mikesmit.com

good news!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:48:00 -0400

Yes, that's my sister, and yes, she is engaged.

And no, I didn't *really* find out on Facebook, she called me.

Congrats to Meg & Chris!

If anyone reading this site has embarassing stories or pictures, I have started collecting. :D (Don't tell Megan, though, she regularly stands behind me with sharp scissors.)

(Just kidding, of course, obviously she'll see this page.)

betting pool results

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:20:00 -0400

Sorry for the delay, I was having trouble getting electrons into my electronics. The problem is solved; here now, the betting pool results.

... wow man, did I ever get smacked around. I called VP SL wrong, and was off by enough on all of the margins to feel ashamed. And Senate... wow, my margins were nowhere near the studied indifference voters displayed toward the candidates, and I called one winner wrong. Luckily for me, most other people did just as poorly.

To calculate the results, I took the official results from www.dsu.ca, removed the spoiled votes, and calculated the percentages. I then subtracted the guesses from the actuals....
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official results

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:34:00 -0400

The Gazette beat me to this by like 3 hours, and it was posted to this site in the comments an hour ago. My apologies; I was in the area and decided at the last minute to stop by the Grawood to see how things were going.

These are the winners; detailed results to follow.

President
Courtney Larkin

VP Internal
Dan Boyle

VP Education
Mark Coffin

VP Student Life
Kris...
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it is almost time

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:30:00 -0400

About half an hour to go until voting closes; 2 hours after that, the results. Looks like voter turnout is going to be around 16%.

I'll try to get the results up here as soon as they are officially published by the CRO.

Just to respond more visibly to a question a commenter asked: no, I can't see the results. This is so people don't spend their time trying to parse my words trying to figure out if I am implying something about the results. I know nothing. Since I know nothing, I cannot be accused of dropping hints. :)

(History lesson: During one of the first years we ran online elections, the elections committee...
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day 10 wrap-up

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:26:00 -0400

If the first election day is boring for everyone... the second one is even worse. In about 17 hours, the results will be announced.

Until then, let's entertain ourselves by talking about voter turnout. As of right now, we're a few votes shy of 2,000. I can remember days when the DSU voter turnout was around 5% - less than 1,000 people. I don't mean a decade I go, I mean like... 2003. 2004 saw high voter turnout (23%, if my memory is still with me). Since then we've levelled off in the 18-21% range. This year we might not break 20%. Why?

An email today went out to all students, reminding them to vote. Every year since 2004, when that...
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day 9 wrap-up

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:26:00 -0400

There was no day 8 wrap-up. There was almost none today either, because I don't have much to talk about.

On the off-chance you haven't voted, do it now.

The first day of voting is quiet for everyone but the elections committee. They spend the day whipping the vote, setting up the poll clerks, dealing with bitchy & nervous candidates, and personally contacting everyone at Dal to remind them to vote (or so it seems). Bless their tired little hearts.

What that means, though, is there's not a lot to talk about. The news on MikeSmit.com today was my discussion...
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predictions.

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:22:00 -0400

I've compiled your predictions and my predictions. I need to remind you that this is not endorsement, this is not my wish list; rather, this is a read on what is going to happen over the next 3 days. I have no particular confidence in the percentages, though I am reasonably confident about the winners I chose.

A total of 19 readers sent me predictions; I've presented them in graph form to save time and space. Not everyone filled out every position. (Update: I've received several submissions since; I'll include those when I calculate a winner, but I'm not editing the post.)

I really have no grand language to put around...
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bai2u campaign

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:12:00 -0400

The websites are down, Facebook groups are disbanded, posters are in a dumpster... at this point the die is cast, and it doesn't land for 3 more days.

This is a last call for predictions for the election outcome. You can get details and instructions at the original post. I'm finalizing my own predictions, then I'll look at your predictions, and then I'll share them with the world.
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VP Student Life platforms

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:00:00 -0400

It's hard to say what comprises the VP Student Life platforms. Though each has a 'platform' that was an early post to their website and Facebook groups, they have each been offering additional ideas throughout the campaign period. For the sake of simplicity, I'm sticking to the initial offering from each (Kris | Krista). They are short, so no summaries.

As usual, metrics. Most are self-explanatory. The Flesch-Kincaid...
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VP Internal platforms

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:45:00 -0400

I took a look at the VP Internal platforms. Obviously, my first thought was "Holy Hell, Jones, what were you thinking?" As you may have noticed, her website puts all content in this tiny little box where you can see about 5 lines of 8-10 words each. Then you scroll down to read another 50 words. Then you scroll down some more. Then you scroll down again. Then you cut yourself (remember, down the line, not across the tracks). And that's only if her green fetish didn't already make you want to put out your own eyes.

First, of course, some metrics. Most are self-explanatory. The Flesch-Kincaid...
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