Friday Favorites
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Happy Friday!
I’m not feeling too well again today – so its a real short one! And no, I’m not sickly and I don’t have a serious illness – I think I just ate something that didn’t agree with me and also my back is hurting again today.
But what I have to today is all cute stuff!
125,000 western lowland gorillas were recently found in the Republic of the Congo, National Geographic has a video. I love gorillas! About half way through the video there is a mommy holding her baby!
A baby otter being fed a bottle:
A brief moment of ‘awwwwwwwwwwwwh’
Here’s a video of a baby bear that can’t hardly stay awake:
Have a great weekend!
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August 7, 2008
Missouri doesn’t allow privacy in voting, apparently
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I’ve been upset for a couple days about this and wasn’t quite sure what to do but after some thought I decided to share it here in my blog.
This past Tuesday, the 5th, in the state of Missouri we had our third of 3 sets of primaries this year. The first was for the president, the second for local things like the school board and this one was for everything else – governor, US senate race, state senate and house, etc.
When I went in to vote at our local polling place (Bowles Elementary School, Fenton, MO) around 11:00 AM I found that they had the electronic voting machines set up so that they were facing out towards the center of the room, instead of facing the wall as they had been previously.
I don’t know how it works where you live, but I’ve seen on TV where some places have little curtains for people to close to give them more privacy – but we’ve never had those here.
The picture below is a rough sketch of how the room – a local school library – was set up. (Please forgive my lack of artistic ability!):
I was the blue dot in the picture with my back facing the rest of the room. Anyone else who came in to vote had to pass behind the backs of the voters using the electronic machines.
The red dot was one of the volunteers (didn’t get his name) who was standing just a few feet behind me while I was trying to vote.
I should point out that the ‘old fashioned’ paper ballot booths are boxed in on 3 sides and the ballot lays horizontally on the bottom – a person would have to get awfully close behind a voter to see what you were doing.
With electronic machines the screen where you touch to vote is nearly vertical – so at least theoretically a person behind you could see what you were doing. I imagine a really large sized person’s body could provide enough cover to prevent anyone from seeing anything. But many people, including myself, are not very big and my body wouldn’t provide enough cover.
So to get to the point – how did this set up of the voting machines insure my privacy? It didn’t.
I complained to the guy standing there (the red dot) and he just kind of made a slight smirk, shrugged his shoulders and said it was the best they could do.
How is that the best they could do? In the past they did have the machines facing the wall. Granted there is the issue of some windows on that back wall. But there was still room where they could have been set up facing the other wall. Not to mention the rest of the library which had no windows. But god forbid they might have actually had to move something around in the other part of the library so citizens could have privacy while voting.
Or used a different part of the school. They used to use the cafeteria. I can imagine how that could be disruptive for the school – surely there was someplace in that school where the voting booths could have been set up that would have given voters privacy. And if not, they should moved the polling place to some place where we could vote privately.
Now I’m not trying to claim the election volunteer that was standing there behind me was actually spying on me personally or that he had any malicious intentions – but isn’t there a law or rule somewhere that says we should be able to vote privately? And I did feel uncomfortable and a bit intimidated while voting with the guy there behind me like that and my back to the rest of the room. When I was reviewing my ballot I really couldn’t concentrate and didn’t check it well.
I was still pretty pissed by the time I got home and called the Board of Election Commissioners at 314-615-1800. The person (a woman, didn’t get name) I talked to was really nice and connected me to the person that I needed to talk to. That person (male, didn’t get name) was also very nice and said they would send someone over there.
Well, when my husband went to vote right before they closed at 7:00 – he said the machines were all still facing toward the middle of the room. So what happened? Did the Board of Election Commissioners not follow through, or did the people who were supposed to go there to check it blow it off and not go or maybe they just decided not to say anything. Or did the volunteers there somehow convince them that there was no alternative way of setting up the machines?
What do I do next? Its late in the day now, but I guess I’ll call the Board of Election Commissioners again tomorrow and ask why the machines had not been turned around. And I need to do some searches and find out what the regulations are concerning these things.
Anyone out there an expert on voting privacy laws? Or know someone who is that you could forward this to?
And what happens in November if they do it this way again? Will my complaining make any difference? Or in the state of Missouri do I just have to put up with not feeling like I have privacy while voting?
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August 5, 2008
5 Reasons Why Women Have the Power To Change the World!
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Women are powerful. More powerful than many of us realize. Together we are such a powerful force that we can change the world to make it a much better place to live in.
All we need to do is first: be aware of that power and second: work together to make things happen.
What can we change?
— We can help shape and change the environmental policies of the countries we live in.
— We can insist that all women have equal rights, where ever they live.
— We can work to insure that all people have adequate access to health care, housing and education.
Why do women have so much power to change it?
1) We control 85% of every dollar spent! According to Diane MacEachern in National Wildlife Magazine: “Women account for as much as 85 cents of every dollar spent in the retail marketplace, which adds up to vast consumer clout.”
2) More of us vote! In the U.S. anyway, 54% of voters are women.
3) We are the primary caregivers of children! – so we can influence the future of the planet by teaching our kids that there are better ways to do things.
4) 82% of teachers are women! 82% of public school teachers in the U.S. are women (source). Not only can we teach our own kids – women are also teaching every one else’s kids!
5) We are 52% of the world’s population! We are the majority of the population!
What else can we do? And can you think of any other ways in which we are a powerful force? Did I leave anything out?
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Related Posts:
- American schools – no learning allowed!
- 5 Simple Ways Women Can Make The World Greener
- Interview with Vered of MomGrind
August 4, 2008
Interview with Donna D. Fontenot (aka DazzlinDonna)
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Today’s interview is with Donna D. Fontenot (aka DazzlinDonna)! She writes at the following blogs: SEO Scoop, DazzlinDonna, eBuzz Coach and Online Press Kit Templates.
1) What do you think are the biggest challenges for women around the world today?
Self-confidence. Women are often led to believe that they can only do certain types of things, or *should* only do certain types of things. Women are often treated as though they should feel certain ways, should act certain ways, can’t understand certain things, etc. Much of this is so subtle that most of the world doesn’t even realize it is happening, and would deny it flatly if told they engaged in it themselves. All of these long-standing forces working together serves to undermine the self-confidence of many women, who grow up thinking they couldn’t possibly do this or that or the other thing. Instead, they believe they can’t possibly run their own business, lead teams of thousands, solve world hunger, or build a flying car. Every human on earth faces challenges, but those who have self-confidence can overcome almost any challenge that threatens to block their progress.
2) If more women were in positions of power do you think the world would be different than it is now? If so, in what way?
It’s almost impossible to know since we have so little history with which to make an educated guess. Part of me wants to say, “Sure, of course it would be different”, but another part of me recognizes that power often changes everything – for either sex. I do believe, however, that a more equal balance would likely help, but until we see that actually take place, we’ll never really know for sure. Here’s what I do believe though. Whether or not the “world” would be different, I’d bet that women and the way in which they view themselves would be vastly different.
3) How does your blog help to Inspire, Dare or Educate women to Achieve and Succeed?
My motto is “You’ll never shine if you don’t glow” (lyrics taken from the song All Star by Smash Mouth). I try to not only live that motto myself, but to help others live it as well. On my DazzlinDonna blog, I attempt to inspire women by showing them that they really do have the knowledge, ability, and talents to succeed, by giving examples of everyday talents that everyone can relate to. So often, women don’t recognize the talents they have within themselves. Once they realize the abilities they have, they want to know how to use them to create a successful ebusiness. I then try to educate them by presenting real-life step-by-step how-tos demonstrating how to turn their ideas and talents into ebusinesses. Finally, I challenge readers by asking them to attempt creative exercises that may seem hard or silly at the time, but the tasks are designed to help them get beyond their fears and self-doubts. Hopefully, at some point, they’ve been inspired and educated enough to begin the process on their own. Sometimes however, women are ready to take that extra step, but they feel they need just a little one-on-one coaching. At that point, I direct them to my eBuzzCoach.com site so they can determine if I’d be the right fit to give them that extra guidance and encouragement.
4) Do you think the U.S. will have a woman president in your lifetime?
Yes, I believe we will see a woman president in my lifetime (assuming my lifespan is average). I think we’ve all seen the first glimpses of the abililty of the American people to finally make a breakthrough in its long-standing history of only accepting white males in the position of ultimate power. So, how about a prediction? Not this election obviously, and not the one after that, but the person elected to be President of the United States 12 years from now will be a woman. We’ll see if my prediction comes true or not.
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Thank you very much Donna!
Please take some time and visit Donna’s blogs: SEO Scoop, DazzlinDonna, eBuzz Coach and Online Press Kit Templates!
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August 1, 2008
Friday Favorites
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Happy Friday!
Congratulations to me again! It appears I’ve won 2 contests on blogs recently: a book giveaway at Healtbolt and Staples new ‘M’ products at The Home Office Organizer. A while back I won a online press kit template at SEO Scoop. (haven’t had the time to use it yet Donna, sorry about that!). All of which makes me feel almost guilty. Maybe since I’m a blogger too I shouldn’t be entering these things? What do you think? Although I did say Happy Birthday to Donna without even realizing there was a contest taking place. And I plan to blog about the book. Have you won much stuff on blogs? Or am I just lucky? As much as I might feel just a bit guilty – the first blogger I see giving away a million dollars – I’m going to leave a comment, or whatever it is they want!
Anyway here is this weeks links. Doesn’t seem like at many this time, although I don’t know why.
Business and Work
The best bosses are women over 40 according to a post over at Women’s Voices for Change!
Health
Our Bodies, Our Blog wrote this week about the new Cochrane review which concluded that breast self-examination do not decrease mortality rates.
New research shows that our brain’s ability to store or consolidate memories which is a process that involves ‘replaying’ and filing away stuff that happened during the day while we sleep decreases as we age and may be responsible for some memory problems.
Kristen King reviews and discusses issues of people losing their jobs and their health insurance: What’s Worse Than Not Having a Job? Not Having Health Insurance
B5 has a new health blog: Grounded Fitness
Other Stuff
Ellen Wilson discusses ethics in photography – what is an invasion of a person’s privacy and what isn’t?
Sharon Hurley Hall announced a group writing project on her blog. If you blog, how did you get started doing it?
Really Cool Stuff!
NASA’s Phoenix Lander Confirms Water Ice Exists On Mars!
Have a great weekend!
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