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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A state of calamity has been declared in Metro Manila as rains brought by Ondoy caused the worst flooding in the capital in more than 20 years. The Extensive flooding in the metropolis that forced thousands out of their homes and turned many areas into virtual lakes drew comparison with hurricane “Katrina” which devastated the southern United States city of New Orleans in August 2005. As Katrina pounded New Orleans, levees broke and about 80 percent of the city was flooded, killing over 1,800 people and leaving damage estimated at more than $100 billion. This must be a very scary tragedy. I wonder why it says that it’s like Katrina? I don’t believe so. During the Katrina rescue, there were allegations that the white were given priority and placed in better rescue centers than the black.

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All rivers follow a gently winding path, regardless of the terrain. Now Physicists at the University of Cambridge have produced a mathematical model that explain a river’s winding, or meandering, habits.

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The cleanliness of the house should not be confined on certain areas alone; it must be extended to all parts of the house. Great advantages will accrue to the house owner if this is done. It would lend a balanced atmosphere of tidiness in the house. Old wisdom has it that for a house to be truly clean, it must be clean both in the exteriors and the interiors. Even the minutes detail should be given attention to make sure that everything is kept and in order.

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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.

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Malnutrition is deadlier than swine flu Accourding to Partylist Representative

Malnutrition is still one of the major health problems in school children and could be considered deadlier than the swine flu plague, a partylist representative said today.

“While swine flu is a threat, malnutrition remains a deadlier menace to students’ well-being this school opening and the government has continuously overlooked this through the years,” Kabataan partylist Rep. Raymund Palatino said.

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Hackers wanted; P100-million reward

Courtesy of Philstar.com

The issue on the automation of the 2010 national elections have reverted all ears as it creates noise. Billions of pesos will be spent for a strategy that is not proven to eliminate the problem of elections, and so, a test is about to be done.

Opposition Senator Allan Peter Cayetano said in a press conference that he is filling a resolution for COMELEC (Commission on Elections) to appropriate an amount of 100 million pesos out of the 11 billion pesos fund on the automation of elections as a reward for anyone who can show and convince the people that the automated elections is also susceptible to dirty tactics such as fraud and tampering of election paraphernalia. If this goes through (the resolution), this will be a test to the automation process’s invulnerability and probably will make the fear of people for any untoward act regarding the elections vanish.

This is why the Commission on Elections (Comelec) challenged hackers to try to hack into the voting and counting machines that will be used in next year’s elections, but expressed confidence that they would fail.

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Business online is a consistently growing market that attracts the attention of most advertisers, webpreneurs and entrepreneurs. Accordingly, the web market is going to exert a great impact in the field of business, finance, commerce for the coming years. That is exactly the reason why more and more companies and corporate entities are getting hooked in the potential of the web as a huge market for them

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