News

Blogs

Other stuff

Comic Strips

Radio Stations on the web

Online references

• Yahoo! Maps
• MapBlast
• Mapquest

Weblog:

Friday, October 31 2003

Pictures from the October 25 2003 Anti-War March/Peace Protest, San Francisco

My pictures from the October 25 anti-war march. I got there late, when much of the crowd had dispersed... The highlight of my time there was hearing Ron Kovic, the inspiration for Born on the Fourth of July (and author of the book of the same name).

Mixed messages at the rally; some parents of military personnel expressing their pain over their children being sent to fought in a needless war, some parents and relatives of U.S.-based young Muslim men who have been detained for no good reason, and of course the ANSWER folks decrying all use of U.S. power and the UN's tween-Gulf-Wars embargo against Iraq.

Who You Gonna Call? Ghost Magazine!

Ghost Magazine, "A Magazine for the Ghost Hunting Enthusiast," available only on the web. From the October 2003 issue: "It is dark. The smell of sulfur from cannon fire still hangs in the air. Candles and lanterns project oddly contorted shadows against the coquina walls of the old town, so you shut your eyes. This makes it worse. The sounds of the men who have been wounded reach you..."

The articles seem short and vague enough that the mag might be a joke, though.

Wednesday, October 29 2003

The Problem With Post-War Anti-War Protests

Reporter Michelle Goldberg went to Saturday's End the Occupation Rally in Washington, DC, and found a lot of people disagreeing with the ostensible reason for rallying:

"Many of the thousands of people who traveled from across the country to march on Washington Saturday were afflicted by a similar disconnect between the slogans they were rallying behind and their own sentiments about the situation in Iraq. Some said they recognized that a unilateral American departure from the country could be as destructive as a unilateral American invasion, but they wanted to demonstrate their opposition to the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East. The End the Occupation rally, co-sponsored by ANSWER, a front group for the Stalinist Workers' World Party, and the more moderate United for Peace and Justice, seemed the only game in town. Many apparently decided to pretend that 'end the occupation' really means 'bring in the U.N.,' despite ANSWER's blunt and repeated avowals that it means nothing of the sort."

Friday, October 24 2003

Eyewitness Account: Touchscreen Voting System Testing Seriously Flawed

Jeremiah Akin writes about his experience on the Riverside County Logic and Accuracy Testing Board which recently (September 9 2003) "tested" machines for use in future elections. Irregularities abounded.

See also his interview with Salon.com and discussion of the event on Slashdot. And Swarthmore students fighting Diebold's attempts to keep incriminating internal company discussions secret, and Why-War.com's coverage of Diebold.

CHE: Researchers Charge (Unintentional but Avoidable) Racial Bias on SAT

Jay Rosner, executive director of the Princeton Review Foundation, discovered that whites generally scored better than blacks on certain questions considered for the SAT; while blacks generally scored better than whites on other questions considered. But:

"On the October 2000 SAT, he says, every one of the 138 questions on the test favored white students, and none of the pretested questions that had favored minority students were included. He says he has found the same bias in the tests in other years, based on extensive data purchased from the testing service."

"Another new study ... argues that black students often do better than white students of similar ability on difficult questions, but that they do worse than their white counterparts on easy items.
"In an article in the spring issue of the Harvard Educational Review, Mr. Freedle suggests that easy questions use a more common vocabulary that is more open to interpretation based on a test taker's cultural background. Difficult questions, he says, use words encountered more often in academic settings, which are thus open to fewer misinterpretations."

Wednesday, October 22 2003

Interview With Rebecca Mercuri, David Dill, Barbara Simons

Excellent interview at truthout.org with Rebecca Mercuri, David Dill, and Barbara Simons, on their efforts to push voter-verified voting systems, the resistance they're getting from all sorts of groups, and Representative Rush Holt's bill on the issue.

Clinton: Adultery. Schwarzenegger: Sexual Assault.

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor points out what's generally missing in discussion about our new governor: the proper term for what 15 women have accused him of is sexual assault, not just "groping."

"For Californians of all political persuasions, the questions now hang: Did our governor-elect assault 15 women and, if he did, do we think that's okay?
As the father of four daughters, I'm especially interested in the answer."

Monday, October 20 2003

Again With the Electronic Voting Scandals

Wired News says:

"Now a former worker in Diebold's Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the state's 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials.
If the charges are true, Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election-certification rules. The charges also raise questions about the integrity of the Georgia election results and any other election that uses patched Diebold systems that have not been re-certified."

Neat Project: 1000 Journals

SFGate has an article on an art project in which "Someguy" sent 1000 blank journals to people across the world, with instructions to write/draw/something in them and pass them on... The project website has some cool examples of the work people put in to it.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, in December

New Line Productions is re-releasing the previous 2 Lord of the Rings movies in theaters in December, in advance of the final movie of the trilogy, The Return of the King. The Fellowship of the Ring, December 5-11; The Two Towers, December 12-15. Or see the entire trilogy on December 16th.

Friday, October 17 2003

Bob Park on China's Plans for Space

In his latest What's New, Bob Park welcomes China to what he sees as the space race boondoggle:

"... China hopes eventually to construct a permanent base on the moon. Americans should welcome China's new direction. Sending humans into space offers no military, economic, or scientific advantage; rather it's a symbolic demonstration that China has arrived as an economic power and can now afford to waste vast sums of money."

Ahmanson Also Bankrolling Anglican Church Controversy?

Howard F. Ahmanson, voting-machine-industry-financeer, contributes at least $200,000 a year to the Anglican Church, which (according to The Guardian) gets him the ability to help set the Anglican Church's agenda:

"Now [Howard F.] Ahmanson [Jr] has a new crusade, whose repercussions will be felt far beyond the United States. He is using his cash to stir up the most divisive row facing the Anglican Church, one that threatens to rip it apart when its leaders meet in London this week. At its heart is the Church's stance on homosexuality, an issue that divides liberal and conservative..."

"Does the row matter to non-Anglicans?

Many would argue that the Church continues to shape society's [England's] mind. There is also the Queen, who is Supreme Head of the Church."

Thursday, October 16 2003

24-hour comic: Mint Julip

One of the better (and still-properly-linked) entries in Scott McCloud's 24-hour comic challenge: Mint Julip.

Even the Russians are talking about U.S. vote-fixing

St. Petersburg Times columnist Chris Floyd on the Republican-leaning (to put it mildly) executives of the corporations that provide the unauditable voting technology which will (or won't) register our votes in 2004, and already have (or haven't) in 2002 and 2003:

"Who's behind these private companies? It's hard to tell: the corporate lines - even the bloodlines - of these 'competitors' are so intricately mixed. For example, at Diebold - whose corporate chief, Wally O'Dell, a top Bush fundraiser, has publicly committed himself to "'delivering' his home state's votes to Bush next year - the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at 'rival' ES&S. The brothers were originally staked in the vote-count business by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing 'steering group' stacked with Bushist faithful.

Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist 'Christian Reconstructionist' movement, which openly advocates a theocratic takeover of American democracy, placing the entire society under the 'dominion' of 'Christ the King.' This 'dominion' includes the death penalty for homosexuals, exclusion of citizenship for non-Christians, stoning of sinners and - we kid you not - slavery, 'one of the most beneficent of Biblical laws.'

Ahmanson also has major holdings in ES&S, whose former CEO is Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. When Hagel ran for office, his own company counted the votes; needless to say, his initial victory was reported as 'an amazing upset.' Hagel still has a million-dollar stake in the parent company of ES&S. In Florida, Jeb Bush's first choice for a running mate in his 1998 gubernatorial race was ES&S lobbyist Sandra Mortham, who made a mint installing the machines that counted Jeb's votes.

Sequoia also has a colorful history, most recently in Louisiana, where it was the center of a massive corruption case that sent top state officials to jail for bribery, most of it funneled through Mob-connected front firms. Sequoia executives were also indicted, but escaped trial after giving immunized testimony against state officials. The UK-owned company's corporate parent is private equity firm Madison Dearborn - a partner of the Carlyle Group, where George Bush I makes millions trolling the world for war pork, privatizations and sweetheart deals with government insiders."

Wednesday, October 15 2003

Maryland to Use Diebold Voting Systems Despite Documented Security Problems

SAIC has released its report on the Diebold voting machines which Maryland plans to buy:

"Rubin, who read the redacted version of the report, said, 'I'm very happy to see this report, and I think it validates our work. But my concern remains that Maryland, instead of responding with a sense of urgency, seems to be looking for ways to move ahead with Diebold despite this report.

'The Maryland plan of action is seriously out of whack with the SAIC risk assessment,' he added. 'This is a system with serious problems. I would expect them to suspend plans to use the Diebold machines until SAIC releases a report that says the system is safe to use.' "

Monday, October 13 2003

What If You Weren't Black?

Through a genetic test, an African-American discovers he isn't African-American:

"Here was the unexpected and rather unwelcome truth: Joseph was 57 percent Indo-European, 39 percent Native American, 4 percent East Asian – and zero percent African. After a lifetime of assuming blackness, he was now being told that he lacked even a single drop of black blood to qualify."

Sunday, October 12 2003

California Recall: Green vs. Red Counties

The California Secretary of State's website has a map indicating which counties went for Arnold Schwarzenegger and which went for Cruz Bustamante, and by what percentages. San Francisco and the counties surrounding it tended to be Bustamante counties; the rest of the state, Schwarzenegger.

Related: SFgate article on how the Bay Area became a Democratic/liberal stronghold.

"Until the mid-1960s, San Francisco elected only Republican mayors -- and the Bay Area followed suit, electing Republicans to virtually ever local, state and federal office."

Saturday, October 11 2003

The SANS Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities

SANS and the FBI have updated their list of the top 20 Net security vulnerabilities; the 10 top Unix vulnerabilities, and the 10 top Windows ones. Slashdot discussion ensues.

National Novel-Writing Month...

... is coming in November. 30 days, 50,000 words, share the pain with would-be wordsmiths worldwide...

Emusic goes down the tubes

Looks like Emusic.com is changing its terms of service, to no longer be worth joining. They used to provide almost-unlimited MP3 downloads (of not-so-popular/recent songs, of course), for a reasonable price. Now it's limited downloads for too much money.

Wish I'd bought a high-capacity firewire drive quicker.

Wednesday, October 1 2003

Cheap Eats in the San Francisco Bay Area

For those around San Francisco, SFGate's guide to cheap, good restaurants all around the Bay Area.

About this site

This is the personal web site for Edward (Ed) Piou. Consisting mainly of a blog (operational since 1999) and various photos.

Some online projects I'm working on

Politics

Charity, Non-profits...

A while ago, I decided to put my money where my mind is on a (roughly) monthly basis and give to:

Photos

Public events documented through pictures...