Floridation

Today's Washington Post has two stories that seem to be linked:

Florida Appears to Be Losing Its Sunny Magnetism - washingtonpost.com

At Least 3 Dead in Fla. 50-Car Pileup - washingtonpost.com

Personally, I've been wondering for years when people would figure out that moving to Florida was a bad idea.  Dave Barry has been warning everyone for years, but still, they keep coming.  I guess Detroit and Cleveland must be worse than I thought.

Blogging in Japan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120502751.html

"Bloggers here shy away from politics and barbed language. They rarely trumpet their expertise. While Americans blog to stand out, the Japanese do it to fit in, blogging about small stuff: cats and flowers, bicycles and breakfast, gadgets and TV stars. Compared with Americans, they write at less length, they write anonymously, and they write a whole lot more often."

I like this approach to blogging.  It seems less like noise.  Although I suspect that Japanese blogs are also missing any kind of edge -- sarcasm, cynicism, criticism.  No "isms" at all.

Makes me think of William Gibson's views of Japan -- a nation of people who are totally wired and, on the surface, very happy and conformist.  But under the surface is tension, violence and a deep seated dissatisfaction with the way things are.  I wonder if any of the Yakuza have blogs?

Current Research

Good Morning, and welcome to the Institute for Further Studies, where further study always requires additional funding.

This morning, we are looking into several interesting news stories which may offer the opportunity for further study and additional funding.

First, there is the disturbing report that divorce is bad for the environment.  It would appear that the researchers are assuming that two can live as cheaply as one.  Clearly, these people have never been married.  Moreover, there is a disturbing suggestion that this is yet another attempt to force an outmoded morality on the majority of Americans, making them stay married in order to thwart environmental disaster.  An alternative hypothesis would be that a bad marriage is an environmental disaster in itself -- think of the extra liquor bottles and increased consumption of prescription drugs -- that is best ended as soon as possible.  Further study is called for.

In addition, there are news stories that suggest the government has been wrong, about several major issues in both foreign and domestic affairs.  This will be news to many Americans and should be investigated carefully.  Other news stories claim that the television season is in danger because of a writer's strike.  This suggests that many television shows actually have writers -- an unsubstantiated claim that would appear to be false.  Further study is called for.

Finally, it appears that the attempt to claim a national championship in college football is failing this year due to the lack of a playoff system and because many top teams are losing games.  Clearly, someone must be to blame -- probably a coach -- but once again, further study will be required to tease out all the different options and possibilities.