Gorth

I wouldn't call it a wave... but most of my friends and colleagues have caught covid the last 6 months. Since nobody dies from it anymore, nobody makes a fuss about it. I still have great respect for Long Covid though. I can think of a lot of interesting and hilarious ways to die, several of them worthy of jokes, anecdotes and song. Your brain withering away, coughing up your longs doesn't fit the bill. So far, I've stayed clear of Covid through a combination of vaccine and good practices. I would like to keep it that way for a while yet.

That reminds me I should get myself booked for am appointment for a booster shot... it's already been 5 months since the last booster shot

Which is exactly why it wouldn't surprise if it was Putin's way of expressing "dissatisfaction" with the advice he had been give.

I don't think the guy was speaking against Putin... on the contrary. Many consider him the brain behind Putin and the invasion of Ukraine https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28229785 (This article is/was from 2014) "Alexander Dugin is the founder of Russia's Eurasian movement. His views are believed to be popular among the hawkish Russian elite. Until recently, he was also a professor at Moscow State University, but he says his current status with the university is unclear. His views have not changed, he says, but attitudes towards his views among those in power may be shifting. The centrepiece of his geopolitical theory is that Russia's mission is to challenge US domination of the world, with the help of Iran, as well as Eurosceptic parties, which are currently on the rise in Europe. He has been labelled the brains behind President Putin's wildly popular annexation of Crimea." The whole Ukraine thing may be his brainchild. The bomb may have been intended as revenge from Ukraine sympathizers in Russia Edit: It could of course also be a message from Putin, that he is unhappy with the results of listening to Dugin and considering how well Russian assassinations have worked the last 15 years, it would be par for the course (i.e. botched)

*sniff*... Darwin would've been so proud! Edit: Actions like not removing critical intelligence info from photos... I can hear Ricky Gervais listing the nominees for this years Darwin award.

In AU, NZ, UK, Denmark and Germany, I've never seen a wall plug *without* a switch Edit: The hotels in Spain, Greece, France, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong were the same (can't speak for residences and work places in those countries)

Went shopping yesterday... my favourite gin (aka the only gin I can drink "as is") and an unknown rum, imported from Cuba. Got to break the blockade and support Cuban industry, right?

Ouch Cisco... https://www.hackread.com/cisco-confirms-breach-employee-google-account-hacked/ "The attackers obtained initial access to its VPN after successfully compromising the Google account. The credentials were synced through the Chrome browser, where the targeted employee had also stored their Cisco credentials. Consequently, attackers could synchronize their Google accounts using this information. On August 10th, the Yanluowang ransomware gang indirectly took responsibility for the breach by publishing files stolen in the data leak." Phishing strikes again... you would think people had learnt not to click links in emails by now???

You know you're in deep **** as a conservative politician when even Rupert Murdoch wants to skin you and hang your hide out to dry (Sky News is what Fox News is called outside the US) “But to secretly instruct the Governor General, to hand you the Resources portfolio to overrule a Minister who's done all his due diligence will be exactly what you can bet the current Prime Minister will pursue endlessly.” “We had one prime minister, secretly shadowing the powers of five senior ministers, and not telling the cabinet, the parliament or the public about it. “There was no transparency and therefore no accountability. “For those of us who warned throughout the pandemic about government overreach and a lack of democratic oversight and accountability, these revelations are astounding, they prove it was much, much worse than we even knew at the time.” The rest of the media and politicians across the spectrum calling for his resignation as a member of parliament... Rather late realizations... maybe somebody should tell the Liberal Party, that damage prevention is better than damage control? "Former Liberal minister Karen Andrews has called on Scott Morrison to resign from parliament over the secret cabinet scandal. It's been revealed the former PM was secretly sworn in for five portfolios." "There are now calls from within the Liberal party for Scott Morrison to resign from federal parliament and his seat of Cook."

Ahh, Scott Morrison, the gift that keeps costing Australia... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62544961 Scott Morrison: Australia's ex-PM 'secretly held ministry portfolios' ... Mr Morrison became joint minister for the health, finance and resources portfolios in the two years before he lost power in May, local media report. Which means being able to divert government funds (to friends, which he used to win the election before the latest one), grant mining and drilling rights (to his friends, the kickback of which is part of what funds The Liberal Party) and make a mess of the health care system during Covid (not benefiting anyone other than himself, as failures in the health services would be reported to... himself)... without leaving an audit trail from the minister of each portfolio to the PM (also him) No wonder Australia slipped so badly downhill on the corruption index the last 10 years. Edit: Note for Americans, 'Liberal party' doesn't mean the same in Australia, being similar to other countries conservative parties social and economic values (i.e. leaning heavily on the church, religion, mining and fossil fuel industry for support, wanting to ban same sex marriage, outlaw abortion, economic growth through increased military spending and cutting cost on education, projects for indigenous and homeless people etc.) Edit2: Ironically, it was another conservative, Malcolm Turnbull who, through legal loopholes, managed to twist the arm of the parliament and got same sex marriage passed into law (he tried multiple times through parliament and got shot down each time, then he skipped the parliament and did an "unofficial survey" sending out a questionnaire to all Australians, who voted for the change with 61.6% for. The stunt did cost him his political life though and Morrison was his replacement. Because the survey was not a government, but a private survey, parliament could not prevent it from happening and once the proverbial cat is out of the sack, even the most conservative parliament knows better than going against a 2/3 majority of the population when an election period is only 3 years... still, we got stuck with Morrison for way too long

You would think so. But the Swedish claims that Surstroemning is a delicacy... despite the smell being capable of knocking out a trench full of gas mask wearing infantry, so it seems to work both ways (the dissociation between smell and taste)

Yeah, that was our Uni "Hi-Fi" equipment

Heh... "proto punk" Some old Australian pop music from around the time I was born. Must have made it internationally over the years, because I remember hearing the song on the radio as a child Edit: As for the B-52's... what's not to love about them? The sheer number of all-nighters pulled at university, listening to The B-52's and The Cult on an old tape recorder, brains addled by beer (because we couldn't afford food) and working on some truly innovative software projects while more or less parting ways with our brains in the process

It's just about impossible to get any decent, dark rhye bread at all down here. Good smørrebrød is non existent. The pickled herring is also some kind of German or Dutch import... haven't had smørrebrød the last 6-7 years, since my last visit to Denmark As for femurs... she doesn't use it as a drum stick per se, but as something she holds in her hand and taps with another stick. Sort of a light percussion/metronome kind of thing

Me too. But then, I'm Danish (ex-pat). I don't think I've tried Australian mead As for what they're singing about, no idea about the specific video, but in general they sing about stuff and events documented on rune stones from archeological dig sites in northern Europe (the Nordics as well as northern, modern day Germany, which wasn't always overrun by German immigrants). Their instruments are as far as it's viable based on stuff found by archeologists. They have a bit of trouble getting through customs at times with drums painted in human blood, rattles with human ashes as well as Maria's (the female lead singer) favourite instrument, which is a human femur.

I don't know if this style of music has a proper "name", but it reminded me a bit of the older B-52's stuff Some contemporary Nordic music based on 5-6th century stuff... best enjoyed with mead while polishing your bronze sword.

The white meat from crocodiles is actually quite delicious (imho) Edit: so many T-Rex’es can’t be wrong, lizard meat is good

Maybe the documents were modern tank designs he wanted to sell to his old friend Putin

I’ll add my undemocratically non-elected vote to this motion…

I remember old bands like Einsturzender Neubauten, Deutsche Oesterreichices Feingefuhl - Codo (I probably butchered the spelling) and Geier Sturzflug. Never mind Trio and their “Da da da”

Whoever made Event Horizon should make a “real” wh40k movie A friend and I saw Maverick in the cinema last night. Not something I would normally watch and he’s way more into the Marvel stuff, but it was the only thing showing at a time and place suiting us both. It was surprisingly unsucky, which I suppose means it didn’t meet expectations More humour and a slight toning down of the macho stuff (it’s still there, but it has taken on a slightly self deprecating nature). Sound track of the first Top Gun was still better though

This game seems to have excited enough people for long enough to make me curious about it… I’ll have to check it out more when I get home again (currently travelling interstate) Edit; what can I say? Missed the smell of kerosene and the queues at airport security

Juice Media is alive and well. It was other popular social media critics that got arrested and jailed for criticising the Morrison government exit: TheFriendlyJordies being one of the channels

Not sure. Maybe something about familiarity and the devil you know? Especially if the other devil is portrayed as worse (the truth is irrelevant in that situation, it’s what people believe that matters). As some clever person once figured out, one of the best weapons against terrorists is winning the hearts and minds of people. But, not being Russian, I can only speculate Edit: as the allied found out during wwii, no amount of “terror bombing” and maximising civilian casualties will do the job. It had the opposite effect, which is also why I think sanctions of anything other than things of military use runs the risk of being counter productive. Not saying it is, but risk is there (based on the wwii lessons)

To a degree, yes. Eventually Murdoch won’t be around and maybe there will be room for competition. It doesn’t work when the dominant media protects the government and said government in return sics the federal police on any critical voices in acts of harassment and silencing any critics of the government (including comedians and YouTubers)