Archaic Soubriquet

While playing my frostfire mage on World of Warcraft , I've noticed some weird screen artifacts when rendering the sky.  In certain azimuth ranges that vary in some way, the sky loses its normal lighting and texture and becomes very bright and oversaturated.  Sometimes it doesn't appear, and sometimes it appears over a very small angular range.  In the latter case, my older boys thought it looked like lightning. To the right, you can see an example.  This didn't used to happen, so I wonder if it was a recent update to WoW, DirectX, or Windows that caused this.

Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty has previously used a state-as-family metaphor , saying that when a family is stuck with a budget deficit, they have no choice but to tighten their belts.  This is not quite true, as it ignores the income side of the equation.  Most families I know have tried to acquire more jobs or longer hours in order to increase income.  Some have even invested in something that might pay off in higher income, like going back to school to finish a degree or get additional training.  Looking only at decreasing expenses is considering only half of the problem. The good news is that Governor Pawlenty now agrees that taxes may enter into the equation.  The bad news is that he's taken a George W. Bush approach to it, advocating lowering taxes to bring Minnesota out of its current financial mess.  My mind boggles at the logic.