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Post by lagatta on Sept 28, 2018 2:07:03 GMT
there is a wonderful video by Amnesty france about liberating political prisoners, but alas I havent found a version I can post here as You Tube or other platform; keywords amnesty france nina simone.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 28, 2018 6:18:51 GMT
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Now they have to recognize that it is not civilised to set your wife on fire if her dowry is not to your liking. Was exactly my thoughts that you articulated better than I would have in your first sentence. Your second sentence is a jewel. You made my day today.
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Post by questa on Sept 28, 2018 7:08:50 GMT
Thank you, whatagain. India is trying to become a clever, educated and modern nation, but until they get rid of all the laws and customs allowing women and children to be victimised in so many ways, they remain as pigs in the mud. There are so many instances of pure evil being shown in both city and country, laws lacking teeth and corruption from highest down that it will probably take another 3 generations for the nation to be seen as civilised.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 28, 2018 7:33:54 GMT
With spending a lot of time in India my opinion is that the country is unlikely to do so. It is so mired in tradition that even though many things have become illegal, they will still occur. Out in a village these laws mean little. In the big, impersonal and jam packed cities also. Yes, they are improving and any step is welcomed, but it is still an extremely long journey.
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Post by questa on Sept 29, 2018 10:43:07 GMT
Taxi from Delhi Airport to city hotel...going along a normal 2 lane road studded with "No Parking" signs when we got caught in a traffic jam. The driver pointed to a Sikh temple nearby and then to the scores of cars parked (illegally) along both sides of our road, reducing it to one lane of traffic.
"Looks like the Sikhs have a ceremony tonight."
"But why don't the police give them a fine for this parking? It could be dangerous." I asked, as cars were weaving around, bluffing their way from both directions.
"Ahh," he replied, "Our new President is a Sikh and any policeman who booked these cars would get into trouble, and maybe his whole police-station as well."
The parked cars were all expensive European models. I commented that at least the Sikhs had good taste in cars, and they must have good jobs to afford to buy and run them. I got a sideways look and a big smile, "Oh, that is no trouble NOW, Maybe if we get a new President things might be different."
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 30, 2018 12:57:25 GMT
It is reported that Kanye West has changed his name to Ye. The fuller story is that he has also changed his last name to Olde Shoppe.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 5, 2018 20:47:16 GMT
Little Richard is still alive. Aged 85.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 6, 2018 2:37:51 GMT
I knew that. I adore Little Richard. I learned a whole bunch of things at one time tonight & will now share them ~
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 7, 2018 17:41:08 GMT
I shan’t respond.
The UK coastline is over 19,000 miles long.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 7, 2018 17:53:16 GMT
Belgian coastline is 66 kms long. But yes, we do have big thumbs.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 7, 2018 18:26:38 GMT
Metropolitan France has 5,853km of coastline but if you count all of the overseas regions, it comes to 19,193km. This is nothing compared to Canada with 202,080km but very close to the United States total of 22,450km.
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 7, 2018 18:59:13 GMT
Zambia - 0km
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 7, 2018 19:04:58 GMT
You made me look it up -- there are 49 landlocked countries in the world.
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Post by onlyMark on Oct 7, 2018 20:42:45 GMT
Didn't realise there was that many.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 15, 2018 20:03:46 GMT
Dried Oregano can be adulterated with up to 60 per cent other leaves.
And it's pronounced orry gar no...
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Post by questa on Oct 15, 2018 23:50:53 GMT
I heard the phrase "double landlocked" recently. I think it was in reference to some of the 'Stans of Central Asia. Does anyone know which countries are landlocked by other landlocked country...if this is what it means?
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 1, 2018 19:20:24 GMT
Barbra Streisand is 76.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 1, 2018 19:45:51 GMT
That's a year older than Catherine Deneuve but younger than Jane Fonda who is 80.
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Post by rikita on Nov 2, 2018 1:14:59 GMT
that agnes' daycare is closed tomorrow. my fault, of course - they put up notes, but i didn't check the notice boards lately (because she is always in the garden when i pick her up), and it was in my calendar, but i didn't check that either ... well, good thing i have such a great mom, she'll come by in the late morning and pick up agnes and bring her back on saturday ...
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Post by Kimby on Nov 2, 2018 13:05:49 GMT
They should have sent notes home with the kids or emailed parents or both. Good on your Mom, riki.
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Post by rikita on Nov 2, 2018 13:56:51 GMT
well, they hand out a calendar at the beginning of the year with closing days marked - it really is my fault for not checking it ... when i was still a parent representative, when i remembered closing days or special events, i emailed a reminder to our group's list, but the current representatives aren't doing that (and the email list is less than half the parents, partly because it is difficult to even inform others there is this list, since they bring their kids at different times, partly because some aren't interested in being in the list, some don't even have an email address) ... it is always a bit difficult with information reaching everyone at daycare, hope that gets better at school (and hope i get better at keeping track of things) ...
a. is quite happy of course, she loves going to grandma's ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2018 15:56:03 GMT
Schools used to give slips out to the kids to take home to the parents. Maybe no one wants to fool with paper and copiers anymore.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 6, 2018 22:20:00 GMT
75,00 children are in care in the UK.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 8, 2018 12:48:12 GMT
With the very commendable success of women candidates in the American elections this week, the United States has progressed to 103rd place among the nations of the world for the percentage of women in the legislative bodies, between Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan. The top three countries of the world are Rwanda, Cuba and Bolivia, which are also the only three countries where women are the majority in the various parliaments.
Just for the record, I will mention a few other countries of interest to members here: 4th - Mexico. 10th - South Africa. 14th - France. 16th - Spain. 22nd - Belgium. 38th - United Kingdom. 46th - Germany. 50th - Australia. 60th - Canada. Clearly there is room for improvement just about everywhere.
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Post by onlyMark on Nov 8, 2018 13:24:16 GMT
It's about time there was more equality for men in Rwanda, Cuba and Bolivia then. Nobody says anything about that, do they? Terrible state of affairs. I shall complain to my MP.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 8, 2018 14:46:16 GMT
the United States has progressed to 103rd place among the nations of the world for the percentage of women in the legislative bodies, The US is rife with paternalistic attitude, but it looks as though they're waking up to the fact that the old white guy thing hasn't been working out too well.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 8, 2018 15:11:03 GMT
Actually one of the reasons that France is pretty well placed now is because it is the law for 50% of the candidates to be women and not just in districts where they have no chance of being elected. It was kind of hard to find enough women the first time, but now it has become a lot more natural. the old white guy thing hasn't been working out too well And yet "Joe Biden" is the name most often mentioned for the next presidential election. Luckily, there are still two years to go.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 8, 2018 15:43:15 GMT
I went to a election results watching party Tuesday night, all people in my age group with several a good bit older. In discussion of possible candidates, Joe Biden was roundly dismissed. Obviously I fervently wanted Beto O'Rourke to trounce the infinitely slimy Cruz, but O'Rourke fails to excite me as a candidate, even though he's mostly saying the right things. Maybe he will be less callow and more steely two years from now.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 8, 2018 16:03:54 GMT
O'Rourke was the candidate that interested the French the most out of all of the possibilities everywhere in the country.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 8, 2018 16:24:48 GMT
That's because y'all have a child president! But seriously, Macron does have a pronounced statesmanlike gravitas despite his youth. Of course I'll be watching O'Rourke, but of the crop of candidates in this mid-term race, the person I found most compelling and the one I'd most like to see remain in the public eye is Stacy Abrams. Her doggedness, her education and political background, and her clear-minded practical grasp of issues are extremely appealing. I'd love to see her go for the presidency, as I feel she'd be a worthy representative of the US on the world stage. (& did you know she grew up in Gulfport?)
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