Author David Foster Wallace took his own life a few days ago, sadly. We’re lucky enough to have things like his commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, at least, which is something I feel like I should read once a week. It’s the best advice for living that I’ve read in a very long time. Maybe ever.

(Thanks to my sister Niki for the link to the speech.)

I was very pleased to see the news this morning that the Labour Party’s Rudd has defeated Howard in the race for Aussie PM. One of Rudd’s first moves will be to sign the Kyoto pact, leaving (cough cough) the U.S. and Kazakhstan as the only signatories who haven’t ratified the pact.

Peter Garrett (of Midnight Oil fame) will soon step in as Australia’s Climate Change Minister.

Now all that’s left is to count down the 400 or so remaining days in the Worst Presidency in U.S. Historyâ„¢, and we can all breathe a little easier.

WTFCNN is a new blog dedicated to covering the absurd non-news headlines that CNN lists on its homepage and RSS feeds.

Some of my favorites (which are, coincidentally, the links I’d be most likely to click on):

Charging moose brings down hovering helicopter

Elephant won’t play polo, trashes van instead

(via kottke)

Viacom launched a $1 billion lawsuit against Google/YouTube yesterday for “massive intentional copyright infringement.” They’re not the first to file suit, but it’s the biggest action taken by the biggest player to date, and it’s unlikely the last of its kind. Here’s the full story.

Add to that last week’s demand by ASCAP for much higher performance royalties on “all Internet transmissions of musical works to the public,” and you’re looking at big changes ahead in 2007 in the video sharing space.

Mark Cuban, who has been predicting this for some time, weighs in:

Google may not know it, but they have already lost. They will lose this case if it’s fought to the end, and whatever moral victories they may be able to gain in a legal battle or settlement will be ripped from them when the DMCA is changed. Then they will still have to negotiate with copyright owners to get their content. The entertainment industry may not be great at many things, but getting copyright law changed to meet their expectations is one thing they are better [at] than anyone. (link to full article)

GUATEMALA CITY – Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate “bad spirits” after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday. (Link to full Yahoo! article)

Maybe we can hire them to clear out the White House after Junior vacates the premises. As for the Vice Presidential Mansion… I don’t think all the Mayan priests in the world can help.

(Thanks, Joey)