The Last Gunfighter

This is sad, in a way....sadder than if Dan Rather had just faded away in thinly-disguised disgrace. Now Dan's suing CBS, trying to blame the sordid fabrication of anti-Bush documents on some sort of management conspiracy. No one's going to believe this, Dan, any more than those bogus documents were believable. Are you doing it because even the slightest chance of winning that lawsuit would enable you to escape the label of poster child for a mainstream media that's as obsolete as the Brontosaurus? A hint, Dan: it doesn't matter any more. The vast majority of those who take anything in the media seriously are over 50, and most will be in the ground about the time you go. That's your real legacy, Rather. Bye-bye.

Nuke Revival

It was predictable, but it looks like it's finally here: more nuclear power plants to be built. It's even more predictable now, and even the ignoramuses who hyperventilate over reactors and all the issues that go with them don't want their lights to go off. Don't get me wrong- they don't want coal, oil, gas, dams that threaten minnows, nuclear, and many still believe in energy solutions far removed in time -or reality- but they'd rather not freeze in the dark, either. So, faced with burning more fossil fuel and generating more greenhouse whatever....it's gonna be uranium.

Revolutionary Energy From Gasoline?

This is too, too interesting not to post. A gasoline engine so tiny it can fit in a watch and run for two years on a squirt of lighter fuel, and which puts out 700 (that's seven HUNDRED) times the energy of a typical battery used to power the myriad electronic devices with which we encumber ourselves. Furthermore, this could be running small batteries out of the market in less than six years.

Cut To The Chase

The latest news on California's attempt to slice-and-dice its presidential electoral votes is a bit clearer on the details. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the proposal, which would allocate the state's 55 electoral votes according to congressional district rather than by the winner-take-all system historically employed, would only take effect if a number of states equal in electoral votes to the number required to win (270) did likewise.
I'm still not sure 1) That this wouldn't be shot down in the Federal courts, and 2) that it's not just a bad band-aid decision, and if that's what's wanted, it needs to be done through a constitutional amendment changing to a parliamentary system. This would also allow for the powers of the Judiciary and Executive to be limited, presumably ending their dominance of our federal system, where Congress has become a glorified debating society and focus for national ire.
Personally, I think neither of the options discussed above have much chance of success. The "California initiative" will, I believe, be declared unconstitutional in Federal court, and I don't believe a parliamentary amendment has a ghost of a chance of being passed by 3/4 of the states .....as I have a difficult time seeing just about any amendment adopted in our times.

Ron Obvious Strikes Again

The co-chairman of Columbia Records, where I worked Lo! these many year ago, announces that the music recording industry is strictly a legacy, and is on the way out....which, apart from the presumably necessary terminology ("-until the paradigm shifts, it's going to be a declining business. This model is done."), has been obvious to anyone who acquires and uses music for some years now.

The interesting thing to me is what was said by another commentator: "The establishment -which often is those who rode the last big wave- never sees where the next paradigm is coming from."