Midday Open Thread

• Say goodbye to drug company swag in 2009:

  Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies — Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs — that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs.

  Check out the main photo that goes with the article.

• For some, the new year starts with new worries:

  This week, hundreds of workers continued a massive cleanup around the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority facility that has been a mundane and welcome fixture here for the last half a century, until -- late at night and three days before Christmas -- it became a force of ruination. Earthen walls surrounding one of the plant's retention areas failed, sending more than a billion gallons of the ash -- enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools -- coursing into surrounding waterways and a handful of private properties.

  No one was harmed, but residents are worried about the long-term health effects from the ash, which contains potentially harmful contaminants such as arsenic. They are also worried about the threats to their economy and culture, long defined by the picturesque waterways that snake through the lush Appalachian hill country.

• "Suspicious packages" ring in the New Year in Aspen:

  Suspicious packages and threatening notes left at two Aspen banks cleared out downtown on one of this legendary party town's most festive nights.

  A package with a note was discovered about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Wells Fargo branch at 119 S. Mill St. Minutes later similar packages showed up at the Vectra Colorado branch at 534 E. Hyman Ave.

  The Aspen Police Department said the packages came with "a note (that) indicated a credible threat to the community."

  The suspect has been found dead.

• Getting an early start on honoring Charles Darwin's birthday (February 12), Wired has compiled a list of The 12 Elegant Examples of Evolution. -- SusanG
• The new year brings suicidal Zunes. -- SusanG
• All hail 2009, the International Year of Astronomy. Let the star-gazing begin! -- SusanG