The Occasional Observer

See all three versions of Bohemian Rhapsody over at Reason.

You also have the like the Hayseed Dixie version mentioned in the comments.

I'll give it to the first guy.  He's got some stamina.  And you have to love the Muppets.  But my vote goes for #2.  What can I say, I'm a computer geek.


Also in the comments, the totally unrelated best video ever! Enjoy.

Some wild photos and interesting stuff:

"The bugs on the North Slope are pretty ferocious," Joly told OurAmazingPlanet. "The mosquitoes just harass them 24 hours per day." The warble flies and nasal bots that are out now are even worse in some ways, he said; the warbles try to lay eggs on the animal's sides and the bots try to fly up caribou nostrils to deposit eggs.

To avoid the flying pests, caribou move inland and into higher elevations where there are fewer winged menaces. This forces them closer together in groups called aggregations, which reduces each individual's exposure in terms of relative numbers of bugs and body area open to harassment.

There are two companies developing guided bullets that track a laser on the intended target.  Now if we only were able to actually see any deer in the field I'd be in business.

I went to go see the new Ice Age movie with my family this weekend.  After the 15 minutes of previews, I thought the movie would start.  It didn't.  Instead we were treated to a bonus 3D short of the Simpsons.  I haven't watched the Simpsons since 2006, when they abandoned comedy for politics.  Prior to that I was a big fan - buying DVDs and other merchandise.  The short was not only political, it wasn't very entertaining and it got the attempted leftist political statement all wrong.

The central character to the short was the baby, Maggie.  It started with her entering The Ayn Rand Pre-School (or something similar).  I knew I was going to be annoyed just from that opening.  It then proceeded to show an exaggerated security checkpoint.  They passed a room for the gifted kids with all kinds of nice things in it and left Maggie in the remedial room which was gloomy and barren. 

First of all, I suspect the majority of the viewers of an Ice Age movie have no clue who Ayn Rand is. 

Secondly, if the liberal writers knew anything at all about her, they'd know she was a libertarian, not a conservative.  Extreme government security measures are anathema to her philosophy.  She also would not have advocated giving better opportunity to students deemed gifted.  Fairness is central to her writing.

If you consider yourself a clever liberal cartoon writer, at least get it right.  Better yet, keep the politics to yourself and work harder on making it funny.

Mitt appears ready to announce, and all the CW is that he's going with one of the pasty boring choices, probably Pawlenty or Portman.  A position that I've agreed with, and endorsed, since the beginning of the campaign.

That said, Obama has changed the trajectory of this campaign in the past week and half, and is clearly winning the argument.  Looking at the polling numbers I linked to last night, there can be little doubt that Mitt will lose, unless he can convince people his business experience is a positive, and not a negative, for the country.  He seems incapable, to this point of taking Obama to task on his attacks other than whining for an apology.

Should Mitt wait a bit longer, for the head-to-head polling numbers will begin to reflect the reality that the foundation of his campaign is being broken.  I think that would change his veep calculus.   A riskier, more confrontational persona might be in order to take on the lies and distortions that are effectively damaging Mitt's reputation.   I have never thought Mitt, with his cautious calculating personality, would ever roll the dice on a veep selection, but that hour may be at hand.

Is it time for large-and-in-charge?

ht: CNN iReport

Mitt is losing this round, and losing it badly.  The President has taken the initiative, and is defining Mitt not just a rich, heartless outsourcer, but also as a liar and a corporate miscreant.  Another boardroom bad-guy.

What's ridiculous about this is that the evidence is in Mitt's corner, but he's not hitting back hard, and not effectively.

Want to see how well the President's attacks are working?  Check this poll out.

A little while back, Fredo and I had a conversation about buying silver.  I gave my reasons for wanting to do so which included using it as a hedge against runaway inflation.  When I mentioned the Weimar Republic scenario, Fredo said he didn't think that would be able to happen here any time soon.  Doug Ross does a write-up of a Peter Schiff article from Investment News about the real fiscal cliff.

Schiff describes how the German people at that time didn't heed the warning signs and used brief periods of stability to rationalize leaving their wealth in the mark.  Are we doing this now?

What say you Fredo?  Is your head in the sand?  Or am I claiming the sky is falling?

7/24 or 7/25, per the Eagle.

ht: R 4 '12

As for the veepstakes, that would mean Raekwon if pick is the field (Condi Rice, Ayotte, etc.); C.E. if Rubio; Fredo if McDonnell; and SHK if Martinez. If it's Rob Portman, Jindal, Christie, Thune, Pawlenty, Daniels, or Ryan, then we crapped out (no one wins) and we really suck. Odds are pretty heavily on the suck right now. Caribou and Raekwon both still have a shot. I'd be shocked, based on the lack of noise, if me or SHK win.

This truck driver, who lost his brakes, and managed to bring his rig down without hurting or killing anyone.

Fox 2 News Headlines

Always take this stuff with a grain of salt, but it's good grist for the mill (is that crossing metaphors?).  

For the full transcript, see the following link:

The Race 4 2012 Rumor Mill – GOP Convention Edition

It's worth noting that "the Eagle" has previously admitted to being part of the MN GOP establishment, which means his information is probably coming from T-Paw circles, and hence somewhat tilted in that direction. The only thing I would take away from this (assuming the whole thing is not some planted misdirection on behalf of the Mitt folks), is that Jindal and T-Paw are both under consideration. The fact that he takes Pawlenty as the favorite? We'll see.

Based on current polling, Obama would win if the election were held today.  That frightens me, because the headlines could not have been worse for O heading into last week.  The AG getting cited for contempt, and the President taking ownership of Fast & Furious with his executive privilege claim.  Unlike Watergate, this is a scandal with a body count.  A big one.  2 American ICE agents and up to 300 Mexicans killed by the guns we walked to the bad guys.  Obama covering up for his guys, reminding the voters that his administration is "politics as usual", not "hope & change"

"Fakin' It" was one of Simon's and Garfunkel's single releases in 1967. Its B-side was "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies," the duo's only non-LP track which made its album debut on the Old Friends CD box set in 1997.

The running time of the song was actually 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Radio stations at the time resisted playing songs lasting longer than three minutes, so Paul Simon had the time "faked" to read 2:74 on the label.

Link:  Roberts Switched Views to Uphold Health Care Law

Wow, didn't take long for sources to leak to the press what went on behind the scenes.  The dissenting justices were apparently furious for being double-crossed, and refused to mention the CJ's opinion in the dissent, because they'd given up on arguing with him.   Kennedy supposedly led the effort to bring the Roberts back into the fold after he went wobbly in May.   They refused to join the Chief even in the portion of his decision they agreed with, namely the Commerce Clause limitations.

Sounds like a permanent change in working relationship to me.