tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-118115872024-03-13T22:15:38.922-06:00Scene thru a bewildernessAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-66009870808754585052016-11-15T20:55:00.001-07:002016-11-16T16:05:51.496-07:00Vote total is historic<p><span style="font-size: 1.17em;">Fun Fact: Hillary Clinton has more votes for President than all white men in history.</span></p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-16 08.31.30.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bTKcp7Ujn0I/WCx8VH7aIUI/AAAAAAAAHzk/__SfZH9cNaw/Screenshot%2525202016-11-16%25252008.31.30.png?imgmax=1600" alt="White men President vote totals" width="461" height="385" border="0" /></p>
<p>She has now officially surpassed the mark (with still not yet all votes counted). If projections on remaining votes to-be-counted hold, Hillary Clinton will end up with two million votes more than her opponent.</p>
<p>If you are wondering where I am getting these number from, <a href="https://twitter.com/Redistrict">@Redistrict</a> (David Wasserman) has a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133Eb4qQmOxNvtesw2hdVns073R68EZx4SfCnP4IGQf8/htmlview?sle=true#gid=19">continuously updated tracking spreadsheet on Google Docs</a>. Column M (Raw Votes vs. '12) was most interesting to me, as it reveals where popular vote totals are compared to 2012. Most of the earlier narratives about turnout being down compared to 2012 you've been hearing are probably wrong.</p>
<p>Last update: 2016-11-16T14:35:28Z</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-56414239450148744532016-11-14T11:56:00.001-07:002016-11-16T10:09:50.979-07:00A Poll Tax by Another Name<p> <a style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 2rem; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/opinion/a-poll-tax-by-another-name.html">🍀 A Poll Tax by Another Name</a></p>
<p>From the piece by <span style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 11px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: bold; orphans: 2; white-space: nowrap; widows: 2;">RONALD J. KROTOSZYNSKI Jr.</span> </p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">We amended the Constitution to abolish poll taxes for federal elections in 1964, and two years later the Supreme Court extended this principle to state and local elections. “Voter qualifications have no relation to wealth nor to paying or not paying this or any other tax,” the court ruled. When a voter has to wait in line for hours in order to vote, that’s effectively a form of poll tax.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colorado is among a short list of other states that actually makes it convenient to cast an informed ballot. </p>
<p>Let's try to make America great again! There are some possible remedies suggested at the end of the opinion piece. I know this would be contrary to one person, one vote principle, and would be unconstitutional by that measure, but it would be closer to a market-driven, data-driven approach. Here's my suggestion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14px;"> If you have to wait more than two hours in line, you get to cast two ballots when you make it to the front of line. If you have to wait more than four hours in line, you get to cast four ballots. </span></p>
</blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-39105382363632004652016-11-14T10:07:00.001-07:002016-11-14T10:07:07.215-07:00What partisanship can look like? Redistricting (3/3)<p>Following up on previous post covering partisanship in the state of Colorado, I move on to redistricting.</p>
<h2>Colorado's Redistricting process</h2>
<p>The re-districting process is when congressional districts boundaries at the state and federal level get re-drawn every ten years based on the US Census.</p>
<p>In Colorado there are two ways the congressional districts are redrawn.</p>
<ol>
<li>The federal districts. Drawn by legislature in statute, and can be vetoed by governor.</li>
<li>The state House and Senate districts<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Colorado"> are drawn by a bipartisan commission which incorporates judiciary</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>The average margin of victory for Colorado U.S. Representatives races in 2014 was 20.9% (Don't have a table yet for 2016 results)</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.24.38.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O0WJ6ls9SGM/WCjYuG9hW1I/AAAAAAAAHyE/qYXrNY9GFaA/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.24.38.png?imgmax=1600" alt="Colorado 2014 Congressional district election results" width="598" height="283" border="0" /></p>
<h3>Partisanship in Redistricting? Results may Vary (from voter's preferences)</h3>
<p>It could be argued by some that since Congressional districts don't seem to have an ability to switch alignment often, or have large margins, they are not responsive to the people's will.</p>
<p>However, Colorado is not one of the states where aggregate voting are WAY out of line with Congressional delegation members. Pennsylvania and North Carolina have become known as extreme examples of this.</p>
<p>Here's Pennsylvania's 2014 Election results. the R/D split of votes cast across state was 55%/44%. The Congressional delegation that year was 13 R / 5 D (a percentage split of 72% vs 28%).</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.37.14.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ru4SLKIEFnw/WCjYu07hC5I/AAAAAAAAHyI/FPVv1yc5cO4/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.37.14.png?imgmax=1600" alt="PA aggreate vote" width="506" height="388" border="0" /><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.37.22.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GXNKPzBIxq8/WCjYvXTjoAI/AAAAAAAAHyM/Eks0IZUAFI8/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.37.22.png?imgmax=1600" alt="PA delegation" width="490" height="370" border="0" /></p>
<p>Here's North Carolina's 2014 Election results. the aggregate R/D split of votes cast was again 55%/44%. The Congressional delegation was 10 R / 3 D (a percentage split of 77% vs 23%).</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.44.28.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k2F9YLcgaec/WCjYv20OTzI/AAAAAAAAHyQ/wc-vLoNuPno/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.44.28.png?imgmax=1600" alt="NC aggregate vote" width="488" height="377" border="0" /><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.44.38.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d1RJCjoSSJ0/WCjYwoWEh4I/AAAAAAAAHyU/dc-JpwVat5U/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.44.38.png?imgmax=1600" alt="NC Congressional delegation" width="443" height="350" border="0" /></p>
<p>I didn't particularly like <a href="https://www.republicreport.org/2014/gerrymandering-rigged-the-2014-elections-for-republican-advantage/">the charts I found and used above</a>, so I made some of my own with the same data. I included with the same graph what seats would be assigned if they were roughly proportional to votes that "side" received in entire state next to what the actual allocation was.. (ignore the "3" and "7" or "8" integer labels along the left axis in each, as they are an artifact of rounding)</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 13.59.10.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-52ScnAxyZrs/WCjYxAhh-oI/AAAAAAAAHyY/5VW9aZyqgp4/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252013.59.10.png?imgmax=1600" alt="PA proportional chart" width="462" height="349" border="0" /><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 14.02.28.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kg2XoBWjIXE/WCjYxpf4KQI/AAAAAAAAHyc/hhmCZ9lfNvs/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252014.02.28.png?imgmax=1600" alt="NC Proportionally" width="460" height="347" border="0" /></p>
<p>So here is the situation in the 2014 election.</p>
<p>PA sent a <strong>difference between sides of 8 out of 18</strong> where the numbers would suggest<strong> it should be closer to 2 out of 18.</strong></p>
<p>NC sent a<strong> difference between sides of 7 out of 13</strong> where the numbers would sugges<strong>t it should be closer to 1 out of 13.</strong></p>
<p>If you took the labels and the colors off it and only looked at it numerically, I think it would be difficult for you to find someone who thinks that these Congressional delegations makeups are fair, or represent the will of the voters participating in the election from that state.</p>
<p>I think it makes for more responsive government when there are voters in a state that can have mixed representation and not have extreme districts tailored to giving one side an advantage over the other, but<em> I might be partisan on that issue. </em></p>
<p>There was a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/appeals-court-strikes-down-north-carolinas-voter-id-law/2016/07/29/810b5844-4f72-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html">court challenge</a> to recent changes in North Carolina's in voting laws. During the course of the case, it has been revealed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/29/the-smoking-gun-proving-north-carolina-republicans-tried-to-disenfranchise-black-voters/?tid=a_inl">that race was used to affect laws and rule changes</a> dealing with voting in that state. Is this what we should expect to look forward to? Courts requiring emergency intervention to stop laws crafted to reduce the number of people in certain classes of the populations from voter eligibility from taking effect?</p>
<p>There was a lot of talk of "election rigging" that occurred in leadup to 2016 Presidential election. The evidence of voter fraud is minuscule to the point of being close to non-existent. The cases in 2016 that have been identified (and are under prosecution) were they themselves directly related to the rhetoric of "rigging" coming from the campaign. "I was wanting to test the system" "I was worried about vote rigging" Meanwhile, we have real evidence that partisanship within legislatures and governorships sought to diminish whole classes of voters. Which is a greater threat to the integrity of our democracy?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-65879454949410853592016-11-14T09:40:00.001-07:002016-11-14T09:40:40.340-07:00What partisanship can look like? Colorado (2/3)<h2>Partisanship in Colorado</h2>
<p>I live in Colorado. Here are some similar charts for Colorado to compare with last post that talked about Idaho.</p>
<p>State offices:</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 11.59.08.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kf9RM1Yd_D8/WCjYsWBI5BI/AAAAAAAAHx4/w22caKv2f1Y/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252011.59.08.png?imgmax=1600" alt="Colorado State offices" width="597" height="63" border="0" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">Colorado was one of eight states to demonstrate </span><a style="text-decoration: none; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" title="Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States? Changes of Partisan Domination over 22 years" href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia:Who_Runs_the_States%3F_Changes_of_Partisan_Domination_over_22_years">a dramatic partisan shift</a><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"> in the 22 years studied. A dramatic shift was defined by a movement of 40 percent or more toward one party over the course of the study period. Colorado has shifted dramatically from Republican to Democratic control.</span> </p>
<h4 style="font-size: 16.24px; background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span id="SQLI_and_partisanship" class="mw-headline">Source: <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_General_Assembly">SQLI and partisanship</a></span></h4>
</blockquote>
<p>US Reps:</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 11.55.14.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-czUzdckRee0/WCjYtoA06gI/AAAAAAAAHyA/ZSXF7BwpfXk/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252011.55.14.png?imgmax=1600" alt="CO US Reps" width="598" height="309" border="0" /></p>
<p>US Senator:</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 11.54.26.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LtZ3Ko7j_ik/WCjYtFz584I/AAAAAAAAHx8/GVWd3lvKJPk/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252011.54.26.png?imgmax=1600" alt="CO US Senators" width="580" height="390" border="0" /></p>
<p>I found it interesting that one of the Colorado U.S. Senators (Ben Campbell) himself changed party affiliations over course of his terms.</p>
<p>Colorado ECV</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-13 11.53.23.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2LNyYOPio8Y/WCjYr4FSn2I/AAAAAAAAHx0/CjH6MNPx8iw/Screenshot%2525202016-11-13%25252011.53.23.png?imgmax=1600" alt="Colorado ECV" width="598" height="97" border="0" /></p>
<p>1996 was the only presidential election in the last 20+ years in Colorado where its ECV did not align with the President installed into office (another exception looks like will be this year, 2016, where Donald Trump has appeared to have won majority of the EC vote, but Hillary Clinton will get Colorado's Electors)</p>
<p>My next post will cover redistricting, which is increasingly has the appearance of an affront to the democracy that was envisioned by our founders.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-29335914864589894932016-11-14T09:35:00.001-07:002016-11-14T09:35:52.024-07:00What partisanship can look like? Idaho (1/3)<p>NOTE: Originally a single post, broke up into three parts.</p>
<p>The US has most levels of government running as part of what is effectively a "two-party" system. The two-partyness stems from both historical reasons and how elections are conducted.</p>
<p>State bodies control much of the governance that occurs within a state. But the Federal government (via the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Congress, or even the Executive) can override certain laws or otherwise make things illegal or legal. And area like National Defense (which is explicitly enumerated as Federal government role in U.S. Constitution) or Federal entitlements (for example, the very large Medicare and Social Security programs) are administered by the Federal government. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison">Judicial Review</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_jurisdiction#United_States">state</a> and federal laws passed is how the U.S. Supreme Court can <em>override</em> laws, based on determining precedent or Constitutionality.</p>
<h2>Partisanship in Idaho</h2>
<p> Idaho has what is known as a "trifecta" and has had it for quite some time. It is when the governorship, and the each of the bi-cameral legislatures are all three controlled by the same party. You'd have to go back to 1994 to encounter a year where Idaho's government wasn't considered a "trifecta". Here is a table illustrating that:</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-11 12.44.04.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PdwQu_e-g8o/WCe-Zs0akbI/AAAAAAAAHxY/jA4NtIlKnVE/Screenshot%2525202016-11-11%25252012.44.04.png?imgmax=1600" alt="State Houses in Idaho" width="480" height="45" border="0" /></p>
<p>The following charts depict Idaho's federal delegation for the last 20+ years. </p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-11 12.43.37.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LpFXjsS2WmU/WCe-aVuV-EI/AAAAAAAAHxc/qJep2JYgJIo/Screenshot%2525202016-11-11%25252012.43.37.png?imgmax=1600" alt="US Senators from Idaho" width="237" height="164" border="0" /></p>
<p>Above chart illustrates the US Senators sent to Washington, D.C.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_delegations_from_Idaho#United_States_Senate"> from the State of Idaho</a></p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-11 12.43.11.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-njtsqeNQzjY/WCe-bCWcagI/AAAAAAAAHxg/F6LfrkSUkx4/Screenshot%2525202016-11-11%25252012.43.11.png?imgmax=1600" alt="US Representatives from Idaho" width="217" height="276" border="0" /></p>
<p>And this chart is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_delegations_from_Idaho#Representatives_from_Idaho"> US Representatives</a>. </p>
<p>I found this interesting. For insight into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Minnick#U.S._House_of_Representatives">Walt Minnick,</a> the charts' only Democrat, he long considered himself Independent, and worked in President Nixon's administration. He was earlier persuaded to change affiliations to Democrat instead of Independent in run for US Senate in 1996 versus Larry Craig. Craig won that election. In 2008, <span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">Minnick narrowly defeated his Republican opponent, taking 50.6% vs. 49.4% after running unopposed in Democratic primary. In 2010, <span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;">Minnick was the only Democrat endorsed by the Tea Party, but he lost to his challenger 51%-41%</span></span></p>
<p>Finally here is how the<a href="http://www.270towin.com/states/Idaho"> Idaho's US President electoral college delegates</a> were composed over the last several years. The checkmark signifies when the state's ECV aligned with the presidential winner.</p>
<p><img title="Screenshot 2016-11-11 12.51.15.png" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f2KshEK3NLs/WCe-blgUrGI/AAAAAAAAHxk/2E35x_wXJLQ/Screenshot%2525202016-11-11%25252012.51.15.png?imgmax=1600" alt="Idaho's Electoral College votes" width="383" height="62" border="0" /></p>
<p> If you happen to be color-blind, the charts all have Red (signifying Republican -- the (R) indicates that as well) for all positions from the election years 1994 onward (except US Representative in 2008, discussed above), and majority control of legislatures as well as Governor's mansion. This has been the state for 20+ years. There are state-level representatives from both parties, but one of the parties has established long-term control. </p>
<p>If you hear someone from Idaho that identifies as Republican that feels like "their side" has been suffering for the last eight years, you might want to ask them to take a closer at the composition of their government, and ask them to think of what the "other side" might be experiencing.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-65604694049518695532016-11-09T12:51:00.003-07:002016-11-16T10:08:47.195-07:00"Your President"<div class="p1">2016-Nov-09 </div>
<h2>"Your President"</h2>
<div class="p1">After having been a lifelong Republican, I consider myself Independent now, or as we call "them" in Colorado, "Unaffiliated". Although, some of my family members have often reserved other names for me which I won't repeat here. As far as I can tell, the rest of my family to a person still identifies as dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and I have a LARGE family. </div>
<div class="p2"> </div>
<div class="p1">Some of my family have conversed in the past with me to try to understand "liberal" policy or some claim about a politician, and I try to discuss whatever it is using logic and facts. Because of this, they've assumed I guess, that I am "a liberal", used as a foul epithet in their minds. Colorado is great for that, considering things like medical, and now recreational, marijuana, among other things [1]. I've lived in Colorado for over 15 years now.</div>
<div class="p2"> </div>
<div class="p1">I am not sure my dyed-in-the-wool family know many others of a different persuasion than them, so why not try to reach out to family, is their thought? T<em>hey've said, unironically, that _I_ live in a bubble, so who am I to judge? </em>Talk radio certainly doesn't fill in many understanding gaps for them, and is light and very selective on the facts... <em>I say: Intellectual curiosity is a GOOD thing! </em>so I welcome it.</div>
<h3>One thought reflecting on years gone by and the future</h3>
<div class="p1">I had a thought this morning. Well many thoughts, after trying to comfort and console many friends this morning (I'd be surprised if you personally haven't already experienced this today), but one that I thought was worth sharing:</div>
<div class="p2"> </div>
<div class="p1">Mitt Romney, gaining 60,933,504 votes in 2012, <span class="s1"><strong>lost to Barack Obama,</strong></span> who himself ended up with 332 EV (and about 5 MILLION votes more than Romney in popular vote). And yet I would hear from many people a phrase when discussing politics "<strong>Your President</strong>"[2] over the last four or eight years. Not "Our President" or "the President"-- or even "Obama", although he was put in that position by the same democratic processes that every elected U.S. President has been. And by the largest margins[3] in my life as an eligible voter. </div>
<div class="p1"> </div>
<div class="p1">We heard that phrase <span class="s1"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">on the debate stage by a candidate in 2016</span>, uttered by the same candidate who had spent years of his life attempting to delegitimize the same President Barack Obama[4]. </span><br /> <span class="s1"><br /></span> <span class="s1">I have heard more than one person, in my own extended family, claim that "of course he's Muslim." I feel that claim reveals way more about what they believe than what President Obama believes, but it is an interesting way to understand how their views are shaped.</span></div>
<p class="p1">And yet in 2016, Trump's campaign was only able to <em>match the losing-side tally of Romney'12. </em>Trump stands at 61,255,290 votes (about 300 THOUSAND more than Romney's 2012 <em>LOSING</em> total). But in some people's mind, President Obama-- he's still "Your President."</p>
<h4> <span style="font-size: 1em;">"Your President" in 2020</span></h4>
<div class="p1"><span style="font-size: small;">Are we to expect that we'll hear "Your President" pejoratively used when talking about President-Elect Trump over the next four years? I hope not. From those same self-identified Republicans? After all, even less people voted for Trump, than "Your President". I suspect not. In 2020 election cycle, will politicians running for office be using "Your President" to describe Trump's term and office? That might be fair, but you know how unlikely it is. And it strongly suggests that the term "Your President" has nothing to do with voting totals in a democracy, but instead what Obama represents to them in the form of the "other". </span></div>
<div class="p1"> </div>
<div class="p1"> In 2016, contrary to assumptions asserted by family members of mine, I was never strongly pro-Clinton[5]. I _was_ strongly Never Trump. And reason dictates what that meant for me as a voter in Colorado. We here in Colorado are thoughtful about our votes and we take elections seriously, contrary to popular misconception. President-Elect Trump, in his victory speech, used the term "your president" but in an obviously different context this time.<br /> <br /> We need to all work together and gain understanding on the world<strong> as it really is</strong>, to heal our democracy.</div>
<div class="p1"> </div>
<div class="p1"> - David Crook<br /> <br /> UPDATED: 3:53 PM with latest Trump tallies.<br /> EDIT: 5:49 PM</div>
<div class="p1">UPDATED: 2016-Nov-12 5:44 PM with latest Trump tallies.</div>
<div class="p1">UPDATE: 2016-11-16T15:59:30Z - latest numbers</div>
<div class="p1"> </div>
<div class="p2">[1] And Colorado's electorate is "purple", with 1/3 of registered voters under "UNA" column here. </div>
<div class="p2"> </div>
<div class="p1">[2] since I made the arguable mistake of telling them how I had voted *gasp*<br /> <br /> [3] Bill Clinton had more ECV than Obama in 2008, but Obama had a victory margin of 10 MILLION votes, which Clinton did not surpass.<br /> <br /> [4] Trump spent time over five years, including a prime-time TV slot and other various publications, claiming over and over that the President's birth certificate had flaws or was hiding something, and then other additional unfounded claims. And then, as a candidate, claimed to have stopped, while the record shows this to be wrong, while trying to falsely blame others for starting it. <span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626; font-family: 'cnn' , 'helvetica neue' , 'helvetica' , 'arial' , 'utkal' , sans-serif;">Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.</span></div>
<div class="p1"> </div>
<div class="p1">[5] The only presidential candidate I have ever given money to is Ron Paul. If Bernie Sanders had gotten the party nomination for the Democrats in 2016 he would have probably gotten some of my money too.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-27072357236037114962014-03-19T06:52:00.003-06:002014-03-19T10:32:54.476-06:00Seven years gone by; a new start before me<br />
So it took quite a bit of consternation on my part in the end, but it has happened. Not for despising of the soulless, lumbering bureaucracy, but instead for pettiness in small degrees, accumulated. I once read that you are not loyal to your job; you are loyal to people. And this truism is definitely valid in this case.<br />
<br />
I've got a question (or is it a riddle??) for you:<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
<b>Q:</b> What would someone be if they:</div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li>blocked local movement repeatedly </li>
<li>padded internal performance reviews to fabricate narratives of disloyal, unproductive, or incompetent employees as their reports</li>
</ul>
?<br />
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<b>A:</b> An experienced manager.</div>
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Or more completely, a manager experienced in showing people the door.</div>
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And that is what has occurred in the last year and a half: seven co-workers plus me. Dan, Amit, Justin, Joel, Rob, Bruce, Tony, and Yours Truly. Our names don’t take up a lot of space on this page and in the final equation might be just numbers in spreadsheet somewhere. Collectively, however, the time window in which we have chosen to leave and our years of experience and expertise might serve to illuminate a serious organizational problem.</div>
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Why would someone behave this way, seemingly in order to prevent internal transfers while absconding responsibility? I don't have the answer, nor must I concern myself with it much longer. However, greatness in leadership can only be achieved if dreadful problems such as I've outlined are addressed (i.e. <i>managed</i>)...<br />
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I've heard a lot people saying "Good Luck" to me lately. Sometimes I feel unlucky to have been in the situation I've found myself in the last couple of years. But for what I've left behind, the crux of improving it has nothing to do with luck, but rather responsibility and courage. Hopefully some of that type of elixir is found back there so that others in the future don't end up sharing the same "lucky" fate.</div>
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As for me, I am going to take some time off to figure out what it is I'll be achieving next.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-48618503783013320112007-11-20T19:00:00.000-07:002007-11-21T06:17:09.539-07:00time to move on?I have given multiple chances to my work environment -- have been more than fair in my opinion -- yet I am in general in disgust with the job I "get paid for". I love software and the power it provides. That "good" software or its value is not really understood at my employer shows up in evidence all over the place in internal projects. And I can only really derive any satisfaction nowadays from supporting users and providing great tools for them to get their jobs done. Hiring in software-related jobs (that I have personally observed) can be viewed to a large degree as cronyism or nepotism. This is disgusting, and while 60% margins may support this, it is not what I am looking for any more. <span style="font-weight:bold;">THIS COMPANY IS TOO "OLD".</span><br /><br />Google and web services are changing the world, and the corporate PR at my current employer pays it plenty of lip-service, but internally the _fighting_ to just to try to use some of the innovative technologies within makes you take a step back and wonder. <span style="font-weight:bold;">THIS COMPANY IS TOO "OLD".</span><br /><br />I think I really do contribute to making a group of fellow employees as a whole perform better. However, the reward system my employer uses does not really take that into account. It never has. It is all about getting your name associated with "something important" and having those important items being by-and-large successful. The company culture evolved much before there was a network culture and the territorial aspects of non-networked domains and making the network link bottlenecks valuable persists. There is little embracing at the upper levels of new networked mediums and the internal small employee groups who do endeavor to try to proliferate the new approaches like wikis or blogging or webservices are branded as mavericks. I understand the response. Flattened organizations can be threatening to some not ready for it. I just am not sure whether I want to spend any more time to change it or whether I can. <span style="font-weight:bold;">THIS COMPANY IS TOO OLD.</span><br /><br />I think the yearly review system if horribly broken from my job satisfaction viewpoint and I do not think I can change it. The so-called leaders (this term is largely referring to their position) in the institution are much too attached to it and the status quo to evolve. Half-truths that are sold well can get someone ahead and it is really hard to compete with that when you have integrity and base personal assessments on honesty rather than telling a large collection of small lies in order to sell yourself. Trampling down your colleagues actually can get rewarded. You do not have to have been at all responsible for any or most of the work in your line items. The important thing is to have a number of "important things" <span style="font-style:italic;">attributed to you</span> in line items in the yearly review. It does not really matter much (unless you have an enlightened manager) whether you actually did those things or whether the tasks were necessary to do. <span style="font-weight:bold;">THIS COMPANY IS TOO OLD.</span><br /><br />I have not received any long-term Retention Seeking Units (RSUs) lately so I think <br />that is a hint that it is time for me to head somewhere else and try out a new culture. The previous work culture I enjoyed when I moved into the area of an empowering and enabling environment does not exist. Small pockets may still be found, but I think most of us that find ourselves in these small pockets are slowly running out of air. I think most of the satisfaction for me at work comes from being able to work with a group of smart, unselfish, helpful co-workers who in the end really care about project success, not about how to leech off the system and their employer. <span style="font-weight:bold;">THIS COMPANY's PRACTICES ARE TOO OLD-FASHIONED.</span> Should i try something else?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-62679413676855259062007-11-17T20:26:00.001-07:002007-11-17T20:49:47.724-07:00Play 'all' video formats in FrontRow on MacsThe <a href="http://perian.org/">Perian</a> component collection is the best codec installer I've ever <span style="font-style: italic;">had the pleasure of using</span> for my trustworthy <a type="amzn" asin="B000K9V9H4">Mac mini</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://perian.org/"> Perian</a> is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats. No more FrontRow crashes and files that won't play unless you have the right codecs installed for VLC. My Mac seems to play formats more reliably than my Windows Vista and xbox360 config.<br /><br />Next stop: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FK88JK/?tag=crooksterorgb-20">Mac OS X Leopard</a>!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-41825318955435156912007-11-14T20:44:00.000-07:002007-11-18T21:38:38.653-07:00MakeiPhoneRingtone - self-created iPhone ringtones back in 1.1.2 - yah!On a Mac, you can use the wonderful <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/">"freebie"</a> app from <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com">Rogue Amoeba</a>: <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/download/MakeiPhoneRingtone.zip">MakeiPhoneRingtone.zip</a><br /><br />If you need to edit audio files, you can try the open-source <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a>, while Rogue Amoeba offers their own highly-praised app: <a href="http://www.rogueamoeba.com/fission">Fission</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-29063569146116996182007-11-12T22:13:00.000-07:002007-11-17T20:25:15.146-07:00Installing Android SDK on Ubuntu Gutsy with Eclipse3.2<a href="http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html#developmentrequirements">http://code.google.com/android/</a><br /><br />Download the <a href="http://code.google.com/android/download.html">Android Platform SDK</a>. Of course your want the <a href="http://dl.google.com/android/android_sdk_linux_m3-rc20a.zip">linux version, v android_sdk_linux_m3-rc20a.zip</a> being the version at this writing.<br /><br />Fire up the <span style="font-style: italic;">Synaptic</span> package manger<br /><ol><li>Install <code>eclipse</code><br /><br />Version 3.2 is the default version available in gutsy). I did a search for <span style="font-style: italic;">eclipse</span>, but since I already had it installed, there was nothing else for me to install.<br />However, due to warnings about it not being compatible on the google install page, I removed the eclipse packages related to <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">gcj</span></span>, the GNU native java compiler. I also completed removed the gcj environment, planning to use instead Sun's JDK 5<br /><br />I also needed to do something for eclipse in order for it to behave appropriately:<br /><pre><br />sudo touch /usr/local/lib/eclipse/.eclipseextension<br />sudo chmod 2775 /usr/local/lib/eclipse/.eclipseextension<br />sudo chown root:admin /usr/local/lib/eclipse/.eclipseextension<br /></pre></li><br /><li>Install <code>sun-java5-jdk</code><br />1.5.0-13 was the current available version in gutsy</li><br /><li>Install <code>ant</code> (1.7 is available in gutsy)</li><br /></ol> Install JDK as the java version for everything.<br /><code>$ sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-1.5.0-sun</code><br /><p><br />Unzip and "install" the Android SDK package:<br /></p><pre>cd<br />mkdir -p Projects/Android<br />cd Projects/Android<br />unzip ~/Desktop/android_sdk_linux_m3-rc20a.zip # this was where I downloaded the zipfile to<br />cd<br />emacs -nw .bashrc<br /></pre><br />I then added the following to my <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">.bashrc</span></span>, starting a new terminal afterwards:<br /><pre><br /># set PATH so it includes Android tools path <br />export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT="$HOME/Projects/Android/android_sdk_linux_m3-rc20a" <br />if [ -d $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/tools ] ; then <br /> PATH="${PATH}":"$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/tools/" <br />fi<br /></pre><p></p><p><br />Start <span style="font-style: italic;">eclipse</span> and <a href="http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html#installingplugin">using these instructions</a>, install the eclipse Android plugin from <code>https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/</code>You'll want to update the path in Preferences for the Android plugin so it can find your tools.</p><h3>Your first project</h3><br />The final stop is to create a new Android project. The easiest way to do this is to pick one from the samples directory like <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">LunarLander</span></span>, found in our example at <code>~/Projects/Android/android_sdk_linux_m3-rc20a/samples/LunarLander</code>.<br />Again, there are instructions <a href="http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html#developingwitheclipse">here</a>. Don't forget to launch your project workspace, using the far right icon.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlJ1K_K-cI/AAAAAAAAAIs/NWWOTZW8puM/s1600-h/Screenshot-Run.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlJ1K_K-cI/AAAAAAAAAIs/NWWOTZW8puM/s320/Screenshot-Run.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132214428196600258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The eclipse plugin kit comes with an integrated device emulator that lets you try out directly on your workstation.<br /><br />Have FUN!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlKI6_K-dI/AAAAAAAAAI0/hfhMMHjuB84/s1600-h/Screenshot-Android+Emulator+Apps.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlKI6_K-dI/AAAAAAAAAI0/hfhMMHjuB84/s320/Screenshot-Android+Emulator+Apps.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132214767499016658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlKJK_K-eI/AAAAAAAAAI8/Ee4RHaCtLgk/s1600-h/Screenshot-Android+Emulator+playing.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/RzlKJK_K-eI/AAAAAAAAAI8/Ee4RHaCtLgk/s320/Screenshot-Android+Emulator+playing.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132214771793983970" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-69499228653324042242007-11-12T22:03:00.000-07:002007-11-12T22:13:31.186-07:00Java Nirvana with AndroidAndroid of course is Google's acquired software stack for mobile devices including cell phones.<br />It is based on Linux for the operating system and the application layer is C libraries underneath with Java for application development.<br /><br />THE SDK is available for downloads, released today...<br /><dl><br /><dt>Main developer page</dt><br /><dd><a href="http://code.google.com/android/">Android Platform</a></dd><br /><dt>Videos page for getting started with development</dt><br /><dd><a href="http://www.youtube.com/AndroidDevelopers">http://www.youtube.com/AndroidDevelopers</a></dd><br /></dl><br /><br />NY Times Coverage: <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/seeding-the-google-phone-with-apps/index.html?ex=1352610000&en=325a20174b605382&ei=5090">Seeding the Google Phone With Apps</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-45360472842243392162007-10-31T22:20:00.000-06:002007-10-31T22:26:51.217-06:00Next series of Itanium® processors - launch press release<a href="http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20071031comp.htm?iid=pr1_releasepri_20071031m">Intel Unveils Seven New Intel® Itanium® Processors</a><br /><br />This Itanium product line is very real, in case anyone was wondering.<br /><br />Excerpts from the press release:<br /><br /><blockquote>All server-maker members of the Itanium Solutions Alliance (ISA) will launch new Dual-Core Intel Itanium Processor 9100 series-based products, including Bull, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, Hitachi, Intel, NEC, SGI and Unisys.</blockquote><br /><br />and another (emphasis added is mine):<br /><br /><blockquote>"Transitive is releasing its QuickTransit for <span style="font-weight:bold;">Solaris/Sparc-to-Linux/Itanium</span> solution today." said Transitive President and CEO Bob Wiederhold. "The combination of QuickTransit with servers equipped with Itanium processors provides datacenter operators with the ability to run legacy Solaris/SPARC applications on standards-based platforms without porting or recompilation, thereby allowing them greater efficiency, flexibility and return on investment."</blockquote><br /><br />Hopefully the next series of announcements for the next product in the line will come like clockwork. :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-63528584586351574702007-10-28T13:30:00.000-06:002007-10-28T13:43:36.999-06:00Google Gears and GutsyI had some issues with getting <a href="http://gears.google.com/">Google Gears</a> for Firefox (aka Iceweasel) to work on a fresh Ubuntu gutsy 7.10 install (running under vmware server). The problem was staring right at me from the (<a href="http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=71866&topic=11630">details</a>) page for Linux. I needed <span style="font-style:italic;">libstdc++5</span>, but gutsy seems to come with <span style="font-style:italic;">libstdc++6</span>.<br /><pre>$ apt-cache search 'libstdc\++5'<br />libstdc++5 - The GNU Standard C++ Library v3<br />libstdc++5-3.3-dev - The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 (development files)<br />libstdc++5-3.3-dbg - The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 (debugging files)<br />libstdc++5-3.3-doc - The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 (documentation files)<br />libstdc++5-3.3-pic - The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 (shared library subset kit)<br /></pre><br />I had to<br /><ul><br /><li><pre>sudo apt-get install libstdc++5</pre></li><br /><li>blow away un-installed the 'Add-on' for Gears in Firefox 2.0.0.8 and re-start Firefox</li><br /></ul><br />I was able to re-install the <a href="http://gears.google.com/">Google Gears .xpi</a> (the current version of the Add-on: 0.2.4.0) (<span style="font-style:italic;">another firefox re-start required</span>) and now, things are working swimmingly with this plug in.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-56727695060671605872007-05-21T23:45:00.000-06:002007-05-21T23:46:37.310-06:00Sabbatical 07 blog<a href="http://sabbatical07davidcrook.blogspot.com/">Sabbatical07 David Crook</a> blog.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-43195596212798533332007-03-31T11:52:00.000-06:002007-03-31T11:53:06.630-06:00Tower of David with dry moat, Jerusalem<A HREF='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/Rg6gAuy5jAI/AAAAAAAAAA0/oWP1Oo9KWnw/s1600-h/IMG_0650-IMG_0651.tif.jpg'><IMG SRC='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mUgTLv2seFs/Rg6gAuy5jAI/AAAAAAAAAA0/oWP1Oo9KWnw/s320/IMG_0650-IMG_0651.tif.jpg' border=0 alt='' id='BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_' style='clear:both;float:left;'></A> <div style='clear:both; text-align:LEFT'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-36554899771266026922007-01-02T00:10:00.001-07:002007-01-02T00:19:08.968-07:00CNN is using Twitter to deliver Breaking News » TinyScreenfuls.com<p>Just <a href="http://twitter.com/">stumbled upon this</a> in my blog reader. so far seems like a clever idea.</p> <p> </p><p><strong>Source</strong>: <a title="CNN is using Twitter to deliver Breaking News" href="http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com/2007/01/cnn-is-using-twitter-to-deliver-breaking-news/">CNN is using Twitter to deliver Breaking News via TinyScreenfuls</a></p><br /><p></p> <p> </p><p></p> <p>Here is a followerlist "badge"...</p><p></p> <div style="width: 200px; text-align: center;"><embed src="http://twitter.com/flash/twitter_timeline_badge.swf" flashvars="user_id=434703&color1=0xFFFFCE&color2=0xFCE7CC&textColor1=0x4A396D&textColor2=0xBA0909&backgroundColor=0x92E2E5" quality="high" name="twitter_timeline_badge" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" align="middle" height="400" width="200"><br /><a style="font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none;" href="http://twitter.com/dpcrook">follow crookster at http://twitter.com</a></div> <p></p><br /><div style="width:176px;text-align:center"><embed src='http://twitter.com/flash/twitter_badge.swf' flashvars="color1=39423&type=user&id=434703" quality="high" width="176" height="176" name="twitter_badge" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><br /><br /><a style="font-size: 10px; color: #0099FF; text-decoration: none" href="http://twitter.com/dpcrook">follow dpcrook at http://twitter.com</a></div><br /><p>I wish there was a way to tag thing or somehow otherwise exclude them from showing up on the "badge" view...</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-38870952216108962752006-12-29T17:15:00.001-07:002006-12-31T11:36:39.547-07:00BBC NEWS | 100 things we didn't know last year - Magazine Monitor<p></p> <p><span style="font-size:130%;">This is interesting, going over things that were learned of in 2006. #5 makes me giggle.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:130%;">>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">BEGIN</span> << </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Each week, the Magazine chronicles interesting and sometimes downright unexpected facts from the news, through its strand 10 things we didn't know last week. Here, to round off the year, are some of the best from the past 12 months.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>1. Pele has always</strong> hated his nickname, which he says sounds like "baby-talk in Portuguese".<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4578032.stm">More details</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>2. There are 200</strong> million blogs which are no longer being updated, say technology analysts.<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6178611.stm">More details</a></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>3. Urban birds have</strong> developed a short, fast "rap style" of singing, different from their rural counterparts.<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6209498.stm">More details</a></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>4. Bristol is the</strong> least anti-social place in England, says the National Audit Office.<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6215566.stm">More details</a></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>5. Standard-sized condoms</strong> are too big for most Indian men.<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6161691.stm">More details</a></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><< snip >></span> </p><p>Source: <a title="BBC NEWS | Magazine Monitor" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2006/12/100_things_we_didnt_know_last_2.shtml">BBC NEWS | Magazine Monitor</a></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-22365189302176990002006-12-27T19:57:00.001-07:002006-12-27T19:57:18.850-07:00Mashup of the Week Podcast: Pachelbel: Root of All Mashups?<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JdxkVQy7QLM" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed> <p><strong></strong> </p> <p><strong>Source: </strong><a title="Mashup of the Week Podcast: Pachelbel: Root of All Mashups?" href="http://www.mashuptown.com/2006/12/pachelbel_root_.html">Mashup of the Week Podcast: Pachelbel: Root of All Mashups?</a> </p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="605EEA63-B54B-4e6d-A290-F5E9E8229FC1:29f1fd37-1886-47c4-8b6c-f55ac9b549a9" contenteditable="false" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-5167575408546452582006-12-25T18:27:00.000-07:002006-12-25T18:30:40.275-07:00post to test Google AJAX video barNote you need to click the link to get the video samples (inline)...<br /><div id="vb0"><a href="javascript:inPostVideoBar('vb0', 'vw gti commercial');">Reveal VW Gti Videos</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-82026088227774669172006-12-23T23:26:00.001-07:002006-12-23T23:29:15.260-07:00Hacking the XBox - Team Xbox-Linux at 22C3<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-749497642180741726&hl=en" flashvars=""> </td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>The first part of this video is some of the best dissemination of information in hardware and software design of a secure system I have ever had the pleasure to watch. At work <span style="font-style: italic;">I was partially responsible for validating an on-chip ROM used for security</span>, so I understood much of what the first speaker was talking about (on the original PC-based XBox). However, I think he makes it very accessible and enjoyable to watch. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">From Google Video listing</span>: Video of the presentation by the Xbox-Linux Team at the 22nd Chaos Communication Congress in December 2005. There's a full presentation of the Xbox security (both software and hardware: the '17 mistakes' by Microsoft) and some early look into the Xbox 360 secutiry.<br /> </td></tr></tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-43346888625748815442006-12-23T23:16:00.001-07:002006-12-23T23:16:06.910-07:00VW GTi Commercial (Catapult)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><td colspan="2"><embed style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=70722051211331357&hl=en" flashvars=""> </embed></td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>VW commercial with Helga and some sort of mad scientist engineer that deal with "pimped out" rides. Check out www.vwfeatures.com (or www.vw.com) for more info.<br /> </td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-35542570806177974342006-12-23T21:40:00.001-07:002006-12-23T21:40:26.326-07:00AJAX Search API Playground: Google AJAX Search API in Blogger<p>Source: <a title="AJAX Search API Playground: Google AJAX Search API in Blogger" href="http://ajaxsearch.blogspot.com/2006/09/google-ajax-search-api-in-blogger.html">AJAX Search API Playground: Google AJAX Search API in Blogger</a></p> <p>This brings technology which allows a totally non-programmering blogger the gamut of Google's information system to be made accessible, and allows "dynamic content" right within your blogger page...</p> <p>Wow. Wow, wow, wow... This is another step in bringing power to the masses. Having a high-speed broadband connection definitely makes this experience complete.</p> <p>You need to get a <a title="Google AJAX Search API" href="http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/">free key</a> and agree to their TOS to use it, similar to Google's <a title="Google Code - Google's Developer Network" href="http://code.google.com/">other APIs</a>.</p> <p>And there's a great video <a title="Mark Lucovsky adds Google bling to your blog" href="http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1265/mark-lucovsky-adds-google-bling-to-your-blog" target="_blank">going over the idea with Scoble interviewing Mark Lucovsky</a> on podtech.net. </p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-4078443019725121002006-12-21T23:33:00.001-07:002006-12-21T23:33:25.857-07:00Loveland Gas Prices<p>I used this mainly last summer when we had the $3 per drive to work gas prices. It's nice because they are kept up-to-date, and have three grades of gasoline.</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.automotive.com/gas-prices/results.html?zip=80538">Loveland, CO Gas Prices - automotive.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=80538&x=19&y=12">Loveland Gas Prices - MSN Auto</a></li></ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11811587.post-44960239663071238232006-12-21T23:14:00.001-07:002006-12-23T01:39:20.323-07:00XNA Tutorial - Sprite Animation Framework<p></p> <p>The classical sprite structure, re-incarnated for your XNA pleasure. The actual post with code examples was pretty crumby since there seems to be an errant center tag somewhere.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATED, 23-Dec-2006, 1:37a</span>: Jason graciously and quickly noticed my post and commented that he fixed the code formatting so that it play with Firefox. It viewed well for me. Excellent! See the comments for more details.<br /></p> <p></p> <p> <img src="http://www.xna3way.com/images/Tutorial.SpriteAnimations.Screenshot.png" /></p>Source: <a title="xna3way » Blog Archive » Tutorial - Sprite Animation Framework" href="http://www.xna3way.com/blog/?p=19">xna3way » Blog Archive » Tutorial - Sprite Animation Framework</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06563987834486488233noreply@blogger.com4