CHANGE: Appalachian Hope And Heartbreak. “It seems like such a small thing, a corner pharmacy with a cafe in a small town.”
Archive for 2013
August 3, 2013
NEWS YOU CAN USE: 10 Boob Tricks Courtesy Of Kate Upton.
GOVERNMENT IS JUST A WORD FOR THE THINGS WE DO TOGETHER: Armed government agents raid animal shelter to euthanize baby deer.
MANAGEMENT STYLE: Former CIA Operative Says John Brennan Is a ‘Bully of the First Order.’
ER, FALLEN ANGELS WAS JUST A WORK OF FICTION, RIGHT? RIGHT? North Pole Sees Unprecedented July Cold – Arctic Sees Shortest Summer On Record — ‘Normally the high Arctic has about 90 days above freezing. This year there was less than half that.’
So as I rebalance my stock portfolio, who’s got patents on some good frost-resistant seedlines . . . .?
HYPERGAMY UPDATE: Just married: Supermodel Elle Macpherson ‘ties the knot with billionaire Jeffrey Soffer in Fiji.’
UPDATE: She’s a fan of spreading the wealth around.
FASTER, PLEASE: Long-Sought Method to Efficiently Make Complex Anticancer Compound Developed.
When I saw this, I thought of Derek Lowe, and sure enough, he’s got it covered. I like this layman’s description of the difficulties: “Let me speak metaphorically, for those outside the field or who have never had the experience. Total synthesis of a complex natural product is like. . .it’s like assembling a huge balloon sculpture, all twists and turns, knots and bulges, only half of the balloons are rubber and half of them are made of blown glass. And you can’t just reach in and grab the thing, either, and they don’t give you any pliers or glue. What you get is a huge pile of miscellaneous stuff – bamboo poles, cricket bats, spiral-wound copper tubing, balsa-wood dowels, and several barrels of even more mixed-up junk: croquet balls, doughnuts, wadded-up aluminum foil, wobbly Frisbees, and so on. The balloon sculpture is your molecule. The piles of junk are the available chemical methods you use to assemble it.”
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MARK HEMINGWAY: The Campaign To Wish Away The IRS Scandal.
BARRY RUBIN: What The Benghazi Leaks Mean.
THE BIGGEST WEINER OF ALL:
Amid the spectacle that has become Anthony Weiner’s campaign for mayor, New Yorkers have heard many arguments calling for him to withdraw. Surely the least persuasive of these is the one advanced on national TV by Dee Dee Myers: that Bill and Hillary find his continued candidacy distasteful.
Like so many others statements that involve the name Clinton, Myers later “clarified” her comments by saying she hadn’t actually spoken to the Clintons before saying they wanted Weiner out. Her remarks, however, fit with all the other anonymous complaints we hear that the Clintons are “livid” over the comparisons between Anthony and Bill — or Hillary and Huma.
And here we have Weiner’s real sin: It’s not that he’s treated women shabbily. It’s that the national focus on Carlos Danger is an uncomfortable reminder of Bill Clinton’s own antics in office — and the way those around him fought to help him remain in office.
On the material facts, it’s easy to understand why Weiner is resisting calls to step down. For every argument against Anthony applies even more forcefully to Bill.
Read the whole thing.
I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Gun company displays largest-caliber rifle ever created with bullets that cost $40 a piece. “The rifle fires rounds about 2,100 feet per second with roughly 254,000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.” So, an even better anti-Terminator weapon than the Tactilite .50 BMG. But while I fired the .50 from the shoulder, I’m not sure I’d want to do that with this gun.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To End The Bar Exam In Style.
WITNESS DEFLECTION PROGRAM: Is the CIA Creating ‘Aliases’ for Benghazi Survivors?
Speaking of mysteries, a commenter reminds that we still don’t know where Obama was during the Benghazi raid. Probably attending the Benthic Treaty renegotiation. Couldn’t let that get out.
THE HILL: Obama In Tough Spot On Snowden.
UPDATE: Link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!
#MEDIAFAIL: Majority Support “Stand Your Ground” Laws. “By a ratio of 53% to 40%, voters still favor the law, despite weeks of attacks by Obama, Democrats, and their allies in the mainstream media.”
#WARONWOMEN: Jimmy MacMillan tells S.E. Cupp why he wears gloves: “So they won’t find my fingerprints on your neck when I strangle you.” Well, he did endorse Anthony Weiner, so what do you expect?
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Five Ways To Help A Hoarder.
AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals On Videogames.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Baby Mamas And Cohabitation Are In, Marriage Is Out.
Related: A pedestal too high: Is marriage too good for people?
28 THINGS THAT HAPPENED AFTER THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS ENDED, according to J.K. Rowling.
JOIN THE BETA LAUNCH of the Freedom Academy Book Club.
SHOCKER: Zimbabwe President Mugabe re-elected amid fraud claims.
In 2005, Nick Kristof was reporting that things were so bad that Zimbabweans were nostalgic for white rule. They haven’t gotten better. Related thoughts here.