General

53% would sacrifice civil liberties

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53% would sacrifice civil liberties for national security. A survey on courttv.com asks “Would you sacrifice civil liberties for national security?” Right now the results are 53% yes & 46.9% no.

This is really bad. We’re all losing. The terrorists have won.

Yet another Florida election screwup.

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Yet another Florida election screwup. Many of the polling places didn’t open on time, so they were supposed to stay open 2 hours late until 9PM. Some of them closed early and people were turned away. Some of the voting machines didn’t boot (I seem to recall reading that they used Windows CE) or didn’t work correctly. Even Janet Reno wasn’t able to vote until later in the day. They had trouble collecting the ballots (the cards are read into a laptop, from which it’s transmitted to the main system) and all of the ballots *still* aren’t counted. The democratic race for governor is still undecidedd, although McBride appears to be slightly ahead. Question 14 (Take Back Miami-Dade’s attempt to overturn the human rights ordinance) appears to have been defeated even though many of the areas that had voting problems were against it, which may account for the margin being narrower than expected.

Bill McBride surged ahead of Janet Reno in the polls after Jeb Bush started targeting him with negative ads – a strategy that seems to have backfired on him. Bush knew McBride has a better chance of beating him, since Janet Reno has too many negatives. Since I’m registered as a Libertarian, I didn’t get to vote in that race.

Any democrat would be preferrable to Bush, and the first thing he needs to do is get rid of the clown Bush appointed to the DCF.

Where I voted (a small church on NE 26th St, a few blocks from me) there were no problems, and only a few people were there when I went, around 12:30PM. The machine seemed to work nicely – the screen was large, bright, and clear, and the touch screen was responsive.

MSNBC.  Intel to include copy

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MSNBC.  Intel to include copy protection functionality in new chips.  I personally won’t ever buy a chip with type of stuff on it.  Unless there is an alternative, my aggressive upgrade cycle has ended (I usually buy the high-end chips and pay a premium).  I hope other people feel the same way.  The same goes for Microsoft’s Palladium.

The LaGrande technology will be first included in Prescott, Intelâs code name for a member of its Pentium chip line that is due out in the second half of next year. It was one of a series of technical advances outlined by Mr. Otellini at a conference here for software and hardware developers.

[John Robb’s Radio Weblog]

This is why I don’t trust Microsoft & Intel and why I try to avoid their products. When I had a PC, I made sure I bought one with an AMD chip, and I plan to do the same the next time I buy a PC.

I voted. The new touch

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I voted. The new touch screens are very nice – bright, clear & easy to read. Since I’m regestered as a Libertarian, there wasn’t much I could vote for. The most interesting race is the Democratic race for governor. Since I’m not in Miami-Dade county, I didn’t get a chance to vote no on overturning the human rights ordinance.