"I. -- Barack Hussein Obama I solemnly swear Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear. That I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully -- execute. Get off faithfully the president the office of president and -- I just -- the United States -- wheels. -- the best of -- ability and will miss my children. Preserve protect and defend the constitution of the United States. Preserve protect and defend the constitution of the United States so help you got so homey."

-- The presidential oath of office, as rendered in the automatically generated transcript accompanying the Fox News video (bearing the understated disclaimer that it "may not be 100% accurate").

I wonder why?

I was talking to the DuPage County Election Commission today about my Election Judge assignment for the upcoming elections on November 4, and they asked that I encourage my friends and acquaintances to be Election Judges.

It is a long day, but very rewarding, and you get a chance to be a part of the Democratic Process.

Contact your local Election Board/Commission.

I saw this one in an article in the New York Times today (no, it's not a real word, at least not yet, but it appears that mental health professionals have adopted it as a part of their jargon):

“affluenza,” a social pathology that is rampant at a time when getting and spending — a lot — have become our nation’s most cherished activities, and when purchasing power has become, to an unprecedented extent, almost the sole source of many people’s status and identity.

Bristol Renaissance Faire opened for the season yesterday.

I finally got some garb. judygs got some new garb, also.

This one got me thinking:

"It is a dam that's cracking. We are trying to plug the holes with legislation and litigation but we need to think radically. We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately.

"It's hitting hardest the writers who write books that you dip in and out of: poetry, cookbooks, travel guides, short stories - books where you don't have to read the whole thing. Although people still buy [books by] Nigella and Jamie Oliver and Delia it is because of their celebrity. Cookbook authors are really struggling. I do it myself - if I want a recipe I go online and get it for free.

"For a while it will be great for readers because they will pay less and less but in the long run it's going to ruin the information. People will stop writing. There's a lot of 'wait and see what the technology brings' but the trouble is if you wait and see too long then it's gone. That's what happened to the music industry."

-- Tracy Chevalier, author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and head of the U.K.'s Society of Authors, sees the rising tide of digital disruption racing toward the book publishing industry

It's also National Condom Week.

Q  U  O  T  E  D

"A Blackbird jet flying nearly 2,000 miles per hour covers 32 body lengths per second. But a common pigeon flying at 50 miles per hour covers 75.

The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4 Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second.

Select military aircraft can withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Many birds routinely experience positive G-forces greater than 10 G and up to 14 G."

-- University of Michigan researchers explain why aircraft engineers are still bird-watching

Tuesday, February 5 was Primary Election day in 24 states, including Illinois (and also Mardi Gras, in case anyone didn't notice).

I have been an Election Judge for the past four years.  judygs and emygination have been doing it for longer - I got started when judygs got sick for the 2004 election and I volunteered to fill in for her.

In DuPage county, each polling place has one Election Judge designated as the "Technical Judge", one who gets extra training on the equipment. This was my second election as Technical Judge.

One nice thing about being an Election Judge is that it makes me feel young - I'm younger than 75% of the judges. This election, we had seven judges at our polling place. emygination was there, along with Kasandra, another young lady about emygination's age, and four senior citizens (70s and 80s). We were at another polling place in Elmhurst (not our own, judygs was working there), the same on that I had been at for the last election about 10 months ago. Last time, it was me, one high school student, and five senior citizens. This time, emygination was a big help, and things ran a bit more smoothly (not that they were very bad last time, just more harassing for me). We had a large turnout, 508 voters. There were a bit more than 1200 pre-printed applications in the binder, but some of them, I'm sure, belonged to people who had died or moved but are still on the rolls, so we probably had close to a 50% turnout of real, live voters.

Being an Election Judge is hard work, but I enjoy it and would volunteer to do it even without getting paid. (They don't pay enough for me to want to do it for the money! I had to take a vacation day from work to do it. Maybe I'll use my EJ pay towards a new iPod.)

To start out, there was the 3 hour Technical Judge training (which ran closer to 4 hours), plus on-line training. Then, as Technical Judge, I got to drive out to Wheaton on Sunday to pick up supplies (small box, most of the stuff gets delivered). An hour on Monday evening to set up, then start at 5 am Tuesday morning to get the polling place ready to open by 6. Polls close at 7 pm, followed by closing procedures and packing up, which took until about 8:15. Then I and a judge from the opposite party had to drive back out to Wheaton to hand-deliver results (on computer memory cards, plus printouts and actual ballots). Sixteen hour day on Tuesday!

My biggest fear on Tuesday was that the rain which had been falling all day would turn to snow. The weather forecast called for it to get cold and start snowing around 7 or 8 pm - in actuality, it stayed warm and didn't turn to snow until about 8 am Wednesday morning, so there was no problem with the drive to turn the results in.

I'd like to encourage people reading this entry to consider being an Election Judge. Most Election Boards have a hard time recruiting people, especially able-bodied, capable, technically savvy individuals who are really needed as elections become more and more high tech. Contact your local Election Board!