I am very worried that Harris cannot beat Trump however. I wonder whether enough Dem primary voters will have the same view if there is some kind of contest.
Who could beat Trump? I agree Harris can't. Mrs DA almost never offers unsolicited political commentary (her previous contribution was an observation on how disgusting Johnson's teeth are) happened to mention that Biden looks like he's dying right in front of us.
John Kemp @JKempEnergy EU28 GAS PRICES will continue climbing until the market sees signs of actual demand-destruction - most likely announcements of temporary factory closures, longer holiday shutdowns over Christmas, and reductions in street lighting and commercial building thermostat targets
I thought it was odd* that when that fertilizer plant shutdown (before being bunged some tax payers' money) no one was asking "is it not a little worrying that a plant like this is shutting down because of gas prices?" Surely the rise in gas prices is going to have a crippling effect on the world economy.
* Okay, not that odd, I know how the limited the media is.
Shopping yesterday. Flooding on the slip road to Sainsbury's. Masks around 75 per cent. No Coke; more bottled water but not much. Some other gaps. They have some new brands of cat food, perhaps in response to problems with their usual suppliers.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
Oh yes, that was the vote where your party told voters that the only way to retain membership of the EU was by voting No. What an honest, upright bunch you are.
Firstly, we probably slightly underestimate the prospect of Biden dying or being incapacitated within the next three years due to the fact his age is quite exceptional for a President. The US actuarial death tables show the probability of a 79 year old man (which Biden will be in just over a month) dying within three years as 18%. That'll be lower, of course, for a relatively fit man with great access to healthcare, but it also doesn't include the risk of incapacity rather than death. That's non-trivial and, if it happens, it's hard to see past Harris as nominee.
Secondly, Buttigieg is a tough opponent in many ways - but not that tough, and certainly not as tough as Clinton would have been for Biden in 2016. She turned out to be a poor candidate against Trump, but had universal name recognition, was a HUGE draw for donations, and had a solid gold CV. Buttigieg, meanwhile, is a highly capable politician, but just isn't on the same level (yet) as a candidate to suck the oxygen from the room, and really struggled to cut through with black voters, which are a big part of the Democratic base. Unfortunately, his sexuality is an issue in terms of electability in the US - that's changing, but not necessarily fast enough for 2024. Indeed, he may well not even run against Harris if Biden goes. He's only 39 years old - had he been elected President last year, he'd have been the youngest ever... but he'd still be 11th youngest even if he ran in 2032 following Biden and two terms of Harris! And evolving social attitudes are one reason he may feel 2030s isn't a bad time to run. Suppose Harris offered him the VP slot early on (with assurances he'd be a powerful VP) - that's a very, very tempting offer.
I think you have a good point there about the Veep slot.
I am very worried that Harris cannot beat Trump however. I wonder whether enough Dem primary voters will have the same view if there is some kind of contest.
That is the conclusion they reached last time, not just about Harris but on all the candidates except Biden. Whilst Trump will be a bit weaker next time out that is largely offset by the Republican cheating. If he is alive, the next nominee will be Biden simply as he is the most likely to beat Trump and it would be a dereliction of a lifetimes duty not to stand.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
And we've had a democratic vote to have another one.
Westminster decides. That’s the law. Westminster is not minded to grant another indyref. Tough shit
If you don’t like the law, take it to the SCOTUK or declare UDI. Good luck
'You aren't a real country Scotland so suck it up, buttercup'
Basically, yes. Also, as you point out, they HAD a chance to go Indy. They said No. They weren’t treated like a colony or ignored like Catalonia. They got their referendum but they lost. That’s it. Once in a generation
The time to look at it again will be when a generation has passed, to my mind that’s at least 15 years, so: after 2030
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
Bottled water, Tesco, 6-8 weeks ago. Ony "with a hint of" stuff left.
Annoyingly, the first time for at least a decade I have wanted bottled water, as a fallback supply on a little boat I've just bought in case I get swept out to sea.
I hoard bottled water even in the good times. I love the taste of Highland Spring. I always have a bottle by the bed. I generally keep about 20 bottles in stock and start to get a tingle of panic when the number goes below about 12
Hydration, hydration, hydration
The "pourer" on Highland Spring bottles is the greatest invention of the 21st Century.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Ho ho. I have a parasite in my brain, reading my every thought.
BritNats are clever. Scottish patriots are thickos. You keep believing that old boy.
You do not even live in Scotland
And you need to persuade Scots living in Scotland as at present you are failing
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
I've never heard anyone express that view before - but I've always found microwave rice better too. I'd always assumed that it was that I was bad at cooking rice (there is a trope from Asian comedians about how badly western people cook rice - I just supposed I was part of that, without ever really being motivated enough to improve or buy a rice cooker, which apparently is how I should have been doing it).
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
What a mess, yet they seem surprised at still losing good people to their main rival.
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
On the other hand:
"Tesla ordered to pay $137M to Black former worker subjected to racist workplace"
Their defence was... interesting. "Yeah, there was racist graffiti in the building. But it was probably contractors..."
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
Oh yes, that was the vote where your party told voters that the only way to retain membership of the EU was by voting No. What an honest, upright bunch you are.
Whereas a vote for YES meant instant expulsion from the EU, a mini Brexit for Scotland. A fact all Scot Nats now conveniently, furtively and ridiculously ignore. Look at yourself, man
Even by Brexit standards, “You should have been prepared for the stuff we swore would never happen” is a remarkable position to take. Never underestimate the seductive power of a lie that lets people deny that they’ve been duped. However flimsy & transparent the lie may be. https://twitter.com/lbc/status/1445378612585185282
Yes, I see the FBPE mob are pleasuring themselves furiously over that this morning.
We'd have problems even if we were in the EU - it's just we'd be 80,000 drivers short (at best) as opposed to100,000 drivers short, and still have supply problems.
Brexit is responsible for 50% of our variable driver shortage is a useful way to look at it.
We have had an ongoing, longstanding (and sustainable, evidently) shortage of 50,000 and then Brexit (25,000) and Covid/testing (25,000) make up the difference.
I think this is a classic example of the "sole actor fallacy".
There are lots of reasons why we're short of HGV drivers right now. To think of just five:
1. Covid meaning very few new licenses have been granted in 18 months 2. Most pan-EU drivers choosing to work the Continental beat rather than the UK one 3. The rise of Amazon, Deliveroo, etc., in pulling drivers away from long-distance work 4. A sudden spike in demand as Covid dissipates and economic activity rebounds 5. British HGV drivers earning less because most trips to the continent are now "one way".
Sure Brexit has been a factor. But if we hadn't had Covid, we probably wouldn't have noticed.
You of course have no way of knowing that (that we wouldn't have noticed).
Petrol seems back to normal at my local Sainsbury's today with only very short queues.
Seems to be burning out.
That’ll be because there was never actually a fuel shortage, and the panic buying was driven primarily by media and social media speculation about delivery issues.
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
What a mess, yet they seem surprised at still losing good people to their main rival.
Yes.
What makes it almost poetic is that they are looking at a company where, according to multiple sources the situation is this -
1) The CEO/owner works himself as hard as anyone. 2) Has relocated himself to be onsite at the current biggest project. 3) Understands the projects down to the nut and bolts level 4) Is available 24/7 to make decisions. 5) Pays decently. 6) Stock options are worth a fuckton 7) Offers a working environment of "if you are a mad hobbyist in rocketry, you can do real rocketry 18 hours a day. No impediments". 8) Offers responsibility - see the recent video where an engineer in her 20s gets to be responsible for the launch mount of the largest rocket in the world. And briefs the owner of the company directly on it.
vs
1) Owner has bought a bigger boat 2) Devotes 2 whole afternoon a week to the company 3) Understands lawsuits. 4) Pays ok 5) Stock options are worth shit and you have to stay to get anything. 6) Offers a work environment of "If you like meetings, we have meetings"
And their answer is the serfs need to work harder.
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
I've never heard anyone express that view before - but I've always found microwave rice better too. I'd always assumed that it was that I was bad at cooking rice (there is a trope from Asian comedians about how badly western people cook rice - I just supposed I was part of that, without ever really being motivated enough to improve or buy a rice cooker, which apparently is how I should have been doing it).
Cooking rice really well is notably hard. Almost impossible for someone with limited experience and no rice cooker. The Thais are religious about rice and spend years learning the craft, likewise the Japanese
Top brand micro rice delivers near-restaurant quality rice in 2 minutes. It won’t be quite as good as the rice you get in a Japanese restaurant but it will be better than the rice 95% of amateur cooks boil at home
Firstly, we probably slightly underestimate the prospect of Biden dying or being incapacitated within the next three years due to the fact his age is quite exceptional for a President. The US actuarial death tables show the probability of a 79 year old man (which Biden will be in just over a month) dying within three years as 18%. That'll be lower, of course, for a relatively fit man with great access to healthcare, but it also doesn't include the risk of incapacity rather than death. That's non-trivial and, if it happens, it's hard to see past Harris as nominee.
Secondly, Buttigieg is a tough opponent in many ways - but not that tough, and certainly not as tough as Clinton would have been for Biden in 2016. She turned out to be a poor candidate against Trump, but had universal name recognition, was a HUGE draw for donations, and had a solid gold CV. Buttigieg, meanwhile, is a highly capable politician, but just isn't on the same level (yet) as a candidate to suck the oxygen from the room, and really struggled to cut through with black voters, which are a big part of the Democratic base. Unfortunately, his sexuality is an issue in terms of electability in the US - that's changing, but not necessarily fast enough for 2024. Indeed, he may well not even run against Harris if Biden goes. He's only 39 years old - had he been elected President last year, he'd have been the youngest ever... but he'd still be 11th youngest even if he ran in 2032 following Biden and two terms of Harris! And evolving social attitudes are one reason he may feel 2030s isn't a bad time to run. Suppose Harris offered him the VP slot early on (with assurances he'd be a powerful VP) - that's a very, very tempting offer.
I think you have a good point there about the Veep slot.
I am very worried that Harris cannot beat Trump however. I wonder whether enough Dem primary voters will have the same view if there is some kind of contest.
This is where black Democrats come in, they've tended to be a lot less optimistic about the wokeness of the white general electorate than white Democrats tend to be. Obama made the cut, but only after he'd won Iowa and shown that he could get white people to vote for him.
I reckon the candidate to watch is Stacey Abrams. She's running for governor of Georgia, and it could easily be the Dems' only substantial win, thanks to Trump going to war on the GOP governor for declining to go along with his coup attempt. If she wins that race she has a great electorability argument that nobody else can match. It's a bit rude to run for president right after winning a governorship but she seems to be ambitious...
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
On the other hand:
"Tesla ordered to pay $137M to Black former worker subjected to racist workplace"
Their defence was... interesting. "Yeah, there was racist graffiti in the building. But it was probably contractors..."
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Petrol seems back to normal at my local Sainsbury's today with only very short queues.
Seems to be burning out.
Not literally, hopefully.
I watched a tanker pull into our local petrol station from the pub window last night. Didn't seem to be being tailed by desperate motorists so maybe it is calming down.
Good to hear. It's probably another month until I have to fill up so the whole panic buying thing has passed me by completely.
Firstly, we probably slightly underestimate the prospect of Biden dying or being incapacitated within the next three years due to the fact his age is quite exceptional for a President. The US actuarial death tables show the probability of a 79 year old man (which Biden will be in just over a month) dying within three years as 18%. That'll be lower, of course, for a relatively fit man with great access to healthcare, but it also doesn't include the risk of incapacity rather than death. That's non-trivial and, if it happens, it's hard to see past Harris as nominee.
Secondly, Buttigieg is a tough opponent in many ways - but not that tough, and certainly not as tough as Clinton would have been for Biden in 2016. She turned out to be a poor candidate against Trump, but had universal name recognition, was a HUGE draw for donations, and had a solid gold CV. Buttigieg, meanwhile, is a highly capable politician, but just isn't on the same level (yet) as a candidate to suck the oxygen from the room, and really struggled to cut through with black voters, which are a big part of the Democratic base. Unfortunately, his sexuality is an issue in terms of electability in the US - that's changing, but not necessarily fast enough for 2024. Indeed, he may well not even run against Harris if Biden goes. He's only 39 years old - had he been elected President last year, he'd have been the youngest ever... but he'd still be 11th youngest even if he ran in 2032 following Biden and two terms of Harris! And evolving social attitudes are one reason he may feel 2030s isn't a bad time to run. Suppose Harris offered him the VP slot early on (with assurances he'd be a powerful VP) - that's a very, very tempting offer.
I think you have a good point there about the Veep slot.
I am very worried that Harris cannot beat Trump however. I wonder whether enough Dem primary voters will have the same view if there is some kind of contest.
This is where black Democrats come in, they've tended to be a lot less optimistic about the wokeness of the white general electorate than white Democrats tend to be. Obama made the cut, but only after he'd won Iowa and shown that he could get white people to vote for him.
I reckon the candidate to watch is Stacey Abrams. She's running for governor of Georgia, and it could easily be the Dems' only substantial win, thanks to Trump going to war on the GOP governor for declining to go along with his coup attempt. If she wins that race she has a great electorability argument that nobody else can match. It's a bit rude to run for president right after winning a governorship but she seems to be ambitious...
Stacey Abrams is also a very effective operator in internal Democratic Party politics - something that Harris doesn't seem to have in her skillset.
Request for info... Would putting an empty glass jam jar outside provide a reasonably accurate rain guage by measuring with a ruler ?
Yes. Needs to be straight sided.
The curve at the bottom would make measuring most British rain fall impossible by ruler. Let alone the size of the lip vs the size of the rest of the jar.
Sure but i only want a rough idea... how rough is my rough idea?
See my post above - I reckon it will be +/- 20%, but you can help yourself by using a straight sided vessel, with as large a circumference as possible. Jam jars may not be best. Think about a saucepan, and then use a ruler without a dead section at the end (i.e. the measuring starts at the tip).
Edit - If you want to know than buy a rain gauge and compare to your jar method. But then as you have a rain gauge, you won't need the jar...
I would calculate the cross sectional area of the pan, and then weigh the pan empty and after the rain to determine how much water it has collected. A quick calc and you get the depth. The density of water being 1g/cm3 makes this easy. Should be more accurate using a kitchen balance than a ruler when the depth is minimal.
Oh FFS. A cheap rain gauge costs less than £5; an expensive one less than £50.
Coming up next on pb.com, can I make a pair of scissors out of a couple of knives and an elastic band or should I spend my £5?
Petrol seems back to normal at my local Sainsbury's today with only very short queues.
Seems to be burning out.
Not literally, hopefully.
I watched a tanker pull into our local petrol station from the pub window last night. Didn't seem to be being tailed by desperate motorists so maybe it is calming down.
Good to hear. It's probably another month until I have to fill up so the whole panic buying thing has passed me by completely.
I think that as tanks fill up faster than supply, people are running out of places to stash petrol. Despite the jerry can sales.
How long before an idiot burns a house down when his store of petrol goes up? Back in the petrol strike (drivers refusing to drive) there was a chap who filled a huge plastic container with petrol. Which melted it......
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
What a mess, yet they seem surprised at still losing good people to their main rival.
Yes.
What makes it almost poetic is that they are looking at a company where, according to multiple sources the situation is this -
1) The CEO/owner works himself as hard as anyone. 2) Has relocated himself to be onsite at the current biggest project. 3) Understands the projects down to the nut and bolts level 4) Is available 24/7 to make decisions. 5) Pays decently. 6) Stock options are worth a fuckton 7) Offers a working environment of "if you are a mad hobbyist in rocketry, you can do real rocketry 18 hours a day. No impediments". 8) Offers responsibility - see the recent video where an engineer in her 20s gets to be responsible for the launch mount of the largest rocket in the world. And briefs the owner of the company directly on it.
vs
1) Owner has bought a bigger boat 2) Devotes 2 whole afternoon a week to the company 3) Understands lawsuits. 4) Pays ok 5) Stock options are worth shit and you have to stay to get anything. 6) Offers a work environment of "If you like meetings, we have meetings"
And their answer is the serfs need to work harder.
7) Is the big one. There’s only one company who’s letting the rocket scientists actually build stuff, do it quickly and iteratively, and not worry a huge amount if they blow up.
BO, NASA, SLS and the legacy contractors spend a decade talking and making drawings, while SX are making and testing actual rockets!
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
Where I've been caught short is green beans and it's happening too often to be "just one of those things".
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Waits for flack .
Actually, you may be right. I was just repeating received opinion there. I don’t particularly like peas in any form - boring. But a lot of pro chefs say frozen peas are amazing, ‘as good as fresh or better’, if that is not the case I stand corrected.
I stick by my opinion of top quality micro rice, however. I was once lamenting how hard and messy it is to boil rice at home and a restaurant owner friend in Thailand rolled her eyes and said ‘try microwave, it’s excellent’. She’s right
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Waits for flack .
Frozen peas are much better than tinned, provided you only heat them just enough to be hot and no more. Fresh peas, direct from the garden, are in an entirely different league. Amazing.
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
Where I've been caught short is green beans and it's happening too often to be "just one of those things".
Bin liners have been AWOL for weeks, and bottled water.
I am very worried that Harris cannot beat Trump however. I wonder whether enough Dem primary voters will have the same view if there is some kind of contest.
Who could beat Trump? I agree Harris can't. Mrs DA almost never offers unsolicited political commentary (her previous contribution was an observation on how disgusting Johnson's teeth are) happened to mention that Biden looks like he's dying right in front of us.
Gove's choppers are worse. You can see what the cigs have done over the years. Surprised he hasn't done a Cowell or a Bowie and got himself a gleaming new set of porcelain veneers, especially now he's in play at the clubs.
Perhaps conference bounces are a thing of the past? There was always a chunk of any publicity is good publicity going on; remind people that a politician exists, their measured support goes up.
Whilst there's plenty of coverage there if you look for it, lots of people get a lot less news beamed into their eyeballs than in the olden days of 3 or 4 channels. The audience for the big BBC bulletins is 3-4 million, ITV gets 2-3 million tops. (source: https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/barb-data/top-programmes-report/)
That's a lot of people not getting much TV news at all.
If you get your music via Spotify and your entertainment via Netflix, you can quite easily go for days without having significant news wafted past you. In particular, it's pretty easy to avoid hearing the voice of the other side.
There must be enough polling data out there to check this, but not by me.
Request for info... Would putting an empty glass jam jar outside provide a reasonably accurate rain guage by measuring with a ruler ?
Yes. Needs to be straight sided.
The curve at the bottom would make measuring most British rain fall impossible by ruler. Let alone the size of the lip vs the size of the rest of the jar.
Sure but i only want a rough idea... how rough is my rough idea?
See my post above - I reckon it will be +/- 20%, but you can help yourself by using a straight sided vessel, with as large a circumference as possible. Jam jars may not be best. Think about a saucepan, and then use a ruler without a dead section at the end (i.e. the measuring starts at the tip).
Edit - If you want to know than buy a rain gauge and compare to your jar method. But then as you have a rain gauge, you won't need the jar...
I would calculate the cross sectional area of the pan, and then weigh the pan empty and after the rain to determine how much water it has collected. A quick calc and you get the depth. The density of water being 1g/cm3 makes this easy. Should be more accurate using a kitchen balance than a ruler when the depth is minimal.
Oh FFS. A cheap rain gauge costs less than £5; an expensive one less than £50.
You can buy a rain gauge from Apple for more than £50, of course.
Petrol seems back to normal at my local Sainsbury's today with only very short queues.
Seems to be burning out.
Lets hope our esteemed media don't decide to blow it all up again...
Nah, it's the sort of thing you can only do once.
Wait until they get going on “No turkeys left for Christmas”.
Doesn't work. My tutor at university asked us why there wasn't an OPEC for bananas, and I'm ashamed to say I wasn't smart enough to say "because people can live without bananas."
Anyone know whether the two Pfizer vaccination doses are the same - I mean contain exactly the same stuff?
I ask because my daughter (16) has had the first Pfizer jab away from school at a walk-in but the school have got a jabber team visiting to give first Pfiser doses to pupils.
While my daughter is not eligible to have a second dose because she doesn't fit one of the NHS criteria exemptions, we think there is a chance that school jabbers won't be organised enough to twig she's had her first jab and will give a her a second first jab (if you see what I mean).
Given that my daughter is very cross that she can't have the second jab she is very keen for this error to happen.
Some bloke on telly wants to load all patient and social care details into the same national database.
National databases are, and always have been, vastly expensive disasters in this country. Boris should tell this fool to do one.
Well, that's true.
It would, however, avoiding the IT snafus, be helpful to have even connected health databases. Hospitals sending letters (well, emails) to GPs and vice-versa so they can update their respective parallel records is not very efficient, as anyone who has ever had to chase one or the other to actually send the damn email can attest.
Did some research using GP records and hospital records on severe (mostly terminal) conditions. Identifying these from GP and hospital records, the hospital records find twice as many people with these conditions as the GP records. It's a bit worrying if GPs are not aware of (or at least recording) the fact you have a conditon that is most likely going to kill you.
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
What a mess, yet they seem surprised at still losing good people to their main rival.
Yes.
What makes it almost poetic is that they are looking at a company where, according to multiple sources the situation is this -
1) The CEO/owner works himself as hard as anyone. 2) Has relocated himself to be onsite at the current biggest project. 3) Understands the projects down to the nut and bolts level 4) Is available 24/7 to make decisions. 5) Pays decently. 6) Stock options are worth a fuckton 7) Offers a working environment of "if you are a mad hobbyist in rocketry, you can do real rocketry 18 hours a day. No impediments". 8) Offers responsibility - see the recent video where an engineer in her 20s gets to be responsible for the launch mount of the largest rocket in the world. And briefs the owner of the company directly on it.
vs
1) Owner has bought a bigger boat 2) Devotes 2 whole afternoon a week to the company 3) Understands lawsuits. 4) Pays ok 5) Stock options are worth shit and you have to stay to get anything. 6) Offers a work environment of "If you like meetings, we have meetings"
And their answer is the serfs need to work harder.
7) Is the big one. There’s only one company who’s letting the rocket scientists actually build stuff, do it quickly and iteratively, and not worry a huge amount if they blow up.
BO, NASA, SLS and the legacy contractors spend a decade talking and making drawings, while SX are making and testing actual rockets!
Yeah - my favourite was that George Mueller was so bored with his job a senior rocket engine designer at TRW that he started building a big rocket engine in his garage. Because TRW wasn't actually doing anything.
George then went to look for a rocket test stand and ran into Elon at a conference....
Oven chips. Buy a good brand. Sprinkle them with olive oil, sea salt, and a crackle of kampot black pepper, add a hint of (flaked!) Parmesan and some chopped parsley.
Request for info... Would putting an empty glass jam jar outside provide a reasonably accurate rain guage by measuring with a ruler ?
Yes. Needs to be straight sided.
The curve at the bottom would make measuring most British rain fall impossible by ruler. Let alone the size of the lip vs the size of the rest of the jar.
Sure but i only want a rough idea... how rough is my rough idea?
See my post above - I reckon it will be +/- 20%, but you can help yourself by using a straight sided vessel, with as large a circumference as possible. Jam jars may not be best. Think about a saucepan, and then use a ruler without a dead section at the end (i.e. the measuring starts at the tip).
Edit - If you want to know than buy a rain gauge and compare to your jar method. But then as you have a rain gauge, you won't need the jar...
I would calculate the cross sectional area of the pan, and then weigh the pan empty and after the rain to determine how much water it has collected. A quick calc and you get the depth. The density of water being 1g/cm3 makes this easy. Should be more accurate using a kitchen balance than a ruler when the depth is minimal.
Oh FFS. A cheap rain gauge costs less than £5; an expensive one less than £50.
Coming up next on pb.com, can I make a pair of scissors out of a couple of knives and an elastic band or should I spend my £5?
Welcome to the tools blackhole.
I know a number of retired engineers who setup a workshop at home. So to make something you need tools. So they buy a lathe and a mill. Then they need specialist bits. Which they start to make and then discover they need another specialist bit.
In the house magazine for an engineering society, they quite often feature a sale of tools by a widow - including alot of half finished tools.
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Waits for flack .
Actually, you may be right. I was just repeating received opinion there. I don’t particularly like peas in any form - boring. But a lot of pro chefs say frozen peas are amazing, ‘as good as fresh or better’, if that is not the case I stand corrected.
I stick by my opinion of top quality micro rice, however. I was once lamenting how hard and messy it is to boil rice at home and a restaurant owner friend in Thailand rolled her eyes and said ‘try microwave, it’s excellent’. She’s right
They do don't they and I eat them but find they lack texture and flavour so I don't know why. Fresh so much better but difficult to buy. In Portugal you find them in the supermarkets. As for tinned, I like them, but they bear no resemblance to peas.
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Waits for flack .
Actually, you may be right. I was just repeating received opinion there. I don’t particularly like peas in any form - boring. But a lot of pro chefs say frozen peas are amazing, ‘as good as fresh or better’, if that is not the case I stand corrected.
I stick by my opinion of top quality micro rice, however. I was once lamenting how hard and messy it is to boil rice at home and a restaurant owner friend in Thailand rolled her eyes and said ‘try microwave, it’s excellent’. She’s right
They do don't they and I eat them but find they lack texture and flavour so I don't know why. Fresh so much better but difficult to buy. In Portugal you find them in the supermarkets. As for tinned, I like them, but they bear no resemblance to peas.
Genuine question: how many PB-ers have actually encountered a proper empty shelf in a supermarket?
There must surely be some examples underlying the multitude of stories.
And by ‘empty shelf’ I mean exactly that, an entire shelf wiped clean, so not just a lack of ‘Tilda Microwavable Basmati and Wild Rice’ but a shelf with all rice gone, or no bread, or zero citrus fruit, etc
This year? No. And my Tesco order has been 95% fulfilled throughout. But there does seem to have been a few weird shortages. Microwave rice, for example. For seven or eight weeks this has been very hard to get hold of - either own brand or Uncle Ben's; either online or in person. Even the One-Stops - which managed to keep stocking toilet roll in March 2020 - have sold out of it. Particularly golden vegetable rice. This doesn't form a massive part of my diet, so hasn't been a massive inconvenience, but odd nonetheless.
Amazon Fresh has plenty of microwave rice available for delivery today - just type
Ooh, thanks. To be honest I'm inexplicably grumpy with the concept of Amazon selling groceries, and not yet desperate enough for packet rice (just start earlier and boil it, man!) to go searching - but will bear it in mind for future emergencies.
Amazon Fresh is amazingly efficient. They never seem to run out of anything and they often deliver the same day (at least in London). They source from Morrison’s but also elsewhere
Also, microwave rice is BETTER than the rice you boil. It just is. It’s not just more convenient and way quicker it’s fluffier and tastier - a small but notable improvement in life. Like frozen peas. I am particularly fond of Tilda’s ‘Wholegrain and Wild Rice’. Delicious
Disappointed in a person with such taste as you Sean making a positive comment on frozen peas. Tinned, fresh and frozen peas are like three different vegetables with frozen coming bottom, although very convenient.
Waits for flack .
Frozen peas are much better than tinned, provided you only heat them just enough to be hot and no more. Fresh peas, direct from the garden, are in an entirely different league. Amazing.
Indeed. Best way to cook them is with free range mutton and whole shallots, with the meat either minced, or in chunks and stewed with carrots and white turnips, and the whole served with mashed potatoes.
Or in a risotto with chicken or prawns (which is an easy way to cook rice as any fule kno).
I miss summer already, just thinking about those peas.
I think he's just not very good at this sort of public speaking.
Doing a turn after dinner, when the audience is pissed, is one thing.
This sort of oratory is partly about a duet between the speaker and the audience. It can be edgy (bantering with hecklers, for example) or mutual admiration (I've said something brilliant and now I'm giving you the opportunity to applaud my brilliance) and the speaker is always in the lead, but the duet is real.
But that's a skill to be honed, and BoJo never has. It also requires a recognition that other people exist as independent entities, and I'm not entirely sure BoJo totally believes this.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
And we've had a democratic vote to have another one.
Westminster decides. That’s the law. Westminster is not minded to grant another indyref. Tough shit
If you don’t like the law, take it to the SCOTUK or declare UDI. Good luck
'You aren't a real country Scotland so suck it up, buttercup'
Basically, yes. Also, as you point out, they HAD a chance to go Indy. They said No. They weren’t treated like a colony or ignored like Catalonia. They got their referendum but they lost. That’s it. Once in a generation
The time to look at it again will be when a generation has passed, to my mind that’s at least 15 years, so: after 2030
Democrats not only accept that democracy is something that happens *between* elections, but actually welcome it.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
Oh yes, that was the vote where your party told voters that the only way to retain membership of the EU was by voting No. What an honest, upright bunch you are.
Whereas a vote for YES meant instant expulsion from the EU, a mini Brexit for Scotland. A fact all Scot Nats now conveniently, furtively and ridiculously ignore. Look at yourself, man
Sean, there is a world of difference between your opinion and fact.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
I am not sure @StuartDickson realised how poor those figures are for indyref2
Except VI is not based solely on whether you want a referendum or how you would vote if there was one. I voted Lib Dem, and might do again, and I think there should be a referendum.
I do not disagree but indyref2 will only happen if the Scots show a substantial majority for it and at present that seems quite away off
Q: When did BritNats become fans of government by opinion poll?
A: When they started losing real elections.
You are sounding desperate
The person who wants to respect the result of a democratic election is “desperate”, whereas the person who wants to ignore the result of a democratic election is wise.
What a topsy-turvy world Unionists dwell in.
You had indyref in 2014 in a democratic vote
Oh yes, that was the vote where your party told voters that the only way to retain membership of the EU was by voting No. What an honest, upright bunch you are.
Whereas a vote for YES meant instant expulsion from the EU, a mini Brexit for Scotland. A fact all Scot Nats now conveniently, furtively and ridiculously ignore. Look at yourself, man
Sean, there is a world of difference between your opinion and fact.
Not least because of the incessant promises from the likes of whatever Leon was called at the time that voting no was the ONLY way to remain in the EU. As he, or rather his latest clone or vegetative strawberry plantlet oe whatever, has helpfully confirmed.
Interesting that Boris's speech is so compelling that we're discussing the merits of frozen peas.
It's not just the opposition who are sketchy and low key on policy, but where they are looking forensically at small stuff to make the big stuff work better, Boris is going similarly at lots of the small stuff, but going at it in the manner of a custard pie throwing competition.
Interesting that Boris's speech is so compelling that we're discussing the merits of frozen peas.
It's not just the opposition who are sketchy and low key on policy, but where they are looking forensically at small stuff to make the big stuff work better, Boris is going similarly at lots of the small stuff, but going at it in the manner of a custard pie throwing competition.
The discussion of rice and peas was making me think half-subconsciously of a technicolor yawn competition ...
The short version - New head of company discovers the place is a mess and not doing stuff like the "cool" company. His plan to address this is
1) Hire management consultants to read stuff off the internet and make a report 2) Filter it through 3 levels of C suite idiots - who "translate" the findings. 3) i.e. "They have a workforce motivated to work long hours" = "We must flog the serfs harder". 4) Make some notes from that
WTAF?
On the other hand:
"Tesla ordered to pay $137M to Black former worker subjected to racist workplace"
Their defence was... interesting. "Yeah, there was racist graffiti in the building. But it was probably contractors..."
That seems a fairly odd response, given the accusations occurred in 2015/6, when Tesla were in production hell with the Model X, Musky baby was apparently sleeping at the factory and taking direct control of everything at Tesla. Later on, including stepping in front of assembly lines ...
"According to The Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk started headbutting a car at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory this spring after he learned the assembly line would stop when people got too close to it. "I don't see how this could hurt me," he reportedly said. "I want the cars to just keep moving." A Tesla representative told Business Insider that Musk tapped the car with his head while wearing a safety hat to demonstrate that it didn't pose a safety risk."
Tesla seems, and has always seemed, like a hot mess. SpaceX doesn't appear that way. The question is: why the difference? And I think the answer is Shotwell doing the F9 stuff superbly well, whilst Musk is down in Texas trying to make the future.
I think he's just not very good at this sort of public speaking.
Doing a turn after dinner, when the audience is pissed, is one thing.
This sort of oratory is partly about a duet between the speaker and the audience. It can be edgy (bantering with hecklers, for example) or mutual admiration (I've said something brilliant and now I'm giving you the opportunity to applaud my brilliance) and the speaker is always in the lead, but the duet is real.
But that's a skill to be honed, and BoJo never has. It also requires a recognition that other people exist as independent entities, and I'm not entirely sure BoJo totally believes this.
It can also be caused by deafness (in the speaker!). But I don't think Mr Johnson has got that bad has he? He certainly seems to ignore the question and what others say in Pmt.
Request for info... Would putting an empty glass jam jar outside provide a reasonably accurate rain guage by measuring with a ruler ?
Yes. Needs to be straight sided.
The curve at the bottom would make measuring most British rain fall impossible by ruler. Let alone the size of the lip vs the size of the rest of the jar.
Sure but i only want a rough idea... how rough is my rough idea?
See my post above - I reckon it will be +/- 20%, but you can help yourself by using a straight sided vessel, with as large a circumference as possible. Jam jars may not be best. Think about a saucepan, and then use a ruler without a dead section at the end (i.e. the measuring starts at the tip).
Edit - If you want to know than buy a rain gauge and compare to your jar method. But then as you have a rain gauge, you won't need the jar...
I would calculate the cross sectional area of the pan, and then weigh the pan empty and after the rain to determine how much water it has collected. A quick calc and you get the depth. The density of water being 1g/cm3 makes this easy. Should be more accurate using a kitchen balance than a ruler when the depth is minimal.
Oh FFS. A cheap rain gauge costs less than £5; an expensive one less than £50.
Coming up next on pb.com, can I make a pair of scissors out of a couple of knives and an elastic band or should I spend my £5?
Welcome to the tools blackhole.
I know a number of retired engineers who setup a workshop at home. So to make something you need tools. So they buy a lathe and a mill. Then they need specialist bits. Which they start to make and then discover they need another specialist bit.
In the house magazine for an engineering society, they quite often feature a sale of tools by a widow - including alot of half finished tools.
The two best tools I've ever bought are a CNC plasma cutter (80% of all car projects is making brackets) and a dry ice blaster (so effective at cleaning engine bays that it literally adds thousands of value to a flip in a matter of hours).
For complicated fab I generate the G code in Fusion 360 and email it to Poland for manufacture so my widow will not have the difficulty of disposing of a 15 ton 5-axis mill.
Looks like we will just have to swap stilton for brie and drink English and Australian wines.
Who has French Turkey and French Christmas puddings anyway? It is normally British all the way
At some point the penny will drop on a clear majority of the population that we're suffering a series of self-inflicted wounds, which HMG is doing f*ck-all to heal.
No, it won't. Sorry
No, probably not. Just a shite decade of disruption and decline ahead then. ☹️
Edit: the Scots will certainly realise it. And the Northern Irish and Welsh probably. By which time it will be little England all alone going down the drain.
On today's Comres there was little difference between English and Scottish views of Brexit.
Plus of course as long as the Tories are in power there will be no indyref2 allowed anyway, if Starmer becomes PM however it will be with Scottish and Welsh votes
There was however a huge difference between English and Scottish voting intention:
Unreliable if so, but interesting that it - unreliably - implies for Indy a NO vote of 56%, and a YES vote of just 42%. Not great for your cause, I suggest
So, you don’t criticise FUDHY for citing a sub-sample, but you do criticise me. I’m shocked. I’ve never seen double standards on PB before.
You are bravely assuming that 100% of SLab voters will back the BritNats. 60% would be a safer assumption.
Who is FUDHY
FUDHY DUDHY your bestest buddy?
Our First Lady is looking great on cover of all the papers.
With respect I have no idea what you are talking about
Request for info... Would putting an empty glass jam jar outside provide a reasonably accurate rain guage by measuring with a ruler ?
Yes. Needs to be straight sided.
The curve at the bottom would make measuring most British rain fall impossible by ruler. Let alone the size of the lip vs the size of the rest of the jar.
Sure but i only want a rough idea... how rough is my rough idea?
See my post above - I reckon it will be +/- 20%, but you can help yourself by using a straight sided vessel, with as large a circumference as possible. Jam jars may not be best. Think about a saucepan, and then use a ruler without a dead section at the end (i.e. the measuring starts at the tip).
Edit - If you want to know than buy a rain gauge and compare to your jar method. But then as you have a rain gauge, you won't need the jar...
I would calculate the cross sectional area of the pan, and then weigh the pan empty and after the rain to determine how much water it has collected. A quick calc and you get the depth. The density of water being 1g/cm3 makes this easy. Should be more accurate using a kitchen balance than a ruler when the depth is minimal.
Oh FFS. A cheap rain gauge costs less than £5; an expensive one less than £50.
Coming up next on pb.com, can I make a pair of scissors out of a couple of knives and an elastic band or should I spend my £5?
Welcome to the tools blackhole.
I know a number of retired engineers who setup a workshop at home. So to make something you need tools. So they buy a lathe and a mill. Then they need specialist bits. Which they start to make and then discover they need another specialist bit.
In the house magazine for an engineering society, they quite often feature a sale of tools by a widow - including alot of half finished tools.
The two best tools I've ever bought are a CNC plasma cutter (80% of all car projects is making brackets) and a dry ice blaster (so effective at cleaning engine bays that it literally adds thousands of value to a flip in a matter of hours).
For complicated fab I generate the G code in Fusion 360 and email it to Poland for manufacture so my widow will not have the difficulty of disposing of a 15 ton 5-axis mill.
I can find you people who would actually enjoy moving a 15 ton mill. They live for that shit.
BJ's over-priced routemaster pastiche bus was sold to the voters as a way to get conductors back. But they have no conductors. Those of you who are paying attention may be noticing a pattern here...
Talking of jobs, can the PB brains trust think of any ‘out there’ niche jobs that most people may not of thought of that would suit someone with no degree but nearly 10 years nhs admin experience? (My Girlfriend)
Executive Assistant (what we used to call a PA). Needs to be very organised, good at planning someone else’s time and movements.
EAs and PAs are very different roles if used properly!
Ooh okay, can you explain the differences then? IMHO the terms are pretty much interchangeable, with EA the latest fashionable title.
Team assistant- travel, expenses, diaries for a team
PA is a team assistant for 1/2 people
EA is a PA who is more involved in the business - liaises with legal on contract, with the CEO on stuff, etc
Comments
* Okay, not that odd, I know how the limited the media is.
The time to look at it again will be when a generation has passed, to my mind that’s at least 15 years, so: after 2030
"Tesla ordered to pay $137M to Black former worker subjected to racist workplace"
Their defence was... interesting. "Yeah, there was racist graffiti in the building. But it was probably contractors..."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/tesla-ordered-to-pay-137m-to-black-former-worker-subjected-to-racist-workplace/
Listen to the More or Less.
What makes it almost poetic is that they are looking at a company where, according to multiple sources the situation is this -
1) The CEO/owner works himself as hard as anyone.
2) Has relocated himself to be onsite at the current biggest project.
3) Understands the projects down to the nut and bolts level
4) Is available 24/7 to make decisions.
5) Pays decently.
6) Stock options are worth a fuckton
7) Offers a working environment of "if you are a mad hobbyist in rocketry, you can do real rocketry 18 hours a day. No impediments".
8) Offers responsibility - see the recent video where an engineer in her 20s gets to be responsible for the launch mount of the largest rocket in the world. And briefs the owner of the company directly on it.
vs
1) Owner has bought a bigger boat
2) Devotes 2 whole afternoon a week to the company
3) Understands lawsuits.
4) Pays ok
5) Stock options are worth shit and you have to stay to get anything.
6) Offers a work environment of "If you like meetings, we have meetings"
And their answer is the serfs need to work harder.
Top brand micro rice delivers near-restaurant quality rice in 2 minutes. It won’t be quite as good as the rice you get in a Japanese restaurant but it will be better than the rice 95% of amateur cooks boil at home
I reckon the candidate to watch is Stacey Abrams. She's running for governor of Georgia, and it could easily be the Dems' only substantial win, thanks to Trump going to war on the GOP governor for declining to go along with his coup attempt. If she wins that race she has a great electorability argument that nobody else can match. It's a bit rude to run for president right after winning a governorship but she seems to be ambitious...
Waits for flack .
How long before an idiot burns a house down when his store of petrol goes up? Back in the petrol strike (drivers refusing to drive) there was a chap who filled a huge plastic container with petrol. Which melted it......
BO, NASA, SLS and the legacy contractors spend a decade talking and making drawings, while SX are making and testing actual rockets!
I stick by my opinion of top quality micro rice, however. I was once lamenting how hard and messy it is to boil rice at home and a restaurant owner friend in Thailand rolled her eyes and said ‘try microwave, it’s excellent’. She’s right
Whilst there's plenty of coverage there if you look for it, lots of people get a lot less news beamed into their eyeballs than in the olden days of 3 or 4 channels. The audience for the big BBC bulletins is 3-4 million, ITV gets 2-3 million tops.
(source: https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/barb-data/top-programmes-report/)
That's a lot of people not getting much TV news at all.
If you get your music via Spotify and your entertainment via Netflix, you can quite easily go for days without having significant news wafted past you. In particular, it's pretty easy to avoid hearing the voice of the other side.
There must be enough polling data out there to check this, but not by me.
It would, however, avoiding the IT snafus, be helpful to have even connected health databases. Hospitals sending letters (well, emails) to GPs and vice-versa so they can update their respective parallel records is not very efficient, as anyone who has ever had to chase one or the other to actually send the damn email can attest.
Did some research using GP records and hospital records on severe (mostly terminal) conditions. Identifying these from GP and hospital records, the hospital records find twice as many people with these conditions as the GP records. It's a bit worrying if GPs are not aware of (or at least recording) the fact you have a conditon that is most likely going to kill you.
George then went to look for a rocket test stand and ran into Elon at a conference....
Oven chips. Buy a good brand. Sprinkle them with olive oil, sea salt, and a crackle of kampot black pepper, add a hint of (flaked!) Parmesan and some chopped parsley.
Cook. Eat. Omg. Nom nom
Taught to me by a genius amateur chef
Good joke earlier about Gove being sent into nightclubs.
I know a number of retired engineers who setup a workshop at home. So to make something you need tools. So they buy a lathe and a mill. Then they need specialist bits. Which they start to make and then discover they need another specialist bit.
In the house magazine for an engineering society, they quite often feature a sale of tools by a widow - including alot of half finished tools.
That's going to go viral. 😂
Or in a risotto with chicken or prawns (which is an easy way to cook rice as any fule kno).
I miss summer already, just thinking about those peas.
PS: and as kjh reminds us - broad beans too.
Doing a turn after dinner, when the audience is pissed, is one thing.
This sort of oratory is partly about a duet between the speaker and the audience. It can be edgy (bantering with hecklers, for example) or mutual admiration (I've said something brilliant and now I'm giving you the opportunity to applaud my brilliance) and the speaker is always in the lead, but the duet is real.
But that's a skill to be honed, and BoJo never has. It also requires a recognition that other people exist as independent entities, and I'm not entirely sure BoJo totally believes this.
The opposite of democracy is dictatorship.
Was relieved when I said no.
Hahaha
"According to The Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk started headbutting a car at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory this spring after he learned the assembly line would stop when people got too close to it.
"I don't see how this could hurt me," he reportedly said. "I want the cars to just keep moving."
A Tesla representative told Business Insider that Musk tapped the car with his head while wearing a safety hat to demonstrate that it didn't pose a safety risk."
Tesla seems, and has always seemed, like a hot mess. SpaceX doesn't appear that way. The question is: why the difference? And I think the answer is Shotwell doing the F9 stuff superbly well, whilst Musk is down in Texas trying to make the future.
George Eaton
@georgeeaton
Cutting Universal Credit is an act of levelling down – the North and Midlands will be hit harder than the South. https://newstatesman.com/politics/2021/07/why-cutting-universal-credit-even-worse-you-think
For complicated fab I generate the G code in Fusion 360 and email it to Poland for manufacture so my widow will not have the difficulty of disposing of a 15 ton 5-axis mill.
Because the current version isn't working.
But otherwise, not really.
And it would be a missed opportunity for a Boris Johnson speech not to shoehorn in a mention of buses somehow.
Those of you who are paying attention may be noticing a pattern here...
The best thing about Boris is his sunny optimism and that shone through on everything spoken about.
"Boris has been getting a free ride for too long. Next stop, a Labour government."
PA is a team assistant for 1/2 people
EA is a PA who is more involved in the business - liaises with legal on contract, with the CEO on stuff, etc