-
Greenland - Tassa Eller Asu !!!!
Team Greenland / Denmark.
-
Things not going well in Venezuela
Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. We're always at war with one of the last two. /Orwell
-
Things not going well in Venezuela
Brazilian food, particularly in the north/Bahia, is quite flavorful and can even be spicy as malagueta chilies are quite common in the cooking. A good moqueca (seafood stew) is a wonderful thing and I've made it at home on several occasions. Most places throughout Brazil will have a bottle of molho de pimenta (malaguetas in vinegar) at the table to spice up everything from feijoada to various salgadinhos (snacks like coxinhas, kibe, various pasteis). I always have a bottle around. The malagueta can be quite spicy and is quite common in all Portuguese-speaking countries; it's also known in Africa as piri-piri.
-
Swiss Ski Resort Bar Fire
Thanks for this info from the firefighters' perspective, @wood . I'm a SME on building and fire codes for my architectural firm and two firm and non-negotiable parts of those codes in the US are 1) a minimum two clear and visible means of egress from any assembly occupancy of this size and 2) doors along an egress path of travel must open in the direction of travel (with very limited exceptions). Europeans do a whole lot of things better than Americans. Fire safety is not one of those things (writing a white paper for my firm on the Grenfell Tower fire in London brought that home to me). When places like this are not in compliance with code, they need to be shut down until they are - no warnings, just shut down until they comply. This is basic design shit and it's there for a reason. Assembly occupancies are among the most stringent because they are dealing with large numbers of people who are likely not familiar with the space and who may be impaired. To hell with those who let this shit happen.
-
Trump’s America
Apropos of absolutely fucking nothing, the first two counts of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg: Conspiracy: Planning, preparing, initiating, or waging a war of aggression, and participation in a common plan to commit the other crimes. Crimes Against Peace: Planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression, violating treaties.
-
Trump’s America
Edward Murrow. Walter Cronkite. William Shirer. Eric Sevareid. Fred Friendly. Dan Rather. 'Twas a great run, CBS.
-
2026 Midterms ...
Most states that are mail-in are blue (Washington and Oregon have been mail-in for decades). Even in those states, some races will likely be affected. WA accepts all ballots postmarked by election day, not received. While there are a lot of drop boxes here (my county has 90 or so), about a third of voters still mail their ballots in.
-
Laid my parents to rest in the Gulf of Mexico today
A beautiful tribute, Brisket. Got a little dusty in here for a bit. I went up to the WA Cascades by myself for the New Year's weekend. Dad's been gone for 37 years now, but this was a place that he would take me - just me usually, to the chagrin of my little sister - on road trips, day trips, just getting out into the woods. Went out for a walk in the snow yesterday and he came to mind often, things we had done together or sights that reminded me of him. Thirty-seven years, and yet he's still with me. Your parents will be too, on every trip to the Gulf, every fish - all of that. The memories will be good. They will live on. Thanks for a beautifully written. sad and happy new year's post. Time to head outside again.
-
Trump’s America
The one agency that most Americans still trusted and appreciated. It's the final piece in the right wing's attack on government, an attack that started with Saint Ronnie (I hated him then; I despise him to this day). It's the culmination of turning "citizens" into "taxpayers" - no obligation from the people to the nation, just an obligation from the nation to (some) people.
-
TIL there’s something called fraud tourism. Congrats, Minnesota.
I live in the state with the third-highest number of Somali immigrants (also very high on the list for Eritreans and Somalis, but they're not as Moooooslim). WA is also a state with a "Nordic-style social safety net" equal to or better than Minnesota's, and for some of the same reasons - many Scandihoovians moved here as well, quite a few via Minnesota; here they joined Asians and developed a "Japandinavian" sense of social structure from design to labor rights to social welfare that in the main persists to this day. The very middle class Seattle neighborhood I grew up in, mostly white/Asian at the time, has had a mosque and a lot of kick-ass East African food for decades now. I see Somalis every day. There have been no signs that they are committing fraud at a greater level than any other group. (To be fair, our Italian community in the last century also had few to no ties with organized crime; it's weird to me to hear "this group does that" as a blanket statement.)
-
2026 Midterms ...
In Washington, at any rate, over 60% of ballots are returned via drop box rather than USPS already (higher in more urban counties, lower in more rural). During the pandemic it was closer to 75%. WA has the most liberal voting laws in the country; your ballot if mailed only needs to be postmarked by Election Day, not received. This is a clear shot at that, however my guess is that there will be even more drop boxes added due to this along with some pointed commentary regarding rural and senior voters getting screwed/fed to the leopards (to say nothing of the odds your taxes may end up being late). WA is D +20 and I don't expect much change in results, but this shit pisses me off. States like Nevada worry me more than the four Pacific states, in which not a single R represents a congressional seat touching salt water.
-
NFL Week 17; Christmas-style
Hawks were on CBS though, who probably would've given you some other dog game 😂
-
Gun Control
I'm just surprised that the rest of you don't think it's a great idea to have some randos with guns opening fire on a crowded Métro train.
-
The GOP Civil War
Only on Fridays.
-
Christmas 2025
Spending Christmas at home alone this year, by choice; first time since Mom passed a decade ago that I've not traveled to London to spend it with my sister and her family, except Covid year, but I'll be over there in February. We'll do a video call present opening at some unholy hour of the morning here, my sister and niece will get mad at each other over some trifle, and my brother-in-law and I will pour ourselves some more nog, boosted with extra festivity. So, pretty much like being there! Following that, will be making Christmas breakfast/brunch, or at least some of it, as is family tradition, then watching football, perhaps with more festive nog. Cannot complain. To all of you strangers from a strange land that I still somehow feel I know in a way - Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!