Time Magazine named President George W. Bush “Person of the Year” and praised him for “reframing reality to match his design.” [CBS News] Fourteen U.S. Marines were convicted of abusing Iraqi prisoners, including one soldier who used an electronic device to make a detainee “dance.” [New York Times] The ACLU circulated memos, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that suggest President George W. Bush directly authorized torture against detainees in Iraq.[ACLU] A new species of monster cockroach was discovered in Indonesia. Adoptees and adoptive parents were calling on Fox TV to stop the broadcast of a game show called Who’s Your Daddy, in which an adopted woman has to pick her biological father from a line-up; she wins a prize if she picks correctly.[Reuters] A 9.0 magnitude earthquake created a tsunami that ravaged south and southeast Asia, as well as parts of Africa.[NYTimes] The wave reached from Somalia and Kenya to Malaysia. Thousands of fatalities were reported in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.[Wikipedia] Three-story waves washed sunbathers into the sea, carried away snorkelers, and swallowed up Hindu ritual bathers celebrating Full Moon Day. A prison in Sumatra was torn open by the tsunami, and hundreds of inmates fled. [NYTimes] Entire towns were turned into rubble. Corpses hung from trees and fences, and the rotting bodies of humans and animals threatened to pollute water supplies.[Reuters] It was difficult to bury the dead for lack of dry ground.[MSNBC] The earthquake was the largest since 1964, and slightly altered the rotation of the earth.[NYTimes] Studies showed that the terminally ill do not, as is commonly believed, hold on to life until major events, like birthdays or holidays, transpire. Rather, they simply die.[Reuters] Other studies found that half of American food goes to waste. NASA announced that a 400-meter asteroid had a good chance of striking the earth in 2029.[NASA] Director Oliver Stone blamed audiences and the critics for the box office failure of “Alexander.” [New Age Media Concepts] Krispy Kreme Doughnuts announced that it has bad credit and that the Atkins diet was not to blame. [The New York Times]