In the 1950′s the “Red Menace” was the Soviet Union. Today, it’s America’s deficit. Funny how, with a minor revision, the same comic book cover could apply today:
(click to enlarge)
If recent actions by the stock market and Kroger are any indication, we’ve already started down this unfortunate road.
Thanks for reading!
A slightly modified World War II poster sums it up nicely:
(click for much, much larger version)
As the election’s not over quite yet, and my Photoshop skills are seriously lacking (I did this in Apple’s Preview, a graphics editing program that’s also “seriously lacking”), I’ll leave a similar treatment of this also-relevant poster to one with more artistic skill.
Thanks for reading! (now, go out and vote!)
As they say in statistics “Correlation does not imply Causation“; or, stated another way, just because two events are observed together doesn’t necessarily mean that one caused the other.
For example, just because your credit rating is bad doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad driver (oops… seems almost all insurance companies believe this is true based on statistical studies, so I’ll pick another example)
For example, just because you’ve had to make a life-or-death decision doesn’t mean you think WD-40 is more useful than duct tape – even though 34% of people surveyed thought so.
Of course, this isn’t going to stop prognosticators from drawing correlations, especially during a Presidential Election. So, if you’re tired of reading actual election polls by Gallup, Rasmussen, or Real Clear Politics*, here’s a few “non-traditonal” predictors for your consideration, along with their predicted winner:
| Predictor | How it Works | Advantage? |
| Market Forces | ||
| Astrology – |
United Astrology Conference divines winner based on the heavens | Obama |
| IEM Futures – | Futures traders on Iowa Electronic Markets predict winner | Obama |
| Intrade – | Online gamblers on intrade.com predict winner | Obama |
| Las Vegas Line – | Bookmaker predicts winner | Obama |
| Personal Attributes |
||
| Eye Blinking – | Candidate who blinks the least during the debates wins (FYI: Less blinking correlates to more honesty) | Romney |
| “Freshness Test” – | Fewest number of years between first major political office and President or VP candidacy (ideally, 14 or less) | Romney |
| Last Name Length – | Candidate with longest last name wins | Romney |
| Total Height – | Tallest Presidential Candidate wins | Romney |
| Popularity | ||
| 7-11 Cups – | Most-selected coffee cup wins | Obama |
| “Chia Head” Sales – | Candidate who’s Chia Head sells the most wins | Obama |
| Halloween Masks – | Candidate’s mask with most sales at “Spirit Halloween” stores wins | Obama |
| “Squirrel Nuts” – | Most number of nuts eaten by Gnocchi the Squirrel from each of two identical bowls – one Democrat, one Republican – wins | Romney |
| Cookie Recipes – | Candidate whose wife has the most popular cookie recipe, as determined by “Family Circle“, wins | Obama |
| Scholastic Poll – | Winner of the Scholastic Student Vote | Obama |
| Sports | ||
| “Redskins Rule” – | Incumbent wins if the NFL’s Washington Redskins win home game on the Sunday before the election | Romney |
| World Series League – | If the National League wins the World Series, the Democrat wins | Obama |
| “L.A. Lakers Rule” – | If the L.A. Lakers make it to the NBA Finals, the Republican wins | Obama |
| World Series State – | Whoever wins the state that’s home to the World Series winner wins | Obama |
| “Bama Rule” – | If Alabama beats LSU in college football right before the election, the Democrat wins | Obama |
Based on the “solid science” represented in the above prediction tools, Barrack Hussein Obama beating Willard Mitt Romney in a landslide, 13-to-6. Personally, I think Mitt Romney will actually win tomorrow’s election – did you notice that Obama won “13″ of the contests? Obviously, that’s an unlucky number, regardless of what the myriad of prediction techniques say. After I cast my vote tomorrow, I’ll be looking forward to how all the incorrect pollsters will react to the actual results.
Sources:
*Real Clear Politics publishes a “Poll Averages” number, which reflects the average of many individual polls – but, if I may digress, how can this “average” be accurate if many of the polls might have a known, built-in sampling bias?
Thanks for reading!
The Miami Herald reported yesterday that ATI Career Training Centers in Florida, a provider of “…business, electronics, nursing and other career programs”, announced they could be laying off 184 employees by year’s end.
A training firm laying off employees – talk about ironic!
I wonder if they’ll provide training to their former employees as part of their severance package?
The larger question is: Why does ATI even need to do this? Online learning reducing the need for classroom instructors? Increasing overhead costs due to the continued rollout of ObamaCare? People unable to afford training services in this bad economy? Lack of suitable jobs once they are trained? Or something else?
Thanks for reading!
Oh sure, after already telling you about an election video all Christians should watch, and then an election video all (Moderates) should watch, you’re probably thinking “What could ever possibly top those two videos?”
Well tonight, while working on my blog and channel surfing on cable, I came across FamilyNet’s broadcast of “The Hope & The Change“, a one-hour program weaving President Obama’s actions during the last four years with interviews of Democrat and Independent voters in states such as Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Florida, and others.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it: Sure, it’s directed by Stephen K. Bannon – a friend of the late Andrew Breitbart – and funded by the Citizen’s United – a conservative non-profit organization – which is instantly bound to turn off most Democrats., But, that’s a shame, as the video presents the sacrifices, choices, and disappointments ordinary voters – all either Democrats or Independents- have and are facing as a result of President Obama’s actions during the last four years, and does so in a way that’s calm, balanced, and devoid of political rhetoric.
If you have the chance, visit “The Hope & The Change” website, or the Citizen’s United website, and watch it on broadcast TV, online, or just buy the DVD – and discover why many people are saying the Romne/Ryan ticket will win in a landslide on November 6th.
Thanks for reading!
If you’re a fan of the completely free, open-source game “Cube 2: Sauerbraten“, then you already know there’s a wealth of user-created maps to expand gameplay – with nearly all of them clever, well done, and artistically impressive. And, if you’ve followed this website, you may have already seen my first attempt at creating an expansion map – “The Land of the Lost Pharaohs“.
Never satisfied, instead of simply crossing off “Create a Videogame” from my list of things I’d like to do, I decided to create another map, and after spending almost 740 hours off-and-on over the course of the last year it’s just about ready:
(Click to enlarge)
Actiontown: With the clock approaching midnight on a warm Summer night, the subway pulls into it’s last stop for the evening – “Actiontown” – a town small enough to be just about anywhere in the USA but large enough to have it own fancy computer store, popular fast food joint, a power plant, water treatment facility, a Union Hall, and even the State’s Capitol! As you enter the town things seem a little too quiet: Better forgo that taco and reach for your shotgun.
The plan is to release the level as a multiplayer game, a “Capture the Flag” version if practical, and finally as a single-player version (which are more complicated to construct).
And the name “Actiontown“? It was inspired by this song.
Update: Here’s a gallery of screenshots to whet your appetite.
Stay tuned, and
Thanks for reading!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Author-created content Copyright © 2007-2025 by the
Author, All Rights Reserved (Legal Notice)
Site layout based on a template downloaded
from free website templates.
Original Design by Free CSS Templates, ©2008
All Rights Reserved.
