Frugal flyer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man and underpants bomb enthusiast who on Christmas 2009 allegedly intended to make an airliner go boom over Detroit, heads to court today for the first day of his trial on eight terrorism-related charges. Abdulmutallab has pleaded not guilty, but the evidence against him is pretty strong (a confession, a videotape of him explaining his bomb scheme, and the half-destroyed bomberpants he wore during his fateful flight, among other things) so he probably shouldn't expect a Christmas miracle. Given this development and the death of his inspiration source, Anwar al-Awlaki, just a few days ago, Abdulmutallab's kind of having a shitty week.

[SF Gate. Images AP, Shutterstock]