Gorth

It’s similar here (Denmark) with the coalitions. Usually creating a centre-left or a centre-right coalition, leaving the fringe left and right parties to be heard, but without too much influence (this was 20 years ago, not sure how things are today). I remember government and opposition coalitions sometimes making deals across the parliament to ensure certain legislation would stay untouched regardless who won the next election (usually some wide ranging compromises about important national issues)

I can only refer to what I grew up with... in Denmark in the 60's, 70's and 18's, there were at times up to I *think* 14 political parties. It worked with a threshold system. Anyone getting the required minimum of 2% of the polular vote was guaranteed at least one seat in parliament. After the these seats were allocated to parties, the remaining seats were allocated after something not quite popular vote based, but more community based. Each town, region, large suburb etc. was an electoral circuit which got to send the local, popular vote winner to parliament. It was not unusual for candidates sometimes switching party if they didn't like where their party was headed. It meant a system which was almost always inherently "centrist", always marginalizing the extremes. They got heard, but had little influence. Good thing too, as it was a mix of everything from right populists to honest to god communists with close ties to Moscow Edit: that’s how a stand up comedian once ennded up in parliament for a few years. People were tired of the establishment and so got more than 2% of the popular vote. A relatively harmless outcome of an unhappy population at the polls. Of course he didn’t keep his election promises, we didn’t get more tailwind on the bicycle paths nor free Nutella for school lunches

On the other hand, you shouldn't really let "what about what the other guy did first" be an excuse for not holding those accountable who makes those (deadly) mistakes... whether it be the operator, the hardware or more likely an intelligence failure. As for global coverage, you and I both know media (including social media) is business first and foremost. Ratings matter. The more viewers and readers you can attract, the happier the advertisers and sponsors are, regardless of who gets thrown under the bus. That's free market economy too

Because I felt inspired by that Matrix trailer...

Best part of that Matrix trailer was the music!

During WW2 in occupied Denmark (and probably other countries too), there were similar rewards for ratting out neighbours who were “subversive elements” in the eyes of the regime

Upside-down rhino research wins Ig Nobel Prize https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58507100 An experiment that hung rhinoceroses upside down to see what effect it had on the animals has been awarded one of this year's Ig Nobel prizes. Other recipients included teams that studied the bacteria in chewing gum stuck to pavements, and how to control ****roaches on submarines. The spoof prizes are not as famous as the "real" Nobels - not quite. The ceremony couldn't take place at its usual home of Harvard University in the US because of Covid restrictions. Science...

Let's just say, I don't subscribe to that "just world" theory one bit. The world is inherently unfair and unreasonable and I would consider it everybody's responsibility to try to mitigate the excesses. So you're saying, it's effectively victim blaming going on? Bear in mind, I grew up in a non-religious world (Scandinavia), so religious communities is usually something you see happening in either the US or the Middle East on TV or on satire shows. But the quoted sentence is pretty much how I would imagine somebody with half a brain trying to rationalize why victims are to blame for their situation, unless you live in some kind of bubble thinking people get pregnant and have abortions the same way Aussies have BBQ and a six pack of beer, all in good fun to much cheers.

Just something to lighten the mood a bit...

Tl;dr; “pro-lifers” don’t give a **** about kids once they’re born and can drown for all they care. It’s about the logic of religious mindsets. Ilf I focus on a single issue, I can feel good and superior or some such

That is just part of it though, what I found despicable (and why I compare the Republicans to the Taliban) is they also explicitly excluded rape and incest victims, which will doom them to a life long reminder of their ordeals. Violent spouses have a history of raping their partners and keeping them in servitude by constantly and repeatedly making them pregnant. No way out for those other than flee the state of Texas, not unlike the way people tried to escape from East Berlin during the cold war. What's next? Going after people who try to help people escape Texas? Wouldn't surprise me to be honest.

Condolences @Guard Dog Not sure if there is anything really appropriate to say or make things less painful. As @Hurlsnotsaid, in some ways, people here have been together for so long we might as well have been family (and been together than your average marriage I think). Let us know if anyone can do anything, either here or on private messages Cheers Mate

Australia's (and Canada and the US) contribution to the fight against climate change...

A bit of military history. A toss up between the funny thread, the weird/random/etc thread or the military thread. A fun watch in any case... The voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet (Second Pacific Squadron) in the Russo-Japanese war is a tale of ridiculous blunder after blunder, a disaster from start to finish. The last ditch effort for Russian naval superiority in the Russo-Japanese war required a voyage never before taken by a coal-powered fleet. To help matters, the fleet was crewed by conscripted peasants who had little to no experience or education when it came to naval operation. Over the 18,000 mile journey, the fleet attacked civilian vessels from multiple global powers, shot at their own ships, killed fellow sailors with negligence of safety standards, destroyed city's communication grids, and so much more. This event will go down in history as one of Russia's most embarrassing military performances, but on the bright side, at least it gives you one fantastic hard-to-believe story to tell at your next dinner party!

It was just me alluding to people who give up on their independence and let religious dogma do their thinking for them are all very similar. Whatever they call themselves.

Not really "ha ha" funny, but more in the somewhat amusing category. A Kiwi cinema worker struggling to record a message and afterwards realize he had failed to delete his failed attempts (always ending in profanity), which then in turn greeted people calling the cinema https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-58449868 The man was trying to inform customers that the Movie Max in Timaru was closed due to Covid restrictions. But, the employee struggled to get his words out and that left him frustrated.

Next up, Texas going to criminalise wanking, because you’re depriving all those poor little sperm cells of their god given right to become a person… Just kidding, not going to happen, as that would impact the male half of the population. Not misogynistic enough. You have to ask yourself, if the Taliban were running Texas, what would they do?

I don't think any outsiders truly knows what Finns are saying

Well, in all fairness, I'm old enough that I should be concerned about catching it. Even with a life insurance, it places a burden on other people having to do all the funeral arrangements Second shot is scheduled for 6th of October, so about 5 weeks from now. A sore spot around the injection site is all I feel at the moment, but it may change over the weekend. Colleagues told me they felt a bit "wasted" the day after.

Got my first BioNTech/Pfizer shot 10 minutes ago. Still alive and not abducted by aliens, growing extra limbs or feeling an irresistible urge to worship Microsoft

Food bank QLD is one of two charities I support edit: money donations not food donations

Since I was on a roll (and with my nose into dusty cd cases)

I was dusting off old music cd's and ran across an old OMD album...

You're wrong. China has a proven track record of dealing with people who were "tribal" in nature. Nothing like concentration camps and ethnic genocide to fix such small problems, all to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of China... China hasn't been communist for the last 20+ years. The rhetoric has for the last couple of decades been identical to the authoritarian European regimes in the interwar period (1919-1939). I.e. Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany and Franco's Spain. Xi is doing the very Chinese thing, stealing whatever idea isn't bolted to the floor and most of what he does is ripping off rhetoric spouted in the past in the West, just... being made in China at a questionable manufacturing quality. In short, it's the poster child of a nationalist, totalitarian state where individuals are to be sacrificed for the benefit of your (un-elected) leaders. Chinese "Housing projects" for ethnic minorities and tribal people: Chinese democracy in action. As you can see, it's much better than its western counterparts in supporting the Chinese people's freedoms:

Just adding, the poster seems to be French, so charge/chargez is likely "load", i.e. unable to load a saved game for the die hard English speakers here....