Current Affairs

The first energy crisis in this country was in the 19th century when the supply of whale oil, the chief source of artificial lighting, was, for a numer of reasons, no longer reliable. The problem disappeared with the discovery of petroleum. That's what we tend to do, let necessity drive us to a solution. The current energy crisis will be solved the same way, so maybe we should be trying to find ways to use oil up faster instead of conserving it.

Looks like 10 percent of us aren't holding up our end:

The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

Does she think she can get away with this? Why, she must be insane:

Captain Lisa M. Nowak, the former astronaut and naval officer who confronted a romantic rival at the Orlando airport in February, will plead insanity at her trial on assault and kidnapping charges, according to a notice filed on Tuesday in state circuit court in Orlando.

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How cool to be able to go to work without having to, you know, go to work:

Imagine a work world with no commute, no corporate headquarters and perhaps not even an office in the physical world at all.

For Bob Flavin, a computer scientist at IBM; Janet Hoffman, an executive at a management consulting firm; and Joseph Jaffe, a marketing entrepreneur, the future is already here.

At least Michael Vick didn't issue a non-apology apology:

"I made a mistake of using bad judgment and making bad decisions. Those things just can't happen. Dogfighting is a terrible thing, and I do reject it."

I love women, though some drive me crazy. I admire men, though some are jerks. I am not and never have been gender neutral, which probably means I would  be a bad fit in Vermont:

The University of Vermont's big new student center doesn't just have women's bathrooms and men's bathrooms.

The Citizens Action Coalition is one of those groups that can always find lots of reasons to be against modern society and the energy it takes to fuel it; if it had been around at the end of the 19th century, it would have have been pushing buggy whips as the environmentally friendly wave of the future.

The right not to be annoyed continues to grow:

The Environmental Court in Växjö has banned a woman from smoking in her own garden, Sydsvenkan reports. The 49-year-old single mother is enraged by the decision but says that she will obey the ruling to avoid having to pay a fine.

The law goes a step too far:

As part of a Government drive to curb anti-social behaviour, police have been granted new powers to ban troublesome drinkers from town centres.

Officers in England and Wales are able to issue "directions to leave" to people they believe will cause alcohol-related crime or disorder.

There is no such thing as an economy that is good news for everybody:

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The owner of a fast food joint in Montana's booming oil patch found himself outsourcing the drive-thru window to a Texas telemarketing firm, not because it's cheaper but because he can't find workers.