I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s State of the Union address for OpenMarket.org, CEI’s blog. Coverage will start around 8:30 PM EST. Click here to follow along.

I’ll paste the post over to this blog sometime after the event.

Regular blogging will resume mid-week.

-Mgmt.

1. Fuzzy Math on Foreign Aid Shows Why Spending Cuts Are Difficult
People overestimate government spending on things they don’t like, and underestimate it on what they do like.

2. Obama’s Libya Speech Summarized in One Sentence
“I have decided to repeat George Bush’s mistakes.”

3. Here’s to You, Doug Rogers
Wish I never had to write this. Doug was a good friend who passed away.

4. Regulation of the Day 178: Helping Tornado Victims
A man was escorted out of town by police for helping people clean up after a tornado. He wasn’t licensed to work within city limits.

5. Department of Redundancy Department
The government has several of them.

6. Interesting Correlation
Countries where kids live with their parents longer tend to have more government debt.

7. 140 New Regulations in Florida
There are some doozies.

8. Regulation of the Day 135: Mustache Nets
Facial hair is regulated in the restaurant industry.

9. Regulation of the Day 91: Horse Floaters
One example of how regulations can deny people their right to earn an honest living.

10. Regulation of the Day 163: Switchblades
Maine proposes legalizing switchblades — but only for people with one arm.

I will be away visiting family and friends for the rest of the week, which means I’ll have better things to do than blog. I might chime in if something juicy hits the news, but more likely not.

I have, however, scheduled a series of posts in advance, mostly quotes from books I’ve read recently. One or two will pop up per day, so check in regularly.

Regular blogging will resume on Monday.

Around dinnertime tonight we’ll start to see sustained 40 mph winds. The rain should total 2 to 4 inches. Our friends on the coast won’t be so lucky; hopefully the damage there won’t be severe. But in these parts, it will be more like a bad rainstorm than a hurricane. Some people will probably lose power, but that’s par for the course during a bad storm. Nobody seems to be panicking. Nobody in the Inertia Wins household is, at least.

Stay safe, everyone. And dry.

I have heard rumors of buildings collapsing further south in Culpeper, Virginia and Louisa County, Virginia, near the epicenter. There is less humor to be found there; hope everyone’s alright.

It only took six years, the first three largely dormant. But Inertia Wins now has 1,000 posts. To mark the occasion, here are links to a few classic posts that newer readers might enjoy, and that older readers might re-enjoy.

-The Certainty: most people have a little too much Certainty about their view of the world, me included. The causes and consequences of capital-C certainty have become one of my main research interests in my reading for pleasure, and I hope to give the subject a full scholarly treatment when I’m a little older and wiser. This post from Earth Day 2008 was my first decently-executed crack at the topic.

-Responding to Media Matters: This was a fun back-and-forth from last year. I wrote an article about why cell phones don’t cause cancer. Media Matters for America took issue with it, but not because of its content. They didn’t try to counter a single argument I made. What they said is that because my employer accepts corporate donations, therefore my arguments are invalid. This post, which links to a longer article I wrote in response, explains why this is a curious worldview.

Is this Grounds for Pessimism?: The second-ever post on this blog, from September 2005. It recounts an experience I had on Capitol Hill that was an important moment in my political education.

I Get Hate Mail: Most people have a binary progressive-conservative view of politics. I don’t fit either paradigm very well. So progressives think I’m conservative. And conservatives think I’m progressive. This can be frustrating, especially since the Internet’s anonymous nature leads people to vent more angrily than they would in person. But when I take the time to engage a correspondent politely and respectfully, they often come around. This exchange was a particularly heartening example.

-Why Good Men Don’t Become President Anymore: I wrote this post the day Obama was inaugurated. But it isn’t about him. It’s about the presidency itself. Modern campaigns are so nasty and so exhausting that only especially power-hungry people can endure them. There is a selection bias against qualified candidates running for office. The last several presidents from both parties are proof.

As many of you know, I got married last week. Tonight, Mrs. Inertia and I are flying to Spain for our honeymoon. Readers with sightseeing or restaurant tips are encouraged to leave their  suggestions in the comments section.

I scheduled a few posts to run while we’re gone. But regular blogging won’t resume until April 12.

Until then — courage.

Regular blogging will resume on Monday.

-Mgmt.