Today's pick of the web
ISSUE #4 - Friday, 26th September 2008
- Gerard Baker, The Times
"This is the election you wouldn't want to win"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4827820.ece
DJR's gist: The macroeconomic and geopolitical climate which the next President of the United States is going to find himself surrounded with cannot be something to fill them with hope. The economy is going down the tube, fiscal constraints and going out the window, and the Middle East is going up in smokes. Situations like this give rise to two times of President - ones who are rubbish, one-term failures (e.g. Carter), or ones who stand up to be counted and are remembered as greats (e.g. Reagan). It shall be very interesting to see which of these we have on our hands this time.
Though as an aside - it is surely worth pointing out that George W. Bush was a complete failure in the first term, but still managed a second. Never underestimate the stupidity of approximately 50% of Americans.
- Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
"Party of one"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122237691191376341.html
DJR gist: Neither John McCain or Barack Obama come from the traditional school of Democrat or Republican. Perhaps it's time they took a step back to engage their core voters and state, quite simply, "Why am I a Democrat?", or "Why am I a Republican?" Noonan's article makes But there's a pretty stark point to focus the Obama campaign on its goal: "The polls are dead even. This is astounding. The Democrat, after two wars and an unprecedented economic crisis, should be 10 or 20 points up right now. The polls say Mr. Obama is rising, but if he's not sweeping now, he's losing."
- BBC News
"Doctor's slang is a dying art"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm
DJR's gist: The evil cloud that is the threat of litigation is, apparently, threatening to end doctors' ability to have some inter-clinic banter. Acroymns such as UBI (unexplained beer injury) or GROLIES (Guardian Reader Of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt) are becoming less common on patient reports, due to doctors' fear of having to explain their meaning at a later stage (possibly in a court). Which is a shame, in my view - I can think of plenty of people for whom "LOBNH" would be a perfect diagnosis...
- BBC News
"Pilot completes jetpack challenge"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7637327.stm
DJR's gist: Yves Rossy made history today by becoming the first person to fly across the channel using a jet-propelled wing. This has got to be the dream of so many people - I'm sure I wasn't the only kid who wanted to be able to fly like Superman - and now that someone has accomplished such a feat and achieved the publicity of this event, I hope/expect that we will see many more such activities, and possibly even a widescale commercialisation of the jet-wing as an "extreme sport".
- Virgin Atlantic - Press Release
"
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/allaboutus/pressoffice/pressreleases/news/sixreasons.jsp
DJR gist: Willie Walsh, the CEO of British Airways, sent an open letter to Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson asking six pertinent questions regarding Virgin's outspoken opposition to the proposed quasi-merger of BA and the world's biggest airline carrier - American Airlines. This is Virgin's response...
- The Denver Channel
"Man Hit By Car, Then Train 6 Hours Later"
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17546518/detail.html
DJR gist: Occasionally you have days when everything goes wrong. I had one a couple of weeks ago. But getting hit by a train while on your way back from hospital after getting hit by a car has got to be up there with the worst days ever. And to top it off, the poor sod faces charges of trespass for attempting to take a shortcut on a train bridge that is off limits to pedestrians.
Incidentally, this link came courtesy of Chouders the Vicissitudinous Ayatollah of Misogyny. There's a chance you'll be hearing from him in person in the near future...
- Stephen J. Dubner - "Freakonomics", The New York Times
"Wall Street Jokes, Please"
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/wall-street-jokes-please/
DJR's gist: Considering how unfunny most business-related jokes are, there are some classics in the comments to Dubner's latest blog entry. The one about the broker and trader is brilliant, but I've heard it before. My favourite new one has got to be about Dubya:
"George Bush has said that he is saddened to hear about the demise of Lehman Brothers. His thoughts at this time go out to their mother - losing one son is hard, but losing two is a real tragedy."
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