Math Song

From Viper. Check it out: CollegeHumor Movie.

Husker Sports Blog

For those with an interest in University of Nebraska sports, check out Husker Mike's Blasphemy. I'm headed to the football game tonight, having missed game 1 due to the Lisbon trip. Here's hoping the Huskers are not as bad as they appeared to be last week.

RIP Chief Justice Rehnquist

We were saddened, although not surprised of course, by the death this week of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. We have great admiration for Rehnquist and for his contributions to the law and the republic.

There is a fine article by Manuel Miranda about those contributions in OpinionJournal - The Next Justices. Here's a sample:

"Too many Americans will come to know William Rehnquist's name only by his death, and worse they will learn of him in shallow political terms, a manner not befitting a history-making jurist or the flag-protecting patriot that Rehnquist was. He was a conservative, yet it was not what he thought that defined him, but how he thought. He thought in principle. One would have to, to serve on the Supreme Court for a decade as its steady dissenter. More precisely, Rehnquist attached himself to a set of principles--the U.S. Constitution. One would also need to have the wit and playfulness the chief justice displayed in his subdued manner."

BTW, we've been religiously reading Miranda's articles on the confirmation process. If you have missed those, you may want to browse them while you're there.

CoachSpeak

Speaking of the new punt returners after the game:

Huskerextra.com "'We are where we are right now,' Nebraska assistant coach Bill Busch said, 'and we're happy with the direction we're at.'"

Coach Busch is also helping out the players with their English assginments.

Race and Hurricane Katrina

James Taranto of Best of the Web Today has an excellent article on the dragging of racial politics into the ongoing story.

Meanwhile, it's a beautiful day in Lisbon and time for me to go outside to see some of the sights.

Seawitch Is OK

Karen at Thoughts by Seawitch lives in Biloxi. Shortly before the hurricane hit she wrote that she had left Biloxi and was 20 miles north of Gulfport.

She has now resurfaced via a comment on her blog. She says she's OK and will be back in about 3 weeks.

Energy and Hurricane Katrina

If you are wondering why gas prices spiked up from their already high levels, it's because New Orleans plays a huge role in the energy supply chain. Daniel Yergin in the Wall Street Journal says it's an "integrated energy disaster." His article has just been reprinted on the free OpinionJournal site. You'll want to read the entire thing, but here's a teaser:

"What makes it an integrated crisis is that the entire energy supply system in the region has been disabled, and that the parts all depend upon each other for recovery. If the next weeks reveal that the losses are as large as some fear, this would constitute one of the biggest energy shocks since the 1970s, perhaps even the biggest. Unlike the crises of the '70s or the Persian Gulf crisis of 1990-91, this does not involve just crude oil: It includes natural gas, refineries and electricity."