You mean the money they just created out of thin air isn't really real?

Stop the presses.

Well, no. I didn't RTFA because I'm not new here, but ordinary computers have to copy the data from memory into a register before they can process it. They don't process it in-place. And most data is not kept in memory all the time, either, but I figured they meant the first sense.

No, that's why they made the Previa S/C. Sucked gas, though. But you certainly could fit a smaller electric motor in there with more power.

Analog computing is more of a '60s thing...

I think you mean it's more of a 16th century thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

That's what they say about everything... well, everything that doesn't come from NY.

memcomputer

That sounds like something out of Fallout New Vegas. Like Mr House would have a "memcomputer" keeping his accounts.

The nerds at UCSD are gonna have to work on the name to sound a little less 1950s. Or maybe that's what they're going for?

It helped him win.

Yes, temperature control is what PID is used for in this context.

No, I'm not talking about TFA, I'm talking about every other BBQ. Anyway you can buy a PID fan controller as a complete unit and stick it up your Weber's arse.

That's not even BBQ.

I don't know who, but I do know when. IE 8 introduced...

Oh great. IE8. That's some special lineage on which to base the identity of their new browser.

They wanted a name starting with "E", to keep a stylized blue "e" as an icon. Given that Windows 10 windows are essentially frameless, the browser viewing area is edge-to-edge, hence "Edge".

Then I think "Microsoft E" would have been a better name, invoking the drug that you'd have to be high on to want to use that browser.

So fuck him, and fuck his browser. And fuck his company.

Oh, I'm with you. I learned long ago with Microsoft that you use what parts work, jettison the rest. It's actually taught me a good lesson about technology: Never fall in love with a company. Also, when it comes to technology, "ABS": Always Be Suspicious.

I didn't say that paper elections cannot be rigged. They can, and have been more often actually than there have been fair elections.

I did not even say that it's easier to rig electronic elections than paper elections. Personally, I'd expect it to be as long as you're the one calling the shots.

What is harder is simply to debunk cries of foul play. People can easily imagine what a paper election is like and how counting them (with representatives of all parties involved present) can be somewhat trusted. It is easy, on the other hand, to convince people that this is not the case with voting machines.

People don't trust what they don't understand. And trust is something a democracy needs urgently. People need to have faith in their system of government. Whether they like their current government or not, but they need to know that it was elected fairly and that it is what "the people" wanted. That's the whole problem here. Because without ... well, you see how Mexico is doing...

It is?

Explain this to Joe Random who just heard some populist cry foul play, claiming that they can't be audited and that the auditors are all in league with the party that won the election. Yes, it's bull. But the problem is that you CANNOT debunk it. Joe Random can't imagine how such an audit takes place. He can imagine counting paper slips, and he can see through the ruse when someone cries foul in such an environment. Any party crying foul in a paper election will be told that they should've put some monitors down if they didn't trust the ones running the show and counting the paper slips. That's (at least in my country) their right to do.

You can't do that with computer voting. Yes, someone can make an audit. But it isn't something you can easily explain to someone who has no idea of computers. He will readily believe someone who claims that it's bogus. Simply because he doesn't understand what "audit" means. He understands counting paper slips, though.

The danger is even less in the actual possibility of manipulation as it is in the possible loss of faith in the election. People are already weary of politicians and even politics to some degree (personally, I can only hope that the general apathy is more due to useless politicians rather than people genuinely not caring about democracy anymore). The very last thing we need now is that something gives them the impression that it doesn't matter jack anymore whether or not they vote because it's rigged anyway. Whether real or imagined, if someone starts beating that drum, people will follow easily.

Simply because you can't easily debunk it.

But any party involved can (at least in my country, and pretty much all civilized countries I know of) nominate election observers that can easily identify whether everything's running correctly without any kind of special knowledge. They can easily tell whether the ballot is properly sealed, they can easily tell whether people step into the voting booth alone. They can easily find out whether the choice is free of influence. They can be present when the ballot seal is broken (actually, over here people are essentially locked in 'til the paper slips are counted, collected and sealed again, nothing going in or out in between) and when the paper slips are counted.

It's pretty hard to manipulate anything in such an environment. It's easy to see whether someone tries to manipulate results since it takes little more than eyes to detect foul play.

You act as if that wasn't even easier with voting machines. "Whoopsie, computer crash!"

And unlike in this case, you can't even claim that they're criminally incompetent. Because, hey, computers crash, that's what they do, right? Happens to you at home, too, and you can't be blamed for that, can you?

In other words, them running out of ballots and being unable/unwilling to allow voters to vote is something people can easily identify as something not being as it should be. Manipulation gets heaps easier with voting machines.

Who comes up with these idiotic names? Why not "Microsoft Nail" or "Microsoft Lance" or "Microsoft Thing That Penetrates"?

"Microsoft Edge" is a very '90s name to my ears, but maybe it's just the fact that I've been sitting on the porch drinking, eating barbecue and watching fireworks for the past several hours. But Microsoft was never really good at names, although I did once have a three-legged dog named "Clippy" (that's actually true).