unicorn

I think it's just an unbridled alcoholic (probably unhappy, as they often are). Sober him up in jail, then let his home country deal with him. 😉

I wonder what they were smoking? Were the Estonians stoned? 😁

Sounded to me like someone who just can't handle his liquor. As for the expat situation, I know there are a lot of Americans who can't afford long-term care, because that's not a covered benefit until you've exhausted all of your funds, in which case you get put in lower-tier nursing homes. I was under the impression that Canadian programs cover long-term care for the long-term disabled. I know that a good number of Americans live in Mexican cities such as Ajijic or San Miguel de Allende because they just need long-term care such as wheelchair transfers, meals, etc. Very few Americans have long-term care insurance. As one of the few who does, I'll attest that it's becoming increasingly unaffordable. Do Canadians not have coverage for assisted living facilities if they're in need? https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/assisted-living/mexico "...Assisted living in Mexico costs approximately $1,650 – $2,450 per month in 2024. Unlike the American model of assisted living where the costs tend to spiral upward as care needs increase, most Mexican assisted living residences charge a flat monthly fee regardless of care requirements. Assisted living in the United States has a national average cost of $4,900 per month in 2024. Yet regional variances within the US mean that persons living on the East or West coasts and in densely populated urban centers tend to pay closer to $5,700 – $7,000 per month...".

At least he didn't didn't attack with a staff... 😉

This one's dues are $3000/mo.... https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/20-W-64th-St-41GH-New-York-NY-10023/343914391_zpid/

Well, if it includes real estate taxes, that's fine. Where I lived in the SF area, real estate taxes were not included, and varied greatly according to how long you've lived there (in California, real estate taxes can only go up by the amount of inflation until the home is sold, then it goes up wildly). Real estate taxes can be really nuts in California, and, because one can only deduct up to a certain amount against one's income taxes, it's actually possible to pay more in taxes than one's net income. That actually happened to me one year. Is this more in line with Manhattan HOA dues at $1448/mo for this tiny place? https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/104-W-70th-St-APT-3D-New-York-NY-10023/31521250_zpid/

Yikes. From what I've seen from looney-tunes HOA fees on NYC condos, they should easily be able to afford concierges. This fairly modest condo has a monthly HOA dues of $3672. If it's not going to pay for staff to service the the residents of the building, I wonder where all of those $$$$ go. I had a larger townhouse in the SF Bay Area, any my homeowner dues were less than 10% of that, and for that our association payed for our private paved roads, multiple tennis courts, 3 swimming pools, extensive landscaping, and a clubhouse. Of course, the staffing in the office was only part-time, 16 hours per week, but no one expected full-time services with those dues. I wonder where those NYC HOA due go. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-W-69th-St-2A-New-York-NY-10023/244900964_zpid/

Nor did Russia exist at that time. Russia's had one free election in its entire history. Congratulations.

Google translate is free. I use it even for languages with which I'm quite fluent. It makes it easier for everyone on both sides of the communication. https://translate.google.com/

At least we have a choice! 😉 Yes, our 18th Century system is definitely outdated. When our system was developed, Russians will still ruled by an absolute ruler who had sex with horses.

Because otherwise anyone can spout off any bullshit he wants and claim it's true in the language he invented in his head. That's the reason dictionaries were invented: to settle disputes regarding words' meanings and definitions.

If you think I don't pay dearly for my insurance services, or wine, or whatever, you'd be deeply mistaken. What seems to be new these days is that these companies are eager to take your money, increasing rates more rapidly than inflation, but disappear when it comes to service. Especially insulting was the "wine consultant" who wanted to collect a commission even when she was on vacation and didn't want to answer her phone. "Just give me the money. I don't want to do the work."

On this board, we are communicating in English. We must use standard, accepted language, and not the way we wish the language were expressed, or any other ideas we have in our head. I traveled through Romania a number of years ago, and, indeed, there are people in certain parts of that country who speak only Hungarian, and do not even know how to communicate in Romanian. However, if they have Romanian citizenship, they are Romanian, whatever their culture or language skills--by definition (regardless of how they would "describe" themselves). It is quite possible that Hungary grants citizenship to such people (I don't know), in which case they are both Hungarian and Romanian. This may be analogous to Northern Ireland, whose residents are dual citizens by birth. Culture and nationality are two separate concepts. Americans often celebrate our cultural heritages, but we're still all American. It's a sign of a strong society.

I do find it interesting how infrequently the time of the incident is mentioned in news articles. Most articles do mention the prominent markings the vehicles had on their roofs and sides, but, you're right, I could find no mention of the time other than in the NYT article. Of course, knowing the time does not change the fact that this attack was inexcusable and criminal, and that it shows a malicious pattern. Knowing the time only explains why the markings weren't seen.

I saw this guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race today. I thought he was rather handsome, but had never heard of him, so I looked him up on Wikipedia. I was really wowed. I'm guessing some of you have heard of him, Ronan Farrow. I mean this man sounds perfect, at least on paper: "...As a child, Farrow skipped grades in school and took courses with the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. At age 11, he began his studies at Bard College at Simon's Rock, later transferring to Bard College for a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. He graduated at age 15, the youngest to do so at that institution. He entered Yale Law School, from which he received a Juris Doctor in 2009. He later passed the New York State Bar examination. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, Farrow earned a Doctor of Philosophy in political science from the University of Oxford, where he was a student of Magdalen College...". You'd think a man like that could have anyone he wanted to, but it looks as though he was with this obese comedian, Jon Lovett, for 10 years, and nearly married him. I was also surprised to learn he apparently lives in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Maybe someone who knows NYC better than I do can educate me, but I always thought that wasn't such a great part of the island. It makes me think of a Bowery bum, but maybe my knowledge of NYC is hopelessly outdated. I find myself fascinated by this man, wondering why he lives where he does (if Wikipedia is correct), and why he was hooked up with whom he was: I mean no disrespect for Jon Lovett. I'm sure he's a wonderful man, and fun to be with. But the physiques don't compare. I think this may be Ronan's new beau:

Factually wrong.

No, but if it happened in Rostov-on-Don, Putin would have blamed Ukrainians. 😉

Here he is with his domestic partner of 10 years in Provincetown:

Extraordinarily buff Stephen Mark Lukas is performing in the male lead, as Nick Arnstein, in Funny Girl at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. https://www.instagram.com/smlukas/

I agree that option 2 isn't usually the wisest. However, it is the option chosen by a couple of my friends. In one case, he runs a network, and it would be very difficult to train someone to get all of his knowledge, so he is usually available for brief emergencies, even when on vacation. In another case, this friend runs a very lucrative business which nets him some $400,000 a year, so he also would rather answer the occasional phone call when on vacation, rather than try to train someone, which would cost him dearly. I would guess that for most people, option 1 is the most common and wisest. Before I could go on vacation, I would have to set my voice mail to the vacation group coverage system, and have my work e-mail send an automatic response message, such as "Unicorn will be unavailable until April 18 at 8 AM. If there are urgent matters, contact XYZ." Option 3 is another option some might follow, and doesn't even require much effort on the employee. Another example. There's a winery from which I often order wines. I received an e-mail on Tuesday from my usual wine consultant: "HURRY! OFFER ENDS THURSDAY, APRIL 4TH @ 11:59 PM To order please contact your personal Wine Consultant: P*** G*** | 707-***-**** | p***@***.com Questions? Ready to order? Give me a call. I'm here for you!" So I called, no one answered, and I left a message to call back with my number that morning. Receiving no response, I called again in 2 hours, left another message, and again called 3 more times that day. After receiving no response again the next morning, I called the main number, and asked "Is PG on vacation? I've tried calling 8 times and multiple unanswered messages." I got the response "I don't know. She works in another building." I asked if I could just give my order to her, and she said that she wasn't supposed to take orders from someone who already has a wine consultant, but that she would send PG an e-mail. I finally received a call as I was driving on the way to a theater performance, so my voice-mail picked up: "“Hi Unicorn this is P*** your wine consultant at *** I'm so sorry that we have not been able to get a hold of each other as you know I usually am very even to hold of but I am actually out of town but I can still take orders I would like to take your order I just need to know what you're looking for...". Even after specifically sending an e-mail (purportedly sent by her) and specifically requesting I call her (promptly), she couldn't be bothered to either let her colleagues know she was off and/or change her outgoing message to at least let her customers know? I called again the next day, and, no surprise, no pick-up. This behavior just represents rudeness in my view. I don't blame her for not wanting to work when she's on vacation, but then she should just be honest and say "I'm sorry, but I'm not available at this time. Please call my colleague at...".

It looks as though you didn't look very hard. I just googled "Time of World Central Kitchen attack" and immediately came up with the time: 10:09 PM. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/world/middleeast/israel-military-world-central-kitchen-strike.html#:~:text=According to the military%2C Israeli,arrived in Gaza by sea. "...According to the military, Israeli forces began striking the World Central Kitchen convoy at 10:09 p.m. on Monday, as the vehicles made their way along Gaza’s coast. The attack killed six foreign nationals and a Palestinian, all of whom had handled the food aid that had arrived in Gaza by sea...". The article continues: "...The seven aid workers had arrived in northern Gaza earlier on Monday to help deliver more than 100 tons of food aid, according to World Central Kitchen. Their trucks left around 9 p.m. and headed south for the group’s warehouse, according to the Israeli military. Along the coastal road, the trucks met with cars who joined their convoy, according to the military. Shortly after, a gunman appeared to fire a single round from the roof of one of the trucks, according to Maj. Gen. Yoav Har-Even, a reserve officer who oversees the military’s investigations into potential cases of wartime misconduct. The drone operator and his commanding officers were unaware that the cars were part of the approved humanitarian convoy and wrongly assumed they were carrying armed Palestinians, the Israeli officials said. Asked why the soldiers were out of the loop, General Har-Even said that certain officers had not seen the coordination documentation. “No excuses,” Gen. Har-Even said, describing the communications failure...". I think almost everyone would agree that the errors were inexcusable, as even the IDF agrees. The errors were inexcusable and should result in serious consequences (i.e. serious prison time) for those responsible, as well as civil financial compensation to the families of those who were murdered in the attack. That being said, if I were a leader from World Central Kitchen, I would probably try to ensure that future convoys moved during daylight hours so that the prominent markings on their roofs and sides of vehicles could be clearly visible.

I heard this on NBC Nightly News. They didn't state a specific time, just said that it was at night.