March 3, 2021

I now know why the Star Spangled (Mangled) Banner sounded so odd at CPAC

It was sung in the key of Q
Not many can hit those notes correctly

February 27, 2021

This is both disturbing and hysterical at the same time. (From CPAC)

If you haven't seen it here is the statue. Looks terrible and trump is not that thin
WTF is the wand for?
On edit: The sandals???

February 25, 2021

Japanese Internet cafe chain transforms into budget hotel for travellers

(PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ANN) - Japanese Internet cafes are styled differently than what is seen in the rest of the world.

For one thing, some Japanese treat them like cheap hotels, staying in them for days, even weeks. One Internet cafe chain recognised this tendency by customers, and thereby converted its shops into what's now called the "Net Room".

Manboo, one of Japan's biggest Internet cafe operators, essentially turned their cafes into affordable hotels, complete with a variety of amenities that a traveller would need, such as a private room and a bath.

snip

And yet, staying in a Net Room can start for as low as 100 yen (S$1.25) an hour. An extended stay for a maximum of two weeks can go for around 12,600 to 14,000 yen (S$175) per week.

https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/japanese-internet-cafe-chain-transforms-into-budget-hotel-for-travellers

I'm not knocking these places. They are providing a service. But they aren't all that great.

If you go to youtube and look up "Residents living permanently in Japan's cyber-cafés - Lost in Manboo" you get a good look at some of the people who live there. They're not bad people. The stories of the man and the woman in the video are quite enlightening. I went and looked at one of the Manboos in Tokyo yesterday while I was in the city. You'd almost never guess it was an internet cafe

February 25, 2021

Joe Biden is a Member of a Surprisingly Small Club in American Politics

Joe Biden is a member of a very small club in politics that might surprise you; he is one of only six vice-presidents who have ever been elected to the presidency without a death or resignation making them president first.

While 15 vice-presidents have become president, only Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Nixon, Bush and Biden served presidents that survived their terms in office. All the others, the president died, was assassinated or resigned, and then they took office.

And of that group of 6, Bush was the last to follow right after the president he served under and then you have to go back to Van Buren for the previous veep to get elected to the presidency w/o a death or resignation of the president.

Other tidbits of trivia, 5 failed to get elected president on their own: Fillmore lost the 1856 election running on the Know-Nothing Party, Tyler formed his own party and lost, Andrew Johnson didn't run, Arthur dropped out when it became evident he wouldn't get the Republican nomination, Ford lost in 1976.
Fillmore was the last president who was neither a Democrat, nor a Republican
Jefferson is the only vice-President to run against the President he served under and won

For the record, the 16:

**John Adams: Vice-President to Washington. President after Washington left office

**Thomas Jefferson: Vice president to John Adams. Defeated Adams in the 1800 election

**Martin Van Buren: Served as vice president to Andrew Jackson during his second term, then was elected president

-John Tyler: President after William Henry Harrison died after just 31 days in office

-Millard Fillmore: President after Zachary Taylor died.

-Andrew Johnson: Vice president to Abraham Lincoln, he became president after Lincoln's assassination in 1865

-Chester Arthur: President after Garfield was assassinated after seven months in office

Theodore Roosevelt: President after William McKinley's assassination, then was elected to full term

Calvin Coolidge: President after Harding's death, then was elected to full term

Harry Truman: Vice president to Franklin D. Roosevelt; became president after Roosevelt's death in 1945, then was elected to full term

Lyndon Johnson: Vice president to John F. Kennedy, assumed the presidency following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, then was elected to full term

*Richard Nixon: Two terms as vice president to Dwight Eisenhower. Following presidencies of Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, was elected twice to presidency

-Gerald Ford: Appointed vice president by Richard Nixon after resignation of Spiro Agnew; became president after Nixon resigned. Ford is the only person to serve as vice president and president without being elected

**George H.W. Bush: Vice-president under Reagan. Won the 1988 election

*Joe Biden: Vice-President under Obama. Elected 4 years later in 2020

February 19, 2021

Dog crashes orchestra performance in "the cutest moment in classical music"

It's from 2017

February 17, 2021

"I Don't Trust the People Above Me": Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol In

“I Don’t Trust the People Above Me”: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection

The riot squad defending the embattled entrance to the west side of the U.S. Capitol was surrounded by violence. Rioters had clambered up the scaffolding by the stage erected for the inauguration of President Joseph Biden. They hurled everything they could get their hands on at the cops beneath: rebar, plywood, power tools, even cans of food they had frozen for extra damage.

In front of the cops, a mob was mounting a frontal assault. Its members hit officers with fists and baseball bats. They grabbed at weapons slung from the officers’ waists. They unleashed a barrage of M-80 firecrackers. Soaked in never-ending streams of bright orange bear spray, the officers choked on plumes of acrid smoke that singed their nostrils and obscured their vision.
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One officer in the middle of the scrum, a combat veteran, thought the rioters were so vicious, so relentless, that they seemed fueled by methamphetamine. To his left, he watched a chunk of steel strike a fellow officer above the eye, setting off a geyser of blood. A pepper ball tore through the air over his shoulder and exploded against the jaw of a man in front of him. The round, filled with chemical irritant, ripped the rioter’s face open. His teeth were now visible through a hole in his cheek. Blood poured out, puddling on the pavement surrounding the building. But the man kept coming.

snip

Many of the officers were speaking to reporters for the first time about the day’s events, almost all anonymously for fear of retribution. That they spoke at all is an indication of the depth of their frustration over the botched response. ProPublica also obtained confidential intelligence bulletins and previously unreported planning documents.

https://www.propublica.org/article/i-dont-trust-the-people-above-me-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection?utm_source=pocket-newtab

February 15, 2021

Why Are Ravens Kept At The Tower Of London?

February 12, 2021

Cross-examination of alleged Capitol insurrectionist's father takes a turn

A laughable turn

February 10, 2021

5 Stories from Europe You May Have Missed

1. Europe's oldest person - a 116-year-old French nun - survives COVID-19

A 116-year-old French nun who is believed to be Europe’s oldest person has survived COVID-19 and is looking forward to celebrating her 117th birthday on Thursday.

The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, lists Frenchwoman Lucile Randon — Sister André's birth name — as the second-oldest known living person in the world.

French media reported that the nun tested positive for coronavirus in mid-January in the southern French city of Toulon. But just three weeks later, she is considered recovered.

“I didn’t even realise I had it,” she told French newspaper Var-Matin.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/10/europe-s-oldest-person-a-116-year-old-french-nun-survives-covid


2. Chinese Summit Gets Chilly Reception From Central, Eastern European Countries

Chinese leader Xi Jinping chaired a long-delayed summit with Central and Eastern European countries amid growing division in the region over how to view Beijing’s growing influence.

The February 9 virtual meeting that took place via video link focused on access to COVID-19 vaccines and post-pandemic economic recovery as Beijing convened the 17+1 bloc -- a format launched in 2012 for China to engage with Central and Eastern European nations, of which 12 are European Union members.

The summit took place after more than a year of delays and friction as Beijing looked to capitalize on the momentum of a European Union-China investment deal signed in late 2020 and to highlight its growing ties with the continent by having Xi lead the event in place of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the usual top official.

snip

The episode highlights a growing split taking place in Central and Eastern Europe in which many countries have a more sober assessment of engagement with China and are carefully positioning themselves between Beijing and Washington amid the deepening rivalry.

https://www.rferl.org/a/chinese-summit-gets-chilly-reception-from-central-eastern-european-countries/31094507.html


3. Swedish embassy in Minsk harbours two Belarusians for five months

Two Belarusians who sought refuge in the Swedish embassy in Minsk in September are still there five months later, Sweden’s foreign ministry has announced, in a case turning into a diplomatic headache.

A father and son, Vitaly and Vladislav Kuznechiki, tried to enter the Swedish embassy in the capital of Belarus on 11 September to seek asylum in the midst of widespread protests disputing the election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Finding the front door closed, the pair managed to jump a fence to the diplomatic compound’s car park.

“The two individuals are still on the premises of the embassy,” a spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry told AFP.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/09/swedish-embassy-in-minsk-harbours-two-belarusians-for-five-months


4. Fear And Loathing Vs. Trade Across The Armenian-Azerbaijani Border

SHURNUKH, Armenia -- As a shop owner in Armenia's southern province of Syunik, Lusine Aleksanian sells produce, bread, cheese, juice, cigarettes, and alcohol.

Just a few meters from her shop in the village of Shurnukh is the border with Azerbaijan.

Russian peacekeepers and Azerbaijani soldiers arrived in Shurnukh at the beginning of the year under the terms of the November 2020 peace agreement that brought an end to the war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Using GPS locators, they determined that 12 of the houses in Shurnukh are in Qubadli -- one of the seven Azerbaijani districts that surround Nagorno-Karabakh and had been occupied by ethnic Armenian forces since the early 1990s.

https://www.rferl.org/a/fear-and-loathing-vs-trade-across-the-armenian-azerbaijani-border/31090569.html


5. Fresh blow to press freedom in Hungary as Klubrádió forced off the airwaves

Hungary's first independent radio station, Klubrádió, will go off the airwaves on Sunday at midnight after a court upheld a decision by media authorities not to extend its broadcasting licence.

The news marks yet another setback for the independent media in the country, which has been under pressure since Prime Minister Viktor Orban's return to power in 2010.

Klubrádió's president Andras Arato made the announcement on Tuesday, adding authorities said the station had "broken the rules" when the media lost its licence.

The liberal-leaning commercial station was one of the only remaining opposition radio voices in Hungary.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/09/hungary-s-first-independent-radio-station-klubradio-to-go-off-air-on-sunday

February 8, 2021

Countries That Allow Or Assist Gender Self-Determination

https://www.rferl.org/a/countries-that-allow-or-assist-gender-self-determination/31087843.html