September 2008
Top Ten Anti-McCain Digg Articles
I’ve written about web bias before. The reason that I singled out Digg was because of the many occasions that I’ve heard the CEO Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose talk about how much Digg is user driven. While that may actually be true, I’ve always found it odd that when it comes to Obama and McCain, I never see a positive article about John McCain. Statistically speaking, Digg should have accidentally posted a postive McCain article by now.
This morning, I thought I’d look at my newsreader and see where we stand on our postive McCain articles on the Digg website. This is what I found.
I looked at the stories that landed on the Digg front page from 12:01am Saturday morning until this morning at 5:40am. The mission: to see how many Pro-McCain articles I could find and count how many Anti-McCain articles I found. Here are the results.
I left Sarah Palin stories out of it.
Pro-McCain stories = 0
Anti-McCain stories = 11
Of the 11 Anti-McCain stories, 6 of them were from huffingtonpost.com. Apparently, Digg is a Huffington Post mirror site. The other stories came from CBS News, UPI, Newsweek, New York Times, and Eyes On Obama.
Here are the Huffington Post headlines…
1. Bush Official: Bailout Likely, McCain Lost PR Battle
2. First Debate: Reviews Go To Obama
3. Max Bergmann: Major Gaffe: McCain Said Pakistan Was a Failed
4. Debate Fact Check-McCain Lied About Financial Crisis Warning
5. Obama To McCain: On Iraq, “You Were Wrong”
6. Obama Slams McCain For Not Mentioning Middle Class
The remaining 5 headlines are…
7. CBS Poll: Obama Won The Debate
8. McCain dead wrong about Kissinger’s stance on talk with Iran
9. Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain
10. McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
11. McCain Has Worst Attendance Record in Washington
At least, 4 years ago MTV was nice to him. Here’s a piece from that interview…
MTV News, 2004: Four years from now, whether or not the president is re-elected, is there a chance we might see the “Straight Talk Express” hitting the road again?
John McCain: I think it’s very unlikely. … We had a kind of magical moment [in 2000]. A lot of things came together that I think would be very difficult to do again. And one thing I would hate to be is somebody who goes back in and would lose. … It’s a long time away, but I doubt it. [Smiling.] I’m not gettin’ any younger!
Ahhh, on second thought, perhaps he will run again. Who knew?
Top 10 Brain Myths
I found this article during my morning read. I can’t say that I agree with everything 100% because of speculation on the part of the author or the “so-called” scientific expert.
Here’s a small blurb about alcoholism…
Even in alcoholics, alcohol use doesn’t actually result in the death of brain cells. It can, however, damage the ends of neurons, which are called dendrites. This results in problems conveying messages between the neurons. The cell itself isn’t damaged, but the way that it communicates with others is altered. According to researchers such as Roberta J. Pentney, professor of anatomy and cell biology at the University at Buffalo, this damage is mostly reversible.
Paul Newman: R.I.P.
He’ll be missed.
from the Washington Post…
Paul Newman, 83, the actor and sex symbol who surged to stardom by playing loners as well as criminal and moral outlaws — anything to downplay his astonishing looks — died of cancer Friday at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn.
Newman was an Academy Award-winning actor and acclaimed director, and he used his fame to propel his political activism, race car driving and philanthropy. He donated all the profits from his Newman’s Own food company — more than $250 million — to charities and social welfare organizations.
In The “Q” and Updates: An Update
I’m just dumping a bunch of posts I’ve been holding onto because of a project I have been working on this week and my keyboard problem. (see below)
Sorry. It looks like I’m going post crazy but I’m really not.
The Book of Lies: A Short Review
I just finished reading The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. By reading, I mean I listened to the audio version by Audible.com
This book is a long one to read and listen to but I have to admit that it’s well worth it. The author put at least 2 years of research into the book and it really came through loud and clear.
If you like hearing about the story of Cain and Abel, Superman, and World War II Nazi’s and their history all tied together in a great big mystery thriller, you’ll love this book.
Grab a copy in hardback on Amazon.com or grab the audiobook from Audible.com
It’s worth it.
The “N” Key Story
I have (and love) my MacBook Pro laptop and use it for everything from podcasting to video production to…
…writing.
Right after I got the laptop on the very same day, in fact, the “N” key popped off. One of the plastic pieces that are used to keep it in place broke leaving me with an “N” key that is hanging on to the rest of the keyboard for dear life. After a few keystrokes, it would come loose and I’d have to push it back in place again.
Well, during the week the key popped off and this time, it refused to semi-click back into place. In essence, it is now no longer even semi-secured to the keyboard.
During this whole thing, my father offered to call Apple and see if they could send me a replacement “N” key to simply snap back into place. Apple’s response was…
…”ahh, no.” We’ll replace your entire keyboard but the “N” key by itself is simply out of the question. This exchange between Apple and my father went on for about a week. My father lost the battle. Apple will not send out an “N” key by itself. If anything happens to your keyboard at all, Apple will replace the whole thing.
I just didn’t want to be without my laptop for any length of time. The compromise will be waiting while a local technician makes the repairs and changes out the keyboard with me watching him/her.
I haven’t made the reservations or called the technicians yet. In the meantime, I bought a HP USB 2.0 keyboard at Wal-Mart to hold me over. Of all of the keys on your keyboard, the “N” key is one of the most pressed.
At least, when you don’t have it you think it’s the most pressed!
I’ll let everyone know how the repair goes. It should happen sometime this week.
Polar Ice: 101
I don’t know about anyone else but I’m sick and tired (mostly tired) of reading the same stories about “global warming” and how it’s melting the polar ice caps. Case in point…
from The New York Times today…
TO the relief of climate scientists around the world, it appears that the polar ice cap hasn’t shrunk as much this summer as it did last summer.
The ice cap usually reaches its smallest extent around now, and although the total area of ice in September fluctuates from year to year, in the last two decades it has generally declined, probably because of carbon-driven global warming. Last year, the ice cap shrank at a record-breaking pace; at its minimum it was almost 39 percent smaller than the average from 1979 to 2000. This year it’s down about 33 percent.
I don’t know about anyone else but I’m not interested in probably. What a bunch of sloppy reporting? The word “probably” indicates that what follows is the author’s opinion. I just want the report, not the opinion.
In a story from July 3rd of this year in the Register (the UK. No. I’m not making that up), Steven Goddard writes a piece about how wrong the so-called “global warming” evidence is as it relates to the melting polar ice caps. Here’s a sample…
Satellite records have been kept for polar sea ice over the last thirty years by the University Of Illinois. In 2007 2008, two very different records were set. The Arctic broke the previous record for the least sea ice area ever recorded, while the Antarctic broke the record for the most sea ice area ever recorded. Summed up over the entire earth, polar ice has remained constant. As seen below, there has been no net gain or loss of polar sea ice since records began.
Last week, Dr James Hansen from NASA spoke about how CO2 is affecting the polar ice caps.
“We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes… The Arctic is the first tipping point and it’s occurring exactly the way we said it would,” he said.
Well, not exactly.
Hansen is only telling half the story. In the 1980s the same Dr Hansen wrote a paper titled Climate Sensitivity to Increasing Greenhouse Gases [pdf], in which he explained how CO2 causes “polar amplification.” He predicted nearly symmetrical warming at both poles. As shown in Figure 2-2 from the article, Hansen calculated that both the Arctic and Antarctic would warm by 5-6 degrees Centigrade. His predictions were largely incorrect, as most of Antarctica has cooled and sea ice has rapidly expanded. The evidence does not support the theory.
Do yourself a big favor. Read the whole thing. If you are one of those folks who believe that man made “Global Warming” is real then please read the many articles that explain why it doesn’t exist.
Please don’t believe everything you read, even on this website.
Do you trust less than 2,000 scientists or over 32,000?
32,000 + scientists believe that man made “Global Warming” is a big bunch of crap.
I believe THOSE guys.
When Does It Stop?
I’ve been working at UPS for a little while now. I thought that I’d be used to it by now.
I’m not. My fingers even hurt. I’m chalking it up to age at this point.
Ouch!
How Sore Am I?
I got home early this morning after working an hour and a half of overtime. I was exhausted and loading trailers by hand takes a lot out of you.
NOTE: When I’m NOT stuck at my desk, I’m stuck in a trailer.
I was soooo sore from the extra time last night, I fell asleep while playing with the kitteah on the office floor.
I ended up sleeping on the office floor for most of the day.
Bad Mike.
The Ring
Years ago. My little brother found a class ring buried in the dirt near the corner stone of our church.
Our goal. To find out who owns the ring and to return it to it’s rightful owner.
We have almost no information to go on.
This will be fun.
UPDATE: 09/16/08 – I haven’t really had time to formally begin the investigation. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Cross-Dressing Bandit On The Loose!
This is a funny one.
from Fox News…
CHICAGO — The FBI is searching for the person who robbed a suburban Chicago bank wearing a large pink sun hat and a pink-and-black dress.
And authorities say he accessorized his outfit with long white gloves and a black metal handgun.
The gunman FBI agents are calling the Cross-Dressing Bandit held up the MB Financial Bank branch in Park Ridge on August 13.
Today, Special Agent Robert Grant asked the public for help in the search.
The FBI made public a wanted poster with photos of the bandit standing at a teller window in his unusual outfit.
Scientists Confirm: They Don’t Know Anything!
It’s almost like watching a train wreck. I love watching scientists trying to figure something out only to turn around and claim that they really don’t know anything.
To me, they could save so much time if they just admitted their ignorance in the first place. Ha!
This story comes from National Geographic…
Far from besting their competitors in a long struggle to become Earth’s dominant land animals, dinosaurs may have just gotten lucky, new research suggests.
The first dinosaurs appeared during the late Triassic period about 240 million years ago.
Their main competitors were a closely related group of reptiles called the crurotarsans, from which modern crocodiles and alligators descended.
Crurotarsans and dinosaurs coexisted for about 30 million years. But about 200 million years ago, Earth suffered a mass extinction, possibly caused by rapid global warming.
You Ever…
…sit at your desk and realize that you have a bunch of stuff to do.
But, you don’t want to.
Something inside begs you to read every article that’s unread in NetNewsWire.
Just one more cat picture.
Hey, I think I need to re-write some code on my personal website…
…nah.
That never happens to me either!
Wow. We Didn’t Explode
The collider didn’t destroy half the planet as many had predicted.
from the AP…
GENEVA (AP) — The world’s largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile (27-kilometer) underground ring Wednesday in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe.
After a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10:26 a.m. (0826 GMT) indicating that the protons had traveled clockwise along the full length of the 4 billion Swiss franc (US$3.8 billion) Large Hadron Collider — described as the biggest physics experiment in history.
This is Stuck at my Desk?
Hey everyone!
This website is an idea that an ex-co-worker and I came up with a few months ago. We were never really sure what the site would be about but a few more months after we grabbed the name…
…I still don’t know.
Therefore, I have decided to make this website about everything and all about nothing. The things that tickle my fancy during the day, I’ll post them here.
Have fun.
