Dylan on Obama

From George Packer of The New Yorker:

Quote of the Night from November 4th (via Alex Ross):

“I was born in 1941. That was the year they bombed Pearl Harbor. I’ve been living in darkness ever since. It looks like things are going to change now.”

 

Trendrr

Cool new site in beta.  See David Sirota’s trend search.

From the site:

Track, Compare and Share

• Track the popularity and awareness of trends across a variety of inputs, ranging from social networks, to blog buzz and video views downloads, all in real time.
• Compare trends to one another, monitoring and evaluating their status across a variety of sources.
• Share favorite trends with friends and other users and discover new trends that other users are already aware of and tracking.

Emergence of “Center Right Nation” Narrative

The pundits, right and otherwise, have been talking up this idea that we are still, despite the election of Obama, and the overall national repudiation of all things Republican, a “center right” nation. 

One idea of which is, Obama better not “over reach” with his agenda.  Or, put another way, don’t even try to achieve what you’ve promised on the campaign trail.  We’ll have no stomach for it.  No tolerance.  It’ll be your undoing.

Well, it’s obvious to anyone who has looked at the election outcome (maybe anyone outside of Oklahoma, a state in which not a single county turned from RED to BLUE, and yet McCain actually polled 47 votes fewer than did Bush in 2004, despite beating Obama handily), that we are not a “center right” nation – not by a long shot.

But, you know the traditional media; just say it over and over and over again, and some numbers of the populace will begin to believe it. 

David Sirota has the evidence of how the media is pimping this meme:

 

Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

A new controversy:

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

;->

“I’ll be in charge of the turkey, yup!”

Well, you guessed it!  Only one ‘name in the news’ says “yup”.  

More tone-deaf silliness from the queen of silly:

Flu Trends

Back in the 90s, I thought the Internet had such terrific potential.    For example, no despot or dictator could ever again act with impunity upon his country’s people, without the whole world watching. 

Well, that may not have exactly come to pass … yet. 

But, I imagined the Internet would usher in the beginning of the end of all manner of human suffering.

That may be closer to the truth.

Look at what google has been up to:

We’ve found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional flu surveillance systems.

They are beating the CDC at their own gaame, and have a neat video that proves it.

Makes you wonder what else search stats can do for us!

 

Everything You Need To Know About Ted Stevens …

… In one sentence.

“But you have to make up your mind you’re doing something wrong to really be guilty of a crime.”

From phone conversations between Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaskand Bill Allen, the CEO of Veco Corporation, an oil-services company.  The calls, recorded by the FBI in cooperation with Allen, were introduced as evidence in Stevns’ trail for failing to disclose an estimated $250,000 in gifts from Allen and his company.  Stevens was found guilty of all charges in October, and conceded his re-election to the Senate yesterday, in his lost to Democratic Anchorage Major Mark Begich.