Mandy Lifeboats

Boxer Henry Armstrong was a World champion at 3 different weights. He did something that no other boxer had done. What?

Of course it was badly timed. People under extreme stress can make bad decisions.

The Russian Army has proven that if you have an enemy surrounded on 3 sides and have better weapons with a longer range and a bigger army, richer economy and bigger country that its perfectly possible to keep some of your naval fleet intact and minimise attacks in your capital city at the cost of 200,000 dead troops and 50% or your total military capacity. Good job.

Ukraine? Possibly. But there are plenty of other countries that have reason to undertake this operation. Regardless of who did it...........well done chaps!

@Jonesy7211 This sounds like 2 people under unimaginable stress behaving like 2 people under unimaginable stress. I have absolutely doubt that you will both approach things very differently once the dust has settled. Best of luck with both your health and your relationship.

Russia has a limited stock. I think they are stockpiling them to make large attacks on the power grid during the winter. That will be their retribution

A friend of mine claims to sense ghosts. The first time she mentioned it we were sitting in coffee shop. She told me that she sensed someone had died there. We were sitting in a converted 700 year old building that was once a pub and before that a hospital for the poor, It stood in a city that had a history going back to roman times. There had been at least 2 very bloody battles for ownership of the city. I would guess that we walk over a place someone has died many times every day.

One of the customers would always fall of the roller coaster and get trapped in the middle of the water ride. You couldn't just kill them. You had to help them to the exit. Walt Disney wou.d be rolling in his grave which he has definitely got because he definitely was not cryogenically frozen.

It's too long ago. But any recent operation would have been outlined in detail and authoritised on a RIP1 form. 90% of the content of this form would be given to you upon request 90% of the time as long as its not still part of an active matter. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ripa-forms--2 I drafted many revisions to this form over the last 20 years.

Fortune telling in the form you describe is harmless and (imho) a form of entertainment. But telling someone that they will suffer a nasty accident unless they buy a sprig of ypur lucky heather is a different story.

Short answer - If your phone was tapped, it was not by the Police or a UK government agency. There was never a need to visit a home to install a tap. Private detectives or foreign agencies could not use the easiest method and often used devices planted in or near phones. Landlines have a stable electric current which the device could use. It was often used to record conversations in the home and phone calls. If this was the case, the wrong number calls were designed to get you talking about the possibility of a tap AFTER the receiver was replaced. They would be hoping to hear things like "Should I tell x that they are on to him?" or ""Tell x to say he's a mate from football when he next calls".

Just to clarify. In my opinion the whole industry of fortune telling is a conspiracy to defraud. That does not mean that all individuals in that industry are conspiring to defraud. Some people genuinely think they can see the future. Whether they can or not is irrelevant. Conspiracy to defraud is those who don't think they have ability but still take money from people. I don't believe in ghosts. But I accept that people see things that they believe are ghosts. There is a huge difference between telling people what you believe you saw and making up a ghost story to sell to a newspaper for profit.

All of us can predict the future to some extent. I also think fortune telling you describe above can be a valuable talking therapy. But I would offer the following as evidence- Anyone who could truly predict significant and specific future events on a regular basis would be a billionaire and have no need to tell fortunes. I will apologise and completely revise my opinion if you (or anyone else) can come up with 5 significant and verifiable predictions for next week.

Part 2. Conspiracy theories that have merit. The government listens to your phone calls and has planted bugs in your house - 100% true for a tiny number of people. Various agencies do this regularly and there is a set process for obtaining authority to do it. ( RIPA - Regulation Investigatory Powers Act). I have been involved in this process in a professional capacity on numerous occasions. Fortune telling - An active conspiracy to defraud. Speaking to the dead- An active, evil conspiracy. Saddlam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction- a complete lie and conspiracy made up by powerful people to justify an invasion and secure oil supplies. 911 - A terrorist attack. Slightly corrupted because of the need to protect certain information. I believe the plane that struck the Pentagon was shot down on approach by an air defence system but still hit the target and/or the air defence system caused some damage. Evidence was withheld to protect the nature and location of that system.

I see your point. But there are different kinds of clever. Bozo could manipulate people and events to an amazing extent. That's very clever. There are still people who think he was a wonderful PM. There are still people who employ him for big money. Boris was sacked from his first job for lying. He was sacked by a national newspaper for lying. He was sacked by the Tory leader Michael Howard for lying. He lied to numerous girlfriends and partners. This was all BEFORE he became PM. But he had scruffy hair, an ill fitting suit and liked a pint. So let's all vote for him. What could possibly go wrong. Bozo's rise to power via the Brexit fiasco is a perfect example of a real conspiracy that the masses swallowed hook, line and sinker.

Here's a quick summary according to me. Moon Landings - Real. Ample strong evidence. Not challenged by the USSR at the time or Russia since. Far too many people involved over such a long period to maintain a conspiracy. Flat Earth - False. Nonsense. Idiocy. JFK - Killed by Oswald. He was the only active shooter. He was clearly involved with USSR/USA government agencies. These agencies did not assist him to kill JFK. The evidence was tampered with by law enforcement who were desperate for a conviction and others trying to hide Oswald's connections. Ruby killed him to shut him up under coercion from others. Princess Di - Died in a car accident where the press pack contributed by chasing the vehicle. Had she worn a seat belt she would have walked away. The driver was an informant to French security services. At least 1 of the chasing press mob was actually undercover law enforcement. There is a group of rich pedophiles who are protected by the establishment - True. Its hard to deny when there are so many proven examples. But its not a massive club with a membership list and an annual conference in a hollow volcano. It's several groups of rich and powerful people working together to protect themselves. COVID - An accidental release from a Chinese experiment. Many profited from the vaccines but they worked. The long term effects are not known. The lockdown saved lives in the short term but may have cost lives in the long term. Boris Johnson. - A very clever man pretending to be stupid. He wanted his performance during COVID to become the modern equivalent of Churchill in WW2. He thinks he can lie his way out of any problem. He eventually got found out. Dangerous. David Icke - Makes a nice living from peddling unprovable theories. A small amount of his guesses have proven correct. But he conveniently ignores his guesses that proved to be absolute twaddle. A clever man taking money from the gullible. Donald Trump - Says things that make his followers feel good. Portrays his followers as being "true patriots" and anyone opposing him as a fraud. A stupid mad pretending to be clever. Dangerous.

I didn't replace the hinges. I just removed as much of the paint as possible. Swelling doors isn't a problem for me. It's unfortunate that modern doors made of sawdust, wheatabix and squirrel spit are so much better than those old solid wood doors.

Rumour has it that the storm shadow attack on Sevastopol took out VICTOR SOKOLOV He is or was the Admiral of the Black Sea Fleet.

This war has been a strategic disaster for the Russian Navy. Their 3 main navy bases in Europe are - St Petersburg. Now only accessible by navigating a narrow approach that now has a NATO country on both sides. Anything getting through that channel faces the Baltic Sea surrounded by NATO on all sides before trying to escape into the North Sea via the narrow passages through the Danish islands. Sevastopol. Boom. Murmansk. The home of the northern fleet this base is supplied by 1 railway and 1 road that are just over the Finnish border. The rail line and road pass through hundred of miles of thick forests, lakes and mountains. Its perfect terrain for the Finns. Supply by sea is severely limited in the winter due to ice. After the Ukraine war the entire border will need to be fortified by Russia.

That actually seems plausible. Can I do the same with my car battery and a blow torch?

Have you tried rolling the batteries around? For some reason that's always the first thing I do when the remote stops working. I have no idea why? What the hell am I expecting to happen?

I have been decorating and have been taking off the internal doors to repaint them. Every single hinge and screw head had been painted over numerous times. 20% came out easily. 80% were an absolute pain in the you know what.

1. The trip to the moon could have been faked. 2. The moon could be a film set. 3. The lower gravity/weightlessness be the result of the entire set being built in a centrifuge. 4. The whole experience could be a hypnotically induced memory.

@Seal I am interested in this topic. I believe there is ample proof that man landed on the moon. But there is also ample proof that NASA edits photographs and doesn't always tell the truth. But sadly I don't feel we can reasonably discuss these points because (imho) you are not objective. There is an excellent and amusing channel on YouTube which reviews conspiracy theories. They are very balanced. It's called "The Why Files" and I recommend the video "The moon landings". They give compelling evidence of various NASA misinformation throughout the years. It's well worth a watch.

Could you please give me an example of some evidence that would change your mind? No limits......blue sky thinking..... everything is possible except time travel.