T. Boone Pickens Will Not Be Happy To Hear This

A ProPublica investigation finds that natural gas exploration is fraught with financial uncertainties and hidden environmental costs. The environmental effects of the most popular method for extracting natural gas, a technique called hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. "fracking"), are poorly studied -- and could end up being very expensive for both energy companies and taxpayers if they necessitate clean-up of thousands of square miles of toxic wastelands where huge quantities of industrial chemicals were pumped into the ground to fracture bedrock and extract gas bubbles. (If it amazes you that this is considered clean energy, you are certainly not alone.)

Quote of the Day

From the NYT obit of Ruth Lilly:

Lilly battled depression for most of her life but was helped greatly by Eli Lilly & Co.'s blockbuster antidepressant Prozac, which came on the market in 1988, The Indianapolis Star reported.

I suppose you could say this multi-billion-dollar innovation 'helped' her in more ways than one. Also of note: her unprecedented $100 million donation to the Poetry Foundation was made despite the fact that its flagship publication, Poetry Magazine, repeatedly rejected her submissions.

Toilets of the World

Book rec of the day.

Steal This Book

A survey of stolen books reveals that bibliokleptomaniacs dig God and Beatniks. Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book" finishes toward the bottom of the top ten. In related news, Allison Hoover Bartlett has just published a book about rare book thief John Gilkey, a.k.a "the man who loved books too much."

Apparently 'Gravity's Rainbow' Wasn't Enough Of a Challenge

Artist sets out to illustrate every page of Moby Dick. He started last August and plans to do one illustration per day until he completes the 552-page classic.

On The Blizzard of '09

My thoughts on the cosmic meaning of a New England snowstorm.

Lawsuit of the Day

NOT from The Onion: The North Face sues The South Butt for trademark infringement.

Don't Infantilize That Special-Needs Baby!

Glenn Greenwald catches Tom Friedman in a bit of a self-contradiction.

HOA Totalitarianism

Top 7 insane homeowners association rules.

Wrestling As Political Football

Did Obama send a holiday message to the troops via WWE, or didn't he? And if he did, did he inadvertently help wrestling tycoon Linda McMahon in her bid for Chris Dodd's senate seat?

Shit Happens

It's become a bit of a cliche to say that Ted Kennedy always had the best staff on Capitol Hill... so this comes as a bit of a surprise.

Getting Out Those Musty Files on Senate Procedure

Apres Lieberman, is it time to reconcile with reconciliation? A less confrontational option is "ping pong"...

How Climate Change Leads To Sexual Promiscuity

Sparrows' sex life offers clues about global warming.

Terrorist Whac-A-Mole

"As the United States steps up the hunt for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, some of the terrorist network’s veteran operatives are leaving the region and flocking to Yemen, where an escalating civil war is turning the nearly lawless Arab nation into an attractive alternative as a base of operations, according to US and foreign government officials."

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

Hamas, predictably, comes out against the Miss Palestine beauty pageant.

Israel's War on Christmas

Someone should get O'Reilly's (or John Hagee's) comment on this.

Twoddler

"Tricked-out toy allows tots to tweet."

Birth of a Psychedelic Culture

"Conversations about Leary, the Harvard Experiments, Millbrook and the Sixties." Book rec of the day.

The Israel Project Petition SNAFU

Who knew that someone named 'Porn Sex Video' was a pro-Israel activist?

Will Kazakhstan's Aktau-City Go the Way of Dubai?

Seyward Darby: "I propose that repressive countries stop building luxury-lands with cleverly shaped islands and monster hotels altogether."

Happy Hanukkah! I Got You a Pap Smear

Kimmel was having some fun with this well-intentioned but somewhat misguided PSA campaign the other night...

A Tale Of Two Clergies

Jewish versus Catholic versions of an ethical society.

Another Example of Philo-Semitism Gone Hideously Haywire

From the NYT story on amateur composer Orrin Hatch's atrocious new Hanukkah song:

“Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do,” Mr. Hatch said in an interview before heading to the Senate floor to debate an abortion amendment. “Mormons believe the Jewish people are the chosen people, just like the Old Testament says.”

America's Best High Schools

Interestingly five of the twenty-five on US News's list are from the same twenty-mile-by-twenty-mile suburban area south of Los Angeles... makes you wonder about the methodology.

When Complacency Becomes Extremism

Bernard Avishai has a must-read piece on the recent remarks by the Israeli Justice Minister about biblical law being a "complete solution" and transforming religious law into the "binding law of the state." Avishai wonders how a distinguished jurist, an expert on international finance and tax law, and one of Israel's most prominent and successful lawyers, could endorse such a seemingly fanatical proposition. Money quote:

No, Neeman's tragic flaw is not fanaticism. It is a kind of complacency in the face of status quo agreements with the orthodox "rabbinical court system." As I've written in The Hebrew Republic, and as the indispensable Gideon Levy puts it in his column today, Israel is already not a secular state in the sense anyone in the West would recognize. The truly terrifying idea is not greater influence for Jewish law, but greater influence for rabbinic courts, which anyway have no place as an official arm of a democratic state. Let Neeman study Torah to his heart's content; let him find inspiration where he can. Just don't tell us that going to some yeshiva in Jerusalem prepares one even for an internship at Herzog, Fox, Neeman, let alone judging the disputes of modern citizens.

'Twilight' and Philosophy

"Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality." Book rec of the day.

How The Tiger Woods Scandal Is Playing in Sweden

These Scandinavians are such socialists:

One article in this major evening paper [Expressen] quotes Anna Anka, the wife of Paul Anka, whose tumultuous marriage has been in the Swedish papers a lot. Anna Anka, who grew up in Sweden, is reportedly advising Tiger’s wife: “Take the money and kick him in the butt. You don’t need him. He’s a pig. Get yourself another millionaire.”

Hard To Argue With That Logic

New poll suggests that if gun owners are going to dislike and distrust Obama no matter what he does, what does he have to lose by actually trying to take some of their guns away?

Never Occurred To Him That Airing His Opinions on '60 Minutes' Would Be A Problem, My Ass

Laura Rozen fisks Stanley McChrystal.

I Was Kind of Rooting For Alan Khazei...

... but it appears that Martha Coakley has prevailed.

Fox News's Latest 'On-Screen Error'

Apparently 120% of Americans have an opinion on "ClimateGate."

Urban Safari: Los Angeles Gang Tour Opens For Business

"Lomas says that he has already worked out a cease fire agreement between three of the largest and most dangerous gangs in Los Angeles. The agreement says that there will be no shooting between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., which is the same time tour buses will be passing through the area."

The Secret World of Golf Groupies

John Daly's wife installed cameras on his tour bus to deter his habit of wild orgies with groupies? Yikes.

Climate Skepticism As Family Business

"Climate skepticism runs deep in the Lawson family. [Prominent climate skeptic Nigel's] son Dominic Lawson is a journalist for the British newspaper The Independent. Dominic Lawson has used his columns to question the science behind climate change and criticize the IPCC. Ironically, Dominic Lawson is married to Rosa Monckton, the sister of the infamous climate denier Christopher Monckton."

Channeling Al Bundy

Hulk Hogan wants his toilet seat back.

Doug Wilder: Why Creigh Deeds Lost

It's the base, stupid.

Torono Woman Charged With Witchcraft By Authorities

"Some sections of the Canadian criminal code reflect offences that were more prevalent centuries ago. When the code was enacted in 1892, witchcraft per se was no longer a punishable offence, he says, but lawmakers wanted to ensure witchcraft wasn't used as a cover for fraud."

BREAKING: Tweedy British Professor Ensnared in Tiger Woods Scandal

"A photograph showing a copy of 'Get A Grip On Physics' by John Gribbin on the floor of Tiger Woods's wrecked SUV has seen the book rocket up Amazon's bestseller chart."

Even Harder Than Trying to Defend Bush and Cheney

Former Bush flack Ari Fleischer is now shilling for the much-reviled BCS, which Jason Linkins aptly calls "the Florida recount of competitive sport."

Euro Hookers Doing Their Part To Combat Climate Change

German brothel offers discounts to customers traveling by bicycle, and Danish prostitutes give freebies for Copenhagen climate summit attendees.

Meet Clive Thomas

The world's first professional Palinologist. And speaking of academic profiteers...

Mengele's Baby Boom?

Mysterious abundance of blond, blue-eyed twins in Brazil...

Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made

Book rec of the day.

Correction of the Day

WaPo gets a Public Enemy lyric mixed up.

In Defense of the Hockey Stick

DeSmogBlog exonerates Michael Mann.

Unsettling Calendrical Coincidence of the Day

I just found out that I share a birthday with genocidal Guatemalan dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt.

It Takes Thirty Seconds, Jim

DeMint hasn't had time to read the ten principles of the GOP purity test? "Pledge to read" indeed...

Is Canada A Thuggish Petro-State?

Will Canada's climate intransigence make the US look like a good guy in Copenhagen?