This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
|
This is awesome.
Cows have magnetic sense, Google Earth images indicate
(Thomas Maugh, LA Times, 26 Aug 2008)
German scientists using satellite images posted online by the Google Earth software program have observed something that has escaped the notice of farmers, herders and hunters for thousands of years: Cattle grazing or at rest tend to orient their bodies in a north-south direction just like a compass needle.
Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine Begall and Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen and their colleagues found that two out of every three animals in the pictures were oriented in a direction roughly pointing to magnetic north.
The resolution of the images was not sufficient to tell which ends of the cows were pointing north, however.
(via Slog)
A post from a distant cousin’s blog:
The Amazing Internet
(Victor Dial, Minter Dialogue Blog, 5 Aug 2008)
I know it’s a cliché, but isn’t it amazing what you can find on the internet? Two recent occasions come to mind:
The first was when, some days ago, I happened on a web site concerning the family of my paternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Josephine Minter. We called Josephine “Jou-Jou†(probably Josephine was too difficult for young children to pronounce, or remember). Jou-Jou’s mother’s maiden name was Fannie Dodson Ramseur. Fannie came from a prominent North Carolinian family, and she married Joseph Minter, also from North Carolina. The Minter family web site (wiki.abulsme.com) laconically indicates that Joseph had originally intended to marry another lady, but that the bride-to-be had died on her wedding day. This must have been a terrible tragedy for Joseph, but was fortunate for me, because by marrying Fannie, he begot me, as well as many other distinguished descendants. Fannie had six children (one of whom was Jou-Jou, of course) and, while pregnant with a seventh, died tragically while trying to save her youngest daughter whose dress had accidentally caught fire. The daughter died that day, 14 March 1881, and the mother ten days later, aged 36.
50% chance of Tropical Storm force winds, 15% chance of Hurricane force winds.
Have fun Ivan!
Two states flip today, one from Obama to McCain, and one from McCain to Obama. I caution however that both of these states are not just “leaning” swing states, they are both states where the margin is 1% or less. In other words, flipping from one side of the line to the other is not really that meaningful. They are both too close to call.
In general, I try to make the same point about ALL of the “leaning states”. Yeah, one where the leading candidate is ahead by 4.9% might be a little better for the candidate than one where they are ahead by 0.1%. But really, the primaries showed us that a 5% lead can evaporate in a matter of days if the right set of events happen. And even the consensus average of pollsters can be off by more than that. So any lead under 5% should be considered too close to call.
Anyway, the two states, in order by electoral college vote:
Ohio (20 electoral votes): Flips from Leaning McCain to Leaning Obama. It flipped in the other direction just five days ago.
Nevada (5 electoral votes): Flips from Leaning Obama to Leaning McCain. It flipped in the other direction just two days ago.
New Summary:
McCain Best Case – McCain 281, Obama 257
Obama Best Case – Obama 384, McCain 154
If everybody gets their leans (and Obama gets DC) – Obama 306, McCain 232
As mentioned above, all of the lean states really could easily go either way. That is why they are lean states. So any observers should be cautioned to not pay all that much attention to the “everybody gets their leans” number. Rather, anything between the two best cases listed is quite possible.
But this DOES at least look like the McCain momentum of the last month has been blunted. We’ll see over the next week if the trend continues and turns into a real “bounce” for Obama.
Of course, the Republican convention is immediately after the Democratic convention, so any bounce may be short lived.
Sam talks about:
- Absent Ivan
- Vacation Sam
- Obama-Biden
- Silly Attacks
- Policy vs. Process
- Convention Ahoy
 1-Click Subscribe in iTunes
 View in iTunes
 Podcast XML Feed
This was inevitable, but shows that the rules do not matter at all, and makes the prospects of having any sort of control in the 2012 cycle virtually nil.
Florida, Michigan Granted Full Voting Rights
(Stehen Ohlemacher, Huffington Post, 24 Aug 2008)
Democratic delegates from Michigan and Florida were awarded full voting rights at the national convention Sunday, despite holding early primaries against party rules.
The convention credentials committee voted unanimously to restore the voting privileges at the behest of Barack Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee for president. The states were initially stripped of delegates for holding primaries before Feb. 5. The party’s rules committee restored the delegates in May, but gave them only half votes.
Democrats hope the gesture will strengthen their standing in two important battleground states while ending a contentious chapter of the nominating process.
Sigh.
There are four states that change categories today. One brings good news for McCain. But bucking recent trends, three are good news for Obama. In order of electoral college votes…
Michigan, with 17 electoral votes, which two weeks ago weakened for a “Weak” Obama state into a “Leaning” Obama swing state, now moves back into “Weak” status as Obama’s lead once again breaks the 5% mark in the state. This makes Michigan no longer a swing state, which is potentially a very big deal for the Obama camp, as they don’t have to play as much defense there.
Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, which 9 days ago moved from leaning Obama to leaning McCain, now moves back to leaning Obama. (Either way, it is a very close state and could very easily go either way… the movement here is from McCain being ahead by 0.2% to Obama being ahead by 0.4%.)
Mississippi, with 6 electoral votes, sees McCain’s lead move from the “Weak McCain” category to “Strong McCain” as McCain’s lead grows to 10%. (This is the one state that is good news for McCain, but it will make no difference to the summary numbers, because it does not affect the swing states in any way.)
Nevada, with 5 electoral votes, moves from leaning McCain, to leaning Obama. Once again it is important to note that which side of the line the state is on right now may not be really be very relevant. We are moving from McCain ahead by 0.6% to Obama ahead by 0.2%. Either way, this state is very close and could go either way.
New summary:
McCain Best Case – McCain 281, Obama 257
Obama Best Case – Obama 384, McCain 154
If everybody gets their leans (and Obama gets DC) – Obama 291, McCain 247
The changes today can’t of course be attributed to a convention bounce, but perhaps Obama merely coming back from vacation and starting to campaign again was enough to start blunting the recent McCain momentum. Or… or it could just be random variation in polls pushing states that are right on the line between my categories back and forth over those lines.
Complete fail to the Obama team on the “be first to know via text message thing”. Total crap. The text messages haven’t gone out yet, and anybody paying attention already knows. Fail, fail, fail. He should have sent out the page on Friday.
Yup, tis Biden. All the news outlets are all over it now. (And I am home again.)
He was my preferred Presidential candidate back pre-Iowa, although I never had any illusions that he had a chance.
And I’ve always liked Biden a lot.
And he can certainly do the attack dog thing.
I expressed doubts back in June about Obama picking Biden though, because it did not mesh with the anti-Washington, change change change thing. Because after all, Biden is definitely a Washinton insider. He is not change.
But he is good. And he is very competent.
This will be fine.
No links because I am posting from my phone. But ABC News is reporting that a Secret Service protective detail has been sent to Joe Bidens house. No text messages yet, but that probably means it is Biden.
(via Brendan Loy)
Now everybody is saying not Bayh (despite the bumper stickers) and not Kaine.
So Biden?
|
|