President Bush: 1976 = 1796.

Barack Obama: 12 = 10,000.

The fake nuke detonation in Indianapolis will take place on Thursday, starting an eight-day preparedness drill. Residents can follow the drill’s progress here.

American Idol is down to the Final 4… and the BrendanLoy.com American Idol pool is going to a secret-ballot system, in order to prevent “strategic voting” from taking over during the final three weeks.

Starting this week, instead of leaving their predictions in comments, contestants should e-mail their picks to laurenelizabeth [at] alumni.nd.edu. (I can’t do it because I’m a contestant, so Lauren volunteered.) Nobody gets to see anybody else’s picks until after the deadline, which is 9:00 PM tomorrow. After the deadline passes, but before the results are announced, Lauren will leave a comment saying who everyone picked, so we’ll all know the stakes as we watch the results show. :)

Of course, you can mention your prediction in comments, too, if you want. No censorship here! But only the prediction you e-mail to Lauren will be official. That means, if you wanted to, you could lie in comments about who you’re picking! Thus, anyone trying to vote strategically (e.g., because they’re trailing and thus want to pick someone other than whoever the leader picked) can’t necessarily rely on what, if anything, is being said in comments.

As for your actual prediction, if you change your mind, your last prediction e-mailed to Lauren before 9:00 PM tomorrow is the one that counts.

Oh, and here are the current standings:

(more…)

And by “great,” I mean “not great.” I missed the anniversary, but one year ago yesterday, I famously tripped over a tennis net and broke my arm — and in the process, created a video for the ages. :)

My left arm has actually been mysteriously sore lately, as if to acknowledge the occasion. It’s feeling better today, though.

Aww.

Mayoral primaries today in South Bend. The election-day blue laws never cease to amuse me.

And what sweet Doves, their hour come ’round at last,
Flutter toward Belfast to be born?

{ ~ with Deepest apologies to W.B. Yeats :}

It being the day some swore they would never See, the Democratic Unionist Party-Sinn Fein coalition government has quietly & politely taken office :

Northern Ireland’s major Protestant and Catholic parties joined together Tuesday to form a power-sharing government, marking a “new era of politics” and an end to three decades of sectarian conflict in the province.

Protestant Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley was sworn in as the Northern Ireland assembly’s first minister and key player Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein will take on the role of deputy first minister.

…Paisley, 80, and McGuinness, 56, arrived within minutes of each other Tuesday morning and both set an optimistic tone.

“It is a special day because we’re making a new beginning,” Paisley said. “I believe we’re starting on a road which will bring us back to peace and to prosperity.”

Paisley’s deputy McGuinness, said he was “increasingly confident” that the new government would work, saying it was a “good day.”

“The happenings here today are surely going to represent a fundamental change of approach with parties moving forward together to build a better future for the people that we represent,” he said.

(Tony Blair & Bertie Ahern, proud parents of born-again Fraternal twins Ian & Martin, looked on, beaming. :)

…Dr. Brendan O’Duffy, a senior lecturer with Queen Mary University in London, told CNN there was still a threat of political gridlock and a lot of work to do looking forward. But goodwill between the players and the “delicate power sharing” would allow people to “clash constitutionally instead of violently,” he said.

Read the whole miraculous thing. And here’s to the grand Orange & Green Coalition. May all Good luck and Wisdom attend* their deliberations.

(*Also may I occasionally, disguised as the proverbial Fly on the Wall. Ohhh the backroom Meetings are goin’ to be Fierce. ;)

I had one test yesterday, along with a paper due this Friday (that’s 95% done), and one test coming Thursday; I have two tests later today, at 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM MDT (along with the 2:30 test I have a presentation at the same time).

That second final is my law class (Honors 385 for those in Las Cruces) which I’m working on now. The paper (on drunk driving) is supposed to be 12-15 pages long.

I’m still here (at 1:34) and on page 11. ;)

1:53 update: Page 12 (the last page), line 2. :)

2:25: Done.

My statement that I hate the Federal Rules of Evidence may be hearsay, but the way I’m feeling about this exam right now, I think it might qualify as a dying declaration. :) Anyway, here’s a countdown to zero hour (a.k.a. 9:00 AM in Room 120):

Okay, procrastination break over, back to my flash cards. And then possibly a good night’s sleep brief nap.

UPDATE, 11:30 AM: Well… that wasn’t fun.

I think I was the first person in the class to finish — which may not actually be a good sign. :|

Still, it’s done, and that’s what matters. As long as I passed…

2 exams (and 2 papers) down, 2 to go.

Credit-wise*: 10 down, 6 to go. Or, counting the previous five semesters as well, 84 down, 6 to go.

Hours till freedom: 72 1/2.

Point at which I totally stop caring about my remaining exams: any minute now, but I’m trying to hold it off as long as I can. :)

*Again, assuming I passed everything! Knock on wood! :)