Earlier I mentioned the political-correctness-driven situation in Los Angeles County, where vendors where asked not to use the designation “Master/Slave” for computer components.
According to this story (via Calpundit), things have gotten even worse. County employees were ordered to relabel more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, and now county officials have publicly gone on offense:

Dennis A. Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said an African-American employee who filed the complaint felt it was employment discrimination because the employee was working on video equipment with the label written on it. The office investigated and determined that the complaint did not involve employment discrimination, but the official recognized that the term could be perceived as offensive.
“The issue was the employee had to operate this equipment and look at the term ‘slave and master,’ and given their background as an African-American person, I imagine they had different feelings about it,” Tafoya said.
“We found the terms were antiquated and offensive to individuals and that a more reasonable term could be used. I think that’s what we should do. If it means culture change, then we have to begin someplace.
“This has got some people’s hair up on the back of their neck. They believe it’s a question of being politically correct. It’s not that at all. It’s an issue of valuing diversity, respect and dignity for the individual who comes to work here every day. The issue that resonates in different people’s minds is a very negative connotation.”

Respect and dignity for the individual? Is disk drive nomenclature now the battlefront for civil rights?
We’ve got far more important problems in America than this kind of stuff. A cause, such as racial equality, only has so much political capital to spend, so it’s important to pick the battles it fights wisely. This is a horrible choice.

Here’s an interesting site (via Daily Kos) which analyzes donations made to the presidential candidates. One section ranks the candidates according to donations along several criteria. The other section plots donations on a national map and allows you to sort by zip code, county, and state.
Based on my unscientific browsing, it appears that amongst the Democratic candidates, Tennessee is darkest for Senator Edwards–i.e., relatively speaking Tennessee is one of the stronger areas of financial support for Edwards. This shouldn’t be too surprising, given that he’s from neighboring North Carolina.
Take a look at the map. It’s cool to play with, and in some areas the results are surprising.

I’ve added the newest Rocky Top Brigade members.
Welcome, all.

Not everyone in the world is taking off for a long holiday weekend. Today was the State Opening for British Parliament. I caught a few minutes of the BBC replay on C-SPAN and the event is rife with ceremony and tradition–most of which I probably didn’t grasp.
A part of Queen Elizabeth II’s speech which appears to have garnered a fair amount of discussion regards education:

A Bill will be introduced to enable more young people to benefit from higher education.
Upfront tuition fees will be abolished for all full-time students and a new Office for Fair Access will assist those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Universities will be placed on a sound financial footing.

This comes against the background of wide-spread opposition toward plans to raise university fees.
It seems as if Britain is facing some of the same problems as we face across the pond in America. Apparently a lottery system isn’t always a cure-all.

Thanksgiving is still a day away, but already we’re in the midst of a holiday mainstay: dramatic news coverage of people traveling. Unsatisfied by last year’s effort, news networks are re-doubling their efforts and are at again with footage of people lined up at airport counters and slow-moving traffic on the interstate. With more live reports and better camera angles, this year could be big journalism’s finest hour. Stay tuned.
I do have one suggestion on how they can bring us even closer to the action. A few months ago when that hurricane hit the Carolina coast, I saw a fascinating report from a correspondent who was literal strapped to the back of a moving truck. Rather than standing at the side of the highway, I think some embeded reporter should do the same thing and give us a live update from the back of a pickup plodding 25 m.p.h. down I-95. That would help bring the story home.