What Caught My Eye Today

2008 Presidential Race - Republican John McCain said his South Carolina win gives him momentum heading into the next big battle in Florida. McCain bested Mike Huckabee in a South Carolina fight that focused on the economy. Mitt Romney cruised to victory in the little-contested GOP Nevada caucuses. Democrat Hillary Clinton claimed the Nevada vote as a victory. She captured the popular vote, but Barack Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12. John Edwards, who finished a distant third, said his campaign will continue. "I got my butt kick is what happened in Nevada." Well the GOP is still a crap shoot, but on the Democratic side, one has to believe that we're down to a two horse race at this point (sorry, John). And is it just me, or do there some sort of conspiracy against the Democrat how gets the popular vote but still manages to lose? What is all this nonsense about Clinton winning the popular vote, but Obama winning more delegates. Didn't we go through the same sort of deal back in 2004 in Florida?

Britain - For the first time since 1885, Britain's standard of living, measured by per capita gross domestic product, is poised to overtake that of the U.S. The pound's strength against the dollar accounts for about 75% of Britain's gain. Looser rules on hiring and firing workers, the creation of an independent central bank and lower corporate taxes have also helped close the gap in the past decade. The U.S. still tops Britain when it comes to purchasing power. If you all were wondering why the U.S. has such a large trade deficit its to prop up that purchasing power ranking. Seeing as the dollar is in the crapper, we have to rely on cheap imports to maintain our position on the purchasing power rankings. Nothing like a little smoke and mirrors to show how prosperous the U.S. economy is.

Pakistan - The United Nation's nuclear chief said that he was 'worried' that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of extremists, given the uncertainty over that country's upcoming elections. Two former Pakistani military intelligence officials said that President Pervez Musharraf does not have control of the militants and that Pakistani intelligence has lost influence over the Islamist militants that it propped up during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Now hold on here just one cotton-picking minute. Pakistan cannot do this to the U.S. We need to focus our attention on Iran which, despite being several years away for developing a nuclear weapon, represents a far more dangerous situation than Pakistan does with the 100 or so nuclear bombs it already has. Didn't Musharraf get the memo?

Mercury - Just as a point of clarification, I'm referring to the planet, not the chemical that contaminates most of the fish that we consume. Also, I don't have anything witty to say about this item. I just happen to think this stuff is fascinating. You can move on to the next item if you like. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging probe (or MESSENGER for short) is a NASA spacecraft, launched August 3, 2004 to study the characteristics and environment of Mercury. This week the probe passed within 125 miles of Mercury's surface. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are terrestrial (rocky) planets. Among these, Mercury is an extreme: the smallest, the densest (after correcting for self-compression), the one with the oldest surface, the one with the largest daily variations in surface temperature, and the least explored.

Crime - A catalytic converter is an anti-pollution device located on the exhaust system of every car and truck. For small-time thieves, 'cat cons' are becoming a quick and easy payday. Police are reporting a surge in cat-con thefts, because each one contains a few grams of platinum, which has skyrocketed in price from $500 an ounce in 200 to more than $1500 today. Criminals need only a minute to slip under a vehicle, remove the bulky part with wrenches or saws and disappear. They then sell the cat cons to salvage yards for between $25 and $200. You do have to give the criminal population some props for continually coming up with ways to make a buck. You know, maybe if we employed a couple of these enterprising individuals in the federal government we could avoid the economic downturn that appears to be looming. Clearly, the 'crooks' that are currently in Washington don't seem to be capable of doing anything.

Ethanol - Critics say the federal government is foolishly subsidizing the ethanol industry, since studies show that corn ethanol actually takes more energy to make and deliver than it produces. According to a new University of Nebraska study, ethanol could be a useful alternative fuel if it was made from prairie grass instead of corn. Biofuel made from prairie grass and wood chips is called cellulosic ethanol and has many advantages over corn ethanol, including that it emits less greenhouse gas when it is burned and that it doesn't raise corn prices to the developing world. The biggest obstacle is that there are no biorefineries built to process cellulosic material. How much do you want to bet that Nebraska has a surplus of prairie grass that it wants to cash in on. Too bad these guys didn't hire the same lobbyists that the Iowan corn farmers did. Seriously though, if cellulosic ethanol has as much upside as researchers claim, we should do something about it. You know, like move up the Nebraska primary to January 2 in the presidential election in 2012.

Tennis - I spoke too soon about my success. Not 10 minutes after I bragged about how my picks were still alive at the Australian Open, Svetlana Kuznetsova crashed and burned in the third round. However, I still have at least 2 picks into the quarterfinals (Justine Henin and Serena Williams). Over on the men's side, Rafael Nadal has already booked himself into the quarters. But the real story was an epic matchup between #15 Marcos Baghdatis and #19 Lleyton Hewitt. The home favorite beat Baghdatis in a titanic 5-set battle that did not end until 4.33am local time on Sunday, the latest finish in a grand-slam event. Also in the men's draw, James Blake and Roger Federer both survives their own 5-set tests to make it into the fourth round.

Football - The conference championships take place later today. My picks are rather boring. I've got the New England Patriots over the San Diego Chargers in the AFC title game and the Green Bay Packers over the New York Giants in the NFC title game. In my defense, who wouldn't want to see Brett Favre take on the Patriots in the Superbowl?