Cartoon of the Day...

A New Personal Project...

Because I just don't have enough things going on in my life!  I'm going to learn Scala.  This is what motivated me.  Here are some resources...

Phobos is Hollow?

Apparently there's some data from at least two of the spacecraft orbiting Mars that indicates that about 1/3 of the volume of Phobos is empty.  I haven't been able to locate the original reports of this.  For all I know, this simply means that Phobos is really just a loose collection of boulders with lots of empty space between them – or possibly even the conclusions about the data are misrepresented. 

But whatever the data and conclusions are, the tin-foil hat brigade is already at it...

Extended Solar Minimum...

Even the mainstream scientific press is starting to talk about the very odd, extended solar minimum we're experiencing.  Next thing you know, they'll start wondering about its impact on climate!

Mickey Kaus vs. “The Box”

Mickey Kaus is running his “Long-shot, bare-bones, grassroots, maverick, seat-of-the pants or independent, but not symbolic, or quixotic” campaign against Barbara Boxer.  I like the cardboard box on the podium!

Memorial Day Message...

From Ted Nugent:

Never forget them. Make every day Memorial Day.

What he said.

The Sarah Palin Homunculus that Lives Inside Liberals' Heads...

IowaHawk is at it again.  WARNING: put your drink down before reading...

Arctic Ice News...

It's Arctic Ice week, or at least it seems like it over at Watts Up With That?

Volcanic Smoke Ring...

Steve and Donna O'Meara captured this photo of a smoke ring shooting out of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano on May 1, on Iceland.  Anthony Watts estimates its diameter at 1 to 2 kilometers (about a mile).  Awesome!

Quote of the Day...

From Escort81 (at TigerHawk), upon seeing this bumper sticker on a Prius:

If you've lost the Whole Foods-shopping Prius-driving voter, you've lost liberal America, and you're in trouble with your base.

Don't miss the comments...

Miracle of the Little Ships...

Seventy years ago this week, a ragtag, hastily-organized flotilla of some 850 little ships – mostly civilian – crossed the English Channel to Dunkirk to rescue over 300,000 British and French troops under siege from the Nazis.  Through a combination of excellent adaptive leadership, enthusiastic civilian participation (at great risk to both the sailors and their boats), numerous tactical errors and poor leadership on the part of the Nazis, and pure blind luck, they pulled off one of the most amazing wartime feats ever. 

This week, more than 50 of the remaining “little ships” are making a commemorative crossing from Dover to Dunkirk.  The last such crossing was in 1990, on the 50th anniversary...

Good Bosses Believe...

According to Robert Sutton, good bosses believe twelve things.  Lots of ground truth here, I think...