PhobosAnomaly

Slightly off topic but:

Check this performance out and jump to 1:55 for a real treat for Q2 fans.

edit: mega flashy lights warning

I mean, there’s a lot to unpack there and for the most part, it appears to me that your view of policing and mine are vastly different, but you’re entitled to your own view and I’m not arsed one way or the other.

Is it the terrifying, weapon wielding, hark back to the middle ages, violent attack it’s been portrayed by those it benefits to portray in that way? No.

This though? Absolutely not. You’re justifying life-changing violence to fit narrative you’re presenting. If smashing someone - anyone - in the back with a fucking sledgehammer isn’t a “middle ages, violent attack”, then swinging at them again certainly is.

It clearly wasn’t brought just to fuck people up, it clearly wasn’t used at its full potential or there would be officers dead.

I think this is where the disconnect in the logic lies. I’m quite sure it wasn’t brought for violence, but the issue is that the person turned their attention on the cop, and then used the sledgehammer as a weapon. They have made the conscious decision to change their intent from smashing up whatever they wanted to, to intentionally causing injury. Regardless of anyone’s experience using hammers, swinging a bit of heavy metal on the end of a big stick at someone is going to ruin someone’s day at the very least, or in this case, fracture someone’s spine. Anyone who claims that “oh I didn’t think that was going to happen” ought to lodge a special defence of insanity.

All this, and judging by journalists reports, there isn’t any clear evidence of state-sponsored violence to be seen.

Motive or otherwise, some clown has slammed a sledgehammer into someone’s back twice and is now hiding behind Palestine Action’s statement of purpose.

I’m not seeing your point here.

Are we supposed to be okay with them not having them? Then, expect them to attend violent incidents with nothing but witty banter to protect themselves with?

I’m not a huge fan of anyone having weaponry to hand but given some of the nastier incidents that the police service need to attend, having a tin of pepper spray and a aluminium stick with the training to use them (or not use them as a case may be) is considerably fewer options that most worldwide forces have.

Fair play to M Lechat, that is some pragmatism and understanding in the world that I would sorely be lacking. I feel sorry for the guy. I hope he comes up with a banger soon and the planets align for him.

I’m not sure if the Steam Machines announcement helped or hindered him. Yes, it sunk the chances of mass visibility on the storefront… but then I’m assuming there’d be a vastly increased number of folk logging in to Steam to see the Steam Machines news, and exposed Planet Centauri to more views by the law of averages.

That coalition was the gun that fired the round into the Lib Dems foot.

I mean, I probably would have done the same thing - LD hadn’t seen any real form of power for a hundred years or so, and getting a seat at the top table and having a Dep PM is a massively attractive option - but the compromises made has sealed it’s fate for a generation of voters.

Shame, because they don’t half put out some sensible manifesto pledges, but what’s the point in proposing policies if the party is going to not just leave them unfulfilled, but actively tip it on it’s head?

Welcome to politics, I suppose.

It never ceases to amaze me how useless Labour have been since Blair and Brown took over.

I’ve no issue with their policies - far from it for the most part - but how any party can be so completely ineffective at reflecting their voting base is really quite impressive.

They could have literally sat back after ten plus years of Tory pocket-lining and shithousery, and just road the coattails of “being less wank than the government before” but nah, that would be too easy.

It’s actually a masterclass.

I know it’s a cult classic, but I couldn’t get my head around the film, it didnt enjoy it at all. Perhaps it’s because I went in with the desire to see another J-horror in the vein of Ring or Ju-On or Dark Water etc.

I’m going to treat myself to an Ito box set after Christmas and read the visual novels instead I think, give it another bash.

It’s entirely subjective, but I’d argue you’ve been misinformed. The Verstappen era was much like the Vettel era, but the midfield is closer than ever. The F2 and F3 are often the standout events of the weekend, but it’s a good time to be an armchair F1 fan (the ticket prices for most western events are fucking ludicrous mind).

I agree with the Sky sentiment though. I fucked the company off years ago - I was riding good deals for a number of years but when they wouldn’t honour them any more, I sacked it off.

F1 TV and a VPN is a brilliant option - fairly inexpensive by comparison and the coverage of F1 and the feeder series is really decent - not sure how it will look after the Apple TV announcement mind.

Otherwise, there’s the IPTV packages you can find online - one or two races often make the cost worthwhile, or if you’re dead keen on not spending money, then the F1 YouTube channel put highlights of all the F1 sessions and the F2&3 race sessions up mega rapidly - to the point where if I’ve missed the first half hour of a race, I just wait the extra hour or two and get the highlights instead.

It’s a good time to be an F1 fan just now.

Yeah followed the F1 through the weekend on the official YouTube channel - generally their stuff is up within the hour which is handy. Still surprised Bortoleto walked away from that T1 crash in the sprint race.

yeah alright cheers bruv, how’s yours?

This past couple of weeks after half term have just been a blur. Coupled with the nights drawing in, I’ve proper lost track of the days - I only tend to know it’s a weekend if the rugby or F1 chatter starts to pick up.

Roll on March!

I’m unlucky enough to be in junior management… and that sounds to me like the manager or supervisor has the breaking strength of a melted fucking KitKat.

Sure, they’ve made a problem go away, but they’ve emboldened the arsehole to pull this stunt in the future, and it has done untold damage to the self esteem and mental health of the poor airport spud who was doing their job just fine.

From a personal perspective: if I was a passenger on that plane and we were delayed because some arsepiece threw a hissy fit at the gate, I’d be fuming that the airline caved too.

It’s gash. Fuck that guy, but fuck that supervisor too. They literally had the grounds to fuck that guy right off and enjoy every second of it, but they buckled and became part of the problem.

I went to Tesco (a large (perhaps too large ((brackets)) grocery retailer in the UK) a while back with some raspberries that hadn’t even lasted until I got home before going mouldy.

Literally, all I wanted to do was show the customer service desk lass the issue, show them my receipt, get a replacement, and fuck off to make the interaction as easy as possible for them.

An honest appraisal of what the problem was; some witty banter; and a general understanding of the “don’t be a dickhead” principle to frontline staff meant that she kept hold of me for ten minutes, noted down details and times and whatnot, and it ended up with a £10 apology gift card in the post - which in turn purchased a rather nice bottle of wine.

Where I’m going with this: I cannot fathom how people cannot be polite about issues like this. I’ve never understood how being a wanker to someone whose job it is to sort issues out somehow nets you a better end result. Perhaps the best advice I’m going to give my kids is to spend six months or a year of their teenage starts to their careers in an inbound call centre in a field they’re interested in - yes the job can grind you down and yes the pay sucks, but the basic life skills and soft people skills it teaches you is fucking invaluable.

tl;dr: solid advice, ask nicely, don’t be a twat, and you’ll probably end up with a net result better than you started.

Sore one. Ever thought about changing your hoof to a different type? If your gait measurement suggests that you’re overpronating or supinating, thought about moving to a neutral cushioned shoe (or the other way round)? I’d been overpronating for years but my own gait seemed to sort itself out and now I stick to neutrals.

I’d love to get into games like Satisfactory - but I know fine well I’d get a mega unhealthy fixation with it and I’d have no job or no family by the end of the week 😂

Mate that’s awesome. I saw it and it was dead sound, but I went away from the gardens and went to the Desperate Dan statue from there.

After that, went to the Lemmings statue and that was cool as fuck!

Yeah alright cheers mate, how was yours?

Nipped up to Dundee to check out the new V&A Museum, the kids loved it. Spent .ost of the week in Cumbria with work, getting blown about like a burst bag. Just got in from a cheeky 5k in the pissing rain with the eldest lad, just so I can pre-emptively burn the calories for a bottle of wine this evening.

How’s your running going?

As always, context is key. I seem to remember this BBC article discussing it as a sleep tool used generations ago.

It would appear that humans in winter months - when there are fewer hours of daylight - seem to favour splitting into two shorter sleeps with a productive waking period in the middle, where people are now encouraged to do a task (read, do the dishwasher, load the dryer, whatever) before returning to sleep.

It doesn’t quite fit my setup there but there are some interesting points raised.

yeah alright mate cheers, how was yours?

I’ve got into a right shit habit of getting home, doing a couple of little jobs, and putting the youngest to bed at 8 or 9ish… only to fall asleep with him.

I’ll get up at half eleven for an old man piss, and that’s me then - I’ll go down and chat to the better half for a bit until she gets bored of the telly (and my epic banter) and goes to bed, and I’ll be up then until half one or two before going to bed again until 5am.

Net result is that I’ve been giving it the nodding dog at about half ten in the morning, and taken an early lunch to go out for a run to wake myself up a bit. Nightmare.

I know research suggests that two lots of four hour sleep sessions is better than one eight hour monster, but my god I’d love one right about now!

Oh that sucks. I bought a multi pack of bin bags (or trash liner or whatever they’re called across the pond). I’ve used the company for years because the bag material is fairly thick, and it doesn’t just perish away if any liquids sit at the bottom. Decent quality.

This batch though must have been produced when the machine that seals the bottom and perforates it 5mm below the seal, must have been needing a service. The perforations looked like faint dents in the plasticy material, which meant that when you tried to rip a bag off the roll, it just stretched the plastic rather than tear off cleanly along the dotted line of perforations. It meant that rather than just fucking one bag up, it often pulled across the seam of the next one, making two bags useless.

The whole multipack was fucked and it was infuriating. I can only imagine the machine’s perforating teeth were blunt as fuck.

Little things.

Well jeez, I didn’t expect to find an Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters reference here, especially this late to the party.

Here’s another good source if you’re interested.

The stage one music is a banger too.

Tell you what I absolutely love is postcrete.

Useless in your scenario, but it’s just satisfying as fuck to pour in and watch harden in an hour (giggity)