GM emerges from Bankruptcy

1. After 40 days and 40 nights… GM comes outta Bankruptcy - The financial flood is over (not really) for what was once the largest corporation in the world.  But the feds still own 60% of GM, so… the Chevy/Cadillac/Buick/GMC Ark is still very much resting on the Mt. Ararat shoulders of Uncle Sam.  (From the Washington Post)

2. NY Times considering charging readers for online access -
More power to them if they decide to start charging.  Nothing is free.  Not even stuff on the internet.  I think we learned that from Napster.  Until Web Ads start generating the kinds of revenue that electronic media commercials do (or should, hopefully)… solid print journalism is going to have to start charging people for access to it.  (From the still free Time.com)

3. At the G8… nothing concrete on climate change – China and India want the U.S. to lead the way, drastically lead the way, when it comes to cutting carbon emissions.  As in:  The U.S. should cut its emissions by 40% in ten years.  That’s not even close to reasonable.  They say that America did most of the polluting while it was developing, so why can’t they do the same?  China and India have a point… but… we’re all fried if the climate change scientists are right and even developing countries keep polluting.  (From NPR.org)

3.5 By the way… Electric Cars won’t cut Carbon Emissions - Because they’d be electric… and electricity has to come from somewhere.  And that somewhere, more often than not, is a coal fired power plant.  Whoops.  (From Hot Air)

4. What happens when a Cemetery Runs out of Space? - This story out of Chicago about four people being charged with digging up old graves, dumping the remains, and then re-selling the plots in a financial scheme is pretty awful.  They were by no means out of space at the Burr Oak Cemetery.  But… it does bring up an interesting question.  Cemeteries make money off selling plots.  It also costs money to maintain the cemetery.  What happens when they run out of space to bury people, and the expenses exhaust the cash reserves?  Seems like an ultimately unsustainable business model.  Turns out cemeteries do run out of space.  In Europe Mainly… and well… they just have to get creative.  As in, dig up the bones, put them in a small box… bury that box deeper and then sell the upper half to someone else.  (From the Chicago Sun Times, and Straightdope.com)

5. It’s a Friday, here’s some  Boneless Chuck - Just because I could use some red meat, and really, couldn’t you?  (From Benmadeska.com)