Read about the original "Lucy" and her battle with lupus and take a look at our list of must-reads that will have you chatting at the lunch counter, over IM or wherever it is that people actually talk these days.
- The woman who inspired "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has an incurable illness. Lucy O'Donnell, now 46, was a nursery school pal of John Lennon's son, Julian. The little boy drew a picture of his friend with star-shaped eyes and titled it the namesake of the famous song and then gave it to his father. She became the inspiration for the Beatles' song. Now, O'Donnell is now living with the autoimmune disease, lupus, and Julian has come to her aid, sending her flowers, a handwritten card and gift card for gardening center because she loves to garden.
- Closing Gitmo is the least of the prison problems in the U.S., according to some experts. America has 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of its prisoners -- 16 percent of which are mentally ill and scores more are non-violent drug offenders. We incarcerate nearly five times the world average.
- A pastor in Kentucky has encouraged parishioners to bring handguns to church to celebrate the Fourth of July and the Second Amendment. The church says "responsible handgun owners" can take their firearms into church on June 27 but that the guns must be unloaded. There will be a security check.
- A Brooklyn artist and about 30 others plan to sail to Venice on boats made of garbage from New York City. The crew will spend two weeks at sea as they sail from Slovenia -- where they are constructing the 20-foot long vessels -- to Venice. The artists had 40-foot containers of trash shipped from the Big Apple sent on a tax-free artist's visa.
- A political party in Sweden that wants to legalize file-sharing on the web recorded a W over the weekend when it got a seat in the European parliament. The Pirate Party garnered 7.1 percent of the vote in Sweden and scored one of the nation's 18 seats in parliament. The party was founded in 2006 with the sole purpose of legalizing file sharing.
