[links] There is water at the bottom of the ocean

A reader reacts to Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon ] — Almost exactly the opposite reaction of a couple of recent reviews.

1873 Monocycle Replica — From the Dept of Things I Shouldn't Be Allowed to Own But Would Anyway If I Had the Resources

Insultingly stupid movie physics — Isn't that an oxymoron?

scalzi has been Chaucer'd — If you read scalzi at Whatever, you already know this. If you don't read him, why not? (With bonus illustration by maryrobinette!)

Dennis Hastert and George W. Bush — My favorite photo of the president, evar!!! Makes the Dukakis/tank photo look like a still from The Terminator.

How Karl Rove lost a generation of Republicans — Commentary from James Carville.