] On November 2, millions of Americans will vote on
] computers, many of which may be vulnerable to partisan
] hackers, disgruntled poll workers, or anyone else with a
] desire to alter the outcome of the election, writes
] Ronnie Dugger in the current issue of The Nation. "The
] result," he says, "could be the failure of an American
] presidential election and its collapse into suspicions,
] accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000
] seem like a family spat in the kitchen."
]
]
] Dugger's detailed analysis of the problems of electronic
] voting and the potential for fraud and error would seem
] to be a crucial election story of 2004, full of the stuff
] journalists love -- hints of skullduggery, cronyism, and
] conflicts of interest. But, with a few exceptions, the
] advent of e-voting has remained an issue hovering
] persistently beneath the media's radar.
]
]
] The stories that have appeared largely have been local,
] piecemeal and rarely rise much beyond the "he said/she
] said" level of reporting. As a result, the public -- to
] the extent that it's even aware of the controversy -- is
] left to its own devices to figure out a complex issue,
] with considerable ramifications.

[ Hear hear. I memed the original Nation article this CJR piece references a few days ago. Both are worth reading. -k]

CJR Campaign Desk: Archives

"'President Bush is ... going after the terrorists, instead of waiting for them to come after us,' retired engineer Lansing Smith said, hunched over the Formica counter [in Pensacola]. 'John Kerry's just a flip-flopper. His 20 years in the Senate has been nothing but liberal.'"

[ My head just exploded, so this is pretty hard to type. Superb logic, you fucking sheep. -k]

CJR Campaign Desk

] The Japanese Institute of Space Astronautical Science
] tested two solar sail deployments launched aboard an
] S-310 rocket on 9 August. It is the first time a solar
] sail deployment has ever been tested in space.

So simple, and yet, so complicated

Article: First space test for solar sailing�| New Scientist

] Metacritic® compiles reviews from respected critics and
] publications for film, video/dvd, music and games.
]
] Our unique Metascores® show the critical consensus at a
] glance by taking a weighted average of critic grades.

[ Fucking awesome. -k]

metacritic: Film Reviews, Game Reviews, Music Reviews, DVD Reviews

] I'm particularly pleased this week to present exclusive
] downloads from two of the year's most critically
] acclaimed records, Madvillain's "Madvillainy" and M83's
] "Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts." I've always been
] uncomfortable saying things like "one of the year's most
] critically acclaimed records," but now that I've
] discovered Metacritic, I feel a good deal more confidence
] making such pronouncements.

[ Yeah, this Madvillian record is dope. I heard it playing in a (badass, 24 hour, w/ bar and cafe) bookstore in DC and bought it right away. Worth a listen if nothing else. M83 and Bjork are also on my "To Buy" list, for the record. -k]

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Never meta girl like you before

] As long as we're re-examining the 1960s, looking for
] signs of character, trying to decide if a man who
] volunteered for combat and was decorated five times was
] more or less courageous than a guy who didn't even show
] up for his own medical exam... here's George W. Bush
] during his college days, hitting a fellow sportsman in
] the face.

[ HAHA! Nice find. Not useful for evaluating your voting preference, but funny. -k]

George W. Bush sucker-punches a rugby opponent at Yale

] "Until recently, I wasn't able to see any light at the
] end of the tunnel," he said Monday from his hospital bed.
]
] Deuel, who has battled weight problems all his life and
] blames his condition in part on genetics

Really? Genetics huh? Because I blame you.

[ I think you are overstating this a bit. I certainly agree that genetic pre-dispositions do not create a catch-all exoneration for anti-social or self destructive behavior.

But discounting them completely is not acceptible either. It's slightly crass, i think, to assume categorically that emotional or mental diseases are somehow less significant than physical ones.

Certainly, tossing up your hands and saying "Well, I have XYZ condition, so there's nothing I can do about it." is bullshit. The response ought to be "Fuck, I have XYZ condition... what do I have to do to adjust for it." Perhaps that's all you were saying, but it seemed to me like your attitude may have been more broadly targeted.

It's very easy to judge, of course, but not so easy to offer real help.

On a different note, fuck CNN, because the headline of this story is completely off base. They mention once in the article that the man blames genetics "in part" and then lead with a head line which insinuates something else entirely. Pick one dammit, and write the story to back it up. Based on the article content and focus, the headline should've been "Half-ton Man Finally Seeks Treatment" or something. But that wouldn't rile people up so much would it? -k]

Half-ton man: It was genetics

] Four members of a family have been arrested and charged
] with murder for allegedly killing and eating a relative
] during a wedding reception -- and serving his flesh to
] unwitting party guests, police have said.

Damn!

[ Holy crap that's wrong. -k]

Police: Wedding guests eat victim

] With video projectors images can be displayed that are
] larger than the devices themselves. However, we have to
] give up living space and ambience to set up artificial
] canvases that have to be as large as the desired image.
] Smart projectors are able to display correct images onto
] arbitrary existing screen surfaces, like wallpapered
] walls or window curtains. Thus it can function without an
] artificial canvas and consequently leaves a bit more
] freedom to us in the decision on how to arrange our
] living space. Our smart projectors combine camera
] feedback with structured light projection to gain
] information about the screen surface and the environment.
] The calibration of such a device is fast, fully automatic
] and robust, and the correction of video signals can be
] achieved in real-time. Neither geometry information nor
] projector or camera parameters need to be known. Instead,
] the entire calibration and correction (geometry and
] color) is done on a per-pixel level - supported by
] modern pixel shader hardware.

[ RAD!

(fyi. site is kinda pwnd at the moment - /.) -k]

Augmented Reality

] If the presidential race were a financial market and
] George W. Bush were a stock, would you buy or sell? Would
] you be a bull or bear when trading shares in candidate
] John Kerry?
]
] ...
]
] It so happens this year's presidential race is the basis
] of a real electronic futures market. Run by the
] University of Iowa's Henry B. Tippie business school, the
] futures market really lets investors put their money
] where their vote is.

[ Wow. UIowa also has a market right now which is based on predicting the final (real) market cap of Google, post-IPO, among others. Kind of an interesting concept. Apparently a very accurate predictor. -k]

Columns: In this presidential poll, it pays to be ahead