Current Facts 28

Annual Christmas Trees
30-35 million Christmas trees are sold un the US every year. Americans also purchase 7 million artificial trees annually.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Jingel Bell Christmas, October 2008, p. 4.

Fungus Fuel
While in the Patagonia rain forests, plant pathologist Gary Strobel found a red colored fungus (Gliocladium roseum) which emitted an array of hydrocarbons - the same compounds found in oil, gasoline and diesel fuel. The fungus makes hydrocarbons as a waste product after consuming cellulose (stringy plant fiber used to make paper) in a simple one-step process (unlike most biofuels ehich have to be processed and distilled). Stobel says the fungus could be grown in factories, like bakers yeast, rather than using farmland and siphon off its gases to make fuel.
The Week magazine, 11.21.08, v.8, i.388, p.24.

Water Bear Bugs Survive in Space
LiveScience has reporrted that the tiny “water bear” is the first animal to survive in the deadly vacuum of space. Also known as tardigrades, are eight-legged worm-like animals that usually live on wet mosses and lichens. Like their sea monkey (brine shrimp) cousins, they are able to survive months of dry periods by going into a death-like dormant state, reawakening upon introduction to water. They survived exposure a space expedition exposing them to tempratures hundreds of degrees below zero, complete absence of air and atmospheric pressure, and a bombardment of deadly UV radiation. Once back on Earth, they even reproduced again. Scientists are now studying how they escaped or repaired from the dangerous effects.
The Week Magazine, 9.26.08, v.8, i.380, p.21.

Most Overpaid Celebrities this Year
According to Forbes, this year, Nicole Kidman’s films earned $1 for every $1 she was paid. Jenifer Gardner comes in second with movies earning $3.60 for every $1 she was paid, & Tom Cruise comes in at third with his films grossing $4 for every $1 he was paid.
The Week Magazine, 9.26.08, v.8, i.380, p.36.

Income Level Voters
Exit polls showed that people earning more than $250,000 a year (the income level that would pay higher taxes in a Barack Obama presidency) 52% voted for Obama and 46% for John McCain.-Slate.com.
The Week magazine, 11.21.08, v.8, i.388, p.20.

Secret Service Code Names
The incoming first family has been assigned code names from the Secret Service, Barack is "Renegade," Michelle is "Renaissance," Malia is "Radiance," and Sasha is "Rosebud."-Chicago Tribune.
The Week magazine, 11.21.08, v.8, i.388, p.20.

2008 Election
64% of all eligible voters turned out, the highest in generations, with the highest victory for a Democrat since 1964. African-Americans increased their percentage of the electorate from 11 to 13%. Obama collected votes from Hispanics with a 2-1 ratio, and voters aged 18-29 by a more than 2-1 margin.
The Week Magazine, 11.14.08, v.8, i.387, p6.

Unemployment Rate
Is up from a year ago, and is now at 6.1 percent. This is considered the highest in 14 years. However, tThe unemployment figure undermeasures by not including underemployed, discouraged (those who would like to work full-time but can only find a part-time job) nor those wotking as "consultants" out of their homes or those whom have entirely given up looking for a job. The U6 measure includes the underemployed and others on the fringes of the job market tally at 11 percent.

The Week Magazine, 11.14.08, v.8, i.387, p. 48.

Freedom of Information Requests of 2007
The public filed nearly 22 million Freedom of Information requests with the federal government last year. Only one in three was granted. - US News & World Report
The Week Magazine, 9.26.08, v.8, i.380, p.18.

Administration Rush
The administration began to rush legislation that if enacted before Obama comes in would be a cumbersome lengthy process to reverse. Some include; lifting restrictions on commercial open fishing, ease control on power plants’ emissions, relax drinking-water standards and loosen restrictions on dumping mining waste, despite consumer and environmentalists protests, saying the proposals were in the best interests of the nation.The Week Magazine, 11.14.08, v.8, i.387, p9.

Pale McCan’t & Troopergate
Sarah Palin “displayed a paranoid style and a penchant for secrecy, deliberately conducting state business via her personal Yahoo e-mail account, so it wouldn’t be subject to Freedom of Information requests.” (Jo Becker & Peter Goodman & Michael Powell of the New York Times). Republicans sought to derail state legislative inquiry into whether Gov. Palin improperly fired the state’s public safety commissioner. Republican legislators called the suit partisan and unconstitutional. Separately, Alaska’s Republican Attorney General Talis Colberg said Palin’s staff would not honor subpoenas in the case, despite Palin’s earlier pledge of cooperation. Palin has denied allagations that she dismissed Commissioner Walt Monegan because he refused to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law, a state trooper who was embroiled in a nasty divorce from her sister. Additionally (Laura Meckler & John Wilke point out in the Wall Street Journal) “we already knew that her claim to have said ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the notorious Bridge to Nowhere pork project wasn’t quite accurate. It now turns out that, contrary to John McCain’s assertion that as governor Palin had never requested federal earmarks, she did ask for $453 million over the last two years – including funds for ‘a study of seal DNA.’”
The Week Magazine, 9.26.08, v.8, i.380, p.7 & 18.