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October 31, 2004
Kerry now leading polls
Electoral Vote Predictor 2004: Kerry 283 Bush 246
The lead has changed in five states, and all five changes favor Kerry. As a result, Kerry has now passed Bush in the electoral college. If today's results are the final results Wednesday morning, John Kerry will be elected as the 44th President of the United States, with 283 votes in the electoral college to George Bush's 246. But don't count on it. Many of Kerry's leads are razor thin. Counting only the strong + weak states, Bush leads 229 to 196, with 113 electoral votes in the tossup category Kerry's leads in the tossup states mean little to nothing. The turnout Tuesday will determine who wins.
Posted by sam at 11:41 AM
October 30, 2004
Small business survival rates (again)
My dad wanted to know survival rates for a company's first five years. The best data I could find comes from David Birch, who seems to be relatively respectable. This is originally from USAToday.com.
So the five-year survival rate is about 50%.
Posted by sam at 02:53 PM
October 29, 2004
A travel poll
Finally, another poll from our beautiful poll vixen. Which country would you most like to visit?
Posted by sam at 02:18 PM
October 28, 2004
Voting shenanigans
New Florida vote scandal feared:
A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.
Posted by sam at 07:25 PM
October 26, 2004
Challenging an old assumption
From the U.S. Department of Labor [through the biz opportunities blog]:
Although many people believe that 80 percent of all small businesses fail within five years, statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal a different story. The Census Bureau reports that 76 percent of all small businesses operating in 1992 were still in business in 1996. In fact, only 17 percent of all small businesses that closed in 1997 were reported as bankruptcies or other failures. The other terminations occurred because the business was sold or incorporated or when the owner retired.
Posted by sam at 02:20 PM
October 24, 2004
Garbha Raas
We went to a Garbha Raas party at school last night. The food was delicious, especially the rice pudding dessert.
Breean and I wanted to watch the few people that actually knew how to do the dance, but with all the encouraging they did to involve and teach everybody else, it was a complete mess.
Posted by sam at 10:44 AM
October 23, 2004
John Cleese
We saw John Cleese speak at Cornell last night. He's a professor-at-large at the school, which is an honorary title they give to celebrities for a six-year term. Cleese has appartently been so successful at it that the school has extended his term by two years.
He spoke about religion, building a case from other sources, his own experience, and scenes from Life of Brian; that organized religion is essentially a tool of control. it was both funny and very inciteful. At the end he plugged a new web site to be released on his 65th birthday on the 27th.
Posted by sam at 05:27 PM
October 19, 2004
This Land
If you haven't seen This Land at AtomFilms yet, you should.
Posted by sam at 01:17 PM
The TV-B-Gone
Inventor Rejoices as TVs Go Dark:
Altman's key-chain fob was a TV-B-Gone, a new universal remote that turns off almost any television. The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first.That's a steal at $15.99. I want one.
Posted by sam at 01:08 PM
October 18, 2004
More on Bush the zealot
Still reading that Bush article below. This is really scary stuff and I encourage you to make it all the way through.
Every few months, a report surfaces of the president using strikingly Messianic language, only to be dismissed by the White House. Three months ago, for instance, in a private meeting with Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., Bush was reported to have said, ''I trust God speaks through me.'' In this ongoing game of winks and nods, a White House spokesman denied the president had specifically spoken those words, but noted that ''his faith helps him in his service to people.''
Posted by sam at 10:04 AM
Bush the zealot
Scary NY Times Magazine article on Bush [from Boing Boing]:
"In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend -- but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.
The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"
Posted by sam at 09:19 AM
October 17, 2004
Second career choice
This is a Sunday poll from our poll vixen. If you could choose another career, what would it be? There's no other category here, deal with it.
Posted by sam at 10:08 PM
October 13, 2004
Monsanto stole patented wheat from Indian farmers
If you've wondered why I have a "Boycott Monsanto" link on the right side, this is a great example: Monsanto stole patented wheat from Indian farmers:
The European Patent office in Munich had granted a patent to Monsanto on May 21, 2003. The patent covered wheat exhibiting a special baking quality that Monsanto claimed to be its invention.
However, Greenpeace proved in its opposition that the wheat variety was bred by Indian farmers for improving its baking quality and it was not a genetically-engineered invention as claimed by Monsanto.
Posted by sam at 05:41 PM
October 11, 2004
Polling for answers
This poll comes from Breean, our unofficial guest editor.
Where should Sam n' Bree move after graduation next May?
Posted by sam at 05:05 PM
October 09, 2004
G.W. & Crew - Flip Flop
G.W. & Crew - Flip Flop "A cheeky look at Bush's flip flops in the form of a shoe catalogue" [from mefi].
Posted by sam at 03:42 PM
B-School profs against Bush
Business Week: For Bush, a Blast from the Ivory Tower:
George Bush, America's first President with an MBA, has been slapped on the knuckles by 169 concerned business-school professors. In an open letter sent on Oct. 4, the senior business and economics professors say Bush's economic policies are taking the country in the wrong direction. The academics, including two Nobel laureates, are especially critical of the budget deficit, which this year is projected to come in at more than $400 billion.
The unkindest cut of all: The idea for the letter began in the faculty offices of Harvard Business School, where Bush earned his diploma in 1975.
Posted by sam at 01:29 PM
October 08, 2004
More on the debate
I like Kerry calling Bush on "labels." How the No Child Left Behind Act leaves millions of children behind; how the Clean Air Act ruins the air.
Bush: Kerry "signs treaties to be popular in the halls of Europe." You've gotta be kidding me.
Posted by sam at 09:02 PM
Debate tonight
Watching the debate now.
I don't know about you, but I think I've heard enough about terrorism and homeland security. I get the point guys, move on.
I don't like how Bush interrupts the moderator. It's disrespectful.
Okay, finally "health issues" (9:38 pm).
Bush: drugs from Canada will kill you.
Kerry: I'm fighting to get those drugs to you.
...
Finally someone calls Kerry on choosing Edwards even though he's a lawyer making $$$ off of silly lawsuits. Kerry doesn't answer the question.
Bush: federal government going to run Kerry's "liberal" health care plan. Would "ruin the quality of health care in America." I don't see what this has to do with the question, or Kerry's non-answer.
Okay, I get this point now. Kerry: rich get tax cuts. Bush: tax cuts get us out of recessions.
...
Question from the moderator on the budget deficit. Both have promised to reduce the deficit by half in four years. How? Good question.
Bush: "because we cut taxes on everybody" the recession was one of the shortest in our nation's history. Does that answer the question?
Kerry: large corps are Bush's priority, you (audience) are my priority. Doesn't seem to answer the question either.
These guys make me mad. Why do they bother with this town-hall question format if they don't listen to the questions? Do they not think we're smart enough to notice?
Posted by sam at 08:35 PM
Kerry leading electoral vote
Electoral Vote Predictor 2004: Kerry 280 Bush 239 [from scripting.com].
Posted by sam at 04:41 PM
Business Week 2004 b-school rankings
The 2004 Business Week B-School rankings came out yesterday. Cornell climbed from 11 to 7, now above Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke and MIT. These rankings are based on MBA graduate rankings (45 percent), corporate recruiter rankings (45 percent), and intellectual capital (10 percent). This is great news!
We've made huge progress in the last eight years:
Posted by sam at 06:53 AM
October 07, 2004
Another optical illusion
Thanks dad, for passing on one of the most amazing optical illusions I've seen.
Posted by sam at 11:18 AM
October 06, 2004
"Intelligent design"
From bubblegeneration:
While kids in China and India now study bio, chem, physics - hard science - kids in the States increasingly study creationism.That's the kind of development that makes Breean and I want to move out of the U.S. This is totally F.R. (technical term) and we're insane for allowing it to happen. This is not the dark ages.
Posted by sam at 06:30 AM
October 05, 2004
VP debate
What's the verdict on the VP debate tonight? I played basketball instead of watching. Cheney frightens me.
Posted by sam at 09:06 PM
Favorite new tv show
What is your favorite new tv show this season?
Posted by sam at 05:48 PM
October 03, 2004
More on the debate
This is for you Penni: supposedly Kerry now leads 47% to 43% in the Newsweek poll. [from A VC]
That is shocking to me and must mean that this 5-10% of the electorate that keeps moving around is on the fence and remains very much up for grabs.Apparently there are swing voters in this election. And apparently they either watch the debates or pay some attention to the press.
Posted by sam at 05:16 PM
M & M
Okay mom, you asked. Photos from M & M's trip to NYC and Ithaca are up.
Posted by sam at 10:17 AM
October 02, 2004
New feature: polls!
Should we begin doing occasional polls on tingleff.com?
Posted by sam at 05:11 PM
Ithaca Harvest Festival
This weekend is the Ithaca Harvest Festival.
Posted by sam at 12:36 PM
Meagan shows her true feelings
Cleaning out my phone photos I saw this from Meagan and Michael's visit to Ithaca. Thank you Meagan, for showing your true feelings!
Posted by sam at 12:28 PM
October 01, 2004
Da Ali G Show
We've been watching the season one dvd of Da Ali G Show from Netflix. I cannot believe how funny it is.
The Sopranos, Curb and Ali G (Breean would add Six Feet Under) make you wonder why we even have network television any more. HBO these days makes a very compelling case that network television has a dying business model based on crappy content and crappy advertising.
Posted by sam at 11:05 PM
Bush - Kerry debate last night
We watched the debate at Breean's theater on campus last night. It was a lot of fun to watch with a large group of people - and by people I mean students who seemed to generally agree with my own politics. Watching with a large group of right-wing religious fanatics would have been a whole different experience that no doubt I would never describe as "fun."
First off, I had difficulty watching Bush without thinking of the Bush or Chimp? web site. And Kerry needs to do something about his helmet hair.
Do these debates every actually sway anybody? Naturally I thought Bush seemed immature and stoopid, but I am of course predisposed to think that way. I'm sure if you went in thinking Kerry is a flip-flopping liberal aristocrat, last night wouldn't change a thing.
Does the mythical "swing voter" exist anymore? And were they watching last night? What did they think?
Posted by sam at 08:58 AM