Posts by linger
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or even the unpalatable possibility of someone deciding they needed to be seen to be "tough on drugs" because TV cameras were rolling.
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Cracker: On Ice, in reply to Ross Mason,
balling my eyes out [...] still THE experience of my life
I can see how it would be; that describes quite a different reaction than mere bawling.
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Though rankings are relative measures only: even achieving a global "least worst" still equates on an absolute scale to "could try harder".
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Hard News: Up with the Pacer: embracing…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Similarly, pushbikes have to be registered in Japan (though I don't know how thoroughly that's enforced outside the major cities). Facilitating recovery of stolen property is certainly one factor; but where there is relatively high use of privately-owned bicycles (as opposed to rental operations), issuing parking infringement notices is at least as important.
These things are broadly a good idea, but -- like any extension of state powers into citizens' lives -- are potentially subject to abuse. Around Tokyo, at least, "random" police checks of registration details for "cycling while foreign" is a thing (though such profiling is not necessarily xenophobic: short-term residents are statistically less likely to comply with long-term requirements such as licensing).
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Anyway, back on topic...
With e-bikes now allowing travel at higher (and, as noted above, more dangerous) speeds, and having a higher monetary value, are we likely to see any regulatory changes to introduce user licensing and/or vehicle registration regimes for e-bikes similar to those for other powered vehicles? And would such moves be desirable?
For the little it's worth, my initial take is that registration at the level of tracking equipment identity might be useful; that it's a good idea to have regular safety checks, but I'm not convinced it should be legally mandatory; and that user licensing seems a regressive move, likely to discourage the use of e-bikes.
But I haven't ridden one yet; so what do those who have think?
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Hard News: Up with the Pacer: embracing…, in reply to BenWilson,
Also, registering for the first time simply to signal one’s “outrage” at … not reading something carefully enough … doesn’t immediately suggest good-faith discourse. It'd be polite to contribute something positive before dissing the host.
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Speaker: Are we seeing the end of MSM,…, in reply to Alfie,
Now the link text is corrected as "Catamaran dad's court no-show", though the headline still appears to refer to a daughter called Alan:
Man who sailed across Tasman Sea with daughter, Alan Langdon, a no show at Te Awamutu District Court
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to andin,
Surely they knew they'd elected a bully?
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to Katharine Moody,
As I said (before the election), it looked uncannily like Americans were taking Mae West’s quip about “when choosing between two evils, I pick the one I haven’t tried before” as a guide.
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I think there may be some miscommunication above arising from different definitions of “protest vote”.
I think Bart was primarily addressing the problem of eligible voters refusing to vote at all. And I agree: though it may feel like a form of protest, and though it may be a valid response if you truly believe that all of the available choices are equally bad, simply refusing to take part doesn’t really work as a “protest vote”, because it sends no unambiguous message to any particular party. If you really want to show that kind of protest, you should cast an informal vote* (but also, of course, get involved in other direct protest actions to make your voice heard and your message clear).
[* To be clear: nobody actually reads and enumerates the contents of informal votes either – but there is I believe a useful distinction to be made between “couldn’t be arsed to vote”, and “was demonstrably ready to vote, but wasn’t impressed by the options”. If you don't vote at all, you're placed in the first category by default.]
But, as Bart said: as long as you don’t believe everyone is equally bad, then voting for the least worst (however distasteful that may feel) still allows the possibility of some improvement.