Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Eureka!  Poincare Finally Solved! Well, this is just great.  I've spent the last three weekends trying to solve this, and now this guy goes and upstages me.  I guess it's back to pi for me. 2:56:12 PM    Say what?[]

In-House Deception In Iraq's Weapons Programs There is a lengthy new piece in the Washington Post today that addresses Iraq's real weapons capabilities at the time of the U.S. invasion.  The ultimate conclusion is that it was an arsenal on paper only.  While it is interesting to read about the various levels of deception that Iraqi scientists used to deceive both the international community and Saddam Hussein, the overall sense I get from reading this is that it's already old news.  I mean, David Kay's silence on the matter has been pretty telling, I think, and the fact is that we still haven't found a damned thing there.  When Bush himself asks Diane Sawyer what the difference is between wanting a weapon and having one, I think that, and the general lack of outrage over the statement, shows about where the public's mind is on this issue. I think by the time of the election, Iraq will be largely a non-starter, in the sense that it won't matter to voters that we went, why we went, or who said what about anything, true or false. None of it will matter, and trying to reference it will be painted by the press, and seen as true by enough voters, as a Gore-like attempt to dredge up the past and "divide" the country. It's just a turn of that familiar phrase: What have you done to us lately? 12:53:43 PM    Say what?[]

The Mother of All Campaign Issues It seems the Washington Post thinks Laura Bush is a bad mother because the Bush Twins like to party.  It's an excerpt from a forth-coming book on Laura Bush as mother. While the Bush Twins seem to be a particularly loutish pair, I don't know many parents who could stand up to this kind of scrutiny.  12:47:01 PM    Say what?[]

Lake Show No Show I was happy to be in Target Center last night to watch the Wolves efficiently dispatch a lifeless Lakers team last night.  The Wolves led by double-digits for most of the game, the outcome of which was never in doubt. Now, it is true that the Lakers were without Shaq and Karl Malone, and that's a lot of beef to be without for any team.  Of course, the Wolves are also missing their starting small forward and center, and backup point guard.  Not that that's the same as missing O'Neal and the Mailman, but the point is that neither team on the court last night was really the team that would be making a run during the playoffs come springtime. And yet, wouldn't you think that a team with Gary Payton and Kobe Bryant would at least be dangerous?  They didn't really even show up.  Bryant was content to not force the action, and Payton was more passive than I have ever seen him, consistently dishing off to non-entities like Horace Grant when he appeared to have chances to make something happen. More troubling were Payton's difficulties on the defensive end.  Sam Cassell schooled him early and often, as Payton offered him his choice of open mid-range jumpers or drives to the basket.  There are whispers that Payton, once the most feared perimeter defender in the NBA, has slowed to the point that he needs help from defensive rotations to stop his man on a straight-line drive to the basket.  I'm not sure that I'm yet ready to buy that story when the games really count, but I sure didn't recognize the Gary Payton I saw last night.  If last night was in some small part a referendum on who the starting PG on the West All-Star team should be, it wasn't even close.  Hell, it shouldn't be close anyway.  Sam Cassell has been everything and more that the Timberwolves have hoped he would be.  He hits tough shots, he takes tough shots, and he still manages to get Sprewell and Garnett the ball in the spots where they need it to do damage.  Pipeline knows many close observers of the Milwaukee Bucks, and each warned us that we would grow tired of Cassell's style of play over time, that he cannot work with other teammates, that he submarines the offense, and that he is a sieve on the defensive end.  I've seen Cassell enough over the years to understand that he is a unique player, and one who at times can succumb to his own agendas.  And, no question, defensively he's not going to remind anyone of vintage Gary Payton.  But he's 34 now, and seems to understand that this is his last best chance to get back to winning a championship.  He also understands, probably for the first time since he was in Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon, that this is not his team.  This is KG's team, unquestionably.  KG makes Cassell's job very easy, in that Sam is allowed to create and take big shots without fear of double-teams, and mostly without fear of reprisal.  And that is KG's genius, more than any other NBA superstar save for Jason Kidd: He can allow, and in some cases he wants his teammates to take the occasional big shot when the game is tight.  Look, if you can't play with KG, then you're going to have a problem playing with anybody in this league. (Stephon, you're cellphone is ringing...)  It's all working exactly as the Wolves planned it when they made their bold moves. And, of course, the nearly-forgotten man in the mix is Latrell Sprewell, who dropped an efficient 30 on the Lakers last night, while getting in Kobe's jersey to hold him down to Earth.  I get the sense that Latrell is just biding his time, saving his energy for the push he knows they will need to make come playoff time.  Sure, he'll explode for 37 in a big game in Sacramento, but most nights he's content to move the ball, take the open jumpers, and blend in.  There will come a time when they need him to do more than that, and so far he looks up to the task. And KG's line from last night?  28 points, 18 boards, 6 assists and 2 blocks.  In other words, only slightly better than average.  Say it with me, now: M-V-P!  M-V-P! 11:10:22 AM    Say what?[]

Kristof: Will God Be the Issue in 2004? Nicholas Kristof's column today jibes with the recent Pipeline theme on religion and the 2004 election.  I would like to think it's not as simple as "Right Equals Religion" and "Left Equals Secularism", as Kristof states, and yet I find myself thinking in those terms all the time.  Given the recent tracking data on the prevalence of belief (some of which Kristof references), that's not an especially strong trend for the Left. 8:54:04 AM    Say what?[]

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