{"id":2659,"date":"2008-10-14T12:33:32","date_gmt":"2008-10-14T17:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=2659"},"modified":"2008-10-14T12:33:32","modified_gmt":"2008-10-14T17:33:32","slug":"tue-update-electoral-votes-paulsonche-shirt-mpact-maker-awards-consumer-review-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/tue-update-electoral-votes-paulsonche-shirt-mpact-maker-awards-consumer-review-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Tue update: Electoral votes, Paulson\/Che shirt, Mpact Maker awards, consumer review ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even more bad news for John McCain:\u00a0 RealClearPolitics<\/a> now projects a total of 313 electoral votes “solid” or “leaning” Barack Obama, with only 270 needed to win.\u00a0 Florida and Colorado have now moved from “toss-up” to “leaning Obama.”\u00a0 The victory parties may begin early in the evening November 4 if Florida really does break decisively toward Obama – without it, John McCain is completely out of options.\u00a0 To add insult to injury, FiveThirtyEight.com’s<\/a> statistical analysis now gives Obama a 94.9% probability of winning the election, and a 53.67% chance of an Obama landslide (375 electoral votes or more).<\/p>\n

Just did a little web searching… I knew it had to be out there, and sure enough I was right.\u00a0 Someone created a T-shirt with Che Guevara’s hair, beard, and beret Photoshopped onto Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s head.\u00a0 You can see it here<\/a>.\u00a0 In case you don’t get the humor behind this, Bush and Paulson announced that the government was buying shares of 9 of the nation’s largest banks<\/a>.\u00a0 $250 billion worth.\u00a0 Che was president of Cuba’s nationalized bank system in the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

Happy birthday to regular blog reader Tom, who is having fun celebrating his birthday by painting a house today.<\/p>\n

Mpact Memphis’ Mpact Maker Awards will be handed out this Thursday night, October 16, at Jack Robinson Gallery (44 Huling) from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.\u00a0 These awards recognize young leaders in the community.\u00a0 The event will be emceed by Maney from Q107.5’s morning show.\u00a0 Free food and drinks.\u00a0 Free for Mpact members, $15 non-members.<\/p>\n

Thanks to all who have given me ideas for categories for my new Saving Consumers Time<\/a> review site.\u00a0 A few notes:\u00a0 First of all, I tried to come up with a decent list of digital-to-analog converters for old “rabbit ears” TVs that otherwise won’t work after February 17, 2009.\u00a0 I really couldn’t come up with a decent list from online sources.\u00a0 The ones that were highly rated were just too expensive.\u00a0 Those that were in the right price range (no more than $60) were pretty bad – only one had a 4-star rating on Amazon (out of 5), and then the list quickly went down into the dumps.\u00a0 There’s no way I could make a decent review page out of that sorry bunch of converters.\u00a0 My advice would be to go to Best Buy, and do not pay more than $60 before tax.<\/p>\n

One other note:\u00a0 I can’t review services on the site.\u00a0 One reader asked which is best, Comcast cable or BellSouth DSL for Internet access.\u00a0 Here’s the thing:\u00a0 A product is the same product whether you live in Memphis or Maine.\u00a0 Services, on the other hand, can vary.\u00a0 When Time-Warner provided cable Internet in Memphis, I never had a problem at any place I lived Downtown or Midtown.\u00a0 On the other hand, friends in East Memphis had all kinds of problems and eventually had to get rid of it.\u00a0 I just can’t give consistent recommendations for\u00a0high-speed Internet\u00a0service, or any other service, such as cell phone carriers, for example.<\/p>\n

It looks like my next review will be single-serve coffee makers, for people who are tired of driving through Starbucks every morning and want to save some money while still enjoying their<\/em> cup of coffee (rather than sharing a pot of bland coffee with the rest of an office).\u00a0 I’m busy this week, but it should be up within 3-4 days.<\/p>\n

See you at the SMA meeting at Safari tonight at 6, and trivia at the Saucer after that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"