Scanning the Sphere: The Interesting World

Via Instapundit, this fascinating story that to me simply emphasizes all we do not know, and what an illusion is life:

Dark energy, goes the thinking, is a result of the Big Bang and is accelerating the universe’s expansion.

If so, the universe is not in a nice, stable zero-vacuum state but simply another “false vacuum” state that may abruptly decay again – and with cataclysmic consequences.

The energy shift from the decay would destroy everything in the universe, “wiping the slate clean”, says Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

The good news is: the longer the universe survives, the better the chance that it will mature into a stable state. We are just beyond the crucial switching point, Mr Krauss believed.

The bad news is: the quantum effect, a truly weird aspect of physics that says whenever we observe or measure something, we reset its clock.

It’s all much too smart for me, but I never tire of gleaning what I can from it, and marveling at all the mystery which surrounds us in our “know-it-all” age.

Independent journalist Michael J. Totten files a great read from Fallujah – the pictures tell a lot as well. Not being picked up by the “big time professional” journalists, of course. His September post from Anbar is here. I am always struck by the beauty of the Iraqi people.

We’re getting ready to pull out of Iraq. The Mainstream is not covering it; totally doesn’t suit their narrative. James Taranto says goalposts keep being moved and erected higher, and this by players who have lost their own footing. Don Surber says we’ve won. I say, let’s triple check before declaring that, but things are looking good. Then someone should ask Hillary if she thinks she owes Gen. Petraeus a wee apology for declaring his testimony before her as requiring a “willing suspension of disbelief.”

More funny money situations for Hillary, but of course, they don’t matter. The press is incurious and disinterested in these matters. they do not seem to care that the Clintons seemingly have a really interesting relationship with CNN, and Hillary, afterall, has a D after her name, which means only good news rules.

Can you imagine how different her life would be if she had an R after her name, Like Condi Rice? No magazine covers and glory, then, babe, sorry. And no money bundling problems tolerated, and hushed up, I’m sure. Yes, it is pretty tiresome. And staggeringly scandalous, if you think about it, which no one seems to want to. There is a willing suspension of disbelief, or something.

Meanwhile my favorite read of the day:

Mistakes were tolerated, but Clinton led intense post-mortems to keep her people focused. A well-aimed glare or a roll of the eyes told them all they needed to know. “She’d stare at us and say, ‘Who was the cause of this?’ And all of us would raise our hands,” press assistant Neel Lattimore recalled.

Can you imagine how that would be written if it were about BushBots instead of HillaryBots? That damned, troubling double-standard again: Bushian loyalty is “fascistic.” Hillarian loyalty is cute. Or something. By the way, this piece mentions that Bill Clinton now takes the blame for the failied HillaryCare initiative. How come no one in the press has asked him why he let her take the rap for it, for all these years? I know, I know, it’s tiresome…then they’d have to listen to him spin some more.

Dr. Sowell says stop hating the top 1%. I’d frankly be happy if the government would stop hating people who make $97,000 a year. Here in New York, that’s not much for a family of four. That’s getting by with a minimal savings, if you’re careful.

“How Hollywood saved God”. Will God return the favor?

He feeds everyone; he’s an angel. I believe it.

Comparing Catholics to the KKK?

Curious about Annulments in the Catholic Church? Counseling Kevin writes about it, and more:

My wife teetered between feelings of contentment and completion, both of which I understood. Yet, I thought that for me, this wasn’t closure, not by a long shot. In fact, I thought of Churchill’s line about the British victory at El Alameinin in 1942 (I’m such a romantic, eh?). “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Shakespeare said, “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Some sportswriter, a lesser talent than Will’s, obviously, says – in essence – “first, kill all the bloggers”. Ace takes issue.

The silence and the monk.

Lastly, does anyone know anything about this Karaoke system? I’m thinking about getting it for my nieces, but can’t find a review. This is how Auntie scores the sympathetic interviews with them. Sheer bribery. I guess that’s how it’s done, after all.

And unsurprisingly – H/T Dr. Helen: