Citizens of California, read this!

In the lastest issue of EFFector, the EFF reports that "[pollworkers] in Santa Clara County are being trained not to offer voters a chance to use paper ballots".

Kevin Shelley, the California Secretary of State, ruled in May that paper ballots must be made available at polls due to the questionable nature of electronic voting (which is rightly questioned, in my opinion). However, "pollworkers ... are being instructed not to tell voters that this option is available. Instead, they will make paper ballots available only if voters specifically request them."

This is pretty bad. People need the options presented to them. Not disclosing an option is just one step away from not making it available at all.

So, California voters in Santa Clara county, consider yourselves informed. Ask for a paper ballot when you vote two Tuesdays from now. It's in everyone's best interest.

Link to article:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php#002010

More information on electronic voting:
http://www.eff.org/e-vote/

UPDATE: (27 October 2004)
The EFF has created a website to educate Calfornia residents about the options of using paper ballots instead of the default e-voting machines.
http://www.paperorplastic2004.org/

Tonight's lunar eclipse

Watch it. Seriously. It's visible almost all over the world. Here's how it's going to happen (All times are based on viewing from Easton, PA [W075° 13', N40° 41']; you can get your times from the Lunar Eclipse Calendar, provided by the U.S. Navy):

The moon enters penumbra tonight at 20:05 EDT and then enters umbra (the "start" of the eclipse) at 21:14 EDT. The eclipse proper (also known as totality) will last from 22:23 EDT until 23:44 EDT. The moon will leave umbra (the "end" of the eclipse) at 00:53 EDT tomorrow morning and finally will leave penumbra at 02:02 EDT.

It's going to be good, especially if you have clear skies. The next Lunar Eclipse will be on 24 April 2005, which is ten days after the next total solar eclipse!

On an unrelated note, this is the first recorded lunar eclipse (partial or total) to happen during a World Series game. This is a record in itself, but it also holds the potential for being the night the Boston Red Sox break their 86-year stretch with no World Series wins. But more on that after the game.

Upcoming Eclipses of the Sun and Moon:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/UpcomingEclipses.html

National Mole Day

October 23 is National Mole Day in the United States. For those who aren't in the know, one mole is the mass (in grams) of a molecule which is number to the molecule's mass. The number of molecules in this mass usually equivalent to 6.02 × 10²³, also known as Avogadro's Number.

Mole day was established in the United States to bolster academic interest in chemistry. This year's theme is Pi a la Mole.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist...

It seems that everyone and their mother (well, okay... five people) has blogged this quote since it was on the Quote Database, but here it is.

http://www.bash.org/?402026

<Keolah> whats up?
<Zarggg> A direction away from the center of gravity of a celestial object.

For those interested, that quote appeared in the channel #serriya on the BlackCobalt.net IRC network.

JMS for Star Wars series

As seen on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, this petition is directed to Lucasfilm Ltd. for the hire of Joseph Michael Straczynski to write for the upcoming Star Wars live-action television series.

This would be a really good idea, since all of JMS's projects are QUALITY (fan-tested, of course; studios aren't good judges of that anymore). If you're a fan of JMS and a fan of Star Wars... You might want to sign this petition.

This boy just don't quit

So, you've seen The Skeptic's Annotated Bible and The Skeptic's Annotated Quran. Now, just in case you weren't annoyed enough at Steve Wells, he's now working on (ta-da) the Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon!

Seriously, people... The Skeptic's Annotated Bible was funny and the Skeptic's Annotated Quran was midly annoying, but breaking down the Book of Mormon?! Come on now; this is getting excessive.

What's next? The Skeptic's Annotated Torah? Dead Sea scrolls? Just wait a year. You'll see.

Moved my blog to my website

After over a year of not being able to set up the information correctly, I've finallly moved my blog to my website proper. If you're reading this, you already know how to get there, but for the record, the new URI for my weblog is http://zarggg.net/blog/.