Month: December 2016

No election cycle would be complete without a debate over whether or not the Electoral College should be abolished. But have we ever come close to actually replacing the system that everyone loves to hate?

Almost, once. It all started when Nixon was elected.

The 1968 presidential election season was messy and contentious. The Vietnam War, widespread race riots, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and lame duck LBJ’s dissolving popularity created a perfect political storm for a third-party candidate. In 1968, that candidate was former Alabama Governor George Wallace, who ran on the American Independent Party ticket against Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Hubert Humphrey.

Wallace’s pro-segregation platform was popular in the South, and when the ballots were counted, he’d snagged 46 of the available 538 electoral votes. Though Nixon garnered 301 electoral votes and Humphrey went home with 191, the two were separated by less than 1 percent of the national total—just 510,314 votes. The disparity between the popular and electoral votes, as well as Wallace’s success, led New York State Representative Emanuel Celler to introduce House Joint Resolution 681, a proposed Amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a system that required a president-vice president pair of candidates to win 40 percent or more of the national vote. In the event of a tie, or if no pair reached 40 percent, a runoff election would be held between the two tickets with the highest number of votes.

Proponents argued that this system was friendlier to third parties (while not being too friendly to third parties, as 50 percent was deemed to be), less complicated, and would never result in contingent elections by the Senate and House for President and Vice President (which is a possibility with the Electoral College).

The Amendment was passed easily by the House Judiciary Committee in April 1969. By September of the same year, Celler’s Amendment passed with strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.

President Nixon endorsed the proposal and urged the Senate to pass its version, now called the Bayh-Celler Amendment after it was sponsored by Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana. A Senate Judiciary Committee approved the proposal with a vote of 11-6 in August 1970.

But things looked grim for the Bayh-Celler Amendment as the proposal prepared to move to the Senate floor. The measure was expected to fall short of the 67 votes needed to pass, so Bayh called Nixon for backup. While he never withdrew his support, the President didn’t call for any more favors regarding the Amendment. On September 17, 1970, the Bayh-Celler Amendment was met with a hearty filibuster from both parties, mostly from Southern states.

Senators from Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, Hawaii, and South Carolina argued that they would lose influence in the national election, and even though the Electoral College is complicated and has some potentially messy loopholes, it had served the country well and there was no real reason to change it. But most explicit in his reasoning was Carl Curtis of Nebraska, who said, “My state of Nebraska has 92/100ths of 1 percent of the electoral vote. Based on the last election, we had 73/100ths of the popular vote. I am not authorized to reduce the voting power of my state by 20 percent.”

It was the beginning of the end for the best attempt in history to abolish the Electoral College. Eventually, the Senate voted to lay the Amendment aside to attend to other business. It officially died with the close of the 91st Congress on January 3, 1971.

A version of this story appeared in 2012.

Deaf kids who visit the Regency Mall in Racine, Wisconsin, this year will have a chance to tell Santa what they want directly. In an interview with local news station WQAD 8, Santa explained, “the children appreciate the idea that they can come and talk to me, talk to Santa without having to go through their parents or their siblings to interpret for them.”

The idea that Santa should be able to communicate with children who have different language needs is becoming more popular. Last year, a video of Santa signing with a little girl at a shopping center in Middlesbrough, England, went viral. That shopping center will once again feature “the world famous Signing Santa” this year.

Signing Santa doesn’t just benefit kids who sign; he can help bring sign language to everyone. Tomorrow in Toronto, a Christmas market will be hosting not only a signing Santa, but a whole program of events related to sign language in cooperation with the Deaf Culture Center there. The program is open to all, and perfect for the spirit of the season.

Paris officials are turning an urban problem into a public service: They’re selling the city’s “love locks” as souvenirs and donating the proceeds to refugee groups, The Guardian reports.

For traveling couples, the padlocks they affixed to the iron grills of the French city’s bridges, initials scrawled on the surface, were a symbol of romance. But to Parisian officials, they were a civil danger. Fearing that the locks would weaken overpasses like the Pont des Arts, they began dismantling the metal trinkets in 2015.

Left with one million padlocks (which totaled 65 metric tons of scrap metal), authorities needed a creative way to repurpose the waste. So they decided to sell 10 metric tons of locks to members of the public, marketing them as relics of the city’s bygone history.

“Members of the public can buy five or 10 locks, or even clusters of them, all at an affordable price,” Bruno Julliard, first deputy mayor of Paris, said in a statement quoted by The Guardian. “All of the proceeds will be given to those who work in support and in solidarity of the refugees in Paris.”

The sale is slated to take place in 2017, and it’s expected to raise as much as €100,000. As for the remainder of Paris’s love locks, they will be scrapped and sold.

Paris isn’t the only city that’s sick of its love locks. Last summer, the city of Portland, Maine, got rid of “Love Locks Fence”— a 30-foot chain link fence on the city’s Commercial Street—fearing the weight of the padlocks would weaken the fence and cause it to collapse. The plan is to replace it with a new, specially-designed fence, with a wave-like shape intended to make it harder for people to fasten padlocks to the barricade.

[h/t The Guardian]

A group of Hollywood’s most famous names—Johnny Depp and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch, to name a few—helped a teen horror fan with stage four kidney cancer make his very own zombie movie, Metro.co.uk reports.

Anthony Conti, 16, is an emerging filmmaker and creator of The Satanic Zucchini Show, a comedy and sci-fi YouTube series. He also wrote a short film called The Black Ghiandol, in which a young man—played by Conti himself—“risks his life to save the girl he loves, after his family is wiped out during a zombie apocalypse,” a synopsis reads (as quoted by Metro.co.uk).

Instead of letting the script languish on his computer hard drive, Conti ended up turning the project into a real-life movie. The Make A Film Foundation—a nonprofit organization that helps teens or children with serious medical conditions create short films with the help of a star-studded cast and crew—caught wind of his project, and offered to lend him a hand.

The Black Ghiandol ended up starring Depp and Lynch, along with actors Laura Dern and J.K. Simmons. As for its directors, they included horror movie heavy-hitter Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, 1981), Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, 2008), and Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent, 2014).

The movie shoot ran for five days, and the film is currently in post-production. Check out some pictures taken during the filming process below, or watch a video of Conti describing his project.

[Metro.co.uk]

Unless you make all your purchases online, you’ll probably have to interact with a salesperson at one time or another this holiday season. Although most salespeople don’t try to intimidate or manipulate you into buying items you neither need nor want, it helps to know how to handle the ones that do. Whether you’re shopping for a car, gym membership, or toaster, here are eight tips for dealing with aggressive salespeople.

1. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ASSERTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE.

There can be a fine line between being assertive and aggressive, and it’s up to you to distinguish between a salesperson who’s annoyingly overeager and one who will say anything to make a sale. If you’re waffling on whether to make a purchase, an assertive salesperson may provide more information or respectfully ask you what he can do to help you make your decision. An aggressive salesperson, on the other hand, may threaten to revoke a discounted price, complain that your indecision is wasting his time, or refuse to accept that you don’t want to make a purchase.

2. BE MINDFUL OF YOUR EMOTIONS.

Good salespeople are skilled at reading customers’ emotions and examining their body language to determine if they’re going to buy an item. But aggressive salespeople can use this skill to manipulate customers into buying something they don’t really want.

Depending on the product they’re trying to sell, salespeople for insurance plans or gym memberships may try to persuade you by capitalizing on your fears about death, money, health, or vanity. When you’re speaking with a salesperson, pay close attention to your emotions and listen to your gut. Watch out for salespeople who sound phony when they make small talk, reveal too much personal information (to try to become your friend), or make you feel guilty about not buying a product.

3. PRESENT A UNITED FRONT.

If you’re shopping for big-ticket items such as a car, boat, or house, salespeople may try to pit you and your spouse against each other. Beware of salespeople who try to physically separate you from your spouse, coax you to agree to a higher price than your partner, or appeal to your spouse’s sense of manhood or womanhood. Before you go shopping with your partner, decide on your budget, buying strategy, and any non-negotiables.

4. DON’T FALL FOR ARTIFICIAL DEADLINES.

To try to close a deal, aggressive salespeople often put time pressure on a customer. By giving customers made-up deadlines, salespeople exploit impulse buyers and appeal to customers’ fear of missing out on a good deal. To be sure, some stores run legitimate limited-time sales that put true deadlines on customers. Generally, though, if a salesperson tells you that you must buy an item now, and says that you’re not allowed to take time to think about it or do more research, consider that a red flag.

5. REGISTER YOUR PHONE NUMBERS ON THE DO NOT CALL REGISTRY.

Some salespeople (and scammers) make cold calls, hoping that someone they talk to will buy their product. Register your home and cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to stop receiving telemarketing calls. But keep in mind that some telemarketers will still call phone numbers listed on the registry, so file a complaint or block their numbers. If a salesperson somehow gets you on the phone, politely tell her that you’re not interested and you want to be removed from her call list. Don’t feel guilty about cutting her off, not answering her questions, or hanging up.

6. BE MINDFUL OF COMMISSIONS.

Some salespeople earn a percentage of every product they sell, and this potential to make a commission can turn salespeople into predators. Be aware that a car salesman who’s telling you why you’d be foolish not to buy an extended warranty or a bridal consultant who insists the dress isn’t complete without a veil may earn a commission on every add-on he sells. Take time to do your own research on the product you’re buying in order to take the salesperson’s advice with a grain of salt. And when you’re making a big purchase, it doesn’t hurt to bring along a friend who can offer a second opinion; this way you don’t need to place as much trust in the salesperson’s praise (“That dress looks perfect on you!”) or fear tactics. (On the flip side, if you have a good experience with a salesperson who is likely earning a commission but need to take some time to think, be sure to ask for her by name when you return to the store.)

7. DON’T BE AFRAID TO REPEAT YOURSELF.

Pushy salespeople know that their persistence can wear you down and break your resolve. If you don’t want to buy something or need more time to think, be firm—and use unequivocal terms like “I don’t” or “I won’t” rather than “I can’t.” Politely tell the salesperson that you’re not going to make a purchase, and repeat yourself if they keep pushing. Most “people pleasers” will find it challenging to hold their ground, but remember that your first priority is to yourself, not the salesperson.

8. HAVE COMPASSION.

Aggressive salespeople are simply trying to do their job to the best of their ability, so don’t take it personally if you encounter a rude or forceful one. Even if a salesperson annoys or frustrates you, try to be polite and calm. Be firm if you’re not interested in what they’re selling, and ask to speak to a different salesperson or leave the store, if necessary.

The digital revolution is in full swing, but music lovers around the world still appreciate the beauty of the B-side. As NME reports, vinyl sales in the UK eclipsed digital album downloads last week for the first time in history, according to data provided by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).

The ERA—a UK trade organization representing retailers who sell physical and digital entertainment products—says that in Week 48 of 2016 (that’s Monday, November 28 through Sunday, December 4), purchasers spent £2.4 million on vinyl. During the same time span, only £2.1 million was spent on digital album downloads.

These numbers illustrate a substantial shift in purchasing patterns from the same period last year, when audiophiles only spent £1.2 million on vinyl albums but shelled out £4.4 million on music downloads. Music lovers often prefer vinyl albums for their superior sound quality, but the question remains: Why are record sales exploding, especially when digital downloading platforms are now so ubiquitous?

The ERA attributes the phenomenon to factors including Record Store Day Black Friday (a new record sales promotional event held the day after Thanksgiving, modeled on the popular Record Store Day holiday), along with the increasing amount of retailers—ranging from music stores to supermarkets—that now sell records. In short, vinyl records are trendy again. Also, the BBC points out, album downloads have declined since streaming services (like Spotify and Pandora) have become more popular.

“This is yet further evidence of the ability of music fans to surprise us all,” said ERA chief Kim Bayley in a statement (quoted by the BBC). “It’s not so long ago that the digital download was meant to be the future. Few would have predicted that an album format, first invented in 1948 and based on stamping a groove into a piece of plastic, would now be outselling it in 2016.”

[h/t NME]