2nd best choices are the best choices

If you are like me, then in most elections you don't have a perfect candidate as a choice -- you have a choice between someone who is pretty good and someone who is so-so or somewhat bad. I'm glad it is that way. I don't have the perfect candidate as a choice but I also don't have the worst possible candidate as a choice. When someone wins that I don't want to win, I can mostly live with that -- they usually do some good also. (This does not dimish the fact that many unborn babies can't "live with" certain people in power.)

Don't get too discouraged with your choice of candidates -- choose the one who you believe is best and be thankful that you don't have to choose between two completely evil canidates.

Please remember to research the candidates and other ballot questions and then go and vote on Tues! If you don't vote then you don't have a right to complain about what the elected officials decide. If you really don't think either candidate is worth your vote then at least find some name to write in (even if it is your own name) to show that you value that right to vote.

Another Nelson vs. Kind Debate

A TV station hosted another debate and it can be seen at http://www.weau.com/elections

WI 3rd Congressional district debate: Paul R. Nelson vs. Ron Kind

Last night (Oct 24th) there was a Wisconsin 3rd Congressional district debate between Paul R. Nelson (Republican challenger) and Ron Kind (Democrat incumbant). I was there and recorded it. A rough recording of it is a http://stauffer.james.googlepages.com/Nelson-Kind-Debate-Mono2.mp3 (9 MB).
I did miss part of the middle of the debate (During the recording I pushed a button on the laptop that caused it to go to sleep so I had to turn it back on -- then it didn't look like it was recording correctly so I started a new file) but I was also recording to my MP3 player so that missed less and I will post that as soon as I can.

Update: I have posted the recording from my MP3 player split up by question at http://stauffer.james.googlepages.com/nelsonvs.kinddebate

My Three Children

Here are my three children:

• Anna Grace: almost 3
• Joseph James: 1 and a half
• William Grant: 1 week

William Grant

William Grant was born on September 17th, 2006 at 3:13 PM! He weighed 7.0 lbs and was 20.75 inches long. Both Annette and William are doing great! William was born on his great-grandmother Irene's birth and she loved her birthday present.

Born that way

I was reading When a Dog Says "Moo"’ by Chuck Colson and it really bothers me when someone uses the logic that just because someone was born a certain way makes it ok for them to act that way. i.e. If someone is "born" gay, then it is inherently ok for them to practice homosexual activities. If there is a gene that predisposes someone to murder, rape, or lying that doesn't make it ok to do those things, is just means we should help them overcome those things. Here is a news flash: All humans were born with a sin nature! (excepting of course Jesus Christ!)

Compressed Air Cooler

Since expanding gas cools, could that be used to cool a normal cooler?
It could either have a build-in air tank or accept air cartridges.
Advantages:

• It could use a thermostat to maintain a constant temperature.
• No water mess.
• Not excessively cold like dry ice.
• If it had a tank it could be recharged at most gas stations.
• The "charge" would remain good for quite a while when not used.
  

Disadvantages:

• After refilling the tank it would have to sit for a while to cool off.
• The tank may have to be too heavy or bulky to be useful (Does anyone know the numbers to do the math for this?)

What do you think?

Candidates or Issues

It seems most political campaigns focus on the candidates instead of the issues. Why are the candidates sold instead of the issues? Why don't the campaigns say "... is the way to handle issue ... because ... and candidate ... is the best person to achieve that" instead of "Vote for candidate ..., he supports ..., .., and ..." If you sell the issues then during the next election you can build off of the last election by expounding on the right way to handle issues and still mention which candidate will best achieve those results. Each election could build off of the previous election better and the voting population would be better informed.

I have the opportunity to vote in a primary election next Tuesday. If you have a similiar opportunity to vote then I urge you take take the oppotunity!

Distributed Internet backup

Consider a distributed computer program like the following.
1. You download the program an install it.
2. During install it asks you how much space you want to share for others to use and which folders you want to backup.
3. It then starts sending your data (encrypted) to other users on the network (the client would probably have to send the data to multiple places and keep track of where it is).
4. It also starts accepting backup data from other users.
If you need more space than you can provide then you can pay extra. If you provide more space than you need then you can get paid.

Then your backup data is distributed across the internet. I think it would be useful to many people!

Would this work well? Does it already exist?

Increasing vehicle efficiency

A friend directed me to a Popular Science articles titled "The Race to 100 MPG"
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/automotivetech/e5690576b64fc010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

I had some comments about the 3 advances mentioned.

• Cut weight and wind resistance: That is nice but there are some major problems with that. Cutting weight generally reduces the crash worthiness. I would hate to see that car hit even a mid-sized car at freeway speeds. I like efficiency but safety is more important. The size and shape of the car also reduce visibility of the driver which is also a safety concern. Finally I have a family of 4 with 1 more on the way so I could never dream of using that kind of car for anything but a commuter vehicle. I just don't think reducing weight and wind resistence will help much given the needs of car owners.
• Hydraulic drive system: I think this is excellent. One of the great things about it is that it could be fit into current car designs without major changes which should make adoption much easier. I like it that it is a component change so the engine could be made more efficient independantly which would make integration by the manufacturer easier. This sounds like something that could be in many new cars in just a few years.
• Jet Engine: First, this just sounds neat. Wouldn't you love to see your neighbor's face when they ask you what kind of engine your car has and you say "a jet engine!"? It would also be neat if it gives are car a "jet engine" sound (but much more quiet). Once again this appears to be an independant upgrade so that would really help.

As a developer I am a strong proponent of iterative development (many small changes instead of a few huge changes) and I think iterative effiency improvements will provide the fastest adoption also. I also like the electric motor and battery system from Tesla Motors.

I can't wait to see these things developed and make it into mass production!