A place where "power generation, water management, transportation, and urban planning all come together"

Check out a fun but somewhat tiny snippet about MIT and the United Arab Emirates working together to create the first carbon-neutral city. Interesting little article with fun discussions of "transportation pods" powered by the city's photovoltaic panels, and other fun and interesting stuff.

Andrew Sullivan had a link to Boozhy's post about the story that pointed out (astutely) that the future of environmentalism appears to be heading in a direction where change is driven more and more by the economic realities (and incentives) for shifting to green. The folks in Abu Dhabi clearly state their motivation as economic (the potential for a project like this as a magnet for business and investment).

Weekends and Sunshine

Heller's and Pfeiffer's and Sky oh my, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Well, folks, I think it's been a pretty remarkable week... don't you? ABC is the first news outlet to tally recent announcments (and defections from Camp Clinton) and say Obama now leads in super delegates... perhaps another sign of the wave that is forming to come tidy up any unresolved questions in the Democratic primary. Not sure if it's a bigger piece of the wave or not, but the Time magazine cover is pretty darn cool. Also amazing, the website Hillary is Mom Jeans (a response to the brilliant Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle). I've got too many favorites from their all-caps little quips, but a new favorite of mine today is, "HILLARY YELLED FREEBIRD AT YOUR CONCERT" brilliant stuff.

Meanwhile, outside the world of primaries there's a whole mess of other stuff going on, right?

• On Ebay you can pick up JFK's air guitar... sweet (hat tip: Wonkette).
• Sadly, probably the biggest story in the world is still the mess in Myanmar, where somewhere between 20,000 and 100,000 people were killed by a cyclone that has supposedly impacted over a million lives, yet the military leaders are balking at letting outside aid workers inside the borders of their tightly-controlled nation. Hopefully progress on this mess will be swift (at least there are some signs of hope), but so far there's a lot to feel bummed out about here.
• The oldest gorilla in captivity celebrated his 55th birthday with a frozen fruit cake. I take it they mean a cake made of frozen fruit, not an unwanted Christmas gift retrieved from the depths of somebody's freezer.
  
• When bong-making creativity goes horribly wrong: In Texas some kids dug up a secluded grave, removing a skull that they then crafted into a bong. Wow.
  
• Finally, on a lighter note, researchers say some sexy orchids may reap the benefit from the way their forms attract certain insects, but they may also hurt the insects that pollinate them since they decrease their chances for reproduction. See, the confusion over their appearance causes the bees to, "frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm." Wait... did I say that last story was on a lighter note... well, if you hate bees I guess this is good news.
  

Anyway... there's your Friday dose of randomness, have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, and the photo above is another from my March visit to Washington DC... taken along Mt. Pleasant Ave. in downtown Mount Pleasant. I'm not sure why I didn't post this sooner, but it's one of my favorites from that trip.

Finding the Right Time to End It

I was part of a fascinating conversation last night with a group of engaged and informed Democrats all raking over the details of what happened Tuesday. The consensus of the group was that the primary is basically over now, but the conversation took an interesting turn (I described this in a comment earlier this morning, but then thought it was post-worthy). What fascinated me, and what I would love to hear others' thoughts on was the following observation:

Someone in the group suggested that it would make no sense at all for the Democratic Party to have Hillary drop out of the race now. If she did, there is a fair likelihood that she would still beat Barack in West VA, and also a good chance she would win in Kentucky. The idea being suggested was that it is against the interests of both the party and Obama's candidacy to have Hillary drop out just in time for Barack to lose two of the first three uncontested races. Instead it would look much better for her to stick around and play nice for a couple weeks.

What I found intriguing about this idea is that I think many people are eager to see this whole thing end, to see Hillary change her mind, hold a press conference, and close up shop today. It's been interesting for me to ponder whether she would serve her party better to stick around at least for another week or two. Still, this all ignores the question of whether altruistic thinking like this is at play at all in the Clinton Campaign's considerations this week.

On an interesting side note, check out this post on Talking Points Memo regarding repaying the Clintons for their "loans" to Hillary's campaign (hat tip to Amiercablog where I saw this discussed). I had not heard about this piece of the picture until today, but as one of the 1.5 million small donors to the Obama campaign, I can say with certainty that I never intended my donations to go for paying the Clintons back on the loans that kept Hillary running in spite of inadequate fund raising totals this spring. I find the notion this could possibly happen quite troubling.

Update: Check out a completely dweeby but fascinating discussion of super delegates and primary election math over at SUPERDELEGATELAND.

Oh What a Night!

Well, I don't know if anybody else is having a hard time convincing their eyes to stay open after staring deep into the CNN ridiculousness until well after 1AM, but I think it was worth it.

While around 9PM it looked like Hillary had pulled out a somewhat reasonable margin in Indiana and Barack had hit one out of the park in NC, by the time I finally allowed my head to hit the pillow it was quite different, with the margin in Indiana down to 2% or less, and with NC staying up near 14%... a result I for one thought was quite decisive indeed.

Still, perhaps the most interesting development of the evening was CNN's discovery that Obama is, in fact, running against a space alien from Star Trek. Seriously, though, it's truly a new day today and if you need something to convince you of that, perhaps the best post I've seen around is this one from the Jed Report. The content is about changes to his blog, but the picture says it all. It's time to look forward to November and beyond.

Thoughts While Holding My Breath

It's Tuesday so there must be some people voting somewhere... Guam? Nope, already happened. But today there's a Carolina and an Indiana full of folks punching their votes in, and a nation of Democrats crossing their fingers about the results. While you wait (if you're a political spaz like me) why not read about some good/fascinating stuff?

• Andrew Sullivan has a post up about Nigerian rebels contemplating a cease-fire based mainly on an appeal from Barack Obama... interesting. I also found his link between Obama's past as a community organizer, the bottom-up approach his campaign has taken and this news bit. Thoughts on this welcome... need to ponder a bit more myself.
• Hilarious and random, a post on Wonkette yesterday about Ben Smith offing all the other reporters at Politico made me chuckle. Sure, that sounds morbid, but I swear, really, it's some funny.
• Turns out, spell check is a right-wing nutjob afterall! Who knew? After the initial piece that makes me sad, the second bit about Klingons is pretty amazing.
  

Finally, Purple State had yet another amazing Daily Diversion yesterday, and while I hate to feel like I'm just co-opting their fun, it's below. Feel free to send them some hits by watching the video through their own post here, or just hop over to their main page for some interesting political writing.

Anyway, For anyone who spends too much time on Facebook (like me, he admitted, feeling like a dweeb) or for anyone who doesn't precisely because they're freaked out by the whole thing, this little British video wonder is pretty amazing:

Lazy Weekend Video Break

Here comes the weekend! Know what you need? Some video to inspire, entertain, and stupefy. With that in mind, I've got two little things to get you started. From the joyous world of You Tube viral wonderment, I present you the following:

1. My buddy over at Stamford Talk posted this one as a comment, but I liked it so much I wanted it out here in the light of day as a main page post. In the video below Michelle Obama talks about one of the main reasons she thinks her husband offers something unique among the presidential contenders. I've seen some tiny snippets of this larger video played on news shows this week, but the whole thing is well worth the whopping 6 minutes it will take you to watch.



2. Purple State Blog is the first place I saw the following video mash-up of the primaries, Star Wars... and all sorts of other wonderment. Now, I've got to say that the amount of play You Tube is getting this election cycle is incredible, but when it results in videos as entertaining as the one below I say it's a blessing. The editing in this one is pretty remarkable.

Party Goes On as Monkey Humps Death Star

Party Goes On as Monkey Humps Death Star, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This past weekend I was in Atlanta for birthday celebrations and you know... strange things can happen at birthday parties. You sorta never know what you might come across. For example, you might come across a monkey piñata humping the broken shell of a Death Star piñata. Now, if you're me, when you see such a spectacle you stop and take a few quick pictures. Most other people didn't seem bothered that this was going on. Anyway, as we all head towards the end of our work days this beautiful Thursday afternoon... I thought I would share one such picture.

'Cause nothing says Thursday like a monkey piñata... humping a Death Star... piñata.

Things That Do (Suck): Abstinence Only Sex Ed

or... does abstinence mean it can't suck.

Anyway, if there is any upside to the Bush administration's bizarro world obsession with abstinence only education it is this bit from the Daily Show, an update on the Global War in Your Pants:



Hat tip to Meredith whose Facebook post tipped me off to this!

Things That Don't Suck: King of California

So, at the end of my last post... earlier today, I promised my next post would be apolitical, and here goes. Last night I saw a pretty enjoyable movie, King of California. Evan Rachel Wood (open question: who names their daughter Evan?) plays Miranda, the 17 year-old daughter of an eccentric man who we see picking up her father, Charlie (Michael Douglas), from a mental institution in the first few scenes of the film.

Over an hour and a half we follow them on a treasure hunt filled with some goofy incidents, recollections of Miranda's youth, and exploration of a dysfunctional but interesting relationship between father and daughter. The journey is inspired and guided by readings Charlie found while he was in the loony bin. Wood plays an over-mature young woman pretty well, we meet her first at her job behind the counter at McDonalds. Her scrappy story of surviving while her father was locked away sets the stage for the distance she displays throughout the movie. Still, she can't resist following and eventually helping her hapless and goofy father, Charlie as he embarks on a garbled adventure.

I wouldn't say Douglas is brilliant, but his character sure is fun. The movie overall was enjoyable if not groundbreaking. It was relatively simple, smart but not preachy and inhabited by characters that were interesting enough to draw you in, accessible and fairly believable.

Some might guess I was drawn to the movie by its bright yellow box, given that a) I like bright colors b) I loved Little Miss Sunshine which also comes in a bright yellow box and c) I'm much like a moth... unable to resist visual stimuli. Even if these people are right, I enjoyed hanging out last night with the King of California and I recommend checking it out.

Zinger VS Burns

Last night I watched a good bit of SNL's the Best of Alec Baldwin, whose presence has been amazing on 30 Rock, no matter what you may think of his voicemail messages and other nasty habits. Some fine laughs were had over the absurdity of the Zinger v.s. Burns skit featuring Seth Meyers and Baldwin. Today, I caught a couple stories out there that struck me as little blogosphere zingers on Camp Clinton... both interesting in their own way.

First, I saw a piece from Andrew Sullivan over at the Atlantic, describing a poll that shows New Jersey democrats, who voted for Hillary by a 10% majority are now demonstrating some buyer's remorse. I think polls like this one are really interesting, especially given how much recent political conversation has been focused on who is electable in the fall.

Then, this afternoon, a piece floated out across the AP wires about how fake Hillary's stop by a gas station was. Wonkette had a nice tongue-in-cheek (surprise there) piece on how hilarious it is for the AP to stress the fakeness of one photo op, when all the campaigns are pretty much daily engaging in little choreographed exhibitions... anyway, whether it's fair or not, I thought the piece was pretty interesting, if only for the fact that they give you a nice portrait of the staging that goes into a "casual visit to a NC gas station."

Is anyone surprised when politicians are playing fake-it-till-ya-make-it? It's old news that a large chunk of America's best informed citizens (or at least best informed young people) tune in more reliably to the fake news than almost any other news source. Still, if the scheduled conversation between BillO and Hillary tonight is any indication, I don't see the Democratic discussion in the next few days veering back towards the land of the sensible. I bet we'll be hearing more about useless "tax vacations" and crazy preachers. YAY!

Does all that sound... jaded? Be not jaded! Laugh at this (Hillary trying to figure out a coffee machine):



Ok... not sure that last one was entirely fair... but it is funny. Promise to you: my next post will be about something entirely apolitical.

Karl Rove: forgetful or worse?

So I came across an editorial on the WSJ today. It's written by Karl Rove and talks about what a swell guy McCain is and how Americans need to know this. It's mostly fluff, but it got me all riled up. I'd like to explain why. Consider this passage:

For example, in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.

Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

It is a nice story isn't it? all warm and fuzzy. But shamefully, Mr. Rove leaves out a crucial part of the story, one that took place in the 2000 South Carolina primary. McCain was locked in a tight battle with Rove's former boss, the then-Governor of Texas, George W. Bush. During that primary, Bush supporters spread rumours that McCain had an illegitimate child with a black prostitute. He even had the nerve to appear in PUBLIC with this child. The proof was his daughter, Bridget. Photos of the two of them together were circulated. the rumours were considered very damaging and probably were part of the reason McCain lost.

Now, I'm not saying Rove had anything to do with this. really: I'm not. But he must have known. How could he not bring this up? Isn't it relevant to what he's talking about? For this failure alone, the editorial is deeply flawed at best and at worst is...something I'd rather not say.

Is this Blog Obamaganda?

Damn right! Ok... well, seriously though, sometimes I think I'm too much of a one-man pro-Obama stomping ground, but when I come across something like the video below, I just can't resist (plus it's not a one-man show anymore around here anyway).

I found the clip in the collection of amazing videos over at The Jed Report today. It shows a fired-up 82 year old lady, Mrs. Weiss is her name, I think, at an Obama rally asking a question, then being asked to be Obama's VP. The video is followed by one other interesting thing sent my way by Adam, who recently sent me the great "Skywalkers Crossing Han Solo" story.



So on to the fascinating story Adam passed along, it's actually something that showed up a few days ago on the New York Times editorial pages. I enjoy it when people test out some of the narratives we see trotted around the Cable news punditry. In this case, the author takes the image of "The Guy Who’s Where He Is Only Because He’s Black" for a walk around the block to see what he looks like in the light of day. Ultimately, the piece is pretty enjoyable, thought provoking, and very readable. There are pieces of me that wishes the author had pushed the edges of this a bit further, but he certainly gives the reader enough to realize what a silly idea this is.

I post this because I think it's worth noting that in politics these sorts of caricatures, these easy simple 2-dimensional pictures play so large and so long. Just look at the whole Wright thing blowing up yet again this week. In that case, at least, it seems this week like Rev. Wright is trying to prove the boogey man is in fact 3-D, real, and is him... but that aside, I recommend the "Visible Man" story.

Check it out, let me know what you think. Once you're done reading, if you're feeling bogged down in some of the heavy issues this all brings up... go back and visit with Mrs. Weiss in the video clip again... she's a spark plug and sure to get you back to feeling a little encouraged.