For the first time since Hwang Woo-Suk's cloned stem cells were revealed as fakes, human cloning — for medical purposes, or even for reproduction — appears to be a realistic possibility.

Research Breakthrough: Human Clones May Be Genetically Viable | Wired Science from Wired.com

History and technology suggest that there may be — provided, of course, that the Big 3 can survive the next few years. And that’s a big if. The hopeful path, auto and labor experts say, requires rethinking not just old-line management and work practices but also how cars are sold, serviced and powered — that is, reinventing the industry and the car itself.

All May Not Be Lost for the American Car - NYTimes.com

It was “a humbling experiment,” Donald Keough, Coca-Cola’s president, said at the time. “Some cynics say we planned the whole thing. The truth is, we’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart.”

This quote appeard somewhere in Negativland's Dispepsi

Coca-Cola Deleting ‘Classic’ From Coke Label - NYTimes.com

Temperate, unfussy and, at times, so independent that he can be out of the loop, the 41st governor of Illinois could not be any more unlike the man he replaced — the attention-loving showman, Rod R. Blagojevich, who was removed from office on Thursday.

I practically crashed my car the other day from laughing so hard at the relish with which the bbc world service refered to blago being "sacked."

Successor in Illinois Is the Anti-Blagojevich - NYTimes.com

In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.

From the archive:

Comparison of the prevalence of I.B.D. and surveys of worm-infestation rates revealed a telling pattern. About 10 years after improved hygiene and deworming efforts reduced worms in a given population, I.B.D. rates jumped. Weinstock had his hypothesis: after a long coevolution, the human immune system came to depend on the worms for proper functioning. When cleaner conditions and new medicines evicted the worms from our bodies, the immune system went out of kilter. “Hygiene has made our lives better,” says Weinstock, now at Tufts University. “But in the process of eliminating exposure to the 10 or 20 things that can make us sick, we’re also eliminating exposure to things that make us well.”

Personal Health - Babies Know - A Little Dirt Is Good for You - NYTimes.com

The elections on Saturday were a step toward a peaceful approach to settling disagreements among factions about the shape of the country. If new governments are seated from north to south and east to west, the United States and Iraq can begin the next act in earnest.

What if, in the end, the neocons are actually borne out on this one?

Pointing to a New Era, U.S. Pulls Back as Iraqis Vote - NYTimes.com

South Korea bolstered its military readiness and scrambled to figure out North Korea’s intentions on Friday, after the North abruptly declared that it was scrapping the agreements both countries have signed to ease military and political tensions on the divided peninsula.

N. Korea Scraps Accords With South - NYTimes.com

“The letters were wrong to imply we were looking at specific merchants,” said Susan Korchak, a company spokeswoman. The company uses hundreds of data points in making its decisions, she said, adding that the main factor in determining credit lines “has always been and still is the overall level of debt, relative to the card member’s financial resources.”

The company will still have plenty of other data to judge your creditworthiness, though. American Express executives have spoken candidly to investors and analysts about its deep dives into your data, though it’s safe to assume that other companies will also use such information if they think it will be useful.

Your Money - American Express Watched Where You Shopped - NYTimes.com

PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.

PolitiFact | The Obameter: Tracking Barack Obama's Campaign Promises

Two generations ago, the Isle of Man gave the world the Bee Gees. Now it says it wants to help the wounded music industry stay alive.

The island, a rainy outpost in the Irish Sea, is promoting an offbeat remedy for digital piracy, which the music labels blame for billions of dollars in lost sales. Instead of fighting file-sharing, the local government wants to embrace it — and it is trying to enlist a skeptical music industry’s help.

Under a proposal announced this month, the 80,000 people who live on the Isle of Man would be able to download unlimited amounts of music — perhaps even from notorious peer-to-peer pirate sites. To make this possible, broadband subscribers would pay a nominal fee of as little as £1, or $1.38, a month to their Internet service providers.

Wow!

Isle of Man Plans Unlimited Music Downloads - NYTimes.com