marthews - Network

#TIL the word "sockdolager"!https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1709408210627485707?t=r5ATv6WHE-aWliHPzntldQ&s=19

#TIL the word "sockdolager"!

https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1709408210627485707?t=r5ATv6WHE-aWliHPzntldQ&s=19

Can you see any cons to this proposal?And how would you assess the feasibility of the proposal, using the legislature of your choice?

Can you see any cons to this proposal?

And how would you assess the feasibility of the proposal, using the legislature of your choice?

Here are the pros in my mind.- The difference between the straw vote total and the expected floor vote total, will help legislators...

Here are the pros in my mind.

- The difference between the straw vote total and the expected floor vote total, will help legislators understand the true popularity of their measure among their colleagues.

The published difference between the straw vote total and the floor vote will enable the public to understand the extent to which legislators-in-general's personal allegiances or worries about their political future are skewing their actual preferences.

Each legislator intending to vote in the floor vote, must vote in the straw vote.Now here comes the clever bit.The individual straw votes...

Each legislator intending to vote in the floor vote, must vote in the straw vote.

Now here comes the clever bit.

The individual straw votes are secret, and mechanically counted. The totals are made public immediately, substantially before the floor vote is held, revealing the aggregated private preferences of the legislators to the legislators and the public.

Let's imagine a legislature where, as is common in the US, all floor votes are recorded, and votes are taken electronically.Let's...

Let's imagine a legislature where, as is common in the US, all floor votes are recorded, and votes are taken electronically.

Let's now add a stage - call it the "straw vote" stage.

In the middle of the chamber is a box. Each legislator has a supply of white cubes and black pebbles, small enough to be hidden in one's hand. For any scheduled floor vote, require that 24 hours before, there must be a straw vote using the cubes and pebbles.

...

#polisci #ballots #democracy OK, here's a policy proposal I've been noodling, to improve transparency and reduce corruption in...

#polisci #ballots #democracy

OK, here's a policy proposal I've been noodling, to improve transparency and reduce corruption in legislatures.

We all know that legislators' publicly recorded votes often don't match their actual preferences. Publicly recording votes, though, also serves important functions of transparency and accountability.

Wouldn't it be valuable, though, to understand, for all public votes, how legislators would have voted, had the vote not been public? But how?

Today I learned:The word...

Today I learned:

The word "peridot"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peridot#:~:text=Gem%2Dquality%20peridot%20is%20rare,the%20mantle%20to%20the%20surface.

Always more to learn!

#til #wordoftheday

Oh God.This is a hell of a reaction to the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant(how can it be anything...

Oh God.

This is a hell of a reaction to the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

(how can it be anything else?)

https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/03/daughter-found-neighbors-disgusting-book-parenting-advice.html

...luring mentally disabled youth into sending $25 gift cards to ISIS in order to "catch a terrorist", literally assassinating...

...luring mentally disabled youth into sending $25 gift cards to ISIS in order to "catch a terrorist", literally assassinating Fred Hampton, encouraging MLK to kill himself and then (probably) being involved with his assassination as well, cultivating tens of thousands of paid confidential informants, and conducting warrantless searches on 100,000s of Americans each year, including Black Lives Matter protesters...

I mean, what's not to like?

The WashPo takes Rep. Spartz sternly to task for comparing the FBI to the KGB: "comparing it to one of the most notorious spy agencies...

The WashPo takes Rep. Spartz sternly to task for comparing the FBI to the KGB: "comparing it to one of the most notorious spy agencies in recent world history is taking things to another level. The KGB routinely cracked down on dissent with invasive and heavy-handed tactics, including assassination."

Well, thank the Lord our noble FBI would be er stoop to "invasive" or "heavy-handed" crackdowns on dissent, like, say, hounding Muslims, using JTTFs to infiltrate and disrupt eco-protests, ...

Noting, while on a family visit to the UK, that #BBC and #Sky evening news coverage of the riots against police brutality in #France, skips...

Noting, while on a family visit to the UK, that #BBC and #Sky evening news coverage of the riots against police brutality in #France, skips any discussion of why the riots are happening, in favor of "how fast will the government Crack Down On These Out Of Control People And Restore Order"

Latest thinkpiece on government surveillance and competition...

Latest thinkpiece on government surveillance and competition policy

https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/effects-of-government-surveillance-on-competition/

#surveillance #antitrust #competition #nsa #fbi

How Marvel restructures anarchists into super-villains is just fascinating

How Marvel restructures anarchists into super-villains is just fascinating

Once every ten years or so, our century-old larch bursts into flaming gold.I still don't know why some years and not others, but I'm...

Once every ten years or so, our century-old larch bursts into flaming gold.

I still don't know why some years and not others, but I'm glad this is the year.

#photography #larch #december

Last time I volunteered to be a poll worker, I was told I couldn't because I had strong feelings about which candidate I wanted to...

Last time I volunteered to be a poll worker, I was told I couldn't because I had strong feelings about which candidate I wanted to win.

Waiting to volunteer again till the point that my sense of disgust at all available candidates, makes me almost indifferent to the actual outcome.

#democracy #PollWorkerExperience

Hip-hop, profanity...Can't stereotype my thing, yoI checked that mouth on himFucking checked my gas on himI had him, cornered himFucking...

Hip-hop, profanity

...Can't stereotype my thing, yo
I checked that mouth on him
Fucking checked my gas on him
I had him, cornered him
Fucking shut that gate on him
Why would you listen to him?
He had his way, I'm bored of him
I'm tired of him
I don't wanna be as bad as him

It's a bomb, yo
So run, yo
Put away your stupid gun, yo
'Cause we see though like protocol
Which is why we blow it up 'fore we go...

M.I.A., "Sunshowers", 2009
https://youtu.be/9cA3b-PbPE0

I love this city#Boston #photography

I love this city

#Boston #photography

Hip-hop; Christmas; profanityA #Christmas F**king Miracle, by Run The Jewels, 2014https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5rI461KNEThe illustrious...

Hip-hop; Christmas; profanity

A #Christmas F**king Miracle, by Run The Jewels, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5rI461KNE

The illustrious El-P, with a message for the season and the ages:

Love what you did with the place, it looks gorgeous
Cityscape where the blood of good men courses
And the dreamers are bull trapped in porcelain
Take a knee to the gods and get horse shit
Wanna live for the thrill? They'll arrange it
Got a bevy of imps to spit hatred
Shit'll get in your head and cause panic

[...]

"If any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it...

"If any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name "Aslan", it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted."

C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (the final Chronicle of #Narnia)

#Aslan #Ecumenism #Syncretism #Theology #Books

This talks about how the inefficiencies of the #Fediverse are strengths from other angles, like how gardening has strengths compared to...

This talks about how the inefficiencies of the #Fediverse are strengths from other angles, like how gardening has strengths compared to monocrop farming:

https://saturation.social/@irwin/109342513522665387

And it makes me think how the #FourthAmendment is also about adding friction and decentralization.

Friction, because getting a warrant slows things down.

Decentralization, because there isn't one unified warrant-granting authority.

The aim of it all is to prevent the dreadful efficiency of the police state.