This is in response to someone else's post from half an hour ago, which contained phone numbers controlled by a politically aligned organization. It doesn't matter which one.

Reports of election interference should go directly to the authorities:

https://www.usa.gov/voter-fraud

How to report voter fraud, intimidation, or suppression

If you suspect voter fraud, report it to your state or territorial election office. You can also report it to:

• A local FBI office
• A local U.S. attorney's office
• The Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division

If you witness or suspect voter intimidation or suppression, there are three ways you can report it:

• Contact your state or territorial election office
• Contact the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice
• Use the Election Complaint Report online form

LAST UPDATED: September 18, 2024

Reading about how swing states are important for the election, I was wondering how safe the "safe states" actually are. So I plugged some numbers into a spreadsheet, and came to some interesting (?) results.

So first, the data. I used the 2020 election results, starting with Turnout_2020G_v1.2.csv (from https://election.lab.ufl.edu/voter-turnout/2020-general-election-turnout/) for number of people eligible to vote (columns D and E). Added the results from https://www.fec.gov/documents/4228/federalelections2020.xlsx (H, I, J, and K calculated from that), and the number of registered voters from https://ballotpedia.org/Partisan_affiliations_of_registered_voters#2021 (F and G). Non-voters L is eligible voters minus total votes (E - L). Democrats M and Republicans N is the bigger of registered and voters (F or H; G or I), to see if that makes a difference in swinginess. Columns P and Q are the results calculated from the table to make sure it works (Maine and Nebraska cancel each other out), row 54 is the sum of the column above.

The results: Columns R are the states where non-voters alone are the biggest group, S adds third party voters to that, resulting in 148 or 156 electors that could vote for anyone. Columns T and U are each of Democrats and Republicans plus non-voters, and here the non-voters could help each party win everywhere, except DC which is safe for Democrats. For funsies I added the last column V that calculates non-voters from the voting-age, not voting-eligible population, resulting in 287 electors for anyone.

Conclusion? Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia could be "rainbow states" that could send electors for any candidate. The rest except for DC could vote for either Democrats or Republicans, making all of them swing states. And maybe the fear of non-citizen voters (which I think is the majority of the difference between voting-age and voting-eligible people) determining the election results is valid. Or maybe that means that a significant amount of people living in the US and thus being affected by its government are not represented by said government.

The End: Of course that completely disregards non-voter demographics, even if they would vote they're not likely to all vote the same. Still, enough motivated ex-non-voters could turn basically any state into a swing state. One vote of someone who thinks their vote doesn't matter won't change much, but the votes of all who think that way certainly can.

Here is his instrumental track The Edge, the one Dre sampled. You'll probably recognize what he sampled almost immediately even if you're only barely aware of his work (like me).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y05mMRJrUnE

Information from this section.

What are my general rights on Election Day?

Your rights

• If the polls close while you’re still in line, stay in line – you have the right to vote.
• If you make a mistake on your ballot, ask for a new one.
• If the machines are down at your polling place, ask for a paper ballot.
• If you run into any problems or have questions on Election Day, call the Election Protection Hotline:

• English: 1-866-OUR-VOTE / 1-866-687-8683
• Spanish: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA / 1-888-839-8682
• Arabic: 1-844-YALLA-US / 1-844-925-5287
• For Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, or Vietnamese: 1-888-274-8683

Something tells me they don't enjoy them, but...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Hildebrandt

For some reason, their website doesn't have an image of the stone, so here is one.

!

I capitalised it in the title because of its etymology, and for emphasis. I think I would use lower case in regular usage.

More examples:

https://www.messynessychic.com/2017/01/18/the-inexplicably-fascinating-secret-world-of-thomassons/

https://kyotojournal.org/kyoto-notebook/kyoto-tomason-the-hunt-for-hidden-hyperart/

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/04/thomasson-architectural-relics-that.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hyperart_Thomasson

> > > 😇👋A MONTH OF NO GODS🧳⛩️ > >

> > > There is a quaint belief that in the 10th month the gods of Japan congregate for a great gathering to discuss matchmaking at Izumo-taisha (出雲大社) in Shimane Prefecture. > >

> > > Only hard-of-hearing Ebisu and the Sun Goddess miss this annual pilgrimage. > >

Further reading:

> > > In the tenth month of the traditional lunar calendar, a festival is held to welcome all the gods to Izumo Grand Shrine. It is believed that the gods convene at Izumo Shrine in October to discuss the coming year's marriages, deaths, and births. For this reason, people around the Izumo area call October kamiarizuki ("the month with gods"), but the rest of Japan calls October Kannazuki ("the month without gods"). > >

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-taisha

@camelliakyoto is a great account to follow on Mastodon for historical Japanese culture.

> According to Abba: The Official Photo Book, published to mark 40 years since they won Eurovision with Waterloo, the band's style was influenced in part by laws that allowed the cost of outfits to be deducted against tax – so long as the costumes were so outrageous they could not possibly be worn on the street.

In America (and elsewhere?) we have a tradition of trick-or-treating where on Halloween or the night before kids go around the neighborhood in a costume, knock on doors, and get candy. It's a lot of fun.

But I was well into adulthood before I learned that not all places have kids tell jokes before they get candy. Apparently it's only the city I grew up in that they do that! Not even neighboring cities do it.

!

At the end of the article, there's this interesting fact: > King Edward VII invented his own timezone for the royal estate in Sandringham, Norfolk, in 1901 to squeeze in half-an-hour more hunting time each day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox,_Yucat%C3%A1n Coincidence?

The guy at the register where we paid was wearing a Superman T-shirt.

$35 to dress like a person who's a really big fan of Spirit Halloween, but does not work there.

!

The reason this is relevant is because he has spent the better part of a year complaining about “illegal immigrants” who are “invading” the country. But an old video from 2013 resurfaced on Saturday that appears to show the billionaire admitting he was at one point building his small business in the country illegally, describing it as a “gray area.”

*Edit: typo

And yes, I'm also shocked and saddened that there is a Caillou fandom site.

As a result, bill trackers report the new KOSA title ("KOSPA") but use the old summary on the paper-shuffling bill. (e.g. see https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2073)

(This is not about the merits of KOSA; this is about the merits of taking a young kid (bill)'s dreams and aspirations, shutting it in the closet grinder, and replacing poor old billy with his cousin−n-times−removed.)

What's more infuriating is that no major news outlets report that KOSA was passed as KOSPA.

That's more than your mom.

Bypass paywall: https://archive.is/TGhgE

> Although Olsen says CBS was reluctant to cast her in the first place, she also claims that talks had continued for about a year when she had a phone call with the revival’s showrunner, its producer, and the son of Sherwood Schwartz, who created the original Brady Bunch. On the podcast, Olsen referred to the exchange with the three execs as “the Inquisition,” and said they asked her questions about her political views. Olsen said that the trio had “drank every drop of the Kool-Aid” and maintained that “by now, we know that the vaccine was not safe or effective.” (VF has reached out to a representative for Lloyd Schwartz for comment.) A source close to the project says that the issue with casting Olsen was not due to her support for Donald Trump, but rather her “controversial comments and hate speech, which she has noted she still stands by.” > > According to Olsen, the revival was going to thrust the Brady family into the modern era. One of Jan’s children was going to be trans, and one of the Bradys was going to have a Black spouse. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not sit right with Olsen. “To that I was like, Come on, let’s not be so obvious,” said Olsen. “Let’s make this Black spouse somebody who has a really close relationship with another Brady, and that’s how this Brady met them. Give them a foundation so this isn’t a token position.” > >This isn’t the first time Olsen has allegedly lost a gig due to her conservative views. Olsen was fired from LA Talk Radio’s Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics after using anti-LGBTQ language in 2016.

I've been on a 'cover songs' kick lately. I've heard some great and some weird stuff.

Now virtually every cover of Sugar, Sugar by The Archies is better than the original (there's a version by The Germs that is god-awful, but that is to be expected from them). I realize that isn't difficult. Still, how did it end up being a reggae and soul standard? With big names. And most of them are pretty damn good too. They took this bubblegum pop song and turned it into good music.

Reggae:

Bob Marley and the Wailers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jOmB6kr4rM

The Silvertones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYARcahrio

Big Youth and Junior Byles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur63nrIib1M

Ken Lazarus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrWktzTACQ

(This Ken Lazarus one isn't all that great, still better than the original.)

Soul:

Ike & Tina Turner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNdVyeiJJuA

Wilson Pickett - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrZluYnMJUY

Gladys Night and the Pips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8OGG1FGpF4

Tom Jones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCh_zQfhyfw

And while I'm listing covers of that song, here's a few more for you...

Psychedelic rock version:

Jonathan King - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAWkntVyoDI

(I think psychedelics were heavily involved in the recording too.)

Neil Sedaka gave it the Sedaka touch with an almost big band feel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv8RQDHoawA

Chet Baker did a jazz version- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtYr69OfPvg

No idea what to think of this one. A Santana-esque group called El Chicano - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_uenTn7cps

And finally, and I can't tell you why, a young Kurt Russell recorded a very vanilla version which is only worth listening to for the sake of curiosity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze8X8ha8Myw

It's kind of funny, I think, that a plant so closely associated with America is actually not native at all.

> > > In 1878, after publishing the Intelligencer as a morning daily, printer Thaddeus Hanford bought the Daily Intelligencer for $8,000. Hanford also acquired Beriah Brown's daily Puget Sound Dispatch and the weekly Pacific Tribune and folded both papers into the Intelligencer. In 1881, the Intelligencer merged with the Seattle Post. The names were combined to form the present-day name.[2] > >

The legend of the green children of Woolpit concerns two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, sometime in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen (r. 1135–1154). The children, found to be brother and sister, were of generally normal appearance except for the green colour of their skin. They spoke in an unknown language and would eat only raw broad beans

cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/4211939

> ##### This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot. > The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/EssexGuyUpNorth on 2024-10-19 22:18:30+00:00.

cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/4212574

> ##### This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot. > The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Double-decker_trams on 2024-10-20 00:32:18+00:00.