What Caught My Eye Today - Political Campaigns, Globetrotting, Supreme Court and the Kilogram

Political Campaigns - John Sununu, a top surrogate to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, issued a withering attack against President Barack Obama accusing him and his campaign of being "a bunch of liars" for their attacks on the presumptive GOP nominee. Is it just me or can you not say Sununu without giggling just a little bit? Obama's campaign is on record for suggesting Romney might have committed a "felony" for misstating his role at Bain Capital back in 1999. Sununu issued a nearly equal counterpunch, telling reporters Obama "comes out of that murky political world in Chicago where politician and felony has become synonymous." Sununu added, "I am shocked that the president introduced the word 'felon' into the political discourse." That's the ticket. Rather than take the high road, why don't we just pile on the hyperbole. What are we...like five? Later Sununu said, "I wish this president would learn how to be an American." When asked to clarify what he meant by that statement, Sununu explained he only meant that he wished Obama would adopt the "American formula" for creating businesses and introducing an environment where "entrepreneurs can thrive." I'm sort of surprised he didn't trip over himself what with all that backpedaling. When asked to respond to Sununu's statements, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign said the Romney campaign "has officially gone off the deep end." Does this sort of remind you of that time in first grade on the playground when Sally called Tommy a "poo-poo head" and Tommy replied by saying "I know you are, but what am I?" Christ, it's not even August yet. We still have almost 5 more months of this nonsense.

Globetrotting - Since becoming secretary of state in 2009, Hillary Clinton has logged 351 days on the road, traveled to 102 countries and flown a whopping 843,839 miles, according to the State Department. So like are those anytime miles or are they subject to blackout periods? Clinton just completed a 13-day journey of 27,000 miles (about 2,000 miles more than the circumference of the Earth) visiting France, Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Egypt and Israel. Damn. She got more stamps in her passport in one trip than I have in my entire life. Clinton broke the previous record last month, eclipsing Madeleine Albright's total of 98, when she traveled to Finland for number 99 and then hit the 100 mark in Latvia. You know, it is sort of a shame that Hillary is already on record as saying she won't sign on for a second stint as Secretary of State should Obama win a second term. She certainly seems to have a knack for it. I wonder what she's going to do with all that free time? Then again...2016 is only 4 short years from now.

Supreme Court - Here's a shocking revelation from our friends at Gallup.The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, anchored by Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion, has apparently caused a major shift in Republicans' and Democrats' views of both the court and Roberts. Whereas Republicans were initially highly favorable toward Roberts in 2005, when he was considered a conservative justice appointed by a conservative Republican president, their opinions are now more negative than positive. Democrats, initially evenly split in their views of Roberts, now appear to be big fans, with a +35 net favorable over unfavorable rating. Wow. I'm stunned. The guys that Roberts sided with like him more than they did while the other guys like him less. Who would have thought such a thing possible? Seriously, we needed a poll for this?

Kilogram - We Americans mock the metric system more than we probably should. After all, we are one of the few countries that does not use this as our primary system of measurement. That said, maybe that isn't such a bad thing. Turns out, all is not well in the metric world. Hidden in a vault outside Paris, vacuum-sealed under three bell jars, sits a palm-sized metal cylinder known as the International Prototype Kilogram, or "Le Grand K." That's right, this is no ordinary K; it's Le Grand K. I love the French. Forged in 1879 from an alloy of platinum and iridium, it was hailed as the "perfect" kilogram, the gold standard by which other kilograms would be judged. Not to split hairs, but if its made of platinum and iridium, shouldn't it be called the platinum-iridium standard? Gold just seems to cheapen it, don't you think? At its most recent weigh-in in 1988, it was found to be 0.05 milligrams—about the weight of a grain of sand, lighter than its underling replicas. If you are anything like me, your reaction to this story can probably be summed up in two words--Who cares? Turns out this is sort of a big deal. It’s bad news when your standard is no longer standardized. While no one’s worried whether a single kilogram of apples is a hair lighter or heavier at the produce stand, a small discrepancy can become a gargantuan one if you’re dealing with, say, a whole tanker of wheat. The kilogram is also used as a building block in other measurements. The joule, for instance, is the amount of energy required to move a one-kilogram weight one meter. The candela, a measure of the brightness of light, is measured in joules per second. If the kilogram is flawed, so are the joule and candela, which could eventually cause problems in an array of industries, particularly in technology. Hold the phone. You're not telling me that Le Grand K is going to screw with the Privacy Settings on my Facebook account? That crap is already hard enough to manage. Forget what I said earlier. I hate the French.