My latest op-ed is in today's Christian Science Monitor. (Here and here.) I think it has a suitably year's-end feel to it. The title is America: Step up on climate...

This post is a plea for information - to see if anyone knows historic details about the Albemarle Roller Mill (used by the Hartman Mill), located on a tributary of Moore’s Creek. The mill was used to process either lumber or flour. Today the site is located somewhere near Hartman’s Mill Road [...]

Last Friday on his new blog, veteran political reporter Bob Gibson of the Charlottesville Daily Progress wrote about the Ron Paul "mini-blimp" that has found its portable home in Central Virginia:

The size of a small whale, Ron Paul’s Charlottesville blimp has been lighting the night skies along Rio Road and, as of today, Fontaine Avenue.

The white blimp—asking who the heck Ron Paul is—was trucked from its home base on East Rio Road late today to its new home in the sky near the Interstate 64 intersection with U.S. 29 just south of Fontaine Avenue.

The lighted blimp adds a new dimension to the surging Paul effort and appears not to be floated on hot air, but that other Washington staple—a shot of noble gas.

The GOP’s Paul, a Texas congressman and libertarian, is the first of 12 presidential candidates on the Feb. 12 Virginia primary ballots, six in each party, to get his blimp floating over the outskirts of the liberal enclave of Charlottesville.

That blimp is no longer on the outskirts. In a brilliant marketing move, the blimp's mover and shaker, Jack Faw, placed it right in the heart of Charlottesville for New Year's Eve. The blimp is parked near the corner of Main Street and McIntyre-Ridge Road. Lit up, it can be seen for quite a distance from all directions.

Faw, a retired goat farmer, and his blimp have already been the subject of feature stories on two local TV stations. In fact, the Christmas Eve story by Matt Holmes on WCAV-TV's web site is the number-one most accessed story among the station's recent archives. Holmes wrote:

Faw says Central Virginia's going to see a lot of that blimp.

"Staunton has already asked. Harrisonburg has asked. Lynchburg's interested. Richmond is interested. I-64 in Fluvanna County, some of our members down that way would like to have it."

The 72-year-old Paul has raised $19 million so far this quarter and he won the Virginia Straw Poll earlier this month. Still, the Texas congressman lags significantly in the national polls.

Annie Scholz of Channel 29 filed a story on the Ron Paul blimp on Christmas Day. She reported:

Faw special ordered the big balloon online and says it was worth it to take the campaign to new heights.

"I found a dealer and a manufacturer in California and with a lot of phone calls over a couple days is all. By the second day I had ordered it and paid for it," shared Faw.

Faw plans to take the balloon to different locations across Albemarle County. He says he'll put anywhere anyone will let him.

Faw won't tell us how much he spent on the balloon or the rest of his Ron Paul paraphernalia. He'll only say it's the price he's willing to pay for freedom.

With thousands of people streaming into Charlottesville tonight for First Night Virginia, to see the fireworks, or to dance the night away at Club 216, the Ron Paul blimp will be seen by many people heretofore unfamiliar with the presidential candidate from Texas. No doubt the question, "Who is Ron Paul?," will be on many lips this evening.

Talk about being lit up for New Year's Eve!

Update: I just received an email with a link to this story from Central Florida, where the official Ron Paul blimp -- not official in the sense of being connected to the campaign, but official in the sense that it's the original, full-size blimp that has spawned (through inspiration) the mini-blimps around the country, including Jack Faw's -- is slated to fly over the Capital One Bowl (a football game):

The Capitol One Bowl Tuesday was set to pit Florida against Michigan.

Besides their teams in the big game, the two states have one other thing in common: both are holding presidential primaries in January.

At least one candidate has taken advantage of having all those voters in one place.

The Ron Paul campaign planned to put a blimp up over the Citrus Bowl Tuesday before the game, so more than 70,000 fans attending the Capital One Bowl would be able to see it pass by the arena.

Presumably, a blimp flying over the stadium will also end up on TV screens across the country, and seen by far more than the 70,000 people in the stands. And CFNews13 was first with the story.

With an hour to go before my family's dinner reservation, it would seem that I'm more or less out of time. Rather than rush through posts on my trip in Europe, I'll leave that until the new year. At this point, my blogging time seems better spent reflecting on the year now ending. The events that I'll associate with 2007 are mostly those of the last four months. The Iraq War dragged on, yes.

It has been a day of ups and downs. Early this morning (or I guess late last night), I gave Fishman three thirds of a beer in beeramid, and then was able to will him to call bullshit on me. I had the three twos, and he was stuck with two full beers to shotgun. Most spilled on his shirt, but the victory was mine nonetheless. We also were able to relive the historic slowplay of three queens

(A brief pause from vacation-blogging) In a disgusting turn in the RIAA's crusade against online downloading, the industry now claims that uploading music to your computer is illegal. From the Washington Post: In an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument

Did you like Dan Fogelberg? I did. I mean, I was a kid in his heyday but every year I waited to hear Same Old Lang Syne on the radio around Christmas. That’s why I loved this story my dad clipped and saved from the paper for me. (That’s how we did it before hyperlinks, kids.) Turns out, Dan’s old lover is a teacher in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

I think that’s kinda sweet.

Happy New Year, everyone!

1. Never act entitled to someone else’s kidney while they are still using it ala Sally Satel in the New York Times. 2. Be less judgmental :). 3.  Exercise, stay on the cardboard/oops renal diet and don’t lose any more weight. 4.  Eat meat to raise my hematocrit even when I don’t feel like it. 5.  Don’t talk to [...]

And all that's left is the run! I am not convinced that the gym pool is in meters, so just to be sure, I did 850, which brought me to a total of 4250 (yards or meters). 2.4 miles is 4224 yards, so either way I exceeded my goal. And I ended today with 25 of butterfly.

His editorial page essay in today's New York Times described how he'll be bringing in the new year tonight: out in the pasture with his horses, who really don't have a clue about why tonight should be any different than every other night of their lives.

He wrote, "I always wonder what it would be like to belong to a species — just for a while — that isn't so busy indexing its life, that lives wholly within the single long strand of its being."

The piece follows.

New Year’s Eve

At midnight tonight, the horses on this farm will age a year. That is the custom — every horse has the same birthday, Jan. 1. Like all things calendrical, this is a human convention. When it comes to equine conventions, I know enough to notice some of the simpler forms of precedence: who goes first through a gate, who gets to the grain feeder ahead of the others. But I can report that the horses make no fuss about their common birthday or the coming of the new year. Tonight, like any other, they will be standing, dozing on their feet, ears tipping back and forth at the slightest of sounds.

There is something deeply gratifying about joining the horses in their pasture a few minutes before the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve. What makes the night exceptional, in their eyes and mine, is my presence among them, not the lapsing of an old year.

It’s worth standing out in the snow just to savor the anticlimax of midnight, just to acknowledge that out of the tens of millions of species on this planet, only one bothers to celebrate not the passing of time, but the way it has chosen to mark the passing of time. I remember the resolutions I made when I was younger. I find myself thinking that one way to describe nature is a realm where resolutions have no meaning.

It’s not that time isn’t passing or that the night doesn’t show it. The stars are wheeling around Polaris, and the sugar maples that frame the pasture are laying down another cellular increment in their annual rings. The geese stir in the poultry yard. A hemlock sheds its snow. No two nights are ever the same.

I always wonder what it would be like to belong to a species — just for a while — that isn’t so busy indexing its life, that lives wholly within the single long strand of its being. I will never have even an idea of what that’s like.

I know because when I stand among the horses tonight, I will feel a change once midnight has come. Some need will have vanished, and I will walk back to the house — lights burning, smoke coming from the wood stove — as if something had been accomplished, some episode closed.

Entrepreneurship in Secondary Ed? Are we talking about a lemonade stand or a lawnmower service? These would have been two ideas that I would have thought of when I was in high school in the mid 80's, but times are certainly changing. The millennials are changing the nature of business ownership and creating operations as anonymous CEO's behind the cover of their computer monitors. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Chen and Shawn Fanning may not be household names to you and me but they have created a market shift with their creations of Facebook, You Tube, and Napster- all while they were in their early 20's. The lemonade stand has gone high tech and collaborative exchanging of ideas through blogging and social networking has created ways to exchange ideas and to collaborate in ways that were once done face to face. Having a student understand and create a practical business plan in the area of their particular interest has great potential. After speaking with many key educators and business professionals that have background in this area, it is clear that while the business plan and process are important, it is the creative thinking and idea creation/sharing that is essential to a good start. Not only that, but many have advised me to put less focus whether or not an idea comes to fruition, and instead, focus on giving students the skills and tools to explore and FAIL as part of their experiences. (I was advised that real entrepreneurs don't necessarily spend months crafting a plan- they actually DO the plan and learn along the way) Ideally we like to think that there is an entrepreneurial spirit in all of us. Most adults, however, have made decisions in life to not explore self-employment (while that number is steadily increasing) for a variety of reasons. I recently read a study that indicated that more entrepreneurs come from families where they were exposed to parent(s) who operated or ran their own business. This gives credit to the notion that entrepreneurs are made, not necessarily born. There certainly is a drive and passion in those that have succeeded, and I believe that if we infuse this spirit and skill set into our teenagers' curricula, we will have provided them the opportunity to experiment, fail, grow, learn, prosper, own, organize, critically think, manage, be engaged, be prepared. The new lemonade stand just began to look a little sweeter. Stay tuned.....

My final stop in Korea, before taking the long flight across the Pacific was Gyeongju, near the southeast tip of the peninsula. Gyeongju was the historic capital of the Silla kingdom, which eventually conquered its neighbors Baekje and Koguryo to unify the Korean peninsula in the 7th century. Gyeongju reached its height of wealth and prominence from 600 through the 800s, but was repeatedly

Reuters: My generation is more likely to use public libraries than the rest of all y’all slackers.

I can't remember now what pointed me to this video, but it's on reason.tv. Here's the description: Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is among the fiercest defenders of individual rights. Both in his daily appearances on the country's most-watched cable news network and in a series of books (most recently, A Nation of Sheep), Napolitano consistently and defiantly argues that the only

So I guess the answer is "no---I will NOT be better at updating the blog." Hope everyone's had a good three weeks. Anyway, here are the major developments since the last update...

1. We bought a kegerator.
2. We're still retooling and building the website, so keep checking back, because any day now we'll re-launch will full shows for (free) download, new video clips, pictures of the new studio, and a sick-ass new flash intro. That's right, a Flash intro. We're now at least catching up to 1998.

Cheers.

After Seoul we headed on to Suwon, a walled city 100 miles to the south. Suwon was, quite frankly, my favorite sight within Korea. The city's massive fortified walls have been carefully restored since the 1970s. Although Suwon has long since expanded past them, a walk on the walls affords a great view of the city and the fortifications themselves. Though Suwon now boasts a population of

Wood handles and porcelain.

$20 CAD (click on "Kitchen and Tabletop," then scroll down).

Further to legislator XML on Richmond Sunlight, I’m now including legislators’ sex, birthdate, and committee assignments. Somebody requested listing “occupation,”, but I don’t actually have that data normalized, so that’s not possible now.

Last lick of Lincoln lowdown ere the latest year lapses out of life:

Vol. XXVIII Number 1 of the Mid-American Review has come out. It features two short pieces of mine that were finalists (and Editors' Choices) for the 2007 Fineline competition. My old pal Rachel Pearson also has some work included. Check it out.

Next year we will be bigger, harder, faster and stronger.
Till then...

Check it out. I’ve got mine. Do you have yours? The threshold of participation in politics is getting easier and easier.

These are the bills I’m tracking.

1. "Genuinely new ideas are accidentally stumbled upon rather than sought out"

2. "New ideas are by definition hard to explain to others"

3. "Good ideas seem obvious in retrospect"

These insights by Williams (above), the founder of Blogger and Twitter, appeared in the first paragraph of an excellent December 19, 2007 Economist story about him.

More: "Radical constraints can lead to breakthroughs in simplicity and entirely new things."

The article follows.

The Accidental Innovator

Evan Williams, the founder of Blogger and Twitter, epitomises Silicon Valley's right brain

At some point in the decade after he moved from the farm in Nebraska where he grew up to the innovation hub that is the San Francisco Bay Area, Evan Williams accidentally stumbled upon three insights. First, that genuinely new ideas are, well, accidentally stumbled upon rather than sought out; second, that new ideas are by definition hard to explain to others, because words can express only what is already known; and third, that good ideas seem obvious in retrospect. So, having already had two accidental successes—one called Blogger, the other Twitter—Mr Williams is now trying to make accidents a regular occurrence for his company, called Obvious.

Of his previous successes, Blogger is today the best-known. It came about in the late 1990s when Mr Williams and his team struggled to build a complex software tool to let people collaborate. To keep each other abreast of the project, they kept a simple internal diary. Since that seemed to be the only thing working well, they joked that it, not the original project, should become their product. Thus was born Blogger, a web service that lets anybody create a blog with a few clicks. At the time, almost nobody understood what a blog was, or why anybody would want one. But in 2003 Google bought the company, and both blogs and Blogger are today part of the internet's mainstream.

By transferring to Google, however, Mr Williams, with his intuitive right-brain approach, was moving to Silicon Valley's analytical left brain. Shy and taciturn, he discreetly lets on that he hated every minute of his time at what was already an internet superpower in the making. Google trumpets its innovative nature, but its genius is for attacking known problems (web search, e-mail, calendars, etc) with brute force—weapons of mass computing and mathematical algorithms. Mr Williams's passion is solving new problems. In theory he could have done this at Google with his “20% time” on the side, but in practice he found it tedious to pitch ideas to the Google bureaucracy. Left and right brains clashed in other ways. Google values official brains—the credentialled, academic sort—whereas Mr Williams dropped out of university in Nebraska because he found the concept somewhat silly. He left Google after less than a year.

His next idea, he now realises, was flawed by being obvious not in retrospect, but from the start—itself an important lesson. When podcasts emerged as the audio analogue of blogs, Mr Williams used his Google money to invest in a firm called Odeo that aimed to make listening to podcasts easier. Yet such a tool was so vital that Apple did the job with iTunes, its popular music-library software, thus eliminating the need for Odeo.

So Mr Williams started Obvious, determined to go back to good accidental stumbling. One of its side projects—Mr Williams loves side projects so much that his main projects seem to exist mainly as placeholders—was something called Twitter. If blogs were difficult to explain in 1999, Twitters are well nigh impossible. You might call them micro-blogs or nano-blogs, as Twitter lets users write only 140 characters at a time, albeit from any device, or using an instant message or text message. Twitter imposes another restraint: each post must be an answer to the same question: What are you doing?

Thinking with the left brain, most reasonable people seem to agree that this idea is hare-brained, frivolous, banal and ridiculous. Indeed it is. And millions of people absolutely love it, twittering away throughout the day. Like all new and cool things, says Mr Williams, it's “experiential”. So it turns out that mums love to be notified on their mobile phones that their teenager is “eating an orange”. Colleagues appreciate that you are “running late” as they wait in the meeting room. Friends seeing that you are “having an espresso at Starbucks” might stop by. And a lot of people simply feel more connected by scavenging for conversational scraps from their friends.

All of this has made Twitter the third “next big thing” in Silicon Valley in 2007—after the iPhone, Apple's innovative new mobile handset, and Facebook, a social-networking site. The proof is that copycats have sprung up, that Google has bought one of them and that Facebook has made its “status” updates, in effect, internal Twitters. (Facebook also works with Twitter itself.) Exactly how to make money from Twitter remains an open question—one that Mr Williams is intellectually curious about, though it has not exactly been his main concern in the past. He would like to make Twitter as mainstream as Blogger. But what he really wants is to make stumbling on accidents into a culture, habit, process or speciality. That is why he has spun the 12 people working on Twitter out of Obvious (though they all sit in the same snazzy San Francisco loft), and is looking for new talent.

The irony of trying to plan accidents, and orchestrate their frequent occurrence, is not lost on Mr Williams. So he tries mental tricks. One is to ask “what can we take away to create something new?” A decade ago, you could have started with Yahoo! and taken away all the clutter around the search box to get Google. When he took Blogger and took away everything except one 140-character line, he had Twitter. Radical constraints, he believes, can lead to breakthroughs in simplicity and entirely new things.

For the same reason, Mr Williams loves frustration. Blogger revealed itself when he was frustrated with something bigger: collaboration software. He chooses still to be frustrated by it, saying that he would like to create some sort of “better to-do list”, a cross between a calendar, a wiki and other things. Ultimately, that is not the point, of course. The point is to try to do one thing, in the hope of losing discipline and focus at the first opportunity. “We have an itch that we scratch,” he says, “and that becomes the thing.” Silicon Valley is what it is because it has a few firms like Google—and lots of people like Evan Williams.

Hoo! Of all people, my unsuspecting husband showed this greenhouse to me.

From the catalog: "Enjoy the beauty, warmth and texture of a solid wood greenhouse. If you are handy with basic wood working tools [Ed. note - Check.], this do-it-yourself [Check, Check.] greenhouse is perfect for you!"

Love the exclamation point at the end. It screams vortex of madness, even for a seasoned carpenter (i.e. The Mister). But don't think that doesn't stop me from thinking about its potential placement on our land.

Hoo! Of all people, my unsuspecting husband showed this greenhouse to me.

From the catalog: "Enjoy the beauty, warmth and texture of a solid wood greenhouse. If you are handy with basic wood working tools [Ed. note - Check!], this do-it-yourself [Check, Check!] greenhouse is perfect for you!"

Love the exclamation point at the end. It screams vortex of madness, even for a seasoned carpenter (i.e. The Mister). But don't think that doesn't stop me from thinking about its potential placement on our land.

Monthly astrological forecast for all signs.

Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for continuing to visit my site and read my forecasts. I have a Jupiter in Capricorn (utilitarian) wish for you all— may you receive the tools you need to make 2008 great.

Mars retrograde began in mid-November and lasts through the end of the month. When the red planet appears to move backwards, our physical and mental energy is lower, and our focus is drawn within. This is a good time to work on strengthening and reinforcing what you already have rather than launching some brand new enterprise. If you can allow things to move slowly and accept delays, you’ll have fewer problems this month.

Pluto enters Capricorn

Pluto enters a new sign every 12 to 32 years. Thus, Pluto’s entry into earthy Capricorn on January 25 is no small event. It marks the beginning of an era when, collectively, we reform the rules and material structures that govern our lives. This will touch all of us on a deeply personal level at some time during the next 15 years. It also touches business and politics— Pluto reforms, and Capricorn represents the world’s borders and boundaries, as well as those borders and boundaries that define us and our relationships.

There is so much more to be said about Pluto in Capricorn. Check out my “interesting links” below, and let me know if there are more articles I should add to the list.

With Mars in Gemini all month, it’s easy to scatter our energies. You may feel restless or impatient. Too many irons in the fire can cause trouble— Gemini carries the classic “jack of all trades, master of none” idea. With Venus in Sagittarius until the 24th, we’re more idealistic and romantic about relationships and ready to overlook our friends’ and partners’ shortcomings. Venus’ entry into Capricorn on the 24th brings a more practical, realistic perspective.

January 1-7

January 1-2, Mars opposes Pluto. This explosive combo brings on the urge to transform or eliminate what’s not working. It can be problematic if you focus your energy on what’s in front of you, rather than what’s really at the root of the problem. If you’re feeling upset about something, take a closer look at the real problem. Quite often, changing your perspective is all that’s necessary. An issue, plan, or complication that develops today resolves when Mars opposes Pluto again on March 7.

The weekend is interesting. Two aspects appear on Saturday, a kiss and a quack. Sun sextile Uranus (the kiss) signals opportunity to do things in a new and different way. It’s a good time to experiment, buy a new gadget, or update your computer. Venus is flying high in Sag, the sign of abundance, good luck, and laissez-faire attitudes, but has to come down to earth and face practical, real-world considerations and nit-picky criticisms as she squares Saturn in Virgo. It’s a heavy weekend for relationships. Save the party for the 19th. Sunday, don’t jump to conclusions or rush a decision as Mercury forms an inconjunct with Mars.

January 7-12

Jupiter (“lots of”) semisquares Neptune (confusion, infection, drunkenness, dreaminess) the 2nd week of January, and dreamtime invades our reality. Folks at work are out sick, and it’s more difficult to bring plans into focus. We tend to overlook or ignore “red flags” that we should pay close attention to. If something feels sketchy or doesn’t quite sit right, trust your intuition. Clear thoughts and solutions return next week as Jupiter moves on to trine practical Saturn. So don’t rush it this week.

Tuesday is especially drifty, as the Moon turns void of course at 6:37 a.m. eastern and remains v/c until Wednesday morning. When the Moon is v/c, our actions, announcements, assertions, etc. tend to produce unintended results. Stick to routine, and let yourself drift through this spacey day.

Friday and Saturday, Venus in freedom-loving Sagittarius forms a square (quack) to freedom-loving Uranus in Pisces. Freedom square freedom is not a bad thing, unless you carry it to an extreme. This pair is in two not-so-grounded signs— Sag and Pisces. Enjoy, be silly, but don’t get too drunk, go too wild, let go of something valuable, or spend too much money.

January 14-20

Mercury retrograde begins next week. So get your most important Mercury-related business— software updates, car repairs, medical diagnostics, paperwork— done this week if possible.

Jupiter has passed the mooshy-feeling semisquare to Neptune and is now moving toward a frictionless trine with Saturn. Trines signal removal of obstacles and rapid development of a situation. Jupiter and Saturn are business signs, and this is typically a good transit for business— a pairing of growth, abundance, and good will with solid, practical fundamentals. This pairing has been in idealistic fire signs, but is now in realistic, material earth signs. You’ll find out now if your ideas can hold water, or if your bubble is set to burst as it comes into contact with solid reality. It’s a good time to run the numbers and create a plan for the future.

Tuesday the 15th, there’s a call for compromise and flexibility— don’t be too flighty, or too stuck in one way of doing things. It can be a challenge to nail down a concept or idea, and folks may get a little agitated as the Sun in structured, type A Capricorn forms an inconjunct with Mars in unfocused, stacks-of-paper-everywhere Gemini. A kiss from Venus to Neptune opens things up on Wednesday and helps you bridge the divide. We understand the bigger picture better, and it’s easier to see eye to eye.

Friday and Saturday, Venus opposes Mars. This is a fun, dynamic combo in lively, talkative signs— good for brainstorming, getting your groove on and blowing off some steam.

January 21-31

Monday and Tuesday look like space-cadet city. First, the Moon is void of course all day on Monday. Secondly, Mercury (our thinking and ideas) conjoins Neptune (unrealistic, dreamy, spacey, prone to fantasies and delusions) on Tuesday evening. It’s not all bad— Neptune’s upside is creative, spiritual, poetic, and inspired. But not at all practical. Save your important business on the “earth plane” for a day when we’re more grounded.

Venus conjoins Pluto on Wednesday, infusing relationships with a feeling of depth, power, and philosophical purpose. It’s another good day to review your finances and give some thought to your values and priorities moving forward.

Mercury retrograde begins on the 28th and lasts through February 18. This one is in Aquarius— sign of groups and gadgets. We’re more likely to encounter scheduling issues, mistakes, inaccuracies, communications errors, and mechanical problems during Mercury retrograde. Double-check all work.

Mark your calendar

The best days for your top priority plans are January 13, 16-20, 28, 29, 31.

Keep it simple on January 1, 2, 6, 9-12, 22, 23.

Interesting links

Special Alert: Horoscope U.S.A— Michael Lutin on Pluto in Capricorn
Pluto in Capricorn by Lynn Hayes
Lynn Koiner on Pluto in Capricorn

Constant readers will recall Episode 1 in this series, back on October 7, 2006.

They called theirs "Invisible Glove" and I remarked on the unfortunate choice of name when "Second Skin" was there for the taking.

No matter.

A year's passed and this crowd still hasn't caught on.

Me, I'm slow, but I eventually get there.

These companies might never arrive.

From the website:

Gloves in a Bottle

Unlike conventional moisturizers that attempt to replace the loss of natural moisture with artificial moisture, these invisible gloves help alleviate dry skin by preserving your body’s own moisture.

Recommended by dermatologists, Gloves in a Bottle bonds with the outer layer of your skin, creating a protective layer that helps retain skin’s natural moisture.

Greaseless, non-sticky, fragrance-free, hypoallergenic, non-toxic and undetectable when dry.

Does not wash off, but comes off naturally with exfoliated skin cells.

Works wonders on hands, feet, elbows, knees and heels.

Includes 8 oz. home size and 2 oz. travel size.

Reapply every 4 hours.

....................

$20.

Hope in a Jar

(1 oz.) is $28.

Note to proctologists-in-training: The drawing on Gloves in a Jar's bottle (top) should not be construed as a go-ahead to use the product in lieu of a latex or vinyl glove on your business hand.

Eeewwww — who said that?

Flautist?

Anyone?

By David Swanson

There must be a Star Trek episode (if there’s not, there should be) in which all the best minds in the leftist political opposition on some planet are diverted into an obsession with a virtual reality game, leaving all the right-wingers free to drive the planet into inevitable war and destruction. A game is a harmless thing when not put to such use. Elections are a fundamental pillar of democracy when not put to such use. That makes the case I want to argue all the more difficult. My thesis is that, if we do not change our thinking, elections are going to be the death of U.S. democracy.

Seoul is huge. There are some 10 million people who live within the city. The construction of high-speed rail links with other cities, such as Taejeon, has made some of Korea's other metropoli virtual suburbs of the capital. Incheon, the fourth-biggest city, is hooked up to Seoul's subway system. The city's sprawl has engulfed entire mountains. Seoul is a more utilitarian metropolis than