HOLIDAY MARKDOWNS on videogames.

RICH BAEHR: Numbers Not Adding Up For Senate Democrats On Health Care Reform.

THE CONAN APPEARANCE: A Sarah Palin turning point?

YOU CAN’T TELL THE PLAYAS without a scorecard.

COED DORM ROOMS: “Starting next fall, Columbia University in New York City will institute a ‘gender neutral’ housing policy for everyone but freshmen. This means guys and gals can share a room.” Like that never happened before . . . .

Still not quite to the point of Fred Saberhagen’s ahead-of-its time PC spoof, Love Conquers All, where coed dorm rooms were mandatory. But, like Fallen Angels, it’s a science fiction story that doesn’t seem as fictional as it once did . . . .

ARE I.U.D.s making a comeback?

ALLEN BARTON: 2009: The Year In Bailouts.

BEST BOOKS OF 2009: Some recommendations from the folks at Popular Mechanics.

CABLE FREEDOM: A click away?

PAUL SAMUELSON has died.

ONE DAY ONLY: Markdowns on warm coats for cold weather.

FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS per floozy?

TIM CAVANAUGH: Artificial Housing Respiration: Government-sponsored housing inflation is locking the next generation out of homeownership. “It’s easy to see why interested parties such as the National Association of Realtors would support interventions such as those above and the $8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit. . . . Imagine a yard sale outside the biggest, fanciest house in town. You get there early, eager to buy cool stuff cheap. But every time you see something you like, a police officer comes along with a Sharpie, crosses out the price, and writes in another number that’s two or three times higher. Scale that up a bit, and you have the Obama housing plan.”

TWO-TONE IAPETUS explained with Cassini data.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON XM/SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO, the latest PJM Political is now online for your listening pleasure.

TOM BEVAN: Can’t Hide the Decline: Obama Hits New Polling Lows.

OKAY, DON’T PICK ON EMILY BAZELON TOO MUCH: Yes, she has the usual unthinking left-liberal prejudices on space. (It’s for the squares!) But if you read her piece, you’ll see she tried to overcome them.

THE STATE OF NATURE IS ONE OF CONSTANT CHANGE: The big spill: Flood could have filled Mediterranean in less than two years. “The flood would have had a dramatic effect on local ecosystems, and could even have affected the global climate. The model suggests that global sea level dropped 9.5 meters as a result of the flood. The team points out that a much smaller flood in North America 12,000 years ago has been linked to a worldwide cold snap, and suggests that the Mediterranean flood may have had similarly significant effects.”

INSPIRED BY MAYOR BLOOMBERG, Bill Quick enters the polling biz.

TRYING TO BLUNT AN INTERNATIONAL CYBER-ARMS RACE with talks on Cyberwar.

One hopes these work out better than the 1972 germ warfare treaty, which sparked a huge (and illegal) Soviet biowar program, since they figured that with the U.S. having renounced biological warfare research, they’d have a chance to get ahead of us.

STEPHEN GREEN: The Week in Blogs.

HOURLY PAY makes people happier than salary?

MICHAEL YON: Arghandab & The Battle for Kandahar.

Remember that he’s supported by reader donations, so if you enjoy his work, you might consider hitting the tipjar.

I’M ON GEORGE KORDA’S RADIO SHOW if you want to call in or listen online.

Call in at 800-951-TALK if you want to, er, talk.

IN THE MAIL: Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America.