" /> Minh’s Notes: November 2006 Archives

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November 20, 2006

Phil Todd has the last word on the 360/PS3/Wheeee debate. Me? I like my Super NES, and I can give you 20 logical reasons why it’s the best: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, Thwomp, Boo, Goomba, Shy Guy, Koopa Paratroopa, Birdo… okay, that’s only ten, but you get the idea. I don’t care how immersive and photorealistic the egg-throwing gets in Xbox these days, because Yoshi never gets old.

You can still throw eggs in Xbox games, right?

November 6, 2006

In case you’re in the habit of cramming before the elections, I just wanted to impart some last words upon my precious readers before you run out to the polls tomorrow night at 7:29 PM.

  • Mike DeWine is the most technologically-unsavvy Senate Republican in the 109th Congress, according to CNET’s Technology Voter Guide that gave him an abysmal 25%. The guide is based on the representatives’ voting records in Congress, so it isn’t a scientific IQ test that ranked DeWine so low, but that still doesn’t excuse a candidate who, in his campaign for reelection, touts himself as “Ohio’s most effective supporter of high technology programs that strengthen Ohio’s economy.”

    For the sake of completeness, Jean Schmidt entered office too late for her score of 0% to mean anything. Former Ohio governor George Voinovich gets 45%, John Boehner gets 50%, and Steve Chabot get a (relatively) respectable 55%. Lest anyone think that I’m just targeting Republicans in this blog post, I should note that Ted Strickland scores only slightly better than DeWine at 28%. But he represents Appalachian Ohio; high-tech isn’t exactly their top priority out there.

  • Robert Kennedy’s piece in Rolling Stone magazine, “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?,” was from a while ago, but it’s especially relevant in Ohio, where the Secretary of State named in the well-sourced, well-written article is now running for Governor. Even if its premise offends your political sensibilities, it still makes for some good reading. What else’ve you got to do on a Monday evening? :^)
  • It’s really sad that, despite all the uproar in the Latino community over immigration rights and other issues this past spring, many still aren’t going out to vote.
  • Voting: it stinks, but someone’s gotta do it.

Expect a whole lot less politicking from this blog after the elections. I’m tired of this stuff.

November 4, 2006

While upgrading Planet Xavier to run on Planet 2.0, I finally got around to fixing a bug that’s reared its ugly head at the site for the better part of a year: entries were timestamped anywhere between five and nine hours ahead, so the latest posts would actually be from a few hours in the future. So, sorry, pX will no longer predict the future for you. But since Planet is no longer in beta, maybe I’ll stop pulling a Google and actually bring pX out of “β” testing. Or maybe not.

Now if I can just do something about the recent dearth of blog posts from current St. X students. Hopefully it’s just because everyone’s on Facebook now. If that’s the case, maybe I can use the Facebook API to syndicate their Facebook “notes” as well. (You’d only be able to see Facebook notes if you’re currently logged into Facebook, of course. Facebook has enough stalkers; we don’t need any lurking around pX too.)

November 2, 2006

Oh boy, three posts, three days in a row – how long’s it been since I did that? Maybe since senior year in high school. Here’s something I haven’t offered for awhile: a quote of the day. A California election supervisor, explaining the problem with her county’s voting machines:

Vietnamese is a great language, very beautiful and musical … But we are not persuaded that we have a ton of Vietnamese-speaking blind voters.

Apparently the machines wouldn’t provide audio instructions for the blind in English. Voters this year might want to take a pocket dictionary to the polls.

November 1, 2006

How flattering: upon “endorsing” Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, The Cincinnati Enquirer wishes to “support his ideas and denounce his tactics.” The paper begins its defense of Blackwell thus:

The race for Ohio governor is a contest to see which candidate is the least like incumbent Bob Taft.

It would seem as though the Enquirer is aiming to have it both ways, affirming (as it always does) its unwavering support for the GOP while sheltering itself from any additional scandals that may arise between now and Election Day. It’s as if they know there will be additional scandals, and the paper wants to allow only half of Blackwell into the Governor’s Residence while locking the other half out.

Obviously, I’m not quite in tune with Ohio politics, since no TV would be within earshot of the hundreds of dirty ads flying in Ohio at this very moment. But if the paper wanted so badly to deal a blow to Blackwell’s Democratic opponent, they could have simply abstained this year. Yes, the Enquirer could have cast a blank vote and denied its endorsement to both candidates. Instead, it took a position that it had to carefully defend. And since the Enquirer’s defense includes the following tidbit…

Unfortunately the first thing Blackwell will have to do if he is elected is to live down his campaign. He has attempted to falsely smear Strickland as a supporter of child sex. He has used surrogates to suggest that Strickland, married for 18 years, is gay. Such tactics are blots on Blackwell’s character, and he owes the state of Ohio an apology. Strickland is an honorable man who has served the state with integrity.

…the “endorsement” only lowers my opinion of Blackwell. Kind of defeats the purpose of endorsing a candidate, doesn’t it.