I saw it in today’s (November 9, 2012) Anchorage Daily News.
If it was published in an accredited periodical, it has to be true, right?
Of course, one had to read between the lines to see what Ken
Bensinger of the Los Angeles Times was really saying. The headline read: ‘Number
crunchers were right despite what pundits said’ and was meant to reveal that
mathematicians “called the presidential race and a slew of smaller contests
with stunning accuracy.” Mr. Bensinger believes mathematicians gathered data from
Gallup, Rasmussen, and other polls taken throughout the election campaign and
then used computers to, well, I’m not sure how they did it, but supposedly, these
math wizards accurately called all the Electoral College votes and dozens of
smaller, local elections.
I say they simply jumped forward in time a month, maybe only
a week, and read the November 7th newspaper.
After all, if a time machine were built, wouldn’t super
brainiac mathematicians be involved somewhere? Don’t those guys have a club or
secret gang or something they belong to, Mensa maybe? True, time travel to the past would be easier,
but finding a focal point a mere week into the future wouldn’t be too risky. I’m
sure the math brigade could find a volunteer brave enough to risk jumping
forward a few days to gather information so they could ‘verify’ their results. If
they had goofed up on a prediction or two, they could tweak the data to make
sure their credibility was secure.
Now, put on your super-geek suit, master mathematician, and
leap forward far enough to find the cure to cancer and world hunger. I don’t
think anyone could go forward far enough to find the cure for meanness or
stupidity; they’ll probably be around forever.
Dani Haviland, author
The Fairies Saga
www.danihaviland.com
(picture above snapped last week in Greensboro, NC while on a fact finding mission).
