Marc in Calif

In Cartagena in September, there's a 79% chance of rain on an average day. (October is even rainier.) And the average high temperature is 89F, with an average low of 78F. That is both sticky and hot, as you say! And it's kinda the same EVERY month of the year, with drier weather in a few months.

There are some very funny Instagram accounts in Bali that were created specifically to mock and abuse the marauding Russians. 😃

Thanks for clarifying that Yeltsin was not "supported financially heavily" by the US government in his 1996 election. There were many things that the Clinton administration did to help Yeltsin. But directly providing "heavy financial support" for the 1996 election wasn't one of them.

Yes, I mentioned specifically the case of the three political operatives. They were paid by Yeltsin. Of course there were others, perhaps paid directly by the US government. I was responding to the comment that "Putin and Yeltsin were supported financially heavily by the US in the elections..."

For those of us who don't read Chinese, could you please summarize the gist of this article and mention a few of those eight places? Thanks!

Yeltsin? I haven't seen any evidence of heavy financial support paid directly by the US government for Yeltsin's re-election in 1996. Yes, there were both Republican and Democratic operatives who interfered, but they were paid by Yeltsin himself. Putin? I haven't seen evidence that the Clinton administration provided heavy financial support for Putin's first actual election in March 2000.

Not all Asian languages are as difficult to learn (and pronounce) as Thai, Chinese, and Korean. For example, the "island" languages in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have easier phonology to pronounce -- and somewhat simpler grammar.

ORLANDO (The Borowitz Report) Ron DeSantis has unveiled an ambitious plan to raze Disney World and replace it with a “Dilbert”-themed attraction. The new theme park, tentatively called Dilbert World, will attract “millions of Americans deprived of their favorite comic strip by the left-wing media Reich,” the Florida governor said. Calling the new tourist destination “a woke-free zone,” DeSantis promised, “Parents who go to Dilbert World can rest assured that their children will not be exposed to the vile multicultural propaganda that it’s a small world, after all.” DeSantis was vague about what kind of rides might be featured in Dilbert World, saying only that “they will probably involve cubicles.”

It's a VERY useful blog! in Bali, he did say that he reviewed only spas and restaurants in Seminyak and Kuta Beach. There are additional gay places there and nearby. Notably, he didn't report on the rest of the island other than this very small corner. There are several gay places elsewhere.

So you use the right wing's lib-tard epithet only for the Bernie Bros? I hope you realize that they themselves use it to refer to anyone to the left of Mitt Romney.

The crybabies and crazies are just jealous over there!

"One would be forgiven..." https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/just-deserts-or-just-desserts#:~:text=Despite its pronunciation%2C just deserts,but pronounced like the sweet What to Know Despite its pronunciation, just deserts, with one s, is the proper spelling for the phrase meaning "the punishment that one deserves." The phrase is even older than dessert, using an older noun version of desert meaning "deserved reward or punishment," which is spelled like the arid land, but pronounced like the sweet treat. Based on the way the second word in just deserts (“the punishment that one deserves”) is pronounced, one would be forgiven for imagining that it came about in reference to some form of discipline involving custards, cookies, or petits fours. It might even make one wonder why there are not other meal-based forms of chastisement in our language; why no deserved breakfasts, no requisite lunches, no warranted teas? Because it’s not that kind of dessert. 😇

It's much more difficult for guests to contaminate the contents of the big bottles, isn't it? With the small ones, It's possible to put some in your hand and then put it back into the bottle. Am I being too OCD about this? 😁

I prefer the smaller bottles -- but only if they're sealed. I often suspected that housekeepers would simply refill half-used bottles from previous guests. Gross!

Tried to go to www.saintmoritzsauna.com just now. Error message: This site can’t provide a secure connectionwww.saintmoritzsauna.com sent an invalid response. Try running Windows Network Diagnostics. ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR

It's also a way to make messages unreadable for a certain subset of people one might have a certain type of prejudice against. Just a thought...

By Adam Kovac February 23, 2023 Several police departments around the United States are warning Jews of extremist groups planning a “Day of Hate” for Saturday. https://forward.com/fast-forward/537473/jewish-communities-white-supremacists-feb-25-day-of-hate-nypd/ The NYPD Intelligence and Counterterrorism bureau said the cautionary message is being circulated due to social media posts and video “instructing likeminded individuals to drop banners, place stickers and flyers, or scrawl graffiti” targeting Jews. They added that at least one person has disseminated a message encouraging these acts of hate to be recorded. In the warning, the NYPD advised officers to maintain “elevated situational awareness” on Saturday, particularly at locations that “might garner higher interest from these types of actors.” Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said his group learned of the Day of Hate several weeks ago while monitoring of several extremist groups’ social media and communications channels. He said a variety of groups have signed on, including the Goyim Defense League, which has taken part in some highly visible acts of antisemitic propaganda and was cited by the suspect in last week’s shootings of two Los Angeles Jews. But other groups large and small have also posted about the Day of Hate, he said. “It’s essentially a hodgepodge of white supremacist organizations, many of which engage in on-the-ground activity like flyer distribution, banners, protests, that sort of thing.” ...............................

I hope you realize that non-native English speakers on this site might have great difficulty reading your vowel-less shorthand.

Well, it's not all-male. Only the rhythmic chanters are male. There are also female and male dancers and singers -- the focus of the tourist performance. Spies learned that Limbak (his driver) had already integrated dancers with traditional male cak chanters. Spies's only contribution was the suggestion to use the Ramayana epic for the danced story and to present it to tourists. He was in no way a choreographer and left that to Limbak and others. Spies helped publicize the new performance to Europeans and other visitors to the island. To this day, the kecak is still only for tourists. And the original cak chanters continue taking part in traditional sanghyang rituals and the popular (for the Balinese) secular performance known as janger.

Yes, people do "allege" this quasi-historical myth. But like many myths and legends, the actual history of this tourist performance is much more interesting. 😊

Unless you're a Yiddish speaker, you might check how you write German names. ☺️

I suggest that you add the words "even more" before "division" in this sentence. Putin has already succeeded in fostering such divisions. But he'd like to foster much more of it. 🤬

From the BCN Boyberry FAQ: What is boyberry BCN? Boyberry BCN is a sex club aimed at a young audience and located in Barcelona, with a sex shop to cover your basic needs, and a large cruising area with cabins, gloryholes, labyrinth, dark room, and larger areas with beds or sofas.

Like all social media trolls, they refused to accept clearly proven facts and evidence that didn't support their opinions. They'd simply say that a quoted or cited source was "notoriously liberal" or "lying media" to indicate that it wasn't true. All trolls do that rather than engage with proven facts.