Enjoying some bedtime hay after a busy day snoopervising BunMum’s annual report work. We can hardly wait until the weekend when we can catch up on Mastodon! 😊❤️ -Skye
@RainCityBunnies Sadly not yet! 😂 It’s the project that won’t wrap up. The Comms monsters had their fill but it’s been with Finance and the Deputy Minister and with the ministry that runs all ministries… finally got it off to our graphic designer who I have a love/hate relationship with 🤣 and it’s also back and forth with him. Then come the auditors in the next two weeks.. We also have an election on Monday which could throw things into disarray 🤣🤪
@Satori@RainCityBunnies Good grief! I’ve been always from the 🐘 for a week or so and I was sure you’d be past all that by now. I hope the last parts go smoothly for you (and best luck 🍀 for sane results from your elections)
@thegreatrabbit@Satori@RainCityBunnies Yes, sane results please. But not holding my breath. Don't be like Ontario last year. Lowest turnout ever gave Ford the political capital to muck things up at will.
@Byronrabbit@thegreatrabbit@RainCityBunnies That was truly a dark day when he was re-elected. I was so stunned and dismayed when the voter turnout was so low! Early voting is high, but there are only a few “swing tidings” that can make or break it, sadly.
@Satori@Byronrabbit@thegreatrabbit
mom has read that here in the U.S. 80% of voters would vote for a bag of rocks if it had an "R", or "D", as its party affiliation. So politicians are only trying to sway that 20% of voters without antagonizing the other 80%.
@RainCityBunnies@Satori@thegreatrabbit Wow, that's funny. Sort of. That 20% may be true here too. Canada, federal and provincial, has 3 main parties and the parliamentary system means you don't vote directly for a PM or Premier, but for the party rep in your riding (yep, determined by how far a horse can travel in a day...). The party that wins the most ridings forms the government. The US system is cleaner, clearer, rocks notwithstanding 😀
@Byronrabbit@Satori@thegreatrabbit
except that the US system has the electoral college, which means a candidate can lose the popular vote yet still become president , representing rule by the minority
@RainCityBunnies@Satori@thegreatrabbit Gore-Bush, Clinton-Trump, those were bad years. I know there's been talk of abolishing it. Wonder if that'll ever happen.
Place your bets - will the US abolish the Electoral College before Canada abolishes the monarchy?
@Byronrabbit@cazabon@Satori@thegreatrabbit
I have to wonder when the monarchy might be abolished in Great Britain - it's not as if Charles is particularly popular. Elizabeth was at least a link to the past, Charles is a link to ... scandal?
The #UK has been split on the #monarchy for a long time. The supporters had the upper hand for ~60 years, as #Elizabeth II was probably the greatest uniter the English-speaking world has ever seen. Charles is much less popular, and his ascent could result in the #abolitionist side becoming dominant.
If #Scotland secedes from the UK, which seems quite possible in the next few years, they will almost certainly #abolish the monarchy.
I don't think a generation is enough time in Canada's case. We're still waiting for Quebec to ratify our Constitution Act (1982), and that doesn't look to be happening within my lifetime...
@cazabon@Byronrabbit@Satori@thegreatrabbit
1/2 bunmum doesn't think the U.S. electoral college will ever be abolished, bc that can only happen by amending the U.S. constitution. Amending the U.S. constitution requires that 2/3 of both houses of Congress propose an amendment and then 3/4 of the states must approve it; OR, 2/3 of the states can ask Congress to propose a convention at which an amendment can be put forth, but it would still require approval by 3/4 of the states.
@cazabon@Byronrabbit@Satori@thegreatrabbit
2/2 ea house of Congress can barely muster a majority on any given bill, much less a 2/3's majority. our Senate is a huge problem bc a state with few people, e.g., Montana or Wyoming, still has two Senators, the same as our most populous states (California, Texas, Florida, and New York-not that I'm a fan of Texas or Florida these days). that coupled with candidates winning the presidency despite losing the popular vote = tyranny of the minority
In Canada's case, we've had two national referendums on amending the constitution since 1982. Both failed.
We asked and got Britain to pass the Canada Act which gave up their ability to modify our constitution (since they originally created it). And then Canada passed (minus Quebec...) the Constitution Act (1982) which gave us a system that defined a way to amend the constitution, but with conditions that make doing so impossible.
@cazabon@RainCityBunnies@Satori@thegreatrabbit Ha! Yes, technically correct, but few use it. Like medium-media, datum-data. Or executor-executrix. Ontario recently went gender neutral by using "trustee" for estates.
My pet peeve is using a subject pronoun after a preposition -- "they gave it to John and I " instead of "John and me" It's in print, on the news, really bugs me.
I've always loved the -or / -ix male/female thing. Not sure why. Sounds exotic?
And ya, misuses like that bug me too. I was taught to check how it sounds when you remove the "<other> and". In this case, "gave it to I", which is more obviously wrong.
But there are bigger fights worth fighting. I will die on this hill before I accept #millennials' insistence that "literally" means "figuratively".
@cazabon@RainCityBunnies@Satori@thegreatrabbit Ooooh yes, that one's annoying. When I factor in the errors I find in French, I know I've got the foundation to become a snooty, snarky old person 😀
@Byronrabbit@cazabon@Satori@thegreatrabbit
my bunmum is in constant mourning for the Adverb - no one seems to use adverbs any more (e.g., tv commentators say "he skated clean" instead of "he skated cleanLY!")
It seems they don't teach grammar or sentence structure or subject-verb agreement or anything like that in school anymore. $DEITY knows reading anything you ask the young ones at work to write up is an absolute horror show in most cases... 😂
I'm now the old man saying "In my day..." and yelling at kids to get off my lawn, I guess.
@cazabon@RainCityBunnies@Satori@thegreatrabbit Yeah, you're right. Students learn English grammar when they study another language. English is so flexible that you can get away without grammar instruction, sort of. Impossible for other European languages. Fun...
@cazabon@Byronrabbit@Satori@thegreatrabbit
our bunmum feels this way as well - she finds herself grouching to family members "turn off the damn lights, you're wasting electricity" and follows up with "ARGH! I have become my parents!!!"
@RainCityBunnies Completely accurate 🤣🤣🤣 I get about sis months off to do other stuff then it’s back at it. It’s kind of like giving birth but the baby is not so cute
@Byronrabbit 🤣🤣🤣 Truly! It’s a 4-6 month extravaganza that doesn’t come out until end of June, and is usually buried with Friday-before-summer-holidays-news, that’s three months into the next year’s report! 🤣🤦🏻♀️
@Satori Wow. For years, I was on teams that conducted 7-year reviews for various departments (extra $ or nobody would volunteer). A huge effort for reviewers and reviewees. Unless there were big problems, few people ever read them. Hope you have a larger audience.
@Byronrabbit 🤔 Besides Skye? Not really 😂. Skye spends the most time with it. My team, Finance, auditor general and the opposition use it.. that about sums it up🤣. 🤷🏻♀️ It’s a legislated requirement..
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