Web Writing, Projects, Theories

Google now puts recipes using the canned meat Spam next to your Gmail spam box. You must have the Web Clips feature turned on in your Gmail settings to see this.

Have fun making Spam meals!

Conventional wisdom says that if there are 3 people voting your vote matters a lot, and if there are 4 million people casting votes, it matters little. I’m here to say that you can override this math, right now.

In Florida’s 2008 Democratic primary the votes actually did not count because the Democratic party declared the state’s primary invalid. This is weird, and Florida voters must feel cheated out of their voice. However, these days the web and easier communication allow our voices to become more than only the physical vote punched in the card. I’m not saying that our vote is any less important, but now we have the ability to supplement and back it with more.

Conversation, web presence, and motivating others around us to think in small new ways empowers you to pass on the ingredients that made up your vote. These ingredients produce more thoughtful votes, maybe more votes like yours. To get maximum bang for your vote: don’t let up on this conversation and push the quality and questions that increase a dialogue’s intelligence. The aggregate of this effort becomes your true voice.

I’ve heard it intelligently and strategically argued that a person could “talk like I’m voting for one candidate, but actually vote for another so that indirectly I help my candidate more.” This logical flaw channels your energy toward gaming the system. I suggest pouring all your effort voice behind your choice and your decision-making method. If you renounce the idea of gaming your vote, others will follow suit. If everybody actually voted for what they wanted, we would have truer elections.

How can we do this? Maintain a blog about your topics of interest. Integrate the issues into peaceful, disciplined, discussion -based conversation. Seek to learn about other people. Leverage the power of the web to help you link, bookmark, and reach out to diverse audiences.