Month: August 2008

5 points ahead? Nate Silver urges caution about the poll.

"His wife is smarter than he is and probably nagging him a lot about doing this, and he found somebody that did something with her mouth other than talk," – Rush Limbaugh, airing his own views on the origins of John Edwards’ affair.

Some unexpected consequences of China’s single-child policy.

Max Boot so wants another war. Just two are for pansies. Ross notes:

It’s hard for me to believe that Putin’s Russia is both an aggressive, expansive power poised to rebuild the Soviet Empire at tank-point and that the Russians would be more or less helpless to retaliate against us in their own neighborhood if we decided to start a proxy war with them in the Caucuses. Sure, maybe Moscow wouldn’t have a strong countermove, but do we really want to dare them to make things harder for us where Tehran’s quest for nukes is concerned? Or dare them to foul up our ongoing counter-insurgency in Afghanistan? Is the fate of Abkhazia and South Ossetia really worth escalating the already-substantial risks we face in the Middle East and Central Asia?

It’s good versus evil. What else do we need to know?

This looks promising from MIT:

"This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years," said MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera’s lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night. The key component in Nocera and Kanan’s new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas.

The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity — whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source — runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it’s easy to set up, Nocera said. "That’s why I know this is going to work. It’s so easy to implement," he said.

James Evans’ recent study on the digitalization of scholarly research found that "searching online is more efficient, and hyperlinks quickly put researchers in touch with prevailing opinion, but they may also accelerate consensus and narrow the range of findings and ideas grappled with by scholars." Nick Carr’s thoughts:

When the efficiency ethic moves from the realm of goods production to the realm of intellectual exploration, as it is doing with the Net, we shouldn’t be surprised to find a narrowing rather than a broadening of the field of study. Search engines, after all, are popularity engines that concentrate attention rather than expanding it, and, as Evans notes, efficiency amplifies our native laziness.

Let the downloading begin! Get your iDose here.

Eve Fairbanks finds Obama picking Mark Warner underwhelming:

I’m sure the charming, youthful, up-and-coming Warner will give a nicely charming, youthful, and up-and-coming speech in Denver. But I also think my reaction reflects something about Mark Warner: he’s a little forgettable, especially after he suddenly begged off of what seemed like an inevitable run for the top this year. I know he’s supposed to be the Next Big Thing in Democratic politics, but hasn’t that been true for a while now? Will he ever stop hovering around "Next" and make a pass at being the Big Thing proper?

"Though there was no particular evidence that the tire-gauge attack was having an effect, the McCain campaign’s glee was evident. Just days before, they had alleged that Obama’s criticisms of their tactics constituted "fussiness and hysteria," and now here they were brandishing small, phallic objects bearing their opponent’s name. Meanwhile, McCain himself was sent out to pose in front of working oil rigs, to testify to his thirst for pulling more black gold from the earth. The message couldn’t be plainer: See that itty-bitty, little tire gauge? If you vote for Obama, that’s how big your penis is. If you vote for McCain, on the other hand, your penis is as big as this rig, thrusting its gigantic shaft in and out of the ground!" – Paul Waldman, American Prospect.

"Whether Mr. Corsi is also right that Obama maintains but has “tried to cover up ‘extensive connections to Islam’ ” is an interesting question very much worth looking into – Mr. Corsi has begun but certainly has not finished with that task – but Barack Hussein Obama’s possible connections with Islam is only one of the mysteries that the public deserves to learn more about. Hillary Clinton, asked whether Obama was a Muslim, said “not that I know of.” That’s the right answer: the fact is, there is a tremendous amount we do not know about Obama," – Roger Kimball.

My favorite: "yes, I know I am not supposed to mention his middle name, but I am going to anyway." I think he thinks that’s an argument.