A collection of interesting numbers and pertinent tidbits from GOOD Business. View here.

There’s still a standoff on the Saudi oil super tanker that Somali pirates seized last Saturday. The pirates are demanding $25 million and fortifying their position. However this situation is resolved, hopefully the two million barrels of crude on that boat stays out of the ocean. This could be a huge environmental disaster.

How to “solve” the pirate problem is a larger question. The pirates on board the Sirius Star (pictured) aren’t the only ones looking forward to…

Every year, the president ceremonially pardons a turkey, thus sparing it from the execution. Apparently, in an amusing example of federalism, governors also pardon their own turkeys. I’m piling on here, but: this year, Sarah Palin pardoned the Alaskan turkey. Sadly, in a now typical, and truly hilarious display of incompetent public relations,  her post-pardon interview takes place in the foreground, while less fortunate turkeys are being graphically slaughtered behind her. Not for the squeamish:

Via…

-Slate launched a new video series Wednesday called “Grand Unified Weekly,” which serves up science news with a side of snark. You may remember it under it’s original name: Scientific American’s “The Monitor.”

-A man tried to pay his phone bill with the drawing of a spider. It didn’t work. But the email thread between him and the phone company representative is priceless.

-A 90-year-old giant tortoise named Lonesome George—he’s the last of his kind—mated this year for the…

You may recognize the pop stylings of GOOD News’s musical guests, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, from their recent iPod Touch commercial. The Danish band just released their first EP, Around the Bend, to be followed early next year by a full-length recording. Catch them live in the GOOD News studio and (if you’re in New York) tonight at Webster Hall.

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (Official Site)
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour at Girlie Action

What happens when oil-rich tycoons, real-estate magnates, and tech guys decide they care about the environment? Big money, new markets, and accusations of hypocrisy, of course.

If one were to visit the Coraline site and enter the code “moustachio,” one would enjoy a super-duper stop motion treat courtesy of Bo Henry’s substantial handlebars.

Via Fabulist.