Quote:
Sen. John McCain’s chances of winning California this fall are looking poorer, as a new Field Poll shows the likely Republican nominee trailing Sen. Barack Obama by 24 points. (from today’s Capitol Alert)
Quote:
State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, [incumbent Governor Pete Wilson’s] Democratic opponent and the latest member of the Brown political dynasty to seek the California governorship, has slipped into second place after leading the race for the better part of a year, at one time by more than 20 points. (NYTimes, Sept 19, 1994)
Quote:
Wilson defeated Kathleen Brown by 55 percent to 40 percent. (The Weekly Standard, Oct 20, 2003)
Observations:
1) The change in the Brown/Wilson race was a swing of more than 35%. “Political experts” were predicting there was no way Wilson could beat Brown. [citation needed]
2) McCain’s chances of winning California have never been anything other than poor.
3) Obama will win California in November but it will be much closer than 24%.
4) People are a) sheep and b) fickle.
Helpful
A blind gentleman, complete with white cane, asked me for directions just now. Of course, I pointed in the direction he should go. Anything I can do to help.Gack!
Varifrank sums it up:
Whats it like in the central valley these days? Its 112 degrees, zero wind, and there are three thousand fires all over the state. The smoke literally blocks out the sun. If you want to simulate the experience, turn yur furnace on, close all the windows and start a campfire on the front room floor.
Nora puts it even more succinctly:
All I know is I’m having ice cream for dinner.
Printers
You know what I don’t understand? Almost every (office) printer now takes a full ream of paper. Why do people only put part of a ream in the printer and leave the rest for later?Gmail Anniversary
I signed up for Gmail 4 years ago today. 55847 messages and 47% (3277 MB) of my allocated storage space of 6881 MB (and counting) later, I still think it’s the best available email system you can find.
When I first signed up they offered 1 GB (1024 MB) which was 10 times the storage space of the next best out there.
How big is Sacramento?
I was trying to figure this out a week or two ago and now it’s come up again in a reference to Sacramento being a “top-20 media market”. Sacramento is the 26th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (see also CSAs and CBSAs). It’s also the 37th largest city in the US.
This “media market” or Designated Market Area (DMA), defined by Nielsen Media Research rather than the US Census Bureau, is yet another way to measure the Sacramento area’s influence. It’s defined as an area where everyone can receive common television and radio station programing. While it was once #18, it looks like it’s slipped to #20.
That Little Red Light
I’d like to change my work voicemail message so it says “This is Lauren Farmer. I’m obviously not here and I will not listen to your message, so please call me back later. OR, better yet, email me!”
I’ve seriously considered doing this also. I hate retrieving voicemails more than there is any rational explanation for. I don’t really mind on my cell phone but I hate it on my desk phone.
Here is my solution. Sometimes I forward my desk phone to GrandCentral and get voicemails in my email where I can listen to them from my computer. I wish I could answer my phone at my desk but have it forward to GC if I don’t answer it.
sds:
James Taranto has been on a roll, lately.
Seems to me, James Taranto is always on a roll. Love his column.