Australia heads into its second-coldest Christmas season ever: not-so-good news for Al Gore. (Hat tip: Pajamas Media)

Nobody's posting much; I'm wondering where everyone is. Must be a holiday or something.

The Economist strikes again, with a pre-release analysis of Windows Vista and a brief discussion of other OS options.

A U.S. Airways flight altered its itinerary after a passenger sent a threatening note to the pilot which he claimed was "written by God." (It is not clear whether the plane was diverted to a convenient airport en route or was actually turned around.) Airlines still seem to be rather jumpy, but this behavior is admittedly a bit over the top.

Google now has a book search, in beta. I think I'm doomed...

Check out stumbleupon.com for some fascinating randomized learning. Mildly addictive.

Former President Jimmy Carter has authored a controversial book (amazon...) that is being criticized as Anti-Semitic and factually sloppy. The whole thing seems a bit queer.

Toyota is expected to steal second place in the vehicle market from Ford, and possibly go on to take first place from GM. The Mises Institute adds a few comments.

More on the evolution of digital camera technology. (Earlier post here.)

UPDATE: Should have also linked to the Instapundit's post.

An interesting roundup of topics in this week's Economist. I really may have to look into getting this mag at some point.

RonMcK is bashing Christmas:

Never before in human history
have so many people
spent so much money they do not have
on gifts they do not like
for people who do not need them.

Read the whole post. It's short.

Six health workers are handed death sentences by a Libyan court over allegedly infecting several hundred children with the AIDS virus. This is too serious to be called bizarre; the rest of the world is joining in protest.

VOM in Iran:

On Sunday, December 10, Iranian secret police began to raid and arrest leaders of the Islamic republic's indigenous "Jesus Only" movement, arriving unannounced in the early morning hours to search their homes in Tehran, Karaj, Rasht and Bandar-i Anzali. For five days, several members of the house-church movement were called in for a day or more of interrogations and then released. But eight remain under arrest, including one woman. According to one source, those arrested have been told they face 10 accusations, including evangelization activities and actions against the national security of Iran. Pray God will protect His servants...

Milton Friedman's 1980's public television series - Free to Choose - is now streaming for free courtesy of ideachannel.tv.

UPDATE: The above source plays rather sporadically. A little homework, and voila! there it is on Google video, Free to Views. Much better.

I can always tell instantly when I stumble upon the blog of another actual human being. It's like receiving a free bowl of ice cream after three weeks of nothing but broccoli.

All right, I don't usually go for stuff like this, but there really is some wild stuff in here: 99 of the strangest images from the news of 2006.

How much are we paying these guys?

The FDA and two drug makers issued a warning for Rituxan, a drug commonly used to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, after two patients taking the drug died. (WSJ)

Brilliant.

MercatorNet comments on the death of Augusto Pinochet, and offers a crash course in 20th century Chilean history. (The current president is a woman: it seems we're seeing this more and more.)

UPDATE:
Looks as if most of the world is not sure what to think. I suppose it is somewhat difficult to reconcile economic/ideological success with political/dictatorial brutality.

Handling bulky items on the internet market just got easier: behold bidnearby.com.

Blogging predicted to peak in 2007.

Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put on stage and asked to say it.

More on the integration of faith and science, (along this line); probably a little deeper than I'm ready to go at present. (I am, however, hoping to get to this book before too long.)

Good message from Greg Boyd last week. Particularly helpful as I've already been thinking about identity for awhile.

A little tweak for your browser platform, if you like that sort of thing. Seemed to help a little.

Looking intelligently at the immigration problem. I'm for opening up the borders and indulging in some sanity.