This week I'm here in New York to meet with the media.  Since I wrote the artificial intelligence in The Political Machine (which recently won Editor's Choice from the top gaming publication) there is understandably some interest in how Bush and Kerry behave differently in the game versus real life. Of course, since it's a game, there's a lot of differences. But that's for another discussion - one on TV that is. But media tours are hectic affairs. My trip out here was long scheduled. ...

And so it comes down to the final stretch. And as we predicted last summer, Ohio is going to be the key state. Both campaigns know it. If the election were held today, Bush would probably win -- but barely. But there's still more debates on the way with the Vice Presidential debate this week.  Debates can't change the course of a race unless it's fairly close -- like it currently is. Debates are more than about getting swing voters to vote for you.  Kerry's victory in the first d...

According to the FEC (and compiled by the opensecrets.org watchdog group) the Democrats have managed to take the lead in overall money raised and spent for the Presidency.  The statistics aren't as clear cut as one might think. While the Democrast have raised a great deal more money overall, they had 9 major candidates to split it amongst where as the Republicans only had 1. But it doesn't bode well for the Republicans long term as the Democrats have put together quite an impressive cash...

For me, watching Bush debate is a lot like watching my son play baseball. While I may root for him to do well, I feel helpless in being able to make him do well. Like when my son is batting, I try to will it that he'll hit the ball. Similarly, while observing Bush, I try to will it that he'll nail a point. So when Kerry says lamely, "I consider nuclear proliferation to greatest threat to our nation." I'm using all my mental energy to try to get Bush to say something like "Well Senator, I ...

With the first debate over, I think it was pretty clear that Kerry gained more than Bush.  Neither scored any knock out blows on the other and the # of memorable sound bites is going to be minimal. But overall, Kerry did what he needed to do. Expect to see the polls narrow considerably.

Here's an interesting read about someone who volunteered to help the poor by working in a soup van. His experiences sound much like what I've seen from others who have done the same kinds of things as well as my own experiences -- most people who are in poverty are...sorry to say...losers.  People who are either lacking in some basic trait (living in their own filth, unwilling to work, belligerent, etc.) or deficient mentally (those people one can understand and I don't apply the "loser" ta...

Yesterday Bill Maher demonstrated the kind of attitude that is all too common with liberals: Intellectual arrogance.  They believe that they have a monopoly on enlightened thinking. On Hardball with Chris Mathews, Maher says, "We know who's on Bush's team, we keep hearing about how the God fearing people are with Bush. Fine. But what about the people who believe in say science?" The meaning that irrational religious whackos like Bush while rational, intelligent, people who believe in ...

I'm trying to understand Kerry's various positions. He said at one time that Saddam and his WMDs were a threat that needed to be taken care of. Later he said that Saddam was a diversion from Afghanistan. Despite that, he voted for giving the President authorization to use force against Iraq. One wonders, if he thought Iraq was a diversion, why even give the President such authorization? He later said we're better off with Saddam gone but then in an interview months later says he would...

It never ceases to amaze me how quick some people are to spit on those that are giving them something for nothing. Just so that others can be pre-warned, don't call me a "Nazi" or "Fascist" or any other hateful name.  I don't have to put up with it. And I won't.  I don't know what the deal is with the far left wing people on the Internet and their fixation with calling people "nazis" and such.  Do they even realize that Nazi stands for National Socialist. They weren't right-win...

In the real world, I don't care much about politics.  Sure, I'll debate it with someone if they'd like but I'm not particularly motivated politically. On-line, I'll talk trash about politics taking a much stronger stance on positions than I would normally give since the point is to get energetic discussion going. People who know me would describe me as a political "moderate" on most issues. But in reality, I'm all over the place. A left wing position here, a right wing position there. I...

The universal health care issue is such an emotionally charged issue that it's difficult to have a rational discussion about it. The problem with universal health care isn't specific to health care but rather to any solution that involves 100% coverage. So to try to move the discussion away from a hot topic like health care, let's instead look at it in a way that more people will understand without emotion kicking in. After being elected emperor, I decide everyone should have a television....

Executive Summary ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their programs and running tasks into a dock. ObjectDock enables users to have more control over how they organize their desktop. Rather than have a bunch of icons on the desktop, these icons can be put into docks. ObjectDock can also be used to replace the Start bar entirely freeing up valuable screen real-estate. ObjectDock comes in two forms: ObjectDock Freeware, which is a free download for all users. ...

Here is data that every PC game company can make use of - what hardware are people using.

Points Activity Whose score it affects 1 Someone views one of your particular articles Your Site score 0.10 Someone views one of your articles as part of a listing Your Site score 5 Registered user comments on one of your articles Your Site score 1 You comment on an article or skin or forum post or news item Your personal score 1 Anonymous user comments on one of your articles Your Site score 1 to 81 A user gives your article an "Interesting" rating Your Site ...

So does CBS have a liberal media bias? Consider these facts and decide for yourself: For their story impugning the President's military service CBS relied on what turned out to be forged documents claiming to be personal memos of his commanding officer. During their investigation, they talked to the deceased officer's wife and his son. Both of them said that their story was false.  CBS chose not to include their opinions because they were considered "biased" sources because they ...