Archive for the Politics Category
Published November 3rd, 2008
This morning, I moseyed over to Iowa Electronic Markets to see what the futures markets were saying about tomorrow’s election. (If you’re not familiar with IEM in particular, or prediction markets in general, click here or here.)Not surprisingly, people investing real money in election futures contracts give Barack Obama a whopping 90% chance of victory [...]
Published October 30th, 2008
Earlier tonight, Drayton Foltz sent me this video. (Some of you might have received your own version of it, too.) It’s one of the most brilliant pieces of marketing I’ve seen this year.
Published October 22nd, 2008
In what has to be a first, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has been placing ads . . . in videogames. According to The Hill, ads are appearing in “Madden NFL 09,” “NASCAR 09,” and seven other games on the Xbox 360 system.As Walter Alarkon explains:“Only gamers playing online in 10 states can see the ads, which [...]
Published October 21st, 2008
Over at The Page — which, imho, is the single best source for election news — Mark Halperin asks an intriguing trivia question:“When was the last U.S. presidential election the Republican party won without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket?”The surprising answer is here.
Published October 17th, 2008
Using FaceYourManga, Random Tech Stuff decided to “manga-ify” the candidates.
Published October 15th, 2008
Joe Gebbia is a talented young designer and one of the founders of AirBed & Breakfast, an online marketplace for peer-to-peer traveling. (In short, you offer up a spare bed or room for travelers; travelers then pay you to lodge there. Think eBay for crashing.)Now Gebbia is involved in an adjacent venture: Customized breakfast cereals [...]
Published September 14th, 2008
This weekend, I had the opportunity to read Matt Miller‘s outstanding upcoming book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. In his chapter on the folly of employer-provided health insurance, Miller gives us today’s startling factoid:“It’s crazy but true: Starbucks spends more on health care than on coffee; General Motors spends more on health care than on steel.”
Published September 6th, 2008
A week after Barack Obama attracted a stunning number of TV viewers to his convention acceptance speech, John McCain did just as well.When all the figures are added up, 42.4 million people watched Obama — and 42.4 million watched McCain.As the Associated Press notes: “Three times in two weeks, political speeches [Sarah Palin's barnburner was the [...]
Published September 4th, 2008
(Note: I’m sure the Daily Show could do the same sort of clip package for the Dems)
Published August 25th, 2008
Being a truly exciting guy, I’ve spent the last couple of days reading Robert Shiller’s The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It. It’s not exactly a page-turner. But it’s an interesting book.Take bailouts. I have a deep and abiding distrust of them. In fact, I happen to live [...]
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