EM list-- Markus objected that, with many candidates, it isn't enough to speak of defeats that contradict previously-adopted defeats, because it's necessary to tell what contradiction means, in terms of cycles or beatpaths. But that more detailed instruction needn't be part of the initial explanatory definition given to the man-on-the-street. In the initiative-wording, the contradiction wording could be used, with a parenthetical expression at the end specifying that one defeat "contradicts" another if they're both in the same cyclical sequence of defeats. Then, it could even be spelled-out exactly what is meant by a cyclical sequence of defeats. None of that detracts from the usefulness or meaningfulness of the initial brief definition that speaks only of whether a defeat contradicts defeats that have previously been adopted (locked-in). Mike Ossipoff ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com