I guess it wasn't the bloggers' fault after all-- the exit-polling company apparently *was* weighting the numbers, but in some way mistakenly.

Key digest:

What it shows: As late as 7:33 P.M. on Election Day, Mitofsky and Lenski were apparently telling their clients (NBC, CBS, CNN, AP, etc.) that after "weighting" Kerry was beating Bush by 9 points among women and losing by only 4 among men. By 1:24 P.M. the next day (see this file) revised results revealed that, in fact, Kerry won women by only 3 points while Bush won men by 11 points. Whoops! ... It wasn't the dumb bloggers who didn't understand on Nov. 2 that they were being leaked "complex displays intended for trained statisticians," as Mitofsky would have it--or the dumb Kerry aides and dumb Bush aides who believed the same numbers. It was that the weighted results Mitofsky's statisticians put out were full of it! ...

But you'll have to go to Kaus for all the links.

Posted by: Ace at 10:28 AM | Add Comment
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This site is a bit left-leaning for my tastes, but he seems to keep abreast of interesting military developments.

This article notes the work the Chinese and North Koreans are doing on blinding-laser technology (we've pretty much scrapped such efforts, due to a Clinton ban).

And here is an article on anti-laser contact lenses:

The contact lens sits on the eye, the entire cornea and pupil are covered, so there is no chance of a reflection, or high angle incident beam, sneaking behind the LEP [Laser Eye Protection]. Therefore, coupled with the appropriate laser protection technology, contact lenses provide a perfectly sized defense against eye injury, eliminating direct and off-axis retinal hazards from today’s most dangerous military lasers that operate in the far red and near infrared spectrum (670 nm – 1200 nm).

Posted by: Ace at 10:21 AM | Comments (8)
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As the Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders rush to help with the tragedy, the UN still doesn't seem to be doing much of anything.

Key quote (from the Diplomad):

The UN continues to send its best product, bureaucrats.

Those who can, do.

Those who can't find a cushy berth at the UN where they can be paid for the scary-important work of attending tony conferences hosted by Cuba and nailing Estonian hookers like they're going out of fashion.*

*Which of course they never will.

Posted by: Ace at 10:09 AM | Comments (7)
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So, this guy called bloggers a bunch of people in pajamas. No big deal, I guess.

Now this moron clucks about CNN's "flood the zone" coverage... in connection to the tsunami catastrophe.

Posted by: Ace at 09:14 AM | Comments (10)
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"I Was Paul Anka's Lighting-Man," Sobs Distraught Stagehand

Tearfully Confesses: I Still Have No Idea Where Joe Was, Or Even Who the Hell He Is

The shocking details follow exclusively for you, Ace of Spades readers.

And yes, this is real, baby.

Or at least it seems real. The guy gave me his name and his performing-arts union. He just discovered blogging a week ago, and found me through Michelle Malkin's site.

I was a (stagehand) lightman for Paul Anka around 1974 - 1976... went out on tour a few times but I don't remember that particular reaming incident.

He chewed out the Caesars crew one time on opening night when we really deserved it. After the next show, he called us all into his dressing room and gave each of us a $100 chip. At the time I was on tour with him, he treated the crew pretty good. We stayed in the same hotels that he did and one time he picked up everybody's Room Service tabs (for 2 weeks). Later on, I heard from other stagehands that he got kinda cranky.

I believe the conductor that Paul was chewing out was Johnny Harris. He was pretty exciting to watch... really got into the music and jumped around on the stage. I liked him.

CJ Powell drove one of the trucks on the first tour and became his Road Manager later on.

I'm thinking "Where's Joe?" might be Joe Guercio who used to be Elvis' conductor, but it might just be a Zen thing after all.

Vinnie Falcone was the Caesars Palace house piano player around the time that Anka appeared there. He later became Frank Sinatra's music director.

In 1970, after a careerÂ’s worth of touring and working with the industryÂ’s biggest stars, Falcone relocated to Las Vegas and became the house piano player at CaesarÂ’s Palace. It was there that he caught the attention of Frank Sinatra.

In addition to working with Sinatra, Falcone was music director for the inaugural gala for president Ronald Regan, and has worked with Andy Williams, Tony Bennett, Jerry Lewis, Eddie Fisher and Sammy Nestico.

All in all, that tape was hilarious and so was the Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's band.

Keep up the great work, Ace.

I asked my correspondent-- whom I will only identify as "Man of Substance," even if compelled to disclose his identity by a federal judge investigating the Plame affair -- who Graham might be, and if he knows the name of the lighting-guy getting reamed out on the tape.

When I have plumbed this mystery further, you will have these answers.

Man. Sometimes blogging really is fun. Right out of the blue. Paul Anka's lighting guy. What a funny ol' world.

Update:

Don't remember Graham, that's why I think it was after I left. I can tell you exactly what he's talking about with the blue light though. He had some video playing on a projection screen that was hung over the band... shots of his kids... yada yada. I think the song was "The times of your lives". He wrote it for Kodak and they got a lot of mileage out of it. Anyway, the blue light was probably the conductor downlight. We kept it on all the time so the band (and the pilots) could see the Cut-Offs. It probably got bumped and slashed across the projection screen like a fucking hammer.

If anyone has any questions for "Man of Substance," feel free to submit them, and maybe he'll be so kind as to answer in the comments.

Just don't make a fuckin' maniac out of him.

Posted by: Ace at 11:24 PM | Comments (26)
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In the Wall Street Journal, too.

Great. More people for me to be envious of.

Just what I fuckin' needed.

Posted by: Ace at 10:05 PM | Comments (2)
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Well, this is one of those sites where you have to decide, "Is this a joke or not?"

I'm pretty sure it's a joke. And I think it's sort of funny. There are a couple of good links here. Like, skip down to the nutty April 22d headline,

No hes veryvery with NOT!!!

It's not dirty. Just funny.

And, by the way, I expressly state that I do not endorse the opinions offered at the link, which I take to be an attempt at comedy, not reportage, anyway.

"Rocking body as wickeds toon vidao AWSOME " is sort of funny, too, once you see what he's linking too.

NOTE: I haven't checked all links -- just a couple -- so don't blame me if you click on one and it turns out to be raunchy.

Posted by: Ace at 09:33 PM | Comments (8)
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A suspected insurgent asks residents for mercy after they caught him planting explosives under civilian vehicles, at a busy area in Baghdad, January 3, 2005.

From Reuters, but found on Radio Free Roider.

Posted by: Ace at 08:00 PM | Comments (15)
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Originally: Female Geek-Off. Now open to all comers. State your geek credentials and be prepared to be judged by the Geek Council.

Bbeck:

Wow, Ace, I think you just hit upon the Ultimate Geek Check.

(But who am I to complain? I've worn a "Precious" next to my wedding ring -- engraved on the inside with "One Ring to Rule Them All..." -- for close to 20 years.)

Andrea Harris:

You call yourself a geek. Stand aside. Did you read the entire Appendix paying special attention to the language parts? Did you teach yourself the Elvish alphabets so you could write in runes all over your the inside of your junior high textbook jacket covers? Did you buy fantasy-themed bookplates and carefully glue them to the insides of all your cheap Sword & Sorcery Bantam releases? To this day I have crumbling paperbacks with bookplates on the inside cover, my name carefully written in Quenya with a Schaeffer calligraphy fountain pen, in green ink. And on my only trip to Europe I bypassed all the normal souvenirs to buy an authentic British set of The Lord of the Rings, even though I already had one at home. But this was different -- printed in England!!!

Admit it, my geek kung fu is better.

Only one way to resolve this. Get out your SCA armor and padded morningstars and have it at it.

Can any women top these?

Hell, can any guys?

Update! Raising the Ante: Bbeck will not go quietly:

Ace, just exactly how surprised would you be if I told you I DO have a set of SCA armor and have been an authorized heavy fighter for over a year?

I believe the correct term is touche.

Update: Bbeck's Campaigning Hard! And running away with the contest:

Now as for the contest here, let me officially put in my bid for All Around Geek...

Hmm, I started typing out my credentials and I felt like I was BRAGGING. So let me just put up a personal experience that none of you men can likely match, much less beat...

I once made out with Larry Niven. This was when I was single. And if you don't know who Larry Niven is, then I just don't think you're geeky enough.

Now you're just piling on points, bbeck. Relax-- you had me at "SCA."

Posted by: Ace at 06:41 PM | Comments (53)
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Say Anything makes a good catch.

This is Kos talking:

Us liberal bloggers like to brag that we live in the “reality-based community”. It’s kind of hard to be reality-based when people are claiming that Kerry won with no hard evidence to the contrary. Was there fraud? Sure. There always has been. Was the GOP ready to steal the election if necessary? No doubt. But they didn’t have to steal this one. This wasn’t 2000. Bush rode his fucked up war to victory, whether we like it or not. History will judge us right, but until then, we’re stuck with the results.

Hmmm... seems that one of the Internet's most stridently-partisan and unhinged bloggers has actually clued up well ahead of the MSM's Keith Olbermann.

Posted by: Ace at 12:58 PM | Comments (14)
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