The Morning Blog

The Girlfriend complained last night that she couldn't fall asleep to the radio because every third word was "Mubarak".

I can appreciate that.

I wanted to make this edition of the Morning Blog an Egypt-free one but....Every other piece of news in the world sort of feels like filler.

I will keep it brief though, provide a link to a single article covering the largest protest yet and make this lone observation: Facebook and Twitter are no longer social tools. They are social nuclear weapons.

Mubarak is done.

Meanwhile in Jordan...

The space shuttle Discovery is preparing for its final mission. I realize that times are tough but I really don't like that we're scrapping the shuttle mission. Yeah, yeah...It's not the 1960's. But do we really want to be in a position where the only way we can reach space is via Russian rockets? The shuttle program was the envy of the worlds space-programs and now we're taking a step back and loading our astronauts onto something called a "Soyuz" for chrissakes. I suspect that's Russian for "chicken wire and bubblegum".

Information in the article is too short to justify this as a stand-alone "Periodic Horror". Otherwise, it would be a terrifying candidate for this years "Besties": Police have discovered a mass grave of infants in Tanzania.

I can't and won't speak to whether the Health Care bill will have a net positive or negative effect. I'm neither an economist, a physician, a social scientist or an analyst for an insurance company. I'm also not a lawyer but I'm going to weigh in on this judge's decision that requiring Americans to buy commercial insurance is unconstitutional. It simply isn't. The governments argument that they have the power to mandate this under the Commerce Clause is weak. They say that they can force people to buy insurance because everyone will want it sooner or later. Would you accept an argument that because everyone lives in a city with crime, everyone must be compelled to own a gun for self defense?

I wonder how much tax money was involved in formulating this advice, described as major progress, from federal regulators combating the obesity epidemic: Eat less.

Another child of Conservative parents has come out in favor of gay marriage: George W.'s daughter Barbara will release a video supporting legalization in New York. Good for her! Bad for the GOP though...They need to recognize that support for basic civil liberties runs beyond party lines. They can either take steps to embrace that or...pretty much just get old and die.

How to Make a Steeler Linebacker. Apparently, they have to be football geniuses. All this time, I assumed that they were kept in cages and poked with sticks until they entered a blood-rage.

Neat! Journalisted is my new, cool tool! Sadly, it's only geared towards British journalists but it's still pretty neat. It offers a weekly report that summarizes what stories are getting greater or lesser coverage. For example, one of the less reported stories is that an investigation is being launched over a claim that Franco stole hundreds of Spanish infants and sold them to wealthy, childless couples. Certainly the sort of thing that you would think would get a bit more coverage...Stupid Egyptians, stealing all the babies press!

Here's my public service for....oh, until I feel like doing another one: Helpful hints for dealing with debt collectors.

Oh wow...Thanks Google! They've brought their Street-View style tours and applied them to the worlds greatest museums! Really neat!

Kacee Bait: I could tell you about this but I'd have to kill you.

Considering the Oscar nods going to "The Kings Speech", might filmmakers consider the riveting tale of "The Queens Underpants"?

I've pretty much given up on SCIENCE! ever getting off it's collective ass and making me a death-ray. While this might not be a step towards a death-ray, it's pretty much the second coolest thing I can think of. Anyone know where I can score a mess of calcite crystals?