DAN RIEHL feeds the troll.
My speculation, by the way, is that The Atlantic is trying to re-brand the Daily Dish as something other than Andrew Sullivan’s blog, and that this business represents an effort to draw attention to the “underbloggers” while pulling in traffic via the traditional blog tactic of “attacking up.”
FLASHBACK: The Democratic Blogola Scandal of 2005.
WALTER JON WILLIAMS: “If all goes well, in the very near future Denmark will become the fourth nation to put a man into space.”
I met him once, some years ago when I spoke at the University of New Mexico. More recently, I like his This Is Not A Game, a novel with Army of Davids angles.
WHY THE WORLD IS running out of helium. “Scientists have warned that the world’s most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle. The law stipulates that the US National Helium Reserve, which is kept in a disused underground gas field near Amarillo, Texas – by far the biggest store of helium in the world – must all be sold off by 2015, irrespective of the market price.”
REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.
POLIWOOD: Obama’s Hollywood Gridlock. “Hollywood has an unerring commercial instinct, and their commercial instinct tells them that Obama is a loser.”
PUBLIC PULSE: HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT THEIR GOVERNMENT.
FEDERAL WORKERS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA may raise Hatch Act issues.
BOOSTING POTATO ANTI-OXIDANTS with ultrasound.
IF IT’S NOT TRUE, IT OUGHT TO BE: Dr. Seuss coined the word “nerd.” The word “dweeb,” on the other hand, reportedly originated in the tax department at Mudge, Rose.
UH OH: GATEWAY ARCH CORRODING. “Almost 45 years into its reign atop the St. Louis skyline, the 630-foot monument is suffering from growing rust and decay. And nobody knows how extensive. Corrosion, some of it feared aggressive, and severe discoloration of the stainless steel skin have long been present, according to engineering reports reviewed by the Post-Dispatch.”
But what’s this? “A Post-Dispatch reporter was allowed to review the corrosion report for about 40 minutes earlier this month. But officials refused to make it available for a second look the next day, citing national security concerns and saying it should not have been provided the first time.”
TOM BLUMER: Obama’s Failed ‘Recovery Summer’. “Worst economic slogan since Herbert Hoover — for what really is the worst economy since Herbert Hoover.”
HOW TO AVOID WRITING AN AWFUL COVER LETTER: Some Dos and Don’ts. With illustrative examples from real life.
IN THE MAIL: From David Limbaugh, Crimes Against Liberty: An Indictment of President Barack Obama.
UNEXPECTEDLY! Home Sales Drop 27%, Twice What Was Forecasted.
Plus, the realtors’ spin.
UPDATE: Some frightening charts.
Plus this: “The depth of the collapse suggests that in fact, the housing tax credit was not generating new demand as much as moving demand forward a few months. That means that we’re going to have to work out the aftermath in months of low home sales.” Yep. Like “cash for clunkers,” it was just a form of borrowing against future sales. We’ve had enough of borrowing, I’d think.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Tim Cavanaugh: “Should we be relieved or mad as hell that Treasury Department suits seem to realize their public comments on the economy are baloney?”
DID REGULATORS cause the “Flash Crash?” Plus, shocking observations: “Maybe the government shouldn’t mess with markets unless it really understands how they function and the costs of regulation. Which it usually doesn’t. Often one regulation leads to another regulation that fixes the first one, and then to another one that fixes the second one, and so on.” Of course, for regulators this isn’t a bug, but a feature — lifetime full-employment!
PJTV: JOE HICKS AND BRIGITTE GABRIEL: GROUND ZERO FAMILY VALUES.
CHANGE: Credit Card Interest Rates Much Higher. “The spread on credit card interest–the difference between the interest rate on your charges, and the Treasury benchmark rate–is the highest it’s been in 22 years. The culprit? The CARD Act, which has given banks much less flexibility in the fees they charge. Banks now have to give you 45 days notice before they raise your interest rate, and they need to give you the option of paying off the debt in order to avoid interest rate hikes.”
A PURGE OF THE LIBERALTARIANS? What, both of them? But actually, there doesn’t seem to be much there: “There are two big problems with Weigel’s insinuation. First, Cato has not changed or even deemphasized any of its positions on those issues where they have long differed with conservatives including the war on drugs, immigration, foreign policy, and others. If they were trying to move ‘back into the right’s fold,’ one would think they would pulled back on these positions at least to some noticeable extent. . . . Second, it is strange to claim that Cato got rid of Lindsey for promoting a political alliance with the left at the very time when Lindsey himself recently disavowed that very idea.” I think this is a case of let’s-you-and-him-fight.
SO IS THIS THE HOPE, OR THE CHANGE? Firms Now Looking for Unpaid Summer Associates. “It sounds like something firms would try to keep on the down low, through anonymous postings on Craigslist. But in the new economy, it’s apparently no big deal for law firms to ask career services offices to send over students who are so desperate they’re willing to work for free.”
PETER BERGER: American National Interest and the Stoning of Women. How about this approach: Give every woman in Afghanistan an AK-47 and 1000 rounds of ammo.
POLITICS AS USUAL: Dying industry tries to regulate its way back into your life. “Anyway, the big broadcasters get what they want. The artists get what they want. The only guy not represented at this table seems to be the guy who’s going to have to pay more in the future for a heavier, bulkier cell phone.”
BIGLAW FIRM’S SECRET TO RETAINING WOMEN PARTNERS: 82 Holidays a Year.
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