THE REAL STORY OF THE SHUTDOWN: 50 years of GOP race-baiting. Time for a brief look inside the 'reality world' of liberal projection.

It's hard to fathom how they can survive outside their bubble, but I guess that's the point -- they can't function outside their bubble.

GOOD-ENOUGH COMPUTING: We could save energy in everything from smartphones to supercomputers by letting them make mistakes. It's a very interesting software devenopment; in my field of systems engineering, we learned very long ago that 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.

Perfection is not only unattainable; it is also (usually) not optimum.

KEEP IT CLASSY, SPITE HOUSE: 'Essential' government employees sent to reinstall 'Barackades' around National Mall memorials.

OBAMACARE = SLAVERY? Dr. Ben Carson thinks it's an apt analogy. So do I.

SENATE DEMOCRATS continue to block any debt ceiling compromise.

KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON: America is becoming more conservative, less Republican. Williamson finds that strange; I don't. As far as I'm concerned it's the Republican party that's become the Republican-in-name-only-Party.

EXCEPT FOR THE FACT that I already think Starbucks coffee tastes like used charcoal, now I have another reason to drive by the drive-thru.

SOCIAL MEDIA DEMOGRAPHICS

From Business Insider. I'd kind of like to see it broken into politicians, pundits, and the rest of us.

WISCONSIN COLLEGE 'PROFESSOR': You can't do your homework because of those mean Tea Party Republicans.

IT'S COME TO THIS: Your kids are belong to me.

ZERO-CAR FAMILIES on the rise:

"Changes in alternatives to travel, such as communication substituting for travel and renewed interest in and availability of options such as transit, bike and walk, helped dampen interest in expanding auto ownership."

Unlikely. I would bet on inner-city congestion and a declining economy.

CAN SELF-CHECKOUT MACHINES trump cashiers at the grocery store? Perhaps one day, but I doubt it will be soon. And another issue: unless the store gives me an explicit price break for scanning my stuff, why, exactly, should I be rejoicing about doing their work for them?

DAILY CALLER: the world's dumbest blog item ever. I would only add that private schools -- and home schooling -- are growing rapidly.

ANOTHER LUMP OF COAL at the end of the ObamaCare rainbow.

THIS SIGN ought to be posted on every street corner in America.

JONAH GOLDBERG: "For the first time in American history, a president confessed to deliberately hurting his country to score points against his enemies."

Read it all.

EVEN NBC acknowledges ObamaCare rollout "a complete mess".

HOW TO GET OUT OF OBAMACARE: have yourself declared dead.