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Post by onlyMark on Feb 9, 2017 17:15:41 GMT
Couldn't I keep my iPhone though? Pretty please? With the letter thing, does it mean I would have to use a........ hang on I'm trying to think what it was..........a pin, byro, pencal, something like that anyway. And I remember being dragged to a museum once where I saw letters on cloth. No, it was papyrus or something. maybe parchment. No, that was it - paper! Phew, I remembered. Plus it goes against my human rights to have my letters read. They will take that into account, won't they?
With the basic training, can I opt out of some things because I'd be scared and it will take me out of my comfort sphere? Bulling boots I've heard is quite stressful. Are there in house Counsellors I can call on if I get shouted at for not doing it properly? Then there is food - you know I only eat a Palaeolithic diet. I presume that will be accounted for? I also certainly hope nobody will give me a nickname that will call attention to me being small - like 'Lofty' or, because my surname is White, they'll call me Chalky? If they try can I go see the CO and get them to stop?
I'm sure I'd be fine if all that happens. I'd be allowed to go on strike if I wasn't happy though, huh?
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Post by rikita on Feb 9, 2017 23:14:33 GMT
anyway ... whether we need the military is too big a topic to start when i already have a headache.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 10, 2017 3:44:46 GMT
Hope you feel better soon in any case.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 12:50:35 GMT
Special Valentine's Day information for Europeans:
A bouquet of roses from the Netherlands has consumed the equivalent in energy as driving a car for 20km. A bouquet imported from Kenya where the flowers grew in natural sunshine and heat consumes less than half as much energy in spite of the airplane ride.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 10, 2017 13:41:43 GMT
I never learnt how to kill people in the army. In a modern army only a fraction of the soldiers are actually fighting. The rest is in the rear or in the logistics, transmission mechanics health and sanitary troops or ... We don't need to be Rambo's to operate a self propelled howitzer firing shells 10 miles away.
Interesting Ker. Not only does it go in the sense that we should never buy anything from the Netherlands but it clearly shows that we should integrate an ecological cost in everything we buy.
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Post by mossie on Feb 10, 2017 19:49:40 GMT
Mark, you should make a living as a comedian, the services always were just pussycats. There were always counsellors available, they just weren't called that, they were called drill sergeants and they would have your guts for garters if you disagreed with them.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 9:29:53 GMT
The intestine has its own tiny little brain to take care of various things. The brain power is considered to be on about the same level as a mouse brain. One of the things that it controls more than the big brain in our heads is our ration of dopamine. It is also in charge of deciding what the kidneys and pancreas need to do.
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Post by questa on Feb 14, 2017 10:19:50 GMT
Ozzies have been calling each other "Sh*it for Brains' since Adam's sheep dog was a pup.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 14, 2017 17:19:50 GMT
That phrase was my first thought, but I decided I'd let someone else say it.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 14, 2017 20:18:22 GMT
Whatagain, not buy anything from the Netherlands when you live so close by?
By the way, I just saw a tiny red car emerge from a HUGE snowbank...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2017 21:14:53 GMT
Indonesia, Somalia, Malawi and Zimbabwe are the main countries that still have no smoking restrictions or health warnings.
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Post by questa on Feb 19, 2017 21:45:21 GMT
Indonesia positively promoted smoking until the fall of the Suharto regime...but then again the son owned the cigarette factories and tobacco farms.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 2:54:44 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 20, 2017 3:24:56 GMT
Oh, Casimira -- that is very, very sad! So sorry to hear it. Is it being torn town to be replaced with another house? I imagine that sort of thing is common in that highly desirable real estate area. This link should work to show the house in its original state: mediarouting.vestahub.com/Media/57293701/box/440x660
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Post by Kimby on Feb 20, 2017 22:46:38 GMT
Sounds lovely, Casi. And historic. A crime to tear it down. The large acreage was possibly its undoing. It could support a mega-mansion.
From the real estate listing:
Prime Bridgehampton Village South
116 Ocean Road is a piece of Bridgehampton history. Originally built for Samuel Osborn Hedges circa 1900, this property is one of the last great ones. In the pulse of the village on quintessential Ocean Road, this Majestic Queen Anne has a commanding presence on over 2.6 acres. This historic home with a separate 2 bedroom guest cottage offers amazing potential for those who would love to restore a part of history or build a major estate/compound. This is truly a unique opportunity and a rarity not to be missed. R 20 zoning. Survey of potential subdivision not approved.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 22:55:02 GMT
I knew that this was a possibility but never really thought that such a beautiful, well constructed historic house could even be allowed to be demolished.
But, I've seen it before with several other Victorian era homes there and several magnificent mansions here in NOLA.
PLAIN and simple GREED
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Post by Kimby on Feb 20, 2017 23:20:08 GMT
Or ostentatiousness. Kinda like Trump's gold-plated toilet...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2017 14:16:24 GMT
Factoid: the A4 paper format was created in the 1920's based on a concept by Leonardo da Vinci five centuries earlier.
It starts with a surface of one square metre (84.1 cm x 118.9 cm -- since someone decided along the way that rectangles of paper are easier to manipulate than squares). Each time you fold the paper, it retains the same proportions while being reduced in size by half. One square metre is A0 format, A1 is half of that, A2 is half of A1 -- and A4 is the sheet of paper that the world knows and loves except for the United States and Canada. A4 means that the paper has been folded 4 times. Sizes go down to A8, which is the size of a business card. (I just folded a sheet of paper to make sure "they" weren't lying.)
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 22, 2017 15:10:40 GMT
So you just so happened to have a one square metre piece of paper laying around?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2017 16:41:39 GMT
Of course. Doesn't everybody? Naturally, I make my own paper, too.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 22, 2017 17:41:26 GMT
We still have parchment in our house. None of that new fangled paper stuff for us.
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Post by chexbres on Feb 22, 2017 19:13:49 GMT
I generally use clay tablets and a pointed stick...
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 22, 2017 19:58:34 GMT
Yeah, I used to but at an early age switched over from cuneiform to hieroglyphs. I felt it brought out more of the artist in me.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 22, 2017 23:10:38 GMT
Aren't *we* à la mode? I'm still at scent marking.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2017 14:39:14 GMT
Sweden announced the return of military service today, 7 years after its abandonment. It fears Russia. Sweden has not had any combat on its soil for 200 years.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 2, 2017 16:17:31 GMT
That's distressing news, especially since Sweden's fears are probably not groundless.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 2, 2017 16:50:24 GMT
Aren't *we* à la mode? I'm still at scent marking. As a failed amoeba, I'm struggling to sub-divide.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2017 11:27:05 GMT
Only 8% of the Muslims in the world are Arabs. (I knew the figure was well under 50% but I didn't know that it was that low.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 3, 2017 17:35:29 GMT
Yes, I am surprised as well. Of course I am not entirely clear on what constitutes "Arab".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2017 17:52:23 GMT
Well, for example if you look at this link, you can see that of the top ten countries, only three of them are "Arab" countries -- Egypt, Algeria and Morocco (and quite a few Algerians and Moroccans are Kabyles rather than Arabs). The percentages of those countries add up to 9% but do not take into consideration the minority races and religions in those countries -- for example 11% of the population of Egypt is Christian. Lots of people seem to think that Iranians and Turks are a kind of Arab (remember Sky Princess?), but that is not at all the case.
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