loves tuna fish sandwiches.

A little extra in the pay envelope: The Obama administration's 2013 budget would give federal workers an 0.5 percent pay raise.

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Can you hear me now? A New Hampshire dealer is auctioning a letter from Alexander Graham Bell to his parents that instructed them on how to properly ground the telephone he invented by running a copper wire from their house to the duck pond.

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What about Angry Birds? U.S. border officials say they did not allow a Canadian man across the border because he showed a photo of his Canadian passport on his iPad, as was reported yesterday. He was allowed across because he also presented a driver's license and a birth certificate.

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