Reuters - Re: vote for sale - Wed Nov 1 12:58:15 2000
Calif. Shuts 'Nader Trader' Vote Swap Web Site
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California
authorities have shut down a vote swap web site aimed at so-called ``Nader traders'' -- people in battleground states who agree to vote for Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) if someone in a less contested state votes for the Green Party's Ralph Nader (news - web sites).
``We did notify the site manager that they were in violation of California election law and they did need to cease activities on the Web site, and they complied,'' Shad Balch, a spokesman for California Secretary of State Bill Jones, said Tuesday.
The site, (www.voteswap2000.com), was one of a number of Internet trading sites which sprang up after political pundits suggested vote swapping as a way of backing Nader without costing Gore the election.
According to the theory, Nader supporters in toss-up states sign up to vote for Gore. In exchange, their votes are ''swapped'' for Nader votes by people in states already solidly behind either Gore or Republican candidate George W. Bush (news - web sites) -- helping Nader toward his goal of five percent of the popular vote, the threshold needed for the Green Party to obtain federal matching funds for the 2004 election.
Balch said Jones sent Web site managers Jim Cody and Ted Johnson a letter explaining that their swap site ``is engaged in criminal activity in the state of California'' through violations of state laws prohibiting the brokering of votes.
``The right to free and fair elections is a cornerstone of American democracy. Any person or entity that tries to exchange votes or brokers the exchange of votes will be pursued with the utmost vigor,'' Jones' letter said.
In a message on the site on Tuesday, Cody and Johnson said they had turned their software off to comply with Jones' order. ''At the time we set the web site up we understood that what we were doing was legal,'' the message said.
Calif. Shuts 'Nader Trader' Vote Swap Web Site
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California
authorities have shut down a vote swap web site aimed at so-called ``Nader traders'' -- people in battleground states who agree to vote for Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) if someone in a less contested state votes for the Green Party's Ralph Nader (news - web sites).
``We did notify the site manager that they were in violation of California election law and they did need to cease activities on the Web site, and they complied,'' Shad Balch, a spokesman for California Secretary of State Bill Jones, said Tuesday.
The site, (www.voteswap2000.com), was one of a number of Internet trading sites which sprang up after political pundits suggested vote swapping as a way of backing Nader without costing Gore the election.
According to the theory, Nader supporters in toss-up states sign up to vote for Gore. In exchange, their votes are ''swapped'' for Nader votes by people in states already solidly behind either Gore or Republican candidate George W. Bush (news - web sites) -- helping Nader toward his goal of five percent of the popular vote, the threshold needed for the Green Party to obtain federal matching funds for the 2004 election.
Balch said Jones sent Web site managers Jim Cody and Ted Johnson a letter explaining that their swap site ``is engaged in criminal activity in the state of California'' through violations of state laws prohibiting the brokering of votes.
``The right to free and fair elections is a cornerstone of American democracy. Any person or entity that tries to exchange votes or brokers the exchange of votes will be pursued with the utmost vigor,'' Jones' letter said.
In a message on the site on Tuesday, Cody and Johnson said they had turned their software off to comply with Jones' order. ''At the time we set the web site up we understood that what we were doing was legal,'' the message said.
spoke to the good doctor wilson--sad but he seems fine--Nov 01, 2000
My father died this day
in the first hour
as All Hallows Eve
slipped into All Saints’ Day.
Sainted his memory.
Hallowed his name.
The Love he lived
will power prayers for him.
He who taught me
now has learned
the Mystery.
Be at Peace.
Boo! Happy Halloween. Don't know what to do with all your pumpkins after the big day? Maybe you could donate them to the 2000 World Championship Punkin' Chunkin competition.
K-J founder richer than Oprah, Forbes list says
October 21, 2000
By TED APPEL
Press Democrat Staff Writer
The wine boom has now created its first billionaire: Jess Stonestreet Jackson, who started with a small vineyard in Lake County and built a wine empire headquartered in Santa Rosa that produces premium wine around the world.
Jackson, founder of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, is one of the 400 richest people in America, according to a yearly list published last week by Forbes magazine.
With an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, Jackson debuted at No. 223 on Forbes' list of the super-wealthy, beating out junk bond king Michael Milken, talk show magnate Oprah Winfrey, Disney chief executive Michael Eisner and Jackson's archrival in the wine business, Ernest Gallo.
50 8th ave voting headquarters are trying to decide our vote. we are concerned about the supreme court appointees/pro-choice etc, as well as getting nader his 5%.
what to do?
-lkb/wheel
drat fink, bill and all please advise
what to do?
-lkb/wheel
drat fink, bill and all please advise
I'm proud to announce that this page comes up number 2 in a google search for 'procrastinators support group.' Who says search engines don't work?
I was thinking that a good use for the now ubiquitous web haiku would be a collection of 404 haikus. Presently, if you request a page on this site that does not exist, you see this lame page (404 is the error code for page not found.) Wouldn't it be more interesting if you were served up a random 404esqe Haiku instead? Maybe something like:
Many grains of sand
can be hidden on the beach
you look in vain here
...only better. Anyone feel inspired?
Many grains of sand
can be hidden on the beach
you look in vain here
...only better. Anyone feel inspired?
Just have to post a quick word about Prune (First Street btw 1st and 2nd Ave.) We were going there when it first opened (about a year ago?) and have always liked it, but for some reason we stopped going. I guess it just got too popular. It's a very tiny place. But this week we went twice, and once again I am sold. Incredible. You must have the anchovie app (even if you think you don't like anchovies.) The ham and fig app is quite beautiful, and the carnivores made quick work of it. The bone marrow entre had my friend Andrew (an englishman not too easily impressed by such things) absolutely swooning. The grilled whole fish of the day is a simple, dependable dish, if you lean more toward the sea. Small, reasonably priced wine list, but bring your own for $15 if you must have something fabulous (the food is worth it.) The staff is great. Make reservations. Did I mention to make reservations? Tiny bar, and no place to wait (which you might have to do even with reservations) but well worth it.
In case you're starving for bird news: A new study claims that "songbirds rehearse their melodies by singing in their sleep."
For those of you who remember the early days: this might be funny.
spoke to the good Doctor Wilson this am, things are a little complicated, are thoughts are with you...
Just killing time. Search engine fun. 71CFF links:
Here. Here (scroll down to "Old Friends".) Here (huh?) Here. Here.
Here. Here (scroll down to "Old Friends".) Here (huh?) Here. Here.
Here's a link to what is supposedly "...the first serious contemporary artwork produced entirely on the handeld Palm computer." I would have liked it more if the "painting" was actually composed of 1000 palm pilots hung on the wall, but I guess that would have been a little expensive. (from /.)
i didn't see digitalmediatree's booth at internet world...?!?!?
screamingmedia walked en masse to the javits center in red tshirts.
screamingmedia walked en masse to the javits center in red tshirts.
Flynt vs. Bush. This one is going to be linked to hell and back in the blog world. But I'll bet it's still not picked up by the "main stream" press. Are they toothless, or does this not matter? Or is it in Flynt's court to actually print something first?
Is this a good thing? Is it even possible?
"And, an Associated Press report claims that despite a White House prohibition, 13 government agencies are secretly using technology to track the habits of people visiting their sites, and in at least one case, the information is provided to a private company, according to a congressional review." -from Newsbytes News Network - the story links to a report at www.gao.gov ("Opportunities and Challenges Facing The FirstGov Web Gateway") claiming that this gov't web portal has absolutely no security measures in place.
The world produces between 1 and 2 exabytes of unique information per year, which is roughly 250 megabytes for every man, woman, and child on earth. An exabyte is a billion gigabytes, or 1018 bytes. Printed documents of all kinds comprise only .003% of the total. This from a how much information study at Berkeley.
Is this the headline: 4 vs. 7?
From todays NYT :
Trying to Fill the Void When the Monoculture Skips a Beat
By SHAILA K. DEWAN FOR THE NYT 10/17/00
Among the fauna to be found clustered around the box office at certain rock concerts there are subtle distinctions. And last night, outside the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side, where Phil Lesh, the former Grateful Dead bassist, was playing, an expert would have been able to discern an uptick in one variety of tousle-headed, bead-hawking, parking-lot dweller: the Phishhead.
That's because last week, Phish, the Vermont jam rock band that more than any other took over the spiritual mantle of the Grateful Dead, abruptly began a hiatus of undetermined length. Their final concert, at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., was on Oct. 7. After that, where was a fan to go?
The Phishheads in evidence last night were caught between disappointment and loyalty. "They've been working hard for a long time," said Robert Landry, 22, who had come from Kittery, Me., and decided to follow part of Mr. Lesh's tour. "So they're definitely entitled to a break."
By and large, the hippie-inflected fans are not inclined to vitriol. Dancing and sharing, especially in the form of bootlegged tapes, are encouraged by the band. But those who had spent the last one, three or five New Year's Eves at a Phish concert seemed somewhat lost (the band is expected to take at least a year off). Was there now a void in their lives?
"It hasn't set in yet," said Joel Sandler, 22, of Philadelphia, who said he was "a bum," but not proud of it. Noah Axe, 19 and, like both the band and his friend Mr. Sandler, on something of a hiatus, played it a little cooler. "Phish isn't the only band that Phish fans listen to," he said. He was thinking of checking out Cat Power. In a telephone interview with Cat Power, Ms Power stated : "If they don't pay they're not getting in, you cant pay the landlord by holding a finger up in the air." "We dont want them and we don't need them." "Our shows are already sold out". "Let them go follow Marianne Nowottny, she could use an audience."
"I found more purpose in my life than just following a band," insisted Dean Sottile, a chiropractor from Maywood, N.J., who wore a polo shirt and a windbreaker. "I really can't wait for them to come back, though." Asked what he would be doing come New Year's, Mr. Sottile, a Phish regular, kept a stiff upper lip. "I don't know. What's going on?" Phishheads, holding one finger aloft to signify that an extra ticket to see Mr. Lesh would be greatly appreciated, argued amicably over what, exactly Trey Anastasio, the Phish guitarist, had told a Las Vegas audience in his only public explanation of the band's break (please, don't call it a breakup). The relative merits of Widespread Panic, another jam band, were discussed in earnest.
But to some of those crowding the barricades last night, the news of Phish's disbanding was unwelcome for another reason: invasion. They complained that Phishheads mistake revolution for fashion and fail to display appropriate "family values," as Melisa Linton, a 22-year-old Deadhead, put it.
"Back then, if you needed a shirt, it was, here you go, brother, here you go sister," she said, giving a reporter a hug.
Another Deadhead said fretfully, "I'm afraid the kids might come to Furthurfest," referring to a music festival held by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.
But two students from the State University of New York at Purchase seemed peaceful enough as they waited in line to get into the Beacon. One of them said his name was T. Roy. A young man with dark ringlets who said his parents had been Deadheads, he had found an upside to Phish's exit. "I play my own music," he said. "It might give us a chance to have a bigger crowd."
Although Phish has been around since the early 80's, their caravan of hand-to-mouth fans swelled after 1995, when Jerry Garcia died and the Grateful Dead broke up. Although connoisseurs will point out that the bands sound very different, younger Deadheads found the Dead's legacy in Phish.
Phish's hiatus, given little fanfare by its members, came at the height of the group's popularity. Without support from MTV and major marketing dollars, Phish has thrived, becoming the most successful of the new generation of radio-unfriendly jam bands.
"Once Jerry died, the scene just went whoomph!" Mr. Landry said, sweeping his hands upward, "because there were all these hippie musicians that couldn't follow the Dead anymore."
Trying to Fill the Void When the Monoculture Skips a Beat
By SHAILA K. DEWAN FOR THE NYT 10/17/00
Among the fauna to be found clustered around the box office at certain rock concerts there are subtle distinctions. And last night, outside the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side, where Phil Lesh, the former Grateful Dead bassist, was playing, an expert would have been able to discern an uptick in one variety of tousle-headed, bead-hawking, parking-lot dweller: the Phishhead.
That's because last week, Phish, the Vermont jam rock band that more than any other took over the spiritual mantle of the Grateful Dead, abruptly began a hiatus of undetermined length. Their final concert, at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., was on Oct. 7. After that, where was a fan to go?
The Phishheads in evidence last night were caught between disappointment and loyalty. "They've been working hard for a long time," said Robert Landry, 22, who had come from Kittery, Me., and decided to follow part of Mr. Lesh's tour. "So they're definitely entitled to a break."
By and large, the hippie-inflected fans are not inclined to vitriol. Dancing and sharing, especially in the form of bootlegged tapes, are encouraged by the band. But those who had spent the last one, three or five New Year's Eves at a Phish concert seemed somewhat lost (the band is expected to take at least a year off). Was there now a void in their lives?
"It hasn't set in yet," said Joel Sandler, 22, of Philadelphia, who said he was "a bum," but not proud of it. Noah Axe, 19 and, like both the band and his friend Mr. Sandler, on something of a hiatus, played it a little cooler. "Phish isn't the only band that Phish fans listen to," he said. He was thinking of checking out Cat Power. In a telephone interview with Cat Power, Ms Power stated : "If they don't pay they're not getting in, you cant pay the landlord by holding a finger up in the air." "We dont want them and we don't need them." "Our shows are already sold out". "Let them go follow Marianne Nowottny, she could use an audience."
"I found more purpose in my life than just following a band," insisted Dean Sottile, a chiropractor from Maywood, N.J., who wore a polo shirt and a windbreaker. "I really can't wait for them to come back, though." Asked what he would be doing come New Year's, Mr. Sottile, a Phish regular, kept a stiff upper lip. "I don't know. What's going on?" Phishheads, holding one finger aloft to signify that an extra ticket to see Mr. Lesh would be greatly appreciated, argued amicably over what, exactly Trey Anastasio, the Phish guitarist, had told a Las Vegas audience in his only public explanation of the band's break (please, don't call it a breakup). The relative merits of Widespread Panic, another jam band, were discussed in earnest.
But to some of those crowding the barricades last night, the news of Phish's disbanding was unwelcome for another reason: invasion. They complained that Phishheads mistake revolution for fashion and fail to display appropriate "family values," as Melisa Linton, a 22-year-old Deadhead, put it.
"Back then, if you needed a shirt, it was, here you go, brother, here you go sister," she said, giving a reporter a hug.
Another Deadhead said fretfully, "I'm afraid the kids might come to Furthurfest," referring to a music festival held by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.
But two students from the State University of New York at Purchase seemed peaceful enough as they waited in line to get into the Beacon. One of them said his name was T. Roy. A young man with dark ringlets who said his parents had been Deadheads, he had found an upside to Phish's exit. "I play my own music," he said. "It might give us a chance to have a bigger crowd."
Although Phish has been around since the early 80's, their caravan of hand-to-mouth fans swelled after 1995, when Jerry Garcia died and the Grateful Dead broke up. Although connoisseurs will point out that the bands sound very different, younger Deadheads found the Dead's legacy in Phish.
Phish's hiatus, given little fanfare by its members, came at the height of the group's popularity. Without support from MTV and major marketing dollars, Phish has thrived, becoming the most successful of the new generation of radio-unfriendly jam bands.
"Once Jerry died, the scene just went whoomph!" Mr. Landry said, sweeping his hands upward, "because there were all these hippie musicians that couldn't follow the Dead anymore."
Hello?.... Hello?.... (tap tap tap....) Is this thing on?
We had a little problem with the posting system. Everything should be back in order, but let me know if you see anything weird.
We had a little problem with the posting system. Everything should be back in order, but let me know if you see anything weird.
As long as we're talking politics - what's the story in the middle east? I have very little intuition on this one (stemming, no doubt, from the fact that I know very little about the history of the region.) I can tell that I'm supposed to back Israel (as a good US media consumer,) and my intuition usually has me siding with them, but then I read things like this seemingly reasonable piece. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Specifically, what's the deal with the 1967 borders? Is it true that the violence could be ended if Israel would agree to those borders? And why won't they? I have to think that in the next few (or at least 5 to 10) years both sides are going to have very nasty weapons at their disposal (bacteriological, nuclear, genetic, and eventually nanotechnological.) It seems crucial to work these things out now. Is there any hope?
My break away space colony plans aren't looking so stupid now, are they? ;-)
My break away space colony plans aren't looking so stupid now, are they? ;-)
There it is again, on the front of the Post; out of politicians' mouths; "COWARDS!" This comes after every terrorist action. How can you call people who give their lives for a cause cowards? They may be fanatics, some may be crazy, but they've got legitimate concerns, and no matter how much we may disagree with their means, they certainly aren't cowards. As long as we use false language to talk about these matters, we will never say anything true about them, and we will not move towards any amelioration. Coming to terms with Islam is one of the great challenges for the West in the new century. Do we expect them to become like us, crying crocodile tears, and lamenting the loss of our Traditional values in the face of our own capitalist expansion? These are people trying to fight that trend, using the resources of the powerless. If we want them to act like us, we're going to have to pay them a lot of money to give up their values (it works here). If we want them to at least behave themselves, we'll have to find honest ways of talking with them. Reactionary rhetoric cannot support progressive policy.
