Sirius XM Satellite Radio has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing in a move that could put pressure on satellite company EchoStar, which owns a substantial amount of the company’s debt.

Whoa. iTunes killed the satellite radio star?

-janelane

Sirius XM Prepares Bankruptcy Filing - NYTimes.com

But now, after the TARP, the auto bailout, the stimulus package, the Fed rescue packages and various other federal interventions, rich people no longer get to set their own rules. Now lifestyle standards for the privileged class are set by people who live in Ward Three.

For those who don’t know, Ward Three is a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., where many Democratic staffers, regulators, journalists, lawyers, Obama aides and senior civil servants live. Thanks to recent and coming bailouts and interventions, the people in Ward Three run the banks and many major industries. Through this power, they get to insert themselves into the intricacies of upscale life, influencing when private jets can be flown, when friends can lend each other their limousines and at what golf resorts corporate learning retreats can be held.

The good news for rich people is that people in this neighborhood are very nice and cerebral. On any given Saturday, half the people in Ward Three are arranging panel discussions for the other half to participate in. They live in modest homes with recently renovated kitchens and Nordic Track machines crammed into the kids’ play areas downstairs (for some reason, people in Ward Three are only interested in toning the muscles in the lower halves of their bodies).

Brooks is tongue-in-cheek this week. It seems he's ever so slightly put off by the bailouts.

-janelane

Op-Ed Columnist - Ward Three Morality - NYTimes.com

I’m a bit frightened by how much I love reading this kind of material.

Me too, Katie, me too.

-janelane

The Chitchat Patrol - Times Topics Blog - NYTimes.com

There's a great tradition of towns and streets with naughty names in Britain.

These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

Certainly beats naming everything "Peachtree".

-janelane

No Snickering - That Road Sign Means Something Else - NYTimes.com

What the cynics fail to understand,” he says, “is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

I can't wait to watch the inauguration! My Tivo's got 10 hours of it waiting for me after work.

-janelane

Live Blog: The Inauguration of Barack Obama - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

When the undead rise, civilization will fall.

Best fucking zombie movie ever. And the extras on the director's cut DVD kick ass. It's also easily in my top 40 of best movies I've ever seen.

-janelane

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn. Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy for five cents a pound. Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garbage.

Mr. Obama and the Democrats who favor labor standards in trade agreements mean well, for they intend to fight back at oppressive sweatshops abroad. But while it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough.

This is especially true for women where in some countries their only alternative to factory work is the sex trade.

-janelane

Op-Ed Columnist - Where Sweatshops Are a Dream - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that evidence found after an arrest based on incorrect information from police files may be used against a criminal suspect.

The constitution takes another hit. This is yet further example of the "trust us, we're in positions of power/authority" mentality that is pervasive throughout this administration and at the root of our current environmental/economic/justice problems.

-janelane

Supreme Court Says Evidence Is Valid Despite Police Error - NYTimes.com

You can't copy a fucking chart from Excel into Word without it fucking up the formatting of the axis titles and moving them on top of the graph. WTF???!!! It's the same GD software!

And don't even get me started on the UI; I still can't believe I basically have to re-learn all of my shortcuts and know-how because it's totally fucking different. Now, there's twenty fucking menus for editting a chart layout, not just one with tabs. Fucking great.

As an aside, "i fucking hate Office 2007" returns a surprising number of hits on Google.

-janelane, did I mention I fucking hate Office 2007?

I fucking hate Office 2007

“If we give an oxytocin blocker to female voles, they become like 95 percent of other mammal species,” Dr. Young said. “They will not bond no matter how many times they mate with a male or hard how he tries to bond. They mate, it feels really good and they move on if another male comes along. If love is similarly biochemically based, you should in theory be able to suppress it in a similar way.”

We knew Nineteen Eighty Four was underway, but it turns out we're also reeling towards Brave New World.

-janelane

Findings - Anti-Love Drug May Be Ticket to Bliss - NYTimes.com