Quote of the Day & Links!

I read this a couple of days ago at Joe. My. God., and it's been running through my head ever since. It's from E. B. White.

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born threre, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something....Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

Speaking of the City, an Ikea store just opened in Red Hook (amid some controversy), and to ease concerns about traffic congestion in the area, Ikea is offering free public transportation to and from the store. Eager consumers are already planning Ikea Hacks to take advantage of the company's ground-breaking strategy.

But enough of the city and on to other random matters:

• The Eagles went and sold their souls to their corporate masters and Chris the wandering geneticist totally busts them for it. Nicely done.
• After jumping all over Michelle Obama's patriotism will the right wing give John McCain a free pass? -- or will they at least finally lay off the stupid non-story of what Michelle said?
• So, Charlie "Manhunt" Crist, caved in to the wishes of the Wonder Twins, McCain and Bush, and now thinks that we should drill for oil off the coast of Florida. But has he thought of the damage this could do to Florida's tourist industry? For new leases that won't start producing meaningful oil for 20-30 years? Maybe we should be truly innovative and think beyond politics: Here's a funny thing. While the Republicans are arguing that drilling every square inch of America will cut fuel costs, study after study has shown that the effect will be both minimal and several years down the road. On the other hand, just dropping from 65 to 55 will net most cars a 10% savings in fuel costs. That's far more than we'll get by turning Florida into the Tar Sands State.
  Plus, Joe Biden rocks. UDPATE: or for instant savings, close the Enron loophole!
• Al Franken wants "to invest in America again."
• I saw a lot of MSNBC's hagiography (update: see Hitchens) after Tim Russert died, and while I understand that they were only trying to do right by the man after losing one of their own, it also made me a bit uncomfortable to listen to them go on and on about the greatness of Russert in what continues to be a field of failure -- and as great a man as he was, it was a failure that Russert shared.
• I remember when my father would not pay more than 19¢ a pound for bananas. Those days are clearly over, never to return, and what's more, the banana as we now know it may soon go extinct.
• Joe Lance is chasing down a story about voting and privacy that was prompted by a card he received in the mail.
• And finally, there's lots more from the Tennessee blogosphere: Carole Borges wonders who we can trust in the medical field anymore, Tiny Cat finds something that's just plain weird, and much, much more!