Comment highlights from watching the Olympics this weekend:
sds:
- It was unfortunate when that Chinese gymnast made a mistake in her routine; now her dad will probably lose his left hand.
I wish I knew how much of a joke this was/wasn’t. I mean, really? Or just sorta/figuratively?
- If NBC had the guts to slip in a few comments about the big elephant in the room—China’s abysmal human rights record—my respect for them would skyrocket.
They actually did this during Bob’s interview with Bush last night.
Ooh, they're real scared.
The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board says, “Enough already”, the Legislature should stop grandstanding and pass the budget. I’m sure they’ll get right on it now.
In other news, a radio talk show host said something obnoxious.
Obama and Off-shore drilling
sds:
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst said in a report there is a lot of offshore crude that can be produced relatively quickly. The problem: It is located off California, where politicians have built careers opposing new drilling.
“California could actually start producing new oil within a year if the moratorium were lifted” […]Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s “fast-track” plan for reducing foreign oil imports will take a minimum of 10 years and has no guarantees.
According to the Obama campaign, only plans that “would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence…would be worthy of our consideration.” And 10 years with no guarantees is a better plan?
As Lileks said, “We do have oil. We can get to it soon. It will make a difference.”
Coffee and the Bible
A random comment from a colleague led me to the discovery that there is very little in the internets about coffee and the Bible. Turns out there’s a very good reason for that.
Coffee beans, which are actually the seeds of a berry, were chewed as a stimulant; this use was recorded in the Koran and the Bible. —some botany website from UCLA
Uh, no. There are no direct references to coffee in the Bible and, while there may be in the Koran, I couldn’t find any specific references to them.
National Geographic says (via the awesome Food Timeline) even the chewing didn’t start til around 800 A.D. and the brewing didn’t start til around 1000.
That explains it then. (Since the Koran was finalized by 650 A.D it’s not likely coffee is in there either but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.) Even so, this has got to be the most comprehensive treatment of Coffee in the Bible on the web:
Quote:
Sen. John McCain’s chances of winning California this fall are looking poorer, as a new Field Poll shows the likely Republican nominee trailing Sen. Barack Obama by 24 points. (from today’s Capitol Alert)
Quote:
State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, [incumbent Governor Pete Wilson’s] Democratic opponent and the latest member of the Brown political dynasty to seek the California governorship, has slipped into second place after leading the race for the better part of a year, at one time by more than 20 points. (NYTimes, Sept 19, 1994)
Quote:
Wilson defeated Kathleen Brown by 55 percent to 40 percent. (The Weekly Standard, Oct 20, 2003)
Observations:
1) The change in the Brown/Wilson race was a swing of more than 35%. “Political experts” were predicting there was no way Wilson could beat Brown. [citation needed]
2) McCain’s chances of winning California have never been anything other than poor.
3) Obama will win California in November but it will be much closer than 24%.
4) People are a) sheep and b) fickle.
Helpful
A blind gentleman, complete with white cane, asked me for directions just now. Of course, I pointed in the direction he should go. Anything I can do to help.Gack!
Varifrank sums it up:
Whats it like in the central valley these days? Its 112 degrees, zero wind, and there are three thousand fires all over the state. The smoke literally blocks out the sun. If you want to simulate the experience, turn yur furnace on, close all the windows and start a campfire on the front room floor.
Nora puts it even more succinctly:
All I know is I’m having ice cream for dinner.
Printers
You know what I don’t understand? Almost every (office) printer now takes a full ream of paper. Why do people only put part of a ream in the printer and leave the rest for later?Gmail Anniversary
I signed up for Gmail 4 years ago today. 55847 messages and 47% (3277 MB) of my allocated storage space of 6881 MB (and counting) later, I still think it’s the best available email system you can find.
When I first signed up they offered 1 GB (1024 MB) which was 10 times the storage space of the next best out there.