Gorth

For some people, being vegan is like a religion. They'll try to adapt reality to fit the picture in their heads. Sometimes their (idealists, religious nutcases, fanatics, whatever) arguments are so far fetched you have to facepalm. That being said, there is also such a thing as too much cheese (unless you're Scandinavian like me and very much lactose tolerant). If the kids get a healthy and balanced daily meal, screw peoples ideological sensitivities. Just wait until she tries to ban Chocolate in the UK, that stuff being both non-white (mostly) and dairy filled it should be the next to go! Edit: When I was a kid, the health worker/nurse at the school had as a task to ensure that all the kids drank at least 0.75 liter of milk at home per day. A typical household with 2-3 kids would easily consume 5+ liter of milk every day. Telling Scandinavians that they have to lay off milk, cheese and chocolate would be like tell south east Asians that they had to lay off the rice.

Rresistance is futile... You will be assimilated

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56744474 "Denmark has ceased giving the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine amid concerns about rare cases of blood clots, the first European country to do so fully. The move is expected to delay the country's vaccination programme by several weeks. Drug watchdog the European Medicines Agency last week announced a possible link with clots but said the risk of dying of Covid-19 was much greater. Several European countries had previously briefly suspended the jab. Most have now resumed vaccinations with AstraZeneca, but often with limits to older age groups. On Tuesday, the US, Canada and the European Union paused the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for similar reasons over clotting. South Africa has also paused its use, despite the Johnson & Johnson being its preferred vaccine because of its effectiveness against the South African variant." ... "Almost one million people in Denmark have been vaccinated, with approximately 150,000 of them receiving the AstraZeneca jab. The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are also in use." Denmark generally seems to have the infection under control (i.e. not like Australia and New Zealand, but people aren't dying en masse), so the need to vaccinate is less urgent. As the article says, vulnerable people have been given the shots and next in line are the young people who are less likely to get or suffer badly from Covid so The current stock will be kept for a later date and Pfizer/Moderna used until someone works out why the AZ (and J&J) vaccine kills the recipient every now and then.

Any motorcycle enthusiasts around? If so, you should be familiar with "Isle of Man TT" (Tourist Trophy) Fast, furious and deadly. 243 people killed so far (which I think makes it even deadlier than the Paris - Darkar Rally. 2018 was a particularly deadly year with 7 dead (mix of drivers and spectators) Racing a number of laps around the Isle, through a small town, it's a very fast road race with speeds at times well beyond 320kmh / 200mph

Like the military coup in Myanmar that just coincided with demonstrators making life difficult for Chinese companies in Myanmar?

Tibet and Vietnam might disagree with you on that one. Although they did later withdraw their troops from Vietnam Edit: Thanks to stealing an arm and a leg when it comes to technology, the Chinese army of 2021 is not comparable to the miserable state it was in in during the 1950's, 60's and 70's

Quoted for truth. Grew up on the "front" so to speak, only a thin stretch of water separating my childhood home from the big, nasty enemies like Poland and DDR (East Germany). Edit: All new public buildings in Denmark at the time were required to have bomb shelters and many older buildings got retrofitted with it. It was part of my school experience always knowing where the entrance to the schools underground shelter was located. The schools (and other public buildings) had regular drills to ensure everyone could get there at a moments notice in case it started raining nukes. You sort of got it the opposite way around... the deployment of nukes to Turkey, right on the Soviet Unions border was what caused the deployment of missiles in Cuba in the first place. No more nukes in Turkey, no more need for missiles in Cuba (and ICBM's made it irrelevant anyway when they got introduced). As for China and Taiwan. I'm fairly convinced it's not an if, it's a when China invades and takes over Taiwan. It will be a disaster for western PC (and IT in general) manufacturers considering how many essential chips are manufactured and exported from Taiwan to the west.

One of the most influential characters on naval development in the US Navy. Also a darn interesting (and at times unintentionally funny) character. It's a long biography (a bit more than an hour), but worth watching if you're into military history

Nothing like a bit of DIY work 😇

I am... in my own way. Once you cover it in sauce, they both taste the same. Not that different from the political spectrum. Stray far enough away from the middle and it doesn't matter what their stated end goal is, the means of getting there are the same. Some flavour of authoritarianism and a single leader. If it all tastes the same to the common man, why try so hard to label things with meaningless labels? Now if those cult/political/religious whatever leaders offered us blue cheese sauce... it might be easier to swallow 😋

Bad wordplay time...

Meh, left wing, right wing, who cares?

Well, it is a big universe. Maybe chaotic influence? Could also be artists being artists? As for weapon sizes, I suspect it had to do with GW changing their target audience from the 20-30 year olds to the 12-14 year old boys who apparently had a lot of their parents disposable income. Nothing like some phallic macho symbols to make angsty, insecure teenage boys feel all empowered (and generous with their parents money) when they have a "mine is bigger than yours" stick in their hands. Guns got bigger and boobs got covered up. Dang it...

Oh, don't get me started on the stupidly oversized weapons! 😠 I know, it's originally part of easily identifying and assessing both friend and foe capabilities (by seeing what kind of gear they're wielding) on the tabletop, but still. I'll be standing next to the table when playing, not watching a game through a looking glass from 500m away. (the old miniatures from the 80's, of which I have a lot, had weapons and equipment that actually looked like the mini would be able to lift it off the ground)

Yes, chasing a rolling cheese is a sport! "The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling, in Gloucestershire, UK, is an unusual—and surprisingly dangerous annual athletic challenge."

Extremist groups are no more reliable strategically as a tool than biological weapons. They always mutate and you risk they backfire any moment.

That nature reserve looks beautiful ❤️ What kind of trees are those? Looks like pine trees, but not quite 🤔

i haven't seen Seaspiracy (hadn't even heard about it before now), but I do think it's a problem, treating the oceans as part the world sewer and part an inexhaustible source of fishy proteins. Of course it is neither of which. Will the next land war between USA and China be fought on the big plastic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Chinese fishing armadas are busy scooping up fish from the entire Pacific Ocean, systematically emptying it of fish all the way down to Antarctica, down both Australia's and Chile's coastlines (the latter now categorically sinking them every time they trespass into their territorial waters) No idea what the US fishing fleets are up to to be honest. They could be better or worse than the Chinese for all I know (and I really don't know, never looked it up), although US consumers may not like the plastic bottle/bag flavour from seafood caught in those waters. These "shock documentaries" only addresses the symptoms though, not the underlying cause. Which is, there are about 6 billion too many of us for a planet this size if we want sustainable, good qualify life for all of us (or at least a chance at achieving such). Edit: Now where was that glove with those fancy gem stones in it?... 🤔

I never had any warm and fuzzy feelings regarding the AZ vaccine (it was always the worst performer in the numbers game). While it has been brewing for a while, it's now official. Australia's love affair with the AZ vaccine is over https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56684833 Even though it seems to mostly kill young women with the blood clotting, there is currently no "urgent" need to vaccinate people in Australia, so it has now been prohibited for all under 50's It's very late in the game, but it now looks like the alternatives are more attractive. Of course, our incompetent prime minister had put like 11 out of 12 eggs in one basket and gambled entirely on the AZ vaccine... ah well, maybe Pfizer/BioNTech has a few spare dozes somewhere.

Just calling out "The West" on a bit of its hypocrisy. In this case the otherwise impressive and charismatic Navalny, who the EU thinks is the natural born leader to take over Russia from Putin... So, who is this saviour of democracy and all things right and good? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56181084 "Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status Amnesty International has stripped the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny of his "prisoner of conscience" status after it says it was "bombarded" with complaints highlighting xenophobic comments that he has made in the past and not renounced." "Some of the calls to revoke Navalny's prisoner of conscience status quoted a Twitter thread by Katya Kazbek, a freelance columnist published by the pro-Kremlin channel RT amongst others. She reposted Navalny's controversial videos after his arrest in January, describing him as an "avowed racist" and accusing supporters of "whitewashing" his nationalism." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/24/amnesty-strips-navalny-of-prisoner-of-conscience-status "Amnesty International took an internal decision to stop referring to [Alexey] Navalny as a prisoner of conscience in relation to comments he made in the past. Some of these comments, which Navalny has not publicly denounced, reach the threshold of advocacy of hatred, and this is at odds with Amnesty’s definition of a prisoner of conscience,” the statement said, without specifying what those comments were. Navalny has previously advocated for nationalist, anti-immigrant policies and is regularly accused by his critics on social media of being a white supremacist. Fifteen years ago, Navalny filmed a pro-gun rights video in which he compared people from the North Caucasus, home to many Muslims, as “****roaches” and then pretended to shoot one with a pistol." As for what it's all about... https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/25/navalny-has-the-kremlin-foe-moved-on-from-his-nationalist-past Muslim ‘****roaches’ In a 2007 pro-gun rights video, Navalny presents himself as a “certified nationalist” who wants to exterminate “flies and ****roaches” – while bearded Muslim men appear in cutaways. He whips out a gun and shoots an actor wearing a keffiyeh who tried to “attack” him. The 42-second video was released by the Russian National Liberation Movement, a nationalist group Navalny had just co-founded with Zakhar Prilepin, a renowned novelist who later fought for pro-Russian separatists in southeastern Ukraine and joined a pro-Kremlin socialist party earlier this year. Shortly before releasing the video, Navalny was kicked out of Yabloko, Russia’s oldest liberal democratic party, for his “nationalist views” and participation in the Russian March, an annual rally of thousands of far-right nationalists, monarchists and white supremacists. A veteran human rights advocate recalled falling out with Navalny over his views at the time. ... "The participants of the Russian Marches rallied against the influx of labour migrants from ex-Soviet Central Asia and Russia’s mostly-Muslim Northern Caucasus region. Some protesters sported closely cropped hair and raised their hands in a Nazi salute." Tl;dr; he's a right-wing ultra nationalist and white supremacist... and a charismatic one at that. Would make a nice populist despot. I still don't get it why the west is so keen to support him.

Did I mention that Australia is, at times, very much a backwater place? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/government-responds-sexual-harassment-respect-at-work-report/100055070 "The federal government will amend the Sex Discrimination Act to include politicians and judges, who have previously been exempt from the laws. More than a year after receiving the Respect at Work report, the government has announced it will adopt the 55 recommendations either in full, in part or in principle. Of the 55 it has agreed to 40, agreed in principle to five, agreed in part to one and noted nine." No kidding. Up until now, politicians and judges were immune to prosecution for sexual harassment. The Taliban sends its regards...

Speaking of the English and the Welsh. Hands up everyone who knew Wales provided the manpower to swing the tide of war in the War of the Roses and helped put the Tudors on the throne eventually, supporting Jasper Tudor and Henry Tudor. later Henry VII, the victor of the battle at Bosworth (archeologists were delighted when they dug up Richard III's remains from a parking lot in Leicester, which now covers the old battleground at Bosworth). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7702913.stm When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed. Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated". So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket. "When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth. The English is clear enough to lorry drivers - but the Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."

Northern Ireland doesn't seem to get a break at the moment.... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56684571 Police deployed water cannon for the first time in six years in Northern Ireland after coming under attack in a further night of rioting in Belfast. Nineteen officers were injured on Thursday night, bringing the number hurt in week of violence to 74. Crowds rioted on both sides of gates that separate a loyalist area and a nationalist area in west Belfast. I'm not entirely serious, just one of those weird thoughts that pops up in the head sometimes, is this really all due to brexit or is it also a side effect of people being cooped up for too long during lockdowns???

The same reason I decided to hang on to my Danish passport. Last time I checked, Denmark was still (grudgingly and resentful) a member of the EU. I couldn't get Australian citizenship last time I had the chance, because Denmark didn'tallow dual citizenship, so it was either or. Of course, when I moved back to Europe for a few years (Germany and England), Denmark changed it's legislation so I could now go for dual citizenship 😖 But, Australia requires you to have lived in Australia for the last 4 years before starting the process, even if I had lived for close to a decade in Australia before going back to Europe for a bit. It's now more than 4 years since I returned to AU, so it's time to pick up the paperwork again I guess and get started on the additional citizenship. That should also give me opportunities to just hop back and forth a bit between AU and Kiwidom with a lot less paperwork involved 😎

Does Brexit mean the end of the peace in Northern Ireland? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56664868 Rioting in Belfast on Wednesday night was on a scale not seen in Northern Ireland for years, police have said. During several hours of violence, police officers were attacked, petrol bombs were thrown and a bus was burnt. Eight officers were injured at an interface between loyalist and nationalist areas in west Belfast. For the less history savvy, the peace agreement in Northern Ireland ended a conflict between the provisional IRA and the UK which left 3000 dead and 49000 wounded