JIM LEWIS: Meme that machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence gathers support.

A BIG AUDIO-VIDEO SALE at Amazon. I confess, though, that when I bought a new flat-screen for our bedroom I went and got it at the store — despite all the reader reports of good experiences when I posted on this a while back, I was just a little uncomfortable having something that big delivered, and having to return it the same way if there were problems.

UPDATE: Reader Brock Cusick writes: “I recently bought my 46″ Samsung LCD through Amazon. Great experience. They worked with a local white glove delivery company to make sure delivery & installation went off without a hitch, and it did.”

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW: TVA may restart construction of Bellefonte 1 and 2, two unfinished nuclear reactors. It’s greenhouse-friendly power!

More background here.

SARAH PALIN HAD NICE THINGS TO SAY about Obama’s energy plan.

QUESTIONS ABOUT AN ANTI-PALIN SITE, from Charles Johnson.

OIL COMPANIES prep platforms for Gustav.

HOW TO ASSESS VICE PRESIDENTS: The most important thing about a Vice Presidential candidate — as with a Presidential candidate — is fitness to be President. But, since most Vice Presidents never become President, the most significant impact is usually elsewhere: The running mate gets to put a lot of his/her people into political appointments in the new administration. From this perspective, Biden and Palin look really different. Biden is an oldtime Washington insider, with a large network of friends and supporters, meaning that the people he brings in are likely to be familiar faces (as, for that matter, are most of the people Obama is looking to for advice now, and will presumably appoint if elected). So the political appointments under an Obama-Biden administration will probably look a lot like the Clinton administration.

McCain has been in DC for a long time, too, of course. But who would Palin bring in? She doesn’t have that kind of a political network, and while she might bring a few people from Alaska, there won’t be very many of those. So who will she bring in if elected? My guess is that she’ll defer more to McCain than a more established pol would, but my guess is that she’ll also favor bringing in more evangelicals and social-conservative types, and she may (I don’t know) have more of a network in those circles than she has in the way of a political network. Something to consider, anyway.

IT’S NOT OVER IN BEIJING: The Paralympics start next week, and here’s a story of a Tennessee man who’ll be competing in archery.

GUSTAV IS NOW UP TO A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE: That was fast. Much more from Brendan Loy. Luckily, it’s already cleared the Cayman Islands.

UPDATE: At least Michael Moore is happy.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Now a Category 4 with 145mph winds. Michael Moore must be ecstatic.

THE PALIN PICK: Ed Morrissey is smelling desperation.

Meanwhile, from Rasmussen: Palin Makes Good First Impression: Is Viewed More Favorably than Biden. How will that hold up? We’ll see.

UPDATE: Jonathan Martin says it’s set the GOP grassroots “on fire.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: More on experience: “Next time some TV talking head brings up Sarah Palin’s lack of foreign-policy experience, can somebody please point out that the Democrats in 2004 picked John Edwards as their vice-presidential candidate?”

WE TALKED TO T. BOONE PICKENS about teen entrepreneurs, and now here’s a report on one from Michael Malone.

THE INSTA-WIFE on why she’s enthusiastic about Palin.

For me, of course, most of the fun of the past 24 hours has come from watching Democrats get caught up in the whole identity-politics tangle. As the San Francisco Chronicle says, “Republican Sen. John McCain played the gender card like an ace Friday with his surprise choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.”

Should McCain be above tricks like that? Well, maybe, but . . . nah, it’s politics, who am I kidding? And I have to say, this whole election, which a year or two ago looked to be a boring slog between Hillary and Rudy, has been the most entertaining I can remember. Regardless of how it comes out, let’s be thankful for that!

UPDATE: A less enthusiastic take from Taylor Marsh. [Link was bad before — fixed now. Sorry.]

ANOTHER UPDATE: A response to Taylor Marsh from Freeman Hunt.

Plus, at RedState, a (somewhat snarky) biographical comparison.

ANOTHER INSTA-POLL:

UPDATE: From the comments:

As an aside, Palin’s story is about as different from Obama’s as one could imagine. Yet both are quintessentially American. As the man said, “What a country!”

Indeed.

COLLIN LEVY:

Anytime more than 100 college presidents sign their names to a document, one naturally expects to find a well-meaning but wrong-headed exercise in political correctness. How mildly intoxicating, then, to discover the Amethyst Initiative, a case of ivory-tower interventionism that is actually sensible and even a bit brave: a proposal from 128 university leaders that legislators reconsider the national drinking age. . . .

Whatever its initial good intentions, a national drinking age of 21 has proved to be a failure. Teen drinking is still going on, but now no one is supervising it. Even if the college presidents, with their bold initiative, are just trying to save themselves some legal hassles and money they deserve a toast for stumbling upon this truth.

Indeed. And M.A.D.D. has only made itself look worse.

KIRSTEN POWERS: A Brilliant Trap Makes Dems the Male Chauvinists. Yes, that’s been delicious. And read the whole thing: I didn’t know Kirsten was from Alaska. (Via JWF).

UPDATE: David Frum doesn’t like it: “The Palin choice looks cynical. The wires are showing.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: How bad has the media sexism been? Even Media Matters is busting it.

SOMETHING NOT TO LIKE ABOUT SARAH PALIN: Support for teaching creationism in public schools. Of course, if we got the federal government out of of the education business, as we should, this kind of thing wouldn’t matter much. But even Ronald Reagan couldn’t, or anyway didn’t, deliver on his promise to abolish the Department of Education, so I guess we’re stuck with these issues mattering in national elections. To me, this is a big negative.

UPDATE: Charles Johnson — whose ongoing battle with the Discovery Institute proves he’s no creationist — says that claims that she supports creationism in schools are overblown:

Looks like Palin made an off-the-cuff statement during a debate on a hot topic, didn’t really expect the criticism she’d get, and then softened her position considerably in a follow-up interview. But to quote just the first part of her statements on creationism and ignore the second is misleading; because in the clarification she’s describing a position that doesn’t cause me (a staunch anti-creationist) any discomfort.

(Thanks to reader C.J. Burch for the link.) Well, that’s encouraging. I’d still like to get rid of the Department of Education though.

MAJOR JOHN TAMMES: It’s Pipey!

OBAMA’S SPEECH FROM THURSDAY NIGHT was eclipsed by the Palin announcement, but Orrin Judd gave it a second look.

ANN ALTHOUSE: If Alaska were a city, it would be . . . Fort Worth.

GUSTAV EVACUEES coming to Knoxville.

MICHAEL PETRELIS is looking at Sarah Palin’s financial disclosure forms and has links.

SARAH PALIN IS not a member of the Pigou Club. Perhaps she can be persuaded to join?

RAMESH PONNURU is feeling the love.

LES JONES is photoblogging Maryville.