Gay Patriot has an excellent state-by-state round up of electoral fraud, and many of the stories involve ACORN. This post is being regularly updated, and a great way to keep up with all the news as it comes in.

As I mentioned in yesterday's entry on ACORN, part of the controversy of ACORN revolves around their close ties to Barack Obama. That inspired the following puzzle:



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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There's been plenty of controversy surrounding ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), especially in the past month. Most, but not all, of the attention has focused on the irregularities of their 2008 election voter registration efforts, which have taken place over 18 states.

Many are concerned about possible voter fraud by ACORN, especially considering the large numbers of fraudulent voter forms they've provided (including Mickey Mouse in one case, and one person registering more than 70 times in another). There are also questions over their use of felons (some of whom were jailed for identity theft), and connection to Barack Obama himself.

Just last night, the 6th Circuit Court ruled that Ohio, due to ACORN ballots, must verify voter registrations (overturning a previous decision that said they didn't). As I write this, it's just coming out that more than 200,000 unmatched Ohio voter registrations were concealed from local election boards.

The stories about ACORN really started coming out when ACORN's Las Vegas offices were raided by Nevada state authorities. Because there are so many irregularities coming from so many states and center around so many voter registrations by ACORN, the talk of FBI investigations and possible charges under RICO is growing stronger every day. (Update: This is no longer just talk. The FBI has officially confirmed it is investigating ACORN.)

While we watch the full story develop, you should know that there are 18 states where ACORN has focused their voter registration efforts in 2007 and 2008 (according to ACORN's own site), many of which you've probably heard about on the news. How many of them can you name in 7 minutes?

(I've already mention two of them, so consider those freebies.)

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Didn't I just say that a major news story would break soon?

The big story today, of course, is Sen. McCain's cancellation of his campaign plans to focus on the financial crisis. Most notably, McCain has asked Sen. Obama if a delay in the debate is possible, but the Obama campaign has responded clearly that they wish to go on.

McCain has suspended many of his own campaign activities, including ads and appearances. Most notably, McCain will not be appearing on the David Letterman show tonight. Instead, he'll be traveling to Washington, D.C., to work on the bailout bill with his fellow senators, which could potentially reach as much as US$700 billion.

While the U.S. Senate puzzles through their numbers and how to structure the bill, here's your chance to work through your own structure of numbers. All you have to do is replace each letter with a particular number, so the resulting equation true. It may seem tough, but it's much easier than the number puzzle the senate has to work through. At least in this one, you get hints, and you can be sure there is a right answer!



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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It's been a somewhat slow weekend for real news (of course, now that I've said that, a major news story will break shortly), so I thought I'd post an interesting challenge (somewhat related to current events), suggested by a friend of mine who is a lawyer.

How many U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates since (and including) 1980, who were officially nominated by either the Democratic or Republican parties, can you name that have worked as lawyers/attorneys? You only have 8 minutes, which is 1 minute for each election since 1980.

The quiz will accept first and last names together, as well as last names only as entries (I can't do first names only, as there are too many with the same first names). Some of the names aren't easy to spell, so I've tried to set up the quiz to be as forgiving of spelling as I could. I've also created the quiz to allow common variations of first names.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Republican Vice-Presidential candiate Sarah Palin's private Yahoo e-mail account was hacked into early yesterday morning. The federal government is already looking for suspects and gathering evidence.

The perpetrators were from the forum known simply as “/b/” on 4chan.org, the same board and forum that popularized LOLCats and Rickrolling as internet memes. At this writing, no political motivation for the hacking can be substantiated. On the other hand, not a single democratic candidate nor any other democratic office-holder has publicly condemned this crime, at this writing.

The best description of how the hacking happened, and exactly what transpired yesterday can be found in this column. There was even one “white knight” on the board who went in to help clear things up, and even notify people on Sarah Palin's e-mail list that there was a problem!

Once the information was out there, the problem was compounded by the posting of the details on gossip site Gawker Media. Interestingly, many mainstream media outlets have focused on the fact that Palin was alleged to have used this private e-mail account for government business, instead of focusing on the criminal nature of the act itself. This is despite the fact that the original hacker clearly stated that nothing politically embarrassing was found.

Not only has the Huffington Post claimed that this act gives Sarah Palin cover to delete e-mails to protect herself, but the Associated Press has actually refused Secret Service requests for copies of the leaked e-mails!

While this crime is being investigated, see if you can help Sarah Palin get her e-mail under lock and key. Below is a maze in the shape of a portrait of Sarah Palin's, based on this picture (If you stand back from your monitor, the resemblance may be easier to see). The object is to move the envelope with the mail in it, at the top of the maze, so that it's safely and securely behind the lock, at the bottom of the maze.

Update: If you'd like to try a life-size Sarah Palin corn maze (maize maze?), Ohio farmer Duke Wheeler has just what you're looking for!



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of the game is to find a path through the maze and reach the goal as quickly as you can, and with as little backtracking and as few hints as possible.

To begin, click anywhere in the maze area. Anytime you click outside of the maze, you must click in it again to resume playing or use any of the functions described here, although the timer will continue running.

You can then move through the maze by using the I key to move up, K to move down, J to move left, and L to move right. As you move, you'll leave a blue trail through the maze.

The timer starts when you make your first move through the maze. You may pause the timer by pressing the P key, and the timer will automatically resume when you make your next move.

You may backtrack, but the computer will keep track of how many steps you backtracked, and those steps will be marked with a trail that's a lighter blue that your regular trail.

You can get a hint concerning which way to go by pressing the H key (marked in red), and get the full solution by pressing the S key (also marked in red). You can get a completely new maze, in the same shape, by reloading it with the R key.

When you reach the goal, you'll be notified of your time, how many steps you took, how many steps you backtracked, and how many hints you required. If you like, reload the maze, and try and beat your own best time!

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(The picture used as the basis for the maze originated here. The mail and lock icons are from Free Favicon.com.)

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Oops. Obama may have just made a big mistake.

Last week, Vice Presidential Republican Candidate Sarah Palin made this now-famous comment in an exchange with one of McCain's aides, after being warned about the vicious assault she'd be facing once her candidacy was announced:

Palin: “Thanks for the warning. By the way, do you know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull?”

McCain aide: “No, Governor.”

Palin: “A hockey mom wears lipstick.”

Comments like that, and the attitude to back it up, have given her approval ratings above 50% in some polls.

With this comment still fresh in people's minds, Senator Obama made the following comments today, in reference to the McCain/Palin campaign:

“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” Obama said. “You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change,’ it’s still going to stink.”

The reactions have already been strong and swift.

If we take Obama, and add his comment about lipstick on a pig, and add this in as a Palin reference, does that equal a win for McCain? I don't know whether that's true, but I do know that there's only one way to replace the letters below with numbers so that the equation is true. Can you solve it?



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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I posted an Obama and Biden slider puzzle earlier, so it's only fair that I create one for John McCain, and his recently announced vice-presidential choice, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.

It took John McCain quite a while to put Sarah Palin together as part of his team. How long will it take you to put them back together?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Public domain picture courtesy of JohnMcCain.com)

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With today's announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain's pick as a vice-presidential candidate, we now have a full set of presidential and vice-presidential candidates from the two major parties.

Since both presidential candidates had a long search for their respective vice-presidential candidates, I thought a search for all the candidate's names (first and last), the states they've represented, and the “ELECTION” itself was an order.

(Java required)
Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Can you find all the words on the list? The words can be hidden horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and oriented in any of the cardinal or ordinal directions. Letters may be used in more than one word, so don't ignore highlighted words!

When you find a word, highlight it by pointing your mouse at the first or last letter, click and drag the highlighter until you reach the other end of the word, and release your mouse button. As you find the words, they'll be removed from the list.

To get a new word search grid, simply click on the Rescramble button. If you give up on finding a particular word or words, click it on the list to highlight the word(s), then click the Find Words button, and they'll be highlighted for you in the puzzle.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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As of today, it's official! Obama has been designated as the official Democratic Party presidential candidate for the US 2008 election. Since few of us were surprised at the outcome, I've created another alphametic puzzle that will give you something to which you can look forward.

Strangely enough, Barack H. Obama's name works perfectly as an equation. The question, as always, is exactly which equation this represents:


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

The object of this puzzle is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Before you ask, NO, I didn't misspell the name of the group Run DMC. The DNC to which I'm referring is the Democratic National Committee, whose convention is being held in Denver, Colorado, this week to officially determine which candidate they will run (granted, few of us are in suspense as to whether Obama will win the nomination of the democrats).

In honor of that, I've created an interesting math problem for my visitors.


Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

This puzzle is called an alphametic, otherwise known as a cryptarithm (alt. spelling: cryptorithm), or simply cryptarithmetic. The object is to replace each letter with a number so that the equation is true.

The rules are as follows:
• Each letter represents only one digit, 0-9, throughout the problem.
• Different letters represent different digits, and no two letters represent the same digit.
• Any letter that represents the leftmost digit in a number never represents 0.
• When solved, the equation must be true.
• There is only one possible solution.

To start solving the problem, click on any box, and change that box's letter to a number, and then hit the tab key. If that letter appears more than once, the other instances of that same letter will also be changed to that same number. You won't be alerted if you enter the same digit for two different letters, so be careful!

The Hint button will tell you one digit, and which letter represents that digit. The Restore button will set each text box back to its original letter. The Check button will let you know whether your solution is correct.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

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Barack Obama has finally annonced his running mate, Joe Biden. Can you put (from left to right) Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Joe Biden back together before the election?

Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(Picture courtesy of Daniel Schwen. This picture is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.)

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