General Motors Co. is prepared to wait until next week before making a decision on the future of the Saab unit as it reviews remaining bids, according to Paul Aakerlund, a Saab board member. GM told Saab last week that it would wind down the Swedish brand and simultaneously continue talks with bidders about a sale, said Aakerlund, who also heads the IF Metall union at Saab. Talks to sell Saab to Spyker Cars NV collapsed Dec. 18 and Spyker Chief Executive Officer Victor Muller blamed the failed deal partly on a “strict deadline” for an agreement by the end of this month. The Dutch carmaker submitted a new offer Dec. 20. “It’s our understanding that if there’s a bid that GM finds sufficiently interesting, then the 31st of December is not a date that’s holy,” Aakerlund said in a telephone interview. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-29/gm-likely-to-decide-on-saab-s-future-next-week-aakerlund-says.html

LLRX.com: Understanding the Limitations - and Maximizing the Value- of eBooks: The holiday season is here, and many signs suggest that thousands of people are finding themselves new owners of electronic book ("eBook") readers. Whether it's an Amazon Kindle, a Barnes & Noble Nook, a Sony Reader, or any of the less heavily advertised devices currently on the market, electronic book readers are being trumpeted as a product that has finally hit the mainstream after years on the bleeding-edge. eBook readers, in fact, do have the potential to radically reshape how books are read. Equally important, according to Conrad J. Jacoby, they are already reshaping how books are bought and owned.

It's been a tradition since 1907. But the annual New Year's Eve ball drop in New York's Times Square is getting a couple of new wrinkles this time around. The first has to do with the ball itself. T he 300 Waterford crystal triangles have been shaped into a new design. Organizers of the celebration say the crystals will be in an interlocking ribbon pattern, woven into a Celtic knot. http://www.wzzm13.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=117016&catid=82

Census Bureau: Texas Gains the Most in Population
News release: "Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009 (478,000), followed by California (381,000), North Carolina (134,000), Georgia (131,000) and Florida (114,000), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates. California remained the most populous state, with a July 1, 2009, population of 37 million. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (24.8 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.5 million) and Illinois (12.9 million)."

Federal Digital System Adds Public Papers of U.S. Presidents, CFR, Precedents of the House of Representatives
"GPO is pleased to announce the release of the following collections into the Federal Digital System (FDsys)":
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1991 to 2005)
Code of Federal Regulations (2007 to 2009)
Precedents of the United States House of Representatives (as part of the GPO Federal Publications collection)

Senate Health Care Bill - The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in the Senate on December 24, 2009. [Note - 2409 pages, PDF]

News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released enforcement results for fiscal year 2009, and has developed a new Web-based tool and interactive map that allows the public to get detailed information by location about the enforcement actions taken at approximately 4,600 facilities. The new mapping tool allows the public to view the locations of facilities that were the subject of enforcement actions on interactive maps of the U.S. and territories. The maps show facilities where civil enforcement actions were taken for environmental laws for air, water, and land pollution, and a separate map shows criminal enforcement actions."

onomatomania (on-uh-mat-uh-MAY-nee-uh) noun
an obsession with particular words or names and desire to recall or repeat them
via Latin, from Greek onoma (name) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze).
acrophobia (ak-ruh-FOH-bee-uh) noun
an abnormal fear of heights.
from Greek acro- (height, tip) + -phobia (fear). Some related words are acronym (a word formed with the tips of other words), acrobat (one who walks on tiptoes), and acropolis (a city built on high ground). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: J-Mag Guthrie (j-mag@brokersys.com)
Subject: onomatomania
an obsession with particular words or names and desire to recall or repeat them
A haiku or senryu consists of three lines of words ... the first and third lines are five syllables, and the second line is seven. It's an interesting challenge to write these forms with the second line containing only a seven-syllable word.
Over and over
Onomatomania
Over and over
From: Jamie Spencer (jspencer@stlcc.edu)
Subject: fear and trembling: astraphobia
an abnormal fear of lightning and thunder
A friend of my parents was a fan of James Joyce and visited him at his Paris apartment in the 30s. Apparently a storm was in progress and Joyce, he learned, had an intense case of astraphobia. The great writer literally shook in fear of the thunder throughout their visit.

Drugs of abuse information from National Institute on Drug Abuse
http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages/ also leads to articles on related topics