A web-based voting system…

So why don’t most people vote?  Cause it’s a hassle, cause they don’t know enough, cause they don’t care.  Well, those who don’t care – that’s fine: trust those who do.  Those who care, but don’t know (probably a majority), are a dangerous breed that should be shot…[cough]…no…  really, they should be somehow prevented from voting (like those who don’t like Bush only cause he looks funny…  which, albeit, he indeed does – the man has about as much charisma as Barney, the pink dinosaur…  though Kerry is, arguably, worse). Perhaps a test before voting to make sure that the person has at least a clue…  So that leaves us with people like me – those who do care, but are not really into the whole voting thing except for the election day.  We are an ignorant breed.  In my case perhaps even good-looking, but that somehow does not rectify my ignorance (ah… wallowing in self-admiration – my favorite past time).  But seriously, in this day and age, imagine a web-based voting system that would educate the constituents on the subject and then allow them to vote.  This way, every member of the society can:

a) vote easily and hassle free
b) review votes to make sure that it counted
c) possibly even change votes before a deadline

Of coure, the down side is that such a system would have to have monster security.  But, seems to me that such a thing is not that far fetched.  After all, a decentralized web-based system would also allow analysis and control over the data to make sure it is not tampered with.

Idea

A news application that allows categorization of information and collective donation of it. Something between SlashDot and my “dream” analysis system – a vote-based environment that brings most important news to the forefront and allows searching through it based on categories. This would also allow people to keep track of what is going on – latest developments on Sudan, Iraq, etc.

Idea…

Another idea for a web-app. A site that allows submitting of questions, voting on questions that one would be most interested in having answered, and then paying for adequate answers to those questions. Payment funds can be aqcuired via advertisement, or people can contribute miniscule amounts that would add up.

For instance, I want to know what, if any, correlations are there between sleep and body temperature, and the web is being very difficult – finding answers there is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Post-rambling…

Just re-read the last post. Wow – I am a cranky old man.

Things all kids should be taught:

Esperanto (or some one language) – and should be exposed to kids from other cultures on a regulare basis to take advantage of the language so that the study is not academic.

Sign language

Human body – should be given a user manual. We don’t know the answers to the most rudimentary questions, even though they are out there.

Another interesting web-application: automatic monitoring of sleeping patterns. Can sleep be identified via, for instance, temperature readings? Then a person could wear a thermometer that would continuously record the demperature, upload it to the internet, so that the person could then find the optimal sleeping patterns.

Reality check.

I started reading The Great Gatsby. The gorgeous writing, allegories drawing beautiful associations lead my mind in all sorts of directions. First thought – the children are taught incorrectly. The education system destroys a child, leaving an adult (me) but a mere shadow of the potential. Then to the pointlessness of my existence – the character, miserable in his West egg, with people he doesn’t particularly like, his honest self-perception that might be mistaken for egotism and conceit… There is so much I could/should do… where the fuck am I going?

As I am writing this – one thought: private life. Who are you to read these personal thoughts? The only point of that private life is to give its owner a feeling of being special – a sun-roof, if you will. A sun roof is an amazing concept – every time I open mine, I feel special. The incredible thing is that everyone feels the same way simply because everyone does not see everyone else’s sun roof and so it becomes a privelege to own one. Private life – everyone has one, nobody sees anyone else’s: it makes you special. As the saying goes “You are unique. Just like everybody else.” The sad reality is that my private life isn’t worth a dime, and the strong silent exterior is not a facade, but a canvas with a 2 sentence long short-term memory behind it. So who are you to read these thoughts? I’ll make a pretense at sarcasm: you are someone with a private life. Chuckle chuckle.

Perhaps I am cranky due to irregular sleeping patterns. Perhaps I am losing my sense of humor because I am sexually and emotionally unsatisfied. Perhaps it is because I have access to incredible resources, incredible technology, and am now bitching instead of tapping into that potential. Whatever the reason may be, right now I am bitter. Perhaps it is because I, along with NATO and UN, have all these resources, am in the 21st century, but still have genocides taking place. Perhaps because I feel like I hold the key to that, which can resolve the political dichotomy of “right vs. power” thus alleviating those problems.

And all these thoughts are exposed to the reader of my lj. Here I am – naked. I think I am humorlessly regressing into a pre-pubescent rebellion stage.

Definitely need to take a look at my diet.

Presently I feel like…

Link of the day: momma.

Idea!!!

An idea for a web application: online translation. Input: text. Output: hyperlinked text that shows all possible translations for a word. Should be relatively easy to do…

The question

Once again, the idea is paramount. But what dawned on me today is that the idea in itself is meaningless, purposeless, ephemeral even if it is the core – what gives idea substance is implementation, and what creates implementation is a correctly posed question/purpose. Is setting of a goal boring without multiple choice result.

Finished Da Vinci’s code – sucked. Terrible writing, sencond-rate plot, even if amusing. Lots of interesting info that I am going to forget unless I start delving more deeply into the subject… need someone to discuss with, but what’s there to discuss?

Programmer abuse…

I wanna cry… InstallShield – supposedly one of the leaders in installers, has a bug. Let’s say you want to add a shortcut in component A… so you add it, and you are happy cause it looks like it’s been added. And you, in your euphoric state of mind, decide to marvel at the technology of the 21st century and that newly-created shortcut, so you open up the shortcuts for component A expecting to see that shortcut, except the shortcut isn’t there. So your brain goes into overdrive, you start trying to remember what psychodelic substances you’ve ingested that might have caused that shortcut to disappear, but, to give yourself the benefit of the doubt, you start looking for the shortcut in other components (say, B, C, D… all the way to Z), and find it in the shortcuts for X, along with all the other freaking shortcuts you ever added. Turns out that it looks like the short cuts found a shortcut! A shortcut that should cut short the life of the InstallShield QA department!!! Analogy for the outsiders: this is like breathing in oxygen only to find that the air you breathe with your nose, along with food consumed via mouth, psychodelic substances taken intravenously, and a Q-tip you stuck in your ear a week ago, all ended up inside a random part of your body – say, your right toe, for instance. I CAN’T FUNCTION WITH A Q-TIP IN MY RIGHT TOE!!!

Right now, I could really use some lovin’.

Politics aside, this is a definite link of the day: Our land