We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
My final pre-election post, set for Monday, is currently at 1,175 words. And counting.
Since Monday will be our last chance to either (1) sound incredibly precognitive or (2) look like complete bozos, I'm inviting you, the Maggie's Valued Readers™, to publicly have a say. Along with my article, I'll also post an article with any predictions you leave here in the comments.
My only request is that you put your official prediction in quotes, to differentiate it from anything else in the comment you'd care to blather on about. If no quotes are used, I'll post the whole thing. Management reserves the right to correct any blatant typos. I'll collate them Sunday evening.
There are actually a handful of predictions in play. In regards to the presidential race, you could predict the outcome by states, by Electoral votes, or just wimp out and resort to safe phrases like "landslide" or "barely squeak by".
There's also the question of the congressional races, both locally and in Washington. We presume we'll keep the House, but the pundits say we won't have enough to take back the Senate. Is this true? Could the much-anticipated October Surprise turn into a November surprise?
Do you remember what happened in 2010?
Then there's the side issue of Obama's so-called 'firewall' states; states that are so heavily 'blue' that there's no sense even campaigning there. Or is there? Are Pennsylvania (Obama 54% in 2008), Michigan (57%) and Minnesota (54%) actually in play? We'll discount California (60%) and New York (62%) outright, but it all adds up.
And then there's my current home state of Florida. While Ohio has gotten the most press as the official 'swing state' this time around, of the four states with the most Electoral votes, Florida is the only one in play. It was 50.9% for Obama in 2008 compared to McCain's 48.4%, which is damn close. The fourth state is Texas, which went 55.5% for McCain, so we'll figure that one's already in our column. Florida will be the one to watch this Tuesday.
So have it, Maggie's Valued Readers™. This could be your 15 minutes! I've seen some fairly opinionated, vociferous comments in Bruce's and my political posts, so here's your chance to prove to everybody how right you were.
Do I presume we have some bi-cyclists (that is, cyclists who go both ways) in the audience? Is there any merit to this? The video's kind of lame, article is here.
Those of you who occasionally drop by Theo's are aware of this guy, but I haven't seen any of his stuff elsewhere. Some of it's simply brilliant, some wittier than hell, and some just laugh-out-loud funny.
The author is Stilton Jarlsberg, his Hope 'n Change site is here.
Astronauts on a mission to Mars could lose nearly half their muscle strength during the long trip, giving them the physiques of senior citizens by the time they arrived, according to a new study. Prolonged exposure to weightlessness could cause astronauts to lose more than 40 percent of their muscle strength even with regular exercise, researchers said. On a long voyage, a healthy 30- to 50-year-old astronaut could end up with the strength of an 80-year-old.
A 10-month trip to Mars would cause such extreme muscle deterioration that astronauts would find it difficult to perform even routine tasks, let alone move around the Martian surface in spacesuits, according to the study, which was led by Robert Fitts of Marquette University.
And yet I found that Mars wasn't an entirely happy subject in Houston—especially among people who believe that humans, not only robots, should be exploring there.
The point is, we've had half a century to work on this problem, and apart from slapping a few treadmills around, not only have they not gained any ground, but the problems are only getting worse. As durations in space last longer and longer, more and more problems arise. Blindness occurring later in life is the latest small snag.
Then there was the day I broke so many hearts by reporting that mermaids don't exist. Rarely have I been so cruel.
Now here's the latest little dream to be shattered like glass:
A study by Western Australia's Murdoch University concluded that DNA cannot survive more than 6.8 million years - a finding that effectively rules out the tantalising prospect of replicating dinosaurs. Most dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago.
"We've been permanently plagued by this Jurassic Park myth that's been kicking around since the early nineties," lead researcher Mike Bunce told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Yeah, well, welcome to the Hollywood Curse. Probably 50 million people believe the global warming horrors they saw in The Day After Tomorrow are real. Another 50 mil probably think the government can watch your every step via spy satellite as in Enemy Of The State. Another 50 mil probably believe President Kennedy wasn't assassinated by a lone gunman thanks to Oliver Stone's JFK. The list goes on and on.
But still, no horrific velociraptors eviscerating us with their 6-inch talons in the noonday sun, spilling our entrails onto the ground as they enjoy a tasty little snack?
It's sad, sometimes, when life doesn't imitate art.
This is for people using Internet Explorer on a 64-bit Windows 7 system. Everyone else, please skip to the next post. If you're not sure if you have a 32- or 64-bit system, right-click on 'Computer' and open Properties.
Internet Explorer remains an excellent browser, and, according to the tests I've made with online speed test sites, it outperforms Firefox, Chrome and Opera. I tried it again last night with SpeedTest, MegaPath and BandwidthPlace. As we say in the broadband biz, your mileage may vary.
IE's one big problem is that it opens links, like on the Desktop or in email, to a half-screen-size window. AutoSizer solves this annoying little problem by expanding Internet Explorer windows to full-screen size. It can do this with any program, and can also open small programs, like Calculator, in the center of the screen.
The problem is that it doesn't work on 64-bit Windows 7 systems. For those of you in this dire predicament, I have solved this mighty poser.
Windows 8 has just been released. For those of you with desktop (aka 'normal') computers, here's all you need to know about Windows 8:
For Microsoft, the existential crisis is the movement away from traditional desktop computing.
I wrote a review on the beta version here. It's morphed into an operating system designed for tablet computers, but as I note in the review:
The one big downside to the 'quickie' areas is that they're too simplistic. The weather just gives a few stats, but no radar map where you can gauge any oncoming rain clouds, which might be the most common reason to suddenly want to check the weather while on the road. So, you end up using your regular browser to access your usual weather site. Ditto the 'Stocks' area, and the 'News' feeds are restricted to just what's listed, and the little synopsis in the small tablet box usually doesn't say enough to explain what the article is about.
So even the things that make it handy and tablet-y are semi-worthless. And while the Desktop is still available for 'normal' computer work, it's missing a few things. Otherwise, it's just Windows 7 right down to the exit sound.
My guess is that the New Wave crowd — those who just gotta have the latest trinket, like a tablet computer — will rave about it, but otherwise I think it'll be something of a flop. Regular (also known as 'normal') computer users will just stare at the opening screen...
...and wonder why the hell they should want to check the weather (when a glance out the window should suffice) or their vast stock portfolio (that's your stock broker's job) when all they want to do is get their damn email and hang out on the web for a while.
If you have, or are thinking of buying, a tablet computer, by all means read some reviews and buy the best tablet software. If you're just a regular ol' slob like me using one of them archaic desktop computers, forget you just wasted two minutes reading this post. Sorry. Blame Microsoft.
As you might have heard, a court in Italy has convicted seven scientists of manslaughter because they failed to predict an earthquake that struck some village and killed a bunch of people.
People living in non-earthquake-reinforced buildings in an area known for having violent earthquakes, I might add.
An Italian court sentenced scientists to jail time for not having a functioning crystal ball ahead of the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila. The arguments of science and reason fell on deaf ears. Rarely since a Catholic inquisition in Rome condemned Galileo Galilei to spend the remainder of his days under house arrest for the heresy of teaching that the Earth revolves around the sun has an Italian court been so wrong about science.
Today, a court in the central Italian city of L'Aquila, 380 years after that miscarriage of justice, sentenced six scientists and a government bureaucrat to six years in jail [and $10.2 million in fines] on manslaughter charges for their failure to predict a 2009 earthquake that left more than 300 people dead.
More articles on this travesty of justice, sensibility and reason:
I'm on the road and using my laptop (barf) so this'll be short. Just a reminder that the third and final (praise be) presidential debate is on tonight. Showtime for the event in 9 pm Eastern. More info & a streamcast here.
By the way, in case you were out of the country planet last week and were wondering who won the debate, you'll be interested to know that both sides won. Democracy in action! Obama won the 'Overall Likeability' contest (which counts for half, as I understand it) but in every issue-oriented question ("Who do you think will best improve the economy?" e.g.), Romney won it walking away.
I think we'll see a general repeat of last week tonight. Three things will happen; both candidates will be at their best, the moderator will make damn sure Obama is protected from the slings and arrows of outrageous truth, and the MSM will pick one single Romney quote ("binders") to go nuts over. The usual stuff, in other words.
This is either endlessly amusing or endlessly pathetic.
Or both.
For the background, you'll want to read the only real-time evolving post I've ever written. Glenn Reynolds liked it so much he gave it a link when the madness was over.
And, of course, as the holiday shopping season advances further and further every year, and more and more people buy their presents at some "Pre-Christmas Summer Close-Out Sale", fewer and fewer people spend their money during December, the actual holiday shopping season.
As such, every year after Christmas, the major chains complain more and more about how holiday sales were "disappointing". Every year, a longer season, and a bigger disappointment.
Now, in a rational world, the retailers would recognize this terrible trend and do something to counter it. Like, oh, actually leaving the holiday shopping season for the holidays.
Despite the loud sighs and eye rolling that usually occurs when shoppers see Christmas decorations in stores parked next to an aisle of Halloween candy, shoppers are taking advantage of the layaway programs, the toy reservation schemes and early discounting as a way to soften the holiday’s blow to the household budget.
If you read my article, you'll recognize 'early discounting' as one of the innumerable, interminable reasons for the disappointing season.
But wait, you cry! That's just one silly article. Surely, the media isn't actually going to fall for such tomfoolery, are they?
Harry Potter star Emma Watson is the favourite celebrity bait for cyber criminals trying to lure internet users, it has emerged. Internet security firm McAfee said today that the English actress is the 'most dangerous' celebrity to search for online.
That's because many sites use Miss Watson to trick users into downloading malicious software or to steal personal information. When searching for the 22-year-old, there's a one-in-eight chance of landing on a malicious site.
I'd add that the odds increase exponentially when the words "nude" or "topless" are included.
Dangerous!
Others on the top ten list include Jessica Biel, Eva Mendes, Selena Gomez, Halle Berry, Megan Fox, Salma Hayek, Sofia Vergara and Cameron Diaz, so kudos to the bandits for exhibiting exquisite taste. On the other hand, I've already initiated a law suit against them because Mila Kunis, my latest fave, was left off such a prestigious list.
Nearly two-thirds of search results on Bing were found to have links that spread malware or spam, compared to 30 percent for Google, said Sophos Security in a recent study.
"Search engine poisoning," as it's called, affects all search engines; it might turn up the link you see first, or high up in results, for example, when you search for a popular celeb like Jessica Biel or Justin Bieber. Clicking on the link can take you to a spam site or, worse, one filled with malware aimed at infecting your computer.
And remember the cold, hard truth in all of this; that you don't deserve one tiny shred of sympathy should you get infected and not be able to immediately remedy the situation. And this cold, hard truth is because:
1. With free programs such as Windows Restore at the ready, which make a great big 'image file' of your entire system, you would normally just fire up the boot-up disc, load last week's image file and you're back in business within minutes.
and...
2. You shouldn't have been infected in the first place. A careful investigation after the fact will reveal that the free anti-malware program being used wasn't protecting the browser in real-time, allowing the infection to sneak through. This is known as you get what you pay for. It's a lesson that should have been learned long ago.
While Windows Restore does an adequate job, I prefer a commercial backup program called True Image. More info on both programs here. For an anti-malware program with real-time browser protection, I use ZoneAlarm.
As a small side note, image file backup programs aren't just for catastrophes. The other day I was curious if the Chrome browser had made any improvements since I last tried it a year ago, so I first made a backup file of the system, installed Chrome, played around with it for a while, was aghast that absolutely none of its major shortcomings had been addressed — then restored the original system via the backup file and it was as if the whole sordid event had never taken place. No muss, no fuss, no extra clutter of files on the system clogging things up.
Tonight will be our one chance to see Ryan and Biden face off. Unlike the last debate, where every MSM op-ed in the Central Galaxy predicted an Obama slam-dunk, I note that no one is predicting such an outcome tonight.
Because two things are true:
1. As everyone knows, Romney is extremely gaffe-prone. Just ask any objective, independent MSM reporter. But Romney won't be there tonight.
2. As everyone knows, Biden actually is gaffe-prone, and just because the protective MSM won't admit it doesn't make it any less true. It could pop out at any second.
Personally, if I were a Democratic operative, I'd be terrified.
I wonder if we'll see the words "draw" or "tie" tomorrow. If I were an MSM writer, I'd already be composing my "It was a draw" article. You know Ryan won't actually 'lose'; the only question is whether or not Biden will, and as long as he doesn't say anything too outlandish or (as they'll say in future elections) pull an Obama, they'll figure a tie is more than satisfactory.
One thing I think we'll see tonight is how much more of a 'regular guy' Ryan is, as referred to the heartless number-cruncher he's usually portrayed as. We'll need that since Biden's 'Regular Joe' persona is well crafted. Despite it being a complete lie, he really does come across as the working man's best friend in Congress.
If I were his press agent, I'd have the Callous Lady come in to rub small callouses on his hands. Then I'd have a cued reporter ask him about them at the next televised press conference.
"Say, Joe, are those callouses on your hands?"
"Uh-yup! I got dem choppin' me up some firewood!"
Whutta guy!
The show starts at 9 Eastern. More details here. It should be streamed from both that link and YouTube. On the subject, I would note that there are different streamcasts available. The first one I tried during the last debate was plastering these insipid Twitter comments across the bottom of the screen. I hunted around and found a 'clean' version.
For your reading pleasure, I highly recommend this article. That's the kind of post that actually sways voters.
A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013. With a perihelion passage of less than two million kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history, far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997 and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March 2013.
Comet brightness prediction, as evidenced by comets Kohoutek in '73 and Hale-Bopp in '96, both of which failed to live up to expectations, is a very imprecise science at best. Many comets have large 'outbursts' at great distance but tend to wane as they get closer to Earth. But both of the upcoming ones mentioned in the article look promising.
Astronomers predict that the comet will pass just 1.16 million miles from the Sun as it swings around its perihelion, or closest approach. (This may seem like a lot, but remember—the Sun is big. If we were to scale the Sun down to the size of Earth, the comet would pass well within the orbits of dozens of satellites.) The close approach will melt enormous amounts of the comet’s ice, releasing dust and gas and forming what should be a magnificent tail.
And just why do I remember it well? Because a Republican was in the White House at the time so the MSM went nuts over the escalating gas prices and every third article was about high gas prices and if only we had a reasonable person in the White House gas prices would be lower — and accompanying the articles came a bunch of cartoons and photochops and GIF animations on the subject which I faithfully collected in my Art Gallery and have occasionally looked at over the years.
That's why I remember it well. I cheated.
In honor of those glorious days of yesteryear, I have forthwith ported over said Gallery collection for your whimsical sighing over happier times gone by, back in the good old days when gas was a mere $3 a gallon.
No, Christopher Columbus probably wasn't the first European to discover the Americas.
The history we learn in school is, understandably, Central Eurocentric, and the contributions from the Northern Europeans, aka 'Scandinavians', has decidedly been given short shrift over the years.
But in the past decade or so, more attention has been paid to the role the Norsemen played, and it's becoming fairly apparent that not only did Eric The Red or his son discover and colonize Greenland, but made it all the way to Newfoundland, a country he dubbed Vinland.
But wait!
'Vinland' in Norse means Wineland — and how could an ice block like Newfoundland be warm enough to grow grapes?
Of course, you're probably already ahead of me here. When the Vikings made their voyages, the earth was so warm that not only could Greenland be colonized and sustain crops (and be named Greenland in the process), but Newfoundland was warm enough to grow grapes.
And not an SUV in sight. Imagine that.
But wait again! The Vikings had no instruments to guide themselves as they crossed the vast Atlantic. No dipping needle, no compass, no clock, not even a sand glass, and certainly no astrolabe or sextant. All they had were the stars above, and since the stars rotate in a circular pattern overhead, all they could do was measure a star's height against a knot tied in a rigging line (on a bouncing ship, no less) and make their best guess.
Okay, so how did they discover Iceland, Greenland, and later Newfoundland, without any instruments aboard?
The same way Noah discovered land after the Great Flood.
One intriguing thing that happened while I was out of touch with humanity for a week was that three mainstream news sites completely changed their format. Much for the worse, I might add. They essentially stopped being 'news sites' by conventional definition.
First is CBS News, which has gone to what might be called a 'news blog' format. That is, the format small blog sites like Power Line switch to when they want to appear more relevant and 'newsy'.
And check out the 'social media' influence in the right sidebar. Most Popular. Most Shared. Most Discussed. Follow us. Screw the news — we just want to hear what you have to say!
And then ABC News gets into the act, also going with the 'lotsa big pictures' format, but at least they still carry some of that pesky 'news' stuff down at the bottom.
But — speaking of 'social media' having an influence — check out the jaw-dropper that USA Today has become. If you have a tablet, notebook or smartphone, USA Today is the site for you! What do you mean, "web browser"? What's that?
And notice what's missing from the bottom half of the page. Yep, that pesky news stuff. Why bother!
It strikes me that there's a flaw in the logic of dumbing-down news sites to appeal to the "Ooh, lotsa pictures!" crowd. They're thinking they'll tap into this market, but my contention would be that the social media crowd doesn't read standard news sites to begin with, and, when it does, it reads the news off Google or Yahoo or MSN or AOL.
The good news is, while half of those abandoning these three digital train wrecks will end up on the left-leaning CNN or NBC sites, the other half will end up on Fox News. So I'd call it a net plus for our side.
And one thing I personally found interesting with these three particular sites going the social media route is their placement on my page of links. I have the links listed in the order I stop by every morning, first reading Fox to get the right-wing side of things, then CNN for the left side, then (formerly MSNBC) NBC News for the ultra-left. Then I look over the right- and left-wing Washington papers, then skim through the three lesser news sites:
Fox CNN NBC WashTimes WashPost ABC CBS USA
I find it interesting that the three news sites I find least consequential are the three that decided not to be news sites anymore.
I love this pic I found while searching for "presidential debate":
It shows the aloof, condescending Obama in his most typical state — and shows an angry, frustrated Romney railing against the system in his most untypical state. Just the way we like it.
And do you know what?
I bet it was posted by a Lefty. He wanted to show Obama as calm and reasoning and Romney as totally unhinged.
Such is the eye of the beholder.
Stage 1: The Primaries
I don't think anyone reading my Republican debate posts was surprised that Romney took the nomination. It wasn't for naught that Mitt won the prestigious 'Most Presidential' award after every debate save one, where he shared it with Jon Huntsman. He speaks a solid platform, he enunciates well, and, more elusively, he acts like a president should act. That's why he kept winning the damn award.
Stage 2: The Conventions
Bottom line? We got a meme out of it ("empty chair") — and the Dems got nothing. Hah!
Stage 3: Rise of the Tea Party
Lurking in the shadows. Waiting in the wings. Step right up, pick yer metaphor.
Personally, I think it's going to be 2010 all over again. For those of you scoring at home, we had a mid-term election two years ago where the Repubs totally clobbered the Dems, taking back the House, almost taking back the Senate, and putting the fear of two words — Tea Party — into every Democrat's heart.
The good news is that you haven't heard a peep from them since then.
Good news, because the MSM didn't get the opportunity to liken them to the Wall Street Occupiers when they were having their fling, and good news because it appears the MSM has forgotten all about them at this point of the game. This false complacency is just fine with us.
The debate is set to fire off at 9 pm Eastern. More details here.
Despite what Bird Dog and many others view as the evil of pagination (spreading a web post over multiple pages), I am purposefully going to split up this post into two parts right here and now.
(And thus 'Doc Scofflaw' once again spits in the eye of convention! He's back, folks!)
I don't remember it, but, according to the doctor, the first words out of my mouth when I woke up were,
I've had pleasanter experiences.
That sounds like me.
When I next woke up, I delivered a line I had practiced just for the occasion:
¡¿Dónde están las chicas calientes?!
That's "Where are the hot babes?", for those of you scoring at home. It's much funnier in Spanish because caliente literally means 'hot', so what I was really asking was, "Where are the women burning up with fever?"
Scoring in the clinic, however, proved more difficult. I couldn't believe the nurses didn't find my swollen, drooling, tube-laden body sexually appealing. I was also hampered by having to use a walker, which allowed the little vixens to scamper merrily away, dagnabbit.
What I'm saying is, my visit to the clinic was utter hell!
They also did some kind of operation, as I recall. The doctor said it was "just like a tonsillectomy — except at the other end." It turned out, however, that he told a blatant lie. I did not get a bowl of ice cream after it was over, like I did when I had my tonsils out when I was 12, so I'm still a little miffed about that.
As for my relatives in Georgia, I must have met 20 new blood relatives and about 3,000 new in-laws. We're a prolific bunch here in the South. While they were in sheer awe of being in the presence of a real, live Californian (granted, it's a small town), I don't think it was until I knocked out Pink Floyd's 'Celestial Voices' on the piano that they realized something different was going on. That piano looked a hundred years old and unquestionably had been played by ten thousand different hands, but somehow I doubt any Pink Floyd had ever been played on it.
I also doubt any Deep Purple had ever been played on my cousin's mandolin, but that's a different story.
Physically, I'm doing okay. Just weak, but that was expected. There's some residual pain but I have a veritable cornucopia of painkillers out there to choose from, lucky me. Besides costs, there are a few other advantages to having an operation in Mexico. One of them is that the doctors aren't hampered by all of that silly 'regulation' stuff and can ladle out the painkillers by the bucketful. I smuggled home dozens of 'samplers' from ten different brands. I'm currently going with Pain-B-Gon™, a finely-tuned mixture of Vicodin, OxyContin, various psychotropic drugs, all laced with the strongest caffeine allowable by law. It really hits the spot!
And let's not forget the real lesson from all this: that it was getting a complete physical that revealed the badness in the first place. As I said in the original Big C post, I was this close to skipping the colonscopy because it is, after all, a pain in the whatsis and takes extra time and money, but I'm obviously glad I didn't. I'm still facing some steep post-operative costs (expensive drugs + 3 visits to the Miami hospital), so if you missed out on the Save-Our-Doc campaign before and would like to help out, you can toss a few clams into the pot here.
Next up? Well, there seems to be some kind of debate going on tomorrow night, although I'm not sure of the details yet. I presume the GOP has exercised its right to use the Substitute Clause and have Newt Gingrich take Obama down a few notches in the warm-up round, but we'll have to see. I'll have a post on it tomorrow.
Again, my deepest thanks to everyone who helped out.
Actually, I'm going to Georgia first, to visit a whole passelful of relatives I haven't seen since I was a teenager.
Wail, howdee, nay-bah! Whuzzup heah in ol' Jo-ja?
Just practicing.
For those of you just tuning in, I'm off to beautiful Mehico to have a cancerous tumor removed. Or, in doctor's parlance, I'm "being treated for my condition". Doctors never use ugly words like "cancer" and "tumor" because it'll cause me to dwell in the depths of despair forever. The back story is here, and it's not too late to donate a few shekels to the cause. I'm still facing some serious post-operative costs.
And certainly my deepest thanks to those who helped make this possible. I honestly thought when I first heard the verdict diagnosis that it was a death sentence, simply because I knew I'd never have the money even for a cut-rate (no pun intended) operation down in Mexico. But, between selling almost everything I own (they can have my Honda Civic when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers), the gang at my mom's rest home (they actually held an official PBS-style 'fundraiser', with skits and songs and magic acts by the residents to entertain the troops during the event), and, of course, the generous people here and on Instapundit.
As for my recuperation and getting back to blogging, I have no idea what to expect. Naturally, I've been hearing wildly different scenarios, although I think the worse ones are referring to a full-fledged colostomy, which is a far cry from what I'm getting, thank God. I have an extremely comfortable computer chair, and, being on a boat, the galley and head are just five feet away, so I should be able to get along just fine. Because the boat's a liveaboard, I've got tons of food and water at the ready should the global warmists be wrong and dirt reaches the point of spontaneous combustion far sooner than expected and I need to quickly head out to sea so I can be boiled alive.
(there's something wrong with that last sentence, but I just can't place it)
And, of course, no Big C update would be complete without a cartoon or two from my two dear, dear friends who have done their utmost to keep my spirits buoyed by sending me every gruesome, morbid, soul-eviscerating cartoon they come across. Bless their little hearts.
And it occurs to me that not only do Americans live longer than Britons, Australians and Canadians, but Hispanics, as well. Or, to be precise, "have more liveable time' than the others.
You know all those extra letters Britons use in words like "colour", "neighbour", "programme", etc? Well, all those little seconds it takes to type those extra letters adds up over time. If it takes 1 second to type the 'u' in 'colour', 'neighbour', etc, times one million uses over a lifetime, that's 12 days, or almost two weeks of wasted life.
And then we notice the unnecessary upside-down exclamation and question marks in Spanish. Again, countless days, wastefully thrown away.
In other words, compared to every Briton, Australian, Canadian and Spanish-speaking person in the world, you just gained 12 days of life.
It's been 45 days since my last post on spy drones. That's when I started saving links for this post. Want to guess how many links I saved in 45 days?
45.
The good news: People are trying to get the word out.
The bad news: Talk is cheap.
When we last left our exciting spy drone story, the airliner you were flying to Denver in had just run into an off-course traffic drone whose guidance system had just been fried by solar radiation and you ended up in a molten pile of burning aluminum and plastic.
U.N. officials describe several narrowly averted disasters in which drones crashed into a refugee camp, flew dangerously close to a fuel dump and almost collided with a large passenger plane over Mogadishu, the capital.
That'll be the real wake-up call. A 747 hits one just entering New York City air space. 293 dead including the crew, 187 on the ground.
And the nightmare of links below the fold?
Actually, I'd suggest you skip it. Why ruin a perfectly good day?
Do you believe that man-made global warming is eventually going to cause dirt to reach the point of spontaneous combustion as the above Fox News headline indicates?
Do you believe that the 11% contribution of man-made CO2 to the .3% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is going to set off a chain reaction causing the other 99.7% of the atmosphere to turn into a fireball of death?
Do you believe that solar radiation plays no part in our global climate because your neighbor's SUV tailpipe is more powerful than the sun?
If so, then you're a true AGWer and you have my sympathy.
Because there was a headline floating around the other day that proved, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that man-made global warming is finally here and we're all going to die within months unless we immediately donate $100 to Greenpeace.
Thrilling, isn't it? To a devout AGWer like yourself, you must have shivered in delight as you clicked on the link, knowing that the final proof was here.
And that's when you discovered the cruelest link you ever done saw.
I... I really don't have the heart to say any more.
The rest of you will just have to witness the cruelality for yourself.
My final pre-election post, set for Monday, is currently at 1,175 words. And counting.
One myth I handily destroyed in an article a while back was the possibility of space travel. And I don't mean this garbage:
This is for people using Internet Explorer on a 64-bit Windows 7 system. Everyone else, please skip to the next post. If you're not sure if you have a 32- or 64-bit system, right-click on 'Computer' and open Properties.
Tsk-tsk, Italy.
I'm on the road and using my laptop (barf) so this'll be short. Just a reminder that the third and final (praise be) presidential debate is on tonight. Showtime for the event in 9 pm Eastern. More info & a streamcast 
*Yet Another In An Endless String Of
No, Christopher Columbus probably wasn't the first European to discover the Americas.
One intriguing thing that happened while I was out of touch with humanity for a week was that three mainstream news sites completely changed their format. Much for the worse, I might add. They essentially stopped being 'news sites' by conventional definition.
It's been 45 days since my 