Slashdot | Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines

So, it looks like you can buy the election for under $3million. Who knew it could be so cheap?

New Job!

Well, it looks like I finally have a new job again. This one starts on Monday. I will be Senior Java Developer at Freightliner. I know a little about their product, but I haven't seen a job description -- so we shall see what I am doing ;)

Your Quiz Score: Libertarian

An old coworker sent me this test.... End result?

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 100%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 60%.

ACCORDING TO YOUR ANSWERS,

The political description that
fits you best is...

LIBERTARIAN

LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and
economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one
that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.
Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose
government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate
diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.

The RED DOT on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map.

gamejackal.com

Interesting product....

We have quite a few games that advertise that they can be LAN-played. Unfortunately, many seem to think that a husband-and-wife should buy two copies of their $50 game to use this advertised feature. Personally, I think that is detestable marketing.

As such, I decided to try out the Game Jackal. While the multiplayer server was not able to use the Jackal, the multiplayer client was. As such, a single legal copy of the LAN-based game allowed me and my wife to play it against each other.... without making a backup copy of the disk, or cracking the software... very nice. two thumbs up.

Too bad I still have to insert the CD for the server side, but oh well... not like I wasn't doing that for single player anyways.

Slashdot | Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam is Back

Not only is this a great concept, but the alert that popups when you go there from the slashdot article is just hilarious. Kudos!

Slashdot | A Barcode Driven Kitchen and Grocery List?

You know, I have been planning on doing this (and even having a cheapo computer in the kitchen for it) using my :CueCat... but since I never accepted their license agreement and opened their software, I have not yet been able to get ANY of the various free drivers to work... maybe I should look into that again.

OpenOffice's XML Format

Slashdot pointed an article to here as an example of how it is creating an open source file format... I just wish they would get around to writing an XSD. I despise DTDs. Besides, if we had an XSD, I could spent 30 seconds and have an entire Java API that read/wrote that format using JAXB.

Slashdot | Aftermath Of Failed Electronic Voting

What a shocker... more voting fraud (whether "intentional" or not)...

excerpt:
resulted in the loss of 4,500 votes in an election decided by only 2,300 votes

Slashdot | 3D Modelling for Kids

I might just have to download and try this. Sounds like a great idea.

Jottings.com - 100 oldest dot com domains

This is really kewl. The Screen Savers (on TechTV, oh sorry, G4TechTV) mentioned it and the link was provided by plastic bugs.

Tool Time at Pixar

Honestly, didn't read the article, but did read this comment:

If you were in the Pixar screening room where director Brad Bird regularly reviewed images for The Incredibles, you would have seen a cool, new tool in action — the Review Sketch tool. This tool literally allowed Bird to draw on top of a projected image using a digitizing pen. The drawings were then accessible online by other members of his team.

Slashdot | Man Builds 7 foot Grandfather Clock from Lego

Now that's kewl.

The Shadow of Yesterday

I haven't really looked this new OpenSource RPG over yet, but I found the link to it from this article on /.

Adware cannibals feast on each other | CNET News.com

Key Excerpt:
"'DirectRevenue, knowingly and with intent to defraud, exceeded its authorized access to users' computers...by automatically uninstalling Avenue Media's Internet Optimizer upon installation or update of DirectRevenue's competing browser,' according to the complaint, which was filed in a district court in Seattle."

Quizzes for Lauren's LJ

I was trying to do these tests, but unfortunately they all failed (mysql errors) when submitted. Guess I will try them again later:

What is your Alignment?

What Legends of the Five Rings Clan are you?

Seven deadly sins

Slashdot | Programmer Built Vote-Rigging Demo for Florida Politician

Hmmm... Someone admitting to modifying the votes for Florida?

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Brainwave' cap controls computer

With this and a VR helmer, perhaps it would be worth playing FPS games!

I'm back

Well, as some of you know, I just got out of the hospital yesterday. I went in for chest pain (around my sternum).... Turned out to be pancreatitis again. The hospital has no clue what caused it, and released me yesterday because they said that they can't do anything for me that I can't do better for myself. They gave me a prescription for pain meds and sent me home. I am supposed to keep on a low-fat diet for the next couple weeks to help my pancreas heal -- but they expect that I will be back since they don't know what the cause was.

Anyways, not using the computer for long, just wanted to let everyone know that I am OK and will hopefully be a bit more active on here again soon.