Diebold

Went down to the fitness center over lunch, hoping to forget about the election for a spell. Hopes were dashed since the Kerry/Edwards concession speech was on the fitness center TVs. Gracious speech, for what that's worth. I can only hope that the Dem's plan is to concede graciously, while working like hell to investigate any and all reports of election fraud in key states. Then again, with the newfangled electronic voting machines with no paper trail, would we ever know? Thanks a lot, Diebold. Bastards.

My friend CB and I both came to the same conclusion separately ... Minnesota's optical scan system is THE perfect voting system. Electronic tallying and reporting of votes, with a paper trail generated by the voter which could be recounted later (by hand, if necessary). Why on earth is the government paying Diebold (who's CEO is on the record as saying he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes for the president") to design a new electronic voting system when the optical scan system has been in use for years and is perfect?

Back at my desk, I was trying to listen to music while working on my PL/SQL coding, but my CD selection at work is limited. I picked up three used discs last night. Portishead just wasn't doing it - I'm already too moody today. Massive Attack wasn't cutting it either. Metallica seems to be doing the trick - I finally got a "real" version of their live S&M disc, since some of the tracks on my dubbed copy refuse to play correctly. Hopefully now, with proper tunes, I'll stop surfing around the political blog sites and instead get some work done this afternoon.