Friday, June 30, 2006
A Milestone
The Strange and Difficult Life of David Hasselhoff
It's been a strange couple of weeks for Mr. Hasselhoff. First we all learn that Maverick's Forward Dirk Nowitzki is a diehard fan who sings Hasselhoff songs to calm him down on the free throw line. Then he sees a movie he has a role in ("Click") actually make quite a bit of money.
And now this....
Let's tell this story in pictures first:
?
Give up? Well it seems that Mr. Hasselhoff was shaving in a gym in London, hit his head on a chandelier, broken glass fell and sliced a tendon in his arm.
It's true, he needed surgery, read it here.
(My favorite thing about this story is the incredible lack of explaination. What was being shaved? How does one hit their head on any chandelier, much less while shaving? Etc. Etc.)
Saturday, June 10, 2006
For Those Keeping Score
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Thoughts on CA-50
So Busby lost.
I thought about writing a post that spun the loss in the Congressional election on tuesday into a positive for the Democrats. I don't think I quite have the energy to do that so instead I'm just going to point out two important things.
1. The Republicans spent 5 million dollars to hold on to a seat in one of the most conservative districts in the country. If they spend that much on every district in November it will set them back $2.1 billion.
2. A loss is still a loss.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Good News From South Dakota
One of the overlooked primary elections yesterday occured in South Dakota. I seem to have become a bit of an expert on South Dakota politics and thought I'd post an update on what happened yesterday.
South Dakota is supposed to be a solidly "red" state, but any look at who holds office in the state will put that myth to rest. Tim Johnson is the most popular Senator in the country, and Stephanie Herseth (SD's only House seat) is a rising star in the Democratic party. John Thune knocked off Daschle in '04, but before then SD has been solidly Democratic; hell even North Dakota has two Democratic Senators and a Dem Representative (Rhode Island doesn't even have two Dem Senators).
All the talk about the Mountain West being the future of the party is probably true, but it would be a big mistake to overlook the plains states. These are states full of people who are being hurt by Bush's policies and who thinks this govermnent is interfering too much in our lives. These are people who can come (back) to the Democratic party, and last nights primary is a positive sign for the future.
By now I think everyone knows about the SD abortion ban and how crazy it is. This isn't even a ban that goes into effect if Roe v. Wade is repealed (like was just passed in Louisiana), this is a full out BAN on all abortions. Groups like Focus South Dakota has been fighting to repeal the ban, and I think they'll be succesful.
Last night's Governor's primary gives me reason to hope.
There were two Dem's vying for the nomination. Jack Billion (great name) a former surgeon and veteran, and Dennis Wiese former head of the Farmer's Union. Not many people were watching this race because Mike Rounds the current governor, though crazy, is strangely popular. This is supposed to be a safe GOP seat.
But Jack Billion won last night with over 60% of the vote. This is important because Billion has admitted that the abortion ban was one of the deciding factors in him entering the race. Billion would talk about it and say it was crazy and was too intrusive of a law. Dennis Wiese on the other hand would vacillate and never quite attacked the law; he even said that he would sign an abortion ban that had an exception for cases of rape and incest (which the current bill does not have). So you have a pro-ban candidate and an anti-ban candidate.
And the anti-ban candidate won in a shocking landslide.
Now SD is a small state, it's entirely possible that the 35,000 people who voted in the primary met one or both of the candidates at some point. And all of those people must have known about Billion's position on the abortion ban.
This was an important primary because it's another sign that the people of this country (even those in the "red" states) are sick and tired of politicians who think that abortion and gay marriage are more important than the war or the economy.
Billion has a lot of momentum now and could turn his fight against Rounds into a serious contest.
Here's the Billion website. You should check him out.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
It's Hard To Report the Positive News When You're Dead
The number of dead journalists in the Iraq war is approaching the total number of dead journalists in all of World War II.
Reuters.
TUESDAY
The run-off election to fill Duke Cunningham's vacant Congressional seat in San Diego is this Tuesday. Polls have shown Democrat Francine Busby with a small lead in this heavily Republican district. It's going to be close, but this could be a huge victory for the Democrats.
If Busby wins it will start an avalanche 0f stories about how the Democrats can now win in areas where they never had a chance before. The press will change the conventional wisdom of how big the Democratic victory will be this November. It will put the words "Democrat" and "victory" side by side in lots of people's heads and everyone will know that the mid-term election will be historic. It doesn't even matter that Busby will have to defend her seat again in November, if she can win on Tuesday she can have a huge impact on all the elections to come.
Finally, Some News About Aliens That Aren't From Mexico
In the summer of 2003 a red rain fell over much of the Indian state of Kerala. People were obviously confused by this and gathered some of the red water and scientists started looking at it under a microscope.
Some scientists have proposed things like algae, red dust from the Arabian peninsula, even a flock of bats vaporized by a meteor. But Godfrey Louis, physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the peer reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science hypothesizing that the red cells in the water are actually microbes from outer space.
Little tiny alien bacteria that came from somewhere and landed on India. The red stuff is thick-walled cell-like structures that are about 10 microns in size (that's small). Louis thinks they're alien because the "cells" have been seen replicating, yet don't seem to have any DNA (that's strange). They can also replicate in water heated up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (the upper limit for life as we know it is 250 degrees). The thought is that the cells are really tough bacteria that evolved the ability to live on an asteroid or even just floating around in space.
Here's the article.
Blood cells and dust don't replicate and fungus and algae have DNA. If this holds up the implications are obvious, and would be a big step in advancing the theory that life on Earth started when extraterrestrial cells (like maybe in a red rain) landed here billions of years ago. Other scientists are trying to replicate Louis' findings and their studies should be available later this year.
And now this....
Let's tell this story in pictures first:
?
Give up? Well it seems that Mr. Hasselhoff was shaving in a gym in London, hit his head on a chandelier, broken glass fell and sliced a tendon in his arm.
It's true, he needed surgery, read it here.
(My favorite thing about this story is the incredible lack of explaination. What was being shaved? How does one hit their head on any chandelier, much less while shaving? Etc. Etc.)
Saturday, June 10, 2006
For Those Keeping Score
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Thoughts on CA-50
So Busby lost.
I thought about writing a post that spun the loss in the Congressional election on tuesday into a positive for the Democrats. I don't think I quite have the energy to do that so instead I'm just going to point out two important things.
1. The Republicans spent 5 million dollars to hold on to a seat in one of the most conservative districts in the country. If they spend that much on every district in November it will set them back $2.1 billion.
2. A loss is still a loss.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Good News From South Dakota
One of the overlooked primary elections yesterday occured in South Dakota. I seem to have become a bit of an expert on South Dakota politics and thought I'd post an update on what happened yesterday.
South Dakota is supposed to be a solidly "red" state, but any look at who holds office in the state will put that myth to rest. Tim Johnson is the most popular Senator in the country, and Stephanie Herseth (SD's only House seat) is a rising star in the Democratic party. John Thune knocked off Daschle in '04, but before then SD has been solidly Democratic; hell even North Dakota has two Democratic Senators and a Dem Representative (Rhode Island doesn't even have two Dem Senators).
All the talk about the Mountain West being the future of the party is probably true, but it would be a big mistake to overlook the plains states. These are states full of people who are being hurt by Bush's policies and who thinks this govermnent is interfering too much in our lives. These are people who can come (back) to the Democratic party, and last nights primary is a positive sign for the future.
By now I think everyone knows about the SD abortion ban and how crazy it is. This isn't even a ban that goes into effect if Roe v. Wade is repealed (like was just passed in Louisiana), this is a full out BAN on all abortions. Groups like Focus South Dakota has been fighting to repeal the ban, and I think they'll be succesful.
Last night's Governor's primary gives me reason to hope.
There were two Dem's vying for the nomination. Jack Billion (great name) a former surgeon and veteran, and Dennis Wiese former head of the Farmer's Union. Not many people were watching this race because Mike Rounds the current governor, though crazy, is strangely popular. This is supposed to be a safe GOP seat.
But Jack Billion won last night with over 60% of the vote. This is important because Billion has admitted that the abortion ban was one of the deciding factors in him entering the race. Billion would talk about it and say it was crazy and was too intrusive of a law. Dennis Wiese on the other hand would vacillate and never quite attacked the law; he even said that he would sign an abortion ban that had an exception for cases of rape and incest (which the current bill does not have). So you have a pro-ban candidate and an anti-ban candidate.
And the anti-ban candidate won in a shocking landslide.
Now SD is a small state, it's entirely possible that the 35,000 people who voted in the primary met one or both of the candidates at some point. And all of those people must have known about Billion's position on the abortion ban.
This was an important primary because it's another sign that the people of this country (even those in the "red" states) are sick and tired of politicians who think that abortion and gay marriage are more important than the war or the economy.
Billion has a lot of momentum now and could turn his fight against Rounds into a serious contest.
Here's the Billion website. You should check him out.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
It's Hard To Report the Positive News When You're Dead
The number of dead journalists in the Iraq war is approaching the total number of dead journalists in all of World War II.
Reuters.
TUESDAY
The run-off election to fill Duke Cunningham's vacant Congressional seat in San Diego is this Tuesday. Polls have shown Democrat Francine Busby with a small lead in this heavily Republican district. It's going to be close, but this could be a huge victory for the Democrats.
If Busby wins it will start an avalanche 0f stories about how the Democrats can now win in areas where they never had a chance before. The press will change the conventional wisdom of how big the Democratic victory will be this November. It will put the words "Democrat" and "victory" side by side in lots of people's heads and everyone will know that the mid-term election will be historic. It doesn't even matter that Busby will have to defend her seat again in November, if she can win on Tuesday she can have a huge impact on all the elections to come.
Finally, Some News About Aliens That Aren't From Mexico
In the summer of 2003 a red rain fell over much of the Indian state of Kerala. People were obviously confused by this and gathered some of the red water and scientists started looking at it under a microscope.
Some scientists have proposed things like algae, red dust from the Arabian peninsula, even a flock of bats vaporized by a meteor. But Godfrey Louis, physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the peer reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science hypothesizing that the red cells in the water are actually microbes from outer space.
Little tiny alien bacteria that came from somewhere and landed on India. The red stuff is thick-walled cell-like structures that are about 10 microns in size (that's small). Louis thinks they're alien because the "cells" have been seen replicating, yet don't seem to have any DNA (that's strange). They can also replicate in water heated up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (the upper limit for life as we know it is 250 degrees). The thought is that the cells are really tough bacteria that evolved the ability to live on an asteroid or even just floating around in space.
Here's the article.
Blood cells and dust don't replicate and fungus and algae have DNA. If this holds up the implications are obvious, and would be a big step in advancing the theory that life on Earth started when extraterrestrial cells (like maybe in a red rain) landed here billions of years ago. Other scientists are trying to replicate Louis' findings and their studies should be available later this year.
I thought about writing a post that spun the loss in the Congressional election on tuesday into a positive for the Democrats. I don't think I quite have the energy to do that so instead I'm just going to point out two important things.
1. The Republicans spent 5 million dollars to hold on to a seat in one of the most conservative districts in the country. If they spend that much on every district in November it will set them back $2.1 billion.
2. A loss is still a loss.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Good News From South Dakota
One of the overlooked primary elections yesterday occured in South Dakota. I seem to have become a bit of an expert on South Dakota politics and thought I'd post an update on what happened yesterday.
South Dakota is supposed to be a solidly "red" state, but any look at who holds office in the state will put that myth to rest. Tim Johnson is the most popular Senator in the country, and Stephanie Herseth (SD's only House seat) is a rising star in the Democratic party. John Thune knocked off Daschle in '04, but before then SD has been solidly Democratic; hell even North Dakota has two Democratic Senators and a Dem Representative (Rhode Island doesn't even have two Dem Senators).
All the talk about the Mountain West being the future of the party is probably true, but it would be a big mistake to overlook the plains states. These are states full of people who are being hurt by Bush's policies and who thinks this govermnent is interfering too much in our lives. These are people who can come (back) to the Democratic party, and last nights primary is a positive sign for the future.
By now I think everyone knows about the SD abortion ban and how crazy it is. This isn't even a ban that goes into effect if Roe v. Wade is repealed (like was just passed in Louisiana), this is a full out BAN on all abortions. Groups like Focus South Dakota has been fighting to repeal the ban, and I think they'll be succesful.
Last night's Governor's primary gives me reason to hope.
There were two Dem's vying for the nomination. Jack Billion (great name) a former surgeon and veteran, and Dennis Wiese former head of the Farmer's Union. Not many people were watching this race because Mike Rounds the current governor, though crazy, is strangely popular. This is supposed to be a safe GOP seat.
But Jack Billion won last night with over 60% of the vote. This is important because Billion has admitted that the abortion ban was one of the deciding factors in him entering the race. Billion would talk about it and say it was crazy and was too intrusive of a law. Dennis Wiese on the other hand would vacillate and never quite attacked the law; he even said that he would sign an abortion ban that had an exception for cases of rape and incest (which the current bill does not have). So you have a pro-ban candidate and an anti-ban candidate.
And the anti-ban candidate won in a shocking landslide.
Now SD is a small state, it's entirely possible that the 35,000 people who voted in the primary met one or both of the candidates at some point. And all of those people must have known about Billion's position on the abortion ban.
This was an important primary because it's another sign that the people of this country (even those in the "red" states) are sick and tired of politicians who think that abortion and gay marriage are more important than the war or the economy.
Billion has a lot of momentum now and could turn his fight against Rounds into a serious contest.
Here's the Billion website. You should check him out.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
It's Hard To Report the Positive News When You're Dead
The number of dead journalists in the Iraq war is approaching the total number of dead journalists in all of World War II.
Reuters.
TUESDAY
The run-off election to fill Duke Cunningham's vacant Congressional seat in San Diego is this Tuesday. Polls have shown Democrat Francine Busby with a small lead in this heavily Republican district. It's going to be close, but this could be a huge victory for the Democrats.
If Busby wins it will start an avalanche 0f stories about how the Democrats can now win in areas where they never had a chance before. The press will change the conventional wisdom of how big the Democratic victory will be this November. It will put the words "Democrat" and "victory" side by side in lots of people's heads and everyone will know that the mid-term election will be historic. It doesn't even matter that Busby will have to defend her seat again in November, if she can win on Tuesday she can have a huge impact on all the elections to come.
Finally, Some News About Aliens That Aren't From Mexico
In the summer of 2003 a red rain fell over much of the Indian state of Kerala. People were obviously confused by this and gathered some of the red water and scientists started looking at it under a microscope.
Some scientists have proposed things like algae, red dust from the Arabian peninsula, even a flock of bats vaporized by a meteor. But Godfrey Louis, physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the peer reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science hypothesizing that the red cells in the water are actually microbes from outer space.
Little tiny alien bacteria that came from somewhere and landed on India. The red stuff is thick-walled cell-like structures that are about 10 microns in size (that's small). Louis thinks they're alien because the "cells" have been seen replicating, yet don't seem to have any DNA (that's strange). They can also replicate in water heated up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (the upper limit for life as we know it is 250 degrees). The thought is that the cells are really tough bacteria that evolved the ability to live on an asteroid or even just floating around in space.
Here's the article.
Blood cells and dust don't replicate and fungus and algae have DNA. If this holds up the implications are obvious, and would be a big step in advancing the theory that life on Earth started when extraterrestrial cells (like maybe in a red rain) landed here billions of years ago. Other scientists are trying to replicate Louis' findings and their studies should be available later this year.
South Dakota is supposed to be a solidly "red" state, but any look at who holds office in the state will put that myth to rest. Tim Johnson is the most popular Senator in the country, and Stephanie Herseth (SD's only House seat) is a rising star in the Democratic party. John Thune knocked off Daschle in '04, but before then SD has been solidly Democratic; hell even North Dakota has two Democratic Senators and a Dem Representative (Rhode Island doesn't even have two Dem Senators).
All the talk about the Mountain West being the future of the party is probably true, but it would be a big mistake to overlook the plains states. These are states full of people who are being hurt by Bush's policies and who thinks this govermnent is interfering too much in our lives. These are people who can come (back) to the Democratic party, and last nights primary is a positive sign for the future.
By now I think everyone knows about the SD abortion ban and how crazy it is. This isn't even a ban that goes into effect if Roe v. Wade is repealed (like was just passed in Louisiana), this is a full out BAN on all abortions. Groups like Focus South Dakota has been fighting to repeal the ban, and I think they'll be succesful.
Last night's Governor's primary gives me reason to hope.
There were two Dem's vying for the nomination. Jack Billion (great name) a former surgeon and veteran, and Dennis Wiese former head of the Farmer's Union. Not many people were watching this race because Mike Rounds the current governor, though crazy, is strangely popular. This is supposed to be a safe GOP seat.
But Jack Billion won last night with over 60% of the vote. This is important because Billion has admitted that the abortion ban was one of the deciding factors in him entering the race. Billion would talk about it and say it was crazy and was too intrusive of a law. Dennis Wiese on the other hand would vacillate and never quite attacked the law; he even said that he would sign an abortion ban that had an exception for cases of rape and incest (which the current bill does not have). So you have a pro-ban candidate and an anti-ban candidate.
And the anti-ban candidate won in a shocking landslide.
Now SD is a small state, it's entirely possible that the 35,000 people who voted in the primary met one or both of the candidates at some point. And all of those people must have known about Billion's position on the abortion ban.
This was an important primary because it's another sign that the people of this country (even those in the "red" states) are sick and tired of politicians who think that abortion and gay marriage are more important than the war or the economy.
Billion has a lot of momentum now and could turn his fight against Rounds into a serious contest.
Here's the Billion website. You should check him out.
The number of dead journalists in the Iraq war is approaching the total number of dead journalists in all of World War II.Reuters.
TUESDAY
The run-off election to fill Duke Cunningham's vacant Congressional seat in San Diego is this Tuesday. Polls have shown Democrat Francine Busby with a small lead in this heavily Republican district. It's going to be close, but this could be a huge victory for the Democrats.
If Busby wins it will start an avalanche 0f stories about how the Democrats can now win in areas where they never had a chance before. The press will change the conventional wisdom of how big the Democratic victory will be this November. It will put the words "Democrat" and "victory" side by side in lots of people's heads and everyone will know that the mid-term election will be historic. It doesn't even matter that Busby will have to defend her seat again in November, if she can win on Tuesday she can have a huge impact on all the elections to come.
Finally, Some News About Aliens That Aren't From Mexico
In the summer of 2003 a red rain fell over much of the Indian state of Kerala. People were obviously confused by this and gathered some of the red water and scientists started looking at it under a microscope.
Some scientists have proposed things like algae, red dust from the Arabian peninsula, even a flock of bats vaporized by a meteor. But Godfrey Louis, physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the peer reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science hypothesizing that the red cells in the water are actually microbes from outer space.
Little tiny alien bacteria that came from somewhere and landed on India. The red stuff is thick-walled cell-like structures that are about 10 microns in size (that's small). Louis thinks they're alien because the "cells" have been seen replicating, yet don't seem to have any DNA (that's strange). They can also replicate in water heated up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (the upper limit for life as we know it is 250 degrees). The thought is that the cells are really tough bacteria that evolved the ability to live on an asteroid or even just floating around in space.
Here's the article.
Blood cells and dust don't replicate and fungus and algae have DNA. If this holds up the implications are obvious, and would be a big step in advancing the theory that life on Earth started when extraterrestrial cells (like maybe in a red rain) landed here billions of years ago. Other scientists are trying to replicate Louis' findings and their studies should be available later this year.
If Busby wins it will start an avalanche 0f stories about how the Democrats can now win in areas where they never had a chance before. The press will change the conventional wisdom of how big the Democratic victory will be this November. It will put the words "Democrat" and "victory" side by side in lots of people's heads and everyone will know that the mid-term election will be historic. It doesn't even matter that Busby will have to defend her seat again in November, if she can win on Tuesday she can have a huge impact on all the elections to come.
In the summer of 2003 a red rain fell over much of the Indian state of Kerala. People were obviously confused by this and gathered some of the red water and scientists started looking at it under a microscope.
Some scientists have proposed things like algae, red dust from the Arabian peninsula, even a flock of bats vaporized by a meteor. But Godfrey Louis, physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the peer reviewed Astrophysics and Space Science hypothesizing that the red cells in the water are actually microbes from outer space.
Little tiny alien bacteria that came from somewhere and landed on India. The red stuff is thick-walled cell-like structures that are about 10 microns in size (that's small). Louis thinks they're alien because the "cells" have been seen replicating, yet don't seem to have any DNA (that's strange). They can also replicate in water heated up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (the upper limit for life as we know it is 250 degrees). The thought is that the cells are really tough bacteria that evolved the ability to live on an asteroid or even just floating around in space.
Here's the article.
Blood cells and dust don't replicate and fungus and algae have DNA. If this holds up the implications are obvious, and would be a big step in advancing the theory that life on Earth started when extraterrestrial cells (like maybe in a red rain) landed here billions of years ago. Other scientists are trying to replicate Louis' findings and their studies should be available later this year.
