OOO! Ooooh!
Gotcha CM!

A tie is more likely, at this point, to be 49-49, with 2 independents, and in a tie vote the vice president (ugh) votes the final vote, but of course, the biggest question in a tie is which party runs the senate, the scheduling of bills andassigns the committee chairs? I bet somebody out there knows this answer.

Damn you, gr. Alan, I highly recommend a cup of boiling water with a healthy shot of whisky in it every night before bed. Guaranteed to cure what ails ya.

gr: The appointment of committee members is made by the Senate itself. In the event of a 50/50 split this would leave committee appointments in the hands of the majority party, as ever, which in this case would be the Repulicans with their tie-breaking vote from Vice President Cheney in his role as President of the Senate.

Alan: I have a cherished memory of finding a sit-down version of Omega Race, one of the machines you literally climb inside and sit-down. I have yearned for it ever since.

Alan: As to your question I am not quite certain. In Canada, however, in the event of a tie in a Parliamentary riding, the constituency elections officer casts the deciding vote. In any election where the result is not a tie, the elections officer does not cast a vote. I would not be surprised if our cousins to the south have a comparable arrangement.

And while I am spamming this thread... what happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College in a Presidential race?

"The House of Representatives makes the decision with each state having one vote. Representatives of at least two-thirds of the states must be present for the vote. If they cannot decide by March 4, then the Vice President become President and the person receiving the largest number of Vice President votes becomes Vice President."

I marvel at the Enlightenment genius of this arrangement.

http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm#tie

The genius of Omega Race was the illusion of inertia, rounding the corners sideways sliding and spraying lazer blasts.

Chicken noodle soup with as much tabasco as you can bear - chased with three tylenols. Yummy! I like even when I'm not sick.

Galaxian was my game along with sundry pinball machines.

I see that Garnet Rogers is in KTown Nov. 23.

Yes, but Flea, then there is always th question of those 2 independents? Maybe it still comes down to a tie among the majority parties decided by the VEEP? Of course, dems will be lucky if there these kind of wins next week, but you don't celebrate in the eighth inning of course.
BTW, I agree with cm on the whisky, but perhaps straight up is more soothing to the throat?
As for women's hockey here at Cornell, and Dartmouth coming over....can you see it on TV, is that what you're saying? Cornell men's hockey is sold out for the season, but I don't know about the women's.
And I still wonder where the Buffalo Sabres are coming from, a real tough ass team so far.
Cornell vs Dartmouth football tomorrow and it is sooooo cold and windy....

I think the Flea is mistaken in the tie-breaking procedure within a federal riding during a general election. This is just based on my reading of the Election Act, I may be wrong, but the relevant sections appear to be:

313.(2) If there is an equality of votes between the candidates with the largest number of votes, the returning officer shall indicate that on the return of the writ.

318. If the return of the writ indicates an equality of votes between the candidates with the largest number of votes, the Chief Electoral Officer shall without delay

(a) prepare and send to the Speaker of the House of Commons or, if none, two members of the House or two candidates who have been declared elected, as the case may be, a report stating that no candidate was declared elected in the electoral district because of the equality of votes; and

(b) publish in the Canada Gazette

(i) the names of the candidates between whom there was an equality of votes, and

(ii) notice that, as no candidate was declared elected in the electoral district because of the equality of votes, a by-election will be conducted under subsection 29(1.1) of the Parliament of Canada Act.

gr: The mistake is to think in terms of parties. The 50/50 split to which I refer concerns Senators irrespective of whether they are aligned with a party or are independents. If both those hypothetical independents choose to vote with a party then those 52 members figure out who gets which committee seats. In most cases this would be handled more or less automatically by seniority and within the party. In the case of deciding votes by independents I would presume those independents would be offered a quid pro quo. If these two independents produce a split decision by choosing to support different parties, we revert to the Vice President casting the tie breaking vote.

Matt: Interesting. I was repeating what had been told to me by a rather close relative who was for many years a returning officer. Someone needs to forward the act to Elections Canada for clarification:

<i>For the judicial recount, the judge fixes a date within four days of the receipt of the affidavit, allowing sufficient time to carry out the count. The only people permitted to be present at the recount are the judge, the returning officer, and the candidates and their agents. If a candidate is neither present nor represented, three electors may request to be present on the candidate’s behalf. During the recount, the judge shall proceed to make the recount from the statements contained in the ballot boxes or to recount all the votes or ballot papers returned by the deputy returning officers. If the two candidates still have the same number of votes after the recount, <b>the returning officer casts the deciding vote</b>.</i>

http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=med&document=jun0597&dir=pre&lang=e&textonly=false

The Kingston Frontenacs were mentioned for 1.5 seconds on <i>The Colbert Report</i> which I just saw on a repeat from last night.

This is just one more thing I did not know about. I think Pizza Hunt is trying to sway the electorate with its "Family Value Meal" promotion launched just at this time in history.

Yeah, I was kinda thinking that way, flea. So basicaly if it is 49-49-2, then it all comes down to this: who offers Lieberman chair of which committee, for the majority. That guy could ask for anything he wants, from either side. I can't stand him. But in this case, the dems would have to offer one sweet deal
(remember Jeffords a couple of years ago? He flipped the control of the senate by going independent and got a nice chair out of it)
Again, we will be lucky if the races turn out this way or better.
I thought what Kerrey said was funny, in a black humor, Monty Python kinda way, but then there was that idiotic closeted preacher out in Colorado to take the focus off the dems and back to the hypocritical repubs. I mean, that guy really DID HAVE the keys to the white house.....whatta yutz.

Hey Galaxian was my game too, along with a pinball game called TimeLine.

I've missed Garnet's last few. I have his first 7 as well as the Doug McArthur and Archie Fisher albums. I liked "Night Drive" but I didn't immerse myself in it like his earlier albums; I think perhaps folkie music was garnering less of the Music Market That Is Me by that point. Alan's discussed "King of Rome" here recently; I know the song from Garnet but it is not one of his. But a song like "Small Victories" is just as great.

The songs from Garnet's earlier albums, before he started writing and recording his own, really helped inform my entire sense of folk music. I learned who Phil Ochs was through Garnet, for example. I'm sure I first heard of Mary Chapin Carpenter through him and ended up getting many of her excellent albums. Songs like "King of Rome", "The Outside Track", "American Jerusalem", "The Sliprails and the Spur" ... on and on. His earlier albums stand for me like a compiliation of great American, British and even Australian folk tradition. Once he started writing, he moved quickly into the firmament of folk music greats and living legends.

Galaga for me.

Galaga rocked. And Xevious, too. I have the MAME roms for both of them, now for the time to set up a computer to play ... :-D

Until 2000, I believe that the tiebreaker was a coin-toss...

"King of Rome" makes me cry. Every f*#$'ing time.

Raw frozen cranberry juice with no sugar added from the health food store is a pretty effective cold remedy.

Cranberry juice without sugar makes ME cry ...

Didn't realize that Galaga is a better game until a few years ago on a PS2 retro pack, but then again I didn't pop my head up from Galaxian enough to notice back then anyway.

I scored 350,000 in Centipede. I remember it being a Zen-like experience of trackball rolling, consciousness disconnected from the movements my hand was making.

<i>...I scored 350,000 in Centipede...</i><p>GOLD!!! PURE GOLD!!!

3 million plus....Missle Command. My cities lived forever!

OK, Marian, but really, whisky does the trick and is so much more FUN.

I have to get out my old computer and network it as it has a mid-90s Atari set of games. Missile Command is almost as good as Tempest. I recall the mall at Truro in @1979 had on of those sit down video machines for Missile Command. How we laughed at the "Game Over" nuclear explosion that blew up the world at the end of the game.

Oh Alan, do I have a gift for you. Last spring Post cereal gave out cd based games in the boxes. One was the 80 "best" Atari 2600 games. Oldies (pre galaga) but includes Adventure, missile command etc. I looked forward to it for weeks but when I played it, just like watching Gilligans Island, I realized that it was best remembered for what it was, not for what it is compared to modern fun stuff.

Ah ... I was never a Missle Command guy, though it was another trackball game. Strange.

The highest score I saw on Centipede was 600,000-ish. (it's like talking about about Hungarian currency)

Tempest was cool. Did you play Star Castle. Other great vector graphics games: Battlezone and of course the granddaddy of them all: Space Wars.

I also was pretty good at Wizard of Wor. I could get to the low teen levels if I remember correctly.

Most of these classics were released in 1980. 26 g*dd*mn years ago.

I remember the sit down wire frame Star Wars game.. that was so, so excellent.. and the sit down Tron game.

Star Castle! I made the "holy fuck!" face when I saw that screen. I lived for that game but totally forgot. Vector games, frankly, rule. I need a t-shirt that says that.

I think Tron is when I first started sitting out video games and just watch others play. SW and Tron were very very cool. Ah, maybe I should go look on Ebay? And get a bigger basement!

Star castle, oh man I loved that game. I played a whole weeks allowand and three sold comic books one saturday afternoon in Belleville at the century place arcade.

I think we should have a KSPC meeting at the arcade in Ktown some friday lunchhour.

I have a friend who has all his tees made. "Vector games rule"!

And now we're all old and soft and typing on computers at 8:10PM on Fridays...

I think I am going to download a whole whack of old arcade game music, throw them on my mp3 player and listen to them when I run at night.. if I coyote jumps out of the bushes I'll jump up in the air and land on it with my feet..

I note aloud that none of us have a life as it is friday at 8, we are posting comments and I am emailing Gary..

Just like high school on the phone except I have wine that belongs to ME and not stolen from my parents.

My server overlords introduced me to a great Tron emulator around 2002 that was a blast to play on their beefy design level servers. We may well inherit a 42 inch TV in a month an this Christmas may be the year home vector games come back into my life.

David, just like we were soft and spotty in 1980 amazed that The Pretenders had a song with the Space Invaders sound on it.

Video games ruined my D&D followed by Doctor Who nights in the 80s. :(

Now on Saturdays I Play D&D like games online (World of Warcraft) then watch my Doctor WHo tapes and DVDs.

But I drink MY wine now.. and promptly fall asleep at 11:30 on the couch.

Actually, I'm in far better shape today that I was in high school, despite being 35lbs heavier. (slowly working my way back to a 225 press...)

WoW has definitely ruined D&D. We used to play D&D Sunday afternoons and two nights a week. Here's our campaign chronicals.

If you are looking for Friday music, I recommend the NCPR folk show: live 8 to 9 as well the blues and beer podcast from Darcey at Dust My Broom like tonight's at http://www.dustmybroom.com/?p=4920

Oh my David.. You guys took photos? Neat.

We started playing again in 1994 and stopped in 1998 when I remarried and skedaddled to Ktown. Sigh...

Cool. I'll try to get the streaming broadcast going while I put the kids to bed and drag out my painting stuff.

Me and a pocketful of quarters wanna do the lunchtime KSPC arcade meeting. I like pinball, myself, and not because my wife always kicks my ass at pool.

Here's a SECRET: cm is a pinball wizard. Yep, never would have guessed it, eh?

When is your next northern tour opportunity, Gary?

The Union Station arcade is the best because no one knows it's there.

Grumble. I'm backonline..
I cannot get your station to stream for me Alan.
Stupid dialup.
Stupid lying Bell Canada who said I'd have high speed by Dec. 2005.

I'm firing up the Gamecube in T minus 20 to play Rainbow Six 3 and kill terrorists for a few hours. This from the guy that won't let his kids have toy guns. Little do they know that daddy has a secret electronic life as an ati-terrorist operative in teh evenings (when he isn't slaying dragons).

Gorthos: 11:30 am or pm?

David: Great chronicling. I couldn't stand the "sometimes" player. "I throw 50,000 daggers at his head!" (a real quote) Yeah right, sure you do.

Don Curtis’s an undisputed expert on multipurpose facilities article. [Oct 25 – Should the arena go ahead) and Bruce Todd’s, infactuations with the LVEC and its “democratic process” seems to embody the division of this communities understanding of a Large Venue Entertainment Project.

The fact is; Kingston’s 5000 seat LVEC on the North Block is one of the smallest in North America.

The “theories” to compare its future prospects to a 100,000 seat mega stadium lacks any legitimate resemblance or aptitude to even construe.

Don Curtis understands the difference!

As a VP and manager of three major multipurpose facilities. The CNE, Ontario Place and Canada’s Wonderland. His hands on expertise and training specifically in multipurpose venues is undeniable.

On the hand, Curtis's nemesis Bruce Todd seems to suggest he is an engineer of sorts, and experienced with such facilities.

Kingston has never experienced an LVEC. And Todd has only worked in this small town.

For the record though Todd is archetypal traffic analyst (one who conducts studies for traffic signal locations). - Period!

Education - he does not specifically say - which is strange. But, he certainly is NOT an engineer of any strip - let alone for LVEC related facilities.

Logistics is also not his strong suit for these facilities either. In fact; when asked what "drayage" is and how it is used with LVEC's - he had no clue.

This is LVEC 101 stuff! The questions only get harder from here......Todd.

He must have worked himself up to middle management position at best - and one wonders after 30 + years, should one not be gaining promotions? Maybe he has....

Todd’s article advocates community leaders had no right to form a task force or committee to gather information, investigate facilities and meet directly with LVEC planners and users to find a viable location for a new Memorial Centre. Todd’s principal complaint is “the democratic process” has been undermined with business interests and backroom deals.

Frankly; I cannot see it. Nor prove it.

And if it does not make sense it’s probably not true.

It is though perfectly reasonable to publicly form a committee of respected and scholarly individuals, or frankly neighborhood groups. Call it as you will but to organize meetings, solicit local interest groups, Government or union chapters for help with a burning issue is prominent in this city as in many.

I can only presume in KCAL, and many neighborhood tax or public associations rarely hold a formal vote to form a study committee.

And most cases including the Anglan Bay Task Force committee they are generally
dedicated volunteers receiving no pay and work with little or no resources.

I can only suggest in light of Todd's "infactuations", and Mr. Curtis "determination" with this subject like many of us, communication and open dialogue was warranted.

I although for this project and the communities lack of (historical experience with LVEC’s)

Small town - Kingston has NEVER had one...!!!!

I cannot understand why the City did not have a dedicated “spokesperson”...especially will all the 7 (seven) pent up million + dollar projects that are being finally done - after years of do-nothing!

(Kingston, ON from the 50's have done very little - as a small town.)

Although they "think" they are the capital of the Universe or better than T.O or anywhere!

This spokesperson or go to person: Needed to -

To organize public meetings, field (all) questions, call backs etc. - and through visual presentations and guest speakers from other LVEC communities – most of this "conspiracy theory and antidotal gossip" - remember its a small town - could have been avoided.

Don Curtis’s an undisputed expert on multipurpose facilities article. [Oct 25 – Should the arena go ahead) and Bruce Todd’s, infactuations with the LVEC and its “democratic process” seems to embody the division of this communities understanding of a Large Venue Entertainment Project.

The fact is; Kingston’s 5000 seat LVEC on the North Block is one of the smallest in North America.

The “theories” to compare its future prospects to a 100,000 seat mega stadium lacks any legitimate resemblance or aptitude to even construe.

Don Curtis understands the difference!

As a VP and manager of three major multipurpose facilities. The CNE, Ontario Place and Canada’s Wonderland. His hands on expertise and training specifically in multipurpose venues is undeniable.

On the hand, Curtis's nemesis Bruce Todd seems to suggest he is an engineer of sorts, and experienced with such facilities.

Kingston has never experienced an LVEC. And Todd has only worked in this small town.

For the record though Todd is archetypal traffic analyst (one who conducts studies for traffic signal locations). - Period!

Education - he does not specifically say - which is strange. But, he certainly is NOT an engineer of any strip - let alone for LVEC related facilities.

Logistics is also not his strong suit for these facilities either. In fact; when asked what "drayage" is and how it is used with LVEC's - he had no clue.

This is LVEC 101 stuff! The questions only get harder from here......Todd.

He must have worked himself up to middle management position at best - and one wonders after 30 + years, should one not be gaining promotions? Maybe he has....

Todd’s article advocates community leaders had no right to form a task force or committee to gather information, investigate facilities and meet directly with LVEC planners and users to find a viable location for a new Memorial Centre. Todd’s principal complaint is “the democratic process” has been undermined with business interests and backroom deals.

Frankly; I cannot see it. Nor prove it.

And if it does not make sense it’s probably not true.

It is though perfectly reasonable to publicly form a committee of respected and scholarly individuals, or frankly neighborhood groups. Call it as you will but to organize meetings, solicit local interest groups, Government or union chapters for help with a burning issue is prominent in this city as in many.

I can only presume in KCAL, and many neighborhood tax or public associations rarely hold a formal vote to form a study committee.

And most cases including the Anglan Bay Task Force committee they are generally
dedicated volunteers receiving no pay and work with little or no resources.

I can only suggest in light of Todd's "infactuations", and Mr. Curtis "determination" with this subject like many of us, communication and open dialogue was warranted.

I although for this project and the communities lack of (historical experience with LVEC’s)

Small town - Kingston has NEVER had one...!!!!

I cannot understand why the City did not have a dedicated “spokesperson”...especially will all the 7 (seven) pent up million + dollar projects that are being finally done - after years of do-nothing!

(Kingston, ON from the 50's have done very little - as a small town.)

Although they "think" they are the capital of the Universe or better than T.O or anywhere!

This spokesperson or go to person: Needed to -

To organize public meetings, field (all) questions, call backs etc. - and through visual presentations and guest speakers from other LVEC communities – most of this "conspiracy theory and antidotal gossip" - remember its a small town - could have been avoided.

Don Curtis’s an undisputed expert on multipurpose facilities article. [Oct 25 – Should the arena go ahead) and Bruce Todd’s, infactuations with the LVEC and its “democratic process” seems to embody the division of this communities understanding of a Large Venue Entertainment Project.

The fact is; Kingston’s 5000 seat LVEC on the North Block is one of the smallest in North America.

The “theories” to compare its future prospects to a 100,000 seat mega stadium lacks any legitimate resemblance or aptitude to even construe.

Don Curtis understands the difference!

As a VP and manager of three major multipurpose facilities. The CNE, Ontario Place and Canada’s Wonderland. His hands on expertise and training specifically in multipurpose venues is undeniable.

On the hand, Curtis's nemesis Bruce Todd seems to suggest he is an engineer of sorts, and experienced with such facilities.

Kingston has never experienced an LVEC. And Todd has only worked in this small town.

For the record though Todd is archetypal traffic analyst (one who conducts studies for traffic signal locations). - Period!

Education - he does not specifically say - which is strange. But, he certainly is NOT an engineer of any strip - let alone for LVEC related facilities.

Logistics is also not his strong suit for these facilities either. In fact; when asked what "drayage" is and how it is used with LVEC's - he had no clue.

This is LVEC 101 stuff! The questions only get harder from here......Todd.

He must have worked himself up to middle management position at best - and one wonders after 30 + years, should one not be gaining promotions? Maybe he has....

Todd’s article advocates community leaders had no right to form a task force or committee to gather information, investigate facilities and meet directly with LVEC planners and users to find a viable location for a new Memorial Centre. Todd’s principal complaint is “the democratic process” has been undermined with business interests and backroom deals.

Frankly; I cannot see it. Nor prove it.

And if it does not make sense it’s probably not true.

It is though perfectly reasonable to publicly form a committee of respected and scholarly individuals, or frankly neighborhood groups. Call it as you will but to organize meetings, solicit local interest groups, Government or union chapters for help with a burning issue is prominent in this city as in many.

I can only presume in KCAL, and many neighborhood tax or public associations rarely hold a formal vote to form a study committee.

And most cases including the Anglan Bay Task Force committee they are generally
dedicated volunteers receiving no pay and work with little or no resources.

I can only suggest in light of Todd's "infactuations", and Mr. Curtis "determination" with this subject like many of us, communication and open dialogue was warranted.

I although for this project and the communities lack of (historical experience with LVEC’s)

Small town - Kingston has NEVER had one...!!!!

I cannot understand why the City did not have a dedicated “spokesperson”...especially will all the 7 (seven) pent up million + dollar projects that are being finally done - after years of do-nothing!

(Kingston, ON from the 50's have done very little - as a small town.)

Although they "think" they are the capital of the Universe or better than T.O or anywhere!

This spokesperson or go to person: Needed to -

To organize public meetings, field (all) questions, call backs etc. - and through visual presentations and guest speakers from other LVEC communities – most of this "conspiracy theory and antidotal gossip" - remember its a small town - could have been avoided.

Mike: pm.. I used to be able to stay up forever but a couple of years of getting up at 5:30 and still trying to stay up till midnight each night have wreaked havoc on my system.. couple of drinks and I fall asleep playing warcraft waking up to the beeps of messages and seeing my character run of fof clifs and into walls while my co-players laugh at me. Just like real life I guess.

North? Moi? Well, maybe in the spring? I have a pocket full of loonies, too, thanks to one of my Canadian shoppers, but you know, duty-free may chew all that up.
Cornell-Penn football Nov 18....??? Think about it Alan and KSPC. Sure, 4 hours driving each way to sit in cold weather and all......
On my way to Cornell-Dartmouth shortly, and the weather is unexpectedly gorgeous.

That gorthos is funny.

We are a couple of sniffles from NCAA hockey at 4 pm. Have to see how we go. Is the Penn game the last of the season?

Yes, the Penn game is the season's last. Cornell-Penn is the 2nd longest continous rivalry in college football. (Lafayette-Lehigh slightly longer)
Those teams hate each other and it is a good matchup this year. Cornell has won big against Colgate and Princeton, big upsets this year, and Dartmouth should be an easy one today. Fingers crossed. Mostly I am going to soak up the sun and watch the cheerleaders. I mean.....
Hey, enjoy that hockey later today. Doesn't your cousin play for the Dartmouth women? Gotta check that out here myself--strong women, skates, sticks, pucks: good combo.

Don't you people care about English Premier League Soccer..
Its 72 min into the game and Man U, the greatest team in the history of the game, all those that deny such are truly misinformed, is winning against Portsmouth 3-0..

W00t

...and this crappy weather is blowing in from Canada.....

Alan, your Arse teamis playing West Ham tomorrow. Should be an easy win one would think. Chelski on the other hand, they play Tottenham, my other fave team.

I see that McCarthy (jacka$$) spoke to my hero Roy:
http://www.4thegame.com/club/sunderland-fc/news/195674/mccarthy_clears_the_air.html

The photographer is Steve Hart, who strangely enough is now a Kingstonagonian. He started scanning his photos a few years ago, to the amusement and embarassment of us all.

Cornell 28, Dartmouth 25, my body temperature minus 23. That dang wind comes zipping right down from Ontario straight through wooley layers....