I am now the proud owner of a Canon Powershot SX10 IS. Nothing too fancy, just a point and shoot, although the flip-out LCD and 20x zoom sealed the deal for me.

So what’s the first thing I used it for?

Cute cat pics, of course. Which I now post, because of the dangerous shortage of cute cat pics on the web.

This shot shows the benefits of the flip-out LCD, since I was able to place the camera an inch above the floor but still see the end result before I took the picture.

I wanted to get out to Mamaroneck harbor and do some shooting this weekend, but we were too busy yesterday and it was too rainy today. I’ll get to it eventually.

In the meantime, enjoy some more photos.

Michael Savage on his radio show:

Well, socially, we’re far worse — more degenerate than Weimar Germany. At least in Weimar Germany, men couldn’t marry men and women couldn’t marry women. So we’re probably 10 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We’re probably 50 leagues below the degeneracy that brought about Hitler. We are the sickest, most disgusting country on the earth, and we are… psychotic as a nation.

I note this not because it’s a surprise that a d-bag like Michael Weiner-Savage would say something so d-baggish. Nor is it because millions of crazy fundies believe this as well, whether it’s loudly from the pulpit or quietly in their hearts. This is known.

No, the thing that kills me is that every election, the Democratic party and the left wing (two separate entities, sadly) have to defend themselves from accusations from the right wing and mainstream media that they “hate America.”

Seriously? The left hates America, yet this considered patriotic discourse from the Republican base?

Better yet, Savage has a radio show (and formerly a TV show on MSNBC) to amplify his belief in the Disgusting Sickness that is America. To find a remotely equivalent voice on the left, the right has to dig up an obscure college professor like Ward Churchill. Exactly how many shows, in any media, has Churchill hosted?

Curse you, liberal media!

I’m sure all nerds worth their salt have already seen the new Star Trek trailer, either before Quantum of Solace or since it was posted on Monday. (If you haven’t, go and watch.)

Looks pretty good, no?

Sure, there are some bad signs. Seeing our heroes as little kids is disturbingly Lucasian. And if TiltySwoopyCam is as prevalent in the finished product as it is in the trailer, I’ll be sick all over the row in front of me.

But the Trek franchise has been so awful for so long that this can’t help but be an improvement. Even if the new movie consists of J.J. Abrams punching me in the face for 100 minutes, it’ll still be better than Star Trek: Nemesis.

It’s interesting to compare this to other successful reboots, since it seems to be swimming against the stream of popular opinion. Batman, Bond, and Battlestar Galactica all found critical and commercial success by removing 99% of the cheese in favor of a grim, realistic take.

Judging solely by the trailer, the new Trek rather takes its cue from the relaunch of Doctor Who: leave the cheese where it is, and make it so energetic that nobody dwells on the bad stuff.

Or maybe I’m blinded by nostalgia over the old uniforms and sound effects, and I have no idea what I’m talking about. The movie’s still seven months away, after all.

On Thursday, I had a ticket reservation to scratch another line off my Life List and see a live taping of The Daily Show. If my non-religious self has a holy shrine, it’s Jon Stewart’s studio. The fact that the guest was Bill O’Reilly gave me pause, but I figured since Stewart had kept me sane (to the extent that I am actually sane) during the darkest years of the Bush administration, I should trust him for one more night.

Sadly, it was not to be.

I made two mistakes. One was not ditching work early enough. I’ve only been here a month, still too new not to be shy about leaving during business hours to goof off. The reservation recommended getting in line between 3:30pm and 4pm, and I didn’t even leave my desk until 3:45pm.

Second, as I almost always do, I underestimated the time it would take to travel a scant three miles in Manhattan. The subways ran with no delays, but the studio was almost a mile’s hike from the nearest stop. The trip took about 45 minutes. I was almost the last person in line, and the cutoff turned out to be about 30 people ahead of me.

Everyone with reservations (and they always overbook the show, just in case) had their names taken down for VIP tickets at a future date, but I’m not really sure how it works. I haven’t received an email about it yet.

Next time I try this, I think I’ll take a vacation day and get in line at 3pm. The two-hour wait will suck, but it’s something I simply have to do…

If you have 10 minutes to spare, this video is brilliant. Watch as Peter Schiff is subjected to all manner of scorn and mockery over a two-year span for the crime of being absolutely 100% correct about the economy.

Note: if you followed Ben Stein’s advice and bought Merrill Lynch at $76/share, then you’re an idiot. It’s trading at $13 now.

Also note: Neil Cavuto is a douchebag.

Also also note: Peter Schiff was an adviser for Ron Paul’s campaign, but if there was any justice, he would have some kind of role in the Obama administration.

My electoral college prediction wasn’t so exact after all. I didn’t count on one of Nebraska’s congressional districts slenderly going for Obama. Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes, and now it’s happened for the first time. So one more vote goes into the blue column.

Final tally: Obama 365, McCain 173. I was off by ONE. ARGH!

I also might have spoken too soon regarding Alaska, where Mark Begich may end up in the Senate after all, pending either a recount or a special election or whatever the hell is going on up there.

I won’t try to predict what the next four years of President Obama will look like, but I do know what I wish for: sheer boredom. I SO want smart, serious, competent grown-ups in charge. I want every news source from the front page to Daily Kos to be so chock full of policy proposals that they read like academic journals and my eyes glaze over. After eight years of terrorism, war, torture, secret prisons, floods, spying, graft, debt, and economic ruin, I think we’re all due for a some reassuring dullness.

I think I can predict one thing, though: the crazier elements on the right now believe that a Secret Socialist Muslim Arab Terrorist just stole the election via ACORN voter fraud.* If you thought they were paranoid in the 90s with their conspiracy theories accusing the Clintons of drug dealing, rape, and murder, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Expect the return of the Michigan Militia, at the very least. Black helicopters ahoy!

* Although after hyperventilating over non-existent voter fraud for weeks, Fox/Dobbs/etc have strangely abandoned it post-election. Either they figured out that registering Mickey Mouse doesn’t mean Mickey will show up to vote, or they saw the final tallies matched the polls…

If the current vote totals hold in Missouri and North Carolina, then my predicted electoral map was 100% accurate. I should take this act to Vegas.

On the other hand, my other predictions were not so good. I didn’t count on Alaska re-electing a convicted felon to the Senate, for example. What the fuck is WRONG with you, Alaska?

Waking up this morning and discovering that California passed Prop 8 certainly puts a damper on my satisfaction from last night. Two other states passed idiotic bans on gay marriage, as well, including my old home state.

I don’t understand what it must feel like to care SO MUCH about making 5% of the population unhappy.

…delivered, ironically, by a Republican:

More on this tomorrow.

My predictions for Tuesday:

[EDIT 11/3: Okay, somehow the map got borked and I can't fix it. Just imagine the 2004 map with these states turned blue: Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.]

Obama 364, McCain 174.

It’s an uncontroversial map. Probably the biggest reach is Obama losing Missouri while winning Indiana, but do you remember the primary? Hillary was pretty far ahead in the polls in Indiana, but Obama’s ground game — helped by his machine in the northwestern area that borders Chicago — closed it to a couple of points and almost tipped the state. Last I checked, Obama opened several offices in the state to McCain’s none. That will be the difference.

Missouri, Georgia, North Dakota, and Arizona will be close, but they’ll stay red. McCain is the only reason Arizona will go Republican this year. Assuming Obama stays popular, it will be a blue state in 2012.

If McCain makes up a point or two in the polls, the likeliest state to flip back to him is Florida, followed by Indiana and North Carolina. However, even those three would only get him to 227 EVs.

National vote: Obama 52%, McCain 46%.

On to the Senate: the Democrats will lose no seats. Warner (VA), Udall (NM), Udall (CO), and Begich (AK) are locks. Shaheen (NH), Merkley (OR), and Hagan (NC) will win close races. The polling in Minnesota has been all over the place, but in the end, unfortunately, I think Coleman beats Franken.

In Georgia, the bad news is Martin trails Chambliss in the polls. The good news is, I believe Obama’s ground game will give Martin a narrow plurality. The bad news is, if he doesn’t pass 50%, there will be a runoff next month, and Martin will lose the Obama bounce. In the end, Chambliss returns to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Joe Lieberman FINALLY gets booted from his committee chairmanships, and he departs for the Republican caucus in a droopy huff. Senate makeup: 57 Dems, 43 GOP.

I can’t give you a House or Governorship prediction, since those races have been off my radar. I think California’s Prop 8 will be narrowly defeated, though.

Three days to Election Day, and then we’ll see how wrong I am. I really, really hope I’m not. Based on current polling, it’ll be a good day.