Mandy Lifeboats

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66798508 The interesting part of this article is that the US/UK were listening to the conversation between Russian ground control and the 2 Russian jets involved. If that's the level of infiltration we are willing to publicly acknowledge, I wonder how deep our infiltration actually goes. The leaked Pentagon documents did suggest that an order given by the Kremlin is known by the Pentagon before its known by the Russian military.

Good points. But..... When a currency significantly drops in value it tends to recover by itself. Imports become more expensive but exports become dirt cheap. The increase in exports helps the economy and increases demand for the currency. Thereby adding value to the currency. That isn't working with Russia. The currency is tumbling and demand for their exports (however cheap) is very limited. Russia will (and already does) sacrifice state assistance for its population. That's why they have one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe. To wage war you need millions of young fit men who are willing to die for their country or thousands of young fit men using cutting edge weapons and technology. Our sanctions are making Russia take more and more extreme short term measures that will destroy their ability to wage war in the long term. The USSR was bigger than Russia, had more people, a bigger army, more resources and more allies. Decades of sanctions brought it to it's knees. When it fell its "allies" such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and many more joined the west and began distancing themselves from Russia. Can Russia succeed where the USSR failed against a much larger west and maintain an real war at the same time? Maybe. But I think its demise will come much quicker.

As I said. Short term success leading to long term failure. Ten years ago there were 50 ruble to the pound. It hit 125 a few weeks ago. That's not a sign of a healthy and well run economy. It's a long term failure caused by thousands of bad decisions by Putin.

The only way to drive up prices is to reduce production. If Russia reduces production it loses more money (proportionately) than every other oil producing nation. We are fast approaching the peak year for oil/gas usage. Russia has wasted what should be its highest earning years. Russia is the largest country in the world, it has massive stocks of gas and oil. Its got agricultural land, raw materials, ports, a space program, fishery, nuclear energy and a large cheap workforce. It should be an economic super power. Its not. Its economy isn't as big as the tiny UK or a single US state like Texas. Russia can hurt the west economically in the short term. But those short term gains are insignificant when you consider the long term damage it does to Russia. Would you invest in Russia when their currency is in free fall, your assets could be seized by Putin and you might fall out of a window if you refused to sell your assets at a knockdown price? The ruble is crashing against EVERY world currency. Its not just the £, €, ¥ and $.

Sanctions work. There are always ways to circumnavigate them. But Russia income has fallen drastically whilst the cost of imports has risen drastically. The ruble exchange rate shows how bad its got. Even with 12% interest rates and laws to prevent foreigners withdrawing capital from Russia, the ruble has halved in value in only 12 months. It was 60 rubles to the pound. Its now 120.

It was a fake letter. In response to the uproar "we buy any car" offered to pay £10 to charity.

During the missile attacked on Sevastopol it was rumoured that Ukrainian Special Forces were in the city. The Russian Army and Russian Police sent out security patrols. It will come as no surprise that both parties spent most of the night shooting at one another. At least 4 dead.

As an ad-hoc desperation play or a trick play it's fine. The rugby ball holder does not have to worry about an opposing player standing between them and the ball receiver. That player is offside by definition. In the NFL it's a standard tactic to place players there.

Why not make the drone much bigger, reduce the number of rotors but make them much bigger and let the man in the drone control where it goes? What time does the patent office close?

Further to all the other answers. Rugby has an offside rule which prevents defenders being forward of the ball. That rule does not exist in NFL once the play begins, Defenders in the NFL can "mark/cover" players likely to be receiving the ball wherever they are on the pitch. The offside rule in rugby prevents that very close marking.

The round jamming in my sniper rifle during a Status Quo concert.

I love Star Wars. Dr Spock and Professor Snape are the best characters. Revenge of the Jedi was definitely the best film of the 1990s.

I posted this in another thread back in 2021. It still makes me smile when I think of it. "David Niven's Fridge. For those of you who aren't coffin dodgers, this was a Monty Python sketch. At a glitzy award ceremony David Niven is presenting an award. The host announces "Unfortunately David cannot be here today, but he has sent his fridge to make the award." The fridge is wheeled on, presents the award and leaves. Everyone acts as this is completely normal. It's surreal comedy at its best. At work some of the elders like to wind up the whippersnappers. A favourite is to drop old and obscure references into mundane correspondence and events. Today we got a new fridge. A colleague circulated an email saying that a long retired colleague called David Niven had passed away. In his will he'd left his former colleagues enough money to purchase something for the office. We'd used it to purchase a fridge. Later that day he called everyone together and announced that unfortunately David Niven can't be with us today. But he's sent a fridge. He then recreated most of the sketch as a solemn eulogy. I almost p!$$ed myself but managed to disguise it as emotion. Tomorrow it will have an engraved sign "David Niven's Fridge." If you like surreal humour Google "David Niven's Fridge." Genius."

I dislike the Goons. But some of the individuals were geniuses. Seecombe and Milligan met when they were both serving soldiers in WW2. Milligan's mob were moving an artillery piece which subsequently fell off a cliff. Seecombes mob were camped at the bottom of the cliff and the artillery piece crashed through their encampment leaving a trail of utter destruction. Spike - Have you seen our cannon? Harry - I don't know. What colour is it?

Everything in this bloopers video was repeated in the 2 shows I attended.

I went to see the live version of Bottom. It was an amazing atmosphere. The crowd was hostile and there were some vicious heckles and some vicious responses. In some places Rik and Ade broke down in laughter and couldn't continue. I enjoyed it so much that I went so see it again a few weeks later. The heckles were identical, the responses were identical and the off scripted moments were identical. I felt cheated.

Sports washing? Presumably a clean sheet wins the game?

I always struggle with accepting this explanation (no offence intended). Presumably you watched a small amount, decided that you didn't like it and watched no more? Or did you just watch highlights that other people describe as funny? Either way, you didn't experience the full picture.

I would challenge anyone to watch Fawlty Towers for the first time and not find it funny. It was brilliantly written and there are so many moments of absolute genius. Prunela Scales acting is sublime. Nearly 50 years after it was shown we still use "Basil Fawlty" and "Fawlty Towers" to describe poor hotels and rude staff.

Here are the sentencing guidelines for the offence for which she was convicted - Death By Careless Driving https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/causing-death-by-careless-or-inconsiderate-driving/ 8 months seems completely compatible.

I can only really talk about the UK legal system. Every crime in the UK has a maximum and minimum penalty. But the starting point is specified in the "Sentencing Guidelines". This sets a typical penalty. That penalty is then increased or decreased if criteria are met. These guidelines are in the public domain. You can make the calculations yourself if you have heard everything said in court. I would imagine the US has something similar and the sentences you mention are compatible with that standard.

There is a very simple answer. If there was credible evidence of a war crime the USA would undoubtedly prosecute and punish those concerned with a reasonable penalty. The Hague would not repeat the process in order to implement a similar penalty. It's no different to existing legal practice in most European Coutries. As an example - Mr X is in prison for 15 years for undertaking 10 armed robberies. If other crimes come light they would be ignored UNLESS it would lead to a significant increase in his sentence.

Nah. I've pressed loads of those buttons. It's never given me a blind person.

When I started to drive it was said that temporary traffic lights had a sensor that would automatically change the light to green if an emergency services vehicle approached. It was said that the sensor picked up the flashing lights. The story goes that you couldd trick the sensor by simply flashing your lights. But you had to hit a sweet spot where your much headlights were in the sensors viewpoint. Myth or reality? I certainly remember doing this and the lights changed. But maybe that was a coincidence?

In 1969 Astronaut Michael Collins took a photograph of the lunar lander approaching the moon. The earth can be seen in the background. He was on one side of the camera. Every other human being that ever existed was on the other side of the camera.