CHANGE: Gallup: Obama’s Job Approval Down to 38%. “It’s no secret what’s driving this, of course. As bad as his overall rating is, his rating on the economy is simply gruesome. And unfortunately for all of us, there may be no way out.”
Archive for 2011
August 23, 2011
LAWYER STEPHEN BURROUGHS, Knoxville’s own Old Spice Guy.
WATCH THE TROUGHS AND THE TREND: Brendan Loy on Hurricane Irene. Plus, a roundup on that Virginia earthquake.
AT AMAZON, lots of Coupon Specials.
UPDATE: Link was busted before. Fixed now. Sorry!
LIST: 10 High-Performance Used Cars You Can Actually Afford. My Mazda RX-8 is first on the list.
FASTER, PLEASE: Stem cells to heart parts in 5 years, researchers say.
A MAGNITUDE 5.9 earthquake in Virginia.
UPDATE: Readers felt it as far away as Baltimore, Delaware, and Lehigh, Pennsylvania.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Hard to believe, but reader Eric Halpern says he felt it in Hartford: “My vertical blinds were rocking back and forth, and we all came out of our offices to ask, ‘Did you feel that?'”
And reader Myron Hnatczuk writes: “FYI, the Pentagon actually shook for 4-5 seconds, then the cabinet doors and fluids in cups, etc. continued to sway for about another 30 seconds. Someone just told me that MSNBC was reporting that the Pentagon was being evacuated, but that is not true. Some people “rapidly exited’ the building when the shaking started, but most stayed inside. The engineers cleared the safety of the structure within 15 minutes, and all are back inside.”
AS FARMER’S MARKETS GO MAINSTREAM, SOME FEAR A GLUT. “Farmers in pockets of the country say the number of farmers’ markets has outstripped demand, a consequence of a clamor for markets that are closer to customers and communities that want multiple markets.”
INSTAPUNDIT READERS HAVE KNOWN THIS FOR A DECADE: Web-Surfing At Work Can Boost Productivity. “The Wall Street Journal reports on a study into productivity and efficiency in the workplace, which found that people who are given a break to surf the web return to their work with ‘lower levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and higher levels of engagement.’ Researchers tested against two other groups; one continued working, and one was given a break that did not involve web browsing. They concluded that ‘browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function.'”
SCOTT CHAFFIN, BETTER KNOWN UNDER HIS BLOGONYM AS “THE FAT GUY,” has been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. If you’re able and so inclined, you might want to help him out, or at least offer some words of encouragement. I’ve made a donation.
ANN ALTHOUSE: When you think about Rick Perry, The New Yorker would like you to think about squeezed testicles. “Note that there is an ongoing effort among the media elite to create an aversion to Rick Perry by making him seem hyper-masculine in a disgusting or inappropriate way. I’ll be keeping an eye on this. If you see evidence of this phenomenon, let me know — in the comments here or by email.”
Well, as one hyper-masculine guy to another, I say don’t change your tune, Rick!
From the comments: “The point of comparison is that Perry has balls to squeeze.” Ouch.
COMPUTERS GETTING BETTER AT READING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. Humans not getting better at reading electron flows inside of computers.
GOVERNMENT MOTORS FAIL (CONT’D): Report: Chevy Volt supply rises to 22 days as sales slip.
GRADE INFLATION: Study Critiques Disproportionately High Grades for Education Students. Part of “a larger culture of low standards for educators.”
MICHAEL YON: Tracer Burnout.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): New national debt data: It’s growing $2.95 million a minute, even during his vacation. Plus this non-hopey-changey bit:
Remember the day the Democrat promised to close the embarrassing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within one year? That day the national debt increased $4,247,000,000. And each day since that the facility hasn’t been closed.
Same for the day in 2009 when Obama flew all the way out to Denver to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill that was going to hold national unemployment beneath 8% instead of the 9.1% we got today anyway? Another $4,247,000,000 that day. And every day since, even Obama golfing and vacation days.
Same sum for the day Obama flew Air Force One nearly four hours roundtrip to Columbus, Ohio for a 10-minute speech about how well the stimulus was working in the politically crucial Buckeye state. Ohio’s unemployment rate just jumped to 9% from 8.8% anyway.
Ouch.
FASTER, PLEASE: A Wireless Communications System That Works When Cell Phones, Internet Are Down. “LifeNet lets computers and phones talk to each other without an Internet connection, which could come in handy after disasters that knock out communication networks.”
More:
One of the first things to disappear in the wake of a major disaster is reliable communication. Without access to cell phone service or the Internet, it’s difficult for first responders–or anyone who wants to help out–to speak with each other. And while satellite phones work in these situations, they’re too expensive for many first responder organizations to purchase en masse. Now researchers from Georgia Tech College of Computing claim to have developed a cheap, easy solution: LifeNet, a piece of software that allows people to communicate after disasters, even if landlines, cell phone networks, and the Internet are all down.
“It’s just a piece of code that you can have on your laptop or phone. Once you have the software, the computers can communicate with each other, and you don’t need infrastructure,” says Santosh Vempala, the Georgia Tech computer science professor in charge of the project.
Any device that has LifeNet installed acts as both a host and router for the network–meaning the software can route data both to and from any other LifeNet-enabled device. You can read more technical details here.
Cool. Nice work, Georgia Tech folks.
THE INSTA-WIFE: Gun Owners: What Are You Compensating For? “I’m compensating for being too weak to carry a whole cop around with me.”
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): The economic worries of a regular American consumer. “Don Holzschuh has been driving semi-trucks in the Midwest for nearly 35 years. He talks about how he’s been trying to survive financially, and why he thinks the recession isn’t over.”
AT AMAZON: Top Deals In Electronics.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Sales of New U.S. Homes Probably Fell in July for Third Month. “Sales fell 0.6 percent to a 310,000 annual pace, the slowest in four months, from a 312,000 rate in June, according to the median estimate of 75 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Purchases last year totaled 323,000, the fewest since record-keeping began in 1963.”
CATCHING ON? Florida looking at Rick Perry’s budget-higher-ed model. “Faculty leaders in Florida are not excited about the potential export from the Lone Star State.”