crankymessiah wrote:
] ] Since the earliest research into the the English Language
] ] as spoken in North America was begun by Noah Webster in
] ] the early 18th century, the regional variations in
] ] dialect have always been the most challenging and
] ] difficult to explain field. Since the development of
] ] carbonated beverage in 1886, one of linguistic
] ] geography's most important and least investigated
] ] phenomena has been the sharp regional divisions in the
] ] use of the terms "pop" and "soda." Due to the domination
] ] of hard-line conservative lingusitic geographers in such
] ] leading institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and
] ] the University of the West Indies, this dilemma has been
] ] swept under the rug . . . until now. Using the new
] ] technologies of the Internet and the World Wide Web, I
] ] and my colleagues at the California Institute of
] ] Technology and Lewis & Clark College are undertaking a
] ] bold new research into this fascinating area.
]
] Great maps to go along with this.

It's neither. It's Coke. Then there are lots of different kinds of Coke, like Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Co-Cola. Well, at least South of the Mason-Dixon line.

RE: The Pop vs. Soda Page

] On its own, Allen's experience seems easy to dismiss, but
] it's part of a pattern, the voting activists say, that
] reveals the voting industry's desire to keep people off.
] The worst transgression, one that almost everyone
] interviewed pointed to, occurred in a conference call on
] Sept. 16. The agenda for that meeting was sent to
] participants before the call, and it clearly states that
] the first order of business would be to approve new
] members, after which the committee would decide whether
] or not the draft standard was ready to be approved. The
] new members up for approval that day were Jim Adler,
] Alice Allen, Chuck Corry, David Dill, G.D. Miller, Ted
] Selker and Barbara Simons -- many of whom are in favor of
] verifiable audit trails in voting machines.
]
] But when people got on the phone that day, Vern Williams,
] a voting security expert at SAIC, an information
] technology consulting firm, suggested that the agenda be
] switched so that new members were approved after the
] committee voted on the draft standard -- a move that
] would ensure that the new members would have no say on
] the proposed standard. Williams' motion passed. Then the
] committee decided to open the draft standard for voting.
] And after that, the new members were approved.
]
] The activists were outraged at this maneuver. "I kept
] saying, 'We've been disenfranchised!'" says Simons, a
] computer scientist who worries about the security of
] electronic voting systems. Simons and others tried to
] reopen the vote on the standard, but one of the committee
] leaders then proposed a motion to adjourn the meeting.
] According to Roberts Rules of Order, an adjournment
] motion takes precedence over other motions. The motion
] won by one vote, and the meeting was adjourned.

More stupid voting tricks from those who would have to significantly alter their software to make it secure. I have to wonder, though, if the systems are this insecure, how hard could it have been to put it in place initially? Come on, even webcam girls have polls on their websites.

Anyway, it's another good look at how the good ol' boys club is trying to keep the status quo.

Another case of electronic vote-tampering?

yeah, thats right, the CIA has a kids web site...why?, I have no idea, but its funny...laugh damnit...

I dont want to grow up, I'm a CIA Kid...

] Smart bombs and "surgical strikes" would ensure a
] soldier's quick return. State of the art equipment would
] keep our soldiers safe. Billions of dollars for the
] Department of Defense would ensure that the compensation
] of our men and women in uniform would match their
] sacrifice for their country.
]
] Two hundred and ninety-one deaths later, with the war in
] Iraq officially "over,' active duty military still have
] no dates set for their return home. Soldiers are dying
] due to shortages of supplies, like bulletproof vests. The
] Bush administration's proposed cut in combat pay came
] with a simultaneous call for the Iraqi resistance to
] "bring 'em on." Already inadequate services for veterans
] are suffering further cuts, making the return home
] scarcely safer than the tour of duty.
]
] In the eyes of many military families a contract has been
] breached, a promise has been broken. And these families
] are making sure that those who broke their trust are
] called to answer for their betrayal.

And we wonder why "incidents" in Iraq are increasing? They want to come home, and they've instead been sent off to New Vietnam.

AlterNet: They Volunteered, Didn't They?

2003 Darwin Awards
In case you have been waiting breathlessly for this year's Darwin
Awards,here they are. The awards this year are, once again, truly
classic.

These awards are given each year to bestow upon (the remains of) that
individual, who through single-minded self-sacrifice, has done the
most to remove undesirable elements from the human gene pool. Just
think... until these events, these same people were walking the
streets like normal people.

5th RUNNER-UP:
Goes to a San Anselmo, California man who died when he hit a lift
tower at the Mammoth Mountain ski area while riding down the slope on
a foam pad. The 22-year old David Hubal was pronounced dead at Central
Mammoth Hospital.

The accident occurred about 3 a.m., the Mono County Sheriff's
department said. Hubal and his friends apparently had hiked up a ski
run called Stump alley and undid some yellow foam protectors from lift
towers, said Lt. Mike Donnelly of the Mammoth Lakes Police Dept. The
pads are used to protect skiers who might hit towers. The group
apparently used the pads to slide down the ski slope and Hubal crashed
into a tower. It has since been investigated and determined the tower
he hit was the one with its pad removed.

4th RUNNER-UP:
Goes to Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St.
Louis market. When the clerk threatened to call the police, Puelo
grabbed a hot dog, shoved it into his mouth and walked out without
paying. Police found him unconscious in front of the store. Paramedics
removed the six-inch wiener from his throat where it had choked him to
death.

3rd RUNNER-UP:
Goes to poacher Marino Malerba of Spain, who shot a stag standing
above him on an overhanging rock and was killed instantly when it fell
on him.

2nd RUNNER-UP:
"Man loses face at party." A man at a West Virginia party (probably
related to the winner last year, a man in Arkansas who used the .22
bullet to replace the fuse in his pickup truck) popped a blasting cap
into his mouth and bit down, triggering an explosion that blew off his
lips, teeth, and tongue. Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid, bit the
blasting cap as a prank during the party late Tuesday night, said Cpl.
M.D. Payne. "Another man had it in an aquarium hooked to a battery and
was trying to explode it." "It wouldn't go off and this guy said I'll
show you how to set it off." He put it into his mouth, bit down and it
blew all his teeth out and his lips and tongue off, Payne said.
Stromyer was listed in guarded condition Wednesday with extensive
facial injuries, according to a spokesperson at Charleston Area
Medical Division. "I just can't imagine anyone doing something like
that," Payne said.

1st RUNNER-UP:
Doctors at Portland University Hospita... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

2003 Darwin Awards

"People are going to get on our case again for this, but try to see it from our point of view just once," stated Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."

Metallica Sue Canadian Band over E, F Chords

] As a Creation Scientist, one of my greatest duties that I
] take great pleasure in is introducing the works of the
] Lord to the young generation. The sparkle of wonderment
] that fills their eyes in knowing the creative power of
] God fills my heart with the Lord's divine Love. It
] however saddens me greatly that the proponents of
] Evolutionism have corrupted this true purpose of science
] and are instead using it as a propaganda tool to spread
] Secularism. But what is education for if not to fight
] against ignorance such as that? Our children are the
] future face of Science and we must teach them to
] recognize the truth of the Word of the Lord so as to
] break the cycle of Evolutionism dogma that is paralyzing
] scientific development and making higher education a
] dumping ground for the excesses of materialistic
] philosophies.

You must scroll down and read the winners. My personal favorite: the 2nd place winner in the middle school division, for using physics to explain why god designed women to be homemakers. Religion just scares the shit out of me sometimes. The sad thing is, even though I put this under humor, its REAL!!!

OBJECTIVE: Creation Education: Creation Science Fair 2001

I feel cruel just because I watched this.

Darth Fatty?

] Man of the moment Keanu Reeves has shown his generosity
] by giving away £50 million of his earnings from the
] Matrix sequels. The 38-year-old decided to hand over the
] money to the unsung heroes of the sci-fi blockbusters -
] the costume and special effects teams.

He may not come off as the sharpest crayon in the box, but he really does seem like a genuinely nice guy.

Whoa!

] A set of four glass ramps positioned in a square clearly
] show water travelling up each of them before it pours off
] the top, only to start again at the bottom of the next
] ramp.
]
] It is a sight which defies logic, and has become probably
] the most memorable image of this year's show.
]
] Mr Dyson says his inspiration was a drawing by the Dutch
] artist MC Escher (he of Gothic palaces where soldiers are
] eternally walking upstairs, and of patterns where birds
] turn into fish).

BBC NEWS | UK | How does Dyson make water go uphill?