IGNORING THE OLYMPICS: I’m not the only one: “It’s not political–I’m just thoroughly uninterested.”
Archive for 2008
August 14, 2008
THE PLUTO PLANET CONTROVERSY continues.
PROGRESS TOWARD MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS, via nanotechnology.
JON UTLEY on drilling in ANWR: “In fact, the world oil shortage is political, not geological.”
A NEW COMPANY to push Algae biofuels.
ANOTHER POLL, with a question sent in by blogger Gary Gross:
WHILE PEOPLE KEEP TALKING RECESSION, inflation sneaks in the back door. With “stimulus” checks and minuscule interest rates, this isn’t a big surprise. But if it gets established, it’s much worse than a recession.
VIDEO: “EPIC BURNOUTS” in the new Corvette ZR-1.
DARFUR UPDATE: Darfur onslaught ‘to clear way for Chinese oil hunt’ say rebels. “Sudan is already one of Africa’s biggest producers of crude oil, pumping 500,000 barrels a day. About two thirds is destined for China. Chinese companies have begun exploration in South Darfur. North Darfur lies in an oil exploration block controlled by a Saudi-led consortium and the area close to the Libyan border is thought to be the most likely to hold reserves.”
CYBERWAR: Is the Web the Newest Front Line?
FORBES CHALLENGES U.S. NEWS IN THE COLLEGE RANKINGS BIZ, but Ann Althouse is unimpressed: “Huh? They relied on RateMyProfessors?! That’s utterly unscientific. Okay, everybody, head over to RateMyProfessors and game the system. Don’t you want your school’s rating to go up? Instead of going there to slam the teacher who made you read too much, failed to amuse you sufficiently, and gave you a bad grade, it’s time to pad the ratings of your school’s teachers so that you can improve your credentials.”
STILL NECK-AND-NECK: “The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 43% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. When ‘leaners’ are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 46%. The race for the White House remains remarkably stable. With leaners, Obama’s support has stayed between 46% and 48% every day for the past two weeks. During that same time frame, McCain has been at 46% or 47% every day. “
WALTER SHAPIRO: “After covering John Edwards — and liking him — for years, what I thought I knew about him was wrong. But reporters often misjudge candidates.” And yet they allow their judgments to drive their reporting. Often — as the Legacy Media’s behavior over Edwards demonstrates yet again — to a ridiculous degree.
UPDATE: John Weidner thinks reporters are particularly dumb — and think we are too:
Edwards and his wife almost certainly coldly planned how to woo you, and knew what your weaknesses are. That’s what trial lawyers do with a jury. They study every scrap of information available on each juryman, and tailor the message to fit them. . . . Everybody who retained any objectivity could see that he was a phony, and were not surprised by this. When a guy talks populism and green-ism while building the biggest mansion in the county, there’s a 99% chance that he’s a sham. When a guy spends minutes in front of a mirror fluffing his hairdo, there’s a 99% chance that he will not resist the sexual temptations available to a celebrity.
Indeed.
CAMILLE PAGLIA: “Obama’s folksy come-on is as bad as Madonna’s faux British — and both are in desperate need of fresh inspiration.” Jeez, if people are comparing him to Madonna, he really has been overexposed. Plus, this: “A major gaffe this summer has been that, in trying to act more casual and folksy to appeal to working-class white voters, Obama has resorted to a cringe-making use of inner-city black intonations and jokey phrasings — exactly the wrong tactic.” Yes, since — given his actual background — it’s as phony as if I did the same.
RALPH KINNEY BENNETT on what the most popular cars have in common.
JOHN MCCAIN: We Are All Georgians. But that’s not really true. Some of us have nuclear weapons.
MICKEY KAUS: How big a victim is Elizabeth Edwards? A decision tree. Conclusion: “She can’t possibly be as dumb as People thinks its readers are.”
STRATEGYPAGE: “While Georgian ground forces have been pushed around by the recent Russian invasion, Georgian air defenses have been noticeably more effective. The Russians have admitted to losing four aircraft (three Su-25 ground attack bombers and a Tu-22 bomber flying a reconnaissance mission.) Most, or all, appear to have been brought down by the SA-11 BukM1 surface-to-air missile systems (obtained from Ukraine). . . . Georgia claims to have downed ten Russian aircraft as of August 11th, and the true air losses won’t be known until photos appear of all the aircraft wreckage. It is interesting that Russia was unable to come up with effective countermeasures against missile systems they had designed. The Russians knew of Ukrainian arms exports to Georgia, and the presence of the SA-11s and SA-15s. This is another mystery that will only be explained over time.”
JAMES OBERG: U.S. Satellite Shootdown: The Inside Story. Shocking news: “A careful reconstruction of the analyses and reviews that led to the shootdown decision shows that the official explanation was in fact the real explanation and that compelling considerations of health and safety required that the satellite be taken out.”
A CONCEALED-CARRY REVOLUTION in Illinois? That would be nice.
SEEMS DUBIOUS:
TVA has approved a water-access deal for a development group whose investors include U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., who sits on a committee that exercises oversight of the federal utility. . . .
Investors in The Cove at Blackberry Ridge include Shuler, a first-term Democrat from western North Carolina who is a former star quarterback for the University of Tennessee football team. Shuler sits on the House transportation committee’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, one of two congressional panels that provide formal oversight of TVA.
A financial disclosure statement filed by Shuler for 2007 showed his investment in The Cove fell in a range between $5 million and $25 million.
The news story allows comments, and people seem pretty disgusted. What do you think?
TOO PRO-ISRAEL for Catholic charity?
WORRIES ABOUT mass ocean extinctions and the ‘rise of slime.’ (Via FuturePundit, who has some troubling thoughts about what Chinese and Indian prosperity will bring, environmentally. Obviously, we need newer, cleaner technology, soon).
LEXUS HYBRID SUV SALES ARE BOOMING. I bet that the Lexusized version of the Prius will do very well when it comes out.