County lines
If we legalised drugs then we could retrain all the young drug dealers sent to rural areas to install fibre.
2212 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jul 2009
I was 17, still living at my parents, working in a micro-component clean room. Mum took me aside and started giving me 'the sex talk', and I froze because I wasn't sure what she knew about what I'd been up to. She ended with, "I'm not judging you but I found these in your jeans."
I collapsed laughing on the floor in relief. It was fifty finger cots, latex finger coverings for the clean room that looked like tiny condoms. We had to put them on and off every time we entered the clean room. My mum had either never seen a condom or thought I had a dick like a pinkie and yet screwed like a rabbit.
@Palpy
Bored? These Americans are teaching their dogs to talk
Provided with a board full of buttons, some pets appear to be communicating with their humans – and researchers are investigating
https://www.theycantalk.org/about/our-approach-to-research
I posted here a month ago that I'd started experimenting using LEDs of differing colours to chase away magpies. They were eating the nuts I left out for squirrels, and the squirrels weren't scared away by LEDs. I want to apologise for that moment of lockdown madness. I realised the squirrels weren't concerned with the avian competition, they happily co-exist with the magpies.
Hiya Gene,
We all have to execute a few folk to establish the emperor's awesomeness.
Mao Wenlong was reported to Ming authorities by Joseon for cowardice and treachery. Mao began acting independently and minted his own coins in 1628, while conducting illicit trading in contravention of Ming law. He was caught by Yuan Chonghuan in 1629 and executed for smuggling on 24 July, 1629. Yuan reported the death of Mao Wenlong to the Joseon court, stating that it had been done to "properly establish the emperor's awesomeness."
Sorry, I'm deep mining Wikipedia for cool quotes. It's my bitcoin.
I surf Wikipedia and learned this last night. The Uyghurs were among the tribes and nations recruited by the Chinese to destroy the Dzungars, formerly the abusive overlords of the Uyghurs.
"the Qing victory was, in a certain sense, a victory for Islam".
Okay, so nobody could ever trust historical allies, but technology amplifies power to the point / risk of total domination.
It's criminal that the account was left open, and someone still in Cisco should be arrested for that negligence. It's not as if he was a criminal mastermind:
In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, federal prosecutors said Ramesh made little attempt to cover his tracks.“The government is perplexed on how the defendant — a highly intelligent individual — could have left a trail of bread crumbs that (led) the FBI to determine that he was responsible for the deletion of Cisco’s servers on AWS,” U.S. attorneys David L. Anderson, Hallie Hoffman and Susan Knight wrote in the memo. “He did not use a proxy internet service to hide his identity, registered his Google Cloud Platform account with his email address and American Express card and launched the attack from his work computer.”
An FBI agent who searched Ramesh’s work computer found Google searches for information on AWS servers and how to delete servers, which prosecutors said suggests that Ramesh “possibly did not realize that he was accessing a live production environment.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2020/12/09/former-cisco-engineer-prison.html
I'm sorry to hear that Eclectic Man. It's not been acceptable here in my lifetime to beat up people for their sexuality - although wearing a puffer jacket is just asking for trouble.
I beat up a gay five year old once and was heavily punished even though I felt justified at the time. He'd burst my balloon in the balloon race at my birthday party. I was sent to my room and never allowed another party.
Weeks later he threw stones at me - like a girl! - so I skimmed his ankle with a stone. He cried, turned his back saying, "I'm not fighting anymore", and threw his stone over his head, hitting me on the bridge of my nose. The angels were with him, but he didn't even realise until I told him decades later. I found out he died a few years ago, not violently but drugs and sex and rock and roll. So a good death.
Another gay pal, in his 40s, started his first fight ever at a Low concert - the bands first ever fight! - because someone wouldn't stop talking. I said, "Violence is fun, isn't it", and he burst out grinning.
"there seems to be a disease going around that makes people worry entirely too much about what other people are thinking/doing"
It's called "Britishness", and it's been endemic here for generations. Kick me and I'll apologise for getting in the way of your foot. Just don't cut the queue or we will glower at you, mutter under our breath, and some brave soul may even lash you with stern rebuke.
I got piteous looks in the shop yesterday because my pyjamas had escaped my socks and were dreeping below my breeks. Mind you, I normally live in an area where people often went shopping in their pyjamas before the pandemic so shame is a choice. I have left my silk thermals where I legally can't retrieve them and it's not warm out, it's not warm in. Mine's the 'audio only' video link.
Ah ha!
Currys PC World asked to honour cancelled Black Friday sales
Currys PC World is facing a growing number of complaints about cancelled Black Friday purchases, which customers only learned about after the sales period was over.The firm has blamed a technical fault for causing some orders to fail even though it had sent confirmation emails.
My mum's father's father was a riveter on the Forth Bridge - one of the few who survived the job.
The bridge is still there and working, and painting it became an idiom for any never ending job. They'd paint it from end to end and then have to start again. Although lately with better paint technology it only has to be painted every decade, saving the bridge but ruining the idiom.
Actually all the 1960s Scottish new towns came with loads of weird riveted steel 'sculptures'. I think you'll find the worship happens in Shepperton, not Basildon.
In The Unlimited Dream Company, a man named Blake crashes a stolen aircraft into the River Thames outside the London suburb of Shepperton. Whether he survives the crash, to become a sort of supernatural messiah for the small town, or if he actually drowns, and dying, imagines the whole thing, is never truly revealed.
Thanks Jake & Dr Syntax,
There are decent local manufacturers here. I think Perspex is used the same way as other brand names such as 'doing the hoovering' even if it's a Dyson, or 'speaking over the tannoy' even if it's another public announcement brand.
I knew foil wasn't safe on glass. If you ever have to break a window quietly then place foil over the outside and then wood cut to fit the glass, then hit the wood. It's a burglar's trick I used as a peace protester but the wood was needed to avoid shards, and that wouldn't work as a mirror.
I don't have children so this is the first time I've had to 'child proof' a home. Unlike me and my mum my dad refuses to use a sippy-cup, yet he dropped three cups of tea yesterday, so I bought him a manly thermos mug from renowned toolmaker Stanley. I paid extra for the name as I think he'll respect it enough to use it. I bought him a wheeled zimmer frame six months ago and he was so insulted he made my mum return it, hence his falling now. I've been putting up new handrails everywhere, got rid of the bath and put in a wet-room, and bought Alexa dots that he is sometimes able to use. I wanted to get him a smart watch in case he wandered off, but none of them were good looking enough for him and he won't get far now anyway.
Just before Harry Dean Stanton died aged 91 he made the movie 'Lucky'. What do you do when life leaves you nothing? You smile. But life is less important than memory.
When I was homeless I got quite good at drawing and painting, I thought so at least but wasn't sure as I hadn't been trained and people are overly polite. I showed some of my stuff to a successful artist to appraise and he just laughed and said, "Oh, I haven't done any of that for decades, I hire people to do that for me." Given he didn't offer me a job I took that as my answer.
The mirrored perspex is interesting. My dad's been falling down a lot recently, and is rightly worried about going through the mirrored wardrobe doors in his bedroom. My mum was advised to cover the glass in reflective foil but mirrored perspex is obviously a lot safer, plus it doesn't seem that expensive. Maybe good for households with young children too.
Cullen skink soap is what we comedy writers refer to as a 'call back'.
When the covid warnings started I posted here that Scots were happy to wash our hands for twenty seconds in soup but we weren't told Cullen skink or cockaleekie.
For decades Edinburgh folk called Glasgow folk 'soap dodgers', which led to the unfortunate circumstance of English folk calling Scottish folk 'soap dodgers'. My ongoing soap/soup confusion is self-depreciatory humour as many readers here don't appreciate how majestic Scotland is - well, apart from Glasgow.
The marine biologists thought it was an old typewriter. Micro biologists and molecular biologists get annoyed at being lumped together with marine biologists, whose only qualification is looking good in woollen sweaters.
Apparently they had different Enigmas on u-boats, so this was thrown off a warship. I'm not sure why they'd dump them when the war had ended, I guess it was like clearing your browsing history while having a heart attack.
[Speaking of heart attacks, here is my recipe for Cullen skink soap. It's this recipe, then you double the double cream and add a cup of Islay malt]
Please don't let the odd idiot disgrace the whole hemp community.
Back in March I didn't think there would be any vaccine - these are the first coronavirus vaccines in history, and they've been trying to develop them for the 'common cold' for decades. I know it's not a panacea, it'll need to be repeated and updated vaccinations, but it's an undeniable miracle to be celebrated.
Now if only the government would follow the recommendations of their own scientific advisory committee and legalise cannabis.
"how can you watch multiple 4K videos on a mobile phone screen ?"
One phone to cast to them all.
(To be honest I don't understand this articles details, or indeed many now. I feel like I'm stuck on a sunless planet in a heat death universe watching a spaceship passing over. I'm happy to see it but I know it's not coming to my rescue.)
"let the virus sort the idiots out. They will love it"
It is slightly tempting to add to the insane vaccine conspiracy theories, just to ensure the initially limited number of vaccines go to sensible people.
(I heard the chips they are injecting into you aren't capable of running Windows 10. )
It's not borrowed, it's out of the existing budget so will mean cuts elsewhere. I personally think it's too little and suggested here months ago the same £29 daily bonus that soldiers get when in a warzone.
It appears that the English government is insisting on taxing the bonus so the poorest workers will only get £123 - it's complicated but the headline optics of that is terrible for the Tories.
Hey you Huw!
Scotch eggs are not Scottish nor named due to Scotland. Maybe if you cover them in chocolate and deep-fry them, but so far nothing to do with us.
And for the first posters here complaining about 'the Government response', health is a devolved matter so there have been four government responses. Scots seem to appreciate the Scottish Government response so far. Yesterday they gave £500 to all health and care workers, plus £100 to any family that gets school meals, plus free breakfasts for all school kids to go with their free lunches after the election. And we didn't even need a footballer to intervene.
I have to say that was a surprisingly, scarily quick escalation from explosive drones to drones with chemical weapons. If you ever need a career break then the Syrian regime could use your talents.
Apologies for the Daily Mail link, but a sparrow hawk caused a starling murmuration to form into a spherical 'death star'.
[My spell checker replaced murmuration with menstruation.]
I was skeptical two decades ago when all the young computer students I met were specialising in AI, yet without substantial results from the field. With this breakthrough I admit I was wrong. I can finally hold my head high around my first love who is a published molecular biologist - admittedly I never worked in AI but I did read a book on it.
I would like to resubmit my original jokey comment for reappraisal. It's dry, but failing that I'll start releasing personal information about myself.
My baby was talking in her sleep
She said, "Bob?"
I said, "What?"
She said, "Bob?"
I said, "I'm Bob!"
She said, "No, I mean a different Bob."
And so I asked her the next day
I said, "Jane?"
She said "What?"
I said, "Who's Bob?"
She said, "You're Bob!"
I said, "No, I mean a different Bob."
My baby was run over by a truck
It was a Dodge
As she lay dying, she called for Bob,
I touched her hand and said "I'm here!"
She said, "No, I mean a different Bob."
France has art, culture, beautiful women, lovely cuisine, liberty, slow food, decent workers rights, beautiful women, philosophers, museums, nudist beaches, stunning countryside and mountain ranges.
I admit I've never been to Montoya, but what is there that compares? My impression is a huge wilderness of steroid cattle and you. Ye ken, yer irrational anger and lack of love life is maybe due to excess steroids. I don't say this often, but get tae France!
I'm in Scotland so obviously 'to smash wife and mistress's faces in', cheating hearts.
That was intended as a feel good joke about domestic violence. I know, I'm a product of the 1970s.
If anyone here needs a genuinely 'feel good' boost from BBC Scotland, I heartily recommend "Born to be Wild" on iPlayer. A bunch of Scots gave up fighting each other to heal wild animals at the SSPCA and release them back into the wild. It'll make you cry for both reasons as obviously some of the wounded wild animals die.
Audiences get to vote on which wild animals live or die. Not now, it's a year old repeat. Spoiler: the crovid croaks it. "An unkindness of ravens" is projection.
Since Saturday it's a criminal offence with a £10,000 fine to travel to or from tier three and four areas in Scotland. I asked Police Scotland online if that applied to me who forwarded me the Scottish Government statement and which read like Dirty Harry, "You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"
I felt lucky so I drove the M8 and the A71 without any police checkpoints, problems or even presence. Slightly less traffic than normal, which was nice.
"The engineer in me thinks this is a clever idea that makes use of a pooled resource to provide optimum performance for everyone."
Upvoted for irrational innocence. I recall when Dick Cheney's pacemaker was wifi hackable.
I had a mad whippet and lived by woods. It would seek out the biggest stick in the woods and retrieve twenty foot branches balanced in it's jaws. Not once but many times, I saw her fell people when her log hit the back of their knees. She did it to me too, twice.
She would never willingly give up her branch. I'd pick it up and swing it around and she kept biting on it and swing around.