All about me

Former News-Sentinel columnist Nancy Nall Derringer gets a nice Washington Post byline. With a little help from former Mayor Paul Helmke, she takes a run at defining Indiana's brand of conservatism:

With all the talk about "the primary that finally matters," I was expecting a big crowd at my polling place. But when I stopped by to vote just before 8, it wasn't that busy. There was a steady trickle of people, but no lines. And my polling place is one of those bundled three-precinct sites. I do hope we hit 50 percent turnout. If we don't hit it for this election, with all the publicity it's gotten, we're not likely to ever again.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or the global cooling that may throw off the global-warming computer models

 Parts of North America and Europe may cool naturally over the next decade, as shifting ocean currents temporarily blunt the global-warming effect caused by mankind, Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences said.

[. . .]

Lexington Green, responding to a new book by Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, has a rousing defense of small-l libertarianism:

The solution is to get the Government the Hell out of the way, get its leprous fingers out of our wallets. The solution is to flail the damnable thing back into the corner where it belongs, make it do the things it is supposed to do and nothing else. National defense, law enforcement and a few other functions are more than it can do well as it is.

What a waste. While going to Ball State, I spent all that time near Muncie and never made it to "only regitered jar museum in the world," and now it's going away:

MUNCIE — Philip Robinson sat in his living room, his face appearing very tired although it was still morning.

It won't take, but some Economics 101 advice for John McCain and Hillary Clinton:

Strong demand and limited supply of a product lead to price increases. If you artificially lower the price of something -- i.e., waive taxes for a period of time -- all you will have accomplished was stimulating more demand. The higher demand and increased consumption eventually lead to even higher prices.

I don't believe in miracles, but, damn::

SUFFOLK, Va. - It was a scene of haphazard destruction that stretched for 25 miles: Row upon row of homes reduced to sprays of splintered lumber, shopping centers stripped to bare metal, parking lots turned into junk yards.

And yet no one died.

"The only thing I can say is we were watched over and blessed," Fire Chief Mark Outlaw said.

Bad trip, man:

GENEVA (AP) — Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child," died Tuesday. He was 102.

The neighbors are complaining, which is why this is a story. But it seems sort of creative to me:

Jim Downs and Pat O'Brien said they did not want to cause a controversy when they covered their Merrillville front lawn with green indoor/outdoor carpeting.

[. . .]

Brilliant:

The idea isn't new one. The oil crisis of the 1970s prompted some employers to switch to a four-day work week, but the idea never took hold nationally.

These days, though, energy and congestion issues may give the concept more traction. Several petition drives for a shortened work week are now circulating on the Internet.