Elektronkind

This past Friday evening, Sara, her mother Julia, Jason, and I went to Jordan’s Steakhouse at 8085 Main St. in Old Ellicott City. We arrived early in the evening and were greeted by the wonderful staff, including the maitre d’hotel, Dave.

After sitting at the wonderful bar for an hour, sipping drinks (I taught the tender how to make a Blue Lady) we went to the dining room and read the menu. We ordered appetizers (the Calamari and the Cheese plate… I was impressed with the assortment of cheese on the latter… not your typical stuff and it was very good.) and our main course. I had the Filet Mignon, a tall cut of prime beef… man, it was cooked to perfection. The char on the outside was incredibly flavorful. Sara had the Rockfish, which she enjoyed very much.

Overall, I must say that Jordan’s is definitely tops on my list of restaurants to persue for the next special occasion. The staff, atomosphere, and food were all excellent, and I’d recommend Jordan’s to anyone.

While out browsing the web today, I came across the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. A searchable database and downloadable PDF files broken down by ZIP code are available there.

Try to picture how you spend your time working on your computer. You may keep an address book, update your mutual fund spreadsheets, write a document or two… pretty normal stuff to do with a computer, most would agree.

Now, take an operating system very much like one popularly used at home, and layer an application on top of it which provides the sole vote tallying mechanism for many state and local jurusdictions throughout the United States. You then have a Diebold Election Systems GEMS system.

Think about it. Your precint’s or state’s vote tallying system is being entrusted to commercial software with questionable technical integrity running on an operating system which is not much better. What about these machines out in the field? With no paper trail, how do we know that the data entered by voters is what comes out in the end?

Vote certification and integrity is losing the required human touch. Two-hundred years of using paper (the right way) can’t be wrong.

Bush gave his weekly radio address this past Saturday wherein he sought to reassure his listeners that progress is being made in the world as a direct result of his descisions. The most noticeable amongst Bush’s quotes is “The world is safer today because, in Afghanistan, our broad coalition destroyed the training camps of terrorists and removed the brutal regime that sponsored terror. The world is safer today because we continue to hunt down al Qaeda and its terrorist allies, and have captured or killed nearly two-thirds of al Qaeda’s known leaders and key facilitators.”

However, on Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a new “Worldwide Travel Advisory” warning U.S. citizens that terrorist danger is afoot no matter where they go, and should be constantly in a state of high awareness.

Mr. Bush, if our world was indeed “safer” as you have expoused, then why is it that we, as U.S. citizens, are still being told that no matter where we go, we must watch for what may be lurking in the shadows? To what degree have you measured the supposedly improved safety of this world? Mr. Bush, this is merely a prime example of your knack of expressing clouded facts and half-truths. You are a disgrace to the integrity of the country you have led.

Is Larry Carlson’s Mind-Morphing Flash Movies.

There’s an incredible picture of the beauty and power of nature over on Modi’s site this morning. I’ll post one here as well. Anyone know of a good site with artistic depictions of nature’s power anywhere? I just don’t want another random tornado picture. The origin of the following picture is unknown:

Alright, so I got myself busy behind the scenes during this long weekend and busted out some new graphics for this site and a new full-on psychedelic trance mix! Many thanks and kisses to my dear love Sara for giving me inspriation for both as well as some Photoshop tips.

To listen to the new mix, click here!

Someone please explain to me why I find Jerkcity incredibly amusing. It’s pretty much the only comic I read on a daily basis.

If you’re in the Chicago area Sunday, October 12, then be sure to go down to the Beat Kitchen for a benefit for the indespensible website Erowid

Daniel Pinchbeck will be presenting oral readings titled Break Open The Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. The full $10 admission is donated to keeping Erowid up and informative. Further details and directions may be found on the flyer.

Well, apparently feeling left out by all the press coverage the RIAA is getting over it’s mass-production of file sharing lawsuits, the ASCAP is joining the fray by demanding that towns and cities pay royalties for the songs it plays in situations ranging from hold music to sponsored outdoor concerts that have cover bands.

Prepare to get a bill in the mail if a ASCAP droid catches you humming On The Road Again to yourself.