Gorth

The "Rules Based Order" is a bit of a myth, just like El Dorado. Enough repetition of the phrase and some people start thinking it exists. Let's be honest though, powerful countries do what they want, when it suits them and it benefits them. Nothing's changed since the fall of the western Roman Empire there. It's always an easier sell to your population if you can justify why a lot of the serfs have to die for their lord, but in the end, it's just a way of placating the masses. Sometimes the justifications are easier to come by, sometimes they have to be manufactured and sometimes, countries just go "ah screw it, too much work" and do what they please (both England and France used to live by the credo might is right in the past). It's still very much the case today, realpolitik and powerful interest groups acts our their objective grabbing through governments (which are usually appointed by whoever controls popular opinion, again, a commodity you can buy if you have the means)

Did a bit of extra shopping the last couple of days. Looks like it’s going to get very windy and quite rainy for the next 3-4 days, so got things like bottled water, dry food, candles, batteries, lpg bottles for cooking etc.

Looks like the Boeing 737 MAX (9 series) isn't flying anywhere anytime soon. At least in the US...

Spent most of Saturday in Australia Zoo (more specifically a place called Beerwah, the zoo being founded by Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin. Nice place. Lots of animals. Lots of space for the animals... and 33C and close to 100% humidity (that's 91.4F for the colonials) Sneaky alligator wearing a Ghillie suit... African long-necked predator hiding behind a tree, waiting for unsuspecting prey to stray too close... I mentioned it was a warm day... the meerkats agreed as did the rhinos... and the dingos... A crane species iirc... A cassowary taken from a safe (I hope) distance, using quite a bit of zoom Poison dart frogs... Cheetas (probably heading for the shade) Not all animals are behind barriers Not all animals are behind barriers Even without the animals, the landscaping done to the area is gorgeous ...and I got my 22000 steps for the day

It's not a new plan... https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/10/10/denmark-election-parties-on-left-and-right-back-controversial-plan-to-send-asylum-seekers- The Danish government decided in 2022, that it was the way forward

Looks like someone found the poor old forums walking stick for it again, as it feels like it has picked up the pace!

Finally finished painting another squad for my Horus Heresy tabletop wargaming army (a unit of Lernaean Termintors for the Alpha Legion). I guess finishing up my Contemptor Dreadnaught is next... For the Emperor!!!

I know, don't believe everything you read (especially on the internet), but I do remember it from geography classes from my childhood... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Ugric_languages https://www.quora.com/Why-do-they-say-that-the-Finnish-and-the-Hungarian-languages-are-related-to-each-other "The Finnish and Hungarian languages belong to the same language family, known as the Uralic language family. This language family also includes other languages spoken in the region around the Ural Mountains in Russia and in parts of Scandinavia. Linguists have identified similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and phonology between Finnish and Hungarian, which suggest a common linguistic heritage. However, it's important to note that Finnish and Hungarian are not mutually intelligible, meaning speakers of one language cannot understand the other without studying it." (Estonian also mentioned somewhere as being the third language spoken today, descending from old Uralic)

Isn't Hungary the closest relative to Finland (linguistically and genetically)? Being originally one tribe splitting in two, one heading northwest (Finns), the other southwest (Magyars)?

Nothing particularly exciting, but Denmark got a new head of state. They also got an Australian born queen, something the locals down here are very fascinated with. Interesting bit of trivia, Margrethe II was the first Danish monarch to abdicate since king Erik III in 1146

An interesting article by the BBC on the "tatzpitaniyot" unit. Israel's "eyes and ears" watching Gaza and reporting Hamas movements to the Israeli military and intelligence services. People asks how the intelligence services could fail so badly when the October 7th attack happened. So, the BBC went digging into this unit, being made up entirely of young female conscripts (which doesn't bear arms btw, their job is to watch and observe all day long and report whenever they spot something unusual). Turns out they spotted a lot. From the regular farmers being replaced by unknown faces setting up shop next to the wall, taking pictures to Hamas units shifting from fitness training to commando raid drills. The last two weeks before the attack, they rang the alarm bells and... the BBC couldn't find out how far up the command chain the information went, but it got somehow suppressed from above. Many of the young women in the report got killed on October 7th, but BBC got access to some of the whatsapp conversations between unit members as well as between unit members and their family (sending last farewells etc. a day or two before the attack happened) and frustration expressed by them effectively being gagged. BBC doesn't mention names (too canny for that), but leaves it to the reader to wonder someone in the Israeli government could have an interest in preventing any action being taken that could've prevented the attack (and by extension if anyone had an interest in starting a war) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67958260

Some local humour. Warning, contains Australian words...

Additionally to episode 18, Fern and Frieren gets assigned to two different groups (of mages) for the test, so not on the same team. Frieren ends up with two constantly fighting girls and Fern ends up with an imperial court wizard (that killed his opposition to get the position) and a psychopath young girl, that failed her previous graduation from class 3 mage to class 2 mage, because she killed the class 1 mage proctor of the test... We never really get any hints, that Fern is a curvy young woman besides Frierens references. Probably because she is dressed up like a Taliban bride (minus the headwear), covering her body fully. In Episode 3, Frieren "notices" the differences between the two of them Stark was a local village hero, because the village thought he subdued the dragon threatening the village (in reality, he was frozen to the spot in fear and the dragon lost interest in him). In episode 6, he gets persuaded by Frieren, that they can kill the dragon, freeing him up, so he can join her and Fern as the groups front line fighter. The plan is, he has to keep the dragon distracted for 30 seconds, giving the mages time to prepare magic for blasting the dragon to pieces. After some very long 30 seconds, Stark has unknowingly defeated the dragon all on his own and gives Frieren an earful because she is holding back and haven't delivered the killing blow yet (because he doesn't know himself, that he actually killed the dragon already, he whinges loudly that he has kept his part of the agreement, but Frieren still hasn't finished the dragon off)

Frieren 18... the little group has decided they need to be proper licensed mages. Fern is already a "class 3 mage", because she aced the test as the youngest participant ever. When asked why she went straight to grade 3, it was because it was the first upcoming test date Frieren herself is "unlicensed". Apparently the regulatory requirements and the institutions change every few centuries, so she couldn't be bothered to try to keep up. Frieren decides that she and Fern both are going to apply for the first class mage test. and they hitch a ride on a wagon to the city, where the test is administered. The conversations are a bit "strained" Fern makes a comment, that despite Frieren actively suppressing the power she radiates, she still radiates with the power of an experienced old mage (despite showing like 1/100th of her power) Because Stark took a dig at her in episode 6... Better just to sleep on it for now, because Frieren being Frieren, it's nap time (old people need their beauty sleep after all) There is very little innuendo in this anime, but what little there is, can be quite funny (this is a bit of an obscure reference to a scene in episode 3) I'll add a follow up with the two scenes referenced

Just some old Poms

Sad state of affairs, I’m too old to remember vim vi was the editor I grew up with TeX/LaTeX compilers to create the postscript files for the printers

The last 24 hours, the forums have felt very "sluggish", to the point of not being usable

Teleporting to Kiev sure worked like a charm Besides it’s usually Sweden that invades Russia and not the other way around

They have a slightly more humane tradition in Denmark... the finder of the almond usually wins a small prize, like a box of chocolates

Remember old jokes about not opening windows in an airplane?... looks like Boeing 737 MAX is the gift that keeps on giving for Airbus https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67903655 The FAA has grounded the 737 MAX 9 after a window and part of the hull blew out in the air. Time to inspect them again (again again). This time they got lucky and nobody got killed (even if a child got his shirt sucked off and out the hole in the fuselage.

Saw Frieren episode 17 today... Teenagers.... The drinking, cheating, gambling priest to the rescue Said priest evaluating the situation afterwards... Some things are consistent throughout the episodes... Frieren being irresistibly drawn towards magic grimoires, mimics or no mimics and she has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning

I checked a few of the definitions of genocide. I would say, it fits very well. Even if it didn't, they could still put them on the international court for uncountable war crimes and crimes against humanity. The stuff people used to get hung for, when losing a war. edit: the official Oxford dictionary looks like behind a paywall, so googles summary will have to do... /ˈdʒenəsaɪd/ /ˈdʒenəsaɪd/ [uncountable, countable] the murder of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group, with the aim of destroying that nation or group. You could argue Israel is now aiming for eliminating the Palestinian presence in Gaza completely and forcing them off the land (sending them to whichever country will take them and kill them if there are no takers)

While waiting impatiently for Frieren to pick up again in 2024, I finished Heavenly Delusion. Very interesting show and the story took a turn from dark to pitch black. Waaay too complex to describe in a single post, so if you like bleak horror and doomed post apocalyptic societies where people experiment on people and have to survive by fighting off those failed experiments, children have children, betrayal, suffering, secluded societies, murder etc... I guess it's just something that appeals to Nordic people A very interesting story so far, but the jury is of course out because the season didn't end per se. If it has a great second season it may be one of my favourite stories so far, if it doesn't continue, it's a meh experience (because none of the story threads gets wrapped up at all) As for Frieren, I think I heard somewhere it will continue on 5th of January

Helping Trump winning elections... the most damage he can/could do to the western world

My youngest brother is the family member with the bad back... he's 2m tall and of skinny build. His back was very fragile and he always needed to be careful when driving longer trips. Before anyone says you can't drive long trips in Denmark, he was very active in his medieval reenactment hobby (doing his own clothes and armour, creating replica 15th century plate and chainmail armour (as well as the cloth and protective leather insulation that goes with it). That meant driving all over Europe from Scandinavia to below the Alps. But before that, he was an avid motorcycle driver and spent a long time before he found a motorcycle that he could sit comfortably on, for long rides (without hurting his back). I no longer remember the exact model, but iirc, some1100cc 80's Kawasaki model. Very uncommon in northern Europe. As luck (or rather not) would have it, this particular years model came with a systemic weakness in the engine block and true enough, one day he was riding, one piston suddenly exploded out the side of the engine block. Engine was history and spare engines didn't grow on trees. After a few weeks of searching, he found a classified ad from a seller in southern Germany, offering an spare engine from a wreck. Slightly newer model engine, but my brother figured, with a bit of work he could make it fit on the frame. Since I had a car and a family member had a trailer, my brother talked me into driving to southern Germany. That was in the 90's, before google map was a thing. The only aid we had was an old version of Microsoft Maps (no kidding), from which we could print out the route we had to drive as far as Frankfurt. After that, we would have to wing it We started Friday at noon, drove all day and all night (taking turns at the steering wheel, the one not driving sleeping on the backseat). Stopped a few times for the "street food" (schnitzel ) at the stops along the autobahn and motorways. Saturday night at 2am, we somehow had made it to our destination in Idar Oberstein, got the engine on board the trailer and tied down. When we got closer to the Danish border, we stopped and loaded up the trailer with cheap German beer (there were still borders at the time). If we got pulled over and asked if anything to declare, my brother would show then the beer and declare that, hoping the customs agents would overlook the engine (import tax for that engine would have run up into a thousand dollars or more). Anyway, late Sunday night, two brothers arrived in back in their home town, with a replacement engine and a trailer full of beer ...and two completely exhausted brothers. My brother managed to fit the engine on the old frame and got a few more good years out of the only bike he could ever sit comfortably on with his vulnerable back