With the fourth Democratic presidential nomination debate set for October 15, 2019 in Westerville, Ohio, it is time for an updated assessment of the relative position of the now-19 declared candidates. The more-stringent criteria to qualify for this debate—despite the looming presence of twelve candidates on one stage—led to the announcement by New York City … Continue reading October 2019 update: 2020 Democratic nomination and general election polling
All The Essays
Reaching milestones of my own invention
In my last post, I described how a great friend of mine and I exchange generous Amazon gift cards for our birthdays. One gift I have already used this year’s card to purchased is this four-DVD film noir box set: Of the four titles in this no-frills set (the only extras are trailers for every … Continue reading Reaching milestones of my own invention
Four stories and 12 years ago…
I have been deeply immersed in preparing final first drafts (how is that for an oxymoron?) of early chapters of the book I am writing, whose new tentative title is Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive into My Family History…and My Own. We have also been preoccupied with various illnesses, injuries and anniversaries. … Continue reading Four stories and 12 years ago…
Upon further interrogation…
In the middle of August 2019, I spent nearly a week in Philadelphia—where I was born 53 years ago Monday—conducting further research into my family and personal history for the book I am writing (new tentative title: Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs an Investigation into My Family History...and My Own). Unlike last year, however, I … Continue reading Upon further interrogation…
Always Just What I Needed: Ben Orr, Ric Ocasek and The Cars
I wrote these sentences in my Father’s Day 2019 post. The 24-hour Howard Johnson’s in Medford was a regular late-night hangout for AC (among others) and me before it closed on December 31, 1998. It got to be a habit that on nights I did laundry in the basement laundry room of our apartment building, … Continue reading Always Just What I Needed: Ben Orr, Ric Ocasek and The Cars
September 2019 update: 2020 Democratic presidential nomination scenarios and general election polling
With the third Democratic presidential nomination debate set for September 12, 2019 in Houston, Texas, it is time for an updated assessment of the relative position of the now-20 declared candidates. The more stringent criteria to qualify for this debate—the first to be held on only one night—presaged the end for three more campaigns. Washington … Continue reading September 2019 update: 2020 Democratic presidential nomination scenarios and general election polling
Wax museums and The Beatles: a postscript
A few weeks ago, I interrogated my memory of why I so intensely disliked The Beatles as a child and tween. Basically, I blamed the Fab Four for frightening me when I was seven or eight years old, when what actually frightened me was a wax museum Chamber of Horrors. Combine that with my extreme … Continue reading Wax museums and The Beatles: a postscript
A post-Labor-Day look at 2019 elections for U.S. House and governor
In May, I took a “wicked early” look at, among other elections, the three gubernatorial elections to be held on November 5, 2019 in Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. I also updated my estimated effects of incumbency for Democratic and Republican United States Senators (“Senators”) and governors. Having passed Labor Day, the traditional start of the … Continue reading A post-Labor-Day look at 2019 elections for U.S. House and governor
Looking in the mirror, 2020 Democratic nomination polls edition
Monthly since April 2019, I have updated my weighted-adjusted polling averages for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. You may read about my aggregation methods here, but a key difference between my algorithm and those used by some other polling aggregators (e.g. RealClearPolitics) is that I use every publicly-available poll (as listed on FiveThirtyEight.com) released since … Continue reading Looking in the mirror, 2020 Democratic nomination polls edition
Interrogating memory: The Beatles, wax museums and a diner mystery solved
To the extent my writing over the last three years has a theme (or perhaps even a brand), it is what I call interrogating memory. At one level, this is just a fancy term for “fact-checking,” as in looking through my elementary school report cards (I am missing the one for third grade[1]) to confirm … Continue reading Interrogating memory: The Beatles, wax museums and a diner mystery solved
Just Bear With Me... 