JOHNATHAN PEARCE: “Boris Johnson, the new London mayor, has already decided it is time for some R&R and has gone on a yachting holiday in Turkey. Good for him. . . . In an ideal world, politicians would be on holiday 12 months a year.”

THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED TO HAPPEN, RIGHT: People moving out of high-risk hurricane areas. It’s not much of a change, though.

BAD TIMING? “America’s presidential hopefuls are pushing government-heavy approaches to climate change — just as the rest of the world is rebelling against them.”

HOW TO MAKE grilled pizza.

THE GENDER RATIO at these things is far more even than it was a decade or two ago.

I’M SITTING AT A PANEL ON SPACE AND THE CANDIDATES, AND MILES O’BRIEN OF CNN is doing an absolutely terrific job of moderating a session with representatives of the Clinton (Lori Garver) McCain (Floyd Deschamps) and Obama (Steve Robinson) campaigns. (L-R). Details later, but O’Brien’s been great, really drilling down on the questions.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES AN “L PRIZE” for high-efficiency lighting.

MCCLELLAN AND BUSH, SUMMED UP BY MARK TWAIN: If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

IN THE NEW YORK POST: John Hinderaker on the war on terror.

PROJECT DRIVEWAY: Daniel Krach on his hydrogen car. I drove one of those a while back and reported on it here.

POLITICO: “Barack Obama’s favorability ratings among white women has declined significantly in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, presenting an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party’s base.”

DUDE, WHERE’S MY RECESSION? (CONT’D): Jon Henke looks at economics and politics.

HILLARY, OBAMA AND IDENTITY POLITICS: All discussed in the latest PJM Political, with Ed Driscoll, Tammy Bruce, Ed Morrissey, Bill Bradley and Jennifer Rubin.

ABU MUQAWAMA takes off the mask.

IN THE MAIL: Jeffrey Kluger’s Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex, and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple.

STEYN CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: “The Canadian Association of Journalists has formally applied for standing as an intervenor at the upcoming British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal hearings on a complaint of religious and racial discrimination against Maclean’s magazine.”

MCCAIN’S WEB GAP IS SHOWING. He’s got good web people on the campaign, but he’s way behind in grassroots Web efforts. I mean, this kind of thing is funny, but . . . .

GAY MARRIAGE by executive decision in New York.

THE CARNIVAL OF SPACE is up!

More spaceblogging here.

CONTINUING THE SPELLING-BEE BLOGGING, over at Throwing Things.

HILLARY GETS A DIG IN: “I have the highest respect and regard for Sen. McCain, he and I have actually gone to Iraq and Afghanistan together.” (Via VIMH).

UPDATE: Bitterly clinging to “an outdated storyline about the war.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Meanwhile, here’s a not so outdated storyline on the war. Coming to a newspaper near you, though probably not until after the election. . . .

OUR FRIENDS THE CHINESE: “U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told The Associated Press. Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended during Gutierrez’s trip to Beijing for trade talks in December, people familiar with the incident told the AP. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation.”

SO FAR I’M ENJOYING the International Space Development Conference. I did a panel on space and media yesterday afternoon, and saw interesting presentations on China in space and private spaceports. Last night I hung out in the bar with a bunch of folks, including Dale Amon (better known to most as a Samizdata blogger, but a space entrepreneur with a startup, too), Keith Henson, who looked quite hale despite his time in durance vile, Lori Garver, Greg Allison, Loretta Whitesides (founder of “Yuri’s Night”) and a host of others. Rand Simberg, alas, wasn’t able to make it this year.

ALTHOUSE ON MCCLELLAN: “‘I Knew It Was a Terrible Mistake, but I Didn’t Mention It Until I Got a Book Contract.’ . . . It seems to me that Bush didn’t do enough to boost support for the war. He let criticism go unanswered and seemed to trust that the American people would understand why he was doing the right things, so I completely don’t get the “permanent campaign culture” charge. As for the decision to concentrate on the WMD rationale over the democracy argument: It’s been well known for a long time.”