Now That Midterm Elections Are Over

I took the title of this blog post from a headline news article in Gallup Daily News. "Now that midterm elections are over...". 

I made three interesting discoveries of news sources this past weekend.  How did I find the Gallup website?  My first new discovery was The Daily Beast; a  hotspot on one of their headlines took me to Gallup. Another discovery was the Huffington Post.

http://www.gallup.com/Home.aspx

http://www.thedailybeast.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/


I don't see the word "poll" in the website identity statement "About Gallup",  

"Gallup Daily News reports empirical evidence to leaders and decision makers worldwide about how the world's 6 billion citizens think and behave."

As if I didn't have enough headlines and commercial news blogs to capture my attention via Google Reader, but there I oversubscribe to everything, deliberately.   

The Daily Beast and Huffington Post have attention grabbing, sensational, and controversial twists on the news.  If I believed the headlines, I might have changed my vote in the general election.  Now that the general election is over, I fearlessly read between the lines.  I think I'm knowledgable about most current events, based on print subscriptions I receive in the mailbox at the end of my driveway;  USA Today and The Economist.  I have an opinion.

TMI - too much information.  How many times have you heard that phrase recently? 

The description "sea change" has become cliche.  My observation looking at the inland sea in front of me -  wave patterns on the water change hours ahead of a major storm on the lake.  My 10th grade World History teacher taught me to read between the lines.  In my opinion,  the midterm elections may have been the sea change.  Telltale signs suggest the storm has just started. 

Remember what a telltale is?  In Moby Dick, a current read for me, the telltale is a lamp above Captain Ahab's table.  Ahab doesn't have to leave his quarters to know a sea change has happened.  Dictionary.com and Answers.com give a  nautical meaning as a piece of thread or ribbon revealing the wind direction relative to the motion of the boat.

Another change making headlines on The Daily Beast and elsewhere is the new messaging features offered by Facebook.  Apparently, I'm one of 400 million people who are waiting for authorization to try it.  Will Facebook replace email? I don't think so.  Will the demographic of everyone over age 30 be cast aside, ignored by Facebook?  Will I be sorry I didn't spend $9000 more for my new Honda Oddysey to get every imaginable electronic gadget to deal with social networking?