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Many have wondered for years about the exact capabilities of the submarines Germany exports to Israel. Now, experts in Germany and Israel have confirmed that nuclear-tipped missiles have been deployed on the vessels. And the German government has long known about it.

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[Senator Lindsey Graham:] “The debate on the debt is an opportunity to send the world a signal that we are going to remain the strongest military force in the world,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘We’re going to keep it, and we’re going to make it the No. 1 priority of a broke nation.’ ”

(via The Baseline Scenario, a good economics blog.)

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The match-up between a mosquito and a raindrop is decidedly uneven. Mosquitoes are typically 3 millimetres long, and they weigh about 2 milligrams. At 2–8 millimetres in diameter, raindrops are similar in size to mosquitoes, but they can weigh up to 100 milligrams and plunge through the air at speeds of up to 9 metres per second. So to a avoid a knockout punch, mosquitoes have evolved a zen-like ability to become one with the drop.

“It’s like getting into a boxing match with a balloon, it just goes with the punch. Mosquitoes just move along with raindrops,” says team leader David Hu, who studies biolocomotion at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “It’s their [low] mass that makes this possible.”

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India arguably has only two seasons: monsoon season and mango season. Monsoon season replenishes India’s soil. Mango season, more than a few literary types have suggested, helps replenish India’s soul.

I’m not sure the full article is all that worthwhile, but I really liked this bit.

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CNN legal contributor Paul Callan explained on Monday how police in New York were tricking marijuana users into getting themselves arrested.

Under current New York law, individuals in private possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana only face a finable violation. But if the same amount of marijuana is open to public view, the individual can be charged with a Class B misdemeanor.

“What they were doing was — it is legal to have it in your pocket, so they would frisk you and say, ‘take out your pockets’ and then you’d have the marijuana in your hand, and they’d say, ‘well, you’re publicly displaying the marijuana, you’re under arrest,’” Callan explained.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday proposed eliminating the loophole by decriminalizing possession of marijuana in public view, saying the proposed law would “save thousands of New Yorkers, who are disproportionately Black and Hispanic youth, from unnecessary misdemeanor charges.” Burning marijuana in a public place would still remain a misdemeanor.

“If New York does it, that sets an enormous precedent for other states to go along and consider it,” Callan said.

The New York City Police Department, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and others have already endorsed Cuomo’s proposal.

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Forgive me for noting that conservatives seem to believe that the rich will work harder if we give them more, and the poor will work harder if we give them less.

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A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

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The secretive government agency that flies spy satellites has made a stunning gift to NASA: two exquisite telescopes as big and powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope. They’ve never left the ground and are in storage in Rochester, N.Y.

What an excellent reminder of US spending priorities.