aww, a nice story in the NY Times about Biden's sister who is an alum of my (tiny) high school!

[link]

She spoke at my graduation.

So am I the only one looking at this debate as pure dog-n-pony show?

Largely. I think there is a real downside for the McCain campaign. If Palin doesn't do any better that the Katie Couric interviews, I think that could have a small impact. Small impacts could be really important with so many close states.

Biden is know for gaffes, but he has had tons of exposure and really only came up with the FDR gaffe. Jon tried to pin a gun related gaffe on him too, but Beretta does make shotguns, lots of them.

So am I the only one looking at this debate as pure dog-n-pony show?

I'm looking at it as more of a sideshow. *Freak*show, really. The old-school kind, back in the 1930s, where they had truly gruesome stuff.

I'm making popcorn.

Totally!!! My preemptive schadenfreude is amped up to a level I didn't think possible.

Happy birthday, telescope! A Stellar History: The Telescope Turns 400

On Oct. 2, 1608, officials in the Netherlands pondered over a patent application. It was submitted by spectacle-maker Hans Lippershey for a "device by means of which all things at a very great distance can be seen as if they were nearby." This is the earliest known record of a telescope. A few months later, scientist Galileo Galilei would get his hands on one.

My preemptive schadenfreude is amped up to a level I didn't think possible.

In addition to schadenfreude pie, there should be schadenfreude beer. Like, say, Schadenfreudebrau?

eta: or Schadenfreudepops, a frozen treat....

Schadenfreudebrau

I will probably be drinking some schadenfreudebrau along with my popcorn tonight.

For some reason I'm sad this won't happen:

Virgin Galactic Rejects Million-Dollar Offer to Film Sex Video

GLASGOW, Scotland — The private company planning to take wealthy tourists to the edge of the atmosphere starting in late 2009 or early 2010 has refused a million-dollar proposal to film a sex video while the participants are floating gravity free, the company's president said.

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, said the offer, from an unidentified party, "was $1 million, up front, for a sex-in-space movie. That was money we had to refuse, I'm afraid."

The last time I heard a debate that was actually interesting had to have been a Dem. primary debate for '92. I don't remember much of it now, but I have a clear sense memory of pulling up to my brother's middle school and waiting in the dark for him to get out of band practice, listening on the radio,

Yeah, the pessimist in me is still afraid Palin will do OK. She apparently wowed em in Alaska debates by ignoring the questions, and using the time to deliver attacks on her opponents - often with little or no relation to the question. Accusing Gwen of bias may work the refs enough for Gwen to let her get away with it. I hope Biden is not so nice to her he lets her get away with it. There is no question she will have a bunch of zingers aimed at him.

She apparently wowed em in Alaska debates by ignoring the questions, and using the time to deliver attacks on her opponents - often with little or no relation to the question.

I think this is exactly what she'll do. I don't think there will be a lot of upside though. It will make the people who like her, like her even more. It will make the people who don't like her, like her even less.