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Early Risers.


Mr.S.corn78
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3 minutes ago, BoD said:

This was only yesterday. Today I received an electronic letter with an appointment for pre-op assessment and preparation  for a fortnight today.  As I said, can’t complain about that.


Possibly filling cancelled appointments? I had similar. I was expecting an appointment for a non-urgent matter some time about April. I got a phone call this morning offering an appointment next Monday.

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It does seem that various chickens are now coming back to roost with a vengeance.

 

As much as the interwebby thingymabobs has improved things eg RM web there is a dark side to it and I do wonder at what point the benefits will stop outweighing them.

 

 

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50 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

@New Haven Neil

Children's show Fraggle Rock returns after 33 years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-60058997

 

Mrs NHN and I have long referred to any workforce as 'Doozers', FR was always a favourite programme for some reason.  Better than magic Roundabout but not as good as Bear Behaving Badly. Ask Poly..... :lol:

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1 hour ago, pH said:
2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The logical extrapolation of utilitarianism is the playground of dystopian novelists.

 

We can happily discuss the implications of a notional society that elects to terminate the lives of the 'defective' for the greater good if you like.

 

I do believe someone did try a society like that it didn't end well.

 

 

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On 19/01/2022 at 14:28, Andrew P said:

T

I have a wayward Mouse that darts up and down and across the screen at will, so when I try to kill the Adds, I often miss the X and end up opening it, and so it thinks I like it and comes back time and again on other web Sites.

My mouse does that every so often and it turns out to be 'fluff' on the side runners.  It's quite hard to scrap off but the mouse works perfectly again afterwards..

 

Edited by PeterBB
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6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

From zero cases over two years, in the space of about a week ...

Underscoring SARS-CoVi-2-Omicron* infection rates in Queensland this is what it looks like graphically:

* (presumed)

 

image.png.291de4c11da2cf020ab8a835e9420368.png 

There was considerable pressure on the Premier to open the state borders. With effectively no cases she did so on December 13, with an almost immediate impact. The rolling seven day average of new cases now exceeds 20,000.

 

Edited by Ozexpatriate
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8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The logical extrapolation of utilitarianism is the playground of dystopian novelists..

Every religious/political/philosophical/social movement is destructive once in the hands of zealots and extremists.

 

To make up a silly example: let’s say we have 100 people at a party, 98 absolutely adore Lemon Drizzle Cake, 2 (for whatever reason) abhor and detest LDC preferring Carrot Cake. Does the host:

  1. Not serve LDC at all - so as not to upset the Carrot Cake minority
  2. Ensure that both LDC and Carrot Cake are available as far as is possible
  3. Tell the Carrot Cake lovers - tough, there’s LDC or nothing.

Unfortunately, it does seem nowadays that a lot of vocal people would go for option 1 and many would choose option 3 (I say “a lot”, numerically they may be small in number, but very large in terms of vocal presence). Certainly the utilitarian option would be option 3, but I would hope that a reasonable person would (in all likelihood?) choose option 2, But if lack of resources reduce the choice to either 1) or 2) - what then is the best option?


With such conundrums to deal with, I am so glad that I am in the fortunate position to be able to opt out of most of modern life’s annoyances and frustrations and live an almost hermitical existence.

 

As Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who once said: “pah, humans

 

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On 26/12/2021 at 00:30, grandadbob said:

What more could you ask for at Christmas.

I did have to give The Boss, the offspring and the grandchildren a telling off for spending so much on me but very grateful for some of the presents I received which included bottles of Hennessey VSOP (which is in short supply I believe),

A blast from the semi-recent(?) past but Hennessy VSOP is apparently distilled from unobtainum here as well. I will concur that it is a delightful intersection of price and ambrosia.

 

Hennessy XO is actually easier to obtain but I didn't want to part with the $200.00 required to bring some home. Plenty of Hennessey VS and Courvoisier VS, but utterly nothing in the VSOP range locally. According to the shop I went to today, it is hard to procure.

 

I ended up coming home with some VSOP Armagnac today for "l'eau française qui fait tomber"*. Sadly we don't all live in the Charente-Maritime with relatively near neighbours who distill boutique Cognac.

 

* Perhaps better French scholars than I can suggest a superior translation for French 'falling down water'.

 

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9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

…the playground of dystopian novelists.

On a slightly different note, dystopian novels and short stories are usually (generally?) the province of Science Fiction writers. Which, I would claim, is why SciFi is an important genre. Good SciFi is not - as many would think - Star Wars or the last run of Doctor Who (basically soap operas in space and time), but rather a way of holding a mirror up to our own society by extrapolating where current scientific, medical and social changes could take us.

 

A good example is to be found in the work of Larry Niven - who sets some of his stories in a future where organ transplantation has become as routine as cutting your hair, the general public has voted consistently to apply the death penalty for ever more “minor” crimes (the condemned are “broken up” to feed the organ banks) and criminal gangs (“organleggers”) kidnap and murder the lonely and dispossessed - “harvesting” them for the illegal organ transplant trade. Thought provoking stuff indeed.
 

And yet all this just background to some cracking stories.

 

As many on ER know, I have a very large library - I would say about 40% - 50% of my collection is science fiction - obviously including the works of the “greats” (Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, Niven, etc)

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Am watching the Australian Open tennis this evening. This is day four of the tournament, and broadcasting this week has been very 'hit or miss'.

 

This tournament (in addition to being from "home", sort of) has the advantage for me that the afternoon sessions fall in the evening here. Traditionally, ESPN (the foremost cable sports broadcaster in the US) would televise live coverage from about 4:00pm until 4:00am here (Pacific Standard Time). 

 

This year however they have shifted much of their coverage exclusively to ESPN+ (a pay-walled internet streaming service), such that none of the night session in Melbourne (usually featured matches) is available to cable subscribers, even in delayed replay the next day.

 

This evening at least, coverage is 'on' which I am enjoying. Apparently the second week will be televised on cable. I look forward to that.

 

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31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

To make up a silly example: let’s say we have 100 people at a party, 98 absolutely adore Lemon Drizzle Cake, 2 (for whatever reason) abhor and detest LDC preferring Carrot Cake.

 

 

@iL Dottore neglected to mention the extreme Left-Wing fraternity, namely those favouring Coffee & Walnut Cake; rumour has it that an extremely extreme Wing also exists, namely those wanting whipped cream on top....

 

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

......the condemned are “broken up” to feed the organ banks) and criminal gangs (“organleggers”) kidnap and murder the lonely and dispossessed - “harvesting” them for the illegal organ transplant trade. Thought provoking stuff indeed.

 

Rumour has it that a certain Superpower does indeed stoop to such behaviour; murder is not always applied - it seems some awake with one kidney less than they had a day or two before.....

Not sure if she's still there, but back in 2010 there was a lady who would silently demonstrate day-in, day-out outside that countries' Embassy in London; if true the posters and pictures made for pretty grim viewing.

 

Bear here....

Up at 0530 :O in order to prepare for today's activities......

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15 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I have never even seen the Mediterranean, much less been there.

I can claim to have seen it from the south of France (Côte d'Azur*) and Tel Aviv, and sailed upon it from Tangier to Barcelona. I trust that you will see it, one day, whether or not 2022 is the year for it.

 

* Which indeed it literally is.

 

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Ey up!

 

Jet2.com are great at sending lots of info on where you can go and what apps/forms you need to do @chrisf. Mallorca looks open at the moment subject to certain bits of paperwork.

 

Managed to get away with only 5 hours of cricket volunteering yesterday but no wirestrangling was completed..  pah!

 

Today may be a better day for wire strangling (I hope).

 

In our drinks cupboard there are two very expensive half bottles of brandy. Perhaps I should sell them??

 

Time to drink my tea and go for a mooch around RMWeb.

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

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22 minutes ago, chrisf said:

… Such is the sheltered nature of my life that I have never even seen the Mediterranean, much less been there.  Such are the hazards of overseas travel…

I have been incredibly fortunate inasmuch as - thanks to my work - I have been to every continent on Earth - bar Antarctica (and in business class comfort as well: my employers didn’t want me to make expensive decisions when jet lagged) And if not for work, the accumulation of air-miles allowed for minimal cost holidays to various locations.

The one place I really want to go back to is Japan (my visit there was but of a few days). Why? Japanese food,  Japanese Trains and Japanese culture. On my “bucket list” are: a Sumo tournament, a Noh play, street food in Osaka, a trip on one of the very luxurious hotel trains (e.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/japan-s-shimi-shika-sleeper-train-a-luxury-hotel-on-rails)

 

I am saving my pennies as we speak.

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7 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I can claim to have seen it from the south of France (Côte d'Azur*) and Tel Aviv, and sailed upon it from Tangier to Barcelona. I trust that you will see it, one day, whether or not 2022 is the year for it.

 

* Which indeed it literally is.

 

Ifellin it in Greece.. a lot warmer than the North Sea. The water around mallorca and menorca was nice.. that near Rome less so.

 

Baz

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