Aside

NYT: Part of the Republicans’ difficulty in countering Mr. Obama, should they have to, is their own cynical racial politics. For the most part, race has been the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign despite the (largely) white press’s endless fretting about whether the Illinois senator is too white for black voters and too black for white voters. Most Americans aren’t racist, most Republicans included. (Those who are won’t vote for the Democratic presidential candidate even if it’s not…

One of the best things about the fact that Kevin Rudd was elected as Australia’s new Prime Minister is the scrapping of the “Pacific Solution” — an ominously-named plan that processed refugees seeking to come to Australia on offshore sites, including Nauru. The Age: Under the policy, which was introduced following the Tampa crisis in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election, asylum seekers intercepted before they reach the Australian mainland are processed at camps on Nauru and Manus Island,…

Big ups to NPR’s Nate DiMeo for this awesome story explaining ringtones and the tech behind T-Pain, a rapper that I’d never heard of. Apparently he makes up for one in three of this week’s Billboard Top 10 tracks. Listen to the piece here. (No, seriously. This piece works best as a piece of audio.) The money (har) quotes: “It’s his signature vocal sound, maybe more so than his actual voice, that has become one of the defining sounds in…

This time from Chrome Bags:

The FBI denies all knowledge of the falafel story: Having never heard of this, I spoke to the counterterrorism managers, who in the story were identified as having hatched the plan, as well as everyone else who would have had any knowledge of it. Nobody did. At one point in the story, writer Jeff Stein opines “as ridiculous as it sounds,” in reference to the alleged food monitoring plan, which reportedly was described to Mr. Stein by “well-informed sources.” In…

Big ups to my buddy Richard Morgan for his neat piece in this month’s issue of Wired, on how the rush for the Arctic may have implications for a similar rush on the moon: But what has gone unnoticed amid the international clamor is that the Arctic battle has implications that reach far beyond the top of Earth. The squabbling will be a prelude to — and even set the tone for — eventual sovereignty claims on the moon. At…

Oh yes, I’m back in The Economist. Capsule hotels Thinking small Nov 15th 2007 From The Economist print edition Hotels with tiny rooms, pioneered in Japan, are spreading and evolving WITH their tiny, cupboard-like rooms and prices as low as ¥2,000 ($18) a night, capsule hotels have existed in Japan since the 1980s, but have not caught on elsewhere. They have, however, helped to inspire a new breed of inexpensive, no-frills hotels outside Japan that are not quite as small…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on language lessons over Skype will be airing today. Will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern – WGBH – 89.7 FM –…

Paul Boutin links to this gem in this weekend’s WSJ: Some potential buyers are having second thoughts. Officials in Libya, who had planned to buy up to 1.2 million of the laptops, became concerned that the machines lacked Windows, and that service, teacher training and future upgrades might [therefore] become a problem. It now sells for $188, plus shipping. The higher price has made the laptop vulnerable to competition. Taiwanese, Indian and Israeli sellers of inexpensive Windows laptop see the…

Kennedy pointed out that the sweet new video to “Joe Metro” debuted this week on MTV. You guys are coming on December 16, right?