Open Thread–10/4/2011

Yesterday I slept late, because I got to bed late.  I puttered most of the day, answered my email backlog, tested several smiley toolbars without finding one compatible with our graphic comment editing plugin, designed a smiley instruction page, and looked for cartoon graphics.  Then a good  friend, who has suffered some personal difficulties called, we talked for a long time, and that I missed my sleep doesn’t matter.  I’m current with replies. Tomorrow is paperwork day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:14 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Using Smileys:

I created a new page of instructions for using WordPress smileys today.  Look at the top of the left sidebar, right-click the link and open the page in a new tab.  It lists the different smileys and the keyboard shortcuts to insert them into a comment.  It is also a picture that you can download and print.

Short Takes:

From Boston Globe: Elizabeth Warren holds a commanding lead over her rivals for next year’s Democratic US Senate nomination and would be in a dead heat with Republican Scott Brown in the 2012 general election, according to a poll released last night.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who recently left the Obama administration, would get 36 percent of the vote among Democratic primary voters while none of her five opponents would get more than 5 percent, according to the UMass Lowell-Boston Herald Poll.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters reached randomly by landline and cell phone said Brown would lead Warren 41 percent to 38 percent, which is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

She’s doing well, considering that she just entered the race, but not well enough for us to become complacent.

From Reuters: From the traditional "swing" states of Florida and Ohio to a typically Republican-leaning state like Arizona, Democrat Obama’s political supporters are opening offices, engaging voters and rallying volunteers to create a nationwide network, even in areas unfriendly to their candidate’s cause.

The strategy is similar to Obama’s successful 2008 campaign, but it is still unorthodox.

To win the White House, traditional presidential campaigns focus their attention on a handful of states that typically swing between Republican and Democratic candidates, working to earn at least 270 of the states’ 538 "electoral votes" that determine the ultimate winner.

I prefer the 50 state strategy that he is using.  Voters in non-swing states will not become engaged, if they believe their votes do not matter enough to warrant attention.  Turnout is critical for matters down the ballot other than the Presidential race.

From News Hounds: Fox Nation never wastes an opportunity to showcase what they feel are blacks behaving badly as it appeals to their racist readers who still hold to Jim Crow family values which feature the belief that blacks can’t control themselves. Good Christian Republican whites who transgress are not seen on Fox Nation which, I guess, believes that said transgressions are just good Christian man needs. One of the lede "culture" threads on today’s Fox Nation is a link [Murdoch delinked] to a TMZ article about a sex tape done by the deceased black rapper Tupac. Who cares? Tupac isn’t a political figure like Steve Stevlic, head of the Chicago Tea Party whom right wing radio host Mark Levin referred to as "terrific." Information has surfaced about last Steve Stevlic’s arrest, last year, for soliciting a prostitute. The charges were dropped after Stevlic agreed to go to a rehab program for "johns." As a result of the report, broken by Gawker, family values guy Stevlic didn’t show up at a big Illinois Tea Party conference which he helped organize.

On Faux Noise, peccadillos of a black rapper outweigh scandals of Republican hypocrites every time.

Cartoon: