What I've been up to

What I've been up to: Among other things, I've been wading hip-deep into the guts of Movable Type and performing some bypass surgery on it for a client.

Won't go into much detail (yet), but I will say that Movable Type's architecture is way more sophisticated than you might think from looking at the weblogs that are produced from it, and fooling MT into rerouting control to exactly where you want without setting off alarms (or rewriting a significant portion of their code) is a real challenge.  

 I voted ... I think

Sometime between now and the next election, I'll make some buttons that say "I voted ... I think."

Our district used touch-screen voting machines for the first time this year, and it's an unnerving trend. There's no way to verify that your vote was actually recorded properly, and there's no physical record to go back to for a recount. It doesn't matter which side you're on, this should bother you.

Oddly enough, most of the candidates I voted for won this time. But the point still stands.     4 comment(s)  

If you make those buttons, I'll not only wear one, I'll hand them out (a suitable distance) in front of my voting location.
      ...posted by Seth on November 17, 2003 8:52 PM

The first time I read Steve's post, I read it the way he intended. However, this time I read it, I read it as the voter saying he wasn't sure if he had voted. That might cause confusion, though I guess not as much as if you had "I voted, I think".
      ...posted by Chris on November 17, 2003 11:17 PM

OK, now I'm curious- your button post is right next to (but in a different paragraph) from your mention of the touch screen system, where you can't verify that your vote was recorded. This would go along with the button showing uncertainty of whether you actually voted. Which one is your intended meaning for the button- that voting shows that you think, or that you're not sure if your vote is being counted?
      ...posted by Chris on November 18, 2003 6:28 PM

The latter - that even if you went to your polling place and pressed the buttons, you can't be sure that your vote will be counted.

If I make a button, I'll try to make it unambiguous. (Like, have question marks floating in the background of the bottom.)
      ...posted by Steve B. on November 18, 2003 8:29 PM

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