Monday, November 12, 2012

Note Taking

Every day one of my main activities is taking notes: be it for class lectures, blogging, financial interests, meetings, or just random current events. Quietly taking notes on laptops, in old-fashioned notebooks, or just scraps of used paper. One thing I do not do while taking these notes is doodle. Doodles are not my style, I have very little artistic skills.

Twitter posting are becoming modern note taking, random posts of interesting or non-interesting topics. Note taking is becoming a lost art. With the rise of digital technology, a twitter blast or a quick recording into a cellular phone are making note taking obsolete. In teaching or in business meetings note taking is now done by recording to your iPad or cellular phone. To write is old school and it does not allow for multi-tasking.

The attractiveness of note taking is the ability to think before you write, those days are becoming few and far between. Information overload is a curse to modern note taking. The Internet and social media have ushered in a new age of public note taking, “big clouds of notes”.

I defend the intimacy of note taking, my notes are none of your business! My only problem, many times I cannot read my own handwriting.

ROMNEY IS PRESIDENT – of white male America. This election had the largest gender gap in the history of American elections, with President Obama winning the vote of single women by 36 percentage points. This “Mad Men” philosophy has all but ruined the Republican Party.

Until now, Republicans and Fox News have excelled at conjuring alternate realities. But this election they made the mistake of believing their fake world actually existed. More women voted than men. Five women were newly elected to the Senate, and the number of women in the House will increase by at least three. New Hampshire will be the first state to send an all-female delegation to Congress. Live Pink or Dye.

WINNERS: President Obama ... October surprises ... the auto bailout ... the polls ... early advertising ... Nate Silver ... defining your opponent ... Bill Clinton ... Hispanics ... women ... Rob Portman ... 'Saturday Night Live' ... Chris Christie ... Twitter ... Michelle Obama ... takeaways ... Marco Rubio ... the DSCC ... David Axelrod's mustache ... the Mormon church (no one cared) ... David Plouffe ... data mining ... Jim Messina ... Stephanie Cutter ... early voting ... Priorities USA ... Bill Burton ... Paul Ryan.

LOSERS: Mitt Romney ... super PACs ... millionaires and billionaires ... the Bush map ... male Republican candidates musing about rape ... Michael Barone ... the NRSC ... poll deniers ... Gallup ... Clint Eastwood ... the Bain brand ... Tim Pawlenty ... Rasmussen ... Donald Trump ... the Des Moines Register endorsement ... quote approval ... Paul Ryan.

TALE OF THE TAPE -  "NBC gets the bragging rights for being the first to call the election for Obama at 11:12pmET. An Ohio victory put the president over the top. CBS followed at 11:15, then Fox News, CNN and at 11:25pm ABC News," which was coping with a power interruption at its Times Square studio.

OOF! Romney won North Carolina by 2, and lost Michigan by 8, Minnesota by 8, Wisconsin by 7, Nevada by 6, Iowa by 5, New Hampshire by 5, Pennsylvania by 5, Colorado by 4, Virginia by 3 and Ohio by 2.

POPULAR VOTE, per AP: Obama 50% (58,779,121 votes) ... Romney 48% (56,518,209)

--In 2008, Obama got 53% (69,498,215 votes) and McCain got 46% (59,948,240)

--Obama won 25 states plus D.C., for 303 electoral votes, and is leading in Florida, which has 29 EVs. That would be 332. In 2008, Obama got 365.

--Romney won 24 states with 206 EVs. In 2008, McCain got 173.

SWING STATES that Obama won: Colo., Iowa, Nev., N.H., Ohio, Va., Wis., Fl.
SWING STATES that Romney won: N.C.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Traci Attman …famous nice person, Boutros Boutros-Ghali (90), Petula Clark (80), Linda Evans (70), Anne Hathaway (30), Kathleen Jenrich …famous gambler, Diana Krall (48), Carrie Lewis …famous public servant,  Joe Mantegna (65), Chris Noth (58), P.J. O’Rourke (65), Martin Scorsese (70), Richard Simpson …famous architect of strategic planning, Lorene Thomas …famous wedding planner.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Saturday 11/17, 3:05 PM Fox; #18 USC (7-3) at #17 UCLA (8-2). The cross town rivalry is HUGE this year with the ascent of UCLA. UCLA 21 USC 17 – so long Lane Kiffin.  Season to date (7-4)

SMALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Saturday 11/17, 1:00 PM Food Network; the D-III playoffs begin, #20 Pacific Lutheran (7-2) at #3 Linfield (9-0). These inter conference rivals meet again, Linfield won in September 31-24. They will win again; Linfield 35 Pacific Lutheran 21. Season to date (10-1)

NFL FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Sunday 11/18, 1:00 PM Fox; a Norris Division battle, Chicago Bears (7-2) at Detroit Lions (4-5). A playoff game for the Lions, they lose, their season is toast. Detroit 17 Chicago 14.   Season to date (6-4)

THE SWAMI’S TOP PICKS – UCLA 21 USC 17, Linfield 35 Pacific Lutheran 21, Detroit Lions 17 Chicago Bears 14, 125 predicted in attendance at the Upland United Methodist Church Thanksgiving dinner.  Season to date (29-14)

FALL GARDENING - When the rain will start and how much will fall is anyone’s guess. For the second year running, meteorologists are reporting La Niña currents in the equatorial Pacific, which more often than not augur a drier-than-normal rainy season for Southern California. Although these La Niñas typically push wet weather north, they don’t always push it north of us. So while New Mexico and Texas suffered crackling drought last year, we (Southern California) received near-record rainfall followed by a remarkably mild summer.

In spite of that freakish fortune, the prudent thing to do in a La Niña year is to plan for unseasonably dry weather. In terms of fall planting, this means sowing wildflower seeds on the late side, from Halloween through Christmas. Planting of seedlings and bulbs can be done earlier, from early October onwards, keeping in mind that when Santa Anas blow in through December, you’ll need to irrigate to prevent the desert winds from wicking every last drop of water from newly installed plants and especially vulnerable stock still sitting in nursery pots.
Theodore Payne and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden are among the native plant nurseries that will be hosting fall planting festivals and sales in October and November. Check their websites but also follow L.A. at Home's Datebook listings for other regional events. 

The benefit of buying wildflower seed from Theodore Payne is the romance of poking around the foundation's seed drawer and the presence of a knowledgeable staff. The Los Angeles seed company Stover also deserves credit for consistently stocking fresh California native wildflower seeds in Home Depot and for offering a far more interesting collection from its online store at WildflowersOnline.com.
Wherever you get your seeds, here is a useful tip: Mix them with sand or dirt before tossing them, so slips of the hand don’t result in too much seed in one place. As obvious as this sounds, check the expected height of the flowers on the seed packets, planting taller flowers such as elegant clarkia behind shorter stock such as poppies and blue-eyed grass, right. We also recommend planting samples of each type of seeds in pots, so you have examples of young seedlings to help differentiate wildflowers from weeds.

Once wildflowers germinate, they will put out just enough foliage to begin slowly sending down roots. The real spurt won’t begin until after winter solstice. Steadily lengthening days of January and February spur the growth that results in a spring flush of flowers that always has people asking if April is the time to plant poppies.

DRIVING THE WEEK - Fiscal cliff talks will dominate even though a final deal is not likely until late this month at the earliest. The big event is the bipartisan, Congressional leadership meeting at the White House on Friday. Clearly the White House scheduled the business leader meeting (remember when M.M. predicted that?) for just before the Congressional gathering to ratchet up pressure on the GOP from folks who write tons of campaign checks and hire lots of workers ... Senate Banking has a Basel III hearing at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday with one focus likely to be on easing requirements for smaller banks ... FSOC meets Tuesday with money market fund regulation on the agenda ... Obama holds a full-dress press conference on Wednesday in the East Room ... Obama is in NYC on Thursday to tour storm damage.
The so-called fiscal cliff remains at the top of Wall Street’s worry list this week as well, as the S&P 500 comes off its biggest weekly drop on more than five months. Lawmakers on the Sunday talk shows sounded notes of compromise, but investors are fearful of higher tax rates on capital gains and dividends that would make stocks less attractive. Forty years this week the Dow Jones Industrial Average first hit 1,000, last week it closed at 12,815.39.
Next week; Dear Rink Rats and The Retreat.

Until Next Monday, Adios.

Claremont, CA
November 12, 2012

#III-29, 134

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