Voting and other maladies

Thursday June 24, 2004 - 8:49PM EDT

So bored right now. Being bored though doesn't mean I have nothing to do, there is loads to do lack of motivation would be the better description. Lack of motivation due to lack of results could even describe it. Nothing interesting is going on. I think two lesbians have moved into the apartment below me. That isn't really exciting just a note, somehow society tells me that I should make a bigger deal out of it but I don't get it, their lesbians and... Just got an IM that one of my friends is suppose to be on Graham Norton Effect. I am not sure in what capacity but I'll probably catch it later tonight.

Went to Ralph Nader's website for his campaign. Wow this guy has good stuff, he actually takes positions on issues that are important to the average American. I particularly like the tidbit on how 100 million people who can vote don't vote, not suprising but it highlights an important issue. Media dominates everything and only a few people dominate the media. I wonder how Nader would fair with the monetary backing that the Democrats and Republicans have. If Nader was all over TV as those two parties are would things be different? Perot showed us that with money you can make an awful lot of noise. That guy got 20%. Nader is getting about 3% right now, if he had the money and the media presence that the other parties have it makes me wonder. Nader can barely even get on the ballot for president which is insane. How in the hell are you going to keep a person like him of the ballot. The requirement for petition signatures to get on a ballot in some states is outrageous. With Dems and Reps requiring only something like 2,000 signature and independents requiring 20,000. We have about 4 months to the election day and if I could somehow do something to launch Nader into the whitehouse I would, but I don't know, there seems to be nothing. Maybe that is the wrong type of thinking, but frankly I don't know what else to think. Why is voting such a difficult thing to do. I never understood the premise that one could not go to any voting station whereever they are an vote for the president. That doesn't make sennse to me, you have to physically be in a specific place to vote. Shit in this day and age when the hell does anyone ever have to be in a specific place to do anything. Then there is those absentee ballots crap. Tell me we are not still using the mail system to vote long distances. We use email for everything else. We can't somehow create an email voting system that is more efficient and secure than the paper garbage we use today.

Report just came out today on internet connectedness of countries. The United States is not in the top 10. How can the richest country in the world not lead in Internet access! We freaking invented the Internet!

How do you bring Internet access to the masses without government subsidies? Can Wi-Fi be effetice enough to provide whole neighboorhoods with cheap internet access. Maybe this is something I need to investigate. Corporations are throwing away tons of old computers that could feasibly be converted to "Internet Terminals". Maybe this is something I should look into, make it my personal mission. To provide the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding metropolitan areas with high-speed internet access. Get old computers from businesses, convert them into cheap "Internet Terminals" with Linux or FreeBSD opertating systems. Somehow raise money to install a city wide high-speed wireless network. Spokane is the first to do it, albeit on a limited scale. It can be done. No one is just seriously looking at it. It should be done, everyone should have internet access. Make it a part of their everyday life. I must formulate a plan. Say I have a goal to have everyone in Philadelphia and the surround metropolitan areas (and maybe suburbs) connected to the Internet in 5 Years. Maybe I could take a page from Japan's telecom industry, specifically their i-mode cell phone service and their microbilling strategy. Maybe to support to running of the network you use the network for commerce and microbill access. Encourage use of the wireless network for something other than Internet browsing. That would be key, really use the Internet for something useful beyond the typical globa e-commerce and browsing. Location specific service really are going to be the next wave of Internet applications, to use the Internet for your immediate area. As a facillitor of information in your own neighborhood. Such a thing is overshadowed by the large national and international websites. Although the internet makes it much easier for the little guys to compete the larger sites have successfully pushed out the little people in many places on the Internet. Location specific services are one of the few things that can trump the big guys. Having a personal connection to the neighborhood that large entities cannot get will be key. It may signify the rise of the mom and pop operation once again, maybe that is pusing it. But smaller local operations that can take advantage of the Internet would have a advantage over large entities. I think just being geographically closer is a big advantage. Hmmmm maybe that is why there is such a discrepency in Internet use in the United States. Maybe the higher-ups know that the Internet could be the great equalizer and allowing everyone to take advantage of it would not be a good thing for them. Ehh I think I am going to far with that line of thinking perhaps. Well I am going to think about this, and see if I can do it.