

Hacker's Political Lawn Sign - fnazeeri
http://www.altgate.com/blog/2008/09/high-tech-lawn.html

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rsheridan6
I'll be glad when the election is over.

~~~
ojbyrne
After reading the article I felt the urge to change my SSID to KillEmAll.

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AndyKelley
Why do all the hackers embrace Obama? It seems like every tech web site I see
has an Obama sticker on there. I would have thought that people who want to
start businesses would be Republican, because they have always been the ones
who want to make it as painless as possible to start and own a profitable
business.

~~~
fnazeeri
It's simple really. People don't exclusively vote their economic interest. For
example, Mississippi has the strongest correlation between income and voting
and yet 30% of its voters in the poorest income level voted Republican (i.e.
against their economic interest). Further, the richest states (CT, MA, CA,
etc.) trend Democratic. Here's a good academic study on the topic in case
you're interested...
www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/research/published/rb_qjps.pdf

~~~
uuilly
I'm not sure it's a forgone conclusion that poor people voting for non-
democrats is a vote against their economic interests. Legions of economists
would disagree with you on that. To be sure, legions more would agree, but you
can hardly take it as a given.

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ryanwaggoner
Not to brag or reveal my political leanings, but I had my SSIDs set to
RonPaul2008 and VoteRonPaul last fall :-)

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altano
Naming one's closed and encrypted wifi network "Obama 2008" strikes me as an
awkward way of getting a political message across.

~~~
comatose_kid
Just like putting an 'Obama 2008' sign on your private property is?

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jedc
Sure that wasn't your WiFi network? :-)

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aasarava
Or an actual campaign-office network?

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vaksel
the iuuuy7 is probably McCain's since he himself admitted that he is computer
illiterate and needs someone to check his email for him.

Thats pretty shocking...how long will it be before he tries to control the
internet tubes

~~~
anamax
Actually, no. His hands/fingers don't work.

He not only can't type, he can't tie his shoes, or comb his hair. It happened
during a vacation at a Vietnamese hotel.

A smart guy like you, who can type and all, could have used a "google" to find
this out. But, if you had, you wouldn't have been able to make a witty
comment.

~~~
jfoutz
<http://www.synthesisnet.com/mccain.jpg>

I used this thing called "google" to find a handwriting sample. I'd argue if
his hands work well enough to write this, they work well enough to do
everything you claim he doesn't do himself.

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anamax
So you're going with "he's lying" (or I am).

Should we demand a doctor's report?

How can I help you spread the word?

~~~
jfoutz
You made an assertion. I provided evidence to the contrary. I'd thought a
hacker was interested in truth. I think the only way to find truth is by the
scientific method, however i also think water is wet.

~~~
anamax
I'm not only interested in the truth, I'm interested in spreading it far and
wide.

However, you must admit that the handwriting argument isn't airtight. If we're
going to smite evil, what's wrong with bringing in the big guns? Or, are you
suggesting that we use something more conclusive than medical tests? (Of
course, said tests should be performed by a neutral party, preferably
recorded. Should it be broadcast as well?)

BTW - When do we get to ask Obama about the Annenberg Challenge? After all, it
was one of the highlights of his community organizing days.

~~~
jfoutz
Ok. a three parter. this is kinda fun^.

Part the first. The desire to spread the truth creates a bias that makes it
far more difficult to accept new data with a reasonable weight, because you
have a big investment in the old model.

For example, it was only yesterday, 1822 that the catholic church finally
accepted that the earth revolves around the sun. It took something like 300
years and amazing evidence to reevaluate their position on planetary motion --
spreading the word is an acceleration that results in inertia.

So, you should probably stop doing that, or people will think you're very
vocal and often wrong.

For point number two, handwriting isn't an argument. It's evidence. they are
different things. McCain didn't say he couldn't use his hands -- you did.
You've been proven wrong and will neither muster an argument against the
evedence nor change your opinion. I don't care what McCain can or can't do. I
only care that you've been demonstrated to be wrong, and haven't brought any
arguments to defend yourself. Frankly, you should be attacking the evidence.
Your failing to do so means YOU ARE LOSING! OH NOES!

Part 3. How about right now? If somebody is preventing you from asking that
question, lmk and i'll call the cops for you d00d. this is america, we gots
the freedoms de speeches.

^ it's probably best to ignore this post if you don't breath through your
mouth. ^^

^^ yes. i just made an indirect ad-homonym attack. therefore i rule. QED. ^^^

^^^ i have to apologize for my non hacker rambling - my editor has been
sacked. ^^^^

^^^^ the remainder of this post shall be about mooses.

apparently '*' is a special character. the mooses have replaced them all with
'^'

the mooses have informed me tom Brocaw types with one finger -- in your face!

Waiting with baited breath,

jfoutz

~~~
anamax
> The desire to spread the truth creates a bias that makes it far more
> difficult to accept new data with a reasonable weight, because you have a
> big investment in the old model.

Huh? I was suggesting spreading "the truth" as you asserted it. I suggested
that we demand a conclusive test of McCain's physical abilities and spread the
word. If he actually can type in a significant way and yet doesn't read
e-mail, Obama's charge gets greater distribution.

If, on the other hand, he can't type and/or does use e-mail, the demand and
publicity may have a political downside. But, that's shouldn't bother you
because you're certain that you're correct.

> McCain didn't say he couldn't use his hands -- you did.

Except that I didn't. As one can see above, I wrote that he can't do certain
things and nothing has contradicted that. (See the Forbes article quoted
below.)

We've now seen that the argument using the handwriting evidence was wrong -
McCain does have trouble typing. It was a dumb argument anyway - a handwriting
sample doesn't prove that he can write for a significant period of time.

However, you're in good company. Obama's ad was wrong - McCain does use
e-mail. He surfs the web. He just doesn't type lengthy responses - he dictates
instead, because his hands don't work very well.

Do you really want to argue that typing >30WPM for more than 10 minutes is a
necessary requirement for the presidency?

~~~
jfoutz
1\. spreading the truth is silly. 1pt jfoutz 2\. if he can write, then he can
X. you never addressed that point. clearly he can write, you've implicitly
accepted that evidence. therefore he can comb his hair, and all the other
things you asserted he can't do. 1pt jfoutz 3\. _you're certain that you're
correct_ \-- i'm one of the most open minded people you'll ever meet. you
would be shocked by the positions i have flip-floped on. 1pt. jfoutz 4\.
_McCain does have trouble typing._ my dad surfs the net, he types with his
right index finger. sophistication != manual dexterity. tom brocaw. hell, i
don't know how to explain it to you. 1pt jfoutz 5\. who gives a fuck about
Obama? 1pt - jfoutz 6\. typing == presidency? this is subtle and I'm not sober
enough to address it adequately. The argument goes something like -- if you
can't type, you don't understand computers. if you can't understand computers
(demonstrated by lack of typing) it's unlikely you can understand large
bureaucracy (afaik that's the fed.) if you can't understand that how can you
be an effective president?

you may be right, i don't think so, and i'm not really able to construct an
stellar argument right now, so 1pt anamax

5 vs 1. jfoutz wins. totally fixed. i sympathize because i'm a liberal. and
also i won so i'm feeling magnanimous.

anywho. if you're ever in albuquerque, drop me a line. jfoutz@gmail.com.
honestly, i'd love to get in this discussion in person. I'll buy the beer.
heck, i think i owe you one anyway.

I'm going to claim victory now, because it's time to play guitar hero. I'll
take the absence of response as acceptance of your failure to support any
argument, and any response whatsoever as a desire to buy me beer.

thanks again, jfoutz.

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cookiecaper
I find that using the clan tag to prepend your preferred candidate is quite
effective. I am known as [RonPaul2008]cookiecaper in Quake Wars, and have a
Ron Paul spray in TF2. I've heard three or four people say Ron Paul clan signs
and sprays influenced them to learn about the dude, so it seems at least
somewhat effective.

