Is Verizon dumping Google? Can Microsoft compete face to face with Facebook? If we can put a man on the moon, why not Joe the Plumber? Cringely has answers to all these silly questions. Just leave the money on the dresser. If a report in the Wall Street Journal is correct, Verizon Wireless may be dumping Google as its phones’ default search engine and hooking up with Windows Live search. (Thanks mostly to a Microsoft bribe deal worth $1 billion, according to Silicon Alley Insider.) I dunno about that move. That’s a little like dumping Paris Hilton so you can date Perez Hilton. Verizon can make its customers use it, but they can’t make ’em enjoy it.Cracks in the space time continuum. The New York Times is reporting that “a team of intrepid space plumbers and lube-job specialists will lift off on Friday for a visit to the International Space Station.” Their main job? Installing the machine that takes astronauts’ urine and turns it back into Tang. All I can say is, please let one of the plumbers be Joe (the). If anybody deserves to enjoy a 98.6 degree beer in a place where oxygen is in short supply, it’s him. With friends like that…. It seems Microsoft has turned its “Live” services into a quasi social network that will compete with Facebook, MySpace, and the 3,245,821 others just like them. (Oops, make that 3,245,822. No, wait, there’s another one…) I understand Mark Zuckerberg was so worried he skipped his afternoon nap and refused milk and cookies. Got hot tech news? How about some warm, err, milk? Share your pithy thoughts below or email me direct: cringe (at) infoworld (dot) com. Think you’ve got the right stuff to pass our tech quizzes? They’re not as easy as they look: • The InfoWorld News Quiz • Test Your Geek IQ • Test Your Knowledge of Geek Celebrities Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business