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As the wire reports say, November's unemployment drop from 9.0 percent to 8.6 percent puts the jobless rate at its lowest point in more than two years. But there are still more than 13 million unemployed folks -- Americans who want to work, have looked for a job in recent weeks and haven't been hired. And that doesn't count the folks who have given up. If you want to work but you're not actively looking for a job, you're not counted as unemployed. Hundreds of thousands seem to have given up looking last month, which is what partly explains the drop in unemployment.

It's down to the top four all-stars, and things are getting serious. Each girl is awesome in her own right, and all have been top contenders throughout the season. This week, the girls had to write a blog for vogue.it and were directed in a motion editorial by Tyra herself for her model fantasy novel "Modelland," dressed as some sort of gladiator rooster in couture. Not sure what that has to do with modeling, but sure, I can dig feathered armor. It's all going to culminate next week during the season finale.

Whether or not you agree with the Occupy protesters recently rousted from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, still camping out at Baltimore's Inner Harbor and making their presence known in other cities across America, the movement has made one thing clear: The mainstream media still matter. The demonstrators have used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to publicize their activities. Anyone interested has been able to get up-to-the-minute news on the movement and watch live streaming of protest sites.

My fondness for my fellow Baltimore sports bloggers is well-documented on Baltimore Sports Blitz, as evidenced by my daily Coffee Companion posts and my occasional installments of Blogger on Blogger. That's why I want to give everyone a heads-up about this year's Mobbies, our annual competition to find Maryland's most outstanding blogs. Nominations for the 2011 Mobbies will wrap up Wednesday at 5 p.m. There are three sports-specific categories: best Orioles blog, best Ravens blog and best general sports blog.

Celebrity lifestyle blogs tend to be little more than bragging and holier-than-thou advice (cough*GwynethPaltrow*cough). But Jenni "JWOWW" Farley's is thankfully a bit different. The "Jersey Shore" star officially launched her site, jwoww.com , today. Covering "Shore" news (including live chats with JWOWW, relationship advice and a pets section (!), it's an accessible look into Farley's life that shockingly down-to-earth. JWOWW calls the site "my personal venting space, therapist office and collection of things I am currently obsessed with.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday. When the news broke in the evening, the social media set did its thing, taking to Twitter and Facebook to mourn his death as if he were a close relative, post inspirational quotes from Jobs, and compare him to Einstein, Edison, Carnegie and even the late, great Jesus . I can't (stealing a phrase from my buddy Kevin Cowherd) keep my fat, little fingers off my new iPhone. But I was surprised by the strong reactions people had to the death of the innovator behind many great Apple products . I'm also surprised the blogosphere is having so much fun with an innocent Tweet by Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, who asked his 75,000 followers on Wednesday night to clue him in on who Steve Jobs was. Oher posted the message to his Twitter feed using his iPhone , of course.

As word began spreading Tuesday that the beloved movie "Diner" was being rejiggered as a Broadway show - with Sheryl Crow music, no less - the mood of the people could best be summed up with a universal head scratch. Even in a world littered with remakes, sequels and prequels, no one saw this one coming. As the chatter got going Tuesday afternoon, on blogs and in the social media circus, the first reaction was one of clear puzzlement. The Moviefone blog filed the breaking news tidbit under "Today in Huh?"

To the readers, It's been a fun six months here at the Ridiculous Report, but it's time to sign off. I'm going back to being a full-time reporter focusing on local issues and won't have much time for musings on the various national political items of the day. That means less time spent on Sarah Palin and Joe Biden jokes, and more time rooting out untold stories in Baltimore. On the blog, I've done my best to be fair and independent and point out silliness on both the left and the right.

If I were the boss of Baltimore Gas & Electric I would be tempted to set up a secret plan to treat Very Important Neighborhoods differently than those of the plebes. Did the governor's lights go off? Put him at the top of the list for repair. No, wait. Put the members of the Public Service Commission first. They're the ones who will approve or reject the application by BGE parent Constellation Energy to merge with Exelon. They're the ones who are developing reliablity standards for BGE and other utilities.

Jill Smokler just might be Baltimore's biggest unknown celebrity. Few recognize her tightly coiled curls, her peanut-butter-eating children, her tired dog. But online, thousands upon thousands of mothers grasp onto her every word. And on Twitter, nearly 155,000 people follow her, more, by far, than Baltimore's mayor, Maryland's governor, chef Duff Goldman and the Ravens' Ray Lewis - together. In the virtual world she's a well-known and influential voice. Yet in the real one, you'd walk right past her in Whole Foods without realizing.