] A California voting systems panel recommended Thursday
] that the secretary of state decertify an electronic
] voting machine made by Diebold Election Systems, making
] it likely that four counties that used the machines will
] have to find others for the November election.

[ Maybe everyone on memestreams is already done with this issue, since no one recommended my article from yesterday, but just in case, here's a followup. -k]

Wired News: Diebold Machine May Get Boot

So, how many people can say they walked away from $3.6 million to do something they really believed in? Unfotunately, the story took a sad turn. This guy is a hero in the truest sense.

SI.com - NFL - CNN: Former Cardinals safety Tillman killed in action - Friday April 23, 2004 10:53AM

] The decision draws on memos, testimony, U.S. court
] records and much more. It finds Microsoft can "behave to
] a very large extent independently of its competitors, its
] customers and ultimately of consumers."
]
] To back that up, the decision quotes from an internal
] memo sent to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on February
] 21, 1997 by C general manager Aaron Contorer, a
] software expert.
]
] "There is a huge switching cost to using a different
] operating system," he wrote Gates.
]
] "It is this switching cost that has given customers the
] patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes,
] our buggy drivers, our high TCO, our lack of a sexy
] version at times...
]
] "It would be so much work to move over that they hope we
] just improve Windows rather than force them to move," he
] said.

[ From the reuters summary of the EU decision. IP law issues and questions of actual monopolism aside, this sort of attitude is reason enough to never buy from MS, ever. -k]

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

] Lockheed Martin has completed factory testing of the
] optical benches for the Airborne Laser's Beam
] Control/Fire Control (BC/FC) system. The Airborne Laser
] (ABL) is the first megawatt-class laser weapon system to
] be carried on a specially configured 747-400F aircraft,
] designed to autonomously detect, track and destroy
] hostile ballistic missiles.

[ Uh-huh, NO, it's for vaporizing individual targets! My only question is when Val Kilmer and his rag-tag group of young geniuses are gonna show up and save the day! -k]

Integrated testing of airborne ray gun completed [HOLY CRAP, ISN'T THIS A MOVIE PLOT? -k]

[ I'm telling you guys... a full on bar-tender bot (minus the conversations) isn't that tough... we should totally build one. -k]

Koolio

] Diebold Election Services Inc. president Bob
] Urosevich admitted this and more, and apologized "for any
] embarrassment."
]
] "We were caught. We apologize for that," Urosevich said
] of the mass failures of devices needed to call up digital
] ballots. Poll-workers in Alameda and San Diego counties
] hadn't been trained on ways around their failure, and San
] Diego County chose not to supply polls with backup paper
] ballots, crippling the largest rollout of e-voting in the
] nation on March 2. Unknown thousands of voters were
] turned away at the polls.
]
] "We're sorry for the inconvenience of the voters,"
] Urosevich said.
]
] "Weren't they actually disenfranchised?" asked Tony
] Miller, chief counsel to the state's elections division.
]
] After a moment, Urosevich agreed: "Yes, sir."

[ DOMINO MOTHERFUCKERS! Decertify the fuck out of them ALL. Put these negligent fucks out of work, and banish them from the industry.

We should all send copies of this article to the Elections Division here in Georgia.

(bold mine) -k]

Diebold apologizes for device flaws

] A cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins
] bearing the remains of U.S. soldiers was published on a
] newspaper's front page was fired by the military
] contractor that employed her.
]
] Tami Silicio, 50, was fired Wednesday by Maytag Aircraft
] Corp. after military officials raised ''very specific
] concerns'' related to the photograph, said William L.
] Silva, Maytag president. The photo was taken in Kuwait.

[ I'm memeing this not because I want to stir up outrage over the firing... it would appear that, knowingly or otherwise, this woman did in fact violate Pentagon policy and therefore probably company policy, and that's probably reason enough to justify dismissal*.

Rather, I wanted to bring it up in the context of what is and isn't reasonable as far as visual coverage of war, and the right of people to know what's going on. Obviously, the picture serves as a reminder of the real human cost of the war, which should give pause to everyone, for or against it.

That being said, to what extent does the author's intent determine the appropriateness of the usage? Mrs. Silicio said she took the picture to show bereaved families just how respectfully the military treats their lost comrades, to comfort them. She was fired because the pentagon believes that such pictures will upset the families. Does her intent come through, or not?

Finally, does this sort of photo serve a greater purpose which outweighs the concerns of the families? Is reminding the public of the facts of war (assuming the picture does so) a higher calling than sheilding the bereaved? Where's the balance?

Being generally anti-war (by which i mean, not this one specifically, but the practice itself), I think there's good that comes out of forcing people to recognize, in no uncertain manner, the realities of war. People, and Americans perhaps more than others, have a nasty tendency to block out anything they find uncomfortable or disturbing, but it seems to me that sometimes a little bit of discomfort is necessary. Still, is it right to use this photo in that way, which was not the intent of the photographer? Do you have a responsibility to determine that intent beforehand, or is art, once released, subject to interpretation against the wishes of the artist?

Thoughts?

The picture can be found here : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2001906044.jpg

* Though I am curious why her husband was fired too...
-k]

Boston.com / News / Nation / Woman fired by military contractor for published photograph of flag-draped U.S. coffins

] "The objective of this technology is to bring an ID
] system to a global level that will destroy the need to
] carry ID documents and credit cards," Chase said.
]
] During a recent American radio interview, Chase said the
] CEO of VeriChip, Dr. Keith Bolton, had told him that the
] company's goal was to market the VeriChip as a global
] implantable identification system.

This doesn't appear to be a hoax.

Don't these people understand how easy it is to break the security of this?

[ Dude, no way, it's totally secure. Just like the touchscreen voting machines. Your concerns are completely unwarranted... it's all under control. Why do you have to be such a fear-monger, huh? You wouldn't happen to hate America, would you?

Yeah, implants will be totally secure... no one will ever find a way to extract one. Also, lets tie, say, *everything* to that one chip, and link up all the databases, Credit, Medical, etc. because secrecy is for terrorists... -k]

WorldNetDaily: Paying for drinks with wave of the hand

But then again....who in their right mind listens to Pat Boone?

[ Well, if you start from a foundation in which your values are intrinsically and universally correct, for everyone, then it's easy to endorse censorship. Conservatives oppose anything which is counter to their traditional value structure, so art, which is often progressive, tends to always be at the top of that list.

I've always sort of wondered how some conservatives can claim to support the first amendment. Ann You-can-say-what-you-want,-as-long-as-you-don't-disagree-with-me,-treasonous-liberal!" Coulter comes to mind. Seems like freedom of expression is counter to the core of the conservative ethos for a disturbing number of people. -k]

Pat Boone Says Censorship in the Arts is Healthy

This is a video of a dog that can skateboard. Yes, you read that right. Skateboard.

Ahem.. Let me make one of those predictions that I make all the time, and tend to be right. Either that, or they tend to be forgotten. But whatever, I make them all the time and I only seem to get called on them when they are right.

Either via David Lettermen's stupid pet tricks, or some random television advertisement, America will be exposed to this dog. Maybe this Windows Media file will be the vector. It doesn't matter. America will love this dog. As another example of "asking for techno" we will be pounded over the head with stuff involving this dog until we want to see it hung in our respective local town squares.

Just a hunch.

(... this is pretty neat.)

[ That dog kicks total ass. -k]

Skateboarding Dog - Future Animal Star we will eventually be sick of