The BMW Mini E is a solid little electric ride that provides a comfortable, effortless driving experience with all of the usual small-car perks, plus an ultra cheap operating cost and a carbon footprint approaching zero. But as a $50,000 two-seater with no head-turning quotient, the pitch for this first cousin of the Mini Cooper won’t be so much to our inner rock star as our inner Al Gore.

We Drive BMW’s Electric Mini E | Autopia | Wired.com

1982: Frustrated in his dream of becoming an Air Force pilot, a southern California truck driver gets himself airborne anyway with the help of a lawn chair and 42 helium-filled weather balloons. Airborne, as in 16,000 feet worth of airborne.

Yet another writeup of this old story, this one from wired. 27 years ago today.

July 2, 1982: Up, Up and Away With 42 Balloons | This Day In Tech | Wired.com

When you see a pile of wood strips, you probably think tinder. Crown molding at best. But Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks envisions an elegant boat that, though handcrafted using the oldest of techniques, outperforms its newfangled peers. Guillemot's vessels are so striking that the New York Museum of Modern Art has one in its permanent collection.

Guillemot Petral Kayak | Wired.com Product Reviews

Republican Norm Coleman conceded to Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota's contested Senate race on Tuesday, hours after a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian should be certified the winner.null

GOP's Coleman concedes, sending Franken to Senate | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Like a car salesman pushing a luxury vehicle that the customer no longer can afford, NASA has pulled out of its back pocket a deal for a cheaper ride to the moon.

It won’t be as powerful, and its design is a little dated. Think of it as a base-model Ford station wagon instead of a tricked-out Cadillac Escalade.

Officially, the space agency is still on track with a 4-year-old plan to spend $35 billion to build new rockets and return astronauts to the moon in several years. However, a top NASA manager is floating a cut-rate alternative that costs around $6.6 billion.null

They're calling this "not-shuttle-C." The *worst* possible outcome for the manned space program is if they go forward with Ares 1 and then don't get the money to build Ares 5. Then we're stuck in LEO with far less capability than we ever had with STS.

NASA says it can get to moon while spending less | Front page | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

The existence of the Augustine committee (officially the Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee) has been widely interpreted to be a vote of no confidence in NASA’s current human spaceflight plans, in particular Constellation, by the White House. After all, if everything was going well—or at least perceived to be going well by the new administration—there would be little need for an independent review. The existence of the committee has provided a new opening for those who want to replace the current architecture with any number of alternatives.

The Space Review: Constellation and its challengers

Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels, a start-up company, are set to announce Monday that they will build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol as a vehicle fuel or an ingredient in plastics. null

Bingo, carbon fixation.

Plant Would Let Algae Turn Carbon Dioxide to Fuel - NYTimes.com

The House passed legislation on Friday intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy.

The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

The bill’s passage, by 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats voting against it, also established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year.

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change - NYTimes.com

Many people like to think that any child, with the proper nurturance, can blossom into some kind of academic oak tree, tall and proud. It's just not so.

Multiple intelligences provides a kind of cover to preserve that fable. "OK, little Jimmie may not be a rocket scientist, but he can dance real well. Shouldn't that count equally in school and life?" No. The great dancers of the Pleistocene foxtrotted their way into the stomach of a saber-tooth tiger.

That is the root of the matter. Too many people have chosen to believe in what they wish to be true rather than in what is true.

Not Every Child Is Secretly a Genius

I'm a big believer in the profit motive in 99 percent of all cases. If the government decided to open a non-profit hamburger stand, I doubt that it would compete successfully against Five Guys. If it tried to open a non-profit airline, I doubt that it could offer the same value as JetBlue. Insert joke about General Motors and/or the Post Office here. The point is, I think the profit motive is generally well worth it in terms of the incentives it creates to cut costs, develop new products, improve customer service, and so forth.

But health insurance is not like those things.

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: George F. Will Admits Public Option Will Cut Costs