Wednesday

+ Doggoneit. The solar sail crashed.

+ Iran/Watergate mashup by DJ Tom B (can't name it Iran-Gate for obvious reasons). Combining three of my current interests, a mashup of the election in Iran and the 1968 US presidential election by Tom.

+ Speaking of those interests, this quote from Tom in a subsequent post evokes Nixon in a frightful way:

And you see this in foreign affairs: the Bushies are simultaneously the realpolitik types who are unafraid to rely on dictators and the Wilsonian types lecturing the Egyptian and Saudi leaderships on becoming more democratic.

Tom goes on to say:

I honestly think ["Republican Carter" administration] captures what most Americans will vote for in 2008: not too aggressive, not so ambitious as Bush, but focused on encouraging positive change that's defensible on moral grounds. I don't see the Democratic contender yet who can deliver that, but I suspect there are several on the Republican side who will.

I think he's right on here, and you know I'm far from desiring another Republican administration. What I really want is a more competitive Democratic party, one that isn't reduced to the filibuster as their only weapon (though I don't begrudge them it, as I implied yesterday). Stronger Dems would improve the whole field, right?

+ Lord have mercy. Tom reviews Kristof's latest NYT op-ed on rape in Pakistan. To prove a rape a woman has to have four male witnesses. The chances of mustering four male witnesses asymptotically approaches zero. What a horrifying situation. And Pakistan is our (nominal) ally in the Middle East.

+ Ugh. I hate to read stuff like this:

The Old Core spends more than a quarter trillion on ag subsidies to its own farmers each year, more than three times the money it collectively provides the Gap in Official Developmental Aid (ODA). The World Bank estimates that if all such subsidies were removed and trade barriers eliminated, the in-kind transfer to the Gap would be in the range of $100 billion in income-just like that.

Who would you rather bet on? The corrupt governments of Africa or the farm households there? Which do you think will get you a middle class faster?

+ This is old, but I hadn't seen it before: Edward R. Tufte's "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" Presented in the Form of a PowerPoint Presentation (includes line to the Gettysburg PowerPoint).