This is the best summary of why electronic voting machines are a problem. I’ve certainly been aware (and scared) of the issues for some time, but there are a lot of people that aren’t. This is a good one to forward around to people you know who aren’t aware of the issues. This is a really important issue to fix before the next election, and only some people in the government are aware and care about this issue.
Schneier on Security: Voting Technology and Security
Last week in Florida’s 13th Congressional district, the victory margin was only 386 votes out of 153,000. There’ll be a mandatory lawyered-up recount, but it won’t include the almost 18,000 votes that seem to have disappeared. The electronic voting machines didn’t include them in their final tallies, and there’s no backup to use for the recount. The district will pick a winner to send to Washington, but it won’t be because they are sure the majority voted for him. Maybe the majority did, and maybe it didn’t. There’s no way to know.
Politics
So, we’ve got this book coming out this week, and it features 80+ pages on MochiKit 1.4, including the powerful Scriptaculous effects port. Karl Guertin’s new MochiKit.Animator makes the Scriptaculous port a much harder sell. I always appreciate beauty in an API, and this is a very attractive API indeed. It’s based on Bernard Sumption’s work, and this really looks like a solid choice if you’re using MochiKit.
Software Development
While I’m a big fan of his programming (and a certain other of his projects, I’m not of a fan of Mike Bayer’s Myghty template language. The original language itself was invented in Perl-land and Mike adapted and extended it in Python. I just don’t enjoy the syntax. Admittedly, though, Myghty and other Python template languages are faster than my favorite, Genshi. So , you can imagine my delight to read that Mike is working on speeding up Genshi! Thanks Mike!
(By the way, it’s unlikely that Genshi will ever be as fast as a purely non-structural template language. My choice of Python over Java or C shows that I’m willing to trade in a little speed to use a better language, and this case is no different. With appropriate caching, I’m sure that the speed of Genshi will be just fine even on very heavily trafficked sites/apps.)
Python
British believe Bush more dangerous than Kim Jong-il | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
America is now seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbours and allies, according to an international survey of public opinion published today that reveals just how far the country’s reputation has fallen among former supporters since the invasion of Iraq.
Bush is not acting alone. He’s acting in concert with an almost completely docile Congress. In the past few years, we’ve seen our civil rights eroded (some of these bad laws will hopefully still get challenged in the courts!), a war started under false pretexts drag on and on because of complete mismanagement, completely unrealistic spending (and borrowing!) on taxpayer behalf, an environmental policy (and policies in general) that ignore science, etc. We’re also in danger of losing our very democracy to an appalling rollout of flawed election technology.
Contrary to what people might think, I am not a liberal. Or a Democrat. In fact, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I’m a registered Republican. If anything, I tend toward the Libertarians (though not far enough that way to actually vote for Libertarians). I believe in the basic freedoms given to us by the Constitution (which I guess makes me socially liberal), but I believe in running a fiscally conservative and responsible government.
If you don’t want to see your rights eroded further and more money stolen from your pockets, vote Democratic on Tuesday to ensure that, at least for the next two years, the overwhelming pace of outrageous lawmaking will finally come to a halt.
Politics
The November meeting of MichiPUG will be tomorrow, Thursday, November 2nd at 7PM at the Arbor Networks office. Last month’s meeting had a filled schedule with talks on wxPython and Twill. This month, we’ve got our most open schedule we’ve had for a few months. The one topic we’ve decided on is that we’re going to talk about editors and people will be free to show off some of the cool Python editing related features of their favorite editor/IDE.
In months past when we didn’t have a full schedule, we’ve still had plenty to talk about. The time is left open for any random Python question or quick topics that people want discuss. So, bring along your editor and any burning Python questions and join us!
(Meetings are free, and the meeting is at the Arbor Networks office in downtown Ann Arbor)
Python
