The next morning he much regretted the gusto with which he had wassailed the night before.

This needs to be tempered somewhat: Voting systems that require electors to express preferences they may not in fact possess are susceptible to random effects such as the so-called donkey-vote phenomenon observed for federal elections in Australia, in which some electors simply number sequentially from 1 onward down the ballot paper.

And the Masbülc ops have gotten their claws hooked into that in a way that pisses off corporate uplevels.”

The five-coned towers form a quincunx, and their flanks are scooped into niches in each of which has been placed a smiling buddha shaded by a nine-headed naga like a big palm fan.