Dan Lipka Web Log

As an avid reader of this blog, you are well aware of the close Senate race in Minnesota. 2,500,000 people voted and as they tally the ballots it looks to be within 100 votes. State judges have already verified all of the regular votes and are now going through the "questionable" ballots. These are ones where the voter did not clearly and correctly indicate their preference. Luckily (and very fairly) the judges and the law, can say a vote counts if the "intent" was clear. In an amazing quirk of transparency, you can actually view all of the questionable ballots online (you can even click on them to see the exact reason why they are in question). This is wonderful and I wonder what would happen if it came down to one vote and one ballot which was in question. What if that was your ballot and you just slipped while writing and didn't make a clear mark. What if you knew that was your ballot, would they let you state your intent? It would only work if someh

This mostly a re-post of something I wrote two years ago, but I think about is this time of year... Why is December 31 the end of the “year”? Well, first what is a year; on earth it is the time is takes to complete one full orbit around the sun, more specifically 365 Days, 5 Hours, 48 Minutes, 46 Seconds. In order to keep track of how many times we go around the sun, it is convenient to keep track of each orbit by designating one day as the officially beginning and end of the year. But why December 31st, that date has n o astrological significance at all (it does have cultural significance ; some say it celebrates Jesus’ briss, actually many European countries used to start their new year on Christmas, while others start their new year on Easter). And Christmas was most likely modified to fall near the winter solstice (also known as Yule; it celebration the shortest day of the year ). But we most recognize that the solstice (and all seasons for that matter) has nothing to do with th

Whether it is throwing money away or not, I don’t understand how Congress is not authorizing cash or loans for GM, Ford, and Chrysler. From a political point of view, I see it as a no-lose situation. If the car companies recover then they are heroes and if they don’t recover nobody will remember the money and they can always blame the car companies for being inefficient. As for President Bush, this is a last chance to have something positive on his resume. If he authorizes a bailout and the companies recover, then he can always say that he single-handily saved the US auto industry (which might actual be true). And if he authorizes the money and it ends up just be wasted than he would still be the second worst President ever. Imagine adding the destruction of the US auto industry to his record of having the largest attack on US soil under his watch, not catching those behind the attach, destroying our international credibility, royally screwing up a war (after lying about

If I was to rank the technological advancements that have made my life easier, number 1 on the list might be DVR. There have been many things that have added to my efficiency, effectiveness, or enjoyment, but nothing has made my life easier. DVR (or Tivo) actually seems to give me more hours in the day. For example, I was watching the Giants game yesterday and I paused the game in the first quarter, than did 20 minutes of housework, went back to the TV and put the game back on. After skipping the commercials for a bit, I was back to live TV. I gained 20 of time that I would never have had. For every hour of TV I watch on DVR, I gain 15-20 of free time. I gain even more time if it is a sporting event (it saves the most time for baseball, which more than half ½ of the game is commercials or waiting for the next pitch. Sure I might miss some commentary, but that is only a minor loss. And eventually, advertisers will start replacing commercials with product placements, but I don’t

The Senate race in Minnesota has still not been decided. There were millions of votes casts and it is coming down to a few hundred. Reports are coming from all over that ballots have been lost, destroyed, miscounted, or are invalid. Some people wrote notes on the ballot making them invalid according to state statutes. There is a law on the books that says if the overall vote is a tie than they actually flip a coin. Imagine, the representation of millions of people would rest on a random heads or tails. I think this would be the perfect time to have a re-vote. New people could register and everyone votes again. It’s called democracy and if people really believed their vote counted than they might actually get out to the polls. We are spending hundreds of billions to bail out the banks, but we can't find a few million to restore a basic democratic principal. I say, let them vote! Again! Although this is a big deal, it would be a huge national story if a Democratic victory in Minne

Molly and I went to Costco the other day to get some basic supplies. Lindy has a Costco membership, but had taken the card with her to work. She thought that if I went to the customer service, they would give me something so I can shop, but alas, that was not the case. I was denied the ability to spend my money because I was not the actual member. Why is this? Why are these bulk warehouse stores the only ones to have memberships? Isn’t there a market for bulk items by themselves? If Costco charges 2% more, they would still have great prices for people willing to purchase bulk items. Wouldn’t that 2% cover everyone’s membership and just imagine how many more people would shop there. Walmart has proven that if you have enough customers you will make a huge overall profit, even if you are only making a tiny profit on each item. Furthermore, Costco doesn’t have a trial or test membership. Why not offer people a test drive and then they can see the benefits for themselves. If Li