m13, the hubble’s snowglobe

 
 
Like a whirl of shiny flakes sparkling in a snow globe, Hubble catches an instantaneous glimpse of many hundreds of thousands of stars moving about in the globular cluster M13, one of the brightest and best-known globular clusters in the northern sky. This glittering metropolis of stars is easily found in the winter sky in [...]

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god help us when plumbing, GOP blue-collar pander figures become authors. make that “authors.”

Bad enough that a Sarah Palin book will be an inevitability. Although, what do you want a bet
 
I had great faith that, you know, perhaps when that voter entered that voting booth and closed that curtain that what would kick in for them was, perhaps, a bold step that would have to be taken in [...]

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american airlines now charging fees to nonpassengers

FORT WORTH, TX—Cash-strapped American Airlines announced a new series of fees this week that will apply to all customers not currently flying, scheduled to fly, or even thinking about flying aboard the commercial carrier.
The fees, the latest introduced by American Airlines in a continuing effort to combat its financial woes, will take effect on Monday. [...]

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cry me a river. the rich try more modest living

The Daily Dish quotes Vanity Fair (and links to a simliar Newsweek article). I’m supposed to feel bad for the “hedgie” who had to cut out the private jet but can still afford first class??
 
Now many bankers, along with discovering $15 bottles of wine, are finding other ways to cut back—if not out of necessity, [...]

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palin kept on shoppin’

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the neverending hypocrisy and lies of the GOP. But man, the gall of these people. Even as “clothesgate” unfolded and the McCain campaign made some noises of contrition, they just kept running up the bills.
 
Despite the furor over a $150,000 campaign shopping spree for GOP vice presidential nominee [...]

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quantum of wallace

007 Gromit.
 

              (h/t Daily Dish)

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galleycat: literary gift ideas from 52 published authors

 More lists to be had out there, no doubt. GalleyCat supplies a twofer:
 
As the recession-gripped holiday season approaches, your gifted books need to be carefully picked. To help you shop, W. W. Norton has built a Tumblr page where fifteen Norton authors talk about the books they will give to friends and family over the holidays.
. [...]

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paul krugman: deficits and the future

As ever, Mssr Krugman provides important context and makes sense of the current chaos for your average noneconomist:
 
The claim that budget deficits make the economy poorer in the long run is based on the belief that government borrowing “crowds out” private investment — that the government, by issuing lots of debt, drives up interest rates, [...]

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prop 8: the musical

Arggh! Can’t get this to embed from Funny or Die, and it’s currently not available on YouTube. But click here for the star-studded musical, in all its three minutes fourteen seconds of glory.

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houghton mifflin harcourt beset by parent company idiocy?

As if the economic downturn in an already soft publishing environment wasn’t trouble enough. GalleyCat offers some insider reaction on the heels of publisher Rebecca Saletan’s resignation and the earlier bizarre announcement of an acquisitions freeze:
 
This observer went on to express the opinion that Saletan should receive none of the blame for HMH’s downward spiral over [...]

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