before the impossible

Comment Threads

• JohnS commented on Bad news day
  AlanD2 @ 3217: And we have a D governor who can veto anything passed purely on a party line vote. But do you have an R legislature which can override a veto? Not any more. They currently have a majority, but not the required SUPER-majority. Plus the STATE Supreme Court ruled that political Gerrymandering is a violation of the State Constitution's guarantee of free & fair elections and made the legislature re-draw the district maps (Congressional AND Legislature)....
• paws4thot commented on Bad news day
  3222 - That sounds similar to UK procedures, with the note that "Spoiled Papers" (eg voted for wrong candidate or multiple candidates in single vote elections) are retained for accounting purposes. 3223 - That all makes sense to me too although I've never changed constituency (UK and Scottish Parliament) or ward/district (regional or local bodies) due to a boundary change. In any event, there is an at least supposedly non-partisan body (the Boundaries Commission), who are responsible for allocating streets and houses to areas in the UK....
• David L commented on Bad news day
  although I've never changed constituency (UK and Scottish Parliament) or ward/district (regional or local bodies) due to a boundary change. In any event, there is an at least supposedly non-partisan body (the Boundaries Commission), who are responsible for allocating streets and houses to areas in the UK. Our county AND city have doubled in population over the last 30 years. But the various councils are mostly the same size in terms of seats. So lines get to be drawn anew to try and keep the various districts balanced. Then there are those counties where they have lost so many people...
• fajensen commented on Bad news day
  My guess is that the reports of prompt "Acute Radiation Sickness" around Chernobyl are rather far-fetched -- it would take several Sieverts of exposure in a few hours for that to occur The fast decays of the nasty stuff like Sr-90 can be overcome by having plenty of it to start with. Decay is exponential, so some will be left for very long time. If only a few milligrams are enough to poison, I think "enough" will still be there. My guess is that thousands of tonnes of mixed radioactive crap ejected from the Chernobyl reactor explosion was simply disposed...
• Damian commented on Bad news day
  I finally figured out why I couldn't write this past week ... it was the creeping sense of dread and futility. I'm sure this is especially acute with writing, where so much of how it works involves being alone with your thoughts for periods of time. But it seems to apply with things that require focused thinking in general. I'm not saying I've never struggled with the tedious details of complex problems, but it seems a little harder to keep a clear head with such things when that head is also full of vicarious human misery and horror....