the buzz log

Summer arrived, but there were no fair-weather breaks for rioters, sinners and humorists grappling with the double-entendre scandal of the season. In a month jam packed with news, politician disowned his briefs and lost his job instead, marriage rites became a right, and two questionable protests had very different endings. Forget mediocre blockbusters and fizzling finales, here is where the online action on Yahoo! Search buzzed this June.

Mis-Tweeted and mistreated
Gotta love New York in summer. Sure, the humidity makes you feel like you're wearing a cashmere wetsuit soaked in llama drool, but where else can you witness the sexual self-destruction of a man called Weiner, followed later by progressive triumph of same-sex marriage? The sins of Anthony Weiner (+18,039% Search surge) had been preceded this year by NY Rep Chris Lee's Craigslist fumble, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child and IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn's sexual assault charges. The New York congressman mesmerized the nation after he denied sending a photo of bulging briefs to 45,000 Twitter followers, rather than the intended recipient — one of many women who wasn't his wife. After days of dodging, embarrassing revelations and raucous headlines and an action figure, Weiner resigned June 16. His high-powered wife Huma Abedin (+21,448%), pregnant with their first child, will take a leave from her State Department job and head out to an "undisclosed location" while Weiner attends counseling. The couple's first year anniversary is July 10.

Pride and marriage
A more disciplined campaign was underway in New York: Freshman governor Andrew Cuomo (off the charts) herded hedge fund managers, hesitant Republicans, tormented Democrats, and fractious gay rights groups to help pass the Marriage Equality Act, on the eve of Pride weekend. New York is the sixth state to pass same-sex marriage, following Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Vermont. (Washington D.C. and an Coquille Indian Tribe of Oregon also has grant same-sex marriage licenses.) As the most populous state to do so, however, New York CNN calculates the "number of Americans live in states covered by same-sex marriage laws has [now] more than doubled." Same-sex couples will be allowed to be wed starting July 24.

Riotous behavior
Protests and conflicts amounting to near civil war continue across the Middle East and North Africa. (See Aljazeera and the BBC for various timelines.) Two very different types of riots though erupted in June, and one in the unlikeliest of places: The Boston Bruins won its first Stanley Cup in 39 years, but it wasn't the winningest sport city on the continent that erupted into chaos. Instead, alcohol-fueled and not-very-bright hooligans ran amuck in Vancouver and triggered Search breakouts for "vancouver riots." The embarrassed city quickly rallied: Anti-riot Facebook page sprung up, volunteers and corporate donors cleaned up, Canucks emailed their apologies to the Boston Globe, and schoolkids wrote to cohorts to congratulate the Bruins on their win. Explains why Vancouver managed to get nicest city award just days later.

In Greece, however, yogurt-tossing citizens took to the streets again after its government voted to swallow bitter austerity measures for a bail-out loan. Greeks wanted out of the European Union. Some observers however aren't as sympathetic, in a country where its official admits "virtually everyone cheats, and virtually everyone evades taxes." (The swimming pool scandal made headlines in 2010.) The Economist listed "a malfunctioning justice system, a kleptocratic civil service and impunity for the corrupt" as drivers that may override citizen resistance, but many obstacles remain. And yogurt.