Sun's low magnetic activity may portend an ice age Sun's low magnetic activity may portend an ice age

Brits at their Best: Sun's low magnetic activity may portend an ice age

The Canadian Space Agency’s radio telescope has been reporting Flux Density Values so low they will mean a mini ice age if they continue.

Uh oh. Has anyone told Al Gore about this yet?

The Lewinsky Decade The Lewinsky Decade

Best of the Web Today: The Lewinsky Decade starts out: "Ten years ago today came the most interesting Drudge missive:"

BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT

**World Exclusive**

**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**

At the last minute, at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, NEWSWEEK magazine killed a story that was destined to shake official Washington to its foundation: A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States!

The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that reporter Michael Isikoff developed the story of his career, only to have it spiked by top NEWSWEEK suits hours before publication. A young woman, 23, sexually involved with the love of her life, the President of the United States, since she was a 21-year-old intern at the White House. She was a frequent visitor to a small study just off the Oval Office where she claims to have indulged the president's sexual preference. Reports of the relationship spread in White House quarters and she was moved to a job at the Pentagon, where she worked until last month.

The rest is history. Bill Clinton was impeached, but not convicted. Monica's name became synonymous with oral sex. Hillary is running for president. The Republicans are in trouble. And Drudge is still one of the most reviled names on the left of the blogosphere, while Republican candidate Mitt Romney admitted checking it out a couple of times a day.

The Economics of Marriage The Economics of Marriage

Interesting article by the Undercover Economist, Tim Harford: The Economics of Marriage. This should be read in concert with the previous article by Megan McArdle: No Country for Young Men. Together, the two articles make a lot of sense out of marriage, divorce, sex, college, and the pill.

One of the interesting points here is the viewing of marriage through the lens of comparative advantage, and going all the way back to Adam Smith's pin makers. He posits that one of the reasons that we had stay-at-home moms for so long was that women had a comparative advantage in child raising, and that the combined wealth of both in a marriage was (often significantly) higher when the two specialized, just as Smith's pin makers did. When I was born, men would average 50 hours a week working outside the house, and women would average a similar number of hours in the home. But one thing that happened is that the 50 hours expended in the home has dropped significantly through automation. What he didn't mention, is that it also dropped considerably through smaller average family sizes (and, thus, fewer kids around the house, for a shorter period of time). Thus, the eon long bargain between men and women has broken down, resulting in significantly increased divorces, etc. Megan would point out that this caused the value of a college degree and profession to increase significantly for women.

No Country for Young Men No Country for Young Men

Megan McArdle has a great article out on marriage and retirement of the Baby Boomers: No Country for Young Men. This should be read in connection with the next article: The Economics of Marriage by the Undercover Economist.

Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software

Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software . Initially, I thought that this was a patent claiming computer operation by, for example, brain waves. But instead, it just hooks up the user of a computer to leads so that his employer can monitor heart rate, perspiration, etc. Much less cutting edge, and, more worrisome because of its ability to be misused. It shouldn't have any patentability problems whatsoever, indeed fewer than the typical software patents filed by MSFT.

Mike Nifong Bankrupt Mike Nifong Bankrupt

Mike Nifong Bankrupt. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. I did find interesting the $180,009,081.71 figure for total non-priority unsecured debt. Nothing like pulling a figure out of thin air, and then putting it through calculations to give such an exact sounding total.