Vote Early (and Once)

It's Election Day here in the USA, but (of course) you won't catch me talking politics on this blog; there are more than enough sites that fulfill that need. However, I echo the words of many by encouraging you to go out and vote today if you haven't already done so, because if you fail to vote, you should also waive the right to complain about the people who get elected for the entirety of their terms.

Though the polls opened mere minutes ago, I'm not sweating it today, because I voted early on Friday, taking advantage of the early voting mechanism that's in place out here. My polling place of choice was the city hall in a neighboring suburb where I was teaching that afternoon; I saw the not-quite-full parking lot and figured that the line would be short, which was true. Even though I have no idea where my voter registration card is at the moment, they were able to call up my information by swiping the bar code on the back of my driver's license. The touch-screen machine was easy to navigate, and I was in and out in less than ten minutes. (Some have said that they're concerned about the lack of a paper trail with these machines, but when was there ever a paper trail? I don't recall those on the old-school machines with the levers, either; the only time that's happened was when we used those paper ballots that got blackened with a Sharpie and fed into what looked like a giant fax machine. Would the option of printing out a receipt of sorts from this touch-screen machine be a good idea?)

At any rate, if you're of age and registered, I hope you go out and do your civic duty today.

The naked truth, part 1: A naked man in California was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon; you don't want to know where he was concealing it, of course.

The naked truth, part 2: A couple who began arguing in their motel room in Nashville took their argument outside and over to an adjacent Waffle House; unfortunately, they forgot to put any clothes on before they left the room.