Do agoraphobia and the prospect of record voter turn-out leave you dreading election day?

Well fret no more!

31 (of 50!) states allow some sort of early voting, thru absentee ballots or by actually voting on a (recordless) electronic voting machine.

In Athens, you can vote early 8:30am-5pm, M-F downtown at the ACC Board of Elections (I know I am until Friday, 24 October 2008.

And here’s Georgia’s list of early polling centers all in one low PDF!

For the rest, I came across CanIVote.org while searching for mine own local early voting info.  They have pretty ausum and easy to use resources which can help one to learn about aspects of voting in one’s home state including (but not limited to) finding yr polling place (he-he), what documents and IDs one might need and (come on, duh) procedures for early and absentee voting.

And yeah, my ladyfiend just called me on my bullshit.

I can’t jabber on the subject of voting without at least mentioning vote fraud and the stolen elections of 2000 and 2008 but Greg Palast does it better.

Voting may not make a difference, but subtraction does!

But at least make them go to the trouble of stealing the election.

Posted by Bob on 10 Oct 2008 at 11:40 am

2 Comments »

The Cook County sheriff has suspended enforcing foreclosure evictions.

He hopes that this action will prompt other government officials (e.g. judiciary or state legislature) to step in and alleviate some of the damage caused by the 43,000 foreclosures (in Cook MF’n County alone!) expected by year’s end.

While I feel greatly gladdened by this news, it would not have saved the boyhood home of Jake and Elwood Blues, as the orphanage owes property tax, not mortgage payments.

Too bad the anti-predatory lending laws of all 50 states were sabotaged in yet another glaring example of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Posted by Bob on 08 Oct 2008 at 11:19 pm

1 Comment »

It has online co-op, so I guess that means it’s multiplayer and online, but it’s not massively-multiplayer and it’s not online in any sort of way that is defined by the O in MMO. Which basically means, Too Human has all the bad of an MMORPG (designed to waste your time, environments that lack any real substance, brain-dead enemies) with none of the good (meeting new people, playing with a large group of friends, feeling like you’re part of a virtual world).

In short, Too Human is a bad game. So why the hell did I play the whole damned thing? I mean seriously, this game is buggy, the story is nigh incomprehensible, and the game mechanics are completely vapid. Also, the game never explains itself half the time (wtf does “Soothing +44%” actually do for me? I rented the game from gamefly, so maybe that stuff was in the manual that I didn’t have, I guess.)

I played the whole damned thing for two reasons:

A. I really wanted the story to be good. I love Eternal Darkness, and the people at Silicon Knights are always good at story-based games. Towards the end, though, I gave up on it being satisfying and meaningful I kinda just wanted the story to make sense. It never was, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on my end. I was 100% on board for cyber-vikings and techno-norsemen, but they left me hanging. I have absolutely no idea what happened in the events of this story, and not in a pleasant “woah, surrealism is awesome” sort of way. I would have a hard time even summarizing it.

2. Just like an MMORPG, the game is deviously designed to rope you in. Even more than most MMOs, however, Too Human doesn’t ever let up with the endless stream of phat lootz. You just keep pushing the joystick towards badguys, and your brain just keeps on releasing endorphins, because the game just keeps on tricking you into thinking you’re actually accomplishing something. Some people would cite this as a reason to call this game “good,” but it’s only “good” in the same sense as eating a whole box of oreos is “good.” It’s tasty for a time, but ultimately unsatisfying, and leaves you with a tummy ache.

And then you look at that empy box and go “god dammit! I just ate that whole fucking box of oreos! What’s wrong with me??”

Posted by nick on 06 Oct 2008 at 12:42 pm

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This is just about the creepiest thing I’ve read re: the Palin-Biden debate:

A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.

Little starbursts? And unicorns and fairies and puffy little clouds, too?  Do I need to remind Rich Lowry that people on the TV aren’t talking directly at him?  Does he understand how television works?

This is actual commentary from a bastion of conservative thinking, National Review, albeit their online blog, The Corner.  I’m no conservative, but to see this sort of shameful writing for a formerly erudite publication is embarrassing.  He’s basically saying that she gives him a boner, right?  Is the McCain camp gonna call sexism on this one?

Posted by Lucas Jensen on 04 Oct 2008 at 12:11 pm

1 Comment »

If you invent money and introduce it into an economy, that doesn’t matter (WRT impact on human lives) as much as where you insert it in the food chain.

It seems criminal (AS HELL!!!1!LOL) to bail out one class of debtors while throwing another class of debtors to the wolves.

If you give the bank monies in an amount equaling the cost of the defaulted mortgages, effectively paying off loans designed to fail, why can you not give the same amount of money to families in financial crisis with the stipulation that they use it to pay off their sub-prime home loans?

The bank ends up with the same amount of money either way, but fewer lives get ruined in the process (poverty kills, mofo!).

If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but please, somebody splain this to me.

Oh right.

My bad.

A nation of happy, financially secure families creates conditions less conducive to the rise of fascism, and thus, is bad (for fascists).

Posted by Bob on 22 Sep 2008 at 10:55 am

1 Comment »

Read it HERE

Posted by ryan on 18 Sep 2008 at 02:02 pm

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for just a few measly bucks you can pick up a super smart Obama shirt and at the same time contribute to the Obama campaign. Did you know that? Seriously, no joke. Just click HERE and pick one (or more) up today!! The future (and your torso) will thank you!

XO
Ryan+Jeff+Nick=ObamaRad.com

Posted by ryan on 18 Sep 2008 at 12:52 pm

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So, this is just a rumor, but that’s what blogs are for, right?

I hope this stays a rumor, honestly. True, both companies philosophies do go pretty well together, but one of the things that makes Valve so damned awesome is their true independance, in both the business and creative sense. They do what they want, how they want, and nobody tells them otherwise. They have been very successful with this. If Valve wasn’t Valve, we might not have the amazingness that is Portal. The Half-Life series, sure, you can always sell a game about shooting zombies and aliens. But, without their independence, there’s very slim chance they could have gotten a game published featuring a cube with a heart on it as a central character.

If it does happen, however, will Gabe Newell refer to google as “Our Benefactors?”

Also: Voogle? Galve? Goolve? Vaggle?

…

Vaggle.

• Will Google Buy Valve? [Game Culture]

Posted by nick on 17 Sep 2008 at 02:47 pm

3 Comments »

…but I decided to check it out again for old time’s sake:

Troy’s Mixtape of Love

Yep.  It’s still as treacly, nauseating, and…young as it was before.  Eesh.  And to think that there was a 20 minute version out there that got erased!

Some favorite moments:

3:23–when he determines that they are perfect for each other due to the fact that their hands are the same size.

4:57–one of your favorite memories together is of something called Watermelon Head?  I really wish he would have elaborated there.

6:20–despite being “a little tired” and having a “sucky microphone,” Troy regales with song, specifically K-Ci and JoJo’s timeless classic, “All My Life”.  It’s a powerhouse performance.

7:12–there’s more!  Troy decided to just go off the script and launch into Daniel Bedingfield’s “If You’re Not the One”.  I had to look that up.  Troy’s got some wussy taste in music.

7:30–at the end of that 20 or so seconds of raw vulnerability, Troy does this infuriating thing again where says “Aw, babe” in this voice like he’s talking to her right there and she’s just so overcome with emotion that he has to comfort here.  It’s hard to explain, really, but I’m pretty sure that he thinks this tape is just knocking her out right now with its emotional potency.

8:10–Troy does a funny voice.  I barf.

8:53–this is some good stuff here.  First off, I think Troy wants to fake crying, but he can’t really pull it off.  Secondly, this is where I begin to suspect that he is a poor sexually-repressed Mormon boy.  He’s from Idaho, right?  Actually, I’m not sure how I know that, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.  I cyber-stalked him, I think.  Anyway, there are a lot of Mormons in Idaho.  And he says something so important here: “I wish you were here hugging me…kissing me.  MAYBE a kiss…if you want.  But for sure a hug…it’s…but maybe a kiss.  If you wanted to.  Now that would be a dream come true.”  Okay, you are Troy.  You’re, like, sixteen or something.  And you are six months in with this girl, and you’re still tiptoeing around the issue of kissing?  Kissing is still a maybe?  Poor Troy.  f I could go back in time and travel to Idaho and meet Troy, I would say this: “Get the heck outta there, man!  Go find that one girl from the Dairy Queen that all the boys like and the girls hate.  The one with the reputation.  Buy a Dilly Bar or Mister Misty from her.  Flirt.  Take her to the woods behind the mall and get to second base.  Tongue kiss.  Trust me…it’s worth it.  Your life is gonna be so much better after that.”

10:25–Troy starts pulling some smart CYA moves, looking ahead to the .  He tells Melissa (Kaiser, btw, it has just been revealed) that if she ever thinks he is losing attraction or getting annoyed, he’s not.  He swears.  Good preemptive strike there, Troy!  Reading between the lines here, I think it’s safe to say, given the whole kissing controversy, that Troy is losing attraction and getting annoyed.  Just sayin’ is all.

11:36–It was inevitable that we would get to the “forevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverever.”

12:31–”Even when I sleep I think about you.”  I think the Bible says something about this.

It’s good to go back and revisit old internet memes and see if they’re still funny.  Next time up: Star Wars Kid!

Posted by Lucas Jensen on 13 Sep 2008 at 12:29 pm

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 the Savage Dragon decided to officially back Obama. so now i’m convinced.

Posted by justin on 10 Sep 2008 at 02:24 pm

1 Comment »