unicorn

I just learned today that this bastion of liberal academia is led by Carol T. Christ. I don't know how she may be related to Jesus H. 😉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_T._Christ

Unless you subscribe to NYT, it's behind a paywall, but an interesting read: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/business/media/russia-fake-journalists.html?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20240319 "A young man calling himself Mohamed al-Alawi appeared in a YouTube video in August. He described himself as an investigative journalist in Egypt with a big scoop: The mother-in-law of Ukraine’s president had purchased a villa near Angelina Jolie’s in El Gouna, a resort town on the Red Sea. The story, it turned out, was not true. Ukraine denied it, and the owner of the villa refuted it. Also disconnected from reality: Alawi’s claim to being a journalist. Still, his story caromed through social media and news outlets from Egypt to Nigeria and ultimately to Russia — which, according to researchers, is where the story all began. The story seemed to fade, but not for long. Four months later, two new videos appeared on YouTube. They said Mohamed al-Alawi had been beaten to death in Hurghada, a town about 20 miles south of El Gouna. The suspected killers, according to the videos: Ukraine’s secret service agents. These claims were no more factual than the first, but they gave new life to the old lie. Another round of posts and news reports ultimately reached millions of internet users around the world, elevating the narrative so much that it was even echoed by members of the U.S. Congress while debating continued military assistance to Ukraine. Ever since its forces invaded two years ago, Russia has unleashed a torrent of disinformation to try to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West. This saga, though, introduced a new gambit: a protracted and elaborately constructed narrative built online around a fictitious character and embellished with seemingly realistic detail and a plot twist worthy of Netflix. “They never brought back a character before,” said Darren Linvill, a professor and director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who has extensively studied Russian disinformation. The campaign shows how deftly Russia’s information warriors have shifted to new tactics and targets as the war in Ukraine has dragged on, just as Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine have adjusted tactics after devastating battlefield losses...".

I don't know if our two Russian posters actually believe the ridiculous crap they put out, but it's a waste of time to present actual facts to them. They'll always come back with the same absurd BS: "the truth comes from the place where journalists are murdered, and propaganda from places where's there's a free press," "fair elections comes from the place where journalists and opponents are murdered," and so on. I have no idea whether or not they actually believe that BS or not, but they're clearly not going to change their tune, and it's a waste of time to argue with people who ignore, or seem to ignore, the obvious.

Well, seriously, I call it BS. Physiologically, I don't think it's possible for a man to orgasm without losing an erection. Refractory periods can indeed be very short, but I doubt the time can be zero. I would call it a fake orgasm.

I feel a song coming on...

Multiple orgasm/short refractory period.

Wow. That's amazing--and unexpected. Better than a study, this is a meta-analysis, which combines multiple randomized clinical studies, and is the highest form of evidence available. Although perhaps difficult to believe at first, and contrary to traditional thinking, this appears to be the truth.

He looks great with his shirt off, but I feel his face is rather unfortunate. What do you think?

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/giorgi-tzane-janelidze-fitness-influencer-dead-at-23/ 😪 "Fitness influencer Giorgi ‘Tzane’ Janelidze died after falling into a ravine while filming social media content in Italy. According to Greek outlet Ethnos, the Wednesday, March 13, accident occurred while Janelidze was standing on a balcony without a railing, where he slipped and fell into the ravine...". What kind of a balcony doesn't have a railing???

When communicating, one has to agree on a language and certain definitions. If one just defines words as what one imagines in one's head, chaos can ensue. The US actually defines a forest as having a minimum of 1 acre in size. While agree that this seems quite small, I can certainly abide by the UN definition which is 1/2 hectare. https://cfpub.epa.gov/roe/definitions.cfm?i=51 Forest land. Land at least 120 feet wide and 1 acre in size with at least 10 percent cover (or equivalent stocking) by live trees of any size, including land that formerly had such tree cover and that will be naturally or artificially regenerated. Forest land includes transition zones, such as areas between forest and non-forest lands that have at least 10 percent cover (or equivalent stocking) with live trees and forest areas adjacent to urban and built-up lands. Roadside, streamside, and shelterbelt strips of trees must have a crown width of at least 120 feet and continuous length of at least 363 feet to qualify as forest land. Unimproved roads and trails, streams, and clearings in forest areas are classified as forest if they are less than 120 feet wide or an acre in size. Tree-covered areas in agricultural production settings, such as fruit orchards, or tree-covered areas in urban settings, such as city parks, are not considered forest land.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." https://www.fao.org/3/I8661EN/i8661en.pdf Since 8 acres is 3.24 hectares, that would seem to qualify assuming the trees are at least 5 meters high, with a canopy cover of more than 10%.

I believe it's still illegal to call the Ukraine War a war in Russia. But I don't think neither you nor Putin will be arrested. 😉

We've been considering using a wedding planner, but most of the planners in this area don't seem to want to pick up their phone. One planner wants to charge US $6000, but states she won't answer the phone, and that she could take 72 business hours to answer any e-mails. Is this the norm? I'm not sure what all of that money is going towards if it's just putting up a barrier of communication with a "Don't call us, we'll call you" attitude. They can't even afford a part-time (say 1 PM to 5 PM daily) receptionist? How helpful are these people? Would you use one if you had to do it again?

Any interest in such a string?

News to me! 😄

This review website also documents the nonexistent customer service. They have a few 5* reviews, but almost all of those were written by "1st-time reviewers," which shows the company is dishonest in addition to being disreputable. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/traveloka.com

These 3rd party websites often have nonexistent customer service, and this one is no exception: https://www.reviews.io/company-reviews/store/traveloka Almost everyone gives them the bottom rating. I personally think you'd be loco to use traveloka...

??? I guess you didn't even look at the graph you yourself put up. The exponential rise occurred during Trump's presidency, and the data on that graph stop before Biden even took office. So your dumb-ass argument completely shows the opposite of what you intended it to. Truth be told, the accidental deaths happened because of the rise in fentanyl adulteration in illegal drugs, not because of any presidential policies. That being said, Trump was POTUS up through 2020, so your graph would imply the opposite of your contention.

Talking about mysterious deaths. we may be hearing about a suspicious death from one of our members soon. 😬