October 28, 2018

My MAGA encounter last night

I drive Uber to supplement my other job. I picked up a guy in a nice area in Houston's Spring Branch neighborhood. He was going about 8 miles to the Greenway Plaza area to a bar called Kirby Icehouse.

I generally have my radio on Houston Public Radio which is an NPR station. There was a segment on where they were talking about malnutrition in Gaza, I think. He asked me what I was listening to and I said Houston Public Radio and he said "Well, it sounds like some Muslim propaganda". I was taken aback that he would say that and I said. "I don't need your opinion about what I'm listening to, do you want me to change it". He said yes and I changed it to a rock station.

We got to our exit and then we turned on Westheimer and got stopped at the train and it was a really long train, and then another train in the opposite direction. It seemed like forever. I had right away changed the subject but it was awkward and after the train left I just couldn't keep from saying. "Can I give you a suggestion?" He said yes and I said "Next time you ride Uber, you don't have to give me your racist opinion of what I'm listening to. Just ask to change the channel."

He said "Well, I don't want to listen to your opinions either"

I said "Fine, then just say 'Could we please turn the radio to something else?' "

Then he said "Well, I'm paying you."

That's where I said "Not anymore. I want you out of my car."

I pulled over real quick and he said "I don't want to ride with you either. I'm reporting you. MAGA" and slammed the door.

I called Uber right away and reported the incident. I made sure that I told them that the guy said "Muslim propaganda" The guy I talked to had an foreign accent so he very well could have been a Muslim. He said that he didn't think I did anything wrong since I've been driving for Uber and have a good rating and over 2000 rides. It shook me up a little so I used the next half-hour or so to go get more gas and eat a cookie.

October 18, 2018

Something I noticed about the CNN O'Rourke-Cruz poll

Here is a link to the left of the poll metrics.

http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/10/16/rel1_tx.pdf

In there it says:


Crosstabs on the following pages only include results for subgroups with enough unweighted cases to produce a
sampling error of +/-8.5 percentage points or less once adjusted for design effect. Some subgroups represent too
small a share of the state population to produce crosstabs with an acceptable sampling error. Interviews were
conducted among these subgroups, but results for groups with a design-effect adjusted sampling error larger than
+/-8.5 percentage points are not displayed and instead are denoted with "N/A".

When I looked at a breakdown by age, it had N/A for the age groups 18-34 and 35-49, so basically they didn't sample enough 18-49 year olds to get an acceptable sampling error. Seems that the poll is pretty skewed to older voters and may be just a load of crap.

October 16, 2018

Drinking game for Beto O'Rourke-Ted Cruz debate tonight

Political debates are more fun when the television grown a little fuzzy at the edges and the number of candidates onstage has increased from two to four.

That's why we offer this drinking game for readers tuning in tonight's debate between U.S. Senate candidates Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz. If you choose to play, please imbibe responsibly, take Uber home from your watch party and make sure all the puke hits the trash can — especially if you're in someone else's house.


Required: Beer of your choice, hard liquor of your choice and a television tuned to the debate, which airs at 8 p.m. on KENS5 and C-SPAN.

Drink once from your beer if:
Beto uses a Spanish phrase
Ted describes his opponent as "too extreme for Texas"
Beto gives an example where he cooperated with a lawmaker from across the aisle
Ted claims marijuana is a gateway to opiate abuse
Beto mentions that he visited all 254 Texas counties
Ted describes the left as "angry," "unruly" or "filled with hatred"
Beto quotes from a Clash lyric (Crass, Gang of Four and Minor Threat are also acceptable)
Ted disparages tofu, bean sprouts, quinoa or other foods liberals are known to eat.

https://m.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2018/10/16/enjoy-this-drinking-game-for-tonights-beto-orourke-ted-cruz-debate