Skydiving Record

According to this Globe and Mail article, Michael Fournier, the Frenchman attempting to break the skydiving record, should have been back on the ground by 7 AM this morning if everything went according to plan. Searching around and I don't see any word yet.

Update: Ah-ha - postponed till tomorrow.

Finally

McCain rejects Hagee's extremism and his endorsement. And then tries to turn the focus back on Obama.

John McCain's Spiritual Advisors are Insane

Discuss.

Decemberists Mania

I think it's hilarious that right-wingers actually believe believe this.

The Market Hates Obama?

Quick, somebody give Larry Kudlow a lesson in correlation versus causation.

Vancouver in 1907

The earliest film footage of Vancouver has recently been rediscovered and cleaned up. You can see a preview at The Province website or order a copy of the DVD here. It looks pretty cool. The filmmaker attached his camera to the front of a downtown streetcar and just let it run basically. The city, although very young in 1907, seemed like a pretty happening place.

He's Eating My Brain

A Saanich man survives a Grizzly attack by playing dead. I love the fact that he fits in a complaint about road maintenance.

Obama in Portland

An estimated 50,000 people turn out. Doesn't hurt that it's a gorgeous day here in the Northwest.

Bicycling on Burrard Bridge

So yesterday I had to pick up my bike at a bikeshop at the intersection of Burrard and Pacific, and afterward I headed back Southbound across the Burrard Bridge on my bike. If you've walked or biked on that bridge, you know that cyclists and pedestrians are forced to share a very narrow walkway, and that said walkway is separated from traffic by a ledge of maybe 6 inches or so. Just after the halfway point of the bridge, as I was cycling alongside pedestrians on a sunny late afternoon, a jogger alongside me blindly moved from the pedestrian lane to the cycling lane in order to pass some walkers, failing to look behind him for cyclists. I was able to quickly swerve and he brushed my handlebars, and I didn't lose stability. But if his timing or my timing had been slightly different, I likely would have been body-checked into traffic. Since then, I've been fuming about how a careless jogger could have been responsible for me sustaining serious injuries or being killed.

I know that Vancouver has plans to put bicycle lanes on the Burrard Bridge sometime after the Olympics, but it's absolutely unacceptable that the current situation will be maintained in the interim. Since I'm fairly new to the city and luckily don't have to cross that bridge very often, I don't know how frequently such accidents occur, but a few seconds' Googling brought up this story:

Every day, hundreds of people cycle over the shared path on the Burrard Bridge, one of Vancouver's busiest. Jane Lister was one of them, until her commute home from work one day.

Halfway across the bridge, she swerved to avoid some pedestrians.

"My first memory is the sensation of a tube being pulled from my throat. I broke all the ribs on my left side, and had punctured and collapsed lungs. I fell into a mini van, and my head kind of got trapped between the car and the curb."

It may sound like just another accident between a cyclist and a car, but - in this case - neither was to blame. Instead, the problem was cyclists, pedestrians, dog-walkers and runners forced to share the same narrow path.

Her scenario was exactly the same as mine, except she was thrown into traffic and nearly killed. I agree that the blame is primarily due to the shared path, but a cyclist shouldn't have to suddenly swerve to avoid pedestrians on a shared path. Pedestrians need to stay on the pedestrian side of the walkway. But the city is responsible. Jane Lister sued the city and got a settlement. The city had been aware of the problem and hadn't done anything to remedy it. That was more than four years ago.

Polar Bears

Hey look, the US made the right decision.

Bullshit

I have to say, this is refreshing. Best bit:

“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has. His intelligence community pointed that out not me. The NIE has pointed that out and what are you talking about, is he going to fire Condi Rice? Condi Rice has talked about the need to sit down. So his first two appeasers are Rice and Gates. I hope he comes home and does something.”

Thanks, Joe.

Unassailable

It's all over except the concession. The MSM pundits are finally recognizing the fact that Obama's lead is unassailable. I predict Clinton withdraws by early next week.

NC and Indiana

It looks like Obama has won North Carolina by a very large margin and that Clinton will likely take Indiana with a very small margin, giving Obama a net pickup of delegates. This should be the moment Clinton sees the writing on the wall, but who knows at this point. It would be wonderful if she announced her withdrawal by the end of the week. Time for the real campaign.

Ben Stein

It's not every day that I get to agree with John Derbyshire, but he's right that this exchange between Ben Stein and a fellow creationist is shameful and appalling:

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [i.e. biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.

Crouch: That’s right.

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Crouch: Good word, good word.

Uni

In one fell swoop, BC suddenly has eleven universities. The new universities are Capilano University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, University of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island University, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. This seems like a great move to me, though somewhat at odds with educational funding cuts.

Shift Focus

I think this is a good strategy by the Obama team and probably should've been done earlier. Start targeting McCain, and leave Clinton to figure out that she can't win.

Saltbreakers

Though I'm a huge Laura Veirs fan, having seen her several times and owning three of her previous CDs, it's taken me this long to pick up Saltbreakers. My first impression is that it's very good - on par with the magnificient Carbon Glacier. She's in fine form. If anything, it might be even better than Carbon Glacier. While I love CG, it's pretty down-tempo and I have to be in the right mood. Saltbreakers has a groove that I didn't detect quite as much before.

Billy Gohl

This comic serial set in Grays Harbor, Washington seems kind of cool. Though I have to say, the author's introduction makes him seem like a bit of a poseur.

Superdelegates and Plain Old Delegates

Clinton:

We talk a lot about so-called pledged delegates, but every delegate is expected to exercise independent judgment.

In other words, Clinton is trying not only to woo superdelegates, but to convince all delegates that they should support her regardless of the vote counts in the states they represent. She really is trying to destroy the party.

Via.

My Nightmare Flight

Trans-Atlantic Ryanair:

And Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, the Irish no-frills carrier, has said he plans to start a new airline that will fly from secondary European markets like Liverpool or Birmingham to a half-dozen American cities like Baltimore or Providence, R.I., for a base fare as low as 10 euros, or about $16 at $1.59 to the euro.