We haven't done mysteries in a while.  From the search, the last time was more than a year ago.

So, here we go!

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

I've not been doing as much reading as usual..... there's this daily Kos addiction, and I am trying to get my statistical consulting business going.... but I gotta try to do more book reading, too.

Hi all

Today is my birthday.  I'm 49.

I'm a pretty active kossack.... below the fold, year in review.

In the comments, feel free to add stuff about your year

There are a lot of myths about Black turnout.  Fortunately, there's also data from the Census Bureau. I had to work with it a little to get the figures I wanted, but it's really fascinating.  

A lot of good teaching goes on at dailyKos.  But a lot of it doesn't get read by everyone who wants to read it, because diaries scroll by so fast.
This series is about diaries that teach and about things you want to learn.  Could be any subject - an academic subject, a skill, a hobby, almost anything - but not diaries that simply inform, or it would include all of daily kos.

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

I've not been doing as much reading as usual..... there's this daily Kos addiction, and I am trying to get my statistical consulting business going.... but I gotta try to do more book reading, too.

Many people here are vegetarians.  Good for them.  Really. Eating meat is bad for the planet and bad for your body.

Some people here have given up their cars.  Good for them. I've never had a car, I don't know how to drive.  

Many people here are radical in their hopes for change.  Good for us.  I'm one of those who wants radical change in this country.

But I'm not vegetarian.  And attempts to make people vegetarian often backfire, as will attempts to make people radical.

But we can embrace change, and eating less meat is better than eating more --- even if it's not as good as being a vegetarian.  Driving less is better than driving more.  And some change is better than no change (at least if it's the right change)

Just for fun, and interest, here is my list of the 25 best things ever said.

Not in order, except for the last one, which is my favorite

A month ago I ran this diary.  It did well.  People asked me to do it again in a month.  So, here it is.  This is not just a cut and paste of that, it's updated and edited.

Updated, with some of the suggestions from the comments last time
Edited, in that now I am only including media directly related to politics and policy and such (in the interests of space) and I've reformatted it a bit

A lot of good teaching goes on at dailyKos.  But a lot of it doesn't get read by everyone who wants to read it, because diaries scroll by so fast.
This series is about diaries that teach and about things you want to learn.  Could be any subject - an academic subject, a skill, a hobby, almost anything - but not diaries that simply inform, or it would include all of daily kos.

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

I've not been doing as much reading as usual..... there's this daily Kos addiction, and I am trying to get my statistical consulting business going.... but I gotta try to do more book reading, too.

Many Americans know little of our treatment of the people who were here when we got here.  I thought I was better than that.  I had read about poisoned blankets, forced marches, stolen land, sterilization, "schools" designed to destroy languages and culture.  I thought I knew what was what.

But I thought all that was in the past.

Sure, I knew American Indians are, in many respects, worse off than any other ethnic group.  But, I thought, that must be residual.  Of course, I knew there was prejudice against American Indians.... but, I thought, surely that was by the same people who hate Blacks, Jews, gays, and so on.  And surely, I thought, episodes of genocide happened long ago.  Not now.

I was wrong.

Last week I was away, so this will attempt to cover two weeks

A lot of good teaching goes on at dailyKos.  But a lot of it doesn't get read by everyone who wants to read it, because diaries scroll by so fast.
This series is about diaries that teach and about things you want to learn.  Could be any subject - an academic subject, a skill, a hobby, almost anything - but not diaries that simply inform, or it would include all of daily kos.

Thanks to jlms qkw for filling in last week

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

OK, this is going to be light.  And short.  But it's just sitting there!

can we create a Magical Obama Money Machine?  Yeswecan!

The acronym is MOMMY..... Which is what McCain will be yelling when we steam roll him and his Bushites.

Can we do it? Yes we can!

Obama has won!  (I guess you'd probably heard) :-)

How about some ad ideas?  

We've got a lot of smart, creative people here.  So, below the fold, I'll propose one.  Then it's open to all of you.

Maybe someone at the Obama campaign is listening.  

Let's see.... we've given him our money, we've given him our time.  We've diaried, and phone-banked, and pledged, and walked.  

We like the guy.

Now, partly because of us (but mostly because of him) he's the Democratic nominee.

There are a number of ways of trying to predict House races:

One can look race by race (as many here do)
One can look at the overall Democratic and Republican vote (as some here do)
or
One can look at the inherent biases in the nature of the political year.  That's what Kastellec, Gelman and Chandler do, in a recent article.  

And the news is good.  

more below the fold

John McCain.  Oy.

He's a hateful person, if you watch his votes

More below the fold