THIS WEEK’S CARNIVAL OF CARS is up, with a focus on matters green.

AMIDST A CLOUD OF INK, TNR RETRACTS AND FLEES THE SCENE. Bob Owens comments: “Stay tuned. I’ll have much more later, including why Franklin Foer said nothing to justify keeping his job.”

UPDATE: Further thoughts from Patterico.

My take? Push the button, Frank.

MORE: Ouch: “pathetic, evasive, self-justifying, self-pitying, and deeply dishonest.”

Plus, a gratuitous en passant smear from Foer. It is, alas, consistent with the classless way that he and TNR have behaved throughout.

STILL MORE: The Fog of Foer.

SOME HOME THEATER speaker advice.

EXTREME MORTMAN ON SUBPRIME CAPITALISM: “A government bailout of folks who make bad financial choices and who speculate on the market? Count me in! Er, I’m outraged! My adjustable rate mortgage is schedule to zoom up in the spring. Mind if I send the monthly bill to to the government? Maybe they can put in a hot tub for me.”

MORE ON PREPAREDNESS: In response to yesterday’s post on wet-dry vacs and other homeowner stuff, reader Peter Gookins emails:

I’ve never denied being anal retentive, which has been a help with all the disaster recovery / business continuity work I’ve done over the years (big difference between the two – disaster recovery fixes what
broke, continuity keeps the business operating, and, hopefully, the money coming in. You can’t have continuity without disaster recovery, but having a recovery plan doesn’t necessarily mean continued business operation). Your recent water emergency reminded me that it’s s beneficial for homeowners to take some preventive steps.

I’ve attached some pics if you’re interested. The shot of the garage electrical panel shows a flashlight, a 10 lb ABC fire extinguisher, the T-handled thing is a curb key for shutting water off at the meter, and
the map shows where everything is. The curb key has had the handle ends ground to large screwdriver-tip size so it can be used to open the meter box cover. No additional tools needed. (And, while the garage has a large fire extinguisher, there’s also a smaller one in every closet. Extinguishers are cheap.)

Why a map? Not everyone will always remember where stuff is, and if Uncle Harry is visiting he won’t know at all. On the map is the address and subdivision name (the blue tape is covering my address) along with
emergency phone numbers. Critical tools are all right there. The pic of the water shutoff shows a 1/4 turn ball valve; faster and easier to use than the typical round-handle gate valve. The gray pipe is a “safety sleeve” to prevent a weed wacker from cutting through the plastic water supply pipe.

The picture of the electrical receptacle shows a number; that’s the circuit breaker number that controls the circuit the outlet is on. If one has to shut down a circuit quickly because of a dangerously malfunctioning appliance it’s pretty helpful to know which breaker to flip.

Yes, it took some time to get all this together, but a couple of hours spent leisurely assembling the info over the years will pay off if one has an emergency and time becomes critical. And, I do have a wet/dry
vac. Two of ’em, in fact.

Sounds like good advice! Meanwhile, James Rummel notes that this is a neglected side of preparedness: “Most gunbloggers like myself like to write about the big stuff, like emergency supplies needed to keep yourself and your family alive if you have to abandon your house and run for the hills. What is neglected is the little nitty-gritty details on how to handle the costly and potentially dangerous problems that occur inside the house that make it difficult to live there, instead of the huge disasters that come from the outside.”

GARRISON KEILLOR ON SUBPRIME MORTGAGES.

DECISION TIME in Venezuela.

THOUGHTS ON L. Ron Hubbard and domestic violence.

A BAD CASE OF SOCK-PUPPET BLOWBACK: I agree that arrest is a gross overreaction, but if the facts are as they appear, it’s kind of amusing.

IN THE MAIL: Election 2008: A Voters Guide, by Franklin Foer and the editors of The New Republic. I haven’t actually read it, but according to reliable pseudonymous sources it has Hillary mocking a cripple, and Obama driving around New Hampshire with a baby skull on his head, while Bill Richardson runs over dogs in the gubernatorial limo. Or something like that . . . .

DESTROYED TRAFFIC CAMERAS IN GREAT BRITAIN: Apparently, the Anglo-American tradition of “out of doors political activity,” as Gordon Wood named it, is not dead.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALEX KOZINSKI, the new Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit. Now if we could just get him onto the Supreme Court . . . .

THE OTHER DAY, I LINKED TO this electronic project kit and suggested it would make a good “hands-on” toy for the right kid. Reader Kat Wilton emails:

The Snap Circuits “toy” you linked to on Amazon is very good! We got it two years ago for our now 11 y.o. daughter, and she’s still enjoying it. I would especially recommend this if Mom or Dad is going to join in: there is plenty of opportunity for both the adult *and* child to learn a lot. My husband, who is the Jack-of-all-trades in this family, also manages to use the Snap Circuits to give our Munchkin a jump-off point to learning more about electronics and math.

Excellent, fun, AND educational – can’t beat that for a present!

Or for a recommendation. Nice to know. It looked cool — like an updated version of the Radio Shack electronic project kits I used when I was a kid.

UPDATE: More from reader Ron Mahn:

I bought the Snap Circuits “toy” for my 4 y.o. daughter last Christmas and she loves it. She is 5 now and has some basic electronics down. She knows the difference between conductors and insulators, more resistance means the speaker will put out less sound, and that you have to complete a circuit to make the light work. We got the next bigger one for her birthday in May (because it has a radio, I am a ham and my daughter has been on the air since the day she turned 3). It is a bit advanced, so we do mostly projects from the smaller one. It is a great opportunity to do things together, and hopefully build the foundation for a little bit of communication in her teen years (I hope).

Sounds cool. Sounds like a smart four-year-old, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Katie Kearns emails:

We have the “junior” version for our four year old, and just yesterday he got it out and put together a quick circuit to launch some weird little twirly thing into the air, and then worked on lighting the light bulb. He also learned that, yes, you do need to put the battery in the circuit for it to work. ;)

He can’t even read, but he did seem to have the schematics out and I guess they helped him some? :D Having snaps to stick together instead of little wires or clips makes it so much easier to work with.

Two thumbs up!

Cool.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “Did yesterday’s hostage crisis teach us anything about Hillary Clinton?”

A LEAD-FREE TOY FROM CHINA: “Instead, it has asbestos.”

Merry Christmas!

THOUGHTS ON SPEAKING ENGLISH in America.

ISLAMIC LAW IN NORTHERN NIGERIA has traditionally been on the mellow side. That was changing, but now things seem to be changing back. Part of the reason: “Many early proponents of Shariah feel duped by politicians who rode its popular wave but failed to live by its tenets, enriching themselves and neglecting to improve the lives of ordinary people.” Shocking.

POLL: Does the Second Amendment give individuals a right to arms? So far it’s leaning very hard toward “yes.”

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ON BUSH AND STEM CELLS. I disagreed with Bush’s position, but I also thought at the time that it amounted more to sandbagging of pro-lifers than to standing in the way of research, and that still seems to be the case.

“I’M GOING TO MOVE ON.”

THE FROG AND THE scorpion.

CLINTON HQ HOSTAGE SITUATION resolved.

Eric Scheie is googling the hostage taker.

UPDATE: More from Tom Maguire.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More, including video.

REFLECTIONS ON RECOVERING FROM SURGERY from Ilya Somin.

CUTTING GREENHOUSE GASES ON THE CHEAP: Since most of these changes would save money and energy anyway, they — like most practical greenhouse responses — are worth doing whether or not you believe in global warming.

THE DEATH OF ENVIRONMENTALISM? Questions for Ted Nordhaus and Michael Schellenberger (and Newt Gingrich!)