Time to provide an update to this post. I was reminded of that post due to this one over at Patterico's place. Excerpt:

What IÂ’m about to say will, if it works out to be true, cause Lawrence OÂ’Donnell to have a coronary on Nov. 5. In the immediate aftermath of KerryÂ’s loss to Bush in 2004, OÂ’Donnell called for blue states to secede from the Union. So, we will need a volunteer in the blogosphere to stay with OÂ’Donnell on election night with a portable defibrillator in order to zap him back to life.

ASSUMING that the pre-election polling is close to accurate, if Obama is leading in the national polls coming out of the final weekend by 52% or less, he’s going to lose. If he’s at 53% it’ll probably be very close, but he may still lose. If its 54% or above, he will win. And it’s not the “Bradley Effect.”

Why does he have to be that high? ItÂ’s the revenge of the small-states-on-steroids in the electoral college. The math is actually pretty simple, although some assumptions have to be made about turnout and victory margin in specific states (i.e., that current polls in those states are close to being accurate).

Anyway, time to update my picks:

1) Virgina: I continue to predict that McCain will carry the state, albeit by a 2%-5% margin.

2) Colorado: I still have it in the One's win column. I also stand my prediction that if Obama loses CO, he's done.

3) Florida: McCain wins. Very, very close.

4) Ohio: McCain hangs in an wins by a smaller margin than Bush over Kerry.

5) New Hampshire: I think that I might have been wrong last time. NH will probably stay blue. In fact, I think that NH flipping red would be a sign that Obama should start working on his re-election plans for the Senate. As it stands now, I don't think that will be the case.

6) Pennsylvania: This one has gotten a lot tougher. Polls show a consistent small edge for Obama, but, for some reason, he's spending a lot of time and money there, more than I would think is necessary if the race were already sewn up. And Murtha just called western PA a bunch of racists, which I'm sure will play well in that part of the state. Anyway, I think that Obama probably carries the state by the slimmest of margins, at least right now.

7) The rest of the states remain their election day 2004 color, except for New Mexico, which will flip back to blue.

Oh yeah, those one or two precincts in Nebraska and Maine which cast electoral votes in a non-winner take all manner are probably up for grabs. It would be more than interesting if those two districts actually determined the electoral vote winner.

Where does that leave us as far as electoral votes? I could look it up, but I'm lazy. I will make a final prediction the day before the election. In the interim, I plan to try and ignore politics here just so that I can retain my sanity.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 03:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And it comes from Jonah Goldberg:

I have always said (even in my more anti-libertarian days) that it always pays to have a libertarian in the room to ask the question "Why, and by what right, should government do this at all?"

That question is asked far too infrequently these days. Pity.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 01:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Currently, I use the Fast Video Download add-on for Firefox to retrieve things from YouTube, Google video, et al that I would like to have on my PC. However, some sites have taken steps to prevent me from being able to do such a thing. Enter Tubemaster Plus via Freewaregenius. Excerpt:

Description: TubeMaster Plus is a free tool that can download streaming video and audio files from almost any media sharing site, including sites with anti-leeching protection. TubeMaster Plus also can convert downloaded videos to several formats, offers a video search function across multiple video sources, and offers a downloadble audio mp3 search function.

There's more. Much more.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, I know that some of you drop by for the geeky stuff, some for the humor (what is that?) and some for reasons which still escape me. In any event, I can't think of anything else worth writing about today, so I'm going to post more pictures of former VCU student Mircea Monroe. Images not exactly safe for work, so I'm putting them below the fold.

more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The first presidential debate and the only veep debate were both entertaining to watch. The second presidential debate bored me to tears when it wasn't pissing me off, because town hall style debates devolve into panderfests, as each candidate tries to spend more of my hard-earned money than the other guy. Anyway, I followed each of the 3 previous debates on C-Span while simultaneously participating in the live blog at Ace's place. It was fun, but I think that I'm gonna pass tonight. After I finally get my children to sleep, I"m going to go for a 5-6 mile run to clear my head. I'll check out the analysis later, but I'll take a stab at how I think things will go:

Chris Matthew: OMG, I think that I just came in my pants!

Keith Olbermann: Much like during the vice-presidential debate, I touched myself repeatedly whenever our country's savior spoke.

CNN focus group: Obama's so pretty. And he's going to give me a free pony!

FNC focus group: McCain sounded like a patriot, but looked like a cancer victim. And Barry's going to give me a pony!

Brit Hume: Well, neither candidate made any gross errors. McCain had the edge on facts, but, in this television age, Obama's visual appeal might have swayed the overall score in his favor.

Chris Matthews: I don't understand what he just said because I came again while watching the tape!

Brit Hume: Uh, Chris? Maybe you could go back to MSNBC and help out your co-anchor Keith. He seems to be in some sort of physical distress.

::Keith Olbermann performing homoerotic asphyxiation while watching tape of the debate::

=======================================

Barring one of the candidates mowing down the audience with a flamethrower, I don't think we'll get much out of the debate.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Not being able to feed my children because gasoline is too fucking expensive.

I know that there are a large number of people who are not only okay with high gas prices, they wish that prices would spike up around $10 a gallon. To those people I offer the following helpful advice: please go fuck yourself before sticking your head in the over. Seriously. High fuel costs equals higher food costs, higher heating/cooling costs, higher clothing costs, higher pretty much everything unless you're a complete dunderhead. You might be okay with paying a buttload for everything, but I, not being rich, am most decidedly not.

You think that pain drives research into new technologies? That makes you stupid. Sure, it provides a little impetus, but if people are worried about heating/cooling their homes and feeding their families, they aren't going to spend a lot of time and money on vaporware. That includes businesses. Higher energy costs mean higher costs of doing business which means, usually, that some divisions/departments get cut. Having worked in R&D before, I can tell you that research divisions are not the most directly profitable sections of a company. Until or unless something pays off, they are usually a drain on resources.

For the record, I would love for some new energy technology to be created. However, it has to be (a) proven, (b) scalable (you keep ignoring that, don't you?), (c) affordable and (d) available 24x7 because things need to run when it's dark outside. If the technology doesn't meet those criteria, then it's worthless.

One other thing: you people who tout electric cars have really got to figure out where all that electricity is going to come from to charge the batteries, because I really want to know. Maybe from the unicorns that Obama will give us all, but I'm not really counting on that. Besides, unicorns taste like chicken.

Link via the Instamonster.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 01:39 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Fusion is the answer that's why I work on it. And that's why I ended up with your blog in my feed Although I never actually read anything related to physics in your entries yet, I still enjoy them.

Posted by: KK at October 14, 2008 03:29 PM (tWnPX)

2 Well, I could write about general relativity, or graduate E&M, or condensed matter physics. The reality, though, is that my audience, already small, would shrivel into a singularity. Once upon a time, I did post Shroedinger's time dependent equation, but I don't think it was my most well received blog entry, mainly because most people went WTF?!. Fusion, eh? Do you work on the Polywell fusor, or some of the low temperature related branches of research? I actually try to keep up with that research because it's always interested me. I am waiting for something to be proven as scalable so that we can engineer the heck out of some power plants. In the interim, I'll continue working on the G3+ fission reactors.

Posted by: physics geek at October 15, 2008 07:13 AM (MT22W)

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Sure, most people get 15 minutes, but this is me we're talking about. Anyway, it's time to break out the following quote based on this post from Dave In Texas:

Physics Geek: The new pool ranking's here! The new pool ranking's here!

Dave In Texas: Boy, I wish I could get that excited about nothing.

Physics Geek: Nothing? Are you kidding? First Place - Geek, Physics! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this blog every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name on Ace of Spaces HQ - that makes people. I'm on Ace of Spaces HQ! Things are going to start happening to me now.

Of course, Dave did throw a little cold water on my soon to be short-lived fame by mentioning the aliens who are sure to take me first. On the other hand, anal probe and all, so WIN!!!!

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Recently, at work, I was given the option of a laptop or a desktop. Since the desktop came with a 21" monitor, I opted for the desktop, notwithstanding that "management's preferred option is the laptop". I cited the reduced strain on my eyes and management said, "Okley-dokley." Anyway, a couple of weeks later, my boss mentioned that laptop users were now being given the option of having a 21" in addtion to the built-in on the laptop. Of course I said yes.

The cool thing about newer laptops is the ability to have multiple monitors. However, I found it quite maddening to try and keep track of what was open on each monitor. Invariably, I'd tab through my open applications to the one that I wanted it and said application would be on the other monitor, at which point I'd drag it over to where I wanted it to be. And then I'd promptly forget about it until I attempted to use the program again.

Never fear, though: someone has fixed my problem for me. I give you Oscar's Multi-Monitor taskbar. Excerpt:

Normal Windows XP or Vista:

All windows are displayed on the primary monitors taskbar regardless on which monitor they are opened.

With Multimon Taskbar:

Second Task bar is added to the extended monitor and it displays item from that monitor while primary taskbar displays items from the primary window...

TaskBar (freeware)

• It adds second taskbar to the extended desktop on Monitor 2
  
• It can add third taskbar to the second Extended monitor if you have 3 monitors setup.
  
• It shows only applications from that Monitor
  
• It hides the applications on Monitor 2 and 3 from normal Windows Taskbar
  
• Adds a Move to Monitor button to windows applications (XP).
  
• Add Text Clipboard Extender
  
• Buttons to roll-right the taskbar (good for full screen Remote Desktop)
  
• Very carefully written, I don't want to crash my own desktop!
  

There is a pro version, which costs money and, to be frank, is a bit more robust. However, I've found the freeware version to be just fine. Also, there are some more features which I won't bother to discuss. You can find out about those features here.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:50 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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"I prefer bazookas to burkas," and other sound reasons women should continue to take their clothes off.

Jaw dropping eye candy photo of the exquisite Keeley Hazell ,courtesy of American Digest.

Update: For those so inclined, I hear that the voluptuous Ms. Hazell appeared in September's issue of Playboy.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 02:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Psych has been renewed for a 4th season.

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And my kidneys have decided to vacation on the French Riviera to recuperate from this past weekend's trip to the GABF. On the plus side, the ache in my feet has subsided and the foul emissions of methane (prompted by lots of cask conditioned ales plus lots and lots of greasy food) have been reduced to a point where coworkers in neighboring cubes have stopped clawing at their throats and faces.

Lots of pictures and commentary to post in the near future. To whet your appetite, or kill it as the case may be, I'll leave you with this shot of me. While I truly have a face for radio, I will offer the defense that I was sleep deprived and alcohol, well, whatever the opposite of deprived is. Picture below the fold, for those of you with strong stomachs.

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Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A friend sent me the email link to today's Woot item, along with this comment:

Check out today's www.woot.com product description.

sounds almost exactly like what I heard last night

And here is the image. more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sure, I'm a KDE sort of a fellow, but lots of people love Ubuntu and its Gnome interface. Here's a quick How To Set Up Ubuntu on your computer tutorial. It's pretty short, so I won't excerpt anything from it. Just click on over, if you're so inclined.

BTW, I'm about to replace my PC's hard drive with something much larger than currently resides within my tower. However, the smallish hard drive will be ideal for installing some version of Linux; I'm leaning towards MEPIS 8.0, which looks pretty slick. The reason for two hard drives, rather than partitioning a single one is that I don't want a crash to wipe out two operating systems at the same time. And, if I'm feeling really adventurous, I'll add a third HD with the OS X (open source Mac clone) installed on it. Nothing like 3 operating systems to let the whole world know how freaking geeky you really are.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, I know that many of you are worried about our imminent slide into a socialist country. Think of the bright side: for those of us who have wanted to visit France, electing a Marxist makes things easier. By taxing and spending the ever living crap out of us, we'll become France. No need to buy expensive plane tickets.

Anyway, too many of you are obsessing over November 4. I will admit to having done so on occasion myself. However, November 1 & 2 are much more important days in that The Legend of the Seeker kicks off. Here are some more images for you to compare to the images you had already conjured up in your brain.

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Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My main email server is struggling right now. I cannot retrieve emails past September 19. Apparently, something is bogging the server down in the worst way. I will clean it off tonight, but in so doing, I'm likely to erase any emails that anyone has sent to me during the last month. In other words, don't take it personally. I really would like to respond to you, but I'm simply not able right now.

Yes, I have another email address that I could post here, but I'm not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. Too many spambots, don't ya know.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you have a certain wmv file that you want to convert to Flash Video (flv) format and upload to YouTube, you might check out this site, which allows you to convert between multiple video formats. Just an FYI.

Update: See below the fold, if YouTube hasn't pulled it yet. more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, this Thursday morning, around oh-shit thirty, I and 3 friends will drag ourselves to the airport, at which point we'll get lashed to the wings and dragged along at 37,000 feet to Denver.

Oh wait, I wasn't able to use frequent flyer miles. We paid cash this time, which means that we'll get to ride inside, which is nice.

I still don't know what geographic area of the Convention Center I will be assigned to, but you might be able to find me wandering around downtown Denver Thursday, Friday and Saturday. At least one of those days, probably Thursday, I'll be at Rock Bottom Brewery along the 16th Street Marketplace. I'll be easy to find, as I'll be wearing my Ace t-shirt or my Nuke the Moon t-shirt from IMAO. Probably the former, though, because I want to wear the nuke shirt around Boulder just to see how people respond.

Oh, and late Thursday night, we'll finish off the day with a Thai Pie washed down with some Fat Tire at Old Chicago's. We'll be easy to find, as we'll be the guys who haven't slept in 24 hours while drinking massive quantities of beer.

Come to think of it, we won't be that easy to find. The GABF brings lots of like minded individuals to Denver.

Update: Well, I know where we'll be now. From an email received about 30 seconds ago:

We have 1 ½ islands this year. The full island is a combination of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.
...
Oh and we also have the Bull & Bush band in our area again.

The Bull & Bush group is a lot of fun. I'll make nice again with them to try and score some swag. Oh, and come Saturday evening, I'll have enough temporary beer tatoos on my face and arms that it'll look like I stepped out of a Ray Bradbury novel.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:43 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Sure, you've already seen this everywhere else. I'm simply filling the gap by placing it here on this blog as well.
==========================================

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will
have $49.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today. But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle.



It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!

Makes you proud to be an American!

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Watching Pittsburgh manhandle Jacksonville in the first half, while managing to gain only a 6 point advantage, I remembered many other Steelers' games that looked like this. Pittsburgh more than dominated, but failed to capitalize, keeping the Jaguars one touchdown and an extra point away from victory. Just now, Jacksonville scored and took the lead. If you're Steelers' fan (I'm not), this should look eerily familiar.

In other NFL news, Miami one their second game in a row. And the Cardinals are in first place. The end times must surely be nigh.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Back in 184, Joe Piscopo has a comedy special on HBO. There were pretty funny skits: one where he did an "HBO Sports" special, with Eddy Murphy as Carl Lewis; one where he spoofed the Thriller video as the Nutty Professor; and one in which he played the lead singer of the Deltones, who had a gig singing to a mob boss. I mentioned it to my a friend today; he had never seen it. Anyhoo, I headed over to YouTube, and darned if they didn't have the video up. Jim Treacher once remarked on one of his blogs (not the Puce, because that would have been unreadable) that "YouTube is going to destroy this country and I don't care". I happen to agree with him.

I'll embed the video below the fold so that it won't hang your browser while it loads:
more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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