Soap Box Day Today

[Wilma]

David, that is very interesting.  You might be the person to answer this one.  How much can the polls that are being quoted now, be trusted?  I think that is what I want to ask.  Maybe you can figure out what I really want.

[pepelect]

So what am I going to do next???

Often we know what you are going to do before you do.

David

[dnalexander]

David, that is very interesting.  You might be the person to answer this one.  How much can the polls that are being quoted now, be trusted?  I think that is what I want to ask.  Maybe you can figure out what I really want.

Wilma there are a lot of polls out there. The polls that I read and trust right now show this as a dead heat with a 95% accuracy. Without a big lecture. If a poll has a margin of error less than a 2.5 % margin of error it is outside what is called the statistical scientific theory line of 5% swing. That hints at bad data gathering or what we call poor lab technique.That does not mean that it is not useful or appropriate for the question. It can provide you with good information but it needs a much wider difference in the numbers than we have in the Presidential race. There are many other factors to look at besides the mathematical theory for probability and data sampling; which are very straightforward. The analysis is harder. Now for maybe a little more useful information.

This race is uncallable by the polls. The numbers are a dead heat when you use the margin of error. More importantly the people that have no opinion are much larger than the margin of error. That keeps an accurate poll at a dead heat no matter who you attribute those people to. What it means is we are split 50 50 on who should be the President. Flipping a coin is cheaper in this case. When the numbers are farther apart on a question the answer to the question is much more apparent. We are animals of habit that is why advertising works. That is why the Casino always wins in the end. Sometimes our analysis is wrong, but not enough to make us come out behind in the long run.

David

As for you Patrick you are going to continue to drink Mt. Dew, post acerbic comments, and work on finding a useful purpose for the old grade school. I don't need a poll for that. Also, Patrick you are but one person and we don't care about what one person does. We care about the group. Nothing personal so no hard feelings.

[Wilma]

Thank you, David.  You have confirmed what I was thinking.  Now I hope that the right people read this and don't go off and vote for the person that the polls say is going to win just because they want to be on the winning side.  That isn't a good enough reason.  Following the leader is fun to play when it is just a game.

[pepelect]

I didn't mean me personally I meant the social unit as a whole.......



What direction are we +\-2.5% headed?



Heaven or Hell?

[Catwoman]

Judging from the political debates and the wretched choices in people running, I'd say...hell.  Ding-Ding...first stop on the right, just before Never Ending Misery and just after the conclusion of the 2008 Presidential election.

[Teresa]

          IS THE PRESS AND MEDIA OBLIGATED TO BE AS TRUTHFUL AS POSSIBLE?

I don't have the time right now to get into this as fully as I would like, but I wanted to get it started.  My simple answer is yes.  The press and media news are obligated to be as truthful as possible, but some of them are not doing that and are in fact doing just the opposite.

See my post in the Politics thread.

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,6142.new.html#new

[dnalexander]

I didn't mean me personally I meant the social unit as a whole.......



What direction are we +\-2.5% headed?



Heaven or Hell?

Pep as for whether we are headed for heaven or hell I don't know. As I said we want to know what groups of people say. Your question is only answerable by one entity, being, God. So far he\she has not responded to our phone call. If we get a response that poll has no margin of error.

David

David

[Wilma]

Today's Subject:  Recycling

I am a devout recycler.  I am doing the best I know how.  But there should be a better way.  So, what do I do with the following items that made it to my trash because I don't know what else to do with them.

plastic without a recycling symbol
caps from plastic containers that have a symbol, but the lid doesn't have one
styrofoam
dry cereal boxes;  these are perfectly clean
cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls, etc.
cardboard backs from calendars, etc.
junk mail
discarded toothbrushes
bread wrappers
shred
hard plastic packaging
plastic kitty litter bag and bird feed bag

This might not sound like a gripe but there is one here.  I think that the government isn't doing enough to encourage recycling.  No, I am not talking about being given a bonus for recycling, but, rather making it easier.  Why should we have to throw away anything?  Why isn't the government doing more to either find ways to recycle our waste or making it illegal to make non-recyclable, non-biodegradable products.

Yes, I said, make it illegal to make non-recyclable, non-biodegradable products.  Make it illegal to package anything in non-recyclable, non-biodegradable packaging.  It hurts my soul to put these things in my trash, but what else can I do with them?   

[Diane Amberg]

First there has to be a market for the stuff. If nobody wants it, it can't be recycled. Some things are already made from recycled materials, like cereal boxes and cardboard tubes. Some things can be recycled many times, but others don't have the strength after one use or must be partially made of new product for the process to work. Some things are just too nasty to recycle. I'm getting a bit smarter about all this as we are about to start  mandatory home recycling here, IF the market hasn't dried up. We will have two big roll cans, one for all recyclables mixed together for one pick up a week and the other can will be for"trash'' that will be picked up another day, once a week. We're supposed to start in the spring....we'll see. We've been sent folders about what to recycle,  but their attitude is, if not sure, put it the trash can. Eventually the stuff that now goes to the land fill will be burned in a clean way and probably be used to fuel trash to steam plants for heat or manufacturing. As for the government getting involved...are you sure you want that?