Thursday, December 14, 2006

Our project is featured on Rocketboom today#61: Rocketbooming & The Rigorous Dictates of Life Around the Country.

This morning our site was featured on Rocketboom, one of (if not) the most popular vlogs on the internet. While we wish we could have been interviewed, it is still a pretty fun piece complete with a mischievous collaboration with Katrin from Ehrensenf. She somewhat predictably encourages the Rocketboom folks to vote for a certain town in Texas, which is a shame for the folks in Ramapo, New York. Click on the image to check out the video.

When you were a little kid did you ever have one of those books that listed all of the crazy laws that are still on the books across the country? Well stop gloating because I didn't. However, after stumbling across dumblaws.com I decided to do a little research into the top vote-getting states. Here are some of the highlights:

In Indiana:
•Anyone 14 or older who profanely curses, damns or swears by the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, shall be fined one to three dollars for each offense, with a maximum fine of ten dollars per day.
•Smoking in the state legislature building is banned, except when the legislature is in session.
•Moustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to habitually kiss other humans.

In Colorado:
•It is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door neighbor. (Denver)
•It is legal to challenge a police officer, but only until he or she asks you to stop. (Boulder)
•Keeping a house where unmarried persons are allowed to have sex is prohibited. (Arvada)

In Texas:
•It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.
•A recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed.
•The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home.

Ah, sweet bureaucracy in action! Good thing no one needs encyclopedias anymore, huh?

heart,
Nina.

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24 Feedback:

At 12/15/2006 02:23:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

what constitutes a sip?

 
At 12/15/2006 12:02:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

You're playing unfair. Eliminating legal votes, blocking wide ranges of IP addresses, finally shut the server down...

All to avoid to have to move to South Bend, or Plano.

It is your game, you made the rules, and it's up to you to break them as you like.

But don't expect much respect then.

Game's over. Danny and Nina, go where ever you like. But don't try to make a fool out of us voters.

 
At 12/15/2006 12:42:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

why is your site down? why can't I vote anymore? why why?

 
At 12/15/2006 01:08:00 PM, Blogger Danny&Nina wrote...

For the record, our hosting company informed us that they had blocked IP addresses of people who were blatantly using bots to cast votes. They did this because these cheaters were causing our site (as well as other sites on the same server) to crash. While it wasn't our idea, we definitely support their decision. Of course, if you can't get to the site, you've just outed yourself as an illegal voter.

And to reiterate a point we have made countless times before: no legitimately cast votes are or will be eliminated from the competition. If you are voting manually you have nothing to worry about.

This is going to have to be our last comment on this topic for a while; we're sorry a few people are trying to ruin our project for everyone else.

 
At 12/15/2006 01:15:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Hi...

I am absolutely sure that I voted manual every time but i've been blocked, too. Your hosting company made some mistakes!

 
At 12/15/2006 01:29:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

That's just ridicioulus! Sorry but i NEVER voted in an illegal way (i don't even know how to do this...), I voted manually as you said to do. So I don't quite believe your 'statement'.

Now you just have outed YOURSELF for being dishonest...

 
At 12/15/2006 02:35:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

You're blocking a complete class B network. No user of a big German provider can access your site any longer.

If this is what you want, do so.

It's your choice... and your seriousity.

 
At 12/15/2006 02:46:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

uh uh...looks like the bot voters are getting their comeuppance. Chill people, there is no need to get so defensive.

 
At 12/15/2006 03:44:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

I surely am no bot voter - but the statement is true: The block is on (at least) a whole subnet of Germany's biggest ISP.

That's more than ridiculous, and obviously a bad decision.

 
At 12/15/2006 04:27:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

i think, you shouldn't call it "Our Lives Are In Your Hands". You should call it "Our Lives Are In OUR Hands (We decide were we go)"

 
At 12/15/2006 05:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

You wrote this

"For the record, our hosting company informed us that they had blocked IP addresses of people who were blatantly using bots to cast votes. They did this because these cheaters were causing our site (as well as other sites on the same server) to crash. While it wasn't our idea, we definitely support their decision. Of course, if you can't get to the site, you've just outed yourself as an illegal voter.

And to reiterate a point we have made countless times before: no legitimately cast votes are or will be eliminated from the competition. If you are voting manually you have nothing to worry about.

This is going to have to be our last comment on this topic for a while; we're sorry a few people are trying to ruin our project for everyone else.

***IMPORTANT***

What do you say about this:
I just FOLLOWED the voting, NEVER voted, and now your hosting company BLOCKED me.


**********************


*********

 
At 12/15/2006 05:49:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

What are the plano voters complaining about? plano is still going up more than seems legit.

 
At 12/15/2006 06:27:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Right greg, that's the point. That stupid blocking stopped noone but a lot of legal visitors. They do NOT block single IP-Adresses of single abusers but really large blocks of even larger ISPs. I'm blocked, I've NEVER used a bot to vote am I'm absolutely sure noone used my IP to illegaly vote since it's static.
That's just fucking stupid what D&N (or their hosting company) are doing. So if you - D&N - still believe blocking subnets insted of single hosts is right, just f*ck off.

 
At 12/15/2006 09:36:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Your "hosting company" is obviously blocking people (like me) who did not use bots. It's a disappointing strategy of you to cheat this way. I agree on the statement at 12:02 PM, December 15, 2006: "Danny and Nina, go where ever you like. But don't try to make a fool out of us voters."

Nevertheless ... Plano rules ;-) and is hereby the winner of the hearts. :-P

 
At 12/16/2006 02:01:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

No bot votes cancelled for Denver, boomin' at an unbelievable pace at this time of the day... 10,000 deducted for SB... 67,000 for Plano... *headscratch*

D&N, you'll have a very cold winter if your "hosting company" clings to its purposeful random generator!

... pooh ...

 
At 12/16/2006 06:11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Dear Danny and Nina,

yesterday it was fun, it was a big event, lots of people in Germany (also Switzerland, Austria and so on) voted for Plano until the middle of the night. They built a nice community. Some of them got blocked by your provider, but who cares. The point is: You reset the Plano votes nearly to the standing before this "event". And that's no fun, that's simply exasperating.

So, Danny and Nina, go whereever you like, we don't care anymore. It's a great pity, because it could have become a really big thing, another "internet legend". But you killed it.

 
At 12/16/2006 07:48:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

I never used a bot, but:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.dannyandnina.com Port 80


What the f.. do you want?!

YOU are the cheaters...

 
At 12/16/2006 10:52:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

D+N: you seeme to be very poor minded people without any humor and your "project" has failed if you need to manipulate by cheating.
I never voted more than 2 or three times a day, but now I'm also blocked.
So don't tell us stories about blocking illegal voters.

 
At 12/16/2006 01:52:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Now D&N's desired result comes out. Denver is leading before South Bend.
And, no doubt, D&N will accept all votes for Denver as legitimate votes.

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT.

If D&N had balls (ok, not Nina), the would have accepted the outcome of their experiment. But they don't have.

Poor whimps.

Go, play with other children.

Oh, and don't touch the internet again. It's no game. It's reality.

 
At 12/16/2006 04:16:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 12/16/2006 05:14:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

Isn't there a way to still let us click on your adverts so that you can make some money with the cheated users who are blocked now?
Or another option: Just open an intranet, so that you can vote on your own. I bet you'd like the voting results then. But however, if you continue blocking wide IP areas you'll manage to build up your intranet as a subnet of the internet.

Have a nice day and move to where ever you like...
mart, never voted but nevertheless blocked

 
At 12/16/2006 05:32:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

CHILL OUT PEOPLE - they are just having fun and if technical glitches occur - such is life. Why would they do all this just fix the results. They're only committing for a year- can't believe they go through all this just to cheat at the end. If you that upset you need to get a life.

 
At 12/16/2006 09:14:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

it's a silly game. You go where you will -- and block all people who decide theirself for another city. That's not fine. Sure, it's your site, your voting, your game -- but not fair. only so silly.

 
At 12/18/2006 05:07:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

"This is the ending, not the begining"
The rest is silence...




...and anger!

 

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