• Forbes, Wednesday, November 14, 2012 2:29 PM

Wow, what a totally random group of "important people" made up the panel of folks meeting to help decide what is, admittedly, an ultimately trivial if mediacentric question: Who will be Time magazine's person of the year? Judges ranged from, among others, Newt Gingrich to Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter to actor Bryan Cranston to "Top Chief" host Padma Laskshmi (god forbid a Bravolebrity should be left out!) Actually, sounds like Laskshmi had some substantive ideas, including "Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot for advocating for women’s rights," and "Burmese opposition leader Aun San Suu Kyi," writes Jeff Bercovici. But "better than any of these suggestions was one that came from an audience member, who suggested putting Lance Armstrong, David Petraeus and Joe Paterno on the cover under the heading 'Fallen Heroes.'"

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