Pretty good

John.  23. Marketing analytics.

[liberal-memes]

[johnfromny]

[pdlcomics]

Found the Ocean

[annabellehectorworldofweird]

[theoppositeofadults]

[hydro-homies]

[southernsideofme-deactivated201]

[might-be-a-gliscor]

[ithelpstodream]

[jonpertwee]

I feel like this would be a slippery slope towards making it illegal for people to choose to not vote.

[hamfistedbunvendor]

that’s already how it is in australia

[jonpertwee]

That’s just so fucked up. :( Do certain medical conditions exempt you?

[sapphicdalliances]

?????? why is it be fucked up to have compulsory voting? that’s the way it is in most democratic countries? it’s a part of being a citizen, like paying taxes and obeying speed limits? the fine for not voting is only like $50 and because of the compulsory voting law, our country bends over backwards to make it accessible: it’s always on a weekend, lasts most of the day, and is set up at schools and community centers so there’s one within easy reach of almost everybody. you can also mail your ballot or vote early if you’ll be out of the country on the day. like, IT’S EASY TO VOTE, and the penalty isn’t even that ridiculous. i don’t understand why the usa doesn’t have this, except obviously it would make it harder to literally stop minorities from voting.

[salparadisewasright-deactivated]

I think we Americans tend to forget that a lot of other countries don’t actively work to make it harder to vote.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Adding to this here, in Australia you don’t have to vote. Or, more precisely, there’s no way they can tell if you ruined your ballot. You have to turn up, get your name marked off, but you can put a line through the ballot if you don’t think any of the candidates are worth voting for. Or do this: 

Or this: 

Or this: 

You have get your name crossed off (if you don’t want to wear the fine), but you don’t have to make your vote counted if you’re opposed to it. 

And it is so, so easy to vote. Stuck at work or on holidays? That’s fine. Do a postal vote.  Stuck in hospital? That’s fine. They’ll go to you. Stuck in an old people’s home and can’t get around? Again, they’ll go to you. It’s amazing to me that it’s so hard for so many Americans to actually vote. If you make it compulsory, than at least the government is obligated to provide you with the means to vote. 

And look, I get it. Sometimes I don’t want to vote either. But I suck it up, I walk three minutes down the street, and I hope that this year they’re selling lamingtons again. Oh, and I buy a democracy sausage, which, even if all the candidates suck, makes the effort of turning up pretty worthwhile. 

[julad]

ALSO, you can see even on the fucked up ballots that you NUMBER CANDIDATES IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE. There’s no need to calculate whether I would be throwing away my vote on the candidate that I most agree with if they’re not from a major party. I can say, I want that independent person to get in, but if not them, give me Big Party A, and if not them, that minor party person is still better that Big Party B, and I’m not giving any preference to the Lunatic Fringe Party.

Our system certainly has some issues still, but I can show up to somewhere nearby, line up for a few minutes (if at all), vote exactly in line with my values (on paper, leaving a paper trail that can be recounted), and then buy a sausage and some home made cupcakes on my way out.

A country’s voting system matters a hell of a lot and every citizen deserves one that makes it easy to vote and results in a government that is representational and accountable.

And by the way, one time I had a bad asthma flare-up on Election Day and didn’t make it to my polling station. I got my fine in the mail, I filled out the form explaining why I couldn’t vote, no more fine. I would rather have, you know, expressed my preference for who should run my country, but they were cool with the fact that I couldn’t do it that day.

[batmanisagatewaydrug-deactivate]

“oh no, what if people actually have to participate in picking the government officials who will impact their lives” jesus christ

[thecursebreakerthatwaspromised]

In Maine we have ranked choice voting and it makes all the difference. I feel so much more comfortable being able to say “this is choice A, bit if they don’t have the top vote, and it comes down to it, please count mine as choice B”. It makes voting more worth it to me. I hope it spreads to other places in the US!

[liartownusa]

[i-gotrunover-bya-porsche]

[academicssay]

[edgar-allan-possum]

[greenmossloveisreal1998iloveyou]

this man sees 40 moves ahead

[eartharchives]

Dead pig brains bathed in artificial fluid showed signs of cellular life

Four hours after pigs died, the animals’ brain cell activity was restored by a sophisticated artificial system.

Scientists have restored cellular activity to pig brains hours after the animals’ death — an unprecedented feat. This revival, achieved with a sophisticated system of artificial fluid, took place four hours after the pigs’ demise at a slaughterhouse.

[mxnrique]

[united-nations-deactivated20190]

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France was inscribed as World Heritage by @unesco in 1991.

Following Monday’s devastating fire that inflicted significant damage to the 850-year old cathedral, people from around the world expressed their concern for and solidarity with the French people.

“Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres,

📷: UN News / Anton Uspensky

[eartharchives]

Ethically Fraught Experiment Has Produced Monkeys With Added Human Brain Genes

In a bid to learn more about the way the human brain develops, scientists in China have added a human brain gene to the genome of rhesus monkeys. It's called MC HP 1, or microcephalin, and it's involved in regulating the foetal growth of the brain.

The transgenic animals’ brains took longer to develop - more like those of human children - and they also exhibited better memory skills, and faster reaction times, compared to their unmodified peers.

[pdlcomics]

Change

[johnfromny]

I’m glad al-Bashir is out of office in Sudan but copying the 2011 Arab Spring movement and tactics isn’t in itself a formula for success.  iirc only Tunisia successfully transitioned to democracy while the other three, Libya especially, are fucked.  Military leadership is obviously problematic (and lets be real, a two year transition under the military would last quite a bit longer than 2 years) so I can see why the Sudanese people are protesting, but imo their best chance is to hope that the UN comes in or some other outside observer intercedes on their behalf.  

Dont get me wrong, the Sudanese military has made several notable concessions.  Gen. Ibn Auf stepped down by protester request, civilian high offices have been promised, civilian government in two years is promised, they allowed the civilian sit in - despite it being a violation of their curfew, and there are also reports that they defended the protesters from security forces seeking to crack down.  These do all lend credibility to the intent of the military transitional government

But at the end of the day, there’s too much potential for abuse, be it domestic or foreign, and a military government simply cannot be trusted, no matter how many concessions are made.  Further, the hesitation on the part of the military to make the office of president a civilian role is very suspicious and it begs the question of whether or not brass is playing a long con.  They don’t after all have to expel protesters or shoot up the streets to take power.  They just have to wait out the protest - and they’ve given themselves two years of “legitimacy”