Gorth

I suspect Putin has a tighter grip on the local media than Nicholas had Edit: The Romanovs were not exactly popular with the people in the first place. Iirc, he (the Czar) needed victories very badly after the disastrous Far East war with Japan as the peasants had started to get very restless already, 10 years before WWI.

Wow... Mask of the Betrayer was long time ago /nostalgia

That sounds a bit similar to how things turned out in WWII... Russia (well, the USSR) performing disastrously against an enemy (Germany) with superior training, motivation and doctrines to eventually ramp up mobilization and "swamp" the enemy with large numbers (and better officers in charge too after a few years of warfare). Casualties were still horrendous, but it mattered less for a population in the grip of nationalist ecstasy.

Just you wait… Kofod has a secret pact with Lavrov regarding the partition of Sweden. Scania will come home again 😂

Mostly low brow paperback stuff these days (Warhammer/40k novels) I haven’t read those for a couple of years, so some catching up to do, as the lore keeps evolving Ghoulslayer and Gitslayer to see what Gotrek is up to these days (the old world ended and sadly Felix too) Lords of Silence about the daily life of Deathguard legionnaires and leading into the preparation for Mortarion’s assault on the 500 worlds of Ultramar

I don't have a stake in this... so just curious. How did the original ruling (Roe/Wade) justify this being covered by the constitution rather than elected governments?

I was too lazy to find the BBC link... lets call it even?

Well, that's from the same guy who just stated that Adolf Hitler was a Jew (causing much anger in the state of Israel), in order to justify labeling Zelensky (who is Jewish) a Nazi /rolleyes

Come again when you can try for yourself what Tali's sweat tastes like...

Couldn't have said it better myself (as explained on the youtube page, a "season" is the time between two elections)

I know Anzac day was almost a week ago, but better late than never

No fair, I was in bed and asleep when it premiered (I even had it bookmarked) 😂

Thinking back to the 80's (when the cold war was hot), I mostly remember Czechoslovakia as the source of Skoda and Ice Hockey players 🤔

It's not even the largest huntsman around... 'Charlotte' (the one pictured) is only 20cm big. They can get up to a leg span of 30cm. Largest huntsman I ever had scuttling over my living room floor was around 15cm.

Welcome to Australia...

You can't really argue with that logic...

Not sure about that. Maybe among the common Russians, but a few of Putins closest oligarch friends are Jews (and have Israeli dual citizenship), like Abrahamovic. I would suspect Islamophobia is a thing though, considering Navalny used to campaign on an ideology (besides some extreme nationalist views) of kill all Muslims on sight including life sized posters (and Youtube videos, which has since been taken down) with him in combat fatigues waving a pistol at a middle eastern looking character and slogans to the effect of kill them now. He did later change strategy in his bid for power, trying to appeal to the west, but still, if Islamophobia was a platform that brought him to prominence domestically, I assume it is a thing. The Chechen war probably did help fuel such sentiments too.

I think it's a sound theory at least. Mind you, not being a citizen (yet), it doesn't apply to me (yet). So easy to say yay or nay. One thing to say about i though, no matter how awful the cretin in Canberra is, you can only blame the stupidity of your fellow countrymen (unless you were stupid enough yourself to vote for him). Never mind that political campaigning down here is somewhat marred by the lopsided media coverage (courtesy of Murdoch media's not quite monopoly, but very significant market dominance). Only place in the world I remember that was worse off was Italy during the Berlusconi years. Better public debate and more variety in available media during elections is also required for the idea of mandatory voting to work, or you end up no better than China. I.e. a de facto single party state and the outcome of elections being more of an approval rating than a choice. Edit: Quite, not Quote

$20 ($15 USD). So no, it's not going to force you to mortgage your home away and you wont get a criminal record for not voting. It does seem to work though, with 90%+ participation of the eligible part of the population. Could also have something to do with ease of access to voting.

The Death Korps of Krieg. Silly name and rather obviously inspired by WWI... a short animation. Warning, graphic violence (and blood)

Ah, election day getting closer in Australia (sadly, I wont manage to get my citizenship in time). An interesting little video from the BBC on why voting is mandatory in Australia (you get fined if you don't vote) https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-61186402 The rationale being it leads to less extremism and populism, because it's not required in order to get people off their couches 😁 (i.e. the results reflects the opinions of the majority of Australians, not just the majority of those who could be bothered to show up)

I suspect a combination of lockdowns, mask/distancing measures and vaccinations in particular put the brakes on the original and the delta variants (which appears much deadlier than the current mutation). Maybe the Omicron helps keeping peoples immune systems on their toes, offering the nebulous "herd immunity" because of the genetic similarities between the variants? (I take my booster shots just in case, every 4 months and I do wear mask on public transport/taxi/uber etc. because it's required by the companies operating the services)

😂 I wish. Those things were horribly expensive, but I got a decent deal on a Black Friday sale last year (33% off). The brand name is just sneaky advertising, as I don't really want to remove the protective cover (yet). The parts underneath foot rests. The sofas have built in recliners for when feeling particularly lazy and you just want to kick back and relax.

I didn't take new photos, but I took one when I had just moved in and my furniture had arrived. Kitchen counter is completely covered in stuff coming out of boxes 😝 (I did find it hard to find any good angles, because of the stair well at my side and piles of boxes behind me, but this is the living room with a view to the balcony)

Four bedrooms (1 master bedroom, 1 guest bedroom, 1 computer/work from home room and 1 hobby room for painting and modelling Warhammer stuff). It's a townhouse https://www.iqiglobal.com/blog/6-housing-types-and-what-are-the-differences-in-australia/ Because townhouse may not be the same in other countries. I like having garden and open spaces, lots of green areas and forest around me. Something I also missed sorely the previous place... I'll get around to take a picture or two in the near future Edit: as for the layout of the place, the upper floor is mostly a large area with kitchen (separated by a counter), living and dining room areas. Lots full sized windows (i.e. from floor to ceiling) and a large balcony where I put all my outdoor furniture and the BBQ. One bathroom accessible from the common area and then the master bedroom with ensuite bathroom. Downstairs is a hallway with access to a laundry room, bathroom and the three bedrooms as well as access to the garage.