I’m not talking big house vs. small house — that’s too easy, and simplistic. A new study in The Journal of Political Psychology looks at the state of your house — are you messy or a neatnik? — and what that says about your politics.
mental_floss Blog has the story. Here’s the underlying report from Scientific American.
NewMexiKen was mostly attracted to this whole thing by the discussion we once had here and the Berenstain Bears book cover.
It’s official. At least for the kids! The Scholastic Presidential Election Poll results are in: Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Republican nominee Senator John McCain.
The poll was open to kids from grades 1 to 12 in Scholastic News and Junior Scholastic magazines. Almost 250,000 (a quarter of a million) kids voted by paper ballot or online at www.scholastic.com/news. The poll closed on October 10.
Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy.
At another panel at the Time Warner Summit, TechPresident co-founder Andrew Rasiej, talking with his fellow panelists about the recent coverage given to the Bradley Effect, made a prediction. “What we’re going to see is the Obama Effect,” he said: Obama over-performing because of people who secretly wanted to vote for him, but were afraid to say so.
“Over all, the poll found that if the election were held today, 53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said that they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain.”
“[A] record 89 percent of Americans now say the country has pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track while just 7 percent of Americans say the country is going in the right direction, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.”
Just seven percent of the country clueless. It was nine percent in the Gallup Poll last week.
“As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* [in 1929] would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years.”
Several graphics comprise this article from The New York Times. Since the 1929 Crash, Republicans and Democrats have each been in the White House almost 40 years.
No wonder the economy is screwed. The Republicans can’t even do the math to figure out how much better off they are under Democrats.
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Nouriel Roubini, the professor who predicted the financial crisis in 2006, said the U.S. will suffer its worst recession in 40 years, causing the rally in the stock market to “sputter.”
“There are significant downside risks still to the market and the economy,” Roubini, 50, a New York University professor of economics, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re going to be surprised by the severity of the recession and the severity of the financial losses.”
The economist said the recession will last 18 to 24 months, driving unemployment to 9 percent, and already depressed home prices will fall another 15 percent.
. . .
“The stock market is going to stop rallying soon enough when they see the economy is really tanking,” Roubini added.
Oct. 14, 2008 — Googling is good for Grandpa and Grandma, says a new study by researchers at UCLA.
The study, which looked at brain activity during web searches, resulted in a fascinating finding: Middle-aged to older adults who know their way around the Internet had more stimulation of decision-making and complex reasoning areas of the brain than peers who were new to web surfing.
What’s more, reading didn’t stimulate the same number of brain areas as Internet searching.
While campaigning for the presidency as the Bull Moose Party candidate, former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest in Milwaukee on this date in 1912. He went ahead with his scheduled speech.
Milwaukee, Wis., October 14 — A desperate attempt to kill Col. Theodore Roosevelt tonight failed when a 32 caliber bullet aimed directly at the heart of the former president and fired at short range by the crazed assailant, spent part of its force in a bundle of manuscript containing the address which Co. Roosevelt was to deliver tonight, and wounded the Progressive candidate for President.
Col. Roosevelt delivered part of his scheduled address with the bullet in his body, his blood staining his white vest as he spoke to a huge throng at the auditorium. Later, he collapsed, weakened by the wound, and was rushed to Emergency hospital.
HistoryBuff.com had the above from a contemporary newspaper account. There’s more.
Roosevelt survived the wound. He died in January 1919, age 60. The Bull Moose Party was officially the Progressive Party.
… became Saguaro National Park on this date in 1994.
This unique desert is home to the most recognizable cactus in the world, the majestic saguaro. Visitors of all ages are fascinated and enchanted by these desert giants, especially their many interesting and complex interrelationships with other desert life. Saguaro cacti provide their sweet fruits to hungry desert animals. They also provide homes to a variety of birds, such as the Harris’ hawk, Gila woodpecker and the tiny elf owl. Yet, the saguaro requires other desert plants for its very survival. During the first few years of a very long life, a young saguaro needs the shade and protection of a nurse plant such as the palo verde tree. With an average life span of 150 years, a mature saguaro may grow to a height of 50 feet and weigh over 10 tons.
“Now when I try to watch there is so much scrolling and popping up that I can’t see the play on my television. I don’t care that LaDainian Tomlinson has two receptions for 8 yards in the first quarter of another game that I am not even watching.
“There’s a reason why people watch TV — because they don’t want to read.”
Comedian Lewis Black on “Inside the NFL” on HBO quoted via Sideline Chatter.
First posted here three years ago today.
Today is the birthday
… of John Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood is 98.
… of former surgeon general C. Everett Koop. Guess he knew what he was talking about because he’s 92 today.
… of Roger Moore. The oldest of the James Bonds in 81.
… of former Nixon White House Counsel and convicted multiple felon John Dean, 70 today.
… of Ralph Lauren. The founder of Polo is 69.
… of the judge of Night Court, Harry Anderson, who is 56 today.
… of Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. She’s 34.
… of Usher. He’s 30.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas, on this date in 1890.
NewMexiKen is the third in a line of four Kenneths. The first Kenneth, my eponymous grandfather, was born on this date in 1899.
The list of conservative conspiracy theories is long and ever-growing. Conservatism, as currently constructed, is utterly dependent on the existence of nefarious, dark forces working secretly against Real Americans. ACORN is the bogeyman of the moment.
Functional Ambivalent explains — In Which We Intrude On the Conservative Pity Party By Injecting a Little Reality.
The Bank of Burque Babble (BBB) formally announces that it is foundering, and in need of significant government assistance. We’re not proud of it, but BBB has made a series of imprudent financial decisions in recent years that have left it in a precarious position. We are, of course, referring to our sizable investments in the purchase of foreign and U.S. microbrewery beer, not to mention our Netflix, XM Radio and Broadband cable entertainment holdings.
A Formal Request For Emergency Funds From the Bank of Burque Babble continues. Fun stuff.
FiveThirtyEight.com takes a look at the Bradley Effect.1
With that said, the evidence is pretty strong that the Bradley Effect in fact used to exist in the 1980s and probably through some point in the 1990s. …
The evidence is perhaps equally strong, however, that the Bradley Effect does not exist any longer.
It’s a good, brief look at racism and polling.
1 The Bradley effect: Telling pollsters you voted for an African-American candidate when you did not in order to disguise racial bias. Named for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who lost the California gubernatorial election in 1982 when some polls, including exit polls, showed him winning handily.
The one telling you to jump back in the stock market BEFORE today?
“[Today’s] was the biggest-ever gain in terms of points, though ‘only’ the fifth-largest in the Dow’s 112-year history in terms of the percentage gained in a single session.”
“Fact-Checking the Ayers Allegations: So Wrong, It’s ‘Pants on Fire’ Wrong”
CQ Politics has the facts. Their summary:
In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers’ involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.
This attack is false, but it’s more than that – it’s malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there’s ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That’s Pants on Fire wrong.
Congressional Quarterly (CQ) has been considered one of the best, most objective sources on Washington and politics for more than 60 years.
Today is the birthday
… of Margaret Thatcher, 83.
… of Melinda Dillon. That’s the mom in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She’s 69. Dillon was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for that role and for her part in Absence of Malice.
… of Paul Simon. He’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” at 67.
Paul Simon is among the most erudite and daring songsmiths in popular music. After the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel in 1970, Simon embarked on a fruitful solo career that’s been notable for lyrical acuity, impeccable musicianship and stylistic daring. While Simon and Garfunkel worked largely (but not exclusively) in the folk idiom, Simon the solo artist has roamed wherever his muse has taken him – and that has literally meant around the world. His is not so much a conventional career in music as an odyssey of discovery using “intuitive flashes, synaptic leaps and shorthand logic” (in Simon’s own words) to help him on his way.
… of Demond Wilson. Sanford’s son is 62.
… of Sammy Hagar, 61.
However, Van Halen bounced back strong following Roth’s departure. The group recruited Sammy Hagar, who sang and played guitar. Hagar had started out with the hard-rock group Montrose and had a highly successful solo career. He fit well with Van Halen, with whom he was more personally compatible than his predecessor. In fact, the newly harmonious group scored its first Number One album with 5150, on which Hagar handles lead vocals.
… of Marie Osmond. She’s 49!
… of Jerry Rice. He’s 46.
… of Kate Walsh, 41. And yes, that’s her in the Cadillac ads. “The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?”
… of skater Nancy Kerrigan. She’s 39.
… of Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen is 37.
The woman known as Molly Pitcher was born on October 13, 1754.
An Artillery wife, Mary Hays McCauly (better known as Molly Pitcher) shared the rigors of Valley Forge with her husband, William Hays. Her actions during the battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778 became legendary. That day at Monmouth was as hot as Valley Forge was cold. Someone had to cool the hot guns and bathe parched throats with water.
Across that bullet-swept ground, a striped skirt fluttered. Mary Hays McCauly was earning her nickname “Molly Pitcher” by bringing pitcher after pitcher of cool spring water to the exhausted and thirsty men. She also tended to the wounded and once, heaving a crippled Continental soldier up on her strong young back, carried him out of reach of hard-charging Britishers. On her next trip with water, she found her artilleryman husband back with the guns again, replacing a casualty. While she watched, Hays fell wounded. The piece, its crew too depleted to serve it, was about to be withdrawn. Without hesitation, Molly stepped forward and took the rammer staff from her fallen husband’s hands. For the second time on an American battlefield, a woman manned a gun. (The first was Margaret Corbin during the defense of Fort Washington in 1776.) Resolutely, she stayed at her post in the face of heavy enemy fire, ably acting as a matross (gunner).
For her heroic role, General Washington himself issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer. Thereafter, she was widely hailed as “Sergeant Molly.” A flagstaff and cannon stand at her gravesite at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A sculpture on the battle monument commemorates her courageous deed.
Art Tatum was born on October 13th in 1909.
It’s hard to summon enough superlatives for Tatum’s piano playing: his harmonic invention, his technical virtuosity, his rhythmic daring. The great stride pianist Fats Waller famously announced one night when Tatum walked into the club where Waller was playing, “I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house.”
Leonard Alfred Schneider was born on this date in 1925. We know him as Lenny Bruce.
On April 1, 1964, four New York City vice squad officers attended Bruce’s performance at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. The officers arrested Bruce and owner Howard Solomon following Bruce’s 10:00 P.M. show. Assistant District Attorney Richard Kuh presented a grand jury with a typed partial script of Bruce’s performance including references to Jackie Kennedy trying to “save her ass” after her husband’s assassination, Eleanor Roosevelt’s “nice tits,” sexual intimacy with a chicken, “pissing in the sink,” the Lone Ranger sodomizing Tonto, and St. Paul giving up “fucking” for Lent. The jury indicted Bruce on the obscenity charge. The trial before a three-judge court in New York City that followed stands as a remarkable moment in the history of free speech. Both the prosecution and defense presented parades of well-known witnesses to either denounce Bruce’s performance as the worst sort of gutter humor or celebrate it as a powerful and insightful social commentary. Among the witnesses testifying in support of Bruce were What’s My Line? panelist Dorothy Kilgallen, sociologist Herbert Gans, and cartoonist Jules Feiffer. In the end, the censors won. Voting 2 to 1, the court found Bruce guilty of violating New York’s obscenity laws and sentenced him to “four months in the workhouse.”
Bruce died of a drug overdose in 1966.
“We had guys out of position. It has to do with our structure and getting our kids prepared. I think our coaches have to take some of the responsibility for that.”
Arizona football coach Mike Stoops.
Yes coach, structure and getting the kids prepared is pretty much up to the coaches. Are you just figuring that out after going 21-31 over 4-1/2 seasons?
The second least competent person in Tucson is Coach Stoops. The least competent person is Tucson is the guy that didn’t fire Coach Stoops last November.
“For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.”
Stephen Branchflower, Report to the Legislative Council
… of the White House.
The cornerstone of the White House was laid on October 13, 1792. President John Adams and his wife Abigail moved into the unfinished structure on November 1, 1800, keeping to the scheduled relocation of the capital from Philadelphia. Congress declared the city of Washington in the District of Columbia the permanent capital of the United States on July 16, 1790. …
Constructed of white-grey sandstone that contrasted sharply with the red brick used in nearby buildings, the presidential mansion was called the White House as early as 1809. President Theodore Roosevelt officially adopted the term in 1902.
Source: Library of Congress
During the Truman Administration the White House was gutted except for the outside walls and rebuilt. This photo was taken in April 1950.
Gutted to the outside stone walls, deepened with a new two story basement, reinforced with concrete and 660 tons of steel, and fireproofed, the White House was stabilized. The protection of the historic stone walls was so important that workers dismantled a bulldozer and reassembled it inside to avoid cutting a larger doorway out of the walls. Shafts out of windows carried out debris from the inside of the house, and external stairs were built because the inside was completely empty during the renovation.
The Truman Presidential Museum and Library has a photo essay on the reconstruction — The White House Revealed — though the photos are too small to view much detail.
“Every day, people are straying away from the Church and going back to God.”
Lenny Bruce, who was born on this date in 1925.
The second of the October Sweeties birthdays is today. Lovely Sofia turns five.
Returned to her native Colorado, Sofie has her skis and boots and is ready to hit the slopes later this fall.
Happy Birthday Sofie!
Paul Krugman of Princeton and The New York Times — often quoted and cited on these very pages — has won the The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences.
You know, the Nobel Prize in economics.
Harvard Economist Edward L. Glaeser explains why.
“Even the most hardened cynics find themselves continually surprised by the ability of Rove and his minions to always hit that evasive new low, coming up with things that would shock a 60-year-old Greyhound-station hooker.”
And the best analysis of the day, also from Taibbi:
Rove is not a genius, or even very clever: He’s totally and completely immoral. It doesn’t take genius to claim, as Rove ludicrously did last fall, that it was the Democrats in Congress and not George W. Bush who pushed the Iraq War resolution in 2002. It doesn’t take brains to compare a triple-amputee war veteran to Osama bin Laden; you just have to be a mean, rotten cocksucker.
The reason Rove continues to survive is the same reason that Johnnie Cochran was called a genius for keeping a double-murderer on the golf course — because this generation of Americans has become so steeped in greed and social Darwinism that it can no longer distinguish between cheating and achieving, between enterprise and crime, and can’t bring itself to criticize winners any more than it knows how to be nice to losers. He survives because an increasing number of Americans secretly agree with Rove’s vision of rules, laws and “the truth” as quaint, faintly embarrassing rituals that only a sucker would let hold him back.
