Update:Some background on the shooting. The alleged shooter sounds like bad news all around. This is mildly upsetting because while I've never been to The Flow, I used to hang out in and around Peace Park quite a lot on the weekends.
We are at a crossroads in the history of democracy, and this time
it concerns the practical matters of collecting the vote. Check out
the footage from what appears to be a congressional hearing:
I've been casually following the Diebold fiasco, but hadn't seen
this clip, which appears to involve unrelated companies and was
posted in March.
I can't help but think that electronic voting is a unique
application of security technology. Given the propensity for
corruption, only an open development program can deliver a tamper-
proof system. I believe I'm paraphrasing Bruce Schneier here when I
say that only a system whose workings are fully exposed can be
completely vetted (and therefore completely secure).
I flip back and forth between thinking that only a large
corporation with a philanthropic bent (Google?) could pull this off,
and suspecting that this is a problem that doesn't take a huge team.
Maybe a combination of the two is best -- like other standards
efforts, corporate sponsorship could bring the best talent to the
table, but the development and analysis could be handled by a small
group of smart people.
What these photos don't show is the very tip of the funnel. KTVU had some killer footage of the thing, slowly rotating like some spinning Finger of God over a Sacramento gas station.
It was reported that the man told his friends: "If Wales win I'll cut my own balls off."
After the 11-9 victory in the Six Nations clash, the man is reported to have gone outside and severed his testicles before bringing them back into the club to show fellow drinkers.
A local was reported as saying that the man was on medication and should not have been drinking.
The Editor went to school with a woman who is now an emergency physician at County USC's Medical Center. This was also the facility that handled incoming patients from this week's Metrolink derailment, caused by an unsuccessfully suicidal man who parked his SUV on the tracks but then had a change of heart.
[16:28] The Editor: been meaning to ask you if you saw a lot of casualties from the Metrolink wreck
[16:28] MiniMD: hi
[16:28] MiniMD: we got about 17?
[16:28] The Editor: oh yeah - hi!
[16:29] The Editor: were you on?
[16:29] MiniMD: 2 criticals, 4 serious, and a bunch of minors/fairs
[16:29] MiniMD: that night
[16:29] MiniMD: but not during the day
[16:29] The Editor: crazy
[16:29] MiniMD: the idiot of the day also came to us
[16:29] The Editor: yeah
[16:29] MiniMD: saw his pic. on line with a typical county hospital gown
[16:29] The Editor: he was evaluated in the jail ward right?
[16:29] The Editor: where you used to work?
[16:30] MiniMD: actually, i believe he was eval'd initially in the main er - he stabbed himself in the chest and dropped a lung, so he needed a chest tube
[16:30] MiniMD: now he's up in jail tho.
[16:30] MiniMD: i'm in jail tonight
[16:30] The Editor: nice
MiniMD also handles cases from LA's men's central jail, a maximum security lockdown facility located across the street. she's apparently 4'11" and very fierce -- she won't hesitate to call in armed guards to "subdue" unruly prisoner patients, so she can treat them.
