Oh yeah, and get out and vote tomorrow, August 14th!

I just saw Romney and Ryan in Waukesha this evening (see post above), and I did notice the same thing.  I assume that it's always going to happen to some degree in a VP candidate's home state, but I think that the attention and enthusiasm is likely to continue outside of Wisconsin.  I'm not sure it's necessarily a problem, though.  To some degree, it's the inevitable result of using a VP pick to broaden one's appeal -- some are going to be more enthusiastic about the VP than the top of the ticket. I think that's probably okay. I mean, nobody who's wild about Ryan but unsure about Romney is going to vote for Obama instead, right?

No, that one's pure English.  From Kipling's Just So Stories, "The Elephant's Child":

Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake came down from the bank, and knotted himself in a double-clove-hitch round the Elephant's Child's hind legs, and said, 'Rash and inexperienced traveller, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high tension, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-war with the armour-plated upper deck' (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the Crocodile), 'will permanently vitiate your future career.

That is the way all Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk.

Regarding the specific question about biblical translations, I've studied issues and principles of translation specifically in the context of translating the Greek New Testament. I went into those studies  excited to figure out which English translation was "best". I came out impressed by how very good most of them are, and considerably less worried about having the right one. Generally, I think ESV does a fine job balancing a fairly "tight" translation with readable English for everyday reading and study.  And the KJV Psalms are a treasure of English literature in their own right.

I believe that genuinely great translation of literature is certainly possible, but we often neglect to recognize that translation is a literary act in itself. A translation is like making a Venn diagram with puzzle pieces: one or another might overlap the original more or less perfectly, but none is an exact match. The translator's job is to prioritize which aspects of the original are most important to carry across to the reader, since the limits of language impose tradeoffs (most obviously: technical accuracy vs conveyance of humor or poetic nuance).

For books you're simply interested in enjoying for their own sake, I think you've taken the right approach by soliciting reviews and recommendations.  In cases where you're more invested in the original text (the Bible is the obvious case here), I think there's nothing for it but to read a number of translations (into as many languages as you do read) to get an understanding of how they overlap.

I don't know if I actually do prefer Huntsman to Perry.  I'm still in the process of thinking things through, and I'm with Mollie in trying to figure out why we've all written Huntsman off.
Just off the cuff, though, the big thing I would like about Huntsman vs Perry is his experience and genuine interest in international affairs.

That's entirely fair, of course.

Well, we can fault him for taking a position in the Obama administration, but do we really expect him then not to be cordial to Obama or Clinton?  Maybe he was gushing more than strictly necessary, but it's not like he congratulated either on policy.

I don't know that Huntsman's my candidate, but I also don't understand the rush to count every valid mark against him as automatically disqualifying.  Particularly considering the competition.

The classes in my current program of study are all ruthlessly curved, which I agree is an excellent preventative against grade inflation.  Or would be, except that our curves are set such that the class mean is an AB (effectively an A-/B+).  First year students are reassured "you can't get lower than a B" so regularly that a student wag recently wrote a song of the same title and performed it for our visiting prospective students.

I don't get it either, Mollie.  As far as I can tell, his most serious substantive fault is the AGW thing, and it's not like he's the only one who's fallen to the temptation to pander on this issue.

I don't see much video of the candidates, so I may just be missing whatever mannerisms are engendering such a visceral dislike from many of the Ricochetoisie.  The important question to me is whether Joe or Jane Independent Voter has the same reaction. 

I just pray that whoever is going to end up in charge takes charge, and quickly.  The alternatives are painful to consider.

My own suspicion is that, in the face of complete collapse of the DPRK, the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the only institution positioned to stabilize North Korea.  And while North Korea as a PRC colony isn't anyone's ideal, it would almost certainly be an improvement for the North Korean people.

Kim was a monster, but few individual monsters are capable of the devastation that genuine anarchy can bring.  Here's praying someone manages to take incontrovertible control, and quickly.

Anecdotal or otherwise, babies mean hope for the future. Including the ones named Muhammad.

Not likely to get very far in municipalities like New York and Oakland, that's probably true.  Elsewhere, we'll see.  The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana is facing a lawsuit from citizens who paid to rent a park pavilion the mayor's office later allowed Occupy Fort Wayne to use for free.  (Full disclosure: we celebrated our wedding reception in that pavilion, so my in-laws may be party to the suit).  A Tea Party group eventually evicted the occupiers by renting the pavilion themselves.

What do I think of these hacks?  They're despicable.  Whatever one's opinion of the War on Drugs (I'm mixed) there are legitimate ways to support its end, and this doesn't qualify.  Leaking identifying information about informants will get innocent people killed. I sure hope that if any member of LulzSec is brought to court, that the justice system treats them as someone who was willing to kill to advance their political agenda.

As for preventing this sort of issue, as wilber forge points out, effective data security is difficult and expensive.  Not impossible, but it's just one of many concerns that agencies have to balance, so breaches will happen.

My take is that this is where law enforcement has to come in.  Legislatures need to consider the applicable law and make sure that law enforcement has the necessary capabilities to investigate these actions, and that the penalties are commensurate with the seriousness of the crimes.

What finalized the decision for me was my time in Iraq after the Status of Forces Agreement restricted our operations, reading report after report about the new power plants, new water treatment plants and new roads that Iraqi, Turkish, and Indian businessmen were building in our province.  And you can bet they were making good money doing it.