Grinning Cat's definitions
(v.) to avoid answering a question, as exemplified by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in his interview on "This Week" on March 29, 2015, about the broad "religious freedom" bill he signed.
Examples of pencing:
George Stephanopoulos: "Yes or no: If a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?"
Mike Pence: "George, this is where this debate has gone."
"Is that true or not?"
"George, look, the issue here is that, y'know..."
"Yes or no: should it be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians?"
"George, you're following the mantra of the last week online, and you're trying to make the issue about something else."
George Stephanopoulos: "Yes or no: If a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?"
Mike Pence: "George, this is where this debate has gone."
"Is that true or not?"
"George, look, the issue here is that, y'know..."
"Yes or no: should it be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians?"
"George, you're following the mantra of the last week online, and you're trying to make the issue about something else."
by Grinning Cat April 1, 2015
Get the pence mug.A device that records the choices of voters in an election. It can take several forms:
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1. (Becoming less and less common in the U.S.)
A mechanical device, where the voter flips small levers next to the candidates' names to indicate their choices, then pulls a big lever to record the votes. Very difficult to tamper with.
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2. (Very common in the U.S.)
A direct-recording electronic (DRE) machine. May print vote totals on paper, but there is no way for a voter to verify that his/her votes were accurately recorded.
Unlike mechanical voting machines, DRE machines are EXTREMELY VULNERABLE TO FRAUD. In addition to outright tampering with the records, malware can be used to steal a percentage of votes, reassigning them to the rigged candidate. The purported verification mechanisms -- logs, audit trails, "snapshots" of individual voters' choices -- can be manipulated to leave no evidence, corresponding perfectly to the rigged results.
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3. (The way to use technology for elections we can have confidence in)
An electronic machine that lets the voter make choices (preventing overvotes and highlighting undervotes), then PRINTS AN ACTUAL FILLED-OUT PAPER BALLOT, which the voter can review and either discard (and start over) or cast.
THE PAPER BALLOT IS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE VOTE. (Voters could also choose to fill in a blank ballot by hand.)
Ballots can be quickly counted by optical scanning technology. Importantly, ballots can be RECOUNTED, by hand if necessary.
Counts from the voting machines need not be trusted as anything more than quick estimates or "exit polls". This system makes it difficult to commit the large-scale fraud so easy to do invisibly with paperless DRE machines.
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1. (Becoming less and less common in the U.S.)
A mechanical device, where the voter flips small levers next to the candidates' names to indicate their choices, then pulls a big lever to record the votes. Very difficult to tamper with.
---
2. (Very common in the U.S.)
A direct-recording electronic (DRE) machine. May print vote totals on paper, but there is no way for a voter to verify that his/her votes were accurately recorded.
Unlike mechanical voting machines, DRE machines are EXTREMELY VULNERABLE TO FRAUD. In addition to outright tampering with the records, malware can be used to steal a percentage of votes, reassigning them to the rigged candidate. The purported verification mechanisms -- logs, audit trails, "snapshots" of individual voters' choices -- can be manipulated to leave no evidence, corresponding perfectly to the rigged results.
---
3. (The way to use technology for elections we can have confidence in)
An electronic machine that lets the voter make choices (preventing overvotes and highlighting undervotes), then PRINTS AN ACTUAL FILLED-OUT PAPER BALLOT, which the voter can review and either discard (and start over) or cast.
THE PAPER BALLOT IS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE VOTE. (Voters could also choose to fill in a blank ballot by hand.)
Ballots can be quickly counted by optical scanning technology. Importantly, ballots can be RECOUNTED, by hand if necessary.
Counts from the voting machines need not be trusted as anything more than quick estimates or "exit polls". This system makes it difficult to commit the large-scale fraud so easy to do invisibly with paperless DRE machines.
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A number of Diebold electronic voting machines have been in the news, first for criminally incompetent software and database design, leaving vote records wide open to undetectable tampering, more recently for vulnerability to "computer virus" style malware that can spread from machine to machine through the data cards used to collect voting data.
Making such electronic voting machines widespread is the perfect way to lay the groundwork for large-scale, invisible voter fraud.
There's plenty of information on this on the Web. A good place to start: the Coalition for Voting Integrity, www.coalitionforvotingintegrity.org .
Making such electronic voting machines widespread is the perfect way to lay the groundwork for large-scale, invisible voter fraud.
There's plenty of information on this on the Web. A good place to start: the Coalition for Voting Integrity, www.coalitionforvotingintegrity.org .
by Grinning Cat April 18, 2008
Get the voting machine mug.(v.) present participle of pence: avoiding a direct answer to a question, as exemplified by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in his interview on "This Week" on March 29, 2015, about the broad "religious freedom" bill he signed.
Examples of pencing:
George Stephanopoulos: "Yes or no: If a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?"
Mike Pence: "George, this is where this debate has gone."
"Is that true or not?"
"George, look, the issue here is that, y'know..."
"Yes or no: should it be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians?"
"George, you're following the mantra of the last week online, and you're trying to make the issue about something else."
George Stephanopoulos: "Yes or no: If a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?"
Mike Pence: "George, this is where this debate has gone."
"Is that true or not?"
"George, look, the issue here is that, y'know..."
"Yes or no: should it be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians?"
"George, you're following the mantra of the last week online, and you're trying to make the issue about something else."
by Grinning Cat April 1, 2015
Get the pencing mug.The specific quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of the picture; "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." Small highlights, especially, in the blurry areas of a photo can be rendered dramatically differently by different lenses (or "faux bokeh" photoshopping techniques).
Some examples of different types of bokeh are at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
Some examples of different types of bokeh are at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
by Grinning Cat March 6, 2010
Get the bokeh mug.The rules for "acting like a man"; the mentality, behaviors and restrictions that many men and boys are socialized to conform to. These tenets of the "cult of masculinity" are both symptoms and enablers of Dominator Culture. They can be so pervasive as to be almost invisible; yet they lead men to disrespect, mistreat, and abuse women and each other.
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THE MAN BOX
Demonstrate power/control (especially over women)
Aggression - Dominance - yell - intimidate
Do not cry openly or express emotions (except for anger)
Do not express weakness or fear - "take it"
Don't back down - don't make mistakes
Do not be "like a woman"
Heterosexual
Have lots of sex with women - "conquests"
Do not be "like a gay man"
Tough/Athletic/Competitive/Strength/Courage
Make Decisions - Never ask for help
Women viewed as property/objects (especially sexual objects)
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(Based largely on Tony Porter's TED talk "A Call to Men")
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THE MAN BOX
Demonstrate power/control (especially over women)
Aggression - Dominance - yell - intimidate
Do not cry openly or express emotions (except for anger)
Do not express weakness or fear - "take it"
Don't back down - don't make mistakes
Do not be "like a woman"
Heterosexual
Have lots of sex with women - "conquests"
Do not be "like a gay man"
Tough/Athletic/Competitive/Strength/Courage
Make Decisions - Never ask for help
Women viewed as property/objects (especially sexual objects)
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(Based largely on Tony Porter's TED talk "A Call to Men")
This is the love of my life, my daughter Jay. The world I envision for her -- how do I want men to be acting and behaving? ... I need you working with me and me working with you on how we raise our sons and teach them to be men -- that it's okay to not be dominating, that it's okay to have feelings and emotions, that it's okay to promote equality, that it's okay to have women who are just friends and that's it, that it's okay to be whole, that my liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.
I remember asking a nine-year-old boy ... "What would life be like for you, if you didn't have to adhere to this man box?" He said to me, "I would be free."
I remember asking a nine-year-old boy ... "What would life be like for you, if you didn't have to adhere to this man box?" He said to me, "I would be free."
by Grinning Cat March 28, 2013
Get the man box mug."Infernal Revenue Service", how many Americans feel about the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. federal tax collection agency.
Legend has it that IRS employees scrutinize handwritten envelopes containing tax returns, and any addressed to the "Infernal" Revenue Service are flagged for audits.
by Grinning Cat April 18, 2008
Get the IRS mug."The turnout for the election wasn't even 40% of eligible voters. The winner got a slight majority of that, so four out of five people DIDN'T vote for him. So from that he concludes he has a popular 'mandate'?!"
by Grinning Cat January 5, 2009
Get the election mug.