Last week's ice storm really socked us here in Fitchburg. We lost power for seven days, but fortunately had access to a generator so we could run our furnace. Finally got my pictures from the storm uploaded.
YouTube video of loons at Faux News laughing at Peter Schiff as he tries to warn of impending financial disaster in the 07-08 timeframe:
Peter Schiff Was Right 2006 – 2007 (2nd Edition)
What stock picks were the FOX tools recommending? WaMu, Merril Lynch, Goldman Sachs… financials basically.
I'd like to take this opportunity to express my utter disgust at the crowd of shoppers who mobbed the doors of a Wal*Mart in Long Island yesterday morning, broke through the doors, and trampled a 34-year old employee to death. There is NOTHING that can be found in Wal*Mart that is worth crushing a human being for–none of you were in desperate need of food or medicines that could only be had in that store and nowhere else on the planet. Believe it or not, your kids will survive if they don't get Guitar Hero for Christmas.
Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death (The New York Times):
…Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau police, said the store lacked adequate security. He called the scene “utter chaos” and said the “crowd was out of control.” As for those who had run over the victim, criminal charges were possible, the lieutenant said. “I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not,” he said. “Certainly it was a foreseeable act.”…
I strongly urge the detective and the county DA to pursue criminal charges against these people. There is security video from the store, so there should be no problem identifying them and providing evidence of their guilt. Nobody “accidentally” breaks a door down and kills a man. The Damour family will have an empty seat at the dinner table for the rest of their lives because of a bunch of stupid assholes wanted to save a buck.
It's 2008 folks, you don't get to be cattle anymore. Whoever went to that Wal*Mart yesterday morning and forgot to bring their humanity? I hope you rot in prison.
Just taking a moment to wish a happy thanksgiving to my friends and anyone else who happens by. I'll be visiting Mom today for a thanksgiving dinner. I don't know how much I'll be able to eat though–exactly seven days ago I had the last of my teeth removed. My mouth is still pretty sore and the new dentures, unfortunately, don't seem to fit well. But I'll muddle through.
Sorry I haven't written much. I just haven't had much to say. Strangely, things in the news that have outraged me haven't given me the urge to write, mostly because it seems to be the same thing every time. (Prop 8's passage for example.)
Here's a nice article in the New York Times about Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight who's predictions about the 2008 presidential and senate races were so amazingly accurate. Hat tip to my friend Bruce who brought the article to my attention.
So today I found myself agreeing with someone online and went to type “hear hear” but then remembered seeing someone else type “here here” a couple days earlier.
I was pretty sure the correct phrase was “hear hear” as opposed to the other variants I'd seen (“here here”, “hear here”, “here hear”) but I'd never actually looked it up. So I decided to check popular internet usage using Google:
Well dang. According to popular usage twice as many people say “here here” than say “hear hear”. But is that correct? Wikipedia says no:
Hear hear (Wikipedia):
…Hear, hear is an expression used as a short repeated form of hear ye and hear him. It represents a listener's agreement with the point being made by a speaker.It was originally an imperative for directing attention to speakers, and has since been used, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, as “the regular form of cheering in the House of Commons”, with many purposes depending on the intonation of its user. It is often incorrectly spelled “here here”, especially on websites…
A quick double check of OneLook Dictionary Search confirms this. Six dictionaries list “hear hear” and only one lists “here here” (and that one happens to be the wiki article above.)
Popular usage drives the movement of meaning, though, so at some point in the future “here here” may end up being the correct phrase if we don't do something about it.
So if you want to avoid yet another English colloquialism that will have your great grandchildren scratching their heads and saying “WTF?” (or whatever kids will be saying in those days) then type “hear hear” at every opportunity.
Go on, say it, you know you want to. 
FINAL REPORT. Thanks everyone who sent these in!
- Where did you vote (City/State):
- Somerville, MA
- What time of day:
- 11/4/08 7 AM
- What were the conditions like?
- Fire station. Very busy. Line went about a block and a half up the street the whole time I was there. Very orderly. It took me 30 minutes to get in. Another 15 to vote and get out. I saw only one woman leave without voting (she had picked the wrong polling station and waited 30 minutes and then found out she was in the wrong place and had to go up the street to the correct place). A couple people were asked to remove or cover up candidate-specific T-shirts or pins before entering the facility. There was a photographer. People were in good spirits. There was a starbucks down the street honoring their “free coffee if you vote” campaign – the line at Starbucks was quite long as well (I skipped it). The people were very friendly. We spent a lot of time discussing the automated call from the fire department that was accidentally forwarded to every phone in the city at 3:45am today.
- What kind of voting machines?
- I had to use a marker on a paper ballot and then there was the little machine that reads it.
- Did you see any voter challenges?
- No issues. I mentioned the one woman and her problem above.
- If you voted absentee, how did that work out?
- Nope. My little sister voted early in Oregon. She said it was good.
- Anything else you want to add?
- n/a
Thanks for the report, Rich!
My coworker Tim sent in the following report from Salem, NH:
- Where did you vote (City/State):
- Salem, NH
- What time of day:
- 11/4/08 12:15 PM
- What were the conditions like?
- Steady stream, with a minimal wait in line – about 2 minutes. Poll workers talked about lengthy lines first thing this morning, and the expectation of lengthy lines this evening. Voters in Salem vote at the 6 elementary schools in town. Staff for the most part were the old timers who have been doing this for more than 30 years.
- What kind of voting machines?
- Our paper ballots and markers seemed to work just fine, and the optical scanner seemed to suck in the ballots just fine.
- Did you see any voter challenges?
- No voter challenges. NH has a same day registration law, so anyone can register to vote by producing appropriate documentation.
- If you voted absentee, how did that work out?
- n/a
- Anything else you want to add?
- I noticed a number of high school and college students voting. I picked my son up in Boston and then headed to Salem so that he could vote in his first presidential election, and he ran in to a number of his buddies. Three of them were actually on the ballot, running for state representative – a fact which made him feel old.
Thanks very much, Tim.
My coworker Wayne sent in the following report from Sudbury, MA:
- Where did you vote (City/State):
- Sudbury MA town hall
- What time of day:
- 11/4/08 7 AM
- What were the conditions like?
- My wife and I got there at 6:15 AM and were first in line for the 7 AM opening. We completed our voting in under 5 minutes. The staff members were polite and friendly. The experience was entirely positive, pleasant in every respect. When we left at around 7:05 there were about 150 people waiting in line to vote.
Thank you kindly, Wayne.
My friend Dave sent in the following report from Leominster, MA:
- Where did you vote (City/State):
- Leominster, MA
- What time of day:
- 11/4/08 10 AM
- What were the conditions like?
- no line, 4-5 voters present, no problems
Thanks Dave!