Gorth

I've been in that exact roundabout quite a few times Even the SatNav in my little Audi A1 at the time struggled to keep up with where I had to go. I think I also somehow managed to run a red light at a pedestrian crossing on one of the exit roads by accident the first time (you can't see it on this particular picture), when I just wanted to flee in sheer panic from the horror that was roundabouts nested within roundabouts It looks nice when seen from above on a picture, but at road level, with limited (or no, in case of traffic) visibility, local knowledge is definitely beneficial for your continued survival. edit: I lived in Woking at the time (working from home several days a week), but our office was in Swindon

The only time i remember wearing a suit, was about 3-4 years ago (I think) at some friends wedding. Since I expected everyone else to wear a black suit, guess who showed up in a white suit Looked rather stylish though if I have to be completely immodest about it. Fancy brown formal leather shoes and leather belt, silver tie clip and those cuff thingies I can't remember what's called (cufflinks?) The only thing I forgot was a white fedora Ah well, live and learn... Edit: I did ask the bride and groom first if it was Ok, because it's exactly the kind of thing the groom would do. He decided on a purple jacket instead, so it was all good. The other guests... boring

I know they flip a coin to determine sides at the start, but that would be rather unsporting to decided the outcome that way in case of a draw. Since duel to the death with swords is off the table too, maybe toe wrestling? The side with the strongest feet are declared the winner https://www.topendsports.com/sport/unusual/toe-wrestling.htm

Australia recently (like within the last week) had a "mass" shooting (by Australian standards, 6 dead people is a lot, although the perpetrators only accounted for 3 of the deaths, the 3 perpetrators making up the other half of the 6) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-63952883 The profile of the perpetrators may sound familiar to some, especially those way too familiar with gun violence. Two brothers and the wife of the older brother set a trap for police on their remote property. Created kill zones, installed surveillance cameras and then staged a phony missing person call to lure the police to their property. Four police officers showed up and not expecting anything other than to see if the person reported missing might have been seen, two of them were shot down in a hail of bullets from rapid firing, high powered rifles. A third cop got hit in the leg and managed to drag himself to the car and call for assistance while the trio chased the last cop through the bush, setting fire to the bush trying to smoke her out. A concerned elderly neighbour who saw the smoke arrived, checking if the residents were Ok with the area around them burning. They killed him too. Eventually, the reinforcements showed up and all three attackers were killed. Sounds familiar? So does the profile of those three. Raised in a strict, religious home, "anti-vaxxers", blaming the government for the Port Arthur massacre 29 years earlier, calling it a hoax intended to take their guns away from them. Oh yeah, the online routine posting/reposting of various conspiracy theories. RIP rookie officers (they had only just been in the force for a very short time, doing what was a routine check up) Right wing extremism is the new big threat worldwide, not just in the US, but European countries and Australia too.... I remember the time during covid lockdown, where the instigators of anti-vaxxer campaigns and violent anti-government riots, especially in Melbourne, could be consistently traced back to local Neo-Nazi group leaders. Nothing like a bit of the good old Ultra Violence to create a breeding/recruiting ground for new members. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51621679 In a rare public address at the headquarters of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mr Burgess said the threat from the extreme right was real and growing. "In suburbs around Australia, small cells regularly meet to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology," he said.

All those high flying subjects... something a bit closer to Earth again. German private companies offering up a new tank design, with the hope of selling it to the army. I'm still not sure how much of a place there is for tanks in the modern battlefield, but wiser heads on the subject than mine will probably have a better understanding there...

You know, your constant putting words in peoples mouths, misrepresenting what they say for no other purpose than to try to rile them up is at best petty trolling and at worst, cheapens the posts of serious posters like mamoulian war and xzar, which make well presented views and put some effort and actual thought into their posts, because you taint their position by association.

Yeah, lets forget past atrocities, "sovereign borders" and rule of law. It's really only convenient sometimes and should be reserved for when it suits *my* purposes

Hey, you can always complain to the fully automated customer service! Some of my most frustrating experiences ever are those "chat robots" that the local telecom company "Telstra" uses. Contact support, one of our consultants will be with you shortly and this most unhelpful bot shows up and can't help you with anything, keeps going in circles and when you tell it to **** off, it suggests I should try customer support, which leads to this chat bot. You just feel like punching something. Then again for good measure. (no, I am not a Telstra customer anymore, happy to be rid of it, using a telco with human support now)

I did like the multi-language aspect of the series. People trying to communicate without everybody speaking the same language, having to rely on bilingual individuals to pass messages along, between the different language groups. The Danes understanding German and speaking a bit of English, the English lady also speaking whatever language (Mandarin?) the two girls from China speaks, the French adamantly refusing to speak anything other than French. One of the Spanish guys translating between his countryman and the other groups etc. Poor Olek can't really communicate with anyone. Edit: The Scandinavians just speak each their language, Danish, Swedish or Norwegian, having no problem understanding each other.

They didn't really make a secret of it not being "real" around episode 4 or 5 and if there was any doubt left, it disappeared with the ending scene of season 6, where Captain Eyk suddenly gets archived. Looking at the nice collection of ships from previous failed attempts to get back to reality... Episode 7 is being all explicit about what is going on and episode 8 is about how to get back to reality. Trying to avoid too obvious spoilers if anyone else wants to have a go at it.

I remember buying Murder Ballads in the late 90's on CD. Something about the song "Henry Lee", just kept me captivated and coming back to play it again. It could also have been P.J. Harvey's vocals Edit:

Maybe he didn't feel comfortable sitting on top of a large fuel tank while things were not under his control and sparks and smoke was everywhere? I've done enough firefighting in the civil defense to have developed a deep seated aversion towards huge quantities of burning fuel near me

Finished episode 8 (last episode) of 1899... of course no ending, no closure and nothing resolved There darn well be a season 2 or I'm going to get very angry

...and the next 100k-300k might indeed make some gains. The next 500k+ would make it a war of attrition that few countries can keep up with. Russia can take 3/1 casualty rates and still bleed Ukraine dry. A year ago I would have thought it a stupid approach. But I would also have thought invading Ukraine a stupid idea about a year ago. Some things and situations just defy logic. Edit: Unconfirmed rumours have it that close to a million conscripts are being whipped into obedience. Sounds like Putin is going to repeat the English and their brilliant strategy at the Somme offensive.

What did you expect with a nationwide beer ban?

Expectation.... as far as their initial push against Kiev from the north? During WWII the Soviet army needed enough conscripts to survive for long enough to eventually build a core of semi competent troops - like the kind that spend more time firing bullets at the enemy than pillaging and raping the local population wherever they went. They still did that of course, but they got better at the fighting part of over the years.

That sounds just as bizarre as that cannibal case Rammstein based one of their songs ("Mein Teil") on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Meiwes aka "The Rotenburg Cannibal"

Good question... they have a thing with the French (not forgiving France for winning the 100 year war), but they also hold a grudge against Argentina (not because of the Falklands, but because of Maradona's "Hand of God")

Finished episode 7 of 1899. You sort of get what is going on by now, but not the full story. Lots of hints at why's, wherefores and who's who in this episode, but not an actual to the point "why?" I did laugh out loud at the ending scene of episode 6 btw. Showing Eyk in the archive

OMG that "description" was a painful read I get so many scam calls, my phone is configured to automatically redirect unknown numbers to my voice mail. If I get two calls from the same number with no message, the number gets permanently blocked. Most common scams in my voice mail is the tax man threatening me with jail time and some Chinese pre-recorded message which i have no idea what is trying to tell me. Could be spam, could be coercion of some kind. Lots of spam sms too from forged sender ID's. Often pretending to be delivery companies or Australia Post that can't verify my details

Oh come on, blue cheese on toast, covered with maple syrup is divine! Is also good as a snack or a dessert

I grew up in Denmark. A country that has more blue cheese variants (and cheeses in general whether Bries, sliced cheese or Feta variants) than you can shake a stick at Very tasty and all natural. Stacking up quite well to the foreign competition, including those snobby French wannabe cheese makers. As it was said in Life of Brian: Blessed are the Cheese makers They have nothing like the nutty flavours of Gruyère though Edit: I remember our school class went and visited a cheese maker. It was the first time I tasted a 12 month "vintage" cheese, that crumbled between your fingers. A bit too salty for my liking as a child. Later I grew to appreciate it.

I'm more of a Gruyère fan (nope, no Haute Couture cheese tastes here) I checked the news and saw Argentina being one finalist. Is France the other? (I really didn't follow the WC this time around)

because if feels like ages since I last posted a Rammstein video (Rammstein from 1998AD I think)...

That's what happened in Crimea and the reason they decided they would rather be a part of Russia instead of Ukraine (keep in mind that even though Zelensky is a "modern" and progressive Ukrainian leader that it's hard not to sympathize with, his predecessors weren't all like that)