WAFFLE IRON has now been REPHRASED to MORNING BAKER.
I assume they did this to get away from the negative connotations that are associated with wafflers and the hard imagery of iron.
Again, it is all about the words.
Again, it is all about the words.
Somewhere in my life when I ran Congressional Campaigns I worked with Luntz. He is a fascinating guy and has really taken his work beyond politics and works with Major Corporations helping them say things the right way.
I have been keeping track lately of how things get rephrased and I find it almost comical.
Here is the REPHRASE OF THE DAY:
My ELECTRIC BILL is now my MONTHLY ENERGY STATEMENT.
Not to mention all of the supposed Chico people in 95973 who technically live in Richardson Springs.
This from the local Grass Valley newspaper...
Now that’s Smarts(ville)
Post Office finally adds second ‘s’ for town’s name
By Trina Kleist
Staff Writer
Smartsville officially retrieved its second ‘s’ from the maw of bureaucracy last fall, but there was something about getting that ‘s’ up on the sign of the town Post Office on Wednesday that made it real.
U.S. Postal Service employee Scott Stirnaman made the shiny, burnished letter, which was affixed in its proper place to the upper wall of the Post Office.
Smartsville, ZIP code 95977, is just one of many towns in the United States that are getting back their historic names, said resident Kit Burton, who helped lead the campaign to correct the town’s appellation.
“It all started with the Post Office,” Burton said. “That’s the federal agency that changed the name on us 100 years ago, in 1909.”
“They were trying to reform the names of post offices,” Burton explained. “The mail was not getting delivered properly because so many different post offices throughout the country have identical names, and there were no ZIP codes at that time.
“Then they just kept on changing names, even if there was no problem with uniqueness, because they thought it would be somehow better or more efficient,” Burton said.
For the same reasons, the Postal Service also tried to get the town of Rough and Ready to change its name to either Rough or Ready, Burton alleged.
“Towns like Skagway, Alaska, ended up with names changed, and slowly throughout the U.S., towns are getting their names back,” Burton said.
For 100 years, townspeople have chafed at the change made without their consent by faceless bureaucrats to alter their identity. The effort to right that wrong, Burton said, “has brought the townspeople much closer together.”
Smartsville residents will host their annual Pioneer Day celebration on Saturday, April 25. Watch for more information in future editions of The Union.
One 12-nation study found Americans the least likely to discuss politics with people of different views, and this was particularly true of the well educated. High school dropouts had the most diverse group of discussion-mates, while college graduates managed to shelter themselves from uncomfortable perspectives.
The Daily Me
Op-Ed Columnist
The Daily Me
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: March 18, 2009
Some of the obituaries these days aren’t in the newspapers but are for the newspapers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is the latest to pass away, save for a remnant that will exist only in cyberspace, and the public is increasingly seeking its news not from mainstream television networks or ink-on-dead-trees but from grazing online.
When we go online, each of us is our own editor, our own gatekeeper. We select the kind of news and opinions that we care most about.
Nicholas Negroponte of M.I.T. has called this emerging news product The Daily Me. And if that’s the trend, God save us from ourselves.
That’s because there’s pretty good evidence that we generally don’t truly want good information — but rather information that confirms our prejudices. We may believe intellectually in the clash of opinions, but in practice we like to embed ourselves in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber.
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This is a fascinating article about guns and ammo sales:
From the Tulsa World Newspaper:
Four months after the election of President Barack Obama, firearms and ammunition sales in Tulsa remain at a fever pitch.
by: KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer
Popular self-protection ammunition is often sold out at local stores, weapons are flying off shelves and the state reports an 87 percent increase in concealed carry permit applications for February 2009 over February 2008.
"People are hoarding. They're creating a shortage," Jim Prall at Sports World on 41st Street said of ammunition sales. "We've sold more ammunition in the last three months than we sold last year."
]]>Now my issue is back again and we are up to 19% support for breaking away from Los Angeles.
Most Californians oppose splitting state, poll finds
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - They might sharply disagree on issues such as gay marriage and complain that things are on the wrong track, but California voters aren't ready to call it splitsville.
A Field Poll released today shows that just 19 percent of voters want to break California into north and south states. Seventy-one percent think that's a bad idea.
Opposition is even greater to the idea of splitting the state into inland and coastal halves. Eighty-two percent of voters disapprove of that proposal, including 80 percent of voters from the state's inland region.
"California is kind of a state of mind," poll director Mark DiCamillo said. "To divide it up, it would be splitting something that people view as one entity. It's just not a very popular notion, never has been."
Today's survey, conducted Feb. 20 to March 1, found that 41 percent of voters consider California one of the best places to live. That is the lowest since 2001, when rolling blackouts hit the state.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, 61 percent of voters consider it one of the best places to live. That is twice the rate for voters who live in the Central Valley and in the portion of Southern California that includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
DiCamillo said there could be various reasons for the different attitudes over the years. But California's "best place to live" figure likely stacks up well with other states, he said.
"Somehow, I don't think if you asked this in Kansas you'd get 41 percent saying it's one of the best places to live," DiCamillo said.
There have been proposals over the years to divide California into two states. Support for the idea hit a high mark in the early 1990s, when the Field Poll found that 29 percent of people approved of the concept.
In recent months, former Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, and others have championed the idea of creating a new state of California's 13 coastal counties.
"The remaining 45 other counties are the new revitalized California," according to the "Downsize California" website. "Agriculture and our food supply is in jeopardy; we cannot allow agriculturally uneducated city dwellers' to dictate farm policies."
Former Assembly member Stan Statham, a Northern California Republican, pushed for dividing the state in the early 1990s. Citing the state's long-running budget ills and the related special election in May, Statham said the idea is no more crazy than asking residents to vote on complicated fiscal matters.
]]>Yesterday I discovered that there is a joshcooksucks.com website.
My real website is www.joshcook.com
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Note that his support (and editorial focus) shifts to whatever "fish" themed team advances farther than the Chargers. So be prepared for Charger headlines this week followed by Dolphin headlines next week.
NFL tiebreaking procedures
With the NFL realigning into eight four-team divisions to accommodate the arrival of the Houston Texans, the league adopted new tiebreaking rules.
Common opponents will now be the third tiebreaker within a division after head-to-head games and division record because each of the four teams will have 14 common games in the 16-game schedule. The owners also moved the strength-of-victory tiebreaker ahead of the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker.
The six postseason participants from each conference will now be seeded as follows:
1. The division champion with the best record.
2. The division champion with the second-best record.
3. The division champion with the third-best record.
4. The division champion with the fourth-best record.
5. The Wild Card club with the best record.
6. The Wild Card club with the second-best record.
The following procedures will be used to break standings ties for postseason playoffs and to determine regular-season schedules.
NOTE: Tie games count as one-half win and one-half loss for both clubs
TO BREAK A TIE WITHIN A DIVISION
If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be taken until a champion is determined.
Two Clubs
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in common games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
Three or More Clubs
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated during any step, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of the two-club format).
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in common games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
TO BREAK A TIE FOR THE WILD-CARD TEAM
If it is necessary to break ties to determine the two Wild-Card clubs from each conference, the following steps will be taken.
1. If the tied clubs are from the same division, apply division tie breaker.
2. If the tied clubs are from different divisions, apply the following steps.
Two Clubs
1. Head-to-head, if applicable.
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Strength of schedule.
6. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
7. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best net points in conference games.
9. Best net points in all games.
10. Best net touchdowns in all games.
11. Coin toss.
Three or More Clubs
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format.)
1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the three Wild-Card participants.
2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in conference games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
12. Coin toss.
When the first Wild-Card team has been identified, the procedure is repeated to name the second Wild-Card, i.e., eliminate all but the highest-ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2, and repeated a third time, if necessary, to identify the third Wild Card. In situations where three or more teams from the same division are involved in the procedure, the original seeding of the teams remains the same for subsequent applications of the tie breaker if the top-ranked team in that division qualifies for a Wild-Card berth.
OTHER TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES
1. Only one club advances to the playoffs in any tie-breaking step. Remaining tied clubs revert to the first step of the applicable division or Wild-Card tie breakers. As an example, if two clubs remain tied in any tie-breaker step after all other clubs have been eliminated, the procedure reverts to step one of the two-club format to determine the winner. When one club wins the tie breaker, all other clubs revert to step 1 of the applicable two-club or three-club format.
2. In comparing division and conference records or records against common opponents among tied teams, the best won-lost-tied percentage is the deciding factor since teams may have played an unequal number of games.
3. To determine home-field priority among division titlists, apply Wild-Card tie breakers.
4. To determine home-field priority for Wild-Card qualifiers, apply division tie breakers (if teams are from the same division) or Wild-Card tie breakers (if teams are from different ivisions).
TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION MEETING
If two or more clubs are tied in the selection order, the strength-of-schedule tie breaker is applied, subject to the following exceptions for playoff clubs:
1. The Super Bowl winner is last and the Super Bowl loser next-to-last.
2. Any non-Super Bowl playoff club involved in a tie shall be assigned priority within its segment below that of non-playoff clubs and in the order that the playoff clubs exited from the playoffs. Thus, within a tied segment a playoff club that loses in the Wild-Card game will have priority over a playoff club that loses in the Divisional playoff game, which in turn will have priority over a club that loses in the Conference Championship game. If two tied clubs exited the playoffs in the same round, the tie is broken by strength of schedule.
If any ties cannot be broken by strength of schedule, the divisional or conference tie breakers, whichever are applicable, are applied. Any ties that still exist are broken by a coin flip.
Obama spent $740 million
McCain spent $227 million
President-elect Barack Obama, the first major-party nominee to reject federal funding for the general election, spent $740.6 million. That eclipsed the combined $646.7 million that Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry spent four years earlier.
The FEC filings, covering the campaigns through the end of November, marked the first time that total spending by all presidential candidates surpassed $1 billion.
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Here is a link to an amazing archive of petroglyphs.
http://www.forsythlv.com/petroglyphs.htm
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