What's Your Breaking Point
With election day just a week away I thought I would ask, "What's your breaking point?" Everywhere I look, even my beloved NPR, there are only two sides to this election. While listening to NPR yesterday they had 2 people who were pro Obama and two people who were pro McCain on. Its as if there isn't anyone else to vote for. ...
The truth is, there are other people to vote for. People, by nature, don't like to rock the boat (too much) and so voting outside of the 2 main stream candidates doesn't even occur to most people. While there are some good reasons to respect both Barack Obama and John McCain, I have a feeling many people are looking at their mainstream candidates through rose colored glasses.
The economy is big. What is your candidates stand? The Iraq war is big. What plans does your candidate have? Are they inline with your ideals? There are other big issues, health care, domestic spying, drilling for oil, nuclear power, privatization, gas prices and standing behind personal principles. You may be suprised by what you see from your candidate if you actually look.
With that in mind there is a website called What's Your Breaking Point that checks your candidate versus your uncompromisable values. Check it out and see if they match. Even if you have already voted, its fairly educational.
After you are done here are some other candidates to look at:
Cynthia McKinney - Green Party
Ralph Nader - Independent ( with some help )
Chuck Baldwin - Constitution Party
Bob Barr - Libertarian Party
You also might want to check out who you really match up with at glass booth.
The previous picture used from lifehacker without permission and does not represent my results.
Flash Player 10 meet Flash's 10th
Last week Flash Player 10 was officially released. If you haven't already updated, update now. This post isn't about that. Being as halloween is around the corner I began to look at Homestar Runner again. Through the wonders of google search I found the following little gem. ...
Homestarrunner's tribute to Flash's 10th Birthday:
Homestar Runner was the inspiration for me to get into flash and realize I liked programming a lot more than cartooning. Without Homestar Runner who knows what I'd be doing now.
If you are wondering, I got nostalgic about the burninator and it led me to the Flash Birthday Movie
Penn Says: You can't vote against someone
Maybe I'm in a magic mood lately. It seems I keep posting videos of magicians. Well magicians or political videos. So today I thought I would post a political rant by one of the bad boys of magic, Penn Jillette. As is usual with Penn, it is a rant but behind his abrasiveness he does make some very good points. His main point? You can't go into the voting booth and vote against someone. You can only vote for someone. ...
By the way, there is no magic in this video :)
Tuesday at the Castle
Last week I posted a video of Lance Burton. That was some great stage magic and he has many more available for viewing online. Today though I thought I would show another magic performance from Pop Haydn. This is a long video but extremely entertaining and humorous. ...
Bill Maher on France
The following video is something I had to watch. Bill Maher is an interesting type of entertainer. He comes across as pompous, even to his fans. When I saw the title to this clip "Bill Maher on France", I had to watch because I didn't know what direction it would go. Thankfully it speaks to something that has upset me for a long time. I sure hope I never have to deal with another bout of "freedom fries" in my life. Or worse, someone trying to send back the statue of liberty because it was a gift from France( alright that was satire but some people... ). ...
The next debate
While some people may be focusing on the major party debate tonight, I think I've had enough. I'll still watch tonights debate, at some point, but after the second presidential debate I have a feeling it will be more of the same. Pre-planned stump speeches that I have heard time and again.
Since I'm a fan of alternative parties, I am happy to say that there will be a debate this Sunday between 3 of the 4 candidates who also have their names on enough ballots to have a chance at the White House. Independent candidate Ralph Nader, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin will all be on stage at Columbia University in New York. The Libertarian Party candidate, Bob Barr has a scheduling conflict but debate organizers said he only wants to debate Ralph Nader.
According to Third Party Ticket the debate will be broadcast online via Break The Matrix and possibly other internet venues Sunday, October 19th from 7PM to 9PM EST. The Miami Herald article I read said that the moderator will be Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! and recent winner of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the alternative Nobel.
I recommend everyone watch these debates, even if you are an Obama-Mama( Dad's too :) ) or a McCainanite. If you haven't heard these candidates talk you will hear fresh perspectives that may inspire you to action. Once we are aware of the alternative, we can all help the major candidates see them as well.
Flash Player 10 is official
Flash Player 10 is now official. Lot's of great stuff in this version and people have been creating content for it for months. Also, some of the player enhancements will just make certain things better, since there are more ways your graphics card can be used to making viewing better.
Just another magic Monday
No, that wasn't a misspelling of the Bangle's song. Lately I've been looking into magic to wow my son. Since my ability is extremely limited, I thought you tube could keep his interest peeked. Unfortunately, there is a fine line for him and magic. It has to make sense to a 4 year old ( some tricks don't seem to work as well for kids ) and the setup can't take too long ( he wants to see the magic right now ). That's why I was happy to see the following video of an amazing routine by Lance Burton. ...
After watching this I was able to find a few more interesting videos of Lance Burton for him which he enjoyed. As a newbie to magic I hadn't heard of Lance Burton before. However, in the back of my mind I knew the name from somewhere. It wasn't until the 4th or 5th video that I realized he wrote the forward for the magic book I recently got from the library. Now that seemed almost magic! At least none of the videos had him say,"Daryl, read the forward."
Quote of the Day
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
- Richard Feynman