Off Topic Other Stuff (anything you want to share)
- Thread starter Plymborn
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Lights are flashing in the sky and the thunder rumbles on with rain chucking it at the minute. Just about sums up the day really. With a bit of luck Boris will be looking out of his window and suddenly........................FLASH................and he's gone. Well I can feckin dream can't I.
Thursday afternoon....Whew....BBC weather says it should be 96F (36C) in Orpington....my temperature gauge is saying 102F (39C).....the greenhouse with doors and windows opened is registering the max it can show.....hitting its head on the 120F (49 C).
Friday...0900hrs....all change this morning.....thunder and lightening...heavy downpour (after washing put on line of course)....temperature dropped down to mid 70's F....seems quite refreshing comparing with yesterday.
Friday...0900hrs....all change this morning.....thunder and lightening...heavy downpour (after washing put on line of course)....temperature dropped down to mid 70's F....seems quite refreshing comparing with yesterday.
For the last two days I have been doing a bit of a job in the garden. Moving a load of stones (large) and digging out part of the grassed area. I have enough Stones to build a dry stone wall if I wanted to. Anyway, at my age I'm not sure how intelligent it was to even start it given the lifting and the temperature. I have literally sweat my gonads off and now feel completely and utterly knackered. The number of neighbours and other usual passing people who have stopped, leaned on my wall and asked what you doing here then was huge. It was blatantly obvious what I was doing but not one offered a hand. My assistant on both days was.................my 70 year old missus. Today I had my daughter and her husband on the case as well thank god so it is now done. Memo to self. Don't start a job like that when the sun is burning down ever again or just pay somebody else to do it.
Off to football tomorrow so it's bound to rain...............
Off to football tomorrow so it's bound to rain...............
Poor old Gareth Bale...it seems that he is being forced out of Real Madrid by manager Zinedine Zidane....on the verge of signing, so we're told a three year contract with Chinese club...Jiangsu Suning for £1 million a week (untaxed I believe).....there isn't a club in the west who could match his wages at Real Madrid....so this looks like the only answer....not bad for a player who seems to be rather injury prone......and is no longer one of the main stars at the club.
I see we're having difficulty playing PROPER cricket.....thrashed in the first ashes test by 251 runs....although it wouldn't be fair not to mention that Jimmy Anderson our No1 fast bowler....broke down after only bowling 4 overs in the first innings....at the cost of only 1 run....up hill struggle with a bowler short.
After having them on the ropes by lunch on the first day............... as you say, losing Anderson without a replacement who can bowl killed our chances.
No replacement allowed.....rather galling really....seeing Jofra Archer came on at times as a substitute fielder....so after 7 overs of the match we we're literally down to 10 men....so that roughly meant we played 97% of the game a bowler short.....and not a sheet of emery paper on the pitch.....although there was quite a bit in the stands.
I think cricket is played far too much as a short game now and the players do not get enough practice in test matches. The art of batting in a proper game is way way different to that of the T20 bash and the One day 50 over variety. We had then reeling on the first day and let them off the hook then. We then ran scared of Smith and the rest is history. No excuses for me whether we had a bowler short or not. We were found out and it is going to be a long slog to get anything out of this series.
Knowing Sensible's views on Tony Blair and the 2nd Iraq War, I thought I'd report that I watched the 2018 film "Vice" last Saturday, starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney, Vice President under George Dubya Bush, and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence to both Gerald Ford and George Dubya,
The film drew mixed reviews, ranging from applause from the sort of left-wing Hollywood luvvies that made it and harsh criticisms of being no more than politically motivated libel from those on the right.
Whilst the debate here has been about what Blair knew, this film suggests that George Dubya didn't know much either, largely because Cheney and Rumsfeld didn't tell him. In fact, they'd conspired to ensure not only that they had advanced sight of the President's diary so that they were able to prevent or disrupt any meetings they considered unhelpful, but even less believably, were able to see all incoming Presidential communications and filter what Bush actually saw.
During the Clinton Presidency, Cheney was Chairman and CEO of Halliburton, an oil industry services company. Believe it if you will, but he's also also portrayed using his oil industry contacts to draw up maps parcelling up Iragi oilfields between American oil companies. They were required to have a representative of the US Department of Energy at all such meeting on energy related matters and complied with this by inviting a very junior IT specialist they's arranged to have seconded to the White House. He sat behind a partition wall, able to hear what was said but not to see the documents being discussed.
It's a good film if you like that sort of thing but it is likely to make your blood boil if you think we live in democracies!
The film drew mixed reviews, ranging from applause from the sort of left-wing Hollywood luvvies that made it and harsh criticisms of being no more than politically motivated libel from those on the right.
Whilst the debate here has been about what Blair knew, this film suggests that George Dubya didn't know much either, largely because Cheney and Rumsfeld didn't tell him. In fact, they'd conspired to ensure not only that they had advanced sight of the President's diary so that they were able to prevent or disrupt any meetings they considered unhelpful, but even less believably, were able to see all incoming Presidential communications and filter what Bush actually saw.
During the Clinton Presidency, Cheney was Chairman and CEO of Halliburton, an oil industry services company. Believe it if you will, but he's also also portrayed using his oil industry contacts to draw up maps parcelling up Iragi oilfields between American oil companies. They were required to have a representative of the US Department of Energy at all such meeting on energy related matters and complied with this by inviting a very junior IT specialist they's arranged to have seconded to the White House. He sat behind a partition wall, able to hear what was said but not to see the documents being discussed.
It's a good film if you like that sort of thing but it is likely to make your blood boil if you think we live in democracies!
Hmmmm, Political conspiracies. Where do they get these fantasies from I ask. Not anything like real life is it.
Not at all. It's not as if Halliburton were later accused of defrauding the US taxpayer for services provided in occupied Iraq or anything like that is it? Oh, wait, yes it is actually.
My thought on all this Political Elite stuff is that everyone expects African nations and Arab nations for example to be corrupt and the leaders be on the take all the time. But, and America aren't a bit like that are they. The people wouldn't stand for it would they because ours is a democracy and in democracies they both don't do and would not get away with it because of people power. Yea right and if we all believed that then we would believe anything. They are all pretty much bent as a nine bob note. We don't like to believe that really but deep down know it is true. I mean if we express it as a view then we are saying we are just as bad as every third rate country on the Planet and that would never do. You can tell we think we are better than all the rest in the words of Tina Turner because we are so up in arms that the Europeans won't talk to us anymore about us leaving them. I mean who do they think they are for christ sake don't they know this is Britain they are dealing with. Send in the Gun Boats I say and be damned. They'll soon toe the line then.
With out sounding too unkind.....drop the 'y' and add...ied.......is there just too many pro clubs within a stones throw of Bury.....that was the one thing in Argyle's favour when we went into administration....a circle of fifty miles of wilderness....with only Torquay and the mighty Exeter visible
Rugby World Cup Warm Up.
England...33-19...Wales.
Wales who played 13 of their grand-slam winning side came second best to England who played a much changed side because of injuries....they blew the Welsh away with two early tries.
They're going to do it all again in Cardiff next week...playing rugby in August must be some sought of penance for bad behaviour surely.
England...33-19...Wales.
Wales who played 13 of their grand-slam winning side came second best to England who played a much changed side because of injuries....they blew the Welsh away with two early tries.
They're going to do it all again in Cardiff next week...playing rugby in August must be some sought of penance for bad behaviour surely.
Since retiring in 2004...I think I've discovered my true vacation in life....I'm sure that I could have made a small fortune by now if only I had caught on earlier.
I have discovered that with a laundry basket full of washed bedding/clothing and a peg bag I am able to make it rain at will.
I should have advertised my availability as a Rainmaker.....no mumbo jumbo chanting required by me.
If you were desperate for rain in your area you could have hired me.... and I would have come to a clothes line near you for an agreed fee.
No need to rattle my pegs....I would start to peg out the washing....and I swear that I could hear an old tap squeaking somewhere as it was turned on....and the rain would start to fall.
I proved the theory for the umpteenth time this morning in my own garden....a line of bedding and pillow slips....that had been extra spun to get them that little bit drier....instantly rained on.
My sons family know a little bit about rain (plus high winds)....they are in their second week of camping in the Bude area.
A friend of the family has just returned from a camping holiday (I use the word loosely)....they had to quickly buy another tent mid holiday because the wind destroyed their original tent.
I have discovered that with a laundry basket full of washed bedding/clothing and a peg bag I am able to make it rain at will.
I should have advertised my availability as a Rainmaker.....no mumbo jumbo chanting required by me.
If you were desperate for rain in your area you could have hired me.... and I would have come to a clothes line near you for an agreed fee.
No need to rattle my pegs....I would start to peg out the washing....and I swear that I could hear an old tap squeaking somewhere as it was turned on....and the rain would start to fall.
I proved the theory for the umpteenth time this morning in my own garden....a line of bedding and pillow slips....that had been extra spun to get them that little bit drier....instantly rained on.
My sons family know a little bit about rain (plus high winds)....they are in their second week of camping in the Bude area.
A friend of the family has just returned from a camping holiday (I use the word loosely)....they had to quickly buy another tent mid holiday because the wind destroyed their original tent.
Biggin Hill Festival of Flight 2019....happening over my garden this afternoon.
A display team flying around at present.....I know it can't be the Red Arrows....because they're in North America at the moment.
So I looked up the schedule for this afternoon and it must be the.....Royal Jordanian Falcons.....plus RAF Typhoons making all the noise.
A display team flying around at present.....I know it can't be the Red Arrows....because they're in North America at the moment.
So I looked up the schedule for this afternoon and it must be the.....Royal Jordanian Falcons.....plus RAF Typhoons making all the noise.