2004 December

According to a Washington Post analysis, the “GOP Got More Bang For Its Billion.” In the most expensive presidential contest in the nation’s history, John F. Kerry and his Democratic supporters nearly matched President Bush and the Republicans, who outspent them by just $60 million, $1.14 billion to $1.08 billion.

The trend to cry “Foul!” when a preferred candidate or issue loses an election may run afoul because of the Internet. When someone decides to run for office or support a measure, an initial impulse is to throw up a website for publicity, contacts, and funding. When a San Diego, California, woman, Donna Frye announced […]

In 1948 Lyndon Baines Johnson’s political career was revived by a “lost” ballot box which put him 58 votes over popular Governor Coke Stevenson in that year’s Senate race. The Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for uncovering how “vote brokers” employed by candidate Xavier Suarez stole a mayoral election by tampering with […]

This past election cycle really saw the web log (or “blog”) come into its own. Blogs now apparently have the power to make and break election candidates and drive stories on their own.

Having just left the UK I remember reading and seeing in the news the debate going on about national identity cards. In a country where CCTV cameras are everywhere it seems that the ID card debate is almost a moot point. A person in the UK is having their movements tracked by camera everywhere they […]

It’s that time of year for lists: gift lists (both what you want and those you need to buy and for whom), prize winners, and just in general the “tops” in everything as determined by anyone. Not to be left out, the people at the Guardian online devised their list of the top […]

The Mustang, Oklahoma school district just lost a bond election. The school district had asked for bonds totaling around $10.4 million (plus another $500,000 in bonds for transportation) and things were looking good for passage. Then it happened.

Staci Peters writes:
The fact that I detest reality TV is no secret. Survivor, Trading Spouses, Top Model, Extreme Makeover, Fear Factor, The Apprentice, blah, blah, blah. I don’t care for them at all… in fact, I believe they’re quite trite and completely useless.
They don’t interest me in the least. I wouldn’t use a second of […]

Washington state Democrats test the adage that a “third time is a charm” when it comes to the race for our next governor. In an unprecedented and controversial maneuver, the state’s Democratic Party ordered a second statewide recount of votes from the November 2004 election. Even after the hand recount, state voters may never know […]

The fastest way to change your brain is through
learning something new. Modern neuroscience has clearly
proven that the true essence of learning actually IS a
physical change in the brain.
However creating changes in the brain through a
learning experience is not a science. For although
science can certainly tell us what learning is, and
what influences it - effectively applying […]

Get to know me and you’ll find out that I’m a rather outspoken
opponent of “tort reform.” It’s a stand that puts me in the minority
among conservatives, but that’s just the way it is. But my stand on
that issue does not mean that I somehow do not know frivilous lawsuits
when I see them.
One such lawsuit came […]

Over at ZDNet, Davis Berlind has posted an article that relates Dave Winer’s concerns over the trustworthiness of Google.
“Scripting News publisher and RSS shaker-and-mover Dave Winer diplomatically bit the hand that fed him with a recent blog entry that can be summed this way: Unless there are some changes in the way […]

The results of a Harris survey released last week show that American women are increasingly integrating computing into their lives. The study, conducted last summer online, asked various lifestyle questions of more than 2,000 men and women. Women still lack confidence in computer purchase decisions, but they also lack confidence in the level […]

I was intrigued when I first saw the headline: Britons growing ‘digitally obese’. What in the world does digitally obese mean? But after reading the article I understood and it made me think. Looking at my PC and all the files stored on there I realized I was obese too (so it’s not just a […]

Any time you see someone selectively quoted without also giving you
access to the actual quote you should retain a modicrum of suspecion.
Consider this quoted response attributed to Donald Rumsfeld and
provided by the Associated Press:
“You go to war with the army you have,” he said in a rare public
airing of rank-and-file concerns among the troops.

4,400 lost votes merits rerun.

This week someone walked me through adding a device as I was assisting them with troubleshooting. I’ve been called an Office Manager, a Receptionist and Sales during similar situations. It could be because I suck at my job but I can build a machine from bits in 20 minutes and solve most problems that come […]

Think America’s on the path of fiscal responsibility? Really? Brett Arends of The Boston Herald writes:
Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being bearish.
But you should hear what he’s saying in private.
Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown last week, including a group […]

Gnomie Stu Kopelman responds to Matt Hartley’s Let The Cockroaches Have It:
This really opens up a can of worms. There are many universal events that I believe have far-reaching impact upon the heavenly bodies, just as there many global events that have far-reaching effects upon the earth. Yet no one has power enough to control […]

When was the last time you were at the grocery store and “Got Milk”
convinced you that you just had to have another gallon of the white
liquid so full of calcium?
Or when was the last time you put that chicken back because you
remembered “Beef: It’s what’s for dinner?”
Yeah, me neither. So it causes me to wonder […]