SuBBrilliant Blog

East Meets West 17

20 Responses

1. Matt Lemieux Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 1:48 am

   There is a fairly good reason to keep the Electorial College. Recently, we watched mayhem when the precise vote count in Florida was extremely contested. What would happen if precise vote counts were contested in ALL States? That’s (to me anyway) the natural outcome of removing the Electorial College.

   Whereas, the current system allows containment of controversy to single states. A system based solely on the popular vote could lead to a case where candidates demand recounts in several states in order to “find” as many more votes as they can get (at least in a very close election, like say the last 2).

   I don’t have a problem with the electorial college as such. My solution would be to assign delgates based on the percentage of the vote within a given state (such as Colorado recently voted down). That will allow both the proper representation of the popular vote and the containment of potential controversy.

   That said, I really enjoy your podcast. Roger and Tom both have fairly interesting view and approaches to how they answer questions. Definately awesome to hear something different from “the media”, even though I suppose you are really “the media” in your spare time… :-)

   Yours,
   Matt Lemieux
   Clemson, SC

2. Ryan T. Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 1:54 am

   Good episode. I enjoy much.

   Tom, the Cubs are the best team ever. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. But I’m glad that you don’t hate me.

   Anyways, on to other topics…

   When Ryan mentioned “U torrent”, shouldn’t it be pronounced “micro-torrent” since mu (µ) is the prefix used in the metric system to denote micro (10^-6). It makes more sense this way, I do believe.
   By the way, in order to type mu(µ) on a Winblows box, hold down alt, type 0181 on the numpad, then let go of alt. Just thought I’d share that.

   Um…

   Electoral college sucks and needs to go away. ‘Nuff said.

   I’m with Veronica on Daylight Savings Time. It may not actually be later in the day, but the clock is set an hour later, so it’s close enough.

   I couldn’t imagine living without a dishwasher, you guys are weird.

   Canadian politics – they need to bring back the Rhinoceros Party. If you don’t know what that is, there is a wiki set up for it.

   That’s everything I wanted to cover, you guys rock.
   Go Cubs!

3. Thet Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 2:18 am

   Hey guys,
   I didn’t hear about immigration topic besides one joke. well, a fun episode. and the mp3 file shows as episode “10” in my player.

   BTW, the toons(Newcastle) aren’t doing so good this season, and manure(Man U) won’t catch up to Chel$ki(chelsea).

4. Timothy Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 10:00 am

   ALERT!

   just ran across this on CNN.com this morning.

   LENS SOLUTION LINKED TO FUNGUS OUTBREAK

   “Bausch & Lomb said it would temporarily suspend shipments of ReNu with MoistureLoc made at its Greenville, South Carolina, plant.”

   i’ve already thrown out my Bausch & Lomb solution. don’t mean to be fear mongering but i really like being able to see.

5. Timothy Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 10:01 am

   oops, sorry, here’s the link.

   http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/04/11/eye.fungus.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

6. acedtect Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 11:56 am

   I have to point out to Matt, if there was no Electoral College, there would have been no vote count controversy in the 200 election as the votes in Florida wouldn’t have mattered. The popular vote was Gore’s by enough to have had a decision.

   What gets me is that the person who had the most votes lost. Repeat that. The person who more people voted for lost the election. The person who got the fewest votes won and became President.

   I don’t care about your politics, that’s wrong in a democracy. (Although as Ryan pointed out we live in a Republic, not a democracy).

7. Jason Adkins Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 1:59 pm

   The Electoral College mean that if just one person voted in the largest 13 or so states, and then lost by millions of votes in the other states, they would still with the Presidency. I would want any reform to include instant runoff voting as well.

   Check out the Deseret Alphabet, it was a phonetic alphabet to help immigrants learn English.

   http://www.deseretalphabet.com/

8. Lordrust Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 5:53 pm

   Just found this podcast thru veronica’s site, Very fun to listen, I had no idea that roger talked so much, hes always so quiet on twit,

   Loved having Veronica and Ryan on the show, All my podcasts are rolling into one

9. Music and Medicine » East Meets West v2.0 Says:
   April 11th, 2006 at 6:35 pm

   […] Ryan and I were on East Meets West last night, which is the always hilarious, sometimes random and definitely bizarre podcast done by Tom Merritt (of CNET and Buzz Out Loud fame) and Roger Chang. What happens when we’re all cut loose from the strict confines of corporate podcasting?? Listen and find out! […]

10. Ryan Block: The Person » Blog Archive » “East mets west” Says:
    April 11th, 2006 at 7:09 pm

    […] a sign that now reads East Mets West. Eh, close enough. Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 – 7:08PM | | Permalink Posted inEtc. […]

11. Andy Melton Says:
    April 11th, 2006 at 10:06 pm

    Hey guys & gal, another great episode of EMW, I enjoyed the new guests on this particular episode. The video that I saw of someone stealing a laptop with toilet paper took so long that SURELY someone would know what was going on.

12. punterjoe Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 7:57 am

    I know you just mentioned it in passing, but the mention of the $1 coin set me off. Actually re-set me off…. I remember in the 70s when Jimmy Carter & Congress came up with a bunch of ‘progressive’ ideas, like going metric (leaving Myanmar & Brunei as the sole members of the nonMetric nation club), the Jefferson $2 bill & the $1 coin – which was pitched as a response to the value of the denomination, and the fact that it would allow vending machines to easily accept $1 denominations without a kludgy, technically unfeasible paper bill reader.
    30 years later where are we? Only soda drinkers use metrics, I have yet to find a vending machine outside the post office that takes $1 coins, and the $2 bill is so uncommon that dimwitted WalMart employees reportedly chained a customer to a pole until treasury agents arrived, for trying to pass “funny money”. Yet you hear stories of people passing laserprinted “Bushbills”-with the flightsuited president & odd denominations- to mononeuroned counterclerks :P
    Maybe we should just get with the program & mimic Europe – drop every bill below $10, kill the penny & move Lincoln & Jefferson on the $5 & $2 and since Geo has the quarter, put Regan on the $1 to grese the political skids. And get those vending machine folks to take the new coins!
    …and just for good measure, arbitrarily switch to metric & UTC time on the same day in 2009 we turn off all analog TV stations – that’ll settle the DST issue once & for all! ;)
    Chaos if fun! :D
    Joe in Boston.

13. Timothy Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    punterjoe –
    even better, get rid of physical cash (except for use at street stands).
    for the near future, mobile banking (in the U.S.). for the distant future, biometric banking.
    ah, i wish i was back in Seoul…

    cellphone – no activation fees, no contracts, all “options” standard, choose your own # (if available), only getting charged for calls you make, coverage inside subway system, coverage in middle of nowhere provincial rice paddies or mtns, avg use of 2 hrs daily talk time and 200 daily sms = avg $50/month bill

    internet – getting pissed off because i was only getting avg 8 mbps dsl for free

    cable – $10/month

14. Udayan Tripathi Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 6:03 pm

    Hey Tom and Roger,

    I found this INCREDIBLE podcast via Veronica’s website, I loved Ep 17 and now am listening backwards through the archives. Right now I’m listening to Tom talking aobut DST and farmers on Ep 16.

    I just can’t say how much I like this show, I think V put it really well: “which is the always hilarious, sometimes random and definitely bizarre podcast done by Tom Merritt and Roger Chang. What happens when we’re all cut loose from the strict confines of corporate podcasting??”

    Keep it up, I’m definitely subscribed.

    Udayan
    Life in London Podcast

15. Timothy Says:
    April 13th, 2006 at 1:34 am

    ran across this on Ars Technica. Google’s new Chinese name will be Gu Ge “harvest song.” initially couldn’t find any “harvest” Gu. then ran across two other articles,
    http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200604131008.htm
    http://www.multilingual-search.com/google-is-now-gu-ge-or-harvest-song-in-china/12/04/2006/en-GB/
    that clarified semantic discrepancy. actually it’s literally “valley song” or also “grain song,” which grain is a harvested resource. the hindu article has it translated as “song of the harvest of grain” which is probably the best translation and closer to what Google was actually going for. in hanzi it’s è°·æ­Œ of which è°· in my pocket dictionary is defined as valley; gorge; cereal; grain; millet. the news piqued my interest and gave me an excuse to thumb through my dictionary.

16. Timothy Says:
    April 13th, 2006 at 12:10 pm

    here’s a nice bookshelf for your place if you’re in the market.
    http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/unal-boler-salkim-hanging-bookshelf-166963.php

    oh yeah, for you import fans or fast and the furious wannabe, Toyota has decided to discontinue their Celica model.

17. Schwegler Says:
    April 14th, 2006 at 11:06 pm

    I live just outside of Athens, GA… in a rather small town. I also happen to be liberal and active in local politics. This however is pointless… I live in friggin Georgia… where the word friggin is considered a coloquialism and Pres. Bush is God.

    The liberal side of politics here is analogous to a retarded something that’s retarded. Everyone considers all liberals Satan in my town. I’m a liberal and I belong to this church: http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/

    I think that its impossible to sway my town off the red path…

18. jeff s. Says:
    April 15th, 2006 at 2:00 am

    Another great ‘cast.
    Y’all have got to get Veronica out of town! I mean San Francisco is a beautiful city, but, come on, 49sq miles isn’t much of an area, drive a couple hours north or south and you will see some of the most amazing sites in the country…

19. DECjr Says:
    April 16th, 2006 at 11:23 am

    great loose/bouncy podcast, good inputs from all. I like the diversity of topics. Glad to have Veronica and Ryan on board.
    ciao fun,
    gil

20. muchiey Says:
    April 16th, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    Tom merrit did not appear to have lot of hair on cranky geeks

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