Category: currentevents

Twitter Back-Channel for the Presidential Debates on Current

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

If you’ve been to a conference over the last few years, you may have encountered a “back-channel”. A back-channel is simply an alternate communication channel that continues alongside the primary communications channel. For instance, there may be an IRC room where audience members can discuss a panel while the panel is going on.

For the upcoming Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates, the channel Current is doing just that with Twitter in a project that they're calling Hack the Debate. In short, if you tweet during while you’re watching the debates, just include the tag “#current” and your tweet will be overlaid onto the broadcast (probably similar in look to subtitles or closed-captioning, but just with a lot more people contributing to the feed).

In this promo video, the Current team goes over how this might have worked if Twitter had been around for the Kennedy/Nixon debates:

I don’t know about you, but I think this sounds like it could be good fun. And while I might normally watch the debates on CNN or MSNBC, I think I’ll give Current a try. If you’d like to play along, here’s the schedule for the upcoming debates:

First presidential debate:
Friday, September 26
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

That news item from the Commission on Presidential Debates goes on to say that all debates will be 90 mins in length and will start at 9 p.m. Eastern / 8 p.m. Central / 6 p.m. Pacific. And, yeah, that first one — on Friday September 26 — is this Friday.

Some Notes on Virginia Tech

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

As you’ve no doubt heard, there was a tragic shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday. However, I also went to Virginia Tech which makes this is a little bit weird for me. During some semesters I’d walk by Ambler-Johnston Hall every day. And it doesn’t help when I find myself realizing where news photos were taken before I read their captions.

If I may ask a favor, I’d rather not talk about this with other people right now (in case it were to come up in conversation). I think I just need to deal with this on my own time.

US Getting Accessible Money, Maybe

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

ABC News is reporting that a US District judge has ordered the Treasury Department to look into means to allow people who are blind to differentiate between various bills:

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn’t tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it.

The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

“Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations,” Robertson wrote. “More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired.” […]

The “maybe” part is that the government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal. And, considering the magnitude of the case, I’m not ruling out that possibility. Still, I think this would be a good change and I hope it goes forward.

Possible E. Coli in Bagged Spinach

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Just in case you have any bagged spinach at home, you may not want to eat that. The FDA is warning that some cases of E. Coli have been linked with this leafy goodness (well, “non-goodness” for the time being).

The Food and Drug Administration is warning people not to eat bagged spinach after an outbreak of E. Coli bacteria killed one person and sickened at least 50 others in eight states.

The FDA issued the warning Thursday night, just one day after receiving information about the growing number of E. Coli cases, which began in mid-August and stretched from Connecticut to Oregon. […]

The article went on to say that “the elderly, the young and those with weak immune systems are most likely to be at risk”. So, if you’re in good health, you probably wouldn’t die; still, there’s no need to tempt fate, eh?

Laws Don’t Apply to Bush, According to Bush

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

The Boston Globe is reporting that Bush has chosen that several hundred laws don’t apply to him, including elements of the USA PATRIOT Act, immigration regulations, and others:

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, “whistle-blower” protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

[…]

Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power. […]

Well, with that out of the way, I’ve come to realize that speed limits are encroaching on my transportation throughput and shouldn’t apply to me. Oh, and FICA taxes are encroaching on my ability to frivolously purchase Take 5 bars for the periodic afternoon snack. Whew — who knew the law was so flexible?