A phone call from president-elect Obama triggered a long series of events that contributed to the downfall of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Investors began to lose money holding U.S. debt as Treasury bills began earning negative interest for the first time since World War II. The Christian Science Monitor’s editorial board sought to curb a new shopping spree for Hummers as gas prices edge below $1.50, by suggesting a higher gas tax. Facebook removed the group “Jew Parking Appreciation Group,” which busted on taking up more than one parking space.

Redskins star running back Clinton Portis trashed his coach, Jim Zorn, and speculated that Zorn’s plays are too complex, which is “why the O-line’s sometime confused.” The Comic-Con 3-minute preview clip of Watchmen hit iTunes. Michael Bay announced that the first trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will debut in early February. A middle-eastern farmer in South Lebanon dug up a 25-pound potato.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey explained that Detroit auto workers do not average $73/hour in wages. House‘s Dr. Cuddy finally got herself a baby, while Russia’s GDP hit a 3-year low. That didn’t stop Russia from promising to take India’s second astronaut into space in 2013. London Business School professor Lynda Gratton wrote that recessions let new ideas flourish, and lead us “to question the prevailing norms of leadership and decision-making.”

It appeared possible that Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate could be filled by a Republican. SEO geeks rejoiced as the founder of Hakia argued that creating refined online semantic ontologies must become a top priority in all fields, saying, “We cannot afford a future in which knowledge is at the mercy of popularity and money.” Harvard University’s endowment lost 22% of its value since June 30, when it stood at $36.9 billion. It turns out we were not living in a golden age of art; there was simply an investment bubble in contemporary art. God decided we’re smiting ourselves just fine, and the Lolcats got into the Christmas spirit.