McCain versus Obama: Number of Cars and Vehicles owned

I saw this and had to post it:

God forbid we have a single-car-driving, single-home-owing elitist running our country!

More history in the making: Sarah Palin

A lot of people have been scratching their heads at McCain's pick for VP, Sarah Palin. But I say, let's look at the bright side. This is history in the making! This is the first election that (straight) men will be able to vote superficially. Who cares about policy when the VP is kinda hot?

Joe Biden may look good on paper but he definitely doesn't look as good in person.

While they were great leaders, politicians like JFK and RFK both had something else going for them: their looks. Real talk, they got much of the female vote with that attribute alone. And now it's our turn. Men are often accused of not thinking with their heads and now we have the opportunity to vote the same way. There's even a website dedicated to this political milestone.

This is awesome. People speak of McCain's judgment but what better testament than this? He likes to surround himself with beautiful women. I can't fault him on that.

Obamazing!

That was a great speech.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I bet even McCain was moved by these words

I don't care what anybody says...

...these will never become fashionable for men

Learning from Obama and the race card controversy

Last week there were claims that Obama was playing the race card. And for good reason: McCain's campaign is subtlety using race to deter less-grounded voters. As a second objective, they're also hoping the ads would cause a normally well-composed Obama to stumble, respond aggressively and proove to all those suspicious voters that he is in fact just another angry black man.

Both Obama and McCain's people know this but unfortunately, it has to remain unsaid. If McCain's camp admits to it, then there's no hiding the fact that their using scare tactics instead of policies to win. If Obama's campaign admits it, which they somewhat did, then they're playing the race card and will end up losing voters.

It's a brilliant conundrum though it once again reminds me of the ugliness of politics.

Equally interesting was thinking of how this relates to blacks in the corporate world. Though I'd argue that things are getting better, there is still a fear that black employees will play the race/victim card in corporate America. Affirmative action can force employers to hire blacks but it can't force them to trust them. Just as McCain supporters waited for a hint of racism claims to jump on Obama, many in offices all across America lie and wait for their black coworkers to confirm their suspicions. The problem is that racism is rarely apparent for those on the outside looking in. And for those who harbor such negative thoughts and feelings towards blacks, few, if any, will ever admit it.

The solution for corporate blacks, IMO, is to do what they've always had to do in order to succeed: be that much more meticulous with your words and work that much harder to build confidence in your coworkers and bosses. Let those in organizations dedicated to building racial equality do the work. Race is still an issue in America but for white-collar blacks, there is no still no way to bring it up at work. No matter how articulate you may state your argument, you'll still end up losing the debate.

So don't.

FB Friend Suggester is Spam

When Facebook rolled out Friend Suggester, I wonder if they realized the implications amongst extremely high networking groups such as Indians and Nigerians? For some people, Friend Suggester may actually end up suggesting friends and colleagues but for those in the 2 aforementioned groups, the average # of friends one has makes Friend Suggester rather useless.

If I, a member of a highly networking group, have 700 friends on FB, many of my friends will have mutual connections completely unknown to me and so FB's Friend Suggester will usually end up suggesting strangers.

I understand the need for CAPTCHA technology but some people are taking it too far:

The CAPTCHA phrase has 7 characters but it asks the user to only enter the 4 (the text box only allows 4 characters) "Symbols attached to a cat".

WTF?

For one, all symbols are attached to a cat and for two, the image isn't even that clear. Besides, is it really that necessary? Has CAPTCHA actually been hacked to the point where we need to have cats strategically allocated across the phrase characters to prevent bots?