John Cole starts a new blogosphere tradition: your 10,000th blog post should be about your cat.
Ok. Well, this is my 5,511th post. Maybe I’ll have a cat by 10,000. But I doubt it.
Government Deregulations
From The New York Times:
At this point, according to a review by Politico.com, the election commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the National Labor Relations Board do not have enough members to do their jobs. Scores of federal judgeships are vacant. The Council of Economic Advisers is down to one adviser.
Comforting, isn’t it?
Cell Phones “More Dangerous Than Smoking”
Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.
The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.
It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.
Who ever thought that cell phone use could become a vice?
That said, I’m sure it’s like aspertame in Tab. You probably have to be one of those people with a mobile phone headset glued to your ear 24/7. Casual users, like most of us, probably won’t be affected. I’m guessing.
UPDATE: Still, some people are afraid not to have their cell phones.
Obama Cutting Into Hillary’s Superdel Advantage
WSJ:
WASHINGTON — Slowly but steadily, a string of Democratic Party figures is taking Barack Obama’s side in the presidential nominating race and raising the pressure on Hillary Clinton to give up.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is expected to endorse Sen. Obama Monday, according to a Democrat familiar with her plans. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group — just one has so far — before that state’s May 6 primary, several Democrats say.
[UPDATE: The NC delegation that is supposed to endorse Obama en masse? There’s been a denial issued on that.]
The graphic says it all.
Also, the daily Gallup poll shows Obama widening on the popular vote over the past week or so, suggesting that the Wright controversy hasn’t hurt him:
This marks the first time either candidate has held a double-digit lead over the other since Feb. 4-6, at which point Clinton led Obama by 11 percentage points.
I’m not among those who thinks Hillary should bow out now. It is still very possible she can win, although the only way I think that can happen — realistically — is if Obama’s three illegitimate children show up (or something like that).
Look, she’ll win Pennsylvania, but lose North Carolina and Indiana and most of the remaining states. Superdels will continue to move into Obama’s column. Her chances of winning are at 25% in my estimate, but that’s good enough to keep fighting the good fight.
The Washington Post editorial board sees some advantage to a protracted battle, namely:
* There are “millions of votes are yet to be cast,” and those voters should get “a chance” to express a preference;
* An “extended contest informs the electorate” and “battle-tests” the eventual nominee;
* Dems are gaining new voters for the fall with increased registration.
Sounds good to me.
How’s That Training Of Iraqi Police Going?
Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides
Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.
His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.
Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.
I know all this intra-Shi’ite infighting is confusing, but thanks to Kevin Drum, we now have a handy cheat sheet so we know who’s shooting whom. Not that it matters. A clusterfuck is a clusterfuck.
If This Is Positive….
Today we learn that:
American military forces for the first time conducted air strikes on targets in Basra late Thursday, joining Iraqi security forces in trying to oust Shiite militias in the southern port city.
…while in Baghdad:
U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting.
Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army’s AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead.
I thought that was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation, that is willing to take on elements that are — you know, that believe they’re beyond the law.
And secondly, we are helping, but it’s important to know that the Iraqis are in the lead. This is a positive moment in the development of a nation that can govern itself and defend itself and sustain itself. We will provide oversight and, on occasion, support when asked. This is an Iraqi operation.
I’m Officially Weirded Out
Hundreds of pictures of celebrities with their noses for eyes (click through all the pages). Here’s a small sample:
Kiera Knightly:
Nicole Kidman:
Charlize Theron:
The Oldest Audio Recording Recently Discovered
The New York Times had a great piece yesterday on an 1860 phonautogram of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune" sung by an unknown Frenchman.
Click here to hear it. It’s mp3 format and lasts about 10 seconds. It’s very scratchy; you can barely make out the song.
It is the oldest known recording of a human voice. The reason this is important is that the recording predates Edison’s famous audio recordings by almost thirty years. (Up to now, most experts agree that the first audio recording was made in 1888 – Edison’s recording of a snippet of a Handel oratorio)
The phonautograph audio transcription device was invented by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in the late 1850s.
Here’s the cool thing: Scott’s machine was intended to record audio waves onto a visual medium (in this case, black paper). It wasn’t designed to be played back. Scott’s idea was to visually examine the audio waves in order to study acoustics. He was trying to find a way to "write speech," not record sound per se.
But modern day scientists have found a way to take Scott’s "audio waves on paper" — just squiggles on a paper — and turn them back into the original sound, thus creating the "earliest recorded sound".
I’m Bernadette
Here she is on Zoom, explaining that arm thingee she does. (Only certain people of a certain age will appreciate this)….
Obama Leads Big In North Carolina
He came into town (well, Greensboro) on Wednesday, and packed the house.
Hillary made three stops in North Carolina yesterday, including one in Winston-Salem, and Bill is hanging around today. (In fact, as I look out my window, he’s on the streetcorner just standing there, talking to a hot dog vendor. Nobody is even paying attention. Now he’s trying to stop people and talk to them about how he feels their pain. Oh, man. Okay, now he’s talking to hot dog vendor again. Buying a hot dog).
North Carolina is not used to be courted during primary season, because by this time, the nominations are all sewn up. Anyway, the latest survey shows good news for Obama:
Hillary Clinton desperately needs to claim more white votes if she is to win a desperately needed primary by taking the Democratic presidential contest in North Carolina May 6.
But with five weeks to go, undecided whites likely to vote in that primary are, if anything, slowly moving to Obama’s column, or may be ready to.
Here are the results of our North Carolina poll from Wednesday night:
“If you are voting in the Democratic primary and the election were held today, who would you vote for?”
Barack Obama (49%)
Hillary Clinton (34%)
Undecided (17%)The poll was conducted by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion on March 26. It sampled 406 likely voters in the May 6 North Carolina Democratic presidential primary. The margin of error is plus or minus 5%. The data have been weighted for age, race, gender and party affiliation.
“Firewall state” has been the king of clichés during this campaign season, but that term has never applied more than North Carolina does for Clinton. If she loses badly here, regardless of any modest gains in the national delegate count, her candidacy may be done unless her primary victories in Florida and Michigan somehow end up being seated at the national nominating convention.
Other Obama poll news:
The recent controversy over comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright does not appear to have undermined support for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, according to the latest Pew Research survey.
The poll finds that Obama maintains a 49% to 39% advantage over Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, which is virtually unchanged from than the 49% to 40% lead he held among Democrats in late February.
The same poll shows that both Obama and Clinton beat McCain, by the same amount, in a general election matchup….
… although Obama is perceived by more people as being the stronger candidate:
From The Family Archives
Is there anything better than a family member finding old faded photographs?
Uncle Jack uncovered a trove. You don’t have to know these people to enjoy these photos. They invoke what I imagine to be a simpler time, if only because the world was black sepia and white back then.
"The Rough Riders"
That’s my Uncle Jack, my Mom, and Debby Van Dyke, with Jill Jane (Debby’s dog). The still photograph camera ("picture machine") had just been invented.
"Show Us Your Kneecaps!"
Mother and Uncle Jack in 1943. My mother’s hair was blonde when she was younger. This was at a time when girls wore dresses. It was also customary at the time for young boys to wear wide belts and shorts hiked up to their chest. Fun fact: This is the last known photo of my mother in which she had her eyes open.
"Fighting Over The Remote"
My mother and Uncle Jack roughhousing, during the McCarthy Era. Moments after this photo was taken, Jack Webb appeared out of nowhere and warned everybody about the evils of "the Red Menace".
"Twas Beauty Killed The Beast"
This is my mother. You can tell from her hairstyle that she was performing in USO shows at the time.
In this picture, she is strangling the family dog (Clancy). It was a phase; she outgrew it I’m told. Although, I find it odd that after all us kids went off to college, the family cat — who had been just fine all the years we grew up in that house — suddenly "died". Hmmmmm….
UPDATED to make corrections and additions. Mater would like me to know that she does NOT appreciate photos posted of her in which she is wearing her pajamas, so let’s all pretend that she’s wearing a kimono.
Promotional Shot For “The Nebula Of Georgia”
Love working with Kelly….
The Nebula of Georgia runs April 10 – April 19; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday at 2:00
Tickets and info here.
Testing One, Two…. Is This Thing On?
Wow. A coding error of some sort stopped all my posts from posting.
I think I fixed the error…..