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Say what you will, this site is interesting:
http://quake.exit.com/

On The FORM the last two persons are the same person with different signatures, i wonder why?

Well, you could look at my take on Jeremiah's experience. Basically, if what he said he saw is indeed what he saw, the test was a complete fraud. See the article on my weblog. You may also want to look at another article I wrote the day before in which I discuss some security issues with respect to the Diebold machines.

What are my qualifications for making these judgements? Well, twenty years of software engineering experience, for one thing. You can look at my resume here if you want more details.

I don't know Jeremiah's qualifications, but in my professional opinion, his conclusions seem sound. At the very least they raise serious questions about the methodology used for these "logic and accuracy" tests, questions that should definitely be answered before the Diebold devices go into service.

Too bad they are already in service. Oops.

(Oh, and thank you to those who have been kind enough to donate to the upkeep of the site. Being out of work makes life a tad complicated and every little bit helps.)

Well, you could look at my take on Jeremiah's experience. Basically, if what he said he saw is indeed what he saw, the test was a complete fraud. See the article on my weblog. You may also want to look at another article I wrote the day before in which I discuss some security issues with respect to the Diebold machines.

What are my qualifications for making these judgements? Well, twenty years of software engineering experience, for one thing. You can look at my resume here if you want more details.

I don't know Jeremiah's qualifications, but in my professional opinion, his conclusions seem sound. At the very least they raise serious questions about the methodology used for these "logic and accuracy" tests, questions that should definitely be answered before the Diebold devices go into service.

Too bad they are already in service. Oops.

(Oh, and thank you to those who have been kind enough to donate to the upkeep of the site. Being out of work makes life a tad complicated and every little bit helps.)

Well, you could look at my take on Jeremiah's experience. Basically, if what he said he saw is indeed what he saw, the test was a complete fraud. See the article on my weblog. You may also want to look at another article I wrote the day before in which I discuss some security issues with respect to the Diebold machines.

What are my qualifications for making these judgements? Well, twenty years of software engineering experience, for one thing. You can look at my resume here if you want more details.

I don't know Jeremiah's qualifications, but in my professional opinion, his conclusions seem sound. At the very least they raise serious questions about the methodology used for these "logic and accuracy" tests, questions that should definitely be answered before the Diebold devices go into service.

Too bad they are already in service. Oops.

(Oh, and thank you to those who have been kind enough to donate to the upkeep of the site. Being out of work makes life a tad complicated and every little bit helps.)

As it happens, I recently wrote a short bit about this. It's pretty relevant here. I go a bit further than Grove, though:

Ah, so the "economy" actually "gained" some 57,000 jobs last month. Well, not so much gained as failed to lose , really. (Links via skippy the bush kangaroo; thanks, skippy.) The pain is no less than it was in August and we're all a month closer to the end of unemployment compensation. I note, though, that software engineering jobs in Bangalore are booming. And the boom is not just in Bangalore, either. I guess all these jobs the United States is exporting have been a real windfall for those guys. I have worked with folks from Bangalore and other parts of India, many of whom are undoubtedly benefiting from this situation. Those of us here in the States, though, are left high and dry.

You know, I have no particular desire to learn a new career when my current career is still in strong demand. Just not here, where companies actually have to pay their employees something reasonable. In India, they pay a fraction of the wage they would have to pay here, making for a situation in which an American cannot compete. Personally, I think there is a simple and potentially very effective legislative solution: Force companies based in the United States to pay their overseas workers on the same wage scale as their American workers. Not only would this eliminate the inequity of outsourcing jobs overseas, it would also provide legal weapons against abuses like the Nike sweatshops in southeast Asia.

Oh, and to those who claim that there will be "new jobs" to replace the old ones: That is simply not true. With the caliber of people in places like India and China, you can successfully outsource pretty much any high-tech job. These people are just as good at what they do as we are. Many (if not most) of them went to school here! But their cost of living is a fraction of ours and they can prosper on a salary that would put many of us on the street.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of us are watching our diminishing bank accounts and wondering just what we are going to have to do to get a job.

As it happens, I recently wrote a short bit about this. It's pretty relevant here. I go a bit further than Grove, though:

Ah, so the "economy" actually "gained" some 57,000 jobs last month. Well, not so much gained as failed to lose , really. (Links via skippy the bush kangaroo; thanks, skippy.) The pain is no less than it was in August and we're all a month closer to the end of unemployment compensation. I note, though, that software engineering jobs in Bangalore are booming. And the boom is not just in Bangalore, either. I guess all these jobs the United States is exporting have been a real windfall for those guys. I have worked with folks from Bangalore and other parts of India, many of whom are undoubtedly benefiting from this situation. Those of us here in the States, though, are left high and dry.

You know, I have no particular desire to learn a new career when my current career is still in strong demand. Just not here, where companies actually have to pay their employees something reasonable. In India, they pay a fraction of the wage they would have to pay here, making for a situation in which an American cannot compete. Personally, I think there is a simple and potentially very effective legislative solution: Force companies based in the United States to pay their overseas workers on the same wage scale as their American workers. Not only would this eliminate the inequity of outsourcing jobs overseas, it would also provide legal weapons against abuses like the Nike sweatshops in southeast Asia.

Oh, and to those who claim that there will be "new jobs" to replace the old ones: That is simply not true. With the caliber of people in places like India and China, you can successfully outsource pretty much any high-tech job. These people are just as good at what they do as we are. Many (if not most) of them went to school here! But their cost of living is a fraction of ours and they can prosper on a salary that would put many of us on the street.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of us are watching our diminishing bank accounts and wondering just what we are going to have to do to get a job.

Interestingly, a 1975 earthquake in China was successfully predicted due in large part to strange animal behavior. A large number of lives were saved.

Needless to say, this is an extreme exception to the rule, and is about as reliable as grandma's old bones are at predicting the weather.

I saw a TV show about fringe-scientific earthquake predictors. One of the was quite unconvincing, but the other was interesting. He predicted quakes by satellite photos of "earthquake clouds". The finding mentioned in the Science@NASA article about thermal anomalies might back his theory up some. He makes his predictions publicly on his website.