This thread is the sadder counterpart of Today's Good News (https://dndsanctuary.eu/index.php?topic=21.0).
There might be a correlation between anesthesia and reduced language abilities (http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=PRN&d_id=21&i=December+2013&i_id=1020&a_id=24535&tab=MostRead).
In what can only be bad news for the Tea Party hard liners who have been holding up immigration reform, a group of shamans in Peru has predicted that reform will pass in 2014. Here is the report, as published on December 31, 2013, in rt.com (See Shamans in Peru predict that US will approve immigration reform in 2014):
"In a colorful ceremony in Peru's capital, Lima, the self-proclaimed master Juan Osco, along with other shamans, performed on Monday [a] series of rituals to predict next year's major events. The shamans whistled, chanted, and rubbed the posters of the leaders, including US President Barack Obama, with Andean spirit totems, crucifixes, and even a snake. They predicted the approval of US immigration reform in 2014."
It's hard to place this prediction, but who knows. Maybe the shamans know more than our pundits know.
OOPS! The shamans were wrong. There was no 2013 apocalypse. We'll have to wait to see what 2014 brings, or 2016 when Chris Christie defeats Hillary Clinton :o.
The US will approve immigration reform? What does that mean? It reminds me of the oracle of Delphi: "If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed."
The US will approve immigration reform? What does that mean? It reminds me of the oracle of Delphi: "If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed."
The oracle does not predict anything. The oracle only intermediates a required message.
Eventually, immigration reform will happen in some form, but only after the 2014 congressional elections. At the moment, the Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, is immersed in problems from the far right Tea Party faction.
Probably the biggest problem is what to do about the millions of Hispanic immigrants who came...and stayed, 11,000,000 of them, and that's only part of a much larger number of Hispanics living here. Without Hispanic support, how will the national Republican ticket fare? Not well.
While the 2016 presidential election is a full three years away many of the high profile Republican contenders are enmeshed in the immigration reform debate, and if Republicans demonstrate strong leadership on passing comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship possible candidates such as Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan could get strong support from Latino voters. However if Rubio, Bush or Ryan distance themselves from the immigration bill and House Republicans defeat the measure none of the GOP candidates stands to improve on the historic Romney 2012 defeat among Latinos.
http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2013/07/02/2016-forecast-rubio-bush-ryan-have-chance-to-win-over-40-of-latino-vote/ (http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2013/07/02/2016-forecast-rubio-bush-ryan-have-chance-to-win-over-40-of-latino-vote/)
Without the Hispanic vote the Republicans can kiss the presidency goodbye.
My state has, in it's infinite and never-ending wisdom, has basically chosen to put "In God We Trust" into the state seal.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/mississippi-senate-passes-bill-add-god-we-trust-state-seal?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+opposingviews%2Fmain+%28Opposing+Views+-+Issues%2C+Experts%2C+Answers%29 (http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/mississippi-senate-passes-bill-add-god-we-trust-state-seal?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+opposingviews%2Fmain+%28Opposing+Views+-+Issues%2C+Experts%2C+Answers%29)
We've been a state since 1817; why add it now? *smdh*
My state has, in it's infinite and never-ending wisdom, has basically chosen to put "In God We Trust" into the state seal.
We've been a state since 1817; why add it now? *smdh*
As a reminder?
My state has, in it's infinite and never-ending wisdom, has basically chosen to put "In God We Trust" into the state seal.
We've been a state since 1817; why add it now? *smdh*
As a reminder?
Fact of the matter is, we are a secular republic. No need in all of this garbage.
Sure, we have a Christian majority in this state, but we are not a Christian state; something that lot seem to forget/refuse to acknowledge.
Talk about bad news. I hope our friends there aren't experiencing the terrible flooding seen in some areas.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eaem.co.uk%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Flead_image_400%2Ffloods271112.jpg&hash=f072c797fbccd5d8fd6e068883606d04" rel="cached" data-hash="f072c797fbccd5d8fd6e068883606d04" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.eaem.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/lead_image_400/floods271112.jpg)
Wow! That's terrible.
Something less catastrophic than the above post but has left some automobile enthusiasts heavy hearted....
http://www.CNN.com/2014/02/12/us/national-corvette-museum-cars-fall/
Wow! That's terrible.
Something less catastrophic than the above post but has left some automobile enthusiasts heavy hearted....
Understandable, but this has left me lighthearted!
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html (http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html)
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQc4nK4oaDo-KfiPi_1gN6t8b5WUpbW7Sof0H1nYbJRTZQea17now)
Wow! That's terrible.
Something less catastrophic than the above post but has left some automobile enthusiasts heavy hearted....
Understandable, but this has left me lighthearted!
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html (http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html)
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQc4nK4oaDo-KfiPi_1gN6t8b5WUpbW7Sof0H1nYbJRTZQea17now)
I wish I cared one way or the other.
No I don't.
I don't know anyone, in any age-group, who has heard him perform.
Wow! That's terrible.
Something less catastrophic than the above post but has left some automobile enthusiasts heavy hearted....
Understandable, but this has left me lighthearted!
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html (http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/02/07/dnt-fl-justin-bieber-arrest.wsvn.html)
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQc4nK4oaDo-KfiPi_1gN6t8b5WUpbW7Sof0H1nYbJRTZQea17now)
Must be a boring life when you have everything. Lol
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
Under similar circumstances, I give what I can afford to lose without regret, and consider it lost.
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
Under similar circumstances, I give what I can afford to lose without regret, and consider it lost.
Great minds think alike then, but the last question does come into my head, from time to time, as I have always been extremely frugal with cash.
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
Been there, done that, wasn't a relative but a close friend. Didn't care much if I get it back, if it helped her it's money well spent.
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
Been there, done that, wasn't a relative but a close friend. Didn't care much if I get it back, if it helped her it's money well spent.
Obviously yes; however, having only known this relative for 2 1/2 weeks, I am trying to be careful to not get played, as I have asked around about said relative, and she has been known to lie.
I do hope it helped her, but one cannot be sure...
She bought coffee! :lol:
Had to loan a relative $120 yesterday.
Problem is, I've only just met/known this relative for two weeks. She said the problem was health-related, and she did prove to me that she does in fact have a serious health issue.
Not sure if I will get that $120 back as promised, or if I will have to eat the loss. :(
To follow up on this post, I received said amount back yesterday evening. Said relative now has my full confidence, which is a relief to me.
I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news, but it is news.
"MOSCOW (AP) — A trade ban on lacy lingerie has Russian consumers and their neighbors with their knickers in a twist.
The ban will outlaw any underwear containing less than 6 percent cotton from being imported, made, or sold in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. And it has struck a chord in societies where La Perla and Victoria's Secret are panty paradises compared to Soviet-era cotton underwear, which was often about as flattering and shapely as drapery.
On Sunday, 30 women protesters in Kazakhstan were arrested and thrown into police vans while wearing lace underwear on their heads and shouting "Freedom to panties!" "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/18/panty-protests-russia-kazakhstan_n_4806126.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/18/panty-protests-russia-kazakhstan_n_4806126.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular)
Actually, this is yesterday's bad news.
A US State Department official's audio message was captured by somebody when she uttered "fuck the EU."
She may end up in diplomatic ca-ca land.
http://rt.com/news/nuland-phone-chat-ukraine-927/ (http://rt.com/news/nuland-phone-chat-ukraine-927/)
I'm a naive guy looking into something that I little understand. I just don't know why we have to poke our big noses into everybody's business like some gigantic Pinocchio.
http://rt.com/news/nuland-phone-chat-ukraine-927/ (http://rt.com/news/nuland-phone-chat-ukraine-927/)
Are you watching RussiaTimes? :o
Take care, it's only Pootin's anti-US propaganda ;)
No, they are NSA black ops digging under Grand Rapids. And Grenadines too.
watching RussiaTimes?
Russia Today, I suppose...
The hour changes today for all Europeans. I will not change.
So, after today my posts will be one hour later or sooner or whatever, respecting the "legal" hour until they change it back.
Lucky you!..
I thought this shit was invented by Brits. Assholes.:down:
You contradict yourself there although obviously cannot see that. Waffling about thinking we started it then thinking something else but still using the slag off comment.
I hear you posting. The DST is a piss on shit -- both their intentions and their substantiations can't stand a pigeon's sneeze.
And would you please make your comment more understandable by the English speaking audience?:rolleyes:
Since we don't have an
Absurd News thread, I'm posting this here.
For the record, my heart is still napping.
Earlier this month, Pope Francis was invited by House Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session of Congress. Boehner extended the formal invitation on Mar. 13 in a letter to the Vatican on the one-year anniversary of Francis' papacy saying the Holy Father has "awakened hearts on every continent."
Don't know why he called him "the Holy Father" as that is something for RC's and not for non-followers.
Our local "powers" have reportedly started a tripe against an affiliate housing service enterprise, which doesn't look promising.
Friday, certain locals get to consume alcohol diluting the rest of grey cells.
SCOTUS Hands More Power to Oligarchs
The Supreme Corp…sorry, I meant Court…doubled down on their ruling in Citizens United (and the even more important 4th Circuit case Free Speech Now) and all but handed what little was left of a genuine democracy over to wealthy individuals and corporations. The New York Times reports on the ruling in McCutcheon v FEC:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a major campaign finance decision, striking down some limits on federal campaign contributions for the first time. The ruling, issued near the start of a campaign season, will change and most likely increase the already large role money plays in American politics.
The decision, by a 5-to-4 vote along ideological lines, with the Court’s more conservative justices in the majority, was a sequel of sorts to Citizens United, the 2010 decision that struck down limits on independent campaign spending by corporations and unions. But that ruling did nothing to affect the other main form of campaign finance regulation: caps on direct contributions to candidates and political parties.
...
...
This passage from the ruling leaves me simply gobsmacked:
Spending large sums of money in connection with elections, but not in connection with an effort to control the exercise of an officeholder’s official duties, does not give rise to such quid pro quo corruption. Nor does the possibility that an individual who spends large sums may garner ‘influence over or access to’ elected officials or political parties.
He can’t really believe that, can he? That’s more than naivete, it’s delusional. And no one who has been around Washington, DC or any state capitol for 5 minutes could possibly believe it. The influence of big money in elections is the single biggest problem in this country because it prevents us from solving nearly every other problem. And it just became even worse. Serf’s up!
Full article here (http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2014/04/03/scotus-hands-more-power-to-oligarchs/).
The influence of big money in elections is the single biggest problem in this country because it prevents us from solving nearly every other problem.
Reducing problems in the US to this gobsmacks me. It could only be believed by somebody who claims that the greatest problem in the universe is Angela Merkel's view of Vladimir Putin.
George W Bush exhibits his paintings of world leaders. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26890910)
I'm speechless.
Well, almost speechless. I discovered that everything started with two self portraits of the genius himself at the bath....
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.animalnewyork.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fbush-art.jpg&hash=4b6984c7a49e619067155f082c6e7cb6" rel="cached" data-hash="4b6984c7a49e619067155f082c6e7cb6" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://content.animalnewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/bush-art.jpg)
It remembers me another American gay painter... that one painting male figures by the pool, can't remember his name.
Facebook closes the possibility to answer to messages sent to you from outside Facebook via your Fb email address. Just got a notification[abbr=We're sorry, but soon you won't be able to reply to this conversation because it includes email addresses. Please message these people through their Facebook accounts or switch over to your email account to keep this conversation going.]...[/abbr]
:faint: (http://www.facebook.com/help/703286543026907)
Dropped by Television without Pity (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/) today, a TV web/community site, just to see that it is closing down, Why Television Without Pity is Still on the Internet (http://www.business2community.com/trends-news/television-without-pity-still-internet-0841023). Another deja vu bites the dust.
Yale drops Dutch to save a minuscule amount of money
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/22497946/__Yale_schrapt_Nederlands__.html
The director of Yale is supposed to have said "who cares?" about Dutch.
Who cares? From their own website (http://dutch.commons.yale.edu/) (while it's still online):
The Dutch are the third largest investor in the United States and investments from Dutch companies like Heineken, Philips, Shell and Unilever and trade with the Netherlands support more than 700,000 American jobs. Vice-versa, the Netherlands is the number one destination for U.S. investments worldwide, making it the largest foreign investor in the Netherlands1.
I can't get rid of the Ask toolbar in Google Chrome!
Well I had exactly the same on one of my two pc's. It is usually with some routine programme you download and includes that damn thing. We forget to tick or untick some box and get left with that. One suggestion indicated the easy bit of going to programmes and deleting but I couldn't trace Ask. However I did just last night get a better way which helped me re-set what search engine/toolbar to have as definite. This happens to lots of people apparently and I am relieved I have got rid of the nuisance after weeks.
Well I had exactly the same on one of my two pc's. It is usually with some routine programme you download and includes that damn thing. We forget to tick or untick some box and get left with that. One suggestion indicated the easy bit of going to programmes and deleting but I couldn't trace Ask. However I did just last night get a better way which helped me re-set what search engine/toolbar to have as definite. This happens to lots of people apparently and I am relieved I have got rid of the nuisance after weeks.
Can you provide some details? I tried to turn off unwanted search engines, but that did nothing. Ask was alive and well. What browser are you using?
Can you provide some details? I tried to turn off unwanted search engines, but that did nothing. Ask was alive and well.
Did you try to ask God (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Ask+toolbar+in+Google+Chrome&num=100&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&as_qdr=all&tbs=li:1&gbv=1&sei=In5KU8PHIYjTsgbIhoGADQ)?
Oh Heavens jimbro. How did I do that now! I will get back to you on that one as after weeks of frustration I got it solved in minutes. Will get back to you on that one.
Can you provide some details? I tried to turn off unwanted search engines, but that did nothing. Ask was alive and well.
Did you try to ask God (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Ask+toolbar+in+Google+Chrome&num=100&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&as_qdr=all&tbs=li:1&gbv=1&sei=In5KU8PHIYjTsgbIhoGADQ)?
Ask is more clever than that. It isn't listed in installed programs.
When I asked Yahoo to find a solution, it sifted through thousands of files and came up with at least 50 that needed to be uninstalled...and then asked me for $29.95!
There's got to be something quick and dirty, but I've not found it.
I'll never go to Georgia again...the one in the US...because that's where I picked it up.
Help me, Rj.
I am trying to remember what I had to do after weeks stuck with that damn Ask. Let me try and think and get back to you.
European Court of Justice strikes down relatively sensible Dutch and Belgian laws.
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140410_01062575
http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5403/Internet/article/detail/1850465/2014/04/11/Europa-legt-illegaal-downloaden-in-Belgie-voorgoed-aan-banden.dhtml
More on TorrentFreak (http://torrentfreak.com/the-netherlands-must-outlaw-downloading-eu-court-rules-140410/).
Not exactly bad news but certainly bad karma and a strange case of bad bedfellows.
From late 2003 to early 2004, during the Iraq War, military police personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency committed human rights violations against prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison. They physically and sexually abused, tortured, raped, sodomized, and killed prisoners.
This from 2014.
GENEVA — The United Nations human rights chief, Navi Pillay, condemned the rampant and routine use of torture by the Syrian authorities in a paper released by her office on Monday, which also records torture by some armed opposition groups and serious allegations of torture and the ill-treatment of children.
“Upon arrival at a detention facility, detainees are routinely beaten and humiliated for several hours by the guards in what has come to be known as the ‘reception party,’ ” the report states, drawing on 38 interviews conducted by United Nations investigators over the last eight months with individuals released from detention centers across Syria.
Those Syrians are very bad people. I'm happy to report that Russians have never resorted to such bad behaviors. The Portuguese either. Or the British. Have I left anybody out? Germany?
Well, the USA did it for a worthwhile cause whereas Syrians and Russians are evil by nature.
I don't know about Germany but we would do it only for a worthwhile cause.
Absolutely brilliant response! I award you with the...
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.firecompanies.com%2FMFC%2Fpublic%2Fnews_images%2F10066%2F56486%2F117962_thumb.jpg&hash=95bd1d4eaccef3cc923b67dcfe7f37bb" rel="cached" data-hash="95bd1d4eaccef3cc923b67dcfe7f37bb" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.firecompanies.com/MFC/public/news_images/10066/56486/117962_thumb.jpg)
Global Radio will extend its Heart network to the Real Radio network of regional stations from Tuesday 6th May.
http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/214537/global-confirms-heart-expansion-details
I finally got rid of the Ask Toolbar in Google Chrome, so this isn't bad news at all.
To uninstall you can click on the three gray bars in the top right corner of the browser and navigate to the Settings link. Then click on the Extensions section and find PopularScreensavers, the extension can be deleted by clicking on the trash can.
The controversial badger cull in England has not been called off and will be rolled out across the country, including Shropshire, according to Environment Secretary Owen Paterson.
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=844191398940982&id=253677804659014
From The Sydney Morning Herald
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3853/14785774171_a4524ef09a_z.jpg)
Robin Williams Dead: Beloved Actor Dies In Apparent Suicide (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/robin-williams-dead-dies_n_5670050.html)
Of drugs and rink probs?
“Let’s face it: I want it all— just like you and everybody else. It may not be in the cards, but the prospect is so dazzling that I have to try.”
Lauren Bacall
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F--2U8fCtf8SM%2FTfDl7fMFS_I%2FAAAAAAAAIxQ%2F2cf8NytzhQU%2Fs1600%2Flauren.jpg&hash=5cb0863eb4b2253b98122dfa63d14910" rel="cached" data-hash="5cb0863eb4b2253b98122dfa63d14910" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2U8fCtf8SM/TfDl7fMFS_I/AAAAAAAAIxQ/2cf8NytzhQU/s1600/lauren.jpg)
Not into personality cults especially the Hollywood razzmatazz but many comedians do have a problem with depression which they try to hie. Williams was in that bracket and a good entertainer. Lauren was another outstanding actress and especially with Humphrey Bogart (was sad she lost him such a long time ago). Seems to me that today's actors are less endowed than previously in Boart and her time and depend on great blowing ups, destruction and deaths whereas previously actors had more depth.
Two recent SlashDot posts:
New Research Suggests Cancer May Be an Intrinsic Property of Cells (http://beta.slashdot.org/story/206215); and
Scientists Baffled By Unknown Source of Ozone-Depleting Chemical (http://beta.slashdot.org/story/206177)…
I don't think these belong in the "Scientists Say" thread. And I was torn between posting them here, rather than in the Good News thread — because advancements in our understanding of natural phenomena are, to me, inherently of value…
But, perhaps, that's just me? Maybe only partisan "pick a side" judgements need apply? (Sorry: Sometimes I just can't help myself…)
But chocolate is still good! No matter what anyone says! (I stand with my Sisters! On the important issues…)
New Research Suggests Cancer May Be an Intrinsic Property of Cells (http://beta.slashdot.org/story/206215);
I don't think there has been much doubt about that in modern times. That's one of the challenges of having multi-cellular organisms. Basically we get cancer when all the fail-safes we have fail. Perhaps the most dramatic one is that body cells are programmed to commit suicide (apoptosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis)) unless the neighbouring cells continuously tell them not to die, that they have an important life to live.
But chocolate is still good! No matter what anyone says! (I stand with my Sisters! On the important issues…)
Define chocolate. Me, I like to eat a raw cocoa bean mixed with some 85% chocolate. (The raw cocoa bean is just a bit much even for me all by itself.) :) The bad part of chocolate is mostly sugar.
I don't think there has been much doubt about that in modern times.
If you view modern times as very recent…
Research in and around apoptosis has increased substantially since the early 1990s. In addition to its importance as a biological phenomenon, defective apoptotic processes have been implicated in an extensive variety of diseases. Excessive apoptosis causes atrophy, whereas an insufficient amount results in uncontrolled cell proliferation, such as cancer.
The paper's abstract reads
The molecular nature of tumours is well studied in vertebrates, although their evolutionary origin remains unknown. In particular, there is no evidence for naturally occurring tumours in pre-bilaterian animals, such as sponges and cnidarians. This is somewhat surprising given that recent computational studies have predicted that most metazoans might be prone to develop tumours. Here we provide first evidence for naturally occurring tumours in two species of Hydra. Histological, cellular and molecular data reveal that these tumours are transplantable and might originate by differentiation arrest of female gametes. Growth of tumour cells is independent from the cellular environment. Tumour-bearing polyps have significantly reduced fitness. In addition,Hydra tumours show a greatly altered transcriptome that mimics expression shifts in vertebrate cancers. Therefore, this study shows that spontaneous tumours have deep evolutionary roots and that early branching animals may be informative in revealing the fundamental mechanisms of tumorigenesis.
(source (http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140624/ncomms5222/full/ncomms5222.html))
There is news there, no?
I would consider anything before 1990 in this field as medieval, but I think the claim in the headline, "Cancer May Be an Intrinsic Property of Cells", wouldn't be too controversial back in those days either, even if they wouldn't know just how repressed somatic cells really are.
It was mostly an unfortunate headline that didn't quite capture the exciting part. We are starting to reap benefits from the projects started in the late Middle Ages, whatever we find expressed in one organism we can see where it pops up in a range of other organisms. That indeed is good/scientific news.
It was mostly an unfortunate headline that didn't quite capture the exciting part.
Another example for the "Scientists Say" thread? :)
New Research Suggests Cancer May Be an Intrinsic Property of Cells (http://beta.slashdot.org/story/206215)
So, if I read it correctly, resources would better serve finding a cure for after the fact, rather than a preventative vaccination prior to it raising it's ugly head?
@Smiley: Yup! That's my take, too. But it doesn't necessarily minimize environmental factors… Still, it kinda becomes like searching for the Fountain of Youth: Everyone gets old; some don't want to and believe there's some magic that will arrest or reverse the process.
I await the evolutionary biologists' "explanations"…
Richard Attenborough dead at 90: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/arts/richard-attenborough-actor-director-and-giant-of-british-cinema-dies-at-90.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/arts/richard-attenborough-actor-director-and-giant-of-british-cinema-dies-at-90.html)
Apparently it has become necessary to point out to a world full of mourners that it is Sir Richard, not his little brother Sir David, who has died.
Apparently it has become necessary to point out to a world full of mourners that it is Sir Richard, not his little brother Sir David, who has died.
In other news I've heard that Robbie Williams died recently as well.
So, if I read it correctly, resources would better serve finding a cure for after the fact, rather than a preventative vaccination prior to it raising it's ugly head?
You might be more comfortable with the picture of the body as a maximum security prison where each cell has a dangerous prisoner handcuffed and in foot chains with three live-in armed guards.
Unfortunately the liberal government doesn't fund new guards, so as time goes on the guards get weaker and older or killed by the hostile environment, and the constraints get chafed upon and might break. Sooner or later one of the prisoners can overcome the guards and start a prison break. This will normally trigger an alarm and a SWAT team will rush in with orders to shoot to kill. If the prisoner can manage to avoid triggering the alarm or create a riot big enough to overwhelm the SWAT team they need to break into the supply room so as not to starve to death. If they manage that they probably will be able to take over the prison.
Unfortunately they are not clever enough to actually break out of the prison, so it will end tragically with everyone dead, the rioters, the guards, the law-abiding cells.
Unless they were from the Henrietta Lacks prison. Some of the rioters there were taken to top security medical facility where they live without guards, are fed and performed experiments upon, and stay there to this day, 94 years of age. They may no longer be human, but neither will they die.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fd%2Fd7%2FHenrietta_Lacks_%281920-1951%29.jpg&hash=6932991bb47fe25e4899d48cc18762a4" rel="cached" data-hash="6932991bb47fe25e4899d48cc18762a4" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Henrietta_Lacks_(1920-1951).jpg)
No, there will not be a vaccine against dangerous prisoners as we are the prisons and depend upon our prisoners for our survival. But we can reduce the attacks on the guards, the carcinogenics, that will expose all of us to cancer if we just live long enough to get it. Very speculatively we could give the guards reinforcement or even stop them from weakening. More immediately we can detect prison breaks at an earlier stage. We can more selectively kill those prisoners, now we are bombing the prison, so more peaceful and productive prisoners are killed than rioters, which harms and eventually can destroy the prison economy. We can prevent the rioters from reaching the supply room. We can send in agents selectively killing prisoners before they become too much trouble. We can create a new supply of productive prisoners to replace the rioters.
Two things ya can't beat........Death & Income Taxes.
Well, that's not all true......I no longer pay any Income Taxes (Federal, State, or Local), so it's me & the Reaper next up...And somehow, I ain't none too sure she's any to impressed.
Frans Bruggen has died. He, and his "Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century" specialised in spare, clean performances on original instruments. Their interpretation of Beethoven's First Symphony is electrifying. Bruggen was unique.
I'd agree, tt92! But "unique" over-states the case: My favorite recording of the Brandenburg Concertos remains, to this day, Otto Klemperer's… In the worlds of music, art, and literature (including poetry!) there will always be what might be called purists. But they're really just very knowledgable and uncompromising practitioners of their art!
I know I'm not unique and you probably aren't unique either, but Bruggen really was one of a kind. At least, if there is anyone his like, I haven't got any of his CDs.
His recording of Beethoven's First is clearly of the eighteenth century but bursting at the seams with foretastes of the nineteenth. No doubt as Beethoven intended, but not smothered with the luscious unction that most twentieth century orchestras ladled on anything by Mozart, Hayden, or Beethoven.
He played a mean recorder, too.
I readily confess that I rely more on my own tastes than any doctrinaire determinations… Call it an imperfection character or a lack of proper education, but there it is.
Are you familiar with Fritz Reiner's recording of the Brahms' 4th Symphony with Chicago's Symphony Orchestra? (The Brahms 1st Symphony is ruined by just about everyone…because they play the 1st movement too slowly.) The 2nd Piano Concerto, with the same and Cliburn, is almost perfect!
Many years ago, I recommended Haydn to my son, when he wanted to study beyond piano music; I told him he would hear almost every theme Beethoven wrote, in Haydn's Symphonies! (I was only partly joking…)
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10906491_399458526845855_1503757178785616988_n.jpg?oh=5f37d4caa5c988f22a1a11e443716d48&oe=554B3AFF)
That would be CNN. The same news all day long over and over and over.
Maybe we need a thread devoted to "journalism." The British tabloid, The Sun, "Britain's most popular newspaper," would win an Oscar for junk journalism.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F54c12df86bb3f760129135d1-480%2Fthe-sun-newspaper.jpg&hash=d0c7a522724837d47e79b87637d6b33b" rel="cached" data-hash="d0c7a522724837d47e79b87637d6b33b" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54c12df86bb3f760129135d1-480/the-sun-newspaper.jpg)
Don't be so sure. The German tabloid Bild published by Axel Springer AG. is a serious candidate for that prize and could beat The Sun .
Does Glasgow have a contender?
The Howie Report.
Poor Robert.
More your kind of paper ensbb3 so I couldn't comment on midden thinking. My weakness is that matter of contending with envy from you lotbut then i remember you are ex-colonists and I smile nod and muse"hhhm, yes. explains it."
From the mouths of ex-colonials...
:hat:
Every time I use my clothes drier there is a handful of lint in its filter.
I calculate that in just under twenty-eight years I will have no clothes left.
Look on the positive side.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/stories/7-creative-uses-for-dryer-lint (http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/stories/7-creative-uses-for-dryer-lint)
Maybe we need a thread devoted to "journalism." The British tabloid, The Sun, "Britain's most popular newspaper," would win an Oscar for junk journalism.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F54c12df86bb3f760129135d1-480%2Fthe-sun-newspaper.jpg&hash=d0c7a522724837d47e79b87637d6b33b" rel="cached" data-hash="d0c7a522724837d47e79b87637d6b33b" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54c12df86bb3f760129135d1-480/the-sun-newspaper.jpg)
The front page in question has its admirers (http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/feb/03/sun-dominic-mohan)
I looked but found no admirers just a few people who thought it worthy of commentary. I do wonder if the woman just slept or is there more to the story. :cheers:
=================================================
I may subscribe to The Sun. It looks interesting.
Get a free smartphone
when you join Sun+
TAKE an annual Sun+ membership and as well as the smartphone, you'll enjoy the Perks of being a member
Feb. 2012
Spring clean your sex life
Very bad news...Günter Grass, the Nobel-winning German novelist, died at 87.
I'll never forget Grass's Oskar in The Tin Drum. Bye-bye Günter.
Yes an outstanding man and wasn't it only recently he admitted that in the last days of the War as a teenager he had served in the SS? Why did he leave it so long to admit that?
I didn't know that, but he was a mere boy. There are details here...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/arts/17gras.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/arts/17gras.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
Seems he was 17 when into the military at a desperate time for his country and as he admitted was a keen Hitler Youth member so kind of understandable he would be all for the allocation into the military. A great many clever people who were very active Nazis continued after the war in law, arts, police, government. Although it is maybe a passing negative keeping it quiet so long I don't think however it in any way detracts from the man and his talented contribution. He still deserves the accolades of course.
A book as wide-ranging as this one needs a governing metaphor to give it at least an illusion that all is well:
It was said in the old days that every year Thor made a circle around Middle-earth, beating back the enemies of order. Thor got older every year, and the circle occupied by gods and men grew smaller. The wisdom god, Woden, went out to the king of the trolls, got him in and armlock, and demanded to know of him how order might triumph over chaos.
"Give me your left eye," said the king of the trolls, "and I'll tell you."
Without hesitation, Woden gave up his left eye. "Now tell me."
The troll said, "The secret is, Watch with both eyes!"
Woden's left eye was the last sure hope of gods and men in their kingdom of light surrounded on all sides by darkness. All we have left is Thor's hammer, which represents not brute force but art, or, counting both hammerheads, art and criticism. Thor is no help. Like other gods, he has withdrawn from our immediate view. We have only his weapon, abandoned beside a fencepost in high weeds, if we can figure out how to use it. This book is an attempt to develop a set of instructions, an analysis of what has gone wrong in recent years with the various arts —especially fiction, since that is the art on which I am best informed— and what has gone wrong with criticism.
The language of critics, and of artists of the kind who pay attention to critics: […]
These are the opening words of John Gardner's (…no, the other one!) collection of essays titled
On Moral Fiction, which I would have recommended to you before,
Jaybro, had you not so thoroughly convinced me that your interests lay elsewhere… But the happenstance of Grass's demise, your mention of it and my faulty memory (beginning on page 9, and later starting at page 60: Gardner cites a William H. Gass…) had me rummaging through the few books I have left.
I started to type the quote above and soon realized I'd got two names confused.
I'll admit, I expected to have something negative to say about Grass. It appears I don't, not even second-hand. So, I will merely add my meager condolences.
And promise to read -if I live long enough- some of his work. (On your say-so? Not exactly; but as penance for my intended slight — and for its impulse! But you already know I can be a jerk.) What would you suggest I start with? :)
I confess, I've not too much to say about a teenager in Nazi Germany… The only way for the likes of me to understand his circumstances -the choices he made- is through fiction, or the kind of history that is extremely difficult to write and even more difficult to find, once it's written.
If your intent (in your "pedestrian" career…) was to steer your students towards understanding of their fellow man, I'd applaud it; and consider the remote possibility that you've -somewhat- educated me…
————————————————————————————————
Might I recommend another novel?
I can only give you a hint: A British author -obviously, an academic- re-wrote the Faust story. (Parts of it were despicable…) It was the ending that sticks in my mind:
Having connived the means to kill the Pope on Easter Sunday, he, Faust, crowed! But the Pope did not die…
The Host paten was to hold a poisoned wafer, secreted the night before in its sanctuary. But it turned out that
transubstantiation was more than a dogma of the church… :)
The poison was gone -since the wafer was transmuted- and Faust was hoist upon his own petard!
(Much of the novel, I found offensive… But you know how the British -specially, the "upper crust" or their pretenders- think! Perversion is their main interest.
But they do, most of them, have an education: Would one of them write a whole book to make such a silly point? Of course, most would! Mere logic -based on premises- present the opportunity. And why not pursue it? :)
Me, I've been schooled as a Catholic. So, the "surprise" ending didn't surprise me.
But, if you can find it and read it through, let me know what you think…
Me, I've been schooled as a Catholic.
Condolences. You seem to have escaped relatively unscathed. Relatively, as is the case with me.
That kind of explains your problem Oakdale so thanks for sharing the straing........
That kind of explains your problem Oakdale
No sir! But it kind-of explains part of your problem with me… :)
Oh I don't have a problem with you dear boy as i know the head shrink industry of the ex-colonies is a mighty big thing so I can relax.
Psychoanalysis is as well documented, as an effective therapy and a scientific or medical discipline, as Scientology!
But almost any therapy would help you… Are you too cheap to spend the money? :) Or too far gone to know you should? :(
Unlike over the pond Oakdale outr head shrinking does not cost you but in a land of gun nut jobs, school massacres and much else it is good you have such a big machine. Hope it helps in the long run because it isn't working just now!
No one speaks about Katmandu earthquake?
I have a theory. When the earth sakes, obviously, the shaking is much bigger at the top of the biggest mountain in earth.
A "7,something", at sea level, Richter scale earthquake, at 9.000 meters altitude it's equal to a "20.something" earthquake.
Much bigger earthquake was the Chinese invasion of Nepal, and no one said nothing about.
They happen all the time.
No one speaks about Katmandu earthquake?
I have a theory. When the earth sakes, obviously, the shaking is much bigger at the top of the biggest mountain in earth.
A "7,something", at sea level, Richter scale earthquake, at 9.000 meters altitude it's equal to a "20.something" earthquake.
Much bigger earthquake was the Chinese invasion of Nepal, and no one said nothing about.
I didn't think much good would come out of that. The people at the peaks were there to risk their lives, though the manner might have been unexpected. The devastation was down below.
China has never invaded Nepal. The country is on the fault line between India and China though.
China has never invaded Nepal.
Yes, sorry, I meant Tibet.
Folklore in the printing industry has it that an editor, faced with a column inch unfilled, would Insert a piece "Small earthquake in Afghanistan. Not many killed."
Bad personal news for me and my wife. We just took our cat that we've had for 15 years to the vet's to be euthanized. Odd how personal problems sometimes outweigh the much bigger bad news from elsewhere.
I'm sorry for your loss. At least it had a good life.
Bad personal news for me and my wife. We just took our cat that we've had for 15 years to the vet's to be euthanized.
Sorry to read that. It's a heartbreaking thing to do, even when you know it's the right thing to do.
Had to do it with our last cat that we enjoyed 18 years with. :(
Thanks to the two of you. It's the second time we've experience that. The first time it happened, the cat got out and two days later I found it out of sight behind a retainer wall. Two cats down and one that is likely to outlive me. :o
The 52 remaining working days I have at this current dead-end job I currently hold seems like an eternity.....
Well you would work in the ex-colonies.
Sez the ex-colonist.
Socrates died 2414 years ago.
He would not be appreciated today in the ex-colonies as he wasn't a corporate.
I do feel for the Colonel and when I mark Fort Sumpter will give him a sighing thought.
Bad personal news for me and my wife. We just took our cat that we've had for 15 years to the vet's to be euthanized. Odd how personal problems sometimes outweigh the much bigger bad news from elsewhere.
So sad that happened. We have cats and we've gone through that heartbreak.
Adding up the amount of #Millionaires in both the House of Commons & the House of Lords - in TOTAL nearly 80% are MILLIONAIRES.
Currently 75% of 'Government Cabinet Ministers' - within parliament are Millionaires. Those that sit in the House of Commons & the House of Lords are Members of Parliament - The figures If you include both Houses TOTAL - members 1462 (650 MPs + 812 House Lords).
In TOTAL nearly 80% are MILLIONAIRES.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F365psd.com%2Fimages%2Fpremium%2Fthumbs%2F163%2Fcartoon-character-with-a-mohawk-holding-the-union-jack-572830.jpg&hash=90f97ddf5772813b1a8118915358b94e" rel="cached" data-hash="90f97ddf5772813b1a8118915358b94e" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://365psd.com/images/premium/thumbs/163/cartoon-character-with-a-mohawk-holding-the-union-jack-572830.jpg)
So sad that happened. We have cats and we've gone through that heartbreak.
Thank you, sir.
He would not be appreciated today in the ex-colonies as he wasn't a corporate.
I do feel for the Colonel and when I mark Fort Sumpter will give him a sighing thought.
How do you mark Fort Sumpter and with what and when and why?
Flagpoles are not very common here like in the ex-colonies but there are odd ones up with the saltire due to home owner being a Nationalist. My quite avenue has one such a minute's walk away so will now order one along with a Union Flag. It will be raised on the Monarch's Birthday Holiday, Remembrance Sunday, etc. I also have a that Imperial flag for the markjng of the assassination of course. As for the CSA flag that is included as the South was right to want out of the club but were refused. Interestingly that battle flag was like the Scots saltire with the 13 stars and amusingly grey was a common colour in Scotland centuries ago across the place. The hodden grey was widespread in the Lowlands!
:D
amusingly grey was a common colour in Scotland centuries ago across the place. The hodden grey was widespread in the Lowlands!
Are you
really proud of having eyesight nowhere near as keen but elsewise as deficient as that of dogs? :)
The Mediterranean diet is under pressure: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4358e.pdf
Not my bad news, but bad anyway...poor bastard. Make sure you hide your bitcoin securely.
Hi everyone. I am totally devastated today. I just woke up to see a very large chunk of my bitcoin balance gone to the following address:
1KPTdMb6p7H3YCwsyFqrEmKGmsHqe1Q3jg
Transaction date: 6/13/2011 12:52 (EST)
I feel like killing myself now. This get me so f'ing pissed off. If only the wallet file was encrypted on the HD. I do feel like this is my fault somehow for now moving that money to a separate non windows computer. I backed up my wallet.dat file religiously and encrypted it but that does not do me much good when someone or some trojan or something has direct access to my computer somehow.
The transaction sent belongs rightfully to this address: 1J18yk7D353z3gRVcdbS7PV5Q8h5w6oWWG
Block explorer is down so I cannot even see where the funds went.
I tried restoring an earler backup of my wallet but naturally that does not work because the transaction has already been validated.
Needles to say I feel like I have lost faith in bitcoin.
Anyone have any ideas what I can do besides just jump off a bridge?!
The Mediterranean diet is under pressure: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4358e.pdf
This doesn't affect me since I'm on a high carb, high fat diet. I'm a healthy 365 lb/165 Kg specimen.
It is just as well I don't fall into the trap of assuming dear Oakdale you are a wide typical of ex-colonistse ven though there are many of you. My only sadness is that your land depended on so many Scots and Scots-Ulster folk and okk at how they were sad due to the way the place turned out. Ah well.
Chris Squire passed away. (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/28/founder-of-yes-and-renowned-bass-guitarist-chris-squire-dies)
Followed the link as no dashed idea who he was.
Not bad news for us, but it was for the folks on this Hong Kong flight when the pilot turned off the good engine after engine trouble in the other one.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2015%2F07%2F03%2Fworld%2F03taiwan-01%2F03taiwan-01-superJumbo.jpg&hash=9d6b1fd80f6859d50f7dd69df25a8709" rel="cached" data-hash="9d6b1fd80f6859d50f7dd69df25a8709" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/03/world/03taiwan-01/03taiwan-01-superJumbo.jpg)
It's not today's news. At best it's this year's news. And it was in Taiwan, not Hong Kong.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_NT43aJ_Jw[/video]
I think it is today's news that the crew had turned off the good engine
But as a compensation the yellow car pilot is very good. Even having priority, since he comes from the right, he let the airplane to advance.
Having priority, he should advance, and the airplane should stop and wait.
Rookies... :right:
Wow, that's not something you want to see in front of you.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fanticache.img0.joyreactor.com%2Fpics%2Fpost%2Fbender-futurama-tv-shows-brick-1575831.gif&hash=60be0f72beafd864a9423f9b8ea3d49c" rel="cached" data-hash="60be0f72beafd864a9423f9b8ea3d49c" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://anticache.img0.joyreactor.com/pics/post/bender-futurama-tv-shows-brick-1575831.gif)
I've started to learn sailing in the Tagus estuary just ahead of Lisbon's port, from where our caravels departed to discover the world, where I had to cross in front of gigantic carriers and petrol carriers. Since, according to sea laws, any sail boat has priority over motorized boats, after running away from such monster vessels a lot of times, I decided that was time to implant the sea law.
That was an impressive vision, that I can guarantee you.
Until today they don't respect the law. Next time I'll try to force them keeping some rockets aboard. Kaboom!! he he he :lol:
What they do it's pure homicidal behavior.
Only boats at a non governable state have priority over sailing boats. Like that plane.
Took a closer look. Today I learned that a passenger jet has propellers.
So--- it wasn't a jet. It was a turbo-prop.
Bel--- a word to the wise: Your sailboat can turn much faster than a giant freighter can, further the freighter can't stop as fast as you hope he can, further the freighter draws much more water than your sailboat does and so he must stick to the channel. I fancy trying to teach a blue-water man "the rules of the road" concerning sailboats and powerboats will end up with a dead sailor.
It's a little like trying to play "chicken" in your car with a fast train at the grade-crossing. Even if you tie, you lose.
Bel--- a word to the wise: Your sailboat can turn much faster than a giant freighter can, further the freighter can't stop as fast as you hope he can, further the freighter draws much more water than your sailboat does and so he must stick to the channel. I fancy trying to teach a blue-water man "the rules of the road" concerning sailboats and powerboats will end up with a dead sailor.
Don't be always so... "reasonable" mjm. You'll let the best things in life pass by your side.
Risk always and you'll live at the fullest possible way. Until it ends of course but doesn't it ends for all of us? That moment it's already written nothing you do can change it. Useless to protect yourself, unless you ask the Saints for protection, sometimes it's granted. :)
Don't be always so... "reasonable" mjm. You'll let the best things in life pass by your side.
That's right. Reason will ruin your life, and it will make you a terrible poster in DnD.
I've started to learn sailing in the Tagus estuary just ahead of Lisbon's port,
That sounds like fun. :jealous:
from where our caravels departed to discover the world, where I had to cross in front of gigantic carriers and petrol carriers.
That does not, lol.
I don't like driving to the store for bread, so that's out of the question for me.
I love driving. I'd rather do that than fly most times... I could see me doing some sailing too. :)
I'd rather do that than fly most times... I could see me doing some sailing too. :)
What do you "fly"? I used to fly hang gliders, delta wing as we call it.
And yes, look for sailing, that can change radically your life. Who knows, maybe I see you entering the Tagus after crossing alone the entire Atlantic... :)
Go for it, ensbb3. Never is too late.
What do you "fly"?
Oh, I was meaning on trips. I did take several hours of flight lessons in a Cessna. That was great fun for me. Instructor said I was a natural. No where near enough hours for a licence. Not that I need one for anything.
That was great fun for me.
Yep. :)
Since, according to sea laws, any sail boat has priority over motorized boats, after running away from such monster vessels a lot of times, I decided that was time to implant the sea law.
Has it occurred to you, that most of your recent posts assume a serious denial of reality…? :)
Speed-boats are not in the same
class as tankers and freighters… And you are not in the same class as high-school educated logicians, if you think a sailboat is "safe" because "motorboats" should cede them the right-of-way!
Motor-boats should! I agree. But ocean-going vessels of considerable tonnage can't — whether you agree or not. Darwin's Law applies! :) Stupidity has consequences…
Stupidity has consequences…
Indeed... as accepting the law is just for some.
But even worst than a stupid is a stupid and coward that runs aways from the "bigger" ones. Around this part of the world we call them rats.
Has it occurred to you, that most of your recent posts assume a serious denial of reality…? :)
He he, I like that one... :)
Welcome aboard my friend.
Indeed... as accepting the law is just for some.
Refusing to read the law sensibly (or neglecting to allow for the
laws of physics) has serious consequences… Quixote is probably not the best of role models.
Bad news for sure. While looking for info on a place where I worked decades ago, I Google mapped on a place in Alaska which gave me a location in Russia!
Momskiy Natsionalnyy ulus
Sakha (Yakutiya) Republits, Russia
Google, what are you doing?
Quixote is probably not the best of role models.
For the Sancho Panças of this world...
For the Sancho Panças of this world...
he
is? Well, that's not my fault.
It must be a "cultural" thing. :)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fk2orIlq.jpg&hash=0b8e0a5411987a2e21240b3674075d64" rel="cached" data-hash="0b8e0a5411987a2e21240b3674075d64" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/k2orIlq.jpg)
For the Sancho Panças of this world...
he is? Well, that's not my fault.
It must be a "cultural" thing. :)
A note on that.
There's two masterpieces about human behavior, one about the individual dimension, the other about the collective one. Both were written five centuries ago by two giants of the human spirit, people that saw the entire picture, no one can compete with them.
On the first, a tale between those who guides themselves along the entire life by Values, no matter the dangers and difficulties and keeps loyal to an idea of free Man - D. Quixote and those who follows greediness and have no vertebral column living the entire life as the despicable servants they were born - Sancho Pança.
On the second, The Lusíadas by Luís de Camões, the tale of a chosen People. Too much complex for today's "nations" and small people.
What can one say about "cultures" that understands D. Quixote up side down and glorifies the "success" of the scum...
Bad news at McDonalds!
https://www.facebook.com/disturbreality/videos/vb.121420231235396/810337895676956/?type=2&theater (https://www.facebook.com/disturbreality/videos/vb.121420231235396/810337895676956/?type=2&theater)
It looks as if a craving for McNuggets can do dreadful things to your brain.
Particularly when on amphetamines.
Supposedly, the Internet I like is dying: https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426
Supposedly, the Internet I like is dying: https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426
The web is becoming Chinese. What you see in China turns up in the West a few years later.
Well it makes a change from somewhere else that thinks it is it.
What you see in China turns up in the West a few years later.
Happily, you're right!
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F09%2Ffr-rice-plate-zoom-big.png&hash=46768c77defadecc0811e4d43798b500" rel="cached" data-hash="46768c77defadecc0811e4d43798b500" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/fr-rice-plate-zoom-big.png)
Supposedly, the Internet I like is dying
True.
The web is becoming Chinese. What you see in China turns up in the West a few years later.
So let's blame China for what the Internet is becoming lately.
Fedbook, Twatter and & Co. are all Cinese trendsetters.
However, you might be right. In a few years the Internet might become 'cleaned up' and restricted as it is in China today.
The things that some of you don't like about the internet are things that millions do like. You don't like porn? Millions do like porn. You don't like sports sites? Millions do. Discussion groups? Millions do.
I like variety. I love this one.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.kremlin.ru%2Fdyn_images%2Fimg69119.jpg&hash=70b93b9cf87cc924ba5b272c0504fde1" rel="cached" data-hash="70b93b9cf87cc924ba5b272c0504fde1" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://archive.kremlin.ru/dyn_images/img69119.jpg)
The things that some of you don't like about the internet are things that millions do like.
Some of us are more important than millions of others.
There's no such thing as "millions of others" as an entity. Millions of others are simply the sum of many thousands of "some of us".
That's the first of your mistakes. :)
Supposedly, the Internet I like is dying
True.
I'm not convinced. I think it's primarily that what was mainstream on the Internet while the Internet itself was still somewhat niche is returning to what it logically must be compared to society at large.
Fedbook, Twatter and & Co. are all Cinese trendsetters.
Only old people are on Facebook. It's so passé.
I think it's primarily that what was mainstream on the Internet while the Internet itself was still somewhat niche is returning to what it logically must be compared to society at large.
Could you give an example, I'm not sure I'm understanding your point.
Could you give an example, I'm not sure I'm understanding your point.
The most popular programs on TV may well be those that interest me the least: sports, reality TV, and soaps. Currently most of my favorite programs are mostly Internet-only. Since TV in its present form will inevitably die and its audience shift to the Internet in some form or other, the Internet video content I like will "die" soon enough. I think it would be more accurate to say it'll be a little harder to find, much the same as how it was always a little harder to find the TV programming that interested me than to find that which everyone was watching.
That being said, while Facebook produces awful little of interest, Twitter and the like have been killing some degree of blog posts.
Since TV in its present form will inevitably die and its audience shift to the Internet in some form or other, the Internet video content I like will "die" soon enough. I think it would be more accurate to say it'll be a little harder to find, much the same as how it was always a little harder to find the TV programming that interested me than to find that which everyone was watching.
At a very near future only independent, almost pirate like, radio based emissions will delivery brief, short and long ranged, free content that breaks Tv/Internet mind controlling domination.
But people don't know how to listen these days, they need to stupidly watch. I suppose ears will disappear from the human species and people will have eyes as owls. Freaking morons.
"Free the Internet" it's not possible anymore. Unless... well, some miracle happens. Have faith and fight for it.
So let's blame China for what the Internet is becoming lately.
Fedbook, Twatter and & Co. are all Cinese trendsetters.
However, you might be right. In a few years the Internet might become 'cleaned up' and restricted as it is in China today.
China has made great progress in sanitising the Internet in the 15 years I have following them. The initial crude efforts were quite literally laughable, and now they are world leaders. I thought them stupid to block Facebook and Twitter, the best tools for mass surveillance yet invented, but it only set them back 4-5 years while domestic competitors grew strong, so all in all it ended up a sound business decision.
I thought them stupid to block Facebook and Twitter
How long will that last?
Perhaps I should open a new thread entitled
Say That Again that highlights the technical gibberish that's alive out there. Take a gander at this gem:
Trade finance datasets are unfortunately not homogeneous and different measures capture different aspects of trade finance activity. Reuters data on trade finance only aggregates loan syndication deals, which have mandated lead arrangers and thus capture the trends in the large-scale trade lending business, rather than providing an all-inclusive loans database. Perhaps the largest source of regularly collected and methodologically consistent data on trade finance is credit insurers (see “Testing the Trade Credit and Trade Link: Evidence from Data on Export Credit Insurance”, Auboin and Engemann, 2013).
Shakespeare just rolled over in his grave.
I understand that it wasn't written for folks like us, but seriously...!!!
If you need more, try this...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-21/chinas-record-dumping-us-treasuries-leaves-goldman-speechless (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-21/chinas-record-dumping-us-treasuries-leaves-goldman-speechless)
Only old people are on Facebook - uh? Must say I am not interested in that nor Twitter. People that dwell so much time on things like that need to look in the mirror and get out more. For some mind controllers gobbledygook is a great way of trying to influence lesser controlled minds. If Shakespeare was still around he and I would be sitting with glasses of Irn Bru, deeply concerned and sighing. Stage and players - certainly.
If Shakespeare was still around he and I would be sitting with glasses of Irn Bru, deeply concerned and sighing.
Why do I find that hard to believe. The master of the English language alongside its worst enemy.
How's this for bad news?
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YFg6S7X3fQ[/video]
Well maybe you should have stayed in teaching jimbro. After all the numbers of illiterates in your corner of the world is in vast numbers and there is an educational prob. Solve your own corner and you would have some morality to smile about. :hat:
Well maybe you should have stayed in teaching jimbro. After all the numbers of illiterates in your corner of the world is in vast numbers and there is an educational prob. Solve your own corner and you would have some morality to smile about. :hat:
and maybe you should have finished primary school.
Solve your own corner and you would have some morality to smile about. :hat:
I'm going to have to study this one. Can anybody help?
Always clever of you to try that when you cannot a straight answer cannot be thought out. Well done.
What?
Always clever of you to try that when you cannot a straight answer cannot be thought out.
How about a straight sentence? What in the world were you attempting to say?
This Japanese company wants to put advertisements on the moon. (http://fortune.com/2015/08/17/japanese-company-moon-advertisement/)
Astrobotic, the U.S. firm designing the rover, charges about $1.2 million per kilogram to deliver product to the moon according to its website. Although the price of Pocari Sweat’s advertisement has not been disclosed, it will likely be less than $8 million, which is what it costs to air a one-minute commercial during the Super Bowl.
Americans charges more for one minute television commercials than to upload a bottle of Japanese drink to the moon.
Bomb both, Americans and Japanese. Enough of barbarism.
Merl Reagle, Whose Crossword Puzzles Delighted Clued-In Solvers, Dies at 65 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/arts/merl-reagle-whose-crossword-puzzles-delighted-clued-in-solvers-dies-at-65.html?_r=0)
RIP, Merl. I'll miss you. Thanks for the many clever puzzles…
Missed a couple of words out there jimbro so you being so perfect try and be human. Nah, on second thoughts would compromise you. :devil:
???
RJ's second language is English; but, since he had no first, he's always at sea… He has a third-grade education (in our American reckoning) and likely got Ds; but his countrymen accept him, as what should be expected — given their priorities.
Without the North Sea oil, Scotland would be another Somalia. (Or annexed to Ireland… :) )
(https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/JxDFOpIfHlKelupVrz.daw--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9MzAwO3E9OTU7dz00MDA-/http://www.theempoweredman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/hold-your-tongue-about-the-singaporean-government.jpg)
Your fanatical rightist mid is in full ignorance as usual Oakdale. Oil is NOT Scotland's as this is not a sovereign country -thought i should maybe let you know. As for poverty you have no Welfare State but 40 million poor out of 300 million and the homeless?! Not surprising you do bodyswerves but isn't very bright.
Oil is NOT Scotland's as this is not a sovereign country -thought i should maybe let you know.
'Preciate that! I actually didn't know: I'd thought, first, that "devoluion" meant higher forms
de-volving to lower ones; then I learned that lesser powers were granted limited sovereignty. And, finally, I realized that I was right in my original assumptions.
Of course, the Scots don't "own" the oil! They have no country, no language, no statesmen — and no silliness, except such as yourself! :)
Nice try.
The damn Dollar fell one cent against the Euro. :furious:
Damn China for their stock market woes, and damn us for basically being Siamese twins with those corrupt degenerates (yes, we have our share too, Howie).
Wish it would get back to 10 cents for One Euro.....
Imagine - you having your share? :hat:
Oil is NOT Scotland's as this is not a sovereign country
Don't tell that to Salmond!
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fpo4ep.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1241%2Fl%2F28656455.jpg&hash=56db90a87a08d9a05ac99cb2274c1595" rel="cached" data-hash="56db90a87a08d9a05ac99cb2274c1595" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://po4ep.s3.amazonaws.com/1241/l/28656455.jpg)
Apparently our freedom from unusable, buggy default software full of holes on phones and routers is under attack:
http://changelog.complete.org/archives/9396-theres-still-a-chance-to-save-wifi
Consumers should not be at the mercy of vendors to fix their own networks, nor should they be required to trust unauditable systems. There are many well-regarded efforts to provide better firmware for Wifi devices, which still keep them operating under Part 15 restrictions. One is OpenWRT [8], which supports a wide variety of devices with a system built upon a solid Linux base.
Please keep control of our devices in the hands of consumers and amateurs, for the benefit of all.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Funkregulierung-Angriff-auf-alternative-Software-2803189.html
Slightly older news:
EU plans to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals found in pesticides have been dropped because of threats from the US that this would adversely affect negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), according to a report in The Guardian. Draft EU regulations would have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that have been linked to testicular cancer and male infertility.
@Frenzie
No wonder. In Brussels there are far more lobbyists (around 20.000) than politicians. They are biasing laws or even work out important parts of EU laws.
So far about democracy and legitimacy.
As for TTIP, it's even more frightening than the lobby pack in Brussels.
Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Treaty: State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Issues for Ministerial Guidance (https://wikileaks.org/tpp-soe-minister/)
I would remind you jimbro that Salmond ceased to be the SNP leader when trounced at the referendum and is not the leader of the SNP group in Westminster either! My favourite picture of him is sitting in the back of a car going home in the middle of the night with a deep depressed look. Could not have wished for anything better as he is so arrogant and was too full of himself.
Horrific stampede at hajj in Saudi Arabia kills 717 pilgrims
It was the second major disaster during this year's hajj season, raising questions about the adequacy of measures put in place by Saudi authorities to ensure the safety of the roughly 2 million Muslims taking part in the pilgrimage. A crane collapse in Mecca nearly two weeks earlier left 111 people dead.
...
At least 95 Iranian pilgrims perished, according to the official IRNA news agency. Deputy foreign minister, Hossesin Amir Abdollahian, said his ministry summoned the Saudi envoy to Tehran for an official protest over what he called the "inadequate performance of Saudi authorities" in the incident.
In totally unrelated news, At the opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, President Vladimir Putin suggested that embracing Muslims at home would discourage them from joining extremists abroad (http://news.yahoo.com/russias-mosque-hints-warmer-welcome-moscows-muslims-193640805.html).
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/oct/27/authorities-cryotherapy-spa-where-employee-died-ha/
A Las Vegas spa where an employee was found frozen and dead inside a liquid nitrogen chamber used for cryotherapy treatments wasn't licensed by the city, county or state to perform cosmetic or other procedures, authorities said Tuesday.
The disclosures followed the death of 24-year-old Chelsea Patricia Ake-Salvacion, who was found Oct. 20 in a chamber used to provide the increasingly popular but largely unregulated treatments for pain and other conditions.
"When they found her, she was rock solid frozen," Albert Ake, the dead woman's uncle, said in an interview from his home in Reno
The cyrotherapy sounds like quack medicine for all of the advertised uses mentioned in the article. Rejuvenice spa was found to be operating without required workers compensation insurance. The location where Chelsea died lack a license to perform the cosmetic and therapeutic procedures (but did have a general business license) and other location lacked even the business license (they applied four times and failed to pay the fee and still needed to be inspected. In Vegas that, consists of the guy coming in with a clipboard and saying "Looks good. Wanna go get some Starbucks?" :p) However, the spa was found not at fault for her death and no criminal charges were filed in that matter, since she wasn't supposed to use cryotherapy chamber after-hours for personal use (But I won't be surprised if someone at Rejuvenice told her it was okay...)
Spam (http://s3.amazonaws.com/mybenefit/fb/hawking.html?sid=d300) continues to infect all parts of the web… :(
I realize there are "language" problems — but you'd think hiring a competent copy editor wouldn't be beyond the means (or intelligence) of an operation that intends and expects to make money.
Sadder still: They still make money, somehow…
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/oct/27/authorities-cryotherapy-spa-where-employee-died-ha/
A Las Vegas spa where an employee was found frozen and dead inside a liquid nitrogen chamber used for cryotherapy treatments wasn't licensed by the city, county or state to perform cosmetic or other procedures, authorities said Tuesday.
The disclosures followed the death of 24-year-old Chelsea Patricia Ake-Salvacion, who was found Oct. 20 in a chamber used to provide the increasingly popular but largely unregulated treatments for pain and other conditions.
"When they found her, she was rock solid frozen," Albert Ake, the dead woman's uncle, said in an interview from his home in Reno
The cyrotherapy sounds like quack medicine for all of the advertised uses mentioned in the article. Rejuvenice spa was found to be operating without required workers compensation insurance. The location where Chelsea died lack a license to perform the cosmetic and therapeutic procedures (but did have a general business license) and other location lacked even the business license (they applied four times and failed to pay the fee and still needed to be inspected. In Vegas that, consists of the guy coming in with a clipboard and saying "Looks good. Wanna go get some Starbucks?" :p) However, the spa was found not at fault for her death and no criminal charges were filed in that matter, since she wasn't supposed to use cryotherapy chamber after-hours for personal use (But I won't be surprised if someone at Rejuvenice told her it was okay...)
Great day in the morning! All I've ever done, trying not to accomplish death while I do it, is to sleep in the van at a rest-stop in Winter. That gets plenty cold enough, thank you very much. A cryogenic chamber with liquid nitrogen? How about "No".
…bedded down in a burned-out cab of a truck by a rail yard, myself, in winter — snow blowing!
I survived.
Where did this come from, mjm? (Why did you resurrect it, I'd rather ask.)
You'd have to ask Midnight where he dredged it up from. I "resurrected" it because the very idea of getting into a chamber that has anything to do with liquid nitrogen is----- bizarre. Gotta say one thing though--- if the woman in the story did it for pain relief, it worked--- permanently.
Okay.
Supposedly, the Internet I like is dying
True.
I'm not convinced. I think it's primarily that what was mainstream on the Internet while the Internet itself was still somewhat niche is returning to what it logically must be compared to society at large.
Here's another perspective on the matter: https://anarc.at/blog/2016-01-12-the-downloadable-internet/
This struck a chord, personally, at the political level: we are losing control of the internet (if we ever had it). The defeat isn't directly political: we have some institutions like ICANN and the IETF that we can still have an effect on, even if only at the technological level. The defeat is economic, and, of course, through economy comes enormous power. That defeat meant that we have first lost free and open access to the internet (yes, dialup used to be free) and then free hosting of our content (no, Google and Facebook are not free, you are the product). This marked a major change in the way content is treated online.
H0d3r explains this as the shift from a link-based internet to a stream-based internet, a "deparure from a books-internet towards a television-internet". I have been warning about this "television-internet" in my talks and conversation for a while and with Netflix taking the crown off Youtube (and making you pay for it, of course), we can assuredly say that H0d3r is right and the television, far from disappearing, is finally being resurrected and taking over the internet.
I suppose it would be more accurate to say we just frame it differently. Like I said, the most popular TV shows interest me about the least.
In totally unrelated news, At the opening of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, President Vladimir Putin suggested that embracing Muslims at home would discourage them from joining extremists abroad (http://news.yahoo.com/russias-mosque-hints-warmer-welcome-moscows-muslims-193640805.html).
I'd love to see Vladimir hug a Muslim. The man is a great hugger. If you don't believe me, ask a Uranian.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.images.express.co.uk%2Fimg%2Fdynamic%2F59%2F590x%2Fsecondary%2FRussia-Bans-Internet-Memes-You-Can-No-Longer-Send-Sadimir-Putin-In-Russia-Russia-Has-Banned-All-Vladimir-Putin-Memes-275592.jpg&hash=d962db847bb59e2eeda2b7cf5a3ae54c" rel="cached" data-hash="d962db847bb59e2eeda2b7cf5a3ae54c" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/59/590x/secondary/Russia-Bans-Internet-Memes-You-Can-No-Longer-Send-Sadimir-Putin-In-Russia-Russia-Has-Banned-All-Vladimir-Putin-Memes-275592.jpg)
Here's another perspective on the matter: https://anarc.at/blog/2016-01-12-the-downloadable-internet/
Some very good points made there, I can only agree with.
If you don't believe me, ask a Uranian.
Wow Jimbro, these are great news. So there is life on Uranus.
Did you already contact them? What else did they told you?
:D
I should have spelled it "yer anus."
Although I might have meant Ukrainian.
A Ukrainian would have been just as bad.
From OXFAM's An Economy For the 1% (https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/economy-1) report.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fs6c5Kd2.png&hash=cf6d9331e3313ee0c8e238ec9224d3cc" rel="cached" data-hash="cf6d9331e3313ee0c8e238ec9224d3cc" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/s6c5Kd2.png)
Insanity runs rampant… (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/02/12/142258/indonesia-moves-to-ban-same-sex-emojis-on-messaging-apps)
Well I stretch out to you Oakdale and agree with that comment..you should well know!
http://www.lgbtmuslimretreat.com/ (http://www.lgbtmuslimretreat.com/)
While homosexuality is not illegal in the country, it remains a controversial issue in the Muslim-dominated country. Now in the latest effort to crackdown on gay rights, Indonesian authorities want to ban emojis, stickers and emoticons which depict same-sex couples, the rainbow flag, and any symbol that symbolises the lesbian, bay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Apps that have been targeted by the demands include the popular Asian messaging app LINE, Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. The Indonesian Communication and Information Ministry added that a particular concern was that children would find the bright coloured stickers appealing.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaysocialites.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2Fapple-iOS-8.3-same-sex-couple-emoji-main.jpg&hash=1f72c005bee0c2d3094d1d278c9235d8" rel="cached" data-hash="1f72c005bee0c2d3094d1d278c9235d8" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.gaysocialites.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/apple-iOS-8.3-same-sex-couple-emoji-main.jpg)
Cute little guys, eh?
When it comes to hugging it would be really brilliant if the ex-colonies tried to hug real democracy and looked after the legions of citizens who are suffering. Now that would be a definitive hug!
When it comes to hugging it would be really brilliant if the ex-colonies tried to hug real democracy and looked after the legions of citizens who are suffering. Now that would be a definitive hug!
Tell us more about how your current government is doing so well in taking care of it's citizens please. :eyes:
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32413080 (http://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32413080)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0205/Why-planting-some-trees-could-make-global-warming-worse
Why planting some trees could make global warming worse
The observed effect of trees on climate in Europe is challenging widespread beliefs about how to mitigate climate change.
[…]
“Two and a half centuries of forest management in Europe have not cooled the climate,” the study concludes. “The political imperative to mitigate climate change through afforestation and forest management therefore risks failure, unless it is recognized that not all forestry contributes to climate change mitigation.”
Really though, are these really "widespread beliefs"? The managed forests they're talking about were grown for the express purpose of
having wood, not to improve the ecosystem or to manage the climate. Besides the question of pine vs other trees it's also well-known that such farm forests don't have the kind of ecosystem diversity that natural forests display and are thus more likely to cause erosion, succumb to forest fires, plagues, etc. In short, what I consider widespread knowledge about forests is that only sufficiently natural forests are actually good for the local environment, by extension for the global environment, and this new information about temperature only strengthens that common (sense) knowledge.
Why would a newspaper titled "Christian Science Monitor" be addressing this issue in this particular way? Are they just monitoring, doing science, or proclaiming Christianity? All that? None of it?
Food banks are a point of political nonsense. The areas I worked in for years in the education department were supposed to have all sorts of poverty. Kind of funny that matter as the district I spent so much time doing voluntary stuff in had a surfeit of satellite television, multiple was a black hackney car rank (much dearer) where a line of them would sit and be constantly used. Via the Welfare State rents were paid, generous payouts and so on. Food banks were a leftist matter of trying to prove something that is in practical fact a nonsense. One family in that "poor area" regularly emptied their large freezer of excess food and just proved how misused the Welfare system is.
On an even wider note may i also say Southern boy that the present government has been raising the start of when you pay tax each year by £500 and has nbw reached £11,000 and will soon got up to £11,500 then £12,000. The minimum wage has already been increased and will by the end of the parliament go ou are being given out sums like £30 and many well above that annually so the food bank thing is a political direction. The State Pension is being increased by just over £ a week and the Labour lot increase (party of the people) dished out 50 pence (you also paid tax as soon as you reached around £6,700). We don't need any lessons from a place like the country you come from in a land of so much would-be principle where a million a year lose homes and 40 million poor on food stamps. I believe on the principle of our welfare and health system but it was not before time that a government stopped the dam,n misuse of it. You really take the proverbial bit scoffing especially from a land that spends half the world armaments bill while tens of millions struggle and the economy and wages stagnating.
Sort out your own long nuilt-in hypocrisy before you look anywhere else because your poor have a worse time.
Why would a newspaper titled "Christian Science Monitor" be addressing this issue in this particular way? Are they just monitoring, doing science, or proclaiming Christianity? All that? None of it?
Christian Science is of course an oxymoron, but I think it's [Christian [Science Monitor]], not [Christian Science [Monitor]]. In any case the way of presenting the findings comes directly from the abstract in Science (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/597).
Thus, two and a half centuries of forest management in Europe have not cooled the climate. The political imperative to mitigate climate change through afforestation and forest management therefore risks failure, unless it is recognized that not all forestry contributes to climate change mitigation.
The thing is, at least around here that is very much recognized. "Planting trees" doesn't mean "creating farm forests" but "planting diverse species of trees and letting a natural ecosystem develop around them." (Including some other support, like artificially reintroducing meandering streams and wilder species of e.g. sheep or cattle.) Old pine forests grown for when we still used humongous quantities of wood for ship building have been purposefully converted from a monoculture into varied, more natural forests over the past 20 years. Precisely for all the problems they caused even without taking any heat or CO2 into account, not to mention that they were just plain
boring. But is there seriously anyone out there who thinks that "planting trees" means creating a monoculture of
any species of tree, pine or otherwise?
But is there seriously anyone out there who thinks that "planting trees" means creating a monoculture of any species of tree, pine or otherwise?
You can't create nature. So you "create" pine, eucalyptus, monoculture. You can't create simbioses. You can't create gorgeous women.
That's a false question, the real question is if it is better to plant monoculture or doing nothing in the desert we created. Because that's the only thing today's men are able to create, devastation.
There's been a dearth of
bad news…? :)
But here's something: (shamelessly copied from Slashdot (https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/04/04/2227200/tsa-paid-14-million-for-randomizer-app-that-chooses-left-or-right)!)
For those of you who have traveled through U.S. airports in recent years, you may have noticed the Transport Security Administration (TSA) use a Randomizer app to randomly search travelers in the Pre-Check lane. The app randomly chooses whether travelers go left or right in the Pre-Check lane so they can't predict which lane each person is assigned to and can't figure out how to avoid the random checks. Developer Kevin Burke submitted a Freedom of Information Act request asking for details about the app. The documents he received reveals the TSA purchased the Randomizer iPad app for $336,413.59. That's $336,413.59 for an app, which is incredibly simple to make as most programming languages of choice have a randomizing function available to use. What may be even more intriguing is that the contract for the TSA Randomizer app was won by IBM. The total amount paid for the project is actually $1.4 million, but the cost is not broken down in Burke's documents. It's possible IBM supplied all the iPads and training in addition to the app itself.
Putting my two cents worth in, two TSA agents could do the same thing, by flipping a coin. :)
Government — gone crazy!
Putting my two cents worth in, two TSA agents could do the same thing, by flipping a coin.
Let a Las Vegan instruct you for a moment. You can actually manipulate which side of the coin will land facing up pretty easily. Although changing changing how you flip isn't a hundred percent guaranteed, you can tilt the odds of winning the coin toss in your favor :) However, some Slashdoters noted that all the terrorists would have to do is send a few of their guys in a row. One might get caught, but you'll still get at least one of your boys on the plane. However, I wonder if the TSA would then proceed to search all passengers for that flight just in case. Another way would be to detonate a bomb in the check-in line, killing people and shutting down the airport before screening. A terrorist would have to be blinded by ideology and hatred for "the west" to not think of these things.
Yes, coin flips can be gamed, and somebody will have to flip the coin. So in addition to this coin flip operative, you would need a coin flip manager, to manage fair flippings by the operative, as well as a randomly-assigned coin flip supervisor to discover any collusion between the coin flip operative and the coin flip manager. Randomly assigned by a coin flip, no doubt. You got off practically for free.
I had to check those pre-check checks (https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/airport-experience/tsaprecheck.html), we don't have them here in Eurasia. On the other hand there is IIRC an 1 in 10 chance of the machine going "ping" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKodtNFpzBA) even if you carry nothing to trigger it, just to keep us on our toes.
Another way would be to detonate a bomb in the check-in line, killing people and shutting down the airport before screening.
In other words, Brussels Airport (https://dndsanctuary.eu/index.php?topic=765.msg53289#msg53289).
Yes, it works. It is less dramatic and deadly than getting the bomb detonated in a plane, two bombers killed themselves and 15 victims, but massive press and disruption.
I suspect they could've easily had more than 15 victims if it hadn't been a hastily executed revenge plot for the arrest of Abdeslam. Even so, the airport was out of business for weeks, including during Easter, perhaps the busiest period of the year.
Here are some of their tweets today:
As of today, flights are also leaving from/arriving at gates B: this means the situation is back to normal for all arriving passengers.
Today, we're welcoming another 20 airlines back to #brusselsairport. Check your flight info
While 3 days ago they suggested you walk over to the train station in the nearby village (after which the airport takes its colloquial name, Zaventem)…
@elf2487 You can walk to Zaventem train station, it's +- 25 minutes from the airport. *SA
Trains are good for extra resilience when airports are out of action due to terrorists or Icelandic volcanos decide to blow themselves up. Then again it isn't so hard to disrupt the train system either.
The most vulnerable subsystem is probably still the electrical network. The limited redundancy is offset by unintended feedback loops, as has happened in Europe, North America and Japan after the tsunami. Not so interesting or feasible for lesser outfits like ISIL, but if you can cripple the network you have in practice crippled the country.
Trains are good for extra resilience when airports are out of action due to terrorists or Icelandic volcanos decide to blow themselves up. Then again it isn't so hard to disrupt the train system either.
Well, I meant in lieu of any buses or trains from the airport. Probably should've specified. ;)
Tennessee thought it was necessary to pass a bill that would allow mental health counselors turn away clients for “sincerely held principles.” (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/counseling-bill-passes-tennessee-house-38196760) This is just embarrassing. What therapist really wants to turn away clients for being gay, Muslim, or whatever else ridiculous reason? At this point, the GOPers are just low and spiteful are the ones in need of therapy. My theory is that somewhere in the Republicans' rottening brains, they know laws allowing country clerks denying marriage certificates to people that can get legally married won't stand, so they're resorting to this stupidity. Frankly, if a mental health counselor is really doing this (and that's a big theoretical) they need their professional organizations to revoke their licenses, especially in light of the frightening LGBT teen suicide statistics.
Tennessee thought it was necessary to pass a bill that would allow mental health counselors turn away clients for “sincerely held principles.” (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/counseling-bill-passes-tennessee-house-38196760) This is just embarrassing. What therapist really wants to turn away clients for being gay, Muslim, or whatever else ridiculous reason? At this point, the GOPers are just low and spiteful are the ones in need of therapy.
What if the effect of the law is that only GOPers can get mental health counselling? (i.e. by future statistics, they will be the only crazy section of the population)
Tennessee thought it was necessary to pass a bill that would allow mental health counselors turn away clients for “sincerely held principles.” (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/counseling-bill-passes-tennessee-house-38196760) This is just embarrassing. What therapist really wants to turn away clients for being gay, Muslim, or whatever else ridiculous reason? At this point, the GOPers are just low and spiteful are the ones in need of therapy. My theory is that somewhere in the Republicans' rottening brains, they know laws allowing country clerks denying marriage certificates to people that can get legally married won't stand, so they're resorting to this stupidity. Frankly, if a mental health counselor is really doing this (and that's a big theoretical) they need their professional organizations to revoke their licenses, especially in light of the frightening LGBT teen suicide statistics.
I see they are trying to outdo MS eh,
@midnight raccoon?
Geez.
They should never bloviate about saving their various states money, ever again, as both the TN and MS laws will cost loads of money to defend, and they will lose.
I heard that Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams cancelled their concerts in North Carolina and Mississippi respectively due to some toilet laws concerning transgenders in those places. Is this so?
I heard that Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams cancelled their concerts in North Carolina and Mississippi respectively due to some toilet laws concerning transgenders in those places. Is this so?
Halfway correct, but not fully. Yes, both the singers you mention did cancel both their concerts in both states, but it was more related to the fact that, at least in MS's case, businesses and churches now have, momentarily-speaking, the right, by state law, to deny them (LGBTQ) their services because of their sexuality. So it's not just the transgender lot, it's the entire LGBTQ contingent.
What I have wondered is if the metrosexuals will be affected to?
I have sent the Governor's office repeated emails asking when, in the history of this state, have Christians ever been persecuted and henceforth need his often-repeated phrase "protection from the government"?
their services
Which are they?
their services
Which are they?
The usual; baker's can opt not to make a cake for a gay couple (true story, that's actually mentioned in the law), clerks can now refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples (a la like that fat, thrice-married heifer from Kentucky), pastors can refuse gay ppl communion, and the list goes on.
Hm...
Businesses: I can understand.
Churches: I don't understand. Which "services" would a gay couple (or whatever) ask from a church that has objections to his sexuality?
(At least in this country, marriage is a legal issue, not a religious one.)
at least in MS's case, businesses and churches now have, momentarily-speaking, the right, by state law, to deny them (LGBTQ) their services because of their sexuality.
How is it formulated so that it can be applied like this? The source I read talked about that it's not allowed to go to the toilet of the opposite sex - opposite to what's indicated in the person's birth certificate. This is quite simple to formulate and to enforce. And it's reasonable too, if the punishment is not something like death penalty or cutting off body parts...
In contrast, the things you say are over the top and don't translate to a legal regulation easily.
Hm...
Businesses: I can understand.
Churches: I don't understand. Which "services" would a gay couple (or whatever) ask from a church that has objections to his sexuality?
(At least in this country, marriage is a legal issue, not a religious one.)
Can't say for not knowing.
Here is a link to the bill:
Section 3:C has already been applied once, even though the law hasn't taken effect yet, and had disgusted much of the state: (http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2016/html/HB/1500-1599/HB1523SG.htm)interacial couple evicted from their home because of "sincerely held religious beliefs". (http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/04/02/mississippi-rv-park-owner-evicts-interracial-couple/82469086/)
ETA: Not sure how it happened, but the first sentence above links to the law's text. The second sentence links to the eviction of a couple because of the owner's "sincerely-held religious beliefs".
at least in MS's case, businesses and churches now have, momentarily-speaking, the right, by state law, to deny them (LGBTQ) their services because of their sexuality.
How is it formulated so that it can be applied like this? The source I read talked about that it's not allowed to go to the toilet of the opposite sex - opposite to what's indicated in the person's birth certificate. This is quite simple to formulate and to enforce. And it's reasonable too, if the punishment is not something like death penalty or cutting off body parts...
In contrast, the things you say are over the top and don't translate to a legal regulation easily.
From Section 3 of the law:
"5) The state government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that the person has provided or declined to provide the following services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization, formation, celebration, or recognition of any marriage, based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction described in Section 2 of this act:
(a) Photography, poetry, videography, disc-jockey services, wedding planning, printing, publishing or similar marriage-related goods or services; or
(b) Floral arrangements, dress making, cake or pastry artistry, assembly-hall or other wedding-venue rentals, limousine or other car-service rentals, jewelry sales and services, or similar marriage-related services, accommodations, facilities or goods.
(6) The state government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that the person establishes sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming, or concerning access to restrooms, spas, baths, showers, dressing rooms, locker rooms, or other intimate facilities or settings, based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction described in Section 2 of this act."
Thanks, that's an irrational formulation indeed, but at least it's openly so, not hypocritically irrational like the Balanced Treatment of Creation-Science thing.
And I still stand by that the idea behind the toilet law is sound. In a sensible world you would not need a law to fine misclothed men for intruding in women's bathrooms. It would be self-evident.
And I still stand by that the idea behind the toilet law is sound. In a sensible world you would not need a law to fine misclothed men for intruding in women's bathrooms.
Larger businessess such as Walmarts and Targets, have gender neutral "family" restrooms. But the thing about the transgendered people is that with a lot of them, you can't tell. This renders the law unenforcable and if they're far enough along, you can make them strip naked and you still can't tell. I can see business owners and manager not wanting to enforce this, regardless. You have more masculine-looking woman who are not in transition (the term for changing from one biological sex to another), but who wants to create a scene and negative publicity by accusing someone of "not really being a woman?"
Which "services" would a gay couple (or whatever) ask from a church that has objections to his sexuality?
Probably none at all. The misconception is that being against equal marriage is the Christian position, when in reality Christians have different viewpoints. The Metropolitian Community Church (http://mccchurch.org/) a few minutes down the road from my house has a completely different point of view than a deeply conservative Baptist church.
And I still stand by that the idea behind the toilet law is sound. In a sensible world you would not need a law to fine misclothed men for intruding in women's bathrooms.
Larger businessess such as Walmarts and Targets, have gender neutral "family" restrooms. But the thing about the transgendered people is that with a lot of them, you can't tell.
You can't tell what? You can't tell who is transgendered? Then they cannot be discriminated against. The transgendered can't tell the difference which restroom is which?
This renders the law unenforcable and if they're far enough along, you can make them strip naked and you still can't tell.
Ah, you mean you can't tell who is transgendered. Then they don't exist, as far as you can tell, and it's impossible of you to make an argument in their favour.
"Strip naked" is no uncertain way to determine sex, even though according to my information the decisive point would have been the birth certificate. Such a law would be easily enforceable.
I can see business owners and manager not wanting to enforce this, regardless. You have more masculine-looking woman who are not in transition (the term for changing from one biological sex to another), but who wants to create a scene and negative publicity by accusing someone of "not really being a woman?"
The law would precisely bar people from deliberately making a spectacle of themselves. To enter the wrong restroom and to make a scene by one's over-the-top demands offending a whole gender in the process should be considered a misdemeanour. Making a spectacle of themselves is what the whole LGBTQ(etc.) thing is about, nothing else.
My reason to oppose the law Colonel quoted would be the same. The law makes a silly spectacle of "a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction". With businesses it should be simple - you either get a deal or you don't. The quicker and safer way to get a deal is to do some homework what the business is about and not to make a spectacle of yourself when placing your order.
Strip naked" is no uncertain way to determine sex, even though according to my information the decisive point would have been the birth certificate.
Unless the birth certificate itself has been changed. Instructions by state (http://www.lambdalegal.org/know-your-rights/transgender/changing-birth-certificate-sex-designations). If the certificate has been replaced, they are legally considered the operative sex. By the way, sex is not the same as gender. Sex is basically what you have between your legs. Gender is how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Usually they match, of course, but not always. For instance, I had transgendered co-worker that everyone considered female by appearance and how she acted, but still had a penis. So trying to determine her sex on the spot for restroom purposes would have most likely required stripping to reveal her sex to be male, but her gender to be female. If an establishment tried to do this, she could sue big. In case of loose (ie the local court finds the establishment acted in accordance with a given state law), she could than sue the state and we have the makings of another Supreme Court case. And for what? She has no sexual interest in women, and would have been humiliated for no reason. Further, she would have just been trying to use the restroom and all the spectacle would be on the other side. Fortunately, this happens to Las Vegas where we usually don't trip seeing someone of the opposite sex in the restroom with us. I was just trying to demonstrate how this would play out using a real-world example and legal definitions of male and female (which is what counts in the courts, not personal opinions.)
The quicker and safer way to get a deal is to do some homework what the business is about and not to make a spectacle of yourself when placing your order.
Yes, and there are sites for transgendered people to do that. The problem is on the GOP side, always trying to pass silly laws like this and thereby forcing the LGBTQ people into legal battles over restrooms of all things. The American right doesn't seem to understand they're the ones that started all this. Most people took for granted that marriage was between men and women (including a lot of queer people.) But the Right had to push for state constitutional amendments on the subject, not having the foresight to realize this would open up a legal and constitutional question about the subject, given the rights and protections offered by marriage. Having lost that legal battle, the GOP is going after laws about restrooms, trying to give government officials the right to discriminate, etc. By not knowing when they've lost, the Republicans are inadvertently expanding LGBTQ rights.
Don't want transgendered people using what you consider the wrong restroom? Actually, leave it alone. Most will use the family restrooms (which people of either sex can use) or hold it. By passing state laws about restroom use, the likely end result will be people using any restroom they please. Yes, the Republicans are their own worst enemies and accidently the LGBTQ's best friend.
Just get rid of the segregated toilet nonsense already.
By passing state laws about restroom use, the likely end result will be people using any restroom they please.
Everybody already does that unless the options are directly side by side. Only weird prudes will go scouring the area for a bathroom that happens to have some stupid symbol of their preference on it.
Just get rid of the segregated toilet nonsense already.
By passing state laws about restroom use, the likely end result will be people using any restroom they please.
Everybody already does that unless the options are directly side by side. Only weird prudes will go scouring the area for a bathroom that happens to have some stupid symbol of their preference on it.
I didn't realise that preferences apply to oneself only, selfishly. Where I live, you can be sure of this:
1. Enter the toilet designated for the opposite sex in e.g. a shopping centre.
2. Observe the inevitable riot and arrival of security personnel.
Further consequences involving police may follow.
The preference here has nothing to do with you. It has to do with those who are already there in the toilet. You must consider other people's preferences, you see. This is evidently an impossible point for LGBT folks, but that's life and it's better this way.
So if one of them is closed for cleaning Estonians go loping around the mall in search of another toilet? Ils sont fous ces estoniens. :lol:
1. Enter the toilet designated for the opposite sex in e.g. a shopping centre.
2. Observe the inevitable riot and arrival of security personnel.
Where do you live that this happens? Like I said, with a trans person, without an embarrassing inspection, you usually can't tell anyway. You're using the restroom and trans man comes in (that's a person going from female to male.) You do your business, wash your hands and leave none the wiser and he does the same. In the case of a transwomen that still has male anatomy, if she's sitting in the stall with the door locked, who knows unless they're the pervert looking under the stall? Remember, we're not simply talking about people dressed in non-sex appropriate clothing. These are people that consider themselves male or female, regardless of the set of genitalia they born both, and tend to be considered by others to be that gender.
I'll elaborate a little on what Frenzie said. It's fairly common in certain circumstances to find the opposite sex in the restroom with you. Women will often complain that their assigned restroom is full. So some will use the men's room. In that situation, you can use the urinal and she can use the stall or you both use the stall and move on with your respective lives. Frenzie's example is more common. Only someone with issues to begin with be traumatized. I wonder if the GOP took these factors into account when they codified their bizarre laws.
My guess would be that gender specific restrooms will eventually become a thing of the past. Privacy concerns are easily rectified by adding opaque flaps under existing stall doors and doors that go all the way to the floor in future construction. This way the Republicans can have better things to do besides pass moronic laws, such as picking their noses.
So if one of them is closed for cleaning Estonians go loping around the mall in search of another toilet? Ils sont fous ces estoniens. :lol:
You
close toilets for cleaning in malls? Am I reading right? This doesn't happen here. Cleaning happens, closing for cleaning doesn't. And even if it were closed for cleaning (which doesn't happen), this doesn't grant you access to ladies' restroom. A matter of both culture and law.
Funny how we are so far away.
this doesn't grant you access to ladies' restroom.
You realize it goes both ways, right?
Apparently even in the prudish Anglo-Saxon countries, there's a generational divide (source (https://today.yougov.com/news/2013/09/13/unisex-toilets-british-women-most-reluctant-share-/)).
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.yougov.com%2Fcumulus_uploads%2Fdocument%2Fi266tu5dzt%2FUnisex5.png&hash=68904fe06c41f927282a9c053030c574" rel="cached" data-hash="68904fe06c41f927282a9c053030c574" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/i266tu5dzt/Unisex5.png)
Meanwhile younger French people are apparently influenced too much by Anglo-Saxon culture:
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.yougov.com%2Fcumulus_uploads%2Fdocument%2F83p6sp2cws%2FUnisex4.png&hash=2920750e7060407d496c826216b5d15e" rel="cached" data-hash="2920750e7060407d496c826216b5d15e" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/83p6sp2cws/Unisex4.png)
Of course, the obvious question is whether they asked whether or not these people are comfortable in public restrooms
at all. I mean, I don't care for 'em; I just don't see what the gender of the person standing next to you at the washbasin has to do with anything.
Like I said, with a trans person, without an embarrassing inspection, you usually can't tell anyway.
If you can't tell, then you can't tell whether you are dealing with transgender or not, so all points concerning this are immaterial. You could be talking about anybody, everybody, or nobody, we just can't tell.
I'll elaborate a little on what Frenzie said. It's fairly common in certain circumstances to find the opposite sex in the restroom with you. Women will often complain that their assigned restroom is full. So some will use the men's room.
And they simply go in and expect "equal treatment" and they can threaten to call the police if "equal treatment" is not granted? I suspect it goes more like this: They complain that theirs is full and they peek in apologisingly and they ask permission and, if permission is granted, they do their necessary thing and leave as quickly as possible.
It's not a citizen right. It's an out-of-the-ordinary situation where an exception may be granted, if nicely asked. Or not. There's no compulsion to grant the exception.
Anyway, thanks for telling that I can walk into ladies' restroom over there and yell "Injustice!" when somebody tries to deter me. I will keep this in mind. May come in handy.
You realize it goes both ways, right?
I made this point earlier. Good you occasionally think both ways too.
As to unisex toilets, yes there are those. Different rooms, different rules. Not the same rules all over the place. For example, you cannot shit on the floor in the room where mothers diaper their babies. This applies even to the babies.
Anyway, thanks for telling that I can walk into ladies' restroom over there and yell "Injustice!" when somebody tries to deter me.
Are you transgendered? Of course not. That being the case, give your explanation if someone tries to deter you. There's a fair chance the woman will understand having been in the same situation. Yes, restrooms are often closed for cleaning here.
If you can't tell, then you can't tell whether you are dealing with transgender or not, so all points concerning this are immaterial. You could be talking about anybody, everybody, or nobody, we just can't tell.
Hence why the laws are unenforceable. It does occur to me that if the transperson in question is somehow known, is forced to use the "correct" restroom and gets bashed as a result, they can sue the crap out of the state and not just for money but to get the law repealed.
Anyway, thanks for telling that I can walk into ladies' restroom over there and yell "Injustice!" when somebody tries to deter me.
Are you transgendered? Of course not. That being the case, give your explanation if someone tries to deter you.
How does this parse, "that being the case"? You mean "In case you are transgendered, give your explanation [namely, tell that you are transgendered so everybody will pull away from your path]"? You don't see why this cannot and should not work this way? Of course you don't see it. As you say, you can't tell...
If you can't tell, then you can't tell whether you are dealing with transgender or not, so all points concerning this are immaterial. You could be talking about anybody, everybody, or nobody, we just can't tell.
Hence why the laws are unenforceable.
Luckily you are not the one who should be enforcing the law. Law enforcement officers can take a look in the birth certificate. You cannot. So, you can't tell, but they can. It's their job.
American wired internet in dire straits
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/-verizon-cwa--ibew-union_b_9677604.html
Maybe you didn't know, but there are places where you are supposed to shit on the floor. This is me in the middle, still young and awesome, 20 yo.
(https://p2.liveauctioneers.com/394/40460/17387848_1_l.jpg)
I'm taking a dump in an area enclosed for the purpose. For males. A lady may walk in, a platoon of cleaners, or a painter. I don't give a damn. I just do my thing.
The point is, it's an area enclosed for the specific purpose. I do my thing and I am doing it in the appropriate place. Inasmuch as I don't give a damn, I could do it anywhere, but for the sake of other people, I pay attention to do it in the appopriate place. I don't impose my not-giving-a-damn on other people. It's basic decency. In return, I hope to earn the right to be left alone often enough and long enough so I can mind my own business.
LGBTQ(etc.) folks don't have this decency. They want to do things not meant for them or not meant for the occasion. They demand undue privileges while showing off how they don't care about other people. The never think in terms of balanced mutuality. They are demonstrative about their defiance of culture and morals. They don't care about other people's feelings or about the nature of reality or truth either.
Given all this, not only is it hypocritical and ridiculous of the LGBTQ folks to play offended when they are faced with objections, but due to their behaviour they actually deserve to be lessoned the hard way. They are directly asking for it. Not that I would be the one to give them the relevant lessons. I don't give everyone what they ask. There are other people for that.
Maybe you didn't know, but there are places where you are supposed to shit on the floor. This is me in the middle, still young and awesome, 20 yo.
That's no floor. Squat toilets are normal enough a few hours south of me and imo in many ways to be preferred. Sitting to poop is just unnatural. Of course a modern variety would look more like this:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Squat-toilet-with-tank.jpg) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Squat-toilet-with-tank.jpg)
1 That doesn't mean there's a communal aspect to them.
Not even transgenders can intrude ???
Not even transgenders can intrude ???
My point is rather that pooping in a natural position ("on the floor") is a fact completely independent of anything else. But no, not unless they bash in the door.
The bad news are that we have a new forum.
But the good news is that we now know the proper way to poop :yes: Actually I read the same thing years ago, it's something about how the pooping positions align the colon.
But the good news is that we now know the proper way to poop :yes:
This is an important result of our conversation. We should not unquestioningly swallow the statements on the topic of transgender toilet rights by someone like Bruce Springsteen when he doesn't even know how to poop right.
TIL ITT: I've been crapping wrong for decades. :D
Ooops, GOP cosponsor of anti-trans bathroom bill is a danger to ‘unsuspecting women’, probe finds (http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/gop-cosponsor-of-anti-trans-bathroom-bill-is-a-danger-to-unsuspecting-women-probe-finds/)
....
(Attorney General) Slatery’s office is leading an investigation into multiple sexual harassment complaints against Durham. Although the investigation is not complete, Slatery said that the warning was necessary because of information learned during interviews with 34 different women.
What a shock. Durham was one of the key sponsors of Tennessee's bathroom bill, ostensibly to protect women, was the one sexually harassing women this whole time :rolleyes: It's unknown at this time if he did it in the restroom.
European citizens will have their bank accounts accesible to the Government in 93 countries.
Ooops, GOP cosponsor of anti-trans bathroom bill is a danger to 'unsuspecting women', probe finds (http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/gop-cosponsor-of-anti-trans-bathroom-bill-is-a-danger-to-unsuspecting-women-probe-finds/)
This is hands down the stupidest political issue I've witnessed in my 79 years on mother Earth. I'm now looking for rest room police!
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rockcitytimes.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2Fdarr-wipe.jpg&hash=d274aff761dc65c77e5b74e5c201d18f" rel="cached" data-hash="d274aff761dc65c77e5b74e5c201d18f" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.rockcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/darr-wipe.jpg)
Today's bad news for me is that my internet is going belly up for a whil3e.
We get our internet courtesy of the people upstairs here in Mallorca who are leaving tomorrow (moving back to the UK) and,of course will be turning off their landline.
So with no alternatives, it will just be furtive looking at the internet via a phone in internet-blessed cafes from now on. until mid June.
Will try to make the odd niss-spelt daft comment though
Such is life
This is hands down the stupidest political issue I've witnessed in my 79 years on mother Earth.
If Scotland would be governed by the GOP:
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fpublicdomainvectors.org%2Fphotos%2FNo-True-Scotsman.png&hash=a705f006edc33d0379bd48ca9b1432af" rel="cached" data-hash="a705f006edc33d0379bd48ca9b1432af" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://publicdomainvectors.org/photos/No-True-Scotsman.png)
If Scotland would be governed by the GOP:
I'm telling Rj!
If Scotland would be governed by the GOP:
I'm telling Rj!
Who will remind us that lowlanders don't wear kilts!
Who knows what Rj does in the privacy of his bedroom?
Huh. The GOP is a nut job corner and wouldn't get to be anywhere else but where it fits in....
Just as well I have pictures in my bedroom of General Lee, Tsar Nicholas 2nd, John Knox, King William 3rd, me in a black gown, and thus surf myself higher than you hoi-polloi mentality poor lot. Oh and two lovely females who sighed at thoughts of me. Not enough room for th rest of them. As for that person in the tartan get him to lift the thing to see what toilet to allocate him to.
Just as well I have pictures in my bedroom […]
You're a true and tried
wanker, aren't ya! :)
—————————————————————
p.s.,
Sighs come from pre-pubescent girls — you should be ashamed of yourself!
me in a black gown
Done up nice a pretty for a date with a handsome prince?
Today is 25 of April.
What's so bad about that?
Or news? That day tends to come around this time of the year, quite predictably between the 24th and 26th.
What's so bad about that?
Good you don't know, so you are not an accomplice.
Der Spiegel posted an article on creepy invasive mosquitoes.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/tomorrow/tropical-mosquitoes-gaining-a-foothold-in-northern-europe-a-1090592.html
First immigrants now them what is going to happen next?!
EU Wants Massive Nuclear Investment (https://global.handelsblatt.com/edition/390/ressort/politics/article/eu-wants-massive-nuclear-investment)
So the most costly and most dangerous form of energy will be subsidized by the EU.
The nuclear lobby can celebrate its victory in Brussels.
the most costly and most dangerous form of energy
That's what's known as a straw-man… GreenPeace science, at its best! :)
the most costly and most dangerous form of energy
That's what's known as a straw-man… GreenPeace science, at its best! :)
Typical Oakdale. :)
Dear Oakdale, you're either an ignorant or you're a troll.
Of course, there is also a third possibility. Namely, you are both.
First immigrants now them what is going to happen next?!
First immigrants, now them. What is going to happen next?!
Sheesh!
Yesterday marked the Nations Birthday.....one day a year to mark the joy of being American. But no, all you hear from the American Millennials is how bad America is, & how racist America is, & how America never was or ever will be great for anything.
Well, this is for them......our America Denigrating Millennials:
[glow=black,2,300]To Those American Millennials
On Our Nation's Birthday![/glow]
[VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX1GhVio4no[/VIDEO]
Huh. a jackass complaining about a few people's tweets as if that means anything at all.
.........complaining about a few people's tweets as if that means anything at all.
You're 100% correct, their thousands of tweets combined amount to nothing, zero, & they themselves will never amount to anything....total wastes of space.....those "Occupy Klowns", they were in the first doctor's mind....the reason abortion was conceived.......they wouldn't even make a tasteless Soylent Green.
There are "thousands of tweets" about everything in the world. Welcome to the 21st century, old man. Most are as meaningless as your guy's rant. Even Trump supporters can post their fucktardation and schedule it repeat every hour, resulting in "thousands" of them.
Is America supposed to be located around the Indian Ocean? :eyes:
There are "thousands of tweets" about everything in the world. Welcome to the 21st century, old man. Most are as meaningless as your guy's rant. Even Trump supporters can post their fucktardation and schedule it repeat every hour, resulting in "thousands" of them.
My guy's facts....your krustykunt's melted blue cheese flow.....those Occupy syphilitic dickwaads (done any taste tests lately Lady Ryan?....your cup of salty tastin'
queer gisum Lady Grey Tea) write tweets just as bad as you write fiction.
I laugh my ass off knowin' how devastating those school loans will be when all they can do is flip burgers at
$4.00 an hour! (https://www.smileyfaze.tk/slides/lolfun.gif)
Too much going on to congratulate you with the Britain exit of your own twelve score years ago. But it's not as if you haven't been full of diss and vinegar yourself on more than one occasion.
In other bad news, some forum members are clearly psychotic but not Jax.
Actually, abortion was thought up when ppl started driving up and down I-5 in Seattle (at any point during the day) or indeed I-15 through Salt Lake City during rush hour.
some forum members are clearly psychotic but not Jax
I'd hazard the guess that most if not almost all forum members are not
Jax… :) Carry on!
Anyone else here ever notice that good news and bad news often correlate with political positions? :( That, in itself, is bad news…
or indeed I-15 through Salt Lake City during rush hour.
You should see I-15 in Las Vegas in rush hour. It's not fun. We've had where you're driving along and they close one side of the road, a little further and they close the other side, and just little more down the road and the original side is closed again. On the 95 freeway (also called the 515) for a while they reduce traffic to one lane for switching to the 15 and one lane to drive through. It was all but impassable.
Federal control is so beneficial! :)
Had we states again, it might be better?
Anyone else here ever notice that good news and bad news often correlate with political positions? :( That, in itself, is bad news…
The good news topic may have politics, though it was intended for non-political good news. This one on the other hand should be perfect for psychotics with delusions of Jax.
For bad news the world was clearly a poorer place without #HashtagWars (https://twitter.com/hashtag/HashtagWars). #MakeAmericaGreatAgain (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeAmericaGreatAgain) #AmericaWasNeverGreat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/AmericaWasNeverGreat) or #WeAreAmerica (https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreAmerica). #MakeHashtagsGreatAgain (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeHashtagsGreatAgain)
For bad news the world was clearly a poorer better place without #HashtagWars (https://twitter.com/hashtag/HashtagWars). #MakeAmericaGreatAgain (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeAmericaGreatAgain) #AmericaWasNeverGreat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/AmericaWasNeverGreat) or #WeAreAmerica (https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreAmerica). #MakeHashtagsGreatAgain (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeHashtagsGreatAgain)
…Unless you have a perverse sense of humor! ;) Or should silliness be taken seriously, now?
(BTW: Even your second paragraph was more than 144 characters… Bad
Jax!)
Federal control is so beneficial! :)
Had we states again, it might be better?
In still more bad news, on internet forums some people insist on making up other people's positions for them.
Federal control is so beneficial! :)
Had we states again, it might be better?
Why not colonies? Right now you are ex-colonies. It does not sound respectable at all.
Right now you are ex-colonies.
Another line
stolen from Mr. Howie. Ersi=
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.voxeurop.eu%2Ffiles%2Fbertrams-putin.jpg&hash=862dc65a39da33655ced34176e003e60" rel="cached" data-hash="862dc65a39da33655ced34176e003e60" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.voxeurop.eu/files/bertrams-putin.jpg)
Right now you are ex-colonies.
It seems to me that more than Americans being ex colonies, the British are much more ex colonizers. So much more that they actually turned an American colony.
Never European colonizers turned into colonies but for the British. Good to have them out of Europe.
And being out of Europe will drop the income and the EU dish outs to places like poor Portugal. You cannot exist without the handouts from others. Time to shake one's head. Even with the begging bowl you aren't improving.
Federal control is so beneficial! :)
Had we states again, it might be better?
oh yeah, it's not the all Federal government that did this anyway. Google up Project Neon. It's the feds but also the state and Las Vegas. The claim is reduced commuter times. But meanwhile it makes the freeway all but impassable.
I waited until those who knew him better… Jerry Doyle died (http://www.epictimes.com/07/28/2016/j-michael-straczynskis-statement-death-jerry-doyle/) a few days ago. I'll miss him.
I think this is bad news for some of you. :)
You know you're an adult when... (http://observador.pt/2016/07/30/ser-adulto-e-trocar-noitadas-por-brunches-e-muito-mais/)
The king Bhumibol Adulyadej and the playwright Dario Fo have died.
And Bob Dylan got the Nobel Prize in literature.
Therese Johaug caught for doping (http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=179&artikel=6539661)
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsverigesradio.se%2Fsida%2Fimages%2F179%2F09b7d206-eff6-4a26-9c44-2d5098d352bf.jpg&hash=d4254b792528867bfc5918153e1617e6" rel="cached" data-hash="d4254b792528867bfc5918153e1617e6" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://sverigesradio.se/sida/images/179/09b7d206-eff6-4a26-9c44-2d5098d352bf.jpg)
In 2011, Estonian skier Veerpalu was accused of doping. Veerpalu got a 3 year ban. Smigun has been inconclusively implicated twice. Both Veerpalu and Smigun are retired now. Professional skiing in Estonia is at near standstill.
In 2001, Lahti, popular Finnish skier Jari Isometsä was busted. A sweeping purge followed among all Finnish skiers. They have still not properly recovered.
Meanwhile also Russian skiers and other sportsfolks have been caught and banned, and Norwegians were able to rule a number of seasons without challenge. Now it's the turn of Norwegians, looks like.
The Norwegian sport journalists found a way to blame Sweden for that.
On the bright side the Norwegian football team beat San Marino 4-1 (http://www.joe.ie/sport/watch-the-reaction-to-san-marino-scoring-against-norway-on-norwegian-tv-is-just-gold/563348)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chws5Qnt6ok
It was hairy after the San Marino 1-1 equaliser, "turn off the light, we're going home", but at least San Marino could enjoy their first qualifier away goal in 15 years.
–––––––––––––––––––
I've frequently heard that the U.S. population is "browning"… That doesn't scare me; I was raised to ignore skin-color.
But there's a problem coming up, if the "experts" are right: Should the world's population become majority-brown, and we still seem to be going to Hell in a hand-basket… Who's to blame?
"Whitey" will, eventually, subside; his influence will be -if not forgotten- then surely "over-come"! When the last "pure-bred" white man is gone, who ya gonna blame?
Ya'll gonna hafta learn a lotta stuff!
Look at Equitorial Africa, which has managed to learn next to nothing in the last three hundred years!
Look at Equitorial Africa, which has managed to learn next to nothing in the last three hundred years!
Other than learning to spell
Equatorial. But I could be wrong...it happened once a number of years ago.
Hm. That's the accomplishment that will bring good government, decent education and sustainable agriculture…? Who woulda thunk it!
Nowadays, Marxism and Islam are the main reasons for the deplorable state of sub-saharan countries… (We won't mention ancient tribal animosities.)
I would say Oakdale that the Equatorial and similar areas have a built-in natural weakness.
I'd agree… Would you care to name it? :)
If you think you're a clever clogs you shouldn't need to ask that.
If I thought you had "the courage of your convictions prejudices" I wouldn't have asked! :)
:hat:
Hm. That's the accomplishment that will bring good government, decent education and sustainable agriculture…? Who woulda thunk it!
Nowadays, Marxism and Islam are the main reasons for the deplorable state of sub-saharan countries… (We won't mention ancient tribal animosities.)
Equatorial Africa is predominantly Christian, as is Southern Africa. Northern Africa on the other hand is almost exclusively Muslim. There are still som Marxist holdouts, but most went in the aftermath of the Cold War.
For your blanket statements, are there any countries in particular you were thinking of?
We have too many Apple users here.
Here DnD?
You dont like Mac users, ersi? Even since Apple switched to Intel processors? I suspect you just don't like people who share your prejudices! (That doesn't make you unusual or anything special, by the way.)
But have no fear: Most "machines" nowadays are powered by RISK chips made in -for now!- GB. (But "invented" at the University of California, Berkley…) It's a global economy; but some will always come out on top.)
You dont like Mac users, ersi? Even since Apple switched to Intel processors? I suspect you just don't like people who share your prejudices! (That doesn't make you unusual or anything special, by the way.)
The processors are irrelevant. Apple fans have their inimitable Appleworld prejudices. Where Apple fans congregate, the prejudices will become manifest rather sooner than later. For now we survive okay, but I believe we are at a critical point.
I always wanted my own PDP 7… But, truth be told, I'll use any computer that's handy (nearby…). I still miss my 6809 8-bit Microware OS9 system!
Is it UNIX that offends you? (I doubt it…) Perhaps it's the expense! :) I haven't bought a "new" computer since the 80's…
Is it UNIX that offends you? (I doubt it…) Perhaps it's the expense! :)
No. It's the prejudices, the mindset of Mac users. Just look at you two prominent Applers talking stuff that can matter only in your own world and ignore stuff that matters universally.
Have passingly regarded Apple Mac users as slightly leaning to the nose in the air corner. The products are also a ridiculous price but folk go out and buy them as they sometimes see themselves as a select group rather than a conned one.
We have too many Apple users here.
There might be an Apple II user less. Until recently QRS used an Apple II to produce player piano rolls (http://www.apl2bits.net/2011/03/21/player-piano/), but reportedly they switched to modern CD technology a few years ago.
I don't care: The rolls I treasure come from more than a hundred years ago…
I don't care that others use Windows machines, either. I'm just tired of them asking me to help them when their systems fail… (I like Macs and can figure out what's gone wrong, when things go wrong, on such systems. When I have to "fix" Windows systems, I know that I'm placating "regular" consumers! People who will never have a clue… I can usually fix their problem; but I can't make their operating system rational.)
Of course, some people prefer other versions of UNIX. I understand that too. But most "users" won't or can't.
Apple is snootily over priced and the snooty accept it.
The products are also a ridiculous price
Of course, when you compare, well, apples to apples, the price difference isn't as much people imagine. I bought mine for
less than a comparable Windows system. Yes, you can buy a Windows system for 300 bucks but the machine but that thing which will barely run Chrome in about three years (the solution would be to swap out Windows for a light Linux distro such as Peppermint. Well you can lighter still than Peppermint)
I prefer iron be solid and staid. The "operating system" is always up in the air… I, myself, prefer a UNIX version; but -considering how old such are- there's only compatibility, usability, and dependability to judge upon. (Some people are fashionistas… We can ignore them; but not their money!) Windows always seems to "break" things every time they "improve" things…
I can't say Apple hasn't adopted the same philosophy! :)
I've sometimes argued for a Universal Operating System. (But incoherently… :) )
Of course, when you compare, well, apples to apples, the price difference isn't as much people imagine. I bought mine for less than a comparable Windows system. Yes, you can buy a Windows system for 300 bucks
Dragging in a $300 machine is rather silly. It's rather that, e.g., a $1500 ASUS Zenbook 3 might well be a better choice than the $2400 Macbook Pro even if you don't take the price into account. And that's in spite of the fact that compared to its predecessor, the Zenbook 3 actually shares many of the Macbook Pro's flaws.
When you do take money into account, the Zenbook 3 is available in an $1100 configuration that is slightly inferior, but offers a significantly better bang for your buck without any really big compromises. This is what people are talking about when they say Apple computers are overpriced. Not that there are low-quality <$500 laptops out there.
Dragging in a $300 machine is rather silly
But that seems to a common comparison among consumers (even though what kind of specs can one expect for an all in one at that price point at Walmart) I only paid $600 for my Mac, by specs it was a better machine most Windows machines at the same price point.
Dragging in a $300 machine is rather silly
But that seems to a common comparison among consumers (even though what kind of specs can one expect for an all in one at that price point at Walmart) I only paid $600 for my Mac, by specs it was a better machine most Windows machines at the same price point.
If you compare specs, you are already above average consumers who only compare prices. But what specs did you look at, specifically? I know Mac screens are invariably better. Anything else?
I only paid $600 for my Mac, by specs it was a better machine most Windows machines at the same price point.
Sure, but I also paid €500 for my €800 laptop. It's roughly comparable to the €1000 Macbook Air, although I'd pick it over the Air on account of having a better keyboard and a better screen. All thin laptop keyboards are awful, mind you. And of course a large part of this is personal preference. Oh yeah, and I think stuff like keyboard backlight is useless nonsense at best (in the words of someone just yesterday: "oh, you can type without looking!"), so I suppose I am "missing" out on some battery-wasting stuff. :P If you say Mac OS is worth the €200 jump from €800 to €1000 that's fair enough, but hardware-wise I don't think there's any justification to it. I'd rather run Linux anyway, regardless whether it's on a Mac or Windows laptop.
I do think the touchpad works nicer in Linux and Mac OS than in Windows, btw. Mac OS and Linux are also generally much better about DPI-scaling. On the flipside, I think Mac OS has had preciously few improvements (and several setbacks) since 2000 or so. Most of the differences seem to be of the wow-factor and form over function variety.
I know Mac screens are invariably better.
There are monitors and devices with OLED displays, which although hyped does tend to look amazing even after you turn off the stupid oversaturation with which they try to sell all displays. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (starting at €800) is fantastic. Display-wise, anyway. Certainly the best out of any non-useless device I've seen (useless meaning, e.g., iPad & Android tablets). Of course you'll have to add the cost of a keyboard on top of the price, and the expensive (€150 iirc?) keyboard supplied by Microsoft is one of the worst keyboards I've ever had the displeasure of trying out. I wouldn't be surprised if your average $25 el cheapo Chinese bluetooth keyboard were significantly superior.
Mainly Apple devices are (seemingly) becoming less overpriced because other manufacturers (Microsoft, ASUS, etc.) are making their higher-end offerings increasingly overpriced as well.
Bad news / Good news?
No more El Comandante.
Oh yeah, and I think stuff like keyboard backlight is useless nonsense at best (in the words of someone just yesterday: "oh, you can type without looking!"), so I suppose I am "missing" out on some battery-wasting stuff. :P
Is there anything else you dislike about it besides it being a drain on the battery?
For people like me who only half-mastered the keyboard, lights are an important orientator to get hands rightly positioned without looking. And by "without looking" I mean looking but without having to turn the eyes directly towards it. Lights also help to orientate around the Enter key, because different keyboards have it shaped differently and this affects the keys around it.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (starting at €800) is fantastic. Display-wise, anyway. Certainly the best out of any non-useless device I've seen (useless meaning, e.g., iPad & Android tablets).
Yes, I've noticed the same thing. Even though shaped like a tablet, Microsoft Surface is actually a complete computer, hardly any compromises at all. It's a product Microsoft got right. Then again, the novel 360° laptops with touchscreen, such as Lenovo Yoga and Asus Zenbook are in the same category with a proper keyboard to boot.
Is there anything else you dislike about it besides it being a drain on the battery?
It logically also adds extra weight and it had better not be too bright at night. Anyway, I didn't say I
dislike it, just that it's about the only thing I can think of the Macbook Air has over my laptop besides Mac OS. But both of those features are mostly neutral to me. The fact that Apple keyboards are awful is (to the best of my knowledge) unrelated to backlighting.
Then again, the novel 360° laptops with touchscreen, such as Lenovo Yoga and Asus Zenbook are in the same category with a proper keyboard to boot.
Unless I'm mistaken the Zenbook display is worse to comparable with a Macbook. But indeed, the Lenovo Yoga also features a superior display.
Bad news / Good news?
No more El Comandante.
For some they are bad news whereas for others they are good news.
President-elect Donald J. Trump was among the first Washington leaders to react to the announcement of Fidel Castro's death: "Fidel Castro is dead!"
BTW, the USA has been trying to assasinate Castro for 57 years. Trump is elected and he's dead in three weaks.
For all South America Fidel represented the guy Americans couldn't defeat, an heroe.
The same thing for the European leftist-chic culture.
BTW, the USA has been trying to assasinate Castro for 57 years. Trump is elected and he's dead in three weaks.
Is already America great again? :)
Fidel receives ... an American.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi64.tinypic.com%2F1zlceoy.jpg&hash=eca1765b981db2b1c2932001d71dfa3d" rel="cached" data-hash="eca1765b981db2b1c2932001d71dfa3d" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i64.tinypic.com/1zlceoy.jpg)
Yes the USA did for decades try to get rid of Castro but they mishandled things from the very start.
When the revolution started it won because the Cuba regime was controlled by the USA and not something to be complimented for. Both the Mafia, US corruption oh and the CIA ran the place. Being so damned corruptly run the Cubans got sick of it and the rich got richer thanks to America. Castro wanted to discuss with Eisenhower back in those days but got the heavy brush off and we all know what followed. The initial people who fled Cuba were the comfortable off and the rich who made a fortunate thanks to US controls of the place and the MAFIA mob, etc. America's influence on Cuba was a damnable disgrace but they didn't care a hell for the people only the rich, etc. So if the USA had handled the overdue revolution a bit better then the future would have been different than being blocked off and people suffering.
All those who have come out glowing on Castro need their heads examined. Yes the people had health care which was equal to the best countries in the world and educated too. However Castro was a damn dictator and having private business dealt with, freedoms restricted and a one-party State. He himself was no real clever clogs as it happens because although he attended good schools coming from a comfortable background he had to drop the idea of a university education as he could not keep up! So although those were two good areas it does not mean we should say that his dictatorship had political values. If you patted him for health and education but did not agree with his Communism then tough or ended up in jail. no freedoms. And America holding on to a base in a country?/ no great principles there at all from that corner. The US legacy led to Castro.
So although there were practical benefits as the two I mention I had no time for Fidel Castro or what he stood for. You helped create him USA and time you were out of that base. Now we get all the nonsense across the world on Castro and that is ridiculous and flies in the face or rights and freedoms.
#ForçaChape (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/29/forca-chapecoense)
What the heck has that to do with Cuba??
What the heck has that to do with Cuba??
I would say nothing. But as the topic of this thread is "Today's Bad News", It is very much on topic.
Should live in Edinburgh......
I like Macs and can figure out what's gone wrong, when things go wrong, on such systems. When I have to "fix" Windows systems, I know that I'm placating "regular" consumers! People who will never have a clue...
This is straightforward Apple fanboy attitude right there.
Mac consumers are obviously as regular as Windows' users. Mac users probably even more so in America, because they fill shops over there. Over here, Apple store is a nice place to go if you want to be alone.
Regular users of anything qualify as dumbusers, but Apple fanboys additionally qualify as, well, Apple fanboys. Dumbusers can be helped and they deserve all the help they can get, but fanboys cannot be helped.
I prefer iron be solid and staid.
And only Apple has such iron, right?
The "operating system" is always up in the air…
No it's not. For one, it makes the iron work. And when you try different operating systems on the same iron, you will know the difference. You already know the difference between different apps, browsers and drivers. Operating systems are the same way.
I've sometimes argued for a Universal Operating System. (But incoherently… :) )
That's the only way to argue for it. A very bad idea.
2017 doesn't seems to be better than all the shit before.
Well, at least you gave it a chance! :)
President Donald Trump had a lot to say about President Barack Obama’s vacations and his costs to American taxpayers. Yet a new report confirms that Trump’s travel costs—made more exorbitant because of his refusal to stay in the White House on weekends—is on track to far surpass those of Obama.
Leftist dishonest media. Trump will not let them get away with this.
Does he stay in his own hotels in the weekends, and make the government pay for it? No wonder he's a billionaire...
President Donald Trump had a lot to say about President Barack Obama’s vacations and his costs to American taxpayers. Yet a new report confirms that Trump’s travel costs—made more exorbitant because of his refusal to stay in the White House on weekends—is on track to far surpass those of Obama.
Leftist dishonest media.
Let's hope for US tax payers that Trump’s travel costs won't exceed those of the Iraq war, to name just one of the more recent wars the USA was engaged lately. ;)
Does he stay in his own hotels in the weekends, and make the government pay for it?
Not for food and beverage or overnight stay. It's about security provisions he isn't allowed to deny as president even if he has his own private security guard.
he isn't allowed to deny
So, he is denied to deny.
Permission denied to deny(That was funny...)
So, he is denied to deny.
Permission denied to deny
(That was funny...)
Since my English is far from being perfect, it might sound a little bit confusing. :)
The USA as many other countries has its own strict safety regulations concerning the safety of its president and his family.
A president is subject to those regulations no matter if the president can afford its own private security guard (AFAIK Trump has also his own private one) or not.
Since my English is far from being perfect, it might sound a little bit confusing. :)
The English is fine, but it'd probably be clearer to say something like "he is required to." In any language. :P
The English may be fine, but the Washington Post article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-familys-elaborate-lifestyle-a-logistical-nightmare--at-taxpayer-expense/2017/02/16/763cce8e-f2ce-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html) says that the costs are due to the entourage that Trump likes to invite along and keep around himself, not (only) due to security guys. It doesn't take more security guys to protect him than it took to protect Obama, does it? The costs are due to the fact that Trump likes to arrange official meetings out of town in his personal fav places, not at the White House, Camp David, and other presidential residences specifically designed for that.
Well, Trump likes to travel with friends, and that costs more.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2016%2F08%2F19%2F10%2F3763E84700000578-0-image-m-15_1471599719704.jpg&hash=372ccee163f140a209521c171b0613ac" rel="cached" data-hash="372ccee163f140a209521c171b0613ac" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/08/19/10/3763E84700000578-0-image-m-15_1471599719704.jpg)
It doesn't take more security guys to protect him than it took to protect Obama, does it?
It does and you don't even have to read the 'respectable' WaPo to realise it. ;)
1. Assuming Trump is spending the night in his Trump Tower.
What does your logic tell you - which building is easier to safeguard? A skyscraper located in a public area or the White House?
Besides, the White House has to be safeguarded all the time regardless of the president's whereabout.
2. AFAIK Trump's wife and children are not living in the White House.
So there are extra objectives which have to be safeguarded, which means additional costs.
Two examples which might help you to make the difference.
Whatever, those extra costs are a drop of water from an ocean compared to other insane spendings of tax money.
You could easily find out yourself by googling for the cost of one week Iraq war or the annually costs of 'pacifying' Afghanistan or the costs of military bases around the world. Bear in mind that I gave you only a few examples while a more detailed list would be really, really, really huge. :)
So after all it's not the insane spending of tax money some hypocritical journalists are mourning about...
It doesn't take more security guys to protect him than it took to protect Obama, does it?
It does and you don't even have to read the 'respectable' WaPo to realise it. ;)
1. Assuming Trump is spending the night in his Trump Tower.
What does your logic tell you - which building is easier to safeguard? A skyscraper located in a public area or the White House?
Besides, the White House has to be safeguarded all the time regardless of the president's whereabout.
2. AFAIK Trump's wife and children are not living in the White House.
So there are extra objectives which have to be safeguarded, which means additional costs.
Two examples which might help you to make the difference.
It costs the same to protect any guy on the same terms. Trump costs more because he changes the terms. He makes himself more expensive, that's all there is to it.
^ I see that Donald Trump collaborators have begun spamming the site.
They could get plenty of tips from a whole army of damn security organisations over there......
Earth Overshoot Day (http://www.overshootday.org)
Inadmissible.
From 1:10 "ein starkes Stück." :P
http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/morgenmagazin/videos/Renate_K_nast_1408nl_8000-100.html
English would have been better......
Frenzie, the "Great Leader" is teaching the masses the beauties of Holland language. Dutch language is good because you can't be accused of knowing German and you can't be accused of knowing English, that's their dream, being both while being nothing.
That picture from Mr. Tennessee reminds us of one of the worst places to live in the world. It is a truly well placed example of genuine evil dictatorship. I have always said that America makes a farce of itself boasting about being the world's greatest power (with much practical verification of that) whilst so many over there are in a bad way but what it has being saying regarding N. Korea has a good side.
By that I mean the US has said publicly it does not wish to go into removing the nutter that runs N. Korea and has also repeatedly said would prefer dialogue with the North on a reasonable basis. Unfortunately for that degree of sensible will from America the evil and horrible Korean cruel madhouse is not interested. Even being stuck with Trump the constructive stance by the USA is to it's great credit. Nor does it matter who is in the White House as the North is such a cruel, ignorant and brain drainer they will not allow any decency or discussing.
Frenzie, the "Great Leader" is teaching the masses the beauties of Holland language. Dutch language is good because you can't be accused of knowing German and you can't be accused of knowing English, that's their dream, being both while being nothing.
Darn, I've been found out!
A sense of humor is truly the best armor! :) I personally refuse duels when the weapons are broadswords… Usually.
I just found out that Jerry Pournelle passed away yesterday. He'll be greatly missed.
Never heard of him but suppose that doesn't matter as I don't live in nutjobland (although this is meant to be an international site here!).
He was a significant SF writer, though frankly not one I enjoyed (neither his collaborator Niven). I may or may have not met him, I am fuzzy about that. I think not, and it would anyway just have been in the passing.
In the real world it was not his fiction, but his opinons that made him known. A quite American outlook, and generational. He belonged to the space age, and by now not only is that age gone, but also most of its people.
My impression from nearly maybe having met, a few degrees of separation, and his non-fiction (which I read far more of), is that he was a decent human being.
I enjoyed The Mote in God's Eye sometime early in the previous decade. Besides that I have no familiarity with the man.
Local artist and legendary musician Fats Domino died earlier today. RIP Fats. “Ain’t that a shame”?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=I6JZW7zMDfY
It is a shame and a sad musical historical loss.
Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, defying allies, foes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s announcement as a “historic landmark,” but other close Western allies of Washington such as Britain and France were critical.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States abdicated its role as a mediator in peace efforts, and Palestinian secular and Islamist factions called for a general strike and rallies on Thursday to protest.
The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, believing its status should be resolved in negotiations. No other country has its embassy in Jerusalem.
[...]
Trump’s decision risks further inflaming a region already grappling with conflict in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
An utter disgrace what trump has done.
Mind you when you think of the deep evangelicals (I'm Prot but not that corner) and the power of Jews in America and the money corner it is hardly surprising but is still a damn disgrace. Those two groups apart from being powerful are vote grabbers. Several countries have came out against it and will not be moving their embassies. Mind you the guff propaganda mentality stuff 'America first' is the theme and peace will be a foreign word in the Middle est. Shameful.
Hamas (link to one of the most despicable documents written in recent memory (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp)) is not a fringe group. On the one hand they deny the Holocaust, and then they say the Holocaust should've happened and they will make sure it does. Which is pretty much the only thing more despicable than denying the Holocaust. Such is the moral difference between the democratic state of Israel, which has the power to do whatever it wants but chooses not to, and its enemies that say they have the explicit intent of committing genocide. Tacit support of these terrorists is our disgrace.
There hasn't been any "peace process" in the Middle East for over a decade. Informally most of the Arab world has long since accepted the status quo. Trump's usual diplomatic blundering doesn't change a thing for Israel or surrounding nations, but by going against the (however wrong) international consensus Trump is reducing the relevancy of the United States, yet again. That's annoying and sad.
Various former US presidential candidates, from Clinton to young Bush to Obama, promised doing exactly this during their campaigns! The only people who should be blamed are those who said we shouldn't take Trump's campaign promises seriously because he wouldn't go through with them.
PS Here (http://www.rjchq.org/rjc_applauds_trump_for_recognizing_jerusalem_as_israel_s_capital_releases_ny_times_ad_thanking_him)'s an ad from the Republican-Jewish coalition in today's NYT.
(https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Faction.rjchq.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FRJC_Jerusalem_final_72_350.jpg&hash=d48580243ec63e02e602d8fdf9539987" rel="cached" data-hash="d48580243ec63e02e602d8fdf9539987" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://action.rjchq.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/RJC_Jerusalem_final_72_350.jpg) (http://action.rjchq.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/RJC_Jerusalem_final.pdf)
PPS Reading between the lines, I'm sure the Saudis gave their A-OK.
The political, economic and military situation is unchanged. This is mostly pandering to the crazies. It's great for the crazy Muslims and the crazy Jews, neither of whom matter much in the US, and the crazy Christians, who do. A bit like ISIL; though with a different narrative (i.e. their reading of the Book of Revelation), they too want to hasten Armageddon and the end of the world.
I don't think we have that kind of crazy among us anymore, there might have been a couple in the old Opera forums. For the rest of us it is more the division of unavoidable trouble (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Iran are not going to find peace and tranquility through Buddhist meditation), from trouble we that could do without. This symbolic gesture would be in the latter category. Except for the crazies this doesn't have any tangible effect, and most likely it will signify nothing in the long run. Another endtime scenario is appearing though.
I believe many, many years ago I claimed in the Opera forums, with great confidence, that the Israel-Palestinian/Arab conflict was essentially over, and Israel had won. Israel had won separate peace with Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran was sidelined, Iraq was disrupted, only Syria remained (and Syria could be bought). I also believe that was where I put up my Israel-Kurdistan-Iran model of the troubles in the Middle East: As the Israel-Palestinian conflict died down, the Kurdish question in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran would escalate, and finally we would have the great showdown between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Now 15 years later it seems clear that history didn't follow my grand scheme. The drivers are the same, but Israel dithered. Dictators are trouble, but they can be bought off, countries broken in civil war can't. Instead of Israel, Kurdistan, Iran sequentially, we have them simultaneously.
I definitely wouldn't have thought so 15 years ago, but now there may be a sequence of events that will lead to the end of Israel as a Jewish state, the motivation for the two-state solution. Maybe future historians will say that fall began with a small misstep like this.
Was a good attempt to show some kind of amusing balance re Christianity and Jews in America but you are very wrong.
Just last night I watched a passing interview with the Israeli Prime Minister who was cock-a-hoop with Trump and showed how close the two were. In addition it also showed a multi-billionaire Jew who is linked to Trump. Jewish rich are very deep into the US system and your mention of Christians really applies only to the fundamentalist corner not the broader ones. Due to the influence of that group and even more so the big money Jewish contingent that is an even stronger influence. Jewish money is a big part of the US and the brief speech by that arrogant Prime Minister went on to praise Zionism......
A simple question: What city does Israel name as its capitol? :)
The bad news is, of course, the expected reaction of Muslim populations around the world… As Trump would say, "Sad!"
What city does Israel name as its capitol?
None, I believe. Isn't a capitol a building? :angel:
Yes you are right Frenzie but you are dealing with a brained ex-colonist!
What Trump has done is disgraceful. East Jerusalem has had a non-Jewish population for an awful long time. Last night on a news report an Arab was being interviewed and who had lived where he was standing all his lfe his father and grandfather before him. In the last year Israel has pulled his house down twice and they are belligerent mental jackboots mindsets. It is damnable the way those folk are being treated and East was the capital for them for ages.
Israel can do what it damn well likes and why? It is because America helps to fund it and it's military along with it's stealing of Arab territory.It is Zionist influence and big money control corporates in the US that pulls the strings over there. When one considers what Israel gets away with in land stealing, arrogance and arrogance. Basically I don't trend to go in for wars unless very principled but i muse that it was a pity the Zionist regime did not lose the 6 day war decades ago......... :irked:
Four or five Arab countries attacked Israel at once… And they lost.
Egypt was the first to recognize reality. And their leader was assassinated.
Scotland -in the mind of Howie- has always hated Jews. But now he has to deal with Muslims (…that Raj thingie didn't work out so well, did it?) But he's always hated Muslims too… What is a good Scotsman to do? :)
The bloodshed seems to be minimal. I hope that continues to be the case.
At least I can say in view of that latest junk you prove you are a typical Yank by the lack of knowledge. We don't have many Jews they are happier in the ex-colonies as they run it's corporate control mob. The man that is PM of Israel would get voted in if he lived over the pond being a kind of Valhalla for that race. Israel has acted improper;y time and time again and I am sorry they won the 6-Day War as that would have solved the problem. Oh and let us not forget that Israel depends on finance from it's Zionist mob in America......
Building a wall is probably rather stupid, but I'm not sure if it's improper.
I suppose the problem America has is the enormous influx of Mexicans running into millions. Oh i dare say the open minds will muse on lots of space but that is something we DON'T have here and giving us problems on structure and everything else.
:sing: One single Mexican bothers many people.
One million Mexicans bother many more. :sing:
I was referring to Israel's wall-building in response to Israel acting improperly, ftr, though what I said doubtless applies to most walls. :P
If ever space invaders come I hope they arrive in Tel Aviv..........
Today is Earth Overshoot Day (https://www.overshootday.org).
But and if we all lived like....
(https://www.overshootday.org/content/uploads/2018/07/GFN-Country-Overshoot-Day-2000.jpg)
That calendar can't be right. I live in Sweden and it's not 4th of April, but the 1st of August.
Swedish crown jewels: Speedboat thieves steal priceless treasures
Two priceless crowns and an orb belonging to a 17th Century king and queen were taken at around midday on Tuesday in Strängnäs, near Stockholm.
Witnesses said they saw two men running from the cathedral, which was open to the public and hosting a lunch fair.
They were seen motoring off into Lake Malaren, and have not been seen since.
Not just the thieves are wanted, but the stolen regalia also.
Strängnäs is not far from Södertälje. I have been on the lookout for any rider on a boat or ship coming from that direction wearing a crown or a sceptre. Haven't seen anyone yet.
Seen that news but heavens what a silly thing leaving such valuables so open.
I think it will be difficult to sell the goods. Unless it was already sold before the robbery to someone that wants to keep it.
You are correct as they will be well beyond any routine style of deal. Head shaking situation still though. Pity you lost your monarchy the way it happened. Wonder where your crown jewels are??
Charles Aznavour died on October 1st https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Aznavour#Mort (Hopefully no random editor goes to change the date on that one.)
Bush the First died at age 94. Gorbachev, 87, remembers good things about him https://apnews.com/e73505a6e6af447a99fb5ef9a4432974
Earlier today I was momentarily confused about seeing something about Bush being the last Republican president with a rational foreign policy. I mean, I'm inclined to agree, but just the headline seemed very random.
Not that random. The Democrats by that time got a more rational policy, while the Republicans were outsourcing it to the crazies, and they are not about to give it back.
He was also one of the few presidents who actually campaigned on foreign policy. The Clinton campaign famously came up with the "It's the economy, stupid!", and, just as famously, won.
Not that random.
I meant I didn't know he died yet. ;)
Pharma Spending on Doctors Is Correlated With Opioid DeathsThis week came new revelations that the family that owned a major drug firm spent years misleading doctors and patients about the dangers of OxyContin in the early 2000s. The aggressive promotion of that one painkiller helped fuel the opioid crisis that killed more than 40,000 Americans in 2017.
There’s also the more subtle influence of cash payments through speeches, conferences, trips, and free meals that drug company representatives use to tout their latest opioid medications.
When pharma corps take doctors to promo seminars (with all-included meals, housing, and recreation) and the regulatory framework permits to incentivise treating every problem with drugs, then what did you expect? The problem has been noted over here also.
Direct link to the study https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2720914
When pharma corps take doctors to promo seminars (with all-included meals, housing, and recreation) and the regulatory framework permits to incentivise treating every problem with drugs, then what did you expect?
Well... the best wealth system in the world.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usIcKOp0l1Y[/video]
Eli the Computer Guy - once upon a time a nice actual computer guy whose tutorials I used when I built my own first computer but these days he is just an irked commentator on news - mouths off about the travel authorisation system that the EU will slap at US citizens beginning 2021. I agree with him on the most important points: Yup, it is a visa in everything but name and it is stupid and EU sucks. "There's Europe for you."
However, he ignores that the US has been doing this exact same thing to EU citizens throughout the post-911 era, a "visa waiver program" involving an application to get authorised entry to the country. It is an actual visa procedure to get your visa waived, so to say. At first the procedure cost USD 5, now it is USD 14 I hear, but soon will be 20 I'm sure.
So from my point of view there are a bunch of more things that suck. US sucks because they did it first. EU sucks for having been so slow to catch up to the reality. And, truly, EU sucks for failure to have a civilising effect on US and to make them stop their idiocies. Instead we end up emulating them.
Notre-Dame de Paris on fire :(
(https://scd.france24.com/fr/files_fr/imagecache/rfi_16x9_1024_578/article/image/notre-dame-m.jpg)
I saw, that's pretty terrible. I visited it in… 2002 I believe.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/15/world/notre-dame-cathedral-fire/
In New York, which I visited before Paris, I saw churches that I suspected were small copies of Paris' Notre-Dame. Then in Paris I was surprised to see how tiny Notre-Dame is. St-Eustache is far more impressive in my opinion. But of course I don't want any of them to burn.
It's also a handful of centuries more recent. But yes, I'd also expected it to be slightly larger.
Notre-Dame de Paris may be tons more valuable in many ways, but for me it was hard to appreciate as a tourist, because other tourists were in the way. Too many people in too small space. Whereas St-Eustache was basically empty while also being much bigger and taller, so I could take my time to appreciate every corner. And there are lots of corners to appreciate. It is of somewhat irregular plan, different parts from different ages.
Similarly from a tourist's convenience point of view, Eiffel tower is not worth it. Too overcrowded and you do not get very high. Take Tour Montparnasse instead:
- you'll get higher
- faster
- cheaper
- bonus: excellent photographic/selfie-worthy view towards the Eiffel tower.
However, he ignores that the US has been doing this exact same thing to EU citizens throughout the post-911 era, a "visa waiver program" involving an application to get authorised entry to the country. It is an actual visa procedure to get your visa waived, so to say. At first the procedure cost USD 5, now it is USD 14 I hear, but soon will be 20 I'm sure.
My favourite tit-for-tat would be to have Visa waivers for all but residents of a dozen US states. That would be true reciprocity.
US now seeking social media details from all visa applicants
The State Department is now requiring nearly all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers. It’s a vast expansion of the Trump administration’s enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
[...]
Social media, email and phone number histories had only been sought in the past from applicants who were identified for extra scrutiny, such as people who’d traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. An estimated 65,000 applicants per year had fallen into that category.
[...]
The new rules apply to virtually all applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.... The new visa application forms list a number of social media platforms and require the applicant to provide any account names they may have had on them over the previous five years. They also give applicants the option to volunteer information about social media accounts on platforms not listed on the form.
My next trip to USA will occur early next year. We'll see how bad it is. Already, there is a requirement in place that people's smartphones, tablets, and ereaders should be charged so that they switch on upon the officials' request when they want to take a look at/into them. If not, get lost.
By these rules, a trip to USA has become about as inconvenient as a trip to Russia.
Takes a lot to get me to fly vs drive.
Even back in '08 when I first visited the US (and you could basically just fly out instead of having to make preparations) American customs was already an obnoxious affair.
Takes a lot to get me to fly vs drive.
I prefer a train if reasonably possible. :)
I'd definitively like that to be more reasonable here.
But yeah, it'd need to be 5+ hours for me to consider flying, since realistically that takes a minimum of about 4 hours anyway. Perhaps you could take it down to 3 if it's from a smaller airport (like Antwerp Airport to London or Manchester). You may not need to include a 60 minute safety margin for security checks, since there aren't 50 million flights leaving.
Then again, a 2 hour train ride from Brussels to St Pancras may still be much more comfortable and even faster in total, depending a bit on where in London you have to be. (The total would be about 4 since you need to get to Brussels South on time, but not nearly as on time as for a plane.)
PS I've never actually been to London unless you count a few layovers at Heathrow. Just brainstorming. ;)
US customs/border controls were already more unpleasant than any other I have come across, and I got the tail end of East Germany. That's OK with me. If they don't want me to come, I don't need to go.
The trick to enter the US is to have two profiles on your phone and/or PC. One, the one you enter the US with, is a dummy one. If they insist on unlocking or more they will get a handful of nothing. All the new regulations introduce is a level of forward thinking. With five years of social media, you just have to prepare for 2024. In the meantime borrow a dummy profile for Facebook etc, rename them suitably to look like yours. When you return home, you can give the profile back to the original owner.
If they don't want me to come, I don't need to go.
The US economy has definitely missed out on more of my tourism due to this simple fact. There are so many places where you can spend money that don't treat you like a suspicious criminal at the border.
(https://www.footprintnetwork.org/content/uploads/2013/08/Earth-Overshoot-Day-1-1.jpg)
It will be tomorrow, the 29 of July 2019.
Bob Norris, Marlboro Man and Colorado Springs
philanthropist, diesAt one point, his ranch was selected as the location for
a Marlboro cigarette ad. When advertising agency
executives arrived, with their models and Western wear,
they saw a more authentic cowboy in Norris, and asked
him to star as the Marlboro Man. He appeared in ads for
the next dozen years. Ironically, Norris never smoked.
Never smoked. And died. Double sad news.
US now seeking social media details from all visa applicants
The State Department is now requiring nearly all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers. It’s a vast expansion of the Trump administration’s enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
[...]
Social media, email and phone number histories had only been sought in the past from applicants who were identified for extra scrutiny, such as people who’d traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. An estimated 65,000 applicants per year had fallen into that category.
[...]
The new rules apply to virtually all applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.... The new visa application forms list a number of social media platforms and require the applicant to provide any account names they may have had on them over the previous five years. They also give applicants the option to volunteer information about social media accounts on platforms not listed on the form.
My next trip to USA will occur early next year. We'll see how bad it is. Already, there is a requirement in place that people's smartphones, tablets, and ereaders should be charged so that they switch on upon the officials' request when they want to take a look at/into them. If not, get lost.
By these rules, a trip to USA has become about as inconvenient as a trip to Russia.
Hopefully my fellow citizens will have enough sense to throw asshole m’f’er out next November. Perhaps Bloomberg can gather some momentum?
None of the state department’s business regarding your social media, etc.
I've got some experience with vetting tenants for leases and such. While I've never required the login, there's a lot that can be learned from what people make public information. (For argument's sake)
.........Hopefully my fellow citizens will have enough sense to throw asshole m'f'er out next November. Perhaps Bloomberg can gather some momentum?
None of the state department's business regarding your social media, etc.
Well, long time Nick!!! (https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.my-smileys.cf%2Fsmileys%2Fcheerskj4.gif&hash=875378932be54c9e8f314918c537b5f8" rel="cached" data-hash="875378932be54c9e8f314918c537b5f8" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.my-smileys.cf/smileys/cheerskj4.gif)
How goes it?
Sorry ya feel the way ya do, but IMHO, it seems you have taken an unfortunate hard turn to the Left.....
Please say it ain't so!! (https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.my-smileys.cf%2Fsmileys%2Fno2.gif&hash=aa490f8c01cc8a9be9c62e4e62e77518" rel="cached" data-hash="aa490f8c01cc8a9be9c62e4e62e77518" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.my-smileys.cf/smileys/no2.gif)
As far as I'm concerned I feel the government (any government) has absolutely no right whatsoever into a Law-Abiding American Citizen's personal information, & social media activity. But, unfortunately that bronco has already bolted out the corral 30 years or so ago. They are already there.....these new regs are just a smokescreen to cover the governments 'real' objectives.
That said, the World changed one September morn, & like it or not, I've had to endure inconveniences over the years too......but to me it's not 'the end of the world', & in this case I feel....much to my chagrin....I can almost understand why the government is doing what it is. It is a proven fact that the District Courts don't like it when the same rules don't apply to all, especially those with sand in their shoes, so in order to eliminate those wolves the government has to target to protect us all, they have to aim higher, & seemingly aim for a broader circle of targets, causing possible collateral damage amongst us mostly innocent folk .......Our overall legitimate Freedom & Liberty....though takin' an uncomfortable hit....is probably better served knowin' that the real bad guys are bein' seen to before they cross out doorstep.
Now, Michael Bloomberg, that petulant, ex-NYC Mayor, Anti-Second Amendment flee bag needs to be summarily euthanized............politically.
So far the gun-totin' Right, myself proudly included, along with the hard good work of the NRA & others, has held him & his ilk in check, but his billions make him a difficult adversary.
Nick, sincerely, if Bloomberg ever did get his Extreme-Left tentacles into the oval office, you might as well rip up the Bill of Rights, & study up on Europe's slide to the bottom.....because America will be forced to rollin' with that pack in no time flat!
Well, I hope all's good with you & yours........good to see ya again.......I do stop by every now & then, but bein' retired is keepin' me busier now than when I was actually makin my daily do.......'till we cross paths again.......all the best
Keep on.....keepin' on!!
(https://i.imgur.com/gZKUqHg.png)
.
Michael Bloomberg, that petulant, ex-NYC Mayor
Republican (petulant) ex-NYC mayor, wasn't he? Doesn't a priori sound terribly left tbh, unless he's completely turned around the past decade.
.........Hopefully my fellow citizens will have enough sense to throw asshole m'f'er out next November. Perhaps Bloomberg can gather some momentum?
None of the state department's business regarding your social media, etc.
Well, long time Nick!!! (https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.my-smileys.cf%2Fsmileys%2Fcheerskj4.gif&hash=875378932be54c9e8f314918c537b5f8" rel="cached" data-hash="875378932be54c9e8f314918c537b5f8" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.my-smileys.cf/smileys/cheerskj4.gif)
How goes it?
Sorry ya feel the way ya do, but IMHO, it seems you have taken an unfortunate hard turn to the Left.....
Please say it ain't so!! (https://dndsanctuary.eu/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.my-smileys.cf%2Fsmileys%2Fno2.gif&hash=aa490f8c01cc8a9be9c62e4e62e77518" rel="cached" data-hash="aa490f8c01cc8a9be9c62e4e62e77518" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.my-smileys.cf/smileys/no2.gif)
As far as I'm concerned I feel the government (any government) has absolutely no right whatsoever into a Law-Abiding American Citizen's personal information, & social media activity. But, unfortunately that bronco has already bolted out the corral 30 years or so ago. They are already there.....these new regs are just a smokescreen to cover the governments 'real' objectives.
That said, the World changed one September morn, & like it or not, I've had to endure inconveniences over the years too......but to me it's not 'the end of the world', & in this case I feel....much to my chagrin....I can almost understand why the government is doing what it is. It is a proven fact that the District Courts don't like it when the same rules don't apply to all, especially those with sand in their shoes, so in order to eliminate those wolves the government has to target to protect us all, they have to aim higher, & seemingly aim for a broader circle of targets, causing possible collateral damage amongst us mostly innocent folk .......Our overall legitimate Freedom & Liberty....though takin' an uncomfortable hit....is probably better served knowin' that the real bad guys are bein' seen to before they cross out doorstep.
Now, Michael Bloomberg, that petulant, ex-NYC Mayor, Anti-Second Amendment flee bag needs to be summarily euthanized............politically.
So far the gun-totin' Right, myself proudly included, along with the hard good work of the NRA & others, has held him & his ilk in check, but his billions make him a difficult adversary.
Nick, sincerely, if Bloomberg ever did get his Extreme-Left tentacles into the oval office, you might as well rip up the Bill of Rights, & study up on Europe's slide to the bottom.....because America will be forced to rollin' with that pack in no time flat!
Well, I hope all's good with you & yours........good to see ya again.......I do stop by every now & then, but bein' retired is keepin' me busier now than when I was actually makin my daily do.......'till we cross paths again.......all the best
Keep on.....keepin' on!!
(https://i.imgur.com/gZKUqHg.png)
.
:cheers: to you good Sir! Hope you and your family have been well! Mine certainly have.
I’ve spent the last few years in the corporate manufacturing world. Building up some cash, representing fellow workers with grievances to management, etc. Stock market has been very kind to me of late, of which that is the only nod I’ll give of gratitude to the incumbent president. Everything else, he continues to set us back by decades, especially in worker’s rights.
I still am not completely in disagreement with you politically, as in you and I retain similar views on the 2nd Amendment, but I still also remain very firmly in the #NeverTrump camp.
Glad to hear you are doing well and retirement is keeping you busy, ya old codger! :D
Bloomberg ever did get his Extreme-Left
Sure, and Reagan was a communist.
Apparently the US national archives think that altering photographs constitutes not engaging in the political debate.
"we blurred references to the President’s name on some posters, so as not to engage in current political controversy"
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/478903-national-archives-says-it-altered-womens-march-photo-to-blur
Drumpf was acquitted yesterday by a 52-48 margin.
Only Republican to vote to convict was Mitt Romney.
Democrats are in a mess and I think that Trump man wil continue to be in the White House so I am glad I live somwhere less nutty!
Democrats are in a mess and I think that Trump man wil continue to be in the White House so I am glad I live somwhere less nutty!
Congratulations for getting rid of Merkel and Macron but be careful!
From now on you'll have to
deal with Trump to make Britain great again. ;)
It just keeps on raining. 25 inches already this year!
This time my vacation will be sad, very sad. I was not permitted to board a flight to the USA because my ESTA (the so-called visa waiver programme) was not valid. It was valid when I booked the flight, but meanwhile I happened to get a new passport. It turns out that ESTA is attached to the passport and when you get a new passport you also need to apply (and pay) for a new ESTA.
As I have been saying, this so-called visa waver programme does not waive any visas. It is a visa programme in itself.
Lately, EU has started fully emulating these visa procedures with a programme called ETIAS that applies to visa-free countries. The programme reads as follows,
There are many countries who are not in the European Union (EU) whose citizens can enter the EU Schengen Zone without needing a visa. Specifically, there are currently 62 countries who are not in the EU, but are visa free.
[...]
To reduce procedures and wait times, as well as address the security concerns, the European Commission (EC) has come up with a solution – ETIAS.
[...]
If what you filled out on the application form is correct, and you are eligible and not risky for the ETIAS, then you will be approved. This whole procedure is expected to be completed in only a few minutes.
[...]
The ETIAS will not burden your finances a lot. It is planned to have the ETIAS cost only €7 for each application. This is only valid for adults over 18 years old, as those under 18 will not have to pay any fees. You can pay the fee by debit or credit card. Immediately after you complete the payment, the ETIAS authorization will start processing.
[...]
If approved, the ETIAS might be valid for 3 years or until the end of validity of the travel document registered during application, whichever comes first. Whether you will get the first period of validity or the second depends on the system’s evaluation of your information and risk.
So, dear visa free travellers, fill in your visa form, pay for the answer, and the answer is attached to your passport, exactly like a visa. Then you can travel visa free!
EU established these procedures to retaliate the same procedures that USA had established against EU citizens. (Because diplomacy doesn't work when it comes to USA.) I am quite sure that by now there are more countries where visa free travel means going through just another visa procedure.
Welcome to the 21st century!
Well, whatever. Even if I get no money back, flight tickets are cheap these days.
(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/67/a8/24/67a824956ba3ea830fdb8daffe46ceed.jpg)
Jeesh, contrast that to a decade ago (or more than a decade by now?) when you could just buy a ticket to the US for the next day or probably even the next few hours and jump on a plane to the US more or less on a whim. Because there was no visa…
Well, fingers crossed. :-/
What I find particularly alarming is that in this case the onboard-pass checkers of the flight operator (SAS) did all the work for US borderguards. In the normal world you would be able to board airplanes when you have the flight ticket (and there are no other reasons to deny access for you) while the visa issues would be handled by the borderguards. In my case, I had the flight ticket, but I did not get to meet the US borderguards to tell the great story of visa freedom between our great nations.
I think that's "normal," at least in the sense that the US has enforced that kind of thing on airports and airlines flying to the US for a long time. (Probably not so much pre-9/11.)
De Correspondent published an article about parts of the process half a decade ago: https://decorrespondent.nl/2675/dit-gebeurt-er-allemaal-achter-de-schermen-als-je-naar-de-vs-vliegt/130264475-b9f887ba
Perhaps it's also available on The Correspondent (https://thecorrespondent.com) but I don't have a subscription to check.
Basically there some guy kept being harassed by US security people because they thought he'd been in the Middle East, on the basis of his IP address. Vodafone had acquired some previously Middle Eastern IPs because they were running out or something.
Dark web drug haven Empire Market has mysteriously disappearedAccording to a cybersecurity expert interviewed by Bloomberg, there are typically two outcomes for marketplaces like Empire Market. Either the admins are arrested, or they steal users’ deposits.
...
At least one moderator on Empire Market fears that the administrators have made off with the funds. “I am crushed and ashamed by my admin’s apparent decision to disappear with your funds,” the moderator wrote, according to Bloomberg. “It’s hard to grasp that this is really happening. I am in shock.” Users say they can no longer access their accounts.
Of all the bad knews, why did I pick this inconsequential one? I don't know!
Have you thought more about it, ersi? Did you come up with anything?
Yes and yes. It is due to my current employment to spot financial scandals. Things like US or Russian politics are way too obvious to merit a comment.
Can add in the EU along with the two regulars!
Walter Williams RIP (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjw6e2C0rHtAhVEpZ4KHeZnBgoQFjAKegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fwalter-williams-r-i-p-11606934313&usg=AOvVaw1B0vKBGyPlEqQ7Pu_tzazn)
When he was younger. he used to fill in for Rush Limbaugh regularly. I miss his tag-line, "Walter Williams, black by popular demand!"
He will be greatly missed.
(https://imgur.com/HMgsfAr.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/YaDeqmF.gif)
Easy to debunk: It's not quite sure that everything one has and gets is earned. If it were so, courts of law would not need to exist.
I think the real point is that if I earn more than I need is it a moral obligation to distribute a part I don't need with those who are suffering or not?
That's the foundation of social justice.
The real point is that he pretends as if it were somebody else's job to convince him to be moral. No. He either is moral or not. In this case not. It's nobody's job to convince him to be. He is not moral and there will be consequences, occasionally, randomly, sometimes, legal or not. Live with it. Just like poor people need to live with their poverty.
Libertarians really do not have any concept of social justice. They do not acknowledge that society exists in the first place.
They do not acknowledge that society exists in the first place.
I believe that in the first place exists the moral rules that should govern civilised societies.
Isn't
The Lord of the Flies a classic chez vous?
Bus yes, I agree that is no one job to convince others. For that we have missionaries, teachers and politicians.That's enough boring people.
Easy to debunk: It's not quite sure that everything one has and gets is earned. If it were so, courts of law would not need to exist.
It is "not quite sure" that you exist... Indeed, there are people in the world that refuse to accept or -at least- respect your existence! (Or mine! I don't intend a personal comment but a general one.) Such people are commonly known as
sociopaths. And they are disproportionately represented in the class of those deemed criminal... To such, your "stuff" (up to and including your life!) are not yours; not really.
You'd have courts of law adjudicate getting and earning? :)
You've "debunked" nothing but your own peculiarly ego-centric straw-man. (Will you go all the way back to "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"? :) )
Such people are commonly known as sociopaths.
You mean the "taxes are theft" people too, right?
You've "debunked" nothing...
I would agree. The famous Walter Williams quote is really nothing, so there is nothing to debunk. No use to try to debunk nothing.
Walter Williams RIP (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjw6e2C0rHtAhVEpZ4KHeZnBgoQFjAKegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fwalter-williams-r-i-p-11606934313&usg=AOvVaw1B0vKBGyPlEqQ7Pu_tzazn)
https://www.prageru.com/presenter/walter-williams/
I thought he was familiar from somewhere. No comment. Everybody knows what PragerU is.
:rip:
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 13,000-kilometer (8,000-mile) Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it.
Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: Catch the Pigeon!
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 13,000-kilometer (8,000-mile) Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it.
The plans changed. The story has been updated:
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A pigeon that Australia declared a biosecurity risk has received a reprieve after a U.S. bird organization declared its identifying leg band was fake.
The band suggested the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on Dec. 26 was a racing pigeon that had left the U.S. state of Oregon, 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) away, two months earlier.
On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.
So it was fake news!
Fake identifying leg bands?!
Biohacking has begun.
Probably it's fake that the leg band was fake.
Today we have elections for electing a new President of the Republic for the next five years, here in Portugal.
Course I will not vote. I never vote. For a simple reason, I will vote when voting bulletins have an option at the last row for a "None of the above" option.That option must be counted as any other option and if it wins, elections must be repeated but with a major difference, the candidates can't run again, it has to be new ones.
Why such option never exists? because it's the only way that would change the actual system and that's not admissible.
People are forced to chose amongst what is given to them to chose, not what they want.
This is not democracy.
Besides, I'm monarchist, I don't elect presidents. ;) :king:
People are forced to chose amongst what is given to them to chose, not what they want.
This is not democracy.
Besides, I'm monarchist, I don't elect presidents. ;) :king:
As a monarchist and a proponent of democracy, you would rather elect kings, right?
As a monarchist and a proponent of democracy, you would rather elect kings, right?
Let me see.. Estonian humour? :wine:
Glad you ask that because many people don't understand the reason why to defend a non elected state role in a Democracy.
One of the many functions a king goes beyond any president is because people aren't artificial political constructs, people are real and people organise themselves, at most human societies, in families.
To have a human being organisation at the the top of the state is the right way to prevent the arrival of Brave New Worlds or autocratic regimens that try to dehumanise human beings and turn them into obeying-non thinking robots.
Et voilá.
One of the many functions a king goes beyond any president is because people aren't artificial political constructs, people are real and people organise themselves, at most human societies, in families.
To have a human being organisation at the the top of the state is the right way to prevent the arrival of Brave New Worlds or autocratic regimens that try to dehumanise human beings and turn them into obeying-non thinking robots.
Et voilá.
This all sounds very nice as long as your king is enlightened and ruling with the approval and respect of the people such as Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who intervened to resolve the crises during his reign to a good effect.
But how about when your king is a total moron such as the current Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, whose wasteful loitering in Germany is an international scandal? He only intervenes to punish the people who rightfully consider him a shame to the nation.
A good monarchy is good.
Well, a good whatever is good.
But how about when your king is a total moron [...]
Enlightened monarchies do have the internal mechanisms to solve those issues.
I don't defend the equivalent in monarchies to a presidential regimen, like the American regimen for example, where the president governs the country at his will.
I'm in favour of the type of parliamentary regime where an elected government governs the country and the president/king has only supervising powers (but also others) not the effective government of the Nation.
To the King what belongs to the king, to the people what belongs to the people.
Pity you lost yours a long time back to nutters. My monarch smils at me from above the living room fireplace
BitCoin is down to $59.7 k after reaching a high of $60 last night. :(
Isn't this pretty stable?
By the way, when prices go down, it's actually good news, because you can get more for less.
BitCoin is down to $59.7 k after reaching a high of $60 last night. :(
Sell it and invest everything in just one number at a Casino's roulette, surrounded by beautiful women.
That's what real Man do. :devil:
Isn't this pretty stable?
By the way, when prices go down, it's actually good news, because you can get more for less.
Quite true of course. I have a couple of thousand invested in BTC. Looking for it to move past $100k by next March.
I was one step away from buying $25 in bitcoins in 2011, some technical snaggle stopped me. If I had done so and kept it, a very big if indeed, it would be worth somewhere between 100k and 1.3 million euro (I don't remember the date or the exchange rate). But I immediately lost interest, and never regained it, as a currency that variable is useless. A verdict I still stand by.
Far worse than useless, because in the manic phases Bitcoin "mining" rewards damaging behaviour.
Isn't this pretty stable?
By the way, when prices go down, it's actually good news, because you can get more for less.
Don't forget: The demand for a free good is infinite; and price = market value, not real... :)
Bel got it right, again!? :)
(Why, one wonders, do so many get-rich-quick schemes leave so many poor in their wake? When it's Sink or Swim, paddle your surfboard around a while; look out for sharks...:)
I was one step away from buying $25 in bitcoins in 2011, some technical snaggle stopped me. If I had done so and kept it, a very big if indeed, it would be worth somewhere between 100k and 1.3 million euro (I don't remember the date or the exchange rate). But I immediately lost interest, and never regained it, as a currency that variable is useless. A verdict I still stand by.
Far worse than useless, because in the manic phases Bitcoin "mining" rewards damaging behaviour.
A Scot at party I went to in Liverpool offered me 20 individual BTC for giving him cigarettes over the course of the party.
I scoffed at the “magic money” and thanked him but refused. 20 individual BTC would be $1.14 million today. :right:
Eurovision song contest still exists.
Italian hard-rock won :eyes:
Not everything was bad, English got zero points and were the last classified. :lol:
Not everything was bad, English got zero points and were the last classified. :lol:
UK song was bad and it was placed badly. UK should fight for its place in the finals, so we would not have to listen to their songs in the finals again.
Going by my Twitter timeline it can be summed up thus. England right now. :furious: Scotland and Wales right now, :lol: :lol:
Going by my Twitter timeline it can be summed up thus. England right now. :furious: Scotland and Wales right now, :lol: :lol:
Do you think England, Scotland and Wales should compete separately on Eurovision like they do in football?
Do you think England, Scotland and Wales should compete separately on Eurovision like they do in football?
I don't think there's enough interest for it outside of England if truth be told, for us to even bother trying to compete. I have no doubt that if we did, we could pick better acts and better songs though.
UK song was bad and it was placed badly. UK should fight for its place in the finals, so we would not have to listen to their songs in the finals again.
I was surprised how low the Dutch song scored. I thought it was one of the better ones.
I was surprised how low the Dutch song scored. I thought it was one of the better ones.
Seriously? I thought the music was nothing special in terms of style (as most of the songs) and it had a coarse message maybe for African or Caribbean freedom fighters, nothing for Europeans to relate to.
Anyway, betting companies predicted Estonia would drop out in semi-finals and Italy would win. These predictions were suspiciously accurate.
Seriously? I thought the music was nothing special in terms of style (as most of the songs) and it had a coarse message maybe for African or Caribbean freedom fighters, nothing for Europeans to relate to.
One of the better ones isn't the same thing as good, and if Europeans can't relate to people from European colonies… that sounds problematic. ;)
...if Europeans can't relate to people from European colonies… that sounds problematic. ;)
- The colonies we are talking about in this case are not Europe
- Western Europeans constantly forget Central Europe, most of which never had colonies, but rather was the colony
So sure, I can relate to the experience of colonies just fine. The issue is rather: That song was definitely more colonial rather than European. And it failed even at being colonial - it was too gay for a coherent colonial freedom-fighter tone. Whereas for current Europeans, it wasn't the stylish kind of gay, but more like queer or awkward. I prefer Stromae over that one any day.
I was surprised how low the Dutch song scored. I thought it was one of the better ones.
I was surprised as well, but apparently it was in line with expectations (https://eurovisionworld.com/odds/eurovision-last) (much closer to the bottom than the top, with a clear favourite for the top and a clear favourite for the bottom). Mind you, I didn't watch more than 20 seconds of this or any other song, I was in it for the voting system. It is optimised for maximum tension, and works pretty well with that.
When someone underperforms the post hoc assumption is that the entry was bad, or that the voters were, but the voting system matters as well. Being disliked is not a handicap, but being unliked is. 60%-62% of entries get no votes in each election, but being in that block for 2 ✕ 38 elections, like the British entry did, is still a feat.
I was surprised as well
The difference is that I thought Hooverphonic was pretty decent, but it didn't seem like the kind of thing that might do well. Oh well, clearly Eurovision's not really my thing. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbpxcUMtjwY
Incidentally, Finland's song sounds like a Limp Bizkit cover band, but the sign dancing's cool.
https://nos.nl/video/2381920-finland-middelvingers-omhoog-en-dus-ook-de-gebarentolk
Returning to serious things,
94% of mammal biomass (excluding humans) is livestock. This means livestock outweigh wild mammals by a factor of 15-to-1.4
Of the 28,000 species evaluated to be threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List, agriculture and aquaculture is listed as a threat for 24,000 of them. (https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food)
And there's more: Our World in data https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
Not bad news if you are a cow, though probably bad news even then, as you know your time on top is ending. It's all downhill from here. To repeat, we really should have a cow thread (https://dndsanctuary.eu/index.php?topic=3944.0).
I could go with that. We really should have a cow thread. It interacts with all other threads on this forum, including this one.
Bos taurus may be the dominant and most successful mammal species, as measured in biomass. There are probably more of them than of us, or any other mammal (Sus scrofa is on a distant third, all other mammals a distant fourth).
Dehumanization continues...
Oregon has become the third state in the US to legalise a new end-of-life process of human composting or “natural organic reduction” of the human body. (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oregon-human-composting-kate-brown-b1868343.html)
Gulf of Mexico is burning. Firefighters are trying to put it out.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3yBnodXI7E[/video]
Fire is out. You could argue it's a bad thing (I did).
https://twitter.com/jaxroam/status/1411336256378839041
I guess they were afraid it would cause something even worse by shifting over to the oil platform?
Another eventful bad day. Haiti president assassinated and an Estonian ambassador expelled from Russia.
The assailants claimed to be agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to videos taken by people in the area of the president’s home. Moïse, 53, lives in Pelerin 5, a neighborhood just above the hills in the capital.
On the videos, someone with an American accent is heard yelling in English over a megaphone, “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained St Petersburg-based diplomat Mart Latte after he was "caught red handed" receiving confidential information from a Russian citizen.
"This activity is not compatible with the status of a diplomatic official, and its nature is clearly hostile to the Russian Federation," the FSB said in a statement. "Measures in accordance with the norms of international law will be applied to the foreign diplomat."
Russia's relations with European countries have been hurt in recent months by a number of spying accusations against Russian diplomats in Europe. Italy, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania are among EU countries with which Moscow has exchanged tit-for-tat expulsions.
Woman arrested for training squirrels to attack her ex-boyfriend (https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/woman-arrested-for-training-squirrels-to-attack-her-ex-boyfriend/)
(https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/follegarou.jpg)
Geez, isn't police telling anymore how to pose properly for mug shots?
Geez, isn't police telling anymore how to pose properly for mug shots?
I'm sure they did their best, but that does look like the mug shot of someone that would train squirrels to attack her ex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_News_Daily_Report
For a decade or more, my favourite fake news site has been this one http://ironictimes.com/
I think it was founded before the term "fake news" was a thing.
Madeleine Albright died today. R.I.P.
That's sad indeed.
Have you heard her impressions of Putin, whom she met in 2000? :)
Not to my recollection.
From her op-ed in the NYT:
Mr. Putin spoke unemotionally and without notes about his determination to resurrect Russia’s economy and quash Chechen rebels. Flying home, I recorded my impressions. “Putin is small and pale,” I wrote, “so cold as to be almost reptilian.” He claimed to understand why the Berlin Wall had to fall but had not expected the whole Soviet Union to collapse. “Putin is embarrassed by what happened to his country and determined to restore its greatness.”
(Putin's Moves On Ukraine Will Be a Historic Mistake (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/opinion/putin-ukraine.html?searchResultPosition=4))
(I remember her saying more about his personality previously...but I can't source it. :) )
But there is more about his mission and mindset here (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/03/world/a-3-hour-talk-with-putin-leaves-albright-encouraged.html) (from a 2000 article).
Some sad news to report. The user “Jimbro37” that was with us on myOpera for years, and also on here as “Jimbro3738” passed away.
RIP Jim.
Can we agree that Albright got him wrong?
she was taken with his ''can-do approach'' and his lack of dogma.
{source (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/03/world/a-3-hour-talk-with-putin-leaves-albright-encouraged.html))
Or must we admit, he's willing to use
any trope — to expand his personal ambitions?
Is the West at war with Vladimir Putin — or Russia?
That's kinda the problem with
strongman regimes: Until the "strongman" leaves the stage, there's no distinguishing between the two.
Some sad news to report. The user “Jimbro37” that was with us on myOpera for years, and also on here as “Jimbro3738” passed away.
RIP Jim.
That is deeply sad. Among my favourite virtual friendships.
As will be the fate of all of us he has now gone to the Great WebArchive in the Clouds (https://web.archive.org/web/20130308204849/http://my.opera.com/Jaybro/about/).
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPt0RSKWYAMv61f?format=jpg)
Just now, post mortem, did I see we shared a non-love for music.
RIP Jim. Online legend.
I am very saddened to hear that.
Some sad news to report. The user “Jimbro37” that was with us on myOpera for years, and also on here as “Jimbro3738” passed away.
Well that is sad to hear. :(
RIP Jim.
According to Ukraine's secret service, this newspaper will appear tomorrow in Transnistria and Transnistria will enter the war https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/1520676951756787712
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRqGyFhXoAAU5MV?format=jpg&name=medium)
Jen Psaki leaves the White House after holding 224 briefings — more than all of Trump’s press secretaries combinedPsaki has not yet announced her next job, but has reportedly secured a gig at MSNBC.
Will she be on TV asking questions in interviews, instead of answering? That's a very different job.
Will she be on TV asking questions in interviews, instead of answering? That's a very different job.
Not so different: Instead of saying "Ill get back to you..." she'll parrot "People are saying..." :devil:
Putin announced mobilisation. Given that in his mind he is really at war with Nato, hands up who opposes a Nato counter-mobilisation.
Edit. Putin's executive order is here http://static.kremlin.ru/media/events/files/ru/QdJ0ybmN7Kocwc8eyTGosdyuylM6qXpj.pdf
It consists of ten numbered sections. The 7th section literally only says "for official use". Any guesses what the actual content there could be?
Germany discovered that, alongside Nazi nostalgisers, they have folks called Reichsbürger who were planning a coup and had infiltrated deep enough into state structures so that the matter demanded some attention. According to wider reporting, the raid involved collaboration from Austrian and Italian authorities too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH-N-L7oUQk
Speaking of these German burgers, far-right groups used to have wild plans to get into power.
Now they seem more intent on cutting power instead.
Fears of Extremist Campaign After Attack on US Power Station (https://www.voanews.com/a/fears-of-extremist-campaign-after-attack-on-us-power-station-/6893774.html)
Vandalism at four power stations in the western U.S. state of Washington over the weekend added to concerns of a possible nationwide campaign by right-wing extremists to stir fears and spark civil conflict.
Local police on Tuesday gave no information on who they suspected was behind the vandalism, which knocked out power on Christmas Day for about 14,000 customers in Tacoma, a port city area south of Seattle.
Tacoma Public Utilities, which owned two of the facilities targeted on Sunday, said in a statement that it was alerted by federal law enforcement in early December about threats to their grid.
Odd, though. The closer groups are to Putin, the more keen they are on energy warfare.
In TLDR News' video Is the Russian Minority in the EU Being Persecuted? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39OzhyghAc), which purports to give you both sides of the story so you can make up your own mind, the phrasing of the problems betrays the well-known colonial instincts - of both Russia and the West. Namely, according to the video, Estonia and Latvia are now banning the use of Russian language in state institutions and schools. So the video's implied answer to the title question is a resounding "Yes, when it comes to the Baltic countries!" (different from the title, all instances of alleged persecution are restricted to the Baltic countries instead of the EU).
All the way up to the 1970s it was indeed normal in the West and in Soviet Union to ban languages in schools and separate children from parents in order to eradicate culture, e.g. indigenous minority children in USA, Nordic countries, and Russia, and of course those countries never thought indigenous languages should be used in official state institutions, duh. This is where TLDR is understandably coming from. They are colonial annihilists turned cosmopolitans, there's no way to fix this. However, it is factually wrong to adress the matters in Estonia and Latvia in the same terms. In reality, Estonia and Latvia have been keeping up two state-supported school systems in parallel: in the official state language and in Russian language. Debates about withdrawing the support from Russian-language schools have been ongoing for decades, several agreed deadlines have passed without action taken. The first good opportunity in my opinion to pull the rug from under Russian-speaking schools was in 1994 when Soviet/Russian army (and some portion of Russian civilians along with it) left the Baltic countries, but no, Russian schools are still in 2023 here as they were back then.
Anyway, many Russians are already putting their children in Estonian-language schools ("for the future of the child"), some such schools have a good share of such Russians (and other foreign children) and nobody is banning them from using their own language among themselves the way both Western and Soviet authorities used to do up to 1970s (Soviet/Russian authorities even now). The situation in Estonia and Latvia has nothing in common with colonial practices. We are just reducing the strain on state budget that we were never supposed to have in the first place, if we were to act as per actual Western values.
As to other state institutions, in both Estonia and Latvia it is admitted that municipalities can operate in another, local majority language. E.g. Narva municipal council operates in Russian. Their communication with state institutions is to occur in the official state language however. But ordinary people can find state services in several languages, such as English-speaking people in English, and therefore also Russian-speaking in Russian (otherwise it would not work to e.g. accommodate Ukrainian refugees here). Foreign-language services in state institutions have always been expanding rather than receding.
About citizenship, Estonia and Latvia decided upon re-independence that automatic citizenship is given to those who can trace ancestry back to the pre-WWII countries. This was done mostly pro-actively by the state seeking out its citizens, while others need to go through a citizenship application process. This arrangement is better understood as a requirement for historical continuity instead of a requirement of ethnicity. Anyone whose ancestry can be traced back to the first independence gets the citizenship regardless of ethnicity. The dates involved are connected to independence, when we had it, when we ceased to have it, and when we regained it. So it's about history rather than ethnicity. From the Baltic point of view, non-citizen Russians are a non-citizen minority - like all other foreigners are minorities.
Russians do not deserve special minority privileges the way e.g. native/indigenous minorities would, because they are not native and indigenous. And not even properly minority - they have their majority native country immediately next door.
Moreover, we have security concerns that Western countries never had. Who wants to adopt so many Russians that they are about a third of your population? No hands? I wonder why. Also, the argument in the video that Russia would never attack Baltic countries is by now stupider than ever. The argument used to be that "Baltic countries are not worth it" but it has become now (in the video) "Russia is bogged down in Ukraine, so definitely it won't attack Nato countries". This is dangerously stupid. Baltic (and Polish) experts always maintained that Russia attacks completely regardless if they can afford it or whether it's worth it - and these experts have been proven correct. All other opinions have been proven wrong many times over. Russia's propaganda/information war that is now in worldwide awareness (namely, calling their neighbours fascists and Russophobes) has been going on forever in the Baltic countries and has been as false as it is right now regarding Ukraine. To use this propaganda as if this were actual information, the way TLDR does, is a fatal blow to own credibility.
Of course I understand that my post will clear up nothing for anyone. I have already explained all this for decades, but colonists remain colonists.
Edit: Here Deutsche Welle confronts Latvia's justice minister with the same topic and the minister needs to politely explain to Germans how stupid they are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHL5TTw00hc
When the same talking points are up in several Western outlets at the same time with the same Russian bent, it suggests yet another successful propaganda operation from Russia.
Newt Gingrich pointed me to an alarming development that bears upon the readiness of U.S. forces:
The Marine Corps is small, agile, and flexible, priding itself on being the first to fight, anywhere. Over the past four years, however, the current Commandant, General David H. Berger, has radically transformed the image and the mission of the Marine Corps. The primary focus now is upon developing missile units intended to sink Chinese warships. To fund those units, General Berger did away with 21% of the personnel in infantry battalions, 100% of the tanks, 67% of the cannon artillery batteries, 33% of the assault amphibious companies, nearly 30% of Marine aviation, and almost all assault breaching equipment. The desired number of large amphibious ships was reduced from 38 to 31. Due to these cuts, Marines are less capable to fight as a combined arms force. [emphasis added]
(source (https://www.hoover.org/research/marine-corps-no-more))
Between the Osprey goof and constant efforts to "retire" the venerable "Warthog" (https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104490/a-10c-thunderbolt-ii/#:~:text=The%20A-10C%20Thunderbolt%20II,tanks%20and%20other%20armored%20vehicles.), the Marines have not been well-supplied... But this change in mission is bizarre! And dangerous...
And it's
mostly secret? Scary.
Will Congress intervene? Before it's too late...?
When the same talking points are up in several Western outlets at the same time with the same Russian bent, it suggests yet another successful propaganda operation from Russia.
I did not expect that YLE, the state-owned broadcaster of Finland, would succumb to the same Russian propaganda manipulation. But it did https://yle.fi/a/74-20044688
The article quotes Inta Mieriņa, a professor in University of Latvia who has been researching migration and integration issues. The professor complains about Latvia's new requirements that concern people who have lived in Latvia almost all of their lives but have Russian citizenship. Thus they live in Latvia based on a residence permit. Now the residence permit would be revoked, if those people fail to pass an exam of Latvian language. Without a residence permit those people would naturally have to move away from Latvia, which in practice would probably not happen.
The article discusses the security concerns that Latvia's government has with regard to those people (which I explained already in my previous post), but the professor retorts the situation would pressure those people deeper into Russia's sphere of influence and would amount to a propaganda victory for Russia à la Latvia can be labelled Russophobic etc. And then the article ends, leaving readers ponder the dread of Russia gaining a propaganda victory because Latvia is mean to Russian citizens who have thus far had residence permits without any imposed conditions but now, oh shock and horrour, there is a condition.
In my view, the point about Russia's propaganda victory from alleged Russophobia has ceased or at least should have ceased to be a point since 2014 at the latest. Russia claims to be protecting Russian citizens and Russian-speaking people and fighting Russophobia in Ukraine. How can this kind of Russia gain a propaganda victory over non-extended residence permits of Russian citizens abroad? Essentially, in YLE's view, Latvia is among the countries who cannot revoke residence permits of foreign citizens. Latvia is a country that exists temporarily due to the kind generosity of Russia, and if Latvia misbehaves, starts acting as if it were an independent country, then Russia may be provoked to do bad things or, as a minimum, gains propaganda points. This has been the attitude of YLE all along, which in Estonia has been seen as an after-effect of Finlandisation. The same attitude (that whenever Russians claim Russophobia, then the target of the claim is guilty as charged) has been the normal modus operandi of all Western European broadcasters too. And this attitude is taking hostage some academics and expert commentators in the Baltics, so that they cannot think clearly anymore.
To think clearly, one needs to compare Baltic, Western, and Russian citizenship and integration policies. The inevitable outcome of the comparison is that Baltic policies are the mildest and most considerate of them all, and Western and Russian policies lose out badly. It was time a very long time ago that Western mainstream media reflect this reality correctly. The fact that Western mainstream media still represents Russian bias on these topics is a continued propganda victory for Russia.
US coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years – report“Air pollution from coal is much more harmful than we thought, and we’ve been treating it like it’s just another air pollutant,” said the lead author, Lucas Henneman, an assistant professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry department of civil, environmental and infrastructure engineering at George Mason University. “This type of evidence is important to policymakers like EPA [the US Environmental Protection Agency] as they identify cost-effective solutions for cleaning up the country’s air, like requiring emissions controls or encouraging renewables.”
Henneman led a group of researchers who used publicly available data to track air pollution – and its health effects – from the 480 US coal power plants that operated at some point between 1999 and 2020. A model was used to track the wind direction and reach of the toxins from each power station. Annual exposure levels were then connected with more than 650m Medicare health records that covered most people over age 65 in the US.
The coal plants associated with most deaths were located east of the Mississippi River in industrialized states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where power stations were historically constructed close to population hubs. But every region had at least one plant linked to 600 deaths, while 10 were associated with more than 5,000 deaths across the study period.
About 85% of the total 460,000 coal plant-related deaths occurred between 1999 and 2007, an average of more than 43,000 deaths per year. The death toll declined drastically as plants closed or scrubbers – a type of sulphur filter – were installed to comply with new environmental rules. By 2020, the coal PM2.5 death toll had dropped 95%, to 1,600 people.
Edit: To compare with traffic deaths from here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year), I calculated that there were 841,041 fatal casualties in traffic in USA over the same period, from 1999 to 2020. So on a positive note, coal deaths are not as bad as traffic deaths. However, traffic deaths are rather stable and steady, not on decline.
Coal is significantly worse than fossil gas in emissions, but also a lot worse for people's health.
(https://ourworldindata.org/images/published/5-Bar-chart-%E2%80%93-What-is-the-safest-form-of-energy.png)
Austria bankers still blocking EU sanctions on RussiaThe 12th round of Russia sanctions was to impose an EU ban on imports of Russian diamonds, tighten EU exports of high-tech goods, and blacklist mercenary firms, according to a draft.
Raiffeisen Bank has 9,000 employees in Russia, where it does consumer banking, and where it made €2bn profit last year.
It is "beneficial [chiefly] to the Russian elites, as it allows them to continue transferring funds abroad", after earlier EU sanctions disconnected most Russian banks from the Swift international-transfers grid, Russian financial consultant Ivan Fedyakov previously told this website.
"Austria has been quietly playing on Russia's team for a long time — they're a huge problem in the EU. Potentially explosive. To be watched closely," a senior EU diplomat said.
"It's not Austria learning from Hungary, but the other way around," the diplomat said.
"I never understood why everyone forgives them [the Austrians] so easily, treats them with kid gloves compared to Orbán, or other EU rogues", he added.
In addition to Raiffeisen I can mention also UniCredit and HypoVerein as such banks.
The "kid gloves" is because Austria hasn't done domestically what Fidesz has done. Also Austria is a net contributor, unlike Hungary which is the second largest recipient, third largest per capita.
But if Hungary is suspended by Article 7 now that they are no longer protected by PiS (one can hope), Austria is likely to be the rear guard, or even one that could block a suspension.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GA_73K5W4AAew70?format=png)
The "kid gloves" is because Austria hasn't done domestically what Fidesz has done.
The kid gloves are also because this is more about banks and less about the government. In an approved country banks are far more powerful than the government. In an approved country, whatever banks do is deemed acceptable.