Twitter Helps Us Protect USA Democracy

Use your Twitter Account to help make sure the November 4th election is fair. Anyone with a Twitter.com account can use their cell phones or their computers to send a message and notify voters and election monitors around the country. The main webite page with all the details: http://votereport.pbwiki.com/, http://twittervotereport.com/ and follow Vote Report on Twitter. Tweet the Vote!

Even if you don't want to participate on the backend of setting up or running this project, send any notes about voting irregularities to the universal tag (or hashtag) #votereport. A quick rundown on how you can participate.

Ways to Use VoteReport

• Twitter: include #votereport and other tags to describe the scene on the ground
• For individuals with serious legal issues or someone you know is being prevented from voting
  

- Tweet #EP{two-letter state code} - e.g. #EPNY for New York, #EPOH for Ohio - and a brief message about your problem, and we'll tweet back with next steps. We have a whole coalition of voting experts supporting us.

- Tag for additional issues: #machine - use this tag to signal a problem with a voting machine

- #registration - use this tag to signal problems with the registration process, people being turned away for paperwok reasons

- #wait:time - use this tag to signal a long wait. Add a colon and the wait time in minutes - e.g. #wait:30 for half an hour, #wait:120 for two hours.

• SMS: Send text messages to 66937 starting with the keyword #votereport plus other hash tags (above)
• iPhone: We expect to have an iPhoneApp in the App Store by election day
• Phone: Call our automated system to report about conditions, using any touch-tone phone
• Talk to a human to report bad conditions you've observed, please call our partner 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

If you needed any proof about how effective and powerful Twitter is for leveling the mass media and mass communications playing field, all you need to do is read this Fox News headline from Sunday, October 26th: U.S. Army Says Blogging Site 'Twitter' Could Become Terrorist Tool. The fact that Fox News hates Twitter gives Twitter all the credibility it needs. In case you hadn't caught on, anything Fox News hates or feels threatened by gets labeled terrorist. Too bad for them that they cry wolf too often by throwing the word Terrorist around so much. Now it's a joke whenever they use the word at all.

Twitter Vote Report Mission Statement

On November 4th 2008, millions of Americans will go to over 200,000 distinct voting locations and using different systems and machinery to vote. Some voters will have a terrific experiences, and others will experience the same problems we have been hearing about for years - long lines, broken machines, inaccurate voting rolls, and others will experience problems that we haven't heard about before. Using either Twitter.com, iPhone, direct SMS, or our telephone hotlines, voters will have a new way to share these experiences with one another and ensure that the media and watchdog groups are aware of any problems.

As news outlets and blogs will report on Election Day stories, we are building an invaluable resource for thousands of voters to get immediate help. From questions like "where do I vote" or "how do I make sure that my rights are being upheld," Twitter Voter Report augments these efforts by providing a new way for voters to send text messages (aka tweets) via cellphones or computers which will be aggregated and mapped so that everyone can see the Nation's voting problems in real-time.

Imagine a nationwide web map with pins identifying every zip code where Americans are waiting over 30 minutes to vote or indicating those election districts where the voting machines are not working. Collectively we will inform each other when when the lines too long and ensure that media and watchdog groups know where problems exist.

My Sarah Palin Name

Last night, I tried to make the following Tweet on Twitter, but it was rejected.

Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig? What would you be named if you were born to Sarah Palin? Find out here: http://tinyurl.com/5kscfh

I'm thinking there is some kind of filter on the service. Putting in Governor Palin's kids' names somehow triggers it. Anyway, I thought the post was pretty neutral. It wasn't like I called Governor Palin's children her props or something like that.

I just wanted to point out the fun Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator. Where else could I find out "if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be:

Flex Gunship Palin

Who knows, Flex Gunship Palin you just might be president one day!" I'm kind of scared of my own name. Aggressive but powerful. Sounds like the name of a comic book anti-hero.

What is your Sarah Palin name?

Skeuomorph

SKYOO-uh-morf

A design feature copied from a similar artifact in another material, even when not functionally necessary. For example, the click sound of a shutter in an analog camera that is now reproduced in a digital camera by playing a sound clip.

A skeuomorph can be employed for various purposes. Since people are used to the click sound of a camera as feedback that the picture has been taken, it is now artificially-produced in digital cameras. Other examples are copper cladding on a zinc penny (for familiarity) and wood finish on a plastic product (for a more expensive look).

From Greek skeuos (vessel, implement) + -morph (form)

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

An ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.

Dictionary.com


A derivative object which retains ornamental design cues to structure that was necessary in the original. Skeuomorphs may be deliberately employed to make the new look comfortably old and familiar, such as copper cladding on zinc pennies or computer printed postage with circular town name and cancellation lines. The word derives from Greek, skeuos for 'vessel' or 'tool' and morphe for 'shape'.

Wikipedia

Skeumorphs are Material Metaphors

Efforts to make the new look comfortably old and familiar, or simply habits too deeply engrained to wash away.

Archaeologists, who make an academic practice of studying material culture change, while not the first to notice that yesterday’s functional features become today’s stylistic decorations, were at least the first to name the phenomenon:

Skeuomorphs are material metaphors. They are informational attributes of artifacts which help us find a path through unfamiliar territory. They help us map the new onto an existing cognitive structure, and in so doing, give us a starting point from which we may evolve additional alternative solutions. They provide us with "a path" instead of "no path" at all.

Skeuomorphs and Cultural Algorithms by Nicholas Gessler


For some reason, I find Skeuomorph a fascinating word. It's fun trying to think of other examples other than those above.

• A horse on a Mustang car
• A carriage on the side of an RV
• A pocket watch pocket in jeans
• Molded plastic with fake looking screw heads
• Digital knobs, buttons, switches and sliders that duplicate the ones that existed on the original physical device being emulated
• Stone or metal decorative features that simulate wooden or timber structures like studs or crossed corners
• QWERTY keyboard. Originally laid out to prevent physical keys from getting stuck when popular letters were together in the original typing machines.
• Plastic sandals that look like fabric or leather
• Spoke patterns on hubcaps and rims to copy the old carriage wheels
• Molded trigger on plastic guns
• Molded furniture that looks like wicker or woven cane
• Gesture that people use to get someone to to roll down a car window. Miming a circular hand crank
• Canopy bed simulating a private cave
• The concept of pages in word processing software and web pages on the internet.
• Bookmarks is as archaic as web pages.
• Wood grain on cheaply made products
• Lights shaped like candles
• Shopping cart icons on ecommerce web sites
• Reel-to-reel tape icon used to represent a tape such as a voice mail message
• Old fashioned key or lock to represent security
• Concrete outdoor furniture that looks like wood or metal
• Manila folder icons on computer
• Video gambling machines that simulate one-arm slot machines
• Floppy disk icon button which stands for "Save" in computer applications
• Taj Mahal architecture that simulates traditional Mongolian tents (gers or yurts)
• Calling the strings of instruments like guitar, harp, violin, cello or bass gut even though they may be made of steel or nylon
  

Face for Radio

Some people can't appreciate character.

clipped from ihasahotdog.com

Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture

20 Minutes at Great Glass Pumpkin Patch

I was supposed to volunteer for OneBrick at Great Glass Pumpkin Patch 2008 but it didn't work out. At least I got a few pictures to compensate for driving down to the Art Center lawn in Palo Alto this morning. There were patches of about 20-50 pumpkin-esque or squash like glass sculptures all over the lawn. Long lines of people were waiting to get their chance to pick some.

Sprinkles Stanford Mall Visit

After reading articles where the likes of Halle Berry, Heidi Klum (Seal's wife) and other celebrities sing the praises of Sprinkles Cupcakes, I wanted to try them myself. Unfortunately, all of the closest stores were in Southern California. Low and behold, a branch was opening near where I live at the Stanford Shopping Center.

Finally, after over a month past the original opening date, it's open. Friday, 10-3-8, was the first time I could make it. So I went to the side of the mall with Max's Opera Cafe and Schaub's Meat, Fish, & Poultry, where Long Life Noodle Company & Jook Joint used to be. (I used to like their lemon chicken with pickled water chestnuts and ginger drink but I'd rather have the Sprinkles.) I thought all of the Grand Opening hoopla would have died down by now but nope, there's a line out front. Reaching from the Sprinkles Cupcakes front door to Bang & Olufsen next door. I should count myself lucky. The Bang & Olufsen sales guy said that on weekends, the line reaches to Oilily, next to Brooks Brothers.

After all the build up and waiting in line, I was seriously hoping the cupcakes would live up to the hype. I'm relieved to say that as far as I'm concerned, the cupcakes are as wonderful as advertised. No plasticy, chemically tasting Safeway cupcakes here. In fact, the cakes tasted lightly of cornbread to me. This is a good thing.

The flavors are distinct. The coconut lemon tastes of both coconut and lemon. Usually a sign of high quality ingredients. The flat square chocolate sprinkles on the chocolate cupcakes actually melt when they land on your hand. I'm guessing high chocolate liquor content. When I got home, the cupcakes were divine. Even the next day, the cakes were still yummy.

All in all, I'm glad I got to try Sprinkles Cupcakes. I will probably go back soon if a holiday party or some other special occasion comes up. Or if I want to try another flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about the flavor schedule (a guide to what flavors are available on which days) until afterwards. Now I can time my future trips better.

Damn there's a line at 6 pm on a Friday afternoon! The crowd looks to be half teeny boppers and college kids (lotsa disposable income) and half adults and families.

Watching people getting served and eating at the counter while waiting in line about 30 minutes.

First look at THE Cupcakes when you finally get into the door.

Unfortunately, the store is too dim and writing is too small to read the menus. So you have to read the pegs on the cupcake boards or ask the workers what's what.

Inside the countertop by the front window are these little cupcake pillows. Cute part of the Sprinkles Cupcake ambiance.

More miscellaneous stuff to buy. So you can take home part of the Sprinkles Cupcake experience.

Funny looking wooden sporks to eat cupcakes. Ah, sporks, the universally inappropriate eating utensil, aka, foon. Neither adequate as a spoon or fork.

Rolling on the Grass Laughing

This picture says it all. ROGL indeed.

clipped from ihasahotdog.com

Dog Doing the Cabbage Patch

Lots of good pictures on this page. I liked this one the best.

clipped from ihasahotdog.com …you put your right arm in, then you shake it all about… clipped from ihasahotdog.com

Follow Hurricane Gustav on Twitter & FriendFeed

Most recent Tweets and FriendFeed public posts with the word "Gustav" inside. Not able to automate the refresh rate, so you'll have to keep hitting F5 yourself.

Get this widget!

Louisiana Radar

Gustav Satellite Image

Gustav Enhanced Infrared Satellite

Gustav and Hannah Hurricane Paths in Western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico

Thank you to AccuWeather.com for all the weather images.

B. Obama Walks the Walk - Helping Americans Impacted by Gustav

This article summarizes one of the main reasons I back Barack Obama. In fact, I'm one of the people he mentions as being on his e-mail and SMS contact lists. I believe in community service and helping out others in need and apparently so does he. We don't have to wait for him to finish being president to see him interacting with people who make less than $500k per year.

To see him doing this stuff before he can score political points shows that this is the real him. Not a put on. The fact that he's called on to do these events shows how much people respect him and think he can help. Here's a link to the blog post on the BarckObama.com site, asking for help, "Hurricane Gustav: How You Can Help".

clipped from www.dailykos.com Barack Obama, not only talking the talk, but WALKING THE WALK- UPDATE: McCain jokes about Katrina Sen. Obama gathered the pool outside after services at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. He told us that his camapaign plans to mobilize its huge e-mail list of supporters to volunteer or send money once the impact of Gustav becomes apparent and authorities know better what kind of help is needed. He said his campaign is coordinating with local authorities. "We can activate an e-mail list of a couple million people who want to give back," he said. "I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary." He even rolled up his sleeves and went to work in the part of Illinois that bordered Iowa to fill sandbags: And he did the same thing with Hurricane Katrina BEFORE he was a candidate for President. the following is from a diary I've written before about Katrina: Senator Obama visited New Orleans FIVE times since the Hurricane hit in 2005. McCain visited twice.

Last infoBayArea Mixer Event in Rotunda?

Earlier tonight, I attended the infoBayArea Silicon Valley Business Expo IV at San Jose City Hall Rotunda. I've been going to Cesar Plata's infoBayArea and muyBueno events since the summer of 2004 and I think this one was the best. He started as a regular Mechanical Engineer and now he's a Silicon Valley Dynamo. Not bad for a Dot-Com boom washout. I look forward to the events he puts on in the new name, everyCircle.

Some pictures I took at the event. I wished I had my real camera, but my iPhone didn't do too too bad. I did network and socialize after taking the pictures.

Coming around the corner from the 4th Street to get the first view of the Rotunda. AKA the Ovary, according to some skater kids going by.



Stairway that goes behind Rotunda to a walkway to the Towers.



View of the stairs and catwalks up to the top of Rotunda. I wish I could have gone up.



Modernistic concrete and metal restroom. Everyone else was on the other twin side while I was in there.



Looking up Rotunda towards towers next door.



Looking straight up at the top of the Rotunda from the inside.



Fountain on East Santa Clara Street & North 5th Street

Yum, my favorite booth. Fruit on a stick! I had a flower shaped pineapple and chocolate dipped granny smith apple. Yes, it was as good as it sounds.

Thank you Edible Arrangements Fresh Fruit Delicious Bouquets and Gifts!

Sticky Floors Will Getcha!

I attended a very interesting Business Book Breakfast Club event put on by the SD Forum. The breakfast meetings are hosted by Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP - Certified Public Accountants at their building next to the Robert Royston Wall Street Journal Building at the corner of Foothill Expressway and Page Mill Road in Palo Alto. Somehow I managed to drive by these buildings on the way to work at Hewlett Packard almost every day for over a year without knowing they were there.

Anyway, the speaker, Rebecca "Becky" Shambaugh walked us through the high points of her book, It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor: Free Yourself From the Hidden Behaviors Sabotaging Your Career Success

The gist of it was that there are two sets of challenges facing women in management.

One, the things women can't do anything about such as ingrained sexism and the old boys network. Factors that make up the Glass Ceiling. These are forces out of the scope of her talk and book.

Two, the things women do have control over and can actively work on to improve their career situations. From what I understood, because of the way girls and women are socialized, certain behaviors put us at a disadvantage in the work world. Stumbling blocks such as the resistance to ask for what we want/deserve/earned or avoiding jumping into high risk work challenges unless we're sure we'll succeed. The so called sticky floor.

Of course Ms. Shambaugh gave us only a teaser of different areas and potential workarounds. With the invitation to buy the book or take one of the SHAMBAUGH program workshops or take advantage of a personalized Coaching Development program. Fair enough. I'm game. I'll probably pick up the book and read the details when I have the chance. Though I'm mentally kicking myself for not having a copy there, during the workshop, so I could get it signed.

Another helpful tip is Becky's Blog. Some of the content in the book is serialized on her website for free. Can't beat that.

I'm really looking forward to checking out the post on Queen Bees.The blog discusses the topic of why Baby Boomer women haven't set up a version of The Old Girls' Network. Why women in management seem to prefer to be the one and only special girl rather than mentor and groom younger women to fill their ranks. Or even to tolerate having many female peers around. Of course, talking in generalities. I'm sure there are probably senior women managers out there who "lift as they rise." The law of averages say they have to exist.

I haven't been blessed enough to run into many do gooder, career management mentors who are women. Especially in my industry, technology. When I've heard about professional business or technology women manager mentors who feel driven to share their wisdom, the target group to receive their mentoring always seems to be "younger" than me. I feel as if Generation X is not considered worthy of giving a hand up or something.

________________________________________________
The presentation was described as:

Rebecca Shambaugh, President and CEO of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, will address the burning business issue of why we are not seeing more women in senior executive and leadership roles today. The real obstacles, which she cites and backs up with recent research, lie not only within traditional organizational barriers but right below a woman’s feet – the sticky floors.

In this forum, Rebecca Shambaugh, founder and CEO of SHAMBAUGH, a pioneer in the field of leadership development for women, will share her organization’s recent research regarding both current trends and best practices for advancing women in their careers. Having just completed an intensive research study with key executives in Fortune 500 companies, Becky will present SHAMBAUGH’s key findings and recommendations and add some of her own insights from the interviews she conducted for her recently published book, It’s Not A Glass Ceiling- It’s A Sticky Floor, published by McGraw Hill. Her advice to women on how to get from where you are to where you want to be in your careers is both valid and practical!

Discussion Topics:

* Now Is The Time - Business Case for Women in Leadership
* SHAMBAUGH’S Research
* The Sticky Floors – What They Are and Which Are Stopping You
* Some Tools and Techniques for the Sticky Floors

Watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics Online This Year

Beijing 2008 Olympic Emblem

I've been addicted to the Olympics since I was a single digit age, way back when in the 1970s. This will be the first year I'll be watching mainly online. You can e-mail me if you want the whole, sad story.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Mascots: Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow. When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing."

Last night, I kicked off the Olympics in style by watching a gigantic screen outside in downtown San Jose.

The Saint James Park screening was a promotion by the local NBC11 station to have the ritualistic Opening Ceremony be a community event. The cool things were the pre-show entertainment of a local kids dance group,

seeing the show on such a big screen compared to my TV, seeing people react in ways you don't expect like standing and saluting during the Chinese national anthem,

hearing people clap and cheer for their home smaller countries during the parade of nations and just sharing the experience with other people who are totally into the Olympics too. Although we are all San Francisco Bay Area people, we all have different perspectives. Definitely recommend watching the Opening Ceremonies with a group of "strangers" at least once, it's touching.

The bad side was that it was hella cold (I had a hat, gloves and parka but could have done better than wearing sandals), the toilets were port-a-potties and they were on the other side of the park from the screen, the screen was so bright it practically burned your eyeballs when scenes had a lot of white and you couldn't mute the zillion commercials.

Unfortunately, the event permit only went to 11 pm so they shut it down during the parade of nations. We missed seeing the host nation, China enter.

I had to watch the cauldron/torch lighting online this morning. Watching Li Ning do his thing was still amazing, but I wouldn't have minded watching on the huge screen.

Li Ning, gymnast and businessman

Speaking of amazing, 3 my favorite parts of the opening ceremonies were:

• Tai Chi masters and their perfectly concentric circles. The dynamic fluidity, balance and harmony was awesome.
  

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Tagou Martial Arts School, Donald Chan, Reuters

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Tagou Martial Arts School, Getty Images

The dancer calligraphy (of course). Full body brush calligraphy and painting was poetry in motion.

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Calligraphy Dancers, Getty Images

The women dancers in different colors. All those small but majestic movements were so elegant and beautiful at the same time.

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Women Dancers, Getty Images

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Women Dancers, Getty Images

Beijing 2008 Olympics - Women Dancers, Getty Images

The male drummers at the beginning were frightening, threatening and thrilling at the same time.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Percussionists

Find More Olympics Photos at NBC Olympics.com!

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

As the commercial says, Go World!