Tuesday Streams

While I struggle to make up my mind about who to vote for today, here are some stories carried downstream through the news on a damp Tuesday morning.

Distinctions: Thomas Sowell's latest column, "Talking Points". "There is a big difference between being ponderous and being serious."

Depths: Thanks to new technology, fishing expeditions may now venture where no man has gone before... over 10,000 m (6.2 miles) down, "as deep as Mount Everest is high". The creatures they are finding defy the imagination:

"...[T]hey found massive numbers of ugly creatures known as "amphipods", similar to shrimps. 'The traps were so full you couldn't fit another one in if you tried. Some were laden with eggs, which was enough to put you off your dinner,' says Dr Jamieson.
...[R]ecent discoveries include the barreleye, or spookfish, which has eyes that pivot through 90 degrees, and a transparent skull, in which its coral-reef-like brain glows eerily.
...
Then there is the black dragon fish, which emits a red light that approaches the infra-red wavelength. By using a chemical from bacteria to modify its light-sensing cells, the creatures are able to see in this spectrum..."

Trek: The most pertinent movie review of the new Star Trek film, courtesy of The Onion.