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From the beginning, we’ve been confused why book publishers were so against Google’s Book search. When you realize that it’s really a giant (and much, much, much better) card catalog that helps people find and discover more books, it’s only a short leap to realize that it should help publishers more than hurt them. And, indeed, a few empirical studies have found that embracing Google Books has helped sales. But, for many publishers this has, apparently, been tough to understand. Thankfully, it looks like some are coming around. Gerd Leonhard points us to a blog post by the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt, where he explains why authors, agents, and publishers should embrace Google Book search.

It was based on someone from Google visiting the company and explaining Google Books. While it’s a little depressing that publishers have to wait for a person from Google to show up in person to explain what’s been discussed at length for years by Google and many, many others, it’s great to see that it worked in this case. Hyatt admits that he went into the meeting quite skeptical, but came out convinced. He notes that the two reasons given by publishers and authors against Google Books (people can just read the books online instead of buy them, or they can print them out) are simply not true. From the meeting he realized four key points (all of which Google made clear when all this launched, but many have simply ignored the facts):

1. Google Book Search creates greater book awareness.
2. The biggest problem authors face today is obscurity not piracy.
3. Most people have no desire to read a book on their computer.
4. Google only allows users to preview 20 percent of a book’s content.

Hyatt concludes with a plea to others to embrace Google Book search, noting that by embracing it, the publishing industry will realize that their content becomes “more relevant than ever.” Kudos to Hyatt for changing his mind and explaining his reasons.

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At the Pentagon press briefing to roll out the Nuclear Posture Review — read the entire document, all of it unclassified, here — Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn’t address any discrepancies between today’s document and his 2008 views on nuclear strategy. But he did provide context for an important way the NPR supports President Obama’s ultimate vision of a nuclear-free world.

The document “remove[s] some of the calculated ambiguity” of previous U.S. nuclear strategy, Gates said, referring to its explicit rejection of a nuclear reprisal for a non-nuclear assault. But there are important exceptions. “We essentially carve out states that are not in compliance” with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Gates continued, stating explicitly that such a carve-out sends “a very strong message to Iran and North Korea.” That is: “If you’re not going to play by the rules, if you’re going to be a proliferator, then all options are on the table” should such an international actor attack the United States in any form.

Linking U.S. nuclear doctrine to the so-called NPT is an “important step to reinvigorate” the treaty, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton added. Next week, over 40 heads of state will visit Washington for a two-day conference on mutual steps for nuclear security. That in turn tees up a May conference in New York City on strengthening the NPT. Administration officials say they want the treaty to have greater steps for ensuring verification and compliance, as well as more potent penalties for noncompliance or abrogation. Part of getting there, the administration believes, is creating a greater inducement to universal compliance. Eligibility for a U.S. nuclear response should a noncompliant party attack the U.S. is now part of that framework.

Even though the new FAA rules regarding tarmac delays don’t kick in until April 29, both U.S. Airways and Continental say they have already begun observing the regulations.

The new rule will require airlines to return a plane to the gate and allow passengers to deplane if it has been waiting on the tarmac for three hours, or face fines if they do not.

In an employee newsletter sent out yesterday, U.S. Airways wrote that they actually started observing the rule on April 1:

To protect itself from being fined, US Airways has implemented ‘trigger’ points to monitor delay times… If a plane is out on the taxiway for two-and-a-half hours, and takeoff isn’t imminent, the pilots will make an announcement and return to the gate.

Meanwhile, Continental, whose CEO had previously announced that the airline would cancel flights rather than be fined for late takeoffs now says that if a pilot of flight delayed two hours doesn’t expect to take off before the three-hour deadline, the pilot will “reposition the aircraft at either a remote area or gate, where customers may deplane safely and securely.”

In other news about the new FAA regulations, the DOT said yesterday that they are pushing back the start date for a new rule requiring airlines to put flight delay data on their Web sites from April 29 to June 29.

Airlines start tarmac delay response early [AP]

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched successfully yesterday, and it’s on its way to the International Space Station. It will dock with ISS tomorrow, April 7.

Until then, the Orbiter has to play catch up, slowly changing its orbit until it matches the station’s. The thing is, you may be able to watch this unfold! Both the Orbiter and the ISS are easily visible to the unaided eye, and in fact the station is potentially the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, Moon, and Venus). As they approach each other, you can see them as bright(ish) stars moving rapidly across the sky.

You can find out if they are visible to you by going to a site like Heavens-Above. Enter your latitude and longitude (try Google maps to get that) and it will put you on a page that gives you times, directions, and brightnesses (in magnitudes, so a more negative number is brighter) of a lot of different satellites. Click on ISS or STS-131 to get the station or Orbiter times.

All the good passes for the next week in Boulder, for example, are in the early morning. I suspect I’ll miss them. But check your local times and see if you can catch them! It’s an amazing sight. The picture here is one I took myself using nothing more than a digital camera on a tripod — click to embiggen it. It shows a time exposure of Atlantis and the ISS from 2007, and you can see how they are on very slightly different orbits. The two were separated by a small amount; you can tell by the different end points of the trails.

There aren’t many Shuttle flights left, so get out there and observe this while you can!

Barack Obama to restrict US use of nuclear weapons

The Obama administration is poised to adopt a new policy that would restrict America’s use of nuclear weapons

London Daily Telegraph
Published: 6:00AM BST 06 Apr 2010

The policy review, expected to be released later today, is likely to include language reducing US reliance on nuclear weapons for its national defence.

The move away from nuclear arms reflects President Barack Obama’s pledge to work towards a nuclear-free world, and could strengthen US arguments that other countries should either reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons or forego developing them.

Sensibly, Barack Obama follows the George W Bush line on terror
Russia drops plans to deploy missiles next to Poland after Barack Obama takes officeThe White House also planned to urge Russia to adopt limits on shorter-range, less powerful nuclear weapons, an arena in which Russia holds an advantage, according to officials.

The administration’s new policy would stop short of renouncing the use of nuclear weapons except in retaliation to atomic attack, as some activists have advocated. But it would describe the weapons’ purpose as “primarily” or “fundamentally” to deter or respond to a nuclear attack.

That wording would rule out the use of such weapons to respond to an attack by conventional, biological or chemical weapons. Previous US policy was more ambiguous.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Obama said his administration was explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons. Those threats, he told the newspaper, could be deterred with “a series of graded options” – a combination of old and newly designed conventional weapons.

Mr Obama said he would make exceptions for “outliers like Iran and North Korea,” but that his new strategy was aimed at eliminating Cold War ambiguities about when such weapons could be used.

A while back a debate began on the question of whether or not a house is an investment. Even if it is an investment, then Harvard economist Edward Glaeser explains why it’s a particularly poor one in a piece by from the New York Times Economix blog today. He argues that it’s pretty plausible that your house’s value won’t rise.

First, it’s Glaeser actually does appear to believe that a home is a sort of investment, as he refers to houses as assets. He says that it pays the owner back dividends in the form of living space. But that may be all that some owners get back: there’s no economic reason why the price should generally increase:

Some pundits look at the ratio between housing prices and income as if that should remain stable, which would mean that prices should at least rise with incomes.

But that doesn’t make much more sense than expecting a constant ratio between income and either computer or car prices. Declining construction costs, and rising incomes, led the ratio of housing value to income to drop by 40 percent or more between 1980 and 2000 in places like Houston, Minneapolis and Phoenix.

In principle, declining construction costs could also lead homes to become more affordable year after year.

So prices would actually decline. Glaeser notes that scarcity also matters. If housing in some area is in low supply, then it’s more likely prices could increase there. Thus, in rural locations, where scarcity is less of a factor, construction costs likely drive price.

Those are supply-side effects, but demand matters too. If an area is seen as extremely attractive due to its climate and or economic condition, then more people will want to move there. When housing growth can’t keep up with the population growth, home prices increase. That’s why you saw booming real estate markets in places like Florida even before the housing bubble began.

Both supply and demand effects demonstrate the importance of demographic changes to home prices. For example, if people begin suddenly flooding cities from rural areas, then the cities would experience greater demand, and given their relative scarcity of homes, prices would increase. Meanwhile, the price of houses in rural areas would decline. But if people begin leaving cities to move to more rural areas, then the opposite effect would occur, though it’s likely that the appreciation of homes in those rural areas wouldn’t be as rapid as it would be in cities, given the relative scarcity.

You can also apply this logic to the areas that were first helped but ultimately hurt most by the housing bubble. Places like Florida and Arizona might take even longer to rebound if people are leaving to seek economic opportunities elsewhere. (There’s some evidence of that happening in Florida.) After having built too many homes during the bubble, those markets would have to experience significant population growth to bring back housing appreciation. Instead, the opposite may occur, which could actually result in house values declining further.

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Videos, Subaru, Toys/Games

As Dave Chapelle irrefutably proved in 2004, everything is better in slow motion. Similarly, scale race cars are nearly always more interesting than the real deal, partially because any Joe can afford a WRC Subaru that runs off of glow fuel or electric power, and also because sliding a 1/10th remote-controlled car into a ditch is never really “game over” for the day. Plus, as Nissan Canada recently proved with its spot for the 2010 Sentra SE-R, it’s hard to tell the little guys from the real deal on film.

So what happens when the you combine scale R/C cars and slow motion? Pure gold, friends. Aside from seeing their Lexan body shells deflect and bend under the bristling power of tiny motors, we also get our minds blown with just how real these things look. Throw in a slightly out-of-focus image, a perfectly designed course and good looking car, and you could nearly replicate your favorite WRC footage. Hop the jump to see for yourself.

[Source: Awdsome via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Super slo-mo R/C cars lose all sense of scale

Video: Super slo-mo R/C cars lose all sense of scale originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Google executive told an audience of managers from several federal agencies yesterday that they should expect Google Buzz to be in their enterprise GMail accounts within the next few months.

This is the first time sine the launch that we have heard a public statement about Google Buzz entering the enterprise. It comes as Google Buzz asked users once again again to double-check that Buzz is set up just the way they like it.

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Google Buzz is built into GMail, providing a real-time activity stream. At its launch, The service stood considerable criticism from people who came to find that they were inadvertently exposing their email accounts to the public. Opting out was not entirely clear. In response, Google updated Google Buzz to make it easier to opt-out but for many it did not go far enough. Criticism continued and within four days has changed its policies, replacing opt-out features, most of all, replacing auto-following with suggestions for people to follow.

Yesterday, according to The Hill, Mike Bradshaw, Google’s head of federal sales said at a cloud computing event in Washington, DC that the issues with Google Buzz have been corrected: “We got a bit of a ding by the press,” he said. “Fortunately we were able to correct it and in four days changed the policies.”

That’s one way to look at it. He portrays the incident as a public relations issue, not as a flaw deep in the product that raises considerable privacy concerns.

Privacy issues are of primary concern to federal agencies that have been concerned about how information can be protected in a cloud computing environment. The issue has caused some hesitation and slowing in adoption.

We expect that Google will need to push its education efforts into high gear for Google Buzz. Customers will have to be convinced that their enterprise GMail accounts are entirely protected from any inadvertent transparencies that could expose a person’s account.

Opting out will just not fly in the enterprise.

Discuss

Built around the 1GHz Tegra 2 SOC, the 11.2-inch ICD Gemini should provide comparable endurance to Apple’s A4-sporting iPad, while besting it in the grunt stakes with its glorious ability to chew through 1080p video when required. If that wasn’t enough, the rest of this thing’s spec sheet reads like a wishlist. Headlined by a 3G connection that allows cellular voice calls (crazy, we know!), it also includes a user-replaceable 40Wh battery, an SD card reader, FM radio, GPS, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB connectivity to PCs and USB peripherals, stereo speakers, and dual webcams — a 2 megapixel front-facing unit and a 5 megapixel autofocusing snapper on the back.

Multitouch displays will be available in both resistive and capacitive flavors, with the 1,366 x 768 resolution being filled by Google’s snappy Android OS. Oh, and did we mention it will run Flash? Because it will. Full specs and a comparison to its direct competitors await after the break, though we’ve yet to find out when this JooJoo killer will be making its arrival or at what price.

Source

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If you’re not aware, Roger’s Wireless is expecting preorders for the Sony X10. It’s offered for $149.99 with a 3-year contract and if you sign up for preorder you will receive a free Sony Ericsson MW600 wireless headset. The last preorders will be taken April 14th.

This phone feature’s a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 4 inch display, and 8.1 megapixel camera and a custom UI by Sony dubbed, Rachael. If you stay in the US, and want this, it has the same 3G bands as AT&T. but, with the recent release of the Droid, Nexus One and all the upcoming 2.1 Android device, I would think that there aren’t a lot of us that want this anymore. It ships with Android 1.6 and it is not capable of multi-touch. These two factors are deal breakers for most. But, if you’ve been waiting for this to release, head over to Roger’s and place your order.

The only bad thing about staying in on the South shore on Kauai in Poipu is that breakfast options outside of the on-resort restaurants are a bit limited. This time around, I found Joe’s on the Green. Joe’s is located at the entrance of the Kiahuna Golf Course, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and – best of all for an early riser like me – opens for breakfast early.

The menu is pretty varied, with a good mix of local favorites like Moco Loco and Spam Musubi, as well as banana mac nut pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs and french toast. It’s all reasonably priced, (a good thing considering this is a tourist-heavy area and prices can reflect that), with a good mix of small items and bigger dishes. Naturally, I wanted some dishes with local flavor and immediately set my sights on the Moco Loco. Moco Loco is a breakfast dish that consists of a hamburger patty on rice, covered in gravy and topped with a couple of over-easy fried eggs. Joe’s version included mushrooms, onions and cheese, too. The dish is amazing and is a great way to wake up if you had too many mai tais the night before. It’s hearty, so don’t plan on hitting the beach right away unless you split a serving with someone.

(more…)

Oil prices are soaring as a result of economic indicators such as shipping and manufacturing data suggesting a return to global growth.

Many U.S. states are set to benefit from this growth. Others will have to deal with rising inner-state demand simultaneously, so may not see the benefits of this growth.

But judging by the amount of crude oil made in these states, someone within them is going to benefit from rising prices.

Check out the 13 states >

Colorado: 1.5 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Colorado’s share of crude oil production is 0.9%, and ranks a low 35th in the nation in per capita energy consumption.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Utah: 1.9 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Utah produces 1.1% of the nation’s crude oil output has 4 of the nation’s largest 100 oil fields.

There are shale oil deposits in Utah, which have not been completely tapped or explored.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Mississippi: 2.0 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Mississippi produced 1.2% of the country’s crude oil in October 2009, but the state does not produce enough energy to meet its own needs.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Montana: 2.2 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Montana holds 1.7% of the country’s oil reserves. and produces 1.7% of the U.S.’s energy.

It ranks 6 in energy consumption per capita.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Kansas: 3.2 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Kansas produced 1.9% of the U.S. total crude oil in October 2009, while having 1.3% of the nation’s reserves.

Per capita, the state ranks 14th in total energy consumption.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Wyoming: 4.3 million barrels of oil in October 2009

While Wyoming produced 2.5% of the nation’s crude oil in October 2009, it is the nation’s second biggest consumer of energy per capita.

Wyoming produces 14.4% of the nation’s total energy.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

New Mexico: 5.2 million barrels of oil in October 2009

New Mexico produces 3.1% of the country’s crude oil, but nearly 10% of U.S. natural gas.

The states consumption of energy per capita is relatively low compared to other big producers, ranking 20th in the country.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Oklahoma: 5.5 million barrels of oil in October 2009

While Oklahoma is a big oil producing state, it is also one of the country’s biggest natural gas producers, having 12 massive natural gas fields.

Oklahoma ranks 11th in energy consumption per capita.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Louisiana: 5.9 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Louisiana is home to 4 of the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve storage locations.

It was the third biggest consumer of energy, per capita, in the country in 2007.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

North Dakota: 7.4 million barrels of oil in October 2009

While North Dakota produced 4.4% of the nation’s crude oil in October 2009, it also consumes more per person due to its cold climate and ranked 4th in 2007.

The state consumed 0.4% of the nation’s total crude oil consumption in 2008, while only having 600,000 residents.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

California: 17.4 million barrels of oil in October 2009

While California consumes a tremendous amount of energy on its own, with its massive population of 37 million, it is per person consumption numbers are low due to a moderate climate.

California does, however, import more electricity than any other state in the country.

Its crude oil reserve are 14.1% of the U.S. total.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Alaska: 20.4 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Alaska’s oil production is channeled through its massive pipeline system, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which can move 740,000 barrels of crude per day.

The state is looking to build two nuclear power plants in an effort to meet its electricity needs.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Texas: 33 million barrels of oil in October 2009

Texas produces more crude oil than any other state, if you don’t count off-shore production. Texas has 23.8% of the nation’s oil reserves, amounting to 4.555 million barrels of oil. As of January 1, Texas had 27.2% of the nation’s crude oil refinery capacity.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Now check out the countries that would get crushed in an oil spike

It’s happening right now >

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As of writing, Blockbuster clings to business life, with $1 billion in debt, unprofitable stores and continued losses, and it looks inevitable that it will file for bankruptcy protection. In Q4 ‘09 the company posted a loss of $434.9m on revenue of $1.08bn. The stock price has fallen is $0.26 per share, down from lofty levels of over $15 in the early part of the decade. That’s a lot of shareholder value down the drain. *

Reading analysis by John Tamny in Forbes, I lighted on the following paragraph — as perfect an encapsulation of why looking to the future in timely and in a high-quality way is essential, and how quality horizon scanning is integral to it:

“As often happens as companies grow, Blockbuster concentrated on perfecting its existing service while beating competitors offering the same instead of looking into ways that outsiders might destroy its business model altogether… For Blockbuster, the “disrupter” in question was Netflix. Indeed, popular as the Blockbuster brand was, getting to the video store in order to take advantage of its services was a hassle for customers–as was returning videos on time to avoid paying late fees. The rise of Netflix from well outside the traditional retail space meant these problems were solved in one fell swoop.” (my italics)

Change that matters, that is, relatively sudden and acutely disruptive to incumbent business-model success, always comes from outside an industry. Britannica wasn’t beaten by another encyclopedia. Eastman Kodak was beaten by digital photo startups, not by Fuji. And so on, and so on, through industry failure, whether it leads merely to value hemorrhage or all the way to Chapter 11.

Looking vs seeing

Sure there are companies that lose because they are simply outcompeted, that is, are less capable than the competition in doing the same thing. Hertz is currently in this category. But when a clear market leader, with brand and capital and customers galore comes totally unstuck, it is always new technology and/or new business model coming from the outside that has done it. In these cases, as with Blockbuster, companies fall to industry entrants that change ways of doing things, solving pain or trade-offs that buyers suffer, or otherwise provide consumers with more value.

These are always, theoretically, innovations incumbents could have done themselves if they were ready to think ahead (and brave enough, when required, to cannabalize existing products that stood in the way of important future steps) and therein lies a conundrum about looking at new, external competitors. It’s seldom that the incumbent can’t see the intruder, that is, is not looking. Often they are looking intensively. It is that they don’t see the absolute disruption in the new until it is too late. It is a problem of perception. This is why industry horizon scanning is a little about the easy task of looking, and a lot about the much harder job of seeing. And why putting one’s corporate head down and making an existing product or service ‘more perfect’ is part of not seeing.

* Interestingly, the Blockbuster demise was called exactly right in November 2007 by Don Reisinger on CNET.

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I’ve never been to South Carolina, but I know their beaches are rated among the best in the United States, the golf courses are top-notch, and everyone raves about the charm of Charleston.  So, as I daydream about summer vacation, I find myself gravitating towards all of Zillow’s South Carolina rental listings — particularly along the South Carolina coast. As you’ll see below, I found some real gems.

511 Cobby Creek Lane, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
Located on the 16th fairway of the Ocean Winds Golf Course, this 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom beach house is just a short walk to the beach.
> See more Johns Island real estate
> See Charleston home values

*****

297 Surfsong Road, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
For $3,500 a month, you can rent this 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath house.  What’s more, a long-term rental can include a Kiawah Island Club membership (golf, tennis, spa!)

*****

4090 E Amy Lane, Johns Island, SC 29455 (above)
Such a charming red house on a corner lot. I can just picture sitting in a rocking chair on the wrap-around porch, enjoying some sweet tea or lemonade. Access to the community pool and walking trails are just an added bonus.
> See more Johns Island homes for rent

*****

16 Henry Lane, #7, Hilton Head, SC 29928 (above)
This 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom town house is a real steal for $2,200 a month. In addition to a beautiful kitchen, this home has a private screened-in pool and is within walking distance to the beach. And I love the second floor enclosed deck.
> See more Hilton Head real estate
> See Hilton Head home values

*****

23 Myrtle Court, Hilton Head, SC 29926 (above)
This cute country home looks perfect for summer parties. Special features include cathedral ceilings, open living, dining and kitchen area with tiled breakfast bar and water access via a community boat launch.
> See more Hilton Head homes for rent

*****

2850 Woodland Park, Mount Pleasant, SC 29466 (above)
Located just minutes from the beach, this 3-bed, 3-bath townhouse includes access to a clubhouse, pool and exercise room.
> See more Mount Pleasant real estate
> See Mount Pleasant home values

*****

106 W Shipyard Rd, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 (above)
From the gourmet kitchen, to the master bedroom with lake views, to the quick commute to downtown Charleston, this home has it all and more. And by more I mean a music room, breakfast room, butler’s pantry, spacious laundry room, Brazilian cherry, Travertine and marble flooring, and French doors leading to double front porches.

> See more Mount Pleasant homes for rent

Heidi Montag didn’t even know what a “back scoop” procedure was until she had it done during her plastic surgery marathon last November, however at least one plastic surgeon takes issue with Heidi’s assertion that she is the world’s first woman to have her back curved with the help of a scapel……

The Washington Post writes: “According to Dr. Alan Matarasso, a Manhattan plastic surgeon and spokesman for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Montag may be exaggerating a bit about her newly sculpted back. ‘It may be her interpretation of a procedure we call liposuction of the back or the bra strap area….It will often go from the hips up to the shoulders and is very popular now.’”

In an interview with KIIS-FM’s Ryan Seacrest on Monday, Heidi claimed the surgical procedure has left her unable to jog or even embrace friends: “…They cut out part of my back. I can no longer hug people or jog. No big whoop.”

Is it really worth it? I think not.

According to “market observers”, HTC is expected to double sales in 2011, from 11.7 million handsets in 2009 to 20-25 million in 2011.

While HTC has recently said US seems to be their fastest-growing region, HTC expect sales of its handsets to grow from 1 million in 2009 to 4-5 million in 2011, courtesy of there Dopod subsidiary there.

Peter Chou said HTC will cooperate with China Mobile to launch six new handsets, with the first model, the Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (BMP)-based HTC Smart, to be available in May.

HTC has just announced their Q1 2010 revenue, which at $1.19 billion, up 19.3 percent over the first quarter of 2009, with profits up $158 million vs. $154 million.

HTC is currently finding it hard to keep the HTC HD2 on the shelves in USA, and is expected to release their first Windows Phone 7 handset later this year.

According to GigaOm HTC’s recent success makes it currently the fourth-largest smartphone maker in the world.

Liberals have bashed Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in recent days for blocking legislation to extend the filing deadline for unemployment benefits, the cost of which he wants to offset. But today, “Dr. No” revealed a more progressive side.

Appearing at an Oklahoma town hall gathering, Coburn took on some conservatives in the audience over issues as diverse as the scope of health care reform, the bias of Fox News and the geniality of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The highlights:

1) Asked what he thought about the (nonexistent) provision in the health reform law that will jail those who don’t comply with the individual insurance mandate, Coburn shot down the myth. “The intention is not to put any one in jail,” he said. “That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn’t the intention.”

2) He asked voters to divorce themselves from the biases of Fox News and think for themselves.

What we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what’s going on and make a determination yourself.

So don’t catch yourself being biased by FOX News that somebody is no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don’t know what they don’t know.

3) And finally, when the audience hissed at Coburn’s characterization of Pelosi as “a nice lady,” he defended those remarks, even as he was quick to reject the Speaker’s politics.

“Let me give you a little lesson here — I hope you will listen to me,” Coburn said. “Just because somebody disagrees with you [doesn’t] mean they’re not a good person.”

No word yet on whether the audience took note.

h/t: The Hill.

The Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes are coming out in under an hour.

Stocks are starting to pull up ahead of the release. 10-year treasuries have dipped back below 4%. Gold is holding at $1,135.

It’ll be curious to see if recent stronger-than expected U.S. economic data has any effect on what’s said. Bond markets certainly became more optimistic about the economy on the data.

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