Bringing Down The House

In the world of the performing arts, bringing down the house is a good thing. It means you turned in a world-class performance. In the real world, it might mean something else. Like maybe the snow just collapsed you home or business. Which is what has been happening in Idaho today.

DENVER - A powerful storm system pounded a large swath of the nation Tuesday, spawning everything from heavy snow and numbing cold to thunderstorms and possible tornadoes, and forecasters warned more bad weather was on the way.
 
High winds associated with thunderstorms may have killed two people in Indiana, authorities said. Snow forced the closure of schools and highways in many areas, and avalanche warnings were issued for some Western mountainous regions.

Authorities received phone text messages from at least two snowmobilers lost in the mountains west of Denver on Tuesday but weren't sure whether a third missing man was with them.

Summit County sheriff's spokeswoman Paulette Horr said searchers believed they were closing in on the men's location but were having trouble deciphering the shorthand language used in the messages.

"They're really close," Horr said.

Efforts were delayed by bad weather and avalanche danger, Horr said.

About 3 feet of snow has fallen in the area since Sunday morning, said Kyle Fredin of the National Weather Service. Snow began to taper off Tuesday, but up to a foot more was expected before the weekend, Fredin said.

The system also dragged bitterly cold air across the northern Plains, with the Weather Service reporting a midday temperature of minus 24 at Glasgow, Mont. North Dakota registered wind chill factors of minus 54 at Garrison, with an actual low of minus 24 at Williston.

"Now's when you need to have your winter survival kit," North Dakota Highway Patrol Sgt. Aaron Hummel said.

Heavy snow Monday pummeled mountain areas from Washington state to northern Arizona as two storms converged, one from hard-hit California and another from the Gulf of Alaska, meteorologists said.

"It's very unusual," said Doug Abromeit, director of the U.S. Forest Service's National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho. "Typically the storm is not this widespread."

Those storms were followed Tuesday by a third that threatened up to 20 inches of snow in Idaho's mountains into Wednesday, said Jay Breidenbach of the Weather Service office in Boise.

A fourth storm was on the way. "By Thursday, the next storm will be right on our doorstep. This is quite a storm system," Breidenbach said.

Snow collapsed the roofs of several businesses Monday in northern Idaho, while avalanches forced the evacuation of dozens of homes. There were no injuries.

Where I am it is bitterly cold and dropping (rapidly) with high winds that make it feel even worse. We have only had a small amount of snow, but it is evil outside right now. The last puppy walk was a race to see who could get back inside first (she won - I let her - she's still little). It has been a really cold and nasty winter here in the Midwest.

McCain Takes Florida

CNN projects that John McCain has won the Florida Republican primary.

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain will win the Florida Republican primary, CNN projects based on election results and exit polling, edging out rival Mitt Romney.

The results could deliver a fatal blow to the campaign of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was a distant third as results came in Tuesday night.

While Giuliani didn't say he was withdrawing from the race, he did speak of his campaign in the past tense at one point.

"I'm proud I ran a positive campaign," he told supporters. "I ran a campaign that was uplifting."

With 76 percent of Republican precincts reporting, McCain held a 36-31 percent lead over Romney. Giuliani had 15 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who held 14 percent.

A top campaign official from McCain's camp has been in "ongoing discussions" with Giuliani's campaign about endorsing McCain's candidacy, a GOP official familiar with talks told CNN Tuesday.

A source close to Giuliani confirmed that discussions were taking place and said there is talk among the staff that an endorsement could come Wednesday in California. The source said McCain and Giuliani need to talk, but "we are working to make it happen."

"Tonight, my friends, we celebrate. Tomorrow, it's back to work," McCain said as he claimed victory. "We have a ways to go, but we're getting close, and for that, you all have my profound thanks."

The Associated Press is reporting that Rudy Giuliani will drop out of the race and endorse McCain.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rudy Giuliani, who bet his presidential hopes on Florida only to come in third, prepared to quit the race Tuesday and endorse his friendliest rival, John McCain.

The former New York mayor stopped short of announcing he was stepping down, but delivered a valedictory speech that was more farewell than fight-on.

Giuliani finished a distant third to winner McCain and second-place finisher Mitt Romney. Republican officials said Giuliani would endorse McCain on Wednesday in California. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the public announcement.

"The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign, it goes on and you continue to fight for it," Giuliani said, as supporters with tight smiles crowded behind him. "We ran a campaign that was uplifting."

It's beginning to look like McCain might take it.

Drive Bay PC

No, not a typo. I didn't mean a drive-by and am not referring to political correctness. How about a fully functional personal computer, internet ready, that will fit into a drive bay of your regular desktop PC? With a motherboard about the size of a credit card?

I've built my share of small-form-factor PCs over the years, but Via's new Artigo kit is by far the tiniest–and most interesting–I've laid hands on. The $300 bare-bones kit provides the starter hardware for a fully functional PC that's small enough to fit in a desktop PC's 5.25-inch drive bay, opening up a world of geeky possibilities.

The Artigo is based on Via's Pico-ITX motherboard form factor. Via has been pushing this mobo format–which is slightly larger than a credit card–as an alternative to bigger products that use AMD's and Intel's notably faster processors. The Epia PX-branded motherboard included here uses Via's VX700 chip set and UniChrome Pro II graphics chip. The Artigo kit also includes a preinstalled 1-GHz Via C7 NanoBGA2 processor and fan.

The Epia PX is a marvel of miniaturization. Within its 10cm-by-7.2cm confines Via manages to cram in everything from a SODIMM socket (underneath) to an ethernet controller with an RJ45 jack (in the back) and support for four USB ports (up front). Oh, and you also get PATA and SATA connectors, as well as audio jacks for speakers and a microphone.

The kit retails for under $300 (one vendor is here). While the geek in me screams for one of these, the practical me says, "What in heck do I need another computer for?" On the third hand, so to speak, VIA mentions that they supply Linux drivers. Uh oh.

I wonder what I could use as a peace offering for my wife……

Played

New Hampshire - or at least one of their leading newspapers - just figured out something. Hillary Clinton lies.

COURTING VOTERS in Iowa and New Hampshire, last August Sen. Hillary Clinton signed a pledge not to "campaign or participate" in the Michigan or Florida Democratic primaries. She participated in both primaries and is campaigning in Florida. Which proves, again, that Hillary Clinton is a liar.

Clinton kept her name on the Michigan ballot when others removed theirs, she campaigned this past weekend in Florida, and she is pushing to seat Michigan and Florida delegates at the Democratic National Convention. The party stripped those states of delegates as punishment for moving up their primary dates.

"I will try to persuade my delegates to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida," Clinton said last week, after the New Hampshire primaries and Iowa caucuses were safely over.

Clinton coldly and knowingly lied to New Hampshire and Iowa. Her promise was not a vague statement. It was a signed pledge with a clear and unequivocal meaning.

The editorial concludes that New Hampshire voters were played for suckers.

Well, yeah. That is what the Clintons do, folks. They have been getting away with it for years now. And some  - heck, many - people who know they are being played continue to allow it. Kind of sad when you think of it. Anyway, further thoughts (universally negative toward Clinton ones) from Captain's Quarters, The Opinionator, Comments from Left Field, Hot Air, The American Mind, Political Machine, The Field, UrbanGrounds and The Nation, via Memeorandum.

High Irony

This is funny on a number of levels. At the same time that anti-tobacco fever has gripped many people, there has been a rise in the number of people screaming for the legalization of marijuana. Many of the same people who cheerfully advocate the denial of rights to smokers are the loudest proponents of the currently illegal marijuana. It's a public health issue, they say. So what if marijuana turned out to be more harmful than tobacco?

Oh, wait. It just did.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an "epidemic" of lung cancers linked to cannabis.
 
Studies in the past have demonstrated that cannabis can cause cancer, but few have established a strong link between cannabis use and the actual incidence of lung cancer.

In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.

The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled. The cannabis smoker inhales more deeply and for longer, facilitating the deposition of carcinogens in the airways.

"Cannabis smokers end up with five times more carbon monoxide in their bloodstream (than tobacco smokers)," team leader Richard Beasley, at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, said in a telephone interview.

"There are higher concentrations of carcinogens in cannabis smoke … what is intriguing to us is there is so little work done on cannabis when there is so much done on tobacco."

The researchers interviewed 79 lung cancer patients and sought to identify the main risk factors for the disease, such as smoking, family history and occupation. The patients were questioned about alcohol and cannabis consumption.

In this high-exposure group, lung cancer risk rose by 5.7 times for patients who smoked more than a joint a day for 10 years, or two joints a day for 5 years, after adjusting for other variables, including cigarette smoking.

"While our study covers a relatively small group, it shows clearly that long-term cannabis smoking increases lung cancer risk," wrote Beaseley.

Yes, it is a really small study and the results are, at best, questionable until the results are replicated. But there still is an element of high irony. Pun indented.

Rocking The Insect World

A new species of beetle has been named to honor a rock and roll icon and his widow.

A new species of beetle that appears as if wearing a tuxedo has been named in honor of the late rock 'n' roll legend Roy Orbison and his widow Barbara.

Entomologist Quentin Wheeler of Arizona State University announced the discovery and naming of the beetle, now dubbed Orectochilus orbisonorum, during a Roy Orbison Tribute Concert on Jan. 25.

The ending of the species name, "orum," denotes it was named after a couple. If the beetle were just named after Roy it would end in "i," and for just Barbara, the name would end in "ae."

Barbara Orbison, who attended the concert along with Orbison's sons Wesley and Roy Kelton Orbison Jr., remarked on her appreciation for the new species name. "I have never seen an honor like that," she said.

To mark the occasion, Wheeler presented Barbara with an original work of art titled “Whirligig." Completed by ASU scientist and artist Charles J. Kazilek, the painting included nine images of a whirligig beetle on cotton watercolor paper.

Well, it certainly is unusual. One wonders when the first album will be in stores.

Being A Zombie Has Its Advantages

A Polish man has found out that there is a big advantage to being dead: zombies pay no taxes in Poland.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Red tape is preventing a Polish man from returning from the dead.
 
Piotr Kucy, 38 and from the city of Polkowice in southwest Poland, was wrongly identified by authorities last August as a drowned man, only to show up a few days after his own funeral.

Despite pointing out the fact that he was alive to government officials, Kucy still remains dead in official records, stopping him from working and paying social insurance.

But on the bright side, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday, he no longer needs to pay taxes.

The government refuses to acknowledge that Kucy exists, even when he talks to them in person. Meanwhile, on hearing about this development, Charlie "Tax 'Em Higher" Rangel of the House Ways and Means Committee has vowed to close the "Zombie Loophole" in the US. Well, that's what we heard, anyway.

Old Man Winter Returns. And He’s Very Angry.

The Midwest caught a short break from the icy winter conditions that have gripped the region for months now. But that has ended today as a massive cold front has moved into the region. Folks on the East Coast can look forward to this fast-moving arctic blast arriving in the next few days. Temperatures in the Midwest have plummeted very rapidly, accompanied by extremely high winds with gusts as high as 70mph recorded in a number of places. The wind chill is brutal out there right now.

A temporary warm surge in the East will quickly be replaced by frigid temperatures as a potent low pressure system in the Midwest moves to the east today. The clash of rain and the cold air mass in the East this morning has produced a dangerous mix of rain and ice.

Warm air on Monday pushed north into the Plains and Midwest ahead of a cold front descending from Canada.  Storm-related watches, warnings and advisories are in effect today across virtually all of the country east of the Rockies.

The Severe Weather Center lists wind advisories that spread from the Rockies across the central and southern Plains to the East Coast, as well as the winter weather and storm advisories in effect today across the northern Plains and the Midwest.

There were record temperatures set Monday in the Plains and Midwest, while strong winds along and behind the cold front created dangerous RealFeel® temperatures. The morning low temperature on Monday in Rapid City, S.D., was 44 degrees. Roughly 350 miles to the north, in Williston, N.D., the RealFeel® temperature on Monday plunged to -46 degrees.

To the west, massive snowfalls are wreaking havoc:

BOISE, Idaho - Heavy snow pummeled Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Washington, leaving thousands without power, causing widespread havoc on roads and even overwhelming one ski resort.
 
The snowfall led to the collapse Monday of several roofs at businesses in northern Idaho, while avalanches forced the evacuations of dozens of homes. There were no injuries.

About 20 inches of snow fell around Coeur d'Alene. "They got clobbered," John Livingston, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said of residents in that northern city.

The storm system arrived from California and combined with another emerging from the Gulf of Alaska, stalling over eastern Washington and northern Idaho, said Livingston.

Forecasters predicted a new storm could roll in on Tuesday, bringing another 1 to 3 inches of snow in low-lying areas of Idaho and 2 to 4 inches in the mountains.

The snow closed Coeur d'Alene schools on Monday, marking the first time since November 1996 that the city's schools closed because of a winter storm, officials said. School districts canceled classes in several other communities.

In China, the country is in serious trouble, so much so that China's premier, Wen Jiabao actually picked up a bullhorn to try to quiet furious, stranded travelers.

BEIJING (AFP) - Premier Wen Jiabao rushed Tuesday to oversee disaster relief as China buckled under its harshest winter for half a century, which has affected tens of millions of people and paralysed many areas.
 
The heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures across China have left around 50 dead, ravaged power supplies and hit millions of people trying to go home for the main holiday of the year.

A total of 77.9 million people have been affected by the weather which has covered a swathe of China stretching from Xinjiang in the northwest to Fujian in the southeast, various state newspapers reported.

Wen travelled to Changsha, capital of central Hunan province which has been particularly badly hit, where he met senior officials, chatted with travellers at the train station and inspected repair work on power lines downed by the weight of ice.

"First of all we need to get the electricity running, then it won't take much time for everyone to be able to go home and pass the Lunar New Year," Wen said over a megaphone as crowds gathered at the train station applauded, state television reported.

His journey underlined the extent of the problem — he flew out of Beijing on Monday but had to land at an airport in the neighbouring province of Hubei, finally reaching Changsha by train.

Still more about the wild winter weather at ICECAP.

Washington Backlash For Clinton

The Politico is casting Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama as part of a Washington liberal establishment backlash against the Clintons and their vitriolic politics.

In September 1998, Greg Craig, a lion of the Washington legal community, left a top job at the State Department to go to the White House to help Bill Clinton fight impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

One of his first stops was to an old Democratic friend, Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who warned him what he was stepping into: “You’re about three days away from a delegation of senior Democrats coming up there to ask the president to resign.”

That anecdote, recounted in Peter Baker’s history of the impeachment saga, came echoing back to mind in recent days.

Washington’s liberal establishment — members of Congress, fundraisers and commentators — has coalesced around the view that Bill Clinton is soiling his legacy and wounding Hillary Rodham Clinton’s prospects as he rambles around the country in a peevish, piece-of-my-mind monologue ostensibly devoted to helping her win the Democratic nomination.

Conrad was one of the first Democratic senators to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Craig, who once worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), is now a senior adviser to Obama. Over the past week, he played an important behind-the-scenes role in facilitating the Democratic race’s latest thunderclap: Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama for president.

Kennedy has been supportive of both Clintons in the past. But, according to advisers who have spoken with him, Kennedy was motivated to publicly bless Obama in part because he was offended by what he regarded as Clinton’s divisive and distorted arguments against his wife’s chief rival.

I do not recall anyone predicting the kind of divisions that are now showing up in the Democratic party. The conventional wisdom was that the monolithic Democrats would beat heck out of the fragmented Republicans. But that was before the Clinton's unleashed their viciousness on one of the Democrat's own. The game has changed and some of these divisions will be deep and lasting. The Politico reports that anti-Clinton rhetoric is escalating in Washington liberal circuits and becoming increasingly bitter.

Press Ignores Earmarks

This is interesting. Two different takes on last night's State of the Union speech from the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post - neither of which so much as hints at the executive order that Bush will sign blocking the air dropping of earmarks by Congress. WSJ first:

In Ronald Reagan's last year in office, he traveled to Moscow for a summit and signed arms deals. In Bill Clinton's final year, he negotiated to the very end before failing to get a Mideast peace deal thanks to Yasser Arafat's duplicity.

We cite our most recent two-term Presidents to show that, even with only a year left, the Bush Presidency is far from over. With his low approval rating and a Democratic Congress, Mr. Bush's final State of the Union last night reflected his limited ability to shape legislation. But even a lame duck President has more power to influence events than anyone else on the planet.

That's especially true on foreign policy, where he can do much in the next year to aid his successor. In the war against al Qaeda, that means insisting that Congress formally endorse the need for anti-terror wiretaps without a court order. Only yesterday Senate Democrats bowed to the anti-antiterror left in refusing to vote on legislation that has already passed the Senate Intelligence Committee. (See related article.) Some of Mr. Bush's own Cabinet officers will also urge him to close the al Qaeda prison at Guantanamo this year, in part to win media hosannas. But this is a decision better left to a successor, who will want to weigh the choices of how best to handle stateless enemy combatants and may find Gitmo the least bad option.

In other words, Bush is doing pretty much the same thing as every president does in the last year of their administration: wrap things up. The WaPo, however, appears to think this is somehow different than any other outgoing president:

Gone were the grand dreams of remaking Social Security, immigration law or the tax code. In their place were modest initiatives, such as hiring preferences for military spouses. The economic package targeted tax breaks to low- and middle-class workers. And the foreign policy stressed Middle East peacemaking and diplomacy with rogue nations.

President Bush took office with so much derision for the outgoing president that critics defined his attitude toward governing as ABC — "anything but Clinton." He would not play "small ball," he declared, nor would he coddle North Korea or waste time mediating between the Israelis and Arabs. But as he delivered his final State of the Union address last night, Bush increasingly appeared to be adopting some of his predecessor's approach.

Isn't revisionist history a handy thing? Clinton's approach was very similar in his last year, as was Reagan's. The bottom line is that a president loses much of his clout in the final year. But Bush is standing firm with earmarks - which is a big deal. Yet both papers manage to give that development no mention at all. Interesting.