Rocking Thursday Night

* For anyone who still has a heart, Don Pease’s Dr. Seuss biography could be a necessary read.

* Sharon Astyk has your definitive powerdown blog rant.

* BP says the oil leak has been capped.

* The financial reform bill has passed; this means capitalism is finally perfected.

* Is nothing sacred? New episodes of Beavis and Butthead.

* Is nothing sacred? Douglas Coupland is designing clothes now.

* Is time disappearing from the universe? J.G. Ballard was right!

* Paging J.J. Abrams: Workers have unexpectedly excavated an 18th-century ship at the ruins of the World Trade Center.

* Gravity ain’t no thing.

* The Darjeeling Limited is finally getting its Criterion Collection release.

* And Argentina now has marriage equality. ¡Hurra!

Financial Reform Has Passed the Senate

59-39.

Early Monday

* BP claims the Deepwater Horizon link has been partially contained. I’m partially impressed. Scientific American points out that what’s happening today will have consequences for decades. Elsewhere in oil news, the oil lobby is fighting efforts that would make them more accountable for the actual costs of their toxic industry, while elsewhere in the world the tar sand rush is on.

* Climate change: still real.

* The financial reform bill: better than you’d think?

* Libertarianism Bingo.

* Aesthetic controversy in Detroit! Can street art be moved and preserved?

* Aesthetic controversy in Scranton! The Office should not survive Michael Scott.

* Terror in Greenwich! Old-money WASPs being forced out of their homes and nonprofit boards by Jews, Catholics, and “others.”

* Popular Science remembers your cities of the future.

* Today cell phones don’t cause cancer. Live your life accordingly.

* And dueling commencement addresses: Rachel Maddow (part 2, part 3), Glenn Beck. Stay for the end of the Beck for some really intriguing anti-intellectualism that pits eggheads and their so-called “expertise” against the mighty Holy Spirit. Guess who wins.

Tuesday Miscellany

* Lots of talk today about Arizona and its new “papers, please” immigration law, which James Doty, Andrew Napolitano, Erwin Chemerinsky and Karl Manheim all agree is almost certainly unconstitutional. Even Tom Tancredo and Joe Scarborough thinks this goes too far—though douchebag of liberty Bill Kristol thinks it’s fine. The city of San Francisco will join a national boycott. Perhaps Major League Baseball will too. There’s more commentary on this from Eugene Robinson, Rachel Maddow, Seth Meyer, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.

* Colbert’s segment on Sue Lowden’s chickens-for-medical-care scheme was pretty great too.

* Alas, poor Durham: not one of America’s highest cities.

* Britain and China have your videos of the day.

* You can stop laughing, lawyers—now your degree is worthless too.

* The Louisiana oil spill, as seen from space.

* And some breaking news: Ben Nelson is still really terrible.

And Now Four for Monday

* Stephen Hawking says we shouldn’t talk to the aliens. Yes, but what if they’re trying to talk to us? Both links via MeFi.

* Hardline cleric vindicated; feminine immodesty now proven to cause earthquakes.

* Jonathan Chait explains how not to play poker.

* And they’ll tell you whether cell phones cause cancer… in thirty years.

Monday Night

Very busy weekend, but I’m back now. Allow me to close some open tabs.

* Of course the big news remains Eyjafjallajökull. Here’s why volcanic ash in your airplane engine is bad. It may be a while before air travel is back to normal. Lots of pictures here, here, here, and here. Nearby Katla may erupt next; last time this happened it helped spark the French Revolution. Good luck in Europe, Eileen, hope you find a way back home soon.

* Who is Chris Rock?

* ‘Another Big Shoe to Drop on Goldman.’ There’s some speculation that the firm could ultimately be destroyed over this.

* George Washington, library thief!

* 2010 will suck, but buck up: Republicans have effectively no one who can run against Obama in 2012.

* Bill Clinton, last seen apologizing for his Haiti policy, now admits he was wrong about financial regulation too.

* Somebody stop George Lucas before he films again.

* And some quick hits: Immodest women cause earthquakes! Health care reform causes volcanoes! Paying taxes is just like being raped! 1880 was the golden age of freedom! Women face frequent double binds!

Friday Afternoonage

* Obama Administration on a roll this week, with announcements on new hospital guidelines for gay and lesbian partnerships and an SEC suit against Goldman Sachs for civil fraud.

* The GOP claims to have the votes in the Senate to block financial reform. The Democrats really should have done this last summer when they had 60.

* Wealth, income, and power in America. 15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America.

* What unites tea partiers? Watching Glenn Beck.

* Limbaugh lies again about unions and the Massey coal mine disaster. O’Reilly lies about Fox’s misreporting on health care.

* Just what’s going on with all that volcanic ash over Iceland? More here.

* On the trustworthiness of beards.

* Beating SimCity 3000.

* And Bruce in Durham! On 9th Street even.