What? We had scrapped Ark Royal (R09) and its replacement (R07) would not be commissioned until 1985. HMS Hermes was being sold to India. We had to hurriedly undo the sale. HMS Illustrious wasn't rea… (View Post)

And as for the persona that was more corrupted by the Sauronic influence of the Ring? “Sauron” was a derogatory name given to the Dark Lord by the Elves. It meant “Foul stench.” Or, to put it another… (View Post)

Yep. Tolkien gave a nod to that in the name of one of Gollum’s two personas, the one closest to original Smeagol and least corrupted: “Slinker” (View Post)

There are a bunch of analyses disentangling the various NPIs, which should be of great use going forwards. The minor further benefits of the stay-at-home order itself only comes useful when rates are… (View Post)

The age distribution plus vaccines used make for the main difference. It's hard to overemphasise just how bad the age distribution of vaccination is for Hong Kong: (View Post)