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Film critic's labor battle gets a thumbs down

Film critic Roger Ebert is battling with his TV show distributor over the use of the signature “thumbs up-thumbs down” that's part of each movie review. Ebert, who is negotiating a new contract, holds the copyright to the “thumbs” critique.

The 210 take: Talk about thumb wrestling!
The 210 take: These guys are all thumbs!
The 210 take: That's really thumb-thing!
I've got a million of them .....

Hey, Alberto Gonzales finally took the hint

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, has resigned. Gonzales, the son of migrant workers, was propelled to power by his close friendship with President Bush and had withstood demands for his ouster from Democrats and Republicans. “Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days.” Gonzales said.

The 210 take: His dad said: “Why you gotta bring me into this?”
 

Teen takes soldering iron to his iPhone

A New Jersey teenager figured out how to “unlock” the iPhone, freeing it from being restricted to a single carrier, San Antonio-based AT&T. The hack is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software, and missteps may result in the iPhone becoming useless, so it's unlikely to become a household procedure.

The 210 take: When asked who he would call and text with his newly unbound phone, the teen replied as all teens reply: “Idk, my bff, Jill.”
 

Shuttle lands safely; everyone relieved

The shuttle Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center, overcoming concerns about a gouge in its belly that occurred on liftoff. On-board was teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who was Christa McAuliffe's backup on the Challenger and was preparing to fly on Columbia when it was destroyed.

The 210 take: Her fellow astronauts were relieved to land safely. “Yeah, when I heard about her previous ill-fated attempts, I almost had to change my diaper then and there.”
 

t's getting harder to get into UTSA

UTSA took a step away from its roots as an open-admission commuter campus and moved toward its goal of becoming a top-tier university by raising standards for the fall 2008 admissions. The bar won't come up very far, but officials hope the move will help control runaway growth and raise low graduation rates.
 
The 210 take: Worst of all, applicants who are denied admission are asked to work as parking valets to ease the parking crunch.