unicorn

That doesn't matter. The local authorities could choose to stop these fraudulent practices and choose not to do so, I would have to guess because it benefits the local economy at the expense of tourists. This reminds me of the rampant car break-ins on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. The island has wonderful shore diving opportunities, which are ruined due to the near-certainty that any vehicle parked for this purpose will be broken into. Again, local authorities could easily set up police stings, but choose not to. There are probably only a few bad apples. They'd be easy enough to catch (and are probably well-known to the local police in any case).

Well, if authorities were serious about stopping the practice, the way to do it is not to try to burden foreign passengers by asking them to fill forms in the hope someone will do something about it after they've left the country sometime. The way to do it is to hire undercover cops and arrest those who overcharge, fine them, and suspend their licences by a month for the first offense, much longer for 2nd offenses. Word will get around. Not that complicated.

Hopefully it won't take him too much longer to understand the obvious....

Tucker Carson is well-recognized as a disgraced journalist. And what the fuck does the Moscow metro have to do with the ballerina?

I came pretty close to meeting a similar fate, when my sibs and I divided some money found in my late mother's purses after her death. I took some Swiss Franc notes, only to find those notes had been phased out, though I was still able to exchange them. You won't be able to exchange them at the airport, but if you still have those notes, they can be exchanged (not at the airport). Don't throw them out, if you have a significant number of them: https://lenews.ch/2021/04/29/old-swiss-money-no-longer-valid-from-friday/ "...After 30 October 2021, the only places that will accept these notes are the cash desks of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), which will always exchange old notes for new. There is no time limit on this. The SNB operates cash desks in Bern and Zurich. In addition to the two SNB cash desks in Bern and Zurich, 13 branches of cantonal banks operate cash desks on behalf of the SNB in other Swiss cities and towns – click here to see a list of these branches (page 3). Old notes can also be sent to the SNB by post. The SNB advises checking with your post office on the proper insurance for your shipment and says it accepts no liability for such shipments – click here for further information...".

California's Sierra Nevada sure got a wolloping of snow over the last couple of days. I wouldn't want to be there. Imagine opening your front door to this: Some places received over 3 meters of snow! https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/02/weather/californias-sierras-blizzard-snow-saturday/index.html "A dangerous winter storm is slamming Northern California with rare blizzard conditions and fierce winds as it threatens to unload up to 10 feet of snow in the mountains and snarl travel. In the Sierra Nevada, the storm is delivering heavy snow, reduced visibilities, toppled power lines and hurricane-force winds over 75 miles per hour, which are expected to roar through the weekend...".

We've decided to take our honeymoon in the Galápagos Islands (cruise). The American Airlines flight leaves MIA for Quito at 10:05 AM. The airlines and cruise lines would rather we take an "overnight" flight of some 5 1/2 hours to make this connection (leaving late at night, arriving early morning), but I'd much rather take a flight earlier that day (say around noon), then spend the night in a hotel by MIA, and catch the flight the next day. In fact, I'd rather fly Main Cabin Extra than do the overnight flight in 1st Class, especially since it looks as though AA has gotten rid of Flagship service between LAX and MIA. The nominal cost of a hotel (looking at rates, shouldn't be much more than $100 for a night at a decent place on the dates we plan to go) more than makes up for the discomfort, and especially the difference between MCE and 1st Class. In any case, there isn't even enough time on a 5.5 hour flight to get a decent rest, even if one can sleep in those seats which don't lie flat. What do you do in these instances?

Well, according to that article, there's a video showing him kicking her, so it's not just alleged battery, it's battery. Time to leave if he can.

Well, the point is, I think, that he very much does not see this woman as a threat at all. She's not a threat--she's a bargaining chip from which he hopes to exchange for real Russian criminals (arms dealers, etc.). The sensible thing to do is disengage. Do not bargain. Make it clear that there's nothing to gain from taking hostages. And, once again, warn US citizens NOT to travel to Russia (or Iran, etc.). As I've said before, anyone wishing to travel to countries whose leaders take our citizen hostage should have to sign a waiver indicating that they are well-aware of the serious danger, and that the US will not make any concessions due to willfully foolish behavior. This should be the response to any request for concessions:

Yes, Renaissance refers to the rebirth--after too many centuries of Christians controlling all "learning," which consisted mainly in studying the Bible. Only once Europeans embraced art and science, instead of only religion, was their society able to move forward.

Putin is holding another US citizen hostage. Any US citizen should know better than to travel to Russia. Her "crime" was donating $50 for the Ukrainian aid. I think it's important that the US government put its foot down and state unequivocally that we won't be trading any Russian spies in order to secure her release. Shame on her. https://abc7.com/ksenia-karelina-russian-court-denies-appeal-arrest-for-treason-ukraine-help/14479902/ "A court in Siberia has denied 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina's appeal and she will remain in prison. The court extended her pre-trial detention until at least April 6. Karelina, who has dual Russian and American citizenship and lives in Los Angeles, is accused of treason after allegedly donating about $50 to Ukraine's war effort... If convicted, Karelina faces 20 years behind bars...". https://nypost.com/2024/02/29/world-news/russia-rejects-appeal-in-ksenia-karelina-treason-case/ "...A Russian lawyers’ group, Pervy Otdel, said it had information that Karelina had donated just over $50 from her U.S. bank account on Feb. 24, 2022 – the day that Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine – to a charity that sends aid to Ukraine...". What a threat to Russia's military! 🙄

I did say that Europe, not civilization overall, faltered under Christianity. Mathematics, science, and other cultures flourished in areas controlled by the Muslims, Chinese, etc. European civilization began to move again with and following the Renaissance, when Copernicus and Galileo were able to deduce that the earth wasn't the center of the universe, artists started painting non-religious themes, the printing press allowed the dissemination of new ideas, and so on. Fortunately, once the Muslims took over Egypt, the attempts of the Christians to cover up Egyptian history were halted. Of course, now some Muslim fringe groups such as ISIS and the Taliban have used dynamite to try to erase their countries non-Islamic history.

No one is arguing that digging up burial sites of existing tribes shouldn't be forbidden. The issue is whether there is any sense in forbidding archaeological activity to find out more about long-lost cultures. My fiance and I just went to Egypt in January, where there is lots of archaeological activity, mostly in ancient burial sites, and where we have learned a tremendous amount about how our culture came to be. We were surprised to learn, for example, of the Egyptian roots of Christian stories. Whole books have been written on the subject. You can buy these on Amazon: "...The very thing that is now called the Christian religion was already in existence in Ancient Egypt, long before the adoption of the New Testament. The British Egyptologist, Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, wrote in his book, The Gods of the Egyptians (1969), "The new religion (Christianity) which was preached there by St. Mark and his immediate followers, in all essentials so closely resembled that which was the outcome of the worship of Osiris, Isis, and Horus." The similarities, noted by Budge and everyone who has compared the Egyptian Osiris/Isis/Horus allegory to the Gospel story, are striking. Both accounts are practically the same, e.g. the supernatural conception, the divine birth, the struggles against the enemy in the wilderness, and the resurrection from the dead to eternal life. The main difference between the “two versions” is that the Gospel tale is considered historical and the Osiris/Isis/Horus cycle is an allegory. The spiritual message of the two is exactly the same..." Of course, we also saw evidence of the attempts of ancient Christians to try to erase their history with their defacing of Egyptian temples: Fortunately, they didn't find many of the tombs, so their attempts to erase history didn't pan out. Of course, neither my fiance nor myself consider the Gospels to be "historical" or factual in any way--just old rehashing of Egyptian lore (which we don't consider historical either, of course). Of course, once Christianity took over Egypt, their civilization soon fell. It wouldn't take too long for Christianity to destroy the Roman Empire and civilization as well--plunging Europe into many centuries of ignorance and stagnation. Those who don't remember history suffer the consequences.

This bill was passed unanimously by Ghana's parliament. Once signed into law, it will make even simply identifying as LGBTQ as a crime punishable by 3 years' imprisonment! https://abcnews.go.com/International/ghanas-parliament-passes-controversial-new-anti-lgbtq-bill/story?id=107667679 "...The bill is one of the harshest of its kind in Africa and, if signed into law, it could see people who identify as “gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, nonbinary, queer … or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female” sentenced to up to three years in prison...".

Context helps understand the impetus for writing certain laws, but one can also assess that a law may have been poorly-written. There is a difference between looting a graveyard and bona-fide archaeological work. I do agree that graveyards should be considered sacred if the culture that built them is still around. However, unearthing funerary objects which are many centuries, or even over a thousand years old, serves genuine archaeological and educational goals, and does not have the potential of truly offending anyone. For example, the Hopewell culture has been gone for centuries, and there are valid reasons for studying funerary objects, which help us understand these ancient cultures. Having to ask "permission" from people belonging to a completely different culture makes no sense. In the US, the Cahokia Mounds are another example of an archaeological site from a fascinating culture which has been gone for 1000 years. There are probably countless other cultures that have long since disappeared. I personally feel that displaying these cultures' funerary objects honors these ancient cultures, and keeps their memory alive. We can learn much about ourselves by studying these ancient cultures. I agree we shouldn't condone looting graves of existing cultures (most especially when these graves are still being tended). However, once a culture has disappeared, I support almost any effort to learn more about that extinct culture.

Graphic descriptions or details were unnecessary. The news organization could have simply reported what was on the police report, rather than have the reader guess in order to try to fill in the blanks. Just lousy reporting IMHO. It seems fairly certain that the pills were irrelevant. It looks as though they're just trying to imply a salacious story.

This old Ringo Starr song from over half a century ago came up on Sirius XM The Blend while we were driving in our car. I said to my fiance "Now, there's a song which would be shocking if it came out today!". He said, "Hey, maybe we can play a modified version for you at our wedding. Just switch 'you're sixteen' to 'you're sixty!' 😄 🤣."

😲 I guess they don't have decent journalism schools in India??? What kind of BS reporting is that? Is one supposed to come to one's own wild conclusions?

They're known for their queeny FA's! 😄

Which airline?

True, but not relevant to this discussion.

I'm sure almost everyone, including myself, yourself, the judge, and the jury was incensed by the defendant's depraved behavior. Whether the judge or jury followed the law is something an appeals court will decide.