First off, I’m an American. Born a stone’s throw from the location of one of the critical events in the history of the American revolution.

To answer the question, no. Leaving aside the whole Republic versus democracy argument, my point of realization was when one party seized upon a minor technical issue and disenfranchised countless voters via lawsuit, sufficient to allow the race to be called in their favor.

I’m sure there are many readers who believe I’m talking about 2016. For those readers, your keyword search is “hanging Chad”.

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That would be a nice change, actually.

People in my own office don’t listen to me, why would anyone on the street?

What’s funny is, most people on the ground that I have talked to about this issue agree that the world would be objectively better. They just don’t want to make the effort if it would benefit somebody if they don’t agree with.

Given that you aren’t the only audience to a response, even someone who recognizes that it’s a joke might add a little bit of context about, I don’t know, how melting the fastener might contaminate the sample or grinding the fasteners might cause dust and sparks that could also contaminate the sample, so on and so forth.

That all being said, are you okay? Kneejerk responses like that don’t usually come from good places.

When read in the only proper order, it translates (for the non-technical types), to February 23rd, 2029.