Hayden Christensen, Mario Andretti, Dennis Rodman, and others are in the midst of Bullrun, a wild seven day race across the country in "the world's premier super-cars." It's still too early to predict a winner, but the event itself is a shoo-in for this year's Stupidest Burning of Fossil Fuels Award. On the other hand, it's possible that Bullrun contestants rely less on chemical resources than some Tour De France cyclists do.

While green burials are all the rage with the eco-conscious, sci-fi fans are thrilled to learn about the least energy-efficient funeral plans possible. The ash remains of James Doohan, Star Trek's Scotty, are being blasted into space by a private company, the AP reported. Many environmentalists are quick to complain that we already pollute the galaxy enough without additional dumping in space, but optimists are hopeful that some nerd will want to visit Doohan's remains so badly that he'll be inspired to invent a cheap 100% solar–powered rocket ship.

Patrick Michaels, well-known as one of the only global warming skeptics in the science community, has peddled his spiel on CNN and other media outlets, but he's about to attain a new level of fame. On Thursday ABC news reported that the University of Virginia professor was paid $100,000 by a major power company that opposes caps on carbon dioxide emissions. Michaels has garnered attention in the past by writing that he'd "wager that the 10-year period beginning in January 1998 and extending through December 2007 will show a statistically significant downward trend in the monthly satellite record of global temperatures." Oops. Double oops. ...Annnnnd one more oops. Well, at least we can rest assured that Michaels isn't an idiot, just a Machiavellian opportunist. Phew.

It's true, politics makes strange bedfellows. The latest example? Well, yoga and... politics. Senator John Edwards joined Russell Simmons for a class at the Jivamukti Yoga School in New York earlier in the week. The yoga studio has hosted many notables before, including, Julia Butterfly Hill, Sting, and Uma Thurman, but this appears to be the first time for a former vice presidential nominee. Sources say that most practitioners were only mildly alarmed by Edwards' constant over-enthusiastic grin.

This week our friends at Grist have an excellent article about the Fuel Economy Reform Act, which is being pushed by a bipartisan coalition of senators including heavyweights Joe Biden and Dick Luger. The bill, which would reduce America's oil consumption by more than a million gallons every day in ten year's time, is being championed most heavily by none other than Barack Obama, the democrat senator from Illinois. Obama has been in the national spotlight since his '04 DNC speech, and is frequently asked to make a run for the White House. Unfortunately, many experts are uncertain whether the nation is ready for a U.S. President who happens to be Intelligent-American.