Lance Armstrong and NYC Marathon

The commentary at the end of this clip is amusing:

Armstrong ended the marathon at 2:46:43 (13 minutes faster than his prior year's finish).

Shawshank Redemption, Revisited

This story reminded me of one of the epic films of our time:

"All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the knub. I remember thinking it would take a man 600 years to tunnel through the wall with it. Ol' Andy made it in less than twenty."

Obama and Primary Voting, part II

A brief excerpt from one of my experiences has been posted over at Andrew Sullivan's blog. You can find it here.

Obama Primary Voting

Barack's going to get the Democratic nod, I think. He's statistically tied with Hillary in Iowa and trending strongly upward there, whereas Edwards and Clinton both have been stagnant in the polls for quite some time. Obama's supporters are more likely to caucus than those of the other candidates, as well.

Then, you turn to New Hampshire and see the same thing occurring in the Granite State, with Obama starting to trend strongly upwards there, as well. Judging by the Pollster data alone, it appears that his support stems directly from Clinton dissidents (and Gore supporters, many of whom I assume initially supported Hillary):

The GOP version of Barack is, of course, Huckabee, who is going to lock up the GOP nomination fairly soon. His polling patterns directly duplicate Obama's, except those patterns are even more dramatic in the case of the former Arkansas governor.

The race then turns to Huckabee v. Obama; Obama carries (and strongly) the female vote, along with the typical Democratic states, and he makes substantial inroads into the swing states. Regarding voting demographics: I'm guessing he'll carry everything up to and including 40 and 50 year olds. The under 30 crowd is going to be a complete wash for him, and I think that group will be fairly mobilized. Obama's going to be declared President in 2008, barring any catastrophic revelations. I'm now on the record, let's see if I call it as accurately as the 2004 election.

It Must Be Finals Time

I heard a "THUMP" while studying for finals last evening at the Wells Library. I looked to my right and saw the following:

It's a little blurry because I took the picture with the iSight camera on my MacBook Pro and was in the process of turning the computer when the camera snapped. The young lady stayed in this position for about six or seven minutes.

Night Shifts and Cancer

I'm listening to NPR right now. They're interviewing an AP writer about a recent report that ties night shifts to an increased risk of cancer.

The interviewer just asked the AP writer something along the lines of: "Do you think this report will have a large impact in the business world, or do you think it will be largely ignored?"

AP writer: "I think it will have a huge impact on the business community."

My response? Righhhhhhhtttt. This report's not going to have a significant impact at all, unless the government steps in.