Events

I don't know how I missed this op-ed Tuesday: Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today Next to being a Republican, the...

Someone had entirely too much time on his hands, and has given us the answer:

Parker just after sunset: 10 July 2007, Canon 20D at ISO-1600, 1/8 at f/11 with fill flash, 18mm, near here.

I love these odd stories about time. Samoa, a small archipelago in the South Pacific, has passed a law to shift from the UTC-11 zone to UTC+13. This shift will cause them to skip December 30th entirely: But the bill was not passed without its doubters. Faleata East MP, Aveau Niko Palamo, suggested that instead of one day for the transition to happen, it should be two days. “What about the people who were born on that day, the weddings and anniversaries commemorated on that day,” says the MP. “The...

I try not to chuckle at politician's gaffes. I mean, we've got Joe Biden on our side, for crying out loud. But Biden's an amateur when compared with Michele Bachmann: "Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today," Bachmann said, kicking off a rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, CNN reports. "We played you a little bit of 'Promised Land' when we pulled up. You can't do better than Elvis Presley, and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started...

Sometimes The Onion has a satirical piece that's, well, almost completely true: Visa Exposed As Massive Credit Card Scam SAN FRANCISCO—In coordinated raids Monday at locations in Delaware, South Dakota, and California, federal agents apprehended dozens of executives at Visa Inc., a sham corporation accused of perpetrating the largest credit card scam in U.S. history. According to indictments filed in U.S. District Court, Visa posed as a reputable lender, working through banks to peddle a variety of...

Parker, New Year's Day 2008: Canon 20D at ISO-400, 1/250 at f/8, 18mm. Edited from the first published version.

I somehow missed this last week: The first officers at the controls of Air France 447 (the captain was initially on his rest break when the troubles began) were not apprentices. They were fully rated, Airbus A330 pilots with thousands of hours of experience. Of course they were trained in "manual aircraft handling"! And yet again we have the suggestion that a "manually" flown plane is some sort of oddity, and that pilots aren't used to it. This is bollocks. That the pilots lacked this training is worthy...

Three years ago today, I was in Atlanta: Canon 20D at ISO-1600, 1/125 at f/5.6, 18mm, here.

We're still three weeks from meterological autumn and we've already had the wettest summer in 54 years and the second-wettest ever: The new rains are to fall in the midst of the Chicago area's wettest meteorological summer (the period which began June 1) in 54 years. A total of 420 mm has occurred to date which makes this the second wettest summer to date since the official observational record began here in 1871. That amount is nearly twice the 140 year average to date of 219 mm. And what do we have in...