50 knots - under sail

Not So Fast: Kiteboarding Dispute Sinks Sailing Record

By CHRIS MUSELER

Published: November 27, 2008 - New York Times

The World Sailing Speed Record Council belatedly decided to dismiss the mark set by Sebastian Cattelan in Namibia because he broke the 50-knot barrier on a kiteboard.  Here's the video.  The headline above gives you the NY Times story.

The Gates Pick

In a TPM post on the Gates pick.  I support it.  He was plucked from the Iraq Study Group, which called it straight - as this NY Times  archive piece shows.

Late to the party

I was late to the Obama party.  I feared a weak candidate - thin resume, the Rev. Wright problems, feared the war hero's appeal, etc.  So I didn't exult in the big crowds, the youthful followings, etc. that were the first stirrings since 1968 that felt and looked like a genuine popular mass movement.  

The Boston Globe has put together a photo essay that cures that problem.  It is photo-hagiography at its best.  Huge crowds, closeups of the candidate, private moments, casual moments, joyful, hopeful, adulatory faces, a youthful candidate in full stride on the basketball court (didn't do John Kerry any good to scrimmage on the ice with the Bruins. Oh well.  Spilt milk, etc.)