Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/11/02

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Subject: [Leica] Today - was Tomorrow-a picture
From: pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)
Date: Tue Nov 2 23:03:27 2004

. . .And what I saw was those old-fashioned voting machines. You pull 
little levers to vote for each candidate or measure, and then register your 
vote by pulling that big red lever you can see on the open machine on the 
left.  The machine makes a very satisfying "kerchunk" sound as your 
contribution to democracy is mechanically registered.  These machines made 
voting a physical and satisfying act.  Thanks for the memories, Sonny.  :-)

That was back in Massachusetts in my first years as a voter. Here in the 
Seattle area, we used to use punch cards. The act of punching the cards was 
tactile and still satisfying, though less so than the mechanical 
wonders.  But since Florida's famous hanging chads, they are no more.  Now 
we blacken little ovals next to the candidate's names.  Reminds me of 
taking the SATs*.  Ugh.  I know it's probably more accurate, but still, ugh.



* Note to those outside the U.S.:  The SATs are the standardized tests most 
college-bound kids take, and upon which a fair portion of many admissions 
decisions are based.

--Peter
(reading the LUG and occasionally updating the cnn.com page)


At 06:36 AM 11/2/04 -0800, Sonny wrote:
> > No lines,  no hassle when I took  this
> > picture.
> >
> > http://www.sonc.com/vote.htm

And Ken Frazier commented:
>How the mind does work!  As I looked at this one, Sonny, I couldn't help
>but imagine a teenager driving hard for the basket on a layup, and going
>right out those double doors!