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Dale Jr. completes NASCAR's perfect start
No shootout winner has gone on to win the Daytona 500 that season since Dale Jarrett did it in 2000. Also, let's not forget that Saturday's race featured only 23 cars for 70 laps. Among those not eligible for the race since they didn't win a pole last year or have never won this race were: Defending Daytona 500 champ Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton, among others. Still, Earnhardt's perforamce was impressive. So what did we learn from Saturday night? 1. These guys can drive these cars. No doubt these cars don't handle as well. It will be interseting to see what happens with a 43-car field but the worries about a chaotic race went unfulfilled. There was a four-car crash but you're going to have that in restrictor-plate race.
First Looks
The latest entry in the DV-to-DVD product category, Pinnacle Systems' Pinnacle Express ($49.95 direct) is well designed and easy to use. But the program proved unstable in multiple tests on several computers, making it hard to recommend. Express is logically laid out, with icons on the top of the page that guide you through production. Step one is capture, where Express automatically scans your video for scene changes based on time code or content. But unlike Ulead's DVD MovieFactory, Express limits capture duration to about 18 minutes on Microsoft Windows 98 and 2000 PCs, a hassle you can avoid by upgrading to Windows XP and capturing to an NTFS-formatted disc. Step two occurs in the Preview/Edit screen. You start by choosing a menu template, or you can create your own menus, inserting a custom bitmapped background and background music and specifying video layout and text style.
Presidential Watch – Daily – Friday, February 8
Hillary Clinton survived a Super Tuesday scare. But there are five big reasons the former first lady should be spooked by the current trajectory of the campaign. Longtime Clinton friends say she recognizes the peril in careening between near-death primary night experiences and small-bore victories. Although the friends did not have details, they believe she may go ahead with the campaign shake-up she had been planning just before her surprise victory in New Hampshire. Her team is girding for trench warfare, telling reporters that the nomination will not be decided until at least the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, if then. Clinton aides told reporters on a conference call today that the Democratic Party’s complex delegate allocation rules mean that neither candidate is likely to take a sizable lead in the foreseeable future.
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