It’s Friday again and time for the weekly round-up of great conversational news stories from the last 7 days, or so. (I add the “or so” because not every story has a published and verified date.)

Read my comments, read the story and try to remember the essential points of the story so you have something to talk about later and be able to avoid those otherwise embarrassing pregnant pauses in what could otherwise be a happy pairing up or group conversation. Good luck!

- Beaver shot in suspected payback killing. I had to include this simply because of the headline. Who shoots beavers and why? Was there porn involved or was it a PG-13 shooting? Sorry, I just couldn’t resist but you still have to read the story.

- Stone Henge meet Wood Henge. While it isn’t out of this world that archeologists looking for something found something, I think that except for nice bed time reading, all of this nonsense shouldn’t be funded by public dollars. It’s just my opinion mind you.

- Mug shots of famous people as they headed off to jail. Lindsay Lohan, you’re in “good” company. LOL. I think whoever has 12 days in the pool for betting on how long she’s actually in jail has the best shot at winning!

- Romantic movies ruin real life for many, Australian survey finds. Geesh, they could have asked me and I would have saved them a ton of money. Doesn’t anyone else realize how many kids these days mistake “music entertainment” for real life? If you disagree with me all I have to say to you is “Pull up your pants, your boxers are showing!

- The truth about lying. I do not care to admit agreement or disagreement with the phrase “You save your really big lies,” Bella DePaulo, Ph.D. says, “for the person that you’re closest to.”

Have a great week!