332 - 206

What a difference a week makes. All of the swings states, including Florida are trending even more towards President Obama. And it's not about the economy ("stupid"). It's about the perception (reality in the broad, not the personal, sense?) that Governor Romney is wooden and out of touch with middle class, much less poor, America. The video released yesterday of Governor Romney meeting his donors isn't doing him any favors.

The growing gap in the state by state polls could make the debates much less interesting as President Obama is much more likely to keep to a script that just runs out the clock rather than feeling like he needs to hit a home run.

One piece of advice for Governor Romney. It's "people who", not "people that".

Electoral Politics

If I was a betting man and the election was held today, I'd bet that President Obama would win 303 electoral votes to 235 for Governor Romney.  However, 8.5 weeks is a long time.  Four years ago, the last 8 weeks changed the election.

Governor Romney obviously has to win Florida, Ohio, and Virginia and either Iowa or Colorado.  It's going to be tough for him to pull it out.

I don't want to hear any comments about the source of the map. It's from HuffPo's Pollster site. It's the best one to manipulate (i.e., change state winners) and I trust the Pollster team's aggregated data.

Exoplanets

From XKCD:

"Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself--with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart--at least three levels deep."

Champions of the Champions League

What a season! Two trophies, including the most important club trophy in the world. Three come from behind victories starting with Napoli in the quarterfinals. Go Blues! Great piece on Grantland here.

Dirt Biking

The Colbert Report
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Yesterday morning out for a ride. One spill, one decent jump, and no broken bones. Yet.

Ragnar Ultra

38.9 miles or just about 3 half-marathons over the course of 20 hours. The first 13.6 miles were fun. My left calf felt like it was going to fall off for the first five miles and then all of the sudden loosed up and I was fine the rest of the race. Got a little sunburned, but well worth it. I passed 33 people and was passed once (note: only 10% of the teams were ultra teams). I averaged a 7:17 pace.

My second run was 12.1 miles through river beds and up hills at night. Usually my night runs are my favorite. Nice and cool. However, the unpaved riverbed and the 7 miles of uphill were a little challenging. I only passed 16 people and was passed zero times. My average pace was 7:43.

My third run was 13.2 miles. Lots of beautiful downhill, which I needed because I was tired. I passed 21 people and was passed three times, but I honestly didn't care. I only had enough energy to run. For example, I listened to the same album 2.3 times because I couldn't spare the energy to change albums on my iPod. I averaged a 7:23 pace.



Three of my sisters (hardcore each and every one) and two friends ran it as well. At no point did we think that more than 4 of us would die of dehydration/exhaustion/sun stroke.

I'm seriously considering doing it with only three people next year (i.e., ~68 miles per person).

38

Ultra Ragnar is coming up in 2 weeks. 38 miles over 24 hours or almost 3 separate half-marathons. I think I'd rather just run the 38 in one shot. I'm definitely going to be tired and stiff when that third run comes calling.

Shoot First

Just had a tour of the FBI Academy from my soon to be Special Agent brother. Remind me to remind you to never mess with these guys.

In Our Name

From The Atlantic:

"... the Bush administration put forth a very narrow definition, arguing that for an action to be deemed torture, it must produce suffering “equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” To place this in perspective: the administration’s threshold for when an act of torture begins was the point at which the Inquisition stipulated that it must stop."

Dirty

Saturday

Is Tough Mudder the same as other events out there like Muddy Buddy or Warrior Dash?

No. Muddy Buddy and Warrior Dash are both great events and really fun days out, but Tough Mudder is a very different proposition. Our events are three times as long, take place in hostile environments, often at altitude, and are a significant physical and mental challenge. Completing a Tough Mudder requires camaraderie and a degree of toughness that other mud-runs will not even begin to test.

Alex Clare

Thank you NPR interns.

Cheesey

Blue Du Bocage Pascal Beillavaire - I might have a new favorite cheese. This blue goat's milk cheese from France is insanely good. Goaty and creamy with a mild to medium blue kick. It was all I could do to save some for tomorrow.

Comte Grand Affinage - This cooked raw cow's milk cheese from France underwhelmed me at first. Then I took my second bite. Once my taste buds stopped exploding, I realized I had stumbled upon a gem. The buttery nuttiness is great on its own or eaten with fruit. I'm glad I took that second bite.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

"My point is that consumption of spicy food isn’t just a experience of the palette, it is deeply social. It is a signal of awesomeness, like having big antlers."

Loud and Squished

Hopefully, the judge will force AA to get rid of its awful MD-80s.

Efficiency

This is the crew that stood around doing a lot of nothing while we sat on the tarmac in Lima on our way home. For 3 hours. The plane ended up needing a new part. The closest available part of this type was in Chicago. Needless to say, we left 15 hours later. I'm happy to report that the food at the Lima airport is actually pretty good, particularly, the lomo saltado (i.e., salty beef). I didn't want to stoop down to airport ceviche, especially after having it at Pescados Capitales the night before. Mmmmm.

"Mary and Max"

I watched Mary and Max last night with the boys. Great movie on friendship, loneliness, and mental illness. I highly recommend it for adults and children.

"Working"

From xkcd:

"Five of the Most Expensive Cheeses in the Universe"

From Chow Bella.