Millions of Iraqis went to polling stations on Sunday to vote in the nation's parliamentary elections. Sporadic violence was responsible for the deaths of at least 38 people, but early reports indicate the election was largely viewed as a success by the international community. President Obama called the vote a "milestone" on Sunday, but analysts and observers wonder if the election will trigger sectarian violence as it did following Iraq's 2005 elections. 

• OSCAR TAKEOUT: "The Hurt Locker" won big over "Avatar" and Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to take the Best Director award. TV blogger Delaina Dixon recaps the 82nd Academy Awards' winners and losers. Read a blog post about Delaina's New York Oscar party.
• LISTENERS: Last week, we discussed a controversial step competition, where a white Arkansan sorority took first place in a predominantly black contest. Takeaway listeners weigh in on the controversy.

In this week's agenda, Marcus Mabry, international business editor for the New York Times, and Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent, look at what to expect this week. They'll look at the aftermath of Iraq's national elections, Vice President Biden's visit to the Middle East, and the latest news on financial reform.

Could you live without the internet for a whole week? No email. No Facebook. No TheTakeaway.org. If that thought fills you with horror then you'll feel for two families in South Korea—the “most wired” nation in the world, with the fastest broadband speeds and the highest percentage of its population online. As part of the BBC’s “Superpower” season, which is looking at how the Internet has changed the world, these two families were asked to cut themselves off from the Internet for a whole week.

You’ll be hearing a lot about the winners of last night’s glamorous Oscars, but you may not hear about its millions of losers. A dispute between Cablevision and ABC left more than three million New York area cable subscribers unable to see last night’s awards ceremony.

A lot of people set their children in front of the television to watch educational videos and programming — from "Sesame Street" to "Baby Einstein" — with the hope that these shows will help their children to learn. But a new study out last week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, says these videos don’t actually make kids smarter, and may in fact impede their learning.

Chelsea King, a 17-year-old girl from San Diego, was raped and killed last month by John Gardner, a man with a history of sex crimes. Gardner was previously incarcerated for molesting a 13-year-old girl in 2000, but was let out of prison early in 2005. The case has sparked a heated national dialogue about the strength of laws intended to protect children from sex offenders. And the question of where sex offenders should live has come up in Florida, as offenders there struggle to adjust to society after prison sentences.

• WASHINGTON TAKEOUT: Health care is back on the front burner for President Obama this week, and today he travels to Glenside, Pa. to push health care at Arcadia University. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich tells us more.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: In like a lion, march madness begins now that college basketball is heating up across the country. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin talks about the UConn women's basketball team tying their own record for consecutive wins, and number one team Syracuse losing.

The film industry celebrated its largest gala at the 82nd Academy Awards Sunday night. The big news was that "The Hurt Locker" cleaned up, carrying home six Oscars, but there were plenty of other moments to talk about. Melena Ryzik, of the New York Times' Carpetbagger blog, and TV blogger Delaina Dixon, cover who won, who lost, and what's going to be the big topic of conversation around the water cooler today.

The votes are still being counted this morning after Iraq's national election yesterday, and results aren't expected until later this week. One of the key areas of voting in the country was the oil rich northern region of Kurdistan. Thanks to the area's oil reserves, the Kurds have exercised a significant amount of influence and power in Iraq's politics in recent years, often acting as a cohesive block. We're joined by Jim Muir, a BBC correspondent in Baghdad, who tells us more about the general election and the unique role Kurds are playing.

When you hear the word "genius," you might think of Einstein, Mozart, or Da Vinci. But how they became geniuses is the subject of debate. Where they born that way? Or does it come from sheer tenacity? 

We begin a week-long conversation about genius and how any of us can get that way. David Shenk, author of "The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told about Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong," tells us about some surprising research about what it takes to, as he puts it, "get good at stuff." Turns out it's not as hard as you might think.