Here’s hoping you have a very happy new year. Where did 2003 go anyway?

NASCAR driver Jerry Nadeau, who suffered a serious head injury in a racing accident May 2 at Richmond International Raceway, continues to make progress. In a question and answer session, the 33-year-old Danbury, Conn. native talks about his onging recovery and how blessed he feels to be home for the holidays.

Check out the rest at NASCAR.com

We’ll see you in ‘05 Jerry!

The Bush administration has decided to ban the herbal weight-loss supplement ephedra from the marketplace because of concerns about its effects on health, government officials said Tuesday.

“It’s a dead product and unfortunately it has become a dead product over the backs of a lot of dead people when the FDA could have acted before,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which petitioned the government for a ban in 2001.

It’s sad that 155 people had to die before anything was done. Shameful.

Overwhelmed rescue crews picked through entire city blocks of rubble in search for survivors and bodies a day after an earthquake ruined this southeast Iranian city. With the death toll in the thousands, Iran appealed for international help and promised to waive visas for foreign relief workers.

“As more bodies are pulled out, we fear that the death toll may reach as high as 40,000. An unbelievable human disaster has occurred,” said Akbar Alavi, the governor of the city of Kerman, the provincial capital.

20,000 people! That’s nearly 10 percent of the population in the region.

A devastating earthquake struck the ancient Silk Road city of Bam in southeastern Iran on Friday, killing more than 5,000 people and injuring thousands of others, Iranian news agency IRNA said.

Initial estimates suggested 5,000-6,000 people died in the earthquake which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, the official IRNA news agency quoted a senior official as saying.

Pray for the people of Bam, Iran today.

Scientists have failed to pick up an expected signal from British-built spacecraft Beagle 2 telling them it has landed safely on Mars.

The ?35m ($62m) probe should have landed at 0254 GMT on Christmas Day after a six-month flight.

Why would anyone who builds a respectable space vehicle name it “Beagle” anything? Everyone knows beagles do their own thing, all the time.

I would have named it St. Bernard or Akita or something, but never would I have thought (nor considered) to name it “Beagle”.

If he was a liberal commentator (do any of those actually exist?) the news media would be screaming about the violation of his right to privacy…

but then again, he would never be a liberal commentator, would he?

A judge resealed Rush Limbaugh’s medical records Wednesday, giving the conservative radio commentator’s attorneys time to appeal his earlier decision allowing prosecutors to examine the files for evidence Limbaugh illegally purchased painkillers.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff ordered the records remain sealed for 15 days while Limbaugh’s attorneys pursue their appeal. Winikoff had ruled Tuesday that prosecutors could examine the records, but could not make them public.

Tsk.

Goldie Moran was more than simply the wife of a powerful man, former Clark County Sheriff John Moran, according to people who knew her. She was a mighty woman in her own right although she measured less than five feet tall.

Goldie Gianopulos Moran died Sunday. She was 81.

Rest In Peace, Goldie, and say hi to John for us.

A janitor accused of secretly videotaping female students and faculty in a restroom at a suburban Rochester high school has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

Allen Wemes, 52, was suspended from his job as chief custodian at Pittsford Sutherland High School last month after school officials found videotapes that surreptitiously depict a dozen students and faculty in restroom stalls.

Think he was feeling a bit guilty?

A strong earthquake occurred at 19:15:56 (UTC) on Monday, December 22, 2003. The magnitude 6.5 event has been located in CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.

Let’s hope there is little to no damage from this one.