Drudge Siren: Gore Affair, Says Star Magazine
Curb Your Enthusiasm, It Was Just With Laurie David
— Ace

You ever read a hack horror story or true crime book?
And like in the first 100 pages they have to say
something is a "grim tableaux"? Well, if you ever wondered
what they meant, wonder no more

I know that most people will say "Uggh! Two of those people are having sex!," but I look at it the other way: Two of those people aren't having sex.

What can I tell you, I'm a glass-half-full kinda guy.

Hoboy: Even his affairs are all about Global Warming.

Gore's split from wife Tipper after 40 years of marriage was a shock to everyone who thought theirs was the ideal marriage. Now Star can exclusively reveal that the former Vice President was having an affair with Larry David's ex-wife — for the past two years!

In the June 28 issue of Star, on sale Wednesday, we report that Al and Tipper's breakup didn't come as much of a surprise to one Hollywood player — Laurie David. Star has learned that Al has been having an affair with Laurie, who divorced Seinfeld creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David in 2007 amidst reports she was cheating with the caretaker of their Martha's Vineyard summer home.

Laurie David Cheats On The Environment, Too: As Slublog noted long ago.

I stopped reading that after she said her career was on hold due to childbirth.

What career?

IMDB doesn't lie.

Wikipedia notes she had a fringes-of-entertainment career as a talent coordinator for David Letterman (doesn't that mean she gets coffee?) and as a producer of cable shows.

I knew a producer of cable shows, and... Well. It's a very gruntwork position.

...

We heard from the Globe on this last week; I guess Star is somewhat more respectable, but how much?

National Enquirer, sure... There is a good case for revisionism there. But the Star? Have they been breaking stories that I don't know about?

Well, for whatever reason, this has caught Drudge's eye and who knows, maybe he knows some backstory that makes him think this is reliable.

Oh Myyyyyy: Now, I'ma gonna go ahead and call BS on this, because, if there's one thing I've noticed about gay dudes (Hillbuzz, I'm looking at you), it's that they are too frequently claiming to "know" sexual stuff that I simply don't believe they know.

They "know" this guy is gay (friend of a friend got chatted up by him, swearsies!) etc. They seem to gossip a lot and claim to be closer to the source of the information. (Like, not that there's just a "rumor" going around, but that they know someone who can actually vouch, first-hand, for the information).

Annoying. Sorry, I think most gays know exactly as much about John Travolta's sex life as I do. Which is to say, none. I know none about it, as Nigel Tuflnel might say.

I will say that if he's not banging Kelly Preston I hate him even more than if he is.

Anyway, that disclaimer aside, here's what Andrew "Milky Loads" Sullivan has to say about Gore in a different context:

"It is well known in Washington he is the most hung politician around," Sullivan added.

Since the Gores have been married for 40 years, how could this be "well known"?

Unless...

But you know, I think Andrew Sullivan is a deranged ninny. When he's not having cold-sweats nightmares about Sarah Palin's endless Wicked Gardens he's guestimating about politicians' staffs.

Hmmm... The first time I watched that, Sullivan seemed serious.

Now that I watch it, he seems to be mock serious. The batting of the eyes is a giveaway.

Sorry -- I think he's telling a joke here. So ignore this please. I got it wrong.

He sold me on his serious tone so much I didn't notice that he was selling that serious tone for comic effect.

Not a good joke, but that's irrelevant.

Can't believe I'm saying this: Apologies to Andrew Sullivan.

Al Gore Pick-Up Lines: Not in the thread yet, but they should be.

Posted by: Ace at 10:15 AM | Comments (588)
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Claim: Data in Error; No Evidence For Dark Matter or Dark Energy
— Ace

That's the claim: that the evidence for dark matter/dark energy is largely the result of artifacts of data collection -- specifically, "smoothing" of maps of the universe's observed background radiation -- and that an accurate mapping, minus these distortions, would offer no evidence of the "Dark Side."

As the man said, There is no dark side of the universe. Matter fact, it's all dark.

Obviously, I have no idea if this is true, and we haven't yet seen this claim itself subject to testing and rebuttal.

And just as obviously one can see some parallels with the theory of global warming.

Thanks to Dave @ Garfield Ridge.

String Theory: Waste of Time. String theory isn't really related at all to the "dark side" stuff, but it's interesting to note that most physicists regard it as rubbish.

The only success string theory has had, one physicist complains, is in public relations and pop-science magazines.

I can't find his article now, but one physicist noted that physicists are scientists, not mathematicians, and that traditionally physicists could be sloppy as hell with math because the math didn't matter to them, tests did.

If your equation was off, you'd find that out soon enough with a test, or seeing if the equation explained previous observations. You didn't have to be rigorous or disciplined about deductions and proofs in math. The tests/data would guide you to better equations.

But string theory is mostly untestable (and, where it has been tested, it has pretty much failed). That means that physicists pursuing this model are departing more and more from their field of training -- science -- and more and more into a somewhat-related field they're not particularly well-suited for, mathematics. So they wind up lacking any sort of rigor -- they don't have the mathematical training (or inclination) to be truly rigorous about their mathematical theorems, and they also don't have the rigor of test results to guide and correct them.

Physicists complain, then, that string theorists are basically elaborating further and further upon a basic theory for which there is no evidence at all and makes few, if any, useful predictions.

In a lot of ways, that's a lot like "paleoclimatology." Data is extremely hard to come by, and no tests are possible, but more and more elaborate "computer simulations" of 100,000-year-old climates are performed, and we know these are accurate because they agree with... other computer models, making all the same key assumptions.

And, as you see all the time in ClimateGate, scientists get into all sorts of trouble, and often wind up looking like dolts, when they move out of science into pure mathematics.

Posted by: Ace at 09:14 AM | Comments (277)
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2 Hot 4 Banking Chick Hires 2 Stupid 2 Live Gloria Allred
— Ace

You can usually tell you have no case when you bring in Gloria Allred.

JWF says Lorenzana's soap opera has jumped the shark, which is a good way to put it. Gloria Allred is the Ted McGinley of contrived lawsuits.

The article at JWF mentions a blistering Andrea Peyser column. Here that is.

Today starts Week 3 of the Debrahlee Lorenzana Crisis. In Week 1, the lady attempted to con America into believing she was the victim of her much-exaggerated hottitude -- while spreading soft-porn photos of herself like fliers for an escort agency.

Then last week, an "aha!" video surfaced showing this lady living her dream. She was featured in a 2003 reality TV show, getting her second boob job, holding melons to her chest, and issuing a cringe-worthy croon.

"I love plastic surgery," she waxed idiotically. "I think it's the best thing that ever happened." She revealed plans to alter her body into that of a Playboy Playmate -- "t - - s on a stick!" -- in order to achieve her lifelong ambition of wedding a rich guy.

Seven years later, Debrahlee is still single. Her kid is growing. The lawsuit marches on.

Posted by: Ace at 08:51 AM | Comments (115)
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Petraeus Taken Ill At Senate Hearing, Is OK Now
— DrewM

He became faint but left the hearing room under his own power.

Watching CSPAN he returned a few minutes later with a cup of water to a round of applause from those present. He said he got dehydrated and was ready to resume the hearing but Senate Armed Services Chair Carl Levin said he and his colleagues were overruling him and postponing the hearing for a day.

For a guy like Petreaus who prides himself on fitness and has litterally hundreds of thousands of young men and women in the field, engaged in combat, he can't be a happy guy. While the pressure of high command doesn't carry the same physical risk as combat, the daily grind of pressure, long hours and travel must be crushing. Hopefully, this was a passing thing and will remind the General and his staff of what I'm sure they've told their soldiers through the years...drink lots of fluids.

(Apparently the blog software also took ill but is now OK. I hope)

Posted by: DrewM at 07:14 AM | Comments (120)
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News Judgment, Washington-Post style
— Slublog

Senator George Allen says "macaca" on camera? 131 articles, 13 on the front page.

Congressman Bob Etheridge commits battery on camera? Three paragraphs on page C3.

Compare. Contrast.

Oh, by the way. The Washington Post's Ombudsman is Andrew Alexander. Just sayin'.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:35 AM | Comments (115)
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Top Headline Comments 6-15-10
— Gabriel Malor

Loose lips sink (relation)ships.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:14 AM | Comments (123)
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Tuesday Financial Briefing
— Monty

First, the good news.

The young ladies of New Jersey Girl Scout Troop 40-289 are doing their part to stimulate the economy. The free-market flame still burns!

The Rosebush Presbyterian Church held a rummage sale over the weekend that reportedly did quite well.

I couldn't find a link to the story online, but Tyrone "Big Stink" Pitts -- who operates a small sole-proprietorship adult entertainment business near the check-cashing joints downtown and has a number of entrepreneurial young ladies in his employ -- has announced a "Half Off Hoes" program. This program, which has proven quite popular among his customers, consists of a 50% discount on the service as long as the customer commits to using the service at least twice a week. "I had what you call a brain-storm," Mr. Pitts said. "Bitches still complain, but that's all they do anyways. You oughta have my job, man; listen to those crazy bitches cry about this and that all the damn day. Soon's the economy gets right, I'm out this God Damn business once and for all."

So much for the good news. Now for the doom. more...

Posted by: Monty at 02:55 AM | Comments (140)
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Massachusetts Legislature Acts to Get State Teachers Union Out of Former Marine's Face
— Dave in Texas

Some good news on a Monday. Let's hope Deval Patrick decides this isn't the hill to die on.

He has 10 days not to be an idiot.

Massachusetts lawmakers passed an amendment on Monday expected to save the job of a public high school ROTC instructor who refused to pay teachers union fees.

State senator Richard R. Tisei introduced legislation last week on behalf of Maj. Stephen L. Godin, a retired Marine and ROTC instructor who was told he'd get the ax if he didn't chalk up a $500 teachers union "agency fee."

I wrote about Major Godin a few days ago, background story is here. Bottom line, the union left him alone for 15 years while he just did his job, day in and day out, until (for reasons known only to their super brain trust) they decided to push him around, backed with the power of the "Hotel California" statute in Massachusetts that forces teachers to pay unions whether they want to belong to them or not.

It'd be a small victory, but a good one.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:56 PM | Comments (37)
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Overnight Open Thread
— Maetenloch

Welcome to the Monday.

I Wonder Why No One Will Hire Them?

Via Don Surber comes this sad tale of job woes of the Class of 2009. Note that the only graduate who had a job waiting for him was the engineering student. Apparently the world doesn't need another Sociology and African studies major who want to work for a non-profit. Let this be a lesson to all current students - just having a BA and dreams of some kind of boutique career does not guarantee you a job or a living. And the world does need good caterers and managers of Victoria's Secrets.

Too Many College Graduates?

And this is part of a larger problem where we have new graduates with too much unnecessary (and expensive) education for the jobs that are available:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that seven of the 10 employment sectors that will see the largest gains over the next decade won't require much more than some on-the-job training. These include home healthcare aides, customer service representatives and food preparers and servers. Meanwhile, well-paying white-collar jobs such as computer programming have become vulnerable to outsourcing to foreign countries.

Having people go to college who aren't going to use much if any of the skills learned is waste in several ways: First there's the cost of the tuition, books and other fees which has been growing faster than the rate of inflation for several decades now. That's cash money that could have been used to buy a first house or start a business. And then there's the opportunity cost of four+ years spent in school that could have been applied to learning useful skills. Even in more technical fields four years is enough to become a competent, experienced employee.
Even worse the average graduate is borrowing money to pay for their education and now graduates with $23,200 of student loan debt. Which means they start off their working lives already deep in a financial (and experience) hole compared to say someone who started an electrician apprentice program or the military right after high school.

And for all you current college students out there - if you're not attending a top tier university or your major doesn't involve math or computers on nearly a daily basis, you have no business borrowing money to pay for your education. These days it's a bad investment and a sucker's bet. more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:56 PM | Comments (817)
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Terrorist Attempt at MacDill Air Force Base?
— Ace

In Tampa.

Stub 1:

Police responded to an unknown situation just after 6 p.m. The gate has been closed for more than three hours now.

While it's not clear what is going on, people close to the scene say the bomb squad is there and they're dismantling an SUV.

Stub 2:

The Bayshore Gate at MacDill Air Force base is closed tonight because of an incident on the base.

Military personnel are examining an SUV that made it onto the base. Witnesses say the vehicle contained guns and annumition that base personnel were removing. The car also contained military-style clothing.

Update: Two in custody.

"No further details available," which is police jargon for "Muslim male suspects."

Posted by: Ace at 05:46 PM | Comments (81)
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