{"podcast":{"title":"The Backup Wrap-Up","slug":"the-backup-wrap-up-758069","podcast_index_feed_id":758069,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/backupwrapup/","website_url":"https://www.backupwrapup.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/4670d4e3-81d6-4770-aeca-fe0331f5ce9e/IO00Uwof5u-hiUJElhkbBmKT.jpg","author":"W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup)","episode_count":355,"summary":"Formerly known as \"Restore it All,\" The Backup Wrap-up podcast turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes. After a brief analysis of backup-related news, each episode dives deep into one topic that you can use to better protect your organization from data loss, be it from accidents, disasters, or ransomware. The Backup Wrap-up is hosted by W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi. Curtis' passion for backups began over 30 years ago when his employer, a $35B bank, lost its purchasing database – and the backups he was in charge of were worthless. After miraculously not being fired, he resolved to learn everything he could about a topic most people try to get away from. His co-host, Prasanna, saw similar tragedies from the vendor side of the house and also wanted to do whatever he could to stop that from happening to others. A particular focus lately has been the scourge of ransomware that is plaguing IT organizations across the globe. That's why in addition to backup and disaster recovery, we also touch on information security techniques you can use to protect your backup systems from ransomware. If you'd like to go from being unappreciate…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T22:18:00.235096+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069"},"episode":{"title":"California Election Counting Explained by an Actual Poll Worker","slug":"california-election-counting-explained-by-an-actual-poll-worker","published_at":"2026-06-08T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/california-election-counting-explained-by-an-actual-poll-worker","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069","url":"https://www.backupwrapup.com/california-election-counting-explained","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/de74f78c-fbf0-4e5b-9c98-62f78e9ff0df.mp3","summary":"California election counting has confused — and frankly ticked off — a lot of people, and I get it. I'm W. Curtis Preston, I've worked every California election since the 2016 presidential primary, and I've managed the polls at multiple elections here in San Diego County. This episode, I'm going solo to explain exactly what's going on, why it takes so long, what the \"red mirage\" actually is, and why none of it is fraud. Sorry to disappoint some of you. If you've ever had a family member call you asking \"what the hell is going on over there?\" — this one's for you. I walk through the specific changes California made to election law, how our system compares to Florida's, why human nature is a big part of the problem, and what the chain of custody for every single ballot actually looks like from the inside. This isn't punditry. This is someone who has stood at those poll books, sealed those ballot cartons, and escorted those ballots to the DART team. Chapters: 0:00 – Introduction: What the hell is going on in California? 1:23 – Who I am and why I can speak to this 2:12 – How California election law changed six years ago 4:43 – The mail ballot window: postmark by 8 PM, received within 7 days 5:09 – Vote centers vs. the old precinct model 7:39 – California vs. Florida: why the laws produce such different results 9:09 – Why California voters wait until the last minute 14:12 – The red mirage explained: it's not fraud, it's math 15:31 – Signature verification: 80,000–100,000 per day in San Diego alone 16:35 – How computers count ballots — and the 1% manual audit that checks them 19:11 – Chain of custody: two people, sealed cartons, tracked numbers 20:17 – Debunking the \"law enforcement can't observe\" myth 21:24 – Dead people voting? Let's talk about what's actually happening 22…","meta_description":"California election counting has confused — and frankly ticked off — a lot of people, and I get it. I'm W. Curtis Preston, I've worked every California el…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1473,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/episodes/california-election-counting-explained-by-an-actual-poll-worker/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/california-election-counting-explained-by-an-actual-poll-worker.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}