Maedhros

Read about this in a Norwegian newspaper. A Norwegian traveled to the US to surprise his American father-in law on his birthday. He knocked on the door, and jumped out of a bush doing growling sounds to scare/surprise him when the door was opened. The father-in-law was scared, and reacted by firing a bullet in his chest. No charges necessary, according to the Sheriff. What a ridiculous way to go, and a horrible accident...but still. Some notable lawyers over here think it's quite weird that the sheriff felt no charge was warranted. In any case, two possible lessons from this. 1. Don't do jumpscares, you never know how people will react. 2. ESPECIALLY don't do jumpscares in the US. https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-man-accidentally-shoots-kills-son-law-surprise/story?id=66031955 Edit: Apparently the shooter thought the "banging" noises on the door was from a relative he had gotten into an argument with earlier the same day. Then it's especially weird that he wasn't charged with manslaughter? He admitted he thought it was a relative, and still carried, and fired his gun in response? Must've been some argument...

They need to look back at what made season 1 great. The last season was a mess. I really disliked how they balanced humor and horror, it always felt out of place to me. The showmakers went way too far on making the characters unrealistically quirky and snappy all the time. It felt like they were trying to force laughs out of every situation - which doesn't work too well in a horror show.

Bernie Sanders hospitalized after chest pains. Was found to have a blockage in an artery - two stents were succesfully inserted and he's now resting for a few days. So that's game over for him, in other words.

I'm aware of this, but my impression was that the "no position" articles are stated to be as such because they don't at any point claim "I/we believe climate change is man made". But if you actually read the "neutral" articles it's clear that they've moved on from such speculation, and are instead working on solving stuff related to it. For example one study attempts to discern the impact of rising sea levels.

@Skarpen - Fair enough, I misunderstood you. I guess it depends on how you define "catastrophe" though. The world won't end in 10 years, or 20, or 30...but the consensus seems to be that we're in for a tough beating.

The GWPF is your idea of serious scientists? I repeat, there is a consensus (at over 90%), and you're ignoring it - instead choosing to listen to the creationists/flat-earthers/"smoking isn't harmful!"-equivalents. https://thebulletin.org/2019/08/millions-of-times-later-97-percent-climate-consensus-still-faces-denial/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/sep/27/global-warming-ipcc-report-humans

Again, people being hypocrites doesn't make climate change less real. It's as if you're unable to see the scientific consensus (instead listening to "smoking isn't harmful!" equivalent of scientists) because of your focus on people who don't matter. Why is the mass body of scientific work irrelevant to you? I agree that fearmongering is bad though. That won't solve much, and only create barriers between people. I like the ones who go at it in a positive creative way (warning, some facts/fearmongering, but still a pretty cool invention): www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/can-a-burger-help-solve-climate-change/amp

Not basing it on facts, just my observations where I feel like it's a trend that men prefer beer, and women wine.

Drinking some Syrah wines today. For men worried about wine not being masculine enough, this is the wine grape for you. Dark, dark stuff with associations to black pepper, dried blood, olives, licorice, blackberries, juniper, smoked bacon. Works really well along with large game animals.

There is strong scientific consensus on it being real. Hoax....come on dude. As if pretty much every scientist is in on some elaborate scheme. Read up on Exxon's climate denying past. Even they admit it's real now.

I didn't say I wanted them imprisoned, that would depend on the individual case. Just saying, it's gonna be interesting to follow such ethically, and legally challenging cases in the future. Btw, Electric cars are a huge hit here, and is pretty green too since we're a heavy producer of renewable energy. CO2 emissions got pretty drastically reduced in a few years because of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway#Effects_on_average_fleet_CO2_emissions

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/20/sanders-vows-if-elected-pursue-criminal-charges-against-fossil-fuel-ceos-knowingly Would be interesting to follow such a criminal charge, with all the climate-change denial out there.

I love looking at pictures of other cities, so figured I'd make a thread where everyone can post pictures, and maybe write a little bit about the city they live in, without too much effort. So, where do you live? I live in the second biggest city in Norway, the biggest on the West-Coast, namely Bergen (population 275k). It's the former capitol of Norway, which changed when a younger brother (The Duke of Oslo) inherited the crown, and naturally wanted to change the capitol to where he lived, the bastard. Bergen was founded by Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardrada (the guy who was the leader of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantium Empire, later became King of Norway, and "ended" the Viking Age with his failed invasion of England). The city is known mainly for being surrounded by small mountains "The Seven Mountains" (we hike all seven yearly with my kindergarten), and for being exeedingly rainy. It once rained here in over 100 days in a row...but as they say here, "no bad weather, only bad clothing", or more modern "good excuse to stay indoors and play videogames". You can probably imagine how much we appreciate dry summers. "Bryggen" (pic below) shows the city's heritage as a Hanseatic port. Below that pic is a pic of the most popular tourist attraction, the "Fløybanen" (railyway up the most popular mountain, Fløyen). All in all I'd say it's a very nice city to live in if you can handle the massive amounts of rain. I particularily love having nature so close to the city - pretty much wherever you live you can reach a forest, or a mountain by foot. Since the public transport is nice, and nature is so close by, I haven't really ever felt the need to buy a car - saving me a lot of money. (Northern Lights very rarely happens here btw, more common up North)

Haha no, is that normal elsewhere? I'm gonna tell all the parents if so! We usually get some presents (wine, chocolate, stuff like that) before christmas and summer holidays, but that's it.

Sorry for this non-cheerful reply then - You'd have to be a pretty damn sad human being to be rich and NOT leave a tip when a restaurant/hotel gives you a good experience. Isn't it very, very common to give tips in the US? Hardly something to brag about, and probably why Trump considers it "something normal" as you say. On a sidenote, I hate the cultural thing where some low-paying jobs are expected to get tips, and others don't. As a kindergarten teacher I wouldn't mind rich parents giving me tips!

Corey Lewandowski: The Mueller report was very clear. There was no collusion… no obstruction. Alisyn Camerota: That's not what the Mueller report said. Corey: It absolutely says that. Alisyn: Did you read the Mueller report? Corey: No, I never did.

So it's a problem when people are happy about someone they don't like dying - but not when billionaires use their wealth in a way that's inarguably detrimental to mankind? Be it Koch, Exxon and whoever else who tried to discredit important science to make more money - or the Saudi state financing fundamentalist mosques. One is petty, the other is evil, whether misguided or deliberate.

Oligarch, or buisnessman? https://fair.org/home/russia-has-oligarchs-the-us-has-businessmen/

A defeatist attitude definitely won't save the planet. You gotta start somewhere. I don't buy the "so what if we change, they won't" argument. But yeah, drastic changes will just lead to strife so you gotta progress in a way that makes sense (which is hard when you take the stakes into account). One babystep the government did over here was giving people incentives to buy electric cars, with cheaper toll payments for el-car owners. So now pretty much everyone and their neighbours drive around in Teslas. --- Warren seems to be gaining ground, beating Biden in recent polls. Could just be a temporary thing, but still. Not bad considering she started out with a failed PR-stunt. Her platform will probably disgust many of you (https://elizabethwarren.com/issues/): Helping the poor and middle class: Medicare 4 All Universal free childcare Eliminate most student debt (unless you’re rich) Universal free college Lowering rent payments by 10% Fighting corruption and unfairness: Overturning Citizens United Ending voter suppression, gerrymandering, and PACs Banning private prisons Jail time for executives overseeing massive scams Eliminating the electoral college Ban former congressmen from becoming lobbyists for life Curb corporate influence on the Pentagon Lobbyists must register and not be foreign govt backed Ban Congress from trading stocks Create Code of Ethics for Supreme Court Workers elect at least 40% of the company’s board Indict Presidents Improving our nation: Tackling the Opiod Crisis Legalizing marijuana Green New Deal Ending drilling on public lands Increasing renewable energy production Automatic voter registration Election Day as a national holiday Paid for with help from: Wealth tax (with a 40% exit tax on trying to dodge it by leaving the country) Corporate profits tax based on global profits revealed to investors Cutting bloated military budget

Really, really enjoying the first episodes of the new The Dark Crystal series on Netflix. Best "classic" fantasy show in ages.

Grand finals starting up! And they announced that the next TI will be in Stockholm, that's fantastic. Might consider going!

Bernie welcomes the hate, I rather like this move: https://berniesanders.com/anti-endorsements/ It'll probably be him, Warren or Biden in the end (even though the latter tries very hard not to impress anyone in the debates).

Read a book called Scott and Amundsen: The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford. Very interesting read on the lifes of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, culiminating in their race to the south pole. Huntford attempts to deconstruct the Scott hero myth that started after his death. The book shows how unfair history has been to Amundsen, who while being flawed, in truth should be remembered as one the greatest polar explorer of all time. He was the first to reach the south pole, first to pass through the North-west passage, and later the first to reach the North pole by plane. The amount of preperation and training he did for all of this is pretty damn impressing, including living with and learning from the Netsilik inuit people. Scott on the other hand, was remembered as a great British hero - but is in the book presented as largely incompetent. Huntford uses Scott's diaries, and the diaries of his men, to present a terrible leader who saw enemies in everyone (he detested Shackleton), always made up excuses, and complained about bad luck (which Amundsen would call bad planning).

Playing Football Manager 2019, as Cabinteely - an Irish team I know nothing about. My long term goal is having the Irish league become a real competetor to the Premier League. I've cheated a bit, by having Man Utd spend all their money every transfer window so far, solely on players from Irish teams. Should help all the teams improve their training & youth facilities at least (the reputation of the teams are so low that no truly great players wants to join us).

Witnessed something pretty odd today. An anti-Islamist organization had a demonstration against Islam in a park downtown, with hundreds of counter-protesters showing up and making a lot of noise. At the same time, maybe only 30-40 metres from all this noise and chaos, a couple was getting married. They were seemingly unfazed through it all. I wonder if they cursed their timing, or whether they found some humor in it.