Eating the world's largest chocolate rabbit, a Verizon iPhone in the works and Eminem with a cryptic proclamation

- Not that the U.S. Postal Service has ever been accused of being the hardest-working group around (just kidding, USPS!), but if the Postal Service has its way, its services will soon become even more limited. With the service facing a budget crunch just like the rest of the country, its leaders are actively seeking ways to stop the financial hemorrhaging and they want to start by cutting Saturday mail delivery. Under a plan delivered today to its regulator, the U.S. Postal Service is proposing the cessation of Saturday delivery beginning in the first half of next year. "If the Postal Service takes no action, it could face a cumulative $238 billion shortfall by the year 2020," the service said in plans distributed to the media. According to the USPS, it would save about $3.1 billion in the first year and as much as $5.2 billion per year by 2020 by not delivering mail on Saturdays. Those figures may be slightly bloated to improve their argument, as the Postal Regulatory Commission estimated annual savings of $1.9 billion under the plan. The reason for choosing Saturday to cut delivery is that it is the lightest-volume delivery day of the week and a day when more than a third of U.S. businesses are closed. It is important to note that while mail delivery on Saturdays would end, Express Mail deliveries would continue and post offices that are open Saturdays would remain open. Any change would have to be approved by Congress (which can’t seem to agree to much of anything these days) and six months notice would be given before any move was made. The overall volume of mail has plummeted from a peak of 213 billion pieces in 2006 to 177 billion last year and is predicted to continue to fall, which makes sense now that more people have Internet access at home and on the go with smartphones, high-speed Internet and the like. Simply put, you can email, text, Tweet, direct deposit or pay bills on line much more easily and sending things in the mail isn’t the top option for most people. "Quite simply, there is much less mail to be delivered, yet costs to deliver the mail continue to rise," the Postal Service said. Stay tuned on this one because with Congress involved, you never know where this will lead…………

- His program may be preparing for its sixth Final Four in the past 12 seasons, but Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is having to battle an entirely different opponent as he and his squad prepare to head for Indianapolis in pursuit of a championship. Speculation has the University of Oregon extremely interested in Izzo for its vacant head coaching position. Oregon is backed by the deep pockets of alumnus Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, so it could definitely afford to throw ginormous wads of cash at Izzo. However, UO is prohibited from speaking to Izzo about its job until Michigan State’s season is over and on Monday, Izzo himself confirmed that he has been contacted by Oregon officials about replacing former Ducks coach Ernie Kent. Media outlets in and around Eugene are reporting that Oregon officials are ready to offer Izzo the richest coaching contract in college basketball history, a deal that would surpass the $31.65 million, eight-year contract Kentucky gave John Calipari last year. Private schools aren’t required to disclose the salaries they pay their coaches, so a guy like Coach K at Duke could make more money and we wouldn’t know. That being said, Izzo currently earns more than $3 million per season at Michigan State and is under contract through 2016. "I haven't been contacted," he said. "The truth of the matter, whenever you have success, you get to be one of 10 names that pop up on these lists. I haven't been contacted, and I'm not going to comment on it again. I have a job to do, and I'm happy with the job I have." Well said, Tom. Also keep in mind that he is a native of Iron Mountain, Mich., so he has roots in Michigan and would seem like an unlikely candidate to jump ship just for a larger paycheck. Oregon has also spoken to Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon about the job in New York over the weekend, but reports have Izzo being their top choice, which is sad because it seems virtually inevitable that he is going to turn them down, accept a raise at Michigan State and stay right where he is…………

- It’s about freaking time. That’s what many iPhone users are saying now that Apple is reportedly preparing an iPhone that is compatible with Verizon's network. Since its invention, the iPhone has been exclusively available on AT&T and that meant customers either had to make do with AT&T’s often inferior service or go without the iPhone they so badly wanted. Now, they will be able to have the best of both worlds. It is being reported that one of Apple's contract manufacturers--the companies that build the hardware according to Apple's specifications--is working on an iPhone that runs on a CDMA network, the same cellular network that Verizon uses in the U.S. According to sources close to the situation, the CDMA-compatible iPhones will go into mass production in September. However, there is no official date as to when Apple will begin selling the phones. That makes sense, as a) they want to drum up as much interest and advance publicity as possible and b) they aren’t going to commit to a date until they are 101 percent sure that the phones will be ready by then. The typical release date for new iPhone hardware has been in the summer - June or July - but they could obviously choose to go in a different direction here with such an important step forward to take. In the past, Apple’s exclusive contract with AT&T in the U.S. has stood in the way of offering a Verizon iPhone, but as with any contract, there are time limits and AT&T’s exclusive grip on the iPhone may be up. Users in other countries have seen Apple add additional carrriers the past few months, but the same has not held true in the U.S. According to a Wall Street Journal story, Pegatron is the company that has been assigned to build the Verizon-compatible model. Apple is also partnering with Taiwan-based Hon Hai on the next-generation iPhone that will operate on AT&T in the U.S. and on GSM networks in other countries. So lots in the works for Apple and the iPhone, just not enough to distract me from the fact that the über-disappointing iPad is soon to launch, good times…………

- Eminem tends to be a fairly quiet guy when he’s not on stage or out promoting an album, so when he says something, people tend to pay attention. The man also known as Marshall Mathers threw up an interesting Tweet today, a cryptic message promising a major announcement some time in the near future. "Some big news is coming. Soon." read the Tweet. The obvious leap is to assume that the post refers to "Relapse 2," the follow-up to Eminem’s comeback album "Relapse." The new album is one of the most-anticipated new releases of 2010, which is due in part to the fact that it was originally scheduled to drop in 2009 but was postponed after Eminem's studio sessions led to a shift in creative direction. That could be good or bad, as an artist being unsure of his or her creative direction doesn’t exactly boost confidence in the final product. However, with a great hip-hop mind like Eminem and a partner like Dr. Dre, I’m inclined to revise that theory and give Em the benefit of the doubt. "I got back in with [Dr.] Dre and then a few more producers, including Just Blaze, and went in a completely different direction which made me start from scratch," Eminem explained at the time of the postponement. "The new tracks started to sound very different than the tracks I originally intended to be on 'Relapse 2,' but I still want the other stuff to be heard." To make good on that promise, "Relapse: Refill," a reissue with bonus material, was released in December and combined, the two albums have sold 1,891,000 copies. Based simply on the buzz building around “Relapse 2,” I would not be at all surprised to see similar numbers this time around………

- If there is one thing people associate with Easter (aside from Christians celebrating Jesus’ return from the dead), it’s eating a ginormous amount of candy. Cramming loads of chocolate down your pie hole is a requisite activity for most on Easter, especially anyone under the age of 14. The kids appreciate it and their dentists do as well, so it’s a win-win. That was especially true for a special group of 250 underprivileged kids gathered at a mall in Johannesburg, South Africa, to help dismantle and eat the world's largest chocolate bunny. Ordinarily I would be lamenting kids downing a bunch of crap that is nothing but sugar and is only going to help make them more unhealthy, but I’ll make an exception here because these children come from some very tough conditions and many of them are from child-headed households with little food or time to play. But on Saturday they were just kids. "It is truly amazing to see them act like children," said Portia Mongake from Abangani eNkosini, a local charity. Having to head up your household when you are still a kid has to be a next-to-impossible task, so good for everyone who had a role in providing these kids with a chance to actually act like kids. It took several days for four professional sculptors to carve the bunny out of three solid tons of chocolate. Because chocolate is brittle, the mass was first melted down into blocks, then stacked one on top of the other to form the core structure. Once completed, the humongous rabbit stood 12½ feet high and was set up inside a plastic, temperature-controlled casing to prevent it from melting and to conform to rigid health guidelines while on display. "Chocolate is very difficult to work with," said Harry Johnson, one of the sculptors who helped create the bunny. "You can't carve it in one giant piece. When you cut into one corner, the other corner breaks off." Johnson has a reputation as one of the fastest sculptors in the world, but admitted this was his first time working with chocolate. "The first time I melted chocolate on the stove, I burned it," he joked. On hand to confirm the rabbit as the world’s largest chocolate structure was Tom Howard of the World Records Academy. Hope the kids enjoyed their day of fun and I’m sure their many future cavities will be continual reminders of the occasion……….