PinkOnBrown Webzine

Software included on Premier Election Solutions’ (previously known as Diebold) voting machines has recently been revealed to contain a “Delete Logs” button. This allows a user to delete any of the voting logs in the machine with no backups or way to trace the original logs.

Auditing logs are required under the federal voting-system guidelines, which are used to test and qualify voting systems for use in elections. The logs record changes and other events that occur on voting systems to ensure the integrity of elections and help determine what occurred in a system when something goes wrong.

“Deleting a log is something that you would only do in de-commissioning a system you’re no longer using or perhaps in a testing scenario,” said Princeton University computer scientist Ed Felten, who has studied voting systems extensively. “But in normal operation, the log should always be kept.”

Yet the Diebold system in Humboldt County, which uses version 1.18.19 of Gems, has a button labeled Clear, that “permits deletion of certain audit logs that contain — or should contain — records that would be essential to reconstruct operator actions during the vote-tallying process,” according to the California report. (note: emphasis added)

More information over at The Register. Not that it matters anymore, but did someone say recount? (via Metafilter)

Started working with my older laptop again, so I decided to install Xubuntu. Xubuntu is the Xfce edition of Ubuntu Linux. A big part of my computing experience is the portibility of applications like Dropbox or Box.net - easily being able to synch files on my various computers is of upmost importance. However, Dropbox is designed to work along with Nautilus which is the default file manager in GNOME…and the default window manager in Ubuntu. But not Xubuntu which uses Thunar as it’s file manager.

But, it’s no problem - by simply following the instructions below you can get Dropbox to work side-by-side with Xfce and Thunar. We will basically just be starting a no-frills instance of Nauilus which causes Dropbox to start. The explanation will mostly be relevant to Ubuntu/Xubuntu users, but can simply be modified to other distros.

Requirements:

• Nautilus file manager
• Dropbox for Linux
• Xfce (4.4+ works best)

1. Install dropbox from source, or using the packages provided on the Dropbox site.
2. Type the following into the terminal:

   nautilus --no-desktop --browser
   

   This will start Dropbox, and the icon should appear in your system tray.

3. Log in, or sign up with a new account.
4. Now, in order to have Dropbox running every time you use Xfce, you need it to autostart. Just go to:
   Menu -> Settings -> Settings Manager -> Autostarted apps -> Add
   and add the following
   

   /home/your_username/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

And that’s it! Dropbox should work normally now, synching your files perfectly. Now you can more stuff done.

This tutorial is more-or-less a translation and expansion of a tutorial from Polish website blok.kangoor.

Sometimes you feel like Dr. Frankenstein when you’re creating art. I like how she talks to the doll and bends him around in such expressive ways. Definitely makes needle felting look fun and easy.

Today’s linkdump is an assortment of beats by Clark, ecological housing, and bizarre marine life. The air is filled with smell of bread that we are baking - the last loaf turned out nearly perfect. Added more flour and some honey this time; will hopefully turn out moist and delicious. Gardening will happen soon, as we now have all the ground-working tools we could possibly need.

• ex: Living Hydroponics House - House in Paris, France covered with ferns. The plants, which are hydroponically fed and in hand-blown glass pods, regulate the temperature and create a fantastic living space
• ex: Clark - Frau Wav (Brief Fling)
• ea: Ohio Man Held Woman Captive, Read Bible - A man held some woman hostage in his house, dressed her in adult diapers, read her Bible passages and tried to smother her to death. I wonder where he worked.
• in: Bizarre S&M-themed Hello Kitty commercial - This dreamlike Hllo Kitty advert is rife with trippy sequences, and archetypal and occult symbolism.
• in: Fish wish transparent head - The Macropinna microstoma, or barreleye fish, has a transparent head to help the fish absorb as much light as possible. Crazy pictures.

This is a piece I’ve been working on for a little while. Inspired by late-night discussions on ChaosNeverDied.com. Thanks /b/

WARNING: This contains thought. Also contains large images. Slow internets have been warned.

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