Water Landing

damn damn damn.
Originally uploaded by TuomasKuosmanen

This DA40 landed on the water after an engine failure and actually floated. The pilot and passenger were sitting on the wings when help arrived. Apparently, just their feet got wet.

Obama tax map

A friend asked about how people who make over 250k are affected.

Here is the answer

Calculate your tax break

See how your taxes change based upon the policies of each candidate.

<a href="http://taxcut.barackobama.com/">Link</a>

Wii vs Playstation

She's got a point. The Wii is cheap and fun!

Most random Mac Ad

I suppose this ad is in response to the Seinfeld / Gates, butt wag. Funny regardless.

CTO for the US?

Obama never ceases to amaze me. The US will actually have an official on the cabinet in charge of evaluating the state of technology in our country. This is so important for promoting efficient government and pressing technology access to all households. very nice!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/20/who-should-be-cto-of-the-usa/

Macbook Airport replacement

My Airport began to show symtoms of severe signal loss after it heated up. At first I though it was just an antenna short, but it the antenna typically worked fine while my laptop was cool.  I checked with MacAuthority and they wanted to charge me $190 just to look at it. Instead, I purchased a MacBook Wifi Antenna from a dealer in eBay for $26 and installed it myself. There are a lot of timy screws, but it was worth saving $160.

Disturbing Presidential Odds

Interesting, apparently the odds of POTUS being replaced by the VP prior to 2012 are the same as the Denver Broncos or the Titans winning the Super Bowl. It's amazing what we can bet on now.

Early Voting, Rutherford County, Grade D+

I voted at the La Vergne Civic Center today. The line was orderly. I arrived at 2:15pm and, with just 30 people ahead of me, left at 4:15. 120 minutes for 30 people. That works out to an average of 4 minutes per person. This is unacceptable. Sure, I voted, but let's not forget that it's the first day of early voting. On the actual day of the vote, if no changes are implemented, I predict an incredible failure in our democratic system.

When I voiced my concern, the person in charge of the venue told me that it's the voter's fault since voters rarely turn out in such large numbers. He indicated that he had requested additional computers (the ones used to validate your voter registration prior to the voting machines) to help speed up the process. As I watched the process, it became apparent to me that the greatest increase in efficiency would not come from an increased number of computers, but rather from an better response time from the database in charge of looking up voters' registrations. In order to get to the search screen, my official waited 2 minutes! Just to pull up the search screen. It was an additional 3 minutes to find my name and print off the paper and from there another minute and a half to vote.

Most depressing was watching only 2 of the 5 voting machines in use because of the slow registration validation process. Even if there were 20 voting machines at this location, only 2 would have been in use.

The summary here is that someone with half a brain needs to improve the query speed of the central registration computer in the next few days or there are going to be some serious problems. I was very vocal in my criticism of the speed of the process and as a concerned voter, I hope that you will do the same. This election is important and I don't want to see bureaucrats screw it up. I have further vocalized my concern to the democratic party and have been assured that they will look into this issue. I certainly hope that the media brings this flaw out into the open early where positive changes early on can make a difference.

The standard should be 30 seconds to 1 minute per person. The most effect means of getting to this level would be to improve the registration lookup process to 2 minutes instead of 5 minutes. No additional hardware or manpower at the voting sites would be needed to accomplish this.

UPDATE 10/17/2008: Here is some information from a friend in Rutherford County

Yesterday (Thursday) lines were long and computers were slow all over the county. At 7:00PM. the election commission office on the square, the Old Fort polling location and the Vine Street polling location went off line as all voters had been processed. At 7:05 PM the speed of the computer system increased by 100%. the Smyrna, LaVergne and Sports Com locations were the only ones still processing voters in line and they were processing voters at 2 minutes each.

You are correct. It is the system. That database can't handle that many hits (which we believe is 12: 2 machines at 6 locations). At this point, the best way to vote quickly without waiting in line is between 7 - 10 AM in Murfreesboro on the square when only two machines are hitting the database. At 10:00 Am, 5 other locations go online and start querying the database.

I talked with Drew Rhodes, the head of the Dem party today. He talked to Hooper Penuel yesterday about the situation in LaVergne. I leave tomorrow for OH. If you would like to call the election commission, as a concerned citizen, feel free. You can reach Hooper Penuel at 898-7743.

------------

I left a message for Hooper Penuel and am hoping to hear back from him today 10/17. -Bill

------------

Mr. Penuel called me back today and indicated that the database problem has been fixed. I received a report that the lines are moving quickly now! What do you know, the process actually works! Thanks for solving this situation. If you have any problems with the lines in Rutherford County, please post a reply here so we can look into the situation.

Why do Republicans seem to lack a sense of humor?

The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time. These are fairly left-leaning comedic talk shows. Where are the right-leaning talk shows? Why do they not exist?

Having the capacity to laugh at our mistakes is instrumental in our development. Humor is an effective outlet for dealing with poor decisions. This admission of our mistakes in the form of humor acts as a release valve and reassures others around us that we are not infallible and are open to change and the ideas of others.

I have friends who are republicans and love to laugh. They are even self-deprecating in their sense of humor, but their political heros seemingly have no sense of humor in public circles. Why is this true? Where do republicans go to mock their party's poor decisions or, for that matter, to mock the democrats?

It's been said that families who do not laugh together are dysfunctional. I am inclined to agree. Any group of people who cannot see their mistakes along with their triumphs is missing out on a key growth opportunity.

Start laughing Republicans.....it will give you more credibility and by lowering your guard, you might just learn something about yourself.