Chris Ullrich @ micro dot blog

Sony introduced this camera. HiDef DV for the prosumer. Nice.

Security guru, Bruce Schneier, talks about the problems with electronic voting. It’s a little technical but very well done. So, check it out.

Security guru, Bruce Schneier, talks about the problems with electronic voting. It’s a little technical but very well done. So, check it out.

I was at a screening and party at The Derby for my friend Todd Wade’s film “The Appointment”. Interesting film which was first a short film then he later added scenes to make it a feature. And, it was in stylistic black and white.

Anyway, I always have time for people who are out their doing it instead of talking about doing it all the time. After working in the “business” for awhile you start to be able to spot the people who are going to do something and the people who just like to take meetings. I only wish I could share that knowledge with some of my other friends who always get involved with these “investors” who will never ever put up anything. I guess its a lesson that needs to be learned by some the hard way.

Over at the political desk, Yasser Arafat has died. At the risk of offending someone, i have to say that I’m having a hard time getting too upset about it. I don’t like to see people die and I didn’t want him to suffer for weeks and months, but that’s about all I am going to say about it.

Also, Bush’s attorney general pick is Alberto Gonzales. He seems a better choice than Ashcroft, who was definitely offensive to many with his policies. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said, “It’s encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing. We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he’s a better candidate than John Ashcroft.”

Well, if Chuck Schumer says so, I guess we can believe him. After all, he is one of the last Democrats in the Senate so we better be nice to him or he might take his ball and go home.

Later.

Pretty smart guy Lawrence Lessig adds his 2 cents (and then some) to the brewing election controversy over those darn exit polls.

“Free the exit poll data” he says. I agree. And let the fur fly.

Attorney General John Ashcroft resigned today. Good? Bad? You make the call. I say good.

Unless he is resigning so he can be nominated to the Supreme Court. That would be bad indeed. Also, another buddy of W, Don Evans, resigned as well.

I really love this money quote from Ashcroft’s resignation letter to George Bush. “‘The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.” Oh, so that’s what they have been doing for the last four years. I was wondering.

Better not dance the happy dance of freedom and safety just yet.

Many will say “just let it go” or “be a good loser” and I will, when its time for that. Until then, let’s have a look at this, shall we? What does it mean that President Bush got 93,000 more votes in Cuyahoga County than their are voters? I don’t know. Could it have something to do with optical voting machines made by Diebold? Perhaps. Or, it could just be a mistake? Maybe.

I wonder, what is the mechanism in place when a candidate concedes an election but later turns out to have been the winner? I’m not saying that John Kerry won, but it all looks a little odd, don’t you think? If this continues to look odd, wouldn’t an investigation be in order? Just to make sure? It is the Presidential election we are talking about, not some School Board or Water District.

And, this is a great bit of writing. John Perry Barlow spells out his take on the election. One of his points is that we should not underestimate the Republicans and think of them as “a bunch of homophobic, racist, Bible-waving, know-nothing troglodytes”. I have written and spoken about that very subject as well.

Lumping them all into that kind of label only gives them license to do the same and promotes further division of the country. Unless, of course, they are all a bunch of “homophobic, racist, Bible-waving, know-nothing troglodytes” who stole the election through fraud.

Whatever the final outcome, the country deserves the truth. Even if some on one side or the other don’t like it.

Many will say “just let it go” or “be a good loser” and I will, when its time for that. Until then, let’s have a look at this, shall we? What does it mean that President Bush got 93,000 more votes in Cuyahoga County than their are voters? I don’t know. Could it have something to do with optical voting machines made by Diebold? Perhaps. Or, it could just be a mistake? Maybe.

I wonder, what is the mechanism in place when a candidate concedes an election but later turns out to have been the winner? I’m not saying that John Kerry won, but it all looks a little odd, don’t you think? If this continues to look odd, wouldn’t an investigation be in order? Just to make sure? It is the Presidential election we are talking about, not some School Board or Water District.

And, this is a great bit of writing. John Perry Barlow spells out his take on the election. One of his points is that we should not underestimate the Republicans and think of them as “a bunch of homophobic, racist, Bible-waving, know-nothing troglodytes”. I have written and spoken about that very subject as well.

Lumping them all into that kind of label only gives them license to do the same and promotes further division of the country. Unless, of course, they are all a bunch of “homophobic, racist, Bible-waving, know-nothing troglodytes” who stole the election through fraud.

Whatever the final outcome, the country deserves the truth. Even if some on one side or the other don’t like it.

Here we go again. War in Iraq III - This time, its a mandate! We are now in the third phase of the Iraq war. We are going to take Falluja, no matter what.

And, less than a week since President Bush’s “clear victory”. Advisors close to W spell out ideas for his second term. Check out the info here and more here.

My favorite part deals with the idea of a “regime change” in Iran and North Korea. I guess that’s one positive thing about the war in Iraq (maybe the only positive thing) As long as we are stuck in Iraq, we can’t invade anywhere else.

It’s very difficult for me to believe that we have eyes on invading Iran and North Korea. Are we really that stupid? Although, “regime change” doesn’t necessarily mean invasion. Let’s hope its just a colorful euphemism for something far less suicidal.

And, at least one conservative warns about overkill when President Bush inevitably gets to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice. Let’s hope he isn’t the only one that tries to be a voice of reason.

Later.

Just a bit of news to brighten your Sunday. More from the Al-Qaqaa missing weapons “problem” or “clerical error” as some pro-Bush spin masters have tried to make people believe. Pretty hard to spin this one.

At least the Pentagon says “We take the report of missing munitions very seriously. And we are looking into the facts and circumstances of this incident.”

Gee, I feel better now.

And I though my job was tough sometimes. At least it isn’t life or death for my clients (well, sometimes they think it is). Tech support for the troops is a great job to be proud of. Maybe they are looking for another high-priced consultant?

And a new one on me, a blogger in Canada is one of the first (or maybe the first?) to receive death threats from Islamic extremists. I guess that means blogging is becoming more legit? I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Good. I guess.

Lastly, one of the pioneers of the internet, Vint Cerf, spells out his vision for how the internet should be. Interesting reading from a guy who should know. Even if you don’t agree with him.

Have a good weekend all.

The eight-nation Arctic Council is reporting that the icecaps are melting at twice the normal rate, due to global warming. The four year study will be officially released next week. Maybe President Bush will pay more attention to the environment now and spend some of that “currency” he says he got on Tuesday to protect our resources. Not holding my smog-covered breath on that one.

Your friends and mine, the Motion Picture Association of America are preparing to follow in the RIAA’s footsteps by suing movie “pirates”. The MPAA says it will make “a major announcement regarding illegal file sharing of motion pictures on peer-to-peer networks” soon. Maybe today. Watch out you bad people that I don’t know. Loose my number, dammit!

Another reason to use text-only email instead of HTML email. You know who you are. The latest phishing scams overwrites your banking bookmark with bogus sites where they’ll collect your login and password, and the email does this without any action on your part. So, don’t use HTML email. Ok? Unless you enjoy giving your banking info to scammers. If you really want to give it to someone, send it to me to support my blog. We need the dough.

And, because I can’t resist politics these days. Apparently, E-voting went mostly without a hitch on Tuesday. It was the first extensive use of electronic voting machines and only about 600 or so problems were reported. On the other hand, the Election Protection Coalition reports over 1,000 problems, including touch screens that switched votes away from Kerry.

I guess its good that their were so few problems with E-voting. Maybe we will get to get to the point that we can vote on the internet. That might get out the youth vote. Maybe. We’ll see in 2008.

Later.

Well, he makes a convincing case at least, even if it is just wishful thinking. Perhaps this is true in the alternate universe where I wish I could reside?

John Kerry called President Bush to concede just a few minutes ago. So, it would appear that we are in for four more years of W. Unless some miracle happens in Ohio. Not holding my breath for that one.

Congrats to John Kerry and his team for running a great campaign. And, reluctantly, to President Bush and his people for the same. That “flip-flopper” mantra really worked.

I only hope that President Bush realizes that he needs to take a hard look at the number of people that voted for John Kerry and finally fulfill the promise he made in 2000 to be a uniter and not a divider. This country needs a leader and deserves a leader that can do that.

And, now that he is President again, we have the opportunity to hold him and his administration accountable for all the messes they have made. If John Kerry had been elected, it would have been an uphill battle for him all the way, especially with a GOP dominated Congress.

President Bush will have to face the consequences of his own policies. He has no excuses. I hope he succeeds. But, nobody should give him an easy time of it if things don’t improve.

American gave him a second chance. He needs to prove it was the right decision.

I was about to go to sleep but the election continues. John Edwards just said they will keep their promise to make “every vote count” and that they are “ready to fight.” Do I hear a bunch of lawyers getting on a plane ready to go to Ohio?

The count now, according to CNN:

249 Bush

242 Kerry

Provisional ballots might be the key to Ohio. If it were only that easy. I find it unlikely it will make much of a difference for John Kerry. Still, you never know.

Is this a great country or what?

If Bush wins Ohio, its over for the Democrats. It’s still too close to call but that optimism I was feeling earlier today has pretty much gone away. Too bad.

Damn exit polls. Won’t pay attention to those again. We will see.

Stay tuned.

I’ve been working and just got back to the computer. Now, we return you to the election, already in progress.

Slate has some exit poll numbers. Good for Kerry, it would seem.

C-Span has a cool map. Roll over a state to see just how cool.

And, at USA Today, they are saying that the number of young people voting in this election has doubled from 2000. Also, late-deciding voters broke in Kerry’s favor, and those who decided sometime in the first few weeks of October (during the debates) broke strongly in favor of Kerry. Early deciders were split. Those debates definitely made an impact.

I'm sure I don't have to say it so I won't. (go out and vote today). Oh well, I said it anyway. It seems like many people are quite eager to cast a vote today. If the long lines are any indication. Some people even lined up last night.

I'm feeling pretty good today and optimistic so I will say that this bodes well for John Kerry. Let's see if that optimism holds true as the day progresses.

And it also seems like their are a few problems already with voting machines and procedures in some states, as fellow blogger Megan Powell can attest.

And another blogger and voter Brian Nicks has a nice photo of the error he got when trying to use the electronic voting machine at his polling place. What about errors 1 through 8? Whose keeping track of those?

Ok, that's it on the election stuff for now. I think I will just relax for awhile and then do some work later today as people go out and vote -- silently exercising their rights.

Whatever the arguments or the spin, this fundamental right is one of the main reasons that this country is such a great place to live.

Happy voting all.

Osama Bin Laden is lonely. Much like the evil dictator, Kim Jong Il, in “Team America: World Police”. He decided to release a new video, as I'm sure you heard. Just to get attention. I wasn't going to even talk about it but what the hell? What does this video mean for John Kerry and George Bush? For my money, very little at this point.

Many pundits will spin this “event” their own way. But in the end, people will react to OBL the way they always have since September 11th. They will want to see him dead. They want him dead no matter who is President. Does this mean seeing him will make Mr. Bush look weaker because he didn't catch him? No. He's been able to do that just fine already, thank you.

People already know OBL is running free and apparently now, in good health. Bush supporters will keep supporting Bush and Kerry supporters will keep supporting Kerry. The “undecided” voters will still be undecided until the last minute and then, probably vote for Kerry (well, I can hope at least). The only dumb thing that Kerry did was not harp on this more during the last days of the campaign.

I wanted to see him go on the offensive more and take President Bush to task. He didn't. I hope it doesn't hurt him. Don't get me wrong, I endorse John Kerry for President. I just wish he was a little stronger in some areas. Like charisma. I know that shouldn't matter but it does. Face it, he's a little charm-challenged.

I guess I would just like to be blown away by someone who wants to be the President. I feel that the President should be the best of the best. He should be someone who speaks to the ordinary citizen as well as the elite power-brokers. He should be someone who gives a shit about the environment, health care, jobs, the economy and all the other stuff that doesn't really get mentioned now that we are in a “war”. He should also be able to out-talk and out-debate anyone and know when to attack when he needs to.

Maybe the guy I am looking for doesn't exist? I like to think he does. I like to think that somewhere out there, maybe in high school or college somewhere, is a guy (or a girl, why not?) with a new vision for this country. Someone who will take us to the next level and be a true leader for tomorrow and beyond. It would be nice if the Presidential race wasn't between two billionaire middle-aged white guys for a change. Let's get some new blood. Barack Obama anyone?

Whatever happens tomorrow, I will be bracing myself for the subsequent lawsuits and fighting between the parties and the eventual selection of the new President by the Supreme Court sometime in January.

Cynical? You bet. Of course, I could be wrong. Wouldn't that be nice?

Later.