Archive for January, 2004
A couple weeks a go I ate at Copper Sky (and had a pretty good hamburger). Since they carried Pepsi products, I had a 7-Up instead of my usual Sprite. When I got my drink, I did not recognize it as 7-Up. It used to be very lightly flavored and heavily carbonated and kindof salty. This drink had more lemon-lime flavor. We debated whether it actually was a 7-Up. But it turns out it was.
I must say that I really like the new flavor — it is very similar to lemon-lime Jolly Ranchers. The good flavor with a more mild carbonation without Sprite’s syrupy texture makes this new formulation a winner.
Wow. I never expected this but the Dean campaign is nearly broke. In its effort to stay on top and then recover after the fall, they have burned through most of its funds. This definately changes the dynamics of the campaign. Dean has abandoned the 7 states voting on February 3rd and putting all of his hopes to Michigan and Washington. If he can eek out a win then he’ll survive, otherwise (and much more likely) he will be toast.
The real question is what happens to Dean and his voters after Dean’s campaign for the Democrat nomination is over. Do the Deaniacs hate Bush enough to vote when their man is out? And, will Dean break off for a third party run? My guess is yes and no.
Things pretty much turned out how I feared. Kerry won convincingly. Clark though he beat Edwards was only just barely ahead — not enough to provide any justification for his existance. And Joe Lieberman is just not recognizing the reality that he has lost. The pressure is on everyone next Tuesday. Everyone must win.
Kerry needs to stay on top. This will require several wins and this week the press will focus on him. Look to see stories on his voting record and activities protesting the Vietnam War. Kerry should run weak in the South, especially after his recent comments.
Dean needs at least one win. He has money to continue, but everyone will ignore him.
Clark needs a win too. But he is becoming more unhinged with every day that passes.
Edwards needs to win South Carolina and if he can win Missouri he should get a good bounce. If Edwards can’t demonstrate dominance in the South, he’s toast.
Lieberman is just moving forward on a dream. Unless something dramatic happens he is done. Kind of a shame since he is the most rational of the Dems…
The Drudge Report is reporting that early exit polls are following the trend that I posted earlier:
Kerry: 36%
Dean: 30%
Edwards: 12%
Clark: 12%
He is also reporting that Lieberman may “suspend” his campaign. Lieberman is running out of money and is just not going anywhere in the polls or the REAL polls.
From Rich Lowry at National Review’s The Corner is reporting that the early New Hampshire returns are:
Kerry 36%
Dean 31%
Edwards 12%
Clark 12%
Continue reading ‘Early New Hampshire Returns’
What I hope will happen:
1) Dean
2) Kerry
3) Clark
4) Lieberman
5) Edwards
This result would ensure a very long campaign. If Dean beats Kerry then the will still be competition for the “Northern” and “Far Left” factions of the party. If Clark and(or) Lieberman beat Edwards then there will be competition for the “Southern” and “Center” factions of the party. The likelyhood of a brokered convention becomes significantly more likely. This result would force the Dems to really campaign hard, which could produce better candidates.
What I fear will happen is:
1) Kerry (by a large margin)
2) Dean
3) Edwards (just shy of Dean)
4) Clark (5+ points behind Edwards)
5) Lieberman
This would make the campaign turn lame — very fast. Here, Kerry will pretty much kill off Dean. Dean will have the money to hang around but he won’t be able to rally. If Edwards beats Clark, Edwards becoms the top candidate from the South and Clark’s campaign should melt fast. If Lieberman comes in fifth his campaign will be on life support — and Edwards would probably deliver the coup de gras in South Carolina.
I can’t wait to find out what happens…
Another new email virus is going around. The emails are obviously malicious, but of course there are plenty of idiots willing to open the attachment.
UPDATE: IT”S NOT A WORM! Worms propagate without human interaction, this virus requires a human (or script) to open the attached email.
I’ve created a new blog for announcements on events affecting the Imperium and progress reports on upgrades to the Imperium infrastructure. Go ahead and check out the State of the Imperium.
Forgot to post this last night, but the Opportunity rover successfully landed on Mars last night and is already sending back pictures. I watched the live footage of the NASA/JPL control room on CNN. It was pretty exciting as things seemed to go perfectly.
UPDATE: The first pictures from Opportunity are just wonderful!
I’ve corrected the time on Hal. He’s now synced up with time.u.washington.edu. So Hal is almost ready for prime time. I just need to get mail running, then the maillists (Mailman).