Let's get off to a good start.

Meanwhile, the LA Kings have won eight hockey games in a row.

[FSZWPs via Make]

...and drink it."

And here I thought that I could not be shocked. Behold the fate of what one might call America's first attempt to export democracy:

(Warning: don't even think about watching this video on a full stomach. But a strong drink or two - or possibly even three - might be in order.)

A minor attempt at fitting some factors to NBER's recession declarations:

Edit: Data-set available upon request, though most of the folks interested enough can DIY by going to federalreserve.gov and bls.gov

introduced by Reps Edwards + Conyers:

The GOP has been labeled such, and deservedly so. But with great power comes great lobbying, and the Democrats are making a run for the moniker. Last week Bob Menendez said:

Jurgen Habermas' twitter feed. (!!?!)

and

You know what would be a fun project? Translating all of Schopenhauer's (or Walter Benjamin's or whomever else's) aphorisms to twitter.

Precis: Psychosexual frustration is a defining characteristic of modern terrorism. Faced with the Manichaean dichotomy of religious purity and the sins of the flesh, the terrorist sublimates his libido into violence against the society which tempts him. Where the id is, there also is the ego.

If the Justice Department isn't going to be serious about going after former Bush administration lawyers on the matter of enhanced interrogation techniques, then I doubt we'll see indictments of the Bush administration officials who authorized them. From Newsweek:

Altruism in the animal kingdom?

A new report Contributions of Stratospheric Water Vapor to Decadal Changes in the Rate of Global Warming raises new questions on the current climate models. That is, IPCC's carbon dioxide centric climate models probably need some work.

Those in the know will have been following Mr Anthony Watts personal crusade against the NOAA/NCDC, the GHCN and, generally, the entire US temperature data gathering system. He's set up a website http://www.surfacestations.org that monitors the US temperature measuring sites, and put together an army of volunteers to examine and report back on each and every one. Here's a report

http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/surfacestationsreport_spring09.pdf

Well, NOAA/NCDC has replied. This publication in Geophysical Research Letters