The exciting part in the up-coming 2010 election is the prospect of unscrupulous candidates starting to rely on geeks, aside from their goons, to affect the vote. Like a friend said, cheating attempts may actually give more people throughout the country more incentive to learn techie stuff like programming, network management, etc.

Of course, no one wants to see fraudulent elections. But what if Filipinos in the most remote areas of the Philippines suddenly learn computer programming? That’s a possibility, especially if candidates are willing to pay good money for results. But with all of the positive things that have been said about the automation of the election, there are still risk factors that we have to consider. Such risk factors might include:

1. Software – The software used all throughout the process, from ballot reading all the way to returns tallying, must be open for public scrutiny. It may not be proprietary and secret.
2. Devices – Ballots and computers used throughout may fail. Backup/contingency plan must exist and be robust. Sabotage could be the way cheating will be introduced, in order to force reverting to manual process.
3. Architecture – Transmittal and reporting of results could be susceptible to hacking. Instant public visibility of results as counted at source and as transmitted at receipt will mitigate threats of hacking.
4. User – Voting needs to be simple and straightforward. Many Filipinos are not computer literate, and barely literate. PEBKAC errors can lead to many spoiled ballots, which may either be invalidated like in the US, or can be used as a pretense to revert to manual.

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With the advent of the modern technology we are using today, we are given the chance to prove that we can bring this modern technology into one of the most important events that will take place on our country. It will make the election in our country be automated for the first time. That means to say that from voting until counting, we will be aided by computers with special programs intended to fulfill this specific purpose. But what do this automation mean for our country?

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‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’

In this July 20, 1969 photo, astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin Jr. poses beside a US flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow ‘moonwalker’ Neil Armstrong gathered Friday with other Apollo astronauts as part of the first moon landing’s 40th anniversary celebration.

As the Holy Week is coming, it is expected that lots of people will have the need of transportation services in order for them to be able to go to their hometown and exploit this opportunity to have a vacation with their families. Sounds fun, right? But before thinking of fun, we must first think of our safety especially in having trips particularly if having this trip in the sea by means of boats. So with this in mind, Administrator Ma. Elena Bautista of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) created the “Pasa-Hero” program.

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Graft and corruption has been a fact of national life since post-Liberation days. Almost every administration has had its big and sensational graft cases. At every presidential election, one major issue that is always raised is graft and corruption. Opposition leaders denounce the graft being committed by the administration, but once they take over the reins of government, they also commit graft. It’s just a case of different sets of people pigging out at the trough that is the national treasury at different times.

Starting with the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, the Philippine crisis has been characterized not only by corruption and poverty but also by human rights abuses and a culture of impunity. Bruce Van Voorhis, a member of the Asian Human Rights Commission, said that these aspects of the life of the nation are linked: “People are poor to a large extent because of widespread corruption; those who wield political power violate people’s rights to attain and maintain that power; a lack of judicial punishment in the courts ensures impunity that permits corruption and human rights violations to continue. The cycle has sadly repeated itself for years.”

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TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has successfully launched a rocket, Iran’s state television reported on Wednesday.

The report follows an announcement earlier this month that Iran had test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile. The news comes amid tension between Iran and Israel and the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear work.

Television did not give any further details of the launch of the “Kavosh 2,” which means “Explorer 2″, saying they would be announced later.

Iran caused international concern in February by testing a domestically made Explorer 1 rocket as part of its satellite program. Tehran said it needed two more similar tests before putting a domestically made satellite into orbit.

On August 17, Iran said it had put a dummy satellite into orbit on a domestically made rocket for the first time. U.S. officials said the attempted launch was a failure.

You won’t believe this  Pamela Anderson’s Explicit New Video regarding  “Kentucky Fried Cruelty,” an undercover exposé blowing the whistle on the cruel treatment of animals at KFC’s factory farm and slaughterhouse suppliers.

The video details just how horribly KFC treats chickens—birds are so crippled that they can’t even walk, live birds are forced into tanks of scalding-hot water while completely conscious and able to feel pain, and in Moorefield, West Virginia slaughterhouse workers kill birds by slamming them against the wall and stomping on them!

Pamela is calling on consumers to “Kick the Bucket” and boycott KFC until the company agrees to make some simple improvements in the way it treats animals.

If you believe with her advocacy you can  sign the petition form and join her and other compassionate consumers everywhere in taking the coarse business elsewhere until the company agrees to take animal welfare seriously.

Of course, the best thing that you can do to help animals is to stop eating them, so please consider trying a vegetarian diet—just like me. And if you don’t think animal cruelty is a strong enough argument for vegetarianism you might want to at least read up on how eating meat causes impotence and slows the flow of blood to all the organs, not just to the heart, if you catch my drift.