In an article by the Wall Street Journal, the Republican Party is struggling to survive in membership.
In the Journal/NBC News survey, just 31% of those polled called themselves Republicans. That's down from 37% eight years ago. More important, a larger share of Americans now call themselves Democrats than Republicans in every region of the country, including the South, which the GOP likes to think of as its remaining bastion. Democrats also outnumber Republicans in every age group. In sum, the view of the Republican Party that emerges is the very picture of a minority party.
The real kicker is the number of those who identify themselves as either conservative or liberal.
At the same time, there are many potential Republicans out there. Of those surveyed, 35% called themselves conservatives -- as opposed to 24% who called themselves liberals -- and four in 10 of those self-identified conservatives identified themselves as something other than a Republican.
This comes on the heals of an article reviewing the GOP's effort (or lack thereof) with Latino voters.
I'm a history nut, and I don't apologize for being that way. I love reading up on history and learning from the past. Here's a story I came across a few days ago on Wikipedia. The FAA prohibits planes from breaking the sound barrier over land. But before they made this rule official, they had to do some test. These tests resulted in the Operation Bongo II in which 1,253 sonic booms were carried out over the OKC skies from February through July of 1964.
Starting on February 3, 1964, the first sonic booms began, eight booms per day that began at 7 a.m. and ended in the afternoon. The noise was limited to 1.0 to 1.5 pound-force per square foot (48 to 72 pascal) for the first twelve weeks, then increased to 1.5 to 2.0 psf (72 to 96 pascal) for the final fourteen weeks. This range was about equal to that expected from an SST. Though eight booms per day were harsh, the peak overpressures of 2.0 psf were an order of magnitude lower than that needed to shatter glass, and are considered marginally irritating according to published standards. The Air Force used F-104 and B-58 aircraft, with the occasional F-101 and F-106.
I love airplanes, and I love Oklahoma. Just wished I lived back in 1964 to have been a part of this unique history.
Here's a video of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier.
My friend and fellow blogger, Sid Burgess, wrote a review on Google's new foray into the social media arena: Google Buzz. Although met with great anticipation and excitement, it appears that there is some privacy concerns with Google's Buzz.
There is a little grumbling from users of the new Google feature, Buzz. Basically, those people that you choose to follow can see who you follow. For most people on Twitter, this is common thing. However, this isn’t just another social network and so people in your “friends” list are people you email. That is a list you may not want to share.
I am not too worried that Google wont make this easier to do really soon, but in the mean time, here is a quick and dirty fix to keep your email list hidden.
Click here to go to your Google profile. Then uncheck the “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me” box.
Of course if you want to opt back out of Buzz, you simply click the “Turn Off Buzz” button at the bottom of your Gmail page.
Happy Buzzing!
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