Election Day

Gallup has posted their final prediction for the election results. This is what most of the other polls are showing too, with the notable exception of the Zogby/MSNBC/Reuters poll which has Gore leading by two points. My own unofficial analysis is that the race has tightened over the weekend, and the race is truly a tossup. I'll be watching the state of Florida closely tonight, I think it will be the indicator of which way the election is going to go... What a bizarre end to a horrible game. The Packers beat the beloved Vikings in overtime last night, on a bizarre play that has to be seen to be believed. The Vikings deserved to lose, if you give up five turnovers and 129 yards in penalties, you're going to lose. It's amazing that the game was even that close...

I voted this morning, for Gore, at the Nazareth Lutheran Church near my house. The polls were moderately busy, I had to stand in line behind 5 other people. Unfortunately they didn't have any of the "I Voted" stickers that I usually get, now I have nothing to wear around all day. I did get to stick my ballot into the machine that John likes so much, it was schlooped away...

Sick Day

Are you ready for some football? Vikings vs. Packers tonight on Monday Night Football. This is always a good game, a heated rivalry between two good teams, played on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Okay, so it's probably not frozen yet, but it could snow tonight... I went to the Gore rally at the airport last night. Hundreds of people showed up, many more than there was space for. Gore gave a quick speech, and departed for elsewhere. He was a little loopy, probably tired, since it was nearly 1:00 a.m, but I think he was actually better on the stump than most of the other times I've seen him speak. Maybe his handlers should pump him full of booze before public appearances... it seems to work for Bush...

And speaking of Bush, there was an obnoxious guy standing near me who kept heckling Gore when he was trying to speak. He was like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl. Why do such a thing? I'm sure that some jerk Gore supporter has done the same thing, but what do they hope to accomplish? Do they think they're going to change the mind of the people who stood in the rain outside the airport at midnight to see Gore? No, I'd say they've already decided who they're going to vote for, so don't be an asshole...

If I found myself at a Bush rally, I certainly wouldn't insult the man or scream when he's trying to speak. Even if you don't respect the candidate, have some consideration for your fellow citizens.

I'm taking a sick day today. I was tired from the rally last night, and had an upset stomach and a sore throat when I woke up this morning, so I took the day off to recuperate. I think I'll be ready to go back to work tomorrow...

Bluetooth

Ouch. The Cyclones took it in the shorts yesterday. My bowl game prophecy predicted they'd lose this game, but not that badly... There's a new weblog that's all about Bluetooth. This has the potential to be the coolest thing since the Internet. The ability to provide wireless information to everyone in a small area, all on their Palms or Handspring Visors, Cell phones, pagers, etc. You could check flight information anywhere in the airport, have all of your information already filled out before you get to the front of any line, the possibilities are endless...

DUI

Okay, cases of mistaken identity can happen on the Internet, but when they do, have the brains to realize it. This joker contacted me via AOL Instant Messager this afternoon. I'm sethb2 (duh), he's the other guy: PRO Matamy: hey seth
sethb2: Hello...who's this?
sethb2: Hello?
PRO Matamy: its matt, ure cousin, hows joanna?
sethb2: I think you have me confused with someone else ";->"
PRO Matamy: no
sethb2: Yes
PRO Matamy: i think i dont
sethb2: Well, I have no cousin Matt
sethb2: or know anyone named JoAnna
sethb2: So tell me who you think I am
PRO Matamy: seth B, seth bernstein
PRO Matamy: hey, got signed off
sethb2: Nope, I'm Seth Bokelman, sorry!
PRO Matamy: no, ure sorry, thatgs not ure name
sethb2: Whatever retard, check out my web site:
sethb2: http://www.sethb.com/
PRO Matamy: i dotn no what ure talkin about
sethb2: Nor can you spell, apparently...

Was I polite? Not at all. He was wasting my time, and he had poor punctuation and spelling, both are things that annoy me...

Living under a hole in the sky: Children with fair skin in Chile can only be outside for 7 minutes at a time, or risk skin damage. How long before the hole in the Ozone Layer spreads to where you are?

Scientists now think that the increase in the size of the hole isn't just due to CFC's, but also blame global warming

More recently, however, evidence has mounted that global warming, not just the CFCs and HCFCs, can also cause ozone depletion. Virtually all members of the reputable scientific community believe that much of the current trend of global warming can be attributed to human use of non-renewable sources of energy. And they believe that many of the bizarre ecological and climatic phenomena of the past few years -- the record high temperatures and the shrinking of the polar ice caps, for example -- can be attributed to global warming.

So who are you voting for?

Gore has pledged to sign the 1997 Kyoto Treaty, which calls for countries to reduce their use of fossil fuel to stem global warming and is the subject of a gathering of world leaders in The Hague later this month. Texas Gov. George W. Bush opposes the treaty and maintains -- against virtually all the available evidence -- that the jury is still out on the causes and impact of global warming.

New Manila Feature: Referers! Now you can see how people find this site. This page shows where people came from to get here. I find it amusing how many people find my site by typing in "Funny Naked People" because of the blurb I wrote about the Jon Stewart book...

In case you haven't seen a news program in the last 16 hours, George W. Bush has 'fessed up to drunk driving. A Maine television station broke the news that Bush was arrested in 1976 in Kennebunkport for drunk driving.

So much for restoring the dignity of the Oval Office. It's one thing to have a problem with alcohol, I can have some empathy for that. It's another thing to recklessly endanger other people by getting behind the wheel of an automobile after drinking. I drink alcohol from time to time, but I certainly don't drive afterwards. I have friends who have been arrested for drunk driving, they're not bad people, but at the same time, none of them are responsible enough that I would vote for them to become our President.

Is this report politically motivated? Possibly, but it's not like Bush couldn't have mentioned this a little earlier. He had to know that his little secret would come out eventually, but he didn't even prepare his own family:

He pleaded guilty to the charge and paid a fine, but did not publicly acknowledge the arrest before because "I didn't want to talk about this in front of my daughters," Bush said. The Texas governor's daughters did not know about their father's arrest before Thursday, according to the Bush campaign.

Is he living in denial? I'm amazed that it took this long for the story to come out. I don't think that you should hold everything a person did in their past against them, but there's a big difference between smoking a little weed in college, and being convicted of drunk driving...

Pressed tonight on why he had not previously acknowledged the arrest, Mr. Bush said he had wanted to serve as a role model to his two daughters and made "the decision that as a dad I didn't want my daughters doing the kinds of things that I did."

You don't become a role model by covering up your sins, you become a role model by committing fewer and less egregious ones...

Roast

I certainly wouldn't try this at home, or anywhere else for that matter... I watched a bit of the Friar's Club Roast of Rob Reiner last night. I got a good laugh out of Richard Belzer getting up and reading this bit from Ebert's review of Reiner's movie North:

I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.