Gorth

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)

Propaganda is very effective when you have a de facto monopoly on coverage. Russia and the state media, Murdoch media protecting even the worst of Australian right wing governments, China and their great firewall, Berlusconis complete media dominance in Italy, keeping even this most rotten of scoundrels in power for too long… add to list as people see fit. One sided media coverage in any direction creates totalitarian regimes that live by a code of rules are for everyone else

My hair went through “phases” throughout life. As a kid I was white haired (almost like you would expect from an albino except I could get a tan, Danish summer allowing). As a young teenager I was platinum blond. Friends used to tease my dad because he’s dark haired and my mom a brunette As and older teen and a young man, my hair was dark enough to give me a Mediterranean look. But in my mid twenties it started getting really grey and now it’s somewhere between grey and white mostly

I googled CPAC. I still don't know who, what or why it exists?

I only remember two songs... both from a very long time ago

A young lady whose Youtube channel I've watched occasionally for a few years. Usually an interesting insight into life in the Far East (living on the border with China, like real "rural" Russia). Giving an insight into life in post-sanction Russia...

Here, have some good wholesome German music from a 90's band instead... (although the song itself may be more recent)

One where I offer you 3 chickens and a goat to fix my broken water pipes

Which is one of those "technicalities" some countries use to deny having gone into recession (despite two quarters of negative GDP growth)... A paint job isn't going to gloss over structural problems with the debt, "actual" recession and inflation https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2022/0802 https://nrf.com/research/monthly-economic-review-august-2022 US inflation rate is currently 9.1%... hard to sell as a positive https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi It's going to be a game of chicken, see whose economy collapses first, The US or China. Russia didn't have much of an economy to begin with, so they started at the bottom level, beating the other two easily (you could actually argue, they were the ones with the least to lose if looking at it cynically)

Euro Dance Trash from the 90's was when I changed my mind and thought MAD was not such a terrible outcome

One thing North America and Australia has in common is the occasional freaky weather.... including a number of clips from where I live (Brisbane, Queensland)

Scooter was there to remind people that the 80's were irrevocably dead, beyond any hope of resurrection Like the proverbial death knell for music...

Japan, South Korea and Australia might disagree with you though... about whether or not leaving an expansionist China alone is a good idea. Edit: Not to mention those people who likes computers, if it happens before anyone else gets to step up chip manufacturing (Taiwan being a major producer) https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/8/4/why-china-is-not-sanctioning-taiwans-crucial-tech-industry Taiwan dominates the global industry for semiconductors, critical components used in everything from smartphones and medical devices to cars and fighter jets.For the most advanced semiconductors, Taiwan accounts for 92 percent of production, according to a report by Boston Consulting.

This is the real world is calling... Bruce, please come back to the information stand, your parents are looking for you https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46733174 Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it "must and will be" reunited with China. In a speech marking 40 years since the start of improving ties, he reiterated Beijing's call for peaceful unification on a one-country-two-systems basis. However, he also warned that China reserved the right to use force. Say what you will about Xi, but losing face is something he will not allow, regardless of the cost (seems to be a cultural thing, your public "face" being more important than life itself)

Are you saying they're over?

Bastard Russians are adding to the global warming!

Padme's crotch can survive more than 14000 newtons of force (force, not "The Force") Some geeky person looked up Natalie Portman's weight (53.5kg, yes this all scientific stuff, hence metric!), calculated the height of the pillar and according to lore, the planets gravity is 90% of Earths... so 8.82 meter per second. Normal human bones gets destroyed when exposed to 4000 Newtons

Pfff.... at 40, you're barely an adult yet

In Grandfather Nurgle's eyes, they are all beautiful

When I moved to New Zealand in 2003, my new workplace had just increased the annual leave from 3 weeks to 4 weeks. Still a "cut" compared to the 5 weeks of annual leave I was used to in Denmark. Of course, since I left my old country, they increased that to 6 weeks (depending on workplace). Never mind that I don't have kids and could get 9 weeks of parental leave (as a guy!). They are also experimenting in some municipalities with 4 day work weeks, increasing the daily hours a bit to meet the 35 hour work week target...

I don't think this forum software is *that* sophisticated. My work around is to paste it into notepad first, then cut and paste it from there into a forum post. Notepad has very little formatting options supported

Your arteries would like to schedule an appointment with you

We may not have the Florida Man down here... but life in Australia can be pretty weird anyway