Zac's Weblog » politics

Think of the children!

Zac White — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:12:29 +0000

A couple of people have complained that a more consumer electronics based computing platform would be murder to the subculture that they belong to.

From al3x.net:

The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital economy.

I’m a fairly young person, yet I realize these sentiments are shared in every generation. “My kids won’t have the same great experiences I had because of this new technology. They won’t know the joy of riding a horse on the open range because of this newfangled mechanical carriage!”

Your kids are going to have the wonderful experience of opening up an interactive textbook on their iPad and learning about how their cells work. Or tapping on a circuit design simulation application and dragging components into a circuit to create a ripple adder. Or posting to their virtual reality homebase that because of the new GenomeEditor 3000 (with presets!!), their kids aren’t going to have the fun of tinkering with their genome. So the “think of the children!” argument isn’t going to sway me. You can leave those up to Fox News.

The new paradigm of a simplified, consumer electronics computing experience isn’t going to catch on overnight. Look on the bright side though. By the time the only computers left are the ones abstracted away enough to where you can’t edit the startup sound, we’ll be retired or, fingers crossed, dead.

Decemberists vs. Colbert

Zac White — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:41:57 +0000

Um, f-ing A? So two favorite spheres of my life (politics and music) and my favorite representatives from both are about to totally collide. Steven Colbert called The Decemberists out a week back or so, for kind of lifting his Green Screen Challenge idea. The Decemberists did a music video in front of a green screen and allowed their fans to fill in the background. Colbert faux criticized them in his new “Who’s riding my coattails now” segment. Most bands would maybe say something funny on their website about it, but mostly just blow it off. Not The Decemberists. Their response on pitchfork was, and I quote, “We’d like to announce the very first ‘Decemberists vs Stephen Colbert Guitar Solo Challenge’. Put down the pen, Colbert, and pick up the axe! Let’s see what kind of a man you really are– let’s SHRED”. They challenged Colbert to a guitar solo competition!! So now the stage is set and on December 20 (Colbert was nice enough to give The Decemberists homefield advantage by having the context in December…), the two will face off on The Colbert Report. I’m definitely having a watch party.

Update: You have to check it out.

Almost…

Zac White — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 02:21:14 +0000

Well, my predictions were all right. Except for that whole Kerry winning thing. Damn.

Election Predictions

Zac White — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 03:16:45 +0000

Ok so here are my predictions for the elections tomorrow.

State Questions:
I think all of the state questions will pass. Including 711 which states: “This measure adds a new section of law to the Constitution. It adds Section 35 to Article 2. It defines marriage to be between one man and one woman. It prohibits giving the benefits of marriage to people who are not married. It provides that same sex marriages in other states are not valid in this state. It makes issuing a marriage license in violation of this section a misdemeanor.”
Oklahoma sucks.
Congress:
Republican controlled house and senate. Brad Carson will lose (again, Oklahoma sucks).
Presidency:
Kerry will win the presidency. Bush will win the popular vote. Now the republicans will be pissed off about the system and over the next 4 years almost every state will change their electoral voter selection to proportional.

Well, there it is. Anybody want to put some money on this?

Greatest idea ever?

Zac White — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:50:29 +0000

Oh my god, votepair.org is the greatest idea ever. It pairs up nader voters with kerry voters in safe states and sets them up to switch votes. That way, nader supporters can support their party and still defeat bush. Amazing.

Sean Hannity

Zac White — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 03:42:13 +0000

Hannity is a douchebag. Do I have to explain myself? No.

Home Stretch

Zac White — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 02:55:39 +0000

Well, we are done with the debates now and are now in the home stretch of this election. If you are undecided, I want to know why. There is no way anyone can still be undecided after these three debates. I know one thing, the guy who has the sign saying “Kerry eats babies” behind Wolf Blitzer knows who he is voting for. Why don’t you? Kerry dominated the first debate but the other two weren’t so cut and dry. I believe he won all three. Some could argue that Bush won the second one but there is no way he won the first or the third. So you all know what you need to do, and that is decide now who you are voting for. It is about to get ugly people…

Kerry pulls ahead!

Zac White — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 03:21:23 +0000

Well, in the fake election…Kerry is now ahead in the fake electoral vote that is based off of polls. electoral-vote.com is a great site for poll data. So what if he doesn’t have enough to win? He is ahead!! Oh my god. I love geico commercials. I just saw the one with the fake reality tv show called "Tiny House" where a couple has to live in a tiny house. I have always been able to tell fake commercials from real ones…and geico’s totally fake me out.

Update: Noooo, now bush is ahead!