Look! It's a the Ark of the Covenant. And it's animated!

I posted an article by George Soros yesterday without comment. That was a boo-boo.

What I wanted to say is: Is it me or is everything described as a bubble these days? Seems like if you want to make a really emphatic point about something, you say it's a bubble. Soros says American supremacy is a bubble. Tom Friedman says terrorism is a bubble. Kevin Drum says the California housing market is a bubble. This guy says life is a bubble. Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere...

Spies, Lies, and Weapons: What Went Wrong, by Kenneth Pollack.

Somebody please read this and tell me what it says, because I just can't be f***ed to read another article about the intelligence community.

Ok, here's something for you: An alteration of Alphonse Mucha's "Morning Star" wearing a chastity belt.

Hi, I'm not blogging today unless I really get the urge to say something. Please come back tomorrow. And the next day.

NATO-led troops are winding up a three-day search in the Bosnian Serb town of Pale for top war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

Well, at least they tried.

Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War - Should we have backed this invasion? By Paul Berman, Thomas Friedman,Christopher Hitchens, Fred Kaplan, George Packer, Kenneth M. Pollack, Jacob Weisberg, and Fareed Zakaria

My initial reaction: Cool beans!

My second reaction: I'm really not sure this debate is such as a great idea. I don't know why. All the indicators say this is a debate worth having. So why the onset of queasiness? Don't know, except to say the prospect of watching all these great writers and thinkers tying themselves up in knots re-covering ground that's already been pounded into clay... just doesn't sound like fun. I imagine it's going to get very messy, everybody building their own custom-made edifice of doubts, counter-doubts, qualifications, certainties, and alternatives.... Ugh. I'm sure I'll read the whole thing anyway, but it might be better checking in at the end to see if there's the summary conclusion that neatly encapsulated all of the above.

Looks like the word is finally out: Prague Business Journal is finally folding. It's been a long, long, long time coming.

Having worked there for a several years, and being close to most of the major players, I guess I should have plenty to say on the topic. But I don't. Though Erik Best of Fleet Sheet (see link) made all the correct and polite sounds about the editorial quality, the allegations of "tunneling" are not true, to the best of my knowledge. I don't think the shareholders ever got a cent out of PBJ. Not that I feel bad for them; PBJ's demise was a belated byproduct of 1990s irrational exhuberence and overexpansion (which I, among others, benefited from), and you won't hear any violins playing here either for the shareholders or top management. The real problem with New World Publishing, Inc., PBJ's parent company, was that they sought too many investors too early, and in the end, there were so many owners that nobody cared enough about the company to keep it afloat. The losers are the employees and the readers.

UK woman claims South Pole record: "According to her website Ms Stancer, a 43-year-old cousin of the Queen from London, has covered about half of the trip so far. "

Stancer used to live in Prague, or at least her husband did. I interviewed him once for a "Who's News" at PBJ. I can't for the life of me remember his name, although I clearly remember his wife's. Anybody? (Thanks to Theo for sending.)

Vermont town wants to secede

Not from the Union, mind you. Killington (yes, THAT Killington) simply wants to join New Hampshire.

Wouldn't look so good for Howard Dean...

If you're not American, a bit of explanation might be in order. Vermont and New Hampshire are really the two strangest states in the United States. Geographically, they're basically the same place. Both are rural, hilly, leafy and small. Both are between Massachuseets and Canada. They're right next to each other, divided by the Connecticut River.

Now there are some differences, to be sure. New Hampshire has a wee bit of oceanfront property. And the mountains in New Hampshire are white, while in Vermont they're green.

Oh yes. I almost forgot. Vermont is filled with bearded tree-hugging socialists, whereas New Hampshire has a slightly, eh, shall we say, libertarian bent. As in, their license plate says, "Live Free Or Die." It's also the only Republican-leaning state in the Northeast.