Real Kato Blog: 2008 October

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Articles: 2008 October

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Page 1

Vote

Thursday, 2008 October 30 - 8:56 am

Permalink 3 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

The State of Michigan Football

Sunday, 2008 October 26 - 10:38 am

I haven't been keeping up with my football recaps. When Michigan is sitting at 2-6, and looking at the real possibility of ending up 2-10 for the year, it's hard to sit down and write about them week after week.

What's wrong with this team? I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Here are my midterm grades...

Read more...

Permalink 1 Comment

Posted by Ken in: sports

Election News

Tuesday, 2008 October 21 - 11:08 am

Interesting election news over this weekend.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, and criticized the tone of McCain's campaign. He was also critical of the choice of Sarah Palin as VP. Powell commands a lot of respect among moderate Republicans, so this is a big deal. Of course, what did Rush Limbaugh say about this? That Powell endorsed Obama because of his race. Tell me something, Rush: when a white man endorses McCain, is that also because of race? Or are you saying that black people are more prone to being racist than white people?

Barack Obama's campaign raised $150 million in September. To those that say Obama is "buying" the election, consider this: most of that money comes from grass-roots supporters and small donors. It's not Obama's own money. If the majority of Americans support Obama and are sending money to his campaign, then isn't it right that he should win the election?

Obama's poll lead is up to 8 points. And according to the analysis by 270toWin.com, Obama's chances of winning the election are 99.9%. It's too early to start celebrating, but we can at least be hopeful and guardedly optimistic, yes?

Permalink 1 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Obama-McCain Debate #3

Wednesday, 2008 October 15 - 10:31 pm

So, McCain was pretty sharp... for about 25 minutes.

McCain definitely scored on a few points. Perhaps the most memorable part of the debate was when he said, "I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." That line will get a lot of play in tomorrow's press. And he was able to get a lot of jabs in about the economy.

But then McCain lost his way. Twice, he seemed like he was about to implode. The first was when he started talking about Representative John Lewis' criticisms of the rabidly racist supporters that have appeared at a few of his (and Sarah Palin's) rallies. (And if you don't know what this is about... check out the various YouTube videos of some of these rallies.) It made McCain seem petty and whiny. And it was disingenuous to hear him complain about being attacked when all of his own TV ads are negative, when Sarah Palin is accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists", and when a Republican party official says Obama and bin Laden "both have friends who have bombed the Pentagon." There is no universe in which McCain can plausibly claim to be taking the high road in this election.

The second implosion was when he was trying to make a point about the so-called "fine" that Obama would impose on small business owners who didn't get health care for their employees. He clearly thought he would score by continuing to press the question of how much the fine would be. So when Obama said the fine would be "zero", because his plan has an exemption for small businesses, McCain looked like he had just swallowed a cat.

It's true, as some of the CNN analysts said immediately after the debate, that McCain was on offense and Obama was on defense for much of the debate. But still, Obama was effective on defense, and he scored highly on the issues that mattered. This is an election about domestic issues; right now, everything else is secondary. William Ayers? Being opposed to the trade agreement with Colombia? Is that what your campaign has come down to, McCain?

Permalink 1 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Apple Watch: New MacBooks

Tuesday, 2008 October 14 - 5:39 pm

Apple announced new MacBooks today. The new 13" MacBook and the 15" MacBook Pro feature one-piece aluminum frames, LED-backlit displays, and new multi-touch trackpads. The non-Pro versions now have Nvidia 9400M GPUs, a vast improvement over the old models' Intel x3100 GMA integrated graphics. The Pro versions have the 9400M plus an Nvidia 9600M; users can choose to switch to the less power-hungry 9400M to improve battery life.

The older MacBook is now the "MacBook White" and is available starting at $999.

The new MacBooks are very nice and all, but Apple: you're killing me by not putting out a new Mac mini. Seriously. The mini hasn't been updated in 14 months. I would have bought a new mini TODAY if it had been introduced with the 9400M GPU. I have a bazillion monitors; I don't need any computer with an attached monitor (i.e., an iMac or a MacBook) and I don't want to shell out $2800 for the Mac Pro. Sigh.

Permalink

Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Obama-McCain Debate #2

Tuesday, 2008 October 7 - 10:38 pm

It seems that neither candidate is really determined to win any of these debates. Or actually answer any questions.

Read more...

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Posted by Ken in: politics

Literal Version of "Take On Me"

Tuesday, 2008 October 7 - 1:39 pm

Via kottke: a-ha's "Take On Me", if the lyrics matched what's happening in the video: