The Case of the Missing White Voters?

the post election dominate narrative is about a structural demographic shift working against republicans – i.e. they can no longer win by gaining a larger piece of the ever shrinking white portion of the electoral pie ( to mix a metaphor. badly. ). but has anyone seen corroboration of the claim that 7 million white voters just didn’t show up to the polls: ” The increased share of the minority vote as a percent of the total vote is not the result of a large increase in minorities in the numerator, it is a function of many fewer whites in the denominator.” if true the narrative might be quite a bit different if the republicans come up with a candidate that can “reactivate” them in 2016. update: “There Aren’t As Many Missing Voters As It Seems” and “There Are No “Missing Voters”” both, well, say there aren’t as many missing voters as claimed in the realclearpolitics.com post.

day 3050: a hockey test.

day 3050: a hockey test. I.

we weren’t the only ones to notice odin’s improved skating skills. his hockey coach called and asked him to try out to move up to next level.

he’s in the mites which is the level for 7-8 year olds but i guess they’re short a few players on the squirts team which is for 9-10 year olds. or, apparently, ace 8 year olds when they need a few players 🙂

day 3050: a hockey test. II.

he says he wants to go for it. of course, no pressure from us, but we were sort-of nervous for him in during the try-outs competing against the 7 other skaters hand-picked by the coaches. ( the red on his glove is from the dye on the fresh tape we put on the handle of his hockey stick. )

day 3050: a hockey test. III.

odin did a great job, especially in the drills. he held back a little in the scrimmage but still had some good defense plays. he says he “has a good feeling…” about making the cut. we’ll find out on monday! ( he’s in the yellow jersey with the number 8 )

meditations and self realizations to the sounds of stoner music on a cold evening run

i’m out on an evening run in the brisk 37°F night air, endorphins are starting to kick in and i’m meditating in a way while watching my breaths crystallize in the beam of my headlamp while simultaneously deep in my head wondering why i so thoroughly enjoy listening to UNKLE with thom yorke – rabbit in Your headlights which might be the most inappropriate song to enjoy running to on a cold, dark night ( watch the video if you haven’t seen it ). and then out of nowhere all i can hear is the voice of someone who, after recently listening to a few songs on my playlist said matter-of-factly, “dude, you only listen to stoner music.”

gah. click. pink floyd – shine on you crazy diamond. ( the voice, “stoner music” ). gah. click. david byrne & brian eno – regiment. ( the voice, “stoner music” ). gah. click. supergrass – tales of endurance. ( the voice, “stoner music” ). gah. click. blonde redhead – 23. ( the voice, “stoner music” ). gaaaaaah. click.

kruder & dorfmeister – 1st of tha Month. ( the voice, “stoner music” ).

gaaaaaaaah…total endorphin buzzkill.

i voted! and my earliest presidential election memory.

i voted! and my earliest presidential election memory.

decisions, decisions.

the nice ladies at the volunteer booth said they had an “unheard of” number of absentee ballots. not sure what that means.

odin has been really interested in this election, asking me why i didn’t vote early ( i love that he doesn’t ask why you vote, or where you vote or when you vote, but why i haven’t voted early! ) and he even apparently dreamed about carrying an flag on election day.

i realized this morning that my earliest presidential election memory is of watching the 1980 election returns on television with my grandparents when i was odin’s age.

i think i remember the superman movie was playing on hbo and was sort-of annoyed that we had to keep flipping between stations to watch the boring old election.

i’m sure someone will probably fact check my memory and tell me that i wasn’t at my grandparent’s house or that superman wasn’t broadcast on hbo in 1980, but that’s my memory and i’m sticking to it!

i should note that there is some controversy over photographing your vote. as far as i know ( though ianal ) wisconsin state law does not expressly prohibit recording inside the polling place and any photo of an unmarked ballot where not prohibited should be legal.

day 3048: first snowfall of the season!

day 3048: first snowfall of the season!

oh, to be eight again and thoroughly and entirely excited about the first snowfall of the season and all the possibilities it heralds for cross country skiing, building igloos, sledding and, of course, making perfect snowballs.

although it was a light snow with little accumulation that didn’t stay long, odin determined that it was awesome snowball snow.

fun fact, four years ago on election day it was 75°F and we were taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather by pouring cement for our sauna. later that same day odin was pressing his four year old hands in the cement!

day 3046: odin inspects progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s).

day 3046: odin inspects progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s).

slowly but ever so surely i’m making progress on The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s). i got a few of the 16′ joists up on the supports while almost nominating myself for a darwin award. today odin helped me attach more joist hangers to the 14′ 2x10s so we can quickly drop in the rest of the joists.

lots of folks are asking me about the how secure the platform will be. you can probably see the top of the four supports are bolted on to the 3/4″ threaded rod that runs through the trees. the bottom of the supports are attached to the trees with 3/4″x8″ lag bolts. the top of the supports which i think are called knee braces are made from 2×8″ treated lumber and angled boards are notched into the top and attached with 1/2″x6″ lag bolts. the joists in 16″ on center. somewhat surprisingly, everything is level and mostly square!

the supports are about 11′ off the ground and the joists add another foot, so the treehouse will be about 12′ off the ground when i built it on top of the platform.

i’m pretty impressed with the stability of the structure. hopefully, i’m just as impressed after all the joists are attached and the flooring is put up 🙂

( side note: the blue rope is part of the the most super awesomest tree swing. EVAR! )

day 3045: the start of Yet Another Hockey Season!

day 3045: the start of Yet Another Hockey Season!

after taking a year off, odin had such a fun time playing hockey last year that there was no way he was not going to sign up again this year.

he’s back on the ice and enjoying every minute of practice!

he finished last season with great skating skills and it’s amazing to see how much he’s improved over the past 6 months, even though he didn’t have any practice time on “summer ice”.

day 3045: the start of Yet Another Hockey Season! II.

he’s now such a solid skater, some parents assumed he’s been skating all summer. it’ll be interesting to see where his skills are at by the end of this season ( totally no pressure :-).