beat

35 ms·

301.
by beat 7y ago
Technology changes that game. Grains are the core of the human diet, and have been since the dawn of civilization. But they are only edible because of civilization - the grinding, fermentation, and cooking breaking them down into somethin
302.
by beat 7y ago
For purposes of guitarists, BBDs are "analog". Some creative pedal makers have taken good advantage of that tie to a clock, and use it to alter fidelity. (I'm not a fan of the BBD sound myself; it gets too dark and wooly too
303.
by beat 7y ago
It's interesting because on one hand, the corksniffing can be really silly, but on the other hand, differences in "identical circuits" are often plainly audible. Senses are a funny thing, including hearing. When playing, I ca
304.
by beat 7y ago
Pointing out that bullshit is bullshit is not "intolerant authoritarianism". It's simple honesty. I'm not suggesting a federal takeover of elections. I am, however, pointing out that some states, like Florida, are runnin
305.
by beat 7y ago
Just because a solid majority of people think something is a good idea doesn't make it a good idea. That's the problem with Prop 13, and with democracy in general.
306.
by beat 7y ago
Bullshit. Florida's electoral incompetence and corruption (probably) handed the 2000 presidential election to Bush. Because of that, we wound up with the Iraq war, and a mind-boggling amount of American blood and treasure (not to menti
307.
by beat 7y ago
Sure, all news is fake news. I'm fine with sources like CNN, NYT, etc. I'd be even happier with Reuters, or the Economist, or something like that.
308.
by beat 7y ago
Eh. If state law were clear, county-by-county shenanigans would be impossible. Florida's whole system is a mess.
309.
by beat 7y ago
In most states, if the election is within a certain degree of closeness (like half a percent), it triggers an automatic recount. And that will catch mismatches between the machine counts and the contents of their ballot boxes, unless you al
310.
by beat 7y ago
If the chain of custody is correct, it should be readily traceable which precincts were the sources of "ballots found in a dumpster". And besides, "countless stories" are just stories . Show me one that's been inve
311.
by beat 7y ago
He's probably been a full-time journalist much longer than he was a college student. My spouse works in e-commerce as an expert in international payments systems. Her undergrad degree was an Art/Asian Civilizations double major (w
312.
by beat 7y ago
Ok, so here are my assumptions for a good chain of custody... Ballots, whether sealed or unsealed, blank or marked, must have at least two people present (from different parties) for all handling. At the end of the process, it should be pos
313.
by beat 7y ago
Assuming you're using proper paper chain of custody, seals, etc on your paper ballots, then how do you propose that ballots would be "destroyed, lost, or conveniently found"? These things are all extremely easy to audit. Huma
314.
by beat 7y ago
For those proposing solutions to problems that may not actually exist, here's an idealized paper ballot chain of custody, in story form... A ballot is printed. It is then packaged, along with many of its siblings, in a stack. That stac
315.
by beat 7y ago
You keep posting the "find a box of ballots" theory. It continues to be implausible and easily prevented without de-anonymizing the vote or resorting to strong voter ID.
316.
by beat 7y ago
Paper.
317.
by beat 7y ago
Paper ballots in the US are anonymous. But the blockchain-solves-everything crowd sees blockchain-identifiable ballots as key to solving the problem of not having blockchain in the election, so they invented "But I need to see that my
318.
by beat 7y ago
You don't need to trace individual ballots. You just need to count the number of ballots received against the number of votes signed in the registration books. With that simple audit, your whole "we just found this box of ballots&
319.
by beat 7y ago
Again referencing Minnesota, because I've been an election judge and we have the best system in the US... Mandatory random audits are part of the system. We get automated counts from the Scantron machines, but those are unofficial, pre
320.
by beat 7y ago
In Minnesota, the problem of individual untrustworthiness is handled by putting multiple people on every task - and those people must be from different political parties. So any time ballots are handled, marked or unmarked, members of at le
321.
by beat 7y ago
Not really. The odd vote here and there might be gamed, but enough votes to statistically affect most elections is extremely difficult. Think about it. You need a voter, physically present at the precinct, matched up to a registration. Wh
322.
by beat 7y ago
How Minnesota does it: Blank ballots arrive in sealed packages. Ballots, whether blank or marked, sealed or unsealed, may only be handled in the presence of election judges from at least two different political parties. Counts are kept, by
323.
by beat 7y ago
That's a trivial problem, long solved. In order to vote, one must be registered. Registrations are printed on a paper book for that precinct. When you show up to vote, you have to sign your name in the registration book. Then they give
324.
by beat 7y ago
Not as terrified as I was when one of our dogs got hemangiosarcoma, a canine-only cancer of the cells that line the inside of blood vessels. It took three weeks from the first symptoms to when he died. That's actually a long time - in
325.
by beat 7y ago
Is there actual research on this, or is this anecdata? Because correlation is not causation.
326.
by beat 7y ago
It seems to me the online world is more polarized (and abusive) than the real world.
327.
by beat 7y ago
One cool thing about this is that it looks inexpensive and simple, as well as functional. If a square meter can generate enough clean water for a person per day, islands of it could support entire cities.
328.
by beat 7y ago
I did a little googling, and new coal plants in the US are no more expensive - price/mwh held steady at $95-100 from 2010-1015 (after which no one built any more). Meanwhile, in 2010-1019, natural gas plants dropped in cost/mwh by
329.
by beat 7y ago
No, it's that alternatives (mostly natural gas) have become much less expensive than they were, to the point where they're cheaper than coal to operate. Fracking completely changed the game, giving us access to a great deal of pre
330.
by beat 7y ago
Public awareness and advocacy matter more, I think. We're not regulating coal out of existence, or they'd be closing from regulation, not cost. And the public investment isn't what's driving the radical drop in wind&#x2F

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