This is encouraging news from Public Opinion Strategies: Van Tran is tied with Loretta Sanchez on the ballot test. Fully 39% of likely voters say they are supporting Van Tran, while 39% are backing Sanchez and 5% siding with Ceci Iglesias (17% undecided). Moreover, Tran’s definite support level is higher than that of Congresswoman Sanchez (30% definitely voting for Tran – 28% definitely voting for Sanchez). – While there are certainly solid ethnic coalitions in this race – Asian and Vietnamese voters siding with Tran, Latinos favoring Sanchez – Tran enjoys a commanding 34-point lead with White voters in the district (60% Tran – 26% Sanchez). – Van Tran also polls strongly with Independent voters (42% Tran – 28% Sanchez) and older voters (50% Tran – 30% Sanchez) – two groups that are likely going to determine the victor here. – Van Tran has a commanding 22-point lead over Sanchez (52% – 30%) among voters who say they are “extremely interested” in the upcoming elections. Sanchez won the seat over “B1″ Bob Dornan thanks to some voter shenanigans in 1996 and hasn’t had a real serious challenger since then. The Vietnamese community in that district has grown significantly and they have a pretty testy relationship with the Hispanic community. I don’t expect to see much crossover voting. Incumbents polling below 50% at this point in the election are in big trouble, and Sanchez is way below 50%. You can donate to Tran’s campaign here .
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Former ‘Desperate Housewives’ actor Jesse Metcalf says he’s enjoying getting to play a more mature, more action-oriented character in ‘Chase,’ the new Jerry Bruckheimer drama that airs Mondays on NBC. (Oct. 18)
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The ‘Jackass’ gang pulls off its biggest stunt yet – opening their sequel at the top of the weekend box office. (Oct. 18)
Continue reading …Microsoft to spend one billion dollars advertising Kinect and Windows Phone 7
October 18, 2010 No Comment
Microsoft’s serious about making Kinect a success. A $500 million kind of serious. That’s the latest report, courtesy of the New York Post , on the change Steve Ballmer and company intend to drop to make sure that every living and breathing creature in the US knows about the controller-free controller this holiday season. That mirrors earlier analyst estimates placing the Windows Phone 7 marketing budget at a similar figure, which in total would amount to a cool billion dollars in advertising expenditure. We already know Microsoft’s scooped the Old Spice Guy for WP7, but Kinect is getting the extra special carpet bombing treatment with Burger King, Pepsi, YouTube, Nickelodeon, Disney, Glee , Dancing with the Stars , People and InStyle magazines, and even Times Square all having a role to play in spreading the word. Yup, it’s gonna be pretty hard to miss it. Continue reading Microsoft to spend one billion dollars advertising Kinect and Windows Phone 7 Microsoft to spend one billion dollars advertising Kinect and Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Image credit: Peak Moment TV From PassivHaus cohousing to the BedZED ecovillage , TreeHugger has covered a lot of different types of intentional community. Yet as was evidenced by my posts on the Findhorn ecovillage and the residential community at the Centre fo… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo via Jaymi Heimbuch It’s a strange feeling to be simultaneously excited to hear a speaker, and terrified at what they’re about to say. James Hansen has the uncanny ability pull these kind of conflicting feelings from entire audiences, inspiring a better understanding of our planet’s systems alongside an urgency for us to change how we’re functioning within it, and fast. He does so with a quiet, modest air of “I’m just telling the story that the research reveals,” which makes the information all the more worrying. At this year’s Bioneers conference, James Hansen took the stage to explain what systems are being impacted by heightened carbon l… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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This is becoming a regular thing : President Barack Obama was in Massachusetts today helping out Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection effort. Speaking at a campaign rally earlier today, however, he was met with a bit of a road bump– hecklers who objected to the amount of AIDS research funding his administration has so far provided. To which an angry President Obama retorted: “look at what the Republican leadership has to say about AIDS funding.” The President appeared uncharacteristically upset as, mid-sentence, a group of folks in the crowd began to loudly object to his speech as he described the work his administration had done for AIDS research. As the crowd turned their heads up to look at the hecklers, President Obama followed as well, and modified his speech for them, menacingly pointing his finger up at them as he warned that a Republican leadership would be extremely destructive to their cause. After raising his voice mid-sentence in response to them, President Obama continued: “One of the great things about being a Democrat is, we like arguing with each other. But to the folks concerned about AIDS funding, I would say ‘take a look at what the Republican leadership has to say about AIDS funding.’” Between AIDS funding and his slow-going on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell the gays aren’t so gay when they talk about Obama these days.
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We’ve been catching glimpses of the BlackBerry Style for so long we’re glad to see it finally hit the big time: reality. Yes, Sprint and RIM have just made the 9670 QWERTY flip phone official , so if you’ve been dying to grab one, well you’re going to get your chance. This bad boy runs the all new BlackBerry OS6, boasts a 5 megapixel cam, and two high resolution displays (one external, one internal). Other than that. you’ll find built-in GPS and WiFi, and a microsSDHC slot for up to 32GB of storage. You’ll be able to preorder starting tomorrow with a ship date of October 31st, and it’ll run you $99 on contract after a mail-in rebate. Full press release is below. Continue reading BlackBerry Style officially launches October 31st for $99 on Sprint BlackBerry Style officially launches October 31st for $99 on Sprint originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …OTI report finds US and Canada have the most expensive cellphone plans, India and Hong Kong the cheapest
October 18, 2010 No Comment
It’s far from the first study to compare the cost of cellphone plans around the world, but this new report from the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative (which counts Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a board member) does look to be a bit more thorough than most, which might help to dissuade some of the criticism levied at past studies from the likes of the CTIA. Of course, the ultimate findings of the study aren’t exactly a surprise, with the group again finding that the United States and Canada have the most expensive cellphone plans in the world. As you can see in the chart above, that takes into account voice, text and data rates, which added up to a minimum $67.70 and $59.99 per month for a “complete” postpaid cellphone package in Canada and the US, respectively. That’s as opposed to just $13.50 and $12.90 per month in Hong Kong and India, which are considerably cheaper in large part because they ether rely on a pay-per-use business model or a combination of pay-per-use and a small preset limit. That’s just scratching the surface though — hit up the source link below for the complete report with charts aplenty. OTI report finds US and Canada have the most expensive cellphone plans, India and Hong Kong the cheapest originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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