So why did one lose and the other win? Why did the voters vote for someone they felt was lesser qualified with economy even when economy was the top priority?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/opinion/friedman-hope-and-change-part-two.html?ref=todayspaper

Got sweet surprise and interruption from sleep. Electric power is back after 51 hours and looking forward to a new dawn tomorrow.

Crossed 48 hrs and counting to get the electric power back. Grateful to have hot and cold running water and cooking gas. Goldilocks temps 40s and 50s not too cold to live without heating and not too warm to have the refrigerator food spoil immediately. No major damages but so many others in NJ and NYC not so fortunate.

I thought I had seen once in a lifetime hurricane up the mid-atlantic coast in the form of Irene in 2011, but apparently I have a new lifetime now with Sandy looking to come ashore in 2012. Omnious looking 950mb low pressure coming to areas where the lowest recorded ones have been around 960mb. Heavy rain, flooding, wind gusts, loss of power and water, even snow with this one turning into a nor'easter across such a huge swath of the most densely populated region in north America (there is still some hope as a few minority models do show this turning out into the Atlantic, but hope is so thin now). Hoping to be as fortunate as last time. Wondering if a few billions worth of investment can show ways to tame these natural disasters that so regularly produce losses that high.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/28/hurricanes.gates.gray/

Economic oligarchy or socialism snuffing entrepreneurial energy? Interesting the reddest of them conservatives Ryan is no alien to pork and barrel ways of the beltway. So if he is truly against socialism why don't he dare say social security and medicare ought not to be, for it is nothing more than government helping people who don't take responsibility for their later years?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/opinion/sunday/the-self-destruction-of-the-1-percent.html?ref=opinion

National Constitution Center in Philadelphia PA is a wonderful experience of United States history of governance. Half hour theater production and a museum full of artifacts, videos etc with interactivity. As a bonus, an interactive voting booth helped me decide which way I should lean to vote in Nov. Out of the 10 odd issues presented I selected the three most important ones for me, education, health care and economy. Based on my responses to several questions on these topics it told me Obama out matches Romney by 6 to 4 for me.

http://constitutioncenter.org/

Tracing the Origins of Indo-European Languages

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/24/science/0824-origins.html?ref=science