Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• The need for American International Group Inc (AIG) "to raise $12.5 billion after two straight quarterly losses..."
• Divestitures at Citigroup Inc. (C) as the company "plans to 'wind down' about $400 billion of assets over the next three years..."
• Positive comments from Jim Cramer on Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited (NAT) that has the stock poised to gap higher...
• A look into "Microsoft's (MSFT) war against Google (GOOG)..."
• A look into "why Microsoft (MSFT) isn't buying Facebook..."
• Earnings from NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) ...
• A look into how the movie Iron Man is changing Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (MVL) and the movie industry...
• A stock offering from Ormat Technologies Inc. (ORA) that has the stock under pressure...
• Record prices for crude...
• The run on rice...
• An article that says "why inflation is not the big problem..."
• Another potential controversy at eBay (EBAY) as it is said the company "is exploring whether to require customers to use only its online payment service PayPal..."
• A survey that says "tax rebates won't prevent the U.S. economy from stagnating in the second quarter..."

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest news is this pair of "do-it-yourself-themed" articles -

• Omaha man uses steak knife to perform self-tracheotomy - "An Omaha man struggling to breathe used a steak knife to perform an at-home tracheotomy...he didn't call 911 because he didn't think help would arrive in time. So, the 55-year-old says, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and..."
• Kick the oil habit and make your own ethanol - "E-Fuel Corp unveiled on Thursday the 'MicroFueler touting it as the world's first machine that allows homeowners to make their own ethanol...The portable unit that sells for $10,000 resembles a gasoline station pump and nozzle...the pump's back end plugs into home power and water supplies to make ethanol for as little as $1 a gallon..."

I suspect that some may not be in favor of an at-home tracheotomy, but I have to admire the go-getter attitude. As far as the second story goes, I don't know how legit it is but thought the concept was intriguing. There is a university professor quoted who casts doubt on the product but he doesn't offer any evidence other than to say "I doubt it will work". It is hard to say if he is saying that because he studied the product in detail or is simply miffed he didn't come up with it. If anyone has already done any research on this, I would love to hear it.