Project OSPREY
(№ 6) Minnesota 68-67 Washington (№ 1) (O.T.)
N.I.T. semifinals

My congratulations to the luckless Golden Gophers on advancing to the N.I.T. final, & my thanks to those selfsame Golden Gophers for proving that the Pac-12 champion is barely equal to a bottom-of-the-heap Big Ten team. To claim the N.I.T. crown on Thursday Minnesota will have to defeat one more of the Big Ten's ancient foes, (№ 3) Stanford. Go get 'em, Gophers!

The Savage Wars of Peace
We open with a pair of B.B.C. articles related to the Syrian Arab Republic, the first concerning former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's peace mission: optimism-link. The second concerns U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's shockingly prudent response: pessimism-link. Given the Obama Administration's naïveté regarding the Russian Federation & the Islamic Republic of Iran & frequent kowtowing to the wishes of the People's Republic of China, Secretary's Clinton's attitude toward Syria's Ba'athist government is both refreshing & most welcome. Events on the ground in that benighted country continue to affirm Mrs. Clinton's attitude even as they negate Mr. Annan's: fatalism-link.

Elsewhere, good news in the continuing African Union-Kenyan-Ethiopian fight against al-Qaeda's franchise in Somalia, al-Shabaab: retreat-link. Lawlessness anywhere is a threat to law everywhere; the world, especially the West, dare not again turn its back on Somalia 'til their is a state in place that can defend its sovereignty against the depredations of pirates & jihadis.

The Stars My Destination
The robotic "space lorry" Edoardo Amaldi has docked with the International Space Station (I.S.S.): autopilot-link. The A.T.V.s are as yet unmanned, but they still afford the E.S.A. a greater capacity to lift cargo & experiments into orbit that far outstrips anything at N.A.S.A.'s disposal; is the loss of America's lead in manned spaceflight really the changed you believed in in '08? I know I harp on this subject quite a bit, but that's only because it is so galling & appalling that the United States of America has is less capable of conducting independent spaceflight operations that the Russians, the Chinese, & even the Europeans, who have never managed to put a man in orbit by themselves. (Nonetheless, they currently have a launch capability greater than anything in N.A.S.A.'s fleet.) The shame is nigh unbearable.

The Edoardo Amaldi is unmanned, true, but there is a full crew on the I.S.S., making this a "The Stars My Destination" post, not a "Science!" post.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Robbie Williams featuring Jon Lovitz, "Well, Did You Evah!" from Swing When You're Winning (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "That's a lovely dress. Do ya think I could talk her out of it?"

Dienstag, 27 März
Less Than Jake, "Robots One, Humans Zero" from B is for B-Sides (T.L.A.M.)