Gorth

They should have done with the new UK strain what they did with the new "mink" strain in Denmark, cull the entire population Just kidding of course, but there are some interesting questions around the new strain. Not just does it seem a lot more contagious, but will it be affected by the vaccines that has currently been developed? Or are we back to square one with a virus that beat the scientist by six months?

Google translate says: In the x box one s the game presents audio problems, it is with a noise similar to radio out of tune and very distorted, it interferes with the game experience.

Google translate: In the X box One S game features audio with background noise that reminds you of the radio noise out of tune, the audio is sometimes muted or very distorted. I don't know if it's a recurring problem or just a punctual problem in my game, but it hinders the game experience

My French is a bit rusty, something about after the latest build, you have to re-analyze stuff after reloading... help? Edit: Help. as in I need help with the translation

If a CEO or a CFO does insider trading, you bet the legal hammer falls. Why should a politician have special benefits and be able to do the same without repercussions? Especially when it comes to pending political decisions that affect share prices.

I declare and verify under plenty of perjury... For those who speak legalese, what would have been the correct expression in such a place?

1) & 2). Yes, because the decision making that affects you as an individual is now one (or more) step further removed from the parliament where your vote actually *matters*. You don't like party xyz in your country for example, vote them out. You don't like xyz in Brussels, sucks to be you, you better be prepared to ask how high should I jump? You're screwed. Apart from taking up torches and pitch forks, storm your local parliament and demand independence (or vote yes to Brexit as the UK did). Funny thing, if you had asked my even 10 years ago, I would have bet a six pack that Denmark would be the first country to leave the EU, followed by the UK. 3) You have it the wrong way around. It is NOT Brussels place to grant any independence to member countries in the first place. They already had it. Brussels took it away and that is the core of the problem. 4) I have changed my views (even radically) over the years. I used to be a "right winger", proud of my little country and its history until I started learning more and more about how the world works and now I don't give a flying **** about nation states, churches, corporations (and yes, banks). So my younger self had some very different views from my grown up (anarchist leaning) self who would rather see aforementioned crash and burn. Edit: If you're looking for what I would suggest... I would say an "acceptable compromise" would've been leaving it at being the EC (which was what people signed up for originally) and scrapping the EU part.

Traditionally spies got exchanged in Berlin at "Checkpoint Charlie". That doesn't quite work this way anymore with cyber espionage. No doubt everyone is doing it. Russians, Americans, Israelis, Chinese, Europeans, etc. Bonus points if you can frame your cyber espionage on someone else and play them against each other.

Ooh.... shiny! Edit rather than double post: Found a second oldie but goodie when dusting off my old cd collection

One small, but important difference (imho), apart from the original 13 states who formed the union, states who joined later knew what they were getting into. Sure, the constitution has been amended a bit over the decades, but largely the mechanisms from 1776 are still there. If the Danish government even knew (I doubt it) they sure as heck didn't tell the Danish population what the long term intention was when they had referendums for joining the EC or not in 61 (I'm relying on my parents account of those years btw, I wasn't born yet). So it feels more like a bait and switch operation. EC: Look, I got an ice cream for you, want to try it? People of Denmark: Ooh, looks nice. Sure, lets have a taste. EC: (evil mustache twirl) Sucker! *Grab* All your ass and your children and children's children are our property now and forever! Mind you, we even got off relatively easily because we voted no to the Maastricht Treaty. Then the government decided that people just doesn't know how to vote properly and came up the great idea to repeat the referendum until people got it and eventually vote the way the political establishment wanted it. The nation wide riots (people being very upset with the governments decision to keep calling new referendums) that followed was the first time since 1945 that police started shooting people on the streets (based on memory, take with a grain of salt, but iirc a dozen people got shot in Copenhagen by police). Because, you know, we can't have people rioting when we, the all wise politicians and gods gift to the Danish people ignore the results of the vote. At least the revised version of the treaty left Denmark out of all the major parts. One of the reasons Denmark kept its own currency and controls its own fiscal policy.

Indirectly. He was elected by the electoral college. The federal government was appointed by him, not elected per se. The state electors were appointed by the states according to each states rules (the majority allocating all electoral slots to the popular winner of the states votes)

That's what I keep telling my self when doing my tax returns...

Makes you wonder if the FAA is an independent organization, or are they completely under the thumb of other interests, political or otherwise? No sooner did the plane get the FAA certification and someone cries "foul". Never mind that the FAA and it's certifications is worth **** all in large part of the rest of the world by now and will require recertification by other authorities because there is no trust left at all when it comes to the FAA. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55372499 US Senate investigators say that Boeing officials "inappropriately coached" test pilots during efforts to recertify the company's 737 Max aircraft. The planes were grounded in March 2019 following two deadly crashes. Investigators accused Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials of "attempting to cover up important information".

No. It's not a small price. Ask the board members from the US how much friction you always end up with when the federal government overrules state decisions and legislation. Here we're not talking about states that are only a couple of centuries old at best, but countries, many of which have been self governing for a millennia or more. But that is sort of besides the point. Back when it was still the EC (the predecessor of the EU). Brussels was something too far away, with a commission that worked more like a board of directors, all of it's members being appointed, not elected. The European parliament has always been a joke. Back when I was still living there, it was a meme, that politicians who fell from grace in their home countries for this and that scandal would get the "golden handshake". Which was sending them to the European Parliament where they would spend all their time lining their pockets with unbelievable salaries and tax benefits. Out of sight, out of mind, not doing too much damage anymore in their country of origin. Which means, the real power is the commission. EU was the move to centralize legislative power in Brussels, gradually turning national parliaments into something that is just a token gesture while all decision making should be done in Brussels, overriding any national legislation the member countries. I.e. effectively turning member countries into vassals of a powerful Brussels, which as mentioned before is not ruled by an elected body. It makes it too easy for large and powerful corporations, banks, other interest groups etc. to assert themselves, because there is only one point they need to convince if they want local laws changed to suit their needs. Don't like the minimum wages in country x, y and z? No worries, tell your lobbyists in Brussels to "get it fixed" and local law making bodies can do nothing. So no, I don't think the EU is beneficial to Europeans. It's predecessor organization was, because it was a trade block, benefitting the member countries. The current project is just a power grab by the eurocrats in Brussels, wanting a strong, centralized power in a new "super state", doing away with the member countries sovereignty. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, the EU can rot and burn and I'll happily watch the flames while sipping aforementioned Cognac, pondering the folly of man who just can't seem to learn anything from history. The bigger they become, the harder they fall. I would like to invite you to the anarchists club, but there is no organization you can join, too disorganized

Ouch... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55359568 Sony has pulled Cyberpunk 2077, one of the year's most-anticipated games, from its store and offered refunds to all players. The unprecedented move follows complaints that the game has been riddled with bugs and glitches, and is prone to crashes. Microsoft later said it would also refund any dissatisfied Xbox players.

Maybe it was the Saudis price for improving relations with Israel. Just need a big enough ship (with a freezer) to ship it

EU lost its way when they decided they wanted to be a giant nation state rather than a trade block. (proud "no!" voter to the Maastricht treaty 1992) Not living there anymore, I'm slightly indifferent to the whole thing (unlike in 1992 when the referendum was taking place in Denmark), but if Poland decides to pack up and leave some day, I'm going to laugh my ass off at the British. As mentioned previously, the lack of a mechanism for stopping the Polish immigrants moving to the UK was constantly repeated argument for the 'leave' side. Take control of our border, we are a sovereign nation... all the usual nationalist rhetoric. If it in 5-10 years turns out they could have saved the whole referendum thing and uncountable billions of British Pounds... then yeah, I'll sit and chuckle while sipping on my Cognac (made in France) The Fish and Chips were Ok though.

She'll probably outlive most of them...

Nobody seems to have built a giant marshmallow man with a sailor hat yet...

This is a bit bigger than my fridge magnets... https://www.iter.org/mach/Magnets Went looking for the rest after reading an article about the magnets used in Iter (a fusion reactor being built in France). It's presumably so strong it would be able to lift an airplane out of the ocean. Of course the BBC article didn't specify if they were talking about a Cessna or an Airbus 320. Mind you, those big plasma chambers will need a lot of magnetism to keep the plasma contained.

Too many links to chose from, but it seems to be official now. Electors cast their votes and no "Faithless" electors this year. Of course, that isn't the end of the process, but I guess the only thing left for Trump is to wring as much money as possible out of his cultists now (edit: I know, pretty much continue with business as usual since he lost the election). It will be interesting to see how much time the congress will use when it comes to that day in January where they have to accept or contest the electoral college votes for individual states.

Oh, those subtle jabs Didn't Barr leave the sinking ship with the other rats already weeks ago? I don't remember the exact incidence, but there was something about him seeing the writing on the wall and distancing himself from the legal circus

Underestimate Putin's Russia at your own peril, but you do have a good point. Too easy to point fingers at the first name the springs to mind. I do not doubt that China is putting some of all that manpower to work on cyber warfare either, but honestly, if I had to make a serious guess, I would say it's the work the Israelis. They had Trump bowing and scraping before them and Biden may not be somebody who responds to Israeli demands the same way Trump did (probably thanks to Jared Kushner). Israel does have the resources to pull something like that off (and frame the Russians in the process)

I guess if Putin can't have his own pet president, he figured he would need a back door... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55265442 The US has issued an emergency order after revealing that its treasury and commerce departments had been hacked. All federal civilian agencies have been told to disconnect from SolarWinds, a computer network tool that is being exploited by "malicious actors". The US has not publicly identified who is behind the attack. The incident comes less than a week after cyber security firm FireEye disclosed that its hacking tools had been stolen in a breach.

I've yet to watch a single episode