Jules Verne, Here We Come

There’s a firm out there selling personal luxury submarines. Unless this is a monstrous hoax, these guys are actually offering subs (though not built on spec — I don’t think they’ve got inventory) from small 2, 4, or 6 passenger boats to 20-, 36-, and 65-meter undersea yachts. The 65-meter Phoenix was designed for a client who didn’t buy; it awaits a buyer for a cool $78 million. For that, though, you get 5 state rooms and a boat capable of remaining submerged (down to 1,000 feet) for up to 3 weeks at a time. No word yet on the torpedo option.

The “Liberal” Media

My right-winger friends love to talk about how biased the media is, which I guess explains the complete love-in over the whole Lewinski/impeachment deal a while back. Of course, it’s not that simple. As case in point, I direct you to a piece in Salon today about the very selective media coverage of the Clinton’s gift fiasco. There’s plenty of very interesting data that never made it to print, largely because a whiff of scandal sells papers. For instance:

  • No, HIllary didn’t register anywhere.
  • Contrary to most of reports, the $190,000 haul is actually the accumulation of several years’ worth of stuff, not the result of a loophole-exception gift frenzy.
  • No, Senatorial gift guidelines don’t play into this at all.
  • No, the didn’t take items belonging to the White House.

This feeding frenzy is good food for thought the next time someone babbles about “the liberal media.”