The People Who Owned the Bible – A wonderful little horror story about copyright.

Worse Than Fiction – Paul Krugman asks how national politics turned into a bad novel.

Fugitive hid for several months in an abandoned Circuit City – He’s back in jail now, so apparently “no payments for 36 months” doesn’t apply to him. (via BB)

Kurumi’s Humble House of Roadsdom – All you ever wanted to know about the interstate system.

Finishing up at Maintex, looking for an In-N-Out, buying clothing, listening to Tick…tick…boom!, watching and enjoying Finding Neverland, still reading The Confusion.

What’s behind Social Security privatization, and a look at the word “crisis”

Bob Mondello’s top 2004 movie picks – Based on what I’ve seen and want to see I pretty much agree. I haven’t seen many movies this year, but I’ve liked most of those I have.

Access to “morning after” pill does not increase incidents of unsafe sex – Can I get a big DUH!? Of course it is not about the facts, it is about science being held hostage by social conservatives.

Overview of the controversy about spending on the secret MISTY satellite program – The current flap over MISTY “stems more from the Bush administration’s obsession with secrecy and oppressing dissent regarding its programmatic, budgetary, policy choices,” rather then a real argument of the merits.

Lost US opportunity to show solidarity with tsunami victims – We’ve distributed billions in response to hurricanes and 9/11, but when over a hundred thousand are killed on the other side of the world we offer $15 million in aid? Pathetic.

Pigment in curry helps fight Alzheimer’s (via BB)

360 degree panoramas of New Years celebrations around the world – And Times Square, of course

What prominent conservative commentators have said about prisoner abuse – [W]e now know that many of the shocking images from Abu Ghraib that we’ve been allowed to see […] have occurred elsewhere in Iraq, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan; and in many instances they reflect nothing more than official United States policy. How we respond, whether conservative, libertarian, liberal or other, will tell us a lot about what we’ve become.

Finally, a straight-forward discussion of the real issues surrounding privatized Social Security accounts – Has no one yet realized that this new scheme is not social and is not security? Its so sad that the only mainstream media looking at the proposed changes critically is the Christian Science Monitor. Call Bush’s plan what it is: the dismantling of a massive, highly effective, highly successful insurance program with a very low overhead and very little risk in favor of a move to free-market, individual investing. I’m not really sure how killing a program in order to save it makes the least bit of sense. But then, I’m not in government. Or the media.

YidGear – Amusing Jewish-themed clothing (via Aaron)

Front-page headlines discussing tsunami relief efforts – Who would have thought there are so many ways to slant a story like this? (via BB)

US closed Al-Jazeera offices in Iraq – This was back in August and I never heard of it. The complaints against them is that they broadcast video that encourages terrorism. But what they generally seem to be broadcasting is the truth, and if the truth encourages terrorism, then maybe the truth needs to change…

A year of undue Christian fundamentalist influence in the news media – Good read. (via Kevin)

Obesity linked to the decline in smoking? – Not a lot of science, but some fun speculation.

Have you no sense of privacy, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of privacy? – Some of us who keep online journals spend some time thinking about what is and is not appropriate to publish. Others, apparently, do not.