General Motors filed for bankruptcy June 1, listing $82 billion in assets and $173 billion in debts--more than $20 billion of it to the United Auto Workers union, GM's second-largest creditor. Also in Manhattan, on May 31, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved the government-supported plan to sell Chrysler to Fiat. http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/01/GM_Declares_Bankruptcy_While_Chrysler_Sale_Clears_Two_Hurdles.htm

The once powerful GM earns a place in history as the largest U.S. industrial company to file for bankruptcy protection, and the fourth-largest company overall to do so based on its $82.29 billion in assets as of March 31. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s Sept. 15 bankruptcy filing is the nation's largest with $691.1 billion in assets, and it likely served as a catalyst for GM and Chrysler's downfall, as it hastened the erosion of credit markets, making it impossible for GM to borrow money and difficult for consumers and dealers to finance new vehicles. Washington Mutual Inc. and WorldCom Inc. are the second and third largest U.S. companies to file for bankruptcy protection.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090601/ap_on_bi_ge/us_automakers

General Motors Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection case was assigned to Judge Robert Gerber; signing the filing on behalf of GM was not Weil Gotshal's Harvey Miller but the firm's Stephen Karotkin. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the NYT's story; here for the Detroit Free Press story. WSJ Law Blog June 1, 2009

Document 09-50026 General Motors Corporation voluntary petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Southern District of New York on June 1, 2009: http://media.npr.org/documents/2009/jun/gm.pdf

Reclusive author J.D. Salinger claims a man writing under the name of J.D. California is about to publish an unauthorized sequel of "The Catcher in the Rye," violating Salinger's copyright in the novel and its main character, Holden Caulfield. Salinger also sued London-based Windupbird Publishing, Sweden-based Nicotext, and SCB Distributors, of Gardena, Calif. Salinger calls the new book "a rip-off pure and simple." Salinger says the cover of the new book describes it as a "sequel to one of our most beloved classics." His complaint in Manhattan Federal Court continues: "The sequel's author, 'J.D. California,' explains that 'Just like the first novel, he leaves, but this time he's not at a prep school, he's at a retirement home in upstate New York. ... It's pretty much like the first book in that he roams around the city, inside himself and his past.'" http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/02/J_D_Salinger_Tries_to_Block_Sequel_to_Catcher_in_the_Rye_.htm

UN Labor Agency Says World Unemployment Could Rise By 50 Million In 2009
"The International Labour Office (ILO) issued new labour market projections for 2009, showing a further increase in unemployment, working poor and those in vulnerable employment...In the Global Employment Trends Update, May 2009 the ILO revised upwards its unemployment projections to levels ranging from 210 million to 239 million unemployed worldwide in 2009, corresponding to global unemployment rates of 6.5 and 7.4 per cent respectively. The Trends report projects an increase of between 39 and 59 million unemployed people since 2007 as the most likely range. Actual outcomes will depend on the effectiveness of fiscal expenditures decided by governments and on a functioning financial sector."

Job Searcher's Guide to Online Job Sites
From the World Privacy Forum: "This guide to online job sites, Job Searcher's Guide to Online Job Sites, is a list of the top job searching sites online. This list gives information about the privacy practices at each site. Because resumes contain such detailed personal and professional information, it is well worth caring about how job search sites handle privacy issues. This guide is updated monthly, and we add new information to the guide monthly."

URL shorteners, such as TinyURL, bit.ly and notlong.com allow users to share and post links in a quicker manner with less likelihood of misdirection. They also add an intermediary between the reader and the site of origin, and the risk of countless dead links if and when the business model of the respective services ceases to sustain a viable return.

Sergio Santos is used to facing challenges as an architect. The 39-year-old Brazilian has designed college housing projects in England, two high-rises in Poland, an office building in Turkey and a mall in Germany. But when he lost his job as an architect in January, he faced one of his biggest design challenges. By March, he realized he could no longer afford to pay $500 a month for the 17-by-15 1/2 room he rented in Boca Raton. So he found a job as a waiter to pay the bills and negotiated with a Delray Beach landlord to rent a room that's smaller than many South Florida closets—5 1/2 by 14 feet. Find picture and story at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/time-money/home/sfl-small-space-sergio-h052209sbmay22,0,4526594.story

purlicue (PUHR-li-kyu) noun
1. The space between the extended forefinger and thumb.
2. A flourish or curl at the end of a handwritten word. Also known as curlicue.
3. A discourse, especially its summarizing part.
Of uncertain origin, probably from Scots pirlie (curly). A.Word.A.Day

Feedback from A.Word.A.Day
From: Lauren Kern (lauren resourcetec.com)
Subject: A.Word.A.Day
I just wanted to thank you for your always pertinent A.Word.A.Day. My now-fiancé and I were actually united by your words a little over a year ago, and we still find most of them to be deeply applicable to our daily lives. We have collected them for the past year and a half in digital form, and plan to use the most significant (for us) at our wedding! As a bit of an ice-breaker, we're giving each person at the reception a word and a definition--mismatched. They'll then have to find the correct definition for their word from among their tablemates.
From: Brett Beiles (brettb hardyboys.co.za)
Subject: atone Def: To make amends for.
When the novel Atonement was published, the author Ian McEwan said in an interview that the title should be pronounced "at one-ment".
From: Eric Shackle (eshackle ozemail.com.au)
Subject: This week's theme: Words derived from numbers
"Numbers are everywhere", you wrote... As in Column 8, the Sydney Morning Herald's trivia column, which has entertained readers for more than 60 years. But a newspaper now called the Lancaster New Era in Pennsylvania (US) has published a column by The Scribbler for 90 years, barring a few breaks. Can any AWAD reader name a longer-running column?