text:
Stephanie Cutter has a message for President Obama's supporters. Even if it looks like Obama is losing, they have a stash of early votes that are going to turn the tide.
In a conference call this afternoon, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign had one central message for their supporters when Election Day arrives tomorrow: They should "keep calm," even if they hear snippets of information favoring Republican Mitt Romney. … "We've already banked a pretty big portion of our vote." …
"So, no matter what you hear tomorrow about turnout in Republican counties or exit polls, particularly early in the day, please remember and remind your readers that, because of early votes, we're where we need to be to win….I don't think there's going to be official exits until the end of the day, but if things leak out that aren't validated or weighted, please stay calm."
I've been watching the Strawpoll widget since the vote totals were in the low hundreds. The basic ratio stayed at 54:46 for about two days. Then as more votes came in the last 36 hours it went 55:45. It is moving to 56:44. That is an incredibly high ratio which probably does not represent the true population with perfect accuracy. After all the Strawpoll will measure only those with access to the Internet and in particular, those who come upon it in Facebook. (Image taken on Nov 5, 2012 @ 16:15 PST)
My guess is that the true difference is closer than the 56.6 to 43.4 ratio is showed at the time of the screencap. It's one data point out of the many that are out there. However, what I do think what we are seeing — what we must see by definition — is people making up their minds as the election date comes closer. That means new data is eventuating all the time as the time to cast a ballot, one way or the other, comes near.
The ratio changes as people who haven't made up their minds make them up. This process will go on all the way up to the moment when the closing bell rings.
What Cutter is doing — apart from preparing the public mind for strange additions to the vote totals — is preventing any perception of a Romney momentum from dispiriting her troops. Up until the polls close there will be individuals who either have not voted or have not made up their minds. The Obama campaign is fighting for inches. That's what they think this may come down to.
The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99
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55 Comments, 55 Threads
1. Mark
That stash of early votes, eh. But polling of early voters (yes, those 9%, I know) indicated a stronger pro-Romney turnout than pro-Obama.
At best, for Obama, this will be a game of inches. I'm hoping the difference will be in yards.
November 5, 2012 - 4:32 pm Link to this Comment -
2. wretchard
They traditionally have had a strong ground game.
November 5, 2012 - 4:36 pm Link to this Comment -
3. Gordon
"That means new data is … "
Data "are", data "are"—after all, what's the plural of data, if it's "data is"?
November 5, 2012 - 4:41 pm Link to this Comment -
4. newrouter
They traditionally have had a strong ground game.
not since 2009
November 5, 2012 - 4:46 pm Link to this Comment -
5. wretchard
The British are usually technically correct on this score. They use datum for singular and data for plural. They also say they are studying "maths" — there being more than one kind of math.
But saying the "data is" is the kind of incorrect usage that sounds right, at least to me, even though I know that is probably wrong.
November 5, 2012 - 4:49 pm Link to this Comment -
6. Marc Malone
You're right. It is code for, "You've got to help us, pleeeeeaaassse, Mr. Rabbit!" Everything she says is a lie. Disgusting political operative. Tomorrow will be a beatdown, and she will still lie afterwards.
November 5, 2012 - 4:52 pm Link to this Comment -
7. Rick
Data is. In computers it is used as a collective noun, like 'water' or 'air'. Yes, I'm aware that it was originally a plural of 'datum', but we are not speaking Latin here, and you cannot change 50 years of usage in the industry.
November 5, 2012 - 4:52 pm Link to this Comment -
8. batman
Early votes stashed? You mean like Al Franken's that turned up in the trunk of someone's car after election day?
And what about the hundreds of thousands of military ballots that never reached the troops? How can that be explained? Don't they get mail daily? Aren't food supplies shipped in regularly?
Tomorrow will be a harrowing day unless Hugh Hewitt's admonition is heeded: "If it's not close, they can't cheat."
November 5, 2012 - 5:01 pm Link to this Comment -
9. wretchard
Andrew Sullivan says "the data are", even though his accent has become somewhat American. I reminded of those World War 2 OSS movies where the Gestapo detect the Americans by the switch in the fork hand after cutting something on their plate. People "forget" and revert to type. For Andrew Sullivan the data "are".
I met someone who told me about an acquaintance, now deceased, who served as a spy during the Second World War by (im)personating a waiter in a German's officer's club. He pretended an ignorance of English, but lived in fear that someone would wake him in the night, for whatever reason, and he would blurt out something like "what the bloody 'ell is it?" and blow his cover.
November 5, 2012 - 5:04 pm Link to this Comment -
10. regretlef
Data is – is perfectly fine – colloquially surely – Data are – might have some nuance in more specialized discussions -
and yes – #7 "water" , "air" very apt way of making the point – tho, I think the correct technical term is "mass nouns" not "collective"
November 5, 2012 - 5:05 pm Link to this Comment -
11. Josh
Do they have a 6th of November in Australia?
November 5, 2012 - 5:22 pm Link to this Comment -
12. Blast From the Past
Regarding We Be Datums: Oh look, a squirrel! Let us focus.
There was a clear and professional Democratic program to panic and stampede blocs of voters into early voting. For example is the email circulating among elderly Jews in Florida that claims to be from the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. Forgive the length but I think this is important. Highlighting in original not copied.
This is so important !
Move a Chicagoan to San Diego and soon he'll forget the wind, sleet and snow and start complaining when the temperature drops below 60 degrees. Relations between Israel and the United States are warmer under President Obama than under previous administrations, yet we hear that the President has a "Jewish problem." The problem is not Obama, but us: In only three years, we've lost historic perspective. We're criticizing Obama for what would have gone unnoticed in other administrations.
Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger threatened to "reassess" America 's relationship with Israel . Obama has declared that America 's bond with Israel is "unbreakable," and Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak credited Obama for the strongest relationship between the two countries ever.
Ronald Reagan suspended arms shipments to Israel and supported a UN resolution criticizing Israel for bombing Iraq 's nuclear reactor. Obama secretly sold Israel the bunker busting bombs it requested during the Bush administration and cast the only UN veto of his administration against the one-sided anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution on settlements.
George W. Bush pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Gaza elections and made little progress in stopping Iran 's march toward nuclear weapons. Obama has not negotiated with Hamas. He has mobilized the international community to impose the toughest sanctions ever against Iran and flat-out declared that that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, saying no options are off the table. Obama's pro-Israel accomplishments compare favorably with any Republican president. Yet we keep complaining.
We say he hasn't visited Israel as president, forgetting that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are the only two presidents who visited Israel during their first terms in office. George W. Bush did not visit Israel until his seventh year as president. Ronald Reagan never visited in his entire life. Obama went to Israel as recently as 2006 and 2008.
We complain that the Obama administration criticizes Israel 's settlement policy, forgetting that every administration since 1967 has criticized Israel 's settlement policy. But unlike George H.W. Bush, Obama never threatened to withhold U.S. aid to Israel because of settlement activity; instead, Obama has taken U.S. financial assistance to Israel to record levels.
We complain about imagined slights to Prime Minister Netanyahu, forgetting that when the chips were down, Obama came through for Israel and Netanyahu. When Israel asked for help fighting the Carmel forest fires, President Obama's response was "get Israel whatever it needs. Now." (Remember the 'slight' was media misreporting what was business as usual when there is a last minute, not planned in advance, visit!)
In September 2011, when the late-night call came from Israel to Obama asking for help in rescuing the Israelis trapped in the Egyptian embassy, Netanyahu himself called it a "decisive and fateful moment," recalling that Obama "said 'I will do everything I can.' And he did."
The list goes on and on. Obama opposed the Goldstone Report, stood with Israel against the Gaza flotilla, boycotted Durban II and Durban III, and successfully derailed Palestinian attempts to unilaterally declare statehood at the UN. He's done more than any president to thwart Iran 's nuclear ambitions.
Yet despite the facts, despite the historic perspective, it's almost as if some of us want Obama to be anti-Israel because that would validate our worst fears. Attacking Obama on Israel is like attacking John Kerry on his personal military record. The Swift Boat campaign worked because Kerry and his supporters were too slow to take it seriously and fight fiction with facts. The result was four more years of George W. Bush.
Maybe it's our nature to complain. But President Obama's words and deeds prove that he is not only a strong friend of Israel, but that he is willing to stand up for Israel publicly and behind the scenes. That's what matters, and that's why most Jews will again vote for Obama in 2012.
Department of Public Diplomacy
Embassy of Israel
email@example.com arrived at the start of the weekend before the election. The early voting drive was in full swing. My expectation is that they have managed to steal several thousand votes with this tactic. The statement the Israeli Embassy sent me follows.
Embassy of Israel response to the circulation of a fraudulent political email:
This is a fraudulent email that claims it was sent by the Embassy of Israel's Department of Public Diplomacy/Public Affairs. This is not an Embassy email and we would urge you to ignore it. Israel does not interfere in the internal affairs of the United States or other countries. Israel and the United States share an unbreakable bond. We cherish the bipartisan support of Democrats and Republicans alike.
***Lindsey Singer | Embassy of Israel
Director of U.S. Media & Strategic Outreach
3514 International Drive, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-5538
email@example.com smells like a MMFA/Soros operation to me. If they win they are home free. As free as the New Black Panthers are after threatening voters. If they lose will they face consequences? In my mind stooping to such a trick, misrepresenting oneself as a foreign government to defraud the elderly, is so vile that the Law should respond with relentless savagery equal to the response we should expect from our military if theoretically speaking someone would dare to attack our Ambassador. If Soros was behind this I'd think a trail could be followed. Who will go down that path?
November 5, 2012 - 5:49 pm Link to this Comment -
13. Baobo
I hope my candidate wins. I don't want to lose any more faith in the system.
November 5, 2012 - 6:15 pm Link to this Comment -
14. cjm
it's not the system that's at fault for putting obama in office, it's the people who voted for him. so if you lose faith in anything, it should be in the citizenry of this country.
November 5, 2012 - 6:27 pm Link to this Comment -
15. TomA
It's about the down-ticket races now. Dems don't want to lose the Senate by having their mid-western and western voters bail early. Tester in Montana will surely lose if Obama is toast after Ohio is called.
November 5, 2012 - 6:31 pm Link to this Comment -
16. ashen
Hi all. This is kinda off topic but does anyone want to say where they will be tmrw, what they will be doing, who they will be with? Are you going to tune out and wait for the news? Will you be glued to the tv/radio/internet looking at results as they roll in? Will you be with family, friends, or both? It might be interesting to know. I'll be at my mom's house, listening to the radio. It's been a crazy time since Iraq 2 started, (when i first came to this site), and it'll be interesting to see what happens. God Bless y'all, and America too.
November 5, 2012 - 6:39 pm Link to this Comment -
17. Subotai Bahadur
"What Cutter is doing — apart from preparing the public mind for strange additions to the vote totals —"
#8 batman
Early votes stashed? You mean like Al Franken's that turned up in the trunk of someone's car after election day?
And what about the hundreds of thousands of military ballots that never reached the troops? How can that be explained? Don't they get mail daily? Aren't food supplies shipped in regularly?
The Executive Branch was directed by Congress specifically to fix the absentee ballot problem after the 2010 election. As is unsurprising, since denying the military the right to vote is both politically beneficial and ideologically erotic to Leftists; they did exactly Jack plus Squat to improve delivery of ballots.Taken together, one rational explanation is what #24 Dworkin Barimen said in the previous IN THE OFFING thread:
"All of the insane partisan splits in the polls don't make much sense, unless you think of it as "battlespace preparation.".
H-Hour of D-Day is midnight tonight, when the polls open at Dixville Notch, New Hampshire and the Federal election begins. The battlespace extends around the world to Guam. And it may last days, weeks, or in the worst case years.
We are going to be busy. For some reason I think of Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading, before the Battle of Edgehill.
"O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not forget me."
It is not the call to the Great Blue Sky Tengri Nor that the source of my nom d' blog would use; but 'twill better serve us all here.
Subotai Bahadur
November 5, 2012 - 7:13 pm Link to this Comment -
18. T2costkeeper
I am not concerned with the "East to West Effect" or "Time Zone Effect" that is in the democrat's talking points. The donks own the MSM so any "Time Zone Effect" will belong to them [the MSM will naturally say that the exit polls indicate "0bama has won - so don't bother to vote"] .
Further, the Time Zone Effect could actually work against them – causing donks to be over confident and not vote thinking they have won (particularly in California and other west coast states).
I am concerned about voter fraud. How does the average voter handle voter fraud? 0bama is already bragging that he has the votes in the "bag" so to speak. How do we ensure those vote's are not fraudulent?
November 5, 2012 - 7:27 pm Link to this Comment -
19. Josh
a @ 16: Hi all. This is kinda off topic but does anyone want to say where they will be tmrw, what they will be doing, who they will be with?
Before enlightenment, chop wood, haul water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, haul water.
November 5, 2012 - 7:35 pm Link to this Comment -
Regarding whether "data" is intrinsically plural, an interesting story is told in the book of Judges. The word "shibboleth" was pronounced differently by folks from the tribe of Gilead and the tribe of Ephraim. The initial phoneme was pronounced like an "s" by the Ephraimites, but like an "sh" by the Gileadites. Thus, requiring one to pronounce the word became a means to identify the tribal origin of people crossing the Jordan River. Today, the word is used to mean any saying having little current meaning. Thus, using "data" as a singular or plural form can be a way to distinguish Brits from Americans.
November 5, 2012 - 8:34 pm Link to this Comment -
21. Mad Fiddler
There are people in the 3D animation industry who are comfortable to use the plural form "Vertices" to refer to a number of individual Cartesian points. Then, many of them proceed to use the atrocity of calling the SINGULAR instance a "verticeeeeee."
It is the death of civilization.
I must grit my teeth and merely imagine their heads exploding from a well-placed round, rather than giving in to my (very) dark side and actually sending such a pellet hurtling in their direction.
And then there are those who pronounce "centigrade" as though it were meant to honor the Parisian engineers responsible for maintaining the sacred metric standards… "SONT-ee-grade."
I like to say "vertexes" as in Bright Moon over Texas.
Surely, somewhere someone is ordering more Thorazine for me.
November 5, 2012 - 9:08 pm Link to this Comment -
22. Baobo
Google logo shows blue ballots giving the finger to the right/red "e".
Also, the e's check-marks are loosely arraigned in a swastika.
November 5, 2012 - 9:24 pm Link to this Comment -
23. Mad Fiddler
Can't kick the dog while she's recovering from surgery, and I HAVE to get my cathartic curmudgeonly moment.
I figure youse guys is resilient.
November 5, 2012 - 9:35 pm Link to this Comment -
24. Walt
In an honest election Romney would win in a walk, but Obama has a very good chance of taking Pennsylvania on the strength of likely massive voter fraud in Philadelphia, where the Black wards routinely cast many more votes than they have voters, and where the Democrat machine gets to count the votes. So while I believe Romney will win 300+ Electoral College votes, we all know Obama has a puncher's chance, especially since there has already been widespread voter fraud in Ohio. Gallup and Rasmussen both say the national race is a dead heat. Are we to assume Romney and Obama are tied in California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut and New Jersey? I think not. Therefore Romney is ahead in all the rest and will win it all, the final tally dependent only on holding the voter fraud down to a manageable number.
In an honest election
Mitt is the selection
With fraud vote detection
Obama rejectionNovember 5, 2012 - 9:51 pm Link to this Comment -
25. Kirk Parker
Gordon (3), Give it up, please: we're speaking English, not Latin.
Time to haul out my ancient copy of Kermit: A Data Transfer Protocol for the best footnote evah, courtesy Frank da Cruz:
Yes, I know data is the plural of datum, and I should say data are, or perhaps data sunt. But alas, the word has entered English usage as a collective (singular) noun, despite the best efforts of the Académie Anglaise.
November 5, 2012 - 10:25 pm Link to this Comment -
26. dlsada
These last few months have given me a bit of optimism that all is not lost for this country. The significant passion to get rid of Obama and his ilk and the crowds Romney has drawn even though he is not the most charismatic or eloquent candidate, give me that hope.
I hope and pray our man wins. If he does, it will be a hard slog ahead, but we will advancing in the right direction. But if Obama "wins," by hook or by crook, we can presume our imminent demise and plan our resurrection-a spiritual and political Chapter 7.I'll be right here tomorrow-link always open like most days. Thank you for this site, Richard. It is a godsend. I'm flabbergasted by your ability to generate so much outstanding commentary and in awe of your talent. There has been no better place to be than BC this election year. Fingers crossed boys and girls-this nightmare may soon be over.
November 5, 2012 - 11:21 pm Link to this Comment -
27. Anne Julienne
#11 Josh: here in Australia it's currently 6 Nov and we've had a horserace, the Melbourne Cup, that everyone tunes in to. We do this every year, first Tuesday of Nov. We don't have a president, though. The British Queen is still our head of state. One of the reasons we have balked at becoming a republic – and voting in a president – is because we watch the US and cringe. From here, watching all this, it's just such a circus. I know, I know, it's a serious circus but still …
November 5, 2012 - 11:25 pm Link to this Comment -
28. geoffb
The Democrat way of war. Declare victory, no matter what, and go home.
November 5, 2012 - 11:34 pm Link to this Comment -
29. Baobo
I wouldn't worry about the Panthers, by the way. They're there for security. Additionally, so the press can write pieces about the FBI watching them and pretend that they're not all friendly together.
November 6, 2012 - 12:13 am Link to this Comment -
30. blert
The Romney team has a killer app, and it's a whale of an idea: ORCA.
November 6, 2012 - 1:24 am Link to this Comment -
31. cas
@16 what they will be doing, who they will be with?
I will be trying to "watch" the polls at my local precinct, all day, hoping to keep the fraud to a minimum
@30 – I sure wish I had a "smart" phone, so I could use that ORCA app; otherwise, I need to check each voter in with a pencil & paper
November 6, 2012 - 2:37 am Link to this Comment -
Wretchard #2:
They traditionally have had a strong ground game at the 6 ft under level.
November 6, 2012 - 3:54 am Link to this Comment -
33. hammaknocka
31. cas
So, you'll be engaged in voter suppression then? How oppressive, gestapo!
November 6, 2012 - 4:02 am Link to this Comment -
34. Sarah Rolph
ashen, after I vote I'll come home and try to direct some of my nervous energy into working a bit; I have something to write and something to edit. As the day wears on I'll be getting nervous, so I'll probably go to the grocery store (wearing my Romney/Ryan button) and then do some cooking. Then I'll check the internet to see what's happening, come here to see what wretchard has to say, go to hopenchange where there is a vibrant comment community, and eventually turn on the TV.
Josh, I like your answer!
November 6, 2012 - 4:03 am Link to this Comment -
Frank Lunz was just on FNC.
He said his studies show that 7% of 2008 Obama voters are voting for Romney, and also said that he found the passion of those Obama voters, who typically feel betrayed.
He also said that 1% of 2008 McCain voters are voting for Obama this time (that sounds a couple of orders of magnitude too high to me – I assume they are all Green Energy executives).
He says the election is so close because new voters, 18-21 years old, are breaking for Obama two to one. I can believe that; I was stupid then but still a lot smarter than the rest.
Actually, I am a little surprised that Obama did not ask Romney to suspend his campaign and take over the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
November 6, 2012 - 4:37 am Link to this Comment -
36. bigjimbo
I live in a Red county in a disgustingly blue state. My home precinct went for Fremont in 1856 and has never varied. What really worries me is noted in comment 18. Also the 18-21 year olds deserve what they get and that will be less employment and consideration from yours truly.
November 6, 2012 - 5:27 am Link to this Comment -
37. Don Rodrigo
W: straw poll favors whom? Not clear from your post. Thanks.
November 6, 2012 - 6:17 am Link to this Comment -
38. programmr
Josh at 19:
Thank you! I needed that slap up aside my head.
November 6, 2012 - 6:24 am Link to this Comment -
39. Lorenz Gude
Well the regular English plural of data is datas. Don't scoff, this is the postmodern solution to the problem. Datas in, datas out – it's all the same!
November 6, 2012 - 6:27 am Link to this Comment -
40. Kinuachdrach
dlsada @ 26: "Fingers crossed boys and girls-this nightmare may soon be over."
Would that it were so! Regardless of who emerges president in the US, the wages of global government deficit spending & currency debasement will still come due. Ain't goin' to be easy.
One of the major failures of the last few years has been Congress's abdication of its role. More important than who gets the keys to Air Force 1 is whether there is enough turnover in the House & Senate to improve Congress's sorry performance.
It is hard to avoid the conclusion that universal sufferage democracy is a failed paradigm. I fear our nightmare has many more night sweats to go before a better paradigm emerges. Short-term pessimist, long-term optimist.
November 6, 2012 - 6:29 am Link to this Comment -
41. MachiasPrivateer
Gordon @ 3 – There certainly are times when data is singular. To understand the principal, append "base" to data to yield "the database is" or "the databases are". A singular data point by itself is meaningless. It has to be tied to a reference point to have any meaning, so databases always consist of multiple data points.
This kind of grammatical nonsense was favored by the likes of Sally Ride and look what her grammar cop actions did to NASA! Challenger accident anyone?
Being "on orbit" is physically nonsensical, but was a favorite expression of hers. Politically correct speech does not impress Mother Nature! As NASA became more PC, it became the less competent, and it has now fallen so much that manned space travel has reverted to the private sector. Sally Ride's grammar crusade as a closet lesbian was to destroy much of the legacy of Neil Armstrong et al.
November 6, 2012 - 6:39 am Link to this Comment -
42. An Préachán
For your ref: Ohio Sec'y of State Jon Husted's website:
Pretty handy; you can stay connected to it, and so on.Meanwhile, friends of mine report from Southwest Ohio that the turnout this morning was quite large by the usual standards. They had to wait a half an hour to get in, and then noticed the lines were longer when they left.
FWIW. They're in a Republican area, in any event.
Also, Ed Morrisey's in action already and has some (possible) news:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/11/06/romney-up-92k-in-oh-early-voting/If what he's onto it true, it may, indeed, be an early night. Or perhaps I should say, "The Dims have a whole lotta cheatin' to do!" Or perhaps I might put it like this: the cheating going on up to now is probably about like the range firing of Napoleon's artillery before they really got started.
An Préachán
PS Data? Wasn't he an emotionless android somewhere in the future, that somehow had more emotion than the entire crew of the Enterprise of his day?
November 6, 2012 - 6:51 am Link to this Comment -
43. Gordon
"There certainly are times when data is singular. To understand the principal, append "base" to data to yield "the database is" or "the databases are". A singular data point by itself is meaningless. It has to be tied to a reference point to have any meaning, so databases always consist of multiple data points."
Respectfully disagree. In your case "data" is a modifier applied to "base". It has the same grammatical function as "military"-base. It becomes part of a different word. Same could apply to "media" probably: "media matters".
No; I say again: if "data" and "media" are singular (I won't but I could even stretch it to "agenda"), then what is the plural? Anybody who wants to use it that way should be able to answer that.
And: I'm in my early 70s and all my literate life I've said "data are … ", "news media are … ". I can even remember one particular day in junior high school when that was covered in class and their origins (do you think they do that now?).
Then suddenly, as if some mystical committee had just met, those words became singular. I don't know who seems to have the power to make these illogical changes, or why, but it particularly distresses me when I see folks like Clubbers, who surely were taught differently (the older crowd at least) will seemingly passively just switch over. It just really bothers me, I mean really really really, that there's some influence out there that can produce this.
And … I still want to know who had the authority to make "oriental" a forbidden word. This is PC thought control, folks.
I'm afraid I didn't understand your reference to Sally Ride.
November 6, 2012 - 7:22 am Link to this Comment -
44. MichaelC
Fox news reports dozens of GOP poll watchers forcibly removed from Philadelphia precincts. Judge orders them reinstated. Drudgereport has it up.
November 6, 2012 - 7:47 am Link to this Comment -
45. Dworkin Barimen
So far we already have reports of NBPP up to their old hijinks again in PA and OH. Lots of chatter on Twitter about tons of GOP poll watchers being chased out of the polling places, some with physical violence. Supposedly some retired Navy Seals are being mustered to provide counter force. Also have seen it reported that a judge has ordered the GOP poll watchers restored and that sheriff's deputies are also being sent in to keep order. Sounds kind of crazy out there, and about the level of Dem chicanery that I expected.
November 6, 2012 - 7:53 am Link to this Comment -
I voted this morning, getting there at around 0745. The turnout was the largest I have ever seen. Admittedly, there have been some changes and the polling place is now for two precints, although I do not know if that actually represents more voters.
There was a line of at least 30 people to get in, a line to verify your identity, (have no idea why so many people's name starts with I through N, or maybe that was just confusion) a line to pick up your ballot, and a very long line, probably at least 50 people, to feed your ballot into the reader. Other people I talked to who voted at other sites report similar experiences. One guy said he got there 30 min before the polls opened and was the 44th to vote.
Bigjumbo #36:
I think that "Who did you vote for?" is a perfectly legitimate interview question, espcially for young people. Aside from an employer's reasonable desire to hire people who did not try to run him out of business, there is the question of simple intelligence.
Here in Florida, one large employer explained to his employees that there may be negative consequences for their future employment if Obama is re-elected. Naturally there were those who objected to this, saying it was like the lord of the manor giving direction to the peasants.
I think it would be a good idea for the economic consequences of votting to fall on people based on their choices at the ballot box, but I don't know how to make that happen. A lie detector test would be a bit much, I guess.
November 6, 2012 - 8:16 am Link to this Comment -
47. mmacg
I am Irish, a chartered (professional) mechanical engineer. I studied Latin all though secondary school. I also have a high standard of English grammar. In full knowledge of the Latin rules regarding datum and data as singular and plural respectively, I have never had a problem about regarding the word data as a collective noun requiring the singular form of the verb when writing in English.
I could say the same about forum, fora, and forums.
An Englishman wold say "One could say the same about ……".
It's all dialect and usage.November 6, 2012 - 8:37 am Link to this Comment -
48. Dworkin Barimen
Vote under the benevolent gaze of Dear Leader
November 6, 2012 - 8:56 am Link to this Comment -
49. dlsada
I keep hearing the top of the hour news idiots saying that Obama's leadership during Hurricane Sandy was a game changer. What the hell did he do-a 3 hour visit pointing at things like a 3 year old and hugging on Christie. Then it's back to the trail with the bomber jacket while the NY victims are without power and reenacting The Lord of the Flies. What in God's name did he do, release FEMA $? What a herculean effort-that probably took a phone call to accomplish.
November 6, 2012 - 8:56 am Link to this Comment -
50. Don Rodrigo
37. Don Rodrigo
What a doofus! Wretchard posted an image. DOH!
November 6, 2012 - 9:39 am Link to this Comment -
51. Annoy Mouse
Data are ARE RRRRRRhhh!!!
What is this, talk like a pirate day?
Aint no big.
There is a bunch of engineering(ese) that tortures the language to some extent. There are invented words in pop culture and invented words in science. If engineers and scientists could not adopt their own language then they would have to hold off innovation to follow the work of linguists. Therefore I think English majors make poor scientists and poor leaders. They are Luddites by nature.
My dad who speaks the queens english is quick to point out that half of the engineering terms that I use are not words. I point out that he cannot get a job in the Fortune 500 by being a contrarian.
November 6, 2012 - 9:54 am Link to this Comment -
52. Gordon
47. mmacg, et al:
I surrender; I will keep my grumbling to myself—no more pirate talk.
November 6, 2012 - 10:50 am Link to this Comment -
53. wretchard
British and Australian English are endless source of fascination. My son's teacher asked me: "has he revised his maths". The instantaneous thought that flashed through my mind was, "WTF should he revise analytic Geometry? Did Descartes screw up?"
And then a quarter second later I realized that he meant "has your son reviewed his math?". Ah. Then there's the word "whilst". You see these signs everywhere. "Do not board the train whilst it is moving". It's correct of course, but I could almost hear Charles Dickens chortling in the background.
Then there's "ill". You read a newspaper story that says "ethnic gangs shot a man in the Punchbowl district with an AK-47. The victim is seriously ill in hospital". Again, this is probably right. But just once I'd like to watch a movie where one of the members of the squad gets shot by a German sniper and collapses to the ground saying, "sarge, I'm ill".
Of course, there's "in hospital". And "on holiday", in place of "in the hospital" and "on a holiday". I suppose it is the British revenge for the American habit of dropping the "u's" in the "ou" combinations. Maybe its genesis was as follows.
"So is your wife in labor?" wrote one American. And the irked Brit answers, "yes, in hospital."
In 99.95% of the cases, you get the drift. The only problem is in elevators. "Richard, let's take the lift to the first floor." And I say to myself, aren't we already on the first floor? How the heck can you take the elevator to the first floor? Well the thing is, some countries start at "ground". So you go ground, first, second, etc floors.
The other thing about the British is they know when to mispronounce things. Certain things are meant to be mispronounced. So if you meet someone from Oxford who went to Magdalen College, be very careful when reading it. It is not read as spelled, but only this special case. The same from men of a certain class named St. John. etc.
The great thing about being an Englishman born and bred is you know all these special rules by heart, an advantage that most of the world is not blessed with.
November 6, 2012 - 11:17 am Link to this Comment -
54. PD Quig
" so if you lose faith in anything, it should be in the citizenry of this country."
For this reason I have refused to fly the flag since Obama was elected. I will not fly it again unless he is defeated today. If he wins today, I just may never fly it again.
November 6, 2012 - 12:29 pm Link to this Comment -
55. Don Rodrigo
The same from men of a certain class named St. John"sinjin" as I recall?
"Magdalen." "Madlin?"
I also noted that Brits put the emphasis on the early syllables, and Americans on the end of the word. Caribbean, Himalayas, etc.
Actually, Americans are usually the only ones to emphasize the second half of a word or name, but most of the rest of the world is the opposite. Or so it seems to me.
November 6, 2012 - 1:54 pm Link to this Comment
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text:
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Oakland leads 1-0 (as of 4/28)
Game 1: Monday, April 28 | ||
Oakland | 4 | Final |
Texas | 0 | |
Recap »Boxscore » |
Game 2: Tuesday, April 29 | ||
Oakland | 9 | Final |
Texas | 3 | |
Recap »Boxscore » |
Game 3: Wednesday, April 30 | ||
Oakland | 12 | Final |
Texas | 1 | |
Recap »Boxscore » |
Coverage: ESPN/WatchESPN
8:00 PM ET, April 28, 2014
Globe Life Park in Arlington, Arlington, Texas
W: S. Gray (4-1)
L: Y. Darvish (1-1)
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Sonny Gray came off the mound and into the Oakland dugout after the eighth inning purposely trying to avoid contact with manager Bob Melvin.
Gray, clearly the best pitcher on this night in a matchup against Rangers ace Yu Darvish, wanted to finish what he started.
"I normally talk to him, share a laugh, make something up," Gray said. "I put my head down and he goes, `How are you feeling?' I just yelled `Great!" and kept walking. ... Yeah, I wanted to go back out there."
The right-hander did pitch the ninth, wrapping up a three-hitter for his first career complete game as the Athletics beat Texas 4-0 Monday night in Darvish's shortest outing in the major leagues.
More A's-Rangers Coverage
Once again, Yu Darvish was unable to solve the A's hitters, whose timely hits resulted in the shortest outing of Darvish's big league career, Richard Durrett writes. Story
• Rapid Reaction
• Rangers Blog | ESPN Dallas
Gray (4-1) allowed only three singles while striking out six. He threw 73 of 108 pitches for strikes in his 16th career start.
"I felt like telling him he better get it done under 110 [pitches], but that's probably the wrong thing to tell a guy when he goes out for the ninth," Melvin said with a smile. "Usually he looks at me and has a conversation with me when he's coming in and he didn't even look at me after the eighth."
Texas got only one runner to third base against the 24-year-old Gray, who threw two wild pitches in the sixth after Robinson Chirinos singled.
Darvish (1-1) was gone after 3⅓ innings, pulled after walking No. 9 batter Eric Sogard for the second time. Those were the only two walks for the right-hander, who allowed four runs and six hits while throwing 83 pitches (45 strikes). Darvish is winless in his past nine home starts.
"The first few innings I thought he mixed [pitches] pretty good," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I thought he tried to throw everything at them. ... They found a way to put balls in play. They found a way to score runs."
Josh Donaldson had a two-run single in the third, and the A's made it 4-0 an inning later when Josh Reddick had an RBI triple and came home on Daric Barton's sacrifice fly.
Oakland and Texas entered tied for the AL West lead and the league's best record at 15-10. The Rangers, shut out for the first time this season, had swept a three-game series in Oakland last week.
Gray walked Rangers leadoff hitter Michael Choice, but got out of the first with a fielder's choice grounder and a 4-5-3 double play with three Oakland infielders shifted to the right side against Prince Fielder.
"The first couple of hitters it looked like what he usually does in the first from time to time," Melvin said. "After that it was as well of a pitched game as I've seen in a while."
Choice grounded into an inning-ending double play in the third after the bottom two batters reached base.
Darvish made his 66th start for Texas since signing from Japan before the 2012 season. His shortest previous MLB outing had been four innings at Seattle his rookie season, though he went only 1⅓ innings in a Japan start in 2006.
Darvish struck out four, but three of those came in the first five batters of the game.
The A's are 7-1 in their nine games against Darvish, who last week got a no-decision in Oakland after going six innings and leaving a 3-3 tie before Texas won 4-3.
After Donaldson's big hit, a bouncer through the left side of the infield out of the reach of diving third baseman Adrian Beltre, the A's had the bases reloaded on a one-out single by Brandon Moss.
Moss was thrown out retreating to first on a pitch that got away from catcher Chirinos, though the runner was originally ruled safe before Rangers manager Washington challenged and got the play overturned by replay. When Moss slid back in, his foot was against first baseman Fielder's foot -- and not the base -- while being tagged.
Washington lost a challenge in the eighth when he thought Reddick was out on a pickoff attempt diving back to first with Barton batting. Reddick was called safe, and replay confirmed the call before Barton hit a deep fly ball.
Center fielder Leonys Martin made a leaping catch on the warning track and threw to first base. Reddick was initially called safe by crew chief Jeff Nelson, who then initiated a replay and changed his call for an inning-ending double play.
"That's a first, two replays with the same guy sliding into the same base," Melvin said. "That's part of the game now."
Game notes
Rangers OF Shin-Soo Choo was out of the starting lineup for the sixth consecutive game because of a left ankle sprain, but flew out as a pinch hitter in the ninth. ... A's OF Yoenis Cespedes missed his fourth game in a row (strained left hamstring). Manager Bob Melvin said it's 50-50 he'll be back in the starting lineup Tuesday. ... Game 2 features a standout matchup of left-handers. Oakland's Scott Kazmir (3-0, 1.62 ERA) pitches against Martin Perez (4-0, 1.42), who has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings his past three starts. Perez has two consecutive three-hit shutouts, the last coming Wednesday in Oakland.
Photo Wire
ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 28: Eric Sogard #28 of the Oakland Athletics warms up before the start of the game against...
(Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images)Regular Season Series
Texas leads 10-9 (as of Mon 4/28) | ||
Mon 4/21 | TEX 4, @OAK 3 | Recap |
Tue 4/22 | TEX 5, @OAK 4 | Recap |
Wed 4/23 | TEX 3, @OAK 0 | Recap |
» Mon 4/28 | OAK 4, @TEX 0 | Box Score |
Tue 4/29 | OAK 9, @TEX 3 | Recap |
Wed 4/30 | OAK 12, @TEX 1 | Recap |
Mon 6/16 | TEX 14, @OAK 8 | Recap |
Tue 6/17 | @OAK 10, TEX 6 | Recap |
Wed 6/18 | @OAK 4, TEX 2 | Recap |
Fri 7/25 | @TEX 4, OAK 1 | Recap |
Sat 7/26 | OAK 5, @TEX 1 | Recap |
Sun 7/27 | OAK 9, @TEX 3 | Recap |
Tue 9/16 | TEX 6, @OAK 3 | Recap |
Wed 9/17 | TEX 6, @OAK 1 | Recap |
Thu 9/18 | TEX 7, @OAK 2 | Recap |
Thu 9/25 | @TEX 2, OAK 1 | Recap |
Fri 9/26 | OAK 6, @TEX 2 | Recap |
Sat 9/27 | @TEX 5, OAK 4 | Recap |
Sun 9/28 | OAK 4, @TEX 0 | Recap |
Complete Schedule: Athletics | Rangers |
Scoring Summary
3rd | J Donaldson singled to left, E Sogard and C Crisp scored, J Lowrie to second. | 2 | 0 | |
4th | J Reddick tripled to deep right, J Jaso scored. | 3 | 0 | |
4th | D Barton hit sacrifice fly to left, J Reddick scored. | 4 | 0 | |
View complete Play-By-Play |
Game Information
Stadium | Globe Life Park in Arlington, Arlington, TX |
Attendance | 28,548 (59.2% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
Game Time | 3:03 |
Weather | 84 degrees, clear |
Wind | 8 mph |
Umpires | Home Plate - Jeff Nelson, First Base - Marcus Pattillo, Second Base - Laz Diaz, Third Base - Scott Barry |
Research Notes
Yu Darvish didn't finish the 4th inning on Monday (3 1/3 IP), the shortest start of his career. It's another rough start against the Athletics, which is nothing new for him. [+]Yu Darvish MLB Career - By Opponent
Close [X] | ||||||||||||||||||
Sonny Gray lowered his career ERA to 2.31. That rates best in the American League and 4th-best in MLB since the date of his major-league debut (July 10, 2013). The pitcher who entered the day with the best ERA in the AL was Gray's mound opponent on Monday, Yu Darvish. [+]Best ERA since July 10, 2013 - Date of Sonny Gray MLB debut
Close [X] | ||||||||||||||||||
Sonny Gray has thrown his curveball 27 percent of the time in his career, the seventh-highest percentage among pitchers with at least 10 starts since Gray was called up. Since the start of 2010, Adrian Beltre has a .325 average in 166 at-bats ending with a curveball from a righty, the third-highest average among all players with 100 such plate appearances. | ||||||||||||||||||
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text:
Ha Ha was no laughing matter at Alabama |
Thursday, May 08, 2014
C'mon Man, Give Him to Chicago
The National Football League draft is under way. What a
relief; fans and sportswriters with nothing useful to do have been speculating
about their favorite teams' choices for a couple of months. It's tiresome.
I've never played that game. Unless your team has one of the
top two or three picks, guessing about selections is a total waste of time. My
guys, the Green Bay Packers, employ a squad of scouts and personnel experts
to chart draft picks. They're pretty good at it. They don't need or want fan
This year, the Pack has a glaring need to pick a top-flight
safety. The fans have become enamored of a young man with an improbable
name--Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. That's right, "Ha Ha." He is an excellent
player--big, fast, and fearless, but here's hoping some other team will step up
to employ him.
I must admit the Alabama
star would fit right into the Packers secondary should it perform as laughably
as it did last year. But let's get serious, pro ball is a tough game that
deserves guys with tough names. Anyone seen the plaque in the NFL Hall of Fame
dedicated to Bronco Nagurski? Now, that's
a tough name.
In Ha Ha's defense it should be understood that his real
name is Ha'Sean. His grandmother bestowed the Ha Ha knickname on him. Rumor has it
he and his coaches love it. With all due respect, I don't.
I'm pulling for da Bears to draft him before he can fall
into the Packers' clutches. I can hear the Lambeau Field fans roaring as the PA
announcer blasts out, "Lacy carried; tackle by Ha Ha."
4 comments:
- Dick Klade said...
So who did the Packers select with their first draft pick? None other than HA HA CLINTON-DIX!!!! Why don't they ever listen to me? After all, I'm a stockholder. Would Dallas treat Jerry Jones this way?
- Alan G said...
Ha, Ha (no pun intended) - but you asked for that one didn't you! Never say never. Obviously you and your block of stockholders have no clout whatsoever.
- Dick Klade said...
Rumor has it the Packers tried to trade Ha Ha to Minnesota today, but all the Vikings offered was a fourth-string linebacker named Cuddles Callahan.
- schmidleysscribblins.com said...
I don't follow football at all, but read in our local paper of some rock star whose appearance on TV had been scuttled by a football game. Seems the guys would rather watch football than a half naked singer. What is the world coming to?
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Charlotte, NC
Proudly Presents
3rd Annual Charlotte 5K Pajama Run
Saturday November 2, 2013
The 2nd Annual Levine Cancer Institute Pajama Run was a huge success with over 250 runners participating. The event raised over $10,000 for the Carolinas Ovarian Cancer Fund during its second year.
We are looking forward to next year's event! Help say "Goodnight to Cancers Below the Waist"!


text:
Monday, January 06, 2014
Kara Thrace For
President by Scott Seward
Old records are
haunted by ghosts who leave tracks. Not just the obvious tracks on a groove,
but also numbers and fingerprints and stamps and names and signs and a glyph
here and there. The anal among us find this unacceptable, but I feel it is the
right of all working men and women to exact revenge on their possessions in any
way that they see fit, and no matter how I ended up with a 40 year old piece of
plastic housed in cardboard, it lived a life without me and it will lead one
without me again someday. I am merely a temporary custodian of an artifact. I
don't care all that much about you, but I do care about keeping art safe for
the aliens. They are gonna love Link Wray. I can feel it. And no matter how you
may feel about the filthy rich of the world, they keep those million dollar
paintings in *really* great shape. Would you? I highly doubt it. You'd wreck
that shit in a week.
People, in
general, are horrible creatures. The worst of the worst. There is no
competition. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that this planet
would be much better off without us. Since nobody can actually predict when
that blessed day will come to pass, when the destroyers are finally wiped off
this rock, all we can do is wait and pray. Until then, the only solace we can
find in humanity is in artistic creation. Art is the *only* worthwhile
contribution that humans can give to a place that was perfect without them. The
only offering. Now, the fact that most art is intrinsically worth less than a
single leaf on a single tree or a single butterfly or even a single dung
beetle, is neither here nor there. We have already established that humans are
99% worthless. But that 1% of good stuff makes up for a lot. Not enough, but a
lot. And it is this 1% that the aliens will put in their vast space museums.
Which is why I keep my records in nice shape. The nuclear attacks or
warming-induced tornadoes *might* miss my house. I *might* be the only owner of
Dave "Baby" Cortez's The Happy Organ in North America. Who can say? All I can
do in the meantime is keep that record, and others like it, in dimly-lit rooms
that are free from moisture and extreme heat or cold until the day of reckoning
and hope for the best.
I'm gonna sell
my book to hippies!
That's the
dumbest thing I've ever heard. Hippies don't read, you dope!
Well, they used
to. They could do it again.
Do you have any
idea what the average hippie is like in the 21st century? These are not your
grandmother's flower children. They aren't working on the farm until they
eventually go to law school. These people now are one step away from being
corpses. They don't do *anything*. They don't even have money for drugs!
But they just
don't have anything good to read! They've been stuck in a van with Carlos
Castaneda for decades. And Carlos just doesn't *speak* to anyone anymore. Do
you have any idea how hard it is to get your hands on peyote in this day and
age? I actually have no idea how hard it is…but when was the last time someone
tried to sell you some peyote? It's not gonna happen. Proper psychedelic
experiences died with the Dead. My book – and this is the genius part – will be
about a modern-day Phish fan who will be much smarter than the average Phish
fan. I'm gonna flatter them, you'll see. And they will *have* to buy it,
because it's about a Phish fan, and Phish fans have to buy anything with the
word Phish in it! Tell me that it isn't a foolproof plan.
But then you'll
actually have to write a book about a Phish fan. Ever think of that, smart guy?
I have! And it's
doable. I simply write a book about the wacky adventures of a music fan
traveling the countryside following his favorite band and all the chapters will
be named after Phish songs. Voila. Ras Bodhi Weinstein will be the Valentine Michael
Smith of his generation.
Oy. Is this trip inspiration for a Phish book? I don't
know how I feel about that…
I actually just
thought of the Phish thing a couple of miles ago. I don't know anything about
Phish. Or their fans. I think it's a good idea though. And it won't get in the way of any record buying, I promise.
I'd probably
rather read a book about Juggalos, to be honest. An action/adventure kinda
thing. If I still read books. I'm telling you, nobody reads anymore. Even Oprah
fans are happy to be let off the hook. Too much pressure to keep up.
Oprah fans still
read. They love reading. Oprah instilled a lifelong love of reading in them.
She made them crave knowledge.
They still hate
that one guy though. The nerd who spurned O.
The Corrections
guy? Yeah, he fucked up. I don't know what that guy's problem was.
Did you read
that book?
The Corrections?
No. I can't read that guy. I've never been able to read John Updike either. I'd
probably have an easier time with William Dean Howells. Or James Branch Cabell.
I *tried* to read it. I couldn't get past the first paragraph. It's a doozy.
That paragraph transfixed and mystified me to no end. I couldn't go any
further. I spent so much time staring at it, and it was like a locked door I
would never be able to open no matter how hard I tried. It might be the worst
first paragraph in literary history.
For real?
Well, maybe not
the *worst*, but it blew my mind a little bit. Would you like me to recite it
to you?
For real?
Sure. For real.
I memorized it. Every once in a while - it doesn't happen often - God sends you
a sign and that sign says: DON'T EVER DO THIS. So, it makes sense to pay
attention when this happens. Wanna hear it?
Sure, I'm not
going anywhere.
Okay, here you
go: "The madness of an autumn prairie cold front coming through. You could feel
it: something terrible was going to happen. The sun low in the sky, a minor
light, a cooling star. Gust after gust of disorder. Trees restless,
temperatures falling, the whole northern religion of things coming to an end. No
children in the yards here. Shadows lengthened on yellowing zoysia. Red oaks
and pin oaks and swamp white oaks rained acorns on houses with no mortgage.
Storm windows shuddered in the empty bedrooms. And the drone and hiccup of a
clothes dryer, the nasal contention of a leaf blower, the ripening of local
apples in a paper bag, the smell of gasoline with which Alfred Lambert had
cleaned the paintbrush from his morning painting of the wicker love seat."
Sheesh, that
paragraph drives me crazy. And the whole northern religion of things comes to
an end. Firstly, I REALLY want to know how apples ripening in a bag adds to the
"madness" and "disorder" of an autumn prairie cold front.
Secondly, I ALWAYS imagine that the storm windows are actually IN the bedrooms.
Like, they are all on the bed shuddering. Though, that at least does imply some
sort of madness. Thirdly, is the "gust after gust of
disorder"...wind? Do empty rooms and yards free of children also add to the
"madness" of a cold front? If there are leaves and acorns and
ripening apples it can't be THAT cold yet. Are leaf blowers and clothes dryers
ominous symbols of mother nature's fury? And are the trees smoking a lot of
cigarettes and pacing a lot? What exactly makes them "restless"? So
many questions…zoysia! I'll give you zoysia…I read that paragraph and it makes
me think the person who wrote it has only read about going outside. Or only
seen pictures of outside.
That is pretty
dumb. No wonder I don't read.
You should read.
Books are great. That guy though…There is another great line in that book. A
sentence for the ages:
"It's the
fate of most Ping-Pong tables in home basements eventually to serve the ends of
other, more desperate games."
Ha! I love that
one. Like some sort of demented Tolstoy quote. Eh, what are you gonna do?
People are so confused these days. Words and thoughts come hard to people.
Words were all people had once upon a time. Now they've got all this other
Wait, where are
Look at the map.
We're somewhere.
Jesus, I can't
believe we're using a map. Speaking of "all this other shit", remind me why we
couldn't bring phones or computers on this adventure.
I told you, I
wanted to go record hunting like our forefathers did! A car, some cash, and,
you know, some reasonably comfortable motel rooms.
We can watch
T.V. in the motels though, right?
Yeah, sure, I'm
not trying to torture us. I just wanted to get away from all that crap for as
long as the trip lasted. It'll be nice. Refreshing. We are both on the computer
*all* day long. Forever. It's a nightmare of sorts.
I kinda love it
though. And hate it. I miss Facebook a little bit right now. What if someone
dies? What will I do?
It's okay,
someone else will die when you get back. And someone else will have a birthday.
Facebook is an endless cycle of birth and death. Like life! And just as
aggravating. But that's the only internet as life metaphor you're gonna get out
of me. I'm sick of the whole business. Everyone has become so dumb. Dumb as
dirt. Have you ever noticed how much dumber something like the New York Times
seems online. You can look at an actual copy, and, I swear to god, it still
resembles the paper of record. That great gray-ass lady of yore. When you see it online, you long for apocalypse.
What happens to it? Someone should do a study. All the vanity and greed is so
glaring online. The headlines are soaked in blood and money. Or maybe it has
just become money-soaked in general. Same with the New Yorker. Not like they
were ever prole organs or anything, but they at least put on a good show of noblesse
oblige. Good leftie types. They're both starting to seem obscene to me. And I'm
not even an occupier! Record collectors are the .001%! We keep our
heads down and go about our business. We don't get in the way. We've never seen
the inside of a voting booth. There are no records in a voting booth! But even
I can't ignore what I see anymore. Nero fiddling while Rome burns? I see a lot
of people who should know better jerking off all day over pictures of cash. Not
even their own cash! Just cash fetishism. It's an epidemic. That's the plague
the bible talked about, I'll bet. The great greed and coveting plague. The
bible talked about a plague, right?
I…think so?
It's in there
somewhere. You wanna stop and eat something?
Can we eat
Jesus, what was
that in there? A hospice?
It was pretty
depressing. Like I imagine a TB ward would be like.
Everyone looked
so fucking sad. Ronald was the only one smiling.
They should sell
oxygen tanks with the fries.
When did it get
so hard to actually swallow that stuff? I used to love that crap! It kinda
tasted like poison coated in salt. Like they were *really* trying to hurt me.
Hell is watching
people who look like they should be on gurneys eat Big Macs.
Hey, I think
we're close to our first stop!
Finally. Sad
people I can relate to. Onward and upward!
Man, I hate
driving. 40 or 50 years ago was the time to drive a car. They were as big as
the Taj Mahal, and there was nobody on the road. More cows. Farms. Americana up
the ass. Now…
Yeah, it can be
a bummer. So samey unless you get off the highway. And even there…
It's the
uniformity. From sea to shitty Applebees. Makes you feel like Robert Crumb. Get
the hell out of here. Hide. Run. Even the local color hides from view. Used to
be everywhere. They should give out free copies of Cormac McCarthy's The Road
at the highway visitor centers in the Midwest. Let people know what they're in
Traveling great
distances by car makes me yearn for motels. They are the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow. I love them. My reward for enduring the endless billboards and
ugliness. I love how they smell. I love the bedding. So itchy and cheap and
wonderful. Lying on a motel bed, turning on the t.v., and sipping on some
vending machine coke with a big plastic bucket of ice next to me, it beats
anything I can think of. It beats the Grand Canyon! Fuck a hole in the ground.
Motels rule. You're safe. No one knows you. No one cares. The local news is
from another planet. You don't know the name of anything. Murder seems exotic.
Fires blaze out of control, and it's like you've never seen a fire blaze out of
control before. The fires might as well be a million miles away. There are so
many fires. This planet is constantly on fire. Every minute of every day. But
in a motel room? It's like watching security video of Mars. I can totally
understand why people hole up in motel rooms and do endless amounts of drugs.
They aren't really on earth even before they get high. That Do Not Disturb sign
is magic. You might as well be locked in a vault at Fort Knox. It's like
getting in a time machine that doesn't go anywhere! The hotel industry doesn't get enough credit for
keeping people sane. And for giving people perspective on life. If I were a
wealthy man, I would stay in a different hotel every night. Room service,
premium cable, mini bar…man, that's living.
I agree
completely. Hotels and motels allow you to forget that you had to be outside
during the day. And for that they are a blessing. When you're at home, there is
always some annoying reason to go outside. You gotta find the cat, you gotta
get the mail, take out the garbage, ugh, it's like living in the stone age.
So, hey, what
are you reading if you aren't reading The Corrections? Just curious.
Well, what about
you? You say you don't read books, but I don't believe you.
Oh, yeah, you
know, I read, but I'm on the computer so much, I rarely want to read books. I
read *all* the time online. A little of this and a little of that. Like
everyone does. Then I go home at night and I dive into Netflix and it magically
takes me wherever I want to go. I still buy books occasionally when I see
something cool for cheap. I *own* books, you know? I just never get around to
opening any. I admire the covers and the blurbs on the back.
Yeah, I hear
you. It's an effort. You have to unplug everything and that can be a herculean
task after a long day. What do you read online?
Anything. Literally
anything. Ebay listings, Youtube comments, every other link on a message board
or on Facebook. Stuff I google. Newspapers. Craigslist listings. A zillion blog
posts. I look at a lot of pictures of records online. Record porn, basically. I
read extensive fansite reviews for things that I have no interest in. I spent
hours one night reading endless reviews of military strategy board games.
Despite the fact that I have never played one in my life and will never play
one. In all honesty, it was fucking fascinating. The web is such a boon for
sociologists and sociopaths.
I do all that
too. I still try to do the hard copy thing though. It's a different experience.
I don't think as much when I'm reading online. Books still manage to make me
think. In solitude. The web can be such a cacophony. And it makes me anxious.
Caffeinated. Like playing a slot machine for hours except there is even less
chance of winning anything of value on the web. Dumbly clicking links and going
back to the same pages over and over. It's actually a pretty great addiction as
addictions go. Very clean. You can maintain a semblance of a normal life. You
just have to remember to bathe occasionally and feed yourself. As far as books
go, well, I hate to feel like an old fogey before my time, but I read the moldy
and forgotten mostly. Someone has to. I think it's great if David Foster
Wallace speaks to people younger than me. Young, brainy, computer-literate
indie rock fans. More power to them. And if people get a kick out of Michael Chabon
comic books and Jonathan Lethem graphic novels and Jonathan Franzen cultural
manifestos…actually, I shouldn't include Chabon in there. I think he's probably
a good dude and I enjoyed The Mysteries of Pittsburgh when it came out – more
than I enjoyed Less Than Zero or Bright Lights Big City – and I loved the
Wonder Boys movie even if I didn't read the book. They're probably all good
dudes. Rick Moody is probably a swell guy. . but…I can't help but feel that you
aren't gonna get the truth from nice guys. There's something inconsequential
about a generation of writers so self-obsessed. They feel limited. There's a
lack of fierceness there. I don't mean that they have to be tough guys, but
they seem so insular and collegiate. Not insular…I just don't get the impression
that their lives are on the line. And I feel like future internet generations
will mimic this even more intensely. People sitting in a room. Forever. Writing
about what they think about in their rooms. And only knowing what they see on
their screens. Like bad lo-fi bedroom computer blog electronica. All the
resources of the world at their fingertips, and no life or death reason to
share. Sharing for sharing's sake. But it's a shabby time we live in. Shabby
times require diversions of small consequence. I dunno, I still love art. And
books. I love the act of creation. I still worship the impulse to build and
make and sing and write. When I read old books I get such a thrill because not
only did the people writing them possess a high level of craft, they were just
so obviously obsessed in general with words and writing and everything that
goes with making a book or a story or an essay. When they weren't drinking or
smoking or whatever, they were reading and writing. Maybe they caught a movie
or a play. Or had an affair. But words were *it*. And they got really fucking
good at it. And now, well, you get hybrid workshop/screenplay exercises in
boredom by people with a natural facility for writing, but not much intriguing
to tell me. I crave intrigue. And surprises. And some sort of sense that I live
on the same planet as these people. Or a sense that I would *want* to live on
the same planet as these people. I don't really want to live on Franzen World.
It's a weird cramped bitter world where everyone avoids each other. You are
much better off reading genre fiction. Teenage werewolves will tell you more
about the planet you live on than Rick Moody ever has. Plus, you get
werewolves! Everyone wins! In general, people are better off reading good genre
fiction. Literary fiction is so anemic. You get robustness from a good science
fiction novel. And tons of interesting ideas. And, hopefully, good writing. I
stick with the 50's to the 70's with SF. Such richness. I'll take one good
story by Clifford Simak or Frederick Pohl over most current lit fic. They were
genuine prophets. They asked *every* question there is to ask about existence.
And they did it with humor and top-notch storytelling skills. Post-academic
nerdbots write stories like it's a chore. More grad school homework. They
should read more Bradbury. He's not hip like Dick or Delaney, but his
imagination was boundless. Completely boundless! He had more good ideas than he
knew what to do with. And that's true of most great SF writers. Sometimes
they'll cram enough ideas for ten novels into one story. They were *burning*!
And they did it for decades. They wrote and they wrote and they wrote, and it
wasn't all gold, but, damn, if you're looking for a good writing influence look
to them. Look to the stars! But everyone's too self-conscious. Straight
sci-fi isn't cool enough or something. Everyone is afraid of not being
zeitgeist-y enough.
What they don't
understand is, you can't write a straight literary novel anymore and be
zeitgeist-y. You can't compete with Twitter. You can't compete with a video
that popped up on Youtube five seconds ago. Novels take years to write, and by
the time you are done, the intellectual and cultural universe is
unrecognizable. You can write histories. You can write anything you want about
the past. Or you can just not give a shit about the here and now which is an
option I heartily endorse. Or you can write science fiction. Unfortunately,
brainy indie-rock writing workshop dudes *suck* at writing science fiction.
They try and write PoMo "fabulist" novels or they collaborate on horrible comic
books or graphic novels or they write snoozy Paul Auster-ish brain teasers that
have no real brains and rarely tease. They're only really good, when all is
said and done, at slice-of-life wistful thinking nostalgia prose that is half
musty Updike and half over the hill Pynchon and none of them can write anything
as mechanically flawless or as emotionally charged as the slightest story by
Alice Munro. And she's an old lady! From Canada! I would still have her babies
though. I love that woman. Not that they have to write as good as she does.
It's not their fault that they can't. An Alice Munro only comes around once a
lifetime. People will be reading her books for hundreds of years if there are
still people. All those serious dudes should take a cue from the sci-fi
masters. Write one or two books a year. Perfection is dead. Flaubert is dead.
James is dead. Give it up. It's never gonna happen. You'll never get that kind
of education anymore. Those dudes were fluent in Latin when they were four
years old. Write fierce blazing short novels about fucking and fires and
hurricanes. Print them up on a mimeograph machine in Brooklyn and hand them out
on street corners. It's time to think outside the box. A little hippie/punk
d.i.y. action wouldn't hurt. Of course, most d.i.y. lit and zines and poetry
sucks…but what are you gonna do? At least they're fucking trying! What the fuck
have you done! God I love Minor Threat. It's a shame about Fugazi and that
eyebrow guy who ruins all their songs…
Tell me how you
really feel.
It's fun to
talk. I feel like I've been cooped up at work for months and I have to be nice
to people all day, you know? I'm a person with opinions too. I'm not just a
shopkeeper. It's good to vent a little. And good to get out of town. Clear the
cobwebs. Hey, this is our exit! It won't be long now.
Heaven is a
place on earth.
Poems were
trees! They were thick, sturdy, solid and strong. They had weight. And like
trees, they gave us air. No more. Poems live where the air is thin now. Their
leaves are brown and wilting. Dying, dying…
I can't remember
the last time I read a poem.
What went wrong?
There are many
theories. Probably. I'm not about to do any research. Something nefarious
happened on college campuses in the 80's. That much I know. People were led
astray somehow. There were a lot of "ideas" floating around that absolutely nobody
talks about now and for good reason. These confusing "thoughts" turned a lot of
good people off and away from writing. All of a sudden you had to be some sort
of friggin' expert to write a poem. Or a short story. Or a novel. It also
became increasingly difficult to make any money writing no matter what you
wrote. Making money making art became like winning the lottery. So the only
people left devoting any time to it were people who didn't have to worry about
money as much. This is true in the music world and the arty art world too. The
hyper-educated upper middle class took over the creative consciousness of this
country for better or worse and lemme tell you it was for the worse. Making things
even worser than worse, the upper class in the U.S. lives forever now. Almost.
The average mortality rate for the rich is closing in on 200 years old. Maybe
it just seems like they live forever, I dunno. In any case, this results in a
complete lack of urgency on the part of artists. They can craft the living hell
out of their deadly boring poems or vanilla singer-songwriter tunes or their
"conceptual" installations and since nobody is eagerly anticipating whatever
they end up with anyway, they really have no motivation to light the world on
fire. They don't want fire. They want a nice little gastropub within walking
distance of their apartment.
That's pretty
far out...
Lemme tell you a
Yeah, go for it,
the radio blows so hard around here...
A week or two
ago, I went to lunch at this Greek joint and I brought a book with
me. A Jacques Barzun Reader. When I left the restaurant, I didn't
forget to take it with me, I just left it there on the table. I had ordered a
fried chicken thing and taken a seat that faced the big front window because I
didn't want to look at the miserable Greek restaurant owner in the corner
sitting on a high stool staring at his laptop while teenage girls ran his
business for him. He was pretty cliché as far as miserable Greek restaurant
owners go. Cliché as far as the east coast of the United States goes in my
limited experience. I have no idea what Greek restaurant owners are like in
Greece. Maybe they are all sunshine and good cheer. The food sucks at this
place and about all it has going for it is the steady stream of cute young
girls this guy hires to do all the work. He has an eye, I'll give him that. The
girls usually only last a month or two before the oppressive atmosphere chokes
their young lungs and they head off to Rite Aid or Walgreens or some other
retail oasis. This sad dude's joint had been around for years and if he closed
it tomorrow nobody would even remember that it had been there. A long narrow
anonymous hallway of a restaurant that could be transformed into a tax
preparation place or a union strike headquarters or a junk store in an
afternoon. Nobody would be the wiser. Nobody would ever ask where the brooding
Greek guy went. It would be like the removal of a public pay phone. Was it ever
really there? I could have sworn there was one there yesterday.
I had brought
the book in to read, but after I got my sloppy chicken thing covered in
tzatziki sauce I knew that I wouldn't actually be able to pick it up and read
it. So I ate my thing and just stared at the book. I had been trying to read it
for weeks. The book is filled with essays from a lifetime of work. A loooong
lifetime. The dude wrote a zillion books. My problem with the collection was
that it felt like reading the introductions to a hundred books I hadn't read.
To be honest, it just felt kinda fuddy duddy-ish. College lecture-speak written
by someone from another century. Plus, when smart people write about sports I
groan a little. Barzun was a big baseball fan. They take it all so seriously.
And pop culture is not their first language. If you actually used to hang out
and party with Lionel Trilling, I probably don't want to read you on long outs
and moonshots. As a rule. There are no doubt exceptions. In fairness
to the Barzuno, baseball is hard to write about, as it is simultaneously dumber
than dirt and more intricate than you can imagine. Old world gentlemen
enthusiasts rarely capture the extremes of quantum physics and bloated hot dog
bellies contained in a single game.
So the book sat
there on the table unread, the Greek dude fumed silently in the corner, and I
was reduced to looking out the window at whatever action I could find on the
street. Not much doing that day. The usual scufflers and juggalos pacing back
and forth in front of the for-profit social services office like late-period
capitalism's lab rats. A life of quick computation and agitation. Figuring out
how to make the SSI check last long enough for a month of Big Gulps and bad
drugs. Massive bags of shag pipe tobacco hanging out of the pockets
of droopy drawers. When the revolution comes they will be my compatriots. I
will lead them into battle. After we hit the armory the first order of business
will be to burn the courthouse down. Then the jail. And then anyone else who
has ever done them wrong. Well, in my dreams anyway. I'm kind of a scaredy cat
when all is said and done.
I left the
restaurant in a hurry with that disgusted feeling I get after a craving for
crap chicken and onions and goopy sauce. I couldn't seem to get my hands clean
which is why I just decided to leave Jacques sitting there forlornly in that
deadly quiet space. Never any laughter in there. Even the spinning meat spins
mutely. Making small talk with the sad man behind the laptop would only be a
cruel trick. His attempt at a smile painful to witness. Why do I ever go there?
I'm never going there again. Even the leaky soft serve ice cream machine weeps
silent tears of boredom. I'll be back. I always go back. Wait, I had a point…
It's probably in
there somewhere…
Ah, now I've got
it! Just the forgettable nature of it all. Nobody was gonna remember the Greek
place a month or two after it was gone when it finally called it quits. Nobody
was gonna remember me after my immediate family bit the dust. Nobody reads
Barzun anymore or any of the other GREAT MINDS of the Western 20th
century outside of some masochistic and archaic college courses within the
archaic and crumbling social system we are stuck in. When was the last time
someone picked up some Bertrand Russell or Lewis Mumford for, like, fun?
Someone under the age of 70 that is? Do you know how astonished senior citizens
are if you tell them that you know who Russell or Mumford were? They act like
they're the last people on earth with knowledge of these people. These people
who were as well-known back then as any pop star is today. And, to be honest,
they are kinda the last people on earth who remember them. Those oldsters. I don't
count because those dead geniuses aren't important to me and I don't speak their language and I have to ignore all their dated cluelessness. And I know what happened. I've got hindsight on my side. They didn't change
anything. They were seriously smart motherfuckers, but they couldn't sway
history. We still beat each other over the heads with rocks and we never learn from the past. Which is why I
only read science fiction now. There is hope in it and I never have to see the
failure of that hope. I'll be gone before then. My religion is based on hoping
that we will evolve even though I know it's too late and we can never do it
fast enough. My god is Kara Thrace. A fictional warrior who never gives up and
who always keeps searching. She is the future we will never have, but she
brings me comfort. She gives me a reason to keep going. Legends are all we
have. All the best and brightest minds we have had on this planet have sat and
watched as we have killed and died over and over and over for thousands of
years. We are death. And it won't be long now before it's all over for
everyone. The storms just keep getting bigger and bigger. The death toll rises
every year. The mosquitos and rats are living high on the hog. So I dream of
Kara Thrace and I remain eternally astonished by the art of the past. And I
realize we are goners and that the people who have it all - including me - can never give up
their comfort long enough to evolve and save the world.
Yeah, it sucks.
Totally. How long to the next record shop?
Should be any
minute now! It's supposed to be great digging. It's in the middle of nowhere,
maybe that's why. People don't dig like they used to.
More for me
then! Full speed ahead!


text:
Are you proud to be gay? Pride tells a lot about people. Their feelings, insecurities, attitudes about life... and with the whole gay pride movement... I'm just curious, of all the peoples on oasis, what most people would answer and why.
... and just in case it doesn't go without saying, I mean any kind of LGBTQ-ness. Not just proud to be "gay" but proud to have the sexual identity you do.
Effing proud.
No matter what people say, this is part of who I am and I wouldn't ever change that. I used to be so insecure, but since I came out to myself and my parents and closest friends, I have so much confidence.
My sexuality makes me incredibly nervous.
No. I'm proud of my personal achievements, and I feel that being gay is in the same line as hair colour, nationality, height and driving skills. Either you're born with those attributes, or you're not. Now, I'm gay and I'm OK with that, but I can't be proud... it's not like I've done anything to be gay and met my goal.
" . . . The sun does not shine upon this fair earth to meet frowning eyes, depend upon it." Charles Dickens
I don't think I am since I find it so difficult to tell anyone.I sort of start shaking at the mere notion of trying to tell someone else.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent-Eleanor Roosevelt
Definately. At first I felt like it was a curse - just another thing to make my life harder. I feel completely different now. I feel proud that I can have feelings for someone regardless of their gender. Love them for their heart & soul & all that jazz. *Shrugs* It makes me feel positively in tune with myself spiritually and also made me very tolerant and open minded, so.
Okay I don't know where I'm going with this but i find being bi to be great XD
But I'm quite comfortable with my sexuality and I like the distinction it gives me from the rednecks I live amongst. I'm just that much more frightening to them because of it. :D
Hm thats hard. I want to say yes! I want to say I can go around school like CeCe in "Keeping you a Secret" with my "I have a queer concious do you" shirt but I think I would be (im almost said imbarrist and that is wrong because I wouldnt be imbarrist!) scared. Of what I don't know, the comments of other people. When I got my first girlfriend I wouldnt kiss her in public-only because not a lot of people knew we were dating. If I had kissed her at school I would have been really scared. I told her that I had to tell my parents or I couldnt be "out" with her at public because i had family that went to that school and THEY would tell my parents. She wasnt comfortably with that. She didn't want her mother finding out. So we never kissed at school. But now...after all that. I think that I really wouldnt have a problem having a girlfriend and kissing her at school. Telling people I'm gay is always really weird for me but once the whole "telling them" bit is over I'm ok with it
Come Josephine in my flying machine
Going up she goes up she goes
Balance yourself like a bird on a beam
In the air she goes there she goes
Up, up, a little bit higher
Oh, my, the moon is on fire
I'm not proud to be gay. I am comfortable with it; it's just a non-issue for me.
I am proud of the self-discovery it took to come out to myself. I'm proud of a lot of the things that, for me, come with being gay. I'm proud that I am out, despite the fear of rejection.
But proud of an attraction to women, or a lack of attraction to men? No.
"When the people begin to reason, all is lost" - Voltaire
Yes. I have an amazing superiority complex that is entirely centralized around my sexual orientation.
Honestly, it's just another facet of who I am, I wouldn't describe myself as 'proud' per se, but I am glad that I'm at a point in my life where it's not something that I'm ashamed of or feel compelled to hide from people. I'm pretty damn comfortable with myself.
When i think of the word proud I think about having achieved something but being gay is something i was born with but then there are those people who are proud of their good looks and most of them were born with the looks/developed them naturally.
I'm not normally afraid to be "out and proud" i wear rainbow, talk about and check girls out freely and i'm not afraid to ask other people not use the word fag or use the word gay to mean stupid.
So yes, and no.. depends on how you look at it.
~~~Fear is only a verb if you let it be.. don't you dare let go of my hand~~~
I dunno if I'd say "proud" but I definitely love who I am. :)
i accept who i am, but like 5thstory said, being proud of being gay is like being proud of having a certain hair color....
i'm comfortable, how about that?
"She's Trouble with a capital T, that rhymes with P, that stands for Pussy."
kinda. i'm proud of who i am including my sexuality, but i'm not like, extra proud of being bisexual, or anything.
Bisexual by nature. Absolutely fabulous by choice.
I'm proud of stuff I do, Achievements and good qualities. I don't see being gay as an achievement, or a good quality. It's kind of just there. I could be proud of being gay and out(If I actually was out), but I'm not proud of being gay.
I'm gonna have to agree with Neutrina; I'm proud of the self-discovery it took me to come out to myself. I think its more being proud of who you are as a person, not just one part of it like your sexuality. But I do think you can show your pride. I hope one day (soon) that I'm completely proud of who I am and not hide it.
Um, hello guys, just because you're born with something doesn't mean you can't be proud of it. I'm proud of my...well, we won't even go there. xD I'm proud of my strong build; I'm proud of my piercing blue eyes. And I'm proud of being gay. It makes me so different from everyone else...in the ways that I talk and act and think and even write. Hell, being gay has even made me popular! Everyone knows me since I stand out so much and am so open about my sexuality. Being gay is the best thing that has ever happened to me, yo. Damn straight I'm proud. I mean...nevermind.
"But don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it."
-Stephen Colbert
pride is a weird concept anyway, but i am definitely not 'proud' to be gay, you guys should go back and find novacat's response to this from a year ago. his opinion is the same as mine, just better elaborated.
Mental wounds not healing, driving me insane, i'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train- the ozzman
I am proud now, ask me when I was 12, I hated myself. Now I am part of every LGBT group on my campus, and I have my group of friends to remind me to like myself. My parents know, but they ignore the fact and they volunteer for things like "Yes on Prop 8" (They went on to put up a yard sign and bumper stickers on all of our cars including mine...like what the fuck right, I'll let my parents have their opinion but shit leave my stuff alone.)
therefore, i am half normal.
anyway, bi girls are the coolest and sexiest girls in the world. not like "pornstar/gay-for-pay bi"... i mean girls who are genuinely bisexual and have the capacity to be physically/spiritually/emotionally/sexually connected to a person, regardless of their gender. it's a beautiful thing. i am open to finding love without automatically denying half of the world simply because of their gender. i'm lucky.
It's interesting reading all this. I feel like, since I didn't choose to be gay or bi or whatever the heck I am, I can't be proud of it. I need to work hard for something to be proud of it. However, I do feel like I can be proud of how I deal with being different, and be proud of emotional/spiritual growth associated with it, and increased open-mindedness, etc. And I think I am.
"i'm open to finding love without automatically denying half of the world simply because of their gender." WOOT! i must do my happy dance now! *dances like a wounded chicken* that's exactly how i see it!
Bisexual by nature. Absolutely fabulous by choice.
...but I haven't even been out to myself a full year yet. I'm hoping to get to "yes" on this question soon!
~~~ the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses ~ e e cummings ~~~
Uh... yeah. and by the way, did anyone miss me?
Bose van eshe vecke meloidios. Try translating THAT little bugger. Or even pronouncing it. (yes it is a language, no you've never heard of it) if you can translate it please send me a message and I have a priz
lets put it this way. i'm as proud of being gay as i am of being left handed, having brown hair and brown eyes, and a black guys ass! hahahahahahahahahaah i win!
Im extremely pleased to be what i am. Guys in romantic situations plus me makes me extremely nerves and isn't very appitizing usually....
"I feel like Nacy Drew in the mystery of the midlife crisis."
-Roger Bannister
The Stepford Wives


text:
Though my days as a student are long in the past, I can still remember that panic stricken feeling that I would get in my gut near the end of each semester, when I learned whether my slacking had finally gotten the best of me. Fortunately for me, my neglect never came back to roost, but there were plenty of hours spent hunkered over a calculator, as I figured out what was the worst possible score that I could get on my final exam and still pass.
What I would have given back then to have an iPhone equipped with the free tool Grades 2. If I had this app in my arsenal, all those hours spent determining how much I could get away with slacking would have been better spent doing that college students do best: absolutely nothing! For a more detailed breakdown of how Grades 2 works take a look at the handy walkthrough video below.
Released: 2011-04-06 :: Category: Productivity
Tagged with: calculations, college, free, Grades 2, preview


text:
Posted Friday, January 31, 2014
Kids are back in school but if nothing's done to change current policy some of them will be studying right past the scheduled end of the academic year. Blame the cold snap. A legal loophole may be coming so the lost days won't have to be made up, which may make sense financially, but what about educationally? It's up to county voters now: do we tax ourselves to pay for stadium upkeep? We'll talk about that and the week's other regional news. Join host Rick Jackson for The Sound of Ideas, Friday morning at 9:00
Economy, Regional Economy/Business - News, Courts/Crime - Fire/Law Enforcement, Education, Government/Politics
Karen Kasler, chief of Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau
Christopher Quinn, vice-president of content, Northeast Ohio Media Group
M.L. Schultze, digital editor, reporter, WKSU
Kasich seeks more calamity days for schools
Sin tax extension on way to ballot
Public defender accused of coaching prisoner to fake agony at execution
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text:
I read that the dss2 has worse surround sound.
I like default settings so the added options of the dss2 wouldn't matter to me
Is this 2013 model the first proper revision of MMX-300? I've been happy with my QH-1339, I'd say it verges on neutral whereas a vanilla DT770 I demoed sounded nothing alike, that one was so boomy I thought the set was defective; apparently, that's how it's supposed to sound. If the new MMX-300 improves from QH-1339 I doooo want to give it a whirl, although I don't really use the mic -excellent as it is- too often at all and having such an expensive headset, let alone 2, could be considered somewhat unnecessary. There will be a hifi expo here this coming weekend, sizeable discounts are forecast and I'm fully prepared to jump on a deal on HE-400 or HE-500.
Nameless: Having more than 4 threads = better minimum FPS already in games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 multiplayer, assuming you are not hugely bottlenecked by the GPU. I could post a graph but like the wise gentlemen so astutely put it, this is probably not the place. Apologies MLE!
Why isn't the Siberia v2 in this thread?
MA 900 , AD700X , SR 850 . Still quite confused :/
Annies :P
They use two different surround sound DSPs, so I'd say NO they don't sound the same.
The original DSS uses Dolby Heapdhone, while the DSS2 uses a surround DSP by Cirrus logic. There aren't many impressions on how the latter sounds.
The DSS2 sounds a lot less immersive than the DSS, but in some cases do actually provide better positional accuracy. Other than that, it also has slightly less hiss, has a little bit more power on the headphone out and some preset EQs instead of an adjustable bass boost like the original DSS.
The virtual surround speaker placements are gimmicky and they don't really make a huge difference from one preset to another. It really does depend on how the game is mixed however.
There are 6 different presets:
Pre 1) The standard angle and the one that to me sounds closest to DH, but considerably less immersive and in many cases worse positional accuracy.
Pre 2) Supposedly the most "balanced" preset, but I honestly hear very little difference between this and the standard preset 1. Slightly better rear positional accuracy maybe, but not by much and certainly would depend on the game instead.
Pre 3) Rear audio sounds a little more lively, but despite how the diagram shows, using this preset robs the front audio too much for no reason what so ever.
Pre 4) Sounds exactly the same as preset 2, don't know what is the point of having this preset here.
Pre 5) Again sounding almost exactly like preset 2, difference is way too minute for games on consoles to tell a difference.
Pre 6) Very similar to preset 3, but a wider soundstage with a little bit too much reverb. The front cues are still pretty dead though.
I know many people has asked about how come there are only 4 speakers and not 5. There were a lot of confusion before too that the DSS2 is actually a 4.1 processor and isn't a 5.1. The center speaker is THERE, but rather hollow sounding. I did a few SFX test where the sound would sweep in 360 degree variation and I can definitely hear the center virtual speaker placement, it just isn't as intimate as how DH does it.
No idea why TurtleBeach didn't include the center speaker in their diagrams, but I think it is down to because the center speaker doesn't change position regardless of the preset anyways so it is redundant to have it there.
Finally, DSS or DSS2?
IMO, definitely the DSS. It's already not in production but since there are still quite a few units on ebay going for $25, I don't see a better processor that provides DH at this price, of which would work with consoles and PCs. The DSS2 simply isn't worth the money.
Holy cow, as and ye shall receive. Kickstarter for the 7th Guest 3. It's going to be a LONG wait for October 2015.
haha fair enough :D thanks a lot man, and take your time.


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Newberry Event Brings Arts & Music to La Pine Area
Hosted by DiamondStone Guest Lodges across from the Newberry National Monument's road to Paulina Lake, the Newberry Event is a three-day country fair with a wide variety of music, artists and craft vendors. There will be 20-30 musicians performing folk, bluegrass, rock, reggae, jazz and even a piano soloist July 25-27.
The goals of the Newberry Music and Art Festival Fundraiser are to raise research funds for the Oregon Chapter Multiple Sclerosis Society, and to promote Southern Deschutes County highlighting art and music. South Deschutes County is a recreation paradise and this event invites people to discover why La Pine is a hidden treasure that is becoming known as a beautiful location for music festivals.
This second annual event was well received last August, reported as "something really special, a broad variety of musicians and styles playing back to back short sets of folk, jazz, rock, reggae and jazz. The Newberry Event set a new standard with high fidelity sound by Sonic Solutions.
Genres have expanded further, with Louis Landon Pianist for Peace. Headliner surprises are Craig Chaquico, Jefferson Starship's lead guitarist, now solo, and Rose's Pawn Shop, an L.A. Americana band. Creative performances from Vagabond Opera, and 'UHane Hawaii Hula Dancers break up the music. American folk icons Brewer & Shipley (the One Toke Over the Line Boys) and Portland's Terry Robb blues master return. Pigs on the Wing Pink Floyd tribute band will be great, accompanied by La Pine's Laser Zone light show.
Food vendors and food trucks will be present at the event and will be serving gourmet tacos, brick oven pizza, kettlecorn and more. The Lions club offers pancake breakfasts each morning. La Pine's Frontier Days and Worthy Brewing are the main sponsors.
Civil War Reenactment to Invade Metolius
by JEFF SPRY Cascade A&E Feature Writer
The Civil War invades the Metolius when the Blue and the Grey face off on May 17-18 as the Northwest Civil War Council holds a colorful military reenactment in Camp Sherman.
During the encampment exercises, expect the thunder of antique blackpowder muskets and cannon fire as the historic group educates and entertains visitors on the lifestyles of heroic civilians and soldiers of the 19th century.
The House on Metolius resort will serve as headquarters for this series of staged skirmishes and battles using an inspired cast of infantry, cavalry and artillery personnel.
Admission includes medical demonstrations, music, food, dances and opportunities to inspect and handle vintage firearms of the era. It's a fun authentic experience for the entire family, with period correct details that will deepen anyone's understanding of The War Between The States.
Founded in the early '80s, the Northwest Civil War Council, a non-profit, living history organization, is over 1,000 members strong. It seeks to teach the public about the American Civil War and provide a competitive arena for other reenactment groups around the country at a full calendar of regional and national events, including this year's 150th anniversary of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.
Their exciting Camp Sherman Civil War jamboree charges into Central Oregon on Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18 from 9am-5pm. Cost for this first-year event is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors/ students and kids six and under are free. For directions and a complete schedule of weekend events go to www.nwcwc.org or call 866-904-6165.
Summer Lake Hot Springs A Gem in the Oregon Outback
by LINDA GALLOWAY Cascade AE FeatureWriter
Take a journey into the rustic Oregon outback country. Within two hours you can be in the rugged countryside, where you will find Summer Lake Hot Springs, petroglyphs, caves, fishing, hiking and much more.
Summer Lake Hot Springs with an elevation of 4,200 feet is located in Paisley and sits on 145 acres with 21 RV hookups, two houses and four cabins, two of which are brand new structures. The property has been owned and operated by Duane Graham since 1997. It boasts four natural hot springs. The bath house is covered and has showers and dressing rooms. Just outside the bath house are two rock bathing pools, which have a peaceful view of the lake.