"Over the past 2 days of calling, a number of older respondents registered as undeclared voters have reported that they have received telephone calls from a campaign informing them that they will not be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary because they missed the deadline to switch parties. A respondent discovered, however, that when she told the caller that she was thinking about voting for Howard Dean, the caller told her that she would be eligible to vote."
From the latest NH poll. I hate electoral politics. Even if it isn't true, it's horrible, because then someone is lying about it. Part of the problem is that NH has an influence out of all proportion, so it's worth engaging in slimeball manuveurs that wouldn't be cost-effective anywhere else.
Edit: TPM will look into it for us. About TPM: He's good, but he's unquestionably a partisan. Note the off-topic pot-shot: "the kind of trash tactics Dems are used to seeing from the other side." Hopefully he'll put the energy into researching this one anyway.
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11:35:28 AM,
Friday 9 January 2004
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An old conspiracy is about to grow new legs. There are a fair number of people out there who think the martian sky should be blue, and that NASA is tinting all the pictures to hid the green lichen on the rocks. Well, the saner ones think that NASA just made a mistake and is being stubborn. And some just think it's sinister in some undefined way. That they think their 'fixed' pictures are self-evidently better than the official ones is a good example of something or other. The official explanation sounds plausible enough, as well as a bit defensive and exasperated, if read after the kooks. This was one of those chance encounters, I was curious if the new photo had been photoshopped, and stumbled across a web subculture. It is sad but understandable why some interesting endevours become death to credibility simply because they're so interesting to so many people, the loudest of whom tend to be somewhat... overheated. Talking to dolphins, Magnets effecting the brain, and life on Mars. The current picture would make a terrific jigsaw.
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(1)
03:09:16 PM,
Tuesday 6 January 2004
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Beagle II may have been eaten by Martians, but at least it wasn't named Opportunity or Spirit. Who names these things? NASA seems to suffer from the same federal blandness disease as school textbooks. Some of it may be rooted in the strange legacy of deadly serious science fiction. Or perhaps it should be pinned on lingering cold war earnestness. If nothing else, they should have thought about the headlines should things go awry. Lost Beagle is so much more interesting than Lost Opportunity or Spirit Missing.
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(2)
11:23:57 AM,
Tuesday 6 January 2004
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"The wild boar broke into the living room through a terrace door and hid under a table". At a certain point, conservation becomes counter-productive. Coyotes eating cats I can accept, but I draw the line at boars lurking under tables. Particularly the ones from Princess Mononoke. This is an example of the sort of lesson offered by the news. If I ever find a boar under the table, I will not shoo. My favorite (that is, silliest) argument opposing Boston coyotes was that it wasn't natural, really we should have wolves, not coyotes, and so it's all right to want to get rid of the coyotes, because they're just a unnatural nuisence caused by our interference. Speaking of silliness, I'm fascinated to learn that glowing zebra fish are "bound to escape into the environment and may even thrive." Unless I've missed the boat entirely, there isn't a large population of feral tropical fish in our lakes and rivers. I also suspect that bioluminescence isn't a brillient survival strategy outside of pet stores.
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(3)
10:52:01 AM,
Tuesday 6 January 2004
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You may know the longest word in the English language. Ah, but do you know what antidisestablishmentarianism means? According to the book I'm reading, which has been the greatest triumph thus far for my strategy of buying used history paperbacks from college bookstores, some Welsh nonconformists wanted the official nature of the Church of England abolished; and end of the established church, disestablishment. They had opponents, and thus a trivia question was born.
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(3)
04:00:12 PM,
Monday 5 January 2004
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The creator of the Teletubbies has a new show coming, which sounds even creepier. The sun being a baby head still spooks me. I like the idea that children find people falling over or farting funny even before they can speak. Remaining upright and learning to operate plumbing are their main responsibilities. One of these days I'm going to write my thoughts about humour and embarrassment as the two sides of the social instinct, maybe by finishing my junior essay. I'd have to think about the difference between shock and giggles, and Pride and Prejudice is as good a place as any.
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(2)
01:42:25 PM,
Monday 5 January 2004
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We decided to visit IKEA on the way home, since we were driving through New Jersey anyway. We didn't think we had any space in the car for much of anything when we arrived, but we somehow found room for two chest of drawers, two rugs and a watering can. I have difficulty understanding how there can be such a price differential in furniture. Yes, having professionally assembled furniture is worth something, and yes, pushy, sweaty furniture salesmen in there suits don't grow on trees, but it really is half the price of comperable stuff from furniture stores. Also, they recognize a cheap piece of furniture needs to be designed to work with the materials and methods available, and needn't be a shoddy imitation of its expensive cousins.
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(1)
08:20:54 PM,
Saturday 27 December 2003
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The story of million-watt mexican radio.
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03:43:22 PM,
Thursday 18 December 2003
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Our landlord is getting us a new stove for Christmas! The old one died on monday, he decided on tuesday it wasn't worth fixing, and bought a new one on wednesday. He seemed excited about it, it was a nice one, we'd like it. So far removed from King Properties, it seems wrong to call them both landlords.
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01:02:23 PM,
Thursday 18 December 2003
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Industrial applications of artificial tornadoes. The fact that this could be energy efficient mystifies me. Ling, if you're around and have any insight into this, I'd love to hear it. I remember you talking about theory struggling with tornadoes.
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(1)
05:19:43 PM,
Tuesday 16 December 2003
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Have I mentioned that the Lord of the Rings: The Museum Exhibit is coming to Boston next summer? Yay geek excitement. A tangental thought: Any video game version of the Lord of the Rings really needs to allow you to claim the Ring as your own and wield it's power, and keep playing... To a bad ending, of course, but still. Sort of like working cheat codes into the plot of the game.
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(1)
05:14:51 PM,
Tuesday 16 December 2003
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Never, under any circumstances, seed jalapeno peppers with your fingers. My fingers still burn 12 hours later, and are still capable of incapacitating my eyes or mouth if I forget. There's no warning at the time.
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08:41:51 AM,
Monday 15 December 2003
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