Bag of Randomness

  • A friend and I were discussing what was the last U.S. aircraft carrier to be sunk or lost at sea, after some research, I think it was the USS Princeton (CVL-23).
  • If you are an Android user and use the Dolphin Browser HD, it’s latest update provides a Siri like voice control experience, not that it will talk to you, but you can do a web search by speaking to it.
  • Burning Pepto-Bismol with a blow torch will turn it into a metal.
  • Halfway through the 1994 football season, a TCU football player came out to his teammates and later tied the school record for sacks in a single game.  That’s a pretty brave thing to do today, much less in 1994.
  • I spoke to a federal agent recently and learned a few things.  Before a flight is boarded, those holding weapons gather just to get to know one another and discuss where they will be sitting.  I also learned that there is specific ammunition used for flights, it’s designed to penetrate human flesh, but not go through it or the fuselage.
  • I just discovered you can get steamed veggies as a side item at Jason’s Deli, that’s much better than chips.
  • Dallas is going to try to create their own SXSW, called the DXDW Festival.  It starts March 18.
  • The UK’s Avengers trailer gives you more details than the U.S. version I’ve been told.  It appears Cobie Smulders is sporting short hair in the movie.
  • Michael Jordan’s front gate
  • I finally stopped following Deion Sanders on Twitter, he just retweets too much.
  • I want to tap the brakes on an ultrabook because Windows 8 will be available on laptops that have a touchscreen, and some laptops will just fold over and turn into a tablet.  Here’s a pretty good review of the beta version of Windows 8.
  • One of the “Texas Seven” was put to death yesterday for the murder of Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins.  A local media member witness the execution and kept a running blog, this part stood out to me for some reason:  4:42p The widow of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, who was killed by George Rivas, will not attend the execution. She told News 8 that she felt no closure after being present at the last execution of a Texas 7 gang member in 2009.
  • Stores Confront Extreme Couponers’ Tactics With Policy Changes
  • Virgin America To Teach Upper Class Flight Attendants How To Whisper
  •  What’s in the center of a baseball?
Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

To Get Out The Vote, Evangelicals Try Data Mining

When Bill Dallas first heard that 15 to 20 million Christians in the U.S. are not registered to vote, he couldn’t believe it.

“Initially, it surprised me. And then I thought to myself, ‘Wait a minute, I’m not registered,’ Dallas says. “Why wasn’t I registered? Well, because I didn’t think my vote made a difference.”

Dallas, an evangelical Christian, has since become a voter. He now runs United In Purpose, a nonprofit startup company that uses data mining to identify unregistered Christians.

The company persuaded wealthy Silicon Valley conservatives to help fund the creation of a database of as many adults in the U.S. as they can find. So far, UIP has added 180 million.

The company buys lists to build a profile of each citizen, and then assigns points for certain characteristics. You get points if you’re on an anti-abortion list or a traditional marriage list. You get a point if you regularly attend church or home-school your kids. You get points if you like NASCAR or fishing.

“If [your score] totaled over 600 points, then we realized you were very serious about your faith,” Dallas says. “Then we run that person against the voter registration database. … If they were not registered, that became one of the key people we were going to target to go after.”

Full NPR Article

Posted in Political, Spiritual | Comments Off on To Get Out The Vote, Evangelicals Try Data Mining