[PHOTO] Government House, multilingual

This sign inviting people to Fanningbank, the official residence of the lieutenant governor, is multilingual. English is on the top, followed by the second official language of French, and the Chinese and Japanese languages originally associated with tourism.

[PHOTO] Abandoned plush, Dovercourt at Hallam

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• The Big Picture shares photos of motorbike racing in South Africa.


• Centauri Dreams considers the stellar weather that planets of red dwarf stars might encounter.


• Dead Things looks at two genetic studies which complicate the narrative of humanity's spread.


• Dangerous Minds shares the infamous anti-disco night of 1979 that spelled the end of the genre in North America.


• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers how one makes a home among strangers.


• Joe. My. God. notes that the UKIP MP claims the sun is responsible for the bulk of the Earth's tides not the moon, and reports on a Kentucky judge who says gays ruined straight men's ability to hug.


• Language Log looks at changing patterns of language usage in Japanese.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money mocks the cosmic perspective of Gary Johnson.


• The LRB Blog reports from devastated Lesbos.


• Maximos62 maps the smoke from this year's Indonesian fires.


• The NYRB Daily shares vintage photos from mid-1960s Cuba.


• The Planetary Society Blog reports on a recent tour of NASA facilities.


• Window on Eurasia reports on a call for a single Circassian alphabet, suggests a Russian initiative to use sufism to unite Russian Muslims will end badly, and argues that Russian criticism of language policy in post-Soviet countries is linked to geopolitics.

[ISL] On dual member proportional representation and the Island

"Electoral Reform: Dual Member Proportional Explained" (Watch on YouTube)

Facebook's Stephen shared the above video explaining dual-member proportional representation, an alternative to first-past-the-post voting that is being put up to a referendum in a couple of months on the Island.

The 1st seat in every district is awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes, similar to first-past-the-post voting (FPTP). The 2nd seat is awarded to one of the remaining district candidates so that proportionality is achieved across the region, using a calculation that aims to award parties their seats in the districts where they had their strongest performances.

[. . .]

Under DMP, a voter receives a district-specific ballot paper with several options. Each option is of one of the following types:

a pair of ranked candidates (primary and secondary) affiliated with the same party;
a sole candidate affiliated with a party;
an independent candidate.
Similar to FPTP, a voter selects one option on the ballot. The distinguishing feature of a DMP ballot is that parties may list two candidates. If a party nominates two candidates, a vote for the party initially supports the primary candidate. The secondary candidate is only considered if the primary candidate has won the district's 1st seat; in this case, the party's district votes are transferred to the secondary candidate at half their value. This gives the secondary candidate a chance to be elected as well, but the 50% weighting makes it challenging for a party to win both seats in a single district. In a typical district, the primary candidates of two different parties will be elected.

This is an interesting system. Were I able to vote, I might well go for this, as it does retain the democratic elements I have found lacking in other proposals.