Category: News

News and goings on.

Categories
News Web

Track Your Politican’s Voting Record

I don’t have a clue where I found this anymore, but you can track any politician’s voting record through the Washington Post. There are even RSS feeds to integrate into your favorite reader.

I’ve already put all of my representatives in my reader, and have noticed two things. First, they vote a lot. Maybe it’s just because the session is winding down, and they rush everything important through to say they actually did something. Second, the meanings of each bill don’t really mean much to me. I think this service would be much better if it used plain English instead of something like this:

Question: On the Amendment.
Bill: S 3930
Vote description: Levin Amdt. No. 5086; In the nature of a substitute.
Result: Rejected, 43-54, with 3 not voting.
Elizabeth Dole voted No.

Huh? In the nature of a substitute? What does rejecting it mean in terms of the bill?

Anyway, I think this is a great service as it makes it easier to track what your representatives are (or aren’t) doing in Washington.

[tags]Politics, Washington Post, Voting[/tags]

Categories
News Travel

New TSA Rules

I’m glad to see that the TSA has finally come to their senses and started allowing shampoo and toothpaste back in carry-on luggage. It’s also nice to see that they are allowing people to bring liquids that are purchased after going through security.

But there’s some oddities too. Like it all has to fit in a quart-size “zip-top” bag. Where did that come from? I mean, it just makes sense that you would want to keep all that stuff segregated anyway, in case something leaks. But to mandate it? Weird.

[tags]TSA, travel, zip-top bags[/tags]

Categories
News

My Sandbox

I’ve been tinkering around with a site redesign for the last couple weeks. It’s nothing ground breaking or revolutionary, but I do think it gives the site a cleaner look.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments. One more thing, can you include the browser and OS you are using?

Categories
News Random

The New Ivies

According to Newsweek, RPI is among 25 “new Ivies.” Well, I can tell you that if tuition costs alone were taken into consideration, RPI has been an Ivy League school for quite some time.

But I do admit it is pretty nice to see that RPI getting some attention in the national press. Maybe people won’t just give me blank stares when I tell them I went to RPI. Here’s a typical exchange:

Them: Where did you go to school?
Me: RPI.
Them: RPI? Where’s that?
Me: New York.
Them: Oh. Rochester…
Me: No, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Them: …
Me: It’s an engineering school.
Them: Oh. Okay.

Now maybe it’s just a southern thing. And I don’t have this same exchange with everyone that asks. But it is a bit disconcerting when you go to a top engineering school, and very few people around have heard of it.

Categories
News

Where to Live?

I was keeping Julia entertained while the news was on, and they had a short bit about a survey asking people where they would want to live. The top 5 were California, Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. I have no idea who did the study, or when it was done, and I haven’t been able to find anything about it online.

How did North Carolina come in 4th? I guess I still don’t see the big draw. Can anyone help me out here?

What state (or district/city/whatever) would you want to live in?

Categories
News

Pluto is What?

I don’t care what the IAU says, I still consider Pluto a planet.

So now we have to worry about planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies? And would NASA have sent a probe to a dwarf planet? I mean, it’s only a dwarf planet, after all. What’s next? Send a probe to 2003 UB313? Who wouldn’t want to know about 2003 UB313? What an exciting name!

What do you think? Should Pluto have been kicked out?

Categories
News

I Don’t Get It…

So President Bush had a press conference earlier in the week and has been pretty much ripped to pieces in the press.

The article from Slate made me think about the whole quagmire in Iraq a little differently. The article was dead on. There is no strategy there, it is just an ideology. And while having an ideology is nice, it doesn’t mean much when you’re trying to settle a country in a civil war. We need a real plan now.

Maybe Bush should just keep a low profile for a bit. Giving news conferences just isn’t his strong point.

Categories
News Random

He did what?

I don’t think President Bush handles himself very well at international events. The whole G8 summit was a perfect example.

He made all sorts of off hand remarks that were recorded. Tony Blair had to turn off the microphone. Then he gave the chancellor of Germany an unexpected neck rub? What? Does W. need some sexual harassment training? This is so stupid, it’s funny.

Categories
Games News

Redneck Hockey

So the [tag]Carolina Hurricanes[/tag] won the Stanley Cup last night. While watching the news tonight, I swore I heard some politician annouce to his colleagues that “Redneck Hockey had arrived.” A quick search online, and sure enough, Redneck Hockey is alive and well.
What, exactly, is “Redneck Hockey?” I’ll open the floor here to suggestions…

[tags]Stanley Cup, hockey, redneck hockey[/tags]

Categories
News

A new Google search

So there’s a new tool out from google that lets you search U.S. government sites. That seems fine and all, a one stop place for anything related to the government.

Well, almost. In an article posted on CNN just yesterday (6/14), the government, in a rush to digitize information, has made it a lot easier for identity thieves to get their information.

So let’s review. The government has put all sorts of information online. Some of it may contain sensitive information. Google has crawled through these sites and made it easy to find this information. So now all identity thieves would have to do is deduce some key searches, and they’ve hit the jackpot.

[tags]Google, government, identity theft[/tags]