Moe Lane

Better throw some more logs on the fire.

What may be the science story of the century is breaking this evening, as heavyweight US solar physicists announce that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth – far from facing a global warming problem – is actually headed into a mini Ice Age.

[snip]

The Sun normally follows an 11-year cycle of activity. The current cycle, Cycle 24, is now supposed to be ramping up towards maximum strength. Increased numbers of sunspots and other indications ought to be happening: but in fact results so far are most disappointing. Scientists at the NSO now suspect, based on data showing decades-long trends leading to this point, that Cycle 25 may not happen at all.

The magic phrase ‘Maunder Minimum’ was used – which suggests that we might be looking at another Little Ice Age.  Which, depending on who you ask, either: caused a bunch of wars; made a bunch of wars much worse than they would have been otherwise; or is not to be mentioned in polite company.  Personally, I was hoping that we’d avoid this: after all, cold is death and heat is life.  Better to be warm and wet, than cold and dry.  But then, I have kids, and I worry that the current short-sighted, willful denial of science by our self-appointed elites may be condemning my children – and everybody else’s – to a future of poverty and dearth.

On the bright side, a colleague of mine suggested that the perfect name for a hypothetical new period of decreased sunspot activity would be the “Gore Minimum.”  In terms of irony alone, that would be perfect.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

(Via Legal Insurrection) So sayeth Nile Gardner, who did one of those things that’s apparently beyond the reach of everybody who gleefully reported that Margaret Thatcher had snubbed Sarah Palin when the latter requested a visit.  To wit, he checked with her office.

I have spoken to Lady Thatcher’s Private Office regarding the story, and they confirm that the attack on Sarah Palin definitely did not come from her office, and in no way reflects her views. As a former aide to Margaret Thatcher myself, I can attest that this kind of thinking is entirely alien to her, and that such remarks would never be made by her office. She has always warmly welcomed like-minded figures in the United States, and has in the past met with numerous US presidential candidates and political dignitaries when they have visited London. But at the age of 85 she is now able to receive very few visitors at all.

Bolding mine.  and may I say in passing that the Left’s reflexive hatred of Sarah Palin is easily one the most pathetic sexual fetishes that I have seen in over twenty years of being a member of the counterculture*?  Honestly, most of these people would be happier perusing clown porn.  They’d certainly be more psychologically healthy.

Moe Lane

PS: I never believed the rumor in the first place.  Maggie always had class.

*SCA/Science fiction fandom/gamer edition.  Trust me, you meet a nice, comprehensive cross-section of the alt-sex community that way.

I had completely forgotten about this one until Jim Geraghty reminded me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that – nothing against CNN – but we need actual conservatives to moderate Republican debates.  Even when they mean well (and I think that more of ‘em mean well then we generally give ‘em credit for) liberal media folks simply don’t know how to ask the right questions that will demonstrate the difference between various Republican candidates.  From what I managed to see last night, they were trying to determine said differences… and failing.

Just saying, that’s all.

…over the Sarah Palin emails? Put it this way: Jon Stewart went the entire segment without slamming THAT WOMAN once.

Not ONCE. Heck, he didn’t even try.

Via Ann Althouse – who reminds us that the ‘letter from God’ had already been published in Going Rogue: An American Life. Brilliant job there, media folks: your most significant news item from this sorry exercise had already made the bestseller list. In 2009.

I had just had something like this pop into my head:

Just for the record, Jonah Goldberg, Mark Krikorian, John Derbyshire and I are all 23-year old lesbians. We started this site as a joke when we were drunk one night and had no idea so many gullible people would fall for such an obvious hoax. For public appearances, we hire 57-year old male 12th-year Social Construct Studies students who’ve been short of cash since the sperm donor clinic closed down.

Background here.

Via Glenn Reynolds, who is not a 23-year old lesbian.  He is actually a Copper Dragon who moved into the Appalachians some time in the 18th century, and who has discovered that running Instapundit has the happy effect of having science fiction authors send him copies of their books (which he presumably hoards)*.  Also: I’d like to note that I have personally met Cynthia Yockey, and she told me that she was a lesbian blogger.  I believed her: Cynthia has an honest face.

Moe Lane

*Yes, of course I’d love that to happen to me.  While you’re arranging that, I’d also like a pony.

PS: Any rumors that I am actually a disembodied brain in a vat are, of course, scurrilous and not to be repeated.

What?!? I SAID NOT TO BE REPEATED, PUNY MEATLINGS!!!!!

:Ahem.:

I say ‘would-be’ because Rep. Clark (who is running against incumbent Wisconsin Senator Luther Olsen in the upcoming recall election) doesn’t have the nerve to say things like the below to a constituent’s face:

FC: “Ok.  I feel like calling her back and smacking her around.”

Nope!  Clark’s much more comfortable with waiting until he thinks that she’s off the phone, and only then playing tough-guy.  Which is how people like this operate, of course.  I don’t know where the character quote (which I probably mangled, anyway) came from, originally, but it’s true: the best way to find out how a person really acts is to somehow observe him or her when there’s nobody else around.  Good thing that Wisconsin voters got an earful, huh?

More here: and remember, Fred Clark is supposedly a hardworking and progressive legislator.  At least, by Wisconsin Democratic standards.  Which apparently are sufficiently low that reacting this badly to the intolerable affront of being hung up on doesn’t exclude people like Clark from consideration for higher office.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Luther Olsen for WI-SEN, and the rest of the Republican recall candidates.

There was never any question on this one.

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Bruce Springsteen

Get better soon, Big Man.

You know what the funniest thing about this is?

Two straight men find out they have been flirting with each other as fake lesbians. That will whack both of their self-images. There’s a kind of justice in that, wouldn’t you say?

The two guys in question were noted ‘lesbian’ bloggers.  Who were apparently doing it for the Cause.  Oh, well, on the Internet nobody knows that you’re… not a lesbian blogger, apparently*.

Doesn’t quite scan, does it?

Moe Lane

PS: Some background about one of the faux-lesbian bloggers here.

*[UPDATE] Clearly, I’m late to this particular shindig: everybody else beat me to the jokes.

Do not let your campaign manager assault* a blogger.

Richard Mourdock (R) will be apologizing for this event (more details about the incident here) which took place after Right-blogger rebelpundit came up to the Indiana Senate candidate and started asking him some fairly direct questions about Mourdock’s willingness/reluctance to identify with the Tea Party.  The actual triggering moment was when rebelpundit asked a Fair Tax question, apparently; it was then that campaign manager Jim Holdren took a slap at the camera and called the blogger a tracker.

OK, this is important.  Let us say that rebelpundit was in fact a tracker – which is to say, that he was a guy with a camera whose job it was to make someone from the Other Side look bad by getting some embarrassing video footage.  Guess what?  If that had been true, then Mission Freaking Accomplished: and directly because of Holdren’s actions.  If you are an activist and you see a tracker, feel free to crack wise at them.  Feel free to ask them who they are, over and over again.  Feel free to get one of those pointing signs saying ‘FAKE’ and assign someone to follow him around.  But do not threaten and do not touch.  That it happened here demonstrates a lack of training that is in some ways more worrisome than the assault itself.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

(more…)

…not reliably getting Internet access, which means no debate coverage, sorry.  RedState is covering it here.

I cannot see how this could possibly go wrong at all:

Don’t even think about terrorism when passing through an airport – as a futuristic Minority Report-style security programme could catch you out.

The Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) security programme is designed to spot people who are planning to commit a terrorist act.

The U.S. government system can ‘sense’ when you are planning and measures physiological factors such as heart rates and eye movements.

Apparently, the concept of ‘false positive’ seems to have eluded DHS*. Not to mention the one called ‘defamation of character lawsuit.’  Hopefully, somebody will clue them into both before this goes much further.

Via AoSHQ Headlines.

Moe Lane

*My wife – possibly pedantically – wants me to admit that the concept of ‘false positive’ probably has not eluded the actual people working on this project. So noted, but they’re not going to be the ones with the disposable gloves.

President Obama, during yet another promise to make job creation his number one priority in life. How many times does that make now? Six? Seven? Eight?  But he means it this time!

“Not until everyone who wants a good job that offers a little security has one. Not until empty storefronts in town are open for business again. Not until working families feel that they’re moving forward again. That’s what drives me every day I go to work. You. Your families. Your jobs. Your dreams, and everything it takes to keep them in reach,” [Obama] said.

Now watch this drive.

Moe Lane (crosspost)