Blah, blah, blah

Romney just quit the presidential race to help McCain win the White House:

If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making it easier for Senator Clinton or [Barack] Obama to win.

McCain has been trying to court the ultra-conservative vote that Romney held. Romney understood that by courting his conservatives, McCain was losing more moderate conservatives that are needed to win the white house. These ultra-conservatives are going to vote republican any way in the presidential election, so Romney gave McCain an “out” to his appeal to them in the primaries. Oh, to the dismay of Coulter and her fellow right-wing racists. Now McCain can focus on courting moderates by downplaying his pro-christian politics.

Moreover, he was so far behind McCain, there was almost no chance he could have won. Corporate executives aren’t known for taking one for the team, so this latter reason probably played most into his decision.

Many people purchase hybrid cars hoping to reduce their energy usage, environmental impact, and overall driving expense. This demand for hybrid technology may be misguided good intention.

A new study warns that the focus on hybrid cars is stalling the production of automobiles that may be more sustainable; the authors argue that hybrid car production is detracting from the development of cost-effective fuel cell cars.

Many manufacturers already offer or will soon offer hybrid vehicles, and there is increasing demand for them in the US, Japan, Europe, and potentially China. The authors assert that good marketing strategy–not good science–has caused this interest in Hybrids: (more…)

Harper’s Magazine

performance!