Hmmm...5-digit Slashdot ID? Been here 10 years? Feh...newbie.

...and a K9 unit to go with it.

Don't be silly. Weapons manufacturers donate heavily to politicians. Those who receive grants for research do not. Why cut your own throat simply because it makes more sense in the long run?

What about ANGBAND??? Surely the hours I've poured into that have improved me in some way? Surely???

A work day? Lots of time.

A non-work day, or when I'm off the clock? Won't even answer the phone if it rings.

I've wondered if I have any neanderthal lineage. Not because of my behavior but because I have a heavy west Irish genetic background. It would have been a corner into which the neanderthals would have retreated as they were beaten out of the rest of Europe. Google and you'll see that red hair -- a hallmark of Irish lineage -- has been postulated to be a genetic legacy of the neanderthals.

Perhaps so, but the scripted mistake is easily fixed because every single machine exhibits the same symptoms. Easy to debug. Once debugged, easy to fix.

Do you think it better to have a half-dozen different mistakes on a half-dozen different servers in a pool of 40?

I used to be a deputy director at a board of elections in Ohio. The county used Diebold machines.

These systems are drastically more expensive than the older method of voting; there is absolutely no cost savings, whatsoever. It is not uncommon for poll workers to break the systems because of their ignorance or carelessness in working with the hardware. A broken Diebold voting system is VERY expensive to correct. The old systems? Cheap as dirt and easy to replace.

The likelihood of a major problem is far greater with the Diebold systems than with the older stuff. Trying to get octagenarian poll workers to successfully use hardware that they've used only a few times ever, and with little training 6 weeks prior to the election? Yah...good luck with that.

And uniformity across counties using the hardware? Hah! In the county where I worked, one single individual wrote software to "assist" in tallying the votes. I have no idea what the software did because he refused to document the software, and he refused to comment his code EVER. After he left the office he CONTINUED TO UPDATE THE SOFTWARE. I tried to figure out what it was doing by staring at the code, but that's tough when the code changes every day and the author refuses to explain even the broad outlines of how it works.

I could go on and on...but you get the idea.

Yeah...it'll probably take no more than 8 weeks.

So I could buy a proprietary device to read a proprietary format (which I also have to purchase) which will be obsolete in 3 years, or I can buy a physical book and still have it (perfectly readable!) in 25 years?

Er...thanks, Amazon, but I'll pass. Give me a book made 'o paper. (May as well buy a hardcover. Paperbacks are so expensive anymore that I feel ripped off spending 8 bucks on something that disposable.)

Given the state of the Euro-zone, you might want to look into alternate payment options.

Call your local university and ask this question of someone in the anthropology department. Someone who specializes in cultural anthropology.

Anthropologists study different cultures with the same intensity as your average Slashdotter studying operating systems and programming languages. Few others are as well-equipped to answer this question...

...but the election officials will fight change tooth-and-nail.

Is it because they find it to be a valuable tool?

Is it because the technology does something that no other product or process can?

Or maybe because they get free stuff (i.e. bribes) from Diebold to stay where they are?

Nope. They just don't want to have to learn anything new.

Any change in the processes & technology will be achieved against the wishes of the election officials who should be working for our interests but instead are seeking the easiest path.

A (thankfully FORMER) elections official.

Don't ask Slashdot, ask yourself:

    "What would the BOFH do in my position?"

Then profit.

I'd rather have a sonic screwdriver any day of the week...