I’m not looking forward to the presidential debates. The reason is that facts will not be part of the discussion. Imagine this fictitious argument: Fact Person: “The world is spherical.” Feelings Person: “I feel that it is flat.” Fact Person: “There are pictures, science, facts. It’s provable!” Feelings Person: “All of that is faked. Photoshopped.…
Presidential Elections Rule #1: The one with more charisma will win. Since presidents have been using television to communicate with the people, the one with the most charisma has won. I’ll start conservatively with 1952, but it really was 1960 when television really took off. 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) – 442 Adlai Stevenson (D)…
I was watching some clips of the debate and Bernie Sander’s voice kept poking me in the brain. It sounded exactly like someone else. As if Bernie was doing an impression. Then it hit me. He was doing an impression of Larry David. Check out these two clips. The first is Larry David on 60…
I try incredibly hard to avoid saying someone is an asshole without further explanation. The reason is that the adjective lacks any specifics. It doesn’t help you understand WHY. When Donald Trump speaks, I constantly want to scream at the screen, “Shut up! You are such a dick!” This is when I catch myself and…
Racism is alive and well in the United States. African Americans are at a disadvantage in many categories. This includes how they are treated by the law, corporations and education. Plenty of studies have proven that African Americans have serious disadvantages that come directly from government and legal policies. (Example) Racism isn’t as explicit as…
As an American, I am willing to live with… Reduction of the size of the military by 50%. The cost is enormous and we would be just fine with a reduction in forces to half of what we have today. We would still be spending more on military than most other countries. Reduction of nuclear…
I was listening to Barney Frank today on NPR. He said, regarding the healthcare debate, that republicans and democrats are basically on the same page on the big picture. They both believed there is a real issue that needs serious attention. However, he described that when you went into the details, that ideology created huge…
I just finished reading the very short (100 pages) book called Don’t think of an Elephant by George Lakoff. I thought it was excellent and highly recomend it. I want to try it out. Proposition 8 passed in California, unfortunately. It banned Marriage for Gay/Lesbian couples. It defined marriage as a union between a man…
Yay for Barack Obama! The first Hawaian in the White House. I am extremely pleased. Did you know I predicted Biden would go for president in 2008. I predicted it in 2004!!! Who is the man?! Yet, lots of other things did not go so well. That horrible woman Bachmann won who said that Obama…
Last year, I complained about too many California propositions and initiatives. Clearly, no one was paying any attention. There are a dozen new initiatives tomorrow. The answer to most of them is “I don’t know!” How am I supposed to know if the legislation will work? So this year, I am making a stand and…
Wow, Tiny Fey did a great job mimicking Sarah Palin. The accent and the facial expressions were spot on. I thought Amy Poehler wasn’t nearly as good. I loved the line that accused Sarah Palin of wearing “Tiny Fey glasses”. I didn’t think about that before, but maybe Sarah Palin is doing her best Tiny…
Well, it’s that time of year again where I predict things and get them all wrong. Here we go. Democrat VP Picks. I predict Caroline Kennedy. I think Joe Biden would be solid too. If its Caroline, then Joe will sign on for Secretary of State. Republican VP Picks. Joe Lieberman (Boo!). Maybe Mike Bloomberg.…
This is an update to my post previously about income in the United States. Based on 111,617,402 households in the US as of 2006. Household Income, 2006 Total People Percent Less than $49,999 57,218,480 51% $50,000 to $74,999 21,221,889 19% $75,000 to $99,999 13,214,551 12% $100,000 to $199,999 16,145,482 14% $200,000 or more 3,817,000 3%…
Rachel Luxemburg was kind enough to forward me this report from Jakob Nielsen on how people read on the web. I have always known that people do not read a web page the way they do a book or email. On the web, people will skim. They will pass whole blocks of text. Their eyes…