Early Risers.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Went out in the garden just before midnight. It was totally calm and quiet, and I mean really quiet - not a sound of anything.

This was the view northwards. Couldn't see anything with my naked eye, but the camera picked this up...

[iL Dottore]

36 minutes ago, Darlington_Shed said:

 

Beware! My invitation to be jabbed came with a free dose of Covid. Coincidence? I think not.

 

Hope you swerve the worst.

That's dangerously near conspiracy theory territory there, DS.

 

Besides, everyone knows that CoVID is transmitted through cheap UPF (like beanz).  by command of the Lizard People using Quisling venal politicians in order to obtain a submissive and docile population - exhausted and demoralised through disease and unhealthy food - to be used as slave labour once the Lizard People emerge from their mega cities under the polar ice caps.

 

That's FACT that is!

[Chris Snowdon]

20 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Enter it and change the colour to white. Anyone who wants to read it can select it.

 

Hello

 

Like so

 

Yup, that's damn' right.  Eventually went to sleep at twilight, then woke up at dawn needing the loo ad feeling hungry.  Only other thought was, "You should have blanco-ed it" because I've done that before, and it's how I make headcode panels as well...   But didn't think it appropriate to start baring my soul online at 0645h, so looked for jobs instead.

[Chris Snowdon]

28 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

everyone knows that CoVID is transmitted through cheap UPF (like beanz).  by command of the Lizard People using Quisling venal politicians in order to obtain a submissive and docile population - exhausted and demoralised through disease and unhealthy food - to be used as slave labour once the Lizard People emerge from their mega cities under the polar ice caps.

That's just what THEY want YOU to believe!

 

Evry fule knose its only Sowth Powl.

 

Nighty-night and 73, from a 4700.

[monkeysarefun]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I don't know if their new Deputy Sheriff was on search and rescue duty - you can bet the regular officers were.

 

I was assuming he'd have been put straight onto special assignment, tracking down those weather manipulators who are out  to steal all the lithium. 

Edited 4 hours ago by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

And there was me thinking LEO was a lion on children's TV long, long time ago....Pah!

It is the fifth of the western astrological signs. And relatedly the constellation from antiquity with a Latin name - named after the Nemean Lion (the one killed by Heracles) - dating back at least to Ptolemy in the second century.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Unfortunately my favourite chips (chunky and made from real potatoes with the skins on) are no longer available, having been replaced by something with a coating of something called piri piri, probably chemically manufactured.

Piri piri is usually peppers - entirely natural, but could of course be UPF'd.  Those would be spicy chips. Made its way to European cuisine through Portuguese colonialism in the form of Piri piri chicken - in the Algarve.

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

The 20" pizzas were huge

Fascinating menu Baz.

 

I'm intrigued by "Dorado". I have no idea what that is supposed to be in Italian. It means "gold" in Español - as in "el dorado". It also is the name of a fish - marketed as Mahi Mahi in the Pacific.

 

I wouldn't choose Tonno / tuna pizza. Much would depend on whether this comes out of a tin. I have eaten something like the Frutti di Mare listed - it can vary from good (a version in Oz with fresh (large) seafood (prawns and calamari) to monumentally awful/salty where everything came out of a tin (Lake of the Ozarks).

 

In the end pretty much any flatbread with toppings and cheese melted under a broiler / hot oven won't taste bad. No need for patate fritte al cavatappi though.

 

Not sure about those Italian jalapeños though. Plenty of suitable Italiano peppers. It would taste good. I am partial to jalapeños as a pizza topping. At one point my son and I would do a four topping - pepperoni, Canadian bacon (aka ham), and Italian sausage, half jalapeños / half onions.

[Chris Snowdon]

14 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

I understand that one of natures simple folk,   Eric trump,  got sworn in as some kind of Deputy Dawg or similar a couple of days ago so maybe he is now a LEO and therefore free to wander around in a confused daze arresting and shooting people.

 

USA! USA! USA!.

 

  He definitely is a LEO  if using our definition.

Sorry, but in my little world LEO is "low-Earth orbit".  That means many things different to the above (although it is above).  I am OK with that.  I am still coming to terms with the North American term "Peace Officer" after >10 years, though.

 

Anyway, some lighter notes:  More or less fixed my crane last night (it works, and looks OK, but I know how bad I job I've done), and have almost fixed my Trix/Liliput Western Crusader tonight.  A couple of dribbles more solvent and 24h and she should be sorted!

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

The whole of America can’t think this, can it? 

John, I imagine that's rhetorical?  The answer is of course not, but ...

 

The 'chem-trail' conspiracists are having a moment:

 

CNN: Amid hurricanes, the chemtrail conspiracy theory has its moment in the sun

The Guardian: ‘It’s mindblowing’: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge

 

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I was assuming he'd have been put straight onto special assignment, tracking down those weather manipulators who are out  to steal all the lithium. 

The ability for humans to embrace cognitive dissonance is quite extraordinary. It should never be underestimated.

 

My eldest has (literally) never forgiven his late mother for prolonging his belief in Santa Claus. He is a rational being and in his interpretation, (which is not really far from factual) she manufactured evidence of the jolly old elf to keep the 'magic of Christmas' alive for another year. In short he trusted her when she fibbed to him - despite the objective reality he perceived. He describes it as being "lied" to. He is now 42.

 

It's not very different for some adults. They choose to uncritically accept* an alternative reality presented by people whose viewpoint they embrace, irrespective of any rational framework - relying on cognitive dissonance to insulate their worldview from facts or critical thinking. They are a minority but are amplified by electronic media.

 

* which I think is a more accurate term than 'believe'

 

I could make parallels about a UK referendum.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Ozexpatriate

[jjb1970]

Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate reality from fantasy, fact from fiction. In world affairs 'truth' has always been subject to perspective to a certain degree (the famous and perhaps cliched example of one persons terrorist being another persons freedom fighter, or resistance fighter remains pertinent) but now it is increasingly difficult to identify verifiable, objective facts.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate reality from fantasy, fact from fiction. In world affairs 'truth' has always been subject to perspective to a certain degree (the famous and perhaps cliched example of one persons terrorist being another persons freedom fighter, or resistance fighter remains pertinent) but now it is increasingly difficult to identify verifiable, objective facts.

"Truth" is the purview of the philosophers.

 

History is written by the winners.

 

Facts are a distant third. Thus it was ever so.

 

Having said that, it is now much harder to identify facts.

[jjb1970]

We like to blame various weirdo web sites, tabloid media, populist politicians and crazy 'influencers' but I am increasingly seeing a....ahem...flexible approach to what is true in two UN bodies I observe and attend. And it is not just the countries people might assume, in fact it tends to be countries which consider themselves a cut above. a few meetings ago I challenged a couple of delegations why they'd repeated allegations about a ship which were demonstrably false and known to be so when they spoke, in fairness neither tried to defend it and were open that they'd been given a statement to make and so made it. If disinformation is an acceptable tactical play in UN agencies (and I think it always was, it is just becoming more brazen) then what chance the rest of us?

[Chris Snowdon]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

John, I imagine that's rhetorical?  The answer is of course not, but ...

 

The 'chem-trail' conspiracists are having a moment:

 

CNN: Amid hurricanes, the chemtrail conspiracy theory has its moment in the sun

The Guardian: ‘It’s mindblowing’: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge

 

The ability for humans to embrace cognitive dissonance is quite extraordinary.

 

My eldest has (literally) never forgiven his late mother for prolonging his belief in Santa Claus. He is a rational being and (in his interpretation, which is not really far from factual) she manufactured evidence of the jolly old elf to keep the 'magic of Christmas' alive for another year. In short he trusted her when she fibbed to him - despite the objective reality he perceived. He describes it as being "lied" to.

 

It's not very different for some adults. They choose to uncritically accept* an alternative reality presented by people whose viewpoint they embrace, irrespective of any rational framework - relying on cognitive dissonance to insulate their worldview from facts. They are a minority but are amplified by electronic media.

 

* which I think is better than 'believe'

 

I could make parallels about a UK referendum.

Someone once told me "Of course, Santa Claus can get down any chimney because he is himself an elf".  When I mentioned this to my family, because we were concerned about my eldest nephew "having doubts",  they looked at me as if I was ESN, and then asked how it had taken me so long to learn that.  I was suitably humbled.

That also delayed my sister and my brother in law from their argument about proof of the existence of dinosaurs and dragons (unsettlingly convincing but always entertaining).

cs

 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

If disinformation is an acceptable tactical play in UN agencies (and I think it always was, it is just becoming more brazen)

Codified in 1532. "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli. (Allegedly about Ferdinand of Aragon.)

 

Many people admire Churchill. He allegedly said to Stalin at Tehran on November 30, 1943:

Quote

 "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

 

Once upon a time the "Fourth Estate" was there to call "strikes and balls"* on the other three estates (clergy, nobility and commoners) to keep their excesses in check. It is now an independent power where the other estates are either the dinner or the chef.

 

* to use a baseball analogy

[Ozexpatriate]

58 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Someone once told me "Of course, Santa Claus can get down any chimney because he is himself an elf". 

My parents' home does not have a fireplace. I asked Dad how Santa got in. He said "Through the window".

 

Part of the continuation of the discussion of Christmas in the antipodean summer.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Ozexpatriate

[Chris Snowdon]

14 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"Truth" is the purview of the philosophers.

 

History is written by the winners.

 

Facts are a distant third. Thus it was ever so.

 

Having said that, it is now much harder to identify facts.

One of the best "histories" was written by some man, probably white, probably hetero, probably bearded, etc, etc, etc and probably basically an all-round "gammon", but he also used phrases such as "I don't know, but I've been told" and "This is what they told me, and you can believe it if you like", or words to that effect...  To our man Herodotus!

cs

[Ozexpatriate]

One the subject of keeping score, I've had at least six nine "Community is not available" 504 messages today (only here in ERs, naturally) - and that includes a little while ago at 4:00am BST - when this forum is not at all busy.

 

Old, it gets.

 

I recently had to reboot my laptop for a Windows update so the browser was opened 'clean'.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Ozexpatriate
I had another three in about 10 minutes at 4:30am.

[Chris Snowdon]

9 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

My parent's home does not have a fireplace. I asked Dad how Santa got in. He said "Through the window".

 

Part of the continuation of the discussion of Christmas in the antipodean summer.

That's similar to what bothered my head when I was about four or five (Me, Q: "how does he get down the flue and out of the (gas) fire? (Ans: "if he can't then there's always the letter-box") after which I didn't sleep for a while, imagining that the Devil could also come in through the letter-box flap..

[Chris Snowdon]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

One the subject of keeping score, I've had at least six "Community is not available" 504 messages today (only here in ERs, naturally) - and that includes a little while ago at 4:00am BST - when this forum is not at all busy.

 

Old, it gets.

Only got five myself, so far (have been on and off though).  This web is not a happy machine this evening/morning.

[jjb1970]

Shops realised the Santa entry conundrum and now sell Santa's keys with all the other Christmas tat.

[Chris Snowdon]

38 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

We like to blame various weirdo web sites, tabloid media, populist politicians and crazy 'influencers' but I am increasingly seeing a....ahem...flexible approach to what is true in two UN bodies I observe and attend. And it is not just the countries people might assume, in fact it tends to be countries which consider themselves a cut above. a few meetings ago I challenged a couple of delegations why they'd repeated allegations about a ship which were demonstrably false and known to be so when they spoke, in fairness neither tried to defend it and were open that they'd been given a statement to make and so made it. If disinformation is an acceptable tactical play in UN agencies (and I think it always was, it is just becoming more brazen) then what chance the rest of us?

I'm a bit out of it at present, but am trying to keep my hand in.  I actually felt physically unwell after listening to something we said at UN GA recently because it reminded me of listening to some teenager from DPRK ranting on a few years ago (he was not present for the rest of that session).  There's a time and a place for grandstanding, and UN meetings are seldom either, particularly the Specialized Agencies, which have actual tasks, affecting the lives and livelihoods of actual people, to do.  OK, we can allow the GA as a space for BS and grandstanding, but not the SAs.  As you say, in some arenas, at least delegates let it be known when they are simply reading scripts from home.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Shops realised the Santa entry conundrum and now sell Santa's keys with all the other Christmas tat.

Merchandizing finds a way.

[Chris Snowdon]

No.

I'm still coming to terms with "reindeer food" just being half a handful of stale muesli which costs more money than the actual bag of muesli itself (and, if you use the "swiss" formula with powdered milk in it, is technically breakfast if it snows anyway).

I'm not leaving my toolkit out and I don't want Santa to be a locksmith or a housebreaker.  He can be an elf and come down the gas-flue, but I'm not ower happy about the other.

[TheQ]

LEO, was Lyons Electronics Office, that is an early Computer system, that Lyons used to run their restaurant and food businesses. The GPO became a big user of LEO..

 

LEO got sold to, English Electric, which merged with Marconi Computers  , which became ICL computers , which got sold to Fujitsu... Who sold the Horizon system to the Post Office.... That went well didn't it..

 

Meanwhile Lyons eventually got broken up and parts closed, bits are now owned by, Nestle, Premier Foods, Burtons Foods, and  Weetabix.