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Obama's approval ratings are now below Bush the Younger's at this time, he's lost his crossover support, and a plurality now oppose his budget. That's an incredible amount of political capital to squander in fifty days.

Pro-cap-and-trade economists Dallas Burtraw and Richard Sweeney write a 2008 paper pointing out the disparate effects of cap-and-trade pollution regulation on the poor and on economically depressed regions of the country, but press ahead anyway. The WSJ catches them on it. Burtraw and Sweeney's response? "The Wall Street Journal is an idiot." Great, questionable grammar _and_ rhetoric. Good job, global warmists.

While English speakers say "It's Greek to me!", most of the world points to Chinese as the default incomprehensible language. (via Kottke)

(via Daring Fireball)

Analog weather forecasts with awesome cutout illustrations. (via swissmiss)

Beautiful libraries from the days when libraries were palaces (and a few of a later date).

(via every single design blog ever.)

(via design observer)

I disagree with the inclusion of "Meh." It is sometimes the only word one can say.

A couple disposable cameras result in an brief outpouring of cute that only New York can provide. (What? What part of that doesn't make sense? It's not like I'm talking about Philly.)

And you can download it, too.

If wisdom, calm, and the constant search for truth are virtues in Hinduism, then the VHP is hard-pressed to call itself a pious Hindu organization.

The irony of historical preservation: the same movement to prevent Brutalist architecture from overrunning older buildings is now helping to preserve Brutalist masterpieces from their own demise due to neglect and popular backlash.

Max Borders looks back at recent leftward shifts among Beltway libertarians.

New York Republicans rebel against a Bloomberg 3rd term. One wonders what New York might have been like if the GOP had rebelled against four-term Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1966.

The hacks at Tech Crunch post a rumor whose source neither Last.fm nor the RIAA know about. Congrats, chumps, you're sending the digital journalism community back several years with every post.

How full of crap ARE alarmist shrieks about our credit market debt, Johnny? (via jeremy H)

Eisenhower's warnings about the military-industrial complex are famous. His warnings about academia becoming a politicized special interest with undue influence over public policy are not. I, for one, am _shocked_. (via JC)

(via Daring Fireball)

An English physicist has made $19 eyeglasses with self-adjusting gel lenses. They're meant for people in developing countries who can't afford good eyewear, but it would certainly make it easier to afford contacts _and_ glasses for people in the first world.

Four congressmen share an apartment, which looks like the kind a group of dudes in their mid-20s might share. Hilarity ensues. Though more hilarity might have ensued if they managed to rope filthy-rich Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) into joining them. (via Kottke)

An illustrator lets his four-year-old daughter critique his work. Hilarity ensues. (via Design Observer)

A humorous collection of sad secure website verification questions.

This Dr. Seuss classic was the result of an experiment to see if he could write a book in 50 words or fewer. Just showing that creativity often results from constraints.

Twenty-four years after the New Coke debacle, Coca-Cola is finally ready to shed the "Classic" that distinguished the revived old formula from the widely panned "new" formula.

If you either ignore the third column or select a number instead, it could be an effective twee pop band name generator, as well. (via Subtraction)

It seems that local Dems in VA are grossly underperforming Obama's November totals in Northern Virginia special elections. That does not, of course, mean that the GOP has rid itself of that nasty habit of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory.