Ozexpatriate

Thank you. That makes sense.

39% salt? What does that even mean? Can't be 39% by mass surely?

The use of Microsoft Teams (or equivalent) is vastly more efficient. No travel expense, easy to accommodate schedules of different interviewers - both still have the opportunity to 'see' the candidate / interviewer. The end of the meeting is scheduled - so no awkward looking at your watch for an interview that is not going well. Person-to-person, virtual interviews are the new normal and are very common. More concerning is "AI" résumé/CV screening for keywords.

It's an interesting question the actual "payload" on these things is not obvious from the cursory stuff on Wikipedia. And The impression I have formed here is that the 32 pounder rocket was of a diameter congruent with a cannon firing 32 pound roundshot (which has a diameter of 6.1") and a cannon with a 6.41" bore. It does not suggest that the rocket had a 32 pound 'payload'. Empirically, neither the Congreve rockets nor the mortar shells had much of an impact to Fort McHenry, which was 'up to date' for the time - a star fort with masonry walls and earthen fill - contemporary image here. The NPS has an artist's 'impression' here. Rockets and mortars were chosen - knowing that conventional ship-fired shot would not be effective against this fort. (There was at one point a short engagement of cannon fire by ships, which withdrew.) Ultimately, nor were the rockets and mortar - the trajectory of which (I presume) was quite high. There were close moments (from the NPS website): The bombardment took place over a period of about 27 hours and used 1,500 projectiles all to little effect. There were casualties, some from bombs, but some deaths of defenders were caused by double-shotted cannon replying to the British fleet flipping over. The narrative (on two pages) of the National Park Service website is better than most online sources I found.

Mortar shells (bombs) rather than Congreve rockets. Rockets were fired from HMS Erebus.

And totally ineffective against masonry.

And the "bombs bursting in air" were mortar shells fired from specialized warships (bomb ketches) carrying a large mortar amidships. In the Baltimore approaches were the bomb ketches "Volcano, Meteor, Devastation, Aetna, and a new Terror" HMS Erebus was the 'rocket vessel'. The fleet was under the command of Sir Alexander Cochrane - uncle to the Thomas Cochrane who was the inspiration for Horatio Hornblower and Lucky Jack Aubrey.

Religious and ethical reasons are indistinct from your "pantheon of evilness" reference. Traditional religious vegetarianism is based on the notion that slaughtering animals to feed us is immoral. You make a distinction without a difference. While I still eat meat, I maintain that as we better understand mammal consciousness this belief will grow - outside its traditional locations. We don't eat dogs. We do eat pigs. What in a pig's brain makes it somehow "less" than a dog's brain? You are conflating multiple things. There is a demonstrable anthropogenic climate change benefit to reducing the quantity of livestock emissions. As I'm sure you know the global CO2-equivalent* GHG emissions from livestock (18%) is greater than all the transport sector (15%). * Factoring the much greater impact of Methane than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Reducing livestock (eating less meat) is not the same as being "vegan". Why is reducing livestock emissions not as important as reducing transportation emissions, or concrete manufacturing?

The subject of at least one late-night host's blackboard lesson last night. Even the normally enthusiastic backdrop crowd don't seem to know what to do with it. Presumably this shtick was because he was in Pennsylvania.

He mentioned being on holidays in Arizona.

While he future is unknowable that feels a little over-cautious, though I can imagine wanting to avoid DC between mid-November and mid-January being sensible. I will stipulate that along the lines of the joke; "just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you", catastrophizing doesn't mean the worst won't happen.

That doesn't sound "bad"*. Hospitality prices have gone up considerably post-pandemic / inflation, etc. * though it's £169 at current exchange rates

The prosecution needs to make sure there are no grounds for a mistrial and the defense wants a favourable, or at the minimum an open-minded jury.

Yes, it will. I doubt that - given how judges have managed all the other trials. More likely to be very impatient with any diversions by the defense or defendant, though they will no doubt be aware of the high-intensity media scrutiny of everything they say and do. The appeals will happen regardless of judicial restraint or otherwise.

During the energy crisis in the 1970s, the US mandated a speed limit of 55 mph. Cue Sammy Hagar. This limit stayed in place for many years. Most of the Interstate highway system was designed for 70 mph. I ask, what is "speeding"? Certainly there is a point where the reaction times become so short that very high speeds are indeed very dangerous, but most speed "limits" are somewhat arbitrary. And with switching to EVs the "fuel" question becomes moot.

Off to brunch later - a birthday celebration for the birthdays of my eldest and his wife, hosted by his great aunt. Should be nice. Frustrated yesterday by my very corporate pharmacy - the chain that @Ian Abel rightly despises. They fill 90 day scripts now - convenient but mostly easier on them. I'd been meaning to pick up a refill and went in yesterday having taken the last one that morning. They didn't have a refill ready - waiting for the doctor to reissue the script. "When did you request that?" I asked firmly. After being told that "Shouting won't help" (I wasn't shouting but was angry) they told me they had requested a new script on Friday morning. This isn't the first time this has happened. Theoretically the doctor could have reissued the script the same day, but didn't. I will call them on Monday. I did get an emergency three-day supply. With 90 day fills, the scripts expire with fewer fills and they wait until the last minute to fill them - realizing with no time left that they needed to get the doctor to reissue a script. When I asked if it would be helpful for me to come in a week early to expedite their process, they suggested that I download their 'app' on my telephone. I told them I would not be polluting my telephone with software so they can monitor me.

I think that is the point of them. Or annoying cats.

It is acidic*. Drop a coin in it to remove the tarnish. * Phosphoric acid - pH: 2.6 - 2.7 (Vinegar has a pH of 2.2) Stomach acid has a pH of 2, and battery acid has a pH of 1.

Little conversation over sports-washing by a large regional royal family lately. While LIV (54) Golf remains controversial, the PIF was a big investor at the recent combined ATP/WTA tennis event in Indian Wells and recently committed to hosting the WTA finals in Riyadh for three years* - the ATP "Next-Gen" finals are already committed to be in Jeddah from 2023 - 2027. * There were objections from some past women champions over the decision by the WTA. They will be investing in the upcoming Spanish Open and events in Beijing and the ATP Finals. The trend is for the region to desire to be part of the global community - which despite some serious issues, I find a hopeful sign.

Without being too political, the "problem" will be the (promised) Hammurabic* Israeli governmental reaction. - I make this comment as distinct from the people of Israel. * Lex talionis: From the Code of Hammurabi (of Babylon) and echoed in both Exodus 21:23–27 and Leviticus 24:19-21. Israel is divided and struggled to elect and form a government. Their head of state is alleged of wrong-doing and tried to dismantle constitutional checks and balances to essentially make the head of state above the law. War is the ultimate distraction to 'unify' a divided nation state. Sound familiar anyone?

Depends on whether it is determined to be "proportional". There's a lot of posturing going on. There may have been some 'suggestions' made to a certain Republic as to what would be perceived as a "demonstrated response" that would not result in escalation. Their next step after this demonstration must be to stand down having achieved 'satisfaction' of their 'honour'. This was anticipated for more than a week now. I suspect that part of the 'timing' was to wait until Eid al Fitr celebrations (of the end of Ramadan) were concluded. A large scale anti-drone campaign will be underway. (Assets were in place for this.)

CNN lists a 2019 shooting in Darwin that killed four.

It was more about all those nice maps the plucky Yorkshireman drew so James Wolfe could dislodge the ancien régime, from the Plains of Abraham.

Were the attacker armed with an AR15 (or similar) it could have been inconceivably worse, with more casualties to shoppers and even the responding police officer - who was 'nearby' according to reports (as opposed to the large responding team that would have been sent after emergency calls came in). Sadly the professional response of the police officer is the argument that supporters of concealed carry use to oppose gun control in the US. They allege that this sort of civilian response led to the end of a mall shooting here in the Portland area in 2012: I know someone with a connection to one of the victims. It inevitably will because it is the conventional argument in support of concealed carry being that: "armed citizens can defend each other when someone behaves violently". And the US news source most likely to include that sort of coverage is owned by Australians.

An alarm on your 'phone to tell you the cooking is done is useful. Other functions, not so much - though presumably you can download recipes to the machine and auto-set temperature and cooking time - perhaps even on a profile?