] This Thursday, January 15 the Secretary of State's Voting
] Systems Panel will meet in Sacramento to discuss the
] status of Diebold and its voting systems in California.
]
] {snip}
]
] Back in October 2003, Diebold sought state certification
] of its newest voting machine, the Accuvote-TSx, a lighter
] version of its current model, the Accuvote-TS, used in
] Alameda and Plumas counties. But just before
] certification was taken up by the Secretary of State's
] Voting System Panel (VSP), the Secretary of State's
] office learned that Diebold had installed an uncertified
] version of its software into Alameda's voting system
] prior to California's historic, October 7 recall
] election.
]
] {snip}
]
] Because Diebold's actions in Alameda were a violation of
] state law, the Secretary of State ordered an audit of all
] 17 California counties using Diebold voting equipment,
] which includes touchscreen as well as paper-based optical
] scan systems. Preliminary results of that audit were
] released at the December 15, 2003 VSP meeting.
]
] The audit found that Diebold had installed uncertified
] versions of software or firmware in all 17 counties it
] services in California. In five counties, the audit
] showed that the versions of software Diebold reported to
] auditors that the counties were using were not the same
] versions as the auditors found in use in those counties.
] In three counties, including Los Angeles, which used
] Diebold touchscreens for early absentee voting, the
] software used was not only uncertified by the state but
] was not approved by the federal government, either.

I can't say that I'm suprised...

--Abaddon

Diebold Illegally installs uncertified E-Voting software

] EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Fear of mad cow disease hasn't
] kept Cecelia Coan from eating her beloved deep-fried cow
] brain sandwiches.

There is nothing I can add to this.

[Thats freakin disgusting. Thats all I have to say:) - Nano]

Brain Sandwiches

electronic (as in the genre) music label offers music, non-drm'd mp3s, for download via Bleep - looks like $1.35 per track, and $10 or less per record.

Perhaps this is a genre where this can work... interesting experiment if nothing else.

BLEEP - Digital Downloads from Warp Records

Umm......well.....my job security just went out the window:)

Robot scientists outperform human scientists in the lab

jessica wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] ] Some pictures of Brad Blines (aka CrankyMessiah)
] ]
] ] Flynn asked us to host these for a few days because several
] ] people have requested them.
]
] I've been thinking a lot over the past week or so about our
] community, and I've been thinking how amazing it is in this
] day and age that people can become so tightly knit and have
] such a family-like atmosphere even though they've never met.
]
] Many MANY MANY years ago, Nick had told me all about IRC and
] he was having these friendships with people online. I thought
] it was ridiculous. How wrong I was. We have the opportunity
] now to talk to people all over the world, and it's amazing
] that people across the country can have the same likes and
] dislikes and sense of humor. You'd be friends in real life,
] but for geography! It's incredible. The world is getting
] smaller, very quickly.
]
] When I heard about Brad, it was a painful shock. He wasn't
] just a nickname on a screen, he was someone whose insights and
] humor I enjoyed, and it was painful to hear that he has moved
] to a different plane of existence. It's still painful, a
] member of my community is gone.
]
] But seeing the pictures, that brings the nickname, the
] insights, and the face together. A real person.
]
] I'd love to meet other members of our community. I'd love to
] talk to them, I find people truly fascinating, and I'd love to
] share likes and dislikes, senses of humor, etc. But again,
] geography.
]
] Tom, I'm wondering how you and Nick (and everyone else on
] MemeStreams) feel about having some space to post pictures if
] anyone wanted, to put a face to the names. Just a thought..

[Well put Jessica. I was very much moved by how everyone on memestreams reacted to the passing of Crankymessiah - memestreams is like a homebase in the vast internet. I love how I can come here and see what friends of mine that are living all the way across the country are thinking about on a daily basis. I know I am biased (being "Tom's sister" and all) but I really feel that memestreams has become part of my daily life as well as the people who take part in it - I would feel like something was missing if it was taken away.
Hats off to Tom and Nick - Keep up the good work guys. - Nano]

RE: Brad Blines Pictures

inignoct wrote:
] ] President Bush beckoned the nation "forward into the
] ] universe" on Wednesday, outlining a costly new effort to
] ] return Americans to the moon as early as 2015 and use it
] ] as a waystation to Mars and beyond.
]
] i'm really interested in what people think about this...
] progressive commitment or poltical opportunism? I tend to
] take the latter view, personally, though i have trouble being
] *too* unhappy with anything that funds basic science.
]
] second question, will such a proposal even *begin* to get
] through congress? i think it's unlikely, which solidifies my
] belief that it's a political move, so W can say "I *wanted* to
] fund science... but that mean 'ol congress wouldn't let me!"
]
] a more relevant question, to me is : is the moon even a useful
] place for a permanent base? are there useful raw materials
] there? feasible means of energy generation? is using it as a
] launch venue sensible given its substantial (though admittedly
] less than earth's) gravity well?
]
] Guys like Robert Zubrin (who is, admittedly, zealous,
] sometimes to the point of unreasonable) makes good arguments
] that the moon is pretty pointless, and there's not a lot of
] reason to put people there, other than nationalism, pride, and
] other forms of self-fellatio. Could we make more progress by
] devoting those resources (or even a fraction of them) towards
] other projects, like a space elevator (and the attendant
] advances in nanoscience that would be widely beneficial)?
]
] Given how limited the budgets usually are for basic science,
] it's important to make sure we spend the money we do get on
] the most promising projects, not planetwide publicity stunts.

I think that an interesting thing that could eventually come out of all of this Mars research is the ability to study further into the universe. If we could somehow set up some sort of way of researching from Mars - like setting up powerful telescopes or whatever and getting the information to be sent back to scientists here - then maybe we can learn more about our universe and beyond. I think that would be really interesting, although I am not an astronomer, so I don't know how that would work. Lets not just learn more about Mars - lets look beyond Mars if we can. - Nano

RE: ABCNEWS.com : Bush Outlines Plan for 2015 Moon Landing

] The Institute of Medicine on Wednesday recommended for
] the first time that the government provide universal
] health insurance, attempting to spark an election-year
] debate on a decades-old problem that keeps getting worse.
]
] The president and Congress should set 2010 as the
] deadline for providing coverage to all, according to the
] institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, a
] private organization chartered by Congress to provide
] scientific advice to the government.

ABCNEWS.com : U.S. Urged on Universal Health Insurance

] SAN FRANCISCO -- Lots of people wish they could jack
] their brain directly to their computer and toss out those
] annoying keyboards and joysticks -- especially people who
] can't use keyboards or joysticks.
]
] Five quadriplegic patients might be months away from
] testing a brain-computer interface created by
] Cyberkinetics, a privately held company in Foxboro,
] Massachusetts. The company's system, called BrainGate,
] could help patients with no mobility to control a
] computer, a robot or eventually their own rewired
] muscles, using only their thoughts. If the trials go
] well, a product could be on the market by 2007

Wired News: Transforming Thoughts Into Deeds

I used that Maestro rover software to hack into NASA last night. I didn't do anything harmful, because that's not cool, but I did find some pictures they are not releasing to the public that some might find surprising.

[Hahaha....werd - Nano]

Mars surface, new photo

Good brew:)

Food Network: Good Brew