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Elad's Journal
1) On a typical busy weekday, we get about 1,000,000 page views and 150,000 unique visitors
2) Over the past month, we've had over 2,500,000 unique visitors to the site 3) A busy day will see about 20,000 new posts 4) We have 6 top-of-the-line dedicated servers running the site 5) During the heat of the primaries last year we were getting so much traffic that our ISP had to rewire part of their server farm to provide more power to our servers, which were tripping circuit breakers at peak hours ...my point is that DU is big, and while it is a challenging and full-time job to manage all of this and continually try to improve DU, we absolutely love it. Although we can't provide 100% uptime, 100% bug-free software, 100% user-friendliness, or make 100% of our members happy, we approach every upgrade, change, or decision with regards to DU with a perfectionist attitude. You should hear some of the conversations that go on... Skinner: The text in that image doesn't look quite right, I don't think it's centered. EarlG: Well, it's an equal number of pixels from each side of the image. Skinner: Try shifting it one pixel to the left. EarlG: Ok. (silence for a moment while EarlG fiddles with it) EarlG: How's that? Skinner: Hmm, now it's too far left. What if you changed the font and moved it one pixel down? EarlG: Ok. (silence) EarlG: Take a look now, I like the font but now it's definitely not centered. Skinner: Are you centering it from the edge of the image or from the inside lines? EarlG: Ahh, maybe that's it... (silence and more fiddling) EarlG: Well, not much of a difference there... maybe we should put one pixel in between the letters? Elad: I liked the first one. ...you get the idea.  We take pride in the fact that DU is a well-designed site that is generally user-friendly and pleasant to look at, and we will continue to work to make the site better.Obviously this is a tough time, both economically and politically, but making a donation to Democratic Underground is a great way to support a truly grassroots website, that while far from perfect, at least never stops attempting to get better. We rely on the good will of our members to support the site and you've always come through. If you've already donated to the fund drive, THANK YOU! If you've been sitting on the fence, I hope you'll take a moment to go make a donation now, no matter how big or small. Even a small donation helps, and you'll get all the cool benefits of being a donor for an entire year. Just click the link below to donate: http://www.democraticunderground.com/donat... Thanks! Here are the pictures...
The Young Turks and Randi Rhodes spotted at Mile High...   This Obama look alike posed for a picture at the burger stand...  I was seated right behind the CNN tent...  Mile High in the late afternoon...    Shot of Al Gore on one of the big screens...  The crowd reacts to Obama taking the stage...   Obama on the big screen during the speech...  Crowd shot during the speech...  Oprah Winfrey, as well as Carl Levin, rode in my elevator after the speech. There was a weird incident when Oprah got on the elevator. There was a large group of people behind her who were insisting on getting on the elevator, but security was intervening, as the elevator was full, and people in the elevator started shouting at them. They wouldn't let the elevator close. My impression was that they were following Oprah. Finally they relented, but the whole thing was odd.  So there ya have it... tomorrow, I am hoping to take a drive up to Boulder, maybe into the mountains, to get a little leisure in before my flight in the evening. It's been great! I hope you've all enjoyed my reports! So, I have so many pictures to share from tonight, that I'm going to split my report into two threads. The first will be a description of what I saw, and the second part will be all the photos.
Basically, after I posted my thread earlier this afternoon, I headed down to the field to see if I could get some good shots, and just to get oriented, with the intention to go back up to the blogger's lounge and post some updates, go get some more stuff, post some updates, etc, and then finally settle down to watch Obama's speech. However, my plans were foiled when I got down there and realized that pretty much every seat in the section I was allowed to sit in was already gone. So, I stayed. Luckily, Hissyspit was up in the blogger's lounge and able to post updates, but I was glued to my seat and guarding it strongly. I was actually pretty close to the stage, in section 131, immediately to stage left. People were particularly thrilled to see Bill Richardson, Al Gore, and Joe Biden. The place was absolutely packed. Anyone who was worried about the place not filling up worried in vain. By about 5 pm local time, the stands were about 3/4 full, and a guy sitting right in front of me said that the line to get in was still wrapped around blocks for as far as he could see. By the time Obama accepted the nomination, there wasn't an empty seat in the house (except the seats directly in front and behind the stage, which no one was allowed to sit in, because the view was entirely blocked). The stadium was pretty cool, and I have to say that when the first set of fireworks went off right behind me, I jumped, startled, and couldn't help but think for a split second that someone had set off a bomb. People were trying to get "the wave" started all afternoon, mostly unsuccessfully, until closer to the end when it went several times through the stadium. For about 45 minutes before Obama actually took the stage, people were anxious, expecting the next person to be him. Finally, he came out, and of course everyone went crazy. At several points during the speech, I noticed people wiping their eyes. Personally I was a little surprised at how strongly he came out against McCain. I've been programmed over many years to think that Democrats running for president can't go on the attack that strongly, but it was so refreshing to hear him give McCain hell. And then thinking about how Obama's political career was forged in the fire of Chicago politics, I thought that no matter what happens, Obama is not going to go down without a fight. Win or lose (and I'm extremely confident that he will win), no one will be able to look back and say that when he started to eat punches, he didn't swing back and bloody McCain's nose. On the drive back to the hotel, the BBC was reporting that republicans seemed "hurt" that he was so mean to them tonight. It cracked me up to hear that. So anyway, I will now go edit all the photos I took, and post a thread with those shortly! ...turns out that the spots will be rotating due to limited access, so I will only be able to post updates every once in awhile. The rest of the time, I guess I will wander around taking pictures or something.
The stadium looks great, although it has been kind of a pain in the ass getting here. Streets were shut down due to massive pedestrian traffic and the shuttle buses got diverted and didn't know what they were doing. Probably should have walked, but oh well. There are already a lot of people in the stands, and the blogger lounge is in the press box, near the 50 yard line. Not sure where I'll actually watch the speech from, though. Also, the weather is GREAT today. It's sunny, warm but not hot, and a little hazy. All the right-wing prayers have apparently failed to produce rain. Ironically, however, the Republican convention is looking like it will be happening during a hurricane. More updates to come! Here are some pics... Line for the shuttle bus to get from Pepsi Center to Invesco...  A couple shots of the stage   I've never seen so many satellites in my life...  So, on our way out of the Pepsi Center security perimeter on our way to the DU meetup, what do we see, other than the anti-war protesters gathered right outside our parking garage. The police were very obviously preparing for the worst. They were rolling in vans, buses and other methods of transporting detainees on the other side of the security perimeter. They had squads and squads of officers in riot gear waiting at various points near the Pepsi Center, inside the security perimeter, ready to deploy. Luckily, I hear the anti-war marchers were told that a representative for Obama would meet with them and everything cooled down.
Here are some of the preparations the police were making behind the security perimeter of the Pepsi Center. I asked one of the officers if they were preparing for the anti-war marchers, he responded "Yes sir."  This is a large squad of horseback cops heading to stand next to the security gate as the marchers gathered just outside the gate  Assembled horseback cops..  SUVs full of cops in riot gear sitting behind the horseback cops... squads like this were positioned on virtually every portion of the security perimeter.  The protesters started moving to a new location, and the cops followed at a respectable distance  The officers guarding the entrance where you need credentials to pass suddenly increased in number and looked a lot more intimidating...  Anyway, on to merrier things! The DU meetup was great! It was so nice to meet so many local DU posters, you all made me feel great. DU wouldn't be possible without all of you. Hissyspit, Ava and others took more pictures than I did, but here are a couple...   And finally, I saw this tree near the Pepsi Center and thought it was kind of amusing... It's a young tree, and on it is a plague that says, "This tree was planted in honor of the delegation from District of Columbia"... So rest assured guys, you may not have a vote in congress, but you have a tree in Denver with a plague on it.   Till tomorrow! She praised all the work that bloggers have done, and called us "revolutionary agents of change." The remarks were short but it was great of her to take the time to encourage bloggers to keep on keepin' on.
 The announcement says that he is doing a "live blog" from the Big Tent. I'm not sure where it is being posted, so keep your eyes peeled. He generated quite a lot of interest from the bloggers here at the Big Tent.
 Today the heat is a little less oppressing, and I hear it's only supposed to get into the low 80's, which is a huge relief after yesterday. However, the weather report says that tomorrow is supposed to be hot again. Hissyspit and I saw a lot of cool lightning off to the north and east on our drive back to the hotel last night. I have to say that I think Denver is a beautiful city so far. Last night we tried to make it to the Skylark Lounge for a meet and greet with Dennis Kucinich, but it was scheduled from 9-10, and we didn't get out of the convention hall until after 10. We had a beer at the Skylark anyway, despite not getting to shake hands with Rep. Kucinich. Tonight is the DU Meetup at Racine's restaurant, 6pm (if you're in the area, please come!) so we will not be going to the Pepsi Center to see Bill Clinton and Joe Biden speak. But, we will hopefully be watching from the restaurant, and should have lots of great pictures of a lot of DUers! Here are a couple random shots from last night and today... Those white things are all "Hillary" signs...  Press box at the convention center...  Helicopters in the sky above Denver...  than they were yesterday. Nonetheless, I did not encounter any major protests in my excursions. I walked all the down to Civic Center Park (where the protests originated yesterday), zigzagging through 15th, 16th and 17th streets. The protesters I did run into were what you would expect, generally. And there were definitely more of them out and about today, walking around the atmosphere seemed a lot more charged.
Also, don't miss the return of the Hummer protesters (check out an an earlier post of mine if you missed it), with both a funny and sad twist. Religious/anti-abortion/anti-gay protesters There was a confrontation between leftists and a group of religious protesters on the corner of 16th and Court. Many police were standing by in riot gear, in case something happened. The religious dudes were shouting into megaphones and a crowd of leftist counter-protesters started to form around them. Eventually one of the anti-war protesters stopped and lent her megaphone to the cause of shouting down the religious protesters. I also finally saw the "Abortion Bus," but I won't post pictures of it, because I don't want to promote their ridiculous propaganda machine. Basically it's a giant van with disgusting photos of fetuses on it telling us all that we're going to burn in hell for supporting abortion rights. I'm surprised that it took this long to spot this one, in 2004 in Boston this group of protesters was far more noticeable, they seemed to be everywhere. Dumb sign...  Young kid shouting down religious bigot...  Cops keeping watch over confrontation...  Guy with a cool sign...  Anti-war protesters These were the only anti-war protesters I ran into. They were advocating third party support and not support Obama or McCain.  9/11 protesters There was a large group of 9/11 protesters who marched by, the cops generally ignored them, which seemed to annoy the protesters, actually.  The almighty anti-Obama Hummer returns! This was the highlight of my day so far. I saw the Hummer again, and if you look closely at the picture, you can see that they wiped out the misspelling of "plagiarize" and fixed it. It seems that perhaps they read DU, and saw my post, heh! Or that someone who can spell finally clued them in. Either way, quite funny.The sad part about seeing them again, is that they were now posing as Hillary supporters, shouting pro-Hillary and anti-Obama slogans from the top of their ridiculous ride. I don't believe for a second that they are real Clinton supporters.  Other random cool shots Here are a few more random cool things I ran into. This guy was recording passersby saying "goodbye" to Bush.  Funny pic...  Obama street musicians...  So that's it, I don't know if the protests are supposed to be bigger tonight, but there was not much protest action going on this afternoon. I am heading to the Pepsi Center soon to get a seat for Hillary's speech. I'll post updates later tonight. Today it's hot and sunny in Denver, and although I felt like we'd be more efficient today now that we know our way around a little bit, this is the first chance I've had to stop and edit the pictures and write a post. Tygrbright is currently hanging out at the Pepsi Center, seeing what she can see, and I'm sure will be posting updates soon. Hissyspit is on his way to see if he can find some protesters, and I think I may do the same thing later. I'm curious what the protests are like, and if the MSM accounts are accurate.
Today we got downtown around 11:30 or noonish, and Tygrbright and Hissyspit posted updates while I trekked across town to pick up the daily credentials. I don't know why they make us come back each day (probably security reasons I suppose) to pick up new credentials, but it's kind of a hassle, since they're distributing them a ways from where we're headquartered. On our way to the Big Tent, I took a picture of some of the official SUVs that are escorting VIPs around the city. They're all hybrids, it seems, and they went out of their way to advertise this fact.  Also going with the green theme of the convention, there are several bike stations set up where you can rent a bike for free! Very cool, I took a couple pictures of those guys:   Anyway, the upshot of the credentials being across downtown is that I got to walk all along the 16th street mall in downtown Denver, which was fun and entertaining. This is a picture of some of the cool buildings and architecture off Broadway in downtown.  And here is the bustling and very cool 16th street mall. I'm not usually a fan of malls of any type, but I have to say, I like this one. Malls were originally supposed to be a place of community, where people can hang out together and get to know each other and have fun, before they were corporatized. But I feel like this mall, although it is lined on every square inch with retail stores, achieves a little bit of that communal spirit with the open areas in the middle and such. They even have a free shuttle bus that runs up and down the mall. I tried to ride it but without air conditioning it was 10x as hot and stuffy in the bus as on the street.  By far the funniest people I ran into on 16th street were these guys, who were handing out flyers and shouting slogans into the megaphone, such as "We urge all Democrats to stop supporting bird porn!" I took one of the flyers, pics of the guys and the front/back of the flyer below:    I have no idea what the stuff on the back means. Other sightings on 16th street included a guy with an anti-gov't-spying sign and a shirt that said "I (heart) Big Brother," and a whole buncha cops lounging in the shade, waiting for something to happen.   Here's a cool shot of the Pepsi Center in the foreground, Invesco Field in the middleground, and the rockies in the background.  A couple odd but interesting things spotted inside the security perimeter no less... the port-o-potties are apparently "regal," and Trojan Condoms has a tent setup outside the Pepsi Center and gave me some free condoms! Apparently they want to make sure all the drunken delegates practice safe sex while partying in Denver.    So that's the update for now! Soon I will head out again to see if I can get some info on the protests. The place was packed and the crowd was electric when she spoke. It was so packed, that I actually couldn't get a halfway decent seat. I was parked literally behind the stage with a giant set of speakers blocking my view of the TV that was theoretically providing those of us unfortunate enough to sit back there with an image of stage.
Nonetheless, it was totally awesome. It seemed that her voice was crackling with emotion and passion. And the video conference with Barack at the end was a great move. Anyway, I'm completely beat, so I'm going to relax for the rest of the night and get some sleep. I would post some pictures, but they're completely lame, given that I had absolutely no view of the stage. Good night! |
Profile Information Elad
Brian Leitner Not a DU Donor 10871 posts Member since 2001 Portland, OR, USA Male Elad is an administrator and the lead programmer for Democratic Underground. Visitor Tools
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