The link on the logo is also going to the wrong place. This will be fixed another day. It’s late

Yes, that’ll do it. And – guess what happened in Iowa? Rick Santorum ends up in the top three. Possible? Not without Mr. Murdoch.

Later in the CBS The Early Show interview when asked if he could support Romney if he became the party’s nominee and runs against President Barack Obama, Gingrich answered affirmatively. “He would be much less destructive than Barack Obama,” he said. “If you think Barack Obama is someone who is not a risk to the country’s future, then that’s somebody to vote for.”

So much for not participating in negative campaigning.

Today, just in time for the Iowa Caucuses, we’re launching google.com/elections, an election hub where citizens can study, watch, discuss, learn about, participate in and perhaps even make an impact on the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to Tuesday, November 6, 2012.

There are several reasons for not entertaining Google with visiting this site.

1. We are not a two political party system.
   The mainstream media continually focuses on two major political parties. Unanimously there is a broad over-generalization against third parties by influencing people into not voting third party. This is primarily done by suggesting a third party is not electable. Of course they are not electable when the media only focuses on the two parties. Duh.
2. Google filters your search results.
   Try this with your friends. Find two friends with opposing political views. These friends should be politically active and insist they search the web with Google. Now, put in the same search terms on each machine. Your friends will see that they now get two different results. Why? Because Google feeds you what they think you want to see.

Finally, I highlighted a very disturbing phrase in the quote: even make an impact. Is Google really trying to make an impact on the election? If this is true then they better disclose their political leanings. I better see the person’s political affiliation next to each person involved. If not – forget it.

Michelle Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll but don’t expect her to have a strong showing tomorrow during the Iowa Caucus. In fact, she’s predicting a low voter turn out to hide the reality that most people will not vote for her: She’s a single issue candidate and a member of the House. Mrs. Bachmann’s campaign has been in turmoil since Ed Rollins left – and the Iowa caucus will show she is not electable.

No worries, we have not elected a member of the House directly into the White House, right? Abraham Lincoln was a member of the House but he was absent for several years prior to winning the election. John Q. Adams actually became a member of the House after his presidency. Let’s not forget Mr. Ford – who was appointed Vice President.

Who do you think will win? Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, or Newt Gingrich are all contenders. Some news stations have been talking up Rick Santorum as a possible winner. For some, this caucus will be about anyone but Romney. For others, this will be about anyone but Ron Paul.

The table below shows the totals for the past year. A realistic view of these numbers is to remove robots, worms, or replies with special HTTP status codes.

The top Total is for Server #1 housing Technology Questions and the technology sites. The bottom Total is for the new server that went online June 2011 and housed the smaller sites. Interestingly, the second server showed growth each month.

Now, our goal for 2012 is to increase the number of unique visitors to 6 million. We believe this will happen as we follow through with our planned improvements for the sites.

Do you have a New Year Resolution that you promise you’ll keep until next year?

The first day of the year is a great day to look at long and short term goals. Setting goals is a dynamic process and reviewing your progress is essential to completing the goals.

I keep a full page of long term goals printed and taped to my bathroom mirror. I started this about 10 years ago. The file is a simple MS-Word document and I update it every few months by using a strike through when something is done. I also add a revision date at the bottom of the document. After making changes, I  printout a new copy and replace the old one.

Some of the ideas seemed far-fetched, for example, owning a home. The goal was way out of reach. Yet, I bought a home 7 years after typing that goal.

Some goals have been easy to complete, for example, finishing the reading of a particular book.

Some goals have never been near reality. I won’t give any examples because they are private.

In fact, making goals public can help you reach the goal. This site is a goal – which made my list 5 years ago. This goal has been helped by many people and it wasn’t until I made the goal public that friends started asking about the network’s progress. So – thank you for your help, your ideas, and your continued support.

What goals have you set? Are they 5 year goals, 10 year goals, or goals for today?

Our biggest change has been the merging of all sites into one large network. While some of the scripts are still being tweaked – it’s exciting to see progress. Yes. We didn’t break any news but only broke a few sites as we attempted upgrades and server changes.

2011: Year in Review

• New Apple iPad 2 releases
• iOS 5.0
• Apple iPhone 4S

2012: What to Expect

Most of the family is looking forward to Microsoft releasing Windows 8, Apple shipping an iPad 3 as well as a new iPhone 5. I’m looking forward to getting this network stable and worthy of our members as they have patiently watched me make mistakes

1. Create New forums and categories
1. Sports
2. Entertainment
   
1. Harry Potter Chat
   
2. Forums tied to WordPress Categories [50% done]
   
3. Bridge WordPress and Tux Reports Debates
1. Login / Login navigation for WP side
2. Link WP posts to the thread
   
1. Twenty ten theme
   
4. Themes modified for the network – to support forum posts as comments
1. Add Tabs for navigation
1. Add Science
2. Remove Members
3. Drop down possible?
   
2. Check CSS for li and ol
   
5. Movement of domain names to new server [done]
   
6. Improve permissions for members
7. TabletPCEducation mapping
8. Clean out spam and spammers
   

We will keep this list updated so you can see our progress. Feel free to chime in with any comments and suggestions.