• Best of the year:

• 
  obvious
• 
  spazzy
• 
  ragged
• 
  beautiful
• 
  hypnotic
  

• Best of the decade:

• 
  balanced
• 
  literate
• 
  yes!
• 
  better
• 
  pioneer*

* – We know this choice is somewhat controversial, because people hate Ben Gibbard for no good reason. But we’re going to say it now: Without this album, you would not have the popular success of indie rock that you see today. “We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes” made it cool. At least cooler than Dashboard Confessional. Which as you might notice, is not on the list. Do you want us to put it on there? Or do you even want to remember “Screaming Infidelities”? Good. Death Cab’s album, beyond being a gateway drug for any college student, also has some pretty amazing songs on it. ‘Nuff said.

• See this guy over here? You hate him. This guy is named Albert Gonzalez, and he’s responsible for stealing 130 million credit card numbers, along with two Russian hackers who probably look like video game characters. If you’ve ever shopped at 7-Eleven, there’s a good chance your card was stolen by this guy. He pleaded guilty today. So remember. Hate him. You. source

• why? Because al-Qaeda’s new loft is in sunny Yemen, where the unemployment is high and the government is weak.
• plans Right now, the U.S. is reportedly looking at targets, biding their time until Obama gives the OK. Get yo popcorn ready! source

• They had a report on the guy all written up. They didn’t share it. Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab was known to the CIA. In fact, they had everything they needed to nail the guy in case he did something like this. Instead, though, it sat around in Langley, Virginia for five weeks, just in time for this guy to almost blow up a plane. Clearly, the system is broken. And no matter how it’s spun, both Bush and Obama failed here. As did Congress. There’s plenty of blame to go around. Who wants some? source

• YES that’s what Obama is saying, not us source

• There is no other way to interpret it: The TSA is saying clearly that they can’t prevent terrorists from getting explosives on airplanes, but by god, they’ll make sure those planes explode only when the TSA says it’s okay.
• Gizmodo writer Joel Johnson • Regarding the Transportation & Security Administration’s decisions on security. The tech site gathered every logical thought on the Internet regarding security restrictions and came to a conclusion everyone was pussyfooting around – airline security is a joke. Instead of fighting terrorism in a way that actually works, the government has spent billions of dollars trying to cover every possible scenario, when the likelihood of a terrorist attack actually happening to the average person is slim to none, based on simple logic. In other words, kids, the TSA is wasting everyone’s time and money by forcing us to take off our shoes or do any of the other expensive stuff they do. We’re with Gizmodo on this one. Fire the TSA. If you want to actually stop terrorism, focus on intelligence, Obama. source

• If you’re like us and think mainstream pop (besides Taylor Swift, she’s dreamy) blends into one another, you’ll appreciate this mashup of the top 25 songs of 2009, which turns 25 mediocre songs into one awesome one. Somewhere, Gregg Gillis/Girl Talk is in a dimly-lit, noisy, sweaty room somewhere, screaming, “I got here first!”

• 0.4% boost, mostly from gov’t incentives source