Fairvue Central has updated his Elements Portal, and GitM has gone from Osmium (76) to Indium (49), “a very soft, silvery-white metal with a brilliant luster. The pure metal gives a high-pitched “cry” when bent. It wets glass, as does gallium…There is evidence that indium has a low order of toxicity; however, care should be taken until further information is available.” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Anchorboy of the Future.
Michael Kinsley discusses Stephanopoulos’s new gig, and makes the case for FOX News in the process.
Trickle to a Flood.
“You have so tortured this law, it’s beyond silly,” Let the gutting commence. By a vote of 5-to-1, the FEC approves exemptions in McCain-Feingold that already have the interest groups smiling. This is not good.
The Darkest of Horses.
TNR spends some time with Howard Dean, the forgotten Democratic contender.
Majority Report.
Saw Minority Report over the weekend and quite enjoyed it, although [Spoilers:] the last twenty minutes or so almost completely derailed the film (a la the Saving Private Ryan bookends.) Then again, I liked it better once I read the AICN talkback hypothesis that, as in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, everything that happens after Anderton is “halo’ed” is his dream sequence, as foreshadowed by creepy-as-all-git-out Tim Blake Nelson’s soliloquy to that effect. Since that’s the exact scene after which the film began to smell, I much prefer this alternative. At any rate, I’m going to have to view it again to see if it holds up. I hope so.
Maybe in 2006.
As everyone knows, England and the US went down together in World Cup action Friday. A very disappointing evening, although at least we Yanks can hold our heads high (unlike the ’98 fiasco.) I’d say it’s Brazil’s to lose at this point, although South Korea is clearly exhibiting great mojo this Cup. In other sporting news, the NBA draft is on Wednesday, which along with the final four Cup games should proved oases of sporting excitement amid another long baseball summer. Ah well, at least there’s always the MLS.
Hardly Extinct.
Australia counts among its citizens approximately 250,000 Jedi, despite its being an “inadequately described” religion. I wonder how they’re all dealing with this most recent crisis of faith.
From Cosmo to Cosmos.
Cindy Crawford ponders edging out Lance Bass as Space Tourist #3.
Struggle in the Ivy.
Are Harvard and Princeton hurting Afro-Am scholarship in their contest over Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West? Hmmm…I don’t really buy it. In my opinion, virtually all the academic disciplines are star-driven with regard to employment. And, while Diaspora Studies may indeed be the most interesting locus of scholarship in this field right now, Gates and West are performing an equally important function in their roles as public intellectuals…a role all too many academics have forsaken. In related news, assorted neocons have used the Summers fracas to blacklist Cornel West. Just like good little orthodoxy-craving neocons to flee at the sound of intelligent opposition, no?
Corporate Malfeasance.
Frank Rich wonders aloud if all the recent hem-hawing about the Watergate anniversary might be better spent monitoring today’s Imperial Executives. (Thanks, Tim.)