Sunday, February 18, 2007
“Lock your … doors! Watch out … for … 007!”
I present you with four links (via Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin):
And yes, they're songs, with lyrics. Bet you didn't know the Superman Theme had lyrics, did you? Or the Jaws Theme? But they do.
Or at least they do as Goldentusk rendered them (he reminds me of a cross between Wierd Al Yankovic and Rob Morrow) and they come across as what you might hear in a musical version of the respective movies.
Presidential Predictions
I remember hearing about the Curse of Tippecanoe back in 5th grade during the 1980 Presidential campaign, and so far, it was eerily accurate as a prediction of Presidential deaths while in office.
That is, until Ronald Reagan in 1981 (and unbeknownst to me, George W. Bush also survived an attempt).
So it was amazing when I came across An Algorithm for Determining the Winners of U.S. Presidential Elections (link via The Old New Thing) that has correctly predicted every Presidential election.
Every one.
And it's so easy you can put it in a spread sheet.
So, I decided to see who currently has the best shot at becoming the next President of the United States. I found a list of current Presidential candidates and applied the formula.
| Name | Pres. | Rep. | Gov. | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Pres. | Rep. | Gov. | Other | Total |
| Democratic Candidates (*has not officially filed) | |||||
| Joe Biden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chris Doss | 0 | 0 | 0 | Child of Senator, Divorced | 0 |
| John Edwards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Gravel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dennis Kucinich | 0 | 12 | 0 | Divorced | -98 |
| Barack Obama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tom Vilsack | 0 | 0 | 8 | 88 | |
| Hiliary Clinton* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bill Richardson* | 0 | 14 | 6 | 80 | |
| Republican Candidates (*has not officially filed) | |||||
| Sam Brownback | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| John H. Cox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Duncan Hunter | 0 | 28 | 0 | 28 | |
| Mitt Romney | 0 | 0 | 4 | First Mormon | -66 |
| Michael Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| John Gilmore* | 0 | 4 | 0 | 44 | |
| Rudy Giuliani* | 0 | 0 | 0 | Divorced, Special Prosecutor | -220 |
| Mike Huckabee* | 0 | 8 | 0 | 88 | |
| John McCain* | 4 | 0 | 0 | Divorced | -106 |
| Ron Paul* | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |
| Tom Tancredo* | 10 | 0 | 0 | First Evangelical | -100 |
| Tommy Thompson* | 0 | 4 | 0 | 44 | |
| Libertarian Candidates | |||||
| Steve Kubby | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| George Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Christine Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
But it's a total score of both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates that win, not just the Presidential candidate (so there's a small outside chance that Giuliani could win, if he could find a Vice-Presidential candidate who is a corporate banker, president of a college and the child of a US Senator). I also think it's too early to really tell who will win at this stage; I'll know more after the caucuses and primaries of next year.
