October 2008 - Posts

• XOR needs to be in our everyday vernacular

  Tonight my wife was purchasing a video from amazon to show in her classroom tomorrow.  She plans to use a laptop and projector to show the movie.  Her plan was to rent and download the movie, so it would be ready tomorrow in case the schools connection is slow when she needs to show it.  Amazon says that you can "rent a movie to watch now or download".  What it should say is that you can "rent a movie to watch now xor download."  Because what ended up happening is that by watching now you can not download a rental.  You can only do one or the other, therefore it is an exclusive or condition.  We desperately need the xor for these situations.  Also, the amazon software is total crap, and doesn't allow you to switch accounts or to re-rent a movie for download after you have started watching it. Posted Oct 30 2008, 09:55 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• Voter Tip #4: Don’t wear any political insignia when you enter the polling place

  Some polling districts actually frown on wearing political clothing inside of polling places.  It makes some sense, you don't want to be imposing your support for one candidate on another person just before they go vote.  It is all traced back to a districts interpretation of what it means to campaign in a polling place.  Virginia, for example, is one state that recently banned wearing political garb in polling places.  If you are wearing this stuff in their state you are not allowed to enter the polling place. To protect yourself, just don't wear any political clothes when you go vote. Posted Oct 29 2008, 10:57 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• Voter Tip #3: Plan how you are getting to the polls + closing times

  It is not enough to be registered, you need to know how you are going to get to the polls.  What time do the polls close in your area and when do you anticipate there will be the most traffic going to the polls.    The polls open at 6:00 am in Missouri, I plan to arrive at 6:05 am to vote.  To find out when your polls close look at the political wire as they have them listed out by times and state. In addition to deciding the most appropriate time for you to vote, you may also offer to go with a family member or coworker.  My wife and I plan to go before work.  Going with someone to the polls makes the process all the more enjoyable, especially if there are long lines. If your state allows it, you should also consider voting early.  That is, you may already be able to vote and thus avoid any lines that will occur on the 4th.   Here is a list of closing times in your local time.  So if you are in Missouri and it says 7pm, then that means your polls close at 7pm CST.  I am going off of the list on Political Wire, sorry if my math is off at all. 6:00 pm - Indiana (East), Kentucky (East), Arizona 7:00 pm - Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky (West), Florida, Indiana (West), Vermont, Georgia, New Hampshire, Virginia, South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon(East) 7:30 pm - North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Arkansas 8:00 pm - Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida (Panhandle), Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin, Idaho, South Dakota, California, Oregon(West), Washington, Montana, Alaska 9:00 pm - Louisiana, New York, Rhode Island, Iowa, North Dakota Posted Oct 28 2008, 09:02 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• Voting Tip #2: Familiarize yourself with the ballot and know what to vote for.

  You should be able to get a sample ballot for the November election online.  For Kansas City, MO the ballot is here.  I am going through the ballot and familiarizing myself with the candidates and the different items on the ballot.  Please please please know what and who you are voting for.  This will make your time at the polling place brief, allowing you more time to spend reminding people to vote. Posted Oct 27 2008, 09:08 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• Voter Tip #1: Use non-washable ink

  There are still several states that use ballots that require the voter to darken an oval.  Missouri is one such state that votes in this way.  In order to ensure that your vote is not tampered with you should use a black pen that prevents check washing.  The pen I plan to use to vote this November is the Uniball 207.  To read more about this pen you can read a review here. In general, you should always be using ink like the one in the 207 for check writing.  It makes perfect sense to use the same one for casting your vote this year. Posted Oct 26 2008, 12:25 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• How to block all ads and malware, and speed up the web

  There are really only two things that you need to do to block all ads and malware when browsing the web.  Let me clarify when I say malware I am not only referring to malicious software, but also cross site vulnerabilities and click jacking amongst other possible attacks. 1. Install NoScript in your FireFox browser.  This takes care of most of the malware part.  It also will speed up your browsing experience since you are not running unnecessary JavaScript on every page, say Google Analytics for example. 2. Update your hosts file with this one: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm.  This hosts file not only blocks ad servers, but also servers that host malicious software.  Another benefit is that you will browse the web faster since you will no longer be making extra requests to ad sites. I really enjoy the hosts file as it means that when I watch hulu I no longer see any advertisements.  How cool is that, free tv shows free of advertisements. Posted Oct 22 2008, 05:32 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• An effective way to stimulate the economy

  Remember how the IRS sent you a stimulus check this year to stimulate the economy.  A more effective strategy might have been to give everyone a visa or mastercard gift card.  This would have forced people to actually buy stuff. Posted Oct 21 2008, 05:08 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• An honest review of religulous

  Bill Maher makes the claim at the beginning of the movie that he is only asking questions.  This is far from accurate, he tends instead to be preaching his own beliefs on religion and hardly asking a wide range of experts on anything meaningful.  While I still enjoy his points and his show, his uninformed preaching did this movie and its viewers a disservice and took away from what could have been an exploration of the mysteries in religion.  Instead he asked fundamentalist tourists questions and only broadcast the most absolute of answers.  Moreover, he refused to allow anyone other than himself a voice.  When a religious follower said one thing he said that they were lying and ultimately wrong.  Is this a documentary, am I not smart enough to discern someone telling the truth, thank you for assuming that your viewers are incapable of gauging what is reasonable thought. The movie also tended to reinforce only popular media views of Christianity, Islam, and Scientology.  Not much outside of mainstream media was explored in his movie and this truly is a sad fact for a movie with such great potential.  For Maher to allow any progressive religious views to have a voice would mean that his secular fundamentalist message would not have worked.  He preaches that there is only absolutism in religion.  This could not be further from the truth, and only serves to separate people from other possibilities and ultimately from religious exploration. What the movie appeared to do, apparent by the laughter in the audience, was entertain.  This is a good thing, I suppose, knowing that the public is comfortable laughing about some of the absurdities that exist in religion, portrayed through cartoons and movie clips in the movie.  However, I wasn't sure if the audience was laughing about the absurdities themselves or at the people who believed them.  Either way I suppose I can't blame the audience for being entertained, that is what the movie seemed to be concerned most with.  Entertainment is all that this movie offers, but only enough for one sitting. Posted Oct 13 2008, 09:09 PM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts

• Predictions for the Vice Presidential Debate

  The expectations that you have for this debate will surely decide your reaction to it.  If you have been paying attention, you will know that Palin is actually a considerably good debater.  Even though 6 in 10 Americans do not think she is ready to be vice president, she will probably come out strengthening the shrinking base of McCain supporters.  She will do this by providing listeners with vague answers and dropping religious language in what she says, also she will do this by sounding sure of herself.  This sounds counter productive if you are trying to educate viewers about your policies.  However, the genius of this tactic is that many viewers will project themselves and your branding into the gaps of your message.  Branding is a powerful tool in these debates, Biden will likely try to brand Palin as being aligned with Bush.  Bush, who currently has a 70% disapproval rating if you are a democrat, or 30% approval rating if you are republican.  Therefore, this is a fair move by him.  He will also talk about how the policies her and McCain support are out of touch with the middle class.  Palin, on the other hand will surely get personal and try to brand Biden as being liberal and possibly as somehow sexist. I also predict that Palin will misspeak and get facts wrong.  These will be landmines for Biden, who if he responds will immediately get branded as an elite who is out of touch.  Watch for this, as I am almost certain Biden will end up stepping on one of them. Biden will mess up tomorrow by believing that Palin does know things about the economy or the world.  He will most likely say "come on, you expect us to believe that."  This will most likely be countered by Palin with a one liner about how Biden sounds flustered, as she also tries to brand him as an old man. Both candidates have been preparing, Palin much more than Biden.  However, she has lower expectations on her side, as she has not presented herself as an intelligent person these last few weeks.  It may sound odd, but you want people to be expecting less of you when you go into this debate.  The media will have an easy sound bite, "she did much better than I expected."  Also, not sounding intelligent appeals to any anti-intellectual who will be voting. I think a fascinating part of the debate will be to see how each tries to gain support from their respective religious base.  Biden will likely try to bring in support from Catholics in this country, while Palin will speak to Evangelicals.  The religious language that they will invoke is what interests me the most.  The religious language will likely fly under the radar of many people, but if you read the transcript you are sure to find some suggestive messages. There is no doubt that this debate will be an important indicator on whether Obama will win by narrow margins or by a landslide.  If Biden is able to ignore Palin and deliver his message with little debate then he will be the victor and the momentum from last weeks debate will carry through to the election.  However, if Palin is able to fluster Biden, or somehow know something he didn't know, then the momentum will stop and the polls today will likely be how the election will turn out.  At this point in the game though, most people have already made up their mind.   Are you registered to vote?  If you are not registered or do not plan on voting I would like to hear your reason below. Posted Oct 02 2008, 12:07 AM by Renaissauce: Thoughts Filed under: Thoughts