President Barack Obama is a smart guy. Where others zig, he zags. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that he’s been asking around about the benefits of open source, according to Sun Chairman Scott McNealy, who has been asked by President Obama to author a white paper on the benefits the U.S. government can derive from open source.

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Obama inauguration marks new chapter for digital media

On March 4, 1901, a lone cameraman in the employ of Thomas A. Edison was dispatched to capture the swearing in of William McKinley. To posterity he delivered a total of 44 seconds of grainy footage showing a white-haired man on the Capitol steps solemnly, if indistinctly, raising his right hand.

Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows

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What are they?

1. Governor Palin. There is a reason we didn’t vote her into office. It’s because we don’t want to hear her speak anymore. Please leave now.

2. The pregnant man. If you were really a man, you wouldn’t be pregnant. It is impossible for a man to become pregnant. Even you were a pregnant man, I think the media covering your first birth was enough for America to hear.

Thank you. I said it and now I feel better.

PS – I’m serious about the Palin thing.

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I stayed up as long as I could last night. When 11PM hit and they announced that Obama had taken the presidency, I, like many other people watching was just thrilled. I guess my gut knew it would happen, but being a Democrat for all these years, I was a little skeptical. A few hours later and after realizing North Carolina wasn’t going to be called, I went to sleep.

Did you see all those people in the streets watching the election results? What a party. I wish I was in Chicago last night.

This morning, I spoke with two of my friends who voted for McCain. They were both just as happy as I was about who won the election. They aren’t die-hard Republicans, so they knew what was going on. I like talking to those kinds of people because they make sense and can navigate through all the bull.

So, congratulations all you folks out there who voted and won. Actually, I think we all won last night.

Oh, and just in case you want to see a really cool post about a little U.S. history, click here.

Barack Obama

Yes We Can

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I would say that I rolled into bed last night around 11PM. I found myself still staring at the ceiling at 3AM. I was having the most random thoughts about today. I finally fell asleep thinking that I am just plain weird. Upon awakening this morning, I read an email from my sister telling me that she had very odd election day dreams last night. After that, I checked out my uncle’s blog and he said the same thing. I guess, either I am not that weird, or all three of us are.

I voted today sticker

The school where the voting was taking place was much busier than I thought. I was on the phone with my idiot friend when I rounded the corner to see police lights. In Connecticut, the police are pretty much required to be there if you are doing anything…voting, construction, etc…they are fairly laid back though. I heard reports on the radio this morning about how crowded the polling locations already were. I figured that this small town wouldn’t have any issues. I am usually in and out.

Traffic on election day 2008

Election day 2008 signs

I drove right by and had to turn around. Me, being me, thought I could find a better spot down the road. When that didn’t happen, I drove into the main parking lot right behind everyone else. While we were waiting in line to find a parking spot, some old man cut around everyone else and parked in an open spot. I wanted to put the car in park, walk over to him and smack him across his chest. I didn’t though because all the cops were around. Watch your back old man.

There were a few differences between New York and Connecticut voting. First, the lines that you go into to check in were alphabetized by street name rather than last name. I helped the woman in back of me find her correct line. She may have been a Republican, so I’m not sure that was such a good idea.

The second difference was that we used paper ballots here instead of the big gray machines from the 1940s. That worked well and was very fast.

After I did what I had to do, I got my sticker and walked outside to enjoy the sun.

Go me.

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I woke up this morning thinking of politics. If you haven’t heard, I really like the whole topic. I like talking about it, but hate talking about it with stupid people. Whenever I talk to a stupid person, we just get tangled up in that day’s headlines. After the conversation, I lose more faith in humanity and wallow a little bit more. I like talking more about world view, big ideas, the whole picture. Since I am so sensitive, much of my discussion is just a monologue on this blog. That’s probably not a bad thing.

I remember I was talking politics with a girl I used to work with. She said, “Well, aren’t you glad we went to Iraq?” I said, “Why would I be glad we went to Iraq?” She replied, “So we can get the terrorists.” Mind you, this is about four years after we discovered there was no threat from Iraq.

One thing that frustrates me is when people say, “I hate politics. All politicians are the same. They aren’t going to do anything different than anyone else.” That may be true, but what would we do differently? I mean, if I were trying to get elected, I would probably gather my base first and then change things up to go after the groups I need. I’m not a fool. I may have the best ideas in the world, but if I don’t get elected, what good are they? It’s why politicians pander.

A few days ago, I was frantically checking all the polls at many of the news sites. I recently decided that my heart couldn’t take it anymore. Any movement just freaks me out. I am not even sure I want to play this game anymore. It’s kind of like when you have to give a presentation in a class, but you haven’t prepared…you figure dropping the class altogether would be a heck of a lot easier. I’m sure many of us have been down that road.

I am starting to think that hiding in a hole until Tuesday isn’t such a bad idea. I am waiting for something to blow up or for us to find out about some horrible thing someone did. I feel so on edge.

I really was ok with both candidates until that magical moment I heard, “Hey folks, I’m just a regular old hockey mom who can relate to all you Joe six-packs out there.” Right after I experienced that, my soul fell on the floor. I thought I was trapped in some freakish dream. I believed with my whole being that it must be some sick joke, or at least a terrible accident. To me, that translated into, “Hey fellers, I’ll meet all you losers down at the Boar’s Nest in a half hour. The first round is on me.” I mean, seriously.

I’ll tell you what bothers me right now. I am bothered that John McCain went negative. I thought he was better than that. I truly did. Seeing the way he has handled himself has let me down. Also, after watching him for a while, I have come to the conclusion that he is going for points. It’s like he yells, “Ah ha!!!” after he comes up with a good line.

I am disappointed that Obama hasn’t really hit back hard. With all the petty things that have come out in this election, can’t someone with some spine stand up and say, “You know what? I don’t give a damn about where my aunt lives, THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING OUT THERE.” Let’s put this in perspective again.

I am annoyed with John McCain’s pick as vice-president. It was very transparent and if he loses, very foolish. It wasn’t thought out and I don’t appreciate that kind of action. This is our country after all.

I think Joe Biden needs to have a little more visibility. Maybe I am just a Joe six-pack, but I like the guy. I think he is smart and makes a lot of sense. I have to remember that I am not part of the campaign and polls dictate where these people go and what they do. Oh well.

Well, only two more days until election day 2008. I am going to stroll into the polling place on Tuesday and vote down the party line. Until then, I will silently think about what coulda been, shoulda been and was.

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I can’t believe it’s happening. I mean, I have been following a campaign, in some fashion or another, for about 8 years now. Geez, it seems like they never end. Someone (I can’t remember who) once said that the campaigning for the second term of the presidency begins the first day of office of the first term. That may have come from a movie, I just don’t remember.

I have been following the hype all day. All the major news outlets have been saying that John McCain needs to really step it up during this debate and knock Obama off his rhythm. If he does, would that bring all the swing voters to McCain? Possible, but not probable.

As you may be aware, there is a huge amount of media manipulation during any campaign, but especially before a big debate, like this one. Both campaigns play what is referred to as “the expectations game.” I actually got that term from the media. I think Obama’s team won this time, because they got all the outlets to report on McCain’s tall order. Now, we are all going to be watching for that knockout punch.

Or, it could be the media is just reporting this to raise ratings. I think this thing is being influenced by both. Either way, I will be sitting down in the basement from 9PM to ??? enjoying another debate with a cold beer in my hand.

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This is back in the day when he used to beat up on Bill Clinton. Even though I thought the whole Clinton scandal was a little “consuming” for my taste, I still liked listening to what Rush had to say. Hmmm, perhaps it was because I was living in the middle of nowhere and the radio was slowly becoming my friend. Ok, we’ll leave that out of this.

I have discovered an old pal, Air America Radio. This is basically the “Anti-Rush” equivalent. It’s funny how long it took the left to come up with a counter punch to the right’s rambling on the air waves for all these years. I mean, heelllooooo…is anyone out there? Maybe it’s because there was never anything to talk about. We had a Democrat in office as president, so it would have been a little weird to get on the air and complain about stuff. When people tune in to these kinds of shows, they want to hear drama, not the sound of patting one’s self on the back. I suppose they could have gone after congress and Newt Gingrich, but that wouldn’t have been that effective.

I gotta tell you, I like Air America. Of course, it isn’t all too objective, but it seems to be based more on intelligence than that other show I was talking about in the beginning of this post. I doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to pull something over on me, yet, they are just trying to explain something to me. They even offer the video and audio to back up what they are saying. I may, admittedly, have receptive ears though.

My favorites are Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan. They offer the same level of sarcasm that I was semi-forced to listen to while in Naples. Now, this is good stuff.

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