DENVER: Zombies outnumber #Occupy protesters 12:1. You could tell the difference because the zombies had better hygiene.

WELL, BUT IT IS PUBLIC SCHOOLS DOING IT, so it must be okay.

THOUGHTS ON Bobby Jindal’s Crushing Re-Election Victory.

THIS MUST BE MORE OF THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” STUFF WE WERE PROMISED: NYT: Iraq withdrawal outcome of Obama negotiating failure.

CLAYTON CRAMER: Tinkering with the language of old Supreme Court cases at Justia.com?

NEW YORK TIMES CORRECTS AN EDITORIAL, but Benjamin Wittes points out many more errors. With a Schoolhouse Rock video to help the NYT editors grasp his point.

MEDIA PRIORITIES: Ten times as many people are demonstrating in Westminster for an EU referendum as in the City against banks. Who do you suppose will get more coverage?

HARD TIMES FOR MIDDLEMEN in the publishing industry. And I note this bit in particular:

But more telling is that these same publishers are crying because Amazon is “gnawing away at the services that publishers, critics and agents used to provide.” Used to provide is the key phrase here. Past tense. As in, these are services that were once provided by publishers, critics and agents and are no longer. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And, frankly, can you blame an author for signing with Amazon if it does offer the editing, copy editing and proofreading, promotion and placement legacy publishers used to and no longer do? I can’t.

Kind of like the news media, publishers hollowed out their value-added segments when their positions seemed unassailable, because doing so saved money and increased profits. But without the value added, there’s not much reason to keep them in the loop once new alternatives appear.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Survival Skills.

THIS MUST BE THE RESULT OF SOME OF THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WE WERE PROMISED: New Libyan Leader To Introduce “Radical” Islamic Law. “Mr Abdul-Jalil’s decision – made in advance of the introduction of any democratic process – will please the Islamists who have played a strong role in opposition to Col Gaddafi’s rule and in the uprising but worry the many young liberal Libyans who, while usually observant Muslims, take their political cues from the West.”

UPDATE: Related: In Egypt, Three Years In Prison For “Insulting Islam.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Mark Shelden emails: “Hey, did you catch the ‘more radical than expected’ from the headline?” Another case of bad things happening unexpectedly!

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: $1 trillion in student loan debt sparks furor. Note that as far as I can tell, none of the folks complaining about heavy debt and no jobs went to for-profit schools — they seem to have attended traditional universities. Plus this: “For every student who defaults on a loan, at least two more are behind on their payments. Only 37 percent of borrowers who started repaying their loans in 2005 are able to pay them back fully on time, a recent report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy shows.”

NO, NO, YOU’RE ONLY SUPPOSED TO BRING THE PITCHFORKS TO OPPONENTS OF THE REGIME! Protesters Occupy GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s Connecticut Front Lawn. “Occupy Wall Street protesters took a field trip from Zuccotti Park on Saturday morning, all the way to the wealthy suburban enclave of New Canaan, Conn., where they took their anger at income and tax disparity to GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s front lawn.”

I have to admit that In the land of the free, they tax me but not G.E.! is sorta catchy. No word on what President Goldman Sachs thought about this, but I note that the group involved, Working Families, is an offshoot of the ACORN group that was disbanded after a teen-prostitute scandal.

Plus, this pic from reader Steve Judkins shows the wave of anger that’s spreading across America.

UPDATE: “Glenn Beck Gets Results.” Heh.

ANOTHER UPDATE: “We Are The 5 Percent.” (Background here for those who don’t get it. Yeah, it’s kinda arcane . . . )

CHANGE: Chinese Rare Earth Company Strokes Mustache, Cuts Off World’s Access to Rare Earths to Inflate Prices.

On the upside, this will increase the value of that big rare-earth find in Nebraska. Then there are those seabed mining ventures.

UPDATE: Reader Roger von Oechs writes:

In producing my popular creativity toy the “Ball of Whacks,” I have first-hand experience with the escalating price of “rare-earth” Neodymium magnets. The price of neodymium jumped SIXFOLD from June-2010 to June-2011 (though it’s come down a bit lately). The Chinese have shut down mines, curtailed foundry production, and limited export. Market manipulation at its best!

Since the “Ball of Whacks” has 180 rare earth magnets in it, the price to manufacture it has more than DOUBLED. Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy 18 million magnets last December, and have been able to keep prices somewhat in check for the remainder of this year. But as far as 2012 goes, I’ll have to pass the higher costs, along to the customer, and this will have a big impact on demand. I’m sure this is true for many other companies that use Neodymium magnets as well.

Ouch.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on new laptop releases.

A LOOK AT the racial consequences of gun control.

MORE ON THOSE UNDERFUNDED / OVERGENEROUS PUBLIC PENSIONS: Rhode Island Is Broke. “In Rhode Island, the citizenry is being asked to spend increasing percentages of its income and assets not for the general welfare, but for the welfare of a relatively small percentage of the population who have state and municipal pensions. It’s often joked that General Motors is a pension plan which makes automobiles. Rhode Island is in worse shape. Rhode Island is becoming a public sector pension plan which doesn’t make anything.”

Related: Chicago: 2 teachers union lobbyists teach for a day to qualify for hefty pensions. “Two lobbyists with no prior teaching experience were allowed to count their years as union employees toward a state teacher pension once they served a single day of subbing in 2007, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation has found. . . . Over the course of their lifetimes, both men stand to receive more than a million dollars each from a state pension fund that has less than half of the assets it needs to cover promises made to tens of thousands of public school teachers. With billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, which serves public school teachers outside of Chicago, is one of several pension plans that are in debt as state government reels in a fiscal crisis.”

CHANGE: Mall Vacancies Hit All-Time Record. Blame the Internet if you want, but don’t blame Canada: “The malls that appear to be performing the best are those along the Canadian-U.S. border. A stronger Canadian dollar has made U.S. purchases more attractive. This phenomenon was seen during the back-to-school period, and will likely be strong during the upcoming holiday season.”

This iconic photo from the early days of hope-and-change now seems prophetic.

ARE ARCHITECTS MENTALLY DIFFERENT?

Have you ever looked at a bizarre building design and wondered, “What were the architects thinking?” Have you looked at a supposedly “ecological” industrial-looking building, and questioned how it could be truly ecological? Or have you simply felt frustrated by a building that made you uncomfortable, or felt anger when a beautiful old building was razed and replaced with a contemporary eyesore? You might be forgiven for thinking “these architects must be blind!” New research shows that in a real sense, you might actually be right.

Environmental psychologists have long known about this widespread and puzzling phenomenon. Laboratory results show conclusively that architects literally see the world differently from non-architects.

Interesting.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: Worms given life-span-enhancing mutations produce offspring that lack the responsible genes but live longer anyway.

HMM: Research proposes common link between autism, diabetes.

I wonder if this connects to the newly discovered insulin / Alzheimer’s connection?

WHEN YOU GET RID OF THE PRETENSION BEHIND THE LOCAVORE MOVEMENT, THERE’S STILL SOMETHING: It can save you money.

Here’s what the Raeses have grown this spring, summer, and fall: turnips, black beans, purple hull peas, cranberry beans, Flossy Powell beans, Delicata squash, zucchini, horseradish, onions, potatoes, kale, rhubarb, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, blueberries, umpteen kinds of tomatoes, and almost every herb you can name. (Note: This is an incomplete list.)

The Raeses also belong to a CSA (community supported agriculture) share from a local farm. What they can’t eat fresh, they freeze or can—Kat has an entire pantry filled with brightly colored mason jars. She pickles turnips and cans lentil soup and makes jam and even her own ketchup.

Raese said she got into canning because she couldn’t land a full-time job after finishing her Master’s in English at UT. Matt was (and is) still working on his Ph.D. in English, which meant their income was next to nothing—and Kat had nothing to do with her time. Once she discovered canning and then gardening, she says she found a way to channel her frustration at being underemployed into something productive.

Maybe someone should drop by the #Occupy protests and pass out copies of Square Foot Gardening.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Heading Into The Holiday Season, The US Consumer Is Worse Off Than Last Year.

SENATORS FOR McMansion Subsidies. “Should taxpayers continue to guarantee personal McMansions, even as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have lost $142 billion, and counting? Homeowners who lived through the recent government-backed housing boom and bust would say no, but for Senate Democrats and a clutch of Republicans in hock to the housing lobby, the answer is a resounding yes.”

CAN HYPERINFLATION happen in the United States? “Hyperinflation requires a central bank to willingly commit economic suicide. Typically, that happens at the behest of an authoritarian government. Under our current system, I can’t see that happening.” I would have said no, but with this gang in charge, who knows?

If you’re interested in this, you might check out Dave Voda’s book. And there’s this book.

Or you can just stock up on these!

They’re also fun at parties.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION vs. the gun bloggers?