Wow wow wow wow WOW!

[Void Main]

I hope this is just step 1 in the 50 step program!

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?stor ... 1202118904

[worker201]

Way to go MA!

A blue state, of course!!!!!!!!!!

[Void Main]

Funny, that's the part I hate about it, but we don't need to go there. :)

[Jenda]

Let us all bow down...

[Calum]

what's a blue state?

and yes, very cool, obviously the way of the future.

[Jenda]

I think Blue State is Massachussets.

[worker201]

what's a blue state?

During the last US presidential election (and in fact in most US elections), there was a very clear division between liberal states and conservative states. The states with large urban centers, like California and New York, tend to be liberal, and states with large rural populations, like Nebraska and North Carolina, tend to be conservative. During televised election results, colors like red and blue are used to designate who has won what states - in the most recent case, red was Bush, and blue was Kerry. Massachusetts was a strong Kerry state. As should be obvious to anyone, regardless of political affiliation, there is a pretty large gulf between the two groups - enough that many people in both areas are beginning to wonder (again) whether separatism might not be such a bad idea.

Personally, I think that _______________, and Void Main disagrees with me. Either way, the open source movement wins with this decision.

(self-censored out of respect to site owner)

[Jenda]

OK, my bad...

[Calum]

oh, i see.

kind of confusing to have red for the conservative and blue for the liberal, although to be honest i see little difference these days between the two, other than that the liberals have managed to learn to lie a bit better than the conservatives (in general, not just the states, in some countries this is of course totally untrue)

i am sure this post breaches the rules, so sorry in advance, but look at it again, i actually voice no political opinions myself at all.

[Void Main]

Although politics are generally verboten on this site, this one is so far harmless as it is just pointing out the election map colors. Now, I was actually quite confused in this last election because I could have sworn that in the previous election the colors were the opposite (democratic party in red and republican party in blue). I am almost positive that when Reagan was reelected this was the case but I am not positive. At any rate, as already pointed out, open source is the big winner here. Regardless of political views I hope this is the start of a trend. BTW, I know in the open source world my political leanings are in the minority as most/some of you know. Hopefully that doesn't ever get in the way of our common interest in open source and the great community we have. It's why I don't normally allow political discussion here, it can easily get in the way of/undermine my interests in Linux and the GPL.

EDIT: Looks like my recollection of the Reagan map is correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presi ... tion,_1984

[worker201]

The funny thing is that this sort of division has been going on for years, but has only enjoyed pop culture reference since the last election. Terms like "blue state" and "red state" have actually become symbols for much more than who won the electoral votes.

Perhaps one day election machines will be open source!

[Void Main]

Perhaps one day election machines will be open source!

Can I have an Amen?!? :) I can't believe they would let Windows get anywhere near these things. It's bad enough they started putting them in ATM machines and have already been infested with worms. Friggin' idiots I tell you!

[worker201]

In fact, I would almost consider an election machine as the canonical use of open source technology. What better use is there for a system that anybody can hack on? Letting the people create the machine that decides their elections is what democracy is all about. Using a closed-source proprietary corporate machine whose developers pay tribute to politicians is just asking for trouble. My view of open source has always been "if you don't like it, you get to fix it", and that is exactly the kind of direct democracy the US has been needing for a long time.

[Void Main]

Worker, I'd vote for you! :)

[Void Main]

OT follow-up: I just searched that wiki and they show republican in blue all the way back to 1856 which I think is the first time a republican ran. It wasn't until the 2000 election that they show republican in red. I guess I wasn't losing my mind after all.