Ron on the invasion of Somalia. Very incisive. (Also, Wikipedia)

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From the Economist: the art of conversation.

For enthusiasts conversation is an art, one of the great pleasures of life, even the basis of civilised society. Mme de Staël, a great talker and intellectual of the French ancien régime, called conversation “a means of reciprocally and rapidly giving one another pleasure; of speaking just as quickly as one thinks; of spontaneously
enjoying one's self; of being applauded without working...[A] sort of electricity that causes sparks to fly, and that relieves some people of the burden of their excess vivacity and awakens others from a state of painful apathy”.

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Gerald Ford has died at 93: one of only four presidents to live beyond 90. It's a tough job.

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The UN has cracked down on Iran - passing resolution 1737 which froze assets and imposed sanctions - after the country failed to comply satisfactorily with a July resolution intended to halt nuclear development. The Iranians aren't too happy about it.

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Continuing tensions on the Gaza Strip. "What don't you understand about 'ceasefire?'" (Hat tip: Pajamas Media)

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The fine and finicky shades of libertarianism: LVMI disagrees with Friedman monetarist theory. This fellow has even suggested that libertarianism would be better off without a party.

UPDATE: Instapundit had the original anti-party article I was looking for.

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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.