Another drink couldn’t hurt

My parents were from the UK and although I never lived there I was surrounded by the culture growing up. My Mom used to make fish and chips with mushy peas, steak and kidney pie (sometimes she had problems finding beef kidney … people asked her if she had a cat). We went back to England a few times as a child, always at Christmas, and I remember the wonderful atmosphere. They played Christmas carols everywhere, even on the bus. The metro (Tube to Londoners) tunnels were filled with buskers … it was so nice to walk round a corner and find someone playing Jingle Bells or Silent Night. And the food … Christmas pudding with brandy butter, pork pies, mince pies (actually dried fruit pies).

Now my folks are gone. I miss them all the time but I miss them most at Christmas… it’s just not the same here and without them.

I’ve had some great ones … those where the end touches the water before it’s finished leaving your asshole.

But one time I entered a public toilet in Mexico City and saw the biggest turd I’ve seen in my life. Obviously it was not capable of being flushed … it seemed to fill the entire bowl. I was just in awe at how that could have possibly fitted inside a person.

And God help you of you ever try to browse the site using an older, low resolution monitor. It borders on being unusable.

It will come, hang in there and give it time. When my wife of 11 years left with our two children I thought it was the end of the world. Turned out there was another life waiting that was even better (apart from not getting to seeing my kids every day). Being with someone you love who actually loves you back, who lifts you up instead of bringing you down… that feeling is amazing.

Not of it’s just a quick rinse in cold water. Many people in Latin America take a shower multiple times a day but it’s not what people in the US would call a shower. It’s quick and often doesn’t involve soap. I shower at least twice a day but only one of those is a real “shower” shower with soap.

Yep… this is exactly the way. Take the high road, no matter how much it may hurt you to do so. Future you will thank you.

We don’t have all the answers yet but we’re making progress in finding them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7597170/#:~:text=A crucial element in connectionists,as to sustain conscious experiences.

All the evidence so far seems to indicate that consciousness is a purely physical phenomenon … despite the fact that it may not seem so to us

If you enable wifi calling before you leave then you can leave your Rogers esim active and use your local sim for data and calls. The advantage is that you still receive sms messages on your Canadian number.

They’re called kilts and they’ve been popular for ages in Scotland

What did the Romans ever give us eh?

Unilem has a specific policy of not blocking users or posts. Basically unless it’s illegal it’s good to go. I prefer to be treated like an adult and allowed to decide for myself what I want to see online.

My wife owns a small business and I work for her. I get all kinds of perks including being able to sleep with the boss.

I was taught that my job is “to make sure all my bosses surprises are pleasant ones”. 15 years of working as an engineer and that never changed. Now I have my own business and that’s the thing I look for employees… someone I can leave on their own to do a job. It they have problems they can always ask me. If they screw up I expect them to tell me immediately and to have a plan of action to fix it and to prevent it happening again. And I never ever get cross if someone does come to me and say they screwed up. Far better that we tell the client about a problem than wait until the client finds the problem themselves.

Reading all these comments makes me realize how lucky I’ve been in my career. I’ve always had great bosses who defended me and backed me up.

In a similar vein “the greatest weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed” … Steve Biko

Private wealth management. They take a large cut but it’s worth it for most mega-rich folks. They will manage the money for you and invest it according to your goals. They spread the funds out into various investment classes to lower overall risk and they work full time moving money around to maximize gains. They also have access to tax experts who can advise on how best to minimize taxes.

I’m not sure if you’re aware but “commie” is a derogatory term … if you didn’t know that it’s fine. Now you do.

If you did know that and you’re intending to be derogatory then go fuck yourself.

Not for breaking news perhaps, but for in-depth analysis and critical commentary the Economist is in a class of it’s own. It’s the only news magazine I subscribe to. They don’t dumb down stories, they treat their readers as adults and they scrupulously avoid sensationalism. The standard of written English is exceptional, (something for which it is renowned). And I love the humor in some of the regular columns. The whole magazine is a joy to read from Letters to Obituaries. 10/10

There are two main reasons to conscript citizens. The first, to fight wars, has largely faded into irrelevance (barring exceptions for those waging war, like Russia, or those defending their country, like Ukraine). For the most part wars are better fought by paid professionals.

It’s the second type of conscription that I will discuss. Many governments promote a system of national service for reasons of social cohesion, (the so-called Scandinavian model). It has much to recommend it. It creates a shared experience in otherwise fragmented societies, breaking down barriers of class, race and gender. It can be used to instil the values of a country in its population. It builds respect for the armed forces, teaching civilians that their freedom ultimately depends on others’ willingness to kill and be killed. And it subjects a pampered population to a bracing dose of spartan clean living, away from iPads and alcopops.

The problem is in the implementation. Social service should not be confined to the young. One of the biggest divides in society is generational, and national service only for the young would not change that. Moreover it would do many older folks a lot of good to learn the value of inclusion and diversity.

On the contrary, a volunteer army allows the ruling class to prosecute wars without risk to their own families. Volunteer armies are primarily recruited from poorer and disadvantaged families, and the “volunteers” are serving because they see no other option to support themselves.

If a war arrives that is necessary, justified, and also has broad support among the population there will still be those who avoid fighting because they know that others will do so for them. They will unjustly reap the benefits of victory without making any sacrifices.

You can make a similar argument about taxation. By your logic payment should be optional, since a society that genuinely wants to be just and fair should also voluntarily want to give money to achieve that.