unicorn

Oh, I have not doubt but that Putin will be as involved as he can in the 2024 election. If Trump's not in jail by then, I'm sure he'd love to see him run and help him along. I have a suspicion Ukraine wouldn't last much longer without US help, and Putin would be overjoyed to see his puppet back in the WH.

Probably true. And there will certainly be a limited number of people who will fly any new supersonic jet for bragging rights. But those with money to burn would probably rather fly in a private jet, relaxing or sleeping on the sofa, rather than fly in cramped quarters to save a few hours.

Although I was never a passenger on the Concorde, I have been inside the cabin of two former Concordes in museums, and I can assure you that those seats were not comfortable. This is what they look like, from the Wikipedia: These seats are typical of what an economy, or perhaps premium economy seat might be like today. So while the price was certainly not "cattle class," the seat comfort certainly was. Apparently, you even had to hold it in for the flight, even though the champagne was flowing: "..."She was a Concorde regular, and whispered candidly to me, 'You better go to the washroom now. It is impossible to pee once in the air. Too small,'" said Su. "For a girl used to flying steerage, once through the doors of the sleek, tiny, cigar tube into the body of Concorde, I knew I had entered into the rarified air of gods and kings. But dang, things were small and cramped. Leather, polish and flutes of never-ending Champagne, but really squished...." (from https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/concorde-flying-what-was-it-like/index.html) As one can read from the article, it was a noisy, jarring, and cramped experience, albeit a relatively brief one. There's no way to say for certain, of course, but I suspect that most people flew the plane for the certificate they received, and to be able to say "I flew on the Concorde," rather than because the 4 hours they gained were more important than the higher price than the 1st class tickets on other planes. If they ever get built, Boom seats will probably be a bit more comfortable than the Concorde's, but that will just force the price differential even higher. This may be a matter of speculation, but I doubt that the vast majority of people with extra money to burn are more concerned with a few hours' time savings rather than comfort. There will certainly be some. as was the case for the Concorde, who will fly the plane for bragging rights alone. But how many times does one need to do that? https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/supersonic-air-travel-just-took-another-big-step-toward-its-ncna828431

Completely false comparisons. Obviously, the person with primary responsibility in the Rushdie attack was the man who stabbed him, just as the person responsible for a rape is the rapist himself. That being said, a wise person does what he can to mitigate his risks. If I leave a bicycle unlocked and unattended, and someone steals the bicycle, the responsible party is the thief. Nevertheless, it's fairly common sense that unlocked bicycles are extremely easy to steal, so almost anyone would say that it would be foolish to leave a bicycle unsecured. If a woman walks alone in the middle of the night in Central Park in NYC and gets raped, the responsibility is on the rapist. However, walking alone unarmed in a secluded part of Central Park in the middle of the night is certainly not a good idea. NYPD is not the responsible party. Similarly, one would have to think it's common sense that if there were a multi-million dollar bounty on one's head, that one would be careful about security arrangements at any well-advertised public appearance. I can't imagine too many sensible people would think "Well, even if I'm killed, the man attacking me would be responsible, and I'm pretty sure he'd go to jail, so I'm OK with taking that chance." And again, the surgeon's responsibility is to advise the patient of the potential risks and benefits of a procedure, and, of course, to be properly trained before performing a procedure. If a complication occurs, the surgeon is only responsible if he was negligent (for example, performing the procedure while drunk, or performing a procedure he wasn't properly trained to do).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy#Attacks "...Over the next few days, Iranian officials offered a bounty of $6 million for killing Rushdie, who was thus forced to live under police protection for the next nine years. On 7 March 1989, the United Kingdom and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the Rushdie controversy..." He was under police protection for quite a bit of time in the UK. As far as i can tell, no taxpayer-funded protection in the US.

Well, I do agree that banning private gun ownership would likely reduce gun violence in the US, though I wouldn't be in favor of that. We have a saying "Freedom isn't free." It seems pretty obvious, however, that Rushdie should have personally inquired about the safety measures at the event, however. Yes, the event planners should also have known better, but the fact that Rushdie should have been more cautious himself is obvious at face value--res ipsa loquitur. He was in complete seclusion for years, and I guess got too confident and sloppy over time. Obviously he is not THE only one who should have been concerned about his safety, but even more obviously, he should have been ONE of the people who should have been more cautious. I can't imagine even he'd disagree with that at this point.

Was a dumb idea back then, still a dumb idea. Not too many people are flying across oceans for quick business meetings. I have a suspicion that those people who have extra money would rather spend it for a flat-bed seat on a comfortable wide-body and spend 10 hours on the flight, rather than paying a good deal extra for an uncomfortable seat on a 6-hour flight. Ultimately the same idea.

There are lists of those with serious mental health issues, restraining orders, and, of course, criminal backgrounds. In California, there is a 2-week waiting period after purchasing a gun before the purchaser can receive the gun he purchased, to give authorities the time to go over those lists. I support that measure. In many states, one can just go to a gun show and buy a gun on the spot, which I feel is a terrible policy. I very much oppose the NRA. That being said, it is simply a fact that gun ownership in Switzerland is many-fold (like 10X to 100X) higher than that of countless other countries with similar gun violence rates. Obviously, much work needs to be done in the US to cut down on gun violence. One can certainly argue how that's best done. However, it is simply false that civilian gun ownership leads to high gun violence rates. By the way, getting to the subject of the original posting, Mr. Rushdie was attacked with a knife. Just to get our facts straight, again. His attack had nothing to do with gun violence in the US, and much to do about the fact that he had a $4 million bounty on his head and was hated by many fundamentalist Muslims. I think this event had nothing to do with American being an unsafe place, and everything to do about someone who knew or should have known his life was threatened from showing up at a poorly-guarded event. Of course, whether or not American is an unsafe is a matter of opinion. However, the attack on Rushdie could have happened anywhere. I personally would have been more cautious had I been in his shoes.

It's still difficult to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon in much of the US (such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles). For what it's worth, most murders are among gang members, and murder rates tend to be highest in the parts of the US with the strictest gun laws. This might be because someone might think more carefully about shooting someone in a place like Texas, where anyone might shoot back. That being said, I support stricter gun laws, especially required background checks for criminal and mental health histories. All Swiss households have guns, yet their gun violence level is much lower.

These lists are very silly, because they only represent the values of the people who make up the lists. I, for one, would rather blow my brains out than live in Calgary or Toronto, but that's because I greatly value climate--but that's just me. I have a strong suspicion that whoever made up that list didn't include climate as a criterion--yet that's something of great value to a lot of people such as myself. I could hardly be happier living in Los Angeles, but, yes, you'll have a tough time if you don't have health insurance (as in most of the US, which is why I suspect no US city made the list). There isn't a fence or barrier separating Canada from the US. If most people preferred living in Calgary or Toronto, they'd vote with their feet. Yet almost all successful Canadians live in the US (Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, William Shatner, etc.), yet it's very rare for Americans to choose to live in Canada. This is the only "barrier" between Canada and the US (barring rivers, lakes):

Cuban Luis Daniel Gálvez is nice, too.

You zeroed in on the youngest contestants! 😉 My favorite might be Angel Olaya from Argentina....

Am I the only one who thinks Emma Thompson looks like Helen Mirren?

The lead, Daryl McCormack, is going to get some jizz out of me tonight...

I don't know about the situation in Thailand, but in the US, the virus has become extremely weak. The percentage of people hospitalized testing positive is nearly the same as the percentage of people in the general population testing positive (2-3%), and it is extremely rare for the virus to put someone in the ICU or worse, despite very high prevalence rates. The effectiveness of masking has also been quite questionable, since jurisdictions with masking requirements have not seen significant differences in transmission or prevalence compared to jurisdictions without masking requirements. In theory, masks should work (the filter droplets), but real-life statistics don't seem to support their efficacy. I believe we have come to the point where we should be paying far more attention to hospitalization, ICU, and death rates, and far less attention to "case" rates.

I had to look up Karen village. In the US, we're imagining this:

I feel cancelling the parade was a mistake. It's what the terrorist wanted. One can increase the security if needed, but the parade should have went on.

I'm a California Angel!

https://nypost.com/2022/01/19/folk-singer-hana-horka-dies-of-covid-after-exposing-herself-to-avoid-vaccine/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_7005994 "The Czech musician’s passing was confirmed by her son Jan Rek, who told Prague Morning that she “preferred to catch the disease than get vaccinated.” Her fatal goal: to regain access to her favorite off-limits sources of entertainment. Per her son’s account, Horká, lead vocalist for the popular international band Asonance, had wanted a “recovery pass” to the sauna and theater in her native Czech Republic, where either proof of vaccination or a recent infection is required to access specific cultural venues, the BBC reported. Horká, who hadn’t gotten the shot, saw an opportunity for the latter after both Rek and his father caught the virus over Christmas despite being vaccinated. Instead of self-isolating, she deliberately hung around the infected family members. The vocalist revealed her COVID-catching scheme on social media, claiming she was recovering well from the disease. “I survived… It was intense,” Horká wrote in the post, according to local news outlets. “So now there will be the theater, sauna, a concert… and an urgent trip to the sea.” “Life is here for me and for you too,” she added. Two days later, the folk artist reportedly died due to coronavirus complications, with her son reporting that she “choked to death” within 10 minutes. ... [Her son] Rek has since blamed the anti-vaxxer movement for her loss, noting that his mom frequently shared anti-vaccine articles to social media."

https://pagesix.com/2022/01/26/howard-stern-meat-loafs-family-should-address-covid-19/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_7020316 "Howard Stern wants Meat Loaf’s family to speak out about COVID-19 vaccines — and believes the late singer got sucked into a “cult.” The “Bat Out of Hell” singer died earlier this month at 74, reportedly of COVID-19. The late rocker had been vigorously opposed to masking and vaccine mandates. In a recent interview last summer, Meat Loaf griped that masks are “useless. They don’t do anything. They don’t stop you from getting COVID. They’re just a nuisance and make your nose itch and make it so you can’t breathe.” He added, “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.” Speaking out about the performer’s death, Stern, 68, railed: “Poor Meat Loaf got sucked into some weird fucking cult. And somehow really believed that — he made a statement, ‘I’d rather die a free man than take that vaccine.’ And now he’s dead!” reports Uproxx. “I wish the family would come forward and say, ‘Ya know, when Meat Loaf was laying there in the hospital and he couldn’t breathe, he said, ‘I made a mistake,'” he continued. “‘I should have taken the vaccine.’ Like all these anti-vaxxers, they all say, ‘I made a mistake.'" The widow of Meat Loaf (né Marvin Lee Aday), Deborah Gillespie, issued a statement following his passing writing, “The grief I feel over the loss of my husband is gut-wrenching.” However, she didn’t specify how her husband of nearly 15 years died. This isn’t the first time the self-proclaimed “King of All Media” has bashed anti-vaxxers. Earlier this month, he went on a tirade about controversial tennis champ Novak Djokovic, who was thrown out of Australia after petitioning for an exemption to the country’s vaccination requirement for noncitizens. “That fuck-nut … Djokovic. The Joker, I call him the Joker,” the shock jock fumed. “What a fucking asshole.”"

A vocal opponent of Covid-19 vaccine mandates, singer Meat Loaf appears to have succumbed to the disease himself (death certificate hasn't been filed yet). As an obese 74 year-old, you'd think he would have chosen a wiser course, since he fit the profile as a prime risk for the illness. I have zero understanding of why entertainers think they're so much more knowledgeable about vaccine safety and efficacy than public health and medical experts. It's difficult to muster any empathy here. Hopefully his words and actions didn't lead to others losing their lives. https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/21/meat-loaf-dead-dies-singer/ "...Our sources say Meat Loaf has been outspoken about COVID, railing with folks in Australia recently about vaccine mandates..." https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/4509131/meat-loaf-died-catching-covid/ "...just months before his death he declared "if I die, I die - I'm not going to be controlled" when discussing Covid. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published last August, he also labelled face masks a "nuisance".. ." Well, it looks like the only thing to control him was the virus... 🙄

Not that he's contagious any more, but to have lied on his visa application and to have promoted a false narrative regarding immunizations, I'm sure glad he received what was coming to him. He's a talented player with a despicable character, in my view... I'm glad he didn't receive some "exception" due to his fame. It would have sent the wrong message.

Oh, yes. It sure will.

I was once scammed by a business. When I documented the scam on a Yelp review, I received a threatening phone call from the business owner. I told him to go f**k himself and never call me again. I then amended my review to add the threatening call I received, and also alerted Yelp of the call, which subsequently flagged the business. I never heard from them again.