Gorth

Speaking of 13 episodes... finished the first episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The protagonists are now JoJo the original JoJo's grandson and a character that was a sidekick in the first 10 episodes. We finally got a bit info about the stone mask that turned people (including Dio) into vampires. It's shortly before WWII and the German army is scouring the world for occult and mystic artifacts (Indiana Jones says hello). Turns out the mask was not unique. Somewhere in Mexico, an underground chamber had a LOT of them. All hanging around a pillar with a human like being embedded in it. With true German engineering skills, they move the man in the pillar to a test chamber and start experimenting. Long story short, JoJo (the new one, a bit of his sires power and none of his stiff upper lip) ends up at the same location when the the experiments (unexpectedly) backfires and the supreme being gets awakened from a 2000 year slumber. Being a clever boy, JoJo managed to eventually get him into sunlight, which most Dracula stories seems to agree on is bad for vampires. After the guy is completely stones, JoJo learns he was just one of several and he should go to Rome to talk to someone about the location of the next one. Once I'm done with this season, I think I'm going to watch some nice, calm comedy series for a bit

The backlash wasn't so much against the new Saudi King, as much as it was against MBS and the whole rather spotty human rights records. The only difference between Saudi Arabia and Ayatollah ruled Iran is, one is the pet of the west (despite hating the west) and the other is openly hostile towards the west. You could say the main difference is less hypocrisy about their dislikes in Iran. Saudi Arabia is a country where women get killed for not marrying the groom chosen by her dad and effectively get sent into life long slavery (i.e. can't leave home without a guardian etc.). LGBT rights? Free press? A functioning, impartial justice system? Keeping people from south east Asia as domestic slaves? Lots of reasons not to like Saudi Arabia, don't need a specific targeted killing of a system critic for that. But strangely enough, people in the west got more upset over the treatment of a Russian extremist who campaigned against Putin on an ultra-nationalistic platform with posters showing that all Muslims should have a pistol put against their heads and shot on sight to keep Russia "clean". Even Xi isn't that bad (by comparison). This guy is still alive by the way, but the west is more concerned about his "human rights" than they are/were about the murder of a journalist in an Embassy. Al Jazeera was indeed the main thing the Saudi's demanded shut in order to end the blockade of Qatar. They do seem to attract attention over the years. They HQ in Baghdad got bombed by the US in April 2003 (Bush has a long history of disliking AJ). The Bush administration was never held accountable for the killing of the journalists, lots of AJ journalists got killed over the years in Kabul, reporting from Afghanistan (ISIS in particular didn't like them at all and claimed the fist kills of AJ journalists and the Taliban too has declared them Persona non Grata in Afghanistan), in 2021 the IDF decided that was *enough* showing what life in Gaza was like and the Israeli Airforce bombed the AJ office in Gaza (destroying the AP office too as "collateral damage", because what's better than one dead journalist? Many dead journalists). They also have some very good coverage from Myanmar, so I'm sure they're on the military juntas "not welcome here" list there too. Syria got covered IMHO a lot more comprehensively than any western media did. In short, they seems to make enemies in a lot of places in the world, from the US over the Middle East to South East Asia... More ME countries need something like AJ to stand up for freedom of speech and human rights domestically and internationally. I think I did mention they make almost half of my news sources (the BBC close to they other half and then a few local Aussie and Danish sites for good measure)

Part of the reason the Saudis and other gulf states repeatedly try to kill off Al Jazeera. They talk too much about uncomfortable truths for the liking of the resident autocrats in those countries

I thought cubism was a thing of the early 1900's

That would explain why they applied for membership twice... first under Yeltsin and then under Putin

UK politics... It's like an episode out of "Yes, Prime Minister". For all his posturing and wanting a war against the Soviet Union (which it still seems to be in the minds of many Britons), the dear Boris Johnson has dug himself in so deep, that no fanning the flames of fear or unrest can stop his slide into oblivion. All the pointing at big bad, external enemies falls for deaf ears in his own party. As for the Yes, Prime Minister reference, it's now so bad that his secretary, top civil servants and head of policy making have abandoned the sinking ship. For various reasons, but all boiling down to lack of trust in his capabilities. The letters of no confidence have started piling up in the conservative party, so he may not be put to the peoples test in the next election... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-60253231 Four senior aides to Boris Johnson have resigned from Downing Street within hours of each other amid growing pressure on the prime minister. Director of communications Jack Doyle confirmed his exit shortly after the departure of policy head Munira Mirza. They were followed on Thursday by chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and senior civil servant Martin Reynolds. The top aides' resignations came as Mr Johnson faces increasing questions over his leadership from within his party. You know it's bad when the civil servants start scurrying away...

The only flight regulations I've ever heard of were "night curfews" to limit the noise when people are supposed to sleep

Oh, I'm sure if I go down to an Australian bank here and ask them for their records on what credits were approved and for who in the past 30 years, they'll be overjoyed to share their confidential information with me! (check out the post by @Chairchucker for some better examples) As for your views on racism in the western world... it would probably lend your position more credibility if you lived and worked for a while in those countries as a non white male. You would be surprised how much subtlety you miss out on if you're in the privileged group (it helps a lot of you have friends in said group and share their experiences with them, it's cringe worthy at times). I haven't lived in Russia or China, so I have no personal observations from those parts of the world.

Hey, attribute the quote correctly (it was the guy in the video who said that, you should watch it, it's funny)

Sigh... here we go again. Seeing the shadows of BLM moving in every corner of society, being behind every evil and injustice in the world. I wonder if the Freemasons are secretly being operated by BLM's too? On a more serious note, you can be part of a racist system without being personally racist. Actually, that's the very definition of systemic racism. It's the system itself that is biased and is based on "being white" being the default and being non white being the aberrant situation. If you go down to the bank asking for a mortgage, you are more likely (stressing the work "likely", exceptions exists just like everywhere else) to get it. If you have a name that sounds like you're Asian, African, Arab, something else, be prepared to have to provide a lot more security and bring a lot more documentation proving you're capable of repaying the mortgage. Applying for a job, much less a management position? Same thing. The bias exists whether you like it or not, when it comes to who you consider "trustworthy" or not. Fashion magazines, entertainment, you name it. White is the default. Even Disney got into a few problems when they did some not so subtle white washing of their movies. The "family friendly" company showing its true colours (yes, bad pun) https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Disney_stop_whitewashing_us/ Then there is the whole socio-economic "inheritance" thing. People being born into wealth and privilege or born into poverty and gang lift, based on centuries of racism which excluded population groups from keeping up with the dominant group. Basically, if you are born the wrong colour in a white dominated culture, you're ****ed from birth and on wards. Doesn't matter if the legislation has changed the last 50 years, you still start life with a large debt, that you need to service first before you can even hope to compete with those born to white parents. That's for me part of systemic racism too. The game is rigged from the beginning. Of course, for many people it's a big taboo to suggest something like free education, because that's "communist" (and threatens the white male privilege, which they after all inherited from their white, male fathers). People can twist words and make up excuses all they want, but the western world is largely racist to this day. Some individuals resist it and fight it, but they are up against a rock wall, created by centuries of prejudice. For the mandatory what-about-ism, Arabs regarded African captives as trade goods just as much as white traders did. Heck, even today, rich Arabs consider Philippine and South East Asian workers and laborers as little better than slaves, that can be sexually abused, beaten and the bodies disposed of in a garbage bin somewhere without consequences (because they're not "real humans" in the eyes of Allah after all). Any modern country ruled by fear and nationalism seems to move from systemic (or low key) racism to overt racism as a tool to focus peoples anger... from Germany 1933 to Trump 2016

Not my recordings, although I do have some footage of my own recorded on my phone from a couple of years ago... For some reason, Brisbane just loves these low altitude flyovers, especially with the jets coming up and down the river and then swerving in and out of the taller buildings. One video shows what it looks like seen inside an office building (it's usually part of the annual Riverfire festival) Edit: My jaw almost hit the footpath first time I saw it with my own eyes (must have been about 4-55 years ago), some F-18's doing slalom runs between the highrises.

(After guessing every party's political affiliation wrong so far) Let me guess, your communists are not really communists? Oh, they are. Why are they in parliament, should they not be deployed executing land owners???

So, you better not insinuate the Earth might not be flat...

Finally got started on JoJo's Bizarre Adventures... truly bizarre indeed Not sure how to describe it really (only 5 episodes in btw, still 19 to go of this part of the story). Sometimes it really is an animated Manga (literally) and sometimes you get more exposition in the moment before a fist hits a face than a full novel Interesting enough so far to keep me going though. Need to find out more about that stone mask that turns people into vampires and Dio needs some kind of horrible, final death too...

My motorcycle had a 20L tank I think? A bit less than 4.5 gallon unless the internet is lying to me Fuel prices didn't really cause me much of a headache. Dangit, I really miss my bike now. Next on my to-do list

Maybe it's a pun on Evil Sardines?... Aka "surströmming" Edit: Nurgle cultists trying out "Evil Sardines"

Oh no, she isn't. It was just unusual for me to actually have any close friends at all (after not having had that for decades). Anyway, I'll let hear from me in a week or so when I've tried the Kimchi stew

Speaking of IKEA... best IKEA advertising ever! (and it's not even a commercial)

Similar in most European countries I think. Power split and re-split continuously, no party or bloc of parties staying in power indefinitely. The head of state being either a president or a monarch. The alternative would be either single party state (China) or two party state (USA) which I just can't imagine being on any Europeans wishlist.

I'm not sure what is so hard.... The (now ex) centre-right government lost the snap election which they called themselves and the socialist party won an outright majority in the election? A bit confused about what could be confusing Edit: Ah, I get it. The word "ruling" Edit2: What do you expect from a news organisation that puts this under art and entertainment Edit3: It means they went from being a minority government ruling with the help of other parties to have absolute majority. I get it now. Edit4: Not the worlds best written article, I would agree on that.

Bruce... put on your darn reading glasses Edit: To save you the reading, the former ruling party was called the Social Democratic Party (despite it's name, it is a centre-right party)

I honestly don't know much about Portuguese politics... maybe @Pidesco knows more about the background, but in a snap election, the ruling party managed to hand over a majority victory to the opposition. The socialist party now have a majority government and the far right party became the third largest party (the ex-ruling party being a center right party). Looks like they shot themselves in the foot with a sawed off shotgun??? https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60194375 (no, don't ask me why the heck the BBC stuck that under entertainment and arts)

That didn't stop Turkey from joining when it was convenient... I'm sure that Putin and Ukraine could've worked something out before western interference. Ukraine renounces their (illegal anyway) claims on Crimea and guarantees the civil rights (the removal of which was the trigger of the unrest) of the people of the Donbas region and Russia provides Ukraine with an agreed amount of LPG per year the next 100 years or so (or until Ukraine finds other alternative/eco friendlier energy sources)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60185733 Boris Johnson desperately needs a war too to distract from trouble at home... "I have ordered our armed forces to prepare to deploy across Europe next week, ensuring we are able to support our Nato allies on land, at sea and in the air." On a more serious note, the BBC did some detective work and a bit of investigative journalism. Turns out Djokovic not only lied about his whereabouts, it also looks like his covid test results are forgeries, made by the Serbian state to enable him to play.... https://www.bbc.com/news/59999541 Mr Djokovic was tested in Serbia, and received his results from the Institute of Public Health of Serbia. All these test results have a unique confirmation code. We wanted to check whether these numbers are generated in strict chronological order in a single national database at the time of processing. If so, it would bring into question why the earlier test had a higher serial number. So we collected data from as many Serbian test certificates as we could to plot these confirmation codes on a timeline. For those who don't want to read all the graphs and texts, the conclusion by the researchers investigations was, Djokovic's positive result was from the time between 25th to 28th of December, not the claimed 16th of December (i.e. his positive test was after his negative test, which was supposed to prove he was no longer infected at least two weeks before traveling to Australia). All nicely forged by the Serbian Health Institute. Nothing new I guess, politics and sports do seem to have trouble staying away from each other.