On Halloween night, Washington area residents reported seeing a ball of fire streak across the sky between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Witnesses described a flash of light leaving their surroundings in either an orange or bluish hue before returning to darkness. One driver told a local meteorologist he could clearly see the inside of a passing car as if it were daytime. Experts agree the phenomenon was most likely a meteor, probably the size of a grapefruit, that had managed to survive entry.

In unrelated news, the “Golden Record” aboard Voyager 1 was recovered last night from a crater in the woods of Northern Virginia. The record offers greetings from Earth in 55 languages.

In other unrelated news, a woman living near the crater was reportedly abducted by a man resembling her dead husband. Authorities are investigating.

Via Mickey Kaus, we have a link to this amazing exchange between an LA Times blogger and Gore Vidal:

At the “Jarhead” post-party, I approached the respected author/playwright and all-round éminence grise, who publicists said would be amenable to speak with me for the awards site, The Envelope, about the film he’d just seen.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Vidal. May I ask what you thought of ‘Jarhead’?”

“What are you paying?”

“Excuse me?”

“You work for the L.A. Times and they have a lot of money. And I get paid for criticism.”

“I’m sorry. I really can’t pay you. Does that mean you don’t want to talk about the film?”

Long pause.

“Well, do you have a dollar?”

John Hinderaker has an excellent post on the latest bit of anti-Alito nonsense.

Galley Friend B.W. sends us this link to a very long, very geeky, very excellent exegesis on Superman 4. Oh come on, it’s not like you have anything better to do.

Here’s a taste:

here comes Superman, who comes flying through space with the greatest of ease. (His introduction, I might add, provides the film with its first really appalling f/x shot.) Admittedly, during Superman’s long existence as a character he’s often been given the ability to fly through space without suffering any ill effect, including from lack of air. Of course, they also once showed him pushing the Earth out of orbit by shoving on it with his two hands. However, in recent decades I think they started realizing how silly this was, and now Superman generally is given at least the fig leaf of an air helmet or something. Not so here. In fact, Supes is quite visibly breathing here. Plus his cape is waving up a storm. Oops.

Superman grabs hold of the station and stops it from spinning. This is a neat trick since he doesn’t have any leverage. Actually, he’s presumably using whatever force he employs to propel himself in flight to counter the momentum of the craft, so I’m just being snide. It’s not like I won’t have a bunch of fatter targets coming down the pike. . . .

Via another horrible matte shot, Superman flies out to grab the floating cosmonaut. He then deposits the fellow into an open airlock hatch. Finally, he gives they guy a friendly little farewell speech. This is in Russian, which I could buy, and in space, which I definitely couldn’t. And even if Superman could ‘talk’ in space, how the hell could the cosmonaut hear him? Plus, doesn’t Superman usually ‘hear’ cries for help? Makes you wonder how he managed to just stumble across the space station seconds after it was hit.

Let me get back to the political leanings thing. I know with some readers I’m undoubtedly considered a paranoid kook who sees a Red under every bed. (This habit being scary and nutty, unlike, say, seeing an overt anti-Communist message in every sci-fi film made in the ‘50s.) Even so, it’s pretty clear that Reeve & Co., are taking a bit of a shot at then-President Reagan here. First, of course, Reeve takes Superman out of the “fighting for the American Way” box by having him not only saving Soviets, but speaking to them in their native tongues. None of that jingoistic nationalistic parochialism for this Man of Steel! Also, how could the USSR be an “evil empire” when their cosmonauts were singing Sinatra songs, for cripe’s sake? The fact that this event opens the film only strengthens one’s suspicions.

I’ve been remiss in not noting that Real Clear Politics has expanded by adding both a RealClearPolitics on Blogs section and the RCP Blog–a blog of their own.

Good for them.

Just in time to take my mind off the crumbling of the Eagles dynasty, the shipwreck that is the Philadelphia ’76ers has set sail once again. How bad will it be this year? Who knows. I’m just hoping that this season doesn’t ruin Maurice Cheeks. I’d like to have him around in a few years to coach the trio of Dalembert / Korver / Igoudala as they mature.

A realistic projection is that, if everything goes just right, the Sixers could slip into the playoffs and maybe steal a game in the first round from the Pacers. If things don’t go just right, well, the 9-73 record is probably safe. Right?

Right?

But to numb the pain of the new NBA season, there’s this hysterical scouting report on the Sixers, where a bunch of experts give their predictions for the team. My favorite is this harping about the team’s coaching situation:

Iverson and Webber must share the burden of leading the team as Maurice Cheeks becomes the fourth coach in less than two years. Both veterans need the ball, so striking the right balance will get them back in the playoffs.

That penetrating insight comes from Jim O’Brien, the Sixers coach who was fired last year.

Soxblog gives some bucking-up to Red Sox Nation. His verdict on the departure of Theo Epstein: Don’t worry; John Henry is the critical man.

Yesterday I posted a heart-sick item linking to a post by the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s blogger-in-residence, Daniel Rubin in which I echoed Rubin’s lament for the troubled waters that my favorite newspaper finds itself in.

Today Rubin posts a sad example of the provincialism on which the blogosphere so enjoys harping. Noting a study which ranks states by “smartness” using a number of measures which may or may not have any relevance, Rubin notes that fair New Jersey ranked 4th, Pennsylvania ranked 11th, and Delaware clocks in at 25th. He then gives us the top five and bottom five states:

1) Vermont

2) Connecticut

3) Massachusetts

4) New Jersey

5) Maine

And the bottom five:

46) California

47) Nevada

48) New Mexico

49) Mississippi

50) Arizona

Rubin then closes by quoting a lefty blogger saying “i won’t mention that most of the red states are on the bottom half of the list. but you know i’m thinking it.”

“Anybody else?” asks Rubin.

Get it? Republicans are stoo-pid!

But wait, you might ask, what about the most liberal and Democratic (and populous) state in America, which sits at 46th on the Smart Index? Surely California’s many, many stupid Democrats make up for the stupid Republicans in Mississippi.

What to do with Maine, which is very smart, and which voted against George W. Bush, but has two Republican senators?

What to do about Number 7, Virginia, which, as the list shows, if very smart, and which went for Bush, but which has a Democratic governor?

Surely science can help us divine the truth to these great mysteries. But while the teams of researchers at CalTech are working out a solution, perhaps Daniel Rubin could try raising his blog to the standards of the Inquirer instead of taking cheap shots at those with whom he doesn’t agree.

(Mind you, people from the Philadelphia area should be acutely aware of the idiocy of rankings.)