What is currently on your mind?

[timothyu]

Well, so much for denominational, let alone religious differences.

 

[Petros2015]

Man, this is not good. I just realized I'm madly in love with this insecure hippie chick who's into bomb-making and enjoys reading the exact same books that I always burn.

Edit: I just noticed that one of her elbows is larger than the other. Never mind.

So... I'm totally cool with the bad elbow, mind introducing her to me? Sounds like we might have some chemistry.

Edit: I just remembered I'm married; never mind

 

[Petros2015]

I'm in Australia. We have compulsory voting.

? How does that work. Is there a fine if you fail to vote?
Government stops delivering your mail?
Kind of curious now.

Here in America we only have compulsory posting, but it is largely self inflicted.

On everyone else

 

[returntosender]

So... I'm totally cool with the bad elbow, mind introducing her to me? Sounds like we might have some chemistry.

Edit: I just remembered I'm married; never mind

Stop that Petros, you just got married,. I'm telling!

Yeah. We lost a lot of comedians in the past few years including Gilbert Gottfried (which I guess I am a fanboy of) who interacted with those two occasionally. Now they're all gone.

Now, there's a voice I'll never forget

 

[timothyu]

My mouse wheel broke a couple months back. Might as well carry on without it as a nod to those who follow Lent.

 

[Paidiske]

? How does that work. Is there a fine if you fail to vote?

Exactly. It's a relatively small fine, really a token, but it's enough of a hassle that it means most people do vote even if just to avoid the fine. There are exemptions for good reasons.

 

[ozso]

Exactly. It's a relatively small fine, really a token, but it's enough of a hassle that it means most people do vote even if just to avoid the fine. There are exemptions for good reasons.

I'd vote for whoever promised to remove the fine.

 

[ozso]

I'm kind of laid off from work. It's stressing me out. I'm used to having a steady schedule.

 

[Paidiske]

I'd vote for whoever promised to remove the fine.

It's just not an issue here. Everyone votes, it's part of how we do things, and it's not contentious. Rather, voting responsibly is seen as a civic duty. It's not in politicians' interests to consider changing the system - after all, it would mean losing votes if people didn't have to vote - so it's not in question.

Sorry to hear that you're not working at the moment. Are there things you can do to help keep up the routine? Maybe some volunteering while you look for work?

 

[ozso]

Sorry to hear that you're not working at the moment. Are there things you can do to help keep up the routine? Maybe some volunteering while you look for work?

I'm waiting for work. The last day I worked was Feb 20th and I'm not scheduled to work again until March 4th. It's been off and on since Nov 30th last year.

 

[Occams Barber]

I'd vote for whoever promised to remove the fine.

A few years back Australia ran a voluntary postal survey on same sex marriage. All voters were sent a survey form. They were not legally required to return their completed form.

80 % of eligible voters returned the survey (a resounding 62% of voters said 'Yes' to SSM).

One of the big cultural differences between Americans and Australians is that, while Americans often focus on individual rights, Australians tend to see collective responsibilities as more important. That's why we have nationalised medicine, a low Covid death rate (compared to the US), strict gun controls, and compulsory voting.

OB

 

[returntosender]

I have no idea what is going on lol

Agree, strange tastes

 

[timothyu]

Busier on the forum after the weekend. People must be back at work

 

[Chesterton]

...and compulsory voting.

I think that's a really bad idea. Forcing people who are too uninformed or too lazy or too apathetic to just go out and push a button at random...

 

[returntosender]

Busier on the forum after the weekend. People must be back at work

I was thinking how slow it is last night and today

 

[Occams Barber]

I think that's a really bad idea. Forcing people who are too uninformed or too lazy or too apathetic to just go out and push a button at random...

On the other hand, it also encourages people to think about their vote. There is also a major effort by our (non-political) Electoral Commissions to make sure that everyone has easy access to voting without queueing for hours. We don't try to discourage voters.

Incidentally - gerrymandering is virtually unknown here - politicians are not involved in drawing up electorate boundaries .

We don't press buttons. Voters fill out ballots manually and all counting is manual. There are no 'voting machines' in Australia. In spite of this unofficial results are usually available by 10pm (or earlier) on the day of the vote.

Throw in ranked preferential (ranked choice) voting and you'll find we have a very different approach to voting compared to the US.

OB

 

[Paidiske]

And compulsory voting takes away the pull to the extremes, just to appeal to people enough to motivate them to vote at all.

 

[timothyu]

Now if we could only get politicians to follow our choices instead of them demanding that of us.

 

[pgp_protector]

What's next in ny Wife's dementia journy.

 

[MehGuy]

I do not get the reference. The only Gilbert and Sullivan I know is the song about the scary hippopotamus, which is a reference @MehGuy might get since he's recently been watching Frasier.

Sounds vaguely familiar. I'll be honest, lately I have been tuning out during my Fraiser binges.

This isn't to knock the show.. it's just... my attention span can be very horrible at times.

Given all that, I've seen every episode but the finale episodes. Same with Cheers in fact. I like to watch these sitcoms, but in order for them to feel more relevant in my mind I like to skip out on the finale episodes for the foreseeable future.

Thinking about someday setting aside a night when I do binge watch and finally finish up all of these sitcoms.