CNN Screws the Pooch

PZ Meyers notes that CNN is heading for irrelevance at full throttle.

I’ve never been a fan of CNN. Part of me just thinks “good riddance” and “so much less bad science reporting out there”. But PJ may be right: It’s a symptom of intellectual rot in this country. So is the growing popularity of “alternative” medicine, absurd ads for supplements that only the ignorant and stupid could buy, and some election results I could think of.

A truly educated public would be more skeptical. And would not watch CNN.

Hypocrisy 101

Henry Payne reports.

Last summer, Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey joined his Democratic colleagues in piling $85 billion in new regulatory costs on the Detroit Three by mandating a 40-percent fuel-efficiency increase by 2020.

“The energy bill passed by the Senate takes an important step forward to increase our energy, economic, and environmental security,” said the senator. “And the CAFE standard increase contained in the bill is long overdue.”

At this afternoon’s Senate Banking Committee hearings, Casey — unapologetic for his role in burdening the industry now before him seeking a handout — demanded quick passage of $34 billion in taxpayer money to save the Detroit companies from bankruptcy. Casey moaned about the economic devastation an auto company failure would visit on his state.

Blast from the Past

Leroy Pyle, one of the best cops in the country (and now, thanks to his serial truth-telling a politically-active ex-cop) is seen here in a video from about 20 years ago patiently explaining what an “assault rifle” is and isn’t.

It’s good stuff if you’re not sure what the difference between semi-automatic and full auto is.

Wrapping Up Iraq

Michael Yon sends his last dispatch from Iraq. He’s now in Afghanistan, saying

I’m in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, but will soon fly to Bahrain for some important war-related business. After Bahrain, it’s back to Iraq then over to Washington DC, then down to CENTCOM in Florida…then Christmas, and back to the war. The primary current objective is to continue to build situational awareness pertaining to Afghanistan. This is going to be a very long war, and 2009 is tantamount the kickoff.

He also links to an important document on irregular warfare.

But around the equator it’s all still “global warming”

Science Daily:

The sun’s magnetic field may have a significant impact on weather and climatic parameters in Australia and other countries in the northern and southern hemispheres. According to a study in Geographical Research, the droughts are related to the solar magnetic phases and not the greenhouse effect.

Update:

Apparently the Byzantines also drove Hummers.

The Left-Wing Version of Lehman Brothers

VDH sums up California.

We have an enormously expensive, but incompetent government at all levels. It has a horrendously expensive bicameral Legislature, hundreds of boards and bureaus that serve as $100,000+ sinecures for political insiders and term-limited ex-politicians. Those with advanced degrees fly to our low- or no-income tax neighboring states, coupled with an influx of tens of thousands without high school diplomas. We have a political discourse that is polarized, self-censored, and completely framed by race, class, and gender agendas — reflecting the curricula of our high-schools, colleges, and universities. The electorate is as volatile as it is unhinged.  One day it will vote billions of dollars in new bonds for massive new projects, the next it will vote to fund massive prison complexes for “3-strikes and you’re out” prisoners, and on yet another it will vote to pass liberal feel-good nostrums that nullifiy what came before.

How We Found the Missing Memristor

It’s not often that fundamental discoveries come along. This one could be revolutionary.

For nearly 150 years, the known fundamental passive circuit elements were limited to the capacitor (discovered in 1745), the resistor (1827), and the inductor (1831). Then, in a brilliant but underappreciated 1971 paper, Leon Chua, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, predicted the existence of a fourth fundamental device, which he called a memristor. He proved that memristor behavior could not be duplicated by any circuit built using only the other three elements, which is why the memristor is truly fundamental.

Memristor is a contraction of “memory resistor,” because that is exactly its function: to remember its history. A memristor is a two-terminal device whose resistance depends on the magnitude and polarity of the voltage applied to it and the length of time that voltage has been applied. When you turn off the voltage, the memristor remembers its most recent resistance until the next time you turn it on, whether that happens a day later or a year later.

Islamic World Completely Won Over by Obama

Yes, now that the evil cowboy Bush is leaving the White House, Islam, the Religion of Peace, extends an olive branch to Obama. Don’t you feel safer already?

I tell you, hoarse yelling and finger wagging by clowns dressed like barbarians are so convincing I may just have to convert myself!

Here’s the offer: Convert and have “glory”, or don’t and we’ll start killing people.

Now explain to me, please, how Islam is not a protection racket?

One of my favorite bits of payola is demanding food, medicine and housing. Say, Hassan, how about getting all those Islamic researchers and scientists to whip up your own medicine for you? Say what? You don’t have the capability? You mean you couldn’t even produce any of the television equipment you used to make this video?