Voting machines have backdoors? Who has the key?

Well, for geeks and those concerned about ... ummm ... potential voting irregularities, this news about the apparent multiple
backdoors to some e-voting machines..made by Diebold.... Safety first, that's the new governement model...

Awaiting developments in rainy Maine

Here, at least, the rain has held off this morning. Rolanni is on the road to the PO and such, so may it hold off a bit longer. I woke to bright sun and blue skies, and by the time she got up...it was overcast...now it's downright gloomy...

Southern Maine is taking a beating; the recent rain there isn't simply a matter of a few days of wet weather -- it's an economic calamity. Local governments are going to be hard-put to quickly repair the damage to hundreds of roads and several major bridges, and the tourism season is going to be bent out shape -- lots of businesses in York Beach, for example, have taken damage to goods and buildings. At least major town's sewage treatment plant is at risk.... sigh. We have several friends who live in affected areas .. we'll hope they check in soon. I note that we live several hours from the places with the worst flooding.

So, vacation in Maine this summer if you can -- the place'll need an economic boost!

Meanwhile, our in-house economy will be watching the results of communications with a number of epublishers. The Embiid developments are too new for us to make instant decisions. Yes, we've got partisans from any number of ebook companies tugging us their way, but until we can talk to editors (and study actual contracts) the possibilities are just so much vapor-ware. Things take time. We'd hate to announce something and have to take it back!

Question for peanut gallery: is there an independent european ebook publisher of note?

I should mention that... Nifty Snippets, our snippet distribution spot in Second Life, has started advertising in SL. We've only got a few snippets in SL format so far, but we hope to expand these offerings weekly.