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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 5, 2019 19:03:04 GMT
Tunisia banned both the hijab and the niqab until 2011 when a non secular government was democratically elected. However, they have just banned the niqab again since one of the male suicide bombers the other day was disguised in a niqab.
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Post by questa on Jul 6, 2019 0:22:13 GMT
You couldn't get a better guerrilla war "weapon" if you tried. With all your opponents and allies covered up the same in loose black robes, no faces showing and room to hide bombs or guns, every female becomes an attacker and every male can become a 'woman'.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 5, 2019 6:18:20 GMT
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Post by bjd on Aug 5, 2019 6:50:45 GMT
According to Wikipedia's listing by dictionaries of words, English has 273,000 headwords of which 171,476 of them being in current use, 47,156 being obsolete words and around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. (Oxford English Dictionary). French has 135,000 according to the Larousse Dictionary.
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Post by lugg on Aug 5, 2019 9:27:54 GMT
Apparently wood lice are not insects but crustaceans and have to consume a certain amount of their own poo to get the copper they require.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 5, 2019 21:59:31 GMT
Thank you for sharing that, Lugg! Gee, do you think they know something we don't? I had no idea that there were exclusively terrestrial crustaceans. Are wood lice the same thing as silverfish/iceworms?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2019 5:46:16 GMT
There are more 100-dollar bills in circulation in the world than one-dollar bills. The vast majority are outside of the United States.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 22, 2019 8:55:16 GMT
German beer is really light (someone says piss ?). You can easily drink 3 liters without feeling drunk. But by then you go to the loo every 15 min.
The true learning was that the beer was quite good actually !
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 28, 2019 18:14:08 GMT
France is running out of asphalt because the petroleum giants are downsizing or closing their asphalt refineries. This makes no sense to me because we will need asphalt for the foreseeable future. They should be reducing their petrol and fuel production instead.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2019 16:57:24 GMT
1000 people have swum across the English Channel. (learned that on a game show today)
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2019 19:20:51 GMT
Kinda makes you feel like a real slacker for taking the Eurostar, doesn't it?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2019 19:45:40 GMT
Everybody should see the French film "Welcome" to know more about this.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2019 22:08:19 GMT
To know more about swimming or about taking the train?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 1, 2019 3:34:19 GMT
To know more about the migrants who also try to swim across the Channel.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 1, 2019 4:37:29 GMT
I had no idea! What bravery. Well, foolhardy, but brave.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 1, 2019 4:56:32 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 1, 2019 15:20:10 GMT
Thanks ~ but immediately after posting above, I scampered off to youtube & found that trailer. Will look for the movie.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2019 18:18:26 GMT
The French pay out-of-pocket the lowest amount for health care of any country in Europe -- just 7%. 14% Is covered by complementary insurance (obligatory in every company) and the rest is covered by the state.
Every chronic disease (cancer, diabetes, AIDS, Alzheimer's...) is covered 100% by the state.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 11, 2019 19:54:46 GMT
Rub it in. You'd think other countries -- I am thinking of one very large rich one -- would look at France & say, "If they can do it, we can too!" But no.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2019 20:21:04 GMT
France is also the European country that spends the most tax money on health -- something like 11% of GDP -- but that is still less than the United States which spends something like 18%. Where is that money going?
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 11, 2019 21:48:36 GMT
I'm sure none of that 18% is stolen/wasted/diverted because of our psychotic attachment to the insurance mafias.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 11, 2019 22:41:07 GMT
K2, I presume that there is coverage for unemployed people and pensioners, who don't pay for company benefits? I suppose there are mutuals for farmers and independent workers?
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Post by questa on Sept 12, 2019 1:45:30 GMT
Oz has Medicare. All citizens are entitled to health and hospital treatment for free. If you want private hospital and your choice of Doctor there are private insurers who will cover that gap. It is funded by a means tested levy on your taxes something like 2%. I have only used public (free) specialists and ancillary services like physio, glasses, dentistry for which I pay a fairly small fee to fill the gap.Some practitioners bulk bill pensioners and low income patients so they don't pay anything.
But then we are not looking for expensive wars or space travel...
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Post by bjd on Sept 12, 2019 6:16:42 GMT
In France, there is basic coverage for the unemployed and pensioners. But until recently, dental care was not reimbursed all that well, neither were glasses. It depends to a great extent on your extra coverage (mutuelle) whether it covers more or less.
And there are doctors who stay outside the system (non-conventionné) who take more than the fees set by the state. As well, many surgeons and anaesthetists also take an extra fee which can be several hundred euros.
But the system is suffering, as the long-lasting strike of emergency hospital personnel shows. They are over-worked and understaffed.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 12, 2019 14:13:57 GMT
The FBI's Central Records System is based on the Dewey Decimal System.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 12, 2019 14:48:54 GMT
Well, we know there is a lot of fiction and non fiction at the FBI.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 13, 2019 18:44:38 GMT
I pay 12.7 pc to onss. Office national sécurité sociale. Healthcare and pension. Then I've got extra coverage. What the french call mutuelle - paid for by my boss. Then I invest in various retirement funds. We call them assurance vie. Then I pay for my wine.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 13, 2019 20:37:01 GMT
And health care will pay for your liver. For a little while still, the UK will probably help to contribute agricultural funds to help the wine growers.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 13, 2019 23:10:24 GMT
Questa, we basically have the same Medicare for all system as the UK and Oz, but indeed gaps remain in terms of dentistry and hearing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 14, 2019 0:27:06 GMT
Is that why you all go around saying "Eh" all the time?
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