Maggie Shiels/BBC: Victorian 'supercomputer' is reborn
Designed by the 19th Century computer pioneer Charles Babbage, the Difference Engine No 2 is a piece of Victorian technology meant to compute mathematical expressions called polynomials and return results to more than 31 digits, knocking the socks off your souped up pocket calculator.

At least as interesting as the machine is the man who funded the building of it: Nathan Myhrvold. Consistently proving the basic truism that we have been given all the information necessary to advance the species to any level desirable. The trick is to ask the right questions.

[Read the profile @ Malcolm Gladwell's Annals of Innovation, New Yorker/12 May) || Image © BBC].

Photo © Tony Cenicola/NYT
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Followers advised to carry shovels.

Image @ MenacingIdiot
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WP Global Power Barometer:
5/9/2008 8:29:02 A.M. Iran UP; Islamsits UP; Israel DOWN; Iran ignores the US (but as William Polk says and Seymour Hersch will soon say could Cheney have an October surprise in the works for Iran).......

Personally I hate surprises. But with all three branches disfunctional, time to say "WTF", kick back and relax. Gonna be one helluva show come Fall.

BBC: Burma impounds UN aid deliveries
The UN body says the Burmese government seized aid material flown in to help victims of the cyclone, which has killed tens of thousands.

My goodness. What's the world coming to when you can't trust a tyrannical, despotic, dictatorial junta anymore? Well, nothing for it then except to nuke 'em out of existence.
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Image: RealColorWheel/CC Licensed
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When the media focus on "the black vote," "the white vote," and then they start to particularize the white vote within that, they invite us to see race as a defining category of analysis. [Excerpt, PBS Newshour Analysis, Media Tackles Sensitive Race Issue in 2008 Election (7 May)] .

BBC: Oil price 'may hit $200 a barrel'
Mr Murti correctly predicted three years ago - when oil was about $55 a barrel - that it would pass $100, which it reached for the first time in January of this year.

By golly, that there is a *real* good prognosticator. Sonofabitch hit the mark twice in three years, making him one of the resident geniuses in a company sorely needing a huge infusion of cash these days. Why, if I didn't know better, I might even think this one guy's true belief in "spiking oil" could have an effect on the markets.

No way. Investors are much smarter than that.
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Image @ Purdue.edu
[More sheep-to-slaughter-governance below]

With almost no votes counted (again) the race is called in North Carolina. Being skeptical of numbers from news, I recommend the Indiana Elections Site. Updated as Counties report, the list as of this minute (5:12 pm PT) is mostly empty.

Enjoy the count. I think I'll just wait for morning . . .

RIA Novosti: Russia, U.S. to sign civilian nuclear cooperation pact Tues.
MOSCOW, May 6 - Russia and the United States will sign in Moscow on Tuesday an agreement on cooperation in the civilian nuclear sphere. . ."The agreement will be signed by Rosatom state nuclear corporation head Sergei Kiriyenko and U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns," an official said. .. The signing of the deal has been delayed for 20 years.

Image © RIA Novosti. Also see NTI's HEU pages.
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[For those following the eruption, here is a link to a hi-res NASA image of the Chaiten Volcano]

F William Engdahl/AsiaTimes: Speculators knock OPEC off oil-price perch
A June 2006 US Senate . . . report on "The Role of Market Speculation in rising oil and gas prices" noted, "... there is substantial evidence supporting the conclusion that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices".

Press Release/Levin-Coleman: Report Finds Speculation Adding To Oil Prices (6-27-2006)
The report recommends that Congress enact legislation to close a major loophole in federal oversight of oil and gas traders, slipped into law in 2000 at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders.

My guess is the odds of seeing anything more about closing that loophole are running just about zero. Right next to the odds you'll see anything more written about it anytime soon.

[Image @ Jurist "This Day At Law", 15 October 1914].
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Is the average American voter as ignorant as the political press would have us believe? Who knows? Guess we'll have to wait until Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, here's where the action seems to be in the mighty "blogosphere":

Technorati, 8:00 a.m. PDT:

6,776 results for gas tax holiday
19,609 results for Rev. Wright

Ignorance: another service offered free of charge by America's Political Press.