JIM TREACHER: President heads to storm-ravaged Louisiana (followed closely by Obama).

MICHAEL LEDEEN: The Death Of The Left. “That’s what happens when you become an anachronism. For me, the greatest line of the week was Ryan’s, the one about the fading Obama poster on the wall of an unemployed young American. Once upon a time, the left was able to lay claim to intellectual and moral superiority, and to look at the conservatives with imperious disdain. No more. Their heroes are fading to the point where a cultural icon, from Hollywood of all places, sees that the seat of authority is entirely empty, and that it’s time to just let its nominal occupant go. Away.”

SECURITY: New Trojan Backdoor Malware Targets Mac OS X And Linux, Steals Passwords And Keystrokes.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Glass Shape Affects How Quickly People Drink Alcohol. “The participants were almost twice as slow when drinking alcohol from the straight-sided glass compared to the curved glass. There was no difference in drinking rates from the glasses when the drink was non-alcoholic. The researchers suggest that the reason for this may be because it is more difficult to accurately judge the halfway point of shaped glasses. As a result, drinkers are less able to gauge how much they have consumed.”

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OIKOPHOBIA UPDATE: Robert Wargas: Behold The Self-Hating White Person. “Since progressivism is largely a status game, in which people compete for social prestige by repeating a set of approved phrases and opinions to other status-seeking mandarins, it’s not surprising that some will go to sado-masochistic lengths to remain part of the alpha group. By now, the increasingly creepy tendency of using the word ‘white’ as a glib insult has become well established in left-wing commentary.”

To be fair, for many the self-hatred is fairly justified.

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VIDEO: ‘Out of Touch’ – Powerful Rebuke of Clinton and Obama from the Heart of a Fallen SEAL’s Mother.

HOT INTERSPECIES SEX: New DNA Analysis Shows Ancient Humans Interbred with Denisovans. “A new high-coverage DNA sequencing method reconstructs the full genome of Denisovans–relatives to both Neandertals and humans–from genetic fragments in a single finger bone.” Though technically if you can interbreed, it’s not actually “interspecies,” right?

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CHANGE: New Flat Lens Could Revolutionize Cameras As We Know Them.

THE GROWTH SECTOR IN FASHION: Plus-sized clothes. “Fighting mediocre sales and a sluggish economy, retailers are finding there’s a booming market for plus-size clothing. While the category has been getting notice for years, clothing companies desperate for sales see zooming growth in dressing America’s expanding waistline. Many are opening specialty stores, expanding plus-size departments and targeting ads directly to the curvy woman. . . . More than one-third of American adults are obese and nearly two-thirds of women are at least overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say that at least half of women now wear dresses and pants size 14 or larger — which falls into the plus-size category — and this group controls nearly 30% of the purchasing power for clothes, according to NPD Group.”

I’m sure Michelle Obama would disapprove.

NOBODY SAID SHE WAS STUPID: Foreign Policy: Hillary Clinton staying as far away from Charlotte as physically possible.

UPDATE: Reader Jody Green is skeptical:

Not buying the Hillary crap.

I have thought for a while that if the election is close, Obama would play the Hillary for VP card (I am not the only one who thought that). Now that she will supposedly be out of the country, I figure that is proof that she will be the mystery speaker and will accept the nomination for VP. If the rules allow this, then it is Obama’s only chance. the press would talk about nothing else for the remainder of this election cycle.

The press will crow:

1. What a brilliant move.
2. He put his country first
3. Smart enough to remove the mistake of Biden
4. Dream Team etc.

If they do not do this it can only be for two reasons.

1. Hillary said take a hike
2. Obama is a true Narcissist that can not share the spotlight or admit he has failed to the point he needed her.

We will find out soon.

Well, if the Hillary story turns out to be bogus, Jody will have bragging rights. But I don’t think Obama is capable of admitting a mistake, and no matter how it’s spun, that’s what this would be.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “Not gonna happen. BHO chose Joe Biden as life insurance . Hilary as Veep would indicate a death wish.”

MORE: Reader Bob McKenna writes: “Jody is on to something. Conservative bloggers should be reporting it as a strong rumor in order to steal their thunder in case it really is being considered. Heck, maybe Sarah or Rush should recommend it to prevent it.”

Well, Sarah Palin has already advised Obama to dump Biden for Hillary. She was way ahead of the curve on that one. So if he does, she can just say “dance to my tune, little man, dance!”

JUST THE THING IF YOU LIVE IN SOUTHERN LOUISIANA: 9 Amphibious Autos.

THE SWEETNESS OF THEIR BITTER TEARS: Occupy RNC ends in tears, frustration. “Republican National Convention protesters sobbed in each other’s arms as their weeklong series of protests came to an abrupt and unremarkable end… Following a fragmented march against the GOP, TheDC’s photo team spoke to several protesters who said they were disappointed by low turnout at protests and the lack of open discussion between protesters and Republican leadership.”

Pro Tip: It’s easier to have an “open discussion” with people when you’re not dressed as a giant floppy vagina.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: When the Price of Shedding Student Debt Is Hopelessness. Oh, well, there’s always that fading Obama poster for comfort.

FROM PROF. JACOBSON, some political-donation advice.

THE GROWTH OF THE “MUD RUN.” “Mud runs, essentially military-style obstacle races in muck, might appall the neat freak but for some people mud is the medium for a challenging test of true grit and fitness.”

WELL, NOW WE KNOW THE CONVENTION WAS A SUCCESS, AS CHRIS MATTHEWS HAD A MELTDOWN WHEN IT WAS OVER: Unstable MSNBC Host in Angry Restaurant Confrontation.

THE SMOOTH PROFESSIONALISM OF THE EXPERIENCED OFFICEHOLDER: Joe Biden to table of Greek men: “I’m Joe Bidenopoulos.”

INSIDE OBAMA’S OODA LOOP: More from Roger Kimball, with an assist from Matt Drudge.

HEH: MOCKING OBAMA’S SEAT TWEET. I expect many more such photoshops.

UPDATE: Ronnie Schrieber sends this one:

What, me worry?

ANOTHER UPDATE: From Justin Katz:

MORE: From Justin Higgins:

JENNIFER RUBIN: The Media Filter Died Last Night:

Rattled and bitter that they could not knock the Romney-Ryan ticket off-message, the Obama team and its allies in the blogosphere fixated on Clint Eastwood. Listen, I was there and it was darn weird. But at times it was funny and devastating in its dismissal of the president’s excuses. And in clips and sound bites the day after the live performance, the oddness is diminished and the punch lines seem more biting. In simple terms, the movie icon encapsulated the message of the convention: If someone is doing a bad job, you have to fire him.

Eastwood apparently so annoyed the egomaniacal president that the leader of the Free World felt compelled to hit back via Twitter (“this seat is taken”) at the movie star. Talk about losing your presidential aura. Empty chair = Obama is now a powerful association. Will the chair be in ads?

In this, as in so many other artificial kerfuffles, the media’s feigned outrage only serves Romney’s purpose. Now everyone is familiar with Eastwood’s cracks, and the conversation has taken the place of any criticism of the two nominees’ speeches.

Thursday night was a critical point in the campaign and arguably the point at which Romney (with help from Eastwood) broke free of the media filter. Recall last week that the entire press corps was focused on Todd Akin. Then it became an obsessive plea for more details about Romney’s policies, which, unlike the president, he has. Then there was the fixation on likability. That went down the drain when on Thursday night Romney appeared, if not likable, admirable. I now await the argument that personal qualities are irrelevant to the presidency.

Related: Getting To Know Romney The Do-Gooder. “Whatever the reasons, the degree to which Romney has been a practitioner of personal kindness and good works is extraordinary. Whether he wins the election or not, it’s clear that Romney is a very unusual human being, with a combination of brains, hard-nosed business sense and competitiveness, and personal kindness that goes way beyond anything most people consider necessary or even possible. For a politician, this is so unusual as to be unique. . . . People keep saying about Romney, ‘the more I know of him the more I like him.’ Not just on this blog, but in comments all over the internet. It strikes me that Obama is just the opposite—the more people know of him the more they dislike him.”

I just wonder if the Dems will be able to put together a video marking Obama’s selfless acts of compassion when no one was paying attention.

UPDATE: Mark Steyn:

I’m not sure he could have pulled that off if he’d delivered a slick telepromptered pitch. As Mr. Hayward suggests, the hard lines packed more of a punch for being delivered in the midst of a Bob Newhart empty-chair shtick from the Dean Martin show circa 1968. Indeed, they were some of the hardest lines of the convention and may well prove the take-home (“We own this country . . . Politicians are employees of ours . . . And when somebody does not do the job, we’ve got to let them go”), but they seemed more effective for appearing to emerge extemporaneously from the general shambles.

The curse of political operatives is that they make everything the same. A guy smoothly reading platitudinous codswallop while rotating his head from the left-hand teleprompter to the right-hand teleprompter like clockwork as if he’s at Centre Court watching the world’s slowest Wimbledon rally is a very reductive idea of “professionalism.” Even politicians you’re well disposed to come across as slick bores in that format. Which is by way of saying Clint is too sharp and too crafty not to have known what he was doing.

Oh, and next time ’round, he should sing.

Heh.

MORE: Reader Eduardo Alvarez reminds us that the empty chair had its own teleprompter.

And Ann Althouse comments: “Here’s the whole Eastwood performance. Is it really that hard to get? No, they’re merely playing dumb (and humorless), even though they want the other party to be known as ‘the stupid party.'”

WIN FREE SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS at Planet Baen. (Bumped, because Baen is cool).

IMPROVING CELL PHONE PERFORMANCE with “nanoresonators.” “Researchers have learned how to mass produce tiny mechanical devices that could help cell phone users avoid the nuisance of dropped calls and slow downloads. The devices are designed to ease congestion over the airwaves to improve the performance of cell phones and other portable devices. . . . The Purdue team has created devices called nanoelectromechanical resonators, which contain a tiny beam of silicon that vibrates when voltage is applied. Researchers have shown that the new devices are produced with a nearly 100 percent yield, meaning nearly all of the devices created on silicon wafers were found to function properly.”