I had an idea the other day after watching the debates, both Democratic and Republican. I realized that I would like to get to vote both for my favorite democrat and favorite republican. Just think, I mused, if everyone could vote for their favorite from each party, we'd end up with a candidate who was OK either way. The problem is that the partisans on one side or another end up nominating someone horrid. I wanted McCain to beat Bush in 2000. I was a Dean guy in 2004.
Then it hit me, it's easy. We can't register democrat and then register republican. However, if half of us register democrat and half register republican, and then vote for our favorite, we almost guarantee a nice moderate, popular president. Both candidates should be OK, and then maybe we'll have a nice decade going forward.
How-To:
1: Flip a coin. If it is heads register democrat, if it is tails register republican.
2: Vote for your favorite candidate in whichever party you ended up with.
3: Spread this idea to all your friends.
Good luck!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Never talk about religion or politics...
So I'm gonna break that rule and talk about politics. Here we go...
I watched both the republican and democratic debates today while writing up some business paperwork (blekh) and was surprised by what I saw.
Democrats: I was surprised to see a bunch of people who mostly seemed genuine, honest, on-topic, and fairly civil. I think these debates may be a little more civil right now as it's early on, but it was still nice. I was surprised to find that I would be OK with most of them being president (looking only at this debate, I'm sure this'll change...).
Obama: The guy is sharp. He is very good at quickly cutting to the heart of the topic, he doesn't hesitate to jump into sticky topics, make admissions, and he avoids trying to distract with frivolous tangents.
Clinton: She is my least favorite, so I was surprised to hear she leads the polls. But, they were awfully hard on her, as she's the leader, so she had to deal with a lot of attacks. Regardless, she seems very political, slimy, and deceptive. Maybe that's just me. Either way, she seemed to be on the defensive in a big way, with Obama and Edwards really showing her up big-time.
Edwards: He's OK, but he seems a little political and slimy, too. Not as bad as Hillary, and he was pretty sharp, but he seemed very strategic and phony.
Biden: I've never seen him before, but he was actually pleasant to see up there. He's frank, smart, and fairly on-the-ball. He doesn't seem as smart as Obama, or Edwards, but does seem more honest than Edwards. Also, he seems a little quick in his decisions, not thoughtful. We've had one of those for a few years now...
Kucinich: I wish they'd give Kucinich more time. He's great to listen to. He is not political and believes strongly in his causes. Also, I tend to agree with him on a lot of things. That said, he doesn't even get any respect in this democratic forum. How is he gonna get it from congress, washington d.c. and the world?
The White-haired Jewish Guy (I mississed his name): He was funny. Irrelevant, but funny. He was pretty smart, to-the-point, and I liked him all right. He doesn't have a chance, though.
The other white-haired guy: Also irrelevant but pretty level-headed.
Did I miss anyone? I can't think of another one.
Republicans: Wow. Wow. Wow. These guys were like a normal political debate. They were stiff, full of sound-bites, and agonizing to listen to. Some of them were straight-up terrifying to listen to. I did like hearing so many of them say they'd eliminate the IRS and shrink government, though. Let's take a look...
McCain: When he was going against W in 2000 I wanted him to win. I liked him a LOT. He seemed level-headed, smart, and competent. I'm not sure what has happened to him since then. He acts like a robot, for one thing. He is a loon when he talks about terrorism and Bin Laden (I will hunt him to the gates of hell???? And I guess that means you're gonna blow all our money on this, regardless of whether Bin Laden matters anymore, or what the possible consequences are? Great way to handle a complicated problem and weigh all the options and issues...) I now would rather see just about anybody else president. Unfortunately, after looking at the other republicans, it's probably him or Juliani, right? Who are these other guys? He only said one thing I liked, when he talked about going to silicon valley to recruit billionaires for his cabinet and staff.
Giuliani: He really doesn't fit in with this bunch. And that's a good thing. He did well in NY, which is a diverse, complicated place: much like the world. I think he is keyed into the reality of the world well enough to be able to get things done. Some of the other guys up there seem to come from the twilight zone.
Ron Paul: Never heard about him before today when I kept seeing his name pop up in comments on the democratic debate page. People wanted him to be the republican to win, so that it'd be their favorite democrat vs. him, so that either way it was OK. That seems to be the way to look at these things anymore: hope that both candidates are OK so that it's OK whoever wins. Ron Paul is great. He's dorky, a little overly simplistic on a couple things, but I like his idea of government. He's a libertarian, not a Republican, and I hope he does well. Haven't checked the polls, but I'd be shocked if he made it. Who knows, though, that'd be cool.
The other guys: Yikes, yikes yikes yikes yikes. Especially the one guy who looks like the FBI dude from Greatest American Hero. Jeez, did that guy get teleported here from the 50's? 40's? His hair did anyway.
Anyway, I'm sure people are mad and all, but these are my picks, in order, by part, so far...
Dems:
Obama
Biden
Edwards
Repubs:
Ron Paul
Giuliani
I'd rather not see any of the others elected...
Issues?
Not sure on some of them, but here's a few thoughts:
War in Iraq: boy, we're in a sticky mess. I think we need to get out. We screwed up. Not sure how fast we should get out. I think Iraq will either come under the boot of another Saddam, who will be able to squelch the violence with said boot, or divide in to different nations along ethnic bounds (sunni, shia, kurd). The other moderate Arab nations have begun to come forward to take lead of the direction of their part of the world (Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.) and that is good. Hopefully they can work together, in their own interest, to settle things down and further their regional interests, instead of getting ensnared in some sort of regional ethnic war... either way, I don't think we'll solve it in Iraq. Also, isn't Kucinich right that they can just NOT approve ANY funding bill for the war, thus cutting it off? Sure, they need a quorum or whatever to override his veto, but that's to pass a funding bill WITH timetable. If they want to play hardball they just don't fund. Boom. Done.
What I fear in the war: Bush wants bases in Iraq from which to attempt to launch into Iran, and generally secure the middle east. We need not be the world's policemen. WE NEED NOT BE THE WORLD'S POLICEMEN.
Immigration: They're not talking about implementing the sort of immigration reform that I'd like to see, so I don't really care for the most part. However, I am against the REAL ID stuff. I think they need to be practical about it all.
Health Care: Conservatives don't want 'socialist' health care. Democrats want universal coverage. Personally, I wouldn't say that our current system is all that free market, what with the HMOs, insurance company cronyism, etc. I don't want to see a mandatory plan, that's for sure, or one that is gonna be financially unfeasible, or that encourages people to be unhealthy or reckless. I'm open to suggestions from all sides.
Abortion: The republicans are only talking about this because they're trying to rally the religious right votes, yet again. They'll bring up gay stuff again, too, and try to pretend that the world will go to total hell if a democrat is elected. I think Bush pretty well fulfilled that in his own unique way, too, though, so voting republican certainly doesn't save you from that...
Anyway, I think that's all I have right now. What did everyone else think?
I watched both the republican and democratic debates today while writing up some business paperwork (blekh) and was surprised by what I saw.
Democrats: I was surprised to see a bunch of people who mostly seemed genuine, honest, on-topic, and fairly civil. I think these debates may be a little more civil right now as it's early on, but it was still nice. I was surprised to find that I would be OK with most of them being president (looking only at this debate, I'm sure this'll change...).
Obama: The guy is sharp. He is very good at quickly cutting to the heart of the topic, he doesn't hesitate to jump into sticky topics, make admissions, and he avoids trying to distract with frivolous tangents.
Clinton: She is my least favorite, so I was surprised to hear she leads the polls. But, they were awfully hard on her, as she's the leader, so she had to deal with a lot of attacks. Regardless, she seems very political, slimy, and deceptive. Maybe that's just me. Either way, she seemed to be on the defensive in a big way, with Obama and Edwards really showing her up big-time.
Edwards: He's OK, but he seems a little political and slimy, too. Not as bad as Hillary, and he was pretty sharp, but he seemed very strategic and phony.
Biden: I've never seen him before, but he was actually pleasant to see up there. He's frank, smart, and fairly on-the-ball. He doesn't seem as smart as Obama, or Edwards, but does seem more honest than Edwards. Also, he seems a little quick in his decisions, not thoughtful. We've had one of those for a few years now...
Kucinich: I wish they'd give Kucinich more time. He's great to listen to. He is not political and believes strongly in his causes. Also, I tend to agree with him on a lot of things. That said, he doesn't even get any respect in this democratic forum. How is he gonna get it from congress, washington d.c. and the world?
The White-haired Jewish Guy (I mississed his name): He was funny. Irrelevant, but funny. He was pretty smart, to-the-point, and I liked him all right. He doesn't have a chance, though.
The other white-haired guy: Also irrelevant but pretty level-headed.
Did I miss anyone? I can't think of another one.
Republicans: Wow. Wow. Wow. These guys were like a normal political debate. They were stiff, full of sound-bites, and agonizing to listen to. Some of them were straight-up terrifying to listen to. I did like hearing so many of them say they'd eliminate the IRS and shrink government, though. Let's take a look...
McCain: When he was going against W in 2000 I wanted him to win. I liked him a LOT. He seemed level-headed, smart, and competent. I'm not sure what has happened to him since then. He acts like a robot, for one thing. He is a loon when he talks about terrorism and Bin Laden (I will hunt him to the gates of hell???? And I guess that means you're gonna blow all our money on this, regardless of whether Bin Laden matters anymore, or what the possible consequences are? Great way to handle a complicated problem and weigh all the options and issues...) I now would rather see just about anybody else president. Unfortunately, after looking at the other republicans, it's probably him or Juliani, right? Who are these other guys? He only said one thing I liked, when he talked about going to silicon valley to recruit billionaires for his cabinet and staff.
Giuliani: He really doesn't fit in with this bunch. And that's a good thing. He did well in NY, which is a diverse, complicated place: much like the world. I think he is keyed into the reality of the world well enough to be able to get things done. Some of the other guys up there seem to come from the twilight zone.
Ron Paul: Never heard about him before today when I kept seeing his name pop up in comments on the democratic debate page. People wanted him to be the republican to win, so that it'd be their favorite democrat vs. him, so that either way it was OK. That seems to be the way to look at these things anymore: hope that both candidates are OK so that it's OK whoever wins. Ron Paul is great. He's dorky, a little overly simplistic on a couple things, but I like his idea of government. He's a libertarian, not a Republican, and I hope he does well. Haven't checked the polls, but I'd be shocked if he made it. Who knows, though, that'd be cool.
The other guys: Yikes, yikes yikes yikes yikes. Especially the one guy who looks like the FBI dude from Greatest American Hero. Jeez, did that guy get teleported here from the 50's? 40's? His hair did anyway.
Anyway, I'm sure people are mad and all, but these are my picks, in order, by part, so far...
Dems:
Obama
Biden
Edwards
Repubs:
Ron Paul
Giuliani
I'd rather not see any of the others elected...
Issues?
Not sure on some of them, but here's a few thoughts:
War in Iraq: boy, we're in a sticky mess. I think we need to get out. We screwed up. Not sure how fast we should get out. I think Iraq will either come under the boot of another Saddam, who will be able to squelch the violence with said boot, or divide in to different nations along ethnic bounds (sunni, shia, kurd). The other moderate Arab nations have begun to come forward to take lead of the direction of their part of the world (Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.) and that is good. Hopefully they can work together, in their own interest, to settle things down and further their regional interests, instead of getting ensnared in some sort of regional ethnic war... either way, I don't think we'll solve it in Iraq. Also, isn't Kucinich right that they can just NOT approve ANY funding bill for the war, thus cutting it off? Sure, they need a quorum or whatever to override his veto, but that's to pass a funding bill WITH timetable. If they want to play hardball they just don't fund. Boom. Done.
What I fear in the war: Bush wants bases in Iraq from which to attempt to launch into Iran, and generally secure the middle east. We need not be the world's policemen. WE NEED NOT BE THE WORLD'S POLICEMEN.
Immigration: They're not talking about implementing the sort of immigration reform that I'd like to see, so I don't really care for the most part. However, I am against the REAL ID stuff. I think they need to be practical about it all.
Health Care: Conservatives don't want 'socialist' health care. Democrats want universal coverage. Personally, I wouldn't say that our current system is all that free market, what with the HMOs, insurance company cronyism, etc. I don't want to see a mandatory plan, that's for sure, or one that is gonna be financially unfeasible, or that encourages people to be unhealthy or reckless. I'm open to suggestions from all sides.
Abortion: The republicans are only talking about this because they're trying to rally the religious right votes, yet again. They'll bring up gay stuff again, too, and try to pretend that the world will go to total hell if a democrat is elected. I think Bush pretty well fulfilled that in his own unique way, too, though, so voting republican certainly doesn't save you from that...
Anyway, I think that's all I have right now. What did everyone else think?
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Awesome VoIP phone AND a cool, cheap way to backup automatically!
This is a geeky post, I'll admit it. I've been meaning to let people know about these for awhile and keep forgetting. Anyway, this stuff is so genuinely awesome that pretty much everyone ought to stop wasting time and money, and just get it.
Linksys CIT-400
This is a skype phone. You plug its base-station into your router, and then you plug the handset in anywhere you want. It is wireless and functions just like a regular cordless phone, except it's a little snazzier with skype on it and such.
Here's the good part. You sign up for unlimited skype in ($38/YEAR!) and skype out ($29.95/YEAR!) and you get:
A regular phone number that anyone can call (you even get to pick it if you want)
Unlimited calls to the US, Canada, and I think parts of europe
ridiculously cheap long-distance to everywhere else
voice mail
an annual phone bill of $67.95
It is absolutely amazing. For the price of 2-3 months of local phone service you get a year of long-distance and local service.
Better still, this phone lets you plug in a regular phone-line, too, so you can choose one or the other when you dial out, if you so choose. It's perfect for trying it to see if you like it.
I have had great luck with it and am using it as my business line. The call quality isn't quite as good as a regular phone, but it's about as good as a cell phone.
Also you can add additional handsets and place them around the house. You can even do conference calls. WOW.
Mozy
Mozy is an internet based backup solution. It will back up as much data as you can throw at it, automatically, for $4.95/month. I don't know what else to say. I have shopped around and that is an unbelievably killer deal. I have also used lots of backup solutions and this one is dead simple. Once you set it up, which is easy, it just automatically backs things up roughly every HOUR. You might worry about it killing your internet connection but it only backs up changes, so it doesn't have to do everything every hour. I've yet to notice a slowdown due to mozy, either.
An external HD is around $100. That pays about 2 years of mozy. You'll need a new drive after 2 years likely, anyway, and the external HD might fail, fill up, or be destroyed along with the computer in a fire or similar disaster. Mozy is online and always up-to-date.
Additionally, mozy encrypts your data so that not even they have access to it.
Mozy also works for mac and windows.
Linksys CIT-400
This is a skype phone. You plug its base-station into your router, and then you plug the handset in anywhere you want. It is wireless and functions just like a regular cordless phone, except it's a little snazzier with skype on it and such.
Here's the good part. You sign up for unlimited skype in ($38/YEAR!) and skype out ($29.95/YEAR!) and you get:
A regular phone number that anyone can call (you even get to pick it if you want)
Unlimited calls to the US, Canada, and I think parts of europe
ridiculously cheap long-distance to everywhere else
voice mail
an annual phone bill of $67.95
It is absolutely amazing. For the price of 2-3 months of local phone service you get a year of long-distance and local service.
Better still, this phone lets you plug in a regular phone-line, too, so you can choose one or the other when you dial out, if you so choose. It's perfect for trying it to see if you like it.
I have had great luck with it and am using it as my business line. The call quality isn't quite as good as a regular phone, but it's about as good as a cell phone.
Also you can add additional handsets and place them around the house. You can even do conference calls. WOW.
Mozy
Mozy is an internet based backup solution. It will back up as much data as you can throw at it, automatically, for $4.95/month. I don't know what else to say. I have shopped around and that is an unbelievably killer deal. I have also used lots of backup solutions and this one is dead simple. Once you set it up, which is easy, it just automatically backs things up roughly every HOUR. You might worry about it killing your internet connection but it only backs up changes, so it doesn't have to do everything every hour. I've yet to notice a slowdown due to mozy, either.
An external HD is around $100. That pays about 2 years of mozy. You'll need a new drive after 2 years likely, anyway, and the external HD might fail, fill up, or be destroyed along with the computer in a fire or similar disaster. Mozy is online and always up-to-date.
Additionally, mozy encrypts your data so that not even they have access to it.
Mozy also works for mac and windows.
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