Never before has the U.S. national debt grown at such a pace. It grew by one trillion in 2008. Estimates put 2009 growth at three trillion. That’s comparable to the growth of public debt accrued throughout the entire first half of this decade – in one year! One quarter of our ENTIRE U.S. national debt will be accumulated just in 2009; ie. It took about 99 years to reach the nine trillion mark. And one year on top of that to reach (and exceed) the 12 trillion mark.

The documentary I.O.U.S.A. details the national debt and what it means for average Americans.

A squirrel enjoying his day in sunny Jones, Oklahoma burst into flames when it touched two power lines, subsequently falling to the ground and sparking a fire. The fire burned 5 acres in the area, causing the evacuation of the local elementary school. There were reports of minimal damage as a few trailers near the school burned to the ground and no injuries were reported.

Via KOCO OK

More bad news for the record industry as many more big names in music are following Radiohead’s lead of offering their albums for free or for a ‘pay what you want’ fee, bypassing record industry price and market manipulation. Bravo! Hot on the heels of Radiohead’s success, Nine Inch Nails announced that they are now free agents after 18 years of being under record label contracts. NiN’s frontman has informed their fans to expect some big announcements soon. Now comes word that Oasis, Jamiroquai and The Charlatans are following Radiohead’s lead in similar ways. The Charlatans are currently planning on offering their album for free via the XM satellite service in a way to boost marketing for their live tours, which their manager is stating will help them to increase capacity and revenue from their live performances.

I had a hard time trying to source this back to The Onion or something, but, it appears real.

A recent home invasion in Washington DC turned weird, ending in the invader sharing a glass of wine with his victims and then leaving with only his glass of wine, an apology and a group hug. A group of friends and family were enjoying a late dinner on their patio when a hooded man came through an open gate and put a handgun to the head of a 14 year old girl, demanding everyone hand over their money. It all seemed straightforward, until a guest invited the criminal to join them for a glass of wine. The home invader, impressed by the Chateu Malescot St-Exupery, was offered the whole bottle and some cheese when he put his gun away and apologized, stating he thought he was in the wrong house and then asked for a group hug, which the guests complied with. The intruder walked away quietly with his glass of wine and has yet to be identified by police.

Read more: Home invasion ends in group hug

Time to buy a house in Detroit, though I don’t know many people who would want to live there. With the American auto industry in shambles cause it just can’t seem to evolve past an SUV and a massive population drain occurring over the past 30 years, Detroit’s housing market has taken a nosedive, with many houses now being auctioned off for cheaper than one could buy a used car. At a recent housing auction in Detroit, over 30 houses were available for under $30,000, with a small bungelow on the west side going for $1,300 and a four-bedroom near the original Motown studio selling for only $7,000.

Read more: Houses cheaper than cars in Detroit

In a recent trip overseas, Prince Charles sent boardroom food execs tumbling out of their posh leather chairs when he brought up the idea of banning McDonald’s while touring a Diabetes center in Dubai. The exchange happened between Charles and a nutritionist, with Charles asking her, “Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s, have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key.”

Charles, who is a staunch supporter of sustainable farming and healthy, organic foods, may still be a little upset over recent events taking place in his homeland, where an 8 year old boy who weighs over 82kg was just returned to his parents who pledge to help him reduce his weight and break his addiction of processed foods through diet and exercise.

McDonald’s of course went on the offensive immediately, touting their recent marketing campaigns and window-dressing as changing the face of one of the worst food providers on the planet.

Read more: Prince ain’t lovin’ it | McSPOTLIGHT

After the very public breakdown of astronaut Lisa Nowak U.S. media, missing anything of more substance to cover, have shined a bright spotlight on NASA and their policies regarding astronauts and their mental health. Recently, it has surfaced that NASA has detailed instructions on how to handle crew that become unhinged during a mission. Those are to bound the crewmates wrists and ankles with duct tape, secure them with a bungie cord and drug them with tranquilizers, if necessary. After seeing countless science fiction movies where unruly crew mates lose it in space, I for some reason never imagined NASA needing such measures. NASA went on to elaborate that they’ve determined the need for weapons in space modules isn’t necessary, at least not until we can fight wars in outer space.

Read more: Unruly astronauts in space to be bound and drugged

It’s now 5 minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock, which is maintained by the Board of Directors of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The clock, which was created in 1947 as a tangible means of communicating how close humanity is to being annihilated, with midnight representing total destruction by nuclear war. The last time the clock moved was in 2002, thanks to the hawkish turn the American government took, stalling disarmament and backing out of the Anti-Ballistic missile Treaty, effectively granting permission to the rest of the world to being stockpiling arms. Thanks be to the United States’ horrid leadership over the past 5 years, the board decided to advance the clock by 2 minutes, citing concerns over Iran and North Korea’s nuclear weapon intentions and the rapidly decreasing environmental stability thanks to global warming. In honor of, sit back and enjoy R.E.M.’s epic track, dedicated to just this topic…

Read the Board’s statement after the jump..

Read more of ”Doomsday Clock hits 5 minutes to midnight, sales of R.E.M’s “Document” up“

In a new paper published on Sunday and delivered at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society a scientist is stating his theory that two NASA space probes (Vikings) may have found alien microbes on Mars 30 years ago but inadvertently killed them. The theory presented is that Voyager was looking for life forms specific to Earth-life, where salt water is the internal liquid of living cells, rather than hydrogen peroxide, a liquid which could more realistically survive the cold and dry climate of Mars. As the Viking probes performed their experiments on the Mars surface any hydrogen peroxide-based life would have been killed by experiments consisting of water poured onto the planet surface and another which heated the soil to see if something would occur, essentially baking and Martian microbes.

Read more: Scientist: NASA found life on Mars — then killed it

Trademarks are not verbs, not nouns, should never be used in possessive form, never abbreviated and always capitalized. The more you know…

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and Photoshop is one of Adobe’s most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form. The following examples illustrate these rules:

Trademarks are not verbs.
CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

Trademarks are not nouns.
CORRECT: The image pokes fun at the Senator.
INCORRECT: The photoshop pokes fun at the Senator.

Always capitalize and use trademarks in their correct form.
CORRECT: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.
INCORRECT: The image was Photoshopped.
INCORRECT: The image was Adobe® Photoshopped.

Trademarks must never be used as slang terms.
CORRECT: Those who use Adobe® Photoshop® software to manipulate images as a hobby see their work as an art form.
INCORRECT: A photoshopper sees his hobby as an art form.
INCORRECT: My hobby is photoshopping.

Trademarks must never be used in possessive form.
CORRECT: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.
INCORRECT: Photoshop’s features are impressive.

Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be followed by the generic terms they describe.
CORRECT: The image was manipulated using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was manipulated using Photoshop.

Trademarks must never be abbreviated.
CORRECT: Take a look at the new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: Take a look at the new features in PS.

The trademark owner should be identified whenever possible.

Read more: Adobe teaches us proper usage of their copyrights