Political Candidates Should Be Like NASCAR Drivers
I wish that in every Presidential debate, candidates from both parties were required to wear NASCAR jackets, displaying the logos of their biggest donors.
Hillary Clinton Declares Iowa Victory In A Dead Heat
John Cassidy (in his New Yorker blog post this morning) summarizes a startling demographic result from last night's Democrat caucuses in Iowa:
"The age gap between Clinton supporters and Sanders supporters was huge. According to the entrance polls, which wrongly predicted a Clinton victory, Sanders got eighty-six per cent of the Democratic vote in the seventeen-to-twenty-four age group, eighty-one per cent in the twenty-five-to-twenty-nine group, and sixty-five per cent in the thirty-to-thirty-nine age group. Clinton, by contrast, was largely reliant on the middle-aged and the elderly. Among forty-something voters, she won by five percentage points. Among the over-fifties, she won by more than twenty per cent."
As Bill Belichick would say, "we're on to New Hampshire".
Democratic Primary: Bernie Or Hillary?
We'll learn a lot more about the race for the nomination as the Iowa results emerge tonight, but this is an issue of critical importance for me.
Alternative Super Bowl 50 Pre-game Programming: Kitten Bowl And Puppy Bowl Kickoff Times Announced!
Instead of the usual NFL pre-game stooges, with all of their blowhard "blah blah blah" , here's a lead-in schedule for your Super Bowl party that your guests will really enjoy:
Breaking News: Newspapers Not Dead Yet
On a recent Starbucks run in Lexington MA, I parked near a line of newspaper boxes along Massachusetts Avenue, the main drag through this posh suburban town west of Boston, where property values are sky-high.
In Boston and in most of its surrounding communities, newspaper boxes have pretty much fallen into disrepair or been removed as eyesores because of the steep and continuing decline in sales of print-edition newspapers. And in fact, the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald are both long gone from this location.
What's selling here is Chinese newspapers. In my short time in the parking lot, three different elderly Asian men walked up to the boxes and purchased newspapers, reflecting the dramatic increase in young Asian homeowners in Lexington - two-income couples with high tech jobs, with kids - who have brought Mom and Dad over to live with them. And their newspapers keep them in touch with the world they've left behind.
Hillary's Emails
What's most troubling here is not that the unclassified emails on her personal server have now been classified "Top Secret", but that they were there at all in the first place. The arrogance, sense of entitlement, and stupidity of her decision as Secretary Of State to do things her way, for her personal convenience, put people and operations at risk and, in my opinion, disqualify her from leading this country as president.
"You Sure Are Popular Since You Put On That Curvy Weight!"
The recent introduction of several new Barbies, of different heights and shapes, reminded me that the appearance of ads like this in magazines fifty years ago was fairly common:
Skinny was not the norm back then. Times have certainly changed.
Death Wish Cofee Super Bowl 50 Commercial!
Sometimes, good things DO happen to good people.
One of my favorite coffee companies, Death Wish Coffee, has won a major small business competition, and will now see their commercial aired during Super Bowl 50!
Knowing the size of the viewership, and the cost of an ad during the Super Bowl, this is a huge win for a very worthy small company.
Congratulations, Death Wish! I'll be watching for your commercial on Super Bowl Sunday.
Blame Everybody
That's just what we do.
Carolina Panthers Dab
I don't know what this means.
How To Sell Lots Of Girl Scout Cookies
Whenever I see kids selling lemonade for a charity (or for a new iPad) on a hot Summer day on the bike trail, I want to tell them (or their hovering parents) "You should be selling cold bottled water!" People would have no problem dropping a dollar for a bottle of water that only costs a dime when bought in bulk. They do it all the time when they're out and about these days.
So I find this Girl Scout's ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit commendable. She will go far in business, if that's the direction she chooses, having learned a good lesson about supply and demand.
R.I.P. Abe Vigoda
Tessio: Can you get me off the hook, Tom? For old times' sake?
Tom Hagen: (shaking his head 'no') Can't do it, Sally.
Okay. I'm Moving On Now.
I believe that I have now cycled through each of the three stages of grief, following the New England Patriots' elimination from the NFL Playoffs by the Denver Broncos.
Tom Brady, after the Patriots were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs by Denver.
Yesterday sucked even worse than Sunday night. It was hard to find the spark to begin the day, or get out of bed. But life has a way of kicking your ass, and getting you moving. So I moved directly to caffeine and sports talk radio - the fellowship of the miserable in New England, the grief counsellors - and that helped.
Watching the game again helped, being able to see more clearly what Denver did to take away the plays and players Tom Brady most depends on. The Broncos defense played an outstanding game, and their Defensive Coordinator had the perfect scheme to take away our best players, through formations, blitzes, and match ups, and the Broncos defensive line played on a level well above our offensive line - so much so that our Offensive Line Coach was fired yesterday.
I'm back. On to next season.
The Harvard Classics - Be Prepared For The Next SnOMG2016
I know. This snowstorm really sucked.
The Harvard Classics
In an attempt to get out in front of the NEXT snowstorm, I recommend being provisioned with sufficient alcohol, and keeping your mobile devices (as well as other personal battery-operated devices) well-charged. And by all means, know where the flashlights and candles are stored. My Sister-In-Law is an expert at the flashlight part.
Next, have plenty of good books to read. Actually, you should always have plenty of good books to read, especially if the WiFi goes away for a while. And now, the reading part has been made much easier.
Here's the link
http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/the_harvard_classics_a_free_digital_collection.html
You're welcome.
Game Day
Emptying the Brady-Manning photo files one last time, while waiting to see who goes to Super Bowl 50. I'm not sure we'll ever see another sustained rivalry between two such exceptional and competitive quarterbacks, so savor it today,
Punctuation Matters
Was the game played in Uzbekistan?
