DENVER COLUMBUS DAY PARADE IS ON, despite hoax. “A Denver parade in honor of Christopher Columbus is on—despite a phony e-mail that circulated Thursday saying the downtown celebration was canceled for lack of funds. The Sons of Italy’s Columbus Day Parade Committee in Denver was shocked to learn of the e-mail sent to the media, which was signed by Sons of Italy President Richard SaBell. The fake e-mail said protesters had ‘ruined’ the event and tarnished the legacy of an Italian hero.”

UPDATE: Reader Bruce Webster emails:

The real problem with today’s parade isn’t the fake e-mail — it’s the bitterly cold weather. It’s 20 degrees here at our house right now (10 am, Saturday), and the high downtown is on track to set a record for the lowest ‘high’ for this date (the previous ‘low’ high was 34 degrees). Oh, and it’s cloudy and icy.

I blame global warming. And President Bush!

MARKETS: “We know that gold is soaring. And we know the dollar is slumping. But, did you know that year-to-date, while the S&P 500 is up 18 percent — a great showing, no doubt — gold is up even more? The precious metal is up 21 percent. In other words, measured in true, gold-backed purchasing power, stocks have really done nothing this year. Zip. It is most disappointing.” Yes, whether you use gold as a measure or not, if you measure stocks in constant-dollar-value prices, I’m not sure the market has recovered much if at all.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “I guess I must hate America, but I actually think it’s kind of ludicrous that anyone is even trying to argue that Barack Obama truly deserves this Nobel Peace Prize. Could he have deserved it, after he’d had more than nine months in office? Easily. But he hasn’t had time to, y’know, accomplish anything.”

The Oval Office as some kind of high level Self Esteem Camp? Well, no. You can’t blame Obama for this; he seems to have been as surprised as anyone. It’s just more evidence that the allegedly “serious” institutions of Western society aren’t up to the job.

HMM: FCC Launches Probe of Google Voice Service.

HANNA ROSIN: Kate Gosselin Does Not Deserve Our Pity. “In celebrity divorce cases, as in regular divorce, we are still conditioned to view the man as holding all the cards. If the woman behaves in a reckless, crazy manner—think Denise Richards, Christie Brinkley, or Tricia Walsh of You Tube rant fame—we assume it’s to make up for her frustration and helplessness. But in this case the gender stereotypes are blinding us to the obvious reality. In this miserable duo, Jon is what divorce attorneys would call the ‘out’ spouse—the one with no money or power who might end up on the street. And like many out spouses, he is looking out for the interests of the kids. For those reasons he is actually the one who deserves our sympathy.”

SO I’VE WRITTEN IN THE PAST ABOUT “OUT-OF-DOORS POLITICAL ACTIVITY,” and that’s led to some reader questions about what it might involve today.

As I’ve suggested, I think an early phase is internet satire. Tea Party protests are another. Or pranks. But what if you’re in the Hugo Chavez world — not quite outright military government, but not exactly democracy, either? Or just afraid you’re moving that way? One step going beyond mere protests and mockery, but well short of violence, is something like the U.K. fuel protests. Or what would happen if a lot of people showed up at banks and started withdrawing a lot of cash all at once? (Most banks couldn’t deal with much in the way of cash withdrawals — a few dozen people withdrawing a few thousand each at once would overload many, no doubt panicking the powers-that-be). Heck just a bunch of people driving at exactly the speed limit might have a drastic effect on some areas . . . .

I don’t have any answers, and we’re pretty clearly not at that point yet. At any rate, I’d encourage those interested in this to read Pauline Maier’s book. We’re not in colonial times any more, but while the specifics might change the principles are evergreen.

ICE FOUND on an asteroid.

SO IF OBAMA IS AMERICA’S GORBACHEV, who will be America’s Putin?

POLIWOOD: Late Night Follies With David Letterman.

MARKDOWNS ON heart rate monitors / GPS for runners.

KATIE GRANJU’S medical experience.

REASON TV ON BARACK OBAMA’S BIG PRIZE.

UPDATE: Emperor worship.

THE DANGERS OF Rogue Household Robots.

FROM MISSILE SILO to swanky bachelor pad.

GREG GUTFELD: It’s All About Him, Not Us. Indeed.

“LIVING OUT A SATIRE.”

READER NATHAN KAISER NOTES THE MAINSTREAMING OF SURVIVALISM: A year’s supply of dehydrated food at CostCo.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

It looks like these servings are based on a 2000 calorie diet. At best, this is survival ration, not much more than that.

But it IS better than nothing, and most folks won’t even have this, if and when.

There does not seem to be any real calorie data on this food supply, but it doesn’t look like more than 2k per day.

Yeah, I vaguely remember linking to some other “year’s supply” items a while back that turned out to be based on a pretty, er, optimistic assessment. But, still, a lot better than nothing. I can’t find that post, but here’s some earlier blogging.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ah, here’s the old post, and let’s hope that Costco has improved those food supplies.

FASTER, PLEASE: Tissue Engineers Develop Implantable Heart Muscle Patches.

THE JOY OF “HOT HATCHBACKS:” Test-Driving the 2010 VW GTI.