"Where were YOU in 2000!?!?!?"

Busy being really awkward in front of the camera as I recall. No, I agree with you, it was not a slick campaign. Neither was Kerry. I'm already having some concerns with Obama was well, I think he needs to be a little less thoughtful and do more hammering message. I'm hoping maybe the convention will kick that off. I'm not against thoughtful, but you need to get people excited.

"If they are under my desk, I will feel free TO KICK THEM"

I would! I think my minion is nicer than I.

"less thoughtful" - but we've had 8 full years of less thoughtful. I'm ready for "more thoughtful" . . . okay, pretty much anyone would be more thoughtful.

ION, Cockerpoo scares away bears.

Whee, we just had a tornado evacuation! Note that I work in one of the largest buildings on campus. Oh, the masses of humanity crowded into the windowless lowest level for half an hour.

I think the convention is really good so far. But I'm the base, I'm supposed to think that!

I wish I had seen some of the convention stuff last night, but it was worth missing it to see shrift!

With the various judging controversies at this Olympics, I was wondering last night about what the medal counts would be without these sports (I was also bored and waiting for dinner with Buffistas).

I eliminated sports that involve subjective judging (diving, equestrian dressage, gymnastics, synchronized swimming), or sports with more technical judging methods (boxing, taekwondo, wrestling) where judges have been called into question this Olympics.

I used the first 12 countries in both total medals and golds, giving a list of 13 countries. In total medals there was very little change in country standings; however there was a bit more shifting around if you only consider gold medals, with Russia losing the most standing.

Here are the results of my boredom:

Total Medals:
All Current Sports (Sports without Subjective Judging)

US, 110 (US, 93)
China, 100 (China, 61)
Russia, 72 (Russia, 47)
Great Britain, 47 (Australia, 44)
Australia, 46 (Great Britain, 42)
Germany, 41 (Germany, 33)
France, 40 (France, 32)
South Korea, 31 (South Korea, 24)
Italy, 28 (Italy, 23)
Ukraine, 27 (Ukraine, 17)
Japan, 25 (Japan, 16)
Cuba, 24 (Netherlands, 16)
Netherlands, 16 (Cuba, 14)

Gold Medals:
All Current Sports (Sports without Subjective Judging)

China, 51 (US, 33)
US, 36 (China, 29)
Russia, 23 (Great Britain, 18)
Great Britain, 19 (Germany, 15)
Germany, 16 (Australia, 13)
Australia, 14 (Russia, 12)
South Korea, 13 (South Korea, 9)
Japan, 9 (Japan, 7)
Italy, 8 (Netherlands, 7)
France, 7 (France, 6)
Netherlands, 7 (Italy, 6)
Ukraine, 7 (Ukraine, 6)
Cuba, 2 (Cuba, 1)

I also figured out medals for my ideal Olympics, which would have no baseball, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, BMX, boxing, equestrian dressage (as a separate event), rhythmic gymnastics, soccer, softball, synchronized swimming, table tennis, tennis, trampoline, or water polo. This really didn't change the current standings all that much, mostly because these sports produce only one or two medal each.

Megan's Olympics, Total Medals:

US, 95
China, 72
Russia, 61
Great Britain, 44
Australia, 43
Germany, 36
France, 35
Italy, 25
South Korea, 24
Ukraine, 24
Japan, 23
Cuba, 15
Netherlands, 15

Megan's Olympics, Gold Medals

China, 40
US, 30
Great Britain, 18
Russia, 17
Germany, 15
Australia, 14
South Korea, 11
Japan, 8
Italy, 7
France, 6
Ukraine, 6
Netherlands, 6
Cuba, 2

Happy birthday, lisah!

Hil, what Israeli movie are you watching? (Grammar?)

And hey, I'm NEVER leaving home again. Crazy people outside, folks. Except for tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow. And so on. Sigh.

How come Jamaica doesn't rank in your Olympics, gold medal version, megan? Usain alone has more than Cuba.

Lord, I'm slow. Happy birthday, lisah!

This really didn't change the current standings all that much, mostly because these sports produce only one or two medal each.

That always bugs me. I mean, not to take a THING away from Phelps or any other swimmer, but you are up for a whole lot of medals there. There are plenty of sports where you've got just one shot. I'm sure if you had, say, ten individual decathlon medals along with the "all around" we have now Spitz's record could have been broken that way. Is it even possible for a non-swimmer to get that many medals in one Olympics? I suppose a male gymnast could.

Yeah, but it's essentially tossing my vote in the garbage.

I really don't understand the idea that voting for a candidate you genuinely support is a waste. Voting for a candidate you don't particularly like seems like a much bigger waste to me. I'd rather people not vote at all than do that, because I think that the "lesser evil" attitude is how we got here. Nobody's gonna put a radical candidate up there if they can get your vote anyway.