WoW votes for Obama at 62%

Pharyngula: If only inhabitants of fantasy worlds could vote here…:

I guess it isn't that surprising that a poll of game players might get results that reflect the real world vote, but the strange thing is that there were some game-associated differences. People playing the Horde side (undead, orcs, that sort of thing) were mostly for Obama, while those on the Alliance side (humans, elves, dwarves) gave more mixed results, with dwarves being the only group that favored McCain. There's a joke lurking in there, I'm sure…I just can't think what it would be.

All we have to do now is make sure short people aren't allowed to vote in the presidential election.

So why is a Randy Newman song running through my head.

*slaps self* bad boy. stop that.

I'll drink to that...after I vote...

liking Picasa 3...

Their video support now includes more formats than just .mov (QuickTime), and their screen capture stuff is good too...

...so more icons.  My entire Bugs Bunny collection has been ripped to .avis on this box.

heh heh heh

p.s. and I voted, too!

what the hell?

Officials find source of fake election flier, won't press charges | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com:

Calling it a "joke that got out of control," a top state election official today confirmed that the person responsible for a phony election flier circulated in Hampton Roads has been identified.

Law enforcement officials, meanwhile, added that charges will not be filed in the matter.

Oh THIS PISSES ME OFF.

Year after year after year, false information (almost entirely, but there are exceptions, spread to harass potential Democratic voters) is spread around through junk like this, through robocalls, through lies in websites, to in-person threats door-to-door in minority neighborhoods.

And if you don't charge these people with a crime, which they have committed and admitted to, you're just asking for it to continue forever.

"Oh, yeah, I raped her, but it was just a joke." - if that's not a valid defense, then "it's just a joke" isn't a valid defense here, either.

Intent may be useful in sentencing, but it alone should not be free reign for carte blanche permission to spread bullshit illegally like this.  A crime was committed.  It is up to the courts to decide if there was malicious intent.

free coffee achieved.

'nuf said.

why not?

1. Stop talking about politics for a moment or two.
2. Post a reasonably-sized picture in your LJ, NOT under a cut tag, of something pleasant, such as an adorable kitten, or a fluffy white cloud, or a bottle of booze. Something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
3. Include these instructions, and share the love.

The ScienceBloggers report in.

Science After Sunclipse : Just In Case:

Yes, I voted, and got the sticker saying so affixed to the lapel of my trenchcoat, totally ruining my cyberpunk cred.

Uncertain Principles: Stop Hitting Refresh!:

There aren't any results yet. Turn off the computer.

Go vote. Already voted? Watch some silly videos. Eat a sandwich. Do some freakin' thing. Just stop reloading FiveThirtyEight and Talking Points Memo, already.

Your incessant reloading is slowing my reloads, dammit.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Rachel Maddow on Long Voting Lines:

Rachel Maddow had an excellent riff on her show this weekend about long lines to vote and the fact that this is, in essence, a poll tax. She mentions the fact that a study in Ohio in 2004 found that as many as 129,000 people ended up not voting because they couldn't wait as long as it took to vote. Some people simply can't give up several hours to stand in line, while others can't do so physically. That's enough to potentially swing an election.

Something needs to be done about this. Doing what many other countries do and making election day a national holiday would be a good start.

With one exception: when it is a holiday, more people will just stay home.  (or to make matters worse, it just turns into a pre-Christmas shopping sale day by all the retailers, thus taking a large demographic out of the election anyways.)  Hard enough to find a sitter for the kids as it is in those areas (like VA) that give them the day off.  Dragging the kids along to a polling place is a bit much...unless they get smart and set up mini-daycare centers for the hour that the parents are in line.

In fact, if each of them had a TV set showing the America Schoolhouse Rock dvd, that would be awesome.  Fun for all ages, and appropriate too!

new icon for the season!

For those who want to play with it, here's the original screencap image and the base icon.

"for the times they are a changin'"

SurveyUSA » Blog Archive » McCain 510 Electoral Votes, Obama 28 … How the Map Looked Exactly 2 Years Ago:

Exactly two years ago, SurveyUSA completed interviews with 600 voters in every state (30,000 total interviews), asking them how they would vote in a 2008 Presidential Election between John McCain and Barack Obama. Based on those interviews, SurveyUSA was able to report that:

In November 2006, Obama carried …

1. His home state of Illinois.
2. His birth state of Hawaii.
3. The District of Columbia.

In November 2006, Obama got 28 total electoral votes.

In November 2006, John McCain carried 48 states, and rolled up 510 electoral votes.

How far has Barack Obama come in 24 months?

Or is it, how far has John McCain fallen in 24 months?

As always, the question's wording begs the answer...

2 milestones at once

A friend: So barring any changes due to recounts, lawsuits, etc., our next President is going to be a black man. I wonder what Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks would say about that.

Me: So barring any changes due to recounts, lawsuits, etc., our next President is going to be a person who had a mother of one "race" and a father of another. I wonder what Mildred Loving would say about that.