h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for sharing this one!

It puts me in mind of the utter panic they had in New Jersey in the 1790s, when they found out the new state constitution had accidentally given women the vote.

Did they forget that women were people, or something?

Well, back in the 1780s, when they were doing this, the model for voting was that you had to be a 'stakeholder'. Sort of like the way h2g2 thinks - they wouldn't want outsiders voting, etc.

Well, to be a stakeholder meant you had to own property. So most of the Constitutions said you should be a head of household, property owner, over 21. That made sense to them.

In NJ, they just said property owner over 21, and that let the women in. They panicked. Silly of them, but they changed it later.

Now, Andrew Jackson, the first Scots-Irish president, got elected because they expanded the franchise to include all white men. See, that's what you get.

made it at last - been desperately trying to find time to read the celebrations & didn't realise this would be put up so soon.

Returning from my sojourn, I asked the lady behind the counter if I could speak to the owner (thinking of a better quality pic).
Without waiting for me to finish she stalked off in a huff "Oh. Not another one!"

Don't you sometimes think they'd be better without a voice?

I wouldn't touch that question with a barge pole.

Customer-hating counter assisstants, I meant. That was perfectly clear, even to the most rabid anti whatsit.

Wasn't it?

Oh, yeah, sure. Customer-hating counter assistants. Terrible, all of them. Should be replaced with Sirius Cybernetics robots with Genuine People Personalities.

Oh, wait. Maybe they have been...