McCain - Palin

I first heard about Gov. Sarah Palin several months ago, and told a few people that I thought she would make an excellent VP choice for McCain. But I never thought he would do it!

Apparently some college sophomore named Adam Brickley has been promoting Gov. Palin for VP for quite a while. This post on his blog provides a nice (albiet biased) summary of why she is a good choice.

http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/2008/08/pep-talk.html

Initialisms

Here is a nice discussion of the distinctions between abbreviations (like "won't" and "Tues."), acronyms (like "NATO" and "NASA"), and initialisms (like "MBA" and "NFL"):

http://lyberty.com/encyc/articles/abbr.html

Except that the article misspells "initialism" several times.

Weird, huh?

I've Been Busy

In the summertime, it is hard to find time to post. Here is a sample of photos: one from each of four trips.
We started this 15-mile loop hike near that little airfield.

I went backpacking cross-country in New Mexico for a week.

The view from the Johnston Ridge Visitor Center at Mt. St. Helens.

The view of the central Cascade Mountains from Third Burroughs Mountain on the slopes of Mt. Rainier. Glacier Peak is the volcano on the left and is about 90 miles away.

The Horror

The Olympics announcers on NBC were caught gasping during a couple of interviews this week.

First it was Kobe Bryant:

Chris Collinsworth: "Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?"

Kobe Bryant: "Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s… we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say ‘You know what? Our country is the best!’ "

Collinsworth: "Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by."

Kobe: "No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor."

Then it was Kerri Walsh during her interview after winning the gold:

"Mr. President, we thank you. Thank you for your inspiration, and for all you do."

Quelle horreur!

Blood for Oil

I have been wondering what motivated Russia to invade Georgia last week. I understood the timing, since everyone, including our President, was focused on the Olympics, but why did they do it? I now have the answer. Apparently, that area has a large oil pipeline supplying oil to Western Europe from oil fields near the Caspian Sea.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/11/georgia_oil

Since Russia already controls all the other major oil pipelines supplying Western Europe, it is only natural that they would want complete control so that they can control the flow of oil and hence the price. By invading a minor country far inland, they were able to take control. For a minor example of their power, see
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6777772

Unlike the liberation of Iraq, this is truly an example of blood for oil.

Campaign 2008

Today's hot news is the ad for The Paris Hilton Presidential Campaign (paid for by Funny Or Die). See the video at http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d.

Rush Limbaugh featured it on his radio show this morning, and the ball is still rolling. Watch for the impact on the presidential race poll numbers in a few days. ;)