Yes. Sleeve of secrecy. I think that should be the name of the next Bond movie. It makes about as much sense as Quantum of Solace.
What kind of measurement is a quantum of solace? Is it just shy of a quark? Is it a unit of cosmic plasma? Is it a futuristic measurment of time, just like in the original "Battlestar Gallactica" when they would say, "I'll be there in a centon."?
I love the secrecy sleeve that polling places give you for voting. It's like that cover paper that some teachers asked us to use during tests in school. I would hover over my test and try to use my pointy elbows to prevent any dummies from looking at my paper. The cover paper made it just a wee bit easier to thwart their dummy eyes.
I was a nerd in school, see.
I wonder if anyone tries to "cheat" while voting. Do people lean over to other voters and say, "What did you get on Referendum B? I don't know whether to carry the one." Then the other voter gives the "cheater" a mean glance and pulls his pointy elbows and secrecy sleeve menacingly over his ballot.
When voting last Friday (Halloween!) for early voting, Phil and I prepared ourselves with a cheat sheet. It looked just like a not-so-sly attempt to cheat on a test. A long list of amendments and referendums were ahead of us, so I knew that if we didn't have our thoughts written down, we'd both still be in those booths.
Ding dang, Colorado. Couldn't you find any more random amendments to add to the ballot? I really think you should have added a third sheet to the process. How about this one: Shall the Colorado Constitution be amended such that common questions from children will be answered with a straightforward yes or no without further explanation? For example, is the sky blue? Yes. No further discussion.
These are my thoughts on election day. I hope you enjoy Harry Potter and the Sleeve of Secrecy.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sleeve of secrecy
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6 beautiful people muttered something back:
How about Indiana Jones and The Sleeve of Secrecy?
Here in beautiful East Central Illinois (yes, it is as exciting as it sounds), we have red, white & blue curtains hiding us from other voters, so no cheating allowed!
But when we lived in Cook County Illinois (Home of People Trying to Steal Elections!), I always brought a cheat sheet, of judges whose decisions I did not agree with, and all the propositions on the ballot and shit, and made a copy for my husband, because I am bossy like that. That is why it maybe appeared that Obama was milking the booth time on the news this morning. But really, the ballot in Cook County has always been really, reallllly long.
My voting here took me two minutes, and there was only one other person there when I was.
You didn't really point out that our early voting procedure involved an actual paper ballot that we marked with actual pencils and then put into an actual metal box after we voted. It was very old timey, not like these fancy new computing machines that screw everything up. The Secrecy Sleeve just made the whole thing that much more thrilling and mysterious, although I noticed that you pulled your ballot out of the sleeve before putting it into the lock box, while I slid it out of the sleeve directly into the receptacle so that no one could see the secret contents of my ballot (and my heart).
No, that was the rejected name before they decided on Quantum Leap.
I aided and abetted, because I was the nerd who wanted to be liked too much. I confess: in earth science, we'd be talking hockey, but it really was code for the multiple choice questions. The teacher never caught on!
I think Harry Potter definitely wins the Sleeve of Secrecy contest. I voted, I didn't cheat, we didn't have any amendments or propositions to deal with, and several of our choices were running uncontested. Those are the easy ones.
We had no sleeves of secrecy or multi-colored curtains. Paper and a pen and a little plastic on three sides of the table. My five-year-old son watched me casting my ballot and let me know that I forgot to fill in some of the bubbles.
I found you via NaBloPoMo and you made me laugh. I laugh, therefore I comment.
Thanks!
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