I'm still somewhat recovering from the shocking news of yesterday. So, for humor, there's the California legislature.

For those who haven't been following it, the Golden State faces a $24 billion deficit (one-fourth of the state's budget). So what are the items that the Democratic-led legislature is debating:

- Cow Tails
- An apology to Chinese workers of the 19th Century

Here are two good stories on the problems:
Who Killed California's Economy (by Joel Kotkin of Forbes)
California Screaming (by Matt Welch of Reason)

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Greenpeace's latest publicity stunt: A banner on Mt. Rushmore. "And all involved planned to spend several weeks behind bars." Weeks? I hope they get a couple of years. That might teach them a lesson.

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The Midieval Warm Period was a lot warmer than today. And we all know that warming is evil. Of course, warming might not be happening, but that's another story.

That warm period has now been linked to the success of the Incas. (Links to scholarly journals contained within the post.) Also, note the tale of two graphs. Here it is:



The top graph is the one cited by agw proponents. It's false. The bottom graph is the actual average temperatures over time. Yes, temperatures have gone up (through 2000), but that's nothing compared to the Midievel period.

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An excellent article on the players who were shut out of the WSOP.

Then there's the mystery of Table 156 in the Amazon Green Section.

Here are those players:

LANDAU, MICHAEL
ERNA, SALVATORE
GASPARD, JEAN
HACHEM, TONY
MICHNIK, MICHAEL
HARRISON, AUDLEY
SEED, HUCK
MORRISON, KIRK
ODONNELL, KEVIN

Two are blameless (or not relevant): Jean Gaspard (won New Orleans WSOP-Circuit event, guaranteed a seet) and Huck Seed (won NBC Heads Up and guaranteed a seat). The others, though, may have gotten preferential treatment. Kevin O'Donnell (per the first article I linked to) was shut out...except he wasn't.

I have little sympathy for the players. After all, they could have bought in days ago...weeks ago...etc. But if the WSOP did give preferential treatment to certain individuals I won't have any sympathy for Harrah's, either.

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Finally, a link to a cartoon worth viewing.