Friday Links

Happy Friday everybody! You made it through another week so why not check out some links to kill some time before the whistle blows and you head home from work today?

Top 16 Most Bizarre Traffic Lights - I hope you do not encounter any of these on your way home from work or if you are doing any traveling this weekend. (Found via @guykawasaki)

Google Data During Inauguration - Notice the major drop in Google's traffic when President Obama was taking the muffed up oath... (Found via BagofNothing)

Twitter Data During Inauguration - ...and compare that with the traffic that Twitter was encountering! (Found via Twitter Blog)

Obama's Speech Annotated - Speaking of which, here is a breakdown of his first speech as president. (Found via Digg)

Ten Websites that will matter in 2009 - Surprisingly this site is not on the list. Perhaps it was #11? (Found via Digg)

Eight bad tech habits to quit in the new year - Loud talking on cell phones is on the list, as well as Rickrolling. (Found via Digg)

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Games? - Possibly. (Found via Digg)

Top 10 SNES Music of All Time - While we can probably put to rest the all time adjective for a retro gaming system this is a post from a brand new blog dedicated to 16 bit gaming. As the blogger states "To date, I've realistically probably logged 5,000 hrs of SNES gameplay alone... point of pride or shame?..." No need to be ashamed on this site. Your nerdy quirks are welcomed in open arms. My personal favorites on the list ar #8 and #6. (Found via Digg)

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Martin Luther King Day

Today has an extra motivational spirit about it today with tomorrow being Inauguration Day, when Barack Obama will be sworn in as President. It does not matter who you voted for back in November. You should take pride in the accomplishment of this country. Just take a moment to reflect today and tomorrow about the changes this country has undergone in the past few decades.

Is this country perfect? No, of course not. There are still people out there who judge people by their color. These people would be ignorant. Those are the kinds of people we don't need to hear from or have attempt to influence others. While this country has taken great strides in creating an equal environment for all, there are still hurdles that remain.

Today is not just a federal holiday, but a day of reflection on where this country has been and where it is heading.

To read the speech, click here.

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Unsubscribing from Obama's Campaign

When I first started to pay attention to the presidential campaign closely I decided that Barack Obama was my ideal candidate. So I signed up to be on his e-mail list throughout the campaign. While most of the e-mails I received wee just attempts to get donation money form me there were many that I looked forward to reading. The ones I cared about usually came a day after (or sometimes the same night) the most recent attacks on Obama and his character were made by rival candidates.

I forgot about the e-mails but today received one asking me to share my campaign experience. Personally that is what I have done here already so this e-mail is a waste of time for me. I decided to unsubscribe from the mailing list today, seeing that I no longer care about the e-mails in general. My candidate won and anything I want to know I can find out from ABC News or CNN at my leisure. When un-subscribing there was a box to leave a comment as to why I decided to do so. I don't think anybody ever reads that information, but I filled it out anyway. Here is what I said;

The time has come for a change in my e-mail box. Four months of successful e-mail campaigns has proven it worked, but it is time for me to take control of my inbox once again and cut the political propaganda!

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My Voting Experience

I waited to vote until Stef came home from work. Because I was home for the large majority of the day I decided to soak in as much election day coverage I could on all the available outlets. When finished taking care of some errands and waiting for some responses from certain people I was watching CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News on TV and refreshing the websites for those networks as well as Politico and ABC News and random newspapers. I will give more specific thoughts and my grades for the election coverage from the media outlets I paid the most attention to later on, possibly this afternoon or tomorrow, but for now let me tell you about my voting experience.

Living in Souderton is vastly different than living in Philadelphia or even West Chester. I heard about long voting lines all day and about problems with voting machines all across the country all day long. Naturally I was curious if my line was going to be much longer than usual.

This is the line I waited in to vote.

It wasn't. I waited for approximately five minutes from the time I entered the line for my voting ticket to the moment I entered a voting machine. Heck, I waited in line longer just last Thursday at Modell's for a Phillies World Championship shirt (about an hour)!

This is the line I waited in at Modell's for a Phillies t-shirt last Thursday. It wrapped along the walls of the store.

In fact, the election line may have been the third longest line I waited in in the past week! Don't forget about the day America was given a free taco...

The line at Taco Bell, for a free taco, was longer than my election line.

When all was said and done I spent about thirty seconds behind my machine's curtain so I could overlook all of the candidates. My voting machine was easy to read and use, so I had no complaints there either.

When the night was over, Montgomery County went to Barack Obama with 60% of the vote. My hometown of West Chester and Chester County went to Obama as well with 54% of the vote. Philadelphia sent 83% of their vote to Obama and Centre County (Penn State) went to Obama with 55%. Allegheny County went to Obama with 57%.

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Witnessing History

Say what you want, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. In a landslide victory through the electoral college (closer in the popular vote), Obama became the nation's first African-American to be voted to the office, providing joy to millions in this country not just for democrats but for anyone who believes in this country the way I do.

I have had enough of the race issues and sincerely hope that this is the final step this country needs to overcome that great divide. To me the color of your skin never mattered and until last night I never imagined the same mentality was held by the country as a whole. Finally the hopes and dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. have taken one more step towards equality in this country, and I could not be more proud to have been a part of it all.

My vote for Obama was not about the dreams of King though. Rather it was about who I felt had a better grasp for the economy and how to handle it. It was about who was better equipped to handle health care. It was about who had a better grasp for America's voice on the war in Iraq. It was about who ran a better campaign. McCain fell short i all of those areas to me, and fell apart at the seams with his campaign. Credit McCain for a classy concession speech. I know it was tough for him to stand up there in front of a crowd that was less than expected (they actually asked the people inside to move outside to fill in empty space) and accept defeat. He may not be my ideal candidate but he is of course an American hero. Unfortunately McCain's military history was not up for election. You can point out all of the places McCain went wrong (and there are many) but instead let us all put our party preferences aside and unite together to restore this country's economy and standing in the world.

Obama is just the right man to do it. Watch.

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I Voted

Here is the semi-blurry camera phone image to prove it!

Tonight we find out who the next President of the United States will be for the next four years. Enjoy the election coverage tonight!

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Some People Shouldn't Vote

In browsing the different political new coverage from web sites such as CNN, ABC News, and Fox News it astounds me how stupid some people are. In all seriousness, ignorant people should not vote. Nothing could be more supportive of my statement than one commenter on a page on Fox News, asking which candidate will win [link];

Comment by Barbara November 4th, 2008 at 9:01 am

Mcain Palin here. I don’t want a Muslim president. Has everyone forgot 9 11

Wow. What else needs to be said about some people?

Barack Obama is NOT Muslim. Even if he was, that would not be a valid reason for not voting for him. Base your vote on economic policies and political beliefs, not on religion!

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Election Day

I don't know what will be in store for today as far as blogging, but I'm going to start this open thread for Election Day just in case. I plan on watching election day coverage on all of the major news sources and Fox News today so if anything catches my eye I will be updating this post throughout the day.

As for the candidates you probably know that I will be voting for Barack Obama, representing the Democratic party, over the Republican candidate John McCain. While I feel there are a number of reasons that the Obama-Biden ticket is the smarter choice over the McCain-Palin ticket I urge you to get out sometime today and vote for whichever candidate best represents your ideals.

It is painfully obvious that the Obama campaign has run a much cleaner and respectful campaign than the McCain campaign but if you need one more reason to vote for Obama, here it is.

Asked last night in a taped interview during ESPN's Monday Night Football what he would change in sports, Obama declared he would have a playoff in college football to determine the national champion. Perhaps that is a safe answer to try and get some undecided voters from Pennsylvania (Penn State is #3 in BCS after Texas Tech jumped them) and Florida (#4 in the BCS from the almighty SEC). From ESPN [link];

I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. You know, I am fed up with these computer rankings, and this and that and the other. Get eight teams. The top eight teams right at the end. You've got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.

I have been in favor of a playoff system of some sort, although I would have 16 teams in my ideal playoff but that is another story for another time.

Get out and vote today and prepare to watch election coverage all night long. Caitlin posted the election coverage starting times on Me on TV yesterday, so be sure to check that out as well.

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McCain Supporter Charged With Stealing Obama Signs

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [link];

A McCain campaign volunteer in Blair County has been charged with one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property for allegedly plucking 40 Obama signs from public areas and placing them in the back of his sport utility vehicle.

Logan Township police yesterday charged Michael G. Jennings, 39, after finding the signs in his vehicle at the county's Republican Committee headquarters. Officers were tipped off by a Democratic committeeman.

Mr. Jennings told police "that he did indeed take the signs from the roadways, but it was in an attempt to prove a point to the Democratic Party for them stealing McCain/Palin elections signs," according to a police affidavit.

Apparently Mike the Sign Stealer didn't have a dog to mark his spot so stealing the signs was the next best thing!

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Election Day Eve Phone Calls

So as you know, tomorrow is Election Day. I encourage everybody to vote for your candidate of choice. Seeing as tomorrow is the big day for the United States, I have been getting phone calls all day today.

It started when President Clinton gave me a call. Not an hour later I got a call from his wife, Hillary. Just to make sure I got the message Kal Penn phoned in. This was followed by a call from a phone caller from the Barack Obama campaign in my area. After hanging up the phone with this gentleman a lady knocked on my door looking for Stef. I wished her a good afternoon and later the phone rang once again. This time it was Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.

Of course the majority of these calls were automated messages, but I wish Rendell had actualy called so I could talk to him about the Phillies...

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Obama's My Ideal Candidate

Ba-Rockman Obama

But not by much apparently. After taking the Match-o-Matic II quiz from ABC News I learned that Barack Obama is my preferred candidate, although the way the survey goes I was close to be in support of John McCain.

Of course the game does not take into account my feelings about the vice presidential candidates and the way both candidates present themselves and their ideas. Where Obama comes off as a man who can reach the people, McCain can just seem like an old man who has lost his marbles and has some ill fated belief that he deserves to be President.


Take the quiz for yourself here. What was your result?

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Looking Forward, Eh?

For a presidential campaign that wants to talk about not looking back and instead looking forward ("Say it ain't so Joe!"), Sarah Palin sure is digging deep into Barack Obama's past to try and make a connection between Obama and terrorists. How deep? Try when he was playing with LEGO's.

Palin attacked Sen. Obama on Saturday for his brief political relationship with Bill Ayers, a founding member of the radical Weather Underground, which was involved in several bombings in the early 1970s, including attacks on the Pentagon and the Capitol. Obama was a child at the time of the bombings.

Obama and Ayers, now a university professor, have met several times since 1995, when both worked with a non-profit group trying to raise funds for a school improvement project and a charitable foundation. CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.

From CNN.com [link]

Say it ain't so Sarah!

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Need a Reason to Vote Obama?

Sometimes he doesn't want change after all!

This picture was from an article titled "What Campaign Ads Would Look Like if the Voting Age Was 6", on Cracked.com.

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Baracky II

John McCain as Clubber Lang. Love the old man mohawk!

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John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd

It doesn't matter who you vote for. This video is funny.

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The Empire Strikes Barack

Abe-Wan Kenobi???

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Political Moment

Tonight the hoopla that is national conventions ends when Senator John McCain will officially accept the nomination from the Republican party to run for President of the United States. Last week Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination.

John McCain threw a twist into the cocktail of the election when he announced that little known Alaska governor Sarah Palin would be his running mate. A-WHA??? The critics were quick to question the move whether it be about her inexperience on such a stage worthy of a position of Vice President and about her ability to raise her children while on the job. you have to admit, the mother question is a bit absurd. Nobody ever questioned Obama's ability to raise his two girls or John F. Kennedy's ability to be a father to his children, right?

I found it a little off that the Republican National Convention's theme was Service, something I have always been a fan of on various levels. What the real goal seems to be is to show how much service McCain has given to the United States, whether it be his time in the military or in politics and compare that to Obama's record. The irony is that Obama has built his career based around service starting out as a city planner in Chicago. So why would the Republicans then go out and mock that position? Doesn't make sense to me.

The truth is I am tired of hearing Republicans mock Obama's campaign and belittle the work he has done and his plans for the future and instead want to hear more about what the Republicans want to do. Give me something worth learning about. I already know about McCain's wartime history and belief that somehow if Obama wins the election that America will fall to a level on par with third world countries when it comes to security. Does anybody really believe that this country will be a wuss if Obama is elected? Are we just going to throw away all of our weapons if Obama is elected like they did in The Simpsons Movie?

Probably not.

What I am looking for from McCain tonight is more details on his plan on how he will get things done if elected. I am sure there will be plenty of "Nobama" rhetoric spewed form the mouth of McCain, just as Obama did in his speech towards McCain, but up until this point I have heard nothing about what this possible administration will actually do.

I realize more and more each day that Barack Obama is my delegate of choice, but I didn't realize how much until I took the survey at Who Should You Vote For? My results;

Who should you vote for?

Barack Obama				78
John McCain				9

You expected: Barack Obama
Your recommendation: Barack Obama

Party: Democratic


Admittedly though I do find some areas where McCain may be better suited as President. I can't wait for the day when Osama Bin Laden is captured and put through the same humiliated ordeal that Saddam Hussein went through. Bin Laden is a bad man, a very bad man and I can't understand why it has taken the Bush administration so long to find him. It feels as though they gave up on it. I do think that McCain would be more likely to get that job done than Obama. But that is just about it.

Besides, on the real important issues, Michelle Obama is by far more pleasant to look at than Cindy McCain.

Political Positions of John McCain
Political Positions of Barack Obama

Still though, I take the position that I want to learn and hear form both sides as much as possible until election day. Maybe I have made up my mind, but maybe my neighbor hasn't. I continue to urge people to get informed about both candidates and find the right candidate for you!

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Barack Obama

I have made my decision and it is to support Barack Obama for president in 2008.

I agree with Mike's opinion that you should get educated and involved with this year's presidential election no matter who you support. Find the candidate that is right for you and cast your vote. This is the most important presidential election I believe I will have voted for, although this is only my third presidential election I can vote in. Wow. Three already for me? Is that right?


Anyway, on Super Bowl Sunday I traveled down to Wilmington with Stef and Sarah for a rally for Democratic candidate Barack Obama. I had already stated I was leaning towards Obama before going to the rally, and after attending the rally I believe I am sold. I won't push my political views on anybody, hence this will be the last time I jot down my endorsement of Obama in my blog. The more important issue in my mind is that people voice their opinions, whatever they are. I encourage everyone to do what is best for them.

Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures at the rally and you can find them on my flickr account in a brand new set; Barack Obama Rally. Enjoy.

And how about the fact that some people put the Obama speech on YouTube already? It is not complete but below are the clips (in order).

Also, maybe I like Obama because he reminds me of the greatest president ever to grace the fictional airwaves of television, David Palmer.

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