Think Big Erie

Are you visiting Erie for the holidays, or just enjoying time with friends? Here are some of this weekend’s upcoming events, hot off the presses from Jeff Gault:

Hello fun seekers,

Merry Christmas!! It is ‘xmas weekend and if you have friends or family in from out of town you certainly have some great choices to show off Erie’s musical talent. If we don’t see you out, have a wonderful holiday.

Friday - Let’s start off happy hour (6-9) at Gino’s. Playing is either Rick & Jake or Jake’s Blues (I have gotten mixed messages). Either way it’s all good sounds. Certainly you are not going to want to miss The BluesBeater’s Christmas show with Monica Lewis at Billie’s. If you need a faster pace join a reunion of Chocolate Star Fish (70’s dance funk) at the Docksider (10pm). Or if it is laid back your looking for go to Scotty’s for Mambo.

Saturday - Back from the summer, it is the Raven Band at the Bel Aire (8-11). Now I know you’re not going to want to miss Paula belting them out, so show early if you want a seat. Later I would suggest Gino’s for String Theory. Or something a little different is at Scotty’s. Steve Trohoske with a couple of guests from Cleveland, Eddie Baccus, Jr. on sax, and some Erie players. This should be a jazz ensemble worth hearing.

Plan for JazzErie’s Godfathers of Groove event next Friday the 28th.

Rebecca and I will be at the Bel Aire Saturday, enjoying the Raven Band. I hope to see you there.

John Stokes posted an Ars Technica another sad article this week about electronic voting equipment, 1,000 pages of bad news: Ohio e-voting report released.

“The results are now in from a thorough, $1.9 million test of the
voting machines that Ohio has used in elections over the past few
years, and they paint about as awful a picture of the state’s electoral
apparatus as one would expect given the stead stream of grim news out
of counties like Cuyahoga. The two private-sector and three academic
research teams that carried out the Evaluation & Validation of Election-Related Equipment, Standards & Testing
(EVEREST) study of Ohio’s e=voting systems did not mince words in the
86-page Executive report that they released this past Friday (or, if
words were minced, then one can imagine that the unminced version
wasn’t family-friendly): “The findings of the various scientists
engaged by Project EVEREST are disturbing. These findings do not lend
themselves to sustained or increased confidence in Ohio’s voting
systems.”

I thought I would be able to move on to more fun things to write about after a few days. Will it not stop? Is there anyone who can make us feel that our votes will count in the coming election and help us convince our children and young adults to believe in our country and their role in shaping it?

Did you ever watch the video of Princeton professor, Edward Felten, easily compromising an electronic voting machine?

I mentioned previously that Erie County uses iVotronic electronic voting equipment. Since I have been unable to find any information on local or state government sites assuring us that the iVotronic equipment has been tested and its security is assured, I did a quick search and found the following. I trust the authors don’t mind, but I’m copying their entire article here so that a few more people might actually read it.

Am I paranoid? So far it doesn’t appear so. This doesn’t make me comfortable. How about you?

ES&S TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING SYSTEMS FOUND VULNERABLE TO ‘SERIOUS’ VIRAL VOTE-FLIPPING ATTACK; U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION REFUSES TO ISSUE WARNING
Scientific Report Finds ‘Serious Security Vulnerability’ Similar to ‘Princeton Diebold Virus Hack’ in Widely Used iVotronic System, Allowing a Single Person to Change Election Results Across Entire County Without Detection
Despite GAO Confirmed Mandate to Serve as Info ‘Clearinghouse,’ Embattled EAC Says They Will Take No Action to Alert Elections Officials, Public
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There seems to be some movement at the state level to finally question the validity of electronic voting machines.

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman “has decertified electronic voting machines used in many of the state’s largest counties Monday, calling into question equipment used in past elections in a move he said could have national implications. Electronic voting machines used in Denver, Arapahoe, Pueblo, Mesa and Elbert counties cannot be used in the next election because of problems with accuracy or security.”

I’d sure like to know where we stand. Is there any concern in Pennsylvania? Do you care?

Today’s San Fransisco Chronicle has a feature article that should make us wake up a bit.

Secretary of state casts doubt on future of electronic voting

“Electronic voting systems used throughout California still aren’t good enough to be trusted with the state’s elections, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Saturday.

While Bowen has been putting tough restrictions and new security requirements on the use of the touch screen machines, she admitted having doubts as to whether the electronic voting systems will ever meet the standards she believes are needed in California.

“It’s a real challenge,” she said at a San Francisco airport conference on voting and elections. “I don’t rule out the ingenuity of some computer science student now in the eighth grade,” but what’s available now isn’t as transparent or auditable as the paper ballot systems they replaced.

Earlier this year, Bowen put together a top-to-bottom review of voting systems used in the state and found that most of the voting machines were vulnerable to hackers looking to change results or cause mischief with the systems.

Despite loud howls from county voting officials, Bowen decertified almost all the touch screen systems used in California, allowing only their most limited use.” …

So what’s going on in Pennsylvania? In Erie County? This is not a blip on the screen, folks. It’s big and it’s fundamental to our democracy.

Our whole lives we’ve been told our most fundamental duty is to vote. I’ve only missed one primary election in 39 years. But if I have no idea where my vote goes, does it still matter if I vote?

Does anyone care?

I love technology - when it is implemented correctly and it meets its intended goals. But technology that fails, I abhor.

Today’s SlashDot has a discussion of a new Ohio study of all the available electronic voting machines.

 ”A comprehensive study of electronic voting systems (PDF) by vendors ES&S, Hart InterCivic and Premier (formerly Diebold) found that ‘all of the studied systems possess critical security failures that render their technical controls insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election‘. In particular, they note all systems provide insufficiently protection against threats from election insiders, do not follow well-known security practices, and have ‘deeply flawed software maintenance’ practices. Some of these machines are the ones California testers found fault with last week.”

I have a few sincere questions:

1. Is there any concern in Erie and Erie County? For the past few years, I have encountered virtually no discussion, yet we’ve replaced all of the mechanical machines that no one complained about with electronic ones having no paper trail and many security flaws.
2. What expertise is there within the country voting office to develop and mange security, and to know if there has been a security breach?

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Are you looking for any really unusual, captivating Christmas presents this year? I have a suggestion.

Who’s the most creative person you personally know? I have about a dozen favorites, locally and around the globe. But a person who has been at the top of my list for decades is my former bandmate in Calico, Erie native David Greenberger, and he has some neat gifts for your consideration.

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We’re back with Jeff Gault’s weekly events suggestions! Thanks, Jeff.

Hello fun seekers,

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Joe Fries talks a lot about growing up in center city Erie, and the things that motivated him. He was determined to succeed, to overcome his surroundings, and did  a great job of it. He made good money, retired very early and  now develops property.

Yet he remains tied to his roots and committed to helping kids. Joe spends a lot of time teaching inner city youth the value of collecting coins and stamps, seeding their interest by giving them some great coins or stamps to start their collection. He calls the program “Picking Up Pennies.”

Want to see the power of  picking up pennies? Go to Common Cents and look at the 100,000,000 pennies gathered by New York City children in the penny field in Rockefeller Center.

I hope our community will one day support his concepts enough that every young person here is exposed to the opportunity to create their own wealth and share with others.

But don’t wait for someone else. Expose and motivate  the kids you run into.  And not just your nephew. Include a few kids who don’t have any adult role models in their lives.

It doesn’t take much. My friend Rob Dorfman fills his pocket with a few dollars in quarters each day, quietly dropping them one at a time wherever he goes.  Sometimes he looks back to see folks find one, adults and kids alike. He gets the greatest pleasure out of seeing the joy on their faces.

What’s your small contribution to the world?

I don’t know if you missed me, but I’ve missed being here. Life moves way too fast these days, and so much is occurring now. But it’s time to share again. So thanks for your patience, and welcome back.