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About a year and a half ago I got my son the iPod Touch for his birthday. Curiously, I didn’t take much notice of it - other than the cost. I run hot and cold with technology. Programming - yes. Cell phones and elevators - I am a neo-Luddite. Obviously, the iPod is not a cell phone, but it is basically the same form factor as the iPhone. Eighteen months passed since the purchase of my son’s iPod and countless generations of the device have been brought to market (or so he says). I keep kidding him that I am going to get an iPhone - which would be my first cell phone in 42 years - and leap ahead of him in gadget dominance.

Slachary: “My iPod would be laughed at by the Romans it is so old.”
Father: “Really? I mean - really?”
Slachary: “The screen is all scratched - I can barely see anything.”
Father: “Isn’t the basic function of an iPod to listen to music? Can’t you get a cover for the screen to protect it?”

I knew full well that you could get a cover for the screen.

Slachary: “Those things are expensive and are not even remotely as cool as most cell phone covers.”
Father: “Expensive? Isn’t that because you wanted a cover made from polar bear leather? I still say those are illegal, no matter what the guy at the shop said.”
Slachary: “Whatever - I bet polar bears roam the streets in Arctic regions and are a menace. I would be doing everyone a favor. Why spend the extra money on a cover when I can just buy another iPod?”
Father: “Go ahead - that sounds like a reasoned economically sound argument.”
Slachary: “I might need financing. Anyway, a new device will most likely be more energy efficient - I will be doing the polar bears a favor.”
Father: “I see your point, but I have this odd thought that a protective cover would be more practical. I think my sister has one for her iPod.”
Slachary: “Look, you are thinking of the twenty or so Cheetah print cell phone faceplates that she has. Those don’t protect - they project.”
Father: “You really didn’t just say that. They ‘project’?”
Slachary: “Like status.”
Father: “I thought having a car phone was status enough.”
Slachary: “Are. You. Joking. You are the last person in the world to own a cell phone. There is no status in cell ownership - that was 30 years ago!”
Father: “Twenty.”
Slachary: “Okay - 25 years ago, when a plain vanilla brick was a status symbol. Small is now status.”
Father: “Wait. By your logic, the small the phone you have, the more status you should command. Do they have cell phone skins that make the phone invisible? That should be the next status symbol.”
Slachary: “Groan. That would be a Bluetooth headset.”
Father: “Oh. I hate those things. I can never tell if people are talking to me at the store or not.”

The energy team at Google has been analyzing how the U.S. could greatly reduce fossil fuel use by 2030. Google’s proposal - “Clean Energy 2030″ -provides a potential path to weaning the U.S. off of coal and oil for electricity generation by 2030 (with some remaining use of natural gas as well as nuclear), and cutting oil use for cars by 38%. Will Google’s “Clean Energy 2030″ plan be adopted and codified into law in 2009 by the incoming Congress and President?

# Over 22 years the plan would generate billions of dollars in savings and create millions of jobs
# The plan wants to replace all coal and oil electricity generation with renewable energy sources
# It also calls for hybrids & pure electric cars to make up 90% of new car sales in 2030

Um. When did Google start ramming proposals through Congress? Hey, all the ideas they are talking about sound great and I am glad they are making the effort to be part of the solution and not the problem, but this question is presented in a fashion that is a little overbearing and make me uncomfortable. I voted “Other,” as I don’t believe Google’s “Clean Energy 2030″ plan will be anything more than reference material. Vote here:

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Here are the crowd’s projection based on the predictions for the battleground states.

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These results are based off of polling data - a different sort of animal from the prediction markets I have been looking at. Polling data is showing a closer race than the prediction markets, but still showing Obama ahead of McCain in the all important Electoral College. If you are interested, you can even download the poll data and play with it yourself. Another interesting derivation of the data is the historical trends in the electoral college.