Medary.com

Ah, this is more like it. Simians!

The secret to chimp strength, via Science Daily:

In an article published in the April issue of Current Anthropology, Walker argues that humans may lack the strength of chimps because our nervous systems exert more control over our muscles. Our fine motor control prevents great feats of strength, but allows us to perform delicate and uniquely human tasks.

I really should start laying off posting these little observations about the Dear Leader of our Glorious New Democratic Socialist Paradise. But it's just too damn easy.

Pew Research Center:

Partisan Gap in Obama Job Approval Widest in Modern Era

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama's job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president -- 88% job approval among Democrats -- and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

Yep. The age of partisanship is over. After all, Dear Leader announced it himself, a while ago, with this correct and complete explanation of why his policies were both intellectually superior and economically correct:

I won.

Heckofa job, Barry.

Via Belmont Club.

or, the Government. It really is hard to tell, sometimes . . . Arnold Kling

Think of government as a charity. From a libertarian perspective, it is a charity run by the Mafia, which will break your knuckles if you don't make your donations. It is also a badly mismanaged charity. It funnels lots of money into questionable causes, and even when the causes are good the programs that it funds tend to be very wasteful.

If you voted for Obama, you voted for a guy who thinks it's an appropriate gift to give the Queen of England an iPod that contains . . . wait for it . . . Obama's speeches.

I sh!+ you not. ABC News' Jake Tapper reports:

Uploaded onto the iPod:

* Photos from the Queen's 2007 White House State Visit
* Photos from the Queen's 2007 Jamestown, Va., Visit
* Photos from the Queen's 2007 Richmond, Va., Visit
* Video from the Queen's 1957 Jamestown Visit
* Video from the Queen's 2007 Jamestown Visit
* Video from the Queen's 2007 Richmond Visit
* Photos from President Obama's Inauguration
* Audio of then-state senator Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and
* Audio of President Obama 2009 Inauguration Address

On the other hand, Tapper has the skinny on the Queen's gift to His Ohness:

Britain's Press Association reports that the Royal couple gave the Obamas "a silver-framed, signed photograph of themselves."

I guess we'll call this one a draw, then.

Arnold Kling appears to be one of my new favorite bloggers:

I think the key issue in the contest between Progressive Corporatism and The Resistance might be summarized as this:

If you believe that politicians are about solving problems and need more power in order to do so, then you are going to side with Progressive Corporatism.

If you believe that politicians are about power and need problems as an excuse to get it, then you are going to side with The Resistance.

I vote the latter.

From the Econlog blog:

For quite a while, but especially over the last nine months, the best way to predict developments in politics and finance has been to ask: what will do the most to increase the concentration of power? Every headline, from the Geithner regulatory plan to the proposed cap on the charitable deduction, to the resignation of the General Motors CEO, should be viewed in that light.

Is this the CHANGE you voted for? More power concentrated in even fewer hands? If so, "mission accomplished . . . heckofa job."

From the Telegraph via Fark. The first one:

A tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

Stupidity is Human.

Seen at Tigerhawk:

NEW ELEMENT DISCOVERED

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

University of Wisconsin:

In the new study, they combined satellite data of dust and other particles with existing climate models to evaluate the effect on ocean temperature. They calculated how much of the Atlantic warming observed during the last 26 years can be accounted for by concurrent changes in African dust storms and tropical volcanic activity, primarily the eruptions of . . . in Mexico in 1982 and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.

In fact, it is a surprisingly large amount, Evan says. "A lot of this upward trend in the long-term pattern can be explained just by dust storms and volcanoes," he says. "About 70 percent of it is just being forced by the combination of dust and volcanoes, and about a quarter of it is just from the dust storms themselves."

The result suggests that only about 30 percent of the observed Atlantic temperature increases are due to other factors, such as a warming climate. While not discounting the importance of global warming, Evan says this adjustment brings the estimate of global warming impact on Atlantic more into line with the smaller degree of ocean warming seen elsewhere, such as the Pacific.

Emphasis mine. It would seem to me that saying that 70% of the observed warming of a feature as large as the Atlantic Ocean, given the carbon-phobia gripping large swaths of the public discourse, goes a long way towards "discounting" the so-called anthropogenic global warming hysteria.

You voted for this:

From the Heritage Foundation

The graph represents Washington Post numbers, not "biased" Heritage Foundation numbers.

So, Obama voter, you voted for the largest budget deficits in American history . . . possibly, the largest budget deficits in world history.

That's the change you gave us all. You will not be quickly forgiven.