TheAuthority

6 hours ago, villakram said:

Most importantly, the Oxford/AZ product comes from a well known technology platform, with known issues. This is in stark contrast to the mRNA products.

Windows 95 is just misunderstood FFS.

Tribe Called Quest

Prince

Bowie

Ridiculous that Buckley is on the $10 list

On 07/12/2020 at 12:54, Xela said:

What is the fascination with pick up trucks in the States. I think the top 3 selling vehicles last year were pick-ups. Maybe one for @TheAuthority and @Dom_Wren?! 

 

Sorry I missed this - I've been busy with work for a few days.

Interestingly Alex a friend of mine just commented the other day that trucks are the new middle aged crisis vehicle for American men (instead of the red sports car or motorbike.)
About 10/15 years ago there was a documentary called "who killed the electric car?" It explained how General Motors and other US manufacturers when threatened by the idea of moving away from fossil fuels decided to aggressively design and market their SUV's as "weapons" and accentuate the power of them. Essentially they were playing on the fears of people - your vehicle needs to be a KILLER. It's bigger, tougher and more powerful than Bob and Sharon's SUV down the street.

The same marketing applies to trucks. On TV, low gravelly voiced men tell you how tough the Ford 150 is. They have huge intimidating grills on the front, big wheels and are raised higher than most other vehicles in the road. They are powered by HEMIS and 6.5 liter engines with 10,000 pounds of TOWING POWER. It's all pretty amusing.

More seriously, there is a "can do" spirit in the US and "hardware stores" are far more stocked than B&Q or whatever the UK equivalent is now. Perhaps it's regulation or just availability of space that allows American men (or women) to build an extension onto their house if they want to. Another simple practical thing is that roads are just far bigger here. The UK's infrastructure was built for horse and cart. The reasons for having a huge gas guzzlin' truck over here spans from the practical, to the available, to making your masculinity known the the world. There are always really good finance deals on them and nowadays they are even family friendly with comfy seats and lots of cup holders for you and the kids.

We just moved to Colorado they are also really practical considering the extreme weather and terrains you can encounter. So I'm not ruling out getting one in the future........

Anyway that's my take. Are they available over in the UK? Are they desirable for the cache? 

It's almost as though the judges and the courts and the state officials with some sense of integrity don't live on the Trump fantasy island. 

Maybe facts do still matter?

7 hours ago, villakram said:

First SC election case officially on the books.

Texas vs everyone 

Speaking of the independence discussion above...

"The state of Texas on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the voting results in four other states in a long-shot legal gambit intended to help President Donald Trump upend his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden."

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-lawsuit-texas/texas-asks-u-s-supreme-court-to-help-trump-upend-election-in-long-shot-lawsuit-idUSKBN28I27M

And they refused to look at Pennsylvania. No-one dissented - not one of the Trump appointees.

Try again Donny.  

2 hours ago, sne said:

 

At one point he just stopped and they all watched a video of one of those wacko right wing news networks for about 15 mins.

He literally had a rally with thousands of people in the middle of a pandemic so they could watch fake TV news with him.

On 04/12/2020 at 08:12, Rds1983 said:

The best burger place is In-N-Out Burger, it's just a long way to go and get one. 

Colorado got it's first In-N-Out a few weeks ago. There was a 12 hour line 

https://www.today.com/food/there-s-12-hour-line-1st-colorado-n-out-burger-t200244

3 hours ago, maqroll said:

Big pharma and the private prison industry are dug in against cannabis legalization and they have allies in the GOP. So much for "freedom", eh?

But we can buy Guuurrrrrrrrns 

6 hours ago, blandy said:

I've not been following al that closely, but your post seems (at face value) to contain some illogicalities:

If there's no one counting in the small hours, how would anyone know who the votes were for, until they were counted the next day? - a box of ballots turns up from a polling station to a counting station - this is entirely normal and part of the process. Voting ends, take ballot boxes to counting station. They don't all turn up at the same time. I heard that most of the on the day voter were more likely Trump voters, and more postal voter were likely Biden voters. Boxes arriving late would either be that day's ballots, or stored postal votes being moved all at once -  I don't see either shenanigans or incompetence as being the most likely reason at all. It sounds like (and maybe I don't either) the explanation is most people don't understand how the ballot collecting and counting system actually works in practice. I mean they count the "on the day" votes first, then they count the postal votes (because the Republicans made them do it that way). This is why the later arriving boxes would contain more Biden votes. 

Every witness I have seen come forward is a kook. It's as though the Republican Party picked some of the most ardent Trumpers (and some of the weirdest) to be their poll watchers. I wonder why?......

A ballot count has fairly strict processes but their partisanship and poor aptitude means they have inferred and dreamed up all sorts of things that they 'think' they saw which are quite easily explained. 

38 minutes ago, Xann said:

The House Of Representatives has passed a bill to decriminalise cannabis at federal level.

A number of states have already decriminalised. Trump's anti cannabis crew were in and out the revolving door and frankly, the country could do with some help coming down from the opioids it munches down like sweeties.

Big Pharma won't like it, nor will crazy Puritanical types.

What's likely to happen in the Senate then?

They'll ignore it

On 28/11/2020 at 12:39, HanoiVillan said:

How is it not illegal to keep whales in captivity? Like, at all?

Supposedly whales in captivity sleep with one eye open 

In the ocean they sleep 'standing up!'

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/07/sperm-whales-nap-sleeping-photography-spd/

Just now, sidcow said:

What a Circus. The USA is really dragging itself through excrement in front of the whole World.  If Guilliani is trying to tap your back to reign you in you've gone so far off the scale were going to need Hubble to find you. 

Supposedly General Flynn (the guy just pardoned by Trump) has suggested that the election result should be thrown out. We should do it all again, only with paper ballots and the army should run it. 

Nothing strange or evocative of a Dictatorship there then.

I can't get enough of her 

On 02/12/2020 at 07:56, villakram said:

Audits should be welcomed by all, to unequivocally demonstrate the integrity of the vote, in particular given the large turnout.

Ok, fair point.

Quote

Plenty of political shenanigans took place as has been discussed around here on many occasions. There were lots of unfortunate issues with how the count happened too, which creates plenty of room for conspiracy-land to get in high gear.  

Really? I'm yet to see any credible evidence. For example, I'm not sure what to say about this 'star witness' for the Trump campaign yesterday in Michigan. At one point even Giuliani was trying to reign her in. For context the guy questioning her is a Republican.....

On 28/11/2020 at 04:49, mjmooney said:

Yeah, I found that a good watch. Despite Kerridge, whom I can't stand. Always felt there's something dodgy about him. 

We were family friends growing up. Not neighborhood friends - Once a month parents get together friends. His mom went to Halesowen Grammar with my dad (same class.)

Nice lad from what I can remember. From my understanding it's his wife who has really pushed the business side his celebrity. Done well for himself obviously. 

On 30/11/2020 at 10:29, villa4europe said:

Watching German bake off again, Danish week this week, 6 of them left, challenge one is just something typically danish

1 of them is making a cake, 1 cinnamon buns, 1 Danish pastry and 1 of them Danish biscuits 

Weird how they're letting be so different 

Never thought that a show about baking by amateurs would be worth a minute of my time. But now there's international spin offs?

I really don't have my finger on the 'pulse' of popular culture. Not criticizing just intrigued in whats appealing about it.

1 hour ago, legov said:

I've always had a bit of a crush on him/her.

Him now, but yeah.

8/10 WB

@icouldtelltheworld

Thanks for your post on 19/11 - Just got around to reading it now.  You bring up interesting points. I learnt today that violence against trans people means that their life expectancy is 35 in the US. Yes, 35 - Thats medieval.

It's a demonstrable fact that men who wish to sexually assault women don't dress up as women and enter their bathrooms to do it. But it is absolutely true that men kill transgender people. My opinion is that we should deal with that issue.
The bathroom argument is a noisy distraction.

JKR's arguments are very selfish. Trans folks have different issues and stigmas - that doesn't make feminine equality any less important - it's just a different issue. It's hard to understand why she's misunderstood this so much.

On as the comments that @mjmooney shared from his daughter. Murder isn't the only thing that causes death amongst the trans community. Suicide especially amongst teens if rife. 

It is society's duty to protect our most vulnerable other wise what are we? The majority of trans folks understand or feel that they are trans from an early age. What if it were you? Or your own child? 35 years of life expectancy?

4 hours ago, villakram said:

A declaration of bankruptcy has little relevance to ones ability to run a business, if ones goal is to make money, e.g., see the entire leveraged buyout sector. Capitalism 101 aka "it's just business".

Serious question VK. Do you the think the vote is rigged or is it legit?

No need for cryptic responses - a simple yes or no will suffice.