In 2015, two #UChicago alumni set out to build a website that could educate voters about down-ballot candidates and issues—as well as the popular ones.
Five years later, their project BallotReady has reached more than 9 million voters, covered 95,000 candidates and raised more than $2.2 million for its efforts: http://ms.spr.ly/6181TjZpP
Show of force in Istanbul
As officials prepare to expand the museum next year, they are wrestling with the question of how to make this Nobel-winning author of weighty tomes approachable to coming generations weaned on Twitter messages and status updates.
如今和将来的几代人从小就习惯于推特简讯和动态更新，如何让他们对这位诺贝尔获奖作家的鸿篇巨制感兴趣呢？官方准备明年扩建博物馆，所以，他们正想尽办法解决这个问题。
Gingrich’s Ballot Miss Could Shake Voters’ Confidence
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
The failure to qualify for the Republican primary ballot in Virginia poses several problems for Newt Gingrich’s campaign.
Beckii Cruel, from the Isle of Man, shows her stuff in Tokyo's Akihabara district in October. (SHIGEYORI MIYAMOTO/THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)
LONDON--In a feat of reverse exchange, the latest Japanese cultural export is being reimported with a foreign twist.
It is the "moe idol," a female with the budding innocence of certain characters in the world of anime. A moe idol possesses a nymph-like quality that makes her the object of admiration or fixation by male fans.
Now comes Beckii Cruel, a 14-year-old resident of Britain's Isle of Man who is gaining popularity in Japan among moe fans.
Web videos of her dancing to bouncy J-pop and anime theme songs have been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube and other websites.
Testimony to the spreading influence of Japan's anime subculture, the innocent mystique surrounding the foreign moe idol has grabbed the attention and imagination of many Japanese anime geeks.
With her small face, large doe-like eyes, and long, slender limbs, Beckii looks pretty much like the girl next door.
She's pretty, but approachable, without the aura of someone with superstar celebrity status.
When we caught up with her here last fall at London's Heathrow Airport as she was preparing to leave for Japan, Beckii seemed surprised to learn that a girl living on an island with only about 80,000 people could become adored by fans thousands of kilometers away.
The daughter of a policeman and a former dance instructor, Beckii said she first became interested in Japanese cartoons and comics three years ago when she picked up a translated copy of "Fruits Basket," a Japanese girls' manga created by Natsuki Takaya.
Since then, she has been voraciously reading Japanese comics and viewing anime clips on the Internet.
It wasn't long before she decided to record videos of herself dancing to anime themes in the attic of her home.
Last fall, she released her first DVD: "Kawaii Nimo Hodo ga Aru" (Too cute to be real). She makes her singing debut in Japan next month with the release of a CD.
Toshiyuki Inoue, a journalist who covers the information technology beat, sums up the popularity of moe artists like Beckii: "The perceived virtual existence and borderless nature (surrounding her) are a catalyst for stirring fantasies."
Freelance writer Kaori Sakurai said that the otaku (geeks) who worship subculture madonnas often in real life tend to avoid pretty girls, who would simply write them off as "gross."
Beckii wins them over by projecting herself as just another fan of anime songs and anime, just like they are.
Other anime idols from abroad are also making inroads in Japan.
Himeka, a Canadian woman who covers anime theme songs, has released two singles featuring tunes such as the closing theme of the popular "Tegami Bachi" (Letter bee) anime series.
She said she was first drawn to Japanese anime by "Sailor Moon," the anime series based on manga by Naoko Takeuchi, and other cartoons available overseas on DVD or the Internet.
Neko Jump, a pair of 20-year-old Thai twin sisters, made its debut in Japan late last year, with songs from the "Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzuu" anime program.
According to Go Shukuri of King Record Co., which released Neko Jump's single, foreign singing and dancing artists present "a warped image of Japanese 'moe' culture, as well as a different perspective of the phenomenon from the Japanese.
"Those differences create a new subject for moe (affection)," he said.
It is the "moe idol," a female with the budding innocence of certain characters in the world of anime. A moe idol possesses a nymph-like quality that makes her the object of admiration or fixation by male fans.
Now comes Beckii Cruel, a 14-year-old resident of Britain's Isle of Man who is gaining popularity in Japan among moe fans.
Web videos of her dancing to bouncy J-pop and anime theme songs have been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube and other websites.
Testimony to the spreading influence of Japan's anime subculture, the innocent mystique surrounding the foreign moe idol has grabbed the attention and imagination of many Japanese anime geeks.
With her small face, large doe-like eyes, and long, slender limbs, Beckii looks pretty much like the girl next door.
She's pretty, but approachable, without the aura of someone with superstar celebrity status.
When we caught up with her here last fall at London's Heathrow Airport as she was preparing to leave for Japan, Beckii seemed surprised to learn that a girl living on an island with only about 80,000 people could become adored by fans thousands of kilometers away.
The daughter of a policeman and a former dance instructor, Beckii said she first became interested in Japanese cartoons and comics three years ago when she picked up a translated copy of "Fruits Basket," a Japanese girls' manga created by Natsuki Takaya.
Since then, she has been voraciously reading Japanese comics and viewing anime clips on the Internet.
It wasn't long before she decided to record videos of herself dancing to anime themes in the attic of her home.
Last fall, she released her first DVD: "Kawaii Nimo Hodo ga Aru" (Too cute to be real). She makes her singing debut in Japan next month with the release of a CD.
Toshiyuki Inoue, a journalist who covers the information technology beat, sums up the popularity of moe artists like Beckii: "The perceived virtual existence and borderless nature (surrounding her) are a catalyst for stirring fantasies."
Freelance writer Kaori Sakurai said that the otaku (geeks) who worship subculture madonnas often in real life tend to avoid pretty girls, who would simply write them off as "gross."
Beckii wins them over by projecting herself as just another fan of anime songs and anime, just like they are.
Other anime idols from abroad are also making inroads in Japan.
Himeka, a Canadian woman who covers anime theme songs, has released two singles featuring tunes such as the closing theme of the popular "Tegami Bachi" (Letter bee) anime series.
She said she was first drawn to Japanese anime by "Sailor Moon," the anime series based on manga by Naoko Takeuchi, and other cartoons available overseas on DVD or the Internet.
Neko Jump, a pair of 20-year-old Thai twin sisters, made its debut in Japan late last year, with songs from the "Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzuu" anime program.
According to Go Shukuri of King Record Co., which released Neko Jump's single, foreign singing and dancing artists present "a warped image of Japanese 'moe' culture, as well as a different perspective of the phenomenon from the Japanese.
"Those differences create a new subject for moe (affection)," he said.
stuff
n.
- The material out of which something is made or formed; substance.
- The essential substance or elements; essence: "We are such stuff/As dreams are made on" (Shakespeare).
- Informal.
- Unspecified material: Put that stuff over there.
- Household or personal articles considered as a group.
- Worthless objects.
- Slang. Specific talk or actions: Don't give me that stuff about being tired.
- Sports.
- The control a player has over a ball, especially to give it spin, english, curve, or speed.
- The spin, english, curve, or speed imparted to a ball: "where we could watch the stuff, mainly curves, that the pitchers were putting on the ball" (James Henry Gray).
- Basketball. A dunk shot.
- Special capability: The team really showed its stuff and won the championship.
- Chiefly British. Woven material, especially woolens.
- Slang. Money; cash.
- Slang. A drug, especially one that is illegal or habit-forming.
v., stuffed, stuff·ing, stuffs. v.tr.
- To pack (a container) tightly; cram: stuff a Christmas stocking.
- To block (a passage); plug: stuff a crack with caulking.
- Basketball. To block (a shot or an opponent who is shooting), especially before the ball leaves the shooter's hands.
- To place forcefully into a container or space; thrust: stuffed laundry into the bag.
- Sports. To shoot (a ball or puck) forcefully into the goal from close range.
- Basketball. To dunk (the ball).
- To fill with an appropriate stuffing: stuff a pillow.
- To fill (an animal skin) to restore its natural form for mounting or display.
- To cram with food.
- To fill (the mind): His head is stuffed with silly notions.
- To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box).
- To apply a preservative and softening agent to (leather).
To overeat; gorge.
idioms:
stuff it Vulgar Slang.
- Used as an intensive to express extreme anger, frustration, or disgust.
- To eat greedily.
[Middle English, from Old French estoffe, from estoffer, to equip, of Germanic origin.]
- 発音記号[bǽlət][名]
1 [U][C]投票；無記名投票；くじ引き；((the 〜))投票権
an open ［a secret］ ballot
記名［無記名］投票
記名［無記名］投票
by single ［postal］ ballot
単記無記名［郵便］投票で
単記無記名［郵便］投票で
a decisive ballot
決選投票
決選投票
take ［hold］ a ballot
投票を行う
投票を行う
The union put the offer out on a ballot to the members.
労働組合はその提案を組合員の投票にかけた.
労働組合はその提案を組合員の投票にかけた.
2 投票用紙(ballot paper)；（昔用いた）投票用小球
cast a ballot
投票する.
投票する.
3 投票総数.
4 候補者名簿.
5 [U]（ニュージーランドなどの）選抜徴兵制.
━━[動](自)
1 （…に賛成；反対）投票する((for ...；against ...))
ballot for ［against］ the bill
その議案に賛成［反対］投票する.
その議案に賛成［反対］投票する.
2 くじを引く, （…を）くじで決める((for ...))
ballot for first in line
くじ引きで列の先頭を決める.
くじ引きで列の先頭を決める.
━━(他)
1 …を投票［くじ］で決める, に投票する.
2 〈会員などに〉（案件の）投票を求める((on ...)).
［イタリア語ballotta（ballaボール＋-otta指小辞＝小さなボール）. 初期の秘密投票は白または黒の小球を容器の中へ入れて行った. △BLACKBALL］
bal・lot・er
[名]down-ballot
adjective US
UK /ˈdaʊnˌbæl.ət/ US /ˈdaʊnˌbæl.ət/
used to refer to people who are trying to get elected for less important political jobs, whose names are printed lower down on the ballot (= list of people you can vote for), or to contests between these people:
In Missouri, only a few down-ballot candidates have benefited so far from the end of donation limits.
It's difficult for Democrats in down-ballot races to get attention
grab bag
n.
n.
- A container filled with articles, such as party gifts, to be drawn unseen.
- Slang. A miscellaneous collection: The meeting evolved into a grab bag of petty complaints.
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