The Iron Yuppie

Measuring the "Howard Stern Effect" - FrankLog Somehow I doubt that this works. The summary is that Howard Stern actually caused voters to go to Bush due to his comments against the administration. In a shocking surprise, this is a great example of people not understanding statistics. Because there was no control group and because no one held all other variables stationary, you can't actually do this kind of analysis. Especially since Bush's numbers were up EVERYWHERE which means you could draw the exact same conclusions about states where he was not on the radio. Interesting numbers about voter turn out though...

Ballmer: We need a $100 PC | Tech News on ZDNet Is it possible? Um, since I now have more power in my cell phone than launched the Apollo space craft, I'm going to have to say yes.

Well the election results are in, and for those of you who have been in a cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears singing “la-la-la”, Bush won with a large margin in both the electoral and the popular vote (which is nicer than last time).

However, I find myself just very very sad about the whole thing. Though you might think my mood is dour about the supreme court justices who are going to be appointed (I believe the trend towards injecting religious morality into law is a mistake), to the damage to the environment which will be caused (Bush is someone who will trade the health of the environment for jobs and business) to the massive fiscal deficits we’ll have when they finish their term, I actually think these are sub-components of my sadness.

The thing I’m the most sad about is that I now live in a country where it is very obvious that I am not only am I in the minority, but 51% of the people who vote here have a significantly different view of what America should be and how a citizen should behave. I do not denounce their views at all; as I have tried to say many times on this blog, people have every right to their opinions and ways that they want to live. The thing that is the most unsettling to me is, if I understand their points of view correctly, they believe their ways of living should be enforced by the government both here and abroad. Gay marriage, abortion, foreign policy, etc all seem to be guided by a thought that “I believe this way so you should believe this way too” which ultimately does not lead to peace, it leads to war. Anyhow, it’s a startling revelation that so much of the country does not agree with one of my core beliefs and this election clearly said to me that it was not because the majority of people were duped, or did not decide to vote or they were disenfranchised, it is because they actually believe that. I’m not one of those “fine, America, you got what you wanted, now choke on it” people (of which the blogsphere is packed); I think 51% of this country is going to get exactly what they wanted and they are going to really enjoy the next four years. What I’m worried about is how that will affect the next 40.

D

Rebuffing G.O.P., 2 Judges Bar Challengers at Polls in Ohio Looks like the judges felt it was also unfair. There is one thing that I find particularly disgusting about the election process this year is the non-stop effort to try and STOP people from voting. That people would undertake efforts where one possible outcome may be reducing people voting is the lowest form of participation. I invite you to listen to this story on This American Life... but be aware, as the show says, you will be screaming at the radio at least some point while listening.

Other examples are here: eRiposte and dKosopedia

Look, I'm all for making sure only people who are registered can vote, but these people have to be some of the lowest form of human life. What could be going through their head... even if they did nothing but enforce the law as written, they MUST know that at least a side effect of their actions would be the delaying or prevention of voting by people who do not have an entire day to take off. Is your candidate winning really worth stopping the most fundamental aspect of our democracy?

I always try and be as non-partisan as I can about this stuff but can you show me the Democrats who are breaking the law with the number and scope of people affected as these Republican leaning organizations? I suppose there are gray areas like the Jeb Bush fiasco where he has removed 23,000 black felons but left 23,000 hispanic felons (who tend to lean Republican) on the voter lists, but tearing up hundreds of registrations is about as black and white as you can get. You cannot compare people registering fake people for crack with preventing people who have a right to vote from voting. What is wrong with you people?

One of the things my friends and I were so disturbed about when it comes to this election is a small extension of the discussion I had brought up recently. This election is already settled for 90% of the people who probably come down about 50-50 exactly on either side. This, in and of itself, is a fascinating aspect… it is fine to have dramatic differences in philosophies, but it is especially fascinating that we’re so equally divided. I would say that this results from countless years of politicians doing just enough to get elected and no more. “Just enough” being satisfying 51% of the people. But that does not seem like it’s enough. If you asked people on a controversial issue what they thought (such as the war on Iraq), people actually WOULD BE divided 50-50. I wonder if it’s a sales and marketing issue, that the issues are not being explained and agreed upon as broadly as they should be. If people do not agree with a decision you’re about to make, today we just say “You’re a moron, I’m doing it anyway.” This is probably not a recipe for long term success.

Anyhow, assuming that 45% of the people are red and 45% of the people are blue, you might expect that the politicians would pursue the remaining 10% and try and sell them on their points. But this is not what they do at all. In fact, they sell less than even the 45% of the people who are already on their side. They sell something like 30% of their followers, but REALLY focus on selling 30% of their followers to get them out to vote. This is one of the most depressing things about voting today. It’s not “get broad agreement on positions and sell to everyone”, knowing that you’ll fail with some percentage. It’s “take an ultra-extreme position and get your people out to vote”. The real problem here is it seems like it just serves to exacerbate the differences in position, and will ultimately leave 70% of the country feeling like you do not really represent them.

Defamer: Britney Vs. The Paparazzi, Round Two I don't know... are they really that misshapen? Also, here's a hint Britney... less crazy, not more.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | New Florida vote scandal feared

This is pretty nauseating. There was an interesting point on Instapundit saying that stopping people from voting who deserve to vote is no better or worse than allowing people to vote who do not have the right. However, given the amount of people in this country who would vote illegally (meaning vote when they do not have the right or vote twice) versus the number of people who would be stopped from voting who actually have the right, I think it comes down pretty clearly on the "let people vote" side.

Honestly, just do the math and see what the outcome is. 1.5 million people had their votes spoiled last time. Do we really think that 1.5 million people are going to go out and mis-vote? Even if you say that there are 10 million people who do not have the right to vote (which is a totally theoretical number), what percentage of them would actually vote and/or would actually be stopped by these measures? If the number of bad people stopped < to the number of good people prevented, it's bad. Otherwise it's good. My opinion is that while I agree with Instapundit in theory, I think that with these tactics more legitimate voters will be prevented from voting than illegitimate voters will be prevented from voting. This is unacceptable.

Great news everyone, I'm more like Ghandi than like Hitler!

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

While I don't think any single tool could ever really capture someone's behavior, nor do I think that a tool should be used to help you make decisions, this is an interesting one.

FYI, I'm:
Economic Left/Right: -2.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08

D

Road rage checklist

Note to self... give another driver the "stink eye".

Ashlee Simpson Screw up on SNL lip sync @ ebaumsworld.com

Oh, so very painful. SO very painful.

By the way, if you're interested in watching a series of videos that will make you laugh so hard you will feel like crying and simultaneously exclaim "I'm going to hell for that one", I invite you to browse around that site. But you have been warned. I wash my hands of responsibility for your eternal resting place.