Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
crunching the numbers..
if obama wins any two of these;
Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, or Ohio;
He will win.
Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, or Ohio;
He will win.
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Special Election Announcement
Dear everyone,
On the eve of this election I implore each of you to research the presidential candidates. There are MORE THAN TWO on each ballot. Many states, like Kentucky, are not swing states. This affords the residents in these states a special opportunity.
People of non-swing states: It does not matter who you vote for.
Kentucky is going Red. California is going Blue.
I’m not suggesting staying home tomorrow. I’m suggesting getting online and finding the candidate who best shares your views. Kentucky has four Presidential/VP teams on the ballot (Libertarian and constitution parties, California has 11 third party candidates, I believe). Hell, give it some thought and come up with a good write-in candidate (LA Gov. Bobby Jindal, or Jim Beam)
If your vote won’t matter, you can make it count by casting it for a party who speaks to you more than the Big Two. Showing support to third parties is the easiest way to show the major parties which direction to go.
And if you’re in a swing state: disregard everything I said and vote for one major parties. Make your vote truly count.
On the eve of this election I implore each of you to research the presidential candidates. There are MORE THAN TWO on each ballot. Many states, like Kentucky, are not swing states. This affords the residents in these states a special opportunity.
People of non-swing states: It does not matter who you vote for.
Kentucky is going Red. California is going Blue.
I’m not suggesting staying home tomorrow. I’m suggesting getting online and finding the candidate who best shares your views. Kentucky has four Presidential/VP teams on the ballot (Libertarian and constitution parties, California has 11 third party candidates, I believe). Hell, give it some thought and come up with a good write-in candidate (LA Gov. Bobby Jindal, or Jim Beam)
If your vote won’t matter, you can make it count by casting it for a party who speaks to you more than the Big Two. Showing support to third parties is the easiest way to show the major parties which direction to go.
And if you’re in a swing state: disregard everything I said and vote for one major parties. Make your vote truly count.
Monday, October 27, 2008
netflix....
looking back on this experiment I probably shouldn't have sent them in on a Friday. Monday would probably work better, but not next Monday since I don't think that the mail runs on Election Day.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Nexfilx Expieriment
To find out just how much longer it takes shipping from the office, I dropped a vid in the Post Office drop-box in Murray (pickup time 7:30 AM) and this morning put one in the drop box here at work (pickup time God Knows When). Now we sit back and wait.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Yes, I call them dunces
Jonathan Swift wrote "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Sadly he writes nothing of when dunces are in cahoots against each other.
Any legislative session is filled with bills that are proposed and never leave committee. Bills are assigned to a committee and debated so every bill will not take up precious time on the floor. With the Kentucky assembly only meeting for 99 days there are certain things that must be done for the commonwealth of Kentucky to maintain operations. The legislature has 99 days to approve a budget, the only act it is required to do. They finally approved a proposed budget on the last available day, and only by stopping the clocks a little before midnight did it get it done.
During the previous 98 days the Kentucky Assembly approved 179 proposed laws out of the more than one thousand bills filed for this legislative session. Of the 179 news laws and regulations approved by the Assembly there are some that help homeowners achieve energy efficiency and others that increase the amount of college aid available for Kentucky students. There are others, such as the controversial casino gambling bill and the stopping of mountain top removal mining bill, that were very publicly stopped in their tracks. But there were yet more, such as SB 17 (08RS), that were pushed to the wayside for more mainstream causes.
The bill, “An act relating to the promotion of physical activity in schools” was written to help fight the rising problem of childhood obesity by mandating a physical activity requirement for elementary and middle school children. It would require at least 30 minutes a day of structured physical activity beginning in the 2008-2009 school year.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services has released statistics saying that over seventeen percent of adolescents are at least overweight, leading to a higher risk of diabetes and heart problems, and Kentucky is no exception. The Trust for America’s Health found that in 2004, the last year data had been collected, Kentucky ranked third in the states with the most overweight children with over twenty percent of the age group considered overweight.
While the Assembly is busy with a myriad of other pressing problems they will have to deal with this problem eventually, only by then it won’t be childhood obesity but the harder to control, economy draining adult kind.
Any legislative session is filled with bills that are proposed and never leave committee. Bills are assigned to a committee and debated so every bill will not take up precious time on the floor. With the Kentucky assembly only meeting for 99 days there are certain things that must be done for the commonwealth of Kentucky to maintain operations. The legislature has 99 days to approve a budget, the only act it is required to do. They finally approved a proposed budget on the last available day, and only by stopping the clocks a little before midnight did it get it done.
During the previous 98 days the Kentucky Assembly approved 179 proposed laws out of the more than one thousand bills filed for this legislative session. Of the 179 news laws and regulations approved by the Assembly there are some that help homeowners achieve energy efficiency and others that increase the amount of college aid available for Kentucky students. There are others, such as the controversial casino gambling bill and the stopping of mountain top removal mining bill, that were very publicly stopped in their tracks. But there were yet more, such as SB 17 (08RS), that were pushed to the wayside for more mainstream causes.
The bill, “An act relating to the promotion of physical activity in schools” was written to help fight the rising problem of childhood obesity by mandating a physical activity requirement for elementary and middle school children. It would require at least 30 minutes a day of structured physical activity beginning in the 2008-2009 school year.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services has released statistics saying that over seventeen percent of adolescents are at least overweight, leading to a higher risk of diabetes and heart problems, and Kentucky is no exception. The Trust for America’s Health found that in 2004, the last year data had been collected, Kentucky ranked third in the states with the most overweight children with over twenty percent of the age group considered overweight.
While the Assembly is busy with a myriad of other pressing problems they will have to deal with this problem eventually, only by then it won’t be childhood obesity but the harder to control, economy draining adult kind.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Giuliani's Firewall
I wrote the following for a class, then had to go back and cut it by over 250 words when I realized I had completely overshot the mark.
Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was once the front runner in the republican race for the presidential nomination. Throughout the fall and winter leading up to the start of the primary season he pushed his strong stance on terrorism and his record as "America's Mayor". Over the past two months, however, he slowly slipped into the abyss of his own ego and marketing coming up with a hair-brined scheme that would be his undoing.
This crazy scheme, dubbed "the Florida firewall", was a new approach to the primary seasons campaigning that many analyst questioned, with good cause. Since republican primaries are winner-take-all a few larger states, such as New York, California and Florida are all a candidate needs to wrap up the nomination. Logically Giuliani’s plan made sense. The high number of the stereotypical New York emigrants in Florida should have made it an easy win, and his high standing in New York state should have set him up to be a front runner.
In the time running up to the Florida primary politico’s seemed to notice just how bad Giuliani’s plan was. As of January 21st he had yet to have a strong showing in any state, Huckabee and Romney were at the front of the delegate race and McCain was gaining momentum. Also on Monday Giuliani was taken off the list of frontrunners on the New York Times’ webpage, being replaced by Ron Paul. On that day a new poll also showed Giuliani’s once substantial lead in Florida had dwindled to a four-way tie between the former mayor, McCain, Romney and Huckabee. Luckily on Tuesday, January 22nd Fred Thompson dropped out, which lead the Giuliani camp to claim a quick jump in the polls.
The next week, on Monday January 28th, a day before the Florida primary, word got out that the Giuliani campaign was running low on funds. Giuliani also told the LA Times that the winner of Florida would win the nomination.
On January 29th the Florida primary went to John McCain, who has now been crowed the de-facto republican nominee, just as Giuliani predicted. On the 30th Giuliani dropped out, endorsing McCain. More recently it surfaced that Giuliani’s campaign is still in financial trouble and in much more debt than they had lead people to believe.
The problem with the firewall strategy is its heavy reliance on the statistics and inability to take into account the ambiguous and all-powerful “momentum” that shows up in long policies races. As Giuliani ignored the earlier states to focus on Florida, where he felt he had the most chance of winning, he lost the free publicity a candidate receives when they finish near the top of the other races. As McCain, Huckabee and Romney won the other states they were featured on more newscasts and were the focus of more in-depth discussions.
While it’s been pretty well established that this strategy does not work it seems fellow New Yorker Hillary Clinton is using it in Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4th, effectively ignoring tomorrow’s Washington and Wisconsin primaries. While they claim a win in Texas and Ohio would stop Obama’s momentum they are not taking into account the momentum they are letting build up by letting him win more states.
Giuliani, now out of the race, will most likely campaign for the republican nominee and possibly attempt to get the vice presidential nomination, though he, as a more liberal republican, would most likely not go well on a bill with the also liberal McCain.
Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was once the front runner in the republican race for the presidential nomination. Throughout the fall and winter leading up to the start of the primary season he pushed his strong stance on terrorism and his record as "America's Mayor". Over the past two months, however, he slowly slipped into the abyss of his own ego and marketing coming up with a hair-brined scheme that would be his undoing.
This crazy scheme, dubbed "the Florida firewall", was a new approach to the primary seasons campaigning that many analyst questioned, with good cause. Since republican primaries are winner-take-all a few larger states, such as New York, California and Florida are all a candidate needs to wrap up the nomination. Logically Giuliani’s plan made sense. The high number of the stereotypical New York emigrants in Florida should have made it an easy win, and his high standing in New York state should have set him up to be a front runner.
In the time running up to the Florida primary politico’s seemed to notice just how bad Giuliani’s plan was. As of January 21st he had yet to have a strong showing in any state, Huckabee and Romney were at the front of the delegate race and McCain was gaining momentum. Also on Monday Giuliani was taken off the list of frontrunners on the New York Times’ webpage, being replaced by Ron Paul. On that day a new poll also showed Giuliani’s once substantial lead in Florida had dwindled to a four-way tie between the former mayor, McCain, Romney and Huckabee. Luckily on Tuesday, January 22nd Fred Thompson dropped out, which lead the Giuliani camp to claim a quick jump in the polls.
The next week, on Monday January 28th, a day before the Florida primary, word got out that the Giuliani campaign was running low on funds. Giuliani also told the LA Times that the winner of Florida would win the nomination.
On January 29th the Florida primary went to John McCain, who has now been crowed the de-facto republican nominee, just as Giuliani predicted. On the 30th Giuliani dropped out, endorsing McCain. More recently it surfaced that Giuliani’s campaign is still in financial trouble and in much more debt than they had lead people to believe.
The problem with the firewall strategy is its heavy reliance on the statistics and inability to take into account the ambiguous and all-powerful “momentum” that shows up in long policies races. As Giuliani ignored the earlier states to focus on Florida, where he felt he had the most chance of winning, he lost the free publicity a candidate receives when they finish near the top of the other races. As McCain, Huckabee and Romney won the other states they were featured on more newscasts and were the focus of more in-depth discussions.
While it’s been pretty well established that this strategy does not work it seems fellow New Yorker Hillary Clinton is using it in Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4th, effectively ignoring tomorrow’s Washington and Wisconsin primaries. While they claim a win in Texas and Ohio would stop Obama’s momentum they are not taking into account the momentum they are letting build up by letting him win more states.
Giuliani, now out of the race, will most likely campaign for the republican nominee and possibly attempt to get the vice presidential nomination, though he, as a more liberal republican, would most likely not go well on a bill with the also liberal McCain.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Indiana Jones...
These movies are amazing, and the latest one looks to be just as good.
The trailer is out today.
The trailer is out today.
Monday, January 28, 2008
I'm just going to get this out of the way now...
Dear Santa,
For Christmas I would like a giant robotic elephant. I have been a very good boy so far this year and would very much appreciate one.
Thank you in advance,
Michael
For Christmas I would like a giant robotic elephant. I have been a very good boy so far this year and would very much appreciate one.
Thank you in advance,
Michael
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Check all boxes that apply to you...
So I was reading NYTimes.com and came across this story about Jose Padilla finally being sentenced. That's all well and good, but a funny fact popped up in the story...
The government’s main evidence against Mr. Padilla, a former Chicago gang member with a lengthy criminal record, was an application form that prosecutors said he had filled out to attend an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2000. Defense lawyers argued that Mr. Padilla had traveled to the Middle East to study Islam and Arabic, not to participate in a violent Islamic jihad.
Wait.... so you're telling me you have to fill out an application to go to an al Qaeda training camp? And this guy put his real name?
Really? Super-secret terrorist group uses applications?
What are the questions on it?
"List all ethnicities/infidels you wish dead"?
"Complete this statement: Death to the ________!"?
The sheer stupidity of the very idea of the application makes me laugh.
Wait.... so you're telling me you have to fill out an application to go to an al Qaeda training camp? And this guy put his real name?
Really? Super-secret terrorist group uses applications?
What are the questions on it?
"List all ethnicities/infidels you wish dead"?
"Complete this statement: Death to the ________!"?
The sheer stupidity of the very idea of the application makes me laugh.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Happy new year
Real News - Obama won Iowa, got just as many delegates as HC in NH (I doubt the recount will change anything.
And Ron Paul beat Giuliani in Iowa, and currently has more delegates. I'm not what you would call a Ron Paul supporter. I think his plans for a strictly- constitutional based government will not work in the modern world. The United States constitution is too simple to do nothing more than base a government on.
State constitutions, however, are much more in depth and detailed in their definitions of state agencies, governmental duties and, in the case of Kentucky, how many people the State can employ at one time (35,000 is the magic number I believe). The extensiveness of a state constitution means it can be used to run the daily operations of a government. The federal government, with its large complexity, would start to collapse if someone were to start pulling out the agencies from the “federal government pyramid” (a picture of which I think I might draw latter). But enough about Paul. He’s not going to get the nomination, but maybe he will raise some awareness about what the neo-cons have been doing with spending and expanding the government.
And hopefully people are starting to realize what a creep Giuliani is. If he gets the nomination there is no chance the GOP can win the Big House again, possibly for a very, very long time.
Some cool stuff:
MST3K is back, kinda, with Cinematic Titanic. I used to watch MST3K on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons. I was a nerd back then too.
There's a new Tom Waits cover album coming out, by Scarlett Johansson. I’m glad I got to see Waits in concert. Man! that was a good show.
Also, I like palindromes.
And Ron Paul beat Giuliani in Iowa, and currently has more delegates. I'm not what you would call a Ron Paul supporter. I think his plans for a strictly- constitutional based government will not work in the modern world. The United States constitution is too simple to do nothing more than base a government on.
State constitutions, however, are much more in depth and detailed in their definitions of state agencies, governmental duties and, in the case of Kentucky, how many people the State can employ at one time (35,000 is the magic number I believe). The extensiveness of a state constitution means it can be used to run the daily operations of a government. The federal government, with its large complexity, would start to collapse if someone were to start pulling out the agencies from the “federal government pyramid” (a picture of which I think I might draw latter). But enough about Paul. He’s not going to get the nomination, but maybe he will raise some awareness about what the neo-cons have been doing with spending and expanding the government.
And hopefully people are starting to realize what a creep Giuliani is. If he gets the nomination there is no chance the GOP can win the Big House again, possibly for a very, very long time.
Some cool stuff:
MST3K is back, kinda, with Cinematic Titanic. I used to watch MST3K on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons. I was a nerd back then too.
There's a new Tom Waits cover album coming out, by Scarlett Johansson. I’m glad I got to see Waits in concert. Man! that was a good show.
Also, I like palindromes.
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