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Brünnhilde, the very large Valkyrie in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, is the so-called “fat lady” who sings at the close of the epic opera… Until she finishes belting it out—the show ain’t over…

The “fat lady” metaphor has been used to describe everything from sports to political contests…

And, in the Democratic race for the presidency, it appears the fat lady’s been wailing for a while—but who is listening?

In recent days, we’ve seen more and more evidence that the Democratic party is finally taking note of that soloist’s Aria.

However, Hillary apparently is deaf to the overtures from folks like super-delegate Patrick Leahy, even as her campaign slowly melts down.

You can read here—in much greater detail—about the string of high ranking democrats who are also putting the pressure on Hillary to say “goodnight” because they fear all her campaign will do now is fracture and disrupt the Democratic party.

Then there’s he money issue.

Hillary’s campaign has left a trail of unpaid bills all across the country—and has been doing this for months as her organization can’t raise enough to meet the expenses it’s incurring. You can read the analysis here.

Meanwhile—it’s more than just cash and delegate counts that are lacking for Hillary…

Daily tracking polls by Gallup are now showing Obama with a 10 point lead over Hillary among Democrats nationwide… At 52% to 42%—it’s his largest lead ever…

Hillary says it’s not time for her to quit. But as comedian George Carlin says, “you don’t tell time, time tells you.”

—Steve

The recent passing of Arthur C. Clarke reminded me about the relationship between science fiction–and science fact….

Back in 1945—before anyone even thought about space travel, he proposed the idea of geostationary satellites…

At the time it was dismissed as crazy talk. It became a reality within 20 years.

Now, our reality changes with exponential speed…

Check out these offerings from the Techno Buffet….

TURNING THE TABLES ON COMPUTING….

Star Trek has long featured cool, touch-screen computers that need no mouse—and can do just about everything instantly…

Now, Microsoft is getting ready to deliver its first table-top computers to casinos, restaurants, and hotels…

The $10,000 device brings Star Trek’s 23rd Century technology right into our time.

It uses something called multi-touch technology—which is demonstrated in this clip…

Right now—the tabletop is only being marketed to business clients—but Microsoft says a consumer version should be available with-in 3 years….

STOP DRAGON YOUR MOUSE….

Up till now, your view of images on the computer has been limited to what you could drag on-screen with your mouse from whatever source you were accessing…

Now, Microsoft’s Seadragon unit demonstrates how people can access anything on the Internet—and zoom in and out as deeply as they want….

It will also allow you to take scores of separate images of one subject—and combine them into one, three dimensional image that can be manipulated in multiple ways…

The video clip shows it all—although it takes about a minute and a half for the person demonstrating Seadragon to get to the “WOW” factor…

GEE P.S. ….

 The Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu advised his soldiers back in 400 B.C. to “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

 

Tzu would have loved LOOPT.

 

 

It’s a real-time mapping service that uses GPS technology on your cell phone to show you where your friends are located.

 

It works with-in a 25-mile radius… You can literally watch the people move around an on-line map.

The technology allows all kinds of text, and visual communication with the friends in your LOOP…

LOOPT isn’t the only tracking service–just the first…

As these things proliferate, the question which needs to be answered is: How much freedom do we allow ourselves to give up in the name of convenience ?

—Steve

We’re still a couple of weeks away from the next major primary—but there’s plenty of tasty tid-bits to chew on from the political stew…

TAKING THEIR BEST SHOTS….

Hillary Clinton’s taking heavy sniper fire—but it’s not in Bosnia.. It’s happening on several fronts right here in the USA…

• A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Hillary’s positive rating is at 37%—the lowest it’s been since 2001… (That translates into a 63% negative)

 

• Politico Blog writers Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen talk about Clinton staffers who acknowledge that she’s got virtually no chance of winning. You can read their entire post here along with a scold to the media for pretending the contest with Obama is a close race when it is not.

 

• She’s having trouble shaking the calls that she lied about landing during sniper fire in Bosnia—as critics bring up the account in her book “Living History” that varies greatly from what she claimed in speeches.

You can check out one of her speeches on the matter vs. the actual newstape of her Bosnian journey in this clip.

THE McCAIN MUTANY…

A new Gallup polls says a big chunk of Democratic voters will bolt the party and vote for John McCain if their favorite doesn’t win.

19% of Obama supporters say they’d jump to the McCain ship if Hillary is the Nominee..

28% of Hillary supporters say they’d vote for McCain if Obama is the nominee..

RUSH TO VOTE….

Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” campaign continues to stir up controversy all over the country as well as threats of criminal prosecution in Ohio…

The talk show host has been urging republicans to cross over and register to vote for Hilliary Clinton in democratic primaries.

In Ohio—voters are required to take a pledge…. And lying on that pledge is a felony. Conviction could result in a fine of $2,500 and/or a year in jail…

Although there’s a lot of squawking over his tactics—it’s hard to envision prosecutors clogging the courts for weeks on end trying to convict thousands of voters of election fraud.

There’s months to go before this election is decided—and lots more stew to serve in the days ahead.

Keep your soup bowls handy !

—Steve