The kids left their big bowl of candy out..

and well, now some hours later, my tummy hurts.

Ack.

Bush 2000/Bush 2004

African-Americans: 8%/11%
Whites: 54%/58%
Hispanic: 41%/44%
Married: 53%/56%
Not Married: 38%/40%
Union Members: 37%/40%
Gays: 25%/23%
Gun Owners: 61%/67%
Protestants: 63%/59%
Jewish: 19%/25%
Catholics: 45%/52%
Republicans: 91%/93%
Democrats: 10%/11%
Men: 51%/55%
Women: 43%/48%
18-29 year olds: 46%/45%
30-44 year olds: 49%/53%
45-59 year olds: 49%/51%
60+ 47%/54%

Interesting discussion from Roger Simon's site.

In a poll on DemocraticUnderground.org, over 70% of its users responded that 11/3 was a worse day for them than 9/11.

Kind of puts things in perspective..well not really.

Wallstreet Journal read Rob Steele writes some advice for the Demorats on how they can win the next election:

Dear Democrats,

While you think about how to do better next time, please stay true to your core values and feelings. Don't restrain your anger; part of your problem in this election was that you didn't put it out there enough. If other Americans understood how truly mad you are it would make more of an impression.

You need to try harder to make them see that you're smarter and better than your opponents. Unleash your indignation and express your outrage and they will start to get your superiority to the religious fanatics, racists and homophobes who oppose you. You've got to make the point over and over that these people are intolerant stupid hicks while you are smart, good and wise.

Face it, you're just not getting your message across. You run mild, polite candidates who can't or won't let it all hang out. If everyone understood, really understood, your anger, intelligence and moral superiority, well, things would have turned out differently.

Get ready for some spicy stuff.  I think one of the reasons people like Stardock is that we operate a lot like how many people who have thought of running their own business would run their business.  Simply put, we're candid. We don't have any venture capital powering the company. We operate because of people like you guys who buy our products, subscribe to our sites, etc. send us money and we then take that money and create stuff you want. That makes us totally independent. We don't have corporate masters. You guys are our masters. So you don't get any of that patronizing politically correct crap that you see from so many "larger" companies (even though Stardock itself is a multi-million dollar corporation now all from many thousands of individual purchases each year).

My rant of the day is that apparently the Konfabulator for Windows beta comes out next week. How do I know this? It was on freakin Slashdot. It was on News.com. And it was on dozens of other sites. Wow. Konfabulator for Windows. Must be doing something earth shattering? Friends, I have Konfabulator on my Macintosh. It's a great Mac program. I think its developer is a very talented guy. But to be perfectly honest, it's not even competitive with Kapsules let alone something like DesktopX.

But given the coverage Konfabulator always gets, you'd think it was some sort of miracle program. Sure, it costs more than DesktopX, does a lot less than DesktopX, has fewer users than DesktopX, is harder to create stuff for, has less content, but it's special because it came from a Mac and everyone knows that people who use Macs are...you know...a better breed of human than us yokals who use PeeCees. 

Not that Konfabulator content is bad. Why this past week a cool weather widget came out for it. And an RSS reader.  And a terror alert status. In other words, the same kinds of things that have been avaiable on DesktopX, Kapsules, Samurize, and countless other programs for a long time. But Konfabulator gets credit for being somehow unique even though it was preceded by DesktopX by 3 years.

Probably the most insulting part was that Konfabulator big coverage came from CNET which has acted like it was somehow unique even as DesktopX on CNET has been on its top 10 most popular desktop enhancement downloads category for the past 203 consecutive weeks.  That's about 4 years straight (Konfabulator was released on the Mac in 2003 to keep things in perspective).

I'm going to start showing my son (who's 7) how to make widgets for DesktopX. I think he'd have a good time and it'll teach him some valuable skills such as how to use a graphics package, how to do some basic programming, and best of all, you he'd get some immediate gratification. When I was his age I was playing around with basic programming on my dad's Apple II. Those were the days.

Meanwhile, I must find Tiggz and snuff him out.  In the advocacy competition he's beating me. ME. How is this happening? Now I know how a Kerry voter must be feeling right now. How is Tiggz able to get more people to WinCustomize them myself? Personally I'm blaming it on the voter machines in Ohio. The new WinCustomize tracks the # of people you bring to the site from links you create on other sites.  Obviously he's cheating. That's the only explanation.  But this week he has brought 1,157 people to WinCustomize.com from links he's made to his personal page and his skins from other sites.

Meanwhile, Steven Grenier has taken the lead in the WindowBlinds most popular skin contest. His WindowMax2 skin has passed up many other skins to be the current leadrer demonstrating that it's not how quick you get your skin up but how much people like it.

This Tuesday DesktopX v2.2 will be released so hopefully people will be able to finally compare Konfabulator to DesktopX head to head. I'm looking forward to that. Finally and apples and apples comparison between the two.

Meanwhile, the Utopia Icons are doing really well. It's always good to see long time community skinners like Paul Boyer do well. He did this on his own folks, I know he spent many many weekends working on Utopia to make sure it was really good.

So next week things will definitely be getting interesting. New builds of a bunch of programs coming out and lots of news. And WinCustomize v4 will be available to more people. Stay tuned!

Galactic Civilizations II: Dreadlords

Shipyards

Executive Summary

The Shipyard is created when a player builds a space-port on one of their planets. The Shipyard exists on the galactic map adjacent to the planet that built the space-port.

Shipyards are what are used to build ships that, when completed, orbit the planet. They also provide a link to the ship design screen.

Shipyards can be destroyed but are protected by an energy shield from the space port on the planet. So destroying them is much tougher than destroying a typical unit.  However, shipyards do not need to be destroyed to conquer a planet.

Concept

When a user clicks on the planet, if a shipyard is in orbit of the planet they can see what the shipyard is building.

If the user clicks on the shipyard, the context area of the map displays what’s being built and allows them to easily change what’s being built. It also lets them queue up ship to be built.

The screen also includes a checkbox that says “Continuous Construction” which tells the game to keep building what is selected.

The mainstream media still hasn't figured out why Kerry lost the election. Instead, they react in shock and surprise at the exit poll result that "moral values" was the #1 issue. And what do they conclude? That the anti-gay marriage issue and evangelical Christian vote is what caused that. 

Let's ignore the fact that moral values was the #1 reason for Bush voters in states where gay marriage wasn't an issue. Why then are they latching on to that? Because Kerry supporters don't want to admit to themselves (yet) that the reason Kerry lost wasn't gay marriage or even really Kerry himself but rather the behavior and attitude of Kerry's supporters.

In talking with a great number of people since the election, it's become pretty clear that a big reason why people came out to vote for Bush this time was the pretentious and insulting attitude that Kerry supporters had for the values and opinions have for others.

It really all started becoming clear at the Superbowl. When Janet Jackson's breast was displayed for all to see, the left's reaction was "Get over it!" and "Deal with it!" They showed no respect whatsoever for the values of the majority of Americans who are trying to raise children in the way they see fit. 

Then we were subjected to months of "Anyone who supports Bush must be a moron, bigot, racist, redneck, homophobe, idiot..etc." 

Then this past Summer we were subjected to months of Michael Moore and other media elites with their condescending attitudes towards those who don't share their philosophical beliefs. By the end of summer, we got to see celebrities coming out and telling us what we should think -- as if their opinions are somehow more valid than ours. Why does Sean Penn's opinion matter more than my neighbor's?

Time and time again Kerry's supporters made it clear how much they hated Bush and hated everything that Bush supporters stand for. The nastiness and pretentious behavior of Kerry's supporters thus motivated people who would not normally vote to come out in vote.

And when they did come out, and were asked why, which exit poll question would fit their reason? Which question most closely resembles wanting to come out because you felt your values and opinions were being trampled on? Answer: Moral values.

Gay marraige, the war on terror, and other such things definitely mattered. I don't want to make it sound like they didn't. But in an election that was decided by 3 percentage points, I think Kerry's supporters need to recognize that their attitude towards Bush and those who agree with his views were what cost Kerry the election.  Otherwise, they're doomed to repeat their failures in the future.

Over at Right Wing News they lifted some of the more lively posts from Democratic Underground. Awhile back someone suggested that I didn't know what I was talking about when I said that there are anti-American people out there. They are out there and they are legion.

Here are some samples:

DuaneBidoux: "America to World: F*ck Yourself. Let's get the meme out: Boycott American. Corporations. Pass on the Fords, GMs, Coca Cola. When businesses hurt abroad they will begin telling Bush his policy of being world asshole is bad for busines.

If you listened to the right wing this morning you know the score: they want revolution. F*ck this sh*t. This is war."

woody b: "Dear friends from Ohio,

The world will most grateful you if you start a calm revolution by gathering evidence that a lot more people voted for Kerry than for Bush."

Q3JR4: "A call to action. Or, COME ON PEOPLE!!!!! Your votes didn't count. If you live in Ohio, Colorado, Florida, they didn't count. Bush stole the election....AGAIN. With the level of voter disenfranchisement, intimidation, and Diebold trickery going on, you think that more people here would see that.

Come on people! What are we waiting for? Pick the call up and pass it along alread!"

PhuLoi: "Secession may be the last option to save the Constitution. Given the unbridgable chasm that has opened between the Blue states and the Red states, I feel that secession should be seriously considered. Blue states are no longer duly represented, votes are not being counted whereas computer created votes seem to be counted.

The basic tenants of the Constitution are endangered and we of the Blue states seem powerless to defend them. Let us then consider divorcing ourselves from this abusive relationship and reorganize under the Constituion, as it was intended, leaving the Red states to wallow in their own filth."

fdr_hst_fan: "Thanks to the inbred, redneck, Bible-besotted Solid South, we're saddled with the village idiot and his Nazi followers for another four years.

That's the error Lincoln and Andrew Johnson made: they wanted to be "conciliatory" to the Confederacy. Horse hockey! They STARTED that war; they didn't DESERVE any consideration! They didn't stop to consider their actions at Fort Sumter, did they?"

Liberal_Andy: "I stopped flying the flag today. I've flown the US flag every sunny day (I'm on my third one)since 9/11. I just can't do it anymore. Maybe on 7/4. We'll see."

Mountainman: "I hate America Did you hear that freeps? Several months ago, when ever I saw or heard a wingnut ask a liberal "why do you hate America?" I got pissed. The question didn't deserve an answer.

What I'm going to do is to get together with like minded people and make little pieces of America that we can love and hopefully those little pieces will grow and connect until we can love all America again."