Quick U.S. Open tennis check-in

Serena is playing as I write this -- she's looked awesome. Hard to see how anyone can stop her. Sorry that Sharapova got upset (I always am).

Good men's matches yesterday: Donald Young did great, and the Del Potro - Simon match was entertaining. Good to see Andy Roddick get into the second week. But given the current domination run, it's most likely to be Dvokojic-Nadal.

Andy Murray looks like he has an easy path to the semi-finals. I'd love to see him break through to a title here.

A reason that Kelly Brook is not just a great body

While Kelly Brook is justifiably famed for her voluptuousness, one reason that her appeal goes beyond the mere physical is her smile. It is on display a few times in this Daily Mail article:

Where's your helmet and trainers Kelly? Miss Brook promotes cycling in five-inch heels... while Thom Evans decides to walk

Predictions are easy when you're right

Back on July 29th, I tweeted:

MT @CFACT New #NASA data blow gaping hold in global #warming alarmism http://bit.ly/pxN99u #climate - this'll be refuted in 6 months, tops.


Well, it's been barely a month, and the fallout from this one is impressive. The author of the journal that published the flawed paper resigned; the paper has been refuted on several levels (with more to come); and the Spencer and Christy track record of providing results skeptics love has been documented extensively.

More on Climate Progress on this: The Damaging Results of Roy Spencer's Serially Incorrect Science


As might be expected, the skeptical sites are SHOCKED (#1), I tell you, SHOCKED (#2), that some reputable scientists would actually question these results in a peer-reviewed journal. They have even gone so far as to suggest that science is self-correcting; tell that to George Will who trotted out the error-ridden "scientists predicted global cooling in 1975" meme yesterday in op-ed. These are the same skeptics who repeatedly get down on Hansen when he publishes a correction. So what -- Spencer and Christy's results are sacrosanctly correct, while corrections from the mainstreamers are indicative of the breadth and width of the worldwide global warming conspiracy?

What takes the cake is Morano using a statistics prof to question the results of climate scientists. But Morano is an A-class idiot, anyway, so not much better is to be expected.

George Will's madcap excerpt:

"For Jon Huntsman: You, who preen about having cornered the market on good manners, recently tweeted, “I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” Call you sarcastic. In the 1970s, would you have trusted scientists predicting calamity from global cooling? Are scientists a cohort without a sociology — uniquely homogenous and unanimous, without factions or interests and impervious to peer pressures or the agendas of funding agencies? Are the hundreds of scientists who are skeptical that human activities are increasing global temperatures not really scientists?"

Memo to George: there aren't hundreds of QUALIFIED scientists who are skeptical that human activities are increasing global temperatures. You've swallowed the skeptical line so deep that the barb on the hook is going to protrude out your rectum.

Optical ill-lewd-sion

Kate Winslet's optical illusion dress at the Venice Film Festival was pretty-eyecatching. She's got a great body, of course, but this dress made it look even greater -- almost superhero-level.




Super-toned Kate Winslet emphasises her curves with the help of an clinging optical illusion dress

It's a little disconcerting

Well, here we are, in a cash-starved government situation. That's what the Tea Party wants, right? First of all let's remember that if the Bush-era tax cuts had expired on schedule, this would not be nearly as much of a problem, both short-term (meaning now) and long-term (meaning over the next decade).

But now the costs of not having money are becoming all too apparent. Exhibit A-hole is Eric Cantor, who never met a poor person out on the street due to a natural disaster that he couldn't kick. So now, despite the suffering and hardship of numerous states due to Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irene, Eric sticks to his shoot-the-homeless guns and says that in order to pay for disaster relief, we'll have to cut somewhere else, nimbly turning our normal governmental and societal license to help our fellow citizens in their time of need into a political football.

Callous does not even BEGIN to describe that.


Cantor Counters

"Remember, Cantor isn’t denying something called “the government” the right to do something it wants to do. He’s denying disaster relief to people hard hit by a hurricane. That is, he’s holding suffering Americans hostage to his goal of smaller government. And the whole point of his offsetting spending cuts thing — his invention of a nonsense principle — is to obscure the ruthlessness of the blackmail involved."

Exhibit B-sh*t is the apparent fact that although one of our nation's most recognized monuments is now in need of repair due to two inconvenient (at least for the GOP) natural events (disasters may not apply to the East Coast earthquake, but it probably does to Irene), the National Park Service isn't sure where they're going to get the money to pay for the repairs.

Ridiculous does not even BEGIN to describe THAT.

Callous and ridiculous -- that sums up the Tea Party succinctly, I think.

More cracks found in Washington Monument



Eric Cantor should be a campaign issue. As in, "Do we want to live in a country that Eric Cantor wants to create?"

I certainly don't.

Dancing with the Stars preseason prognostication

Dancing with the Stars Season 13 pairs

Hard to handicap, but I give the edge to the girls: Kristin Cavallari, Chynna Phillips, and Hope Solo. Derek Hough won't go all the way with Ricki Lake (unfortunately for him, he probably never went all the way with Cheryl Cole, either). Chaz Bono and Lacey are destined for an early exit, which may or may not help the ratings. There are some new girl and guy dancers: notably missing are lithesome Edyta Sliwinska and cutaceous Chelsie Hightower.

It'll be interesting to see how well the incredibly delovely Elizabetta Canalis, George Clooney's ex (and if you'll forgive me George, even if you've moved on to Stacy Keibler, YOU BLEW IT) can dance. Sometimes the cute and slinky and curvy and gorgeous models can dance -- Brooke Burke -- and sometimes they can't -- Josie Maran.

More catalysts for biofuel production

While I am a nuclear energy advocate, I recognize that the transportation sector is likely to be reliant on liquid fuels for a long time. Thus, the news that catalysts for biofuel production from biomass have been identified in panda poop (great headlines come of that) and engineered yeast that digest seaweed much more rapidly qualifies as good news. And I think seaweed production could be ramped up pretty readily; the green muck that keeps hitting the coast of Brittany in recent summers indicates we're already pretty good at it.

Turning seaweed into biofuel in half the time


Panda poop key to biofuel production?

"Based on other studies, [Ashli] Brown estimated that under certain conditions these panda gut bacteria can convert about 95 percent of plant biomass into simple sugars. The bacteria contain enzymes — highly active substances that speed up chemical reactions — so powerful that they can eliminate the need for high heat, harsh acids and high pressures currently used in biofuel production processes, she said. Those processes also tend to be time- and energy-intensive, as well as expensive. Panda bacteria could therefore provide a faster, cleaner and less costly way to make biofuels."