Heeyyyy... so yeah... I might have made a typo.  Anyway, it's fixed, but for a week and a half, nothing was going through.  I would have caught it earlier, but I've been away from my desktop.  It's fixed, and I just confirmed applications are going through as normal on both accounts, though.

I feel confident enough that I will now be giving the login info to His Majesty, and from that point on, no one in the Government will have access to it.  It will be a secure backup.

If possible, I'd like to open up some discussion on Ziu reform.  This has been a topic of perennial interest to many, and I think it might be smart to have a good-faith discussion about some possibilities that might be useful for us.  We just recently switched to a 20-seat Cosa instead of a 200-seat Cosa, but that doesn't fundamentally change that much.

A few things from my perspective, to begin:

• We should probably err on the side of preserving things like the Senats, as an important institution that has often been important to slowing down the pace of very significant legislation (without ever actually becoming an undemocratic block on it forever) and as a provincial representative.  So at least for me, I wouldn't want to make changes that would just be an obvious set-up to eliminating the Senats. 
• There are numerous good things we should try to achieve: proportionality, direct accountability, low barriers to entry, simplicity, intuitiveness, and ease of implementation.  Not all of these are equally important, but we should be honest about trade-offs.
• While we're a highly educated people, with 71% of our citizens holding some form of college degree, we have a majority of American-Talossans, and so most of our electorate is going to be familiar with our current system and then their own American one.  In recent elections, many people failed to use RCV even when directly and repeatedly instructed to do so.  Simplicity is going to be key!

Some people have been talking about Mixed-Member Proportional systems.  As best I understand it, this entails people voting for a candidate for their area and also for a party.  Each candidate wins based on the local vote, and then a big chunk of seats are divided up according to the national party vote.  Sometimes it's always the same number of seats, and sometimes it's a fluid number that varies depending on how many additional seats are needed to make the results very proportional.  There's also a version where the plurality party gets a "majority bonus" of extra seats.

So what are some ideas people might have about this system, or a different system that might work better?

Thankfully :)

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on April 19, 2026, 03:32:27 PMI believe Breneir can change his ways. All he has to do is to apologize to Lüc in a way that Lüc accepts, and this ends.

I endorse this 100%.  A real apology, rather than "I'm sorry if you felt harmed by my completely okay actions" would be great for everyone and show that he felt that his behavior was actually wrong.

Quote from: Alexandreu Soleiglhfred on April 20, 2026, 12:55:33 PMAzul, fellow Talossans! Azul, Your Majesty!

I am greatly excited and humbled to be welcomed to Wittenberg once more, this time as a guest. It feels good knowing I'm remembered for whatever - good or bad - I did as a citizen and I'm grateful for that!

It's been almost seven years. Time sure flies, doesn't it? So many things happened since a rather haphazard and unstable final period of my citizenship was over. Talossa taught me and gave me so much, I am who I am partly because of it.

The 5 louis coin is the most unique feature of my numismatic collection, kept safe in my drawer. The C3-PO figurine I won during the Maricopan Poker Tournament is also forever with me, standing proudly at my work desk. Looking at it makes me smile, and only a few people know why.

I made a bit of research and was happy to learn that Talossa is alive, vibrant, evolving but still maintaining its soul. Seeing familiar people still here is also very pleasant! Is the ModRad spirit alive and kicking? :)

So, yeah, thanks again for welcoming me! I will be happy to observe and chime in sometimes :)

So glad to see you back, and I'm glad you still have Talossa in your heart!  Like a lot of people have found over the years, it's a hard place to leave behind, even if sometimes you need a break.

Give some thought to maybe immigrating again -- I bet that ModRad spirit would still be a great thing for our little nation!

Looks fancy!

-SVA

My team is also - well, not last, since we beat somebody - but...

The important thing is that we all had fun?

Congratulations to the new armigers!

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on April 18, 2026, 10:58:24 PMSomeone explain Brenier's crime to me like I was ten years old. He said he thought Lüc was cute? Is there more that I happened to miss?

https://database.talossa.com/ziu/bills/61RZ13

Yes, Your Majesty.

-SVA

It looks like that's the whole ball of wax for awards this time around.  When I open that image, it's a pretty good resolution even when I enlarge it.

Any volunteers to help His Majesty with the grant?  @Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat ?  @Cresti d. I. Nouacastra?

-SVA

We're going to add it to the next honours, @Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be .

-SVA

@Béneditsch Ardpresteir , what do we think at this point?

-SVA

Certainly, Your Majesty.  I'll do a quick look around and make sure we didn't miss anything.  Would you like me to ask a herald to help you put the grant together after I do that?

-SVA

Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on April 15, 2026, 02:23:45 PM

Quote from: Carteir Montagnhă on April 15, 2026, 01:55:23 PMespecially the Seneschal or any other government official?

Funny enough, I got inspired to make a concept like that when it was announced that ID cars would be made again and the Seneschal himself saw the concept.

Well, I can only once again extend an offer for you to do stuff like this on behalf of the people, working in the government. We can chat about the exact terms in private message, if you're interested.

I acknowledge your resignation, but I hope you will change your mind about leaving the country. You have always talked yourself down and thought that you didn't belong, but that's never been true. You've been an exemplary member of the government, and I will carry forth your insights on the law and fix what you found, even if you do go.

I do recognize that this remains an uncomfortable situation with Breneir. It's hard to hold the line on this and say that if someone wants to rehabilitate themselves, the first step is accepting responsibility. It would be a lot easier to shrug and say that it's been a year since he harassed another citizen, so let's just sweep it under the rug. But sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if it's awkward and difficult.

I hope you change your mind.

Quote from: Carteir Montagnhă on April 14, 2026, 10:27:50 AMthank you!

No problem!  There's a lot of stuff beyond that which I'm sure I forgot, but just snoop around and get back into things, and you'll remember.  Glad to have you back!

I don't know how long you've been gone, but a lot has happened recently!  Assuming you haven't checked in since your last post in September:

Politically: there was an election, and the Progressive Alliance won the most seats but not quite a majority.  We had a coalition with the IDF, and then their leader (who's still figuring things out) said some ignorant stuff and we broke the coalition but they continued to support us.  We also have a coalition with the Independent Greens in some kind of way, and we have a confidence-and-supply agreement with the URL.  So the Green Party is the Opposition right now, mostly because none of the other parties with form any kind of alliance with a party led by a sex pest.  Oh, and I'm the Seneschal.

Legally: there have been some big reforms, such as getting rid of the Seneschal's ability to permanently make new laws, adding a check to the immigration system by mirroring applications to an independent account, and changing the Cosa to only 20 seats in size (this hasn't come into effect yet).

Culturally: the music contest TMT finished up, hockey is in the playoffs, there's a new political science institute, the prime minister's patriotic award is set to be the first physical award sent to Talossans, we're systematically investigating and reporting back on other micronations with volunteers,  and we're making promotional videos now.

That's all that comes to mind off the top of my head.

Okay, at this point I have printed out 40, which is probably plenty enough for years to come. I'm going to have an announcement sent out to everyone to let them know about the availability, with pictures, and then we'll aim to get them sent out by the end of next month.

I didn't record it. It seems like it will be more casual and fun if informal and not recorded. I don't want people feeling like any information they share about their life during a casual chat is going to be available on the internet forever, you know?

Weekend mornings are usually a good time for this for me, and I think for the king. Do those work for you, or should we try to find a different time for people on a different schedule?