In blatant imitation of #joiito, I hereby announce my own IRC channel, #GabeW. This is on the freenode network (irc.freenode.net).

If you don't know what IRC is, or how to connect (try clicking on the link above first - it may just work depending on software you have installed), go see the #joiito intro to IRC wiki page.

My state senator, Joe Simitian has authored a bill which is intended to keep the state or any local government entity from using or issuing identity cards with contactless communication facilities that don't meet strict security standards. It also outlaws completely the use of contactless data communications for certain types of identity documents (e.g. drivers licenses) for a period of 3 years.

The bill has the support of EFF, ACLU, and a number of other organizations. It also has my support. Please visit EFF's Action Alert for SB 682. And if you are a fellow consituent of Joe Simitian, please do contact his office and express your appreciation!

Went to the California State Democratic Party Convention as an elected delegate from the 21st Assembly District. I blogged some initial thoughts on the San Mateo County DFA website about it. I was struck by how useful it was to analyze the convention and the political party process in general from a "social networks" perspective.

Tags: xri, technorati

Kevin Burton and a few other folks make a good point in talking about problems with the new Technorati tagging system. One thing that bugs me in particular is that it's basically a technorati-only solution that is a metadata standard based on a site-specific URL pattern. This seems brittle and more than a little hackish. I mean, great start, don't stop, but lets come up with a better solution.

Tags: irv, electoral reform

I like IRV. Let me state that upfront. But I was thinking about its practical widespread adoption and I thought of two issues that I don't see an easy solution for. I'd like to hear answers to issues around recounts and aggregating votes across multiple election offices.

Tags: homeland security, terror

There's another great document on cryptome which is the result of a FOIA request:
A list of Homeland Security Operations Morning Briefs. Amazing stuff to see what our government finds threatening and worthwhile to report.

Does this sound just a little frightening (not for the reason the government seems to think its frightening):

3. (FOUO) NEW YORK: Suspicious Videotaping of Critical Infrastructure. According to concerned citizen reporting, on 1 November, on the Verrazzano Narrows Suspension Bridge, Staten Island, the concerned citizen observed subjects filming the bridge from a car. The driver was identified as a dark skinned male. The passenger place the video camera on the dash after being signaled to stop filming by the concerned citizen. (Call-In/JRIES, 1 Nov 04; HSOC 4193-04)

Upgraded to Drupal 4.5.2

Playing with Technorati and seeing what is easy to do and what isn't.

Wish me luck.

Tags: xri, technorati

Seems like using XRIs with Technorati tags might be an interesting fit, especially with the "+" XRI namespace reserved for "concepts". For example, xri://+love xri://+war xri://+vanilla - things that aren't really meant to be "resolved" but are either used "as-is" (ie to refer to the thing everyone commonly knows the identifier to be - ie "love", "war", or "vanilla"), or used in the context of something else xri://=GabeWachob*(+father).

OK, so now I get to try to put in my first technorati tag(s). Lets see if this works.

My name is Gabriel Wachob, and I was recently elected as a delegate to the California State Democratic Party Central Committee from the 21st Assembly District.

I am writing to strongly urge the DNC to elect Howard Dean as DNC Chair.

Howard Dean has demonstrated an ability not only to turn out an amazingly effective grassroots effort, and raise more money than any presidential challenger in a primary, he has shown that he is *still* committed to making the party succeed even after his own campaign ended.

No other primary contender put as much effort into making the Kerry/Edwards ticket succeed as did Dean.

Journalists have a fairly high set of ethical standards. Disclosure of things like personal interests in a news story are extremely important. In interviews, journalists usually disclose agreed-to limitations on the type of questions they were not allowed to ask.

Why don't bloggers have to do this?

Here's my disclosure: About the only thing I won't be talking about in my blog is work. Just can't do it. First, my employer is in an extremely competitive business where even the slightest business intelligence leak can cause a great deal of damage. Second, and perhaps more importantly, my employer's brand is extremely valuable and well-protected - making any statements that affect the perception or value of the brand, whether on purpose or mistake, can cause me a lot of grief at work.