Just curious what all you tech folks think of this new Silk browser.
Archives for September 2011
Open Thread
Sometimes it’s the classics that give us an insight into our shared humanity. Here’s an open thread.
Flirting with Disaster
Chris Christie has definitely gone from being a straight governor to presidential-candidate-curious. He’s probably not going to run, but when he spoke at the Reagan Presidential Library last night, he was a little more coy than usual.
Let me first express my surprise that people are actually allowed to speak inside the St. Ronaldus Magnus library — I would have thought that reverential whispers, accompanied by the occasional “shush” of a nervous mother, would be the only human vocalization heard in that sacred chamber.
That said, this kind of desperation is really begging for the full Palin:
Don’t even say anything tonight, go home and think about it. Do it for my daughter, do it for our grandchildren, do it for our sons, please sir: we need you. Your country needs you as president.
What’s next? Are these people going to stand on the lawn at Drumthwacket holding up a ghetto blaster playing a Peter Gabriel song?
A Christie candidacy, Christie shaking his man boobs and staring slyly into the camera — hell, even the mere mention of the alliterative syllables of his name — are all good news for Democrats. It all highlights the weakness of Perry and Romney, was well as Republicans’ disgust with their repugnant choices. To Christie, I say: dance, motherfucker, dance.
I’m Looking at the Man in the Middle
Researchers at Argonne National Labs have developed a $10-30 set of parts that can be inserted into a Diebold voting machine and used to alter votes. The machine can be opened by using a standard hotel minibar key, or a similar, easily copied key, and the parts can be inserted in a matter of seconds. Once the parts are inserted, votes can be altered by remote control from a distance of up to 1/2 mile (or I assume the device could be set to do a pre-programmed vote modification).
Researchers didn’t have to alter the machine’s software — in fact, no special knowledge of the machine’s software was required. They didn’t have to solder anything inside the machine, so the devices could be easily removed with little or no signs of tampering. Since machines often sit for weeks in church basements and school storage rooms, it’s easy to imagine a successful hack.
The is just another reminder that the voting machine procurement storm that followed Bush v Gore was mainly a boondoggle. All of the touchscreen-only machines are going to be invalidated by court order someday, and they’ll be thrown away and replaced by a paper-based system that’s counted by machine, or at minimum, a kludged-together touchscreen system that prints a human-readable printed ballot output. In the meantime, we’re just going to have to trust local election boards, which don’t have a lot of money or knowledge of technology.
Early Morning Open Thread: Rosh Hashanah
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Via commentor MRK, because it made him smile, as it did me. Shana Tova Umetukah, a good and sweet year, to the believers among us, and may we all be inspired to reflect upon our transgressions and strive for a better tomorrow!
Early Morning Open Thread: Rosh HashanahPost + Comments (27)
Boob Tube Fall Line-UP
Obviously, Chuck and Psych, but what else are we looking forward to checking out? I’m kind of intrigued by Jesus in Person of Interest, and might give Terra Nova a whirl. I watched about ten minutes of Whitney and was ready to kill myself, so that is out.