Clearing the Browser Tabs – Strictly Awesome Saturday Edition
For those of you who believe in miracles, let me present to you a wide-awake, fully-functioning, blog-posting Andrew Lawton. He got out of the hospital Friday and his second official act was to sit down behind the mic and record an episode of Right this Way with me and a few other podcasting friends. The show should be up some time this morning. I warn you, it’s not family-friendly (there are a few curse words here and there) and it’s not particularly political, but it was great fun and I hope you catch some of the joy we felt at having Andrew back with us.
And now, links!
- MS-NBC and Keith Olbermann have parted ways and Rob Long isn’t entirely happy about it. It’s not clear whether Olbermann quite or if MS-NBC gave him the sack. My guess is that he left quietly before they could very publicly can him.
- Tim Pawlenty won’t be elected President if he can’t sell his own book even after a tour that put him on a plethora of conservative television and radio shows. I caught T-Paw on The Grandy Group last week and he didn’t impress me. He talks like a politician, which is exactly what I don’t want running for President in 2012.
- This is not a smart move for Michelle Bachmann. I know she has to do things to keep her name in the public eye, but going up against Paul Ryan is a spectacularly bad way to do that.
- Lisa Murkowski, the Senator from Alaska who managed to wheedle her way to another term, has apparently decided to go the classless route. Mitch McConnell should have stripped her of every position she held after she decided to run as a write-in candidate. He didn’t and she has responded by kicking him in the shins.
- The new seating suggestion for the coming State of the Union address is a silly idea for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it lets the Democrats hide when we should be shining a very bright light on every one of their failures over the past several years.
- No, Betelgeuse probably won’t become a second sun in our lifetimes, no matter what The Huffington Post says. And shame on folks for taking a HuffPo article as anything approaching truth. But even if Betelgeuse went supernova tomorrow, something scientists aren’t even sure is likely to happen in the next few millenia, the light would take at least 640 years to reach us (and longer, if it’s farther way than we now believe).
Other Posts of Interest:
- Clearing the Browser Tabs – The Keithless Sunday Edition
- Clearing the Browser Tabs – Saturday Edition
- Clearing the Browser Tabs – Saturday the 13th Edition
Category: Links
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I hope you post a "speaking truth to power" missive about Olbermann's firing (in the wake of right wing Comcast taking over) the way you did for Juan Williams.
Why would I? The guy inked a $40 million contract and he's on the top left-wing news network on television. Despite that, he couldn't pull in enough of an audience to beat Red Eye, which airs on Fox at 2 AM. Truth to power? Heck, he was the power, just not a very good power.
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The Betelgeuse article is a, ahem, stellar example of good science and bad science journalism. The scientist informs the press that his observations show Betelgeuse is on its last legs–no more than 100,000 years to go. Since the star is expected to act like this right up until the beginning of the explosion, and we don't have measurements from 10,000 years ago–or even 10 years ago– that's really all there is to say; we could see it blow tomorrow, or it could take longer than the human species has existed. We do know something about the size the explosion will be, and the "twin suns" headline is decidedly over the top–when Betelgeuse goes, it will be brighter than Venus, but not as bright as the full moon. And that's about all the news there is. That's kind of exciting science, for geeks, but any drama beyond that is manufactured to make the story seem more exciting. The year 2012 was evidently never mentioned by the scientist….
Your point that we wouldn't know about an explosion for over 600 years is true, but irrelevant. Since we only have one planet to look from, we always time astronomical events based on when we see them, not when they actually happen. Because of relativity, when things 'actually happen' is more complicated than it seems, hence the convention.
For the record, the '2012 apocalypse' meme is based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar. The date 12/21/12 is when the Mayan calendar rolls over–it's like Y2K in our calendar. And there will be a similar amount of doom caused by it…none.
Don't say that too loudly! The History Channel might hear you.