Very interesting link about the infrared emissions over Japan before the earthquake.

As for Newt's plea that Dems be nice to him, they'll probably kowtow to his wishes. Many Dems have never understood that in the end American politics always comes down to a knife fight in a phone booth.

Of course, then the GOP could have its national convention in a Denny's in Lexington, KY.

I'll note that there are only two Denny's in Lexington, Kentucky. One of which, in a previous incarnation, played a reasonably important role in my relationship with my wife.

I'll also note that the Chinese restaurant behind that Denny's, Hunan Chinese, offers a much more satisfying meal.

Regarding the article on income and religion, this quote in particular struck me: The relationship between education and income is so strong that you can almost draw a line through the points on this graph.

I grew up in a household where I heard, like a drumbeat, that education was more important than anything. I heard it at synagogue, too. It's why, even when my mother was dying and my brother and I could have lost the house, I stayed in college; nothing else could have rescued either of us if we hadn't stayed in school. As far as I knew, the idea that education was paramount was what everyone thought, until I grew up and began talking with friends from different backgrounds. I was bewildered by the idea that education didn't have to be a priority, or that it was too expensive to save for a kid's education so people just wouldn't do it. I'm not surprised that the data backs up what I learned. I just can't figure out why the idea that education makes a difference isn't self-evident to everyone. How? How can it not be?

Oh, yeah, me too! I'm Hindu, and we didn't have a choice to public school OR homeschool. We had public school AND homeschool. Also we worked in the family business and took music and dance. I just did not understand that this wasn't the case for my non-Asian friends until WAY later!

Lately the debate has arisen about whether or not education is worth the investment. Honestly that's just silly! Some very lucky people break the curve but as the graph shows, the more educated you are, the more *likely* it is that you will have a middle class or better income.

That was the system in my Irish Catholic family. Public school (in the top district in NYC), and something that would now be called homeschooling, but at the time was just Mom and Dad quizzing us about stuff for fun. It's a game if you don't know it's your parents sneaking knowledge into your head!

We worked in the family business (which was, er, a law office) and had music lessons. (I don't know why not dance lessons. But we played sports and went to summer camp. It was exercise and coordination and grace of a different sort.)

The fun bit is when you look at my extended family. Whose kids are blue-collar and whose kids have PhDs definitely is related to which parental line they come from. You could draw colored squiggles down the family tree with nary a break.

I just can't figure out why the idea that education makes a difference isn't self-evident to everyone. How? How can it not be?

-->Because it takes education to be able to read the graph.

Seriously, I think it's that simple. The graph looks obvious to you, me, and other educated people because we've seen such things a million times and can bring that previous experience to read it; whereas an uneducated person may just give up trying to understand what it says.

I had years of engineering-school math and have strong spatial-visualization skills, and it still took me a few brain cycles to understand how the graph was put together. Someone who hasn't seen graphs since they got a "C" on them in fifth grade is going to have a much harder time.

Even presented in raw form, the data may be less comprehensible to someone who hasn't internalized what "percentage" means. There are fully-grown, college-educated, job-holding adults walking around who don't know that 75% is half again as much as 50%. What's someone with a high school diploma--possibly a half-assed one from a school that teaches that the world was created in 6 says 6000 years ago--gonna do?

>>Newt Apologizes To Paul Ryan, Begs Democrats Not To Use His Own Quotes In Ads<<

I'm sorry my Make-'Em-Talk Newt Voodoo Doll wasn't effective for more than one day.

I wish to point out that I have eaten in a Denny's in Lexington, KY.