The White House said on Thursday that an “orderly” bankruptcy was one option being considered to try to rescue General Motors and Chrysler, which are seeking billions of dollars to avoid a shutdown.

Bush Weighs ‘Orderly’ Bankruptcy for Carmakers - NYTimes.com

Maybe your old truck isn't responsible for destroying the planet after all.

New climate change scenarios quantify the idea that oil is only a small component of the total global warming problem — the real problem is coal.

If the world replaced all of its oil usage with carbon-neutral energy sources, ecologist Kenneth Caldeira of Stanford University calculated that it would only buy us about 10 years before coal emissions warmed the planet to what many scientists consider dangerous levels.

Oil Is Not the Climate Change Culprit — It's All About Coal | Wired Science from Wired.com

David Foster Wallace, whose prodigiously observant, exuberantly plotted, grammatically and etymologically challenging, philosophically probing and culturally hyper-contemporary novels, stories and essays made him an heir to modern virtuosos like Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, an experimental contemporary of William T. Vollmann, Mark Leyner and Nicholson Baker and a clear influence on younger tour-de-force stylists like Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer, died on [Sep, 2008] at his home in Claremont, Calif. He was 46.

I don't know how I missed this. I guess this pushes Infinite Jest up the list...

David Foster Wallace, Influential Writer, Dies at 46 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

According to people who were present, Logsdon, a space historian, told a group of about 50 people he had just learned that President John F. Kennedy’s transition team had completely ignored NASA.

Griffin responded, in a loud voice, “I wish the Obama team would come and talk to me.”

Alan Ladwig, a transition team member who was at the party with Garver, shouted out: “Well, we’re here now, Mike.”

Soon after, Garver and Griffin engaged in what witnesses said was an animated conversation. Some overheard parts of it.

“Mike, I don’t understand what the problem is. We are just trying to look under the hood,” Garver said.

“If you are looking under the hood, then you are calling me a liar,” Griffin replied. “Because it means you don’t trust what I say is under the hood.

Orlando Sentinel - NASA has become a transition problem for Obama

These bailouts are an awful idea -- the worst of K St. capitalism (== kapitalism) inviting an insanely bad future for the industries affected. If there's one thing worse than Detroit managed by the managers who have been driving the American auto industry into the ground for the past three decades, it is Detroit managed by politicians.

rant: the mistake in bailouts (Lessig Blog)

On December 31, 2008 a "leap second" will be added to the world's clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This corresponds to 6:59:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, when the extra second will be inserted at the U.S. Naval Observatory's Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC. This marks the 24th leap second to be added to UTC, a uniform time-scale kept by atomic clocks around the world, since 1972.

Will your software do the right thing?

Leap Second will be added to clocks on Dec. 31, 2008 | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday morning on corruption charges, including an allegation that he conspired to effectively sell President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the United States Senate to the highest bidder.

!!!

Illinois Governor in Corruption Scandal - NYTimes.com

Minnesota's recount is a long way from over. If you put a gun to my head and asked me to predict the winner, I would tell you to shoot me.

FiveThirtyEight.com: Politics Done Right: Minnesota May Be Heading Toward Resolution -- In Court

Poised as the world's leading supplier of green tea, ITO EN is dedicated to the promotion of the fine taste, traditions, and benefits of green tea.

HFCS ruined America! Sencha shot FTW!

Ito En

Despite this, Uncle Sam and taxpayers remain reluctant to rescue the automakers. Many people say Detroit has no one but itself to blame for its woes, so we ought not throw good money after bad. It's easy to see why they'd think that way. After all, the Big Three have rarely missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Here are five examples where American automakers completely dropped the ball.

Detroit Rarely Misses a Chance to Miss a Chance | Autopia from Wired.com